08-09-16 Day 1, Kembel and Messaline

 After several hours, I finally figure out you can also identify plants and some types of rocks and get credit for those discoveries.  Probably one of the set backs of getting the digital download instead of the physical game with directions. To verify this, I walked to the living room where my room mate bought a physical copy of the game for his PS4, and no.  No directions.  So this is purely a figure it out game. 

After a little more poking about, I decided to head back to Messaline to find out what the Beacon was about.  Plus, now that I knew I could scan more than just animals, I had a lot of targets on interest I had missed out on, on my 'home' planet.

The beacon gave me the location of an outpost.  I'm not including many pics cause I've already shown what Messaline looks like, and it's basically the same everywhere on the planet.  Same with Kembel.  If you want to see more pictures, I have an online album for this logbook that I'm pulling images from at https://goo.gl/photos/tJbMYQYp6YwEayZB7.

The one thing in the videos that changed a bit is I have turned down the game music, I liked it, but I wasn't sure what was music and what was the actual sounds of the planet.  So, do get the actual sounds from the planet, I'm leaving the sound off.  I am, however, adding a playlist while 'driving' in the ship.  I used music mostly for the long distance space travel in the earlier videos, and found it was a good way of helping the long boring flights be more entertaining.  Decided to do the same when I take off, like you would have in your car.  The playlist will be extremely varied.

The playlist so far:

Journey - Starrider

Hum - Stars

Beastie Boys - Jimmy James

Bush - Machine Head

I ran around and snagged all the plant species and rocks I missed on the opening time I spent on Messaline while hitting up outposts.  Came across several that were covered in a weird organic structure and the messages had darker messages to them.

I'm not sure what it is, but I assume it's part of bigger story that will unfold the further in the universe I get.  How it, the Atlas and the Sentinels are connected, I'm not sure yet.  The way it's described seems to want to lead you to thinking it's a bad thing, and it certainly looks the part.  But, that doesn't always have to be the case.  Lacking any significant information about what it is, it's purpose, or anything else, I'm leaving that particular story alone to unfold at it's own pace.

I still don't have an Atlas pass yet, so I'm not able to get into a lot of locations.  I'm sure it's probably something I will have to graft in time, but as of yet, I haven't come across how to do so.

I began to get nudges to work with my Hyperdrive and travel to Space Stations.  For the most part I ignored them because Iw as still curious and wandering around my 'home' planet.

I attracted the attention of the drones for the first time after shooting a titanium tank.  I thought they only protected natural settings; things like animals, the general ecology, stuff like that.  But apparently, even Vy'keen structures are protected, which surprises me since the Vy'keen I've learned through several conversations aren't very keen on them.  At least it doesn't seem that way.  I still don't fully understand their language yet.

It's confusing, because I've allied with the Atlas, but the Sentinels attacked me.  I've allied with the Vy'keen, but the Sentinels attacked me.  The Sentinels, as far as I can tell, have not attacked the... growth... that seems to have overtaken the abandoned outposts.  So, what interest are they serving?

08-09-16, Day 1, Ceres System and Kembel

Getting out of atmosphere wasn't a big deal, but figuring out how to jump over to the next planet took a few minutes.

Ceres:

"The Ceres star system was the secondary location of the Infinite, its whereabouts provided by the data chip possessed by Kaliko. (TV: The Infinite Quest)" 

My initial reading of the planet (Dodrarlagthuale) I pointed my ship at was 2 hrs 30 mins, which there was no way I was doing.

 Once I sped up, time improved to 15 mins, which still seemed excessive.  I wasn't reading the bottom left of my screen, which was telling me how to engage my pulse jump because I started dodging asteroids.

 I did finally figure it out though.  And the time dropped to 30 seconds, way more understandable for a game.

 Re-entry was interesting for the first time doing it.

Kembel:
"Kembel is the setting of "Mission to the Unknown" and much of The Daleks' Master Plan. It is mostly covered in large, inhospitable^{[to whom?]} jungles home to many strange creatures. It is described as the most hostile planet known, and only the Dalek forces were willing to use it as a base. However, when the Time Destructor is activated there by the First Doctor, the planet is reduced to a desert."

Kembel, originally Dodrarlagthuale, was like a massive desert.  It felt on initial arrival a lot like the southwest in the USA.  It had some sporadic life, but no real animals it seemed like. Although, I kept hearing strange sounds, which made me think there must be something there, but I just wasn't seeing it. 

After touch down, I began to pick up beacon transmissions.

 At the Tisippon Outlook, I was introduced to a simple puzzle that resulted in map information... well, not map, by location information for sites I could check out.

I discovered a plasma cannon blast that could dig holes in normal rocks that my mining beam hadn't previously been able to penetrate.

There wasn't much on Kimbal.  Found mostly the same type of places as on Messaline with ruins, outposts, drop pods, etc...

  Caves also appeared to be very similar to Messaline.

The climate, despite being a barren desert, didn't give my suit any trouble, although I felt like the battery didn't last that long.  It could be that there was very little Carbon on the planet and I was using Plutonium to power my Life Support system instead.  

It seemed perpetually dark.  Not quite night, but not quite day.  I wonder if the planet's rotation is slower?  Is that something that happens in the game?  Causing twilight to extend for longer?  Not sure what the driver was for that.  Or is it possible the game allows planets to have different angles to the sun for their rotation?