Saturday, April 25, 2015

On a pilgrimage to the light fantastic

Yep. It's another internet spaceships post but ... read on. There are shinies. Or at least, just look at the pictures !

I've been feeling that temptation today to :
Head outside
Enjoy that sunshine
Go watch the new Avengers movie (I hear it's a cracker)

And I could do with shopping for some more shirts too because I'm getting more and more Friday meetings where I have to travel, look relatively respectable, wear a tie (ugh) and all those other things. I know, first world problems. I could do with checking out Ikea's bathroom options too.

But not today because, much as I'd like to immediately watch that new Avengers movie, I'd rather watch it with friends (and one in particular but she's not so much a fan of superhero movies). It is good though that I've improved to the point where I can happily switch plans to do something Fun.

Nah. What I really wanted to do today was unpressured chillout. You know, the type of chillout that comes from spending all day in super comfortable clothes and away from the stresses of being around people. Especially those people when they're behind the wheel of a car. Driving in Bristol can be Nasty. I also wanted to be listening to great music too, at the moment it's Pink Floyd's Animals album, which is ... weird. Next are a bunch of random tracks before Rodrigo y Gabriela.

It's forming a background to the pilgrimage.

So where am I off to ? It's in Elite and a lovely little lady gave me the idea when I was watching her vlog this morning.
I missed a trick because I took that pic a couple of jumps in. It's a loooong way to where I was going. 340 light years in fact. Elite's galaxy models our galaxy. Most of it is procedurally generated and contains fictional space stations but ... it's our galaxy. One of the appeals of the game is that you can break away from trading or bounty hunting and just go off to the wild ... black yonder. In this case, it's me going off to HIP 74290. I'll tell you what's there in a bit :-).

But on the way - here's a few examples of why Elite has my attention at the moment (click for full 1080p lushness)
Those last two are of the star I went to visit. The stars above are examples of the variations in the game. There was a brown dwarf in there too which I thought was a neutron star first up, I legged it from that quickly. That's a fairly expensive ship I'm flying there ... And I don't want it bouncing off either a neutron star or being sucked into a black hole.

But I wasn't there to visit the star. A very special tribute was recently added to the game and here's me halfway to it :
Check that name. Here's the full scale of the station when you get there :
Of course I had to be a poser :
And take a selfie after landing too :
I'm about to get myself a hot chocolate before heading back in slow mode. Even fast mode took 20 jumps to get there so I don't know how long slow mode will take ! But I hope this shows one aspect of Elite. It is imaginary (like a book!) but you can just take off and go somewhere new. Some people take a pilgrimage to the centre of our galaxy. I plan to see if I can do a circle around the galaxy. Not in the Cookie Clipper above but in an explorer ship more suited to the trip.

Maybe tomorrow for Avengers 2 ?

Before I close, a few mentions :
For someone who I'm wondering if she'd like me to take her to Avengers 2 (even though she's not keen on the superheroes, there'd be a few safetyhugs in it for her !)
For a Pixie who I hope will appreciate tributes like this, she's a huge fan.
For Rhianna who I know dad would be bursting with pride knowing she's minding the store.
For Kim who gave me the idea to do this pilgrimage today

But lastly and most important, we'll miss you sir : GNU Terry Pratchett.

3 comments:

  1. PS There's been a colour change too which I hope will make things easier for dyslexic people, I know a few of them and I've noticed the word skip problem a bit myself (could be why I occasionally miss words ...). I'll switch the mobile template around too.

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  2. The background is a bit.... stark... [grin]

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  3. Haha - the game background or the white text on black ?

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