[X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

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radcapricorn
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[X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by radcapricorn » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 01:08

So I've started a new playthrough of AP on Nostalgic Argon. Things were looking up: in the Hole I managed to "persuade" a Paranid captain that his holiness was well above piloting a puny Dolphin Tanker XL full of wheat. The wheat went for about 60k at the distillery in Herron's; about half was immediately invested in bare bones CLS2 setup and speed upgrades, aiming to haul energy through Antigone Memorial. It also let me make a few speed upgrades for the Buster.
While the freighter was traveling to Antigone, I headed to Elena's Fortune hoping to secure another freighter, or perhaps even an M4. Arriving in Elena's I was greeted with a station defense offer, and since that's always a fun way to spend time, I've agreed.
I suspected in the back of my mind that I should've made that Yaki Fujin Raider go splat over the station's hull, given it's 2.5x speed advantage... but "Nah," I thought, "let's have a proper fight." Apparently, the Boron had her own idea about what a proper fight was though. Wasp proper. Luckily I've managed to evade a few, hiding behind the station, but the few remaining did bring my hull to 40%, which, of course, drastically lowered my ability to get into any kind of firing position.
Now, that suspicion that was gnawing at the back of my mind started an outright rebellion, but still, "Nah," I thought, "I'll just park behind this here wall, hop outside and make a few repairs real quick". And it worked. Sort of. The Fujin went into a nice wide arc, allowing me time to bring my Buster back up to about 60%. Then the Boron made a pass, and as I hoped hit the station instead of me or my ship. So, "Yup," I thought, "that works nicely, just a few more seconds of that repair laser and I'm back to business...", - and it's about that time that she made a second pass...
...Now, luckily, the shots didn't hit my suit. Unluckily, one did hit the Buster. Which, of course, set off the autopilot, which, of course, didn't care at all that there was a station not 10m in front of the ship. At least, on the bright side, that Yaki didn't get the kill, chalk one off to the station.

And now I'm sitting here, hugging the docking strut, ducking to avoid an occasional projectile. It is getting very very cold...

The CLS2 meanwhile brought me up over 100k credits. And now I have another suspicion in the back of my mind, that I should just wait for the locals to dismantle that Fujin, fire the trader, bring the Dolphin to pick me up and be on my merry way. Then again, it'll take forever getting here, and a couple more trades and it'll let me buy at least a Disco, or maybe even a bare Mercury. Anyone ever made a spacewalk from Elena's to Argon Prime? I'm sure it's not creepy at all in President's...

Timsup2nothin
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by Timsup2nothin » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 02:07

CBSE is closer. Not that I have ever gotten myself into such a situation. :oops: Oh, and make sure you dock your suit at a station or two along the way.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by atavistuk » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 02:21

You can Dock in a spacesuit?!?

radcapricorn
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by radcapricorn » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 02:49

Thanks, Tim, need to be careful with that O2.

atavistuk, you sure can. You can even tune up the speed and maneuverability. Sadly they don't seem to want to sell me SETA, probably some stupid Teladi litigation... At least 28m/s it is to CBSE.

Timsup2nothin
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by Timsup2nothin » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 05:15

atavistuk wrote:
Thu, 11. Oct 18, 02:21
You can Dock in a spacesuit?!?
Yeah. Go with manual, otherwise it is a looooooong flight out to the end of the approach pattern and back.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

radcapricorn
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by radcapricorn » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 06:06

Well, I made the trip. Even with upgraded thrust, it seems that strafing head forward is still the fastest way to get around in the suit. Managed to get directly from trading station in Elena's to the shipyard in Cloudbase with just under 80% oxygen left. Near gates, people in those fancy TMs and TPs were making faces and gesturing in my general direction, but do you think even one of them thought to ask the pilot to give me a ride? Selfish bastards...
Looks like the game decided to take pity on me after all: on the way through President's End there was a Toucan Hauler on sale, for just 42200. Granted, it required long repair laser treatment, but hey, at least I now have a TP. That and the Disco Hauler almost put me out of business though, but I just couldn't resist. The energy hauler would have to trade crumbs for a while.

Timsup2nothin
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by Timsup2nothin » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 07:28

radcapricorn wrote:
Thu, 11. Oct 18, 06:06
Well, I made the trip. Even with upgraded thrust, it seems that strafing head forward is still the fastest way to get around in the suit. Managed to get directly from trading station in Elena's to the shipyard in Cloudbase with just under 80% oxygen left. Near gates, people in those fancy TMs and TPs were making faces and gesturing in my general direction, but do you think even one of them thought to ask the pilot to give me a ride? Selfish bastards...
Looks like the game decided to take pity on me after all: on the way through President's End there was a Toucan Hauler on sale, for just 42200. Granted, it required long repair laser treatment, but hey, at least I now have a TP. That and the Disco Hauler almost put me out of business though, but I just couldn't resist. The energy hauler would have to trade crumbs for a while.

Now you are ROLLING!!!!
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by DrSuperEvil » Thu, 11. Oct 18, 10:59

Now you just need to use the discoverer to cap a fuijin/pirate kestrel and you are back in business. Aim for a Pirate Scorpion or Scorpion Prototype since those make good capping ships.

radcapricorn
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by radcapricorn » Fri, 12. Oct 18, 17:03

Heh, at the rate the game is currently going, it may take me some time to get back to capping. So far my newest procurement was a Pericles which I promptly sold as a terrible M4 it is. I mean, S cargo hold in an M4? The Priest Duke was likely inebriated when signing off on this piece of... technology. Anyway, I wanted to get more ships but...

The game, especially early game, sometimes accidentally presents to you logistical challenges which are quite fun to resolve. Now, maybe it's just the remnants of my winding up since a recent Poisoned Paranid playthrough in TC, where I took every mission that I could lay my hands on, or maybe it's some of Ms. Kho's fortune rubbing off on me despite that Buster fiasco, or perhaps the game is simply being too kind before things turn ugly again.

So with my newly acquired Toucan I bought a jumpdrive, thanks to that Pericles, and touc a passenger transport mission from Ore Belt to Argon Prime.
Arriving there, I invested the customer's gratitude plus the leftover from Pericles and what my energy trader managed to produce into a Mercury, which I've equipped to CLS2 energy in and around Power Circle. As I sent it on it's way, I thought to get back into Disco to go find some other pilots willing to gift me a ship or two. But entering the Wall, I found a Dolphin Hauler on sale for just over 100k.
I was almost cursing, as I've literally just paid almost three times as much for that Mercury with upgrades, but apparently in that short window my original Dolphin made a sale, so I did have enough to buy this new Dolphin after all.
After patching it up to 90%, I thought it was prudent to scout out it's planned area of operations: I haven't even visited the western Argon sectors yet.
So while the Hauler was crawling to the Equipment Dock in Argon Prime, I headed to Ringo Moon.
Just as I was passing the stock exchange in Argon Prime, it lighted up with a mission offer: another passenger transport, 70k cash, 30 minutes to any station in Herron's. Convenient. Ordering the Toucan to relocate to the Stock Exchange, I had enough time to map out Ringo Moon and get back in time for the people to board my TP.
As I undocked and oriented toward the North gate I noticed another mission offer at the IR factory. In fact, there were two: both energy delivery, both requiring around 2800 cells, paying 65-70k, one for 33 minutes, another 57. And my newly appointed CLS Mercury was on it's final approach to the XL plant in Power Circle... Convenient.
Messaging the Mercury's pilot to take a short break before finally assuming his duties, I sent the freighter full of cells back towards Argon Prime. Here's where the logistics started to creep in.

I'm heading to Herron's with passengers. The Mercury is heading back from the far reaches of Power Circle with 2999 energy cells. For the two missions I need around 5600 cells. The Mercury would take about 20 minutes, leaving enough time for the longer mission, but probably not enough for the shorter one, but I have no recollection on which order I took the missions in, and no clue in which order they'd be accepted.
So I'm thinking I'll just deliver my passengers and jump a load of cells myself with the Toucan, hoping that in the worst case, if the longer mission triggers first, I'd only need another quick jump with the Toucan.
But, when I enter Herron's and open the map to pick the closest station, I see another mission offer. Passenger transport from a Rimes Fact to the northernmost BoFu plant in Atreus' Clouds, 100k, too good to pass up. But, convenient?..
After all, this doesn't change my energy delivery plans all that much, I'll just unload my current passengers at Rimes, take these new ones, make a quick jump to Atreus', and then go for the energy...
Except arriving into Atreus', I find:
- an Octopus Vanguard on sale
- more importantly, an asteroid scan mission, 30 minutes, ~9000 per, 10 rocks total scattered between Rolk's Fate, Atreus' Clouds and Farnham's Legend.

Now, if you're with me so far, great. If you're starting to get confused, don't worry, I'm also starting to get confused relating this account. Somehow, these simultaneous transfers make much more sense while in game.

Of course I take the asteroid scanning mission. Unfortunately, mineral scanner is in the Disco all the way back in Argon Prime. Shouldn't take it too long to get to Atreus' though, even a Hauler it's still a Discoverer, so I send it here.
Meanwhile, I jump to The Wall to load up on energy cells to help the Mercury, which is getting close to Argon Prime itself, but not quite there yet.
One choice is to wait for the Mercury in Argon Prime. But the clock on that asteroid scan mission is ticking, and I've no idea how far those rocks are from the gates. So instead I jump back into Atreus', where my Disco shortly catches up with me. I change ships in space and send the Toucan to a station nearby.
Scanning two rocks in Atreus' and six in Farnham's takes about 15 minutes mission time, during which the Mercury finally arrives to the IR fab in Argon Prime, with about 10 minutes left on the shorter delivery.
Final two rocks are in Rolk's Fate, which I haven't been to before, but I have 17 minutes to spare.
So I change back into the Toucan, jump to Argon Prime, and rejoice for the fact that the shorter delivery triggers first. There's still plenty of time on the longer one, Mercury will be quite capable of beating that thanks to The Wall's power plant. Sadly, I wasn't quick enough changing ships, my Toucan's bay is now empty, the Disco is waiting in Atreus', asteroid scanning clock is running. And, understandably, there aren't any energy cells in barter offers in the IR fab.
I'm forced to travel to The Wall myself to get the jump fuel. Finally changing back to the Disco with about 8 minutes left on the mission... There's another Dolphin Hauler sold for 80k in Atreus'. Looks like the Boron are on an upgrade spree. Thankfully, with the accumulated rewards and ongoing energy demand in Antigone, I'm now easily able to afford that. But anyway, repairs and outfitting will have to wait, I still have two rocks to scan.

Entering Rolk's Fate, I'm greeted with the sounds of missiles firing, a telltale sign that something interesting is going on in the sector. Sure enough, soon I see explosions in the distance, conveniently in the general direction of an asteroid I'm supposed to scan. Getting closer I'm able to see what's going on: there's a Split M7 with entourage. Why, exactly, are they here in this dire time of war with Terrans, I don't know. War profiteering of sorts, perhaps?.. What I do know is that they've already managed to blow up a couple of Stott freighters: there are two containers floating about, around 800 units each. Now, that's ~120k free profit if sold to empty Cahoona Bakeries. Seems like I'm about to do some profiteering of my own. But these are, of course, timed, and I have no clue how long I have to collect them. The fastest way would've been an OOS collection, but being cheap I didn't equip the Toucan with the Special Commands, and the nearest equipment dock is right here in Rolk's. Looks like I'll have to do it live, that is, manually. So, I order the Toucan to follow me, the autojump should take care of sending it to the nearest gate.

With some 50 seconds remaining on the clock I finally scan the last asteroid. Thankfully, that renews the timer to 19 minutes. Meanwhile, the Mercury has finally arrived with the last load of cells for that IR fab in Argon Prime, and it's about 12 minutes remaining on that.
I change into the Toucan, collect the first Stott crate, cross my fingers for an empty bakery and jump to Ringo Moon, which I've fortunately scouted somewhere above. I could've gone for another sector, but Ringo is small and bakeries are close to gates. Luckily, both bakeries are clean out of spices. Convenient.
Selling this first load I still have about 6 minutes to get back to Argon Prime, so I do. Being quick enough to change into the Mercury this time, I'm even able to save jump fuel in the Toucan from being counted toward the mission. With that last delivery done, all I've left to do is report the asteroid scans back in Atreus' and hopefully grab that second load of Stott in Rolk's. Thankfully, I do have enough time to do both.

Gross income:

- ~170k for passenger transport missions
- ~130k for both energy delivery missions
- ~90k for the scans
- ~120k for Stott

So, around 510k total. Sure, those numbers will soon be pennies, but in early game they're surely welcome.

Thus, in some 55 minutes of game time, I went from a freighter, a TP and a Disco to four freighters, a TP, a Disco and an Octopus, some considerable rep gains with the Argon and Boron, and almost enough money to outfit yet another freighter.
On a side note, that Octopus had a full complement of IREs installed, so I now also have a good shield-busting capability on my Disco.

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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 12. Oct 18, 21:29

radcapricorn wrote:
Fri, 12. Oct 18, 17:03
... I had enough time to ...
Here's where the logistics started to creep in.
Somehow, these simultaneous transfers make much more sense while in game.
Looks like I'll have to do it live, that is, manually.
With some 50 seconds remaining ...

Thus, in some 55 minutes of game time, I went from ...
8) :thumb_up:


Have you heard of pilots who hit SETA, take a nap, and call themselves Managers? :-|
It is legitimate, but lacks the heat of a spacewalk.
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radcapricorn
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Re: [X3AP] It sure is cold out here...

Post by radcapricorn » Fri, 12. Oct 18, 22:46

jlehtone wrote:
Fri, 12. Oct 18, 21:29
8) :thumb_up:
Thanks!
Have you heard of pilots who hit SETA, take a nap, and call themselves Managers? :-|
It is legitimate, but lacks the heat of a spacewalk.
Yeah, that's no proper way to play this game. Misses all the fun. To each their own I guess, but nah, give me control or give me oblivion!

I'm hoping X4 could bring some of this back, Rebirth was too hands-off laid-back for my liking. I mean, you could do plenty there as well, but it all was, I don't know, static. But if it doesn't, there's still plenty of room in TC and AP to try out new things.

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