The Buckyball Racing Club Presents: Close Encounters of the Bucky Kind (Swift-16 Championship, Race 8)
- Thread starter Ozric
- Start date
Oooooh! Rickenbacker 4001!
Last edited:
Last edited:
Apparently I left this as a draft and never posted it...
Intent to Encounter with Prejudice
CMDR Bruski
Asp Scout
Shiny Loophole
Cobra Mk III
You Race 16 Tons and what do you get?
Another insurance claim and deeper in debt.
Furrycat don't call me cuz I can't go,
I owe my soul to the race marshall....
Intent to Encounter with Prejudice
CMDR Bruski
Asp Scout
Shiny Loophole
Cobra Mk III
You Race 16 Tons and what do you get?
Another insurance claim and deeper in debt.
Furrycat don't call me cuz I can't go,
I owe my soul to the race marshall....
I don't normally do the unlimited (mainly 'cos I have dedicated ships for stuff etc. and they're just busy for other stuff) but my fast/long range exploration DBX (generally used for plant sniffing errr.... I mean scanning....) happened to be nearby so I thought "What the hell?" - let's see how it does. Anyway for the first time in this series (and probably never again) - am submitting an unlimited run 
It was worse than that: I had the landing gear deployed, then retracted it mid-fumble. The levels of scream went up an octave and several decibels...
Well, that convinced me. Off to buy an Asp Scout!
You could always have another (or even several!I don't normally do the unlimited (mainly 'cos I have dedicated ships for stuff etc. and they're just busy for other stuff) but my fast/long range exploration DBX (generally used for plant sniffing errr.... I mean scanning....) happened to be nearby so I thought "What the hell?" - let's see how it does. Anyway for the first time in this series (and probably never again) - am submitting an unlimited run
) dedicated Buckyball ships... New unlimited run entered; and there was a follow-up where I was running 40 seconds faster until I came out of Robert Aitken and found the next jump obscured 
During another run every time I was jumping out I could see Alec jumping in, until at Laming I could see he was at one of the intermediates for the Cobra, so big thanks to Alec for slowing down a bit and not embarrassing me
And here he is landing as I'm setting off on another attempt:
During another run every time I was jumping out I could see Alec jumping in, until at Laming I could see he was at one of the intermediates for the Cobra, so big thanks to Alec for slowing down a bit and not embarrassing me
And here he is landing as I'm setting off on another attempt:
OK, that's me done.
I'm off on holiday this evening so this morning was my final session of this race, and indeed the entire Swift-16 championship.
And what an incredible morning it was. I logged in to find both @Arrowroot 66 and my arch rival in Regulation class, @Kevin The Stabber, logged in on my friends list and situated in the Kured system. I got myself pad 36 and lined up with the slot for what would be my final session. As I was flying around the course I quickly noticed (by constant checking of my friends list) that I was sticking absolutely kneck and kneck, system to system, with Kevin. Not once did the game appear to put us in the same instance (not even any drop delays that might indicate it was trying to do so), and so it continued at every single stop. We did two entire laps of the course and every single time I checked, Kevin and I were in the same system. It was the most thrilling hour of Buckyball racing (without once seeing my opponent) that I've had for a long while. On the third lap I hit an unexpectedly obscured jump, abandoned the run, and headed back to the start, putting us of of sync. I had a couple more attempts after that but neither went well and so I decided to call it a day and go and check the videos from those first two runs, both of which had felt pretty decent.
Thanks for running a truly fantastic race @Ozric, thanks to everyone who's taken part and continued to make Buckyball Racing what it is, and thanks to my rival KTS for not letting me rest and spurring me on to ever faster times.
Regulation run submitted, Turner out.
I'm off on holiday this evening so this morning was my final session of this race, and indeed the entire Swift-16 championship.
And what an incredible morning it was. I logged in to find both @Arrowroot 66 and my arch rival in Regulation class, @Kevin The Stabber, logged in on my friends list and situated in the Kured system. I got myself pad 36 and lined up with the slot for what would be my final session. As I was flying around the course I quickly noticed (by constant checking of my friends list) that I was sticking absolutely kneck and kneck, system to system, with Kevin. Not once did the game appear to put us in the same instance (not even any drop delays that might indicate it was trying to do so), and so it continued at every single stop. We did two entire laps of the course and every single time I checked, Kevin and I were in the same system. It was the most thrilling hour of Buckyball racing (without once seeing my opponent) that I've had for a long while. On the third lap I hit an unexpectedly obscured jump, abandoned the run, and headed back to the start, putting us of of sync. I had a couple more attempts after that but neither went well and so I decided to call it a day and go and check the videos from those first two runs, both of which had felt pretty decent.
Thanks for running a truly fantastic race @Ozric, thanks to everyone who's taken part and continued to make Buckyball Racing what it is, and thanks to my rival KTS for not letting me rest and spurring me on to ever faster times.
Regulation run submitted, Turner out.
At the moment, it seems like there is a higher entity that doesn't want me to complete another run.
Didn't get past the first station on my list, heck, I didn't even get to enter there. Had the approach lined up nicely and got interdicted on the last 5 Mm*...** On the way back, at Kuchner, I somehow managed to have the landing request not being registered and got a fine for trespassing because I didn't realize what happened until my copilot asked me if space madness was kicking in...
At that point, I already was inside the station and quickly turned the Dryad around and got the heck out of there before the station manager would decide that a fine wasn't the right penalization for this infringement. After the situation had cooled down a bit, I docked, paid my fine and called it a day as I felt my concentration waning.
Took me a few hours to complete this text, though, as I needed to take a nap before being able to coherently write again.
: And this run started off so cool as I was able to squeeze the Dryad through the mailslot cleanly while a Cutter was entering*...
**: No matter what the next attempts will bring, I will definitely try to get the Hound around this course as well so that I can at least get the bounty if I am not allowed to get a good time...
Didn't get past the first station on my list, heck, I didn't even get to enter there. Had the approach lined up nicely and got interdicted on the last 5 Mm*...
** On the way back, at Kuchner, I somehow managed to have the landing request not being registered and got a fine for trespassing because I didn't realize what happened until my copilot asked me if space madness was kicking in... At that point, I already was inside the station and quickly turned the Dryad around and got the heck out of there before the station manager would decide that a fine wasn't the right penalization for this infringement. After the situation had cooled down a bit, I docked, paid my fine and called it a day as I felt my concentration waning.Took me a few hours to complete this text, though, as I needed to take a nap before being able to coherently write again.
: And this run started off so cool as I was able to squeeze the Dryad through the mailslot cleanly while a Cutter was entering*...
**: No matter what the next attempts will bring, I will definitely try to get the Hound around this course as well so that I can at least get the bounty if I am not allowed to get a good time...
Last edited:
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
As we enter the final few days of the race things are coming together nicely. There's been a bit of changing near the top of the leaderboards, and a lot of Cmdrs improving their times throughout which is great to see.
In Regulation we had a few entries, first up is Sir Boundness who when asked for comment about his run simply said "woohoo". And woohoo indeed as it was another substantial improvement to his time and he jumps ahead of FearlessF21. Next we have Edelgard who had a truly frustrating run as the Landing Gear was messing him about and getting caught on things costing him valuable seconds. All of which unfortunately landed him 1 second behind Kevin and Alec, agonisingly close to the podium positions. I say Kevin and Alec, but no more. Alec who is off for a nice river cruise in the Sol system hammered out a few runs this morning in what would be his final attempt at the course, and he managed a very nice improvement of 31 seconds to take his time to 23:17. Not quite close enough to topple Sgurr, but he will be nervously watching now.
(Race control is waiting on confirmation of another entry from Triplerazor as some gremlins got into the evidence system) - Gremlins eliminated and leaderboard updated
Unlimited so a fair bit of action and a lot of improvements. Jspace is first up and they've ditched the big ships for the majestic (I think we'll all agree ) Type-6, and in doing so managed to knock over 3 minutes off their time and moving ahead of Triplerazor. Arrowroot66 was also in an improving mood, and although not moving up any places they are creeping closer to Darkfyre. Next a new entry from Sinister Hedgehog who wanted to have a go at the course in Unlimited, despite the ship loadout not being optimal he still managed to get his DBX - Silvertongue around the course in 19:09 which was enough to slot in in front of Tobias. But not for long as Tobias was another Cmdr playing musical ships and this time took to the course in a Dolphin. He seemed to feel more comfortable in this one and made a nice improvement and was so close to breaking the 17 minute barrier, but as it is slotted in front of Sinister Hedgehog with 19:01
Next up we have Sulu (fish), flying a Dolphin (mammal), called Seagull (bird)
(I'd just like you to appreciate how hard it is for me as a birder to not say, there's no such thing as a Seagull but I'm not that pedantic...) Despite all the paradoxes, I do wonder how long it will be before Sulu starts accepting that he's a good pilot who's now regularly challenging the top positions on the leaderboard? He thinks he might have been possessed, but however it was managed he improved by 30 seconds to bump him up two places into second.
Unfortunately for him it didn't last too long because Shaye was back on the course. You might think at this point he'll be swapping ships, but no he stuck with the Type-7 and somehow wrestled it around the course so nearly breaking the 18 minute barrier, and putting himself 5 seconds ahead of Sulu. I honestly have no idea how that's possible
In Regulation we had a few entries, first up is Sir Boundness who when asked for comment about his run simply said "woohoo". And woohoo indeed as it was another substantial improvement to his time and he jumps ahead of FearlessF21. Next we have Edelgard who had a truly frustrating run as the Landing Gear was messing him about and getting caught on things costing him valuable seconds. All of which unfortunately landed him 1 second behind Kevin and Alec, agonisingly close to the podium positions. I say Kevin and Alec, but no more. Alec who is off for a nice river cruise in the Sol system hammered out a few runs this morning in what would be his final attempt at the course, and he managed a very nice improvement of 31 seconds to take his time to 23:17. Not quite close enough to topple Sgurr, but he will be nervously watching now.
(Race control is waiting on confirmation of another entry from Triplerazor as some gremlins got into the evidence system) - Gremlins eliminated and leaderboard updated
Unlimited so a fair bit of action and a lot of improvements. Jspace is first up and they've ditched the big ships for the majestic (I think we'll all agree
) Type-6, and in doing so managed to knock over 3 minutes off their time and moving ahead of Triplerazor. Arrowroot66 was also in an improving mood, and although not moving up any places they are creeping closer to Darkfyre. Next a new entry from Sinister Hedgehog who wanted to have a go at the course in Unlimited, despite the ship loadout not being optimal he still managed to get his DBX - Silvertongue around the course in 19:09 which was enough to slot in in front of Tobias. But not for long as Tobias was another Cmdr playing musical ships and this time took to the course in a Dolphin. He seemed to feel more comfortable in this one and made a nice improvement and was so close to breaking the 17 minute barrier, but as it is slotted in front of Sinister Hedgehog with 19:01Next up we have Sulu (fish), flying a Dolphin (mammal), called Seagull (bird)
(I'd just like you to appreciate how hard it is for me as a birder to not say, there's no such thing as a Seagull but I'm not that pedantic...) Despite all the paradoxes, I do wonder how long it will be before Sulu starts accepting that he's a good pilot who's now regularly challenging the top positions on the leaderboard? He thinks he might have been possessed, but however it was managed he improved by 30 seconds to bump him up two places into second.Unfortunately for him it didn't last too long because Shaye was back on the course. You might think at this point he'll be swapping ships, but no he stuck with the Type-7 and somehow wrestled it around the course so nearly breaking the 18 minute barrier, and putting himself 5 seconds ahead of Sulu. I honestly have no idea how that's possible
Seagull is named after a song in all fairness by Bad Company - the words are apt
Seagull, you fly across the horizon
Into the misty morning sun.
Nobody asks you where you are going,
Nobody knows where you're from.
Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.
Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why,
And you fly all around 'til somebody, Shoots you down.
Seagull, you fly across the horizon
Into the misty morning sun.
Nobody asks you where you are going,
Nobody knows where you're from.
Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.
Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why,
And you fly all around 'til somebody, Shoots you down.
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
It is a great song
Run resubmitted
And thank you for saying it was gremlins rather than it likely being me messing it up because I'd been up since 3am!
Same entity has got it in for me as well, at least as far as Unlimited is concerned. iCourier: sent back to the carrier. Viper MkIV: sent back to the carrier. DBx: still sat at Kuchner despite throwing its toys out of the pram. Is that the iEagle I spy, jumping up and down shouting "Hey! Over here! Use me! Use me!"
Seeing all these big ships making good times, I decided to go for some of my big ships:
The Curious Dryad, my Python Explorer and the Hound of Baskerville, my Alliance Challenger, mostly used to blow some NPC ships with a "WANTED" bumper sticker out of the void.
New unlimited submitted.
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
And here we are, also at the end already somehow and this is probably the penultimate update (there's an outside chance I might do one later tonight)
Straight into the Unlimited category where there were only a few new entries. First up was jspace, who seems to be trying to run a different ship on every attempt so far At least they're getting smaller I suppose. So this time in a Sidewinder where the nimbleness of it helped him knock off another minute and jump ahead of Sir Boundness. We also had Arrowroot66 on the course who had a nice smooth run and managed to jump up a couple of places with it too and break into the top 10. Having put Regulation to bed Sgurr came to the Unlimited party. In a Dolphin that he had specifically built for the race, but one that had to sit on the sidelines watching the Cobra get all the love. Well it was certainly worth the wait and, in a comment Bruski will love, although it did "cause more brain pain trying to change my SC style because unlike the Cobra this can actually yaw." Poor Cobra
But never-the-less Sgurr managed to blast his way straight to the top of the leaderboard 16 seconds ahead of Bruski.
Things are certainly heating up in Regulation too, not that they weren't already scorchio. We had Tobias making his inaugural run in Regulation, he was very close to breaking the 27 minute barrier, and even closer to Arrowroot66 and slots in just one second behind into 9th place! Next up we had Bruski who was determined to move up the leaderboard in Regulation and determined to have a good time doing it. Although "Flirting with Big Papa's Rings was not as fast as I had hoped, but perhaps they were just shy."
It was a good improvement though and bumped him a few places up into.... a dead heat with Alec. Who would have thought that one person could be involved with two different dead heats in one race
Kevin was now down to fourth place, but he was also out on the course trying desperately to get past Mr. Turner. And he managed that, but not only did he get past Alec, he also got past Sgurr to put himself in first place by two seconds! Unfortunately for him Sgurr was in a determined mood yesterday, as mentioned earlier this was to be his final day racing Regulation so only an improvement would do. And an improvement he got, despite calling me evil (really it's Darkhyr who's evil ) he knew "I can definitely go faster but these close approaches are messing with my brain, there's a huge variation run to run and I can't tell what's good anymore."
The variation in approaches was definitely something I remember from the original running and my scouting runs of the course this time around. Gas Giants, Earth-Likes, Asteroid rings... Yeah Evil is fair
The improvement was a good one though and the extra 16 seconds puts him back to the top of the leaderboard. Can anyone put together a run to challenge, I'm sure many are capable.
Straight into the Unlimited category where there were only a few new entries. First up was jspace, who seems to be trying to run a different ship on every attempt so far
At least they're getting smaller I suppose. So this time in a Sidewinder where the nimbleness of it helped him knock off another minute and jump ahead of Sir Boundness. We also had Arrowroot66 on the course who had a nice smooth run and managed to jump up a couple of places with it too and break into the top 10. Having put Regulation to bed Sgurr came to the Unlimited party. In a Dolphin that he had specifically built for the race, but one that had to sit on the sidelines watching the Cobra get all the love. Well it was certainly worth the wait and, in a comment Bruski will love, although it did "cause more brain pain trying to change my SC style because unlike the Cobra this can actually yaw." Poor Cobra But never-the-less Sgurr managed to blast his way straight to the top of the leaderboard 16 seconds ahead of Bruski.
Things are certainly heating up in Regulation too, not that they weren't already scorchio. We had Tobias making his inaugural run in Regulation, he was very close to breaking the 27 minute barrier, and even closer to Arrowroot66 and slots in just one second behind into 9th place! Next up we had Bruski who was determined to move up the leaderboard in Regulation and determined to have a good time doing it. Although "Flirting with Big Papa's Rings was not as fast as I had hoped, but perhaps they were just shy."
It was a good improvement though and bumped him a few places up into.... a dead heat with Alec. Who would have thought that one person could be involved with two different dead heats in one race Kevin was now down to fourth place, but he was also out on the course trying desperately to get past Mr. Turner. And he managed that, but not only did he get past Alec, he also got past Sgurr to put himself in first place by two seconds! Unfortunately for him Sgurr was in a determined mood yesterday, as mentioned earlier this was to be his final day racing Regulation so only an improvement would do. And an improvement he got, despite calling me evil (really it's Darkhyr who's evil
) he knew "I can definitely go faster but these close approaches are messing with my brain, there's a huge variation run to run and I can't tell what's good anymore."The variation in approaches was definitely something I remember from the original running and my scouting runs of the course this time around. Gas Giants, Earth-Likes, Asteroid rings... Yeah Evil is fair
The improvement was a good one though and the extra 16 seconds puts him back to the top of the leaderboard. Can anyone put together a run to challenge, I'm sure many are capable.