Despite the planet Earth (and more specifically the Sedgebrook LAN room) still being in a general state of lockdown, we're not going to let that stop us from celebrating Lavecon weekend with a traditional Buckyball Race. And the best thing is, there's no need to struggle with unfamiliar HOTAS bindings this year - you can all use your own control setups - so there's no excuse for not bringing your absolute A game to this one!
The race is a classic Buckyball time trial and will run from 00:00 on Friday morning until 23:59 on Sunday. During that time you can run the race at any time, on any platform, and as many times as you like, submitting a series of screenshots to certify the time for each run. I'll be checking these and maintaining a scoreboard over the course of the weekend so you'll be able to see how your runs compare with everyone elses.
There will be prizes for the top 3 times (kindly donated by Frontier) of a Frontier Mamba paint job, an Expedition prize pack and a Gravity prize pack. You can view these over here: giveaway-community-prize-packs-and-paint-jobs. First choice goes to the winner, second place picks next and third place takes whatever is left.
The race starts and finishes at Lave Station and can be performed in any small or medium sized ship. You should be docked at a landing pad, up on the surface and facing the mailslot. When you're ready to go take a screenshot which shows the clock in the top-right hand corner of the HUD and then hit launch. Fly to each of the following outposts in the order given and land, taking another screenshot once you're safely down (each shot should clearly show the station services menu and HUD clock):
1) Almagro Port, Reorte
2) Diamond Landing, Gurney Slade
3) Patsayev Base, Hajanheimr
4) Clark Enterprise, Heheng
Lastly fly back to Lave Station, land, and take a final screenshot (again, with the HUD clock and station serices menu visible).
I recommend using a set of numbered bookmarks for these stations to make route plotting far easier.
In total at the end of your run you should have 6 screenshots. You now need to upload these to an image sharing website such as IMGUR.
Next start a new forum conversation with me using a subject line of "Lavecon 2020 Buckyball" and include the following details in the message:
1) Your commander name.
2) Which platform you're using (PC, XBOX or PS4).
3) The type of ship you're flying (if you're flying Ozric's regulation Eagle build as mentioned in the FAQ then please say so)
4) The name of your ship.
5) The time you're claiming for your run (this is the difference in time between the first and last screenshot).
6) A link to where I can find your screenshots.
NOTE: since the fleet carrier update the date and time have been removed from the station services menu which means we're now totally reliant on being able to see the HUD clock. Under certain circumstances this might be hard (if not impossible) to read. For example, when using a Cobra MkIII, the final landing time is often completely obscured by a bright light on the landing pad. If this happens then immediately hit the button to enter the station and take another screenshot as soon as the clock becomes visible. I'll do my best to try and estimate your actual landing time based on this.
If you wish to video your run then that's fine (and is actually better for you since you don't have to worry about hitting the screenshot button at key moments) but I would ask that you then review your video and take screenshots of the key moments to be submitted as described.
Here's a short video demonstrating the circuit with some tips about how to go about improving your time.
Feel free to post your intent to take part in the race in this forum thread along with any further questions you may have. If they're good then I'll add an FAQ to this post.
Lastly, if you want to chat about the race (either beforehand or over the weekend), or if you're just interested in the Buckyball Racing Club then feel free to drop into our Discord server.
FAQ
Q) Are there any limitations or classes for this race?
A) No, not really. I wanted to keep this nice and simple (it's a "rush job" after all) so run whatever damn ship you fancy. The only obvious loophole I'll close right now tho' is - you're not allowed to die during the run (e.g. to get yourself transported back to the start line). If you have an idea which feels like it "might" be cheating then please check it with me first.
Q) Really? No regulation ship?
A) sigh - oh OK then, if people want to fly a regulation ship that puts them on an even footing with others doing the same then they can use Ozric's Eagle build over here. I'm only going to maintain a single scoreboard (with one set of prizes) but I'll ask that anyone flying this Eagle build please let me know in their submission and I'll add a mark of honour next to their entry.
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