The Slow Boat to Nowhere Expedition

[-VR- pipestein]

Hey folks. I have kept quiet about my expedition thus far because I wanted to see if I had the stamina to do what I set out to accomplish. I left the bubble on Oct 5th 3301 on what I have christened "The Slow Boat to Nowhere" expedition. I am following the Forrest Gump school of exploring, "I just started exploring one day..." I set three goals, 1) Hit Sag A, 2) Cross the pioneer line at 65kly, 3) set an endurance record.

The exploration biggies have already been done by explorers who are far better than I. Allitnil, Svenno, Romeo Zulu, Marlon Blake, StupidHippy, R4nger0, Stulli, Akira Masakari, Katejina, Drkaii, Erimus, and many more I am sure that I am neglecting to add. The one thing that I was sure I could do when I set out was to set an endurance record.

My plan is to remain out exploring for one full year. Barring catastrophe I will not return to the bubble until Oct 5th 3302 at the earliest. I see this as the last of the old school exploration trips to be made before and even after Horizons is released. So far I have made the first goal on my list I have been to Sag A, and then I went to the Great Annihilator just because. The next leg of my journey is to cross the aforementioned pioneer line at 65kly.

I have set my course for the abyss and am working my way towards a crossing at which point I will set course for the end of the arm. the map on this post shows the Road so far in red. The blue is the proposed path of the next leg. Wish me luck folks.

My ship the "Pirate Bait" is kitted out at the following:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/03A5E...2400k-2t2i2f.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==?bn=Pirate Bait

 

[Flector]

Good luck on your trip!

 

[iain666]

Good luck

I'm about half way along your blue line and hoping my trip won't take a full year, but it might...

 

[GJ51]

Good luck

 

[-VR- pipestein]

I also forgot to mention that anyone that wants to see my progress or where I might be while I am on can feel free to send me a friend request in game. I use the same name in game.

 

[Katejina]

Well 201 days shouldn't be too terribly difficult to surpass.

Best of luck. Don't try to thread the fields of ringworlds like I do and you'll be fine, lol.

 

[CMDR Space Lurker]

A whole year?... but who will keep you company once the Explorer's Pixel is patched away and gone to some other game Where it is Needed More?... you have a collection of singing potatoes along?..

 

[Eisen]

Good Luck!
Maybe you can arrange to be around 65kly in mid February when the Distant-Worlds Expedition is scheduled to arrive. Would be nice to meet you!

 

[Lupin]

Happy exploring commander.

Just on my way back from slow exploring on the rim of known space, will post results soon as was an interesting trip.

 

[newman1702]

It's a very ambitious plan, but if I may, the timing is a bit unfortunate with Horizons about to release. We know that you'll have to return to port to get the planetary approach suite and get your ship equipped with an SRV. We also know you'll be able to gather materials to extend your jump range and refill your AFMU - all features that would be extremely useful on such a trip - but to make use of them you'll have to return to port first. Not only that, but you'll be locked out of features for a full year while watching others post videos and screenshots of their adventures on planetary surfaces. If I were to plan such a trip myself, I'd plan to start on Horizons release and then spend a year out there making use of all these new features.

Of course, you're already a long way out so I understand why you decided to just keep going, I just thought I'd list some Horizons related facts in case you weren't aware of them, so you don't get disappointed and burnt out while on the other side of the galaxy.

Whatever the case, best of luck and happy voyages!

 

[-VR- pipestein]

It's a very ambitious plan, but if I may, the timing is a bit unfortunate with Horizons about to release. We know that you'll have to return to port to get the planetary approach suite and get your ship equipped with an SRV. We also know you'll be able to gather materials to extend your jump range and refill your AFMU - all features that would be extremely useful on such a trip - but to make use of them you'll have to return to port first. Not only that, but you'll be locked out of features for a full year while watching others post videos and screenshots of their adventures on planetary surfaces. If I were to plan such a trip myself, I'd plan to start on Horizons release and then spend a year out there making use of all these new features.

Of course, you're already a long way out so I understand why you decided to just keep going, I just thought I'd list some Horizons related facts in case you weren't aware of them, so you don't get disappointed and burnt out while on the other side of the galaxy.

Whatever the case, best of luck and happy voyages!

Yep I was aware of all of this and ultimately it really does not matter to me all that much. To be honest I am not sure I am going to be buying horizons right away as it is because I have to admit that I am not all that enthused about having to purchase another copy of the base game of ED just to get a copy of the expansion. I have not said anything about this until now. I realize that Frontier is a small company and needs cash to continue developing the game. I also realize that many people that have been playing since beta have paid $100 dollars or more in kickstarter funds to get their copy of the game. However that is not my case. I purchased the game through Steam and do not want to spend another $60 on an expansion that should be MUCH cheaper. that is my reasoning for not being in a hurry to jump on Horizons.

 

[-VR- pipestein]

A whole year?... but who will keep you company once the Explorer's Pixel is patched away and gone to some other game Where it is Needed More?... you have a collection of singing potatoes along?..

I have talking mice that do entire dance routines. One of them even likes to do Who's on first. The only problem is that they only do it when I have been sitting at the keyboard for 10 or more hours...

 

[CMDR AKIRA MASAKARI]

Hey folks. I have kept quiet about my expedition thus far because I wanted to see if I had the stamina to do what I set out to accomplish. I left the bubble on Oct 5th 3301 on what I have christened "The Slow Boat to Nowhere" expedition. I am following the Forrest Gump school of exploring, "I just started exploring one day..." I set three goals, 1) Hit Sag A, 2) Cross the pioneer line at 65kly, 3) set an endurance record.

The exploration biggies have already been done by explorers who are far better than I. Allintil, Svenno, Romeo Zulu, Marlon Blake, StupidHippy, R4nger0, Stulli, Akira Masakari, Katejina, Drkaii, Erimus, and many more I am sure that I am neglecting to add. The one thing that I was sure I could do when I set out was to set an endurance record.

My plan is to remain out exploring for one full year. Barring catastrophe I will not return to the bubble until Oct 5th 3302 at the earliest. I see this as the last of the old school exploration trips to be made before and even after Horizons is released. So far I have made the first goal on my list I have been to Sag A, and then I went to the Great Annihilator just because. The next leg of my journey is to cross the aforementioned pioneer line at 65kly.

I have set my course for the abyss and am working my way towards a crossing at which point I will set course for the end of the arm. the map on this post shows the Road so far in red. The blue is the proposed path of the next leg. Wish me luck folks.


http://i.imgur.com/0cSCmXv.jpg

Amazing route Pipstein!!!! I will befriend you in game and I want to follow your expedition!!! Once in a while report a distance to the 65K thread, you are one of the founders and I want to keep your incoming up-dated. OFC I'm not telling you to rush, take all the time in the world!!!! If you want to know something that has not been done and that can occupy you for an Year is rim circumnavigation of the milky way. By Rim circumnavigation I mean going in every arm rim untill it's possible with your jumprange, then find the nearest crossing to the next arm (that will for sure require a detour), and going on do the same with the next arm. This is the only expedition I think has never been reported, and you'd become the king of manual plotters!!!!

OFC it's just a suggestion, the most important thing is for you to have fun at your pace, and I like your indipendence from already set conventions.

 

[newman1702]

Yep I was aware of all of this and ultimately it really does not matter to me all that much. To be honest I am not sure I am going to be buying horizons right away as it is because I have to admit that I am not all that enthused about having to purchase another copy of the base game of ED just to get a copy of the expansion. I have not said anything about this until now. I realize that Frontier is a small company and needs cash to continue developing the game. I also realize that many people that have been playing since beta have paid $100 dollars or more in kickstarter funds to get their copy of the game. However that is not my case. I purchased the game through Steam and do not want to spend another $60 on an expansion that should be MUCH cheaper. that is my reasoning for not being in a hurry to jump on Horizons.

My initial reaction was actually similar to yours, but when I thought about it, I reached another conclusion. First of all, what do I usually get for the standard price of a AAA game on Steam or another platform? In the vast majority of cases this means coughing up some 50-60€ for a game that I will stop playing after 12-20 hours. There are exceptions, of course, but most of the time once I've completed it I will rarely go back to it (X-Com being the honorable exception here). In contrast I've already sunk more hours into Elite than all the other games that I own on Steam combined. Another point is that Horizons isn't a DLC - and most of us are used to the microtransactional (and micro-content) nature of DLC's; it's a full blown expansion, and it's actually common for expansions to be priced the same as an AAA title. Horizons offers much, much more than what your typical DLC does. Once I took those two into account, and simply considered the amount I pay (ED + Horizons included) divided by the hours I spend playing it, Elite + Horizons end up having one of the cheapest hours to $ ratio of any game that I own, with KSP being the only comparable one (since I bought it way back when it cost 7$).

But anyway, I do hope this doesn't spark an offtopic discussion, there's a whole different thread for it. And in your shoes I'd probably not be so keen to get Horizons either, since you're well into your trip. I guess people confuse DLC's and expansions all too often, especially since expansions are much less numerous these days, and something of a standard with online games (and almost always cost around the same as the base game did).

Anyway, like I said, good luck on your trip!

 

[-VR- pipestein]

Just stumbled onto this system. It turned out to be quite the find. 1 Neutron, 2 Terraformable Water Worlds, and binary ELW's. lol wow posted this then finished scanning the rest of the planets and found one more water world in the system.

 

[Katejina]

Binary ELWs I think was my greatest find while I was out there. Mainly because I imagine what it must be like for anyone who ends up living on the surface of either. With a strong enough telescope, you could see people on the other planet and that thought will never not​ trip me out.

 

[-VR- pipestein]

Amazing route Pipstein!!!! I will befriend you in game and I want to follow your expedition!!! Once in a while report a distance to the 65K thread, you are one of the founders and I want to keep your incoming up-dated. OFC I'm not telling you to rush, take all the time in the world!!!! If you want to know something that has not been done and that can occupy you for an Year is rim circumnavigation of the milky way. By Rim circumnavigation I mean going in every arm rim untill it's possible with your jumprange, then find the nearest crossing to the next arm (that will for sure require a detour), and going on do the same with the next arm. This is the only expedition I think has never been reported, and you'd become the king of manual plotters!!!!

OFC it's just a suggestion, the most important thing is for you to have fun at your pace, and I like your indipendence from already set conventions.

Hehehehe I have already thought about the type of circumnavigation you are suggesting and am already leaning towards it. As for manual plotting... I manually plotted 10kly worth of jumps into the core to Sag A. I made over 1000 jumps with manual plots ranging from 5ly to 20ly. I am actually doing that again now that I am on my way out of the core. I am Black Hole hunting at the bottom of the galactic plain heading for the abyss and outter rim arm.

 

[-VR- pipestein]

Good Luck!
Maybe you can arrange to be around 65kly in mid February when the Distant-Worlds Expedition is scheduled to arrive. Would be nice to meet you!

I actually think I will be somewhere around there around then. I thought about dropping into the pack at some point to say hello I will watch the route and see where people are at and most likely make an effort to meet up at some point.

 

[Redfox]

Good luck mate!
Quite the challenge you've got yourself into, I applaud you for trying and will cheer when you're done.
Added you ingame. Always there for a friendly chat to keep the madness out.
o7

 

[SYSOPKC]

Your hull and/or powerplant will fail before the year is out, 180 days is about as long as you will last maybe a month or 2 more. You have to have them repaired. I did Sag A in under 2 weeks, that's with a surface scanner. Even taking it slow, slow you get cumulative hull and powerplant wear.