Sun, Sea and Physio! pt. 2
05 Apr 2018LongDistanceClara
(Apologies in advance - I'll freely admit I'm no artist and these are kinda grotty pics! It's going to be a while until I can start doing proper atmospheric pics with a textured model and so on, partially because I'm rusty as all hell with the software and it's taking FOREVER to download some parts of the engine! So until then, please bear with me and hopefully I'll be able to get some decent properly rendered piccies out soon!)---
Pretty tired...
After all, we've put quite a few light years under the belt these last few days! We made it out to the old mile post of Beagle and toasted our nice new Chieftain, so that box is now ticked. We're almost home now but everyone's fairly tired, so we're laying up just outside the bubble in a nice little canyon before heading back to "civilization".
Previous log, I think we were just coming down to land on 'Marimba', our secret little ELW paradise? I'm horribly biased but I think it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen
We zipped in low, skimming over the ocean and aside from a bunch of clouds on the distant horizon, it was absolutely perfect - a fantasy tropical island with a low mountain ridge running down its back. As we made landfall, everyone had their eyes peeled for a landing spot, until we finally spotted a lovely little lagoon with a petite "islandette" in the middle which seemed perfect.
The Wildcat was very easy to set down, digging her 'claws' into the sandy soil - and that was that! We'd landed on our own world and shortly afterwards, three idiots tumbled out of the ship and were rolling around on the beach
Couldn't have been more gorgeous - the sand was almost too hot to touch, the lagoon crystal clear and a brilliant turquoise that almost glowed in the sun; and an intense lush green backdrop of vegetation carpeting the side of the ridge that rose across the water over the lagoon.Not bad at all!
It was too hot for the Remloks though, so grudgingly back on board to hurriedly change into something a bit skimpier, then straight back out onto the beach where I think we must have just sunbathed for hours. There was the odd trip back on board to get crucial supplies - got to stay hydrated! (although I'm not sure what we were drinking would have helped
). After a pretty amazing sunset we finally headed back on board and collapsed in bed.Next day, a little reconnaissance; we had a slow fly around the island, exploring all the little coves and beaches;
The weather was still glorious but those clouds we saw the previous day hadn't moved much and it looked like there might be a storm on the way. Although we had time for a quick dip in the lagoon when we got back, the wind was picking up and, not really knowing what the weather was like out here, I didn't really want to risk the Wildcat in a storm, whether on the ground or in the air.
We decided VERY reluctantly that we'd continue with our shakedown cruise and return to Marimba a bit better prepared (most likely in the Kara), as we'd need tons of gear for proper planetary surveys, water and soil analysis etc - you know, all that boring stuff before starting to really put down roots! I'd also feel a lot safer in a storm in Kara, too - it'd have to be pretty ferocious to move that big ol' T10!
So much for the swimming rehab! Although it was truly lovely to christen the planet and we'd definitely be back soon enough to properly 'break ground' on building our tropical retreat. As we rose up through the cloud layers, we could see a pretty big storm system moving in right enough, so yep - good call!
After breaking orbit with one last look back at that pretty blue marble, we started back on the track to Beagle. It's funny - because of the stop-over, it felt almost like a fresh journey? I think everyone was surprised just how quickly the jumps went by before we were suddenly dropping into good old BP. A quick landing at our usual spot, the usual toast to another ship "Bagging the Beagle", and we pretty much just about-faced and headed straight back out, plotting course for the bubble.
It was fairly obvious that all of us wanted to get home asap, so we could tool up the T10 and get her back out to Marimba. I for one couldn't wait to dissolve on that beach again (and I guess start doing all that boring survey stuff!) and I'm pretty sure the other guys were thinking the same
This time though, we bee-lined it straight home. We made great time, despite the Wildcat's little legs, but jump fatigue started getting the better of us on the second day and an overnight stop before re-entering the bubble seemed like a good idea. As fortune would have it, we found a lovely little moon with some really fun canyons - time for Coral to get revenge on me from the Veil West shenanigans! I'll admit she did a pretty good job swooping the valleys, but I'll be a lot happier when I'm back in the driving seat!
So here we are! Almost back home and fairly well-rested; but as everyone drops off to sleep tonight, I doubt anyone is thinking of the bubble - more likely dreaming of golden beaches and sapphire skies...
G'night all!
---
(Just a little update to the whole model/render thing! I've successfully managed to wrestle the model into submission [sort of!] so now it's just a case of tidying it up before I can start texturing it. I'm also downloading a bunch of other stuff that'll enable me to build the island environment in which to plonk the chieftain once its done, but it's taking forever thanks to a creaky internet connection! ITMT I did a quick texture export test to make sure everything was working properly before I started going crazy with my paintbrush, so just for giggles I took a quick screenie
Please note: the IP rights for the model of the Chieftain are very much those of Frontier Developments and my use of them is purely for personal giggles. I will not be disseminating the model to any third party other than as images, nor monetizing any media involving its use. I'd hope that goes without saying but figured it'd be best to be up front!
This is all just (very inept!) typical fan-made stuff