Benie's Games Blog

“Here is your Guardian FSD Booster. There are many like it, but this one is yours.”
Getting the mats was possibly more challenging than getting the Guardian mats (as there was more than one system, which had me zipping all around Sol).
Getting the Focus Crystals was somewhat tough for me (as I’ve never used the new system). However, watching the rest of that video did point me in the right direction (INARA was a humongous help with all of this, telling me exactly what systems to go for specific tasks).
I was down to five Focus Crystals left, having traded a majority of my usable mats to crystals. Had to go USS(Unidentified Signal Source) hunting in the same system I was in, but eventually got the exact number than I needed. Now it’s time for the HN Shock Mounts (fearing that as soon as I get them and leave the station, pirates will all be over me like bees to honey). Because of this fear, I tried to find a Trade Broker with a system that is pretty close to its system’s star. I had also set up new commands in VA for silent running and deploying the heatsink (to ward off any pirates after being interdicted).
Thankfully I didn’t have to use them, and safely got to the station with everything available to unlock the booster!

Now I can finally prep to get the money, to unlock the Sirius permit. The only thing stopping me, are the somewhat questionable decisions Dezent did for the build. Grade 5 for some of the engineer mods (when I can only get up to Grade 3 with most of them).
And there’s one more thing, a debate if I need a second AFMU -VS- wanting to keep my Conda’s auto-docking system.
Even though the vote weighs heavily against keeping the docking computer, I just enjoy it too much to do without it. A ship this massive (IMO), needs a docking computer.
But, I’ll store it instead of sell (of when I come back to the bubble). Having a second AFMU when deep in the black (how it can repair the other one, which can repair it) is a good idea (plus they weigh nothing). The GNE proved its usefulness.
—
So I got to get these Engineer upgrades tomorrow, was trying to get some more mats for the Grade 3 Sensors mod (when maintenance started looming over me). I now have a half an hour to get to her and back to Sol (to see if Coriolis was lying to me that I couldn’t get the upgrade from her).
Touched down and was able to verify that INARA was telling me the truth. Though I’m not a fan of this new way of getting the mods. You can no longer go right for the top grade (like I was able to do with Farseer to get my Grade 5 FSD boost mod); you have to work up with rolls.
15 minutes left, back to Sol I went. If I had the Guardian FSD Booster installed, I’m pretty sure it would possibly take me 4-5 jumps to go from Farseer Inc to Sol (instead of 10). And with five minutes to spare before the servers go down, I touched down at the station and logged for the night.
Though I’ve been curious with the booster. With it unlocked, can I possibly be able to access it from any starport’s outfitting services? And also, is it possible to get more than one (for my ASP)? I doubt the second question is a “yes” (which is semi-OK as I’m sure I can store and transfer it between my ships),  but the first question might be a positive one.

Now with the EDEX, I was able to begin the process of trying to get a tradeconda build to get the Sirius permit. Then someone said “actually, go as you are and get 10M in exploration data, and sell it to get the permit”.
After asking “10Million, huh? So surely I can go to the neutron fields and get it, right?”, I got this link to the ‘road to riches’, being told that those ‘trash’ HMCs(High Metal Content worlds) have been buffed to where they’re quite valuable, since I’ve been gone. It’s from the same website that navigated me back to the bubble (from Sag A*) after the GNE.
So with its planner, I thought “let’s see how much data I’ll get if I go to Colonia”, and answer nearly blew something in my brain.. nearly 200million credits!! WOW that’s a lot of good money (when I have 171mil in the bank)!
That total could possibly double when going back to Sol (if it doesn’t pick the same systems I’ve already scanned when going there, which is a slight concern).

Then the conversation went to my explorconda, of how I’m trying to get rid of some weight for the trip (to add a repair limpet controller and a cargo rack for them). Dezent said that I should get the ‘Guardian FSD Booster’, where I only seen the name from Youtube videos. He gave me this Reddit thread and said to go to the other system (which is almost 1,000Ly away from Sol).
With KICS (somewhat) set up (including finally getting the “gear up” and “gear down” commands to work.. the entire thing still has a few bugs I need to iron out somehow(aka commands executing that I never said)), I was enroute to the SYNUEFE NL-N C23-4 system (planet B3); my mission is to locate the ‘Guardian Site’, land as close as I can and deploy the SRV, and then complete ‘The Procedure’ to get the blueprint needed. But it also mentioned about ‘Guardian Sentinels’ and how they will fire rockets, then it said “your ships PDs will deal with them”.. what the fuck are ‘PDs’? But I went with it.
Made it to the system, and made a guess decision where this ‘B3’ planet might be (as this is a multi-star system, with some of the planets between the stars.. which made it confusing to figure out which planet is which, but I got it on the first try).
Immediately after scanning, ‘Guardian Structure’ with three ‘Ancient Ruins’ sites appeared as POIs on the planet surface. Wait.. ‘Guardian Structure’? The link said ‘Guardian Site’, not ‘Guardian Structure’. Ehh, whatever, and tried to land as close as I could (still wondering about what ‘PDs’ are that my ship somehow has).
It’s on the dark side of the planet (of COURSE it is..). What’s worse, this thing is tidally locked. Though it’s impressive this planet’s orbit is 66 days faster than Mercury orbits Sol(20 days compared to Mercury’s 88), that means nothing when the LZ is eternally in darkness (as a tidally locked planet doesn’t rotate on its axis). Though if this was a moon, it wouldn’t matter.. but I’m digressing all over the place here. Someone clean up this digression!
—
After encountering one of the Guardian Sentinels without warning (that I swear look similar to the face of a Reaper Leviathan from Subnautica), I hear “Mothership under attack!” after it fired its missiles. Killed it (they can take quite a beating before they go down), then promptly searched for “wtFUCK is a ‘PD’?!”… ‘Point Defense’ was my answer.
*facepalm.jpg* Point. Defense. launchers. FUCK! And I’m 950LY away from Sol!! D:{
Checked EDDB, hoping for a closer station that would sell one. Closest were all 800+Ly away.
Welp.. time to head back to the bubble. Oy vey.
–
Docked at one of the systems and immediately installed four PDs on the top of the Conda. Now, I’m ready.. I hope. I’m still confused if I was at the right spot (as I can’t really see shit, even with ship lights).
Back at the system (20 jumps to get there), landed as close as I can and prepared to do this ‘Procedure’. Something about to raise energy pylons, and then shoot at them to charge them up, and then go in a pattern. Though the Reddit post seemed to contradict itself, first saying “it doesn’t matter how you do it”, then saying “do it by the diagram”. So what the FUCK do I do?! Most importantly.. where in the fuck are these pylons?
Driving around, I started spotting them rising from the ground. They’re kind of hard to miss, so I tried to cross-reference their positions to the diagram.. looks like I’m actually doing something.
Got them all up, using the diagram to map out a route to take. Shot one until it glowed, 4 minute timer.. it’s on! Everytime I got another one to glow, I got another minute added (giving me more than enough time to complete this). A few of the sentinels showed up, they charge their missile attack and my ship’s PDs deal with it within seconds.
Felt I had all five going, yet the central pylon wasn’t raising. Time’s counting down, and I’m getting quite confused where I’m fucking up. I check them all… for some odd reason, one of them I had charged gets uncharged. Hit it, and my SRV’s computer says “central pylon activated”. Finally!
Now to collect one of these power crystal thingies and drop it down the hole. Collect one, drop it down. The timer resets, and shit goes south as every sentinel spawns in at the same time. The SRV is being tossed around like a toy by their plasma shots, losing shields.
Forced to drive away, I try to pick them off one by one. But everytime, they seem to attack in numbers (severely knocking off my aim as the SRV flips over on its back like a turtle).
But I managed to get in a position where they couldn’t snipe me anymore (yet I could). They tried firing their missiles, and I saw just how quickly they were destroyed by the Point Defense guns. Extremely happy to have these.
With them all dead, I was able to scan the ancient orb to get the blueprint. Immediately after I did, another sentinel spawned in right next to me. I stood my ground and killed it.
—
Then, it was the process of collecting the Guardian-based mats (according to this video). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get all of them.
The next day, I was told I could had simply relogged (forgot about instancing… just shows how long of a hiatus it has been) to get the remaining parts. So I did, and actually got more than I needed.
Time to leave this rock and get back home to Earth.

.
And before anyone asks, no I haven’t forgotten that the Pristine Impalong in Wurm starts this Friday. As long as I make the lamps (and get them imped as high as I possibly can get them) before Thursday, I’ll be golden. 🙂
Infact, after I made it safely back to Sol, that’s exactly what I did. And I just got done typing this post. Now all I need is 40 Focus Crystals, and 8 HN Shock Mounts.

Now this is a game that I haven’t touched in a pretty long time (at least 1-2 years since the completion of the LST). Going to see these Thargoid bases are what interested me in coming back.
Which means I haven’t been flying blind, oh no. I’ve been watching several Youtube videos of E:D for about four days, learning about the new changes since the 2.3 patch (and there are many). Now, the theme is ‘Beyond Horizons’, in patch 3.1.3, which means FDev might be done with their whole Season Pass thing.

So the Thargoids are on the move, destroying stations. However, it seems anti-chaotic when said stations are now being repaired (including The Oracle; the first space station in the Pleiades Nebula). I thought it was lost forever, when they were saying it was “damaged beyond repair”. But now…? It’s operational again, and it’s like the Thargoids were never there.
This could possibly be the same if Blizzard did this when the Cataclysm happened, then a few months later, you had the option to send supplies and eventually undo Deathwing’s destruction. As awesome as it would be to bring back old favorites, it also makes the bad guy look… less of a “Oh no, we have to do something to defend the human race from extinction!!” threat, and more of an annoyance.
But what’s curious, is the pattern of these attacks. A lot of Youtubers suggested the bugs are heading for Sol (and right for me), but after looking at it myself, I don’t think so. They actually appear to be heading straight for the galactic core (or maybe even Beagle Point), destroying any station that decided to fire upon them.
Watching some videos, the ‘flower-type’ Thargoids (that are in Non-Human Signal Sources) seem to only be aggressive when provoked. They’re more curious about us, than see us as an enemy. Though they also seem ‘hungry’ for occupied escape pods.
Another thing about them possibly ‘running away’ from something, the fact the COL 70 SECTOR systems (around the Barnard’s Loop Nebula) are still permit locked, some are speculating this could be either the Thargoid Bubble, or the bubble of a hostile alien force that might be hunting the Thargoids.
—
But enough RPing, I’m ingame again, and my ThrustMaster T-Flight HOTAS X surprisingly still 100% works! I thought for sure I was going to be making a blog post stating how it died and I’ve been forced back to the ‘stone age’ (keyboard/mouse).
Took awhile to re-remember the binds to the HOTAS, and the pre-flight checklist option really helped me with that. After I was finally out of the station, I plotted a course to one of these sites who have been verified as Thargoid ‘bases’. First went to PLEIADES SECTOR LS-T C3-2, and Planet 5A. I had read that these bases are so large, they can be seen from space. But what they didn’t say is some of these bases are on the dark side of the moon (where it’s hard to see them).

But I found the LZ, and wow.. are they creepy looking. You can even go inside this weird alien ‘ship’… but not far, as there are doors that stop you. They also fuck with your electronics (almost like the aftermath of an EMP). Did a quick Google search, and discovered you need the Unknown Artifact (now known as a ‘Thargoid Sensor’), and everyone’s favorite station shutting down device; the Unknown Probe.
Both of these gain you access to the internal workings of this.. whatever it is, which have chambers no human being has ever seen before. One of these chambers, can give you an ‘Unknown Link’ (which is used in the main chamber).
To get these (safely as they cause corrosion damage to your ship’s internal systems), you need to go through the long, arduous task of unlocking Professor Palin in the Maia system.

Once unlocked, he sells corrosion resistant cargo racks (designed specifically for hauling these Thargoid-like devices).
I got the first bits done (with Elvira), but now I got to begin the process of getting a Sirius system permit (just to be able to talk to everyone’s most hated engineer, Marco Quent). And the reason why he’s greatly hated, is he wants you to bring 25 Modular Terminals to him (which aren’t easy to acquire, at least.. they definitely weren’t for many people back in the day). Now it’s slightly easier to complete with Patch 2.4.
So once you complete the required steps to unlock Palin, you have to bring him a bunch of things just to get him to talk to you (carrying unknown probes, which is the exact opposite of what you really wanna do.. but it’s the only way to get him to open his shop).

Which brings up the question — is it really worth all of that effort, when the puzzles have already been solved a year ago? I would assume by now (since it’s old content), FDev would had allowed anyone to just walk right in without these requirements. I wouldn’t even care if I couldn’t interact with the machine-like equipment in there.. I just want to get in, and see what others have already seen.
But no, that’s not the case here. FDev doesn’t work like Blizzard (who would had done what I just said, when they feel it’s old content).
So what the fuck are they planning with these structures? Could these possibly be the Thargoid motherships? And these egg-like sacks at the same site as this video, that are on the ground outside of one of the openings.. just what the hell are we even dealing with?
—
Anyway, some important notes that I’ve seen. It seems a Thargoid base, is seen as a settlement. I made the mistake of recalling the Conda (just incase if for some rare instance, a Thargoid ‘ship’ might show up). But by doing so, I couldn’t call the ship back to me until I moved 2,700km away from this thing. Ended up doing the ‘log out and back into non-horizons’ trick, which ‘teleported’ me back to the ship in orbit of the moon.
At the other site (HIP 14909, planet 2A), I decided to use my SLF(Ship-Launched Fighter) and check the area. To me, this base looked the same as the other one. In the SLF, I couldn’t attack the Scavengers. So I landed near one of the openings, and it’s like they (somewhat) took interest of me (passing by the fighter and occasionally bumping into it).

With it getting close to bedtime, I went back to Sol. I’m thinking of getting this ‘Voice Attack’ program (that’s $12 on Steam). I could see this being quite helpful for me (with the way I’m still flailing around trying to re-learn the keys).
But that is IF I survive this highly unusual severe weather outbreak tomorrow.

Before I start this off, there’s a few things I have to say.
Now remember when I got to a level of being obsessed, having bison and my wagon to explore servers? Of course you do. But since the downtime (and re-reading what Soleil actually said to me when he was taking me to Esteron for the first time.. aka, he never once indirectly hinted at going for bison), it’s making me re-think that having a single horse would be a better bet.
Now I’m not saying I’m getting rid of the bison. No, that’s actually for when I eventually decide to disband my deed. They’re going to stay home, on standby. And to make sure they’re going to stay there, I made the decision to let my ven 5-speeds go (and euthanize them). It hurt me more than them, as they were really, really good horses. But I’m forced to cull the herd (in order to care for the bison), while B2 cares for Uma.

With this done, it still made me feel the game was against me (the fact Uma is now Aged). Then I remember what Retrograde told me (when I had asked him those questions about the creature cage).. when he said “as long as the animal is cared for, it will live forever”.
Caring For her on every server, would ensure the ‘may die’ thing (once she turns ven) will not trigger.
Time to get to work, then.
—
But before I started, someone PMs me saying they could brand her on Inde for free (as a response to this thread I also made, asking for her to be branded on every server).
Tried to go there as quick as I could, but RL things were getting in the way (which took a half an hour) until I was able to get back and finally get to the person ..who just happens to be living at Williamweird’s deed.
After giving him my flint & steel, a kindling and my branding iron, he made a campfire near me and attempted to brand the horse. Unfortunately, he got a message about that he has to have existing prem time to brand it (claiming he never saw this message before).
So, no branding. Sucks, but at least I got to care for Uma here (scratching Inde off the list). He apologized for wasting my time, and I lied and said how it’s OK and he’s fine (while also keeping in my head “yes, yes you did waste my time. You promised me a brand, you should had looked that shit up before I left home!”.. meh. Whatever. It’s not the end of the world.
At least I got to see William’s place again, so that’s cool.
—
The rest of them went better than planned (of getting Uma cared for of those servers). All I had left was Release, and of course Xanadu again (have to let go one of the bison to re-care for Uma).
Release however, would become a problem. Just like the others, I found the nearest land mass to the server border that I could find. But this one had a deed (that I couldn’t access its token because of locked gates). But there was a spot that was off-deed, and thought I could just do it there. But as soon as I unloaded Uma from the cage, she decides to play games with me and walks INTO the deed, to where I can’t lead her ass back to the cage.

I was forced to make a support ticket and ask for assistance. Waited a good half an hour, suddenly Uma starts to go in circles. With so many boats, I couldn’t really see where she was going a few times (to where I could catch her and lead her before she got away)… but she nearly did, trying to go up a mountain (still in the deed’s border).
Re-loaded the crate and stayed close to her, trying to verbally coax her back down. Another half an hour passes, and it seemed the GMs didn’t see the issue being serious enough (that she could get away from me).
Finally a CA responds to the ticket (with a name I should had noticed (Dreammaster), but I was in dire straits). The CA is then “technically this is deffinitely not a bug, but its funny as heck so let me go get my GM”
“Funny as heck”.. are you fucking SERIOUS right now, after what I’m going through?! .. But I actually had no idea, that this was the King of Trolls himself; Enki. Wow. .. WOW. *facepalm* I actually couldn’t help but to laugh with him.
So he sees the horse, sees me and says “get out of that boat and climb up there and grab that horse!” I said “Hehe… well, it’s the fact I can’t Lead her.”
Then he realizes I was actually telling the truth (how I have no Lead permissions). So he flew up to her, and teleported her to the ocean (where I was doing doughnuts around her in my boat, until I finally got the Lead option to show up).
I thanked him and went back to the spot. All he said is “you are welcome” and logged out a minute later. After caring for her, I wanted to throw her in the cage for what hell I went through with her.
Enki then left a message as he closed my ticket, stating “Was almost a good laugh. Not a bug, but circumstances were daunting.” I never stated it was a bug (even picked the ‘Other’ option when I made the ticket). Also, I didn’t have this issue the first time I had an issue where I couldn’t lead the horse (and a GM moved it without question). Of course back then, this was when the horse had a saddle.
Whatever, this won’t happen again (as caring for is much more important than branding right now, to ensure she’ll never die). I just didn’t expect Enki of all the GMs to show up.
—
Caring for her in Xan went as planned, uncaring for the youngest of the bison to make room for Uma. And, it’s done! Now I never have to worry about her croaking on me when taking her cross-server (while I wait for people to brand her.. if they even do). Infact I feel they’re probably saying “why should I even bother branding it for this person if he’s not willing to join my village? Does he not know this is a multiplayer game, that you’re not supposed to play solo?”
But even if I have to bump the damn thread until I’m blue in the face, hopefully there’s someone out there that would be willing to do it.