I've decided to resurrect some old Talisman-style challenges to add some fun back to the forum There are an abundance of ongoing challenges for finding the biggest stars/planet types/etc. already so this will be a different type of challenge.
At 0:00 UTC on Saturday 23 March I will announce the name of a galaxy, and then you will have one week to find the nicest terra planet you can find in that galaxy.
The galaxy to search in is NGC 4245
You must make your submission by 23:59 UTC on Friday 29 March.
Your submission must contain the location code of the planet and two screenshots of it. One screenshot must show the planet from space. The other screenshot can be from whatever perspective you like. You may only submit one planet. If you would like to change your submission after you have made it, simply submit a new planet in the same manner as the first one and state that you want to use the new one instead.
The winner of the challenge will be chosen by popular vote. As soon as the submission period ends, the voting period will begin. The voting period will last for exactly 3 days and will end after 23:59 UTC on Monday 1 April. I will announce the winners after the end of the voting period.
Voters do not have to have participated in the challenge; any forum member can vote. To cast your vote, simply make a post saying whose entry you're voting for (i.e. mention the person's username). You may vote for up to three entries. Challenge participants may not vote for themselves. Challenge participants may abstain from voting if they want to (you don't have to vote).
When the galaxy is announced, I will also post a test planet in that galaxy. Before hunting for your terra you should go to that planet and make sure that it is the same planet that I've posted. If it is not, then you might have modified your SpaceEngine galaxy models from their original state. In that case, you might want to install a separate 0.9.6.2 for doing challenges with (you can skip the planet textures and spacecraft models to keep it small).
The test planet is RS 5434*-28-7-532528-135 4.1 and should look like the following image:
*if you have added or removed galaxies from SE then replace 5434 with whatever number NGC 4245 is (look at any star for the number)
Good hunting!
If this challenge goes well then I plan to make a series of similar challenges. For awards I'm thinking of implementing a medal/ribbon/badge system so we can have visible awards, including awards for people who do not win a challenge but do rank highly, general participation rewards, etc. There won't be any "useful" rewards, this is all just for fun
If this challenge does not go well and there is no reason to do others, then the winner of this challenge will still get a note in their rep about having won.
If this does turn into a successful series, I hope it will inspire other members to run similar challenges A few different members each running their own series of challenges would really liven up the forum, and the ensuing awards would make for great decoration!
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
I was planning on it being a catalog galaxy, for a variety of reasons. People with lower spec PC's who might suffer having procedural galaxies enabled can participate more easily, and I think that a catalog galaxy might have fewer compatibility/consistency problems if someone has a non-vanilla version (I'm not sure though). I want to choose the best possible locations for the largest number of people. I'll try to do some testing, the procedural galaxies would be better challenge candidates.
EDIT: I just ran some tests, and it seems that my fully custom version of 0.96 and my vanilla version of 0.96 agreed with each other about everything So procedural galaxies can be used and nobody should have to worry too much about a messed up universe seed. I'll adjust the caveat in the OP to make it not seem like such a concern.
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
Edited by HarbingerDawn - Friday, 22.03.2013, 01:11
Can we have the voting end on Tuesday and not monday? I generally dislike things happening on April 1
It's possible that the dates could change, but for now I see no reason to change it. Besides, nothing is "happening" on April 1. Voting starts on March 30. Results are announced April 2. The only thing happening on April 1 is the expiration of the voting period. And if you're worried about people trying to cause problems because of April Fools Day, then you can rest assured that I won't let them. Disruptive behavior is not tolerated no matter what day of the year it is
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
Buster89, please read the rules. You may attach two screenshots. Select the two you want and remove the rest (or repost them in another relevant thread if you still want to share them).
Also I'd like to remind everyone that although you can change your submission, it would be best if that happens as few times as possible, so take your time and find the one you want. If you want to just find one and get it over with, then that's ok too
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
Edited by HarbingerDawn - Saturday, 23.03.2013, 03:21
This is actually the first planet I found in my search, and it was love on first sight. I call it Aegimm Dismentryne -- "living jewel which circles a vaporous giant". Its surface conditions are suitable for humans.
Place "Terra Challenge - Aegimm Dismentryne" { Body "RS 5434-35-8-6618775-294 6.3" Parent "" Pos (4.404826904700482e-010, 9.232201976646856e-011, -9.902585210164183e-010) Rot (-0.1092952389948655, 0.709200649713337, -0.6687730372549309, 0.1945035059325433) Date "2013.03.26 06:02:02.19" Vel 3.2407765e-010 Mode 1 }
I forgot to mention earlier, if anyone happens to find anything really extraordinary during their challenge hunt, post about it in a another thread (one you would normally post whatever you found in), mention that you found it while doing my challenge, post the location code, and you could earn something for it
For an example of what qualifies, see the test planet in the OP. A binary terra/ice giant is certainly an extraordinary find! I can't give you precise criteria and it is quite subjective since I am the sole judge of what is and is not extraordinary in this case, but put simply, it should be something both awesome and rare.
All forum users, please read this! My SE mods and addons Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 970 3584 MB VRAM
Edited by HarbingerDawn - Tuesday, 26.03.2013, 09:12
Place "Moon Temperate terra with life" { Body "RS 5439-39-7-1881739-16 A4.4" Parent "" Pos (8.783528109490221e-011, 7.168758604314887e-011, -6.558911541058171e-011) Rot (0.3284997517574731, -0.4478334494903996, -0.8175543115209487, 0.1521120058585639) Date "5169.07.27 01:05:54.55" Vel 6.7097689e-013 Mode 1 }
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United States 
There are an abundance of ongoing challenges for finding the biggest stars/planet types/etc. already so this will be a different type of challenge. 
Sweden 
Hungary 
I'm generating a new test planet now. 
The future ideas for awards and more similar challenges is great. 
Spain 
Greece 
