With the launch of fleet carrier interiors and the ability to have Vista Genomics aboard the carrier, now is a perfect time to do our first mini-expedition post CEA4. For this we will be revisiting Messier 67 to see what kind of new stuff is to be found there with Odyssey.
We will be running this expedition between Sunday, March 20, 2022 and Sunday, March 27, 2022. We will launch our carrier from our home system Keltim at 18:00 UTC on March 20, 2022 and plan to stay there for one week.
Messier 67 is a real star cluster, there are roughly 220 star systems in-game inside this cluster to explore, possibly even still lay first footfall on!
We visited Messier 67 originally during CEA2, earning the title as the first expedition to safely return from it, as this cluster is a one-way trip unless you have a fleet carrier to ride back out on, because you can neutron jump into it with a long enough base jump range, but no neutron jump within the cluster to jump back out from. Some other sights to see in the cluster include:
The Anaconda Graveyard: So while we lay claim as the first expedition to safely return from M67 with CEA2, we are not the first expedition to Messier 67. That title goes to Distant Stars expedition led by Erimus Kamzel of Distant Worlds fame. Due to the one way nature, and at the time only a specific Anaconda build having the range to make it inside with the neutron jump, all pilots had to “suicidewinder” back to the bubble so at the end they all did a group flight into the surface of a certain planet up in Messier 67.
Carrier only systems: There is also a set of systems up above and to the sides of Messier 67 even that are far enough apart from any other star that they can only be accessed by fleet carriers. At some point in this mini expedition we will make a run through these. Some of these were first discovered by us on CEA2. We will try and have the carrier run through these on Sunday, although may take into Monday depending on how much exploration there is to do in them and potentially exobiology to perform.
Important Anti-Stranding Note: as the carrier may at times move through systems that are so remote they can only be entered or left from via carrier, it is highly advised that you join our Discord server if you haven’t already and keep an eye on the #kezika channel for all updates so you know if it is “safe” to leave the carrier and when you will need to board the carrier.
If anyone gets stranded we will of course attempt rescue, however we would like to avoid this if at all possible as some of these carrier-only systems require multiple jumps even with the carrier to reach. For example, one such system is HIP 47507, however to get there we have to jump from a system in Messier 67 to HD 77587, then to HD 78726, then to HIP 46561, and finally to HIP 47507. So if you were to hypothetically get stranded in HIP 47507, it’ll take 4 carrier jumps to reach you and another 4 carrier jumps to get you back to the cluster, which is minimum 2 hours and 40 minutes that the carrier is out of the cluster and not accessible to others.