Hello everyone !
I’m trying to think of what I was getting up to over the last week ! I think generally taking it easy and doing assorted gaming while not in work times. The new Elite expansion is coming this week and I kinda wanted to be back before it hit because … expansions to online multiplayer games usually lead to mayhem with whether you can enjoy the game over the week or so of release times.
It’s been an epic trip … and a fairly epic finish as well. But …
Of course another reason for rushing back was that I had a meme in my head that needed to get out. I’ve skimped a little on the alt-text there because I wanted to expand a little bit for everyone … (plus I’m not really happy with how the text turned out) The station we see there is a Coriolis station, which was carried through from the very original Elite game from 1984. It’s a boxy mostly cubical structure with 6 square diamond sides, connected together by triangles at the corners. There is a mail slot entry port on one of the diamonds, which is how you get inside to the landing pads. The mailslot has a grill thing on the outside that’s called the toaster rack … oh and it’s just big enough for the biggest ships in the game. Searching for Dragons fits through handily for side to side … but you can reach out and touch the top of the mailslot (ish) when you go through.
I couldn’t resist this particular meme … it’s based on the Astronaut one with this version being :
Station : Sierra Foxtrot Delta, you’re home early, everything ok ?
Ship on the way in : Galaxy’s Haunted
Station : Say again, did not copy your last. Over.
Ship on the way out, bristling with weaponry : Galaxy’s Haunted.
It got me chuckling when I thought of it, hopefully people like it. It has been an epic trip around the galaxy, a good escape from what’s been going on out there.
There we go ! Big map. The route I followed is available at the Elite Dangerous Star Maps site under the name of The Everlasting Expedition (linky). It’s active for just over another year if you want to try it out. It requires a well supplied advanced ship to complete all of the waypoints, plus a tool like ED Discovery (the source for the map above) to plot a course to the outlying spots. The doubling back spots at Galactic East and Galactic South are where I needed to consult with the waypoint plotting tool to bridge the gap between the arms.
Still, Searching for Dragons did a grand job out there. Ship’s retired now and I’m wondering what I’ll do next, after the Odyssey expansion hits. Could well be a spell of combat. Ship’s seen some sights though …
That was Dreamer Blush, one of the ultra rare Mint Choc planets that will hopefully survive the graphical changes coming with the expansion.
That’s Barnard’s Loop, which is relatively close to where we are and it’s one of the more recognisable landmarks to show when you’re getting close to home again.
There are a heap more pictures as well. I’ll have to do a semi random pulling out of the best ones.
This is the Aidoh’s Platform planet and another curious example of the extremes that the procedural generation system sometimes comes up with. In this case, a small planet with very prominent mountains and chasms.
Pretty place !
It has been a pretty epic trip lasting :
That’s another capture from ED Star Maps, showing how active I was. The redder the dot, the more jumps done in the day. Some days were light, some saw me travel much longer distances. The early gap in November coincides somewhat spookily (nah) with when Mars Horizon came out. The gap in Jan/Feb saw really cold weather that was messing with my muscles, so I wasn’t playing game much then.
There are options for what happens next … and it’ll probably depend on what inspiration hits at the weekend. Let’s see :
Thunderdwagon 2, callsign IR1965 – a Beluga class passenger ship that will see service rescuing people from damaged starbases.
Admiral Luperza, callsign 9001<3 – a Federal Corvette that will do shooting type things.
Tiamat’s Chariot, callsign DL.SDL – an Imperial Cutter for idling around doing missions. I think a return to some ancient grounds at Azrael and Apathaam would be good.
Elysian Payday, BNKR08 – a ship for getting lots of credits from mining.
And perhaps a landing ship for the expansion. We shall see.
That was another randomly found campsite to conclude a session earlier in the week.
It’s probably only a matter of time before I pick a ship and head out there again but I think that time’s going to be different. It’ll involve one of the big fleet carriers and I’ll have a couple of ships along to support. The carrier will need a mining ship to keep it fuelled, plus I’ll do more active surveying.
Later.
Different things for now !
This one’s been very internet spaceship heavy, I need to find more things to natter about ! That’s another thing coming … I haven’t been reading much lately, partly because these glasses have pretty much hit their end. New ones arrive on Friday !
Looking forward to diving into the books again.
Stay safe everyone, be well.