17th December: Apologies
Points scoring turned off at the wrong time. It's turned back on now. No points will have been missed. It will turn off again at the proper 08:30.
17th December: Game Completion
Upon completion of the event, at 08:30 on the 17th December, all scoring will cease. Reports will show scores and records as they were at the time of the event completion. But, just for fun, balloons will continue to fly (for a few days) and the maps will show their updated positions.
10th December:
I fixed the "Closest to Safe" report. Before it was fast, but wrong. Now it's a lot slower, but actually gives the correct results!
9th December:
The system maintenance is complete. Thanks for your patience. I also fixed the max speed data. I couldn't find the source of the error, so the table may be incorrect in the future. But I know how to fix it now!
9th December:
For whatever reason, the speed calculations are going wonky (i.e. bad) when a balloon crosses the line of -180/+180 degrees longitude. I will find and fix the error, but be aware that the current speed records are currently invalid.
8th December: IMPORTANT!
Because of some server maintenance, the system will be down for a minute or two sometime between 1pm (PST)/9pm (UTC) and 2pm/10pm on Monday 9th December. I am going to turn off the Altitude Change tool during that time, because it could be badly affected by an outage. I will turn it back on as soon as the update is done, which I hope will be a lot earlier than 2pm. Other tools will still be available during the whole time, because there will be no effect on gameplay. The worst that will happen is that a report will fail to load.
8th December:
Congratulations to RVA Airheads (N-YY7) for the first -180/+180 degree balloon crossing. And for reaching a speed of.... HOW MUCH?!?!?! Note that the Records page now shows -180/+180 crossings, instead of the furthest east/west balloon.
7th December:
Congratulations to Planes-Trains-Balloons (ZM-P4K) for becoming the first balloon to enter the Pacific Ocean, by crossing China and reaching the East China Sea. Check the Status Report map for live coverage.
5th December:
Want to chat with your fellow competitors? Maybe boast about your achievements? Or just ask some questions? We have a forum for that!
3rd December:
An update on altitude and elevation. Note that the API will refuse to simulate positions when your altitude is less than the elevation of the land surrounding it. For example, you can't launch to a float altitude of 1000m if you are at 1100m on a Scottish mountain top! So, just be sure that your commands don't cause your balloon to fly into terrain!
