(0,55)
Still a few sunlit uplands visible, otherwise it's the darkness and me.
Still a few sunlit uplands visible, otherwise it's the darkness and me.
The Circumnavigation of Mercury
- Thread starter Andrew Linton
- Start date
(0,55.788)
Sol at zero degrees.
Sol at zero degrees.
Here's my night vision HUD at (0,57). I have stopped recording using OBS for several reasons: there's nothing to see; progress is slower now and I was already using 14Gb of storage per degree; I now record location every half degree using the screenshot event.
I was feeling some pressure to complete each degree as quickly as possible merely to save disk space. Now I can take my time, relatively, and do some mining - I'm down to my last 97 basic repairs having started with 150.
I was feeling some pressure to complete each degree as quickly as possible merely to save disk space. Now I can take my time, relatively, and do some mining - I'm down to my last 97 basic repairs having started with 150.
(0,59)
If I can reach (0,60) today then I'll be only 10 degrees from half-way. A big push tomorrow might do that, but more likely it'll be Wednesday. I have to fit in two episodes of The Man in the High Castle and spend some time in the galley making a sourdough loaf.
If I can reach (0,60) today then I'll be only 10 degrees from half-way. A big push tomorrow might do that, but more likely it'll be Wednesday. I have to fit in two episodes of The Man in the High Castle and spend some time in the galley making a sourdough loaf.
(0,59.76)
This central peak of the impact crater I'm in is right on the equator and is the first one to be directly on my route. I've been past several, but as Alec and I discovered a few days back, they can look close but are deceptively distant. I'm calling this one Mons Lintonis.
This central peak of the impact crater I'm in is right on the equator and is the first one to be directly on my route. I've been past several, but as Alec and I discovered a few days back, they can look close but are deceptively distant. I'm calling this one Mons Lintonis.
Mons Lintonis summit reached, without difficulty. I was hoping the summit would be close to (0,60); as it happens it's 6km away. What a fine view it would be, if only Sol were shining on the scene.
...now for a speedy descent.
...now for a speedy descent.
(0,60) I think that's me done for now.
Making excellent progress!
Thanks, driving in the dark isn't so bad and is some ways is easier - you can only deal with what you can see and can't be frightened by the jaws of a canyon that yawn just over the next rise.
I've been trying the mid-flight course correction with some success, but at the moment it's more luck than judgement. It's a useful technique, though, that I intend to master.
(0,62)
An advantage of no longer recording on OBS is that I can listen to the radio again. This also acts as a canary in a mine: when the Mauve Adder bites the canary I know my internet has gone and there's no point driving on until the game tries to check in with the servers and makes the discovery for itself. Hopefully I can cut down on the extra kilometres involved in driving over the same ground twice.
An advantage of no longer recording on OBS is that I can listen to the radio again. This also acts as a canary in a mine: when the Mauve Adder bites the canary I know my internet has gone and there's no point driving on until the game tries to check in with the servers and makes the discovery for itself. Hopefully I can cut down on the extra kilometres involved in driving over the same ground twice.
(0,63)
Forcing myself to learn the mid-flight yaw, despite the cost to the hull. I discovered that the pitch down approach works better for me even though, while skimming over sand dunes, the intuitive thing to do is to pitch up or at least stay level. With 'pitch down' you can keep an eye on the ground which is both attractive and hard.
Forcing myself to learn the mid-flight yaw, despite the cost to the hull. I discovered that the pitch down approach works better for me even though, while skimming over sand dunes, the intuitive thing to do is to pitch up or at least stay level. With 'pitch down' you can keep an eye on the ground which is both attractive and hard.
I have a new instructional video coming soon, just captioning it now. That said nothing beats practice so I don't know how useful it will be.
It will be very useful and I'm grateful that you're doing it. 
(0,65)
Five degrees to the half-way point.
Five degrees to the half-way point.
Excellent tutorial, I think I'll take my other account to a low gravity planet to practice - that should give more time to perform the manoeuvre; on Mercury I find I'm heading back to the ground before doing everything I want. I guess it needs to become instinctive after each bounce. I'm not ready for my Grade 1 exam yet. What would be nice would be a 2-seater SRV with dual controls, like in a light aircraft.
I'd LOVE a 2-seater. I'd spend all my time giving people rides and/or running Alec's Driving School!
I realise I forgot to talk about boost in the video but hopefully you can hear what I'm doing in the audio. Basically I generally have plenty of boost in reserve as I approach a bounce so when things go wrong (i.e. those twists) the first thing I do is burn my boost to get me some ground clearance while I'm performing these manoeuvres.
(0,66)
Covered some of the ground three times owing to Mauve Adder.
Covered some of the ground three times owing to Mauve Adder.
(0,69)
The last three degrees have been very kind with dramatic canyons and vast plains. 42.6km from half-way.
The last three degrees have been very kind with dramatic canyons and vast plains. 42.6km from half-way.
(0,70)
Halfway point. It's like when you first become Deadly and you think "I'm nearly Elite" and then you learn that you're only halfway there. I just need to do this again and the circumnavigation will be complete.
Halfway point. It's like when you first become Deadly and you think "I'm nearly Elite" and then you learn that you're only halfway there. I just need to do this again and the circumnavigation will be complete.