The Buckyball Racing Club Presents: The Colonia Trophy Dash. A Standing Challenge Event in Colonia
The Colonia Trophy Dash is a time trial race that is intended to be an ongoing standing challenge with all waypoints in the Colonia region. All waypoints accept all three size classes of ship, so all ship types can compete. In a similar manner to the A* Challenge, the race will be split into Classic and Unlimited classes and the fastest times for each ship class will also be recorded.
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There are two separate race classes: Classic and Unlimited. In Classic, no Engineering, FSD synthesis or Guardian technology is permitted but Neutron star and White Dwarf jet cone boosts are permitted: this is intended to both allow a level playing field and to encourage new players to race. In Unlimited, Engineering, FSD synthesis and Guardian Technology are all permitted. The use of Supercruise Assist and Docking Computers is not allowed in either category.
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Note that it is necessary to have Elite: Dangerous: Horizons to participate.The Buckyball Racing Club's Discord server (https://discord.gg/YwxcsCf) and website (http://www.buckyballracing.org.uk) provide helpful information on entering a race and hints and tips for improving your flying skills.
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Race times in Classic class are expected to vary considerably but a vessel with a decent jump range should be able to complete the course in under an hour, depending on chance factors such as planetary alignments. In comparison, Unlimited times are anticipated to be approximately 45 minutes or less but will also vary significantly by ship, loadout and pilot experience, with the very top pilots possibly completing the course in under 25 minutes in racing-optimised ships. Participants may take part in any play mode they wish but Open play is encouraged in order to meet other racers on the course.
Race Outline
The race begins at the Dove Enigma megaship in the Colonia system and ends at Jaques station, also in Colonia. After leaving the Dove Enigma, the course proceeds through the following locations, in order, before returning to Jaques:- Colonia Dream, Ratraii. (Coriolis)
- Moore's Charm, Luchtaine. (Asteroid Base)
- Brazilian Dream, Santos Dumont. (Plantery Port)
- Vera Rubin Complex, Garuda. (Planetary Port)
- Pedersen's Legacy, Mobia. (Planetary Port)
- Fort Mug, Eol Procul Centauri. (Planetary Port)
- Mortimer's Charm, Kinesi. (Orbis)
The megaship Dove Engima seen against the background of the Colonia Nebula.
The Coriolis station Colonia Dream seen next to Ratraii A 3 a, with Ratraii A 3 in the background.
The asteroid base Moore's Charm, located adjacent to the rings of Luchtaine A 1.
The planetary port Brazilian Dream, on Santos Dumont 6, currently has the highest surface gravity of any settlement in Colonia.
The planetary port Vera Rubin Complex, on Garuda A 1 b, which is a binary moon with A 1 a seen in shadow in the background, with the gas giant A 1 in the distance.
Pedersen's Legacy on Mobia A 1 a is located in a crater inside one of the largest impact craters on this small, metal-rich moon.
Fort Mug on the planet Hutton Moon, the innermost world in Eol Procul Centauri, is a moderately high gravity environment and is in perpetual night thanks to tidal locking.
Mortimer's Charm in orbit of a rare ringed Earth-like World, Kinesi 5, is the only Orbis station in the race, located adjacent to the planet's rings.
Jaques station seen against the backdrop of the ringed gas giant Colonia 4, has a polar orbit that often provides spectacular views of the gas giant's ring system.
Submitting a Race Entry
The race is an ongoing standing challenge, so entries are welcome at any time. Please declare an intent to race in this thread, in order that other participants can look out for you on the course. It is not required if you prefer not to, however. Race entries are submitted by sending a PM to me on the Frontier Forums with the following information:- CMDR name
- Race Mode (Classic or Unlimited)
- Ship name
- Ship type
- Race time
- Link to race evidence (video or screenshots, see below)
- Outfitting of the ship showing the Core Internal and Optional Internal modules, with the jump range visible. Alternatively, the modules list in the right hand panel is acceptable. (1 or 2 screenshots)
- The ship on the pad, docked, at the Dove Enigma megaship showing the clock: this will be your start time. (1 screenshot)
- The ship on the pad, docked, at each of the above locations, showing the clock, in order. (7 screenshots)
- The ship on the pad, docked, at Jaques station showing the clock. This will be your finish time. (1 screenshot)
Taking a Rebuy
There are some challenging locations on the course and the possibility of ship destruction awaits at every landing. This will not necessarily invalidate the run. So that deliberate destruction gives no advantage, the following rules apply:
- If you respawn ahead of yourself on the course, e.g. at the location you were attempting to land at or reach next, the run is void.
- Respawning at your previous port of call is allowed.
- Respawning at a Detention Centre is allowed.
Additional Notes
The longest jump between waypoints is 39.56 LY.Ships may repair and refuel at any waypoint with those facilities (be aware that some may not have them).
Ship-to-ship repairing and refueling is permitted.
Submissions should be made within five days of making a run. (May be subject to change, with experience).
Use of the wing beacon to skip supercruise journeys or part thereof is not permitted.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to AkenBosch for alterations and improvements to the race banner.Leaderboards
Classic
Classic
Unlimited
Classic Ship Type Records
Unlimited Ship Type Records
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This looks excellent @Edelgard von Rhein, it's great to finally have a BRC race in the Colonia Nebula.
I've been planning to reset my alt account and participate in the Colonia Sidie challenge for ages (since that began!), but never got around to it. This will hopefully give me the encouragement to give it a go and see what Colonia is like these days. There was only Jacques there when Cmdr Raiko last visited.
If I do make it out there is a classic sidewinder, I'm not 100% sure that I'll have the courage to risk wrecking it in a classic run.
It I ever make another A* Challenge run as Cmdr Raiko, I'll be sure to fly home via Colonia as well. I definitely plan to get The Nomad onto your leaderboard.
I've been planning to reset my alt account and participate in the Colonia Sidie challenge for ages (since that began!), but never got around to it. This will hopefully give me the encouragement to give it a go and see what Colonia is like these days. There was only Jacques there when Cmdr Raiko last visited.
If I do make it out there is a classic sidewinder, I'm not 100% sure that I'll have the courage to risk wrecking it in a classic run.
It I ever make another A* Challenge run as Cmdr Raiko, I'll be sure to fly home via Colonia as well. I definitely plan to get The Nomad onto your leaderboard.
There are planetary ports that you need to land at, so Horizons is required, I'm afraid.Well my old Mac OSX alt account is out there, I left the bubble shortly after Jaques was discovered, so before it was even Colonia: no engineering unlocked (OSX couldn't buy Horizons), so I guess i'll be doing a classic entry
The first person to complete The Colonia Trophy Dash is crotalus and in both categories with the same ship! The engineering on the Imperial Courier Iris has only just begun, I suspect, and the difference in the times was small. The run included awkward night-time landings, in particular at the high-g Santos Dumont 6, so this was not the easiest time for a first try.
The leaderboards are now all present in the OP and also here:
I'm not sure how often to update the scoreboards at the moment and it will depend on activity in future but I wanted to get the first effort on there asap.
The leaderboards are now all present in the OP and also here:
Really great to finally have a Buckyball Race out in Colonia - excellent job @Edelgard von Rhein, and congratulations to @crotalus for grabbing the early bird number 1 spot!
For now I think a five day time limit should be ample, though I may change that if it turns out to be too much. I think it should be fine though, as it allows you to finish a run late on Sunday and then submit on Friday after working all week.
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
I have been pootling my way around the galaxy again for the last 9 months or so and a few days ago I found myself in the Colonia area. I was going to land at Jaques first, before heading out to Dunker's Rest, I was hoping to bump into Cmdr. Lewis there but missed him. But on my way into the system I noticed the Dove Enigma megaship was here, I forgot it was parked out here. The last time I visited here was just after the Unknown Artefact incident around the time of the megaship's inception. As soon as news of that broke I got in touch with the council at Canonn who were already mobilising the troops. Within an hour there were almost a hundred Cmdrs heading out with their ships fitted with as many Meta Alloys as they could carry. A couple of hours later I joined them, Buckyballing on a mission! The journey was also a lot quicker than it was during The Long Haul!
Ah, that passed the Supercruise journey, always fun to reminisce. I landed at the megaship and thought I'd see what's been going on, but I knew something was up as soon as I landed. There was lots of ships around, a lot of hustle and bustle, people were excited about something. Well it didn't take me long to find out about this race, must be fate me turning up here right now.
So... Stating my intent to race.
Cmdr Name: Ozric
Race Mode: Unlimited
Ship Type: Asp Explorer
Ship Name: Isil
Got to be worth a shot, it will be nice to get Isil back onto a race leaderboard again.
She is my exploration ship and I got her in February 3301, I used to race it loads and would always run in my Exploration fit (which includes a pair of, frankly useless, Burst lasers that I've carried out of habit and fear from a warning Mike Brookes gave us many years ago). It may not be the fastest way, but it made my day to day flying so much better because I knew the ships limits and how it handled. It saved my backside on more than one occasion out in the void. It's probably got about another 600k Ly on the clock since the last time I raced it, and a few new upgrades installed too.
My biggest concern is that I finally relented and got g4 Dirty Drive upgrades done to the Thrusters, it's very handy for flying over planet's surfaces looking for interesting features, but as I find out the hard way whenever I return to civilisation. I can't squeeze that one extra boost in before I enter the station! My girl ain't built for slowing down quickly...
I may stick around the area for a while and try some Classic runs too as I'm here.
Ah, that passed the Supercruise journey, always fun to reminisce. I landed at the megaship and thought I'd see what's been going on, but I knew something was up as soon as I landed. There was lots of ships around, a lot of hustle and bustle, people were excited about something. Well it didn't take me long to find out about this race, must be fate me turning up here right now.
So... Stating my intent to race.
Cmdr Name: Ozric
Race Mode: Unlimited
Ship Type: Asp Explorer
Ship Name: Isil
Got to be worth a shot, it will be nice to get Isil back onto a race leaderboard again.
My biggest concern is that I finally relented and got g4 Dirty Drive upgrades done to the Thrusters, it's very handy for flying over planet's surfaces looking for interesting features, but as I find out the hard way whenever I return to civilisation. I can't squeeze that one extra boost in before I enter the station! My girl ain't built for slowing down quickly...
I may stick around the area for a while and try some Classic runs too as I'm here.
After a number of attempts by crotalus in Classic and with one Unlimited submission from Ozric, I've updated the leaderboards:
All of crotalus' ships were outfitted exclusively at Jaques station, so there is some room for improvement in modules, such as life support. The high-g landings at Brazilian Dream occasionally dented his ships (especially the Cobra MkIII, which had 17% hull remaining on touchdown), though I also see his Beluga took heavy damage on the first stop, at Colonia Dream.
Both pilots report that their attempts were not ideal, with mistakes and problems ranging from obscured targets to dropping out of orbital cruise very far from the target port. Even so these early times are setting a benchmark that other pilots might find challenging to compete with.
Fly fast! o7
Both pilots report that their attempts were not ideal, with mistakes and problems ranging from obscured targets to dropping out of orbital cruise very far from the target port. Even so these early times are setting a benchmark that other pilots might find challenging to compete with.
Fly fast! o7
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
I submitted another couple of runs today. Both of them still leave a lot to be desired...
I had another couple of attempts at the Unlimited run, only completed one of them. I had 3 obscured jumps leaving planets! and I dropped out of OC at too high an angle on one too, at 25Km from the star port. I still managed to improve though, so I thought I should submit it
Then I thought I'd pick a ship that Crotalus hadn't raced yet and give that a go, so I made an entry in the Classic Dolphin class. I took the lead from Crotalus and outfitted it entirely at Jaques and had no issues buying all the things I wanted. I had the same 3 obscured jumps this time as well on top of an interdiction and a missed drop out of SC
I hope that the next time I get a chance to race the alignment is kinder to me.
I had another couple of attempts at the Unlimited run, only completed one of them. I had 3 obscured jumps leaving planets! and I dropped out of OC at too high an angle on one too, at 25Km from the star port. I still managed to improve though, so I thought I should submit it
Then I thought I'd pick a ship that Crotalus hadn't raced yet and give that a go, so I made an entry in the Classic Dolphin class. I took the lead from Crotalus and outfitted it entirely at Jaques and had no issues buying all the things I wanted. I had the same 3 obscured jumps this time as well on top of an interdiction and a missed drop out of SC
I hope that the next time I get a chance to race the alignment is kinder to me.
Then I thought I'd pick a ship that Crotalus hadn't raced yet and give that a go, so I made an entry in the Classic Dolphin class. I took the lead from Crotalus and outfitted it entirely at Jaques and had no issues buying all the things I wanted. I had the same 3 obscured jumps this time as well on top of an interdiction and a missed drop out of SC
I hope that the next time I get a chance to race the alignment is kinder to me.
I did a Dolphin run earlier plus Keelback, Asp Scout, Krait phantom, Krait MK2 and Orca, none of the runs were good, I even had Colonia obscured on one of them
I am sure your Dolphin time was better than mine
All runs now submitted
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It has only been a few days and CMDR crotalus has made another six runs in Classic with different ships, bought and outfitted in Colonia. Of note of these attempts was a narrow scrape in the high gravity at Brazilian Dream, that saw the Krait Phantom C Celeste touch down with only 7% hull. Otherwise, the runs were fairly consistent across different ship types, with only four and half minutes separating his fastest run, in the Asp Scout C Hecla, with his slowest, in the Keelback C Carina. Even this latter attempt was faster than five of his previous attempts, leaving all but his Cobra MkIII C Ashei and Imperial Courier Isis lagging behind.
The big movement on the Classic leaderboard comes at the front where two new CMDRs have announced their presence. CMDR Ozric now has second place with his Dolphin Where's My Dorsal, just over two minutes faster than the Dolphin time set by CMDR crotalus in the C Delphinus earlier in the same day. CMDR Ozric's Dolphin was also the first to break the 40 minute barrier and he reported fewer obscured targets than his Unlimited attempts (see below). CMDR Ozric did not have long at the top and the new leader is CMDR Darplata94 in his DBX Atrox II with a time of 37:33. Congratulations!
Activity in the Unlimited section is between Ozric and CMDR Darplata94 again, with both reporting up to five obscured targets and even interdictions hampering their runs and slowing them down. CMDR Darplata94 achieve a time of 36:17 in his highly engineered DBX Rolled Gold, after making several attempts affected by unfavourable planetary alignments. CMDR Ozric again flew an Asp Explorer, the White Dwarf Hunter and improved his time to 35:46. The separation between these two pilots is less than can be lost from a single obscured target, so planetary alignments may yet play a significant effect in attempts to top the leaderboard in both classes.
The big movement on the Classic leaderboard comes at the front where two new CMDRs have announced their presence. CMDR Ozric now has second place with his Dolphin Where's My Dorsal, just over two minutes faster than the Dolphin time set by CMDR crotalus in the C Delphinus earlier in the same day. CMDR Ozric's Dolphin was also the first to break the 40 minute barrier and he reported fewer obscured targets than his Unlimited attempts (see below). CMDR Ozric did not have long at the top and the new leader is CMDR Darplata94 in his DBX Atrox II with a time of 37:33. Congratulations!
Activity in the Unlimited section is between Ozric and CMDR Darplata94 again, with both reporting up to five obscured targets and even interdictions hampering their runs and slowing them down. CMDR Darplata94 achieve a time of 36:17 in his highly engineered DBX Rolled Gold, after making several attempts affected by unfavourable planetary alignments. CMDR Ozric again flew an Asp Explorer, the White Dwarf Hunter and improved his time to 35:46. The separation between these two pilots is less than can be lost from a single obscured target, so planetary alignments may yet play a significant effect in attempts to top the leaderboard in both classes.
Many thanks for the entry CMDR Junagu and welcome to the Buckyball Racing Club!
Your time is now on the leaderboard: it has been a quiet few days and there are no other entries in the offing, though several CMDRs who have taken part in races are out in Colonia at the moment. Planetary alignments are unusually important to this race and almost everyone who has so far taken part has felt that they could do much better.
Fly fast!
Your time is now on the leaderboard: it has been a quiet few days and there are no other entries in the offing, though several CMDRs who have taken part in races are out in Colonia at the moment. Planetary alignments are unusually important to this race and almost everyone who has so far taken part has felt that they could do much better.
Fly fast!
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
I managed to get a pretty good run in my Asp this afternoon. I managed to cut down the number of obscured jumps to 2, and although there were still a few errors with the run I was pretty pleased with it. I think if I got a run without any obscured jumps I may be able to push the 30 minute mark, which considering she's an explorer I'd be more than happy with.
I also decided to buy a Mamba and give that a race (apologies for the shockingly lazy name), got to spend those credits somehow... I brought and fitted one at Jaques and although it meant I couldn't get the D rated Life Support, or Sensors, I manage to get a nifty ship out of it. This is my first time flying a Mamba outside of the beta it was introduced in, and for it's size I have to say it handles itself really well. I think it might actually lose something during engineering, it feels like there's a fine balance there.
Well the first run was a disaster 2 obscured jumps, an interdiction, too fast for Orbital Cruise, too fast for Glide twice... I was going to call it a night, but I thought I'd have one more go while I knew the jumps were somewhat aligned. I still dropped out of Orbital Cruise for being too fast (which I dispute!) and had the 2 obscured jumps, there's definitely a lot of room for others to improve on it, but it's a reasonable first entry
Thanks a lot again for setting this course up Edelgard, it's very tricksy. It's certainly a good one for a standing challenge.
I did also have a close call in Isil on my way out of one station. I saw a T6 in my peripheral vision as I was about to enter the hangar to turn around. I hesitated hitting boost to see if I needed to avoid it, but decided to just plow through
Source: https://youtu.be/PLPdf18JuDg
I also decided to buy a Mamba and give that a race (apologies for the shockingly lazy name), got to spend those credits somehow... I brought and fitted one at Jaques and although it meant I couldn't get the D rated Life Support, or Sensors, I manage to get a nifty ship out of it. This is my first time flying a Mamba outside of the beta it was introduced in, and for it's size I have to say it handles itself really well. I think it might actually lose something during engineering, it feels like there's a fine balance there.
Well the first run was a disaster
2 obscured jumps, an interdiction, too fast for Orbital Cruise, too fast for Glide twice... I was going to call it a night, but I thought I'd have one more go while I knew the jumps were somewhat aligned. I still dropped out of Orbital Cruise for being too fast (which I dispute!) and had the 2 obscured jumps, there's definitely a lot of room for others to improve on it, but it's a reasonable first entry Thanks a lot again for setting this course up Edelgard, it's very tricksy. It's certainly a good one for a standing challenge.
I did also have a close call in Isil on my way out of one station. I saw a T6 in my peripheral vision as I was about to enter the hangar to turn around. I hesitated hitting boost to see if I needed to avoid it, but decided to just plow through
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