One thing I just don’t get, though. Why even have a large-scale exploration expedition, when there are these individuals who are all “screw this, I’m just going to the next WP!”?
And also, why even have ‘EU’ and ‘US’ launch times, when it’s better off just calling it ‘afternoon launch’ and ‘night launch’? Of course, I see it like this. But in reality, timezones are a bitch, and these are what times are best for which areas of the globe. Yet I almost fucking wish it was restricted to “non-US people take the EU launch”.
Never dealt with two timetables in my life. Not like this anyway. Makes me feel ‘ohh, it’s so cooler to be part of the EU launch! Because the US launch BLOWS!!’
Especially yesterday, when we were meeting up for the launch. I was waiting for the 11pm EDT USA launch, while a majority of CMDRs were setting up for the EU launch. And the numbers of the EU and the US launches..were HUGE. So, so many more people during the EU launch.
Granted, this also caused a lot of issues with phasing (aka instancing). The worst of this came from the pre-US launch. We were ready, but the lead ships couldn’t get to us. They could see eachother, but not us. It was so much similar to what the IW dealt with when it came to escorting me back to the bubble. It’s good that I’m not the only one having these issues, but also bad that it’s a gamebreaker.
The EU launch was quite chaotic. Meaning, studdering…LOTS of studdering. There was over 25 ships here, and MAN was it doing a number on my framerate! However, the instancing that people claim was really bad, wasn’t affecting me. But we were seeing a few SRVs bug out that was similar to what a friend of mine caught my own SRV doing while we were checking out this alien wreck (a week before the launch).
That bug, although hilarious to watch, is also annoying at the same time. Because this screws up things like SRV racing.
I did learn something from being part of this event (after failing horribly at doing a mass jump while still inside a planet’s landable zone). Turns out, if the destination is visible (and you’re at 2km or higher), you can jump to it without having to leave the planet.
Yet I think by failing at doing a mass jump, I survived a major fuckup. Heard from Tea_Rex, something about a ‘clusterfuck’ happened after the mass jump and a few commanders had to go back to the bubble to get repairs, before going to WP1. Wasn’t really a smart idea.
But DAMN…was that mass jump so cool!! I’ve only seen it happen on video during the CNE and the DWE, but never happen right infront of me.
During the US launch, we had our own “mass jump”. It was a mass dismiss of our ships. I didn’t get the Que and dismissed mine about 10 seconds late. But again, it was like God was protecting my ship as we saw a lot of “OMG LOL!!” from the local chat — ships ramming into eachother on takeoff. My ship was saved. Others.. not so lucky(dinged hull but no exploding ships), but thankfully, the bubble was close.
So yeah. That’s what happened. Tomorrow’s the big one; the first 5+Ly distance to the next WP(which would be WP2). Though I would imagine with my nearly 45Ly jump range, I would be there in less than a day. Then again, it could take nearly the entire day. That’s why I’m debating if it’s wise to go with the EU group than the US group. This way I’ll have more time to jump. But with the US group, I’ll have more time to explore this moon (and possibly the moon above our heads). Plus, it’ll be past dinnertime and I would had already ate and stuff.
Or maybe I’ll make up my own time and leave after dinner (as others seem to do so, but for their own reasons). Who knows.
Currently, we’re basically heading in the direction of where Jaques is (to say hi, meet up with the ‘Jaqueasses'(no, I didn’t make this up, this is what they’re called) who are helping the station, and get any necessary repairs done), before turning towards the core.