Flieger, grüß' mir die Sonne, grüß' mir die Sterne und grüß' mir den Mond. Dein Leben, das ist ein Schweben, durch die Ferne, die keiner bewohnt! - Hans Albers, F.P.1 antwortet nicht (Adaptation in the 80s: Extrabreit)

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Baubles, shiny baubles

Going the all-shooter way seems such a waste, there is so much out there to discover. At least once, I want to traverse the "galactic pill", so I plot course on the lower part of it. Onwards, sideways!

COL 285 Sector MZ-D B 13-2. A long name for a system with only one star. But this one is strawberry milkshake coloured.


COL 285 sector WF-N C7-30. Another strawberry star, no, two of them. This colour seems to stand for stars which are still very young, "Tauri-class" stars. Both have asteroid rings only, one is metal-rich. A pity I do not have the mining equipment with me anymore.




 - suddenly yearning for strawberry icecream









COL 285 Sector WF-N C7-26: Three yellow stars, so I can finally fill up by dangerously empty fuel tank. My D-scan reveils 20 objects. Some planets have metal rich rings. Lots of moons, a chore to scan each of them, as you have to fly very close to do so.

COL 285 sector JS-T D3-91: A larger white-yellow star. 12 objects are reveiled via D-scan. System map shows the planets as with clouds. Maybe earthlike and worth more money? I need to scan them to find out. BINGO! D3-91 3 is an earth like world! I am curious how much value is going to be behind this discovery! According to all I have read, this system should be a jackpot, because all other planets so far also read as "mineral rich". Earth-like, metal rich, what more do you want from a system?


Although no game mechanic exists to support this behaviour, like starship Enterprise I go into close orbit and imagine I could beam down and set foot upon this far away world. Sigh.

Bingo again: Number 6 is earth like. Wohooo! it was very small, so I had to approach very close and almost skipped it due to this. A small earth like planet. As I get into orbit, the surface glitches a bit, but then I think I can see a lush and green surface, I imagine forests and lakes. Amazing and very, very beatiful. I stop here and fetch a coffee, having to celebrate this lucky find a bit. This system should really be worth a fortune, so far out, almost at the end of the galactic pill.



- definitely Earth-like











I would make my home here, if the game supported things like your own outposts and planetside installations. This is what fascinated me about EVE online. I really hope that one day, Frontier can bring this kind of furniture into the game!

It is almost a pity that this system will be also reshuffled in the next beta client, probably having then a total different setup. But I should check, than back anyways; you never know.

The occasional random Sidewinder ship appears on my supercruise-radar and I am tempted to inderdict and shoot them down ... this system is MINE, my preciousss...

The last one, number 9, has a ring and I even spot a Sidewinder headed there. A secret pirate station? Of course not, the game is not that refined yet. But for sure an extraction side. Maybe a bit of bounty hunting? Well, misestimated. It is an ice ring, and that sidewinder just seemed to have behaved erratic. I spot its hypejump wake very close to the planet. Either I got dropped into normspace or jumped away from here. I do not think that there is any secret behind it, just some irrational NPC scripting. What a pity...





- NPC ships sometimes choose weird places for their travels






 
I am almost at the end of the traversable area, the "galactic pill". COL 285 sector RZ-0 C6-20: A intensive orange star greets me. God, I could make screenshots of every star, they are so gorgeous, each of them! And, my D-scan unveils 41 freaking objects! Mainly some really huge gas giants with a lot of moons. There are chances that moons can be earth like, I think, but the large number of required scans puts me off. I already have had my big stroke of luck, so I leave the system as is.



- this one is not Earth-like but nevertheless looks very nice; I am in a huge game of baubles!







The galaxy map shows a very deep red star close by. COL 285 sectorRZ-0 C6-8. Engage! Nope, not deep read, just two strawberry stars. Just ahead, one of the farthest out systems, shining violet in the galaxy map. However, as I arrive in COL 285 sectorJS-T D3-35, it is just four stars around the big white main star, and one planet. Not much to be gained here, but I am out here, so far away.
 


 - more baubles











One more system, I am hooked. COL 285 sector JS-T D3-92. D-scan, then a look into the system map: One planet has an earth like appearance, so probably worth investigating. But this time, I am not as lucky. Just another metal rich world.


Mission accomplished. Now it just remains to go back into civilised areas and sell the data. I was sure I read somewhere that Frontier did not yet implement the feature where you can sell the data multiple times, to different factions. Let´s see. I check the galaxy map for systems with a colour code for a faction. The first, an independent system, is 80 ly away.

Careful now, need to keep an eye on my fuel tank, to not get stuck in a system with only non- scoopable white, strawberry or whatever star! Plotting the course back seems to be more difficult now. Some far gaps are there which I somehow had not noticed on my way in. But there is no way that I would take the same route back!

I am finally close to Igororay, a small independent extraction system. I wonder now, is my data worth less in a poor system and should I rather look for a rich system first? Better be cautious. Aurandvill is two jumps away, Federal, and I spot a trade stream going from it. No system data, though.

HIP 113517 is on the way. Wow, what a nice big white-yellow star! 9 Objects. Some of them look bluesih i.e. earthlike. I have to check them. Nope, high metal planets only. Oh well.



- it seems every star with a tint of yellow or orange in it is suitable for fuel scooping






 

Aurandvill reveals one outpost after my D-scan, Creighton Station, about 3.000 ls out there. At last, after long travels, back in civilisation! I affect some repairs and call Universal Cartographics. And, yes, some profits at last.

My "jackpot" system yields 323.593 CR. A bunch of other systems at least 17.000 CR. This is still not the amount a good trade route can bring, but at least some recognition of my effort. But I do not cash the stuff in. This beta has near endet. Better see if and how that price still degrades. I wonder how much the data was worth initially, at the start of this beta?

For this game session has ended, and it was a nice little travel. Without that jackpot find, though, I admit it would have been not so thourougly satisfying. A little bit of a reward per game mechanics seems to be necessary for me.


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