M.R.S.C. Mercator - Carrier Log, Day 121 - Day 150
18 Nov 2020FalconFly
Mining and Reconnaissance, Strategic Carrier
The Mission :
The M.R.S.C. Mercator departed into the Arcadian Stream on 20 Jun 3306 for a long-term Exploration Campaign. On Station at a sequence of Waypoints, its Primary Objectives are :
- discover any NSP (Notable Stellar Phenomena), as none was discovered in this Galactic Sector yet
- discover a new Green Gas Giant, which are easily amongst the most rare and elusive Objects in the Galaxy
Secondary Objectives :
- conduct Mining Hotspot Surveys and report high-quality Double Hotspots to the IMU (Intergalactic Mining Union)
- support Explorers in Deep Space with onboard Services
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Mission Time : 123 Days
It's been very slow days recently, so scan count is merely up to 248 for the time being. Still, that means it's about 25% complete.
Only a single new ELW has been discovered at the outermost edge of the AOR.
Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come in this area, as the area seems surprisingly dry in that respect - or me being just not gifted with alot of luck.
Again, Minerals were sold off in low amounts, adding to the Mercator's financial reserves - which look very solid by now.
ROI (Return on Investment) on the Carrier so far has been nicely positive.
After some focus on the area near the Carrier, the AOR is now being scanned in a spider web pattern more or less.
With some 250 Systems scattered all over the place over a 100LY radius, the 4th AOR is nothing more than a little speck right now.
But at least ED Astrometrics is back up and fully functional now, so progress can be tracked again by visual means.
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Mission Time : 125 Days
A few more Biologicals were discovered but it was the usual Anemones.
Lots of errands requiring attention meant that progress was quite slow again.
System count has reached 335 and mostly C/D/E Mass Systems within 100LY have been sampled.
All dry so far, though, no new ELW either.
Some Mining Trials running Pulse Wave Analyzer workarounds were performed - but seeing only a single Bromellite Core after flying backwards (!) over 150km quickly put an end to the tests.
Tritium, Painite and to a very limited extend Low Temperature Diamonds could reliably be mined - but that's really it.
Lacking the variation of normal Mining for many various Minerals, I'd say the campaign is currently in a rather unexciting phase.
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Mission Time : 130 Days
A few more Anemones were added to the public Databases and two more Earth-Like worlds were discovered.
Other than that, extended workaround Trials for the continued Pulse Wave Analyzer issues were flown - with surprisingly good success.
That means Core Mining has become viable again, at least to a limited extent.
As a side-effect, a few missing ores were added to the Carrier just to complete the collection of Minerals.
While it's exceedingly unlikely for anyone to purchase these, I still felt they belong into the portfolio of a Carrier that also operates in mining role.
As the region here has been a tad dry again, I've evaluated a shift in Mission Objectives.
Given that nothing of interest has turned up in over 4 months on Station, the Option to assist in another Exploration Operation in Cooperation with another CMDR has turned up.
Nothing final yet - but there's a chance the Mercator might cease Operations in the Arcadian Stream and move over into the Norma Expanse and assist in locating more Guardian Structures.
The 4th AOR is slowly developing around its anchor.
The 473 scanned Systems still don't leave much of a mark though, as the scan pattern did not produce much of a distinct footprint.
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Mission Time : 133 Days
A few more Earth-Like worlds discovered and some new Anemone locations sent into the IGAU Database...
539 Systems scanned so far but the area is basically already telling me to leave more or less. Nothing of interest turned up in this region.
Eyeing that Plan B to cease Operations in the Arcadian Stream and at least go on a prolonged detour into the Norma Expanse, time to review the Fuel.
The M.R.S.C. Mercator in its current configuration has a remaining max. Range of 44055LY, which means that a transition into the adjacent Galactic Sector would be a non-issue concerning Fuel.
If the decision is made, it won't come until in about a week from now the earliest, so plenty of time left to scoot around on Station.
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Mission Time : 134 Days
A whole bunch of Herbig Stars have been located within the AOR and checked out - however nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.
Scan count now at 596 Systems, so the AOR is slowly nearing its scheduled completion.
Additionally, some more Tritium was added - parking the Mercator near this local Tritium Source turned out as a smart choice, as the observed yields at the Hotspots are quite good despite their generic nature.
In other news, it could be that one or even two old Wingmen might join the Mercator's Operations in the future.
The idea of seeing another CMDR is a welcome change, as things truly are very solitary in this remote area of Deep Space.
As a side-effect, however, that could mean that the Commodity Trading off the Mercator has to be reworked.
The Carrier would change from being a net seller to a net buyer in order to accept Wingman mining products.
Making such a drastic change I'd like to make with several Days advance warning, as not to suddenly shock any inbound buyers seeing all sales vanish abruptly.
This change would also have to be permanent, as to provide the stability and reliability any other CMDRs would expect from a solid Carrier Market.
I have no empirical data on the effects of others filling up the Carrier by Mining, but this would certainly require a sales trip eventually and needs to be financially sound in terms of prices paid onboard.
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Mission Time : 136 Days
Another large batch of Herbig Stars and E-Mass Tauri Stars was checked out but apart from one Tauri sporting an ELW, nothing out of the ordinary.
Some more Mining was performed just as well for a change of pacing, adding to Storage but also further boosting Tritium reserves.
676 Systems sampled so far in the AOR, so the job here is about 2/3 complete.
The Option to leave the Arcadian Stream and migrate to the Norma Expanse to conduct a Joint Carrier Operation has ceased to be viable today after witnessing more-than-awkward commentary from the CMDR in question.
I don't cooperate with weirdos, I rather follow and insist on a minimum standard of Professionalism. - an old rule of mine which is a luxury I thoroughly enjoy and enforce.
Looking at the Storage and the 4th AOR slowly nearing completion, I >do< consider closing markets and making an interim sales trip back to the bubble though.
Colonia is 2500LY closer - but remains an invalid Refuel Target for Carrier Operations due to lack of reasonable supply.
The Option to fully rely on autonomous Refueling exists, although this needs to be very carefully considered. The Mercator currently holds sufficient Range to satisfy all Options.
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Mission Time : 137 Days
More Earth-Like worlds are coming in as of recently, which is nice to see after starting off with a fairly dry period in this AOR at first.
Sample size for this 4th AOR has climbed to 728 Systems, so that's good progress.
The M.R.S.C. Mercator will cease selling Minerals/Metals on 10th Nov 3306, giving any potential (and informed) buyers sufficient time to react and make a call.
Amongst others, one rationale is to have some kind of "this part of the Campaign complete" indicator - even if by virtue of a full Cargo hold.
A return trip every few months seems perfectly reasonable and offers a good opportunity to reflect on the previous Campaign & plan a new one incorporating the experiences.
As the Carrier will stay in the Arcadian Stream, the rough plan for the next areas will be to scout for suitable Carrier locations more up north and a tad more towards the center of the Galactic Sector.
Part of the plan is to at least once check out the outermost boundaries above and below the Galactic plane just to have that checked off the list.
There's quite a few huge stretches of space where no Biologicals have ever been reported yet, so that'll serve as coarse candidate regions.
I'll likely scout ahead with the TEV Aurora and pull the Carrier behind once some Bios are detected.
Although still a Mission Objective, I've come to the conclusion that finding a new Green Gas Giant is simply exceedingly unlikely - regardless of effort.
Might be a better choice to run that as a permanent side-objective and replace it primarily with a classic ELW hunt.
I'm cursed like any other to hardly ever find what I actively seek - but typically find byproducts... so it seems a smart choice to make one of the Primary Objectives a "byproduct"
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Mission Time : 139 Days
Shortly following the announcement that the M.R.S.C. Mercator was terminating sales of mined Minerals/Metals soon, the biggest ever observed transaction occurred.
A volume of 366M Cr worth of Metals/Minerals cleared out most of the high-value Commodities.
Very nice, as this opened up a more transitional shutdown of the Carrier Sales; fresh mined high-value ores simply aren't put back up into sell orders.
Even if it was financially entirely unsupported from this day on, the Mercator would now hold a max. endurance of no less than an additional 560 Days.
The official closure of sales remains set to the 10th Nov, although at this point it's mostly a formality.
Additionally, for the first time the long-standing buy offers for SAR Salvage have been filled. New offers are back up in higher quantity, although it's now far less likely - lacking attractive sell offers going along with them - to see these getting filled again anytime soon.
This is especially a nice touch, as hours of SAR Test Flights above Planets did not yield absolutely anything, let alone spotting a Signal Source of any nature.
At 739 scanned Systems in this 4th AOR, hardly any progress to report on the Exploration side, too many errands to run left little time.
The remaining ~250 Systems will be filled on a flexible and relaxed pacing, as I do not expect any surprises at this point.
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Mission Time : 141 Days
Scan count reached 800 Systems, meaning "the end is near" in terms of this area. Only 200 to go...
Some more time was spent mining, this time to refill the Storage that's now a personal Storage.
Turns out Benitoite is still my bane... I usually find anything but Benitoite in a respective Hotspot.
Oh well, at least no dreaded Bromellite Cores in Rocky Rings, so "a core is a core" and still useful.
I also got to take the SRV for an extended spin, as some Elements were topped off.
I realized I normally don't spend alot of time down on Planets, that's actually a very rare thing. With some Elements still having room to stock up, I should do this more often. After all, everything I need is all around me at all times.
On the possible companion plan, no news so far. Looks like I'll stay alone around here for a while.
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Mission Time : 143 Days
863 Systems done to date, so it looks like the Mercator can slowly get ready to move again.
Decision on the next AOR isn't quite ripe yet, still evaluating the Options - mostly due to the sheer amount of available Options...
Time was filled with lots of RL distractions but still got a few things done.
New Earth-Like Worlds clocked in, Elements storage was stocked up again and several smaller Mining runs were made, so in a sense done "a little bit of everything".
Currently, the Mercator holds 1926t of assorted Commodities and a total of 9577t Fuel. That leaves 8377t of free space for future Mining alone at this time, which should be plenty.
As planned and announced, the Carrier sales of mined products have terminated today. However, buy offers for SAR Salvage remain active at all times.
The 4th AOR isn't very dense and fuzzy in nature - but at least it's visible in terms of progress.
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Mission Time : 145 Days
After reading reports about Asteroid Belt Clusters now being able to contain a Core Asteroid (which was news to me), several Mining Trials were flown in various Systems.
Turns out all Asteroid Belt Clusters that hold ~10-12 Asteroids indeed and reliably contained a single Core, all small ones (5 Asteroids) persistently had none.
Core type was identical per-Belt Cluster but at least that offered predictable results.
Not too shabby as a fallback Option, especially when Belt Clusters were fairly close to each other.
Got some scenic views out of it as well, so it's an interesting fallback Option now.
At 892 Systems done, not much left to do in this AOR which is now almost 90% complete.
Still no decision on the next AOR, I want to make it count - at least as much as I can.
Could be something at 2000-2500LY elevation at the vertical outskirts of the Galaxy in the area.
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Mission Time : 146 Days
Added some more Minerals and Metals to the Storage, plenty of room to fill.
AOR is at 926 scanned Systems now, so I'm closing in on completing it.
Other than that, all normal-normal and calm as always.
So far, I tend to like the idea of popping up all the way beyond 2000LY elevation and completing another 100LY in low System density as a 5th Waypoint.
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Mission Time : 147 Days
959 Systems done, some more Biologicals.
But other than that, the place is trying to tell me it's pretty much TTL - Time to Leave...
Area seems dry, nothing of interest so far.
I guess the Mercator might move within 48hrs, just have to make the call on the 5th AOR.
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Mission Time : 148 Days
4th AOR is now complete and the M.R.S.C. Mercator has completed its transit to the 5th AOR around the anchor Oephairgh ZD-E c1-8...
Stats for the completed area at Waypoint 4 :
- 1003 Systems scanned
- 12 Earth-like Worlds
- 16 Ammonia Worlds
- 146 Water Worlds
- 16 Water Giants
- 1566 Gas Giants scanned
The 5th AOR has been placed exactly at the junction of 4 different Sectors and is located around +1250 Elevation.
Not as high as originally intended but close enough and it'll have a radius of 50LY, which seems plenty.
The different Sectors might produce more interesting results, which seems worth investigating.
Having spent almost 5 months in Deep Space with still no signs of the Primary Objectives is a tad discouraging... but that was always a possibility.
Based on available Telemetry, one of the announced CMDRs appears enroute to the Mercator and could arrive sometime next week.
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Mission Time : 149 Days
With a little over 50 Systems scanned in the new AOR, naturally nothing to show yet.
With the fellow Explorer already being very close, the Mercator has now become a net buyer for limited quantities of most key Minerals/Metals.
The initial price structure and volumes intentionally aren't designed to attract sellers from afar - but rather to allow independent local mining sales for at least meaningful figures, merely to allow for some change of pacing in the form of casual mining.
As this is the first time buy orders for Mining products are opened, they're obviously not set in stone and subject to change if required.
On first sight, the System density here seems lower than expected, so the AOR might increase in size eventually.
After all, sampling a mere 25LY into each of the four local Sectors seems quite tiny.
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Mission Time : 150 Days
What can I say... 5 months. Five full months in Deep Space now. Time really flies when you command a Carrier out in the void.
The new AOR is up to 115 Systems and as expected nothing shiny discovered so far, except for a single Earth-like World.
To summarize the Mercator's Campaign in total so far, these are the current stats (Areas of Responsibility only, not even counting several hundreds of Systems sampled outside them) :
- 6901 Systems scanned
- 59 Earth-like Worlds
- 93 Ammonia Worlds
- 754 Water Worlds
- 41 Water Giants
- 6375 Gas Giants scanned
However, no trace of a Notable Stellar Phenomena or a new Green Gas Giant. Oh well, maybe the 5th AOR does the trick. Alpha rare stuff, so much is for sure....
Still, I don't give up easily. Never have.
Some considerable changes have been announced and Mining might see these going in effect as early as next week.
Will be interesting to see how it affects Carrier Mining Operations and pricing.
In any case, it means that the very conservative prices paid onboard will have to stay for a while, as there's no way to safely predict these upcoming changes.
With a fellow CMDR now operating off the M.R.S.C. Mercator, spirits remain high and the long-term Campaign shall continue!
Last time I had seen another CMDR with my own eyes was recorded on 23 Aug, so not being alone is a very welcome change.
