The Lavecon 2020 Buckyball Race (3rd - 5th July 2020)
- Thread starter Alec Turner
- Start date
Following your fine example I tried a mamba run for the team.
Overshot an outpost, face planted the planet, gave up.
#proud
This was wicked fun Alec, thanks so much for organising. Really cool to see folk zipping round the course, (including one still out there
)and also thanks to Shaye, your SC explanation made a real difference, appreciate it o7.
Just to add my thanks to Alec for arranging and managing this. It was great fun - learning how to fly properly in supercruise has been on my list of things to do for a long time. I'm not saying I can do so yet, but I certainly understand how to now.
And I must remember to keep an eye on future Buckyball events...
And I must remember to keep an eye on future Buckyball events...
Thanks Alec! Nice race.
Thanks for your time too.
Congrats to the winners.
I pushed the Sidy to my limits (not his)...
Thanks for your time too.
Congrats to the winners.
I pushed the Sidy to my limits (not his)...
Just watched through this properly, outstanding
Final scoreboard update in about an hours time.
In the meantime I just wanted to thank everyone who took part - your involvement and appreciation makes it all worth while.
In the meantime I just wanted to thank everyone who took part - your involvement and appreciation makes it all worth while.
I have gotten used to head tracking in the past 6 months, I feel in control of the ship/SRV again now. Headtracking is an advantage since you can increase the angle of attack and still see the time to arrival, with they would put that number on the dashboard as well.
Thanks for arranging this Alec, nice to only use the spreadsheet for noting down checkpoint times and calculating the total time for once
I hope to see everyone who took part at the next race.
Fly safe, but not too safe.
I hope to see everyone who took part at the next race.
Fly safe, but not too safe.
I'm still a bit torn on that, I feel it gives me an advantage in angles of attack for the reason you mention, but I also feel it somewhat disorienting during some of the normal space acrobatics where I really need to focus on the mouse widget at the center of the screen. All in all, sometimes I'm faster with it, sometimes without, so I'd say it's not really a definite advantage in racing...surely does wonders for immersion though!
Just to give you an example, my 13:07 from saturday was made using headtracking while the hugely, hugely improved time from yesterday was made without.
Hugely.
I'm using Alecs profile with only one change. I turned off head tilting, it was what made me most uncomfortable. It took lots of time before I felt in control of where the ship was heading without looking straight ahead though.
Yes, that requires some time as well. I got started with my EDTracker around the time I was doing laps at the Okinura standing challenge, expecting head tracking to be the game changer...no way I could get even near the same level of precision with that thing on my head, it was absolutely disorienting. 
With the TrackIR you should have 6DOF so maybe moving the head around feels a bit different...on my that's only 3DOF, I use it through Opentrack just for the purpose of adding a bit of the head tilting the EDTracker wouldn't support on its own otherwise (never understood why). I noticed that turning my head full left or right felt a bit more natural with a bit of tilt added back in, considering my head will always stay fixed in one point in space.
With the TrackIR you should have 6DOF so maybe moving the head around feels a bit different...on my that's only 3DOF, I use it through Opentrack just for the purpose of adding a bit of the head tilting the EDTracker wouldn't support on its own otherwise (never understood why). I noticed that turning my head full left or right felt a bit more natural with a bit of tilt added back in, considering my head will always stay fixed in one point in space.
My best run was in 2D, vr made judging the approach angle tricky.I'm still a bit torn on that, I feel it gives me an advantage in angles of attack for the reason you mention, but I also feel it somewhat disorienting during some of the normal space acrobatics where I really need to focus on the mouse widget at the center of the screen. All in all, sometimes I'm faster with it, sometimes without, so I'd say it's not really a definite advantage in racing...surely does wonders for immersion though!
Just to give you an example, my 13:07 from saturday was made using headtracking while the hugely, hugely improved time from yesterday was made without.
Hugely.
This is the first time I've really focussed on trying to improve SC times, it's gonna take a while to get used to doing it in vr for sure.
Edit: sounds like lots of improved times, exciting scoreboard ahead ...
Anyway, enough of all that, here's what you've all really been waiting for ...
I've done something slightly different for the final scoreboard and am only ranking each commander's fastest time irrespective of ship type (mostly to save Shaye the embarrassment of winning two out of the three available prizes).
On those final entries (and ignoring THAT Sidewinder time for a second), Sulu switched to an Imperial Courier and finally managed to beat his 14 minute demon, taking the Cellerina around the course in 13m 55s. Congratulations to Sulu who's been our most enthusiastic competitor!
Aken B. meanwhile managed to shave a second off his Viper Mk III time to draw level with Shaye Blackwood's 3rd place Viper. This makes Aken the first of our prize winners! Aken also entered a Mamba, completing the circuit in 14m 9s (thus sparing me the embarrassment of having to put my own Mamba run on the scoreboard in order to save the dignity of this fabulous ship).
In the final hours of racing Cmdr Raiko made a very welcome "rush job" return to Buckyball Racing, completing his first ever VR run in an Imperial Courier in 15m 2s! Bravo sir and great to see you back on the track ... enjoy the VR!
Then we had another brand new entry into Buckyball Racing courtesy of Cmdr DukeLukem5000. Flying an Imperial Courier named Hastatus, he managed to complete the circuit in an admirable time of 16m 52s. Welcome to the BBRC commander and thanks for taking part.
Just a quick mention here for Darplata94 - no new submissions but he had a tight grip on that number one spot for a good portion of the race with an astonishing Imperial Courier time of 13m 3s and is the second of our prize winners - congratulations!
And finally - in an unexpected switch to that well known racing ship, the Sidewinder! (video already posted earlier), the reigning champion of recent Buckyball Races Cmdr Shaye Blackwood takes first place with a truly extraordinary time of 12m 40s! Bravo sir, I'll be in touch shortly concerning your choice of prize.
I should also mention that the fastest regulation Eagle time was from Cmdr Sgurr who completed the course in 14m 22s.
I'd like to give special thanks to our newest competitors @Bascobug (Fyver), @DukeLukem5000 and @TechyMr B. Much as I love seeing the usual suspects turn up for these races I'm always especially delighted when somebody new decides to give this a try. I trust you enjoyed it and really hope we'll see you again!
Our next race will be "Keys To The Carrier" taking place later this month. I haven't decided the exact date yet but I'll post in this thread when I do and you can also keep an eye out for announcements on our website (http://buckyballracing.org.uk) or just join our Discord server (there's an invite link at the bottom of that website and also in the OP of this forum thread). That race will be slightly different to this one (it won't prescribe a route, will employ an aspect of the game we haven't really explored in the BBRC before and will also be using a fleet carrier parked some way out of the bubble as its start/finish line) but I hope it'll be another fun one and has a similar run length so I expect it'll be another closely fought battle for the top spot.
Until then, fly fast commanders!
I've done something slightly different for the final scoreboard and am only ranking each commander's fastest time irrespective of ship type (mostly to save Shaye the embarrassment of winning two out of the three available prizes).
On those final entries (and ignoring THAT Sidewinder time for a second), Sulu switched to an Imperial Courier and finally managed to beat his 14 minute demon, taking the Cellerina around the course in 13m 55s. Congratulations to Sulu who's been our most enthusiastic competitor!
Aken B. meanwhile managed to shave a second off his Viper Mk III time to draw level with Shaye Blackwood's 3rd place Viper. This makes Aken the first of our prize winners! Aken also entered a Mamba, completing the circuit in 14m 9s (thus sparing me the embarrassment of having to put my own Mamba run on the scoreboard in order to save the dignity of this fabulous ship).
In the final hours of racing Cmdr Raiko made a very welcome "rush job" return to Buckyball Racing, completing his first ever VR run in an Imperial Courier in 15m 2s! Bravo sir and great to see you back on the track ... enjoy the VR!
Then we had another brand new entry into Buckyball Racing courtesy of Cmdr DukeLukem5000. Flying an Imperial Courier named Hastatus, he managed to complete the circuit in an admirable time of 16m 52s. Welcome to the BBRC commander and thanks for taking part.
Just a quick mention here for Darplata94 - no new submissions but he had a tight grip on that number one spot for a good portion of the race with an astonishing Imperial Courier time of 13m 3s and is the second of our prize winners - congratulations!
And finally - in an unexpected switch to that well known racing ship, the Sidewinder! (video already posted earlier), the reigning champion of recent Buckyball Races Cmdr Shaye Blackwood takes first place with a truly extraordinary time of 12m 40s!
Bravo sir, I'll be in touch shortly concerning your choice of prize.I should also mention that the fastest regulation Eagle time was from Cmdr Sgurr who completed the course in 14m 22s.
I'd like to give special thanks to our newest competitors @Bascobug (Fyver), @DukeLukem5000 and @TechyMr B. Much as I love seeing the usual suspects turn up for these races I'm always especially delighted when somebody new decides to give this a try. I trust you enjoyed it and really hope we'll see you again!
Our next race will be "Keys To The Carrier" taking place later this month. I haven't decided the exact date yet but I'll post in this thread when I do and you can also keep an eye out for announcements on our website (http://buckyballracing.org.uk) or just join our Discord server (there's an invite link at the bottom of that website and also in the OP of this forum thread). That race will be slightly different to this one (it won't prescribe a route, will employ an aspect of the game we haven't really explored in the BBRC before and will also be using a fleet carrier parked some way out of the bubble as its start/finish line) but I hope it'll be another fun one and has a similar run length so I expect it'll be another closely fought battle for the top spot.
Until then, fly fast commanders!
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Bravo to Shaye and Darplata, and bravo to all the other in the pleasantly long list and the new faces especially!
The Sidewinder was absolutely a sensible choice in this race, there was a lot more time to be gained from tight SC flying than raw speed during landings/takeoffs, with the advantage of the Sidey being a lot more nimble in SC and easier to brake in time from full speed to the pad. I had my Thunderchirp parked at Lave as well to do the same, but in the end I opted to try and bring the Viper under the 13 minutes mark. And failing at that.
A footnote. The only reason I ended up with that 13:07 on Saturday was because of messing at the pad back in Lave. Watching the footage, that mistake costed me exactly 5 seconds, that would have put me at 13:02 and then in....second place. The universe is safe once again.
The Sidewinder was absolutely a sensible choice in this race, there was a lot more time to be gained from tight SC flying than raw speed during landings/takeoffs, with the advantage of the Sidey being a lot more nimble in SC and easier to brake in time from full speed to the pad. I had my Thunderchirp parked at Lave as well to do the same, but in the end I opted to try and bring the Viper under the 13 minutes mark. And failing at that.
A footnote. The only reason I ended up with that 13:07 on Saturday was because of messing at the pad back in Lave. Watching the footage, that mistake costed me exactly 5 seconds, that would have put me at 13:02 and then in....second place. The universe is safe once again.
Congratulations to Shaye for another win and for using a Sidewinder to do it! Well done to all the participants and many thanks to Alec Turner for staging the event, this was a short, neat race that was easy to pick up and fly but hard to improve.
I'm not sure if I've ever raced both an Imperial Eagle and an Eagle Mk2 in a race before but it was good to try them out, as I have a tendency to race whatever I'm flying, which often means a Viper MkIV. I might engineer the Imperial Eagle for speed, as I don't have anything in the superfast 880+m/s category, though my Courier might just manage it stripped down. Looking forward to the next one! Fly fast o7
I'm not sure if I've ever raced both an Imperial Eagle and an Eagle Mk2 in a race before but it was good to try them out, as I have a tendency to race whatever I'm flying, which often means a Viper MkIV. I might engineer the Imperial Eagle for speed, as I don't have anything in the superfast 880+m/s category, though my Courier might just manage it stripped down. Looking forward to the next one! Fly fast o7
... So it was me, not the Sidey... the Sidey was perfect for the run.
... and I got my 7th place...
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If you have need of an FC for future races then I'd be more than happy to make mine available as necessary. If we got enough of them, could do an FC to FC trail. I'm more than happy to leave my FC in situ somewhere for a week or two as necessary for any future events.
On another note, I now need to go and engineer a Sidewinder...
On another note, I now need to go and engineer a Sidewinder...