Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my mountain lair…

[Roberto]

I'm not sure how unusual this is, but earlier today I discovered a settlement halfway up a 10km mountain, on planet 2 A in the Skaoismont system. I've already submitted it on the tourist-destinations thread, but here are a few more pictures, in case anyone's interested…









I only found it because it happened to be the location for a blow-up-the-generator mission. (I picked this up at MacLauren Installation, Wadjalkan, which is a little way out from the star but offers loads of lucrative "dodgy" missions.)

Completing this, incidentally, led to one of my all-time-great Elite moments. Faced with a horde of angry skimmers after destroying m' target, I decided "**** it", buried the throttle… and flew off the edge of the cliff, Bourne/Leeloo-style. Amazingly, this worked – the first bounce was horrendous, but the fall took me well beyond the skimmers' range, and I regained control with around 30% chassis integrity remaining. More than I needed! I worked back up to where I'd parked the ship – absorbing a few shots from one persistent skimmer – rejoined it and got the hell out of there.

"Looks like I was the one who…" "…took the fall."

YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH…

 

[CMDR Ash]

Fantastic story and great pics! shame there wasn't a video, I love hearing about awesome little stories like this. It really is what makes the game great!

+Rep for you Sir

 

[Roberto]

Cheers! I might start making the odd video after I've moved to a proper PC set-up, probably sometime next year. Shame Macedonia wasn't around this time (check out his latest video on the Nervi thread, if you haven't already!).

 

[Jackie Silver]

Nice find, I haven't seen a settlement so precarious.

 

[Macedonica]

Oh       , just when I put 'Hated Nightfall' in cryo-sleep to concentrate on getting 'Felix Macedonica' back from Beagle Point 2 (only 65,000 lys to go!), you reveal this gem!!!

(I hate you . . .)

 

[Roberto]

Well, like Maturin's flightless bird, it's not going anywhere

Reaching the absolute highest point will, I fear, be impossible: I flew right over it and the ground radar displayed what looked like a wizard's hat. "Terrain unsuitable" – you don't say! Still, if anyone can get close…

I might have a crack at it tomorrow, so if you hear a (very) distant explosion*…




*You'll have discovered a wormhole of some sort, I guess!

 

[Roberto]

The mountain was dark today, my friends!

Spoiler

[video=youtube;0u8KUgUqprw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8KUgUqprw[/video]

So I abandoned any idea of a serious ascent. I had enough trouble just finding somewhere to land – managed it fairly easily in the Cobra on Sunday, but with the Asp, in darkness, it took a lot of patience. Eventually I found a suitable spot at 11.6823,-17.0408.

Then I just took a quick drive up to the settlement and back. Uneventful, apart from a moment when I found myself stuck between two structures and had to work my way out like Austin Powers in a luggage cart!



Normally I wouldn't leave the lights on after parking, but y'know…