Events and news

Reading in the ED forum, I come sometimes across descriptions of things which people thought were remarkable and then realized that, while I did encounter them, had not remarked or screenshot it for the blog. Also, looking back at the last entries, they are not as much of a travel description as I would like them to be. Everything is too new, the bugs very distracting. The same pattern is in my reports from beta1. The first ones very scetchy, focusing on my wrestling with the game mechanics, then focused on grinding money, and then, once equipped aquainted, the imo cooler stories started to emerge. I also realize that, already, my blog has become a sort of a lexicon for me, and I am indeed looking up stuff done and been when I plan for my next steps. It all comes nicely together with time. Anyways, I should remind myself more often to take note of nice in-game stuff, and maybe focus a bit less on meta gaming or game mechanic issues. It is all just pixels and all what counts in the end is the experience itself. However, I also have to realize, with time constraints, it is also the quality of writing which suffers. Most blog entries I just type and publish. For some of them, I can take the time to go through them and adapt and edit them, but a good article - no secret here - requires work.

But right now, it is a time of big changes. The news on Beta3 are absolutely thrilling. A huge area of space to roam, mining, fuel scooping, player interdictions, two more ships, and I expect a lot of improvements under the hood.

The forum has received a new design. As usual, it is a bit troublesome to get used to it. The standard setting with the white background seems a bit too glaring. There is an "Elite" and a "blackout" setting with a black background. I chose "blackout" because I think that this setting makes all those beautiful signatures look better (most were masterfully designed by forum member Mobius).

Also, the fanfest, aka permiere event, as been unveiled to take place on 22 November. I was one of those beleagering the website to get a ticket. This is the first event of this kind where I will be attending. Back in my World of Warcraft times, those BlizzCons and EVE Fanfests tempted me, but I always felt they were too big. I was once in Leipig on the GamesCon, and it was just too large and anonymous to find it really enjoyable. In principle, the idea of fanfests by a computer games´s producer is a great one, and it shows how computer games are starting to arrive in the middle society, thus merging from simple forums into party and event based socializing. I rarely go to any party anymore these days, and if I go, I find most of them rather bland; there is music, drinks and, ideally,  well dressed people. A fanfest, on the other hand, can merge this with an actual occasion and topic. A kind of a theme party, establishing a common grounds for all people to attend. As a student, I once organized a Vampire party, and it was great fun for everybody (I even had a real sarcophagus organized, which seemed to shock some guest a little bit). I am very excited and curious how the Elite premiere event will play out.

This weekend, I will have again a little break from playing; it would be just cash grinding or bug hunting anyways, so not much - or boring - to really write a blog entry about.

Also, yesterday "Beyond Earth" from Firaxis Games came out. I am an avid fan of Alpha Centauri (not so much of the more generic Civilisation series), and will play around a bit with this "almost-successor" this weekend. However, I suspect that this game will not be able to rival at the mood and depth which 1999´s Alpha Centauri has to offer. I still have it on my hard drive and all it would need was some polish and graphical update. But I am curious, maybe write a little entry here about my impressions.

Short bug hunt

Fullerton City, NLTT4952. Cash: 1,4 million Credits. I gather from the comm chatter (ED forum) that the highest upgrades in this beta are grade D outfits. In that case, my Lakon Type 6 freighter seems to be already not too badly equipped: E4 Frameshift drive, D4 Thruster, H3 Shields, H2 Life support, D3 Power plant, H1 Scanner. Class 4 is the highest class my ship type has access to.

Upwards, onwards, I say! I want to have enough cash for the next beta client in order to get right into the ship I want, with some good upgrades, in order to do what I want. Which is, as usual, a little bit of everything. I think the Jack-Of-All-Trades really is my archetype.

For this session I resolve to do only big transport missions. A first jump to Locke´s Claim, LHS64, goes without incidents. I have one >60k Credit transport mission aboard, plus Uranite and Indite which I know of are sometimes part of fetch missions at Fishers Platform, also in LHS64. Which is now my next stop. I was jubilating too early; the exit from supercruise on my way there hangs the client.

Also, I wonder why I haven´t seen other players now for quite a while; could this be linked to networking errors, too, or is this pocket of the galaxy indeed devoid of players?

Which prompts me to a change of plans. I received a message in my tickets:

"Please access your AppConfig.xml which can be found in your game directory and open this in Notepad. You'll see a block near the bottom named "Network". Please insert the following lines somewhere in that block -

ReportSentLetters="1"
ReportReceivedLetters="1"
VerboseLogging="1"
This will produce a more detailed NetLog for us. If you could, please save your AppConfig file with these lines and then load the game again. After you close the game the NetLog can be found in your game directory with the date and time of your play session in the title. Attach this log to this ticket and let us know when you have done so.
Thank you very much for your cooperation and patience.
Cheers
Laurie"

And, actually, a second message concerning my very early ticket on faulty bounties; I should try to re-encounter that bug and make a video of it.

Which means, I have to 1. try a few more travels and send any logs gained after hangs 2. sell my Lakon 6 for a combat ship and go bounty hunting. Willdo.

My next try to enter supercruise is perfect. For a ticket. First, the relog fails on the first attempt, as usual. Second, entering supercruise already hangs the client. But, there is a problem, closing the client via the Windows task manager yields no log entry. At least I cannot find any "NetLog" file. In the meanwhile, I of course lost the transport mission. Sigh. I relog (as usual only the second log in to "open play" after a hang succeeds) and make my way to Fisher Platform. Damn. I do not make it that far, the client hangs on supercruise exit again. I am lucky in terms of bug hunting; as I close the client via the task manager, this time, the crash report program sends a report.

Hm. Perhaps Laurie meant to just close the game normally so they can get better network settings? Well, this is all I can offer, anyways.

Strange. Still no file called "NetLog". Going through the game files, however, I find a "client.log", and it shows some data linked to today´s date. I hope this is it, so I attach this one to the ticket. Whoops, after some time I look again and suddenly I find a NetLog.log. Am I blind? I could have sworn it was not there before. After some clicking through paths, it becomes clear: There are multiple EDlauncher subfiles; the current correct path is "C:\Spiele\EDLaunch\EDLaunch\Products\FORC-FDEV-D-1002\Logs", I must have screwed up the install at some point. Probably, a new clean install would be helpful on the next occasion.

I relog into the game and manage to do a flawless flight from Locke´s Claim to Fisher Platform and back. Wow. I will send this Netlog.log, too, for a comparision between a faulty and a good run.

At Fisher Platform, I was able to sell all the Indite which I brought from Fuller Station and most of the Uranite; I sell the rest on the commodity market for a profit of 100 Credits/unit. And I got a new >50k Credit transport mission back on my way to Locke´s Claim.

This is all I can do tonight; I had only a brief time window for an Elite game session. Despite crashes and some hopefully constructive bug hunting, I managed to raise my cash a little bit up to 1,5 million Credits.

Back in business

Cernan City, Taurawa. There is a high population refinery system close by, BD+64 1452, and this high tech system here has a high demand of almost every metal. I smell a trade route. Cashing in money makes sense again, as I read today in the ED forum that the next wipe will be only partial and your money will be carried over. Good!

Both outposts in that system are a bit away; 3300 ls for Khayyam Outpost, which has the commodity market over there. Hmmm, yes, but every metal there is in low supply, the price being in the range of 100 Credits to the galactic average. Which means, overall no good profit margins.

Change of plans, studying again the galaxy map. Whoa. There is a slider which lets me fade out certain population sizes! I crank it 3/4 up and see only billion-populations worlds. I count just about a dozen of them in the whole beta2-pill. Would a trade route between those finally make sense?

HR7925: Agricultural, but oddly, the system map does not show a station.
Ross 210: Industrial.
Apishim: Agricultural.
Exbeur: Extraction; now, that is rare, with 930 mio population.
Most other high pop worlds are green, i.e. agriculture. Makes sense, many people where much food is to be had.

Ross210 is close to the system which made me so far my best profit runs: LHS64. So I decide to go back there.I jet a while between LSH64´s two outposts and Fullerton City in NLTT49528 (ai, almost forgot the latter is 6800 ls out there). A lot of Bertrantide fetch missions, I wonder where I could source this. Fullertin City does not have it, for starters. But there are so many missions, which are simpler and faster to do.

Well, fast, if I wouldn´t have hang ups or crashes. So far it went smoothly, but an exit from Fisher Platform to Locke´s Claim hangs the client. I have had enough the last days, so I relog to solo mode. This works flawlessly, and I finally have a peaceful game session ahead of me.

On one of my runs, I miss another >50k haul by just one cargo unit too less cargo hold. Unfortunately, when docked, you cannot jettison cargo, or I would have made room.

After a while, my cash jumped up to 2,8  mio Credits, and all that money itches. So, I buy it off with a better power plant, 3D, which brings my Lakon6 up from 9.000 to 12.000 power, and a 4D thuster, with overall 620 tons thrust. Down to 500k Credits again. My Lakon6 must be worth quite a bit by now!

What the increased thrusters serve at, is not very clear. Maybe turning rate? This is probably why I can fly better and better landing stunts and circle much closer in supercruise. My boost speed is now 370 m/s, and I believe I started with the barebone Lakon6 with a boost speed at around 320 m/s. Also, the increase power plant seems to accelerate the recharge of the capacitors. I can boost now almost nonstop.

At one point my grinding is delayed by a prolongued "request denied" incident at Fisher Platform. Many missions to Fullerton City are running out, since I collected them via several visits to both outposts here in LHS64. In my haste, I also abort a mission instead of repeating the docking request.

But all in all, the mission farming at this location earns me money at superiour speed, compared to all other locations I have visited and tried so far. Looking up the Asp´s price in Fullerton City, I am only 2,8 mio credits away. However, with all the upgrades, the Lakon6 has become much more fun to fly than I ever thought. Maybe I just continue and do the Han Solo and pimp my unseeming freighter to unexpected levels.

After a while, my cash is back at 1,4 mio Credits, and the evening over. It was a nice game session, no crashes and hang ups really made me relax again. Feeling a bit like letting down Frontier, since they probably still need feedback on the "open play" network issues; but, sorry, I needed a kind of holiday from all those crashes!

Disconnect staccato

Engle Station, Aurea. I never really looked at the display options in the galaxy map. There are two filters possible, one by colour and one by size of dot. If I had looked into this earlier, I might have had it easier in looking for places. I switch the colour option to represent the system´s type; the size option for population. Much more clear now. Makes me realize that my current system is a not too badly staffed refinery system. Oops, disconnect, just like this, from the galaxy map. This is new. Ticket.

Like a moth to the flame I am drawn to accept a 61k Credit cargo mission to Boas´ Claim, Evergreen. The bulleting board then suddenly loads for about a minute and then I am disconnected from server. I relog and find that the mission is in my log anyways. Another cargo mission to the same location for 52k has appeared. Same game again, disconnected. Sigh, this game shifts its behaviour all the time!

Wow, a third mission! Accepted! And it seems to go smoothly now. 180k Credits incoming, and some more small missions still! Shit, disconnect after launch. Relog. Enter supercruise. Crash, with report. Sigh. This session won´t last long if this stuff continues. Could not connect to server, second login. Damn, galaxy map as background, no way this will work. Sigh. 21 minutes for the three transport missions, I am so screwed. Relog. Yay, hyperjump gets through this time! And still 11 minutes left on the shortest timer! Make way to Boas´ Claim, 1800 ls, in all haste. My account jolts upwards from 2,02 mio to 2,16 mio Credits. Time to go shopping!

Taurawa is a high tech sytem with about 6 mio population. Opps, galaxy map disconnects me from game. Relog. I load the minimal supply (<10 tons are available each) of Gallium, Indium and Beryllium and hope that the high tech world will have according demand. After some moments, again disconnect. Relog. Launch. Disconnect. Relog. Hyperjump works!

I notice my voice macros do not work well, have to do most stuff manually. As I try to request docking at Cernan City, an Ocellus type station, a second time after a timeout, I get disconnected again. Relog. Request landing manually. Enter, approach docking pad. Disconnect. First relog failed, then relog. Finally, I get through to the landing pad. Accessing the commodity market makes the game disconnect again. Awww, come on, what is this? First relog failed, then relog.

Great. All metals are in high demand, 400/660/900 Credit profit per unit. A pity that supply is so low. First try to sell, disconnect. Second try to sell works, but immediate disconnect again.Then I check outfitting, but there is nothing interesting. Disconnect again.

Ticket, with a link to this blog entry. Good night, client.

Columbus hopping

Vogel Port, Andjeri. Nothing to see here, move on. A brief scouting in the galaxy map, I do not want to spend hours there again, just cursory travels until I have a better idea. Loga is 18 ly away, a high population refinery system with 7,4 mio population. I recognize it from my research during last session. Launch!

There are three stations in Loga. Newcomen´s Claim, well the name is an invitation, so I dock there. Interesting, the station is close to a double-planet configuration, one I saw already in another system and thought it special. Apparently not. Elite teaches a little bit of astronomy, too, it seems!


Having docked, I immediately press launch, because that crappy menu choses to place my cursor on that option instead of the station menu. Grrrr....

Three minutes later, Newcomen´s Claim let´s me dock again. The bulletin board has some missions, and finally, bingo, there is a "fetch stolen goods" mission and a hauling mission which has matching commodity of fruits! There, dear Order of Loga, here we go. What happens now? Nothing? Uhm... I notice no change... I notice that the outpost has a black market. And that I have somehow 34 stolen copper in my hold. Did I forget to turn in a >50k Credit hauling mission at the end of last session? Seems so. Oh my!

There are overall 12 hauling missions to Adepti, 5ly away. Ok just to have something to do I accept them. Aaand, after a quick check back with the galaxy map, Adepti is that 1,5 billion population agricultural system. My research last session was not fully in vain, I feel a bit more aquainted with my environment. Should be able to make some profit there? But first, I once more have to battle versus an endless hyperjump. At least the client manages to squeeze off a crash report. Aand repeat, crash again. Hey, it´s my job! Bit of confusion on my next relog; I am already in the target system. Lysenko Ring is 1200 ls close. Good, some time saved.

Lysenko Ring is orbiting a gas giant. I spot several whirlwind-spots in its atmosphere and suppose this is the simulator Frontier spoke of in one of its newsletters; apparently, there is a procedural generation which makes every gas giant unique and models it close to what reality should be. Well, I noted that it looks as a bit more substance than just a generic skin.

The station is one of those with a luxurious white-orange interior and palm trees; hallmark of a rich world. Good. Let´s see what they offer! Hrrm, no 64 ton cargo racks, already. But there is a class D4 frameshift drive, which would again propel my ship´s optimal mass range from 438 tons to 525 tons. Whew, 1,6 mio Credits, should I afford it? What do I need it for? Hey, and there is one of those seemingly rare advanced discovery scanners! The commodity supply is sup-par; only algae and fish in supply, what is this? But almost everywhere high demand. Could I make a trade route with this?

High value goods are: terrain enrichment systems (5500 Credits), indium (6500 Credits), beryllium (8500 Credits), gold (10200 Credits), consumer tech (7500 Credits). Coupled with a high range jumpdrive, I should be able to link this to some according high supply worlds? If I would have taken notes of all worlds´ commodities, but that was too tedious, together with this blog I would probably write 80% of my time instead of play... Welllll, some systems I indeed took note from. Dharai, for example. And they had terrain enhancement systems in high supply. I wonder if they still have. Worth a try, I believe.

First, I buy the advanced scanner, because I am curious of the improvement to be expected. Damn, that leaves me only 230k Credits for trading... and the frameshift drive is out of reach now... maybe better not? I reverse my decision, thankfully the outfitting screen also sports a basic scanner!

First I want to try to find Indium in Loga, if that does not work, I try out Dharai with the terrain enh. systems; consumer tech would also be a choice. In Loga, I decide again for Newcomen´s Claim, because I forgot that they do not have a commodity market. So I pick some hauls to Wegener Station and make way there. Wegener Station is directly behind the orbited planet, so I have to circumvent at low speed and take some time to reach the 110 ls-far station.

Yeah, well, as I check the commodity market there, I realize Loga is actually an extraction and industry system, not a refinery system. So no indium in supply, which is a metal produced by refinery systems. I never get it, always confusing those minerals with metals, do I?

Ok, I could search now for a refinery system, but I do not want to deviate from my plan, as tiny as the plan is. So onwards to Dharai! I chose to go via 59 Draconis, an empty system, and hope it is not a too high risk of interceptions. Ok, I get through without problems. Did HE Vision or Gelfand Survey have that commodity market? Ah, the system map shows the station type. Ok it is the latter, change course.

Arriving and doing a crash docking maneuver (those lateral thrusters seem to be without the ineratia of the throttled vectors), I am very curious about the commodity market. No consumer tech in supply, so this is probably an industrial product. Terrain systems are only on medium supply, what a pity. Still, about 700 Credits of profit is still possible. I also note a high demand for agri-medicines here. Maybe I can do a round tour like this. I fill up terrain enhancement systems and fly back to Adepti.

Thing is, about 500 Credits profit times 100 tons is 50k Credits, which is a bit more than one hauling mission (and if I am lucky, I can even stack them). So, if trading a full 100 ton cargo hold of commodities should be better than just dumb mission board farming, I need higher profit than this. Missions are one jump only, this trade route here would be 2 jumps. As it turns out, agri medicines are in medium demand in lysenko Ring, so, scratch the idea of a round trip trading route. Ack, it is tedious and annyoing! Where is something like Slopey´s trading tool? Back to missions, then? Naah, I cannot bear this brainlessness anymore.

Fu Haiting, it is then. Some 10 ly away and a refinery systems with some 56 mio population. If no worthwhile trades available there, I go on to Jurua, an industry system and see if I can find some good priced consumer tech. On my way there, hyperjump is endless once more.

I tip for the right station with the commodity market, Melvill Station. Damn, low supply only, which would mean, two trade routes to dry it up and only a meager profit of 200 Credits per unit. No chance.

Onwards to Jurua, then. last try, then I change play style, this attempt at trading is a bit too less productive so far. Wow, I am rewarded with a rare sight. A very much rare purple star, almost invisibly dark. I have to drop from supercruise and take time to study this. A large brown dwarf, says the description, merely a bit more than a super large gas giant. This trip was already worth it.

There are four stations in this system. I wonder what purpose do serve those many stations for gameplay. Only one has the commodity market, and in-system mission farming seems to be ineffective. Strekalov Settlement has food cartridges and basic medecines and cobalt in supply. Sigh. I simply cannot make something of trading like this. And the bulletin board is empty. I sell all exploration data; four or five systems have accumulated, but it is only smallish sums, all in all 800 Credits; there are about 20 new data to buy. I wonder if Frontier will still make data more attractive beyond knowing planet numbers and names.

For once, I want to see all stations in a system; maybe I find something out. So onwards to Musgrave City. Bulletin board empty. Onwards to Rutherford Terminal; nothing there. Cenker Depot; nothing there. Last one, Glashow Landing; nothing I suppose, and I am right, except for I remember to check for a black market and here is one. Space is big and boring sometimes, I guess.

Checking the galaxy map, I note that I have indeed crossed the galactic pill´s broadside, and almost all of its length. There is not much left at the end sides, and I am bored just to fly to find out exactly this. It also seems that the side where I came from is a bit more lucrative in terms of missions, at least.

Titicate should have, according to a post in the ED forum, class A equipment. I want to see. I do not have enough money but maybe one A class equipment as a souvenir? Plotting a course is difficult, since the system is still far away. On to LP 29-188 and then to Hsini, BD+67 1409. Oh, a white star, for a change, nice! Tsetan. Iota Cephai is near that system. That rings a bell. I was once in a system called Eta Cephei, but is is far away from here. A search in the ED forum tells me then that this system presumable has one of the largest stars. Worth a sight, I believe. Hyperjump is endless, for once again. But at least those happenstances seem to become rarer and rarer.

Yep. Huge and orange it is. You can guess sizes by the distance their masslock-orbital line has. This one is very close to the star, so it is a big star. Although I already have seen more interesting colours. Onwards, upwards! Titikate is on the nav list. My fuel tank is huge with its 16 tons; I haven´t even scratched the 75% mark.

Well, Titicate, at least Griffin Ring, has no special outfits. Maybe the other stations? Special here is only that I see, for the first time, a high supply of reactive armore and non-lethal weapons. And they have consumer tech. I fill my cargo hold 30/30/40. Those three items are frequently asked for in missions. At least some profit to bring back from the edge of the galactic pill! I also check in Pelt Terminal and Petaja Platform. Nothing. Hm, probably a joke in the ED forum, then.

Back to more civilized worlds. Killke, Macomaleleng Mu, Pemede, where I take a stop at Goeppert-Mayer-Gateway. I can sell my cargo here for overall 40k Credits profit. Nothing new to state that those >50k hauling missions are more efficient in terms of money making.


With my next jump, I am back in already known space. Auea, with Evergreen and Ao Shun close by. I start a mission routine to Evergreen, but wonder if I could find more efficient employements. An endless hyperspace later, both stations in Evergreen are about 1800ls away. I also re-encounter the docking bug, where you have to land the other way around. And then back to Aurea. Endless hyperjump again. And that weird blue circle after relog. I thought that problem was gone already, after a long session without too many crashes. Are certain areas of space more prone to crashes? I try a tutorial mission again in order to reset this crappy client. No use, third endless hyperspace. And a fourth time. And a fifth time, everytime with that blue circle floating in space, a sure sign that something is very wrong. Trying a solo play; no, also a blue circle of crash. Grrrrr.... It is until I play and finish the first wave of the tutorial mission "incursion" until I can finally come back into open play. Hastily I drop off my missions, but two have expired and I think in time of jettisoning the now stolen cargo while approaching Boas´ Claim in supercruise.

It is time to end this marathon game session. After trying for two full game sessions, I failed to make something out of commodity trading. At least I can say that I now have crossed known space on its full length and I am quite a bit more aquainted with some of those 500 stars.

Wrestling with the galaxy map

Nicollier City, Ao Shun. First thing I do, as usual, is to check the outfitting supply. Bingo. There is a
Class 4E frameshift drive, which propels my Lakon Type 6 transporter from a 380t (4F) to 435t optimal mass range. The jump range shown in light years is bugged, so the range show as 17 ly probably not accurate. I launch and exit to the main menu in order to pass by the mass lock bug. Relogging, I get an endless spinning ship. But I can close the window from desktop without task manager. Relog. Range: 25ly. That´s great!

Studying the galaxy map, I have troubles to recognize even where I came from. I am somewhere in the lower middle part of "the beta2 pill". I spot Dharai, an independent high tech system,  18 ly out. I am curious what I would find there. Hiowever, I am still undecided of what to do or to achieve in those last few days of beta2.

Maybe a Viper with good scanner in order to prepare for mining? Or Sidewinder even? But then... 4,7 m Credits missing for an Asp, and no real advantages of other ships besides combat. After a long and fruitless pondering, I lift off.

Gelfand Survey, Dharai. The bulletin board is empty? But lots of commodities in high supply! Agri medicines, animal monitors... should I check for the nearest agri system? Pareco is one jump only away. But the galaxy map´s lines eluded me, because as I fill up 100 tons of agri medicines, the range fully loaden is then only 16 ly. Which requires me a 2-jump, via STKM1-1676. Damn, an endless hyperspace again, black screen. But there seems to be a tiny improvement; no "server not connected" message on first relog!

Arriving after this interlude, I see Robinson Port is 12.000 ls out, which is not good for a time efficient trading route. Then I realize: 2 jumps! This is still STKM1-1676. Hmpf, I am again unconcentrated. Finally arriving in Pareco, interesting enough, the station there is called Nicollier Exchange, very similar to Ao Shun´s Nicollier City. I wonder what is the reason behind?  At least, here is a black market. I sell my 100 agri medicines for a profit of 33k Credits. Missions are better, I guess. The bulletin board is empty, too.

Now, what to do, what to do? Really difficult. Looking for high pop systems for good commodity trading; there is a cluster of systems with an agri, extr plus 2 refinery, but I quit the galaxy map and loose their position. Searching again; maybe crossing the pill, as I am currently very much at the border? Jumping via LP 45-128 and Perendi? There is H Draconis... mom... this one I recognize from the old beta1 bubble! So I would actually travel back to "old space", whereas I wanted to go towards new worlds! Orientation is really difficult. This example shows me: Probably it is the best to get familiar with a specific corner and then slowly expand?

Another hour of pondering what to do, where to do. An assumption: Rich trade opportunities come from rich worlds. Rich worlds are those with high populations. So, I look for worlds with high populations, which have matching trade partners, preferably also of high population, close by, e.g. agri-industry-high tech, etc. After quite some time wrestling with the galaxy map view, one crash there, I have identified about five clusters which could fit. I then decide to try to "cross the pill" to get to Mistana.

For my possible later reference, the clusters I looked through are as follows:

Mistral (agri, 439mio pop), LTT16972 (ind, 1,2bio pop), HIP2422 (ref, 0,212mio pop), LHS3631 (high tech, 12mio pop).

NLTT53889 (hightech, 12m pop), Pisamante (ind, 8,9mio pop), Gora (agri, 414mio pop), LTT16523 (ref, 0,46mio pop)

Apishim (agri, 1,1bio pop), Coquencitis (ind, 30mio pop), ... Tapipinouphinien (WTF crazy names, ref, 0,15mio pop), Jurua (ind, 56mio pop).

Adept (agri, 1,5bio pop), Lora (extr, 7,4mio pop), Chapoyo (agri, 458mio pop).

The route goes again via Evergreen, Pemede, LHS3631. Let´s see if I can make sense of some trade routes there!

Mhm, Merle Dock, the only station in LHS3631, is 1400 ls away. Not good already. I dock and take note in my usual routine. All ships are available at the ship yard. No 64 ton cargo racks in the outfitting screen. Overall, very disappointing for a 12million population system; only 4 commodities in low supply. But all metals on high demand, except for copper and titanium. So, let´s find a refinery system? Andjeri is only 5ly and there are missions for it, too.

Argh, crash to black screen on my hyperjump there, I almost had forgotten about that crap. Relog, crash again. Hmmm... could it have to do with the missions or cargo I am carrying? I had three empty jumps without a problem! Oh, next one is blurry and I have the galaxy as background, inclusive the blue location pointer. Not a good sign. Aaaand, crash.

Since it is late, I should stop here now. But I do not want to loose the missions, so I relog one last time for solo play. Damn, again the galaxy as background, not good. Hyperjump crashes again, as expected. Relog, doing a tutorial mission, and after that at least the background is reset to normal. Hyperjump works, too!

Avogadro Station is very close to the sun, and my d-scan detects overall six objects in range. Finally at Avogadro Station, the supply of minerals is low, low, low. I buy one gold, the rest is not worth it. Launching, I notice another sun, and again a small sun, which both seem to be also in close orbit of the main star. Another interesting system this is. After some scouting in supercruise, the second sun is not so close as it appeared, but it is indeed another sun with a close orbiting brown dwarf. Since I saw this already in at least one other system, it seems that constellations like this are not so uncommon, after all.

Vogel Port is another disappointment. No commodity market, no missions on the bulletin board. But some new data to buy from the cartographers. I always buy all data just to have better access to information. There is still enough out there to explore, anyways. Although I wonder, what value is that data actually for me? Just to know some planet names seems a bit too little. If it was also about the composition of planets and asteroid belts, it would be helpful for mining, at least. Therefore, I am curious how they will further develop the exploration system from its current beta stage.

It is late, so I pull a stop here. Overall, all my planning and musing probably just helped me learn a bit how to orientate myself in the galaxy map. The cluster I chose to explore so far was rather unexciting, though. Maybe this beta2 is really just made to fly brainlessly around and discover stuff by random? All my planning did not bring me really far, so far...

Nomad missioner

Checking where I am: NLTT49528, Fuller Station. The outfitting screen shows no attractive equipment. I could get into a Viper and get a refund of 1,4 million Credits. Hm. But here is nothing to do with a Viper. The bulletin board offers a hauling mission for >50k Credits Locke´s Claim. Since those missions are very short timed (12 minutes), I take it and launch quickly.

Yeah, the open play hyperjump works immediately in this session! Frontier is probably constantly working on the netcode while we are playing the game.

Arriving at Locke´s Claim, I have to wait for two NPC ships to land and start. I take my time to inspect the outpost, something which I have not done yet, blinded by the "have to make money"/"have to level up" sickness, which I brought with me from so many other computer games. It is interesting to see the NPC traffic, a Sidewinder which approaches, lands, rests on the landing pad for a while and then takes off again. So, the game seems to really simulate NPC pilots, instead of, say, just providing for random ships as background fillers.

Then, finally, my docking request is accepted. But my landing and touch down does not engage the station menu. Then I notice that the landing pad UI is turned around; this must be a bug. I try to land with my nose pointed away from the usual position, the tower. Yes, that did it; facing the direction you usually have when taking off, and the magnetic clamps finally captures me in. The bug seems to be without consequences.

Delivering to the bulletin board, there immediately are two more >50k-Credit-hauling missions, back to Fisher Platform in the same system. A third one pops up after the 5-minute-refresh, but I have to realize that my cargo hold is already stuffed, only 17 cargo left... damn. I need those 64-ton cargo racks!

As my ship attempts to exit supercruise at Fisher Station, I get an infinite loop. I can kill the client via the task manager instead of killing the process, so even a crash report is sent, good! I hope this helps to find the bug. Relogging is as usual, with the first try to enter open play barred by an error message.

Once back, unfortunately, both >50k-Credit hauling missions have timed out. And, consequently, I have 80 tons of stolen cargo in my hold; 50 Uraninite, 30 Lithium. A fitting "fetch stolen goods" mission would be cool now, but I am not that lucky. In terms of money grind, I should now jettison that stuff on my next supercruise and continue to farm those lucrative hauling missions. However, I want some change, so my goal is now to finally locate a black market around these star systems here.

An empty hyperjump to Jieguaje (tourist system) is rather blurry, but it works out. On my supercruise approach, I am contacted by CMDR Ruegi, German, who wants to know if working up to a Lakon Type 6 was difficult.Well, stack missions and find corresponding stations which are close to each other. And read my blog. :)

There is no black market at Feustel Station, though. I check the commodity market, but without gathering data from a whole cluster of systems, it does not make sense to start this kind of a blindfolded trading. Besides, my cargo hold ist still stuffed with illegal goods, 80/100.

Next try to find a black market, i engage hyperjump to Aurea (refinery system). Artsebarsky Port is close to the star, but no black market to find there. I notice a lots of ships around this outpost, but thankfully I am not scanned by a security vessel. The second outpost in this system, Engle Installation, finally is a hit. Bingo! Uraninite sells 515 (avg 1023), Lithium 659 (1744) so an overall yield of ~44k Credits. See, this was so totally not worth the time investment, comparted to simple mission farming. But I am sure that Frontier will still tweak and balance gameplay accordingly.

So, what now? I have got again a free cargo hold of 100 tons. As already stated, commodity trading requires a too tedious research. So I grab again a hauling mission worth >50k Credits, and a bundle of smaller ones, to Evergreen.

Hyperjump exit results again in a black menu screen. The usual pattern. The next try I enter supercruise before I want to engange hypercruise, and this results in an endless loop. Next relog and try to engage hyperjump works (in the meanwhile I tense up everytime I enter hyperspace, in expectation of a crash). Finally arriving in Evergreen, I notice a nice little anomaly. A little apart from the star where I arrive, there is another yellow star, orbited by a pinkish small star (or planet). Two stations are around there. Boa´s Claim is 1.800 ls out, and Trinh Depot 1400 ls. Mh, this is still ok in terms of supercruise travel time, but any farther distance would have to be considered as tedious, at least until in-system hyoperjumps are implemented in the game.

I first do a very speedy dock at Boa´s Claim and drop off the majority of my hauling missions there. Despite the crashes on my way here, I manage to fulfill every mission, even though one showed only 1 minute left when I came out of supercruise. From there, I grab another two >50k Credits-hauling missions to Trinh Depot, and waiting for a refresh of the bulletin board yields even one more. On my way there, I slow down to identify the pink stellar object in orbit of the yellow sun with the surface scanner by simply targeting it at under 100 ls. It indeed turns out to be a star, namely a brown dwarf. It also could have been one of those very hot gas giants.

From Trinh Depot, I take some hauls worth together roughly 100k Credits back to Aurea, Artebarsky Port. I launch rather quickly in order to have enough time in case of more crashes of the client. And indeed, a crash on exiting hyperjump, crash report sent. Next try. A blurry, endless hyperspace. Next try, works. Heff. It starts to be annyoing; these crashes to totally put me out of "the mood", by just focusing my perception on whether and when I actually will make it through.

Next stop: Back to Evergreen, Boa´s Claim, with roughly 60k Credits worth of hauling missions. I tentatively also accept one "fetch stolen goods" mission for 5t fish, on a 31minutes-timer. Maybe I am lucky and get an according hauling mission which I could abort? Well, no. Instead, crash on hyperjump. Hope the crash reports help. Next try; success.

On my supercruise to Boa´s Claim  I locate another unknown objects in that double-sun orbit; it turns out to also be a more unusal setup of two small planets orbiting each other. Arriving at the outpost, I am again docking very speedy because of one mission expiring in 1 minute, and I make it again. Yay! My cash account is now at 2 million Credits.

Time to switch my environment. I travel a bit further, to Ao Shun (industrial system), no cargo or missions aboard. Nicollier City is an Ocellus-type station. It has all ships for sale, nice. And a lot of gold missions on the bulletin board, to take note in case I find a good supply somewhere close.

So, what to do now? Just missioning around is a bit boring without a goal behind. Grinding cash seems moot because of the wipe in two weeks already. No Asp for me this time, I guess. Combat missions were not seen outside the Eranin-neighbourhood, but going back there seems boring too. It seems the best to do right now is to just continue a bit of sightseeing and to leasurly take some missions now and then. However, the scanning/exploration stuff is just too boring; I am fine with locating stuff visually and maybe get some info on particular intersting objects now and then. A systematic scan of every stellar object would be "work", and this is a game.

Maybe on my travels I will stumble upon even better chances to make profit? But at least will be able to say that I travelled through the beta2 pill. There is a nice thread in the ED forum where people can point out interesting points of view. Maybe I can find something to add there. But for tonight, this is the time to end my game session.