So it’s time for the next Buckyball race in the Super 8 series. Unlike the previous one, this one is a real toughie, and it involves a large SRV section. The rules are very strict compared to the last race and this one took me almost fifty minutes to complete! It’s another re-run of a previous classic “The Lavian Job” and it has been named “The Aquarian Job.”
Inspired by the movie “The Italian Job”, the name of the race is based on the places you will visit. Begin at London Relay at Epsilon Indi, fly to Bridger Town in the Chi Herculis system, land, take off. Fly then to 241 G. Aquarii and land at least eight kilometers away from Cooper Arena. You must then drive your SRV the 8 km to Cooper Arena, scan the data point, then drive at least 5km away before boarding your ship and flying back to London Relay. No refuelling or repairing of your ship is allowed at any point, only fuel scooping and, here’s the thing, it has to be done shieldless. Bonuses are awarded for having as little hull left as possible at the end of the challenge. Console and non Odyssey owners listen up – this challenge can only be done in Horizons so if you are looking for something to get your teeth into and you haven’t yet tried Buckyball now is your chance!
Sounds pretty straight forward doesn’t it? The biggest problem is Coopers Arena is in a canyon system. Getting there from 8km away means launching your SRV off a cliff. Also, for most of the time the part of the moon where Cooper Arena is situated is mostly in darkness, and even for the short time when the star does shine on it the Canyon never really sees any meaningful light. So, top tip, make sure you have your night vision on. I didn’t think of this at all when I scouted out the place for the ideal place to land and so landed in one of the very worst possible places, with little idea what to expect.
Apologies for the quality of the screenshots from here on. It was dark. I’m on the edge of the cliff here with the lights of Cooper Arena in the distance. Between me and it is some of the most undrivable SRV terrain in the universe. I know how I’m supposed to do it, but, as previously stated, I pretty much suck at everything there is to do in this game.
How the Buckyball professionals do it is a method called “flyving“. A thrilling hybrid of driving and flying that involves hurling your SRV along the proscribed route and, with extremely skilled management of the Scarab boosters, flying for as long as you can keep the thing in the air and then deftly landing on all eight wheels when you absolutely must come back down to the ground again, only to launch your agile vehicle of the very next ridge to gracefully glide through the air once more.
I leave London Arena with trepidation, jumping from star to star, scooping when I can to arrive at Chi Hercules and supercruise my way to Bridger Town. The trip down to the settlement is uneventful and I land reasonably comfortably, although I can hear a very well spoken gentlemen on the comms complaining that his toilet has been broken into. I launch immediately after landing and am alarmed to discover my regulation Cobra Mk III will take eight jumps to get to 241 G. Aquarii. That was going to take some time. Eventually I reach the system and supercruise the 1000 odd light seconds to the moon on which Cooper Arena can be found. I target the settlement, descend towards the surface and look for a suitable place to land. It takes me another precious minute to find somewhere the prescribed distance away. I plop down and deploy Wobbuffet – my trusty SRV. As it descends from the ship I decide – sod it, I’ll have a good go at this. I’ve never done it before. I’m a very careful SRV driver normally but now is the time to throw caution to the wind. I open up the throttle, shoot across the initial flat section at brake neck speed, and throw myself off the first cliff.
Not sure if I actually achieved flyving, but I think I’ve invented a new method. I call it “rollving” with quite a lot of “spinving ”. The vast majority of the jumps involved poor Wobbuffet landing on his nose and then rolling over, and over. And over, and over, And over, until he comes to a stop facing the wrong way, still in full throttle, wheels spinning desperately and attempting to make his way back up the cliff. I don’t think he was having a very good time. Sometimes I would launch him off a small precipice, whilst still rolling, and he would spin out of control through the air as we made our way down to the bottom of the canyon. It seemed to take forever. And I had trouble telling which way was up. Whenever I did manage to land on the wheels Wobbuffet’s engines would scream agonisingly as he span himself around and attempted to go back the way we had come, or indeed by the time we had got halfway in any direction he chose – so desperate was his panic to get away. I reduced the throttle, I needed to calm Wobbuffett down before he exploded. I’d been keeping my eye on the hull strength and it was getting dangerously low.
Thankfully, synthesised SRV hull repair is allowed so while rolling Wobbuffet down another series of steep bumps, which would surely have ended my run there and then, I flipped to the module screen and repaired the hull back to 100%.
After what seemed like an eternity I could make out the lights of Cooper’s Arena more clearly and the terrain began to flatten out again. We were finally in the basin of the canyon. I opened up the throttle once more and raced toward the settlement, screeching to a halt as we came in range of the data point. As I scanned the information contained therein, I realised how exhausted I felt. It was such a gruelling trip down the cliff, and poor Wobbuffett was sounding very sorry for himself. The thing was, I had to make it out again and I wasn’t at all sure which direction to take. It was so bloody dark!
I turned to the only point I could find, a lonely tourist beacon set here after the first Buckyball event at this location and, using it as a guide in the blackness, opened the throttle once more. This time, as soon as the terrain became uneven, I slowed down, trying to pick as gentle a route as I could back up the cliff. It took a long while, and Wobbuffet complained with every steep climb, but we finally got back up to the top. We hurried along the then much more forgiving ground until I saw that we had reached the required 5km distance and I recalled my ship.
Boy, was she a sight for sore eyes! I felt utterly spent, and I still had four jumps to go before returning to London Relay. When I finally landed there I looked at the clock. An incomprehensible jumble of figures looked back. I had no idea what they read, and I had no idea exactly how long I had been. Forty five minutes? Fifty? Fifty five? It felt like fifty hours. I swore to myself that I would never undertake the challenge again. I uploaded the video footage and entered its address into the Aquarian Job entry form. How anyone could go much quicker than this was beyond me.
And there I am! Number 9 on the leaderboard. Effectively in last place as Phoenix_Dfire has since posted a much faster time. What amazed me are the times further up the leaderboard. Twenty three minutes!? Seriously? How in Witch Space did they manage that? Then I realise how much better at flyving they are, and how much more effectively they scouted the area beforehand. There is a five kilometre route away from Copper’s that stays on the canyon floor and mostly consists of flat terrain. And you can launch off a cliff much closer to the settlement, spending longer in the air before you hit the uneven ground. Add to that more efficient, if dangerous, hyperspace jumps whilst still scooping and one can get closer to a more reasonable time.
Even though I found it rather gruelling, I think I’ll have another crack later in the week. Hopefully a little more actual flyving and a little less rollving this time. It was still an immensely fun challenge and I can’t recommend it enough. You simply must have a go at this! Just click this link, read the instructions and have a go. You don’t even need to buy a regulation ship. You can enter the unlimited class instead. But, please, have a go! You have until Sunday March 27th at 23:59:59 GMT to enter a time. It really is so much fun and it’s really nice to feel part of the Buckyballing community. Even if it’s a totally hopeless, unskilled at anything part. It doesn’t matter that I suck at this game. I still enjoy it tremendously. It’s part of what makes Elite Dangerous so great.
So have a go and keep a look out for other community events! See you out there commanders! o7
Elite Dangerous RUSH FLEET 
2 thoughts on “New Flyving Technique Invented!”