Elite Explorers (Null)

We made a bit more progress today and it was our first look at the new update. It did cause one issue. The update totally reworked all our firegroups for some reason and because of this CMDR Smileyface shot off half her heat sinks when she meant to fire her weapons! She is now down to only 2! FD already reduced them to 2 ammo from 3 so this could potentially be a problem for her. Too bad we can't reload them with the SRVs like we do the AFM. One other change I noticed is that both our ships gain a tiny bit more range. I'm assuming this is due to changing the heat sinks weight and possibly other devices installed on the ship. Note: Our ships have the exact same jump range! Took awhile to manage that with different configs and all. We also noticed we can't deploy the cargo scoop. I'll assume if you have no cargo you don't have a scoop to deploy.

A good session tonight on the long, winding path to Sag A*. I found my first Earth-like (sadly not a first discovery, but I'll take it), along with another Water World. I did snag a few first discoveries with some terribly unfashionably named M-class red dwarves, with hopefully many more to come. I'm sticking with economical jumps for now - but it's only a matter of time before I cave and go to max range jumps again - I'm only about 1.5 kylies out of the bubble...

A few IC 4604 Nebula shots! These turned out better than the last and now I can see what a beautiful nebula it really is.

CMDR Smileyface decided she wanted to figure out just how close we could get our ships to each other without hitting each others shields. After she saw the effect of hitting my shield she had to try a few more times until she could snap a picture of the effect. We're over 2K out now and scanning (a LOT!) so it may take an age to reach Sag A but by the time we make it back I suspect we will both rank Elite explorer, lol.

We had a very good day exploring today. My Daughter found an ELW but it was tagged by another commander. She was still overjoyed at finding it. This particular system was filled with nice planets. There was one thing they missed though and we snagged it!

I was busy writing last night, so I haven't made much progress towards Sag A* - especially since I've decided to make the trip as a companion piece to my new Elite: Dangerous short story ("The Loneliness of the Long Distance Explorer"), so I'm going about the trip the hard way - economical jumps, and travelling down the spiral arms towards the core, rather than taking the quick, direct route. Hopefully this approach will pay off when I come to sell my exploration data - with luck I might be able to jump all the way from Ranger to Explorer Elite. I'm still only about 1500ly out from Conway City, so I haven't had too many first discoveries yet, but tonight I did stumble across my first "Costner", and thought it was worth a screenshot. Fingers crossed the first of many in the weeks and months to come.

I've popped out for a jaunt with a nicely equipped Explorer Annie. ( I know I could have eked a few more ly of jump range out of the spec by stripping the ship down a bit more, but I like the idea of being able to go hunting for salvage and be able to defend my ill-gotten gains on the way back into civilisation) I don't intend to come back until I've made enough money from system scanning to at least make Pioneer (currently 14% Ranger). A round trip to Sag A* is my goal,  but my record thus far isn't great when it comes to making the pilgrimage. I've made it to my first waypoint, 1000ly from Shinrarta Dezshra - with even a handful of first discoveries on the way, and I'll be aiming to do at least 1000ly per day. http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/05A6A6A5D5A8D5C-1f1f-1c1c--0300020203040404063dv2050s0s0sB32i2f24.AwRj4z1TWeJA.EwBjEZJSduuKW1hA?bn=Explorer%20Annie

The Crab Nebula Meet & Greet today! I'm now at waypoint 1 on the mini exploration trip.

In place for the meet & greet expedition a bit later today.

Jacques station community goal has finished, and now if prepping to make the jump to begal point, some 60 years away. From what I understand, it a manual update from Edev. And this normal will be done when the new patches come out. With 2.1 coming out soon, it looks like a great opportunity to hitch a ride across the galaxy. I will be fitting out either my asp or conda, so I can make the 67lyrs back to the bubble... Anyone coming with me ??

My 2nd Sag A* trip with my Daughter (her 1st trip) is going slow but very well. Her calling in Elite is certainly exploration although she is now showing an interest in mining as well. We are nearing 2K ly out so at the current rate I believe we will make it to Sag A* around November or December. I may have to break down and get her a 2nd account so she can do other things while she is out exploring. I suspect I'll make Elite explorer by the time we get back and she should at least make Ranger.

I uploaded my old Sag A* photos to our wiki at work so thought might do the same here :) Spencer Cook ollie clark Ian Jefferies