Let's see where this little ravine takes me
- Thread starter Alec Turner
- Start date
Central peaks are nice little pedestals for parking your ship on overnight.
Day five
Oh my, what a day it's been! First of all I'm back in bright daylight. This is fantastic news - I'm still not sure what it will mean long term (of academic interest only of course since it's not like I plan on doing a full circumnavigation or anything) but for now it means I'm not simply driving into the night side of the planet. Not long after I set off I spot a dark purple rise on the horizon off to the right. It's not exactly a mountain but more a large area of much higher ground. Since it's fairly featureless where I am I decide the detour is worth it and turn right. In the end it's nearly 2 degrees South of the equator (mountains are always further away than you think they're going to be aren't they). It's an amazing landscape, a deep dark purple, with no obvious peak but a constant rise up to a plateau of land that gives me the best view I've had so far of the gas giant. Alas none of the photos I took of this area came out ... almost certainly finger trouble on my part. As I turn back East and start driving back down off this raised area I spy what looks like another crater in the distance ... well that's got to be worth a quick look.
And so it is, lovely crater!
I decide to sign it.
Then climb it and jump off the top (spot the SRV).
As I'm driving down the far edge I note my hull health is low and decide to recall the ship. It seems determined to land way back next to the mound, perhaps it's drawn there by my signature? You can just make out the ship landing in the following images.
I dismiss the ship again and drive up and out of the far side of the crater - this is the view back the way I came.
A little bit further on as I'm following a signal ahead of me in the low band of the wave scanner (fuel's running low so I'm gathering minerals) I spot a glint of red in the distance. Well that's weird, there's nothing in the upper band of the analysis ... got to be worth a look tho' right?
When I get closer the unmistakeable shape of a Fer-de-Lance appears nestled in the landscape, one Martin Miller ... WANTED!
Not far from his ship I find a crashed fighter and a bunch of wreckage, presumably Mr Miller's doing!
And among all the wreckage I find ..
In fact there are two occupied escape capsules here, fear not ladies (for surely these must be two of the twelve members of the stranded women's lacrosse team I've been dreaming about), rescue is at hand!
Two down, ten to go!
Oh my, what a day it's been! First of all I'm back in bright daylight. This is fantastic news - I'm still not sure what it will mean long term (of academic interest only of course since it's not like I plan on doing a full circumnavigation or anything) but for now it means I'm not simply driving into the night side of the planet. Not long after I set off I spot a dark purple rise on the horizon off to the right. It's not exactly a mountain but more a large area of much higher ground. Since it's fairly featureless where I am I decide the detour is worth it and turn right. In the end it's nearly 2 degrees South of the equator (mountains are always further away than you think they're going to be aren't they). It's an amazing landscape, a deep dark purple, with no obvious peak but a constant rise up to a plateau of land that gives me the best view I've had so far of the gas giant. Alas none of the photos I took of this area came out ... almost certainly finger trouble on my part. As I turn back East and start driving back down off this raised area I spy what looks like another crater in the distance ... well that's got to be worth a quick look.
And so it is, lovely crater!
I decide to sign it.
Then climb it and jump off the top (spot the SRV).
As I'm driving down the far edge I note my hull health is low and decide to recall the ship. It seems determined to land way back next to the mound, perhaps it's drawn there by my signature? You can just make out the ship landing in the following images.
I dismiss the ship again and drive up and out of the far side of the crater - this is the view back the way I came.
A little bit further on as I'm following a signal ahead of me in the low band of the wave scanner (fuel's running low so I'm gathering minerals) I spot a glint of red in the distance. Well that's weird, there's nothing in the upper band of the analysis ... got to be worth a look tho' right?
When I get closer the unmistakeable shape of a Fer-de-Lance appears nestled in the landscape, one Martin Miller ... WANTED!
Not far from his ship I find a crashed fighter and a bunch of wreckage, presumably Mr Miller's doing!
And among all the wreckage I find ..
In fact there are two occupied escape capsules here, fear not ladies (for surely these must be two of the twelve members of the stranded women's lacrosse team I've been dreaming about), rescue is at hand!
Two down, ten to go!
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What if you find more than 12?
Bonus points of course!
Day six
Not much to report today. Pitch black down here (which I actually take as a good sign since it means I'm likely to get a mixture of day and night throughout the journey - were I planning to attempt a complete circumnavigation of this planet - which I'm not.
)
Quite early into the session I got a telepresence link request from Cmdr Sanderling (Elite Racer and FA Off canyon hooner extraordinaire) who's discovered a successor to Pomeche 2 C as an extreme ridge candidate. Seeing as I didn't have much to see in the dark I jumped in to his Fer-de-lance for 20 mins or so. It certainly is a stunning planet he's found.
I have some video which I might try to edit down a bit and upload tomorrow.
Meanwhile back on my own planet I got to see the bottom edge of the parent gas giant for the first time as it finally crept just above the horizon.
It seems I've covered about 15° of longitude now. Think I'll retire for today and see if tomorrow morning brings more light with it.
Not much to report today. Pitch black down here (which I actually take as a good sign since it means I'm likely to get a mixture of day and night throughout the journey - were I planning to attempt a complete circumnavigation of this planet - which I'm not.
)Quite early into the session I got a telepresence link request from Cmdr Sanderling (Elite Racer and FA Off canyon hooner extraordinaire) who's discovered a successor to Pomeche 2 C as an extreme ridge candidate. Seeing as I didn't have much to see in the dark I jumped in to his Fer-de-lance for 20 mins or so. It certainly is a stunning planet he's found.
I have some video which I might try to edit down a bit and upload tomorrow.
Meanwhile back on my own planet I got to see the bottom edge of the parent gas giant for the first time as it finally crept just above the horizon.
It seems I've covered about 15° of longitude now. Think I'll retire for today and see if tomorrow morning brings more light with it.
You're apparently very bad at avoiding circumnavigation. I believe there's a chapter of Circumnavigators Anonymous at Witch Head Science Centre; just check on the Contacts screen.
Day seven
I start in bright light again and on the brink of another nice crater with the gas giant now clearly above the horizon.
Although I seem to be fluctuating between night and day the star is always behind me so I suspect it's more of a wobble than a proper day/night situation. This does suggest that, were I to plough on, I would eventually hit a fairly prolonged period of night when I got around to the other side of the planet. But of course ... that won't be happening!
I will just head on down to the central crater mound tho.
It's only as I scale the far side of the crater that I spy an enticing dark grey land mass rising up on the horizon.
I head in that direction, aware that zig-zagging back and forth across the equator like this would add significantly to any total circumnavigation distance.
Yup, that's definitely a mountain range, OK - guess I'll go and scale that then.
Incidentally, a while back I recalled the ship but decided not to return to it in the end. I've now noticed a problem, can you see what it is!
At the point I quit for the day the problem has not gone away, if anything it's worse!
Oh, and one other thing. I noticed today that my longitude was going back down again. After a moment of panic when I think perhaps I've accidentally started driving back the way I came I realise I've past 180° and the coordinate has now gone negative. That means my calculation yesterday was wrong and that, at close of day today, I've now done 47° which is 13% of the way round.
Huh - not bad for a brief investigation of a little ravine.
I start in bright light again and on the brink of another nice crater with the gas giant now clearly above the horizon.
Although I seem to be fluctuating between night and day the star is always behind me so I suspect it's more of a wobble than a proper day/night situation. This does suggest that, were I to plough on, I would eventually hit a fairly prolonged period of night when I got around to the other side of the planet. But of course ... that won't be happening!
I will just head on down to the central crater mound tho.
It's only as I scale the far side of the crater that I spy an enticing dark grey land mass rising up on the horizon.
I head in that direction, aware that zig-zagging back and forth across the equator like this would add significantly to any total circumnavigation distance.
Yup, that's definitely a mountain range, OK - guess I'll go and scale that then.
Incidentally, a while back I recalled the ship but decided not to return to it in the end. I've now noticed a problem, can you see what it is!
At the point I quit for the day the problem has not gone away, if anything it's worse!
Oh, and one other thing. I noticed today that my longitude was going back down again. After a moment of panic when I think perhaps I've accidentally started driving back the way I came I realise I've past 180° and the coordinate has now gone negative. That means my calculation yesterday was wrong and that, at close of day today, I've now done 47° which is 13% of the way round.
Huh - not bad for a brief investigation of a little ravine.
Longest ravine ever.
I assume you're synthing fuel as you go? If so, do you normally do the basic, or one of the upgrades?
I assume you're synthing fuel as you go? If so, do you normally do the basic, or one of the upgrades?
I actually just tend to do basic but I was reflecting just today that I should probably do the upgrades. Ultimately tho' if you have enough mat's (and can easily gather more Iron and Zinc as you go then it really doesn't matter much).
So ... in two other bits of news ... I parked up at what seems, in the dark anyway, to be the head of a new canyon complex (which I'm now saving for daylight) and tuned in to the sub-ether radio to see if there were any messages for me. Two things of significance have sprung up. Fiirstly there's a new Buckyball Race starting next Saturday. I may have to consider putting a pin on the map down here and taking a temporary leave of absence to go and participate in that. And secondly, it seems my reports have inspired another member of the First Great Planetary Expedition, one Cmdr Alvin Wall, to come and take a look at this planet and it seems that he too is spending quite a lot of time down here NOT doing his own circumnavigation! Hopefully he'll start adding his own contributions to this thread ... the more the merrier I reckon.
I saw Alec's mention of HIP 23759 9 A on the Circumnavigators' Discord and thought I'd take a brief look. HIP 23759 9 A - the name just trips off the tongue; I call it Wormwood - if you look closely at the pictures at the top of the thread you'll see why. All I'd planned was a quick fly round to see if there was anything interesting and landed on the lip of a crater with very few clear spots.
And there were some mountains to the north, so why not? Looking back from the summit to the crater.
No point in going back after such a short journey, so continued north and there's another summit waiting to be visited.
When the star is low things look a little dingy but the sky makes up for that.
It seems I was travelling north up the 79° longitude line, so it seemed worth carrying on for just a bit. This is the Citrus Plain offering several options: three more mountain ranges and the opening to a valley system.
It was a false lead - no valley, just a big hole in the ground that went nowhere. Aimed for the central massif with the intention of turning east to make the mountains on the right. Just a few more mountains - not a big deal. But the smooth top turned out to be a fractal exercise with no discernable top, so I named this region the Take Your Peak.
Due east to the next range. The mountains are really easy to climb, even at 65° slope, with lots of small plateaux, smooth ridges and shoulders to help you on the way to the top.
But it's sometimes difficult to plonk yourself exactly on the top with just the scanner image for guidance. Race to the top and you risk overshooting and dropping down the other side. Too slow and you may lack the impetus to get to the top and slide back down.
This is the tiny yellow speck in most of the other pics. And that looks like another massive peak on the far horizon.
On the way down I came across my first artefact in 300km. We've all got tales of NPCs doing impossible things, so here's mine.
Four peaks in a couple of days. I don't have to go for the next one. I can stop at any time. One more won't do any harm. It's not like I'm going all the way round.
And there were some mountains to the north, so why not? Looking back from the summit to the crater.
No point in going back after such a short journey, so continued north and there's another summit waiting to be visited.
When the star is low things look a little dingy but the sky makes up for that.
It seems I was travelling north up the 79° longitude line, so it seemed worth carrying on for just a bit. This is the Citrus Plain offering several options: three more mountain ranges and the opening to a valley system.
It was a false lead - no valley, just a big hole in the ground that went nowhere. Aimed for the central massif with the intention of turning east to make the mountains on the right. Just a few more mountains - not a big deal. But the smooth top turned out to be a fractal exercise with no discernable top, so I named this region the Take Your Peak.
Due east to the next range. The mountains are really easy to climb, even at 65° slope, with lots of small plateaux, smooth ridges and shoulders to help you on the way to the top.
But it's sometimes difficult to plonk yourself exactly on the top with just the scanner image for guidance. Race to the top and you risk overshooting and dropping down the other side. Too slow and you may lack the impetus to get to the top and slide back down.
This is the tiny yellow speck in most of the other pics. And that looks like another massive peak on the far horizon.
On the way down I came across my first artefact in 300km. We've all got tales of NPCs doing impossible things, so here's mine.
Four peaks in a couple of days. I don't have to go for the next one. I can stop at any time. One more won't do any harm. It's not like I'm going all the way round.
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LOL, hey neighbour - brilliant account. Wow, you have some stunning mountains up North there! Good luck with not circumnavigating Wormwood! (like the name, let's stick with it)I saw Alec's mention of HIP 23759 9 A on the Circumnavigators' Discord and thought I'd take a brief look. HIP 23759 9 A - the name just trips off the tongue; I call it Wormwood - if you look closely at the pictures at the top of the thread you'll see why. All I'd planned was a quick fly round to see if there was anything interesting and landed on the lip of a crater with very few clear spots.
And there were some mountains to the north, so why not? Looking back from the summit to the crater.
No point in going back after such a short journey, so continued north and there's another summit waiting to be visited.
When the star is low things look a little dingy but the sky makes up for that.
It seems I was travelling north up the 79° longitude line, so it seemed worth carrying on for just a bit. This is the Citrus Plain offering several options: three more mountain ranges and the opening to a valley system.
It was a false lead - no valley, just a big hole in the ground that went nowhere. Aimed for the central massif with the intention of turning east to make the mountains on the right. Just a few more mountains - not a big deal. But the smooth top turned out to be a fractal exercise with no discernable top, so I named this region the Take Your Peak.
Due east to the next range. The mountains are really easy to climb, even at 65° slope, with lots of small plateaux, smooth ridges and shoulders to help you on the way to the top.
But it's sometimes difficult to plonk yourself exactly on the top with just the scanner image for guidance. Race to the top and you risk overshooting and dropping down the other side. Too slow and you may lack the impetus to get to the top and slide back down.
This is the tiny yellow speck in most of the other pics. And that looks like another massive peak on the far horizon.
On the way down I came across my first artefact in 300km. We've all got tales of NPCs doing impossible things, so here's mine.
Four peaks in a couple of days. I don't have to go for the next one. I can stop at any time. One more won't do any harm. It's not like I'm going all the way round.
To be just another corner on this one ravine that is all you're exploring on this planet, surely?
Logged in at about 22:30 and estimate that it had been light for about 20 minutes. It was dark for most of the day which is a nuisance as the colours on this planet are so varied, so travelling in NV is a waste.
Left the cluster of mountain ranges, but now it's light I've come to the brink of something different (with really high mountains to come):
Left the cluster of mountain ranges, but now it's light I've come to the brink of something different (with really high mountains to come):
In spite of knowing the bearing, I still managed to get to the top of the wrong side of the canyon - twice. What looks like a reasonable approximation of the right direction can easily get turned around. That's my excuse.
The mountain range is solidly impressive. This may be one of the best sides to approach it from. I'm calling it The Citadel.
Or perhaps just Bulwarks.
The mountain range is solidly impressive. This may be one of the best sides to approach it from. I'm calling it The Citadel.
Or perhaps just Bulwarks.
Wow! I really should have scouted before I set off, your terrain up there looks stunning!