'Trithounds unite!' - Join the Le Guin Expedition

o7 fellow TBL expeditioneers, thanks for letting this novice tag along for the ride, it’s been a blast so far and I’ve got a steadily growing holiday photo album.

And see you soon Le Guin-ers, leave some of those icy rings for us!
 
Update: 8th and 9th August

The Broken Limpet Arrival


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The last two days have seen the two halves of the expedition united at Sagittarius A*. Captain ESMatty’s three day marathon of jumps finally came to an end as The Broken Limpet emerged from witchspace at 4:30 UTC on the 9th August, in orbit of the supermassive black hole at the galactic centre.

A proper celebration was held later that day, with screenshots and chaff aplenty.

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Unfortunately, it turned out The Broken Limpet’s officer of the watch had not received the festivities memo, and as a result, several CMDRs bravely flew in the face of increasingly agitated loitering alarms, and eventually paid the ultimate price.

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Their bodies are being returned to the bubble with full ceremonial honours.

We bid farewell to CMDR ESMatty at 15:00 UTC today (the 10th August) and would like to state for the record our enormous thanks for his invaluable contributions to the expedition.

Ring Scanning and Tri2 Testing

The expedition is way ahead of schedule on ring scanning, with a staggering 38% of all planned rings scanned, and 28 Tri2’s located, even with over half the expedition not arriving until yesterday. Our current top three in the ring scanning charts is CMDR Vacuous - 303, CMDR Nathan Ex (including his alt account CMDR Spikey Owens) – 215, and CMDR Crowlute - 202. However, a special mention to CMDR Xrevonx who appears to have scanned 75 rings in less than one day since his arrival on The Broken Limpet.

Testing of the strong Tri2 overlap mentioned in our previous update has sadly shown a surprisingly poor tritium yield. Theories abound, including the idea that there may be a “phantom” hotspot. In any case, it is clear that our understanding of the current state of hotspots after FDev’s changes is spotty at best. We are therefore pleased by the arrival of a specialist from the bubble, CMDR z64555, director of the recent Painite hotspot tests run in the bubble. He will be leading efforts to use the Le Guin crew to replicate those tests but focused on tritium.

In the meantime, Le Guin is jumping to another promising Tri2 candidate discovered by CMDR Dragoon0123, which we believe is a good candidate for mapping. Given the current regrettable state of mining, we believe that mapping may be a good option for trying to make the most of very low average tritium yield in known tritium overlaps.

The Week Ahead

CMDRs of the expedition are invited to take part in the following activities:
  • Ring scanning using the XA list in the Le Guin’s HUD.
  • Refueling of the Le Guin in Juenae ZI-C c2-3264.
  • A farewell to The Broken Limpet at 15:00 UTC, as it would be nice to form a guard of honour send-off.
  • Exploration of previously unvisited systems near XA which are higher or lower on the z axis – this can be a nice change of pace if you get bored of ring scanning and mining.
  • CMDR z64555’s experiments. More information on these will be added to the Le Guin’s HUD shortly.
  • Voyaging into Sagittarius A*’s exclusion zone in hunt of awesome screenshots. See CMDR Nax Wren’s short guide, pinned in the Le Guin discord.
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Many thanks to all who are supporting the expedition!
 
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Update 9th-13th August

Progress has continued at a dizzying pace over the last four days. A staggering 3,806 rings have been scanned, with another 1,961 left to be done before we depart on 18th August. Some frustration is beginning to mount that we have not yet discovered a Tri3 but oracle and leader of the DSSA, CMDR Gnauty, assures us that a find is just around the corner. Indeed, if the last few days have taught me anything, it is that the Le Guin has an absurdly dedicated crew that will not give up the quest for overlaps until very single one of those remaining 1,961 rings have been scanned.

In the meantime, we have settled on a strong Tri2 to base our mining operations at, which has been given the moniker Dragoon’s Path after CMDR Dragoon0123 who not only discovered the overlap but has also mapped it, finding a literal path from one high-percentage asteroid to the next. We have also welcomed CMDR z64555 to XA and many CMDRs have been contributing to his experiments focussed on understanding the exact falloff of tritium hotspots, with the Le Guin temporarily taking up station at the primary test site to support prospecting. We hope such data will prove useful in fully understanding FDev’s recent adjustments and perhaps in helping to convince them to make changes.

With such a workaholic crew, we are keen to ensure that everyone takes a break when needed. There are some wonderful systems to be found around Sagittarius A* and I am pleased to see many CMDRs taking the time to wander off the beaten path and discover new worlds. Thank you in particular to CMDR Nathan Ex for this glorious screenshot.

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We have also pencilled in some form of SRV shenanigans on Saturday which have been devised by the maverick minds of Pseudo6626 and Nax Wren. Precise details are still uncertain, but draft plans include games where SRVs dodge lasers, jump over T9s and race each other up mountains on high g worlds. How many of these come to fruition remains to be seen, but I for one am excited…

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Update on Altered Goals to the Expedition

So as most of you are aware, FDev’s recent changes have played havoc with the goals of our expedition. The 54% nerf to Tri3s will remain in place, it seems, which means there is little purpose in us continuing to search for them.

As such, I’d like to propose the following adjusted goals to the expedition.

At Explorer’s Anchorage:
  • Find a strong Tri2 at XA and map it – done!
  • If possible, find a Painite2 at XA.
We don’t have very much time at all left at XA, and we have already achieved the most useful element that we could in the current meta.

In terms of an additional goal, there is much discussion at the moment about how to make migrant miners on roving FCs viable, both in terms of gamestyle but also in terms of economics. Finding sources of valuable minerals in the black might help with this, as roving FC commanders could potentially get their crews to mine and sell them Painite at a discount, and then sell to separate FC captains heading back to the bubble, using the profit to fund them staying out in the black instead of heading back to the bubble. So if we happen to find a Painite x2 overlap, that might be useful for this reason, although it by no means a necessity at this stage.

At Norma Expanse:
  • Locate Tri2s
  • Locate beautiful systems with notable stellar or planetary features
  • Partially fill the DSSA Glomar Explorer’s cargo hold with tritium
  • Finish the next stage of CMDR z64555's experiments
  • Continue to have fun with events like the SRV Wipeout
CMDR Ingrin originally agreed to deploy his FC, the Glomar Explorer over a Tri2 or a Tri3 in order to function as a depot. Given the significant meta changes, I think CMDR Ingrin should have final say on where we deploy.

However, I am certain that he will listen to our recommendations, before making a decision. My feeling is that it is still important for the GE to deploy over at least a Tri1, so CMDR Ingrin has the option of using it as a depot. Obviously, Tri2s are a bit more efficient, but a Tri1 could be justified if it is in a particularly spectacular spot – for example, a ringed Earth-like would be amazing, but we'd need there to be a Tri1 somewhere in system for it to be considered.

There is no doubt that FDev’s changes will reduce the need for FC’s to refuel in the black, but that is not the same as completely eliminating it. I would very much like to mine up a small amount of tritium for the Glomar Explorer. Say 5,000t. If we can then get that listed on inara, we can wait a few months and see if it sells. This could be a good test of whether tritium depots might be useful.

Final word:

Thank you all once again for sticking with the expedition despite knockbacks. I am extremely excited to be moving onto the next phase with such an incredible crew of deep space explorers. I can’t wait to explore Norma Expanse and help in the deployment of a DSSA carrier.
 
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Update 14th-16th August

This update will focus on the spectacular SRV wipeout that happened on Saturday evening. As ever, mining and scanning has been progressing at a ludicrous pace by absurdly diligent expeditioners, and I look forward to sharing the final XA tables in Tuesday’s update. In addition, we’re delighted to have finished stage one of CMDR z64555’s experiments and again, I will talk more about the results on Tuesday. Please note that Le Guin is planning to leave XA at 7:430 UTC on Tuesday 18th August.

SRV Wipeout


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This event was the brainchild of CMDR Pseudo6626’s fervid imagination and he did an incredible job of bringing it all together. Event one involved SRV’s lining up and trying to jump over an advancing anaconda. CMDR’s DJ3D and Nax Wren managed to complete three successful jumps, before meeting a fiery demise. A special mention needs to be given to CMDR z64555 who did a spectacular job of managing the high-skill flying required to approach the SRV line at precise altitudes and speeds.

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In the second event, SRV’s had to run a gauntlet of laser death, with the event being 80% more deadly than intended due to a slight ‘administrative error’. In total, five SRV carcasses were strewn across the cratered surface of our chosen planet by the end of this round.

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Finally, and most chaotically, the “King of the Mountain” event was run, with points awarded to the SRV at the highest altitude after 10 minutes. Oddly, this event resulted in a surprisingly high death rate from watching ships. First of all, the event runner CMDR Psuedo took his eye off the mountain and managed to plunge his anaconda belly-first into the mountain, barely missing the SRV’s he was hovering above. Perhaps inspired by this act of madness, CMDR Nax Wren decided he needed to eliminate his SRV rival – CMDR Dragoon – by ramming him with his own anaconda. At the end of this clash of titans, Nax’s anaconda was a heap of space junk smoking on the top of the mountain and Dragoon’s SRV was revelling in its new title of “Conda-killer”.

Some say that the solid rock of the planet surface might have been the real culprit, but CMDR Dragoon was having none of it!

All that remained at the end of these festivities was to count up the score, with CMDR Dragoon and CMDR Nax Wren being crowned winners of the 3306 XA SRV Wipeout! Trophies were ordered, but may have got lost in the mail…

Thank you to all the brave CMDRs who risked life and SRV to participate. Your courage will not go unforgotten!

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Pseudo crashed his beluga luxury liner into the side of the mountain because he spilled his tea on the console. In the madness to wipe it up he hit the thrusters. The entire SRV Wipeout broadcasting team sponsors, and audience plunged to their fiery deaths. Saud Kruger has yet to make a statement on this incident.
 
Oh and I was most definitely trying to take out my competition using my anaconda as a spear. SRV's are tougher than they appear. I only wish a screenshot wouldve been captured to memorialize this incident.
 
Shame I missed destruction derby due to being on the wrong damn platform! Still, as lonely as it gets out in the black thank you for inviting me into the discord channel and it’s been a pleasure visiting the core so far. This is exactly the sort of emergent gameplay I idealised when I came back to the game recently, and I’m proud we’ve collectively decided to press ahead with the expedition despite the effect of the recent changes. Godspeed you cosmic pioneers, o7!

Looking forwards to pushing the frontiers of exploration deep in the Norma Expanse with you space nuts in the coming weeks (y)
 
Update 17-19th August

As we reach the halfway point of our expedition, it’s time to reflect on everything we’ve achieved so far, as well as laying out the road ahead.

The story so far…

Anyone who has read my updates so far knows how effusive I am about the crew of wanderlust-infused maniacs that have taken up residence in the hangar bays and discord lounge of the DSSV Le Guin and allowed themselves to be dragged zig-zag fashion, across the galaxy.

The crew, collectively, have scanned 4,643 rings in the area around Explorer’s Anchorage, and thanks to that effort we were able to find a strong Tri2 and map it. They have also (in pursuit of knowledge surrounding tritium mechanics) fired off 9,452 limpets between them, in what must be one of the bigger scientific experiments conducted in game, an experiment which has helped better our understanding of hotspot falloffs.

In between this hard work, we’ve come together as a crew to scout out heretofore unknown worlds - discovering a whole region at the very top of Ryker’s Hope where no CMDR has been before - and to embrace the wanton mayhem and destruction of an SRV derby.

The Final XA Leaderboards

Congratulations to the winners of the XA Ring Scanning challenge:
  • 1st Place – CMDR Vacuous – 700 rings scanned
  • 2nd Place – CMDR ST4RF1RE – 500 rings scanned
  • 3rd Place – CMDR Roborat1st – 438 rings canned

Congratulations also to the top three Le Guin’ers on CMDR z64555’s experiment leaderboard:
  • 1st Place – CMDR z54555 – 3,069 asteroids scanned
  • 2nd Place – CMDR The_Biscuit – 1721 asteroids scanned
  • 3rd Place – CMDR DJ3D – 1280 asteroids scanned

Exploring the Expanse

Le Guin has now arrived at the proposed deployment area for the DSSA Glomar Explorer. We eagerly await her arrival and will do everything we can to find her a suitable birth. From this moment on, we urge commanders to sign up to explore “cubes” around our current base. Along the way, unofficial XO CMDR Nax Wren has created a “high stakes” competition, assigning monetary value to every find and pitting explorer against explorer in battle to emerge as number one startrotter. Details of both can be found on the Le Guin HUD. The next phase of CMDR z64555’s experiment will also be launched soon, so please keep an eye out for any Tri2s and log them, along with any other exciting discoveries in the “System Candidates” tab.

While the mission around XA was fun, I’m excited to finally lay our mark in an almost completely unexplored sector of space and to assist in the historic deployment of a DSSA carrier. Happy hunting, CMDRs!
 
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Update 20th-26th August 2020

Life on Le Guin feels like it has slipped into a quieter gear, as explorers meander through this small corner of the Norma Expanse, hunting for the perfect deployment zone for the DSSA Glomar Explorer. However, beneath the surface, there are still CMDRs working like crazy to scour previously unexplored space – with a hugely impressive 82 exploration cubes currently completed. Each cube is 10ly by 10ly containing dozens and dozens of systems, which gives an idea of just how much work is being done.

After completing much of our first exploration grid of cubes, Le Guin jumped 130LY upward, in order to get out of range of an irksome Brown Dwarf patch. The jump was calculated to still leave us in the correct region for of the “fire cloud” effect which has made this area of space feel so unique.

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So far, one of our most exciting – and weirdest – finds has been “Old Gappy” a Tri2 overlap showing impressive yields despite the fact that it visually appears to sit astride two separate rings, with a gap in between. Our thanks to CMDR DJ3D who not only discovered the overlap but also spent a significant amount of time mining it and feeding the results into Fank.

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Meanwhile, CMDR z64555 is gearing up for the next phase of his experiments. Crucially, he will be investigating yields within overlaps, having established single hotspot falloff in the previous stage. We hope this information will be extremely useful in evaluating future Tri2 discoveries. Simultaneously, rumours have begun to surface of another Pseudo-inspired SRV wipeout which would be another fantastic opportunity for CMDRs to bond over the mutual destruction of their loyal recon vessels.

I expect the next update to announce the arrival of the DSSA Glomar Explorer which will be a wonderful moment for the expedition, allowing us to complete the final major objective of the expedition and give CMDR Ingrin’s carrier a good home.
 
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Mission Critical Update - 3rd September

Arrival of the DSSA Glomar Explorer


Today was an exciting day for the expedition as the DSSA Glomar Explorer completed its lengthy journey from the bubble to rendezvous with us in the Norma Expanse. This is perfect timing as we are about to vote on the deployment site for the CMDR Ingrin’s carrier. I would like to take a moment to thank CMDR Ingrin for allowing the site to be decided upon based on a vote by Le Guin’s crew. It’s a real privilege to get to choose the anchorage for a carrier that will remain on site for twelve months or more, serving countless wandering explorers and playing its small part in the most ambitious infrastructure project the game has ever seen.

Scheduled Jumps

8:00 5th September - jump to DSSA Glomar Explorer's chosen deployment site.
8:00 6th September - begin jumping home, hopefully reaching Eta Carinae Nebula by the end of the day.

The Vote

I will pin a message in discord with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 underneath. If you react with a 1, you are voting for candidate 1, if you react with a 2, you are voting for candidate 2, and the same with 3. This vote will remain up for 48 hours. The winning candidate will be the deployment site for the DSSA Glomar Explorer.

The Candidates

1. Oob Aoscs WF-F d11-26
- This is the most visually spectacular system that I'm currently aware of. There is a Ringed WW in shared orbit with a Ringed Ammonia World. There is also Painite in the ring of the WW. Only 1.8kls from arrival. Only downside is no Trit hotspots. However, tritium hotspots have been discovered within 20LY which could easily be used for resupply. Discovered by CMDR RJolley42.

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2. Oob Aoscs JX-M B48-5 - 7 ringed GG, LTD/Tri overlaps, VO2 overlap, gold system, lots of hotspots, lots of geo sites. 1.3kls to nearest LTD/Tri from entry. This brings a heck of a lot of mining options to the table. Mining a VO2 is a good way for carriers en route to bubble to turn a profit and Tritium can be easily mined with a side bonus of some LTD. Only downside is GG's are arguable not as visually interesting as option two. Discovered by CMDR Belgarn.

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3. Oob Aoscs BW-E d11-52 - Earth Like World with a landable moon. Small moon with Amphora biologicals. Great visuals of fireclouds and dual/triple star-rise opportunitie. It is approx 12ly from Tri2 at OOB AOSCS ZT-T b44-4 which is only 1.7kls from arrive so could be very easily used to resupply the DSSA Glomar Explorer. Discovered by CMDR Nathan Ex.

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The vote will close at 7:00 UTC on the 5th September.
 
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Update - DSSA Glomar Explorer Deployment


We are ecstatic to announce the deployment of the latest DSSA carrier - the Glomar Explorer - captained by CMDR Ingrin. After a fortnight of searching, several hundreds of systems scanned, and a dozen or more excellent candidate system put forward, the crew of the Le Guin voted to nominate Oob Aoscs BW-E d11-52 as the deployment system. We believe this is the perfect deployment site for a number of reasons.
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The precise altitude of our recent search grids was chosen (by crew members far smarter than me) to maximise the "fire cloud" effect that stands out so beautifully above the chosen ELW. BW-E is also a trinary star system, which means the landable moon orbiting our ELW can benefit from a triple star rise.

Earlier today, four CMDRs were on hand to watch the mighty Glomar Explorer pierce the veil of normal space and reach the end of her journeys for a while - or we would have been, if the servers hadn't messed us around. As it was, we were on hand for several fly-bys in her deployment spot, which I think very much matches her rather snazzy paint job.
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This is the culmination of the second of the two key missions we set ourselves in the expedition. An effective Tri2, more efficient than those previously discovered, has been found and mapped at XA while the Glomar Explorer is now deployed at a gorgeous site, in an explored area of space, with a mapped, high-performing Tri2 within 180LY and another Tri2 close by.

Unfortunately, my own playtime has been hugely limited of late, so all credit goes to the crew, who have performed above and beyond, over and over again. It really is an absolute honour to be on an expedition with such a fine, if motley, lot. Tomorrow, we set off for DSSA Ironside. When we get there, the crew will have four days to explore a famed area of space, notorious for the tragic Hawking's Gap settlements which were the result of the ill-fated Project Dynasty. And on Friday, the voyage home will continue.

Sadly, we are bidding farewell to CMDR Achtung-Goomba and CMDR Roborat1, who have both decided to remain with Glomar Explorer and continue exploration in this area. We thank them for their service and wish them all the best in their future adventures. Despite both the lure of fresh space and the call of home, I completely understand their desire to remain and feel sadness myself to leave this remarkable region of space.
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At least we know we are leaving it in excellent hands...
 
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The Final Update

We are home! At roughly 08:40 UTC on Saturday, the Le Guin slipped out of witchspace over Planet 6 in the very system from which our expedition partner carrier, The Broken Limpet, ferried brave explorers out in the direction of Sagittarius A* six weeks ago.

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I will not spend too long recapping the achievements of this expedition as this has already been covered fairly extensively in my updates and in discord, but I want to take a moment to note the continuing spirit of fellowship and resilience that has been the decisive pattern of our journey. Many of you may recall that Tritium was still broken when the expedition began, making mining much less efficient. In response, dozens of expedition members acted as drop tanks for the Broken Limpet, and that, together with mining en route, ensured she had enough Tritium to make it home without additional mining at XA.

Then the ring scanning was hit with abandon at XA, the crew racing through Tri2s finds at an astonishing pace, until the perfect site was found and mapped: Dragoon’s Path. During that period, we had the bad news that Tri3s were not being restored to their former glory, but the members of the expedition took the blow in their stride and wanted to continue. So on to Norma Expanse we went and had the joy of exploring fresh new space and finding a new home for the DSSA Glomar Explorer. Meanwhile, several members of the crew supported CMDR Z64555’s experiments, which hopefully will give us a better understanding of the mysteries of tritium overlaps.

The spectacular number of worlds and rings and systems scanned in that period is a complete tribute to the crew. I myself have sadly had little time to get involved so I am eternally grateful to the wanderlust and voyaging zeal of you all.

A small thank you has been arranged by myself, Pseudo and Alexander Wimmer in the form of a medal room, hopefully showcasing some of everyone’s achievements over this time. Can I also say a thank you to CMDR Nax Wren for serving as unofficial Executive Officer and doing a stalwart job, to CMDR Alexander Wimmer for his artistic support, and to CMDR Laurence, CMDR Pseudo, and CMDR Gnauty for their advice and logistical support. And of course to CMDR esmatty, for the loan of his carrier which made so much of the expedition possible, and to CMDR Ingrin for partnering with us and allowing us to be advance scouts for his DSSA carrier.

Many of your are heading out on future adventures straight away, with numerous CMDR’s joining CMDR Aleksey’s DSSA deployment of the Ijon Tichy. Wherever each of your voyages takes you next, I wish you fair winds and fair skies, and I hope to fly with you again someday.

On a final note, I was thinking back to when I was designing the Le Guin’s mission patch with Alexander, and I realised – given the knocks we had along the way – how true our chosen motto turned out to be.

“Hold fast to your quest.”

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, because we certainly did!

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We are ecstatic to announce the deployment of the latest DSSA carrier - the Glomar Explorer - captained by CMDR Ingrin.
Happy to see the carrier still up and running and in a good shape. Thanks for hospitality and opportunity to replace a lot of duct tape with some high-quality parts for my ship! :geek:
 
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