Review: One year of blogging

Happy Birthday to you, dear blog! Stay online, and I am proud to have fed you so consequently over this first year of your existence! Also an occasion for a little review and remembering and musing, I guess.

In the beginning, I was impressed by blogs from all those players in EVE: Online and had regularily read a small number of them. Then, at one point, I started to write to a pen pal about "my adventures" from a particular game session, kind of trying to explain to a non-gamer what adventures you can have in a virtual reality. The moment I realized that it was fun to write about "my VR adventures", and this was actually the birth of the inspiration to start this blog. Yet, I wasn´t sure if I could stay so committed to a blog; I would have hated to produce one of those numerous unfinished art webpage. But I am glad that I finally took a heart to start, and I am glad I followed through.

From July until December 2014, my stories were about my adventures in the beta version of Elite: Dangerous, driven in particular by the evolutionary idea of complementing the game soon with virtual reality goggles, the Oculus Rift. Sometimes there were short excursions into other topics which was fun to write about. A highlight certainly was my attending of the Elite: Dangerous Premiere Event and my first Oculus Rift experience. I also dabbled a bit into doing videos from some of my space battles, the most notable I remember were a battle in a Lakon Type 9 freighter versus three Cobras, and a PvP battle in a laser-equipped Anaconda heavy cruiser versus a missile-equipped one. Both fights were very close calls and exciting for me to re-view.

After all this intensity, I indeed felt a bit out of steam when the "final" Elite: Dangerous was released, so there was a little hiatus from 15 December to 20 January and even then I still felt kind of too sore to get back into the game and write about it. Still, in the following, there were some cool highlights, and my game experience culminated in a serene expedition to the galaxy´s upper rim, aka, "Having climbed the stair of stars". Somehow, shortly afterwards, there was this strange moment where a game suddenly is "over".

 - a feeling of being thousand light years out there alone; it is rare for a game to produce such impressions





 
This is when, from one moment to the other, you just walk away, no goodbye said, because you still believe you will get back to it and into it. Yet, it does not happen. This reminds me of the time when all those "addicted" gamers in World of Warcraft made big announcments about leaving. Most came back because the game was still in their mind and blood. I think the true moment where you walk away from things is when you realize that you gained every experience possible, uncovered every secret, satisfied your craving.

 - Darkshore; shot by another player, I have been there, too; it feels so familiar, an epitome of a romantic craving which World of Warcraft managed to satisfy for me








I might slightly disagree, or maybe even not, with these excellent blog articles ("Tragicocomedia") from a guy who wrote about his computer game addiction. In my opinion, if you still need and want the essence of that experience, you never can walk away with satisfaction and will always crave to come back, unless there is a viable alternative, unless the sleeper wakens. This is not an addiction; this is human nature, because enlightened mankind always have to get to the bottom of things. This is about a life which has evolved above the necessity of looking for food and the pleasure and pain of procreation, refusing to follow ursurped routine without making any sense.

This phenomen kind of reminds me of a chapter in "The Neverending Story" from Michael Ende. Bastian, beaten and hopeless, nurtures a new wish, and thus he is being led to the house of a tree-woman, Madame Aiola, in a chapter which represents being and feeling home. The fruits plugged from and offered by the tree-woman are most delicious and Bastian feels like he can never get enough of them. Yet, as time passes, his craving gets less, until finally, it has been satisfied. The fruits still taste heavenly good, but the craving slowly, imperceptly, has vanished, is satisfied. And Bastian, having experienced and embraced comfort and peace, realises that it is finally time to move on and find his way. (Really, read this book if you haven´t yet, it can become a personal bible about the essence of happiness!)

 - storytelling at its pinnacle











So, here I was in March, satisfied and ready to move on, but the thing to move on towards was not there yet; for example, using VR goggles and having an according VR world to explore. Elite: Dangerous wasn´t as developed as I had hoped and the Oculus Rift´s release is still targeted for 2016. Thus, also a grave danger for the existence of this blog.

This was the where the beta version of the Kerbal Space Programme came to my attention. It had all those things which I was missing in Elite: Dangerous, and the latter anyways would only unfold its true grandeur once the VR goggles are available. In the meanwhile, the Kerbal Space Programme offers the ability to design and construct your own spacecraft, to experience "real physics" condensed into playable format, and a seamless virtual reality where you can go anywhere in the solar system, travelling to and landing on any astronomical body.

I am not sure when I am going to walk away from the Kerbal Space Programme. This might even be soon, once the tech tree has been all opened, every planet been visitied and every possible design to my taste been done. But I am trying to draw the time out until then; there is not much on the computer game horizon which lures me. Maybe Mass Effect 4, maybe the new Shadow Realm CRPG "Hong Kong", maybe one more run through Dragon Age 3? But those games are more like storybooks or movies, thus not suited to be the foundation for original VR adventures; writing here about it would be just like retelling a good book. A good VR game would require the capability of emergent gameplay, i.e. a kind of sandbox environment, or et least the possibility to create your own story from a suitable generic quest structure.

Anyways, for this blog, it will always be stories from about virtual reality first, not just any computer game which I happen to like. Elite: Dangerous and Kerbal Space Programme qualified for this. My next new dream game would optimally be a mix of the realistic galaxy simulation from Elite: Dangerous and the realistic space travel simulation from Kerbal Space Programme, including the building of spacecrafts and the landing on planets, possibly building colonies there; and all with VR goggles, of course...

Ok, enough rambling, onwards and upwards! I hope there will be enough material for me to write about, so that this blog may continue for a long time still.

More good E3 news on Elite: Dangerous

Since I do not participate much on the ED forums these days, I got a very good summary of where it stands and some very nice news from this excellent ARS article. The title is misleading, there is a whole lot of good information for PC gamers, too.

- An arena-style gameplay is upcoming, but seperate and probably similar to the tutorial missions; I agree, it is a perfect hook for console players or those who like less complicated and more action in a shorter timeframe. Having played myself for some time the SWTOR fighter module, I am not averse to this kind of playstyle and I recon it especially cool that all this will be possible within the same game!

- Braben himself agrees with and understands players like me, who are not very hooked on the latest update "Powerplay". It is to accomodate a certain taste of certain players, and we will get more and different things. Quoth Braben: "You should do what makes you excited. I don’t want there to be a ‘right’ way, because then you’re not necessarily playing the way you want to play." Thanks, David, this restored a lot of faith for me!

- Moar ships still coming. The dearly awaited "walking in ships" and "planetary landings" features are clearly on the list and will be coming. Oculus Rift will continue to be supported. I WANT IT ALL, NOW!

Addendum: Here also an excellent ARS "hands-on" article about the Oculus "Half Moon" controller. Feel the need of a time jump into next year, anyone?

Oculus Rift news around the E3

Waiting is sometimes frustrating. When I started this blog almost a year ago, by writing about my experiences with the game Elite: Dangerous, it was always with the prospect that this game in combination with the Oculus Rift will provide for a revolutionary experience in a virtual world. My test of the DK2 during the Elite: Dangerous Premiere Event confirmed my theory. However, the development of both the Oculus Rift, as well - at least as I am concerned - of Elite: Dangerous as one of the best possible experiences with the Oculus Rift, are still going on. Also, this being the main reason why my game time with Elite: Dangerous is on hold. I can power play already in lots of games, this is not really the revolutionary gaming which I got initally hooked for with Elite: Dangerous. I want the full virtual reality experience, and a free universe where you can go everywhere, i.e. including in Elite: Dangerous the feature of being able to land on planets is a must, if you adhere to this vision.

Scanning the news about the E3, there´s of course as usual lots of mainstream crap and no-content-news, but a nice surprise is the news about an Oculus Rift controller. Oculus Rift already mentioned several times that they are working on it. It looks good, those folks have a sound idea of how virtual reality could be properly accessed, and it is well received. Here is a nice article on IGN.

So, the idea is to bring your sense of presence into a virtual environment and also bring at least your hands along. There are already ideas and prototypes about some hand-motion-capturing tools, but it seems Oculus Rift went a way which is both conservative, by make it more resemble to a classic game controller, as well as innovative, by translating and linking these controller movements as best as possible into virtual hand movements.

BTW, game controllers in general have since long been amazing me how crappy they are. I mean, an avid gamer will easily spend 10 hours on a good day working with such a device. And they are at least from an ergonomical point of view, but also in terms of control options, a plain piece of shit. The best ergonomic sollution which I had found for me when I still played on consoles was the old SEGA Mega Drive controller, by holding it between thumbs and index fingers of both hands and pushing the controls with index and middle and ring fingers from both hands. But this "thing" they have for the Sony PS, X-Box, Nintendo, etc., I do not understand how people can accept to be reduced in their game experience to using only their thumbs, 90% of the time?!?

As full blooded PC Gamer, my right hand mouse has at least index and middle finger active, the rest guides the mouse itself, while the left hand rests fully on the middle of the keyboard, with all five fingers active. Instead of WASD, I have ZGHJ (on a German QWERTZ-layout) as the central keys, with action buttons keyed to all sourrounding keys, including down-far-off onces for my pinkie. No current mainstream console controller can get near this a strong level of control.

I am very curious if the Oculus Rift controller will be able to improve the control experience, with that neat trick of simulating your main hand movements, and having four fingers each from both left and right hand active. And the design looks very ergonomic, on top!

- ergonomically sound, reminds me of those highly professional foil-fencing handles








It looks good, both visual and in theory already. Need to test it! Preferably with the - finally getting close to release - Oculus Rift!

Mun Landing&Rescue

This is a summary from I think 3 game sessions in my Kerbal Space Programme. I left off with Scienta 2 having achieved orbit around Minmus. With now two science ships slowly generating science, in theory I could just fast forward time for an easy ~1000 points of science. But the efficiency-driver within me disagrees. There are plenty of contracts to fulfill in the meanwhile, and my current still low tech level is not in the way. However, I also want to build some viable spaceplanes, especially the White-Goose class which I had so grown fond of in my beta 0.9 career. The White-Goose is only possible with turbojets and ram air intakes. Which means I still want to quickly unlock three specific tech nodes, but not via merely time-warping my lab results.

To bring both goals together, I decide to gather some science by doing my first Mun landing and maybe a few on top. For this, I re-design my rocket which was originally meant to re-fuel the Munbus ships in orbit and add a small lander vessel on top. In order to launch this through the new more realistic atmosphere, I have the first occasion to use a fairing. This makes the rocket look much more stylish and aerodynamically sound.

The Mun Mission Ship is equipped with a Poodle engine, a 1440-fuel tank, with an adaptor to a Mk1-cockpit. This time, I do not forget a docking port jr., but for a more stable launch profile, I attach the lander via a separator on top of the cockpit and put the docking port at the side of the cockpit instead. It is an "Apollo-style" expedition, you could do it more efficiently with a single smaller vessel, but I wanted it this way to bring along a lot of spare fuel for repeated landings.

 - Mun Mission Ship plus lander











The travel to Mun works out fine; as I have plenty of fuel for hopefully multiple Mun landings on board, I don´t care how efficient my launch to orbit actually was. I am not sure if I can bring science from Mun´s surface first to the mobile lab at Scientia in Mun´s orbit, but in order to have this option and to be able to do rendez-vous efficiently, I steer the Mun Mission Ship into a similar polar orbit, about 30 degrees off because of the Mun´s relative position to Kerbin.

Achieving a low Mun orbit at about 10km, I hesitate to start the landing. I am kind of scared by the prospect of failure, pretty sure it will go wrong on my first tries. Since in that particular session I was more in for something relaxing, I left that expedition in orbit and instead took some satellite contracts. One of them again had a far out high Kerbin orbit. This gave me the occasion to practice a gravity slingshot maneuver with the Mun. Worked out fine, I am just not sure how much deltaV this actually saved.

 - Mun gravity assist/slingshot; I only invest in raising apoapsis, and Mun´s angular velocity does so in kind for the periapsis after I leave its SOI





After some more satellite interludes, I get sufficiently bored and start the Mun landing maneuver. I stage the lander off and begin descent. Watching the "suicide burn" figure from my KER addon (Kerbal Engineer Redux), I somehow get confused, something is wrong no idea what aaaaand crash booom. Ok, what was this, reload. The suicide burn figure should show me when to latest stop my freefall towards the ground by a maximum burn. My next try is much more cautious, wasting a lot of fuel by stoping in "midair", checking altitude, continue descent. Even then, something goes wrong as the Lander touches down on a slope and the engine gets destroyed. I guess this is due to a clipping problem, the landing struts sometimes stick through the ground so that the engine impacts where it should not. Reload.

 - alive, but this still went wrong











My third try turns out fine. Kerbonaut Crisella (sp?) takes Kerbal first step on Mun´s lower eastern crater, plants a flag and proudly labels it "Females first!" (this was not in her mission brief!). Collecting data from thermometer, barometer, EVA- and crew report, a surface probe, and my Lander will carry a whopping 200 science points back to Kerbin. Yay! However, I become greedy. There might be just enough deltaV left to hop to a second biome, thereby collecting another 200 points...

Well, no. Touchdown some minutes later leaves my Lander with just about 500 deltaV left, and try as I might, this is not enough to achieve orbit again, even though orbit speed is around 500m/s (forgot that you have to add vertical speed during ascend, too!). Reload. A next try to touchdown the first time already very close to another biome next by, which again fails. Reload. A last try, and I have finally made a precise enough landing, hop, and launch into orbit with enough deltaV for a rendez-vous. Reloading for purposes like this for sure feels a bit like cheating, but this game already munches up so much game time and I really do not want to play without trial&error attempts, which, honestly, are a large part of the fun this game is!

From flying the Lander, I again learned a lot on how to design it differently. The RCS controls are very crappy, and all those 9 small fuel tanks do save space but are a pain to refuel one by one. Its next version will be better!

I then toy with the idea to upload my science data of 400 points into the Scientia´s lab and begin a rendez-vous course. Here, my not-so ingenious engineering catches up with me. The lander can only be docked to the side of the Mun Mission Ship, thereby totally screwing up its center of mass in relation to its center of thrust; I cannot keep the combined ship steady during even a minimal burn time. Sigh. Not to complain, this is another challenge hailing from emerging gameplay and, again, a large part why this game is so much fun!

- for very obvious reasons, this combined vessel cannot maneuver properly...








A short break back at the space center, and I see another Mun-related contract popping up: Rescue Kerbonaut Phil from Mun´s surface. Well, I be damned I was not in a perfect efficient situation right now to take this one along! So, I refuel my lander at the Mun Mission Ship, undock and descend from my polar orbit as soon as it brings me into range of the crashed Kerbonaut. Which is almost immediately, as the Kerbonaut chose the south pole for its accident. This mission is just awesome. The landscape and the sunset, being able to land without difficulties 400 meters close by, making Phil walk over, seeing the Scientia´s target marker appear and pass-by over the horizon, launching with the good feeling to have affected a very short term rescue (for very good profit, too).

- This moment is for me the mother of all awesomeness so far in this game!!!!









I have to reiterate: Awesome. This one moment where the Scientia appeared on the horizon and crossed the sky above "me". You, on the ground within a fully explorable planetary landscape, a launch vessel ready for you, and far above you in space, you see actually your mothership waiting for you to rendez-vous. I say, it is about freaking time that a computer game finally offers this level of immersion!!! The last game I had hoped would offer this was DUST514, where they advertised the merge of a first-person shooter, where you can be supported by EVE-Online player ships firing from orbit. Yes, it worked, in terms of network code, but you were never able to actually see those ships in orbit. The biggest possible moment of world immersion, and they just, completely, utterly missed it!

 - DUST514 should have felt something similar like in this advertisement, but it never did; the sky was not open






Well, catching my breath, back to my mission. Despite my excitedness, I still do not forget to collect another batch of 200 points of science data. Then the lander launches such that it can almost immediately rendez-vous with the Scientia. Which is achieved without problem. Phil is safe in the Scientia´s crew room. Then I switch over the the Mun Mission Ship and also achieve rendez-vous with the Scientia.

- Mun Mission Ship on approach to Scientia, where the lander is already docked on top








Then I have to do some pondering about the scientific data. Transfering science data only works as a bundle; you have to click on the module which contains the data while in EVA and bring it to the intended module, i.e. the Mun Mission Ship´s cockpit. This also means, transfer of all 15 data packs or none. The Scientia´s lab is filled up to capacity, which means I could not bring back the yet-unused data, thereby having to wait even longer for more science points for use in my Space Center. In the end, I decide to take everything back to Kerbin and leave the lander with the Scientia. Once its lab has emptied, I can always try to recollect the Mun data (first EVA, then, if enough fuel, also surface data).

After undocking and sending the Mun Mission Ship on an escape trajectory, I log off, very content about this so awesome game session.

Thoughts and anticipation

Soo... another session in the Kerbal Space Program passed with me trying to figure out a vessel which can bring an actual, full "jumbo" fuel container into orbit. The general issue here is that you need fuel to bring mass out of the gravity well into orbit, and more fuel means more mass, which is a kind of self-amplifying problem. The more fuel you want to bring up, the more engines and fuel you need to use in order to do so, which in turn, also add to the total mass. So, if you need 2 tons fuel for 1 ton mass, the total mass for fuel required for 1 ton payload is not 2 tons fuel because the mass of the fuel has to factor into the calculation, too. You need to calculate the fuel requirement for the total mass of 3 tons. Mathematics mathematics, no idea, but guys like Mr. Moore or Mr. Tsiolkovsky had the idea, and in the end they came up with that famous deltaV formula (Mr. Moore already as early as in 1813, 15 years before Jules Verne was born!) which gives you an idea how much change of speed you can get out of a certain combination of fuel+payload+enginepower, and this is also why staging a rocket is so efficient, despite the waste.

Anyhow, one full session, three completely new and different spaceplane designs, and all failed to reach orbit efficiently via exploiting the highly efficient jet engines. One spaceplane design kept diving nose down once it reached 7km height, even though I experimented with a center of lift way in front of the center of mass; probably a bug. Another time, I put 8 inline airscoops per jet engine, throttled them down as much as possible from 25km+altitude and still they had their burnout at 34km maximum. Similarly, I couldn´t bring my rocket SSTO to higher altitudes than 25 km with jet engines, even though I saw some videos where people where able to do this. And, hell, even I managed to do this two or three times, but it seems really really like balancing on a hair.

Ah, well, it is probably unrealistic anyways to have jet engines which can propell you into orbit and "air hogging" (a very familiar term for long term Kerbal gamers) might be also unrealistic, thusly this kinds of spaceplanes could be considered more as cheating than "playing by the rules". After all, the Kerbal Space Programme is rather about having a almost realistic physics to wrestle with! I guess the mixed LF/jet engines at higher tech levels are really first intended for the spaceplane-design-approach. To get them, I still need to upgrade the science institute, which costs a whopping 6 million of cash...


In the meanwhile, some news on Elite: Dangerous. Frontier has finally unveiled the biggest feature of the coming update on Elite: Dangerous, "Powerplay". Factional warfare, in a much larger scale than this term is used in EVE Online. I can´t say I am surprised, since David Braben always has stressed his idea of a "living" universe where the players can influence power struggles.

I think this is a great idea which will for sure engage and be fun for many players! I am curious about it, too. However, I asked myself if this would make me come back into Elite with the full intensity of my last year´s conviction? No. Re-reading some of my blog entries, it is very clear to me that Elite is for me about being able to have your own goals and being able to interact with the galaxy as a virtual/physical world. Society, human factions and human politics is not something appealing for me out there. Quite the opposite. An immersive virtual world via the Occulus Rift, a realistic galaxy, spaceflight and a certain unexplored "wild west" feeling with the possibility to settle into some of its endlessness for yourself, is more to my liking.

So, by all means, guys, play your powerplays, but I want to goddamn land on a planet and found and build new stuff. I want to be a pioneer and not a pawn as a spy, merchant or soldier, and the pioneer is a little bit of all of those archetypes.

One of the other bigger changes is a revamped mining system. Finally! I wonder if that would serve to make expeditions into the unknown even more profitable than just by selling data?

Indeed it is difficult to explain. I love space games not as a tool for a story about continued human struggles against each other (we will never change, will we?), but as a story itself about the marvel and endless possibility of human existence. Of course there should be struggle, but the goal of the struggle needs to be more for me than just changing a coloured line on a map.

So, Frontier, bring out that "landing on planets" expansion, already! Let us discover things, build our own stuff, and make our own fortune!

As usual, my time is too little to play every game as much as I´d like to... but I am really curious about the final release of the Kerbal Space Programme on Monday and it will surely eat up all of my game time for some more time! What I especially like about the announced new features is that the science module will be now actually useful and give us a reason to have orbital stations (beyond being a meeting point for re-fuels). And of course, more and lots of different contracts: Tourism, science, part recovery, scanning and mining; the latter will also serve to provide for resources like fuel, so hopefully this will alleviate all those attempts to bring up the required significant amounts of fuel into space!

Uneventful

Wregoe EU-K B39-0. I am about 792 ly away from my "home" system Yakabugai. It sure feels farther. My goal was to continue exploring for a bit and reach HIP 46659, a system with a black hole. But first, as usual, I have to get reaquainted with controls and stuff, which takes some time. However, I am a bit screwed. I must have mistyped the system, because the navigation tab does not find it. How then was I able to plot my course already last session? Weird. And very very annoying. Some more tries and I find the culprit: An empty space in front of the first letter. Sigh. It seems I am spoiled by the so much advanced google search interpretation.

I usually do not bother to surface scan gas giants, but sometimes I do when they are close by anyways. As such I discover once more a gas giant with ammonia based life. I am not sure but I think rewards for discoveries have been modified during my absence. Let´s see if Frontier made gas giants a bit more attractive for explorers.

After I scanned about a dozen systems, this session ends uneventful.

 - "sunset"











Quite a break later, I dip again into Elite Dangerous. I just had told some friends about that amazing computer game which tries to simulate our whole galaxy, and by doing so, I suddenly wanted to see it again. So, log-in, and I spend quite some time just browsing through the galaxy map, admiring this wonderful piece of computer programme, knowing that I can visit everyone of those goddamn plenty of stars. By chance, I stumble upon Gliese 398.2. This is another system which contains a black hole, just 498 ly away from current position in HIP 53627, but I cannot reach it with my frameshift drive; too short ranged.

Four systems farther, I think that the two gas planet´s moons look different and resolve to scan them. Nine surface scans later, I am disappointed; its just your standard pieces of rock. Since I am getting a bit bored (such a masterwork of a virtual galaxy, and virually no consequences attached) and I log out again. The latest newsletter about the next update for Elite: Dangerous, called power play, looks very interesting. Apparently, Frontier is going to overhaul the mission system, and it is not going to be the main change, which they still hold back!

- pilot is absent for a little while

Dipping into Patch 1.2

So, my excursion through Kerbal, the new Sid Meier´s Starships and some refreshment of his Beyond Earth are done. The advertised connection between the latter two games is neigh inexistant. A story logic neither. But those games are ok if you want to do some tactical game.

Elite: Dangerous greets me with the installation of a new launcher. The latest update is out, "Wings". And, the game insists again that I play it in German; no, thanks. Of course I am very curious about all new features... wow, the starting screen looks better and better, for once!

The funny moment is always when I have to get to get used again to the specific way the mouse reacts to input for each different game.

 - ah I had almost forgotten the nice view










Arriving in Wregoe IL-P C2 1, I swoop down to scoop some fuel. Ooops, that could have easily gone wrong. The heat mechanic has changed, and I realize it it time when I wonder why the heat does not mount as quickly to 100% as it used to. 100% is bad, under the new game mechanic, already melting my ship modules. I get out of the star´s atmosphere just in time at around 90%.


Nice is also that my head look is not whisked straight forward anymore when the hyperjump countdown starts. And when I look around in the cockpit, my view does not clip throught the seat anymore.

The system I am arriving in has some beautiful blood red double stars; that´s when I remember that Frontier also now allows an external camera for beautiful screenshots. Surprises, nice surprises only, you can also assign a hotkey for the system map, amd also one which re-targets the next system for hyperjump after I scanned something in the system! I am a happy explorer now!

 - very moody






 



It takes some time to assign all keys and it sure still will do so until I feel really comfortable with all those new keys. I need more than ten fingers to play this tune. I happily cruise owards, which takes a while since I just have to play around a lot with the external camera view. 

- yesss, great tool










While I jump and scan, for some systems, I seem to follow the tracks of CMDR Izza. In order to not do so, I have to deviate a bit from my course here. There are plenty of stars for everybody!

And such passes by an uneventful, with some new buttons to play with, game session.

Having climbed the stair of stars

This thread has another report of a longer exploration and some hints where valuable systems are.

From another thread I take it that HIP 63835 is a black hole, so I can finally look up one and see how it is supposed to look in the galaxy map. Ok, an appearance of a kind of blueish giant star, good to know.

This game session goes slow and serene, while I spend my time also chatting, reading, watching some videos. I do some long jumps through a bundle of red stars with only ice planets around (I can tell from the way they look in the system map), until I find a cluster of stars with some more interesting planets about. No earth likes, though, but I scan everything down anyways, since they are still undiscovered. Now and then, I spot another water world, sometimes also a metal rich world with an atmosphere which can be terraformed.

At one point, I enter a system which has a brown dwarf as the last "planet" of the system; it has a ring which does not identify by a surface scan, so I get close to see whether it is ephemeral.
 

It is not, and my ship computer initiates an emergency drop, which costs me 1% of my hull structure. However, the scenery my ship falls into is simply gorgeous. The twilight purple shine intermingles with that immense a vast dusty asteroid belt, which probably should be more kind of a protoplanetary disk, and the light of the milky way permeates this gloom with a golden shine. It sure looks like something proto...

I now really regret that the external camera is not ready before next week. Of course I could fly in the separate beta 1.2 client, but then my exploration would not count on my character name, which is part of "the game" for me. Nono, I am now "at home" in this game, no more beta for me! But this scenery, this was really worth coming here, best moment for this game session!

There are other sights which capture me, and so it goes on and on. This session will consist more of pictures than text, I suspect.

All the while, I was headed again upwards, but now I have landed in another dead end; the next star up there is 40 ly out. There might be other routes, though. I am 1,114 ly away from Yakabugai, the system I had spent most of my time in civilised space, and I have climbed my own stair of stars up to this point. I think I am content about this spontaneous venture. Now, what to do next?

I understand now that travelling to the farthest outer shores require the longest range jump drive I can get. I should rather use my Cobra for a shorter range trip and do some sightseeing. For example, the Horse Head Nebula (about 1400 ly from my current position). A bit farther away still is the Soul Nebula and right next to it the Heart Nebula; about 8,000 ly from here. Whew... I still do not get how big all of this here is.

I spend a very long time just floating through the galaxy map, trying to get a better read on its data and a sence of location. At some point, zooming backwards from Barnard´s Loop, I spot a system with two black holes in it; HIP 11792. A system on the path over there, HD 16440, has a strange denomination called "AEBE5 VI". I think it is a worthy venture to travel the 1,775 ly over there. I probably arrive in time for the new patch next week, to have an external camera for some awesome screenshots.

I get a bit despaired for a moment when I cannot find again my target system; the galaxy map shows different stars, even though I type the same name each time. So I better note down also a neighbouring system, just in case; Wredguia AE-T C3-2. Now the difficult taks is to plot a good course, since the pathfinder resets everytime when I start a surface scan. Very, very annoying. I choose Wredguia KG-O D6-17 as a 978 ly away half-way nav point and start ploughing my way through the stars. This might take a while.

As I plot the course and follow it back to my current location, another star system with a black hole comes into view, HIP 46659! How convenient, so I do not need to travel that far, after all! The first jumps I have to backtrack through my already explored systems, how annoying. Climbing down the stairs of stars. Time for a new soundtrack, Divine Divinity, very well suited for exploring. It was a fantastically moody game in that regards.

So time passes again, I have my course and heading, and if all goes well, those systems on my way are going to be bearing my name as the first discoverer. Logging out.

Getting darker

Wregoe UL-C D13-16. Scans here are still unfinished and I slowly pick my way through the system, while I alt-tab to my web browser and sift through the first reports about impressions from players of the beta version of the 1.2 patch. I finally see the form of the Vulture, a nice little fighter, it seems. If everything goes according to plan, it should be life next week, along with the external camera and the "wings" feature. With it, up to four explorers could share data if working in the same system. I guess anything more would disadvantage the solo player a tad bit too much.

Concerning my unsuccessful tussle with that elite Anaconda some sessions back, I found a very helpful thread in the ED forums. I will for sure follow up on this, but in the meanwhile, I still haven´t satisfied my desire to play explorer. I would want to go out at least by 1000 ly, scan as much systems as possible, and my faint hope is also to find something rare and exotic, not only an earthlike planet, but, say, a neutron star, a black hole, or something I did not hear of yet.

In the meanwhile, two potential winners of the triple-elite contest have emerged. CMDR Onepercent answered some questions and told the community that he needed about 65 days, 12 hours each day. Wow. I knew I would not stand a chance to win this one.

Snap out of revery, interdiction, a Sidewinder was on the scanners before, but got replaced by a Cobra while I was reading the forums during supercruise. Boom, bagging 20,000 CR. I fear at some point alt-tabbing out will cause my destruction, when an Anaconda catches me thusly being unawares... but come on, supercruising for hours is a tad bit too monotonous, even for a relaxing do-nothing evening, dont you think?

- turned out, this was my last interaction with "civilised" spacefor this session








HIP 63420, a double star system with a class G giant star, check. The sky above me has become quite empty of stars. It will soon be time to shift over to a more horizontal heading, I guess.

For some time, I skip surface scans, just to get a bit more ahead; though, the word "ahead" hardly has much of a meaning. Not to sound overly romantic, but also from an achievement perspective: unexplored star systems are near and far now, and being the first discovering a system becomes more and more a normality. Ship encounters seem to have ceased by now.

While scooping fuel, I check the galaxy map for some anomalies, something which is different than the accumulation of red, yellow, white dots. Some black inkish cloud far below me is labelled "Coalsack", too far away from where I am headed. No black hole or neutron star, so far. Earth like worlds still elude me, too. HIP 62112´s last two planets are terrestrian virgin water worlds and two more with atmospheres which are terraformable; I had not seen one for some time now. If this simulation of our galaxy should be remotely right, any future colonist should plan for bringing sea-borne settlements with them. Pure water worlds seem to be a better choice for colonizing, anyways. Never can have enough water, right?

After a while, I check for my modules. The lowest condition is 87%, which is already bad, considering that I did not travel really far yet. I wonder, how did the CMDRs do who went out 10,000 ly and more? They probably just jumped very quickly without much pause in supercruise. Or maybe fuel scooping too close also causes module decay?

- apparently, Cobra does not compare to a german car









Plotting still courses upward, it is a bit weird with only mostly blackness in front of your cockpit. In truth, it varies from system to system; sometimes almost nothing is visible against the blackness, sometimes there are still enough stars so that you don´t think you are just floating around in a dark room. It is probably only the graphic lightning playing tricks, or it might be some dark matter which obfuscates the view a bit from this system, or it might be the angle of view containing only few stars.

The selection of systems becomes smaller, which probably lessens my chances to actually find something interesting. The best thing is probably to continue now anti-spinwards (i.e. counter-clockwise to the galaxy´s rotation), or rimwards. I am not so sure anymore if I should really try to reach some kind of outer rim; chances are I won´t reach it with my Cobra´s jump range. This should probably be postponed to a later expedition, with a super light and long range Asp? After all, I have learned now that ship encounters seem to totally cease after I am out from about 500 ly of settled space, so I do not really need a heavily armed Cobra as I though before; just quickly jump through the first 500 ly and it should be fine.

- seems I did by now cover a little bit of distance to home

Some jumps away, I spot an unusually named system, setting itself apart from all those Wregoe-xxx designations, namely 38 G Carinae. However, google does not give me an indication that or why it was named in real life like this, too. As I arrive there, of course, someone has already before me, and the system does not contain anything special.

It starts to feel a bit lonely, and add a bit of disorientation. As such, I am almost glad to see the occasional system where another CMDR already had left his mark. My expedition feels a bit aimless by now, I might want to re-think my goals for this one. Since it has gotten late, this is a good moment to log out.

- never leave without a fuel scoopable star

Time passes out there

I had a long relaxing weekend (to avoid confusion: I publish my blog entries on a n+1 scedule - editing takes a bit of time!). Coming home late night on Friday, which was an unusual bright and sunny day, I looked up and saw the stars. And I realised, it has been rather long time since I saw the real ones. One of the drawbacks of living in a bigger city, I guess, but also large part due to the largely crappy winter weather which we had the last monthes.

And I also realized that, even though Elite: Dangerous is already a very nice simulation of what could be up there, with some very nice graphics, they never can do justice to the real thing. I realized also, I would be scared to fly up there all alone.

And on top, floating in just a bathtub, which all those cute little vessels in Elite: Dangerous actually are. Hell, even an Anaconda seems to be not much bigger than a Boeing 747. And I am sitting out here in a Cobra, which is merely a little bigger than your average modern combat yet. I think this is one of the few aspects which EVE: Online actually did better; the spacecrafts are more sizeable and thus feel more realistic to me. This galaxy is too big for rowing it in a bathtub.

Wregoe VG-C D13-30. Another white star is close by, but it is only accompanied by gas giants and ring planets, so I move on. By hindsight, probably a mistake, since all those rings could be high metal content and thus bring in some cash. No matter, I want to move on.

My hull is at 94%; leftover from an interdiction where I somehow could not submit properly to. Or maybe already part of the "usage-decay" system?

Some star systems further, again some findings. Even though CMDR Tryfan explored a part of this sytem already, a lot of planets are still "virgin", and many of them have a blueish aura about them. This means again quite some travels in supercruise, but, hey, it is exploration, this is what I am here for, right?

But first, I have to deal with a pesky Cobra pirate. It is nice how they come at you and deliver you their bounty voucher, this time only ~9,000 CR, though. Then I sweep the close-by planets, about 1,000 to 5,000 ls out. Then those close to the next star; about 48,000 ls out. Then the third star; 237,500 ls out...

- this perspective on orbit lines relays a sense of correspondence










This is where I am glad that I installed a second monitor, so I can do something in parallel while doing so... and music, to feel in the Elements. Yes, it sure is a different way to play a computer game. Reminds me of all those old turn based games where you acted when you felt like and thus complemented perfectly to watching that movie or series in parallel, which you always wanted to know but was not too exciting for itself alone. Well, let´s say without a TV, it is just a more serene way to have your leasure.

A bit annoying are the countless asteroid belts, which the nav system treats as a stellar object each. You have to click though all of them to find out whether there might be a planet amongst them. They are not shown in your view either, and I wonder what would happen if they actually were there and you flew through one of them in supercruise with 40.0c... aand maybe that´s exactly the reason why Frontier did not implement them (yet)?

Well, anyways, after about 45 minutes later, having surveilled more than a dozen of high metal content planets and one water world, it is finally time to move on. KK, thx, goodbye Wregoe VG-C D13-28.

- without the illusion of actually sitting in a cockpit, the long travels would be only half as immersive








I move on, this is my third session out there; checking how far I have made it out, it is only about 500 ly from Yakabugai. Amazing. How long did those CMDRs travel to make it so far out as 17,000 ly? I get the feeling that being a that far-out explorer would make me unsuited for continuing this blog on a per-session basis. After all, there is only so much which can happen.

Zooming a bit farther through the galaxy map, upwards where I want to go, the star population thins out notably after about 1,000 ly and finally seems to end at about 1,200 ly out. This is not far enough "up" in order to appreciate a full view of the galaxy with all its spiral arms. More so, I can´t find a route higher up than 500 ly more from where I am; distances between stars increase, and from there on seems to be about 30 ly already. I guess an Asp would be in order to really really get out farthest possible. Yes, I should have thought about this before, but this is the inherent disadvantage of my moment-to-moment playstyle; I just want to get up and running and do something entertaining. After all, real life is full of planning issues already. So, it takes me 500 ly out from civilisation to realize the limits of this trip. Of course I can and maybe will then continue on a horizontal course, as long as I feel like doing so.

- about 1000 ly more up from where I currently am, this star is one of the highest above the galaxy








And such the time passes. A few interdictions, but nothing dramatic; I am not ungrateful, as with each jump, the burden to actually bring home this accumulated mountain of data increases.

Log out.

Lots of nice impressions out there

There, I found an Elite blog which is similar to mine, but focusing on exploration. Great! Welcome! CMDR Zulu Romeo sure has been at it from the very beginning and expertly does wonderful screenshots from his expeditions. I am envious and immediately added some them to my deck of desktop backgrounds. The next update of the game will have an external camera and I am pretty sure that I am going to make use of it!

HIP 66740.The primary star is one of those beautiful class F elven white-golden main sequence stars. 10,000 ls out is a seconday class K yello star, and there are some planets over there which look interesting, although already explored before by CMDR Sturn. Nevermind, there could be an earth like and I want to see it! As I approach, i see one planet with a vertical orbit; it is metal rich. Then, 1,000 ls out there, twin planets, seemingly without an orbit but around themselves. Cute, little dance. One is a water world; the other high metal. Keep them coming! Yep, another water world! And another! All of them are nitrogen-oxygen based! A pity I am not first explorer anymore. But just imagine, imagine, guys, if this game´s simulation had a core of reality in it. How many worlds out there are waiting for us?

- forget about Mars, I say!!!










Their frequency in some systems show that twin planets, just revolving around themselves, without an orbit around the star, seem to be a common occurence, if Elite´s modelling of the galaxy is remotely correct. Ah, see, I found this article about it; it seems worth to look them up.

I take a lot of screenshots. This system fascinates me; probably because I somehow a have a very good "orery like" view on it, which makes for a really good "bird perspective". I jump about a lot, there are many white or yellow star systems on a planar level, so I do not get "up" much yet.

- white star class A in COL 285 Sector NY-Q D5-47










Then I am suddenly again out there, alone. It feels good. The next system is the first virgin system; COL 285 Sector CS-H C11-7. It even has a water world, which is mine now.  But it seems I was luky, after this, more already discovered systems.

A deadly Eagle interrupts. Kill scan costs me another shield cell, and it is not worth it. I must remind myself to stay on my toes, lest I fare the same fate as on my first expedition!

Slowly, imperceptly, the night sky above me gets darker, as fewer and fewer stars dot the sky. Below me, the galaxy glows brighter and more beautiful than ever. all those dust clouds are out of the aay

Wregoe VG-C D13-30 is another virgin system, and it is big; three stars, no planet looks earth like. But it is mine again. Sigh. How long can I continue to surface scan every virgin system? But the work is worth it; another water world. Seems I am a specialist on water worlds. Some earth likes can pop up sometime!

 - Imagine we would live in a solar system like this, instead










Exploration is slow, trance-li... if not suddenly a Viper would snap out and grab you. This one again is rated deadly and I have respect out here; one mistake and my hull suffers and my expedition is in jeapardy. I fight carefully, since my shield cells are already exhausted. I works well, and the bounty is sizeable; 32,000 CR.

As I am finally finished surface scanning everything in this system, I realise a little difference in terminology which escaped me before: there are metal-rich planets, and there are high-metal-content planets. The latter are probably worth most.

Well, time passes by quickly and I have to log out. I have probably traveled though only 20 systems, but most of them had indeed metal planets to scan, so it should have been worth the while.

- first planet of this kind for me to encounter

Out there again

Following up some of my confusion from the last session, this thread in the ED forum explains how reputation losses work and clarifies some points for me. However, this still does not explain why I got "wanted" by shooting the "wanted" Anaconda from the assassination mission. The prospect of obscure mission or boutny mechanics is not very appealing, so I´d rather do something else.


Considering my exploration stories, an also very helpful guide has even more thourough information, e.g. on scanned profit, than I managed to gather myself.

 - a look at the star color and classifications can help to determine the chances to actually find some valuable planets




During the last sessions I kind of instinctively followed the options I had outlined some time ago. Trading, community events, exploring, missions; check! The action-y last session has a pull of attraction on me, but also showed, this can cost me dearly. While I still have a financial cushion of about 4.4 million Credits (and my Cobra being worth ~9 million Credits), I feel I am closing in towards a point of "spiral of downgrading". I am looking at economic losses over my last seven sessions, whereas the gains where mainly due to three intensive trade sessions. Those trade sessions where only possible with a financial input (ship value plus liquidity for commodities) of about three million Credits (Lakon Type 6) respectively eleven million Credits (Asp). I have to be careful to not cross that line and maybe I should already start to earn again some savings via trading.

Thanks to Colin´s hint, I know now I could sell my Cobra with only little loss if I first manually downgrade it in the outfitting screen. Which liberates enough cash to be back on a comfortable level of trading with an Asp as a 128-ton long range freighter. With it, it should not take long to pile up money for a long-range explorer, for my goal to reach the outer end of a galaxy arm; most explorers seem to go for the galactic center or some nebula, so I want something different. Same thing for a truly specialized combat Viper or an almost equally capable mission Cobra.

As I log in, in comes also the spontanity effect. The first thing I want to do is to participate in the explorer community event Lambda Andromedae. It is still in the News so I should make haste. I am thinking about this in order to get a little bit cheaper Asp later on. Also in the news is that this story about the dead pilot with the ore in his hold actually pointed to a pristine gold site and the gold rush was on in LAWD 26. Well, with the current mining game mechanics, they can do without me. But what is kind of cool is that those community events indeed give me the feel of following a story that matters, whether I participate or not.

Before I launch, out goes the heavy mirrored armor, back a lightweight alloy sheathing, in order to get back to a jump range of >20 ly. I want to grab some exploration data and then travel to Lambda Andromedae. My planned course this time should lead me "up".

- up, upwards, to see the galaxy extending its spiral arms for me at some point... (ahem)








Some systems out I am interdicted by a particular Adder, the first ever NPC ship which I see uses chaff. I first do not get it and wonder why the gimbals buzz around like crazy and my kill scan does not complete. The chaff can be recognized by a kind of confetti trailing the ship. I even have to waste a shield cell because I am so confused that the Adder almost manages to disable my shield.

Systems I pass through like Balie are a typical borderland; one station is fara out there, a pirate station by its faction´s name "Hand Gang of Balie". It seems that at the borders of civilised clusters, many such outlaws have established themselves.

There is another giant star system, Izar, which are nice lightning house systems to aim for. Onwards, upwards, and, yes, my plans went out of the airlock, I am now here purely for the view; I want to see the galaxy´s disc from above.

My experience from previous trips as well as the above guide made it much more transparent and easy for me to determine as to what to surface scan and what not. I pass by a lot of systems and can easily recognize systems with high metal planets, water worlds and hopefully, once upon a time, also earth like worlds. COL 285 Sector OT-Q D5-47 is such an example; I know from the looks that it could provide some yields. And indeed, it has two water worlds of half the size of our earth which are in a twin orbit, both "ready for terraforming". And it is interesting that the outermost planet is also a water world, and terrestrial and of considerable size (6times earth radius) at that. With the rest of the planets being high metal content, this system is more valuable than anything I found ever before! The next system, very close, again is similarly valuable.

- one of three water worlds in this system









However, I am not so enthusiastic anymore as before. First, I am not the first one to discover any of those worlds, but this should not yet diminuish the value of the data too much, as I learned from my last expedition. For the final profit, it is now just a matter how often it has already been scanned by passing-by CMDRs, I guess. Second, I let myself be spoiled by all those reports of incredible frequent earth like worlds; so, water worlds just feel just like second hand now. Indeed, the first thread popped up in the ED forum which lists some discovered earth like worlds. Part of me regrets this; reminds me that I did will to write this blog, in order to capture my initial enthusiasm, the exhilaration of newness, of my "first contacts" with the game´s experience.

I think this is the reason why I just skipped all planning and just went out there again; at some point, all of it will be discovered and bland, and I would like to savour the spirit of true discovery while it lasts.

Besides, I think water worlds look nicer than earth like ones.


Before I can succumb into a too moody mood, a "master" ranked Viper decides to shake me up. It attacks also with a bunch of missiles! How glad am I that I installed one point defense system. However, I still need to use up another shield cell; two are left. And I am not really far out yet. Hrm, at least a good bounty of 21k CR is attached to the final explosion.

 - boom, with credits attached










I am close to Upsilon 5, another giant star, and pay the obligatory visit. Big stuff seems to lure us in, does it? Exploration has me in its gríp again. My original plan was just to take a quicky tour out there, grab the data, and arrive in Lambda Andromedae to turn it in for the community event. However, the prospect of going back now, or hasting onwards with just some advanced scans feels like gobbling some fast food. But this, this is a fine filet steak, and it has to be savoured!

Since I am a bit tired today, I decide to quit here and rather savour these bits afresh in a new session.

Wrestling with an elite-ranked Anaconda

Near a gas giant, Basile. An unidentified signal (US) contains Wraak, a pilot of an elite Anaconda who sometimes is the subject of an assassination mission. No, thanks, I am currently not payed for that, I am rather looking for Imran Jung, the target of the assissination mission which I accepted during my last game session. The fact that Wraak here sits an Anaconda makes me hope that Imran will probably fly a different ship type.

But first, a little warmup. Some Sidewinders in the nearby extraction zone make for a meager breakfast of bounties.




- too easy, more challenge is in order...









After four or five such quick terminations, let´s get down to the business of finding Mr. Jung. I know from earlier experience that you need to look in USs in order to find him. And I also know that the old concept of the US from the beta phase has not changed (lamentably so); they appear randomly in your vicinity, so you do not really need to search for them. So I resort to the same old trick; let the US come to you. Throttling down my supercrusie to 30km/s, I do not have to wait long for the first US to appear. Thanks to me already having minimum speed, it appears very close to me and I can immediately drop into it.

Four US pass by, some with one or two "wanted" targets, but not Mr. Jung. This indicates that he is probably not in this system and I have to look into the two other systems which are mentioned in the mission statement. Engage jump to Gabrani.

The second US already nails it. It contains a "clean" Adder who starts to chat to me the moment I target and scan it. You looking for Imran Jung? Oh yeah, they scanned his energy wake which pointed towards Ari Hesa. Neat! First level of the mission ladder is done. Jumping onwards. Unfortunately, I then also discover that shooting the two "wanted" target from the first US somehow caused a negative hit on my reputation with the Federals. Dear Federation, you and me, we are simply not made for each other, it seems!

In Ari Hesa, I just have to wait a bit, and the second US is my jackpot. Or his. Imran Jung unfortunately also sits in the pilot seat of an Anaconda and is also rated Elite. He could be Wraaks twin-brother, I guess. This will be a very challenging fight. I know that some people boast to routinely kill elite Anacondas, but I have no idea how, since I already got some bloody noses from encounters like this during beta2 and gamma. Although, I am hopeful, since I do pilot now a perfectly combat equipped, all-class-A Cobra (instead of the Eagle I used back then). The challenge is on!

Imran Jung is marked as neutral, so I try to kill-scan him first and while also vertically strafing to get out of his firing arc. With no success; his guns constantly point in my direction no matter how much vertical/forward thrust I apply. This is my standard maneuver of circling an enemy while still being able to face and shoot at an opponent. Well, here it does not work at all. Instead, Imran Jung opens fire and hits me well enough, even if I manage to dodge his plasma launcher (its whitish ball of energy is easy to recognize).

After a few moments I am already without shields, wasted all my shield cells, and no matter what I steer, I always seem to be hit. Damn turrets. Boosting out of firing range, he sends some missiles my way, but I can evade them. Going back into the fray, I first have to deal with his firing arc and again take enough hits to take out my shield again. Since I try to get him into firing position, most of his hits land on my front. For the first time I realize that the cockpit seems to be a seperate hit zone. My canopy is cracking and I hear warnings about the condition being damaged and then going critical. I must break off, at this stage my hull is already at 60% and I did not even scratch the shields of the Anaconda.

Docking in Atwater Port, I pay 8600 CR reparature costs, and 2400 ammo costs (the shield cells). Despite me being aware of the very challenging situation of a single Cobra versus an Anaconda, I am a bit baffled. This is an Anaconda? Its thrusters make it turn rather like a perfectly outfitted nimble little Eagle!

Next try. I am skipping though some US until Imran Jung appears in one. This time, I skip a kill-scan and fully concentrate to circle-strafe out of his gun sight. This again goes horribly wrong, even when I try to roll and vertically move on his horizontal axis. This Anaconda follows effortlessly. What the hell? And to top it off, I even manage to catch the white ball of plasma from his first bowside barrage, instantly killing my shields. Ai.

I guess I am very lucky that I installed a mirrored armor alloy, which is especially good versus lasers. Besides the plasma launcher, Imran Jung´s Anaconda sports only beam lasers. Like this, I can continue without shield, as my hull withstands an enormous amount of the Anacondas firing lasers. However, my canopy does not seem to be as reflective as my ship armor and my ship computer calmly informs me soon again that it has critical status.

Suddenly, two security ships jump in. Neat, they can help distract his fire and whittle him down. I am not worried anymore of them kill stealing, Frontier has tweaked the settings so that it is no problem anymore to score the decisive final hit for yourself. However, Mr. Jung seems to be not that stupid. Energy surge detected and a few seconds later he frameshifts out. Grrrrreat.... otoh, with my critical canopy, 70% hull, I had already lost this second encounter, anyways.

This time, I pay ~3,000 CR for reparature and ~1,300 for ammo. I am irritated. My quad-gimballed-pulse-laser setup still did not help getting the Anaconda´s shields down, even though they are supposed to be strongest versus shields. A visit to the ship outfitter is in order. Out go the class 1 pulse lasers, in come two class 1 cannons. Unfortunately I have not enough power grid to accomodate class 2 beam lasers and I do not want to kick out some of my class A outfits to free enough power grid to do so.

The feedback from the ED forum is that cannons have been made weaker since beta, but on the other hand, they are meant to be and supposedly indeed are more effective against big targets.

While in the outfitting screen, I also flip to the decal menu and find a new decal which was not there before; a skull design. This probably came into my inventory because of the pirate mission from my last session, which I abandoned and instead joined the pirates. Good to know that the supercruise to that pirate station across 460,000 ls actually brought a meaningful reward! I briefly consider putting it on, as a symbol for the seeming suicide mission I am currently on...

- morituri te salutant










Onwards to the next encounter with Imran Jung, after some few US have passed. I am very well aware that I should set the setting in the right menu "report crimes against me" to off. This is what I did. Now, on to the dance! I adapt my tactic and do not try to circle-strafe anymore, and instead use a mix of blue speed and max speed to get to and stay behind my enemy. It goes way better now. The cannons are a huge help, even agains the Anaconda´s shields, which I indeed manage to break down this time. However, I again have to heavily rely on my reflective armor, as the Anaconda quickly busts my shields after I ran through all my four shield cells. The reason for that is the goddamn turrents. No matter from which angle I face the Anaconda, at least one laser beam finds me.

I get also even more irritated because the cannons do not seem to fire consistently. Sometimes they go off, sometimes they don´t; in the hectic of combat I am unable to find out why that is. A later test in undisturbed environment shows, they should fire alright about each 3-4 seconds. Well, in combat they somehow don´t; in hindsight, it is probably because I have a trailing target view, so sometimes I might think that they are on target when in reality it is only the gimbals from my pulse lasers buzzing around the targeting reticule?

Nevertheless, thanks to the cannons and my changed flight patterns, I indeed manage to whittle the Anaconda down to 50% hull, while I still have about 60% hull.

In are jumping two security ships, which I realize only the moment when they turn into red blinking blips. WTF is going on here!? What are they doing here, firsthand? And why are they shooting at me?!? There I no way that strayfire of mine could have hit them, my guns are all gimballed and on spot! I have to clear the grounds; my canopy is again the culprit and I doubt that I could sustain myself against two more enemies. Once in calmer waters, I realize that I am indeed shown as "wanted".




- victory is so close, until something makes me "wanted" and the random generator decides to throw some security ships in the fray







I pay 5,000 CR for repairs, 5,000 CR for ammo and again 1,200 CR for a new stash of shield cells. Then I launch, and realize too late that I forgot to pay off my bounty. Some more minutes pass for re-docking and rectifying this mistake.

Next try. Once I find him again in an US, I immediately open fire on the Imran Jung´s Anaconda, still neutral, but that should not matter since it is shown as "wanted". But this time I payed attention, and I immediately notice that the system flags me as "wanted"! Aha! Bug!!! I nevertheless continue the combat, since the scenery is not joined yet by security forces. I am again seeing an improvement, because this time I manage to whittle Mr. Jung´s vessel down to 37% hull strength. Then the typical flash from a disengaging frameshift drive, and two security Eagles are joining the party, again. Damnit, what is this? They are still shown as neutral, so I still hang on to the Anaconda like a terrier on a bulldog. But all of this weakened my concentration; the Anaconda turns into my direction and accelerates, I accelerated, too, because I wanted to get quickly past his bow. And we collide.

1% hull left on me. Alert, alert. On top, the security ships now did scan me and turn red, too. OMG today is really not my day, is it? Frankly, with things going wrong as they to, I am surprised that I actually get away. Maximum energy to engines allows me to quickly get out of range and not even a laser turret hits me. Amazing.

- close escape, closer not possible










Landing at Atwater Port is now a critical maneuver, too, because the numerous security ships could pick up my "wanted"-scent anytime. So, it is a good thing that I boost very close and rush through, because the moment I enter the station, my computer informs me that I was fired at. Phew!

My repair costs this time are 14,000 CR, 5,000 + 1,200 for reload. BTW, the reqard for this assassination mission is 150,000 CR. Profit is slowly waning... Impatiently I launch for the next round and have thereby AGAIN forgotten to pay off my bounty. Arrrrrgh! And just to add injury to the insult, the security ships apparently have been waiting for me and instantly open fire the moment I leave the station. Boost away, enter supercruise, drop back, re-request docking, fast approach... sigh.. the minutes pass with just nonsense. I should have never been marked as "wanted" firsthand. And, besides, my "wanted" price is how much? 300 Credits! This all seems to be so much out of proportion.

Finally, I can seek out Imran Jung once more. Thank god, he always appears quickyl in an US and I don´t have to skim though many of them. I never move away much from the station in supercruise and just throttle down and wait for an US to appear. It is almost like Imran Jung is awaiting me there for another round.

It is interesting; once I start getting annoyed or impatient, my piloting skills immediately drop noticeably and considerably. Cannon fire seems to be still erratic, still no idea what could be the reason; I even check if the reason could be some too-emtpy capacitors from my pulse lasers, but they are filled enough. Confusing, irritating. Still, I now routinely manage to get the Anaconda´s shields down and I immedeately set out to do so once more. The events so far did have this effect on me, and thus it takes just moments to again loose shields. I don´t bother, since my armor can hold out quite some time.

But this time, I have become too reckless and emotional about the whole business. All these inconsistencies in between, the fact that an Anaconda outturns a Cobra even when trying to fight with three pips for engines. Well, in short, I just screw this one up badly and collide into the Anaconda´s broad side. The game algorythms dispassionately reward me with total destruction.

- 319,917 Credits less; double of what this mission would have earned me








The time for this session is up, but I do not want to leave like this. It is only after I dropped into five more US before I realize: destruction of my ship terminates the contract. Noob, I knew that already. So, this is defeat; Imran Jung slapped me around and into the ground and stomped mightily on me. For once, Elite: "Dangerous" shines through. Although I would have wished less confusion from obscure "wanted" game mechanics and weird cannon behaviour to enjoy the challenge more.

All in all, this was a very, very challenging game session, which served to reach - and collide with - the limits of my piloting skills. Good night and log out!