Disaster! Death of The Daggerbite!

Breaking News -
During the launch party at Basecamp 5 disaster has struck - The Daggerbite has fallen (literally) and exploded into fiery remains atop the planet NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22 Planet 2.

I’m still a little in shock…

The launch was announced, ships were taking off and setting away. I stayed back to video a few takeoffs, and then set off myself.

What happens next is one-part rookie mistake to one-part not paying attention.

Distant Worlds Launch Party from NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22

Today the launch from NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22 went ahead. It was a great time, lots of commanders in each instance waiting for the go command.

The Asp and Anaconda Parties

Landfall at Distant Worlds Basecamp Waypoint 5

Today made landfall at the Distant Worlds Basecamp Waypoint 5. (NGC 6357 Sector DL Y e22). A 1G world (my first!). Approaching with trepidation, my PC responded by crashing no less than 3 times whilst on descent. Thanks PC.

8: Lagoon Nebula to NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22 (WP2 to WP5)

I made the executive decision to skip WPs 3 and 4 and power straight onto 5!

Nothing major to note - although my hull is now 96% and I really must trim up my semi-autonomous jumping skills.


Start Location: BYUA EUQ KW-W B2-8
End Location: NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22
Distance Travelled: 3042.01LY
Hull Integrity: 96%
Distance from Sol: 8177.97LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: Arrived!

7: Lagoon Nebula to NGC 6357 Sector DL-Y E22 (WP2 to WP5)

Note - I'm going straight to WP5 from WP2, as I need to catch up!

Start Location: Lagoon Sector XP-O b6-1
End Location: BYUA EUQ KW-W B2-8
Distance Travelled: 999.55LY
Hull Integrity: 99%
Distance from Sol: 5432.73LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: 3042.01LY

Route Taken -

The Blue Chocolate Planet - Smojue VS-T B17-0 1 A

Whilst journeying between WP1 and WP2 I came across the delightfully named Smojue VS-T B17-0 1 A. This planet I nicknamed “Blue Chocolate Planet” due to its striking blue under-ice and light brown surface colouring!

Strike the Earth!

6: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 to Lagoon Nebula (WP1 to WP2)

Arrival at WP2 (NGC 6530 WFI 16706). Safe and sound other than an accidental 1% hull loss due to an asteroid ring!

Start Location: Smojue VS-T b17 - 0
End Location: NGC 6530 WFI 16706
Distance Travelled: 1,367.65LY
Hull Integrity: 99%
Distance from Sol: 4490.97LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: 0LY

Here's where I am on the galactic map:

Route Taken - 

5: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 to Lagoon Nebula (WP1 to WP2)

Start Location: BLU THUA QW-C B54-3 
End Location: Smojue VS-T b17 - 0
Distance Travelled: 515.51LY
Hull Integrity: 100%
Distance from Sol: 3161.32LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: 1367.65LY

Route -

4: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 to Lagoon Nebula (WP1 to WP2)

Start Location: BLU THUA AQ-P D5-18 
End Location: BLU THUA QW-C B54-3
Distance Travelled: 698.67LY
Hull Integrity: 100%
Distance from Sol: 2668.92LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: 1879.09LY

Route -

3: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 to Lagoon Nebula (WP1 to WP2)

Travelling to The Lagoon Nebula

Start Location: Praea EUQ QJ-Z B55-3
End Location: BLU THUA AQ-P D5-18 
Distance Travelled: 596.53LY
Hull Integrity: 100%
Distance from Sol: 2031.44LY
LY remaining to next waypoint: 2571.54LY

Currently at the arrows

Screenshot of EDD Journey:

2: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 to Lagoon Nebula (WP1 to WP2)

Travelling to The Lagoon Nebula

Leaving Laikas Rest

Start Location: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4
End Location: Praea EUQ QJ-Z B55-3
Distance Travelled: 602.46LY
Hull Integrity: 100%
Distance from Sol: 1477.11LY

LY remaining to next waypoint: 3163.59LY (Est)

Showing Laikas Rest (Fine Ring Sector) at blue circle, I've travelled to Praea EUQ at the blue/orange arrows

Current galactic position at orange arrow. Long way to go!

Screenshot of EDD Journey:

Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 A1 Laikas Rest

I didn’t spend too much time at Basecamp1 - Laika’s Rest.
Certainly easy to find, Laika’s Rest was a prominent mini-mountain inside a large crater locked towards the sun. Very easy to see on approach!

X marks the spot

Leaving Pallaeni Early

Unfortunately circumstances have changed and I won’t be able to attend the Distant Worlds launch event this Thursday (14th Jan). I’ve made the executive (and slightly exciting) decision to set off now (and by now I actually mean yesterday) towards Waypoint 1, so that I am there in time for any fun activities over the weekend.

For the bulk of the long-distance travelling I won’t post in detail but will provide short summaries of how far I’ve travelled and where I’m located, plus anything that’s happened along the way.

On that note, here’s the first leg of my journey - 1: Pallaeni to Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 (WP0 to WP1)

1: Pallaeni to Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4 (WP0 to WP1)

Arrived at Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4

Start Location: Pallaeni
End/Current Location: Fine Ring Sector JH-V C2-4
Distance Travelled: 830.95LY
Hull Integrity: 100%
Distance from Sol: 998.73LY
Jumps remaining to next waypoint: 0

Showing WP1 location (blue arrow) compared to Pallaeni (WP0)

Overall galaxy location (ignore the blue circle!)

Screenshot of EDD Journey:

Arrival at Pallaeni

With a heavy heart, and my trip to the Pleiades Nebula a fond memory, The Daggerbite has now reached the shores of Pallaeni. This will be the starting point of the Distant Worlds Expedition. I’ve been here for a few days now, pottering around and exploring the local fauna.

The lovely Bakewell Point, overlooking Pallaeni A1

Leaving Pleiades and Maia - last pics

It was certainly fun exploring around Maia and the Pleiades over the Christmas break, but earlier this week it was time to pack up and move back to home space - my home system LTT 15449.

The plan was to swap back to my bounty machine - a Vulture - and grind bounties in a RES for cash. Then purchase the essential 5A Frame Shift Drive for a cool 5.1 million. And finally to have some credits available for insurance and emergencies.

So with that, I bid goodbye Maia! One day I shall return no doubt.

The Blackhole of Maia. As close as I dared

LFT 65 2 A - Planetary Rings Intersect with a moon

Or as I'm currently calling it - "You Won't Believe Your Eyes When You See What This Ring and Moon Got Up To"


Whilst lazily exploring the LFT 65 system, I spotted something strange. The moon LFT 65 2 A seemed to be very close to it's parent bodies ring. In fact, the ring intersected it.

This absolutely bears further investigation...

The Giant Mountain of Hyades

Hyades Sector AQ-Y D72 8B was a craggy rock in the depths of space. It also featured the highest mountain I've found so far - estimated in the 30km range according to my rough (and probably rubbish) calculations.

A star with rings - LFT 65 5

LFT 65 5 is a Class Y Brown Dwarf Star which has its own set of rings. And not just a small set of rings but quite a large one.

As you can see they extend much further (or much deeper?) than a normal ring system. Intrigued I friendship-drove closer.

Sadly this is the closest screenshot I got - getting much closer than this would drop me out of FSD almost immediately and the heat starting ramping up. I wanted to get close enough to the edge of the rings to be between the star and the ring edge, but couldn't get close enough - likely I wouldn't have survived!

Making money whilst exploring in Elite Dangerous - Exploring the Galaxy

Exploring the Galaxy

Want to earn riches whilst exploring the galaxy? Of course you do! Man can't live on beautiful screenshots of Shark-Tooth-Religious-Artifacts alone (well I probably could for a while..)

I covered the essential fitting items in my previous post (Making money whilst exploring in Elite Dangerous - Fitting your Ship) so this is all about my methods to make profit whilst exploring.

Making money whilst exploring in Elite Dangerous - Fitting your Ship

For a while, I've heard that people return from exploration trips brimming with profit and riches - and when they sell their exploration data they make millions!

Sadly this wasn't me... initially I was making only a few thousand here and there, and really I blame my new to exploration status (plus the bewildering amount of things you have to keep on track of!). So I did some digging and thought I'd share some tips on making profit whilst exploring.

The simple answer is - I wasn't exploring the right systems fully, and I was often exploring the wrong systems too much (and losing too much time and patience whilst doing it).

So this is what I do now (after the jump) - I won't state this is the greatest guide ever to exploration profit, but this is what I've started doing personally.

Exploring Pleiades Sector HC-U B3-0

Exploring this snappily named system, looking for interesting sites and things to see.
Planet D 2 looked like a fairly standard High Metal Content World, but on a quick buzz-past I spotted something.

A large crater, the walls of which rose above the surface significantly. Time to investigate!

Exploring Maia A 2 A

Today I did some initial exploration of Maia's first landable planet - Maia A2A. A rocky metal rich body. Just from the initial landing I could see it was a craggy, mountainous place. Just what I want to see! Mountains and peaks everywhere!

Arriving at MAIA

At last! The Daggerbite arrives at MAIA. And what a beauty she is... Look at the brightness of that star!