After 1 week of jetting ahead, I slowed down to do more exploring. Found a lot of high-value systems, so that will be nice when I get back to the Bubble. Slowed down too much though - had to jump through the last few systems while watching training videos on Comms.

WP9: Managed to make it to base camp early enough to play around in SRVs with the other Commanders before heading to orbit and lining up for jump. Around 30 Commanders in the first jump, and 5 in the second. I'm glad to see the numbers holding strong.

WP8. Back to just the Perseus Reach crew. Normal base camp shenanigans. Decent group, around 3 dozen ships, including 3 Couriers now. Oh, and there was a Dolphin stack too.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

WP7: Meetup with the Orion Expedition. So many big ships! Anacondas, Corvettes, Type 9s- I was finally getting used to my Courier, and then I remember what I left behind. Just need to make it a little further...

Made my planned detour to the Walara search area. With a little bit of coding trickery and data from both EDSM and SPANSH, I was able to derive a more thurough search method. I was able to mark off my explored systems and generate a list of systems to search within a specified radius around the starting point. Yay maths!

But, no dice as far as finding Walara yet.

On to WP6, where I had my first run-in with the East Hemisphere gang. 25 Commanders, and almost as many different colors of contrails. So, about that 'slow off the starting line' comment- managed to engage Supercruise instead of jumping to the target system. Oops. Still looked good to the camera ship. Stuck around for a few hours and made it up with the West Hemisphere group. Two mass jumps in one day!

Yup, this is a big part of why I joined an expedition. See y'all next week.

Answer to the previous log's question: stick around. Ended up being rather busy IRL. So, I shuffled around the waypoint system until expedition lead Dr. Nagi announced the location of the base camp, which included a daunting mountain that we should try to climb. Knowing I might not be able to be online early enough to climb with them, I went ahead and tried myself the night before. Between poor lighting and poor machine performance, I ended up having to back down. The next day, however, with better lighting (and maybe my machine decided to behave better) I managed to reach the peek before everyone showed up for the secondary mass jump. My first mass jump! Turns out my little ship has some pep in its step compared to the others- I may need to ease off the starting line next time.

Made it to WP5, the "Vulcan Triad". Upon scanning the system, I discovered that only some of the bodies had been mapped, and no single commander has mapped more than one. An unspoken agreement? So I mapped one new one, plus the already-mapped bodies, and set down for repairs. Up next: do I stick around and wait for the mass jump in 4 days, or get 4 extra days searching for Walara?

Made several valuable finds on the way to Waypoint 5. First, about 1/3 the way from Colonia, a system with several Void Opal hotspots. I hear those are valuable, but not sure such a remote location would be of interest to many. At the vary least it should be worth some credits for the exploration data. Second, about 2/3 from Colonia, I finally ran across a planet with the one element I was missing for FSD injections: Yttrium! Now I can ytt my ship (my wife and our Xbox friend love that one). Over the next few days I will inch my way towards Waypoint 5 while stopping at least once a day to get some detailed scans.

Made it from slightly past Waypoint 4 to Colonia in 4 days, along with work. Turned in exploration data for 69M cr, an Elite rank, and a permit to Founder's World! Spent some of that cash on a new, lighter power plant, took in the sites of the Colonia system, then got back on the road.

Spoke too soon. After speaking with some other commanders on the expedition, I did some digging on the final jump's distance requirements. Turns out the distance given in the expedition introduction is a bit shy of the truth, and my current built won't cut it. But I can swap out my power plant for a lighter one at Colonia that will shave just enough weight to make the final jump possible. Time for a detour...

Pushed hard for 2 days straight and made it to Waypoint 4 the day after everyone left. Oh well- I have 2 weeks to make the next waypoint. Now I can probably take my time and smell the roses.