Zen and the Art of Running away.. {spoilers guaranteed}

[lastebil]

I´ve started a DiD game with unholy traitor, and frankly, I felt fysically ill when I read about the rules of mr. Slug. I mean... not buy any stuff? Run around with 5 mj shields forever?

25 mj shields doesn´t like drop frequently...

Anyways, my first successful DiD ended when I set my autopilot to travel to a different sector. In the middle of the sector there was this ghost ship.. it was half way transparent. My autopilot did no attempt to stear clear of it (had seta 600). My ship smashed right into it, and I seemed to get stuck inside of it. RIP.

I´m at my second prolonged attempt (have probably tried like 20 times) now, and I´ve managed to get 4 25mj shields bought from the teladi. Thanks to finding a weapon dealer that I harassed into dropping 16 pacs I got enough money, so allso got a jumpdrive, so things are looking good.

I have one vengeful wing clipped paranid bounty hunter constantly following me, but he´s travelling at 50, so he´s not a treat. I just hope he manage to stay alive.

But seriously, no buying stuff? O_o

I mean like... that like hurts!

[Fragile Ego]

Creston,

3. All ships/equipment/weapons/resources will need to be 'acquired'.

According to that he can't buy any equipment whether it's from pirates or not.

[Creston]

Creston,

3. All ships/equipment/weapons/resources will need to be 'acquired'.

According to that he can't buy any equipment whether it's from pirates or not.

Yeah that seems right. Heh, I think the reason he's currently writing a bit slowly is because he keeps having to restart to get out of the first sector. That start is just insane

(To add injury to insult, Egosoft calls it "pretty hard" or something to that effect. )

Creston

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

does your friendly contact on Ceo's sprite allow you to sell captured freighters full of freight?

Nope, ships only.

SLUG, just need a little clarification:

1. You CAN trade within pirate sectors, correct?
2. And you can take missions from pirate stations.

But those are the only two ways you can make money for repairs on fleet ships?

Also, if you can't buy equipment where are you going to get a jumpdrive? I've never capped a ship with its JD intact.

1. With pirate factional stations, yes.
2. Yes

Good fortune will provide me with all the equipment I require. Failing that I have a paperclip and some string.


03 - Run Forrest!

With no combat computer my turrets are inactive so it seems I've no choice but to shoot that missile down manually then attempt to deal with whatever is coming my way. Cutting my engines and spinning to face the enemy I switch to PBE and scan the space ahead fully expecting to see the entire Dragon patrol bearing down on me.. but, much to my suprise, they're not. Neither can I see the expected missile trail. Instead the whole patrol is lazily trailing along behind the lead M6 casually going about their business.

It's at that point that it occurs to me that despite the intial launch warning I'm not getting any followup pings from the proximity detector.. and that means it must have been a long-range shot. Turning back towards Ore mine Alpha and bringing up the vid-gogs and yep, I can see the Python and it seems to have finally noticed me. Far too far to hope to catch me so the cpatains gone for the next best thing and fired something unpleasant at me. Fair enough, I'ld have done the same.

This does leave me with something of a decision to make tho. Whatever the Python fired at me must be relatively long range which means it's not going to be particularly quick, but likely still a good deal quicker than me, and if it's a long range missile then it'll have a fairly hefty warhead attached which I'm sure I'ld rather not meet up close and personal. So, do I try and detour around the Dragon group who evidently still haven't noticed me yet and risk getting a missile up the tailpipe? .. or do I make a break for the gate to evade the missile which would bring me much closer to the Dragon group and hope they don't notice?

Weighing up the options I decide the Dragon group is probably the bigger threat and I should detour around. My knowledge of missiles suggests that worst case scenario it could be a Typhoon which being swarm-class would be somewhat tricky to deal with. All the other long-range missiles I can think of off the top of my head are single warhead types such as the Thunderbolt or RGW and I'm confident I can shoot down one of those. Anyway, I'll know soon enough when it gets in duplex range..

http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/fr4.jpg

Beluga. That's not one I'ld have expected, they're not a common missile. I could do with them being a bit rarer tho as I've now got two of them chasing me and at 100k of damage that's instant death to me. Fortunately, even tho they're outpacing me by about 2x and the gap is closing fast the distance to the gate is falling even quicker and with the Dragon still oblivious unless anything else comes thru the gate ahead of me I'll make it with room to spare.

Finally arriving at the gate with a clear 4km between me and the nearest Beluga I do a quick spin on the spot, salute the Python captain for a good effort and then turn and dive thru the gate to safety.


Assets
1x Medusa Prototype 'Burn Notice'
1x 5Mj shield
6x PBE, 2x PAC

Credits: 22,609

[RJV]

... I do a quick spin on the spot, salute the Python captain for a good effort and then turn and dive thru the gate to safety...

In the words of Han Solo - Don't get cocky.

Though thinking about it... ah, what the hell, cocky as you like Captain Macgyver, just be wary of missile spam from that Paranid Bounty Hunter that always seems to be sitting on the other side of that gate...

Cheers,

Rob.

[Dungeoncrawler]

Nice to see you back in action captain-sir! Nice shot of the Beluga missile...your a photographer as well .

Dc

[FourFingers]

good going!

surviving through those sectors is a hair raising experience.

shooting up paranid and split transports can net you 25MW shields if your lucky along with some upgrades. It becomes a whole new universe when your packing over 75MW of shielding and a few missiles.

Good luck mate.



fours

[Al]

Yay another good story. Lets hope he has the same luck as ol' Squiddy so it turns into an epic

[TBV]

It's nice to see you've started another story. I loved the last one, and as an added bonus, I chose to restart as Unholy Traitor about 10 days ago.

I must say though, I got a lot luckier than you with the starting sector. I didn't have to contend with anything bigger than Police, Customs and Bounty-Hunter fighters.

With no combat computer my turrets are inactive

Not entirely true, you have "Attack-my-Target", which for me was something of a mixed blessing.

I chose to put the PACs in the turrets and remove 2 of the PBEs from the main guns, to avoid burning energy too fast. I also re-mapped "Target-Nearest-Enemy" to the space-bar so that I could get a lock on the missiles quickly.
This worked brilliantly to get me clear of Tkr's Deprivation. I thought I was sorted. Nothing but a limping M4 bounty hunter that was never going to catch me, and a nice safe Pirate Base in neighbouring Ghinn's Escape for me to dock at.
However, and I'm still kicking myself for this, upon entering Ghinn's I hit the space-bar, to see if there's anything dangerous nearby, target a conveniently waiting Pirate Energy-Transporter and you've guessed it, the turrets open up and I get the dreaded warning about all Pirates will hunt me down or somesuch.

Great! no docking at the Pirate-Base, no PBG's and to cap it off the Pirates have now joined the long queue of people who want me dead.
Oh well, live and learn.

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

N_S, did you happen to watch the series Burn Notice? I thought you might have from your opening chapter, as it's a lot like some of Michael Westen's speeches about being burned.

Nope, saw some ads tho.

Great! no docking at the Pirate-Base, no PBG's and to cap it off the Pirates have now joined the long queue of people who want me dead.
Oh well, live and learn.

Such is life.



04 - Unexpected Guests

Safely the other side of the gate in Thuruks Beard I park up near the gate nacelle to avoid being run over and see what's what. Thuruks beard is only a border sector so consequently any security forces I may have to contend with should be substantially less of a problem, tho in my current situation even a single M5 poses a threat. Gravidar shows nothing in duplex range but a Teladi food transporter, but Thuruks Beard is a large sector so there could easily be patrols out there just out of sight.

I have to choose now whether to make a run across the sector and out into the pirate sectors where I can hole up and decide what I'm doing next or seek sanctuary in Teladi space. Currently tho this ship isn't equipped to get into a fight and there's no guarantees that the pirates are going to welcome me just because the Paranid and Split want me dead so pirate space is probably not a good choice, at least until I can get some upgrades. Fortunately Company Pride is just thru the west gate and while I dare not risk trading on the open market there is a Pirate base operating in that sector with the tacit approval of the Teladi. Typical Teladi, so long as nothing affects their profits they've little concern who they deal with.

I've just settled on Company Pride as my destination and am about to engage engines when my proximity alert squeals a warning and five or six light fighters go blazing past me out of the jumpgate. Bounty Hunters! It appears I'm less popular than I'ld originally thought. Not content with designating me KOS someone has gone to the trouble of hiring these guys to ensure it happens. They're tagged as Paranid so that would suggest Paranid backing but I wouldn't put it past my own government to have hired them. The source of my troubles is not currently a major concern, dealing with them is. I have a wing of six mixed M4/M5 here and every one of them faster than I am. No chance of outrunning this lot so it appears that I'm going to have to fight my way out of this one. Fortunately I'm hugging the gate superstructure which severely limits their ability to make attack runs.

The good thing about PBE is they're a practically instant-hit weapon like the Khaak Kyons. Nowhere near the range of a Kyon unfortunately and they do tend to consume a worrying amount of power, but a PBE makes for an exceptionally efficient shield-stripping weapon, and I've got six of them up front. Sadly with no combat computer to provide targetting prediction I'm going to have to shoot point blank, although given the sub-1km range of the PBE that's not actually quite the disadvantage it sounds. Looping around the gate ring I wait for the bounty-hunters to get too close and then pop out and hose them with PBE fire. It doesn't all hit home as a moving M5 is a difficult target at the best of times but the amount of damage I'm putting out I don't need to connect for long.

With the last of the M4s dispatched without damage I set about collecting up the e-cells left behind, well you never know. Job done and course set for Company Pride I'm less than 2km from the gate before the proximity warning kicks off again and spinning around there's another wing of bounty-hunters after me. These guys are persistent! Unfortunately they've caught me a little out in the open this time and despite dodging most of their fire even a little IRE fire will wear down a 5Mj shield and I take a couple points of hull damage as I make a break for the safety of the gate. Back under cover and with my shields recharged I repeat my ambushing tactics until there's just the two M4 left. This time tho I hammer them until they're down to the last scraps of hull and then leave them. I don't necessarily have to kill them, if they can't catch me that's good enough for my requirements.

With the two smoking M4's trying their best to catch me with half my speed I turn for the west gate and make for Teladi space with frag bombs exploding all around me.


http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/tb1.jpg


Assets
1x Medusa Prototype 'Burn Notice'
1x 5Mj shield
6x PBE, 2x PAC

Credits: 22,609

[Ormac]

Oh Your as deadly and devious as a Squid.

Look forward to the rest of the story.

[Alec_trev]

(To add injury to insult, Egosoft calls it "pretty hard" or something to that effect. )

thats all because of what sector it lands you in, and how inclined you are to run...i personally fly straight up the Y-axis for a good 50k before anyone notices me.

can't wait to see how this story plays out now ur reasonably safe!

[insolent1]

Good thing FBL is useless otherwise you would be a splattered split. Good luck anyhowz

[masterthis]

Nuklear, you do know you can man the turret yourself while the ship heads toward the gate, right?

[A_Sebastian]

With the two smoking M4's trying their best to catch me with half my speed I turn for the west gate and make for Teladi space with frag bombs exploding all around me.

Actually this tactic was a great idea. I don't know how long they will remain chasing you, but as long as they are, another Bounty Hunter pack won't spawn.

Not absolutely certain if this is hardcoded or if I got lucky, but it has been an experience of mine.

Beyond that...

I followed your enitre McSquid thread and throughly enjoyed it. I did several "spit takes" while reading it. If not for the humor you yourself added, but also for the endless commentary regarding your adventures really helped to bring it even more to life. Thanks again, and here's hoping your newest character enjoys a long and fruitful career.

[Creston]

(To add injury to insult, Egosoft calls it "pretty hard" or something to that effect. )

thats all because of what sector it lands you in, and how inclined you are to run...i personally fly straight up the Y-axis for a good 50k before anyone notices me.

can't wait to see how this story plays out now ur reasonably safe!

I tried that once, and it keeps you safe from the normal forces in the sector, but at some point you're going to have to get through that gate, and the game simply spawns bounty hunters when you get within 10km of it. (or, apparently in some people's cases, when you're 10km out of it. For me they always show up beforehand. Also, in Squiddy's case the Split Dragon completely ignores him, when I ran into that thing it came right after me with its damned PBGs.... Good luck fighting a Dragon with 5MJ of shields and PBEs )


Smart tactic though, Slug, hiding near the gate superstructure. Again something I never thought of!

Creston

[RJV]

... Also, in Squiddy's case the Split Dragon completely ignores him, when I ran into that thing it came right after me with its damned PBGs.... Good luck fighting a Dragon with 5MJ of shields and PBEs )
...

I hear you. Tried this start again last night. Dodged my way to the south gate, having to take on only a couple of police. Survived but with a bit of hull damage. Then in pops the Dragon through the gate, faster than me, and while twisting and dodging laser fire took a Hornet where it hurts and that was that.

Cheers,

Rob.

[3D_Master]

Nuklear, you do know you can man the turret yourself while the ship heads toward the gate, right?

Last time he tried something like this, he flew his HCP straight into an asteroid

[lastebil]

Btw mr. Slug, you can now barter at any base.

[Creston]

Nuklear, you do know you can man the turret yourself while the ship heads toward the gate, right?

Last time he tried something like this, he flew his HCP straight into an asteroid

Good times!

Creston