Finally did it!
09 Jul 2019vinnieboJ
Loction: Hell Port, Seagull Sector DL-Y D3Well I did it, I just became an Elite Explorer, my first ever Elite rank! What began as a simple exploration trip to the Butterfly nebula thanks to an article in Sagittarius Eye, became my first proper exploration trip outside of the bubble. I made it all the way to the Monkey Head nebula before I decided to turn back and make my wat towards the bubble again. It’s the furthest out I have ever made it from Sol!
But before I decided to make the trip, I was collecting the credits to buy myself a Federal Corvette. Void opals and Low Temperature Diamonds was the way to go. I used Coriolis to set it up just the way I would want it. And then decided to head off. At the moment I did not care much for my exploration status. Been a pioneer for a while now, and did not really think much of it in terms of getting that elite status.
But after visiting those asteroid bases near the big nebula’s and seeing the percentage climb significantly, I started to take notice and kept on increasing it. Especially after checking out where I could buy the Corvette and trick it out at the same time, which turned out to be Jameson Memorial, I decided to go for Elite.
I had the trip planned out from the beginning. I’d make my way to the Hubble’s Variable and Butterfly planetary nebula’s. From there I set out to the Jellyfish nebula. I arrived there and after flying around that nebula I made my first stop since leaving the bubble. That was Beta Site, an Asteroid base. Landed there and handed in my first batch of exploration data. Had quite a few first discovery’s and first scan’s on my name. That made me feel awesome, to have systems out there with my name now on them.
After that I had a choice to make, or head for the Rosette Nebula, or keep going towards the Monkey Head Nebula. I decided on the latter as I would not know if or when I’d be back out this way again. Made the trek across the black and flew around it for a bit. Sadly it had no system with an asteroid belt nearby.
After that I turned back towards the bubble and decided to visit a few more nebula on my way back. First stop was the Rosette nebula, which had a system with an asteroid base in it, and handed in my exploration data. I now was only 9% away from reaching Elite. Feeling confident I’d get that last 9%, I made my way to my next stop, the Seagull Nebula. Touched down on Hell Port and handed in my data. expecting to reach Elite. But when I did not get the message congratulating me I checked my stats and I was at 99%. I silently cursed myself for not taking the extra time here and there to scan a few more planets to get that last 1%. I refueled and took off immediately and set out to scan a few more systems in the nebula, switching the routing algorithm to economical to cover as many systems as possible and started to jump around.
After going up, down and sideways through the nebula I decided to head back to Hell port and hand in the data. and lo and behold, I got my Elite status! Feeling very happy and accomplished I set out to one of my last goals for this trip; VY Canis Majoris. Easily one of the biggest stars in our neighborhood. After that I am going to head straight for Jameson Memorial. Cash in my data and get my hands on my first large ship I’ll ever own (a I also own a T7, but that ship does not count as a large ship in my opinion).
Only 66 more jumps till VY Canis Majoris…
CMDR Vincent ‘VinnieboJ’ duBronck signing off.
See you out in the Void CMDR’s!