I had been looking for an undiscovered Wolf-Rayet for a little while. Yes, for the badge :)

Wolf-Rayets are a bit tricky to find and a lot have already been discovered, but a little research on the forums where people have decoded the sector naming system helped enormously.

In short you search for "sector name" + "AA-A h". So, if you're in the "Nyeajaae" sector, then you search the galaxy map for systems called "Nyeajaae AA-A h" and check what turns up. When you find a system with a Wolf-Rayet in it (the star class starts with a "W"), you then check it in EDSM. If the system is already in EDSM, then you will need to try again (if you're after the badge, that is).

This technique allows you to quickly search entire sectors. I had already been heading to Beagle Point, so as I changed sectors in my travels, I would search that sector on the idea that any star I found wouldn't be too far to go.

Anyway, the star I found was in Oopailn AA-A h28, quite low down on the bottom of the galaxy. I needed a 50% jump boost to get to it.

One more "to-do" ticked off!

My Logitech Freedom 3D joystick had been degrading over the last month or so. Small spots in the range of motion of the stick would be read as if the stick was pulled down hard to the bottom-right corner. Several of the spots were when the stick was pushed over to the left side, very disconcerting if you were trying some delicate manoeuvre. It made landing on "The Mighty" quite exciting - not.

I finally had enough and decided an early Christmas present was in order - the Thrustmaster T16000M FCS and TWCS. They have arrived and I have just finished two play sessions going through all the activities I can think of configuring and re-configuring buttons assignments until I'm now more-or-less happy.

There are so many buttons on the TWCS. Almost too many. I still haven't worked out what to do with the 'antenna' slider or the bottom-right 4-way switch. I'm sure I'll think of something.

The FCS is a bit disappointing. It has only one 8-way hat, the trigger, and three push-buttons on the stick. It's really quite limited. There might be 12 buttons and a slider on the base, but with the TWCS, none of them are worth using. I might as well just use my keyboard directly. The FCS really needs a pinky switch, and some extra 4-way switches on the top of the stick. None of that would compromise the ambidextrous design.

On the whole, though, the shortcomings of the FCS are balanced by the near-excess of functionality on the TWCS. I've been able to just about configure all the controls I use to be on the FCS/TWCS and I hardly ever need to touch my keyboard. In fact it pretty much is just typing search terms or messages that I need the keyboard for now.

That's the goal - minimise keyboard use - get everything as much as possible on to the FCS/TWCS so I don't need to move my hands from the controls.

Update: Thrustmaster Mods on Imgur

Venture's Reach (Quemeou CL-Y e9) is high up above the center of the galaxy - 2854Ly straight up from Sagittarius A*.

The whole galaxy is spread out below you here. One side of my Anaconda is brightly lit, the other side has nothing but the dark void of inter-galactic space.

It's scenes like this, where there is an Earth-Like world orbited by a airless moon, that I wonder about the in-real-life galaxy, and if there are any places like this out there.

This happens to be the Hypuae Audst DG-W d2-466 system.

When I was at Distant Worlds 3302 Camp 8 (Botany Bay) (-67.07 / -104.66) I had started doing some 'canyoning' around the camp area. I even bumped into the Rock Rats (I think) not too far from the camp area deep down a steep canyon. It was quite dark, from memory. I wanted to drive the full length of the canyon (or try to), but ran out of time and had to leave to keep up with the convoy.

One year and nine months later, I got around to returning and doing that canyon run. This time it was much brighter, making the drive a lot easier. I have the personal rule that if a canyon becomes so rugged that I have to use the jump jets to progress, then it is 'impassable' and I have to find a different way through. That only happened once, so keeping to that rule meant the canyon was split into two sections.

Before I finally left to continue my journey, the ambient light had become much darker, so I consider myself lucky that I arrived at a good time for my run.

New Earth-Like worlds have been a bit light on this trip so far, but now I've found two within the space of a few days.

The first was Agnairt LG-A c3-1798 A 5 sharing a barycenter with a water world.

The second was Mylaifai GD-A d14-1401 1 a.

Update: While I'm credited in EDSM as the first scanner for both these worlds, Cmdr Embryo found, scanned, and sold the second one before me! That's OK, I'm up to 72 "first discovered ELWs" and counting. It was disappointing, though, as it was the first ELW I'd discovered orbiting a gas giant.

So, another item on my bucket list is ticked off! Safely landing on and taking off from Kyloalks DL-Y g17 4, a mere 9.89g ;)

I was a bit surprised when I was dropped out of orbital cruise "too close", but still 260km from the surface. Oh well. Plenty of space to try different ship manoeuvres and see how well my D-rated thrusters work.

After some careful descending, I lightly touched down by tapping FA-off, only dinging the shields by 5%.

Taking off was smooth too. I'd already researched the best method - thrust up and keep thrusting up while the ship lifts up, you retract gears and push the throttle forwards. At full forwards speed, still thrusting up, pull the ship vertical then let go the up thrust.

Currently in Kyloasly DA-A f69 awaiting the two moons, 2b and 2c to 'collide'.

On the way out to Colonia I checked out all the 'Road to Colonia' stations, and the new Chapterhouse systems. I also dropped in on the Conflux Abandoned Settlements (mentioned earlier) and the Skaudai Ancient Ruins.

It's also the first real exploration trip I've done with my relatively new Anaconda. It's taken me three years, but I've finally got one!

...some time later I was joined by Cmdr Klutz and we watched the moon getting closer...

Sacaqawea Space Port marks approximately the half-way point between the bubble and Colonia.

It's nice to dock, repair some of the dents, and admire the awesome view of the nearby ringed gas giant.

I've decided to set out into the black for my first major solo expedition. The ultimate destination is Beagle Point, but I'm going to visit many other places.

The first major point of interest is the Conflux Abandoned Settlements. The Alpha site is on Pru Aescs TY-J a64-1 3 at -66.47/-56.13.

The Beta site is on Pru Aescs HW-S b31-2 CD 1 at -7.2989/-35.9180.

The Gamma site is on Pru Aescs OI-K a64-0 1 a at 64.2/74.4.

The Delta site is on Pru Aescs NC-M d7-192 A 3 a at -53.36/-48.91.

All the sites have log entries that can be scanned and make for interesting reading.