Very Belated Post Update: The previous post was actually drafted on Feb 28, 2021. Here I am almost two years later going "oh.. I never posted this." And fixed that error.

I did indeed finish the survey, and then parked my ships on The Laughing Nihilist and switched off the lights, before the Odyssey update went live. The Odyssey update wrecked so much of the uniqueness of the E:D galaxy in favor of "walkable" boring repeating terrain, I lost all interest in continuing on with the game. Haven't played it in over a year now. The carrier is well funded to last until 2030, if the servers are still up.

Doing a survey of 200x200 light-year vertical column that encloses The Laughing Nihilist carrier. Due to using the galactic grid as a guide, the carrier isn't quite dead-center of the horizontal of this column, but that's fine.

I hadn't properly written down the First-Discovered-Systems stat when I started this survey, but I managed to guesstimate by looking at my travel history to shortly after the carrier arrived, and took off 50-ish jumps as they'd backtrack a few times, but it's been mostly undiscovered systems here.

"Starting" First-Discovered-Systems stat: 22,640

Horizontal coordinates of the volume: 14,900 by 8,200, to 15,100 by 8000

Vertical range of column: the "bottom" of the galactic arm at roughly -1,700 LY down from the plane, and the top caps out at -775 LY down from the plane, just shy of a thousand light-years in height.

My fleet carrier is finally in its long-term parking spot, around body 1A of the strange trio of landable bodies, in Plielo XL-P c5-0.

There's more than enough tritium aboard for a return to the bubble, if I decide to relocate elsewhere - Mining is doable, but a bug with subsurface drilling makes me limited to just laser mining, and after a while it really drags.

The views here will constantly change as 1A has a very short orbit this close to its parent.

Additionally, there's actually a Tritium hotspot in the B-ring of body 8, if I am so inclined to do some mining to restock the supplies some more.

I've put off this update for long enough. Life tends to get in the way, and you'd rather keep on going with your plans than to stop and write about it.

The Galactic Circumnavigation was completed without a lot of fanfare on 11-November, and I set about doing the LYR song and dance. The total distance travelled is roughly 394,439 light-years around the galaxy, based on what my odometer said after I had travelled from the Explorer's Bar & Grill DSSA carrier at Arm's End before I realized I had neglected to note the trip start. IN my defense I wasn't certain I'd embark on this journey until later.

The LYR dance resulted in a payout of 8.068 billion credits.

I decided to get a Fleet Carrier.

Aside from some side trips and ammonia-world-data related community goals and yet even more funds, my fleet carrier The Laughing Nihilist is being prepared to depart and take up residence in system Plielo XL-P c5-0, around the "Triplex" body system I found during the Stellar Unknown Expedition, so I can do some concentrated exploring/surveying around it. Hawking's Gap seems to be rich in ELWs after all.

I haven't been very vocal on my journals, due to the changes in how our journals are logged and tracked. I can import my comments, but not my journals. So the fatalistic "what's the point" kicks in.

This may be my last journal entry here, in this repository.

As evidenced by the title, and my numerous bookmarks now along the Western rim of the galaxy, I've been undertaking the circumnavigation, using the POIs setout by CMDR Qildail himself.

The madman - he went back to the bubble after we parted ways at the Bar & Grill stationed out at Arm's End, while I went on to do the clockwise-circumnav. He then got himself a nice shiny corvette, and went back out to the void. He hit the Eastern edge, and went back up along the rim...

Next thing I know, we're meeting up at Semotus Beacon. Third time for me to visit. Memories already, as well as another good-bye to the memorial I left here the previous time. Sleep well, Maggie. I'll see you again in time.

I'll hit Beagle Point once more, before touching the Northern Meridian stop next on this circumnav - after that, it'll be a long trip to the next POI. No stopping now.

Something that has been a growing sliver in my mind, possibly an extant madness, but one that I'm considering anyways... The Eleven Fringe Points of the Galactic Edge.

In (reverse) order, they are...

• Arm's End
• Sepositus Beacon - Angosk OM-W d1-0
• Amundsen's Star - Lyed YJ-I d9-0
• Southern Meridian - Hypuae Euq ZK-P d5-0
• Western Meridian - Cyuefoo LC-D d12-0
• Star One - Byaa Thoi GC-D d12-0
• Erikson's Star - Sphiesi HX-L d7-0
• Semotus Beacon - North of Beagle Point
• Northern Meridian - Iorady JO-Z d13-0
• Magellan's Star - Ood Fleau ZJ-I d9-0
• Eastern Meridian - Plae Eur IC-D d12-0

I've already been to Arm's End before, and on my way to Distant Angnosk, Sepositus Beacon is just a little farther. I'll see how I feel as I curve around the southernmost edge, and when I reach "Point Decision" (a historical system), whether to continue my madness or to turn North back to the Bubble.

The odometer as of this time, 29-June, (already reached Sepositus Beacon and is behind me by about 2,151 LY) is 1,381,000 LY

Additionally, the current maximum distance I've been from Colonia is 49,223 LY. Might break that as I head along the North-Eastern edge.

Despite the deaths of some of the crew (no comment from me, but I did discover 5 earth-like worlds including a binary pair), the DSSA carrier Explorer's Bar & Grill has been established and open for business in the farthest Arm's End system!

The dark out here is familiar and greets me like an old friend. The Bar (She thirsts) will do quite well, basking in the void of between galaxies.

I'll be heading back along the Outer Arm on the informal "Hangover" trip with some of the crew. Might stop at some of the other DSSA carriers along the way. Tritium hotspots were quite useful, though next time I'd be happier with a large-sized ship for stripping the 'roids.

Photos!

Toward Eternity has been in these deep waters before, and here she is alongside the Bar.

Against the distant light of the Milky Way.

Great shot courtesy of CMDR Qildail. He'd been waiting to see us emerge from the stars, as his last stop on his circumnavigation!

The Bar had moved ahead, and I caught up with it at the expedition waypoint, at Haffner 18 LSS 27 (Skull & Crossbones Nebula), in orbit over a brilliantly lit Class V giant. Just had to take this postcard shot of the view.

First stop, Radioactive Green!

Tomorrow I ship out with the Deep Space Support Array fleet carrier Explorer's Bar & Grill with CMDR Heavy Johnson at the helm, and I in the XO position. Along with helping on the planning & prep, creating the logo, and donating about 700 million credits to fund operational costs, I'll be travelling with a ragtag band of nutters to the farthest end of the Galaxy.

At 1800 GMT, 14-June-3306, we depart from the gas giant Ebor 9 and head towards the Skull & Crossbones nebula, with a few scenic stops along the way.

Hold is full of booze, exotic foods, and rare liqueurs. And tritium. We'll be making mining stops along the way, though we already have offers of support carriers departing alongside us.

This should be a good trip back to the edge of everything.