Today, I started off by going for a wonder in my SRV around a high metal content planet in the system I left off in – Clooku YS-D b43-3. After finding some materials – including the Vanadium I needed for my AFMU – I went back to my ship to continue onwards. This was the highest-gravity world I’ve been on so far, at ~1.3G. Apparently, this makes it easier to flip my SRV onto it’s roof… although I’m fairly sure the really rough terrain does not help.

When I launched my ship, I decided I’d see what materials I now had, and discovered (to my dismay) that I’ve lost five of my sixteen mugs, so I’m down to 11 remaining. Having said this, I noticed yesterday that the jump range on the galaxy map was mysteriously set to 11/16, so this is probably why. One of the components that did malfunction during that 200% overheat incident was the cargo hatch, so I strongly suspect that this is what has caused me to lose some of those mugs.

En-route to Waypoint 15, I discovered a very pretty B-class star, with a really intense blue glow that was just stunning. Even the glow on the console in front of me was impressive as I was passing it.

Look at that glow…

Anyway, I’ve reached Waypoint 15, which (I believe) puts me ahead of CMDR Braxton Doyle, whose waypoints I was following. Thus, this session has mostly been taken up by me trying to figure out how to plot the next waypoint. The rough process I’ve taken is this: Continue reading →

On leaving the planet on which I parked myself, there was a great high-res photo op, of the dark side of a planet against the galactic background. It’s really pretty out here…

There are a lot of really pretty systems out here at the moment, and I’m getting quite distracted by the thoughts of how pretty they are… leading to the inevitable controlled flight into brown dwarf I managed to do. Accidents never seem to end…

I reached Waypoint 13 14 today, didn’t get much past it though, so onwards to Waypoint 15 it is!

Departing from Skaude SA-A b32-5, I set off towards Waypoint 12, Prua Phoe SM-R c6-8.

I noticed pretty quickly that the Skaude sector appears to have a lot of very close binary pairs, quite often M/L class, or M/M class. There was one system I found which turned out to be a M/L/L/L quad-star system, reasonably close together.

After a quick stop admiring a pretty B-class star, I rapidly remembered what an abundance of close binary pairs could mean… as my frame shift drive dropped me out nicely between two stars. It didn’t take me long to realise something was seriously wrong, as my heat gauge rapidly rose over 200%.

That ended up being a pretty major overheating incident, as almost every module (the only exceptions being my PVH and canopy) taking 10% damage (± 2%). As such, my AFMU was left to run for a considerable time before I dared move off from this system, afeard as to what lay in store further on.

As it turns out, I managed to make it to Waypoint 12 successfully and safely from that point, with not too much further damage done.

EDIT: Incremented incident counter due to later-discovered mug loss.

I started off from the mountainous area I left my ship in to discover that another planet in this system was causing a partial eclipse with the nearby star.

Beyond that, and a sudden urge – thankfully suppressed – to go fly around in the arches of stellar matter of a pretty B-class star, not a huge amount happened. This means, once again, I’ve had ZERO incidents. I might go as far as suggesting I’m getting better at flying now :P

I landed on a rather boring ice planet at Waypoint 11.

Be proud folks.

Zero incidents in 77 jumps.

Nothing much to report other than that I’ve made it to Waypoint 10, WITH ZERO INCIDENTS.

(I’m not counting the disconnection from FDev servers because Hotel Wifi. That’s not my fault)

It’s been a little while since I last played, but I’ve managed to make another waypoint of progress today.

Not much happened apart from an attempted scoop from a T Tauri star, thankfully just the one. I also came across a supergiant blue (A-class) star, which true to it’s name is massive.

Not much to report, two incidents causing minor damage, a nice trinary system, and Waypoint 8!

Today I came across some degraded emissions, which look to be the remains of some ship of some kind, and a small data survey cache canister, which unfortunately I don’t have room for alongside my crates of Hutton Mugs.

I also found an interesting trinary system which I thought was only binary until a second L-class popped up.

After a minor overheat incident with a nearby star, I moved on and found a quintary (?) system – a pair of a pair of a pair of a pair.

After a while of jumping, I eventually arrived at my destination of Waypoint 7, set down and did some exploring, during which I noticed that the rocks for materials really do stick out like a sore thumb against the red dirt of the planet, and I also got a promotion to Surveyor!

Anyway, I decided to return to my ship, and it decided to be a complete dick to me, and parked itself on the summit of a mountain – meaning the summit was blocking my SRV from getting to the PVH doors. :(

Today, I finally escaped the T Tauri hell that is the Blae Drye sector.

Nine (!!!) T Tauri stars scooped from, and two that I suspected and took the time to scan before scooping and missed. A new record for incident count tonight. I’m seriously tempted to just remove T Tauri attempted scoopings as an incident category…

In the T Tauri selection tonight, I had two white (B “class”?) T Tauri, and a whole load of M- “class” T Tauri stars.

I also did a stupid and CFISed again while trying to pull up. While waiting for FSD cooldown though, a solar flare went right past my canopy, making me realise just how close to the star I was, though with the FSD not running I was maintaining a heat equilibrium, so I stopped for a few photos.

I found a nice trinary system too, and I was tempted to fly between the pair again, then space madness petered out and I flew in the opposite direction. I also found a stunning B-class that I also stopped for a photo with.

When I eventually escaped the Blae Drye sector and arrived at Waypoint 6, I decided to do my customary land on a planet in the waypoint system. A little over-confident in my driving perhaps, I managed to use SRV thrusters to get to about 22m off the ground, and then promptly rolled the SRV onto the roof. After about a minute of panic whether or not I could get back onto my wheels, I eventually managed, and went in search of a strange signal that popped up on the radar.

After rolling the SRV (again), I came across a Data Link, which is a first for me. Apparently the Federation is wanting a measly 4k credits for the data, so they can wait a while for it.

Today I made significant progress again, though it was not without cost.

One hundred and thirty-one jumps later, and eight incidents (four of which were minor), I’ve made it to Waypoint 4 Waypoint 5.

A pull-up from a star slightly too late led to the first overheat incident, and while only at 100% heat for about a second, it still did 1% damage across all systems. This damage was further exacerbated by a controlled flight into a star, dipping slightly below the yellow line while really close.

Along the way I found a binary system, which while really beautiful, is also much closer together than first anticipated. Space madness wanting to do cool things caused me to forget that stars are hot, which caused the second overheating issue of the day.

Continuing in the same vein and forgetting that stars are hot, I once again decided to combine the previous two incidents and fly beneath the yellow line between two stars, causing a CFIS dropout and overheat damage.

Not only that, but I’ve rekindled my hatred of T Tauri stars, after attempting to scoop from no less than four of the things.