Waypoint 18: Kolaga

30 Jul 2022

Greetings, LS3 Commanders!

We come now to the final WP announcement of Lost Souls 3. This journey has been long, 123 days so far, roughly 66k LY. We’ve seen more of the Southwestern Quadrant than likely any other organized expedition has in the history of Elite: Dangerous. Expedition Leadership is proud of each and every one of you for accomplishing this herculean feat. You should be proud of yourselves as well!

This week is simple, we visit a pair of pearls and we tour the birthplace of The Fatherhood!

As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you a great many finds and safe travels!

Photo by CMDR “Stellar” Jibberd

POI 1: Alessia’s Pearls

System: Outopps KO-X c28-0

A system just 1,200 LYs outside frontier borders, it contains tidally locked twin Earths, and a water world, making it a likely tourism or colonization candidate. The system was discovered by the mysterious CMDR Salomé sometime in late 3301.

Waypoint 18: Kolaga

System: Kolaga

Britnev Hub is the birthplace of The Fatherhood. Several years ago several great Commanders gathered for drinks and decided to form a Squadron dedicated to openness, friendship and playing the game as they wanted to play. Upon receiving Player Minor Faction status, The Fatherhood relocated to Schwann Port, in Hajagani, where many of the factions leaders live to this day.

This is the final waypoint for Lost Souls 3. To avoid confusion and maintain consistency, the final meetup will be announced next Friday, August 5th.

July 31st Meetup

Meetup location is at Geo Site 6 on Orbital Body B2 in the IC 1396 Sector QS-Q C6-0 system.

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC
Britnev Hub in Kolaga

Waypoint 17: VV Cephei

23 Jul 2022

As we get closer and closer to The Bubble, we start seeing a great many familiar sights. Settlements, Stations, maybe some Xenos if you’re unlucky. We’ve seen many thousands of unfamiliar and strange things over the last four months but it’s nice to finally see a few things I’ve already seen. I don’t know about you, Explorers, but it’s nice to almost be home.

And yet, the journey is not over. This is the penultimate week for Lost Souls 3 and it features a singularly rare star, a lovely nebula and for the final time on Lost Souls 3 we will meet up outside The Bubble.

I just got chills writing that.

As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you a great many finds and safe travels this week!

Photo by CMDR DangerPencil

POI 1: V509 Cassiopeiae

System: V509 Cassiopeiae

V509 Cassiopeiae is a yellow hypergiant, one of the rarest types of stars. Current estimates suggest there are no more than 15 of these stars in the entire galaxy. Yellow hypergiants are an extremely short-lived phase of late stellar evolution of massive O-type stars. These stars evolve from red hypergiants to blue hypergiants in a phase that lasts only a few thousand years. Many stars lack the mass to go through this phase, or have a much greater mass and end as a supernova.

V509 Cassiopeiae currently has 11 solar masses and a radius 600 times larger than Sol; this would encompass the Sol system past the orbit of Mars. V509 has varied significantly in temperature and size over periods as short as 1 year, indicating that this phase is highly unstable. The attached photo is from a metal-rich orbiting planet at 2300 light-seconds distance.

POI 2: Cupid’s Arrow

System: S171 34

Cupid’s Arrow is a tourist beacon at the edge of the NGC 7822 Nebula. As described by the tourist beacon: “The beautiful NGC 7822 nebula is pierced by a line of O-stars – therefore it has been compared to Cupid’s arrow piercing a heart.” The reference photo is taken from nearby system NGC 7822 Sector KC-V c2-2.

Waypoint 17: VV Cephei

System: VV Cephei

VV Cephei is a stellar mystery, one star missing an another star greatly changed. In the 20th century astronomers observed VV Cepehi as an eclisping binary pair of a red supergiant and a blue-white dwarf companion star. The pair had one of the longest known eclipsing cycles, lasting over 20 years. Based on data from this pair, the red supergiant was determined to have over 1000 solar radii and making it one of the largest known stars by radii. The only other bodies in this system are three high-metal content worlds.

After the invention of frameshift drive, exploration of the VV Cephei pair stunned astrophysicists. The blue-white companion was entirely absent, and the red supergiant was only 318 solar radii. Did astronomers miss a cataclysmic event, or had their observations been wrong for so long? Theories are being hastily reviewed.

July 24th Meetup

Meetup location is at SLEGOU LU-N B21-0 1 Geo site 2.

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Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

Featured CMDR “Limp Bzkit” MorallyGreyArea

21 Jul 2022

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I picked up Elite during the first UK COVID lockdown as I love flying in games and a friend recommended it. I started by working towards a DBX and used that for tourist missions.

The Fatherhood is one of the reasons I’ve kept playing – it’s a great group and there’s always something to do. Otherwise, it’s the flying itself that keeps me going; it’s fun flinging ships around!

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

It’s hard to pick, but the first time I joined a wing for a Combat Zone is up there. At the time I’d mostly avoided combat, or at least just took the odd low level mission. I was still in the DBX with a couple of Railguns, so not the most suitable ship, but joining in the destruction raining down on those poor NPCs felt very epic.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

I was out hunting Thargoid interceptors in a hastily retrofitted DBS with Xpression, Legion_r917th and Marina97. We took down a Basilisk easily enough, with Legion tanking most of the damage. Later, I was under heavy fire from another interceptor. I kept pushing through and eventually I was on a small percentage of hull remaining.

Xpression came in to the “rescue” while I was narrowly avoiding the green tinted death, but his limpet bopped my hull a little too hard when it attached and killed me…

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

My favourite ship is TFS Altered View, my DBS. It’s a shieldless build I made for the Fatherhood PvP tournament last year, with plasma accelerators alongside a thermal vent beam and corrosive multicanon. I take it out bounty hunting and when winging up for combat zones now.

It’s a blast to fly – very quick and agile, no drift and it’s cold. No shield means more speed and more weapon capacitor! While its hull is pretty strong, no shield means the durability will eventually give in, which I find adds a bit of spice to combat.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

It was proving difficult meeting up with my friends in the game so I looked for a squadron. At the time I had 2 kids, one being about a year old, so I liked the relaxed ethos. I spend a lot of time gaming, but interrupted frequently. Everyone’s been very understanding of sudden disappearances!

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

I’m an accountant-ish working in the UK and I’m normally on between 20.00 and 22.00 if I manage to get on in the evening. Always happy to jump in if a job needs doing!

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I’m a socially awkward introvert. One thing that’s nice about discord is that I can watch conversations going on and join in without having to find that gap to interject. I tend to write messages 3 times before posting (or not); if you see my typing a lot, don’t assume it’ll be an epic length! (I do love to write a story though)

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

I’m a fan of Iain M Bank’s Culture novels; one particular character that stood out was the ship mind Grey Area (also known as something less wholesome). Unfortunately, I had to modify it a little for Xbox live as it was taken.

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

Have fun; if it’s feeling like a grind then change tact or break it up a little otherwise you might just burn out and not enjoy the game.

Waypoint 16: The Racetrack

17 Jul 2022

Greetings, LS3 Commanders!

Expedition Leadership sincerely hopes you enjoyed the butt-puckering experience of flying into the Three Angels of Death! It’s harrowing but it’s fun This week was a reflective one as well, given that we’re currently exploring some of the farthest out land-based human colonies on the same week we started getting images from the James Webb Telescope. Seeing the universe as it is while seeing how much further we have to go is humbling, yet hopeful.

This week we continue our march back towards civilization by landing at our first starport in nearly three months! We’ll then move on to see a whole bunch of stars! Finally meeting back up at a Racetrack!

As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many interesting finds!

Photo by CMDR DangerPencil

POI 1: Farsight Expedition Base

System – Heart Sector IR-V b2-0

Farsight Expedition Base is mainly a mining outpost carved deep into a large asteroid orbiting a near gas giant in its inner ring system. The outpost is still crude and basic, and as of 04/3303 no outfitting or ship dry docking is available, so extensive ship maintenance is a problem. There is a Universal Cartographics office and some local contractors offer missions and passenger transport opportunities.

POI 2: Fireflies

System – 2MASS J02351897+6131236

Part of the IC 1805 cluster, this system is swarming with stellar objects. The high-mass O-type is in a nested binary pair with no less than three different black holes ranging from 9.4 to 31.3 solar masses. What really makes this system stand out are the five K-class stars and nine M-class stars, including one with a rare ring system. From the surface of one of the landable planets these stars will appear to flitter and fly across the sky during their orbits, giving the appearance of a field of fireflies.

WP 16: The Racetrack

System – Slegou LU-N b21-0

The first planet of this system has an exceptionally thin ring of 231 km width. Pilots can find some fun here by racing around the ring at top supercruise speed. The ring also has a shepherd moon very close to the rings. The moon orbits the rings in 2 hours and 53 minutes, giving excellent and dynamic views. The planet itself is in a binary orbit of 7 and 1/3 hours with another planet; all three are landable and provide great views.

July 17th Meetup

Meetup Location is at Geo Site 10 on Orbital Body 10 C in the Eafots JE-I b10-0 system.

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

Waypoint 15: Formidine Rift Abandoned Settlements

10 Jul 2022

Greetings, LS3 Commanders!

Hopefully we all made it safely onto Sochi’s surface!! The completion of this weeks’ leg of Lost Souls 3 marks the beginning of the end of the expedition. As we begin this week, we begin the final four waypoints of Lost Souls 3. There will be enough time for goodbyes and congratulations later on, but we wanted to mention it now as it’s a bit of a milestone.

This weeks’ exploration will see us traveling along the Formidine Rift, a mysterious realm of space where stars become, again, sparse. As a bit of Fatherhood Trivia: The minimum jump range to cross the Formidine Rift is around 30-35LY, which is where we came up with that suggestion for all Lost Souls Expeditions.

Among the sights you’ll see this week is a system that probably only exists because we’re playing a video game and some of the far reaches of Human civilization. We’ll meet up again at several abandoned settlements. Each week brings us closer to home! As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many great finds!

Praise the sun!

POI 1: Three Angels of Death

System: Phrio Hypue AA-A h0

A system that only contains three black holes. Two of the black holes are less than 0.01 AU from each other and have an orbital period of 0.1 D. The third black hole is fairly close by as well with an orbital period of 4.4 D. The central black hole has the mass of 29 solar masses. The three angels of death are named Abaddon, also called Apollyon, which is the destroying angel in Book of Revelation in the New Testament, Azrael, also known as Malak al-Maut from Islam, and Mot, angel of death from the Hebraic Book of Habakkuk.

POI 2: Salome’s World

System: Eafots RX-T d3-3

Situated around 200 LYs above the mysterious Dynasty outposts of the Formidine Rift, this interesting system is thought to have been first discovered and tagged by CMDR Salomé (aka Lady Khahina) sometime in 3302 while she was (presumably) out in the rift looking for clues into the Exodus conspiracy.

The system contains many worlds but interestingly Salomé only scanned the two Ammonia worlds within the system – what was she looking for?

In early 3303, a CoR patrol passed through the system during the Dynasty base search and subsequently scanned some of the worlds Salomé had left untouched. Since then, several Rifters have visited the system and each claimed a world of their own.

Salomé was killed trying to expose the Exodus Conspiracy on 29th April 3303, so it is believed that this system and the worlds she scanned could be some of her final exploration-related discoveries.

Waypoint 15: Formidine Rift Abandoned Settlements

System – Eafots LZ-H b10-0

In late 3302, Alessia Verdi, a commander associated with the enigmatic CMDR Salomé, set up an exploration community goal on behalf of the Children of Raxxla. The goal was to retrieve and analyze as much survey data as possible from three specific regions. Those regions being the Formidine Rift, The Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux, and Hawking’s Gap (Lin-Shu Hollow). On analysis of the data, CoR Intel discovered the location of several navigational beacons in each region, that in turn provided the planetary location of several settlements.

These settlements turned out to be staging posts for a mysterious ‘Dynasty Expedition’ that had traversed the location three decades earlier and had set up bases there.

July 10th Meetup

Meetup Location is Hypo Aeb WK-H b51-0, planet B 1, geo site 12.

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

Waypoint 14: Sochi

2 Jul 2022
Smaidiae IZ-M d8-7 planet 1 A at geo site 8

Greetings LS3 Commanders,

This last week was truly fun. Ring Shore is a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time. I, personally, love seeing the interaction between the celestial bodies in this game and this is a very direct example of that. Enough about me, though, let’s talk about LS3!

This upcoming week is a very special week in terms of the Lost Souls Expedition series. This week we return to the Zurara! Those familiar with The Fatherhood or Lost Souls history may know that The Zurara was the destination of the first ever Lost Souls expedition. This cemented this location as a place of prime significance to The Fatherhood forever. I encourage everyone to visit that POI this week.

This week, we’ll experience a bit of Life and Death, a little Fatherhood History and meet up again on a very interesting planet!

As always, Expedition Leadership wishes everyone safe travels and many great finds!

POI 1 : Opposites

System: Smaidou ZE-A g0

One of the very few systems in the far outer rim of the New Outer Arm that hosts a black hole as its primary hyperspace arrival point. This system also contains two freshly born T-Tauri-Stars. Life and death are close together here. An opportunity to refuel is provided by a nearby A-type-sequence star.

POI 2: The Zurara

System: Syreadiae JX-F c0

This megaship from the mysterius Dynasty Expedition was found deep within the Formidine Rift on April 17th 3303.

Audio logs on the site tell the story of the unfortunate crew. It is a haunted place…

Waypoint 14: Sochi

System: Hypo Aeb WK-H b51-0

When setting down on orbital body B 1 you will notice that your fuelscoop is busy… as this scorched planet is only 1.5 ls from the star it orbits. Scans indicate that geysers can be found there, but so far no one has stayed long enough to locate any…

July 3rd Meetup

Meetup Location is at Smaidiae IZ-M d8-7 planet 1 A at geo site 8.

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

Waypoint 13: Rings Shore

26 Jun 2022

Greetings, LS3 CMDRs!

Expedition Leadership hopes that you’ve enjoyed the last month out in The Black, circling the outer edge of the Milky Way. We see that there have been some incredible finds in ls3-photos and we encourage everyone to go check them out! But now our journey starts to get a little bit easier as we turn back towards Hajangai. From here on out stars will become much more dense and easier to navigate. The systems will feel more familiar and everyones’ chances for an ELW will go up, assuming Cmdr “Mc” Drazkul hasn’t beaten you to it!

It is at this point that we will rescind the standard travel advisory we have been giving about flying close to the FCs. Still continue to do so if you are uncomfortable navigating The Black, however, stars are becoming much easier to jump to and thus your range from the FCs can increase. Stay safe out there!

This week will you will find yourself jumping to your doom, seeing a group of siblings and then we will meet up again on the Ring Shore. As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many great finds!

POI 1: Explorer’s End

System: Phae Phlai AA-A h0

Situated between the Bovomit Badlands and the far edge of the Formidine Rift, this system can pose an extreme hazard to any starships hyperspacing to it. Its primary star is a harmless AE/BE Herbig Protostar, but the danger lies in a Blue Giant companion in extreme proximity and two orbiting black holes. Starships approaching from the wrong vector can easily become wedged in the inferno between the primary and secondary stars, or exit hyperspace very close to one of the black holes. Explorers beware.

POI 2: Seitsemän Veljestä (Seven Brothers)

System: Phae Aeb ZK-P e5-0

During the first half of The Dead End’s Circumnavigation Expedition (DECE), a system with 6 B type stars and 1 A type star was found while surveying the systems within the sector. Such system is quite remarkable on its own but considering its location within the Outer Arm Region, it is exceptional. Due to the complicated nature of the system, no planets are present in the system.

Waypoint 13: Rings Shore

System: Smaidiae IZ-M d8-7

Moon Orbiting extremely close to the parent gas giants rings. Orbit is so close that the rings edge reaches beyond the orbital cruise distance of the moon. Aside from the mountains and canyons that are abundant on the moon there are even supposed to be silicate vapour geysers, but I wasn’t able to locate any of them.

May 26th Meetup

Geo Signal 8 on Planetary Body 5 A A – RedRock Geysers – in the Myoidu HS-S D4-4 System, 13.86ly away from WP12 .

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

The 2nd Inti War

16 Jun 2022

Almost a year after the Summer Inti war of 3307 another fierce battle took place in this hotly contested system. The Fatherhood this time were fighting to help push Hai Ho Silver Linings out and in turn establilsh a permanent presence in Inti with a promise to bring wealth and prosperity to the billions of people in the system. Hai Ho Silver Linings have been causing constant trouble and upheaval for the many citizens of Inti who for years have been pulled this way then that in the constant power struggle between the controlling factions all vying for their slice of power. Hai Ho were the chief culprit in this, constantly looking to undermine and cause disruption anyway they could.

The Fatherhood,who have long had a good working relationship in the system with the other factions, finally stepped in to help and in turn have brought the much needed and longed for stability that the good people of Inti have craved for so long. Many battles were fought in the skies above the planets of Inti with the might of the Fatherhood fleet being so overwhelming that Hai Ho were helpless to resist the near constant onslaught from some of the best fighters pilots this side of the galaxy. Red, Blue and Green squadrons were all present and it must have been a demoralising sight to the limited forces of Hai Ho when they saw these fearless commanders heading towards them with a cry of “FREEDOM” coming over their communicators.

The Inti people can now rest easy and look forward to a happy and peaceful future as part of the expanding Fatherhood family.

Waypoint 12: Little Trojan

11 Jun 2022

Greetings, LS3 CMDRs!

You’ve made it to the Western Meridian! We are roughly 29500LY away from the comfortable beds and strong drinks at Schwann Port. However, each week brings us closer to those familiar and happy surroundings! I’m sure many of you discovered a great many planets, bodies and unique stars over the last few weeks. We are proud of you for your discoveries! You’ve advanced the breadth of human knowledge and made the galaxy just a little bit more connected!

That being said, the last two weeks were simply a practice run for this leg of the journey. The next two weeks will see you traveling 12,000 LY south and east towards the edge of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way. The true Explorers among you will be chomping at the bit for all the exploration you’ll be able to accomplish over the next two weeks! There are no POIs for this leg, as no one has really explored out here. We are truly in uncharted space here, folks.

We suggest that if you find any particularly unique systems that you bring them to the attention of Expedition Leadership and we can help get them submitted to EDSM as POIs.

Over the next two weeks we genuinely do not know what you’ll experience as nobody really comes out here. Make the most of it, Explorers! Let’s see what we can find out here and talk about it over a campfire at the next meetup!!

As a standard warning, stars are still fairly sparse out here. It is not hard to get stuck. If you are uncomfortable navigating these regions of space please do not feel bad to either hanging out near the FCs or traveling on them.

We will see you all again in two weeks!!

And like always, Expedition Leadership wishes you all safe travels and many unique finds!!

Photo by CMDR DangerPencil

Waypoint 12: Little Trojan

System: Myoidu HS-S d4-3

The 2nd planet shares the orbit with planet 1. That wouldn’t be unusual if it were a binary planetary system. Instead planet 2 is on the lagrange point L4 or L5 of planet 1 which makes it a trojan.

The fact that their orbits should be stable and planet 2 is in fact on L4 or L5 was proven by flying next to planet 1 and checking the distance to planet 2. The small planet on L4/L5, the star and the large planet form an equilateral triangle which is easy to validate. The measured distance from planet 1 to 2 was within acceptable range to fulfill this requirement.

June 12th Meetup

Meetup Location: Geo Site 19 on Planetary Body 3A in the Cyuefai QP-K B49-0 System.

RegionMeetup TimeMass Jump Time
Europe1900 UTC2000 UTC
Americas2300 UTC0000 UTC

Waypoint 11: Deuteros

3 Jun 2022
Photo by CMDR Raked Badger

Greetings, LS3 CMDRs!

Cygni X-3 was an experience! Undocking from MoDeans right in the middle of two black holes was easily the most disorienting and terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in Elite: Dangerous! Expedition Leadership sincerely hopes everyone enjoyed (and enjoys) their time at Cygni X-3!

Moving forward, we are officially on the back half. We are steaming towards WP 11 this week, Dueteros. As a reminder, due to the long distance between Cygni X-3 and Dueteros, there will be no Meetup this week.

Stars are still a little sparse out here and it’s still not difficult to become stranded. So please, stick near the FCs unless you are very comfortable navigating The Black.

As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe and fortunate Exploration this week!

o7, Commanders!!

PO1: Westpoint Ormand

System: Cyuefai BC-D d12-4

Sitting on the far edge of the New Outer Arm, this system is located almost exactly on the western meridian from Sol.

Waypoint 11: Deuteros

System: Cyuefai RP-K b49-0

Until the discovery of “Westpoint Ormand”, this system served as a beacon system 30,000 LYs from Sol along the Western ‘0’ Meridian.

There is no meetup this week.

Photo by [XB1] Photoniq (Ashley Mallow)