[DINQD] Like a Leaf on the Wind [KIA]

[NetHawk]

Heyo everyone!

I've been planing to make a story for a while, inspired by all the great stories around decided to go for a DINQD. I'd appreciate any feedback as I understand that my writing skills might not be all that good, this being my first attempt and all

Anyway, I died three times seting everything up, which makes the DID start at chapter 2 (lesson of the day? don't fuss around with the reputation setting of Pirate Guild while in one of their core sectors/Don't even think about flying anything without weapons on turrets and set to missile defense in XRM...)

GAME/RULES/MODS/INFO:

Game: X3 AP 2.5xx

MODS:
Gameplay:
- XRM + HULL MID + Advanced Universe
- ADS
- MARS
- SMART
- Board Station
- Station Repacker
- Claim Sector
- Pirate Guild (medium, friendly)
- Yaki armada (disabled)

Economy:
- Economy & Supply traders, Handelsvertretung, CLS 1&2
- Asteroid Fusion
- Complex Cleaner and Advanced Complex Hub (yes, TL docking on complexes)
- Player Workshops

Other:
- Roguey's UFJD
- Sector scanner
- Automated Satellite Network
- Cheat Collecion (Will be mentioned if used)

-Extended PHQ + PHQ Cheat (probably unused as this game get's a shipyard)
- Enhanched briefings
- Z Mission Tweak (200% time, 100% reward)
- Remove Rocks

START:
- <X-Universe>
Terran Tourist
4706 Cr
Avarice

Assetts:
- Vulture Super Freighter (2xFAA, 1.5K weed & 1K fuel, 500 pirate sidearms)

Rules:
- DINQD - Dead is Drunk/Dreamed/Spaced/Miracle. This doesn't go for my assets through. All deaths will be mentioned, I'll try to work them into the story somehow.
- Cannot build in race sectors (except missions), through I can trade with them
- Cannot get a high rank with any race (risk of exposure)
- No MARS repair
- No repairing ships with repair laser (except for return ship mission ships)
- No Stock Exchange

I'm open to suggestions about missions and rules, just make it fun and doable


#######
Mission: Bring down Dark Space Research by capturing their HQ and taking (hold and expand) the Dark Space Cluster sector.
#######

-- Prologue --

You see, when a corporation like Dark Spcae Research needs to get rid of one of their operatives, they like to keep it as quiet as possible, which usually means an unexplained autopilot error, a large capital ship entering the sector *just* as you got through or even a Jumpdrive malfunction. These are the preffered ways to get rid of someone if he is close, but if the operative is far, they have to get creative, like assigning you a deep cover mission in enemy space, before signing the death contract with some mercs.
My mission was to investigate Paranid activity around the Third Redemption cluster, under the disguise of a pirate from the Mi Ton's Refuge clan. It was a simple operation really, get in good terms with the local pirates, use their raids into the surrounding Paranid sectors to gather intel and send it via message drone back. I guess they didn't like what I found, cause when I got to the nav. sat. where a drone should await me, instead a freighter was there hailing me and requesting me beamed over. The first thing I saw when the blue flash dissipated, was a huge fist just a couple centimeters from my eyes.
Lying unconciously in a pool of my own blood wasn't part of the plan, neither was them leaving me lying there, transporting over to my fighter and taking off. As I woke up and started checking out the ship, it became clear why. I got burned, and thus they decided to leave me on a ship full of weed and fuel, which is considered illegal by most races, and about 500 pirate sidearms, which even the Teladi consider illegal. Well planned and executed I must say, but they did make a mistake through, they didn't kill me.

"Better kill me, don't let me return, motherfucker
Trust no man, cause I'll be back, you understand?
With a plan, and my ace in hand, I want it all"
- Cypress Hill - Tequila Sunrise

[89James89]

Looking forward to seeing you advance. I've considered doing a DID using this start and yes, missiles in XTM are ridiculously dangerous.

Have fun and good luck.

James

[Zaitsev]

Missiles aren't that bad, if you know what you're doing. As in "the locals have a habit of tossing nukes around like it was candy. You better be a) packing at least 125 MJ of shielding, b) fly an M6 or c) get a Kestrel and some IREs for that rear turret, if you want to survive more than five minutes. Otherwise stay the @$%! away from fights."

On topic: Nice start, and your writing looks good so far. I'll be watching this

[NetHawk]

** NOTICE **
I died. I got three more chapters to release till there, but anyway If you folks agree I'm just gonna make it a Dead is Drunk/Dreamed/Spaced/Miracle. Still I'll try to keep from dying, and this still means nothing for my assets, e.g. my 100 Mil M2 get's blown? shame...
But I'd like to continue the story as I think it might get fun.


Rule change:
- No repairing ships with repair laser (except for return ship mission ships)
- No Stock Exchange

OK, let's not waste any more time then shall we?

— Flying low —

As low as I can go. Under the radar that is. Doing so with a hold full of contraband ain't easy, but I don't want to dump the cargo into space, especially not when I remember there was a pirate base close by. Looking around I see two gates in the distance, so I decide to head west, and into Montalar, hoping I can get to the pirate base in Rolk's Legacy.
Emerging from the gate, my comms screen comes to live with the sector police leader telling me I am not welcome in Argon core sectors and am to leave immediatly. That's it for this plan then. Not like I'm going to fly through a core sector in an undershilded freighter, so I turn around and head back through the gate.
Traversing over 150 kilometers at 61 m/s isn't fun, even less so when you try to fly low, making a big circle around the center in an effort to evade any customs and police, so I figure I might make the best out of it, grab my datapad, set the sector map on fullscreen display and engaging the autopilot make my way into the cargo hold. Blaster tucked away under my coat and weed in my pockets, I get to the bridge just in time to watch the event horizon of the gate looming bigger before swallowing the ship.
New imcome police had a little pirate raid on their hands, so I set straight course for the south gate into CEO's Doubt, where halfway through, customs showed up on the radar. It was obvious they were headed this way, so I turned towards the west gate into Great Trench, which was a lot closer, and hit the throttle as hard as I could. But it wasn't to be, and the customs catched up with me some seven clicks from the gate, immediatly proceeding to scan my ship. To say they didn't like what they found would be an understatement. They didn't waste much time with communications, but rather proceeded to shoot me.
Once they saw I was going for the gate, they started launching missiles, which on contact spun the ship around uncontrolled, making me almost throw up, but more importantly making it very hard to make progress towards the gate. Obviously I made it, or I wouldn't be talking about it, but with 34% shields it was a close call.
Once my hands stopped shaking, I begun exploring the sector and soon it became obvious that I landed in a core sector. Now a fact you might not have noticed about core sectors, they are crawling with police and military. Ok, so a rock and a hard place, huh? Well let's go for the rock then, and back into CEO's Doubt. This time lady luck smilled at me, as entering the sector and checking the radar, I saw customs way over on the north-east side, busilly scanning some freighters. Utilizing this fortunate moment, I hit the throtle as hard as I could, and got through the south gate into LooManckStrat's Legacy, before they could notice me.
Docking at the anarchy port there I got rid of almost all sidearms, and together with the surrounding factories even most of the weed and fuel. Afterwards I made my way into Mi Ton's Refuge, where I found a rehabilitation centre which bought the rest of my cargo, before docking at the shipyard. The incident with the customs got me thinking, it was a little too fast for them to pick me out of the crowd of freighters, which leads me to believe someone tipped 'em off. I can't be flying around in a ship that's been tagged, but more importantly I can't run at 61 m/s and my only protection is a rear turret. So I decided to buy a caravel, which while having only a single 200 MJ shield, does make up for it in terms of speed and fighting power. Transefring over the vultures cargo and selling her off brought me to 7.27M.
Undocking from the shipyard and heading towards the north gate at 87 m/s, I already feel a lot better, it's not just the speed through, as the prospect of mounting either Fusion Bomb Launchers or Energy Bolt Chainguns in the two quad turrets puts a big smile on my face. But first things first, so I dock at the anarchy port in LooManckStrat's Legacy and get her speed and rudder tunned, and even manage to barter a few IRE's and a couple PAC's.
Heading through CEO's Doubt at 175 m/s and feeling good about myself I decide to roll another spliff, set the autopilot heading for Saiien II, while I sit back and enjoy the show. Well for a while anyway, as halfway through New Income a couple Xenon fighters show up on my radar, followed by a whole task force centered around a J. Not a good time to be on autopilot I guess, so I take control and make a beeline for the north gate.
Saiien II is a quite sector, but after seeing that J, that actually suits me, so I set the autpilot for the north gate and light the half-smoked spliff, relaxing in the captains chair for a while.

[NetHawk]

Ok, so I didn't die again, but decided that my death in chapter 4 is permanent.
my reasoning? well first off, I don't write a good spy story. Just can't find good surroundings in the verse to make it sound the way I want. Also, MARS autocollection is insane, I made over 30M in less then half an hour. All in all, I guess it was a good try, but this story is dead.
I have one more chapter typed up, I'll post it this evening, if you want, let me know and I'll write the final chapter and put it up, so the story has an ending.

In any case, writing was fun and I'm gonna do it again. btw. ANY feedback on my writing would be welcome, whatever it is, opinions, views, critics, just tell me, It's the only way I can get better

And yeah, thanks for reading!

[NetHawk]

— Recon —

Most people think that when you're on the run, speed will be your saviour, but work long enough undercover and you'll discover that running is only part of the job. Know your surroundings, know where you can hide and where you can run to, or speed will just make you run faster into your enemies hands.
Dark Space Research has agents in most races space, so completely avoiding them will be impossible. Well, if you can't hide, paint your enemy green, or int other words, go somewhere where you can get enough contrast, making your enemy stand out. I decided to go into Split space, as any Terran is bound to stick out like a shore thumb there, but also cause the Split ain't very fond of the Terrans with 'em shootin' up commonwealth space and all, which hopefully will be of use if it should come to an attack.
Flying and scanning Split space around Tharka's Sun is boring through, the worst part being I didn't get much to do, except helping a guy who got a microasteroid stuck into one of the thrusters, which when fired to land caused a buildup of pressure in the lines, resulting in said lines blowing and shattering some engine components.
Heading west into Teladi space, I had to learn that my little escapade with the customs got them thinking I'm a profit liability. I even went all the way from Company Pride to Teladi Gain, scanning every sector, but didn't get a single job, so I've headed east into Family Whi where some Split contacted me, asking for a ride to Tharka's Sun. Docking at the solar power plant Sa'tkr wanted to go, I decided to head for the bar, grab a drink and call it a day.
I was sitting at the table, ordering the second round, when this young Argon cutie sits down next to me. While it did cross my mind that she might be an operative, I decided that it just might be worth playing with fire this time. My fears were unfounded through, as it turns out she's really a representative of the Argon goverment. How did I find out? Well, she kinda had this falling out with her boyfriend, who stole her ship, leaving her stranded at the station. Turns out, he trashed the ship in Ceo's Doubt and just left it floating in space. It was a quick job, so I figured why not, and retrieved the ship, expecting a drink at the bar and a thank you, but instead she raised my Argon rank to federation associate, before we headed out for a wild night.
Waking up refreshed, I started the day with an easy going breakfast and even got surprised when they served some really good tea. Turns out that stott spices are the bud's of a plant, which can be used to cook some of the best tea I've tasted. Heading farther east, I wanted to go into Two Grand, and explore that part of Teladi space, but stopping at the trading station in Patriarch's Keep for another tea and a meal, the station manager came to my table. It's a funny thing how small deeds can go a long way, as the manager remembering me helping that Split a couple of days ago, decided to offer me a job to run some delivery's for him and then a couple of his friends, bringing my bank account a little higher, but more importantly getting me the much needed reputation among the Split, distinguishing my associations with them from the rest and even allowing me to buy some ships off their shipyards.
Passing through Rhonkar's Clouds, Sa'tkr commed me, saying he got fed up with being chauffeured around and would like me to bring him a M4 of Split design. As I wanted to check out the shipyard in Cho's Defeat anyway, I agreed to the job and made way. Slendering through the exhibition room, I came across the perfect ship to aliviate my exploring and scanning problems, namely a jaguar explorer type. These little beasts run at 811 m/s and have their cargo bay refitted to hold a military grade scanner, giving it enourmous range. I bought a scorpion for Sa and an explorer for me, and made my way back, using the explorer on remote to scout the adjacent sectors.
Handing Sa the access codes for his new ship, he invited me for a drink at the bar, where I met one of his budies who due to a little gambling habit was in a bit of a desperate situation and needed money fast. I made a deal with him, buying of his caiman tanker XL and offered him a steady job, flying cargo for me. After transfering some equipment and five 25MJ, I've set him off to trade in a five sector range around Patriarch's Keep and assigned the explorer to lay a sat. network around the whole area.
I was on my way to Family Whi's equipment dock to replace the equipment, but halfway through Thuruk's Pride, the munchies kinda kicked in and I decided to dock at the local trading station for a ncie meal. Word seems to have gotten around through, as I wasn't even done with desert and tea, when message arrived on my datapad. It was a job offer, one of the stations traders got damaged in a recent pirate raid and needed a couple engine components replaced. Since my savings have dwindled quite a bit, I accepted the job and finishing my meal made way. It was a quick job, but one job lead to another, and by the time I stopped for another spliff, and to check if it says Universal Breakdown Assistance on her hull somewhere, my bank account was around two and a half million credits.
Replacing the equipment in Family Whi, the dock manager contacted me, asking to meet in person, so while the techs were installing the software, I made my way to his office. Turns out, they lost two passanger shuttles, shuffling around some military personel to a pirate clan close by. Well...lost might not be quite the right word...you see, the pilots bailed and the personel got captured by the pirates leaving the wrecked TP's floating in space. The problem, for him anyway, was that these ships needed recovery as soon as possible, but more importantly, that incident had to be kept a secret, so they couldn't send one of their military ships to grab 'em. I did him the favour and docked both TP's on the equipment dock, but instead of the expected "thanks, here's your money", I got a request to meet the dock manager in his office.

[NetHawk]

228 views and not a single comment?
Is my writing really this bad? Any feedback would be appreciated, especially since I'm working on a new start and would like to get some info on writing mistakes, camera angles used and/or generally any idea you folks have

[Sabrina Bergin]

Nethawk:

I am enjoying this but the post that you are discontinuing the story due to start setting issues has probably left most viewers to feel that although it is a good read there is little point in adding comments/encouragement or advice.

Could you not rejig your game rules to avert a total shut down or is that a necessity to re4start without the unexpected side effects of mars auto collect ?.

[NetHawk]

You just might be right there, the story did end quite quickly. I was hoping for something along the 10-15 chapter mark before the main mission is done.
Sadly can't help it now, the saves have been deleted, so resuming is not an option. I could start over with some changes to the mods, but honestly there is more to me stopping this story. It's not just MARS collection working too good (better then the advertisement!! ), but also in other aspects. First there is the issue of pilots and where to get 'em. Spy's are in my opinion lone wolfs, they have trust issues (part of the job requirement), which made getting crews for my ships very hard to imagine (and subsequently write). And even then I can't imagine a spy handing the 100+ Million M2 to a pirate whom he pays in fuel an' weed.
Then there is the point of the base game allowing me to advance way too fast in race ranks and pirates being the drunk/stoned space-bums they are, wouldn't play by the rules of Pirate Guild, resulting in them often firing at me or my ships (not good if they are the only ally you have). Also, playing that way, I found that I'm not really the cloak and dagger type, more the sledgehammer to crack a nut open.
And finally, I did take a lot of cues from Burn Notice and slowly it began to show, which made me feel like I'm just plagiating the show into a new universe (could be fun through. Picture Fiona with a HEPT in her hands, and Sam standing behind her with a bottle of space fuel and a disintegrator rifle ).

The good news is, I'm starting a new story, probably pretty soon. I got most of the ruleset and mod config down. I don't want to spoil much, but one of the things I want to try in the new story are different mission types, the kind where you folks propose a mission and it's reward.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Nethawk:

Glad to hear you will be writing again I will keep an eye out for your posts.