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EspañolHunt, Excavator and Expedition
Three Estelar Online matches mix exploration with combat or photography: the Captain Hunt (in space, with your ship), the Runaway Excavator (on foot, at a landing site) and the Photo Expedition (a destination to photograph in the real universe). Unlike races and team modes, here you use your own ship and your own equipment.
They all start from the MATCHES screen ([J] by default). See Matches for the queue and private rooms.
Captain Hunt
Section titled “Captain Hunt”A pirate captain is hiding near one of the Sun’s outer planets, from Jupiter outward, a few hundred kilometers from the planet. You start near the planet and have to find him.
- Signal: a gauge shows how close you are to the captain (from 0, far away, to 100, right on top of him). Fly in the direction where the signal goes up.
- Shield generators: three generators surround the captain. While any generator is still standing, the captain only takes 10% of the damage. Take down all three first.
- The captain is stronger than a regular pirate and fights back. Everything from combat applies: shield faces, the flip and missiles.
- You have 10 minutes. Playing with other pilots (up to 6), the hunt is the same for everyone.
Shooting down the captain ends the match and pays 900 ¢. The leaderboard is by time: the faster, the better.
Don’t confuse it with the universe’s Pirate Captain, the boss that shows up in systems and splits the reward by damage; he’s covered in Pirates and spots.
Runaway Excavator
Section titled “Runaway Excavator”An autonomous mining machine the size of a building was left running at a landing site on a planet in the system you’re in, and it won’t stop digging. You’re landed at the site and hunt the machine on foot. There has to be a planet with a landing site in the system.
- Trail: the camera shakes when you get within about 60 m of it, and its treads leave packed ground (basalt) wherever it went.
- Armor plates: there are three, on its back and sides. Ripping one off takes a pickaxe (or drill) and four hits ([F] by default). A ripped-off plate exposes a hot spot for 20 s and yields an ingot.
- Damage: with a hot spot exposed, hits do full damage; with none exposed, only 10%. The tool matters: your bare hand hits at half strength, the pickaxe normally and the drill 60% harder.
- Self-repair: if nobody is within 30 m, the machine slowly repairs itself.
- The arm: when you get close, the arm strikes, pushes astronauts away and knocks down the blocks around it.
You have 15 minutes, for up to 6 pilots. When the machine stops, each one gets a share of 1,500 ¢ proportional to the damage they dealt, plus a badge and a trail color. If time runs out, the excavator digs its way off and nobody wins. Tools and blocks are covered in Surface.
Photo Expedition
Section titled “Photo Expedition”The expedition picks a landing site on a planet in the current system, preferably a planet you haven’t photographed yet, and unlocks landing there. You have 10 minutes to get there, land and take a photo (hold [P] by default; see Photography).
The expedition takes place in the real universe, so it’s solo on the MATCHES screen, but company is worth gold: every other pilot who shows up in the photo adds +150 ¢ and takes 30 s off your leaderboard time.
| Result | Credits |
|---|---|
| Photo at the site within the time limit | 400 ¢ |
| Each extra pilot in the frame | +150 ¢ |
The leaderboard is by time. If the 10 minutes run out without the photo, the expedition ends with no prize.
Shared rewards
Section titled “Shared rewards”Outside private rooms, all three matches also pay 1 to 3 components and have a 10% chance of giving a blueprint of your level, to craft at the workshop. Beating a leaderboard record adds +400 ¢.