In the future, all of my logbooks will be uploaded on Inara. You can find them here: https://inara.cz/elite/cmdr-logbook/392233/

I'm back in the bubble!!! And so glad to see everybody... While coming back from Star One, I passed by multiple interesting nebulae. On the expedition, I didn't go to many nebulae because they required long detours. However, there are some majestic nebulae near the bubble (under 10k LYs). I visited the following nebulae: Crescent Nebula, North America Nebula, Pelican Nebula, and Veil Nebula, the latter of which looked like Colgate must've sponsored it.

Once I got back to the bubble, I resumed doing some tasks both my credit balance and my trading rank needed: trading, duh! I also did some combat in my Vulture. Soon, I quickly realized that my Vulture isn't that good in combat and couldn't even solo a low combat zone. That is when I decided to get myself an upgrade. Introducing... the CrateBeetle!

Now, to be clear, this ship isn't a pure combat ship. It's a "multi-purpose combat-focused vessel". No, I'm not sorry. I do realize that this ship is rather mediocre at combat. But I totally just bought this ship for the fighter hangar. Right? Or the FSD interdictor... All jokes aside, I am planning to upgrade this ship to be more suited for combat in the near future with engineering. Swap the regular shields out for a Bi-Weave, engineer it and the shield boosters, put the military-grade alloys in, etc. Did I mention this ship is the first ship in my fleet to have over 1 item engineered? mind blown Anyways, pretty good ship overall. Oh yeah, and the coffee machine. I can finally use my Hutton Mug in STYLE now. Take that, Imperials! White on white was never my favorite anyways!

Krait Mk II: 8.5/10 Pros: -COFFEE -Good hardpoint convergence -Top 1% of all PDs in the galaxy (relative to ship) -Fighter hangar makes for fun times -Cool ship aesthetics (looks like a stereotypical sci-fi ship from the 21st century) Cons: -Relatively weak shield for ship size -Due to the way this ship is outfitted by me, it's neither good for combat or trading -Low cargo capacity even when outfitted for trading

About the Hutton Mug... Yes, I did go to Hutton for the free anaconda. But mostly for the bragging rights!

For future plans, I plan to get more credits and outfit an FDL for actual combat. Not whatever strategy I'm using right now. Further in the future, I plan to get a Python for trading and/or Robigo runs, and a dedicated AX ship which won't be a half-trader half-combat. Never again. Although, I have found the extra utility on the CrateBeetle useful at times. Can't beat collecting engineering mats whilst fighting your enemies!

Meanwhile, I'll just be taking screenshots of my Krait.

o7, stay safe out there CMDRs!

November 28th, 3308: That was the day I was diagnosed with homesickness by my doctors. I felt the symptoms: mild chills, fever, and a heartache. "Just 2 more weeks", I reminded myself. But it's useless to keep saying that to myself. Recently we've been ordered to stay on the carrier for a "game mode split". Not exactly sure what that means, but maybe it's related to the tingling feeling me and fellow commanders keep feeling recently. Also, the expedition leaders announced that next waypoint's meetup would be in the CQC game. Huh, guess they're homesick too. Can't wait to fire some guns again... too bad they're not real guns.

Also, I would like to inquire, what is the thargoid situation back home nowadays? Seems pretty intense, judging by the fact that they are playing thargoid-related news on Galnet every article now. No new interesting discoveries recently, which is weird considering the fact I found tons of interesting systems in sparser regions of the galaxy. Stay safe!

o7, CMDR Darkbeetle

Notes: These are from my logbook on Inara. I will try my best to update whenever a new log comes out on Inara. Go to this link for the original ones: CMDR Darkbeetle's Inara Logbook

Logbook 1 (First logbook entry... and it's from Colonia.) [25 September 2022] Hello, so this is my first logbook entry! Never thought about doing this before, but right now I'm in Colonia and I'm bored. Hopefully, I won't be too busy during this expedition so I can keep a log every time I reach a waypoint, or in between. The expedition I am in is the "Passage to Andromeda" expedition. I kinda miss the bubble, but hey, the beer at Jaques ain't too bad!

Logbook 2 (Second Logbook Entry... "Pru Bre PM-W E1-11") [24 October 2022] I'm slowly getting the hang of this "logbook" thing. Hopefully, I can make this one 1000 characters. I'll be going out of character a bit here to explain that I just flew for 6 hours straight to this nebula thing. So I'm pretty tired. Anyways, I'll be updating this roughly monthly, although I'm planning to add a bonus entry in a week after I get to Beagle Point. I'm currently located at the IEFC Intrepidus in Pru Bre PM-W E1-11. There's a stunning blue planetary nebula here, with a single neutron star inside it. Interestingly, this system has a ringed HMC that provides interesting screenshots. It's 3,000 ls from the star and was where the FC was parked.

I flew for 6 hours straight, jumping through just under 170 systems. On the way, I saw some cool planets, a bunch of neutron stars, and I let the neutron plotter take me where the galaxy map would fail. And well, I didn't rush it, but I wasn't exactly casual about the speed either. If I got left behind here, I swear I will NOT spend 12 hours of my life jumping over 250 systems all the way. Although it would be cool, I can't fly during the weekdays and during the weekends I don't have a lot of time to fly either. Me being able to fly for over 4 hours was a miracle anyways. So don't expect too many screenshots on the way to Beagle Point.

Hype for Beagle Point aside, I would like to thank my squadron MUDD The Order of Dripnificence for doing so much back in the bubble defending against Thargoids and finding a home system in time for when I come back! I hope the stargoid things don't kill the bubble by the time I get back, because I still need to sell that 6A fuel scoop I spent 1/5 of my credit balance on somewhere, right? Although I am aware Colonia exists... I hope I haven't been missing too much back in the bubble and that the thargoids are defeated in due time. Also if you've been paying attention to the AX squadron leaderboards, you may have noticed our squadron is in 3rd place. (or 2nd by the time this is published?) This is all of my squaddie's work, and I wish I could help. We just have to wish that FDEV figured out that multicrew instancing bug.

It's been a fun time on this expedition. I would also like to thank everybody else on this expedition, these experiences wouldn't be possible without them. I recently hit my first 1000 jumps and I realized just how big the galaxy is, and how small we are compared to it. All of our problems, compared to the galaxy, are minuscule. So don't worry. Everything will be okay.

Fly dangerously, and be happy. This is CMDR Darkbeetle, signing off. o7

Image Gallery: Imgur Gallery Link

Logbook 2.5 (Logbook Entry 2.5 - Thueche Brahe Nebula) [4 November 2022] I've passed Beagle Point now... really a great place with interesting vistas. Bad news is, I wasn't able to catch the carrier ride to Salome's Reach... oh well, maybe next time, right? Anyways, I'm a little bored again, after a week on the carrier flying through the void, I'll be skipping a waypoint (DSSA Shepard's Dream) because I think that it's too much of a detour. (view the expedition map, you'll see what I'm talking about) The trip from the current waypoint to the one I have targeted is about 12.5k LYs. When I get there, I think it'll be a great chance for more nebula screenshots, and with the extra week's worth of time this buys me, maybe I could also do road to riches! Or, maybe just fly around. After all, there are many undiscovered star and planets this part of the galaxy!

o7 CMDR Darkbeetle

That's all for the logs! When logbook 3 comes out I'll try to update it here as well.