I managed to complete the Christmas delivery to Colonia and made quick commemorative delivery to Dove Enigma. I had forgotten how pretty this part of the galaxy is.
I’ve started the trek back - the route finder seemed a lot more efficient at using neutron stars this time.
I parked up in this system in a blue planetary nebula about 1/3 of the way back. It’s a pretty place for a stopover.
The Christmas paint job is starting to show signs of wear.
I hope the canopy provides enough shielding from all that radiation 
.
Not the best lighting, but here’s my new ride for this trip.
Getting ready for the last carrier to start jumping for DW3.
Apologies for the screenshot heavy post, but I wanted to share 
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I haven’t managed to get on much due to an inundation of work, which is a good thing but has put a serious crimp in my gaming schedule! Anyway, I did just manage to make it to the DW3 fleet carrier Distant Suns before departure, and although I missed all the fun at the World of Death over the weekend I did manage to do a little bit of exobiology during a rest stop yesterday. I found a lovely little landable moon with a thin argon atmosphere and a couple of biologicals. I spent an incredibly relaxing hour reminding myself why I enjoy ED so much when I get away from the grind:
Descending into the crater was a bit dicey - the sand was very slippery and I lost control a couple of times, but no significant damage done:
The rocks were full of strata of this strange purple glassy rock which sparkled as I drove or walked past - really quite pretty!
Quite a bit of wear and tear is showing on the Crawfords Mask already - it’s a good job we’re travelling with a fleet of carriers making minor repairs easy.
Searching for bacteria patches - they are pretty well disguised against the orange sand:
Job done:
One last picture before I leave:
Back to the Distant Suns, ready for the next leg of the journey:
o7 guys
Let me be clear the Kestrel Mk.II looks ~hideous~ and I kinda like that. 
Kestrel Mk.II
I mean, it almost literally looks like the ship of the good old video game “Descent” crossed with a Python Mk.II
For the records, this was the first Kestrel Airfighter-
Beside that - 6 new ships incoming, that’s indeed nice…
I would hope that one of the other brings some Imperial design to this. The latest ships are very … utilitarian. Which, yeah I get it- but despite how much I loathe the Imperial ways of doign stuff, they definitely snatched all the top designers.
We will see.
The much flaunted “rework” of the core mechanic, I’m afraid it will end up in a nothing-burger. Probably something related to the Background simulation, which, yeah- it might be a good idea to do- it still doesn’t look like it’s ever going to be anything groundbreaking. 
What I really want is to finally land on planets with full atmosphere and trees, and water, big game hunting- as per Kickstarter. I am sadly aware that being Elite : D, just a small part of income for Frontier, they’ll never allocate resources for that. It’s okay, it only stings a little.
Maybe Elite Dangerous 2? 
Not sure I like the new ship.
That new hard point that uses fuel as ammo could be cool or could make the fuel rats stock go up.
Be curious to see what harpoints it has.
Im kinda waiting for a kriat type ship with a fighter hanger.
The Kestrel gives me vibes of the main cargo hauler from from Dropship: United Peace Force on the PS2:
That was a massively underrated game that I played for many hundreds of hours when I was at university. Unfortunately, it kept giving my girlfriend (now my wife) travel sickness. Something about the way the screen would lag slightly behind the movement of the aircraft.
Oh I am SURE about it… I hate it.
Truth be told, though… I think it does have a niche to fill. A high specs Air Supremacy Fighter… Seems like the kinda equivalent to an F-22.
I think I like the look of this one - maybe I’ll invest in one when I get back to the bubble.
you get the new ship for free …
More information about the Operations coming in June. Hopefully.
As I lately started enjoying the on-foot content I must say this intrigued me.
Hope its got a single player element to it.
For now Im enjoying evacuating passengers.
