Elite Dangerous - Distant Worlds 2

[Logan Darklighter]

So - what's been taking up a lot of my time for the last 6 months - and why I'm leveling rather slowly on the new server? 


Well - recently I've had some health issues. Mostly a stomach flu followed by a one-off day of unrelated food poisoning about a week later. Ugh. 

But MOSTLY it's been that I've been part of a fleet of 10,000+ Commanders in Elite Dangerous. Participating in mining for materials to set up a Starport at the heart of the Galaxy. Being part of the Hull Seals sub-group that helps repair CMDRs who have banged up their ships. And exploring and cataloging new Points of Interest along the way. 

On that last note - I've had two Stellar points of interest approved and added to the map at EDSM. 

One was named "Born to the Purple" which is a reference to an episode of Babylon 5. But also quite descriptive of the system as a whole. It has a B-Class Star that radiates light on the Violet to Ultraviolet end of the spectrum and - along with some purple colored protostars that help reinforce the color - tinges the entire system in a striking purple light. The Gas Giant is particularly gorgeous. 




(That is of course, my ship. The Azhanti High Lightning, configured for long range exploration as well as carrying supplies and drones for repair and even re-fueling of other ships in distress. Though I'm not officially part of the Fuel Rats group.) 

The other approved addition to the Galactic Map is "The Gates of Tartarus" 



And they used my flavor text verbatim: 
The Gates of Tartarus - Two Neutron Stars - Stellar remnants - frame an S-Type Giant - a star in it's dying stage of life. Two spirits call to their brother to pass the threshold and join them in the land of the dead. Beyond lies the Phoenix nebula - the symbol of rebirth.

I'm on the last leg of the outbound journey headed for Beagle Point. One of the farthest systems possible to reach and 64,000+ Light years from Sol on the far side of the Galactic Center. 

It's been a hell of a trip. And it'll be a long LONG way back.

[Wiregeek]

I'm in awe at the size of the thing.

Katamari Damacy references aside, E has always impressed the hell out of me. It's just a seething hive of humanity and purpose spread on the scope of a galaxy... Y'all are why LitRPG is becoming a thing.

I'll be joining you someday.

[Logan Darklighter]

BTW - you can always tell a true explorer by the wear and tear on his paint job. By the time I get back to a port to get the paint re-done, I'm gonna be practically down to the bare thermocoating! 

[Logan Darklighter]

I'm in awe at the size of the thing.

Katamari Damacy references aside, E has always impressed the hell out of me.  It's just a seething hive of humanity and purpose spread on the scope of a galaxy...   Y'all are why LitRPG is becoming a thing.

I'll be joining you someday.

This is quite possibly the biggest game simulation ever. I mean EVER. The entire Milky Way Galaxy is procedurally generated. Nothing is set in stone until someone visits a system and scans it. But once they do - it IS set and stays that way. That's why actually mapping the Galaxy like this MEANS SOMETHING in the larger sense of the game! 

ALSO - data from NASA and other sources is updated into the simulation. Remember the Trappist 1 system recently discovered? Turns out Stellar Forge had procedurally generated a VERY similar system in that exact spot! But the Devs at ED weren't satisfied with similar - so on an update last year they replaced it with something much closer to the ACTUAL Trappist-1 system. 

There are swaths of stars that sometimes appear far too dense and regular compared to the surrounding star fields - those areas are where they've updated the Galaxy with new data from the likes of Hubble and other telescopes that've been made public. These guys are really dedicated to their version of the Milky Way galaxy being as on point as possible!

[Logan Darklighter]

Also - you might look at the heat and route maps of the Galaxy map and think - "oh it's too late - everything's already mapped". 

No. No no no it is NOT. For all the expeditions that have occurred. For all the mapping that's been done. Despite the fact that many many CMDRs have crossed, re-crossed, zig-zagged and circumnavigated the entire galaxy... 

As of April 2019, Frontier says that players have explored only 0.036% of the Milky Way, somewhere in the neighborhood of 144 million star systems. That means there are well over 399 billion star systems left for them to discover.

This game could run for DECADES and we still couldn't explore the entire map!

[Logan Darklighter]

Oh and one more thing - 

I've been semi-immortalized. Polygon featured my two systems detailed above as part of their latest article on all of this.


Polygon: What it's like to map a Galaxy in Elite Dangerous

[Bob Schroeck]

Wow. That looks gorgeous. I wish I had the time to try it out.

[Star Ranger4]

Hang on... was that a Twilight reference I spotted in the name of your ship?

[Matrix Dragon]

You never studied.

[Star Ranger4]

Gah... I just realized. It is a TRAVELER reference. Not Twilight (the game, not the book)

[Logan Darklighter]

Gah... I just realized.  It is a TRAVELER reference.  Not Twilight (the game, not the book)

Glad you finally got it.

[Logan Darklighter]

So - I've made it to Beagle Point. I could go farther - it's possible. But I've fulfilled the Expedition requirements and I feel like turning for home now. 

Here's a few screenshots I've taken in the past week: 



Getting pretty thin out here on the edge... 



Last Earthlike world I visited before the end of the line. Naturally it's already been scanned and mapped before I got here - too many pilots converging on a single point out here - no matter how sparse the stars get.


And yeah - my paint is pretty much gone at this point. Ship herself is doing well though.


Last look back at the Galaxy before the last jump to Beagle Point.  I'd point the camera forward - but there's really nothing to see - it's all black out there.



And that's why it's called "Beagle Point".  The ship of the first explorer to make it out this far was named "Beagle" after his pet who had died just before he started the trip out. In real life. The in-game memorial is a combination of the IRL Meta event and in-game "creative license" in regards to the name of the dog and his role. 
All in all, pretty touching. And more so in a meta-sense - Frontier has to place those markers themselves. A player can't do it. So it was nice of them to do so. 



And this is my actual touch-down point on Beagle Point. As close to the official marker as I could get.




And here's the view on the way back. It's gonna be a long long road.



This is the first good view I'm having of a major Point of Interest I bypassed on the trip out - "The Distant View In Blue" - a planetary Nebulae with a Black Hole inside. I'm told if you line things up just right - it's a spectacular view of the galaxy! Here it is about 8 jumps away in my 56LY Range Ship.


Oh - And I was proud of being able to wrangle a "Here it is!" With my nav angle pointer on the fly. Heh.

[Logan Darklighter]

A Distant View in Blue - from  - A Distant View in Blue

This is the "Distant View in Blue" Planetary Nebula from close orbit of a Water World at Pyrie Eurk KQ-W C15-0. I'm 5 jumps away in my 56LY Range Conda. My imagination wonders if there were life forms in that world ocean with intelligence and ambition - would they constantly look out at the distant smudge of blue and wonder WHY it was so different from the rest of their sky? Would it spur them to space travel and interstellar travel? Would they discover there's nothing in there but a black hole long before they could develop FTL, and STILL want to go there anyway? Just as we do?

[Logan Darklighter]

A Distant View in Blue

Naturally a little while later I have to include my own shots of this wonder. One of the most beautiful views I can imagine of the Galaxy through the gravity lens of the Black Hole at the Heart of the "Distant View in Blue" Nebula.













Have I mentioned how GORGEOUS this game can be? Cause it is. It most certainly is.