A Rather Large Ding (DiD)

[John Jackson]

I've recently begun playing x3, and have really enjoyed reading DiD's from the likes of Nucklear Slug and Scion Drakhar, so I thought I'd give it a shot. This Di(m)D will follow my Argon Humble Merchant from the beginning of my first playthrough of AP (started last night) and will hopefully be entertaining as well as informative, as it'll provide a look at the game through new eyes, so to speak (I've only played TC before, and not very far into that.)


Rules: 
Dead is mostly dead. Barring gate crashes, random roids, other crazy happenings, there will be no reloads. I get blown up in combat? Bye. 

I'm a businessman, not a fighter pilot. Any fighting will have to be done by the autopilot, missiles, or NPC ships. If I graduate to a larger ship that might logically have a gunner, I guess that I can fight myself then. 

I'm a businessman, not an errand boy. Or a taxi driver. Or a fighter pilot (still). The only missions allowed are Trade and Build. Plots may or may not happen, and exceptions can be made in this case, with a creative workaround and justification. 

Any and all ships, stations, etc. are fine, as long as I pay for them. I am not a pirate.

At some point, violence may become necessary, and in this case it will be dealt with creatively, via other ships/drones/some other loophole. 

Capping probably won't happen ( I've never tried it, and it doesn't seem this merchant has reason to)


Goals: 
Return the family business to it's former glory ( open to suggestions as to what this may entail.)
Rebuild the family fortune (I'm thinking a billion credits in the bank? Again, open to suggestions)
Any other suggestions?



"I want to put a ding in the universe"
-Steve Jobs

My name is John Jackson, or JJ. I'm the last heir to the once-glorious JackCo. There was a time that our stations were in every civilised sector, that we had thousands of ships criscrossing the universe. We once held more wealth than the Teladi Company itself. 
Those days are long gone. After a few generations of gambling, substance abuse, and infighting, the company has been all but disbanded. With the death of my father, all that's left is a few thousand credits, the clothes on my back, and this Mercury freighter. Well, that and my heavily used discoverer. Somehow, with these simple beginnings, I will rebuild the JackCo empire. Our trading fleet will once again blot out the skies.  But first I need to find something to sell. 



Assets:
1x Discoverer (Only Driven On Sundays)
1x Mercury (JackCo One)

[John Jackson]

Day one:
Surveying my assets, I see a problem. This freighter is bare bones, as is my Discoverer. Painfully slow, without any kind of sensors or extensions. Not to mention that even if I had the equipment to trade well, I don't have the capital. Right out the gate I'm faced with a hard choice, but I know what I have to do. 
I head south towards the Shipyard in Argon Prime, reminiscing about the good times I've had with my Disco. I remember when I first got it, it was my sixteenth birthday, and my friend ryan had just gotten a Kestral. I was hoping for the same, or at least a Kea; but the company was so far into decline by then, all my parents could afford was this secondhand Disco. I remember being embarrassed by it, but growing to love it. The little things about it, like the shudder when going through Gates, and the time that I found a brick of spaceweed behind a loose panel in the cargo bay. These occupied my mind, until it was time to say goodbye. 
 
The Disco is a painful loss, but it brings in 37k, enough to fully upgrade the engines on JackCo One, along with a few other bits and bobs. Now I'm ready to trade in earnest. 
For the next few hours, I drift through the sectors near Argon Prime, buying and selling as I can, slowly increasing my bankroll one Cahoona at a time. In no time at all (by which I mean several SETA hours later) I have a fully upgraded hold on JackCo one, and have bought JackCo Two, another Mercury with fully tuned engines. I put JackCo two to work moving ore, and just a few more hours, and I have two fully upgraded freighters and 800k in cash.

I decided now is the time to expand operations into production, so I hire a Mammoth and buy a Wheat Farm M from the Argon Prime Shipyard. I've decided to place it in Herrons Nebula to take advantage of the demand there. I watch with immense pride as the Mammoth pulls away from the shipyard with the ticket to my future safely aboard. 

I watch with considerably less pride as I watch the Mammoth plow into the shipyard and explode with the ticket to my future less than safely aboard. 



Assets: 
JackCo One (Mercury)
JackCo Two (Mercury)
247,000 Credits
Warranty claim for one Wheat Farm M

[Nathancros]

Id say a good goal is to be self sufficient, or atleast mostly.


using only unknown sectors. or adjacants sectors for this if u wanna make it harder/more interesting.


keep going mate!

[John Jackson]

Id say a good goal is to be self sufficient, or atleast mostly.


using only unknown sectors. or adjacants sectors for this if u wanna make it harder/more interesting.


keep going mate!

Thanks for the input! I'm honestly kinda flailing here and hoping that I can get suggestions on how to make this worth reading. Having a DiD veteran like you giving advice should go a long way. Thanks for reading!
How exactly do you mean self-sufficient? Like having only closed-loop complexes, or relying only on trading income, or what?


--------------------------------------------------------------

The majority of men meet with failure Because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those that fail.
-Napoleon Hill


Day two:
Well, that could've gone better. Apparently once the Mammoth undocked, the warranty on my Wheat Farm was voided, leaving me squarely up the metaphorical creek. I shudder to think of the hours of trading it'll take to make up the lost investment. I can't do it. I can't take another minute crammed into that freighter. I've got to see something new. I think I'll scout some new opportunities. 
Since my last "discussion" with the shipyard's dealer didn't go well ( I might have compared his mother to a Split, and possibly could've suggested he perform certain acts of dubious physical probability), I find a young pilot and offer him a job. He can be pilot JackCo One (as soon as I get the proper software for it to operate autonomously) and in return, he gets to act as my agent in purchasing a ship. 
He comes back about 60,000 credits later with a brand spanking new Disco. It may be small, but it's fully upgraded and still has that new ship smell. I direct the two freighters on their usual routes and hit the jumpgate, thrilled to get out and explore, at 347m/s, no less!

I'm zipping through space at breakneck speeds (especially considering my recent tenure as a snail jockey in that Mercury) when I get a message on my HUD. Apparently the Argon Military wants something from me, and they've asked that I go some far-off military base. This presents a problem: on the one hand, I don't want to upset the Argon government, as I rely on them for ships and such. On the other hand, I really don't think I'm interested in working for the military. I'm more liable to pay someone to shoot you than to do it myself. In fact, I'm not entirely sure I could find the "kill" button if I had to. 

I eventually decide that I should at least head that direction, as it can't hurt to hear them out. Besides, I can use the trip as an chance to scout new opportunities for expansion. 

New opportunities are certainly available in abundance, as I find some nearby Boron sectors just itching for ore. I start running both freighters from the ore mines in Herrons to the Biogas factories, and before too long I've made back nearly what I lost on the wheat farm incident. 

Of course, "before too long" is a relative term, as in this time I've made it all the way to Home Of Light, another Argon core sector. Despite the long trip, I'm nowhere near The Military Base that I've been less-than-cordially invited to visit. Additionally, I've decided that I don't like this whole "travelling Pirate Alley alone and unarmed" thing, as I've made the acquaintance of a few pirates, and my 347m/s isn't quite fast enough to totally avoid them. Thankfuly it was just a pair of Elites, and i was able to direct one into an asteroid and lose the other in a jumpgate. I dial in Argon Prime on the autopilot and decide that once I'm home, I'm staying west of Teladi space until I have some protection. 

Assets:
JackCo One (Mercury)
JackCo Two (Mercury) 
Company Car (Discoverer)

357,749 credits

[Nathancros]

Id say a good goal is to be self sufficient, or atleast mostly.


using only unknown sectors. or adjacants sectors for this if u wanna make it harder/more interesting.


keep going mate!

Thanks for the input! I'm honestly kinda flailing here and hoping that I can get suggestions on how to make this worth reading. Having a DiD veteran like you giving advice should go a long way. Thanks for reading!
How exactly do you mean self-sufficient? Like having only closed-loop complexes, or relying only on trading income, or what?

I mean relying on urself, doesnt have to be closed loops. only stations run by YOU, so u can use transport ships. as long as they only transport your stuff.
so where money becomes almost useless

DiD veteran? hardly. all my DiD's were more DINQD, i could never bring myself to say "I am dead, this is the end"


Anyway, keep trying, keep fighting/flailing, you'll find a groove, and it will click and suddenly everything running like a ridiculously expensive and painful to run clock.

And how to make worth reading?

Enjoy yourself!

If you are, we will be.

If something frustrates you ingame, write it in! if something made you laugh, write it in! im not saying to add ALL the details, just wat is interesting/unusual/a plot.

i honestly missed most of the gist of my story. forgetting to say that i jumped to this or that many sectors before finding my way to a certain sector where a certain bit of action happened. etc etc.

But people enjoy it. and if people can enjoy my horrible ramblings. They can DEFINTLY enjoy yours


Woah. thats waaaaaay too much text.


in short.

Goal?: Be self suffiecent perhaps.
Enjoy your game.
keep having fun!


Ok ive annoyed you enough!

WINGNUT AWAAAYYY

[Triaxx2]

Oh, you've been added to the DiD list.

[John Jackson]

Oh, you've been added to the DiD list.

Thanks, now I have pressure to actually make this worth reading!

::deliberately not quoting NathanCros, as it makes me insecure that his suggestion is larger than my average post::
Self sufficient I shall be! Eventually......
Until then:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I buy when other people are selling"
Jean Paul Getty




Day three:
During the long trip back to Argon space, I have a lot of time to think and I come to two conclusions:
1. The loss of my wheat farm was a sign. I'm not ready for that yet. I need to stick to simple trading for a little while longer. At least until I've built up a sizeable cushion of cash. 
2. I'm really really reallllllly tired of playing point-n-click to direct my traders where to go and what to do. 

With these two things in mind, I decide upon a short term goal: own five autonomous trading freighters. I figure with five freighters running themselves, I'll have a pretty steady income stream, which should allow me to be able to afford a station and the necessary infrastructure to support it (and prove to the RNG gods that I'm worthy).
 By the time I get back to Argon Prime, I have enough credits built up to buy Tading Extension mkIII, and I do so. JackCo Two becomes JackCo Sector Trader One, piloted by the nice Teladi kid who helped me deal with the ship merchant. I set him up in Ceo's Buckzoid ( I figure he might be able to better deal with Teladi than with anyone else) and set out to build some infrastructure for my trading network. 

As a small child, educational holovision taught me that "knowledge is power", and as an adult, I have learned that this is very true. With that in mind, I head to the Cloudbase satellite fab and buy their full stock of NavSats. These are more cost-effective than the Advanced models and should provide the information I need. With these in Ore Belt, Home of Light, and Herron's Nebula, I can effectively monitor the Argon Economy, and this will allow my readers to better exploit price differences. I do the same thing with the three Boron sectors to the East of Argon space and the Three Teladi sectors beyond that. When I'm finished with my network, I hightail it back to Argon Core sectors, as I'm not anxious to meet any more mean men with big guns. I putter around and scan asteroids ("there's always money in a banana stand and an ore mine", as my dad always said) for a while as JackCo ST1 learns the ropes. Imagine my surprise when a guy in a Harrier comms me and offers to sell me his ship. 57,000 credits is his asking price. I do a quick check in the encyclopedia and learn that they typically go for around 500k. I wipe the drool off of my mic and tell him we have a deal. I expect him to park at a station before turning over the controls, but he just up and ejects way out in the middle of nowhere. I offer him a ride, but he just jets off in the general direction of the trading station and I watch in horror as a passing Demeter clips him and he goes kaboom.

Oh well, I have a shiny ship in almost new condition. A minute or so with my repair laser and it's good as new (if you can look past the spray painted duct tape). I direct the autopilot to take it back to the  shipyard while I decide whether or not I'm going to keep it. 

The Teladi kid turns out to be a pretty good businessman, as in the last few hours he's managed to bring in quite a bit of money. It also turns out he's got a brother who he assures me is "assssssss good a merchant assssss any. Sssssurely worthy of great profitssssss." I agree to hire the guy, if only to end the painfully slow conversation with the Teladi, and turn over controls of what is now known as JackCo Sector Trader 2. 

I set him up in Herron's Nebula, and true to his brother's word, he quickly starts raking in the credits. Between the two of them, I soon have enough to purchase and outfit another freighter, this one for manual control, and I put it to work shuttling ore to the BioGas facilities in Boron space. 

Today has been highly productive, and I feel like I have a good strategy going forward. I am faced with one dilemma though: the Harrier. Do I sell it and use the profit as expansion capital? Or do I keep it as a personal protection ship? It's not hea vily armed, but it did come with one IRE, about enough to annoy any attackers and provide a short distraction so I could escape. Decisions decisions. 

Assets:
Discoverer "Company Car"
2x Mercury "JackCo Sector Trader 1-2"
Mercury "JackCo 1"
Harrier

248,437 credits

[John Jackson]

Sorry for the delay and short update, the holidays have kept me on the road and far away from my computer. I'll have a more involved update soon.


------------------
Day four

Well poop. Apparently I was misinformed. As this Harrier is only worth around 55k credits. I was appalled that the Internet lied to me. Looks like I'm keeping it. I kit it out with IREs and shields, and have it follow me around. I call it "Folly Au Un", as a monument to my own stupidity.
I wander through Argon space for a while, slowly upgrading the cargo space on my freighters; and I get commed by a random woman. She'd like to sell me a ship. Uh oh.
This one turns out to be a great deal, though, a mercury super freighter for only 110k. It has a few dings, but nothing the repair laser can't fix. I buy it and send it to terracorp HQ for outfitting after a few very long minutes patching it up.

I fully upgrade the super freighter, but decide to remotely pilot it myself and use it as an ore shuttle. I also switch into Folly and send Company Car to deploy some satellites into Paranid and Split space as my traders are overlapping and cannibalizing each others profits.
Within seconds, it is destroyed by a pirate jaguar. Five minutes later I get a distress signal from Ore Belt, and I watch helplessly as my spanking new Super freighter (with a few million in cargo upgrades) is rendered into a cloud of debris.
Not all is lost though, as on a tour through my trading territory, I received a message from the Teladi Stock Exchange.
Apparently I'm welcome to invest as soon as I pay a meager 10,000 credit fee. Looks like I'm about to become a big time investor.

Assets:
Harrier (Folly Au Un)
Mercury freighters "JackCo Sector Trader 1-4"
1,503,782

[Triaxx2]

No worries, there's always a holiday lull around here.