The Galactic Mapping Project & Historical Archive of Exploration

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

INTERNAL LINKS

Galactic Regions & Overview Map
The Expedition Hub
History of Beagle Point & Archived Maps
The Age of Pioneers
The Distant Worlds Expeditions
New Horizon & DSSV Distant Worlds

EXTERNAL LINKS

Colonia Connection Highway
ED Astrometrics
FalconFly's Guide to Locating Bio Signals
Sheehy's Biological & Geological Guide
Guru-951's Constellation Tour

THE GALACTIC MAPPING PROJECT - IN ASSOCIATION WITH EDSM (LOGO LINK)

-

The Galactic Mapping Project is the oldest community project in Elite Dangerous - founded on February 19th 2015. Originally a labour of love for its founder during the first 16 months of its existence, the GMP maps and associated POI data collated up until that point, were migrated across to the EDSM platform, which launched on May 21st 2016. EDSM has hosted the project ever since.

Although the community naming of locations collated within this project are not officially recognised by Frontier, they have on occasions used some of the names submitted by players to the GMP for certain points of interest, and implemented them into the game. These include;

Beagle Point, Colonia, Rendezvous Point, The Abyss, Sagittarrii Conflux, Orion-Perseus Conflux, Tenebrae/Tenebris, Hawking's Gap, The Norma Expanse, Macedonica's Leap, VonRictofen's Rescue, The Anaconda's Graveyard.

FDev are therefore receptive to adding certain community-named POIs to the in-game map and lore (if they become well-known locations), as such its highly recommended that when submitting POIs of your own to the GMP, you choose names that fit within the spirit of the gameworld and its setting - to give it a better chance of being considered as part of the official lore.

Video by Obsidian Ant

Polygon article about the GMP, by Charlie Hall (May 6th, 2019)

INTRODUCTION & ENTRY STIPULATIONS

Introduction :

This project was born out of the very early days of deep space exploration (early 3300), during the Age of Pioneers, when the first explorers began traveling far beyond human borders and out to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Along the way these early pioneers discovered many diverse and interesting points of interest, created maps, and logged data of what they found out there.

Apart from our local region, the galaxy is filled with procedurally generated names that don't really inspire the imagination or do justice to some of the wondrous sites out there.

During my journeys across the Vela Molecular Ridge and to the far side of the galaxy in the early days of Elite Dangerous exploration, I created a few names for the places I've seen along the way and labeled them on the various maps I made - mainly as it was easier to use my own labels when describing some place I'd seen rather than the unusually long and uninspiring procedural names the game generates.

I thought other players could do the same and provided they can prove they were there (via a video or screenshot) they get to name that location for the community mapping project maps... as long as they choose a sensible name of course. Its all unofficial obviously, until FD start labelling things themselves when more content is added.

As an example, when I crossed the gap between the Norma arm and outer galactic core I labelled that area on the map, the "Norma Arm Expanse", as its a large 2,500 LY low star density gap between the far fringe of the Norma arm and beginning of the 3kpc arm. Its very distinctive on the galactic map, but has no description (update: Aug. 2018 - Frontier have now added this to the game as the Norma Expanse). I also passed through a core region nebula that was packed full of young stars that I called the Greae Phio Stellar Forge (after the region its located in). The galactic outer rim was so devoid of stars, nothing but inky blackness outside my window, it was like staring into an abyss... so I labelled it the "Abyss" on the maps I made (update: Aug. 2018 - Frontier have now added this to the game as the Abyss).

Link: 65,000 LYs away.

I made a start, and hoped other deep space explorers would add their own flavour to it. When you discover something interesting, a point of interest, or a feature that deserves a far better description than a procedurally generated string, you could add it to the map. We could gradually build up a galactic overview of lots of points of interest that explorers can add to their 'must visit' list'. A sort of almanac... explorers guide to the galaxy.

The mapping project its not meant to be a purely scientific database full of stats, figures, and facts (I'm sure those kinds of mapping databases will come to Elite at some point), instead, this initiative is more geared toward 'humanizing' the galaxy via commanders writing about their adventures, submitting photo's of their discoveries, and adding some 'flavour' text to what they discovered.. something that other explorers in times to come can read up on, and go visit themselves when out traversing the depths.

Together we can build up an archive of POIs, and record within them the history of exploration in Elite Dangerous.

Erimus Kamzel - 19th Feb. 2015

The guidelines are :

Candidate entries ideally should be something unique or rare. This can be anything from statistical record breakers or visually spectacular locations to places of historical interest or with interesting stories behind them. A good rule of thumb is this: “Would another explorer be willing to travel thousands of LYs to visit this place?”
Your entry should be something you've visited personally. Please provide documentation of your visit in the form of screenshots or video. Any “glamour” image that you would like to see added to the map entry itself should preferably be resized to a with of 640 pixels.
Only choose names that fit within the spirit of the game. Please no silly phrases or POIs named after your commander. For ideas you can check out the real life astronomical naming conventions, or choose something completely different if you prefer - as long as it is sensible and not like this.
No renaming of real life places or FD named places. We are only replacing procedural names and not renaming catalogue stars like HD, HIP, etc.. However it is acceptable to submit an entry for a real-life astronomical object under its real name.
All submissions should be considered as player created fiction only. If FD rename any in-game POIs for whatever reason, the GMP will follow suit and rename entries to whatever FD do.
All submissions are treated in the chronological order they were submitted to this thread, regardless on whether the person submitting the entry has in-game 'tagged' it or not. Please bear in mind that the GMP team update entries and EDSM in their spare time so on the whole we will use this thread for the vast majority of entries. It is unpractical and too time-consuming to scour other threads for POI names explorers have made mention of.
Older POIs usually stay on the map even if the game evolves to make them less rare finds. One example of this is Jumponium-Rich systems. These used to require a lot of effort to find and verify, but new scanning mechanics have made it much easier and they are no longer considered rare. But to honor the hard work originally put into locating these, we are not removing the ones already on the map.
Added May 2020 : Exploration rarities and statistics - what to look for. A comprehensive guide by Heavy Johnson (GMP team member).

A minority of entries may not always conform to the guidelines that have been set out, as they are not strict rules to adhere to, but the GMP staff will use them to try and keep the integrity and ethos of the project on track wherever they deem necessary.

POI Catagories :

Most prominent POIs:

Historical Location - a place of particular interest in the history of exploration. Examples include extreme deep space meetings of explorers or the very first visits to very remote areas.
Mystery POI - locations tied to mystery and lore, like abandoned settlements, derelict generation ships or alien civilizations.
Deep Space Outpost - any starport outside the inhabited bubble.
Restricted Sectors - locked areas inaccessible to FSD travel.
Jumponium-Rich System - a system particularly rich in materials used for FSD synthesis. (NOTE: The GMP no longer accepts submissions of these).

Major features:

Star Cluster - any stellar cluster present in the game.
Nebula - any (non-planetary) nebula present in the game.
Regional Feature - any other remarkable phenomenon that covers more than a single star system.

Other places of interest:

Planetary Nebula - most planetary nebula do not qualify for inclusion. Planetary nebula need to be exceptionally interesting to be added to the GMP, due to the large number of them in the game. However, all PN's can be submitted to Marx's Catalogue of Galactic Nebulae as an alternative, linked here.
Pulsar - any system described as a pulsar or known to be a real world pulsar.
Black Hole - remarkable black hole or combination of black holes.
Stellar Features - remarkable star or combination of stars. Including remarkable stellar rings, Lagrange clouds and anomalies (see special note below).
Planetary Features - remarkable planet or system composition. Including remarkable planetary rings.
Topographical Features - remarkable surface features like canyons or mountains.
Organic POI - remarkable organic finds in remarkable locations (see special note below).
Geological POI - remarkable geological finds in remarkable locations (see special note below).
Archived POI - these are older entries that may not hold the interest or relevance they may once have, often due to the bar being raised when new content is added (Odyssey being a prime example). The GMP team periodically review POIs and will archive ones they feel no longer hold the relevance they once did.

Special note on Codex POIs :

There are probably thousands upon thousands of Codex POIs out there and for the map we only want those few that truly stand out. Before you submit a Codex POI to the mapping project, remember the golden rule: “Would another explorer be willing to travel thousands of LYs to visit this place?”. Examples of stuff we WOULD be interested in could be highly unusual combinations like a Lagrange cloud with space lightning near a ringed ELW, or a system where nearly every type of anomaly can be found, or a planet with an extremely high number of biological POIs, etc.

Important! Submitting Points of Interest:

Please use the following convention when submitting an entry (and in this order)..

Name:	(Name of your entry after checking the naming stipulations mentioned above)
Game map search ref:	(Provide the exact procedural name of the POI you discovered - if its a nebula choose a system within the nebula to act as its reference location)
Description:	(Write a short description of what you found)
Screenshot reference:	(Provide the post # or link of where your screenshot or video of your POI can be found - it is a big help if you provide the image resized or cropped to a with of 640 pixels. If this is not possible for you just submit the image anyways and we will do it for you. But it does save us a lot of time if you have done it yourself)

THE MAPPING TEAM

	Project Founder & Custodian (February 19th 2015 - Present) Original region and POI data collation and entry. Original 2d Map creation, regional labeling and text descriptions. Regional border defining and mapping. Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Custodian (21st May 2016 - Present) High-def map production (with Finwen EDDiscovery). Regional border defining and mapping. Localized mapping & POI data entry. EDSM regional screenshot incorporation.
	Custodian (21st May 2016 - Present) EDSM programming and galactic map incorporation. Regional polygon creation in EDSM for the borders defined by Erimus Kamzel & Corbin Moran.
	Custodian (21st May 2016 - Present) Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Custodian (24th May 2017 - Present) Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Former Custodian (27th February 2018 - 2nd February 2021) Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Custodian (7th May 2020 - Present) Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Custodian (2nd February 2021 - Present) Localized mapping & POI data entry.
	Custodian (2nd February 2021 - Present) Localized mapping & POI data entry.

MAPPING PROJECT CONTRIBUTORS

A
AbsolutePK, Absolver, A. C. Dobro VI, Adeezha, Admiral Spoon, Agony_Aunt, Aiki_Zvezda, Akira Masakari, Akurei, Alac, Alec Turner, Alesia , AlexBrentnall, Alex Swindler, Alex Traut, Alistair Hope, Alkibiades, Allitnil, AlkholHardin, Ancient King, Andete, Andrew Gaspurr, Andrew Marcus, AndyBoom, AndyMJ, AnthorNet, Anuranium, Axonteer, ArachAu, Archaicjinn, Archvillain, Argon, Arkkan, Artemis quinn, Asayanami, Asdon, Astirian, Aterfax, Athrael Emathors, Atreyeu, Áurum, Azraphael

B
Babaa Yaga, Bafaut, Bakerloo, Barefoot Bandit, Baroness Galaxy, BastiWandeR, Bathuzad, Baton, Baxder, Becquerel, Bendurion, Bigmaec, BigZiggyHD, Billy Chase, BL1P, BlackMirror, Bluebottle, Bjorna, bobrodobro, BradHann, Bravada Cadelanne, Byped

C
Caedus, Captain Redeye, Chankk Saotome, Chessi, Chob, Chronverge, Chrystoph, Ciel Noir, CJPilot, CMDR Bartizan, CMDR DasExorcist, CMDR_Fru, CMDRGURU951, Cmdr Joe 2016, CMDRLeesti, CMDR Legomayhem, CMDR Mechia, CMDR Pitou, CMDR Robb Macruz, CMDR RogueJP, Cmdr ST4R F0X, Cmdr Tornadopelt, Coldglider, Commander Alesia, Conal Cuan, Corbin Moran, Coryphaeus, Coslnay, Coyote, Crassus, Crel00, Cula-Ta

D
Daemon Black, Dakeyras, Dalgin, Dandak, Dante Chusuk, dape, Darker than Black, DartBatiatus, David Bowman, Deadfight, Deathbane, Derthek, DeVice Null, Dobbo, Dinochrome, Diostar50, DocteurGui, Domaq, Dominic Hyde, Dommarraa, Dpjon, Draco, Draco84oz, Dragoon0123, Drake McCoy, Dr.Digital, Dread-Fox, Drew Wagar, drkaii, DrNoesis, Drownerfood, Dunadin, DVHeld, Dyse

E
Eahlstan, Edamski, EddyRockSteady, Edelgard von Rhein, edgar, edgepixel, Edmund Black, Eisen, EfilOne, El-Thorgrin, empyrean190, Enigmatic, EoD, Erimus, Ericbol0703, Esvandiary, EtherealCereal, Evil Ed, Evoflash, excalibus

F
Falconfly, Ferdan, Ferris, Finwen, FloatingGhost, floc, Flyinspaghetti, foobaron76, Frang, Frankymole, Frawd Digger, Frontier Guest 0195570, Fuchsov, Fuci, FurioMan, Fyrzo, FilmExile

G
Galaban, Gastone, Gazatronic, Gerakis, GerUA, Gibbonici, Giieko, Gombari Noah, graafje, Grebenkov, Gregg Rulz ok, GregMalcolm, Greytest, Griffin, Guy De Lombard, GuyWithoutAPie

H
Hanekura Shizuka, HansMeiser, Han Zulu, HappySpaceInvr, Harper Lewis, Hawkflight, Hathor86, HazardousMatt, Heavy Johnson, Hedy, Henkka77, HEIFEHEN, Herzbube, Highwaywarrior, Histarium, Holint

I
iain666, Ian Dane, ibanix, IDragox, Idronan, IncoherentOrange, iospace, Iridium Nova, Iron Body, Iron Orchid, ishmair, italktowalls, Itznya Akkadia

J
Jackie Silver, Jak, Jaredd, Jason Thorpe, Jav Marlo, Jeff God of Biscuits, jenos, Jerek, Jermus, Jimbo Lazy, JKB, Joghiarius, Jonas Treesong, JonathanBurnage, Jorki Rasalas, jusaari11

K
Kalie Lennox, Kancro Vantas, Karaya1, Karla, kastia, Katejina, Kazahnn Drahnn, kccummings3, Kelanen Alcatraz, Kennzo, Kensei, Kerenn, khaos526, Kieffer, killosopher, Kiultoll, Kola2, KOLUMBUS, Konnivar, Kr1spy, Kray, Krikemaric, Kurama 1100, KvaNTy, Ky Vatta

L
Lance 'Spacecat' D, Lapsang Twobob, Largo Ormand, LCU No Fool Like One, Leifur Eiriksson, Leif_Erikson, Lhynn, LivewareCascade, LoboEstelar, Logan Darklighter, LordFedora, Lord Tyvin, LtOBrien, Lucco, LuckyLuigi, Lurker, Lyneira, Lyrae Cursorius

M
MacrosTheBlack, Mad Billy, Mad-Max, Madraptor, Makrone, Malcotch, malenfant, Mai404, Maia Posideina, Major Klutz, Manae, Maolagin, Maro-Val, marx, Markzx59, Marlon Blake, Martín Afonso, Matt Kowalsky, MatYNWA, McBeathan, Mehdic, Mengy, Michael Darkmoor, mienamoo, Mikayé, Mike 'Ziggy' Lucas, Mist0, Mithrasyn, Mindwipe, mjmw, MNarath, Molan Ryke, Montague Druitt, Mooing, Moonrays, moose1036, mossfoot, mtt9999, MudAlfons, Murishani, Murf, Myshka

N
NCC71201, Neil Trayce, Nemaroth, Nexolek, NicoOlvia, Nik Fury, Nightstrider, Nijelu, Nstor, Nolanus Raven, Numida

O
Odengard, OhPif, Okopok, Olfart, Olivia Vespera, Orphius, Osser, Orvidius, Over, overlow, Ozric

P
Palkkipantteri, Panpiper, Pate, Peandreo, PGleesonuk, Phers, phxhawke, Picker, Pilot Mark, Pilot Pirx, Pinda Gupta, Pirin, Piso deUorrior, Pitsligo, Pnyx, Poseidal, Psypher, Psynergy, P4wel

Q
Qohen Leth, QuixoticKoala

R
rampart, Ranaulf, Reise Lang, Rise Kraven, robess, roboteconomist, Rocangus, RolloTreadway, Roqinn, roryclague, Rudi Raumkraut, Robert Macleod, Rogue Roxy

S
Saii, Sakrem, SanCo, Saool, Sapyx, Satsuma, Scal, Sclams, scorpiojoe, Scytale, Seamus Harper, Sepster, Setaou, shadmar, Sharkbiscuit, Shanaeri, Shiftycircle, shreddog, shx, silvermistshadow, Silvershadow, silversheen, Simon Darkstep, SirKiwi, SKafre, Sky Captain, sleoj, SonicXRox, Souvarine, SpaceMonkeyz, Spiderkeegan, Spid3r, SpocksOddSocks, Squid509, Star_Crusider, Starfield, Starlanced, Starry, Steven BinghamSteyla, Stivl Writh, Straha Yeagar, strapkass, Stulli, Sunny v. Isegrim , Surefoot, Surly_Badger, Svenno, Swift Arrow,

T
tachyondecay, Taen, Tango1Down, Terrabla'e, Thalkran, Tharrn, Thatchinho, The Doc, thestyx, TheTick, Thewanderer, ThorCoolguy, thundernuns, Thrawn29, Threeofseven, tired_man, Tom X, Tornadopelt, Traveler, Traveller_GG, Trevor Goodchild, Tromador, Troopi, Tubby, Tumama, Turjan, turkwinif, TwoFingers, Tychu9, Tyy’sun Eson

U
Ultimus, UrbanOrange

V
Varonica, Vasious, Vekt Ey'doom, Ventri, vetal_l, Viva la Ben, Vovva The Bluehaired, Vulcan

W
Waylander Sagan, Wargrum, WesULVD, Wesley Bilby, Weylandt, Wheelybob, Whiterose, Whitmann, Winna, winston, who?, Whoamus, Woodenhorsė

X
Xandermud, Xenia_K, XFightingFalconX, XhaleR, Xin-Ai, xNathRulez22, Xydhroz

Y
Yanick

Z
Zaph Nova, Zenika, Zenith Ddraiglas, Zer0axis, Ziggy Stardust, Zil Zalo, Zinnsei, Zion Ravescene, Zulu Romeo, Zweistein000

#
59thLefty

Special thanks to the Rock Rats, CoR, Canonn, and FGE.

Important note: From May 1st 2022 the Galactic Mapping Project entered maintenance mode, and although some DSSA related POIs will still be added, along with missing screenshots from existing POIs, no new submissions will be added to the community map via the GMP from now on. Those wanting to submit their discoveries to a new community initiative can do so at the Open POI Sharing Project. Updated link: Galactic Exploration Catalog. Link to Maintenance Mode announcement.

This thread will remain open as it contains an archive of historical exploration-related information dating back to the earliest days of Elite Dangerous (not just GMP related info), as well as it hosting the Expedition Hub, which will continue to be updated as and when required.

Follow the GMP on Twitter

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

GMP GALACTIC REGIONS

The regional maps have been a work in progress since the mapping project began back in February 3301. Little by little, as explorers and pioneers traversed the depths of space, they submitted data of their travels to the mapping project to help gradually build up a picture of the galaxy, and over time these player-submitted regions were pieced together.

There are now almost 60 player named regions plus 9 major galactic arms all mapped out and presented on a high definition map for explorers, chroniclers, and storytellers to use in their journey through the gameworld.

From the outset this project was community driven and the maps, regions, and points of interest they contain are not officially sanctioned names by Frontier Developments... although some have become adopted by FDev over time. Most notably among these are Beagle Point, Colonia, and Rendezvous Point (all named by Erimus Kamzel).

With the introduction of the Codex in late 2018, Frontier Developments decided to add a regional overlay to the in-game map, and chose their own region names when doing so. Thus the majority of GMP region names (which pre-dated FDev's by two years and had by then become established within the community lexicon via expeditionary ventures), became obsolete, but they will remain on the community-made map indefinitely. When the Codex regions were added to the game, and following a huge show of support on the exploration forum, FDev compromised and included the player named GMP regions of the Abyss, Hawking's Gap, Norma Expanse, and Tenebrae (all of which were named by Erimus Kamzel), and the Sagittarrii Conflux, and the Orion-Perseus Conflux (both of which were named by Corbin Moran).

The rest of the historical GMP regions that pre-date Frontiers regional overlay are listed here for archival purposes;

The Abyss	The Orion Complex
The Abyssal Plain	Orio-Perseus Gap
Angustia	The Orion Spur
The Anthor Patch	The Orion Spur Shallows
The Ascendance	The Outer Arm Rift
The Bleak Lands	The Outer Arm Vacuus
Boreas	The Perseus Crags
Centaurus Reach	The Perseus Fade
Circinus Transit	The Perseus Transit
Colonia	Perseus Stem
The Dryman Ridge	Sagittarius Gap
Eastern Neutron Fields	The Scar
Eurus	Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux
Exteriores Australis	Silentium
The Fallows	The Sidereal Wall
The Festival Grounds	The Solitude Void
The Formidine Rift	Styx
Galactic Aphelion	Tenebris
The Gallipolis	The Torment
Hawking's Gap	The Tyros Ridge
Hipparcos Basin	The Vela Molecular Ridge
Hyponia	Vela Ultima Complex
Ishtar	Via Maris
Lin-Shu Hollow	Viatori Patuit
Mare Desperationis	Wagar's Reach
Masefield's Ocean	Watkuweis
The Norma Expanse	The Wayfarers Graveyard
Nyauthai Ripple	Western Neutron Fields
Orio-Perseus Conflux	Zephyrus

COMMUNITY NAMED REGIONS

From January 3301 to January 3303, the following deep space explorers visited and named the above regions on behalf of the Galactic Mapping Project...

The Abyss - Erimus Kamzel
The Abyssal Plain - DrNoesis
Angustia - Drew Wagar
The Anthor Patch - Erimus Kamzel
The Ascendance - Corbin Moran
The Bleak Lands - Erimus Kamzel
Boreas - Erimus Kamzel
Centaurus Reach - Corbin Moran
Circinus Transit - Corbin Moran
Colonia - Diostar50 & Erimus Kamzel
The Dryman Ridge - Erimus Kamzel
Eastern Neutron Fields - Kancro Vantas
Eurus - Erimus Kamzel
Exteriores Australis - Allitnil
The Fallows - Erimus Kamzel
The Festival Grounds - Edelgard von Rhein
The Formidine Rift - Drew Wagar
Galactic Aphelion - Erimus Kamzel
The Gallipolis - Erimus Kamzel
Hawking's Gap - Erimus Kamzel
Hipparcos Basin - Corbin Moran
Hyponia - Frontier Developments
Ishtar - Corbin Moran
Lin-Shu Hollow - Andrew Gaspurr
Mare Desperationis - Erimus Kamzel
Masefield's Ocean - Andrew Gaspurr
The Norma Expanse - Erimus Kamzel
Nyauthai Ripple - Andrew Gaspurr
Orio-Perseus Conflux - Corbin Moran
The Orion Complex - Andrew Gaspurr
Orio-Perseus Gap - Erimus Kamzel
The Orion Spur - Real Life Region
The Orion Spur Shallows - Murishani
The Outer Arm Rift - Erimus Kamzel
The Outer Arm Vacuus - Erimus Kamzel
The Perseus Crags - Corbin Moran
The Perseus Fade - Akira Masakari
The Perseus Transit - Real Life Region
Perseus Stem - Erimus Kamzel
Sagittarius Gap - Erimus Kamzel
The Scar - Erimus Kamzel
Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux - Corbin Moran
The Sidereal Wall - Erimus Kamzel
Silentium - Erimus Kamzel
The Solitude Void - Erimus Kamzel
Styx - Corbin Moran
Tenebris - Erimus Kamzel
The Torment - Akira Masakari
The Tyros Ridge - Erimus Kamzel
The Vela Molecular Ridge - Real Life Region
Vela Ultima Complex - Andrew Gaspurr
Via Maris - Erimus Kamzel
Viatori Patuit - Erimus Kamzel
Wagar's Reach - Erimus Kamzel
Watkuweis - Erimus Kamzel
The Wayfarers Graveyard - Erimus Kamzel
Western Neutron Fields - Kancro Vantas
Zephyrus - Erimus Kamzel

GALACTIC OVERVIEW MAP
The overview map poster can be downloaded :Here

- overview map courtesy of Corbin Moran

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

A place dedicated to archiving the history of major expeditionary events.

"Home is behind, the world ahead. And there are many paths to tread. Through shadows to the edge of the night, until the stars are all alight. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade. Away shall fade! Away shall fade!" - Tolkien

THE EARLY ADVENTURERS

DATE	THE EARLY ADVENTURERS - AN AGE OF PIONEERS	INFO
MAR 3300 - APR 3302	A HISTORY OF EARLY EXPLORATION, EXPEDITIONS, AND ACHIEVEMENTS	LINK

PIONEERING EXPEDITIONS

DATE	EXPEDITION	COMMANDER / GROUP	INFO
DEC 3300	1ST JOURNEY TO SAGITTARIUS A*	CMDR Zulu Romeo	LINK
DEC 3300 - JAN 3301	1ST RECORDED GALACTIC CROSSING (DISTANT SUNS EXPEDITION)	CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel	LINK
MAR 3301	THE FORMIDINE RIFT LOCATION SURVEY	Children of Raxxla Founders	LINK
APR 3301 - JUN 3301	1ST RECORDED GALACTIC CIRCUMNAVIGATION	CMDR Turamber	LINK
MAY 3301 - NOV 3301	2ND RECORDED GALACTIC CIRCUMNAVIGATION	CMDR Katejina	LINK
MAY 3301 - JUL 3301	1ST ATTEMPT TO MEASURE THE GALACTIC LIMITS	CMDR Allitnil	LINK
SEP 3301 - FEB 3303	1ST RECORDED GALACTIC OUTER RIM CIRCUMNAVIGATION	CMDR Cruento Mucrone	LINK
MAY 3302	TRANS-POLAR BEAGLE POINT II EXPEDITION (1ST SURFACE MAPPING ATTEMPT)	CMDR Felix Macedonica	LINK
JAN 3302 - MAY 3302	3RD RECORDED GALACTIC CIRCUMNAVIGATION	CMDR Chiggy Vonrictofen	LINK
JAN 3302 - JUN 3302	THE CARDINAL POINT MISSION (BASED ON SAG-A*)	CMDR Duckfather	LINK
JAN 3302 - JUL 3302	THE CARDINAL POINT MISSION (BASED ON SOL)	CMDR Arnoldo	LINK
SEP 3302	1ST RECORDED PLANETARY CIRCUMNAVIGATION	CMDR Tannik Seldon	LINK
OCT 3304 - NOV 3304	1ST SIDEWINDER TO REACH SEMOTUS BEACON	CMDR R4nger0	LINK
MAR 3305	1ST RECORDED MASS PLANETARY CIRCUMNAVIGATION EXPEDITION (20+ COMPLETIONS)	The Planetary Circumnavigation Club	LINK
MAR 3305 - JUN 3310	1ST EXPLORER TO VISIT BEAGLE POINT, SEMOTUS BEACON, COLONIA, & SAG-A* USING EVERY SHIP	CMDR SovereignWinter	LINK

INSPIRATIONAL JOURNALS

NOV 3306 - FEB 3307	Going to Colonia	Alec Turner	LINK
AUG 3307 - ONGOING	Edel's Journey: Beautiful Worlds	Edelgard von Rhein	LINK
SEP 3307 - ONGOING	Expedition IX - "All The Clouds In The Sky"	Deluvian	LINK

ELITE'S LARGEST EXPEDITIONS
350 or more participants

RANK	EXPEDITION	PRIMARY MISSION GOALS	CMDR's	ORGANIZERS	LAUNCHED	INFO
1	★ DISTANT WORLDS 3305 EXPEDITION (DW2)	EXPLORATION & STARPORT CONSTRUCTION	13,625	ERIMUS KAMZEL / DR KAII / QOHEN LETH / DW TEAM	JAN 3305 HORIZONS	LINK
2	★ DISTANT WORLDS 3302 EXPEDITION (DW1)	GALACTIC HIGHWAY MAPPING	1,153	ERIMUS KAMZEL / DR KAII / FLEETCOMM ADMIN	JAN 3302 HORIZONS	LINK
3	APOLLO 50TH ANNIVERSARY	EXPLORATION	670	YANICK	JUL 3305 HORIZONS	LINK
4	ENIGMA EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	611	GREYTEST	JAN 3304 HORIZONS	LINK
5	APOLLO 15 EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	571	YANICK	JUL 3307 ODYSSEY	LINK
6	★ AUGUST EXODUS - A JAUNT TO JAQUES	COLONIZATION EVENT	562	TREESONG / UNREALIZATION / ERIMUS KAMZEL	JUL 3302 HORIZONS	LINK
7	THE BEAGLE POINT EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	500	KING INF3RNO / WISHBLEND	JAN 3304 HORIZONS	LINK
8	CHRISTMAS CARRIERS CONVOY	COLONIZATION EVENT	493	CCN	DEC 3302 HORIZONS	LINK
9	CRAB NEBULA EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	485	SHIRALI	JUN 3302 HORIZONS	LINK
10	PERSEUS REACH EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	448	DR. NAGI	FEB 3306 HORIZONS	LINK
11	ODYSSEY GALACTIC EXPEDTITION	EXPLORATION	371	HUDSON SOLUS	FEB 3307 HORIZONS	LINK
12	ELITE DANGEROUS LORE TOUR	LORE TOUR	365	DREW WAGAR	APR 3306 HORIZONS	LINK
13	★ DISTANT STARS UNKNOWN ORIGINS	EXPLORATION	364	ERIMUS KAMZEL / DR KAII	JAN 3303 HORIZONS	LINK
14	STELLAR UNKNOWN EXPEDITION	EXPLORATION	362	ELTAMIN & SCALEIOS	SEP 3305 HORIZONS	~~LINK~~
15	FORMIDINE RIFT EXPEDITION	DISCOVERY	355	CHILDREN OF RAXXLA	AUG 3302 HORIZONS	LINK

★ Expedition in association with the Galactic Mapping Project.

Update: April 2019 - Unfortunately some of the very early posts that chronicled the early pioneering journeys have been lost during the Frontier forums update of March 28th 2019. If anyone can find them, please let me know. I've added a strike-through for those that are now broken links.

ELITE'S LARGEST CARRIER-ONLY EXPEDITIONS
10 or more Carriers

RANK	EXPEDITION	PRIMARY MISSION GOALS	CARRIERS	ORGANIZERS	LAUNCHED	INFO
1		DSSA DEPLOYMENT EVENT & 1ST GALACTIC CROSSING BY CARRIERS (BUBBLE - BEAGLE POINT)	11	ERIMUS KAMZEL QOHEN LETH	JUNE 3306 HORIZONS	LINK

LINK : HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF ALL EDSM REGISTERED EXPEDITIONARY EVENTS

A VISUAL HISTORY - BY QOHEN LETH

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

The History of Beagle Point

THE HISTORY OF BEAGLE POINT

The History of Beagle Point : Part 1 - Distant Suns

Beagle Point (original designation Ceeckia ZQ-L c24-0) was discovered in January 3301 by CMDR Kamzel during the conclusion of the Distant Suns Expedition (the first galactic crossing by a commander) [VidLog Link, Forum Link]. One year after this journey, Frontier Developments renamed Ceeckia ZQ-L c24-0 to Beagle Point, after the DSS Beagle, the starship that conducted the Distant Suns Expedition.

The discovery...

Ceeckia ZQ-L C24-0 was an unremarkable star system out on the the fringe of the galactic rim, 65,279 Light Years from Sol. Just one star system among 400 billion.

In December 3300, an Asp Explorer piloted by Kamzel departed frontier borders and headed out into the galaxy. Its mission was to test the endurance, wear and tear, and range of the recently released explorer-class starship, document all its discoveries along the way, and look for sentient life within the Galactic Aphelion regions, specifically around the Praei Sector.

The ship, designated Deep Space Surveyor 'Beagle', was stripped down to its bare bones to squeeze as much jump range out of it as possible. Mainly D-Class modules were fitted along with an A-class FSD and C6 Fuel Scoop, overall maximum jump range was around 35 light years - which was considered high-end before the Jumponium and Engineering era. No heatsink was fitted as at the time the dangers of hyperspacing into close binary pairs was unknown and would only become apparent several weeks later. The early prototype NavCom of the day would only plot at maximum of 100 light years at a time, and even that often malfunctioned. There were many unknowns about deep space exploration during this early period of expansion, foreknowledge we take for granted today on how exploration works, what the do's and don'ts are... all of this was in its infancy.

On December 16th 3300 the Distant Suns expedition began with the first tentative steps out in to the galaxy, taking in a visit to the Coalsack and HR 4747. After a brief visit to these frontier neighbors, the DSS Beagle crossed the Sagittarius Gap and visited the Lagoon Nebula. A few days later the starship passed through the NGC 6357 nebula and explored some of the Pismis Star Cluster embedded within.

Three days after departure, Beagle had crossed the Norma Expanse, entered the outer galactic core, and discovered the Grea Phio Stellar Forge. A vid-log transmission of the Forge was transmitted back to human space and made its way into certain publications at the time.

Due to technical difficulties of the prototype NavCom and early route plotter, headway through the galactic core toward Sagittarius A* was slow going, with large detours around 'broken sectors' to navigate a major problem at the time. Finally on January 9th 3301, the Beagle reached Sagittarius A* and became the second known starship to do so, following CMDR Zulu Romeo's trip there a few weeks earlier.

After 4 days of exploring Sag-A* and its nearby systems, the DSS Beagle began the first ever known trip beyond the supermassive black hole, and headed across the far core regions.

On January 16th 3301 the galactic core had been successfully navigated with the Beagle emerging on the far side of the Perseus Stem. Route plotting across the uncharted Galactic Aphelion regions now began and two days later the Beagle reached the mysterious Praei sector within the Aphelion but was unable to enter due to constant NavLoc failure. It took several hours for the ship to skirt around this permit locked sector, during which the ship suffered major hull damage when becoming wedged in the inferno after hyperspacing into a red giant binary pair. The starship was stripped of 30% hull in seconds, and with no heat sink fitted, it was a close call.

After exhausting its AFMU making repairs, and finally plotting a route out across the Scutum-Centaurus arm around the Praei Sector, the Beagle headed out to the far galactic rim.

By mid-January 3301, the starship had reached the edge of the galactic arm and attempted to cross a foreboding inter-am gap that looked so devoid of stars it felt like staring into an Abyss. Indeed, the DSS Beagle had reached one of the most difficult to cross regions in the known galaxy - a region that subsequently became known as the Abyss. At this point the unreliable 100 LY route plotter began to fail, and manual plotting - one system at a time - became the only way to make headway.

Beagle's first attempt at crossing the inhospitable region ended in failure as approximately 500 Lights Years into the void no more systems in the ships' range could be located. At this point Beagle was forced to turn back and carefully retrace its route back into the denser sectors of the Scutum-Centaurus arm.

A few days later Beagle had traveled approximately 8,000 light years along the outer edge of the Scutum arm, looking for a denser ridge of stars across the Abyss through which to make a second attempt. Eventually that ridge was located, and within 24 hours DSS Beagle had made the first known crossing of the Abyss and had entered the fading edge of the far outer arm.

Through 8,000 light years of ever more diffusely spread star systems that became known as the Solitude Void, the Beagle edged its way out to the Ceeckia sector in attempt to locate the most distant star that technology of the day would allow.

Finally Ceeckia ZQ-LC24-0 was in sight, and after a few hours of looking for more distant systems, this proved to be the end of the line for the DSS Beagle and the Distant Suns expedition. A vidoelog was beamed back to civilized space which was picked up by Federation listening posts along the frontier, and relayed on to several news networks. GalNet news articles and a live news bulletin announced the successful conclusion of the Distant Suns Expedition.

The wealth of videoblogs and discovery data the DSS Beagle gathered along the way became the early POI submissions and thus the foundation of the Galactic Mapping Project.

The History of Beagle Point : Part 2 - The 65,000 LY Rendezvous.

Over the following months, Ceeckia ZQ-LC24-0 earned the nickname 'Beagle Point', and the system became a popular place to visit for explorers who had subsequently made it out to the far rim conducting their own survey missions of the region.

In June 3301 CMDRs Barefoot Bandit, Stulli and Allitnil held a historic gathering at over 65,000 LYs from Sol, and just several light years from Beagle Point.

The History of Beagle Point : Part 3 - Distant Worlds 3302.

One year after the DSS Beagle's galactic crossing, the Distant Worlds Expedition was launched. The mission goal was to roughly retrace the Beagle's route, and also map out the first galactic highway across the galaxy.

Over 1,200 pilots from all corners of human space banded together and formed the largest fleet of that era. The 3 month expedition began at Pallaeni on January 14th 3302. Along the way the expedition conducted extensive exploration and prospecting of many major POI's that had been catalogued within the Galactic Mapping Project.

Beagle Point became the focal point and the final expedition basecamp, Darwin's Legacy, was situated on Planet 2 of the system. By early April 3302 over 500 of the initial 1,200 pilots has successfully made it to this once unremarkable star system at the edge of known space.

On May 26th 3302 Universal Cartographics (Frontier Developments) officially renamed Ceeckia ZQ-LC24-0 to 'Beagle Point' in recognition of the systems historical background.

The History of Beagle Point : Part 4 - The Mystery of Jaques Starport.

In recognition of the Distant Worlds fleets successful conclusion to their expedition, Jaques the Cyborg and owner of the galaxies only roaming Orbis Starport, announced his intention to hyperjump the starport to Beagle Point (GalNet). In late May of 3302 thousands of pilots had rallied to Jaques cause and had delivered over 1 million tonnes of Hydrogen fuel to the starport - the fuel needed to attempt the jump. A few days later Jaques plotted the route, initiated the hyperjump, but unfortunately due to navigational failures the initial jump failed.

Rumors of a NavCom failure have hinted that the Orbis Starport made it to Beagle Point but impacted on the surface of one of its worlds, where it remains undiscovered to this day. In early June 3302 the last remnants of the Distant Worlds fleet still at Beagle Point conducted a search of Darwin's Legacy, covering approximately 20,000 square kilometers of the terrain around the basecamp, but no trace of the starport was found at the time.

Update : In late June 3302 Jaques was discovered by CMDR Cly who noticed an anomaly on the galactic map at the procedural system of EOL PROU RS-T D3-94, some 22,000 LYs from Sol and situated on the western edge of the galactic core. Further investigation proved it to be the system in which Jaques ended up - over 46,000 Light Years short of its intended destination, Beagle Point.

Mapping Beagle Point - an initiative by Olivia Vespera.

Link : Here

THE ARCHIVES - OLD MAPS AND DATA (PRE-EDSM ERA)

Map Symbols :

η - Historical Location
α - Nebula
β - Planetary Nebula
σ - Star Cluster
ξ - Pulsar
∇ - Beacon
δ - Black Hole
λ - Restricted Sectors
✴ - Stellar POI
∅ - Planetary POI
Θ - Surface POI
☢ - Jumponium-Rich System
☄ - Cometary Body (turned off until needed)
★ - Minor POI (turned off by default)
⚑ - Region

Link: Imgur archive - original GMP maps circa 2015 (pre-EDSM era).

A fun summary that was posted online circa 2023, and taken from a ChatGPT enquiry about 'Beagle Point'...

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

EARLY EXPLORATION IN ELITE DANGEROUS

The First Age of Pioneers (April 3300 - April 3302) & The Birth of the Galactic Mapping Project

Introduction

"I've put together a brief history of the early days of exploration in Elite Dangerous, dating back to the beta's of April 2014, and up to April 2016 with the conclusion of the first Distant Worlds Expedition. I believe this 2-year period was an age of pioneers, when exploration was in its infancy and commanders were on the whole oblivious to what was out there, what the optimal set ups were, and how to deal with any hazards the early explorers would soon be experiencing.

I was lucky enough to be there from the very beginning so have witnessed a lot of what went on (if not in person, certainly by being an avid follower and chronicler of the forum posts, logs, and blogs players wrote during this period).

Most of it is from memory and from the few old posts I've managed to dig out and get info from, so its by no means a fully accurate record. The info I've put together will have quite a bit of my own adventures mentioned as obviously those are the ones I remember the most. There are details of many other players' adventures too, and events that made the headlines during this early period in Elite Dangerous' history. Please feel free to add or correct me on anything important I've missed and I'll edit any info as and when I get it". - CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel, Aug. 5th 3301 (revised April 3302 and links fixed March 3307).

The Alpha & Beta's : April 3300 - October 3300

The Sidewinder Era

Late Alpha Development - March/April 3300: The earliest days of the 34th century saw the introduction of new frame shift drive technologies. During this time all new recruits graduating from the pilots federation were issued with a standard Sidewinder space craft. As the newly released FSD technology was largely untested, all navigational databanks throughout occupied space were restricted to just a handful of pre-defined hyperspace linked star systems as the developers ironed out bugs and worked on optimizing these new engines... engines that were hoped would soon open the door for humanity to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy.

In late April of 3300 news of an explorers consortium emerged, requesting recruits for an expedition that was to be launched within the year. The consortium became known as the First Great Expedition (FGE), and several hundred pilots signed up for the venture.

The Premium Beta's - May & June 3300: The birth of community driven news began springing up around this time. The Centauran Herald leading the way. Indeed it was the Herald that was one of the earliest news outlets to break the news of the first organized emergence of an explorers 'guild', the afore mentioned First Great Expedition - with the announcement of their intention to set up a base camp on Mars.

Yet exploration during this short era was pretty much non-existent due to the limited number of reachable destinations. Some intrepid pilots attempted to bypass the restrictions imposed by the lack of NavCom data available and actually tried to traverse the vast distances between stars using supercruise flight only! This proved to be a fruitless endeavor due to technical difficulties sustained during the attempts, forcing pilots to hyperspace back to their point of origin, or be forever lost in the void. Pilot attempts to supercruise between star systems!

Elsewhere during this period, the Eranin blockade and the blockade runners it gave birth to began to entice many frustrated pilots away from their preferred professions and join sides in the growing unrest. Piracy and bounty hunting increased exponentially and the very limited amount of exploration left became pretty much non-existent as the handful of available systems became saturated with more and more new recruits fresh out of the academy.

In May of 3300 the spread of piracy reached epidemic levels when scores of pilots were ambushed during an Asellus Primus trade summit.

In June of 3300 there was an attempted landing on the inhospitable moon, Dustball, in orbit around Maher Prime, in a hope to locate the lost science vessel 'Leavitt-Payne' which was rumored to have crash-landed there a few days previous. The attempt failed due to corrosive atmospheric dust damaging the hull of the rescue ship - forcing it to abandon the effort. Calls on the Federation and Empire to release suppressed atmospheric shielding technology that would once again allow pilots to land on planetary surfaces sadly fell on deaf ears.

Instead, pressure on the powers to release more NavCom data and push back the restrictive bubble grew, and finally in late July of 3300 the interstellar market for the next version of FSD tech and distant NavCom data was opened up.. codenamed Beta 1.

{OOC - the first alpha of Elite Dangerous limited commanders to visiting just a handful of star systems, centered around Aulin}.

The Beta's - July to October 3300: Fifty-five star systems covering 38,000 cubic light years centered around the Boötes constellation, often known as the first 'beta bubble', all of this was now in reach due to the release of the next phase of FSD tech and NavCom data. With this new boundary, exploration finally began to become recognized as a valid profession. Pilots spread out from tension-ridden Eranin and its neighboring systems and began reporting on new trade links between systems further and further afield. Yet within a month of this era, many explorers had grown weary of exploring the bubble for no monetary reward and instead turned to other means in order to make a living - including piracy.

{OOC - the first beta of Elite Dangerous expanded the playable region to 55 star systems}.

The New Frontier

Despite the larger area open to pilots, exploration in the first few days was often dangerous due to the amount of players being squeezed into still such a low volume of space. Hostile encounters with players and NPCs was often inevitable. Nevertheless, the first tentative roles began to emerge and players soon spread out and mapped the inner borders of the new bubble - yet yearned for the time when the release of yet more NavCom data would burst the bubble once and for all and throw open the entire galaxy. Gradually over the next few weeks the beta bubbles were expanded to encompass steadily larger regions.

Again it was The Centauran Herald that first broke the news of mounting unrest.. mostly growing out of the strict fines meted out for loitering, canister dumping, high taxation laws that the Federation began imposing, and finally the collapse of the interstellar bank that wiped out all pilots federation credit balances.

Finally, in late July of 3300 many frustrated pilots massed outside Aulin Enterprise for what was codenamed the 'Aulin Apocalypse' - a beta blowout that saw hundreds of pilots attacking the Orbis Starport. Footage of the battle is still archived to this day within the Heralds databanks.

Ultimately the Federation withheld the onslaught but many survivors of that fateful weekend still claim that the pressure brought upon the powers 'persuaded' them to release the Gamma Phase of FSD tech and the long awaited NavCom databanks containing all deep space hyperspace routes out of colonized space - removing the restrictive borders of the local region and 'beta bubble', and throwing open a much wider region for new recruits to explore. At the same time many pilots who had invested in research and development into these new techs were rewarded and allocated various prototype space craft... one of which was the newly produced Long Range Cobra Mk III.. a starship primarily dedicated to long range exploration.

A new era of exploration had begun.

The Early Adventurers

The Cobra Mk III Era

The Gamma Phase - November 3300: The early Gamma phase saw pilots exploring the new boundary, and at the far edges of this boundary a few daring pilots managed to find several routes outside the 'pill'. CMDR Azriphail being one of the first to document such endeavors, and months later, in March 3301 he wrote an account of his adventures surrounding his trip outside the limits. Other explorers did likewise and one of the last surviving visual recordings of that era shows where explorers had managed to reach, despite the boundaries imposed.

Finally on November 22nd 3300 the last restrictive boundary was removed, and for the first time the entire galaxy was opened up. A vast exodus of pilots began as the first tentative journeys to nearby astronomical points of interest were made. The Coalsack, The Pleiades, Barnard's Loop... all places relatively close to humanities frontier that became the first hotbed destinations for the earliest travelers as they undertook their first steps out into the galaxy..

Exploration was in its infancy. No one knew what hostiles were out there. No one knew how far a ship could travel without needing maintenance. No one knew anything about the dangers of hyperspacing into a contact binary system, or how to deal with it. It was the ancient wild west revisited... a new frontier was opening up.

A first journey to Sagittarius A* and the New Horizon's Expedition

The first reports of deep space exploration began to filter back into colonized space around late November of 3300. CMDR Zulu Romeo, commanding an explorer-class Cobra Mk III 'Useless Reptile' had made the very first attempt to cross the arduous 23,000 LYs and journey to the Galactic Core. Reaching the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* in early December. Whilst simultaneously, CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel, piloting the 'Shackleton Explorer', had embarked on the New Horizons Expedition - a journey along the Orion Spur, crossing the Vela Molecular Ridge, and making the first recorded visit to the Eta Carina Nebula.

Considering the unknowns at the time and coupled with the hostility of ever present NPCs and non-existent route planners, such expeditions were regarded as remarkable feats. Explorers back then had no route planner at all, routes were plotted one star at a time! There were no star filters, and no known strategies for dealing with ship maintenance or environmental hazards (i.e. contact binaries - phenomena that no longer exist these days).

Full Release - December 3300: In December 3300 the Gamma Phase came to an end and a massive influx of new Pilots Federation recruits entered the world. At Noon on December 16th 3300, David Braben officially launched Elite Dangerous. With it, the age of the Asp Explorer and ultra deep space exploration began.

The Early Pioneers

The Asp Explorer Era

On the afternoon of December 16th 3300, an Asp Explorer (The Deep Space Surveyor 'Beagle'), and piloted by CMDR Kamzel, left its berth in an outlying frontier system and began its journey to the distant stars on the far side of the galaxy.

Late December 3300 was a time of turmoil for early explorers. Bugs were scuppering many attempts to reach the galactic core regions as it became increasingly known that something bad had gone wrong with the travel mechanics since Zulu's successful Gamma Phase trip to the galactic core. Explorers reaching the outer core regions beyond the Norma Expanse were often disconnected during hyperspace and were unable to get back online afterwards - leaving many pilots unable to continue their journeys for days, and sometimes weeks. A word of warning was issued to explorers leaving home for the depths of space. On the bright side a 100 LY route planner was finally introduced, something that explorers had been calling for during early Gamma.

Thankfully by mid January 3301 most of these hyperspace disconnect issues had been resolved and the early pioneers could once again continue with their endeavors.

On January 5th CMDR Kommodore sets off to visit Sagittarius A* in an Eagle kitted out for long range travel... he wouldn't be heard of again until almost 10 months later.
On January 7th a pilot called R4nger0 left colonized space in his Sidewinder (called Sneaky Pete), with the sole intention to cross the entire galaxy with it.
Around the the same time other expeditions set forth to push deeper into the galaxy and CMDR Rekal and CMDR Big Bad Lynx, both piloting Asp Explorers, began their own individual journeys to the far side.

Throughout late January and February, news of these first few early adventurers and the expeditions they were undertaking was covered extensively in the various newsfeeds back in colonized space, as video diaries and screenshots from the depths of space began inspiring more and more pilots to begin their own adventures out among the stars.

The Pioneer Age had begun.

The Pioneer Timeline

October 3300

★ CMDR Patau82 creates the Universal Cartographics Galactic Records database. A place for explorers to submit scientific data that they've discovered throughout the galaxy.

★ CMDR Jorlin becomes the first pilot to fly the newly released Asp Explorer. {OOC: access to the official Gamma Discussion forum is needed to view this thread, I've provided a screenshot of Jorlin's initial post in the spoiler below}

★ A few days after Jorlin's initial test flight, newsfeeds receive the flight-recorder footage of another Asp Explorer's maiden voyage, this one visiting several outlying beta frontier border systems, including the once incredible Wunjo 1 Furnace.

November 3300

★ CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel completes the New Horizons expedition and retires his Long Range Cobra (Shackleton Explorer), at Aulin Enterprise.

★ The FGE begin steadily pushing the envelope on what could be accomplished with group exploration. Without the help of route planners or wing mechanics - the first tentative attempts at group exploration begins with a series of expeditions out to nearby nebulae. On the first day of Gamma a flotilla of FGE exploration vessels head out to the Pleiades and begin surveying the nebula.

★ CMDR Zulu Romeo successfully traverses the 23,000 LY distance to Sagittarius A* (and returns safely in early December 3300).

December 3300

★ CMDR Nutter complies the first comprehensive explorers guide to the galaxy.

★ CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel embarks on the Distant Suns expedition to the far side of the galaxy (and ultimately discovers the system that later becomes known as Beagle Point).

★ A FGE expedition to the Coalsack begins - approximately 30 research vessels make the trip to this frontier border nebula and conduct surveys of the surrounding star systems.

January 3301

★ CMDR Kommodore sets off on a journey to visit Sag-A* in an Eagle rigged out for long distance exploration... the first recorded attempt to reach the galactic core in such a vessel. Later that year, in late September 3301, Kommodore successfully returns to colonized space and is awarded over 123 million credits from Universal Cartographics for the data he amassed. His mission is thought to be one of the longest running on record, at 9 months.

★ CMDR R4nger0 begins his epic quest to cross the galaxy in a Sidewinder. Update : 4th Feb. 3302 - R4's quest comes to an end when his Sidewinder (Sneaky Pete) finally returns home after crossing to the far side of the galaxy and back - successfully returning home 13 months after the journey began.

★ The FGE Nebulae Research voyage sets off to explore the Pleiades, Hind, and California Nebulae, and concludes the following month with trips out to the Eskimo, Helix, and LBN 623 Nebulae.

★ CMDR Big Bad Lynx sets off to cross the galaxy in an Asp Explorer.

★ CMDR Zieman embarks on a survey mission to the Orionis constellation and begins an extensive study of over 200 star systems with Orionis designations, before concluding the mission with a further study of the Orion Nebula cluster.

★ CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel reaches the far side of the galaxy after successfully crossing the outer rim Abyss in an Asp Explorer - circa Jan. 18th 3301. The first recorded crossing of the galaxy was reported and published a few days after the explorer reached 'Beagle Point' (CEECKIA ZQ-L C24-0), a star system over 65,000 LYs from home. A GalNet report of the endeavor causes some controversy at the time as it is stated that the DSS Beagle had returned from the far galactic rim, when in reality it had been badly damaged after hyperspacing into a red giant binary pair, exited in the corona of one of the stars, and thus remained crippled out on the galactic rim for several more weeks before the journey home began.

GalNet Propaganda - The Distant Suns Epilogue
GalNet YouTube News Bulletin - 65,000 LY Journey Across the Galaxy
Frontier's GalNet 'misinfo' News Release : Explorer Returns from Outer Rim
Frontier's re-released News Article : Outrage Amongst Explorers’ Association

February 3301

★ CMDR Ozric completes his journey to the Crab Nebula.

★ CMDR Maia Posidana and CMDR Katier announce (independently) their intentions to circumnavigate the galaxy.

★ CMDR Big Bad Lynx returns from his epic 170,000 LY round trip of the galaxy.

★ CMDR Rekal returns home from his trip to the far side of the galactic core.

★ The EDC-Explorers Four Corners Mission is launched form the Atlantis star system. The mission, made up 12 commanders flying in three separate groups, set out to explore the 'four corners of the galaxy' - one of the earliest recorded wing coordinated expeditions.

★ The Galactic Mapping Project for explorers is born.

★ CMDR Glynie begins compiling a list of all known Earth-Like Worlds so far discovered. His work is later passed on to CMDR Marx who continues cataloging data on ELWs submitted from the exploration community.

★ The 1,000 LY Route Planner and Star Filter is introduced. Payouts from Universal Cartographics is significantly improved - finally bringing exploration income into line with other professions. The star filter paves the way for easier location and surveying of scientific points of interest - namely neutron stars and blackholes.

March 3301

The Anaconda Era

★ Possibly due to the larger and richer rewards from exploration, a new wave of deep space exploration begins with many richer explorers now turning to the large Anaconda class star ship as their ship of choice. These larger vessels, capable of over 40 LYs jump range, make long distance travel much quicker and allow pilots to reach certain systems that the earlier exploration vessels couldn't jump to.

★ CMDR DrNoesis leaves inhabited space to explore the largely uncharted New Outer Arm. Conducting an intense survey of those regions it is reported later that year (September) that the commander had reached a point parallel along the arm to the core, around 25% of the way around the whole galaxy.

★ The first Exploration Community Goal (Lambda Andromedae) successfully concludes and leads to the construction of the most distant bases from Sol at Sothis and Ceos, and other outposts in between.

★ 43,000 LYs from Sol, CMDR R4nger0 in his Sidewinder reaches the near edge of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, there a rendezvous with CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel (who is returning home from the far side) occurs and the two explorers make a joint survey of the rendezvous system before parting ways. The meeting is recorded and beamed back to colonized space where GalNet picks it up and reports the event via various newsfeeds.

★ The Wings feature is introduced and many explorers begin teaming up. Solo exploration remains popular though due to the unreliability of the early wings mechanic.

★ CMDR Dr Kaii begins his epic documented journey to the galactic depths and produces the stunning Deep Space Surveys video series.

★ CMDR Marlon Blake returns from an 80,000 LY round trip and is awarded a staggering 145 million credits for the data he collated - one of the highest payouts to date.

★ CMDR Rikk pilots the first recorded Imperial Clipper to Sagittarius A*. Setting off on 28th Feb 3301, he did not reach home until 23rd June 3301 - having covered 70,000 LYs during the trip.

★ The DSS Beagle, piloted by CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel, limps home from the far galactic rim with just 24% structural integrity remaining, thus concluding the Distant Suns expedition. The heavily damaged ship is decommissioned and retired from service. (Approx. 1 year later CEECKIA ZQ-L C24-0 is renamed to Beagle Point, in honour of the vessel).

★ CMDR SvennoJ departs on his quest to find the galaxies loneliest planet. Later in his journey he crosses the western edge of the Abyss using an Anaconda class starship.

★ The first recorded survey mission to the distant Hyponia sector is released.

April 3301

★ The Thargoid Flap : Rumors of a mystery out beyond the Formidine Rift causes a stir throughout the exploration community. Many pilots flock to this relatively nearby region, some 10,000 - 15,000 LYs from Sol, beyond the Perseus Arm, but to no avail. So far nothing untoward has been located. CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel produces a video log of his own investigation into the Rift and the possible connection to the Unknown Artifacts that appeared throughout colonized space in the spring and early summer of 3301.

★ CMDR Allitnil concludes his epic 14,000 star system journey, and in doing so is recorded as being the first pilot to cross the far galactic Abyss in a Cobra Mk III.

★ CMDR Katejina embarks on an epic quest to circumnavigate the galaxy as well as explore the core regions.

★ The Buckyball Run A* event begins. Pilots from across colonized space, including many dedicated explorers, begin the competition to reach Sagittarius A* in as short a time as possible.

★ CMDR Tylar's five week tour of planetary nebulae concludes.

★ CMDR SvennoJ reaches CEECKIA PE-E D13-0, a system 65,365 LYs from Sol - setting a new distance record for a 41 LY Anaconda.

★ CMDR Dognosh compiles a comprehensive exploration guide that includes lists, tools, and diaries related to all things exploration.

★ The First Great Expedition embark on the first mass-surveying endeavor of the mysterious Regor sectors and produce detailed 3D maps of its border regions.

★ The 'Four Corners Expedition' map the borders of the Bleia Permit Zone that is embedded within Perseus Stem, on the far side of the galactic core.

May 3301

★ CMDR Kancro Vantas publishes 'The Galactic Tour of Wonders' - an extensive pictorial guide to points of interest visted during a 11,000 LY journey.

★ CMDR DoubleSkulls becomes the first explorer to have his ship destroyed at Sagittarius A* due to hostile fire from an unknown assailant.

★ CMDR Akira Masakari publishes a guide to distinguish planet types from sounds coming from them, possibly easing labor for a number of explorers.

★ CMDR R4nger0 becomes the first explorer to pilot a Sidewinder class starship to the far side of the galaxy - reaching a distance of 59,000 LYs from Sol. However the ship could not cross the outer rim Abyss due to its limited FSD range.

★ CMDR Mossfoot travels to Sagittarius A* and records footage of his journey. Eventually he produces a video log of the trip and edits ancient classical musical scores with the footage - producing the 'movements of exploration' piece that is played in theaters throughout colonized space. Along with an earlier piece named Starsoul, one of the first classic 'Art of Exploration' series is born.

★ CMDR Allitnil embarks on a solo expedition to measure the extent of the reachable galaxy.

★ CMDR Anuranium travels to Sagittarius A* in an attempt to hunt down and destroy the 'SagA Sniper' who was attacking unarmed explorers visiting the supermassive black hole. When confronted with Anuranium's fully armed starship, the sniper promptly set his own ship to self destruct in an act of cowardice and was never heard of again as its smouldering wreckage disappeared beyond the event horizon of the black hole.

★ CMDR Dognosh starts Version 2 of the log of all submitted Commanders' exploration trips.

★ CMDR Kola2 embarks on an expedition to explore the rarely traveled 4th quadrant.

June 3301

★ CMDR Picker returns from an epic 151 day voyage around the galaxy, visiting over 6,600 systems and traveling approximately 180,000 LYs in the process.

★ CMDR Turambar concludes his 200,000 LYs galactic journey and becomes one of the first explorers to circumnavigate the galaxy via the outer arms route.

★ CMDR CaptainKremmen embarks on a journey coreward and sends back a pictorial log of his travels.

★ The Fuel rats are formed - a voluntary collection of pilots dedicated to rescuing explorers (and other travelers) who have inadvertently ran out of fuel far from home.

★ CMDR's Stulli, Barefoot Bandit and Allitnil rendezvous close to Beagle Point on the far side of the galaxy, some 65,000 LYs from Sol, and in doing so set a record for the most distant encounter so far recorded.

★ CMDR Andrew Gaspurr sets off on the "Pilgrim's Path" tour - an expedition out to Eta Carina, NGC 3199 and beyond the Orion Spur shallows, exploring the seldom traveled 4th Quadrant regions.

July 3301

★ CMDR Kancro Vantas publishes the most definitive guide to date of the vast galactic core neutron fields. The neutron survey becomes a great source of information for science-based exploration missions to the core regions.

★ The Quest to find Raxxla is launched by Macros Black, with many pilots collating data and clues on the whereabouts of this mysterious world.

★ CMDR Allitnil concludes his mission to measure the extent of the reachable galaxy and submits some of his findings to the Universal Cartographics Galactic database.

★ CMDR Derthek travels to (and surveys) the star system Drooteou PW-I A36-4, which is cited as being the physically located antithesis of Sol on the opposite side of the galaxy. The system turned out to consist of an unremarkable red dwarf orbited by several dead worlds and one moon, and is now known as 'Derthek's Folly'.

★ The Fuel Rats receive a distress call from a deep-space explorer named CMDR Monchiko, who stranded 18,000 LYs from Sol out in the Sagittarius spiral arm. The closest 'Rat' being over 16,000 LYs away. CMDR Alex Traut, CMDR Aitken, and CMDR b0rg9, all out exploring in different areas, answered the call as far away as 18,136 LYs, and in 12 hours of marathon jumping saved the stranded pilot and his months of SagA* exploration data - thus making history as the most distant and successfully completed rescue attempt ever recorded.

August 3301

★ The First Great Expedition invites the exploration community to embark on a mission to jointly explore and chart the Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm of the galaxy.

October 3301

★ Akira Makasari opens the 65,000 light years from Sol club - an archived list of commanders that have successfully travelled across the galaxy to the far outer rim region.

January 3302 - April 3302

★ Distant Worlds 3302 (DW1) launches from Pallaeni. Approximately 1,200 commanders embark on the largest expedition to date - with a goal of retracing the Distant Suns expedition of 3301 and map out the first Jumponium highway, stretching across 85,000 LYs from frontier borders to Beagle Point. The expedition will become one of the most iconic events in Elite history, and indirectly leads to the birth of Colonia via Jaques failed attempt to rendezvous with the Distant Worlds fleet there by initiating a 65,000 LY hyperjump (the rest is history!).

This expedition marked the end of the First Age of Pioneers.

May 3302

★ EDSM is launched. The Galactic Mapping Project moves all data and POI information collated during the Age of Pioneers to the EDSM platform.

What the early explorers achieved during the Age of Pioneers

Explored all the nearby points of interest; nebula, clusters, black holes.
Traveled to the Galactic Core regions and brought back data on Sagittarius A* and the vast Neutron Fields.
Crossed the entire galaxy and visited the most distant star systems.
Mapped the borders of many permit-only regions strewn throughout the four quadrants of the galaxy.
Circumnavigated the galaxy.
Created a wealth of data and knowledge in the form of guides, diaries, and databases, all for the love of exploration.
Surveyed an estimated 12,000,000 star systems during the Pioneer period (according to a July 3301 Newsletter).
Extensively mapped the local regions of the Orion Spur, and began the first tentative steps in creating maps of all four quadrants.

The Age of Pioneers (3300 - 3302) - famous Exploration Starships

The Useless Reptile (Cobra Mk III) : First ship to reach Sagittarius A*
Shackleton Explorer (Cobra Mk III) : First ship to visit VY Canis Majoris and cross the Vela Molecular Ridge to survey the Eta Carina Nebula (New Horizons Expedition).
DSS Beagle (Asp Explorer) : First starship to cross the Abyss and reach the far side of the galaxy, over 65,000 LYs from Sol, discovering the system that later became known as Beagle Point.
The 'Phonebooth' Explorer (Eagle) : First starship of its class known to have attempted to reach the galactic core. Successfully concluding its mission later that year.
The Roncevaux (Cobra Mk III) : First Cobra-class starship to cross the eastern edge of the Abyss and into the outer galactic arm regions.
Svenno's Anaconda (Anaconda) : First Anaconda-class starship to cross the western edge of the Abyss and into the outer galactic arm regions.
Magellan (Asp Explorer) : Starship that embarked on one of the earliest recorded attempts to circumnavigate the galaxy.
The Orinoco (Asp Explorer) : The Starship that undertook the epic survey of the 4 neutron fields strewn throughout the galactic core regions.
Sneaky Pete - (Sidewinder) : First Sidewinder to cross to the far side of the galaxy - reaching a distance of 59,000 LYs from Sol.
Nobody's Business (Anaconda) : The ship that undertook the trip to the Galactic Limits, an endeavor to measure the extent of the reachable galaxy.
Viaticus Rex II (Lakon Type-6) : The ship that recorded extensive video footage used in the making of the 'Movements of Exploration' series.
Lostpath Wayfarer (Asp Explorer) : A ship that was stranded during the Orion expedition, near Epsilon Orionis, but was ultimately rescued by the newly formed Fuel Rats at the time.
AGS Intrepid (Asp Explorer) : The ship that conducted the Pilgrim's Path expedition through the Orion Spur Shallows and into the 4th Quadrant.

Original Thread : Here

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

THE DISTANT WORLDS EXPEDITIONS

Distant Suns - The Forerunner

Distant Suns 3300-3301 by Erimus Kamzel

"Distant Suns was a vid-log journey of a solitary Lakon Asp Explorer (DSS Beagle) across the galaxy that began on December 16th 3300, and culminated on January 18th 3301 out on the far galactic rim at a star system designated as Ceeckia ZQ-L C24-0 , some 65,000 LYs away. It marked the first recorded galactic crossing, and news of the event made it into the earliest GalNet articles and YouTube news channels at the time".

Ceeckia ZQ-L C24-0 later became known as 'Beagle Point' and more in-depth information on the DSS Beagle's journey there can be found in the 'History of Beagle Point' section.

Distant Worlds 3302 (DW1)

Distant Worlds 3302 (DW1) by Erimus Kamzel

"The initial idea was born on August 5th 2015 after the announcement of the Horizons update at Gamescom. That's when I decided to plan another 1-man journey across the galaxy as a followup to the Distant Suns expedition of 3301. I intended to retrace my old route to the star system that later became known as Beagle Point, but this time with the Horizons update I'd be able to land on and explore some of the distant worlds I'd visited during that first trip, ones that I'd only previously been able to view from orbit.

In late October 2015 Dr. Kaii heard I was planning another trip across the galaxy and he asked me if he could come along too. I then mentioned on a forum post that we both intended to cross the Galaxy together once Horizons was released, which lead to me receiving a few PMs from other players asking if they could tag along too. Following this, on November 7th 2015, I created an expedition thread with the route & itinerary I'd originally intended to take, and followed it up with an 'expedition sign-up' post to gauge how many would be coming along. At first we thought maybe a dozen at most would join us on the journey, but within a couple of weeks over 100 other players had expressed an interest. By the time we set off in early January 3302, over 1,000 players had signed up!

That's how "DW1" came about, and eventually a whole team of people came on board to help out, including; Dr Kaii, Kancro Vantas, Corbin Moran, NeoTron, Grnbrg, Wishblend, Wolverine, Katejina, and Akira Makasari.

Full details, including maps, locations, statistics, and roster links for Distant Worlds 3302 can be found : Here

DISTANT WORLDS 3302 - "A journey beyond the Abyss"
- An in-depth overview (from ED Wiki).

Initials: DWE
Launch date: 14th January 3302
End date: 5th June 3302
Destination: Beagle Point
Number of Waypoints: 23 (24)
Particpants: 1,153
Demonym: Distant Worlder

Expedition Organizers:

Erimus Kamzel (original concept & co-organizer)
Dr. Kaii (co-organizer)

Volunteers:

Glasswalker
NeoTron
grnbrg
Kancro Vantas
Corbin Moran
Wishblend
Wolverine
Katejina
Akira Makasari
Jhyrryl
Kola2
The_Damn_Fox
Rodent54
Nexolek
Eoran

Inception:

Distant Worlds, more popularly known as Distant Worlds Expedition (DWE), and retroactively as Distant Worlds 3302 was one of the first major community expeditions in Elite: Dangerous history. Created by CMDRs Erimus Kamzel & Dr. Kaii as the sequel to Kamzel's Distant Suns journey, it featured over a thousand recorded members with many more who followed along the journey. Its legacy continues to inspire the community through the variety of expeditions that sprung up after it, and its effects on in-game events such as Jaques Station's community goal, "Jaques' Big Jump", and the colonization of Colonia.

Background:

On December 16th 3300, the day Elite Dangerous was officially released, a long ranged Asp Explorer, the DSS Beagle, piloted by CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel, left the Pallaeni star system to begin the first recorded galactic crossing.

Codenamed 'Distant Suns' the expedition was recorded in a 12-series video log. The mission was to travel to the far side of the galaxy via the galactic core, mapping and documenting all major discoveries made along the way.

Some 5 weeks later, on January 18th 3301, DSS Beagle reached a star system on the edge of the far galactic rim, 65,279 LYs from Sol. The system (CEECKIA ZQ-L C24-0) subsequently became known as 'Beagle Point'. It marked the end of the line of the Distant Suns expedition.

One year later, in January 3302, the DSS Beagle was recommissioned and given a new mission.

Codenamed 'Distant Worlds', this new expedition tasked all its participants to travel a route that roughly followed the original path taken by the Beagle back in 3301, this time with the added task of surveying and exploring as many worlds as possible at key locations along the way.

Pre-launch:

Registration for the expedition required that members make a comment on the official forums.

During Registration, members could choose to take on certain roles;

Fuel Rat - Cargo Rack and a Fuel Transfer Limpet to your ship, and take a stock of limpets in your cargo hold.
Prospector - This role is geared toward helping out fellow fleet members as your role involves pinpointing resource-rich worlds. After locating an outcrop or meteorite that contains minerals - find out what it yields by blasting it with your SRV laser. Make a note of what you find and relay it to fleet members in the Skype Text Prospectors Channel, stating what kind of minerals you have discovered. If someone who needs them is nearby, you may be required to remain on site to keep the instance open until their SRV crew arrives to collect the minerals. Worlds of particular interest are ones that have deposits of the minerals that enable FSD Boosting (see the logistics section below for further details on 'Jumponium' synthesis)
Cartographer - These roles require pilots who have the most game time to spare. Your role is to seek out interesting worlds with interesting surface features for the fleet to explore. Try to stay within a 300 LY radius of each designated waypoint POI though as we don't have time to deviate too far off the planned route. This role will require you to stay no more than a day or two ahead of the main fleet as to give you sufficient time in reporting interesting finds close to the base camp system.
Armed Escort - For close encounters of the unknown kind.
Cargo Haulage - It is said that our first encounter with the Thargoids will determine our relationship with them. If we are hostile, expect to die. If there are Thargoid outposts out there that we somehow stumble upon, and they allow us to dock, having trade goods may be a good idea. Just don't take bug spray, they may get the wrong idea!
Video Makers, Photographers, and Live Streamers - Feel free to make videos or run live streams for any part of the expedition... the more the merrier!

Private groups:

Kamzel, Patrecleus, Erimus; also known as Group K, P and E are the three private groups used for the expedition by members.

The first 600 members who signed up for the expedition were added to Group K. The second 400 members were added to Group P. the outliers were added to Group E. After Waypoint 11, Group P members were merged into Group K. After [insert WP here], all groups were merged into Group E.

DW logo contest:

The DW logo contest was organised by CMDR Kola2. The submissions were posted on the forum thread until 13th January 3302 where voting was opened. The winner was announced on the Distant Worlds Expedition Twitch stream the next day on the 14th. The launch day of the expedition. The winning submission was created by CMDR Hi-Ban.

Legacy:

The Distant Worlds Expedition coincided with the launch of Horizons 2.0 and it caught the zeitgeist of the exploration communities desire to explore the new content of that release. Over 1,300 commanders took part in its six month long endeavour to map out the first galactic ‘Jumponium’ highway for the Mapping Project, stretching 81,500 light years from Pallaeni to Beagle Point.

According to Michael Brookes (FDev), the event was covered in eight different gaming magazine articles, and spawned several hundred Distant Worlds YouTube videos. It was extensively covered by the streaming community, and has given rise to hundreds, if not thousands, of forum posts and blogs on various forums, Reddit, Wiki’s, and external websites. A weekly newsletter series was also created during the event, which was eventually turned into a book.

The event incorporated many aspects of community created content and gave rise to groups like the Rock Rats and the Candy Crew. It was the foundation of the FleetComm community, which today has in excess of 3,000 members dedicated to exploration.

Distant Worlds was the event that directly inspired Jaques the Cyborg to attempt a starport hyperjump to Beagle Point - in recognition of what the DW fleet had accomplished. Jaques hyperjump failed, and he ended up in a region 22,000 light years from Sol - a region that subsequently became known as 'Colonia', and the birth of humanities first outer colony.

The overwhelming feeling of DW 3302 has been extremely positive and its influence on exploration, mass expeditions, and background lore has made it an event that is still talked about fondly today by the community who took part, and those who watched it unfold.

Organizers Retrospective:

"The initial idea behind "Distant Worlds" was for a 2-man wing (CMDR 'Erimus' Kamzel & CMDR Dr. Kaii) to set off from the Frontier in an attempt to retrace the Distant Suns route out to the star system designated Ceeckia ZQ-L C24-0 (Beagle Point), on the far galactic rim. Once it became known, several other commanders took an interest and eventually I posted an invitation to the exploration community - complete with roster sign up options and an itinerary and maps of the route. It was thought that no more than half a dozen players would be interested in joining Erimus & Dr. Kaii on this crazy venture.

Within a week of posting the invite, 25 commanders had signed up.

Within a month, over 100.

Within three months, 600 pilots had signed up, representing 35 nations around the world.

The event grew into something no one envisioned. It captured the imagination of the exploration community. By the events launch date of January 14th 3302, around 1,150 commanders had officially registered with the Distant Worlds fleet, with around 200 more missing the deadline but coming along regardless." - Erimus Kamzel

Full Wiki Article: Here

Distant Worlds 3305 (DW2)

Distant Worlds 3305 (DW2) by Erimus Kamzel

"The first early plans for a new Distant Worlds expedition began during the Frontier EXPO event in October 2017. I remember meeting a lot of fellow explorers there, some of which had been participants on the Distant Worlds 3302 expedition (DW1), and who still talked fondly of that journey and were keen to know when the next DW event would take place.

At the EXPO, Frontier announced their plans for ‘Chapter 3’ of Elite Dangerous, and attendees got to chat to the Game Developers about some of the interesting new ideas and gameplay content that was in the works, all scheduled for the next series of major updates set to be released throughout 2018. Among other things, Mining was to be given a whole new lease of life with some innovative and explosive gameplay mechanics, Fleet Carriers were announced, along with Squadron options, revamped Ice Worlds were being promised, and to top it all off, explorers would have a reworked exploration mechanic, including planetary mapping, and a whole Codex full of new content seeded throughout the galaxy to discover.

Although not all of it made it into the Chapter 3 release, this was the kind of content that we had been waiting for before announcing a followup to DW1, and coupled with the lingering enthusiasm that the original DW event still had amongst those who experienced it, I felt the timing was right to start seriously thinking about its sequel. After returning home from the EXPO event I wrote the first draft outline of DW2, along with two construction CGs in an attempt to incorporate the new revamped mining gameplay into the expedition.

After getting feedback from the Rock Rats (Eisen & Baroness Galaxy), and Dr. Kaii, I posted the Distant Worlds 2 Expedition proposal thread on January 14th 2018 (the 2nd anniversary of the launch of DW1) and opened the ideas up for community discussion. I invited a number of content creators on board to bring their ideas and projects into the mix, and all of who ultimately became part of the organisation team. In February 2018, I posted the fleet roster sign up post, along with Qohen Leth who set up the roster database, and the expedition was opened up for players to register their interest and participation.

Almost 2,000 players signed up in that first month, and just like on DW1, the project grew into something no one could have envisioned - with eventually almost 14,000 players registering their participation prior to the launch from Pallaeni on January 13th 3305".

Full details, including maps, locations, statistics, and roster links for Distant Worlds 3302 can be found : Here

DISTANT WORLDS 3305 - "A journey of discovery"
- An in-depth overview (from ED Wiki).

Initials: DW2
Launch date: January 13, 3305
End date: Q2/Q3 3305
Destination: Sagittarius A* & Beagle Point
Number of Waypoints: 12
Particpants: 13,625
Demonym: Distant Worlder

Expedition Organizers:

Erimus Kamzel (Original Concept & Project Leader)
Dr. Kaii (PR & Project leader)
Qohen Leth (Roster Admin)
Olivia Vespera (Content Creator)
Wishblend (Content Creator)
Satsuma (Content Creator)
MadRaptor (Content Creator)
Kolato (Content Creator)
Alex Brentnall (Content Creator)

Full organisation team: Here

Inception:

On October 10, 3303, CMDR Erimus Kamzel made an early announcement for the sequel to the Distant Worlds Expedition. Coming in the wake of the reveal of Elite Dangerous: Beyond at Frontier Expo 2017, it was determined that Distant Worlds II would launch in Q4 3304/Q1 3305, after the release of Beyond's exploration-focused Chapter 4 update.

The stated goals of the expedition were;

We want to create an event that challenges its participants, like DWE 3302 did.
We want to create interesting basecamp meetups and events, that include all what the first expedition had, and more - specifically utilising whatever new discovery mechanics the new content requires.
We would like to reach the same scale as last time or beat it, and then take advantage of our large contingent in the hopes the expedition might discover some of the new and mysterious things FD have hinted at!
We have plans to bring back the Distant Worlds weekly newsletter that proved so popular last time around, and eventually have it again bound into a book as a memento.
Naturally DWE2 plan to work in conjunction with the Galactic Mapping Project to discover, catalogue, and name new POIs, spatial anomalies, and geological features.
The expedition will encourage and facilitate all the emergent gameplay that explorers are renowned for into joining and helping organise and oversee certain aspects of this mammoth endeavour; Fuel Rats, Rock Rats, MediCorp, The Repair & Tour Group, The Galactic Travel Agency, Surveyors, Galactic Mappers, Scouts, and even squadrons that will hopefully be able to utilise the new fleet carriers.
We will put together an experienced organisation team to help create a memorable event.

Expedition Proposal:

On January 14, 3304, on the second anniversary of the launch of the Distant Worlds Expedition, the expedition outline was posted by Erimus. The proposal included a Community Goal idea that would be run in conjunction with the main expedition, which if implemented, would incorporate prospecting and mining into the expedition. Early plans also suggested Community Goals to construct a Starport in Sagittarius A* and a Surface Port in Beagle Point; while the former goal was mostly preserved for Waypoint 7 of the finalized proposal, the latter goal was cancelled.

Registration:

The expedition began accepting signups on February 1, 3304. A number of milestones in participation were achieved before the main roster closed;

2,000 registrants - February 22, 3304[4]
3,000 registrants - August 6, 3304[5]
4,000 registrants - December 11, 3304[6]
5,000 registrants - December 31, 3304[7]
6,000 registrants - January 4, 3305
7,000 registrants - January 6, 3305
8,000 registrants - January 8, 3305
9,000 registrants - January 10, 3305
10,000 registrants - January 12, 3305[8]
11,000 registrants - January 13, 3305
12,000 registrants - January 15, 3305

Registrations for DW2 closed at 18:00 UTC on January 18, 3305, at which point the main roster was locked and existing registrants could longer make or request any further changes to their registrations. A secondary "latecomers" roster opened until February 17, 3305, but it was not administrated or publicly displayed. The secondary roster was later merged with the main roster to create a finalized roster that was archived and presented.

When registrations had officially closed, the DW2 expedition counted 13,625 total registered members.

Roles:

Explorer
Fuel Rat
Miner
Fleet Mechanic
Tour Guide
Astrophotographer
Geologist
Scientist
Media
MediCorp
Fleet Logistics

Preliminary Route:

The preliminary expedition route outlined on February 1, 3304 proposed that Distant Worlds II would travel through both Sagittarius A* and Beagle Point on the "Outbound" stage, while "The Voyage Home" stage would trace the journey of the USS Voyager. The journey would cover over 200,000 ly and was estimated to take 304 days to complete.

Squadrons:

Distant Worlds 2 utilized the Squadrons feature added by Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Four (3.3). As Squadrons have a maximum capacity of 500 members, multiple Squadrons were created for the expedition. Joining an official DW2 Squadron is not mandatory, but applicants are required to first register on the official DW2 roster, and anyone found not to have registered is subject to immediate removal. Expedition Squadrons began accepting member applications on January 1, 3305.

Finalized Expedition Plan:

In early December 3304, Distant Worlds II organizers announced their finalized expedition plan. The expedition was scheduled to depart from Waypoint 1 in the Core Systems on January 13, 3305 on the 18-week "Outbound" half of the journey to Beagle Point, which consisted of four stages:

Waypoints 1-5: Laying the foundations for Galactic Core scientific studies, revisiting mysteries of the past, and trailblazing the new age of discovery.
Waypoints 6-10: Building the Galactic Core Starport and discovering secrets at the heart of the galaxy.
Waypoint 11: Mapping the Aphelion.
Waypoint 12: A journey across the Abyss... and beyond.

In addition to various community events and exploration opportunities along the full route, a Community Goal took place at the Waypoint 2 system, Omega Sector VE-Q b5-15, and involved mining materials for the construction of a new Starport, Explorer's Anchorage, in Stuemeae FG-Y d7561, a system near Sagittarius A*. By the time the expedition reached Waypoint 7, which was be located in a third system near both Sagittarius A* and Stuemeae FG-Y d7561,[13] the Starport had opened to host a second Community Goal to upgrade its amenities for members of the expedition and future travelers. The expedition planned to remain in the Galactic Centre region for two to three weeks before continuing onward to Beagle Point.

Originally, Beagle Point was intended to mark the end of the outbound half of the expedition and the beginning of the return trip, or "Voyage Home", which would have followed a different route. During the course of the expedition, however, it was decided that Beagle Point would become the official endpoint of DW2, after which the fleet would break up and its members would go their separate ways.

Legacy:

Distant Worlds 2 became the largest player-created event in Elite Dangerous history. DW2 may have made gaming history, depending on what metrics you use, but consider that this was a player run event, written by the players, organised by the players, and overseen by the players, it had almost 14,000 participants, it took place in one of the largest video game worlds in existence, and lasted 6 months,...we can't think of any other player created event in any other video game doing anything on this scale, for this long, in this big a gameworld anywhere else before. Maybe it was a first in that respect?

DW2 has been extensively covered by dozens of press mediums, over 30 magazine articles were written about it, including coverage in New Scientist - that alone was read by over 1 million people. The expedition was featured on two mainstream German radio broadcasts, and one from Swedish Radio too. The expedition even received a good luck message from astronaut Chris Hadfield on the eve of its launch. It's been talked about far and wide because it caught the imagination of people who love to see this kind of creativity, energy, and enthusiasm - especially when its based upon exploration.

Full Wiki Article: Here

DIRECT LINK (for zooming etc)

THE FOLLOWING IS AN OLD THREAD FROM JAN 2018. IT IS THE ORIGINAL DW2 EXPEDITION PROPOSAL DRAFT V1.0
ORIGINAL THREAD: LINK

Distant Worlds II
An expedition proposal...

The 14th January 3304 marked the 2nd anniversary of the launch of the first Distant Worlds Expedition. Although DW2 won't launch until much later this year, we wanted to mark the occasion by sharing some ideas we hope to incorporate into the coming event.

In addition, Frontier are actively receptive to ideas via their focused feedback series at the moment, and we hope there will be a platform for explorers, prospectors, and miners to express their ideas too on what they hope the ED:Beyond series will bring. Some ideas suggested for DW2 would incorporate a lot of the new content hinted at during Expo 17, and also some speculative ideas on how to utilize that content on big expeditions - so with plenty of time to go before Q4, maybe now is the best time to present it to the community, and Frontier, to see if it has any merit, and importantly to give enough time to see if it could work with what's planned in Beyond. Effectively what's being presented here is just one example of how major exploration events could begin incorporating other play styles and game mechanics (mining and logistics for example) while utilising some of the fantastic new content that's coming (new ships and modules, miners 'toolkits', and Deep Core Blasting etc).

Although details are sketchy at the moment, FD have revealed, among other things, that exploration is getting some love with revamped worlds and their geology, environmental anomalies, and mysterious ‘things’ to discover. Naturally these will be the core elements that DW2 will be built around and incorporate into its exploration and discovery events during the long journey ahead.

In addition, FD also mentioned that prospecting and mining is being revamped and fleshed out.

Over the past two years since Horizons’ release there have been over 30 major expeditions taking literally thousands of players into the depths along with them, yet none have been able to effectively incorporate certain gameplay mechanics that would allow a wider range of playstyles to take part in these deep space events - namely prospecting and deep space mining.

This is one aspect that we really want to include on Distant Worlds II this time around.

Giving participants a practicable reason to utilise and enjoy Beyond’s new prospecting and mining mechanics could offer a whole new dimension to deep space events. Example; with resource scouting & discovery roles, there comes the extraction and deep core blasting roles for miners, and with mining roles comes logistical roles via mineral collection & transport, and with mineral transport roles comes fighter squadron escort roles. Teamwork is encouraged and certain fleet roles begin to have essential reasons behind them to warrant their inclusion.

Teamwork is something that we have all witnessed or been a part of on large organized expeditions despite the limitations on offer (i.e. cooperation has been mainly limited to group rock-ratting for Jumponium, occasional fuel rat rescues, or exploration wing scouting). With a practicable reason to include prospect scouting, mining, and deep core blasting, the opportunities for even more interaction and cooperative play expand that list considerably, and more roles also lead to more emergent gameplay.

But how do you incorporate prospecting and mining into deep space events where the traditional emphasis has been on exploration and sightseeing? What tangible goals can be set for such players? Why even prospect for and mine hundreds of tonnes of minerals out in deep space when there is no one out there that needs it? The bubble has untapped abundance on its doorstep, so why go prospecting in the Galactic Aphelion 40,000 light years from the nearest outpost? There's a lot of resources out there, far beyond humanities shores, but no practical reason to go gather them.

The introduction of new Megaship variants (the 'Expedition-Class' for example) or Carriers could change that if, for example, for them to leave the confines of the near bubble that has all their logistical essentials in abundance, they instead could begin to operate much further afield thanks to that logistical support (especially refueling) being supplied by the playerbase. - Food for thought for FD?

Community Goals and Large Player-Driven Events

For Distant Worlds II we are submitting a CG proposal to FD as early as possible, to give them plenty of time to ponder the idea before Q4 2018 and to see if it has any merit. The CG would be run in conjunction with the DW2 expedition, but would not be exclusive to it. The CG proposal is just one possible idea of how Megaships can be incorporated into deep space exploration events and bring new roles and gameplay to those events, in addition its to also give mining and resource-gathering gameplay a practical reason to be undertaken out in the depths among some of the galaxies most interesting and iconic locations. Incorpating more gameplay like this encourages cooperation and teamwork, and we would like mining and resource-gathering groups (such as the Rock Rats for example) to take on pivotal roles - just like they did during DW3302.

In addition, and despite the expedition being nearly a year away, we have opened official DW2 fleet roster registration early too (sign up: here). Included are options for prospecting and logistic-specific roles - this is to see if enough participants are interested in taking part in the Community Goal aspect of the expedition, and thus justify the DW2 organization team pitching their ideas to Frontier Developments during the focused feedbacks.

We feel that any CG proposal we submit for a Distant Worlds type event has to meet several criteria to make it worthwhile;

It has to have a logical goal behind it, and importantly give participants a reason to care about being actively involved (outside of just monetary gain).
To avoid too much repetitiveness, it has to give players taking part the option to switch loadouts and utilize as many different gameplay mechanics as possible, and in doing so allow them the choice to take on different event roles any time they like. Random ‘incidents’ would also break up the monotony and the inclusion of such events should be explored and implemented if at all possible (see additional ideas at the end of the CG proposal).
Having it entwined with the Distant Worlds II expedition gives both the CG and the expedition itself a new dimension to the whole joint venture, i.e. there is a background ‘story’ for the CG to play against, and a practical ‘hands on’ aspect to the expedition beyond sightseeing the galaxy.
Having the CG ‘Hub’ travel through iconic locations allows participants to experience many diverse and interesting environments to scout out and prospect in along the way, which in turn could offer new challenges; be them environmental or simply prospecting for rare mineral deposits in and around the various waypoints. Some of these diverse locations would include an already pre-scouted ringed neutron star and a ringed proto-star, both of which offer spectacular environments for players to experience whilst mining.

If accepted the CG will hope to incorporate dedicated groups like the Fuel Rats, Rock Rats, and any interested mining-based player factions, to play significant roles on DW2.
Although solo participation will always be an option, teamwork should be encouraged to make the experience more social and efficient. Working in tandem with a major community organized event like DW2 will provide the infrastructure for that teamwork to flourish via roles, comms, schedules, and all the background cooperation that big expedition events pride themselves on.
Emergent gameplay is often born from major events, and this will be explored and encouraged throughout this event & CG.
Above all, it has to be challenging as to give players who see it through to a successful conclusion a sense of achievement and pride for their participation. A CG failure should therefore be a possible outcome too. We would also welcome an opposing CG to prevent these installations being built, or to sabotage their outcomes.

The Outline

This proposal would be based around escorting a Megaship across the galaxy to act as the fleet flagship during the journey, and as a CG construction hub at its destination, in addition to using mined ice-based materials for fuel synthesis along the way to keep it refueled at designated waypoints and prepped for its next scheduled weekly hyperjump. The refueling aspect is purely speculative at this stage as we don't know what FD have planned for maintenance support (if anything) or indeed if Megaships will become more interactive and dependent on commanders' logistical efforts for them to operate far beyond the bubble.

The proposal would strive to fit in with previously established lore and utilize current (and planned) in-game content;

In essence the ‘lore’ would be along the lines of the Jaques hyperjump CG from early 2016 that tasked players to ship fuel to the starport prior to its intended hyperjump to Beagle Point (coincidentally as a nod to what DW1 achieved), so it is not asking for any radically new lore as the principle of hyperjumping large structures across the galaxy has already been attempted.
It wouldn’t expect any special consideration regarding the construction aspect of the CG as groups like the Chapterhouse Inquisition have already paved the way with their successfully implemented deep space outpost construction CGs of 2017.
Nor would any radically new in-game ‘props’ be required that other player events and groups haven’t already received.

If it is accepted, naturally the CG should be open to all players and not be exclusive only to DW2 participants.

The in-depth proposal is posted below. If you would like to support this initiative and give constructive feedback, please do.

Distant Worlds II “Outbound” - Incorporating a Construction Community Goal at Sagittarius A*, and at Beagle Point.
Outbound route; Palaeni to Beagle Point (via the Sagittarii Conflux, the Norma Expanse, Sag-A*, Perseus Stem, the Galactic Aphelion, the Abyss, and the Solitude Void)

Preface (inc. background history)

Distant Worlds 3302 was a large scale expedition across the galaxy that began in January 2016 and took six months to complete. The expedition coincided with the launch of Horizons 2.0 and it caught the zeitgeist of the exploration communities desire to explore the new content of that release. Over 1,300 commanders took part in its six month long endeavour to map out the first galactic ‘Jumponium’ highway for the Mapping Project, stretching 81,500 light years from Pallaeni to Beagle Point.

According to Michael Brookes, the event was covered in eight different gaming magazine articles, and spawned several hundred Distant Worlds YouTube videos. It was extensively covered by the streaming community, and has given rise to hundreds, if not thousands, of forum posts and blogs on various forums, Reddit, Wiki’s, and external websites. A weekly newsletter series was also created during the event, which was eventually turned into a book.

The event incorporated many aspects of community created content and gave rise to groups like the Rock Rats and the Candy Crew. It was the foundation of the FleetComm community, which today has in excess of 3,000 members dedicated to exploration.

Distant Worlds was the event that directly inspired Jaques the Cyborg to attempt a starport hyperjump to Beagle Point - in recognition of what the DW fleet had accomplished. Jaques hyperjump failed, and he ended up in a region 22,000 light years from Sol - a region that subsequently became known as 'Colonia', and the birth of humanities first outer colony. The overwhelming feeling of DW 3302 has been extremely positive and its influence on exploration, mass expeditions, and background lore has made it an event that is still talked about fondly today by the community who took part, and those who watched it unfold.

The organizers of DW1 are now planning to launch DW2 to coincide with the release of the Q4 2018 “ED: Beyond” content update. Like with Horizons, the organizers are eager to promote and utilize the new content that comes with that release and incorporate as much of it as possible into this new expedition.

Early indications show that DW2 is going to be just as popular, if not more so, than the original expedition was back in 3302 - with over 2,000 people signing up to take part within the first 2 weeks of the roster thread going public (and this with a year still to go before its launch, nor any wider publicity made outside of the exploration forum).

We would like to build upon the success and popularity of fleet exploration and incorporate more community content and events into this new ambitious event. One aspect we would like to explore this time around is the inclusion of a Community Goal that will bring a new dimension of gameplay and objectives for players to take part in and enjoy during their journey across the galaxy.

Distant Worlds II - “Outbound” Community Goal Synopsis

The Distant Worlds II Expedition - a 16 week* journey across the Milky Way, from Pallaeni to Beagle Point, via Sagittarius A*, and incorporating a two-stage deep space construction Community Goal.
The construction CG would take place at Sagittarius-A and then at Beagle Point;
- Stage 1 - Building an Astrophysics Lab (Outpost) in orbit around Sagittarius-A (or in a neighboring star system).
- Stage 2 - Building a Deep Field Telescope Array on the surface of Beagle Point 2 (Darwin’s Legacy).
During the outbound journey, the event will incorporate mining and/or deep core blasting mechanics and their specific roles for Megaship logistical support (refueling) - provided logistical requirements for Megaships becomes a feature in ED:Beyond.
The Expedition and CG will launch once the Q4 2018/Q1 2019 content update is live and stable.

*the exact time frame is currently a placeholder and may be subject to change depending on how much time the majority of players can commit to this venture, and how much time FD can allocate to a CG (if its accepted).

Requirements

A faction neutral “Expedition-Class” Megaship with docking and outfitting facilities to act as the fleet flagship during the journey, and as the construction CG Hub at two specific deep space destinations.
The ability for commanders to deliver mined minerals to the CG tier goals when docked with the Megaship at its destination.
Discovery Scanners and Mining ‘Toolkits’ (cited for Q4), along with their associated hardware, available via outfitting aboard the Megaship.
SRV and Fighter resupply readily available from outfitting aboard the Megaship.
The Megaship is required to travel a pre-scouted Distant Worlds II route across the galaxy - hyperjumping to designated waypoints on a weekly* basis. (*update Jan 16th - feedback from this thread indicates that fortnightly jumps would allow players with less game time to rendezvous and take part in refueling ops - this option could be explored and the overall mission timeframe adjusted accordingly.)
Jumps would occur during Thursday server resets.
Due to the nature of this class of Megaship (ie. commissioned purely for science & discovery related endeavors, and its faction neutrality), along with the essential logistical interaction by players that allows it to travel vast distances, the Megaship should not have a blackmarket or be subject to UA disruption (see the "Challenges Ahead" section for alternative ideas on balancing CG progress).
If technically possible, remaining docked aboard the Megaship during its weekly hyperjumps should not be an option as this would undermine the integrity of the events goal to be a challenging undertaking for the accompanying fleet. Shortcuts across the galaxy has often been a contentious discussion and is something we would prefer Distant Worlds not to be associated with.

Content Promotion

Distant Worlds II will make use of and help promote much of the new content to be released throughout the “Elite Dangerous : Beyond” series - this includes;

The new mining mechanics
The new discovery mechanics
The updated Horizons content (i.e. selecting interesting geological surfaces to act as expedition basecamps)
Utilizing a Megaship
(Speculative) A series of Fleet Carriers acting as bases of operations for exploration wings, prospector teams, and escort squadrons overseeing mining operations.

Playstyles that will be accommodated on the DW2 expedition, and the CG itself

Explorers
Deep Space Prospector Scouts
Miners
(Speculative) Deep Core Blasters
Fuel Rats
Rock Rats
Repair Rats (i.e. repair limpet haulers)
(Speculative) Carriers & Fleet Escort Squadrons
Logistical Support (Freighter Pilots transporting mined minerals)
Fighter Escorts (protecting mining operations and escorting haulers)
Geological Surveyors (seeking active surface POIs - geysers/fumaroles/organics)
Galactic Mappers and Astrophotographers (for the Mapping Project)

Establishing the Route

In Q2 2018, the Galactic Mapping Project team will set up a scouting event tasking explorers to look for candidate locations through which the DW2 fleet will travel later that year. These locations will act as waypoints for the weekly fleet gatherings during the main expedition. It is also likely that we will use some of the previous and more popular DW 3302 basecamps intermixed with brand new locations to explore.

During Q2 players will be asked to post their scouted locations to a public thread, and we will chose from those submissions the locations that become the official DW2 waypoints for the upcoming expedition. (Update : April 1st 2018 - this scouting event is now open : Link).

Provided the CG proposal is accepted, the community created DW2 route and selected waypoints will be submitted to Frontier Developments by the end of Q2 2018 (approximately 6 months prior to DW2’s launch) as to give FD plenty of time to suggest alternative waypoints (if needed) or ask the DW2 organizers for refinements or other suggestions etc.

The Community Goal Proposal (Draft 1.0)
Note: This is a draft proposal written for DW2 by Erimus Kamzel (Oct 2017) and is subject to major changes depending on FD stipulations and gameplay requirements.

Synopsis:

The DW2 Fleet will travel to the galactic core and (via a CG) build a Science Station at, or very close to, Sagittarius A*.
Once complete the DW2 Fleet will continue its journey to Beagle Point, where a 2nd CG will begin, this time to build a surface installation on Beagle Point, Planet 2.
Both CGs will be mining-based as to utilize and promote the new mining gameplay mechanics scheduled for released in update 3.3 (circa Q4 2018).
The introduction of mining and prospecting on this expedition will facilitate the need for multi-role and cooperative gameplay between its participants, and crucially for the first time ever on such deep space ventures, add a practical reason for industrial and logistical-based gameplay.
If feasible, an accompanying Megaship with outfitting facilities will be used as the CG Hub and mobile 'construction platform' for the CGs.

Stage 1: The Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Astrophysics Lab (Outpost)

Stage 1 - Introduction

Sagittarius A* at the heart of the Milky Way is the only supermassive black hole the human race has access to. Situated approximately 23,000 light years away, these days it is well within commute range of the scientific community. Close up scientific study of the supermassive black hole is an opportunity that humanity would embrace.

The construction of an orbiting science installation close to the event horizon of Sag-A* would be an endeavor we feel humanity would have undertaken once it became feasible to travel to the galactic core in relatively short time frames, and coupled with the manpower that the DW2 Expedition can muster, we feel it is now logistically viable to begin construction of a science outpost at this unique location.

In the interests of neutrality and to promote scientific endeavor, the controlling NPC faction should have no affiliations with political entities, ties to existing power blocs nor player factions, and should instead have science and research (on behalf of humanity as a whole) as its only motive.

If this proves to be a contentious location, then a neighbouring system to Sag-A* would suffice (although from a purely gameplay perspective having an installation above the event horizon of a supermassive black hole would be visually stunning - and make the endeavours outcome more worthwhile).

Stage 1 - Mission Goal

In Q4 3304 Transorbital Dynamics (an NPC corporation), commissions the Distant Worlds fleet to escort its mega ‘construction’ ship to Sagittatus A* and invites the wider community to take part also. This stage of the journey will take approximately 6 weeks. The Megaship would act as the Expeditionary Fleet Flagship and would rendezvous with participants at specific expedition waypoints during this initial phase of the journey.

The Megaship would remain in orbit above each basecamp waypoint for 1 full week, before jumping to the next waypoint along the route (during server reset), while the rest of the fleet makes its way between waypoints to each subsequent rendezvous.

Stage 1 - Non-CG Phase: The Outbound Journey (inc. logistic support for the flagship)

Logistical operations would occur on a weekly basis while the Megaship is in orbit around a DW2 basecamp world awaiting refueling. Mined ice-based minerals will be used to synthesise the ships jump fuel needed for it to cross the galaxy. Players would search for systems abundant with pristine ice rings close to the waypoint system and extraction teams ('Rock Rats') would begin mining operations there. Fleet haulers and Fuel Rats would collect the minerals at source and ferry the relevant ones to the flagship for the refueling process, with fighter squadrons overseeing the entire operation.

Suggested ice-mined materials required for its refueling could include;

Hydrogen Peroxide & Platinum (as Platinum can catalyse Hydrogen Peroxide into water and oxygen and is used in fuel cells).
Other elements could include; Liquid Oxygen, Methane Clathrate, Lithium Hydroxide, Methane Crystals
Or other more exotic and rarer elements planned for ED: Beyond that require Prospector Scouts to locate prior to the flagships arrival at each weekly waypoint
Additionally, incorporating rare minerals only available via deep core blasting would add an element of risk vs reward to the overall mission

Update suggestion by Zenith: I suggest methanol as well as hydrogen peroxide from icy rings. Palladium and Platinum from metallic rings. That way you have the metals to make fuel cells and act as catalyst in the oxidising reaction. Methanol can be used as a fuel in fuel cells to create electricity, with water and carbon dioxide as waste products. Hydrogen peroxide breaks apart in the presence of platinum into water and oxygen. Use the power from the methanol fuelled fuel cells to electrolyse the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen to fuel the jump drive. Oxygen for the life support systems. Water for life support. Energy/electricity to power the ship, the fuel production and waste heat to maintain the environment.

The materials could also be purchased in the bubble or Colonia and freighted out to the Megaship, allowing deep space transport convoys to take part.

Handwavium alert...
Q: Why not fill the Megaship with all the iced-based materials it needs for its fuel synthesis, and deliver enough of it for its entire galactic crossing prior to leaving the bubble?
A: The Megaship is a deep space variant - the “Expedition-Class”. It has sacrificed fuel capacity and various heavy armaments to keep its mass as low as possible so that large hyperjumps are attainable. It only has a fuel tank capacity that allows it to jump a maximum of 6,000 LYs per hyperjump per week before it requires refueling by commanders. Hence weekly ice-mining operations will be required to refuel it at each waypoint visit.

Players can keep tabs on the flagship fuel gauge when they're docked with it - indicating whether sufficient fuel is aboard prior to its next scheduled hyperjump countdown.

If for whatever reason an insufficient amount of ice-based minerals have been deposited aboard the Megaship prior to its next scheduled jump (Thursday server downtime), the ship is delayed 1 week and remains at its current location and the expedition progress will be delayed - this creates incentives for participants to coordinate efforts to keep the mission on track.

It's important to clarify the logistical support idea outlined here, and not to confuse it with the actual CG (which comes later)...

The refuelling of the megaship at each waypoint should not be considered to be a series of CGs. This Stage 1 proposal as presented here is merely a working example of how Megaship logistical support could work if FD decided to incorporate logistical support for these kinds of deep space variants.

This idea is presented here to give FD some early thoughts about how these deep space variants (Expedition-Class Megaships) can become more interactive and dependent on player activity (particularly resource gatherers) when operating in deep space if FD decide to implement the feature during ED:Beyond.

If this feature is not in FDs thinking and Megaships in ED:Beyond require no player activity or refuelling for them to travel the depths, the CG as outlined here would remain viable as it requires the megaship to still act as a typical Construction CG Hub at its destinations (Sag-A* and Beagle Point).

Alternatively, if Megaship refuelling is a mechanic that will not be part of ED:Beyond, the mining aspect of DW2 could still work if the Megaship is used to store mined elements that players gather and deliver to it at each of its weekly waypoint stopovers. Thus by the time it reaches Sag-A* it will already have a stockpile of minerals aboard to begin the refining and manufacturing process to build the outpost there. Ditto for the Beagle Point phase of the mission.

Stage 1 - CG Phase: Objective & Outcome

Once the Megaship has reached Sag-A*, the week-long construction CG begins. Players rendezvousing with the Megaship are now tasked to mine metallic-based minerals from around the galactic core systems and deposit them aboard the ship over the course of its stay at Sag A* (1 week), as well as refuel it for its next jump.

Handwavium alert…
These metallic based minerals will be refined and used in manufacturing and assembling the outpost superstructure and its components aboard the ship, prior to it deploying the installation in orbit above the event horizon.

Suggested mined metallic-base materials required for outpost construction could include;

Rutile, Cobalt, Gallite, Coltan, Uranite, Lepidolite, Bauxite
Or other more exotic and rarer elements planned for ED: Beyond
Additionally, incorporating rare minerals only available via deep core blasting would add an element of risk vs reward to the overall mission

Several tiered goals would be set.

Tier 1 would see the construction of the Event Horizon Science Outpost.
Tier 2 would see the addition of medium sized landing pads attached to the science station.
Tier 3 would see the addition of large landing pads along with repair and refuel facilities.
Tier 4 would add a commodity market - with an emphasis on importing food, water, computers, and scientific equipment.
Tier 5 would open a mission board - with an emphasis on courier missions. i.e. shipping NPC science personnel to and from the science outpost and/or transporting scientific data packets to NPC science institutions back in human space (be it the bubble or Colonia).

Stage 2: The Beagle Point Deep Field Telescope Array

Stage 2 - Introduction

The outer galactic rim offers an unobstructed view of intergalactic space. It is the perfect place to study distant cosmological structures like the Virgo Galactic Cluster and the Magellanic Clouds. A surface installation out on the galactic fringe at Beagle Point, now an iconic system, would also act as a focal point for deep space explorers - a welcome rest stop for weary travellers, and an interesting piece of lore for the continuing expansion of human scientific endeavours.

In the interests of neutrality and to promote scientific endeavor, the controlling NPC faction should have no affiliations with political entities, ties to existing power blocs nor player factions, and should instead have science and research (on behalf of humanity as a whole) as its only motive.

Stage 2 - Mission Goal

Transorbital Dynamics now tasks commanders to escort their Megaship from Sag-A*, across the far Galactic Core, through the Aphelion regions, across the Abyss, and out to the galactic rim via the Solitude Void.

Over the course of a further 10 weeks the ship would make weekly jumps to each Distant Worlds II waypoint along the Galactic Aphelion route (again one jump per week) and rendezvous with the fleet at those locations to be refueled using the same logistical procedure used during the Stage 1 journey. Waypoints during Stage 2 would be situated approximately 6,000 light years apart.

Stage 2 entails the building of a Deep Field Array on the surface of Beagle Point 2 (Darwin’s Legacy) - using the orbiting Megaship as the manufacturing plant.

Stage 2 - CG Phase: Objective & Outcome

Once the Megaship reaches Beagle Point, the 2nd construction CG phase would begin and players would once again begin mining operations for metallic-based minerals from the galactic rim regions and deliver them to the ship, which now acts as a manufacturing plant for the soon-to-be constructed surface Array.

Several tiered goals would be set.

Tier 1 would see the construction of the Deep Field Surface Array.
Tier 2 would see the construction of additional medium sized landing pads attached to the Array.
Tier 3 would see the addition of large landing pads along with repair and refuel facilities.
Tier 4 would add a commodity market - with an emphasis on importing food, water, computers, and scientific equipment.
Tier 5 would open a mission board - with an emphasis on courier missions. i.e. shipping NPC science personnel to and from the science outpost and/or transporting scientific data packets to NPC science institutions back in humans space (be it the bubble or Colonia).

Due to the nature and distance of this outpost, it should not have a black market.

The Challenges Ahead

In the interests of balance, we understand that a Community Goal should have tangible opposition trying to prevent its success, and in true Distant Worlds spirit we fully expect and embrace the fact that this should be a difficult endeavour. To achieve its intended goals it should require endurance, patience, commitment, and the ability to overcome whatever unknowns that are encountered during the 16 week mission to Beagle Point.

Currently only hostile player action and UA bombing are effective in balancing CG progress. However, due to the nature of this Megaship (ie. faction neutral - science and discovery based), along with the distant locations it intends to take place at (Sag-A* and Beagle Point), we understand that this kind of opposition and its countermeasures may become logistically impracticable due to the distances involved, in addition shutting down Megaship services would put a halt to the fundamental reason behind having a megaship be part of the expedition (ie. the ability for players to take part in refueling ops, and take on different roles via loadout switching). Therefore we would instead welcome any other opposition ideas FD deem practicable for the outbound journey before the CG Hub reaches those locations, be them alien incursions or rogue AI raiders to hinder refueling operations if those entities perceive this human endeavor to be a threat, or an encroachment through their territories, or any other ‘surprises’ FD can incorporate, as these encounters would disrupt progress without totally crippling a players ability to counter it. Addition: 18th Jan. 2018 - In addition the new megaship "hacking" feature could be used by pirates (human or NPC) to steal fuel resources - thus creating a tangible way to counter the mission progress if enough opposition is mustered.

One “failure” aspect that could be incorporated is adding a set time frame to escort the Megaship to the CG location, so that several delays to the Megaships weekly waypoint departures (due to insufficient fuel being delivered) can cause Transorbital Dynamics to scrub the mission. Example; The scheduled mission is 16 weeks long, but it could have an additional 2 week grace period. If the flagship has failed to reach Sag-A* by week 8, or Beagle Point by week 18, then the CG could be forfeited due to the sponsoring NPC corp running out of funds for its mission. This kind of gameplay adds incentives and encourages players to work together to make sure the CG has the best possible chance of being initiated at Sag-A* and BP respectively on the dates they're scheduled to begin. If they miss that deadline and the construction Hub megaship is still enroute - no CG.

Additionally, injecting a variety of possible outcomes, encounters, or environmental anomalies to overcome would enhance the overall experience.

The Waypoint Schedule

The time frame indicated throughout this proposal (16 weeks) is currently a placeholder and may be subject to change depending on how much time the majority of players can commit to this venture. The actual CGs would last 1 week each, the first once the Megaship reaches Sag-A*, ending 7 days later when the ship departs for Beagle Point, the second at Beagle Point, again ending 7 days later when the sponsoring NPC corp decommissions the Megaship. Whatever CG tier goals are reached by day 7 of each respective CG, determines what kind of facilities each outpost gains.

With that said, the current schedule thinking is along these lines...

The fleet would need to take into account the time needed to reach its next rendezvous waypoint, mine sufficient ice-based minerals to refuel the flagship while it’s there, explore the local POIs, and take part in whatever basecamp activities and other events that are scheduled for that waypoint. For this we would situate the first six major waypoints approximately 4,000 light years apart for the journey to Sag A*.

For the journey from Sag-A* to Beagle Point, there would be a further ten major waypoints and these would be approximately 6,000 light years apart, as the distance to cover would be around 60,000 light years from the core to the far galactic rim.

With ship jump ranges increased across the board due to engineered mods, travel times since DW1 have been significantly reduced for even moderately engineered ships. We therefore feel this weekly waypoint to waypoint distance is now easily achievable for players committed to this kind of endeavor.

Amendment: Jan 16th 2018 - An idea posted here (link) to make the Megaship hyperjumps occur on a fortnightly basis and jump twice as far during it (that is, skipping alternate waypoints) has been suggested as a means to allow players with less gametime more time to rendezvous with the ship and enjoy the mining/refueling aspects of the outbound trip since the megaship would effectively remain in orbit above a basecamp for two weeks instead of one. Refueling requirements would have to be adjusted accordingly so more fuel is needed during each stopover.

Event Participants (inc. Colonia)

While the Megaship is stationed in Pallaeni, players wanting to take part in the CG would register by docking with it and using its bulletin board to sign up. The DW fleet would depart the Frontier approximately 1 week prior to the flagships departure - to give commanders ample time to reach the first waypoint and begin ice mining operations - awaiting the Megaship arrival.

Jaques station could also be a possible location for players to sign up to the CG too, and a request to Colonia to send Colonial Marine Carriers to escort civilian miners from the colony and rendevouz with the fleet at Sag-A* would encourage more players to take part and enjoy the social aspects of the Sag-A* CG.

Although the expedition and the associated CGs can be experienced solo, we will encourage players registered with the Distant Worlds fleet to work in teams to achieve the mission goals.

Being part of the Distant Worlds fleet is not a requirement to take part in the CG. The CG should be inclusive to all players - whether they want to help or hinder the mission goals. Although some aspects of Distant Worlds II will be conducted in a private group (non-CG related basecamp events for example), participants should be free to take part in the CG aspect of the mission in any mode they wish; be it open play, their own private groups, or solo mode.

CG Tier Structuring

The CG tiers need to take into account the number of participants actively taking part at each stage, and the increasing distances to and from the CG hub and the bubble as the mission progresses across the galaxy. Due to the nature of this endeavour and the endurance requirements of the journey, it is possible that eventually only those dedicated to deep space operations will see out the remainder of the mission. Stage 1 (Sag-A*) may see many participants taking part alongside the DW2 fleet as Colonia is only around 10,000 LYs away from Sag-A*, and the Bubble 23,000 LYs away, whereas the Beagle Point goal (Stage 2) may be a less attended aspect of the overall goal due to the sheer distance involved, and as such this stage may end up solely relying upon the DW2 fleet to complete. Stage 1 and Stage 2 tiered goals will need to take this into account.

As a rough guide; of the 1,300 commanders who set out on the first Distant Worlds Expedition back in 3302, 571 made it all the way to Beagle Point. Due to increased FSD ranges and decrease in travel times across the galaxy, plus the added stimulation of the accompanying CG, we don’t expect there to be as much attrition on DW2 as there was on DW1.

Additional Ideas

Weekly Galnet articles could keep players informed of the status and location of the Megaship as the expedition across the galaxy progresses.
A mining mission may become repetitive if players have to constantly do it over a long period of time (16 weeks) or have to mine the same elements over and over again. Therefore to break up any monotony random "incidents" or "monkey wrenches" could be thrown into the mix to make the event more varied and create incidents and new challenges for players to overcome - example; a vital component on the Megaship has broken down, the fleet is required to seek out and deep core blast for vital resources that the autofabs need to repair it. Additionally rival NPC corporations could send task forces to disrupt refueling events or even attack and damage the Flag Ship in an attempt to delay its progress.
Once the mission has been completed, the Megaship could stay in orbit above Beagle Point 2 as a monument, or be used in future CGs or deep space exploration bulletin board missions out in those regions.
The megaship could be escorted to Podar - an Earth-Like World close to Beagle Point that has three orbiting moons. The perfect resting place for the vessel, or a possible location for outer-rim colonization in which the megaship could be utilized for.
Alternatively the Megaship could be retired from service and “landed” on the surface of Beagle Point 2 (during a server reset). This would be a spectacular surface POI for future explorers to travel to and visit in the years to come.
Players taking part in the CG could be awarded a mission decal if/when both outposts have been constructed.

A Blueprint for the future?

If some of the proposals presented here prove viable, they could open the door to some major expeditions in the future that finally encompass prospecting focused events. For example; seeding certain regions of the galaxy with rare and sought after elements that have long since been exhausted throughout colonized space (due to heavy industry), could become part of filling out the galactic Codex, or be the genesis of bulletin board missions that task players and groups to look for pockets of ultra rare elements when there.

And this is only the beginning. It's merely one possible foundation to use that could take exploration, prospecting, and scientific research into our galaxy, to the next level of gameplay events. A more fleshed out idea on how this kind of gameplay, including how chained missions could be incorporated, has been written up by the Rock Rats and is presented on post #3 of this thread. The ideas presented there expand on what's proposed here and goes on to add further layers of depth that future Expeditions, Community Goals, Missions, and Community Content can utilise in (possible) future Elite Dangerous content updates.

An example of how parts of the galaxy can gain 'character' and be used as the backdrop for some interesting gameplay events and missions...

A note on Megaship "variants" that could be utilized on Missions and Expeditions

Its not known at this stage whether Megaships (or Carriers) will require some logistical support provided by players. Aspects of this proposal (refueling) does depend on this being the case. However, there may be opposition to this kind of mechanic being implemented as it does rely on group-play to make utilizing such ships in events, missions, expeditions etc, to work. Not everyone is part of large groups so a balance that allows smaller groups, and even wings, to utilize such vessels during smaller-scale missions could be explored. One idea to consider is to introduce Megaship or Carrier 'variants'. Some examples;

Heavy Military Class Megaship - this requires regular logistical support (refueling and occasional maintenance and restocking via the delivery of various components, and ammunition etc).
Expedition Class Megaship - similar to above, but logistical requirements are much lower as this variant has been stripped of heavy weapons and armaments as to make larger hyperjumps attainable.
Science Class Megaship - a lighter version of the Expedition Class - requires occasional maintenance via computer equipment delivery, and refueling.

As for range, as an example guide, maximum hyperjump range could be limited to 6,000 light years per hyperjump per week. With refueling required prior to its next jump. Something in this ballpark would take an Expedition-Class Megaship around 11-12 weeks to travel from Sol to Beagle Point, which prior to the Engineering era was about the average time taken for commanders (in non-buckyball mode). The Distant Worlds 3302 Fleet, for example, took 12 weeks to travel from the bubble to Beagle Point.
In Closing

Miners have little incentive or reason to ply their trade beyond the boundaries of the bubble or Colonial borders as they invariably stay close to the markets or mission hubs that require their labour. Adding roaming “Expedition-Class” Megaships and/or incorporating some sort of logistical support for them would give resource gatherers and deep space prospecting scouts tangible reasons to ‘work’ further afield. They would become integral parts of major events beyond human borders.

In regards to the CG and DW2, if this proposal is unfeasible, the DW2 organizers would be happy to discuss alternative ideas with Frontier Developments.

- Erimus Kamzel (CG Proposal & Expedition Mission Goals), Dr. Kaii (Co-organizer), and the Distant Worlds Organization Team.

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

The Event Horizon Science Relay

As a tier reward earned during the second Distant Worlds 2 Community Goal, held as the Explorer's Anchorage in March 3305, the Event Horizons Science Relay has now been deployed around planet CD 1 of Stuemeae FG-Y d7561.

The DSSV Distant Worlds

As a tier reward earned during the second Distant Worlds 2 Community Goal, held as the Explorer's Anchorage in March 3305, the Deep Space Science Vessel 'Distant Worlds' has now been constructed.

"Dedicated to the DW2 fleet who built it, we are very proud to announce the launch of the DSSV Distant Worlds megaship, and we look forward to its maiden voyage as it embarks on its Journey of Scientific Study around the galactic core".

The megaship will follow a flight-path based on the following Pilots Federation (FDEV) stipulations;

It should visit no more than 6 locations during its tour
It should travel no further than 1,500 LYs max distance from the Explorer’s Anchorage
Each hyperjump cannot exceed 500 LYs
Each jump will occur on a fortnightly basis
The final jump will be its return to the Explorer's Anchorage, whereupon the tour will begin again

This megaship will be based out of the Explorer's Anchorage, and will periodically conduct a Journey of Scientific Study during its travels between the following galactic core points of interest;

Stuemeae FG-Y d7561 (Explorer's Anchorage)	Binary Star System
Sagittarius A*	Supermassive Black Hole
Myriesly HR-N E6-3640 (Jocelyn's Star)	Neutron Star
Myriesly CL-P E5-7383 (Storms of Fenrisulfur)	Notable Stellar Phenomena
Myriesly HR-N E6-4354 (Blink of an Eye Remnant)	Notable Stellar Phenomena
Phua Aub VM-W D1-91 (Merrill's Legacy)	S-Class Carbon Star

Jump #1 [3 LYs]
Explorer’s Anchorage to Sagittarius A*

Jump #2 [490 LYs]
Sagittarius A* to Myriesly HR-N E6-3640 (Jocelyn's Star)

Jump #3 [275 LYs]
Myriesly HR-N E6-3640 (Jocelyn's Star) to Myriesly CL-P E5-7383 (Storms of Fenrisulfur)

Jump #4 [208 LYs]
Myriesly CL-P E5-7383 (Storms of Fenrisulfur) to Myriesly HR-N E6-4354 (Blink of an Eye Remnant)

Jump #5 [372 LYs]
Myriesly HR-N E6-4354 (Blink of an Eye Remnant) to Phua Aub VM-W D1-91 Planet 1 (Merrill's Legacy)

Jump #6 [326 LYs]
Phua Aub VM-W D1-91 Planet 1 (Merrill's Legacy) to Explorer’s Anchorage

Surly_Badger · Feb 19, 2015

I love this idea. And your names are awesome - respectful of the greatness and vastness you're exploring.

I have personal names for a few of the things I've found. Such as I call
COL 359 SECTOR ZZB B3 1-1
"The Ocean Of Rocks"
Because it has a rather huge rocky ring that I spent an hour trapped in, trying to get out.

I guess my point is that some regions definitely should be named but some star systems, like Rendezvous Point could have individual names because of events that happened there. Which makes me wonder who named "The Great Annihilator" or "Lost My Beer" (that massive black hole..)

Gogster · Feb 19, 2015

You have no peers in this line of work.

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

Thanks

Surly_Badger · Feb 19, 2015

Erimus said:
That's what I was hoping for too. Even if its personal to you, add it to the map. There are 400 billion systems - so plenty of room for players to make their marks!

How do you envision doing this? If you do it manually, you may want to throttle it so that we don't have explorer CMDRs naming things after their dog, or whatever (unless the dog fell into a black hole or something name-worthy)(*)

In my opinion, it would be a good idea if someone determined the name-worthiness of a name. Perhaps it would be good to require a storty to be attached to it. Like your "Outer Rim Abyss"

A name overlay for regions and individual objects wouldn't be too hard to implement. It's just a 3D search tree.

Sorry, I'm being a doofus. Back in 1987 I spent a few months coding on a K-D Tree implementation that nearly broke my brain.

(* and now I am remembering the hysterical story by ... um, someone. About the OFFOG and "destroyed by gravitational stress" ... )

Ozric · Feb 19, 2015

This is a great idea. I am actually just passing near a stretch of Badlands on my way out to visit the Crab Nebula (for personal reasons) I'll let you know where it is, if it's wide enough to cause troubles. How wide/big would you envisage that being?

Once I've done that then I had already planned on heading out to the New Outer Arm, so hopefully I can bring back some stories from out there...

Toscaner · Feb 19, 2015

nice idea! i like it.

will think about it on my next journey.

edit: can't give you rep atm, sry

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

Surly_Badger said:
How do you envision doing this? If you do it manually, you may want to throttle it so that we don't have explorer CMDRs naming things after their dog, or whatever (unless the dog fell into a black hole or something name-worthy)

In my opinion, it would be a good idea if someone determined the name-worthiness of a name. Perhaps it would be good to require a storty to be attached to it. Like your "Outer Rim Abyss"

A name overlay for regions and individual objects wouldn't be too hard to implement. It's just a 3D search tree. Sorry, I'm being a doofus. Back in 1987 I spent a few months coding on a K-D Tree implementation that nearly broke my brain.

I think it could be categorized.

Ranging from minor points of interest... like something that is personal to a player (like your experience in that asteroid belt), to major descriptive features and write ups of interesting POIs. Provided your naming is sensible, you write a reason why its important to you, and provide a screenshot. Minor entries could be simply labelled on the map with a number. Then players can look at an index and see what that number refers to and see if it interests them.

Obviously we cant fit thousands of labels on the maps so only significant features or places of interest beyond the personal stories level should actually be named on the maps (unless it has some wider impact - like the first Thargoid encounter or the first Alien relic found by a player.. most distant PvP battle etc).. everything else could be simple reference numbers with an accompanying index?

If it gets too complicated or becomes an information overload then I'm not sure how it could work.

I guess we'll have to see how much interest there is and how good the data/description/screenshots are and possibly vote on what should be added to the main maps.

But there is no reason why there can't be localized maps created by individuals, say a few 1000 LY square, with labels and descriptions on those too of what that individual did/discovered there. Akin to minor maps.

In theory with a galaxy this size there could literally be hundreds of maps created by players. I think if nothing else, this idea could at least centralize them into one place so future explorers can bring up a map of the region they're traveling to and look through some historically recorded info on what happened there, who went there, and what they saw/recorded, and finally have some descriptive names of what they're likely to see.... and not just procedural strings of text and numbers.

pHUB4R · Feb 19, 2015

Great idea.I'm near sagittarius a.Be nice to put names to objects i find interesting.

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

pHUB4R said:
Great idea.I'm near sagittarius a.Be nice to put names to objects i find interesting.

There are plenty of supernova remnants with ejecta clouds around the galactic core worth exploring and "tagging"

Ozric · Feb 19, 2015

Is it too cheesy to want to call a system I've just discovered with 4 Water Worlds - Oceana?

What I thought was a stretch of badlands near my position wasn't actually too bad because there were a few type M and K stars scattered throughout it. However I had just flown through 5 systems in a row that only had stars in them. It was beginning to feel a bit barren and I was feeling the need to quench my exploring thirst

I then jumped into a system that returned some objects and they looked promising. Once I had scanned the system I had discovered 4 Water Worlds within it, the most I have found in a single system. However I could not quench my thirst there as 3 of them had Ammonia atmospheres... best to stay away I thought.

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 19, 2015

Ozric said:
Is it too cheesy to want to call a system I've just discovered with 4 Water Worlds - Oceana?

What I thought was a stretch of badlands near my position wasn't actually too bad because there were a few type M and K stars scattered throughout it. However I had just flown through 5 systems in a row that only had stars in them. It was beginning to feel a bit barren and I was feeling the need to quench my exploring thirst I then jumped into a system that returned some objects and they looked promising. Once I had scanned the system I had discovered 4 Water Worlds within it, the most I have found in a single system. However I could not quench my thirst there as 3 of them had Ammonia atmospheres... best to stay away I thought.

http://i.imgur.com/2zXxjCSl.jpg

4 water worlds in one system is quite rare I think, so could be worthy of an index entry

When I get the first dozen or so submissions of interesting locations I'll update the relevant map.

Erimus Kamzel · Feb 20, 2015

Update:

I've added the Great Annihilator and the two minor POIs to the relevant maps.

drpaul · Feb 20, 2015

Can we have establishing a station at Sagittarius A* a community goal too?