DiD - Explorer to Hero TC (Prematurely Ended)

Nathancros · Post by **Nathancros** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 12:53

WOAH how did i only just find this 0_o!? *reads it all, bloody hell nice work man keep it up*

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 13:33

Thanks for the support. Im playing two games at the minute, this is the main one, the next one is a tester for possibly another DiD in the future.

Im only about 2 chapters ahead now, the next one is where i "think" i have done something that no one else has yet, but it will lead into something i hope no one has even considered. Im not fussed if it has been done before as im not trying to be unique, but any i have read have not really done this.

Glad you have enjoyed it, it's always good to get some support and feedback.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 18:17

Almost a disaster, i knew that the save function in the game is a little dangerous in that you can save over an old save file without realizing, so i copied this DiD save file into another folder for safe keeping. Played my new game, just a random go killing everything one and when i went back to this it wasn't there. I couldn't find it and even when i put the copy i kept in it didn't show, note to self, dont rename a save file.

Close call and i think i would have been quite annoyed at myself.

Poseidon · Post by **Poseidon** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 18:26

That would have been horrible. You've been doing so well, too. Glad to hear it's safe. :-p Keep up the good work.

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Mon, 1. Jul 13, 18:50

Download the save game manager. If you look for any post by TTD, it should be linked in his sig. Fantastic little tool

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Tue, 2. Jul 13, 09:32

Cheers Kirlack, i downloaded it, but im not sure if i have used it properly.

16. Double Agent

I am S'hot T'sht, I am a Split, however I have been recruited by the Yaki as a double agent and my job is to basically cause havoc wherever I go. The Yaki pay well and I enjoy my job, but lately things have been a little different. I met up with Erin Iovis a few days ago, a Terran explorer or so she says that’s what she set out as, but due to some events such as the destruction of her 3 million investment by the Xenon and a little cohesion by me, she has turned rogue and doesn't even know it, not yet anyways, she has been busy making allies with all the commonwealth races while also helping with the Terrans little problem of the Xenon. But all that will change in the near future, I will make sure of it.

My main target will be the Paranid, the Yaki have been at war for a while with all the races, but the Paranid have been a real problem due their closeness to the Yaki sectors. It was my idea to steal a Tractor beam from one off those nids, my idea to bring all those asteroids into Savage Spur & place them around the jump gate, Why? well it's very hard for the Paranid capital ships to negotiate the area now, and any that do survive are usually a battered wreck before the Yaki even start. The paranid are so stubborn that they will always drive through savage spur instead of jumping to the south gate and making there way down.

Erin Iovis has already admitted that she dislikes the Paranid, they are cheeky, self centred and fear change and continually call her an unholy one, off course I have been feeding paranoia by telling her lies that the Paranids dislike the Terrans because of their similarities to the Argons, that the Paranid are a ruthless race who enjoy the destruction of humans. I have gained enough trust with her that she will allow me to be captain of my very own Heavy Dragon, off course I had to kill a lot of my own people to show her my loyalty, but eventually we will destroy the Split families, 1 by 1.

Soon enough I will instigate that she attack the Paranid, this is the bit that gets tricky, I need the Paranid to attack her or one of her ships and to do that I need to put myself in a compromising position, I'm not sure how this will go but im working on a plan.

Earlier she was brought down to the Yaki and spoke to one of their High Leaders, off course she didn't realise who it was at the time, but she was told that the Yaki had plans to raid and pillage the other Races sectors, they had a Plan, Me and Erin is that plan, and for that plan to work we need to keep her in the dark, but also keep her as an ally, the Yaki trusted her enough to give her enough IBL's to protect herself as well as destroy her enemies, she is in our pocket and doesn't even know.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Tue, 2. Jul 13, 14:16

17. "Operation Shields? What Shields?"

Well the Terrans need me to go to somewhere called Aldrin, never seen it before and I can jump to it, very random as I usually need jump gates but I'm not complaining. They have even give me a few ships to use, some I apparently had from a while back, An M6 Vidar - looks very good but like all Terran ships limited in weapons & Missiles, I also had a scabbard with Marines on board, they look decent and most have a fight skill of at least 3* plus extra in other areas, these have just been sitting around doing nothing and I didn't even realize.

I order the Scabbard to dock at a Military Post in Black Hole Sun & the Vidar to dock in the Shipyard in Mars. I then make the jump to Aldrin. Now the Terran Sectors are big, but Aldrin is HUGE, a short distance on the map is roughly 100km and in a Tiger at 80% hull and top speed of 110m/s it takes a while. I also have another team of Marines in yet another scabbard, these Terrans sure love giving away ships and Marines. After a while a ship comes toward us and Jackson is surprised it's a Human, as it turns out they have been living here and using Teraformer technology, after a short get together we are ordered to help locate someone who has stolen the Teraformer technology in Aldrin.

A small fleet of Xenon show up and try to make trouble for us, including a huge M1 ship that I want, I bring my Marines on board and launch from the Tiger after suppressing it's shields, again they don't launch, I really need to remember what ships launch Marines, by the time the marines are back on the scabbard the Terrans have taken control and I’m ordered to bring the Aldrin Leader to Earth, I bring in a Pelican due to me not being able to dock the M7 and we make our way to Earth. Upon arrival I am giving another ship, this Time an M8 bomber, again it's limited in it's missiles but I may make use of it sometime.

Back in Commonwealth and nothing to do, S'hot T'sht is getting bored of not shooting things, we go to Xenon X-347 and start mauling Q's, P's, Px's, Countless M's, N's & L's. they only thing that has caused me concern is the Q's ramming me, I even change weapons on the front turrets to ISR to help against the Q's speed & shields but they suck up the energy even more and when in a fight with 2-3 Q's a time running out of energy is not wise.

We then go to X-432, same as before, 4 Q's lie in wait for me but they go down quickly, not much of a force in X-432 just loads of fighters which drain my energy due to the FAA working overtime, after picking up a load of missiles, weapons, tech & shields, the Tiger is near full, I unload it in my Storage ships and decide to take a risk. I have enough money to repair the Dragon after all the free ships I claimed from the Terran missions and the ones given to me I didn't need got sold. I decide to give S'hot T'sht his very own ship, I trust him enough now after his exploits using the turrets on the Tiger and he is given the green light to try "Operation Shields? What Shields?".

I get in the Dragon with him and let him go hunting, he decides to go to X-347, a favourite hunt of his nowadays, I’m a little sceptical of his choice but I trust his decision. Luckily there was not much activity in the sector when we arrived, only 1 Q which we went for. The dragon is faster and more agile than the Q, S'hot T'sht's piloting skills are fearsome, he unloads the Mass Driver and fires away, the Q's shields hold up, but the Hull is getting hammered, every % slows the Q down even more and eventually it goes down, after probably around 100,000 rounds but that not that much really, I think I have 60000 in each gun with more in storage. He did this without missiles and without taking a single hit, quite impressive and a good run out for the Dragon.

The only problem now is the 3 Q's coming up the rear, I’m not sure he can handle 3 Q's with a Dragon as the shields are more than 4 times less that of the Tiger and if they do their usual party trick of kamikaze then I think it's game over. a quick redeployment or the popular move called RSLG and wait for the Jump-Drive to power up we head back "home".

Not a bad day overall, I am finished with the Terrans, they have no more missions for me, I have proved that I can handle plenty of capital ships ganging up on me, I collected a wide variety of missiles and weapons to use for the fighters, I got the dragon repaired and to top it all off, my trust in S'hot T'sht is complete - he showed me his ability to follow orders while shooting his own people down, but also his ability to take on the Xenon’s and come out without a scratch. I need to find more people like him.

Assets

M7 - 1x Tiger
M6 - 1x H-Dragon 1x Vidar
TM - 3x Pelican 1x Pleco
M8 - 1x Viper 1x Claymore
M3-M5 - Assortment including:
· Falcon Sentinels
· Falcon Hauler's
· Cutlass
· Nova's
· Mamba's
· Perseus's
· Barracuda's
· Mako's
· Harriers
· Kestrels

TS - Assortment including:
· Mercury SF
· Dolphin SF - "Ammo Boat" & "Boom Shot"
· Baldric - "Gun Boat"
· Mercury Tankers
· Demeter's
· Caiman’s

TP - 2x Express 1x Scabbard

Stations – 1x Complex - Nostrop Oil

Poseidon · Post by **Poseidon** » Tue, 2. Jul 13, 14:55

Heh. Interesting twist. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 10:10

17. We need bombs. Lots of bombs.

Although the Tiger has won all of it's battles so far, i do lack the ability to spam missiles at will. With S'hot T'sht on the turrets the fighters don't stand much of a chance, but having a blind spot has cost me some sheild damage before, so i need to make good use of the missiles i find, plus damaging the Capital ships before we are at firing range is a benefit as is distracting it's turrets, so the next goal is to have a small missile plex, off course to do that i will need credits, lot's of credits and i only have 6 million at present with some ships to repair.

Another goal is to secure another ship, i love the Tiger dearly, it has kept me alive after so many battles, it's quick for an M7, can mount IBL's and the recharge rate is fairly decent, however it can't dock in many stations, in fact it has only docked in shipyards, equipment docks, military bases & some corporate stations, the Universe is too big to only be able to dock in certain stations in certain sectors, but what else can i use? Off course this is always a good time to ask a friend and the only friend that i know who might know is S'hot T'sht.

"S'hot, i need some help, as you know docking this Tiger is proving troublesome, refuelling it is also causing some problems, i need a ship that has decent sheilds, good turret coverage, is quick and can dock at least 1 scout ship"

"The only ship that i can think of that docks a fighter, has 1GJ of sheilds, has plenty of turrets, 8 front facing guns and can fire a whole host of missiles is the Hyperion Vangaurd"

"A what?"

"It's a Paranid ship, and you can't buy one, you can only steal one and i wasn't sure if you would be willing to get your hands dirty, especially with a live target"

"Your right, i don't really want to take on a live target, is there no other ship thats buyable for my needs?"

"Not that i know off, don't be too concerned, the Paranids would have no problem stealing from you or your people if they thought it was what their God wanted"

"I'm not sure, i don't like them, but i don't think i can bring myself to initiate a full scale invasion where people will get killed just for a ship"

"The decsion is yours captain, i will follow your orders and will give advice when needed, but if it was me i would do it, they won't miss one little ship, and you never know, maybe they will hand it over without any casualties"

"I know, it's good to have someone around here that can give an unbiased opinion, if we were to do this, how would we do it?"

"It will be quite difficult, the Hyperion has guns all around, is quick at turning, getting the sheilds down will be easy enough, a couple of Hornet missiles will do, failing that due to the turret coverage PBE's will remove the sheilds, the hardest bit will be getting the Marines to it, an M7M would make things a little easier but we dont have one, i think releasing them from the Dragon is the best chance we have, it's sheilds will hold up to some punishment, we just need a bit of luck and good timing when releasing them"

"Is that it? nothing else i should consider? Its not like im short of luck out here!!"

"Ha, you never know, maybe the Gods will be shinning on you this time. I
suggest we find one, and follow it to a secluded spot like a border sector or a pirate sector, this will be a long battle and we don't need any unwanted guests causing us issues"

"Lets hope it isn't the Paranid Gods shinning down on us, thats the sort of luck we don't need"

On my way tracking through the Paranid sectors and not seeing a single Hyperion at all, we make our way towards Argon prime, another return ship mission from a Teladi, another one to get the boys trained up, this time it's an M7M Cobra - these Split Captains sure do love jumping ship, you wouldn't see a Terran captain leaving his ship lying empty in space. This could make boarding the Hyperion easier apparently, but i could also sell the Cobra to help fund the missile complex which will in turn help me secure a Hyperion, decision decsions.

Witht he boys safely on board and only 1 guy lost i now have another capital ship, i transfer over 1GJ sheild and jumpdrive from a pelican and order it to the shipyard, it will be sold and the proceeds used to fund my missile plex. I also take on a few assasinaition missions that are paying me 1, 2 and even 3 million, it's easy work as im fighting a couple M6 & a number of smaller fighters, the only issue is that one of the hits was against a Yaki, this plummeted my rep with them and S'hot T'sht was none to pleased, i try to explain that the contract was vague and i didn't read the small print, i promised him i would make it up to them but i didn't know how. I took part in some patrols against the Xenon which is always fun. I remember back to the start of this journey that crossing a Q or PX scared me, now i actively go hunting them, oh how things change in a matter of time, and even my fighting skills have improved.

With the Cobra sold - much to the dislike of the Teladi and the missions i have completed, much to the dislike of the Pirates, Yaki & S'hot T'sht i now am sitting on 32 million credits, it's time to get things rolling. I need to hire a numbe rof TL captains, but with them having to travel long distances and through Xenon Sectors i think it would be better to have my own, this of course is a lot of money to spend so i contemplate stealing one, S'hot T'sht says it is fairly difficult to get through the Hull on TL's and says it's better to just buy one, but which one?

S'hot T'sht must be rubbing off on me as i tend to have a lot of Split ships, the TL i picked is no different, an Elephant, it can hold up to 11 fighters, has plenty of weapons and is quite quick, it does not hold as much as an Elephant or an Ocra but it is a lot faster and speed is a good defense to have. The complex i am looking to build is going to cost roughly 23 million, it wont be huge and it is only for self use, i can't afford to have a SPP with it's need for crystals and it's need for Silicon, so i will bring in the E-cells manually. This is how it will look

http://tinyurl.com/o38lcjp

All the missiles i will need for the time being anyway, i was tempted to include Tomahawks for the Viper, but i still haven't used it, plus i might install Typhoons at a later date, but for now these will do for what i need, and thats to simply spam missiles at will when i need to. You will notice that i have Dragonflys on the base, i will have no use for these but the Equipment Dock in PTNI seems to love them, this will help keep the plex up and running with little input from me, but i cant for whatever reason set up my Harrier Hauler to manually trade the Dragonflys, i have to keep issuing the command.

With the Missile plex up and running, there nothing for me to do just now, so i think some whiskey, beer & poker is called for and hopefully S'hot will be in a better mood, i need to get the Yaki back on side, it's handy having the most ruthless pirates backing you up, S'hot has told me he wants to go to the Yaki and speak to them on my behalf, lets hope they listen to him.

Assets

M7 - 1x Tiger
M6 - 1x H-Dragon 1x Vidar
TL - 1x Elephant
TM - 3x Pelican 1x Pleco
M8 - 1x Viper 1x Claymore
M3-M5 - Assortment including:

Falcon Sentinals
Falcon Hauler's
Cutlass
Nova's
Mamba's
Perseus's
Barracuda's
Mako's
Harriers
Kestrels

TS - Assortment including:

Mercury SF
Dolphin SF - "Ammo Boat" & "Boom Shot"
Baldric - "Gun Boat"
Mercury Tankers
Demeter's
Caimen's

TP - 2x Express 1x Scabbard

Stations - 2 Complexes - Missile Plex & Nostrop Oil

jorganos · Post by **jorganos** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 15:05

Nice reading so far, and excellent secret ops story twist for getting heads on with the Paranids.

You mentioned your game isn't quite vanilla - I guess that's why you need marines for return capital ship missions, but what makes you find abandoned craft. Care to list the scripts?

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 15:29

Hi jorganos,

No it's not Vanilla at all, the cripts and mods used are mostly for performance, eg no banners at stations, reseized Aldrin Rock, no ship wrecks etc.

From my experience, to return capital ships you need to board them, it's not like m5-m3 where i can space walk and claim them, i think you need to board, thats all i have ever done so maybe someone else can clarify it.

Abandoned Crafts are missions i got from NPC stations, you need to have good rep to get the capital ships.

The scripts really don't add anything to my game other than Cycrows Early sat Warning Network and his Easier baording Scripts, plus i also have NPC bail addon, Yaki EQ docks and Disrupter Missile fab, the rest are really just for performance issues as my laptop really struggles with the game.

Thanks for the support, i will post another chapter 2nite, hopefully it will bring the Covert Ops out a bit more.

Poseidon · Post by **Poseidon** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 18:19

Interesting to see a missile complex that sin't self sufficient. The increased universe trade should be healthy. The elephant is a solid first ship, although the limited cargo space becomes irritating with larger complexes.

Good times! Keep it up!

Song Of Obsidian · Post by **Song Of Obsidian** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 19:10

As far as the capturing goes, it depends on whether it's a return abandoned ship mission or return stolen ship mission. If it's abandoned you can claim it just like an M5. If it's stolen you actually have a chance of completely the mission if it's a capital ship since boarding isn't negotiable

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Thu, 4. Jul 13, 20:53

Ah, really? i always assumed because it was a Capital you needed to board it, after all those attempts at failing the return ship missions, the Ares in particular you mean i could have just jumped out and claimed them?

Ya learn something new everyday it seems.

18. Double Agent Part 2

On my way to Yaki space I thought about what Erin has done lately, I understand her reasons for taking on assassinations, the money was good, the pirates have attacked her Nostrop Station a few times, but when she killed the Yaki I couldn't believe it. They trusted her and even give her the weapons she used to kill them; this is not good for future relations. But more tha that, she has changed as a person too, when i first met her she was timid, avoided confrontation, was only interested in learning about the commonwealth, but now, she owned a missile complex, was actively hunting the Xenon, had killed for money, it just goes to show you that being out here in space alone can change even the best of us.

I reached the Equipment dock in Senators Badlands, upon docking I immediately felt tense and for good reason it would seem. Leaving the ship I was immediately met with 5 Yaki Pirates pointing disrupter riffles at me. I held my ground, held out my pistol as one frisked me then I was marched into what can only be described as a holding cell - No windows, No chairs, No lights and the smell of weed, drink and sweat hung in the air, I could also smell a metallic smell, one I was all to familiar with, Blood.

I waited there for over an hour, the door swung open and my eyes wear immediately stung, I had just become accustomed to the darkness, the familiar shadows and shapes in the room, and now all that was gone, in the door way stood a silhouette of a man I had known for years, had drunk and killed with, had shared so many secrets and so many lies with, C'ro K'hed, a former Split Captain turned Pirate. He was good at what he did, he was a decorated captain in the Split Military, he killed hundreds of Boron and held the record for kills in a single day - 648 - 573 Boron, 24 Argon & 51 Paranid. I was one of this lieutenants and it was he who asked me to join him in stealing something from the Paranids.

He had heard rumours about a secret weapon that they wear developing, it was a sort of chemical weapon that can be used against any race to trigger the biological breakdown of their DNA, it was supposedly being developed to help eradicate the Khaak problem but there where thoughts that it may be able to be used against non biological beings such as the Xenon. C'ro K'hed had other ideas, he began making connections, was working for a number of Split families and secretly selling their secrets to each other. He was caught by the Tkr family and for that he was exiled from Split Space and found a new home with the Yaki.

"S'hot, I thought we had an agreement? Erin Iovis was supposedly an ally to us?"

"She is an ally"

"Really? Then what’s this?"

He threw a data pad at me with pictures and a recording of a Tiger destroying a few Yaki ships. It was evidence of the betrayal and one that will not go down well.

"The ID of that ship states it belongs to an Erin Iovis, it has actually been listed as stolen by the Split Military, and you say she is an ally? Looks like she has changed her mind, what do you think?"

"It was a contract handed out by the Split, she didn't read the details, just seen the credits and accepted it, once she realised what was needed she had no choice, your guys opened up on her first, she retaliated"

"Ha, you expect me to believe that? My guys are under explicit orders to keep her & you safe, they have been following you both around everywhere, offering missions from us every so often to test her loyalty, and she has rejected every one of those contracts except the 1 she accepted when she first left here"

"The contracts your guys have been offering are against the Teladi, the Argons & the Boron, these are her allies. If you offered some against the Paranid then maybe your stats would be a little different. As a matter of fact, if? our agreement still stands I have made the first move"

"Our agreement? It was void the second you took sides with Erin Iovis and destroyed my convoy, I’m here to kill you S'hot, it pains me badly, you were my first choice for this assignment and you failed"

"She will be attacking the Paranid very shortly, she is looking at a new ship, I have convinced her of taking a Hyperion Vanguard by force, and she has already set out feelers looking for one by dropping satellites in Paranid sectors"

"Too little too late S'hot, this should have been done earlier, I’m surprised you came alone though, your usually very smart when it comes to self preservation, now turn around and get on your knees, I will give you a proper Split execution"

I smiled at my former Captain, "I don't think so, if you wanted me dead I would already be dead, I wouldn't be here speaking to you in this dump of a room, so what’s going on here? What’s with all the fake hostility?"

"You know me too well S'hot, the Yaki are most displeased with recent events, and I was put in a bad position by these events that you and your lady friend caused. We need to know if we can trust you and if we can trust her"

"My loyalty to you has never been in doubt, yes I enjoy working with Erin, I would probably die fighting for her, but my loyalty to you has never wavered and I will continue with the plan. Things are falling into place and this initial attack to get the Hyperion will start the ball rolling"

"Good, just make sure she does not attack any more Yaki, the next Yaki ship she destroys will be the end of any agreement, I can't protect you anymore, if you let her attack a Yaki then you will be held just as responsible as her"

"I understand, now let’s have some whiskey"

We drank until the early hours and spoke of past adventures, it was like this most times we drank, we told the same old stories over and over and laughed at the same jokes, but it was what we did and we enjoyed each other’s company. We also spoke of the overall plan.

I was to instigate a war between Erin and the Paranid; this would be interference for the Yaki stealing the Bio weapon. Part 1 was already starting out, she had a Missile complex set up to help her, and she had reluctantly agreed to attack the Paranid to gain a good ship.

Once she gets a few more ships up and running, loaded with the correct weapons we would then start Part 2, a systematic attack against the Paranids, starting off with the Border sectors and then moving into the core sectors. Unfortunately the Paranid have been moving the weapon about and we don't know which sector it’s in. There have been rumours that the Split have been helping with it, this is a surprise as the Paranid and Split don't have much in common, this has led us to perhaps having to destroy my Split brothers after the Paranid, something I don't really want to do

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Fri, 5. Jul 13, 09:28

19. Bio Weapons

"Move that now, we have a small window to get this done, we can't afford any mistakes with this one, time is of the essence, if we fail here you will be seeing our god quicker than expected, trust me on that" said General Eithachathao.

The Genome Synthesizer was being loaded onto an Ares, it was being moved from Empires Edge to Thuracks Beard for safe keeping, it was never kept in one area longer than 2 days, it was too dangerous. The Yaki were getting more and more ruthless, a number of ships had been attacked in the last few hours, a Deimos & a Hyperion was destroyed, a couple of stations had took a massive amount of firepower, we think it was on the orders of a Split captain called C'ro K'hed - an apt name for that traitor, he knew about the Genome Synthesizer, he was searching for it when the Tkr family found him looking through confidential files pertaining information to the whereabouts of the DNA weapon and he wants it, we are not sure why he wants it, but we must make sure he does not get it.

The Ares will jump to Thuracks Beard to minimalise any threats and will be escorted by a large number of ships, it will have a Deimos, a Hyperion Vanguard, 5 Hades Bombers, and a large wing of fighters. Not to mention the Ares has it's own arsenal of missiles, if the Yaki, Pirates, Xenon or Khaak decided to attack it would be met with a severe headache, we will not and cannot take any chances with this weapon.

"It is loaded sir, the Ares is a green to go" said a young Paranid

"Very well, tell flight control to clear a flight path ASAP"

With the Ares gone we can relax a little, we keep an open comm. link so that we know what’s going on, but it will be the Splits responsibility to keep the weapon safe for the next few days before it is moved on again. There was talk of involving the Terrans since their sector defences seem a lot more difficult to break down, the only way in is through the Asteroid Belt, this sector is heavily defended due to this and not much gets by alive unless they want it too. The problem is that they have an uneasy alliance with the Argons an enemy of Xarr, who are also too friendly with the Boron for the Split's liking and so the Paranid & Split have formed an alliance to keep this weapon safe and out of harms way until it is ready to be used.

"We have an unidentified craft just outside scanner range"

"Keep formation, everything is going as planned" said the Ares captain

"Negative, send out the scouts to see what that ship is, Fighter form a protective shield around the package" said Eithachathao through the comm. system

"Contact, it's the Xenon, looks like 1 Q, 2 PX, 1 K, 1 J and a horde of fighters"

"Keep the package safe, all that matters is that the package reaches it's destination"

"Incoming missile, a Hammerhead, take it out before it reaches us"

"Target destroyed, moving to engage the enemies, we need to keep them busy while the package lands"

"Affirmative, Hades Wing launch a salvo of Tomahawks at that K, it's the major threat"

"Rodger, moving to engage, missiles launched, 8 are a hit, 17 have been shot down"

"Fire again, fighter wing launch all your missiles, lets give that K's turrets something extra to aim at"

"Rodger"

"Rodger"

"Status report" demanded Eithachathao

"K is down sir, both P's are down thanks the Deimos, Q is taking a hammering, we have lost a number of fighters but so have they, the J is under fire from the Hyperion and Hades wing and will be going down soon"

"Where’s the package?"

"Package is safe sir, we are docking now"

"Well done”

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 10:04

20. New & Lost Acquisitions

With S'hot back in Yaki space trying to sort out the mess I created, I was left with nothing really to do. There were no missions flagging up that interested me, so I decided some admin work would kill some time. I sent the Kestrel around Paranid space dropping of satellites in their sectors, finding a station that has some satellites is tough work but eventually I have around 20 in the Paranid sectors. I installed a bit of software on them called the Satellite Early Warning Network - this would flag up the ships I wanted to keep an eye on, and in this case I want a Hyperion.

The missile plex is doing well, but it runs out of energy quickly, I have now got 2 Caimens and a Mercury SF buying e-cells for it, the Harrier is doing a decent job of selling the Dragonfly’s to keep the complex self sustained, but I do have to do a little maintenance every so often.

I seen a mission that I could never do before, a build station mission, now I have an elephant I can do this no problem, first one was to build a Plankton Farm L, easy money, next was a Teladinadium Factory, easy money, the third was yet another Teladinadium Factory but I forgot about it as I was distracted trying to get the Kestrel more e-cells, when I remembered I still had plenty of time, so I bought one and dropped it, the Elephant still had loads in it's cargo bay and under closer inspection I seen it still had a Teladinadium factory in it, I bought 2, I have no use for the second so will just wait until someone else needs one.

S'hot returned with good news, although very unhappy with me taking out a few ships, the Yaki do indeed still like me enough to allow me to dock with no issues, I'm still in the minus numbers rep wise but I can always improve on that. S'hot also mentioned that they were quite pleased I would be stealing a Hyperion and hoped for numerous deaths on the Paranid side, this off course unsettled me as I would prefer zero deaths on either side but I guess we just have to wait.

The comm. in the Tiger flashed up, apparently one of my satalite picked up a capital ship, an M6, a Hyperion M6 Capital ship. S'hot nodded at me and smiled, I jumped to Omicron Lyrae, picked up the Dragon and my Marines and jumped to Paranid Prime, it was a Military Hyperion Vanguard - I checked it out, the stats are impressive and to boot he was not escorting anything, I followed him for a while into Empires edge where I was met with another one, this time closer to the south gate and heading to Preachers Void - Border sector. I jumped one of the Pelicans in case I needed more marines, I hoped not as these where extreme green horns.

I followed the Hyperion, 5 x 200mj, that’s 5 Hornets, bombs away, 4 shot down, this thing has got some good turret coverage, they comm'd me and said they "appreciate my attempt my not my stupidity", every time I speak to these Paranid's they insult me someway, I’m glad I listened to S'hot and I hope the Yaki get what they want, dead Paranids.

I strip the shields of quickly with my PBE's and quickly launch the Marines, I’m taking hits but I’m able to strafe most of it, the Marines missed, I can't pick them up just yet due to the Hyperion attacking me, a quick jump to the North gate and wait for the Hyperion to come to me, it does quite quickly so I jump to the South gate and get the marines before he reaches me again, this is tough work, the others weren't this difficult, then again the others were not moving and firing at me. I strip the shields of and launch the Marines again, again they missed, I would curse my luck accept I haven’t the time, you remember that first Hyperion? well guess who just came through to this sector? Yep, I now have two Hyperion’s, I collect the marines quickly and strip the shields again, this time I slow down and wait for the Hyperion to catch up, I strafed toward shim and released the Marines - "We are approaching the Target" "Keep the shields down" Happy days. "Ready your weapons" "Throwing Smoke"

I jump to the farthest gate and wait to see what happens, a few minutes go by and I get a message that the ship is mine, I check the other Hyperion, still Blue, Result, check the Marines, 2 left, not the news i wanted to hear considering these were my top guys, but at least they left me with 85% hull.

I jump the Hyperion to PTNI shipyard for repairs, I was going to take the Pelicans Jump drive but I am quicker and much more protected, I will make my way to Home of Light and get a new jump drive. I get back to PTNI and check out the new ship, it is worth over 20 million in it's current state, although that’s probably due to the Marines still on board. It costs me more than I have to repair the ship so I have to do some more fishing it seems.

I take a patrol mission from the Argons, the Xenon are going to attack Nyanas, I accept the Very Hard mission and start looking for some fish, the mission was worth 800k, I got nearly 3 million plus the 800k, so you can assume how much fish I killed, the Q's, P's Px's and L's were easy, but the M's & N's caused me some headache, and to top it all off one of the Missile Complexes Caimens was destroyed thanks to the M's & N's. I have a missile complex and I forgot to put missiles in the Tiger, I picked up a couple but for hordes of fighters I feel swarms of Wasps are better than Banshees.

The only good thing was the amount of money I made will cover the cost of the ship, plus I even collected loads of goodies. These will be put in my storage ships and on the last count, the Baldric "Gun Boat" was worth over 18 million credits, it is only 1/2 full off spares I picked up killing Xenon’s, I wonder what "Ammo Boat" & "Bomb Bomb" is worth? I decided stupidly to sell "Tag ur It", I hadn't really used it and the 4 million credits helped repair the Hyperion, but I’m sure I could have used it at some point. I may live to regret selling it, or maybe I won't live long enough to regret it due to selling it.

Credits - 7,623,067

Assets

M7 - 1x Tiger
M6 - 1x H-Dragon 1x Vidar 1x Hyperion Vanguard
TL - 1x Elephant
TM - 3x Pelican 1x Pleco
M8 - 1x Claymore
M3-M5 - Assortment including:
· Falcon Sentinels
· Falcon Hauler's
· Cutlass
· Nova's
· Mamba's
· Perseus's
· Barracuda's
· Mako's
· Harriers
· Kestrels

TS - Assortment including:
· Mercury SF
· Dolphin SF - "Ammo Boat" & "Boom Shot"
· Baldric - "Gun Boat"
· Mercury Tankers
· Demeter's
· Caimen's

TP - 2x Express 1x Scabbard

Stations - 2 Complexes - Missile Plex & Nostrop Oil

Poseidon · Post by **Poseidon** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 12:59

Nice snag on the Hyperion, and close call. Spacewalk Boardings are really difficult.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 13:51

Your telling me, it took me ages to grab that Hyperion, about an hours game play, lucky PBE's don't do much damge. I'm no good at boarding, as you can tell from my story so far and have never fired a boarding pod before, must attempt to get one.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Mon, 8. Jul 13, 20:46

21. Who enjoys Admin work?

The answer, No-one.

With the loss of most of my good marines I think it's time to start hiring good Mercs, ones that have been trained up enough to at least get through the first couple of decks, the ones that are actually worth spending millions training. I could buy 5-6 and have them trained up and get new ones as I need them, but I feel having a big enough Marine unit will be more worthwhile so it's time to go visit the local Military outposts & Pirate Bases to see what they have.

Like before I am only looking ones that have decent stats in fighting, seeing as they only improve this skill with boarding ops, I jump to Black hole sun and visit the Marine Outpost, it's there where I meet an Argon Colonel named Kyle Fee, he goes on saying that his marines are up for any task I may need them for,

"What does a Philosopher like you need highly trained marines for?" he asked with a knowing tone in his voice

"Self protection mostly, you see I kind of got on the wrong side of some pirate clans, especially the Yaki and having marines that can fight for me is important"

"Ah, I see, but why do you need so much? If you don't mind me asking. You brought two TP ships with you, that’s enough room for 20 highly trained marines"

"I have other interests that I need protecting, I have a Nostrop Complex in Profit Centre Alpha that has been attacked recently by the Pirates and another complex in PTNI"

He nodded again and give me a data pad,

"Here is what we have, and hopefully they will meet your specifications"
I flicked through the list of about 30 Marines and took a look at their recent history, they had a range of skills that I needed, some were 3* in Hacking & Engineering but the main skill I was looking for was fighting skill, unfortunately only 3 had at least 3* in fighting. I paid the colonel and made my way back to the ships with my new Marines onboard; these will be put into training very shortly.

It went like this most of the day, going through the data pads of Marines and only taking about 2-4 at a time due to the lack of fighting most of these marines seemed to have, I decided to try the Pirate bases to see what they had to offer, S'hot was keen to try them sooner, but I have heard stories that the Pirate's marines were actually slaves and I don't think I want slaves, it's not in my nature to hire slaves, plus you never know what those pirates may try, maybe I would become one of their slaves, luckily though the "Rehabilitation" station in loomantstrats legacy was enemy to me and I couldn't dock. I then proceeded to Elena’s Fortune, the Argons tend to have decent Marines if the ones I already have are anything to go by.

At the end of the day I had 45 Marines, some I already had like those given to me by the Terrans, some, only some of them had good fighting skills so I didn't see them lasting too long. Of course training 45 Marines is a costly exercise, so I need to get funds flowing in, I go fishing around X-347 & X-101 and snag a few goodies, nothing much though, these Xenon don't like leaving their IBL's for me, but always leave Hammerhead missiles and Banshees.

I was also contacted by a Teladi treasure hunter who was looking me to give him some money, 50,000 credits, I did so against my better judgement but working with a treasure hunter sounded like it was a profitable venture. He tells me I need to get to Yaki space and speak to his contact in the trouble seeker, luckily S'hot already assured me I was not KOS status with the Yaki so I jumped down to Senator's Badlands, only to find the lady very rude and not very forthcoming with information, well I didn't agree with that, not after handing over 50,000 credits to her boss, I blew up here Adv satellite and 2 Laser towers, this worked as she give up the info as soon as I replaced the satellite - I’m glad I’m a philosopher, because the information she provided would have proved gibberish to me otherwise

"From the end of the kingdom move one and five, there is a rock among many, that holds a surprise. Jarren Gisler, 10/5/44"

Easily enough to figure out, end of Kingdom must refer to Kingdoms end, so move 1 & 5, that leads us to a sector with a "Rock among many" the "Ore Belt" - 10/5/44 is the coordinates to said rock - I need to blow this rock up, I fire of 1 of my Hornet missiles and find yet another clue, how this clue go inside that rock I will never know.

x = Minimum jumps needed from the Foundation Guild HQ to the space of the Queen, y = x minus 1, Iaron Seldon 25-1-50

This one was a little more difficult to figure out, the Foundation Guild HQ from memory must be "The Hole" from there it's 4 jumps to Boron Space so X=4, Y=X-1 = 3, so the coordinates for the next clue is 4,3 which is Bala Gi's Joy - a quick hornet and I’m onto the 3rd clue already.

"Visit the home of the Xenon that is surrounded by profit. Make your way east, but beware the keepers; their numbers give them strength. Tzessosis Rudilis Luuligos II"

This one was easy, it's the sector that I have been visiting constantly from the start of the game, the one sector I like to go fishing in - X-347, it was fairly hard finding the clue this time, I had enemies shooting me and no set path other that go east but I eventually found it and was immediately surrounded by drones, lot's of drones. Luckily I have FAA and wasp missiles on board and took care of them fairly quickly. I was getting bored with this treasure hunt thing, one clue led to another then another, I’m not seeing my bank balance rise, if anything it's getting depleted very quickly.

I decided to leave the treasure hunt for a while and go make some money, I first destroyed the Xenon station in X-347 and a handful of Q's & P's plus a load of fighters, nothing really of value collected apart from a couple of abandoned L's and a Kea. I went to Scale Plate Green and took on an Anti-Xeon patrol, this netted me roughly 1.7 million, another Xenon Patrol in Black Hole Sun nets me over 4 million due to the K I destroyed.

I then decide I would do another Patrol as it's netting me plenty of money so I jump up to Zyarths Dominion, another sector neighbouring a Xenon Sector, this time X-598, the only issue here being the size of Zyarth, it is huge and my sensor range seems minimal in it and it's proving difficult finding the Xenon, once that’s over I get another cool million I then risk X-598, it's fairly clear, not much in it to be honest, 3-4 Q's 1 K couple of P's and fighters, luckily they are spaced out enough for me to take them one by one and I’m glad they were as the First Q rammed me and sent my shields plummeting. The K dropped a weapon I hadn't seen before, just after the weapon hit me, something called a starburst shockwave cannon, sounds dangerous and I want to use it, the only problem, it's a Terran only weapon and to use it I need a Terran capital ship.

With the money I have I can safely put all these marines into training, 20 million should cover it for a while anyways, now I got to start stalking some new targets, I’m still annoyed I lost "Scout" so I think a Paranid slaughter may be on the cards, that should keep the Yaki happy too. But first things first, I'm in need of a new ship, one that will make boarding easier, I need to launch boarding pods, an M7M will need to be acquired and where better to get one than in the Pirate Corridor between Moo Kyes Revenge & Split Fire - although not all Pirate space, the majority of it is Pirate and "Scout" already has Advanced Satelites set up - my first target will be a Paranid Ares - although I have only ever seen one, that return ship mission I failed in earlier. Time to settle down and watch the Nav Map for potential targets to identify while the marine train.

BankruptAssasin · Post by **BankruptAssasin** » Wed, 10. Jul 13, 10:12

23. Emergency Broadcast

General Eithachathao was just finishing up some mundane paper work when the light flashed on his monitor, he rubbed his eyes & scratched his head before flicking the monitor on and saw Azgobaet big ugly 3 eyes looking back at him.

Azgobaet was unlike most Paranid in appearance, too be honest he almost look Teladi with his wide mouth & big teeth, it was only his 3 eyes and dark skin and a lack of ssss in his speech that made him resemble Paranid, it was something he had to deal with growing up, being classed as half cast or a person of two worlds, but he was one of the best analysts in the universe, he spoke fluent in over 6 languages and was able go through a huge volume of data and pull out the important parts. Azgobaet being on the big screen only meant one thing, bad news.

“Azgobaet, how’s things with you? Been a long time since we last spoke, what brings you to the big screen? Eithachathao said with more enthusiasm that he felt

"General how’s you? I’m fine, keeping myself busy as usual going through all the intelligence data, I stumbled across some that I think warrants your attention”

“Your coming straight to me? That’s highly out of character for you Azgobaet, it must be serious”

“Reports are coming in off an attack on one of our ships, an Hyperion Vanguard in Preachers Void"

Eithachathao stood up, the Hyperion was a powerful ship, he had seen the captains of these ships and they were some of the best fighter pilots he ever saw.

"By who? The Argons? The Xenon?"

"No sir, that’s what I thought at first and is what confuses things, according to eye witnesses it was by a Terran woman, the Bio scanners picked up her bio sign and name as Erin Iovis"

"Terran? What have they got to gain from attacking us?”

"Yes sir, and we are not sure, it’s the first major offensive from the Terrans against us, but that not the strange part, according to the Bio Scanner readouts there was Split onboard as-well"

"Split?" Eithachathao shouted, those treacherous scum, double crossing the Paranid like this is an act of war!!!

"Yes sir, the splits Bio signature came back and it triggered a red alert on our system, one of them is apparently Lt. S'hot T'sht, who as you know has very close links with our old friend C'ro K'hed"

"Terrans working with the Yaki? this is very strange behaviour, by right they should be natural enemies, we need to get to the bottom of this quickly. Have you anything else to report?"

"Yes sir, that Hyperion was boarded by marines and stolen by the Terran and Split, we suffered heavy losses, lost some good marines and a very good captain, the reports say he put up a good fight but Iovis had some luck on her side"

Eithachathao felt speechless, the Hyperion captains were among the very best in the Paranid fleet, the speed, the turn rate, the combat prowess of the Hyperion is something else, probably the best M6 out of all the other races, now one was in the hands of a possible Yaki Pirate.

"We need to change our patrol pattern, keep all capital ships in the core sectors, the last thing we need is for more capital ships to end up in the hands of the Yaki, they would not dare attack us in the home sectors”
"Very well sir, I will contact all the military bases and let them know what is happening, but this will leave the border sectors very exposed to all kinds of attack"

“I understand the risks, if we receive word of an attack in the border worlds, we will send the Military to the sectors.”

Once the video chat was over, Eithachathao was thinking about the news, why are the Terrans and Yaki working together? He knew what the Yaki wanted, but where the Terrans after the weapon also? Should he inform the Split about it?

Eithachathao opened up his data pad and logged in the Paranid Military database, the Paranid have been secretly keeping information about the other races, they have been spying on their activities on the UWW (Universal Wide Web). If they want they can accurately see what any one person is looking at, at any one time if they type in certain keywords, off course this is very illegal and immoral & the Paranid government would have some explaining to do if they found out. Eithachathao wanted to check out any information that has been gathered by the other races on Erin Iovis, he was intrigued at how she had met S'hot and what was in it for her or the Terrans.

As it turns out, Erin is not very concerned with hiding herself, in fact she has made quite a name for herself throughout the Universe, including for his own people who thought of her as a friend of the priest king. This was very odd indeed.

She was very well thought of by the Argons & Teladi, in fact they could not think any higher of her if they tried, she was even given a police license by those two and the Split and allowed to almost do as she pleases. She also has a couple of business adventures, she is supplying the areas between Two Grand and Scale Plate Green with Nostrop oil, but she also has a factory that is supplying her with missiles - Tempests, Wasps, Thunderbolts, Hurricane & Hornets - enough to cause anyone a bit of a headache. There have been reports that she was trying to get a contractor to move the complex to another sector, but this proved very difficult even in Teladi politics.

She was also a very competent at fighting, although she didn't start off like that, she was actually a glorified librarian, or what she called a Philosopher – she was not into violence at all and had never flown a proper combat ship before. Rumours surfaced that she enjoyed a fast ship and that her favourite was the Telaldi Kestrel which she flew for a number of days before moving into a stolen Heavy Centaur. This was her first act of piracy according to the Argons, but she stole from the Split too, a Heavy Dragon, this is where she started being seen with a Split crewman, later to be recognised as S'hot T'sht. This is where things started to go wrong.

Soon after taking part in the Terran war with the xenon, she stole yet another ship from the Split, this time a Split M7 Tiger, this caused the split families to take a closer look, they had her followed, they monitored her actions but she never did anything else to cause them to look a little further, if anything she boosted her ranking with them even more, she became better at piloting and their have been reports that she has took down over 500 Xenon so far, mostly M's, N's & L's but she has wiped out over 100 Q's, 3 J's, 3 K's and a large number of P's & Px's.

The latest information Eithachathao had was the recent attack on they Hyperion Vanguard, this was a few days old by now, he was sure she was up to something, she seemed to have a dislike for the Paranid, Eithachathao was unsure why but he was not going to risk any more capital ships just yet, not until he knew exactly what Erin Iovis & the Yaki have planned, but it's got to be that Bio weapon?

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

DiD - Explorer to Hero TC (Prematurely Ended)