here's an idea for a Guardian Space Station.

I started by thinking about stations in general -

then I thought about where I'd love to be in elite and the most aesthetically interesting stuff
I chose the Guardian stuff

I decided to base my Station on the Guardian aliens

I really like the Orb and the hybrid fighters that Ram Rah reverse engineered. I did a bit more thinking

I also have always longed to dive beneath the gases of the Giant Planets in Elite. I once read a great book by a well know science fiction author about the topic of being beneath the clouds and it's always inspired me.

I decided I needed more plans

I drew out my picture in chalk cause I'm not good at computer aided design. I really enjoyed the process of thinking about the way they might make a station

This one is a bit mean - Tombraider is one of my favourite games and I have watched the retro streamer PixelBandits ( on Twitch and Youtube) Play various versions of the game. it's become a running gag that he couldn't get along with the Angel of Darkness and deeply hated its playthrough, to the extent that another playthrough was used as a booby prize for a recent charity stream he did.
I have previously sent him a picture of his least favourite spaceship type in Elite Dangerous, and now I have done him some personalised fan art of The Angel herself. I'm sure he won't mind too much...

Here's a video I made about an impressive team effort by lots of commanders to recover a lost treasure in Elite's history - the missing Glowing Green Giant of Cmdr Kelly Eldridge.

There are links in my video description if you want a better retelling than me rambling on.

I considered submitting a few of the other feel good stories like the repair of the Golconda or the admittedly more heart wrenching Dove Enigma, but this is simply a nice one for me cause I went there and I like drawing gas giants!

The Imperial Moray

We have ships for all sorts of specialist tasks - mining, combat, exploration and so on - but we don't have any ships designed to quickly and efficiently scoop up the clouds of cargo canisters in debris fields full of materials. The best we have are limpets, little programmable retrievers that take ages to pick up each canister individually, and transport them one by one back to your ship's cargo hold.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have a huge cargo net mounted at the front of the ship so we could fly at speed through all the debris, sucking everything into a super-sized collection chamber? Here is the answer: The Moray. Modelled partly on the idea of a space dredger, but small enough for one person to fly, and partly on the fearsome moray eel with all those rings of teeth inside its maw, and with a stylish Gutamaya-style body, the Moray makes scooping a moment's work.

Discreetly hidden in normal flight, all it takes is a butto

n press to open the giant scoop, which can clear a High Grade Emissions material cloud in less time than it takes to power up your Frame Shift Drive to move on to the next. Found a wrecked spaceship surrounded by lots of tasty cargo? Why not scoop up all the cargo and the ship using the Moray's patented Rend-O-Matic, which will reduce and recycle the wreckage into metal alloys to sell on at the next port. Profitable and kind to the environment at the same time!

When your ship has a jaw in a space dredger maw? That's a Moray!

(With thanks to Wotherspoon for the words)

My planning ideas are under the link

A little jaunt I took a while back to the Veil, Sadr, the Gorgon and North American Nebulae. Here are my two favourites. I liked that the North American Nebula was so bright and contrasted with the colour of the orange and lime Sadr Nebula. I enjoy the sense of false perspective that the asteroids in the planetary ring gave it. almost like a pond with lilly pads.

the second shot was of the North American Nebula much closer up from just above the surface of a planet with a thin atmosphere. the nebula became more faint as you descended into the atmosphere but I liked the altitude that I captured this one at as it made the nebula look like distant mountains.

Here's a Cobra Mark 5 - I've had to guess a bit on the underside as I don't think that's been shared.

I guess I should explain my tiers -

S - the top would be the Mandalay - which is already winning the race for everyone. I've put my other beloveds there.

A - is the T6 which is a cheap and earnest little chap. also I have the traditionalists favourite; the Aspex, and the Cutter I took out, which fitted the kitchen sink and looked wonderful in a photo!

B - Haulertaxi, Orca passenger tourbus and the Anaconda ( which if you choose it you have to look at the nose of the ship for 20,000 LY)

C - is for Cobra, for the photos and the nostalgia, the T9 you alwys end up using for the long range CG and the Courier that isn't the longest legged but it sure is FAST!

D - is that Vulture you get sent to the prison ship and have to make your way back to the RES in, the Python you spent allll your money on and now you have to use it out of bloodymindedness, and finally, the Mamba. Fast and firey and can jump 2 lightyears.

Here's a creepy element of Elite Dangerous - the Thargoid Imprint Sites.