The Cassiopeia Project

[Jaiotu]

Aye I wouldn't mind going a bit faster, alternatively knowing where we are going after the end of this week as I may need to get a head start to ensure I'm there with everyone else Don't play much on the weekends.

I would be okay with speeding things up pending group consensus.

We're supposed to be at AR Cassiopeia by Saturday. Next stop from there is Kappa Cassiopeia. After that we start the hunt for Tycho's SNR.

 

[Jaiotu]

So far the search of a decent source of Jumponium Materials in systems around Ruchbah have come up negative. I'm off to get some sleep and will be back online in a few hours.

I did get my heart racing earlier today. I found a designation for Cassiopeia A that I had previously been unaware of: T99b J232327.94+584842.4

I wasn't able to get into the game for several hours after discovering that particular designation so, of course, I let me imagination get ahead of me. I was certain that I'd log into Elite: Dangerous, search the galaxy map and find Cas A. Sadly, still come up missing.

On the upside, I found this: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dmilisav/casa-webapp/model.html

The fact that Harvard University took the time to create that 3D model of Cas A is further evidence of just how much study has gone into this particular object. It is increasing unfathomable to me that Cas A could possibly be missing from a game that claim 1:1 simulation of the Milky Way.

I'll be on later tonight. o7

 

[CMDR_Halceon]

I would be okay with speeding things up pending group consensus.

We're supposed to be at AR Cassiopeia by Saturday. Next stop from there is Kappa Cassiopeia. After that we start the hunt for Tycho's SNR.

OK with me either way. I'm still scavenging materials, but could do that later as well.

 

[RatPhink]

I'm fine with the current pace. As a first time explorer it's very stress free, but I can understand if others might find it boring. If the consensus is for a faster pace I would have no real problem with that.

The slower pace would be a lot more enjoyible if we could put together some more specific and official activities. Meeting, winging up and doing our own thing is great, but a group planetary prospecting event with SRV races to see who can get 9 germanium the fastest. Or the fuel rescue drills could be a lot of fun, without requireing a lot of organization. Stuff like this would be a great way to pass the time and feel like we're still on/in the expedition. Can you say "team building exercise?"

I know time zones have been our biggest enemy in this area. Maybe we should have Rendezvous meetings/activities set up to where they always happen 3 or 4 preset times throughout the day. After a few days of tweeking we should have a pretty good idea of what the best times would be. This would help people to coordinate their playtime schedules and maximize attendance at any expedition events.

 

[raymondo the great]

As Ruchbah is basically dead how about we move things up just a smidge and do a coordinated jump from their to next WP for anyone on at say 2100 or 2200 GMT (time when most players are on according to steam) and then check that area for Jumponium as a group? If it's good we can spend the day there, if not look at moving again tomorrow?

 

[Cpt.Bilsn]

So how about we do some rescue drills at tomorrow's destination? It could be done with groups of 2-3 commanders, no need for strict organisation and could be fun... Basically space hide and seek .

 

[Capt. Paul Kavinsky]

I'm fine with the current pace. As a first time explorer it's very stress free, but I can understand if others might find it boring. If the consensus is for a faster pace I would have no real problem with that.

The slower pace would be a lot more enjoyible if we could put together some more specific and official activities. Meeting, winging up and doing our own thing is great, but a group planetary prospecting event with SRV races to see who can get 9 germanium the fastest. Or the fuel rescue drills could be a lot of fun, without requireing a lot of organization. Stuff like this would be a great way to pass the time and feel like we're still on/in the expedition. Can you say "team building exercise?"

I know time zones have been our biggest enemy in this area. Maybe we should have Rendezvous meetings/activities set up to where they always happen 3 or 4 preset times throughout the day. After a few days of tweeking we should have a pretty good idea of what the best times would be. This would help people to coordinate their playtime schedules and maximize attendance at any expedition events.

yeah finding a good time when our time zones overlap would be great right now its 3:00 pmish for me i wont be able to get until 3 more hours

 

[Commander William Diffin]

yeah finding a good time when our time zones overlap would be great right now its 3:00 pmish for me i wont be able to get until 3 more hours

Perhaps that would be easiest to accomplish if we include a new column on the sign-up spreadsheet for our Time Zones?

 

[Commander William Diffin]

Just a quick question to expedition members: Do you feel like we are moving too slow? I don't want to hold back the veteran explorers but I also want to make sure that we aren't outpacing the novices.

This first week is being done at a deliberate crawl, barely leaving the Bubble at all until Saturday. We will start speeding things up next week.

Oh, and for your reading pleasure I found an interesting article about Cassiopeia A:

http://www.space.com/28407-radioactive-bubbles-punched-holes-supernova.html

Fascinating article, that's new theory to me. If Cas A was closer perhaps a thin trace layer of radioactive nickel could be found in the geological record, but that's pushing the boat out too far I think.

The pace could be quicker, but I'm learning too and I'm happy with it. I could head out for Kappa Cas right now if I had to, prospecting worlds all the way. But tbh I'm used to exploring unarmed, and since I learned that most if not all expedition members are armed, I've been trying to equip the Pourquoi Pas? with some sort of viable combat capability whilst maintaining at least 50L-y maximum jump range; impossible on a 2A Power Plant without lots of Engineered upgrades. Now I just need Proto Heat Radiators for one more good G5 Efficient Weapon upgrade from Wolf 397 to be able to run two Utility Mounts in combat at the same time. Then I'm good to go. The current timetable gives me more than enough time to do that

(Couldn't resist it)

 

[Commander William Diffin]

Gallery

Shot of the meet-up at Caph yesterday; I managed to be upside-down throughout despite not being Australian:

Also, bumped into Cmdr Snowflake82 at the alien crash site just after midnight Galactic Time; very eerie, remaining pragmatic becomes an overwhelming necessity. Some video stills especially for those who haven't seen the alien ships yet:

(Me testing the recon capability of my new Taipan on the alien crash site; Cmdr Snowflake82's SRV moving in from the left)

(Closer look at the 'spokes' of the alien vessel)

(Interesting ribbed structures, some sort of bioluminescence and organic mucus)

(Wrecked SRV towards the centre of the crash site)

(Unknown artefacts at the hub of the crashed vessel. Blue smoke and glittering electric blue particles sometimes surround the artefacts, blurring them. Some of them levitate above the planet surface.)

(Closer look at Unknown Artefact, demonstrating their obviously organic nature)

Judging from the appearance of the crash site and the still-living UAs, this crash is no fossil and must have happened fairly recently. I suspect that we may find more and stranger things on this expedition. I'll head to Ruchbah now.

 

[CMDR_Halceon]

Perhaps that would be easiest to accomplish if we include a new column on the sign-up spreadsheet for our Time Zones?

Apologies if I overstepped my authority (which is none), but I did go and add both time zone and usual in-game time columns to the spreadsheet if anyone would like to use them.

 

[Cpt.Bilsn]

Apologies if I overstepped my authority (which is none), but I did go and add both time zone and usual in-game time columns to the spreadsheet if anyone would like to use them.

I was right on to overstep my authority and add that only to find you already did

 

[Jaiotu]

Apologies if I overstepped my authority (which is none), but I did go and add both time zone and usual in-game time columns to the spreadsheet if anyone would like to use them.

Not a problem. Thanks for adding it. It is a good idea.

 

[Capt. Paul Kavinsky]

Not a problem. Thanks for adding it. It is a good idea.

THARGOIDS AMONG US!!!! GENERAL QAURTERS!!!!!

 

[RatPhink]

I forgot to bring this up before, but the above article reminded me of it.

Didn't Tychos star have a binary companion that survived the nova, but was expelled from the system? It's been over a week but I'm pretty sure I search the galaxy map for its catalogue number and came up empty handed.

I'm not sure how, but it would be cool to find it as well.

 

[Cpt.Bilsn]

I forgot to bring this up before, but the above article reminded me of it.

Didn't Tychos star have a binary companion that survived the nova, but was expelled from the system? It's been over a week but I'm pretty sure I search the galaxy map for its catalogue number and came up empty handed.

I'm not sure how, but it would be cool to find it as well.

It's Tycho G and if I am not mistaken, that's actually what we are looking for (check the front page) as there is suppose to be only planetary nebula left of Tycho's supernova.

 

[raymondo the great]

I have updated the spreadsheet with my availability, please note this is hours I "Can" Be on, not hours I "Will" Be on - IE if needed I can be on during these times but you won't always find me on during those times.

 

[isaidNO]

I have updated the spreadsheet with my availability, please note this is hours I "Can" Be on, not hours I "Will" Be on - IE if needed I can be on during these times but you won't always find me on during those times.

Same and same here - that's my general daily window, but it depends on the day (wife kids blah)

 

[Jaiotu]

It's Tycho G and if I am not mistaken, that's actually what we are looking for (check the front page) as there is suppose to be only planetary nebula left of Tycho's supernova.

Yes, Tycho G is 'Step 1' of the project. It will probably be a bit harder to find then Cassiopeia A (assuming either of them actually exist on the galaxy map). For Tycho G we are going to be looking for G2 class stars in the approximate area where Tycho's SNR *should* be located.

Unfortunately the game lacks the tools that we'd need to be able to identify Tycho G with certainty. If we could view data on each star's relative velocity compared to other nearby stars it would be much simpler. I'm planning on uploading videos explaining what we are looking for and how we'll proceed with the search as we get closer to the target.

 

[Jaiotu]

MISSION UPDATE: 8 NOV 3302

Sorry about going silent for a while there. I was feeling deeply under the weather yesterday.

There hasn't been a full consensus regarding whether we should keep to the current slower start to the mission or speed things up. Having the extra prep-days built into the schedule does have some advantages that at leas some members of the crew are exploiting. I'd therefore like to propose that we organize a scouting mission and have a few folks move ahead toward Kappa Cassiopeia looking for viable sites for extraction of Arsenic, Niobium, Yttrium and Polonium for premium FSD jumps.

I'll probably take the slower route right now simply because I'd like to do some video editing. I need to get a brief tutorial regarding exploration online before we leave "The Bubble". We can then all meet together on Saturday in AR Cassiopeia where we can do the rescue drills and maybe an SRV race. I've actually never done an SRV race, or even been on a planet surface with a 2nd SRV present to be honest. I'm mostly a hermit

If anyone would like to offer an alternative plan I'm open to suggestions. I'm very democratic and don't want to run this mission in an authoritarian fashion.

Keep flying!