Well, yesterday I finally got my Sol Permit, and I headed on home. Took a few moments to grab some energy from my home star, zipped on over to Earth and Abraham Lincoln Station. I stopped at the station first, and was a bit underwhelmed. I realize it was my expectation, but I was kind of hoping Earth's stations would have been different in some way, but Abraham Lincoln looked like every other Orbis station, and the greetings were like every other greeting. The interior was like any other interior. The passenger and mission options were bog standard in every way. In fact, if it wasn't for seeing the system I was in, you'd have never thought I was in the home system, one requiring a permit to reach.
Anyhoo, I stayed there for the night, and then today I jumped to Alpha Centauri, and then Epsilon Eridani to drop off a few quick missions, and then back to Sol. When I came back in this time, I headed straight for Earth, and got a nice closeup:
Sitting there, watching her, a tear came to my eye. I know it's not real, but it really did feel like home. It reminded me that it was important for us to take care of it, because unlike the 3300s, we don't have any other earth-like planets to call home aside from this one.
After taking a few minutes to just observe the Earth, I decided it was time to visit my other favorite planet in the system, Mars.
You know, I should have realized that the Mars of the early 3300s wasn't going to look like Mars of 2017, but it was still very much a shock that as I approached, I noticed "Mars. Earth-like planet" in the sensor feed. I knew in my gut that she was going to look a little different, though when I finally saw her, I was still surprised. You could see where the ruddy Martian soil still stuck out in places, but for the most part she looked like her slightly younger sister 1,200 light seconds in the other direction.
Of course, the really cool thing was that as I approached, I saw "Capital Ship" as a marker buoy, and decided to visit. Wow! It was so cool to see a federal ship in-system! I had never seen one before, and holy cow, I kept my distance because I figured they could have killed me or worse.
So feeling a little better, I decided to stop for the night at Mars High, so I cruised over there, and at least it looked pretty awesome:
Granted, it looks a lot like any other station, but I was really hoping a station around Mars would have an angry red look, and this one did.
I haven't seen any other planets than Earth and Mars yet, and won't until tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it. Anyone else visit home and was surprised or disappointed?
Anyhoo, I stayed there for the night, and then today I jumped to Alpha Centauri, and then Epsilon Eridani to drop off a few quick missions, and then back to Sol. When I came back in this time, I headed straight for Earth, and got a nice closeup:

Sitting there, watching her, a tear came to my eye. I know it's not real, but it really did feel like home. It reminded me that it was important for us to take care of it, because unlike the 3300s, we don't have any other earth-like planets to call home aside from this one.
After taking a few minutes to just observe the Earth, I decided it was time to visit my other favorite planet in the system, Mars.
You know, I should have realized that the Mars of the early 3300s wasn't going to look like Mars of 2017, but it was still very much a shock that as I approached, I noticed "Mars. Earth-like planet" in the sensor feed. I knew in my gut that she was going to look a little different, though when I finally saw her, I was still surprised. You could see where the ruddy Martian soil still stuck out in places, but for the most part she looked like her slightly younger sister 1,200 light seconds in the other direction.

Of course, the really cool thing was that as I approached, I saw "Capital Ship" as a marker buoy, and decided to visit. Wow! It was so cool to see a federal ship in-system! I had never seen one before, and holy cow, I kept my distance because I figured they could have killed me or worse.

So feeling a little better, I decided to stop for the night at Mars High, so I cruised over there, and at least it looked pretty awesome:

Granted, it looks a lot like any other station, but I was really hoping a station around Mars would have an angry red look, and this one did.
I haven't seen any other planets than Earth and Mars yet, and won't until tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it. Anyone else visit home and was surprised or disappointed?