Ellen Degeneres: Horizons - AI Now Earns More Than Human Crew

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Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Surprise Giraffe posted:

What's the max jump range you can engineer into an exploraconda?

As always, it depends on what else you fit on it and how you manage your fuel, but you're probably looking at something in the 45�50 Ly range.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 13:06

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# ? May 11, 2024 07:56

Slashrat: Jun 6, 2011; YOSPOS

Surprise Giraffe posted:

What's the max jump range you can engineer into an exploraconda?

If you strip it down to the barest essentiels, you'll get 38,06 Ly max before engineers get at it. If you're lucky and roll the maximum +50% possible for grade 5, then that goes up to 57,09 Ly. You can burn a top-tier one-time boost on top of that to push it all the way to 114,18 Ly for a single jump.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 13:28

Complaint Compilation: Apr 8, 2016

Tippis posted:

Pretty much. The main reason to go with an Anaconda is that you can bring more stuff to offer better redundancy � more AFMUs, more scarabs, more heat sinks etc. You pay for it in cash and in the ship having the frameshift agility of a beached whale.

Meh, a beached whale does not sound like fun. I don't know why but I'm so attached to this diamondback-e. three huge engines taped to a cockpit, and it handles like a little space maserati.

Here's hoping we get more ships with the next big update.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 13:29

Truga: May 4, 2014; Lipstick Apathy

So I started this game for the first time in a bit yesterday, and now I seem to be getting way more than 1 thing per pickup while killing outcrops with the SRV. This is new right? Because it owns a lot.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 13:48

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Truga posted:

So I started this game for the first time in a bit yesterday, and now I seem to be getting way more than 1 thing per pickup while killing outcrops with the SRV. This is new right? Because it owns a lot.

Yes. It's part of the Engineers revamp where they realised that the materials requirements were utterly insane for� oh, almost everything. So they reduced and/or simplified what you need for the upgrades and also made it so that all pickups means you get 3 units of whatever you picked up.

It only applies for stuff you harvest yourself, though, not for mission rewards and the like.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 14:40

Truga: May 4, 2014; Lipstick Apathy

Oh great. I'm glad I just stopped playing when they announced that change then. Thought that was just for the new drops, not also surface stuff.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 14:47

Kurr de la Cruz: May 21, 2007; Put the boots to him, medium style.; Hair Elf

Unless you simply don't want to land on planets, I would STRONGLY suggest not going with 5D thrusters on an exploraconda. They can't hold the thing up for poo poo.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 15:06

Toxic Fart Syndrome: Jul 2, 2006; *hits A-THREAD-5*

Only 3.6 Roentgoons per hour ... not great, not terrible.

_{...the meter only goes to 3.6...}; Pork Pro

Just for the sake of theory crafting, if you take the old-fashioned, pre-boost, max-range Exploraconda it has a jump range of 40.73, a max boost can put that up to 61.1ly/jump. Let's say you are lousy with mats and reroll thursters/powerplant/power distributor until you get weight savings out of each and reroll the FSD mod until you get a secondary effect that goes beyond max range. I think it is totally possible to get it up to 65+, which means that jumps >120ly are definitely within range and >130 is very much within the range of possibility!

# ? Aug 12, 2016 15:21

FileNotFound: Jul 17, 2005

So I played this at release and rage quit after I realized that mining was the best way to make money and I could not pick up space rocks because I can't fly well...

But picked it up again 2 days ago and started from scratch - and well loving it so far (probably because I have not touched a mining laser). Also I have head tracking now and I have to say - it really makes the game feel way more 'natural' and more enjoyable as a result.

It also seems to be way easier to make money now than before at least as a total newbie - is that actually the case or am I imagining it? After 1 night of playing I'm already in a OK equipped Adder just by running a few data delivery missions.

Thing is - I'm not really sure what to do from here, how do I best make money with an Adder? Keep doing hauling runs? Is there any chance of surviving a combat mission in this scrapheap? What about Horizons, I've never landed on a planet, should I? Is it worthwhile as a way of earning income as a newbie?

# ? Aug 12, 2016 15:54

tooterfish: Jul 13, 2013

You're not imagining it, they upped credit rewards for almost everything by an order of magnitude.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 15:58

Truga: May 4, 2014; Lipstick Apathy

Planets are where you spend money, not earn it :v:

Seriously though, dicking around on planets is great fun. if you liked just driving around with the mako in ME you'll probably like driving on planets here. There's just not much cash to be made doing it, it's mostly to gather resources for reloads or engineers or whatnot.

Also, you need horizons to access engineers, and imo the mods really open up the game a lot more IMO. You can actually take a ship you like and fix its bad stat a bit. I'm currently grinding for FSD upgrades for my clipper so I can have it fully armed and hopefully still jump closer to 20, rather than 10 Ly, which will make it the best ship ever.

# ? Aug 12, 2016 17:03

TorakFade: Oct 3, 2006; I strongly disapprove

Truga posted:

Planets are where you spend money, not earn it

Seriously though, dicking around on planets is great fun. if you liked just driving around with the mako in ME you'll probably like driving on planets here. There's just not much cash to be made doing it, it's mostly to gather resources for reloads or engineers or whatnot.

Also, you need horizons to access engineers, and imo the mods really open up the game a lot more IMO. You can actually take a ship you like and fix its bad stat a bit. I'm currently grinding for FSD upgrades for my clipper so I can have it fully armed and hopefully still jump closer to 20, rather than 10 Ly, which will make it the best ship ever.

Speaking of which.

How far can you pump a Vulture powerplant? Can you with some mods, A class it and sustain 2 beams or 1 beam 1 PAC without everything shutting down?

# ? Aug 12, 2016 17:49

Mr. Crow: May 22, 2008; Snap City mayor for life

Anacondas can get over 64 ly jump range with clever use of engineer upgrades and downgrading components and still have boosting and guns.

Re: https://youtu.be/VyZxiT0ZsNI

Also that guy puts out amusing and entertaining videos, I like the gimmick. Would recommend him alongside ObsidianAnt for Elite content creators.

Mr. Crow fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Aug 12, 2016

# ? Aug 12, 2016 17:52

Jimbot: Jul 22, 2008

I just got myself a Clipper.

Where have you been my entire life, you sexy sexy ship?!

# ? Aug 12, 2016 23:37

Gradis: Feb 27, 2016; GAPE APE

Pimped my asp for close to 48ly, 52 on fumes. that's with a srv / heatsinks / shields etc. Can go higher according when i roll for a upgrade but it has really good secondary rolls along with not much weight gain. Shame there is no indication in numbers what your current jump and what the modded jump rate will be so im leary of upgrading it unless i'm sure it will be a benefit.

Plus the mods clean drive tuning you can gain a secondary roll that reduced mass of the thrusters same with Low Emissions Power Plant.

Not done the low enhanced power shield yet but i will when i get back to the bubble. Shame the lightweight armour does not apply to standard default armour as that would cut a lot of mass.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 03:48

Toxic Fart Syndrome: Jul 2, 2006; *hits A-THREAD-5*

Only 3.6 Roentgoons per hour ... not great, not terrible.

_{...the meter only goes to 3.6...}; Pork Pro

My DBX does 44/48 and I am pretty sure I can get it to 50 if I drop the multi-cannon/beam setup or get a few more lucky rolls for weight-savings!

# ? Aug 13, 2016 04:14

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Are you following Frontier's promises of big reveals at Gamescom?

Today this little bit of in-game news dropped:

GalNet posted:

12 AUG 3302

According to the Galactic Finance Times, analysis of the largest corporations in the Federation and the Empire reveals evidence of a significant economic downturn in the coming years.

"We're seeing poor revenue forecasts for a wide range of corporations, including big names like Sirius, Gutamaya and Core Dynamics," said a correspondent for the Galactic Finance Times. "They should be concentrating on marketing to leverage new product ranges, but instead they're diverting resources into intensive research and development. They're ignoring the traditional sales cycle, and we don't know why. It's perplexing."

Shareholders have seen poor returns on their investments in recent months, with stock prices dropping across multiple sectors, although this has given others a chance to pick up stock at bargain prices. Several of the pertinent corporations were contacted by the Galactic Finance Times, but none deigned to respond.

Despite the GFT's report, some commentators blame the downturn on the London Treaty, which was signed by the galaxy's three major powers in 3278 following the introduction of the frame shift drive. The treaty enforces strict tonnage limitations for capital ships, and was aimed at preventing an arms race, but in recent years it has come to be perceived as a barrier to economic development.

One option for investors looking for a risky but possibly lucrative venture is a start-up called MetaDrive Inc., a small company based in the Chi Orionis system specialising in hyperdrive research. The company is reported to be seeking investment.

Now I have to ask, what exactly is it the ship builders of the galaxy are working on? A new inter-system jump drive? A new super-long-range jump drive? New ships with specialized FSDs? I guess we will know next Thursday! :allears:

# ? Aug 13, 2016 09:26

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

T-t-t-thargoids?!

GalNet posted:

12 AUG 3302

Continuing our series on significant episodes from human history, noted historian Sima Kalhana discusses the Thargoids.

"Are we alone in the universe? It's a question we've been asking for millennia. Even before we expanded into space, we wondered about the possibility of non-human intelligence."

"Of course, for some, the question has already been answered. We have seen the aliens and we have given them a name: the Thargoids. But accounts of Thargoid encounters are shrouded in so much ambiguity, it is hard to accept them as proof of extraterrestrial intelligence. Furthermore, there have been no credible reports of Thargoid sightings for hundreds of years."

"The first reported Thargoid encounters date from 3125, when accounts surfaced that pilots had been pulled from witch-space and attacked by mysterious octagonal starships. Witnesses asserted that the strange vessels were exceptionally fast and remarkably manoeuvrable. Pilots who survived these experiences were convinced they had encountered extraterrestrials, and named the aliens 'Thargoids'."

"As news of these encounters spread, rumours surfaced that the interdictions might be a response to an earlier human attack. Leaked Federal intelligence indicated that colonists in the Veliaze system had encountered and assaulted an extraterrestrial deputation shortly before the Thargoid interdictions began. Suggestions that the Thargoid attacks were a reaction to this attack carried more than a hint of plausibility."

"Not long after, reports of Thargoid encounters came to an abrupt halt. In the decades that followed, not one credible account of a Thargoid encounter was reported. For some, this was proof that the original reports were groundless � 'the fantasies of lonely pilots, looking for attention', as Arvan Corto of the Imperial Navy said at the time."

"But public opinion shifted in 3250 when reports emerged that the disappearance of the Thargoids might have been a direct consequence of a covert anti-Thargoid operation. An anonymous message, delivered to a number of media outlets, claimed that an organisation known as the Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm had developed a chemical weapon specifically designed to target Thargoid technology. This chemical � known as the mycoid virus � was designed to attack plastic polymers, which were believed to be present in Thargoid hyperdrive systems. The fact that the virus also appeared to harm the Thargoids led to speculation that the aliens' bodies might contain some kind of polymer-like material. The report was dismissed by many leading political figures as a conspiracy theory, but some asserted that it contained enough plausible detail be believable."

"Since then, very little credible information has emerged. The original accounts from 3125 report that Thargoid ships can execute huge hyperspace jumps, while information purportedly from INRA documents indicates that the Thargoids originate from an ammonia-based world. There are even rumours that the Thargoids have a collective consciousness or 'hive mind'. Some of the less outlandish theories include the suggestion that electronic countermeasure technology was reverse-engineered from captured Thargoid vessels."

"And what of the barnacles, Unknown Artefacts and Unknown Probes? Many believe these objects are of non-human origin, which has led to speculation that they were created by the Thargoids. Unfortunately, however, analysis of these objects has not yielded any concrete information about their origin or purpose."

"Are the Thargoids real? Frankly, I don't know. But if they are, their true nature can only be guessed at."

Holy loving poo poo.

And those two news items are official, by the way. There's no commander name attached, which means it's pure Frontier, baby.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 09:45

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Crossposted from the PGS-thread:

The Voyage is on!

But what exactly happened during the time I limped back with my Anaconda and the now, where I seriously attempt to cross the galaxy in a motherfucking Imperial Cutter?

This post is kind of explaining what I was doing after coming back from my sudden burn-out syndrome.

The first thing I did was going back to my Asp and just jumping out to a random target: A carbon star! This is me making some nice pics while collecting materials on a planet.
Screenshot 1 shows a planet looking like a sack full of worm eggs crashed into the planet and now it's infested with them tunneling everywhere.

Seriously, deep canyons and strange mountain ranges looking like tunnels, this planet was like worm central. Or giant moles, I suppose. Space can be weird.

Since I am incredibly stupid, I landed on a flat plateau in that canyon from the last pic, but then I just blasted into this hellscape with my SRV, not caring about how the gently caress my ship was supposed to land here.

After collecting a bunch of mats, I tried recalling my ship, but it refused to land anywhere near me. Instead it kept landing back on the plateau where I first touched down. My ship's computer is surprisingly sensible.

Success! This is me cruising above a poor bastard of a planet forced to orbit a dark, foreboding carbon star. Seriously, that poor thing is getting burned from its close sun and still has to suffer a weird dark twilight even in full daylight.

On my way back to civilization from this short trip there wasn't anything of interest, but this local faction made me smile. "Frogcorp". :v:

Welp, and then I started grinding mats and engineers like mad because that short trip and the two CGs far from the bubble awoke the space madness sleeping in me and I wanted to revive my old plans: Travelling to the other side of the galaxy, but in style. While the common Explo-Anaconda would have been a better choice, the Cutter is clearly the more stylish ship. And it looks like the Beluga Liner is still a couple months off. Besides, I don't want to risk looking stupid if it turns out the Liner has something absurd like 10 ly max range.

Even with engineer upgrades, that wouldn't be fun.

While all that grinding was kind of mindless and often unfun (especially the part where super-NPCs I could neither beat nor outrun killed me six times), some of the vistas were worth it: Here I am landing at a nice looking planetary tower/fortress city.

And that was the situation hundreds of engineer upgrades later. Now I have something like 7-8 hundred upgrades done, according to my right-hand menu. Sure, most of them level 1 mods to grind up levels, but a lot of that number was also re-rolls of my grade 2 and 3 upgrades.

And now my Imperial Cutter has a jump range of 31,91 ly / jump! Mind you, I also have 19 tons of Osmium slowing me down and tons of weapons and other crap I thought I could possibly need. (I tested cutting down my giant 64t fuel tank to 32t, it resulted in squeezing out almost another light year and I got up to ~32,7 ly/jump, but the price was too high: Every jump close to max range would have sucked over a third out of my tank. Less then three jumps at full range? loving hell no. So 64t fuel it is. For reference, that's enough for a safer 5-6 jumps at max range. Every jump not at max range drops fuel usage so much it looks like I'm using economic routing, by the way. This is also nice.)

My pride and joy: The Heleophryne Regis. Here sitting in Thrash, a weird independent system close to the edge of the bubble, towards where Jaques' station is.

It's name is related to the name of our flight, the 211th Altenmoor Ghostfrogs.

Little steps. That tiny orange thing is my first way point, just under a thousand light years from Thrash. The yellow thing marks the mining-CG at Jaques' station.

The plan so far:

- Getting to Jaques' station before the second CG runs out in about two weeks and selling my Osmium.
- Obligatory visit to the galactic core.
- Endgame: To the outer edge of the galaxy on the other side of the core.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 14:14

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Sorry for the triple-post, but I added a short-story like log entry for this trip on Inara (the first of many) and I wanted to share:

A mad man posted:

It has been a while. I decided recently to start making log entries again. It helps me stay sane, you know?

Months ago, I was launching my great voyage to the other side of the galaxy. I had my trusty exploration-fit Anaconda, I was ready. But after less then a week of travel, I started to feel bad. Really bad.

When I reached the core of the Spiral Nebula, my first way point, I turned my ship towards the core. Ignoring my headaches and other ailments, I forced myself through the routine of preparing to jump, when I noticed something in my control panel: According to my ship's database I've already visited this system before. I had unwittingly put down an already explored system for my first way point!

Normally I would have laughed, but I wasn't sane anymore. I had a complete break down. Trashing and screaming, I did my best to destroy my controls until the computer panicked and send a sedative through my space suit. For two full days, I would wake up, go mad again, and get sedated again. When I regained control of my mental faculties, I felt like poo poo. Quite literally.

After cleaning up, the headaches came back and I feared the madness was returning. As fast as I could I rushed back into civilization. I've never felt so relieved as on the days when I saw the lights of Skvortsov Orbital, our home station. My shivering self basically fell into the arms of my fellow Diamond Frogs when I finally lurched out of my ship.

Then, black out. A week later I woke up in a hospital bed on board Skvortsov Orbital. The doctors later told me I had suffered from some sort of chemical imbalance in my brain, making me literally mad.

It turned out the guy who owned my Anaconda before me had done some DIY-maintenance to save money and re-wired the life support systems wrong somehow. Some filters had turned bad and the sensors normally observing them had malfunctioned. I could have payed for a complete repair of the faulty system, but after suffering through this little adventure the thought of flying around in that piece of scrap metal again left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.

Instead, I put the ship up for sale, with the additional note Warning: Life Support Systems Severly Damaged -Not Safe For Use- and a price 10% lower than the standard asking price. Taking the loss wasn't nice, but hey, it's not like I'm poor. I've traded and explored enough to keep me wealthy.

After that horrid experience, I went back to my rusty, but trusty Asp and just flew around for a while, sometimes helping out with whatever problems the locals had.

Then I went to this place:

A random carbon star not far away from the bubble. Just a short jaunt to prove myself I still got it. And it worked: Visiting this carbon star and his dark majesty made me remember why I started with this profession years ago. The sense of wonder had me again. I rushed back home and made great plans again.

But no lovely rust buckets from the black market anymore, this time it's time for a real ship!

# ? Aug 13, 2016 14:58

Blind Rasputin: Nov 25, 2002; Farewell, good Hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.

If we rarely but sometimes got yanked out of witch-space and had to fight off an alien ship that would be awesome as hell. That's all I have to say about these aliens.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 15:54

Pilchenstein: May 17, 2012; So your plan is for half of us to die?; Hot Rope Guy

Blind Rasputin posted:

If we rarely but sometimes got yanked out of witch-space and had to fight off an alien ship that would be awesome as hell. That's all I have to say about these aliens.

I honestly can't see how they do that without causing uproar on the brown sea. Either they just gank people in hyperspace and traders are furious or they give us the option to negotiate and the "it's called Elite Dangerous" crowd tip their pram over. I imagine they'll make it some sort of opt-in war (comedy option, add thargoids as a powerplay faction :v:

# ? Aug 13, 2016 16:24

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Pilchenstein posted:

I honestly can't see how they do that without causing uproar on the brown sea. Either they just gank people in hyperspace and traders are furious or they give us the option to negotiate and the "it's called Elite Dangerous" crowd tip their pram over. I imagine they'll make it some sort of opt-in war (comedy option, add thargoids as a powerplay faction ).

Only really dumb people will object to getting ganked by Thargoids, most of the players are waiting on aliens for an eternity. There will be tons of people flying around, trying to get attacked.

Whoever complains will be part of a tiny minority Frontier can safely ignore. :colbert:

# ? Aug 13, 2016 16:43

CapnBry: Jul 15, 2002; I got this goin'; Grimey Drawer

Haha what is the deal with the wanted implementation in this game (code-quality-wise)? I had a little misunderstanding with some random non-wanted jerk who yanked me out of supercruise. I thought he must have been the pirate I had been warned about a few moments earlier so I sent The Welcome Party (about 30 mines) to greet him. By the time I realized he was clean it was too late, he was already dead and I was now a wanted man. When I logged out last night at the neighboring system, I had an active bounty.

This morning I decide to go convert that to a dormant bounty by buying a cheap ship and going to get myself killed there. I fly on over and guess what? I'm no longer flagged as wanted there. I check my transactions and sure enough, no active bounties. I'm also missing one of my two prexisting dormant bounties. That's great because I had a couple of missions to turn in so I go drop those off at the various stations, including one owned by the faction who had a bounty out on me, no problem. Log back in this afternoon at the same station, WANTED. The active bounty is back. What the hell?

I've also seen times when I got an active bounty, jumped to the next system, and checked immediately and "hey, no bounty?" so I jump back. No wanted, nice. Then someone scans me and bam wanted pops up and they deploy weapons upon me. Is my character just in denial about his fugitive status all the time?

# ? Aug 13, 2016 17:54

Blind Rasputin: Nov 25, 2002; Farewell, good Hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.

FYI the Stranger Things TV series soundtrack is now out for download and it makes perfect elite space trucking music.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 18:23

Pilchenstein: May 17, 2012; So your plan is for half of us to die?; Hot Rope Guy

Libluini posted:

Only really dumb people will object to getting ganked by Thargoids, most of the players are waiting on aliens for an eternity. There will be tons of people flying around, trying to get attacked.

Whoever complains will be part of a tiny minority Frontier can safely ignore.

If they just put them in as rare hyperspace attacks just like back '84 ( :corsair:

) then they'll get complaints from both sides. One the one hand, explorerers with no guns getting melted won't be happy and on the other everyone waiting for a chance to prove themselves won't enjoy having to just hyperspace back and forth between systems all day hoping to get mugged. That's not to say they won't do it like that, though I'd imagine conflict zones are more likely.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 18:35

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Pilchenstein posted:

If they just put them in as rare hyperspace attacks just like back '84 () then they'll get complaints from both sides. One the one hand, explorerers with no guns getting melted won't be happy and on the other everyone waiting for a chance to prove themselves won't enjoy having to just hyperspace back and forth between systems all day hoping to get mugged. That's not to say they won't do it like that, though I'd imagine conflict zones are more likely.

Because of this I think Frontier is hinting at new long-range drives with their latest news item. This would synergize well with their coy hints at something being hidden in the Formadine Rift, since it relates back to Thargoids, too. If some new long-range ships or drives get implemented, a lot of explorers will take the chance to go visit mysterious regions like that one.

And if the region of space containing Thargoids gets put down somewhere near a tourist hot spot like that, well Thargoid guns and eager players will naturally come together. :v:

# ? Aug 13, 2016 19:13

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

CapnBry posted:

Haha what is the deal with the wanted implementation in this game (code-quality-wise)? I had a little misunderstanding with some random non-wanted jerk who yanked me out of supercruise. I thought he must have been the pirate I had been warned about a few moments earlier so I sent The Welcome Party (about 30 mines) to greet him. By the time I realized he was clean it was too late, he was already dead and I was now a wanted man. When I logged out last night at the neighboring system, I had an active bounty.

This morning I decide to go convert that to a dormant bounty by buying a cheap ship and going to get myself killed there. I fly on over and guess what? I'm no longer flagged as wanted there. I check my transactions and sure enough, no active bounties. I'm also missing one of my two prexisting dormant bounties. That's great because I had a couple of missions to turn in so I go drop those off at the various stations, including one owned by the faction who had a bounty out on me, no problem. Log back in this afternoon at the same station, WANTED. The active bounty is back. What the hell?

I've also seen times when I got an active bounty, jumped to the next system, and checked immediately and "hey, no bounty?" so I jump back. No wanted, nice. Then someone scans me and bam wanted pops up and they deploy weapons upon me. Is my character just in denial about his fugitive status all the time?

The Transactions screen has been buggy and prone to showing inaccurate fines/bounty info for a couple months now.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 22:01

frank.club: Jan 15, 2011; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

man it's been ages since I got a mission to a station that turned out to be 180k Ls away

# ? Aug 13, 2016 22:37

Rah!: Feb 21, 2006

Blind Rasputin posted:

FYI the Stranger Things TV series soundtrack is now out for download and it makes perfect elite space trucking music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHNlx0pPIU

# ? Aug 13, 2016 23:08

Kramjacks: Jul 5, 2007

frank.club posted:

man it's been ages since I got a mission to a station that turned out to be 180k Ls away

Someone here got one with a station about 4 million Ls away.

I think it gave the distance as 0.13 Ly instead of Ls.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 23:12

tooterfish: Jul 13, 2013

Kramjacks posted:

Someone here got one with a station about 4 million Ls away.

I think it gave the distance as 0.13 Ly instead of Ls.

You get one of those, it's time for your cargo bay doors to experience a mysterious and catastrophic failure.

# ? Aug 13, 2016 23:18

Blind Rasputin: Nov 25, 2002; Farewell, good Hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world.

I grinder and worked up engineers in my Asp today and it feels like a completely different ship. Grade 3 guns, about grade 3 drive and shields and distributor, and a grade 4 FSD. drat. It flies and kills almost like a vulture with a 32ly range. Love this poo poo but the bubble feels small now.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 00:46

frank.club: Jan 15, 2011; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Kramjacks posted:

Someone here got one with a station about 4 million Ls away.

I think it gave the distance as 0.13 Ly instead of Ls.

It even gave me a time bonus to complete in lol

# ? Aug 14, 2016 01:25

Kramjacks: Jul 5, 2007

Did the safe distance for disengaging supercruise when going to a station get changed?

I just did a safe disengage while about 9.5Mm away from my destination while traveling about 4.5Mm/s.

Edit: Now I'm starting to think I just misread the text and it was just a normal dropout.

Kramjacks fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Aug 14, 2016

# ? Aug 14, 2016 06:40

Dabir: Nov 10, 2012

They did increase the distance and speed in some situations, not sure what the formula is. Check the safe drop numbers in the bottom left.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 07:15

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Kramjacks posted:

Did the safe distance for disengaging supercruise when going to a station get changed?

I just did a safe disengage while about 9.5Mm away from my destination while traveling about 4.5Mm/s.

Edit: Now I'm starting to think I just misread the text and it was just a normal dropout.

It depends on how far away the station's orbit is from the body it's orbiting. The more open space there is around the station, the farther out the safe disengage happens.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 08:43

Dante80: Mar 23, 2015

Libluini posted:

T-t-t-thargoids?!

Holy loving poo poo.

And those two news items are official, by the way. There's no commander name attached, which means it's pure Frontier, baby.

Reminds me the old FFE Journals...they ran a collection of Thargoid articles in Universal Scientist back then..

quote:

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -1
M.C.S

It is now three hundred and fifty years since the first reports of Thargoids from the settlers of Molotov Village on New Africa (Veliaze -2,3) and exactly fifty years since the last mother ship was destroyed by INRA pilots flying out of Facece.

In the three hundred years of their existence, the Thargoids represented the only Universal Enemy that humankind has ever encountered, engendering a unique sense of political cohesion amongst the three political galactic powers as they threatened to destroy the fabric of human space. Since their departure, that cohesion has collapsed and the only obvious beneficiaries are the assorted academics, collectors and dealers who trade in supposition, superstition and putative fragments of technology from a civilisation far superior to our own.

In the series of articles which follow, our Caledonian correspondent presents the known facts and dispels some of the mythology surrounding the Thargoid species.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -2
M.C.S

The Thargoids, c2950 - 3150: a non-human, sentient species of advanced technological development. They had ships capable of out-flying and out-shooting the best technology that either of the two existing galactic powers could produce at the time (and very possibly better than anything they could produce now).

They appeared in our Universe suddenly and with no obvious warning and disappeared in a similar fashion without any apparent reason. Certainly the combat skills of the INRA pilots were unlikely to be the real cause - good as they were, human technology was not ever going to compete with that available to the aliens.

So far, so good. In real terms, that is the limit of the facts known about the Thargoid race. The rest is rumour piled on superstition, piled on basic dishonesty. Next issue, we look at some of the wilder myths and their basis in fact.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -3
M.C.S

Thargoids follow strange religious rituals and sacrifice their neonates to appease war-like gods. Thargoids are psychic and can invade the dream-space making the dreamers mad. Thargoids can teleport between stars without needing ships. All of theses have been seen in print and all of them are, quite plainly, insane.

Some of the myths, however, ring more true than the rest.

The witch-space legend may be based on fact- it is certainly the case that the number of hyper space mis-jumps increased alarmingly during the Thargoid Period and that ships were frequently attacked by overwhelming numbers of Thargons immediately afterwards, supporting the belief that the alien Commanders had the capacity to accurately re-direct a ship during the process of hyper space jumping thus successfully destroying a large number of ships piloted by less experienced commanders.

Next issue, we look at Thargoid morphology.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -4
M.C.S

Thargoids are insectoid. They have a chitinous exo-skeleton, multi-jointed legs and opposing first and second digits (analogous to the humanoid thumbs).

Collections of Thargoid body parts were initiated during the peak of the Thargoid Wars and the morphology of those remaining are divided into two distinct types: those parts scooped from the wreckage of a Thargoid ship and those parts retrieved by explorers from other sources. The former are large, blue-green to grey in colour and suggest a body mass ranging from two to five times that of the average 2 metre humanoid.

The latter, described in detail in the Giomanst Encyclopaedia, are black, have fewer leg joints and are of a human scale. Of the two, only the Giomanst specimens have been reconstructed in full. It seems likely that there are several variants and that the two forms may well represent different stages in the life cycle of the Thargoid from neonate to full adult.

Next issue: Thargoid biology.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -5
M.C.S

Our understanding of Thargoid biology is severely hampered by the failure to establish the location and nature of their home world or worlds. Investigations into the interiors of with relatively few mother ships captured intact reveal an ammonium-based atmosphere held at a slightly higher pressure and lower temperature than is tolerable to most humanoids. The body parts are carbon-based but contain traces of several previously un-named elements.

Metabolism is presumed to be oxidation/reduction based but an equivalent to the Krebs cycle has not been demonstrated. In terms of procreation, there exist adult females termed hive 'mother' capable of spawning a succession of 'drones' - sterile females with no reproductive potential.

Drones are produced as eggs and nursed to adulthood through a series of nymph stages similar to almost all insect species in the known worlds. All reproduction is parthenogenic and there is no evidence for the existence of a second gender.

It is believed that there exists a degree of psychological continuity between members of the same hive and this 'hive consciousness' will be explored in the next issue: Thargoid culture and politics.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -6
M.C.S

Thargoid culture and politics remain a mystery, due largely to the absence of communication between the races. The Inter-Species Translator developed in 3015 CE by the INRA research wing allowed a modicum of intelligible communication and recently, historians and linguists have been re-examined those transcriptions available for indications of thought patterns and cultural paradigms.

Thargoid culture appears similar in basis to the hive cultures found in most insect species across the Galaxy, taken to the logical end point by full intellectual development encompassing an awareness of history, aesthetics and social structure. There is a strong sense of hive identity and absolute loyalty to the hive mother or her successor.

Drones, although self-aware, have little sense of self-preservation and it has been postulated that there is a single 'hive consciousness' residing in the hive mother. If this is the case, then the drones are effectively active arms of the hive rather than individuals in their own rights. This could, in turn, shed new light on the various attempts made by the Thargoids to establish communication links with our own species.

We look at these in our next issue: Thargoid- human interactions.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -7
M.C.S

Thargoid - human interaction were essentially violent and usually terminal for the greater part of the Thargoid Era. There is evidence, however, that the aliens made several attempts at communication on various levels in the early years of the War between our races.

A number of experienced Commanders claim to have been surrounded by Thargoids who failed to fire back even while losing large numbers of Thargons to the human lasers. The ships were held until the lasers over-heated and immediately thereafter, the Thargoid mother ship launched and subsequently destroyed an equally large number of the smaller Thargons. Each Commander then reports being hyper-spaced against their will back to either the Federal or the Imperial Naval bases, depending on their own allegiance, where it was found that their on-board log devices had recorded the entire event in a single repeating loop.

The belief at the time was that the humans were witnessing either a living sacrifice or the Thargoid equivalent to the Court Martial with capital punishment of offenders.

Recent research has suggested that there may be a more reasoned explanation - the topic of our next two issues.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -8
M.C.S

The Thargoids practice a religion based on sacrifice of their neonates to appease a warlike god. This kind of story began to circulate almost as soon as the Thargoids were identified as a potential threat to humankind and certainly long before anyone could possibly have had the evidence to back it up.

It is the single most common slander directed at the enemies of any race since the Greeks first fought the Romans on Earth before the onset of the Technological Era and it demonstrates a certain innate arrogance on the part of the human colonists who invariably assume that all other sentient species, however technically adept, are subject to irrational but abiding religious dictates. However, the practice described in our previous article was well documented with full video evidence and it was difficult to ascribe many other explanations to their behaviour.

Recently, Dr Joreb Innitu of the Alien Studies Department of the Ghandi Institute based on Wicca's World (Alioth) has been examining all aspects of Thargoid behaviour and the findings are published in the next issue.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -9
M.C.S

Thargoids are highly intelligent, perhaps more so than the average humanoid. With intelligence and reason comes integrity, a sense of honour and an aversion to war.

The Thargoids had the technological capability to destroy human ships with ease and it did not evolve over-night although their appearance in our Universe was sudden and dramatic. We can rationally assume that they could have destroyed all the early probes and less well-protected ships at an earlier date had they chosen to do so. They did not.

Instead they appear to have gone to extreme lengths, at various points during our War to preserve the lives of Commanders they could otherwise have destroyed and to send a vivid and memorable 'message' in a way that we would be able to see and to understand. The fact that we misinterpreted it is a fault of our arrogance and our cultural assumptions, not theirs.

It is entirely probable that the concept of sacrifice does not exist in the Thargoid culture and so that particular misinterpretation did not occur to them. If we consider instead that they were demonstrating the utter futility of the killing in the most graphic way possible, then we can view the rest of their actions in a new light.

The wholesale destruction of human convoys, naval fleets and single craft did not take place until several of these 'demonstrations' had been performed - and ignored by us.

In our next issue, we look at the failure to negotiate a peace.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -10
M.C.S

If Dr Innitu's suggestion, published in our last issue, is correct, then we must believe that the Thargoid race was not only technologically superior to our own, but also that it was ethically and morally superior as well. If it is true that the Thargoids made dramatic and graphic efforts to explain the futility of killing to our Naval pilots before embarking on full scale war against the human race, then we must ascribe to them a set of values which belittle our own (bearing in mind that no such attempt was made by the any one of our political leaders at any time).

There is a growing belief amongst the academic community that, had we attempted to negotiate with the Thargoid leaders, we could well have averted the war saving millions of lives. It is also possible that there could have been a sharing of technology, to the greater benefit of both races. The theory put forward by Innitu's group is that failure to negotiate was deliberate and had broad, well-considered political motives.

In our next issue, we look at the events leading up to the War and the reasons it was not averted in time.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -11
M.C.S

The Thargoids were first reported in human space by Lens Nikon, supervisor of the 'Planets Unlimited' Terra-formation Project on New Africa (Veliaze -2,3). They appeared in large numbers following the initial stages of planetary alteration. Initially only the Thargons were seen, flying in linear formation at a steady distance from the Planets Unlimited fleet.

It was only after the instigation of oxygenation that a mother ship was observed from a distance and no hostile action was reported until one of the Fleet Commanders ordered his defence wing to "melt them down".

There followed the complete destruction of all Thargoid ships in the area, including the mother ship. Forty eight hours later, the entire Planets Unlimited Fleet experienced a mis-jump and were met by around thirty Thargoid mother ships with an encircling fleet of Thargons.

Only two survivors returned (both unscathed) and neither made coherent reports although it seems likely that the two may be the only humanoids to have seen a living Thargoid and survived. Reports of their debriefing at the Therapy Centre on Eta Cassiopoea, suggest that the Thargoids made several attempts to open negotiations but were fired on at each juncture.

The exact details will never be known but the first shots were undoubtedly fired and the Thargoid Wars started in earnest. Hostilities continued for the next century and a half with neither side making sane communication with the other.

Or did they?

In our next report, we examine the issue of Inter-Species Communication.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -12
M.C.S

Inter-Species Communication - why did it never happen? If the Thargoids were as intelligent as they are made out to be, could they not have created an effective method of communicating with us? Could we not have made good contact with them?

Our belief is that they did and we did - but not publicly. We have new, unpublished research to suggest that the Inter Species Translator was not, in fact, a development of the INRA researchers, but was designed, built and delivered by the Thargoids in an attempt to halt the war. We believe that the authorities of the two existing galactic powers suppressed all communications (and continue to do so), using the 'Thargoid Menace' as a political tool to retain control over the pioneering colonists of the early Thirtieth century.

Who in their right mind is going to found an Independent Colony when only the combined force of INRA is keeping you safe from the big green monsters? It sounds far fetched, but it is the only theory that fits all the facts. Our political masters may not have begun the war, but they certainly perpetuated it long beyond its natural span.

So why, in the end, did the Thargoids leave? Where did they go and will they ever come back?

In our last report, we examine the possible answers to these and other questions.

THE THARGOIDS - TRUTH AND FICTION -13
M.C.S

In our last few articles, we have presented an entirely novel viewpoint: that of an intelligent, sensitive, highly ethical species of supremely advanced technological and moral development.

We have a race that is probably averse to war but is prepared to kill when provoked. They could, almost certainly, have won in the long run had the war continued for another five or six decades. Had they begun 'ammoniating' atmospheres in the same way as we oxygenated the atmosphere on New Africa (Veliaze -2,3) they could have wiped out the human colonies in a couple of decades. Instead, they vanished. In the space of six months the Thargoid terror was reduced to nothing and the INRA pilots were claiming their unlikely victory.

So - did they walk or were they pushed? All our evidence suggests that they may well have left of their own accord but, if so, why did it take them so long to go?

One suggestion, again proposed by Dr Innitu of Alioth suggests that the war was, indeed, won by INRA - not by the pilots but by the military research arm. Dr Innitu is due to deliver a paper at the Alien Races Convention at Fort Grant on New Caledonia, Beta Hydri (0,-2) early next month and this journal will carry full details in the next issue.

In the meantime, we leave you with a sense of wonder and of loss - and a certain bitterness at the short-sighted stupidity of our political leaders.

I loved reading those at the time, they were coming each game month or so...

Also, there is this.

https://twitter.com/michaelgapper/status/764062439641976832

Dante80 fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Aug 14, 2016

# ? Aug 14, 2016 10:32

Gromit: Aug 15, 2000; I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

I submitted a bunch of exploration data at Bava as a part of the community goal (the first one I've ever tried) and then went off for a long trip out to nowhere. I've just now got back to the station where I got the CG - how do I know what I got for that data? Is there anything I need to do to finalise the process?

# ? Aug 14, 2016 11:48

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# ? May 11, 2024 07:56

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Gromit posted:

I submitted a bunch of exploration data at Bava as a part of the community goal (the first one I've ever tried) and then went off for a long trip out to nowhere. I've just now got back to the station where I got the CG - how do I know what I got for that data? Is there anything I need to do to finalise the process?

If you signed up for the CG, it should still be in your left-hand panel until you collect the money. Frontier at one point added a function to collect from afar if you're too long or too far away, but I dunno how that works. It's been a good long while since I had to do this.

If you're at the station already, you can also go into the mission board and to the list of CGs. If you're signed up and didn't collect, it should still show up for you. As long you don't accidentally hit "discard", you should be golden.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 12:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Ellen Degeneres: Horizons - AI Now Earns More Than Human Crew

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