Well, hooray.
It's my first post on the forums, having owned X3:TC and AP for about two weeks. Inspired by Nuklear-Slug's (now very old) tale of Squiddy, I decided to start fiddling with the DiD start. After losing about a dozen characters to computer hangs, reboots, and my wife closing my laptop, I've decided to stop trying the Suicidal Squid start. Instead, I'm going to do Pious Paranid, with an odd ruleset. Here they are, in no particular order:
As a faithful servant of the Priest Emperor, Tir's actions are limited to the following:
No non-Paranid ships can be used. If another race's ship is captured, it can be sold at a Paranid shipyard as a prize.
He cannot purchase ships until capturing an equivalent vessel. If he wants to fly an M1, he gets to go capture someone else's M1 and turn over the spoils to the Empire.
After initially raising his rep(begins at Nomad), never fall below Seeker of the Holy Light.
Tir's marine complements must consist only of loyal Paranid soldiers.
He may never buy, sell, or otherwise negotiate with pirates(or Yaki). They are to be terminated with extreme prejudice.
Starting assets: 1 Demeter S "Olympian" (2x1MJ Shield)
3,633 Credits
First episode coming shortly.
[DiD - AP] Divine Wrath
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode I, in which Tir discovers the despair of being a trader with no budget:
This is not the glorious existence in the service of the Light that I had planned. As Tir slowly pulled away from the ore mine in Empire Mines for his tenth consecutive run, he cursed the luck that had brought him to his present situation. Ever dreaming of the glory of martial conquest, he had made a deal to buy 'the only ship he'd ever need' from an aging family friend.
Never again. The ancient, barely functioning Demeter had cost him everything, and he barely had funds to throw a few crates of ore in the hold for the dull shuffle between Empire Mines and Paranid Prime. Finding himself once more with a miniscule profit margin, he cursed and directed Olympian's autopilot to the nearby shipyard.
"The Light take you. I'll look for luck elsewhere." The moment the sluggish Demeter docked, Tir placed it for sale, having spent some time patching up holes and upgrading the engines. Someone even younger and more foolish than he promptly bought the tin can, and Tir practically skipped to the showroom to purchase a fully kitted Pegasus Vanguard, already imagining himself conquering the galaxy.
As it turns out, Impulse Ray Emitters are not fit for conquering, at least not when powered by the atrocious generator aboard the newly-minted Doru. The ship moved and turned well enough, but her generators exhausted themselves on the hull of even the lightest fighters. This lesson was quickly pounded home when a Xenon N, not deterred by the hail of IRE bolts, shredded Doru's shielding and dropped her hull integrity to below 50%. A pair of Dragonfly missiles, donated by pirates only moments earlier, dispatched the malicious construct. As Tir suited up to step outside and repair his little Pegasus, he muttered a curse at the Terrans who had spawned the Xenon.
An hour later, he found himself protecting a freighter as it trekked across the Empire, moving south though Preacher's Void. As Yaki fighters approached, Tir nudged Doru into an intercept course, popping out from behind an asteroid and stripping the shields of the lead craft with a sustained burst of fire. The infidel pilot, caught by surprise, promptly bailed, leaving his wingman to deal with the new threat. He lasted another thirty seconds, armor plating slowly melting under the hail of IRE bolts delivered by the Paranid scout.
A quick spacewalk and repair and Tir sent the Fujin to Paranid Prime to be sold as a prize. He found himself much too occupied by his good fortune to pay attention to sensors, and so he missed the next wing of Yaki that began spraying PAC rounds at his cargo-laden charge. It would seem that the freighter was not as defenseless as appearances indicated, though; it promptly launched half a dozen Mk. II drones, which proceeded t massacre the renegade fighters.
Soon enough, the freighter docked, transferring Tir's reward without delay. Feeling confident, he turned Noru towards Split Fire. Passing through the final gate, he smiled to himself and rolled lazily towards his prey: A Boron High-Tech Trader flying a Mako. Tir let his last Dragonfly rip, surprising the Mako pilot, who quickly began protesting the violence. A flurry of orange-red bolts cut off his protests as they tore into the hull of his graceful vessel, prompting him to evacuate. A quick EVA sent Tir's prize back to Paranid Prime, all patched up and ready for sale.
Returning to Paranid Prime, Tir issued the sell order on both of his prizes, finding himself suddenly more wealthy. Maybe the local stock market could help him leverage that wealth...
Assets:
1 Pegasus Vanguard Noru
272,000cr
This is not the glorious existence in the service of the Light that I had planned. As Tir slowly pulled away from the ore mine in Empire Mines for his tenth consecutive run, he cursed the luck that had brought him to his present situation. Ever dreaming of the glory of martial conquest, he had made a deal to buy 'the only ship he'd ever need' from an aging family friend.
Never again. The ancient, barely functioning Demeter had cost him everything, and he barely had funds to throw a few crates of ore in the hold for the dull shuffle between Empire Mines and Paranid Prime. Finding himself once more with a miniscule profit margin, he cursed and directed Olympian's autopilot to the nearby shipyard.
"The Light take you. I'll look for luck elsewhere." The moment the sluggish Demeter docked, Tir placed it for sale, having spent some time patching up holes and upgrading the engines. Someone even younger and more foolish than he promptly bought the tin can, and Tir practically skipped to the showroom to purchase a fully kitted Pegasus Vanguard, already imagining himself conquering the galaxy.
As it turns out, Impulse Ray Emitters are not fit for conquering, at least not when powered by the atrocious generator aboard the newly-minted Doru. The ship moved and turned well enough, but her generators exhausted themselves on the hull of even the lightest fighters. This lesson was quickly pounded home when a Xenon N, not deterred by the hail of IRE bolts, shredded Doru's shielding and dropped her hull integrity to below 50%. A pair of Dragonfly missiles, donated by pirates only moments earlier, dispatched the malicious construct. As Tir suited up to step outside and repair his little Pegasus, he muttered a curse at the Terrans who had spawned the Xenon.
An hour later, he found himself protecting a freighter as it trekked across the Empire, moving south though Preacher's Void. As Yaki fighters approached, Tir nudged Doru into an intercept course, popping out from behind an asteroid and stripping the shields of the lead craft with a sustained burst of fire. The infidel pilot, caught by surprise, promptly bailed, leaving his wingman to deal with the new threat. He lasted another thirty seconds, armor plating slowly melting under the hail of IRE bolts delivered by the Paranid scout.
A quick spacewalk and repair and Tir sent the Fujin to Paranid Prime to be sold as a prize. He found himself much too occupied by his good fortune to pay attention to sensors, and so he missed the next wing of Yaki that began spraying PAC rounds at his cargo-laden charge. It would seem that the freighter was not as defenseless as appearances indicated, though; it promptly launched half a dozen Mk. II drones, which proceeded t massacre the renegade fighters.
Soon enough, the freighter docked, transferring Tir's reward without delay. Feeling confident, he turned Noru towards Split Fire. Passing through the final gate, he smiled to himself and rolled lazily towards his prey: A Boron High-Tech Trader flying a Mako. Tir let his last Dragonfly rip, surprising the Mako pilot, who quickly began protesting the violence. A flurry of orange-red bolts cut off his protests as they tore into the hull of his graceful vessel, prompting him to evacuate. A quick EVA sent Tir's prize back to Paranid Prime, all patched up and ready for sale.
Returning to Paranid Prime, Tir issued the sell order on both of his prizes, finding himself suddenly more wealthy. Maybe the local stock market could help him leverage that wealth...
Assets:
1 Pegasus Vanguard Noru
272,000cr
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode II, in which Tir gambles and loses his newfound money.
Chuckling at his good fortune, Tir accepted the offer to purchase back the hated Olympian for a fraction of its sale price. Engaging in an EVA, he promptly repaired the ship and ordered the hulk to follow a nearby patrol, hoping for some exploratory information in nearby systems.
After consulting with some very talented financial advisers, he placed the rest of his money in Weapon Interface Chips, purchasing a few thousand shares. He switched his computer to show the optimum sell time, then carried on with the work of conquering the galaxy in the name of the Priest Emperor. Of course, this is a long and expensive process, and often involves his IRE banks draining his reactors dry in pursuit of flaming plasma death for various Xenon and other ne'er-do-wells. In addition, Xenon N fighters sometimes get lucky and hit my ship more than twice, which reduces his hull very, very quickly. After volleying a pair of Dragonfly missiles at the offending Xenon and noting that its wingmates were 10km out but closing, he ejected, lased his fighter with the repair laser of salvation, and quickly entered the ship to head off the two approaching drones.
As Tir settled into the cockpit, tired from the sudden changes in his environment, he sighed as alarms blared yet again. A Pirate Buzzard had just jumped into the gate that Noru was parked by, and had him bracketed. Rolling out of the incoming lasers, he emptied his capacitor at the offending ship, causing the Teladi pilot to think better of his choice and bail. What fortune; this vessel will do much to aid my accounts.
Alas, it was not to be. As he repaired the stricken Buzzard, it detonated in his face, sending him hurtling away. A stray missile, fired by a system defense platform several minutes earlier, had finally found its mark. Regaining his composure(and his ship), Tir checked the index on his stock purchase, found it refreshingly low, and sold his shares. Tragically, he had forgotten that he had altered the setting, and so a not insignificant quantity of credits disappeared like so much vapor.
After that heartbreak borne of idiocy, several hours of short trade runs and occasional combat missions served to buoy his account to a respectable 1.5M; just enough to upgrade his ship.
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
Available ships classes: TS, M5, M4
Chuckling at his good fortune, Tir accepted the offer to purchase back the hated Olympian for a fraction of its sale price. Engaging in an EVA, he promptly repaired the ship and ordered the hulk to follow a nearby patrol, hoping for some exploratory information in nearby systems.
After consulting with some very talented financial advisers, he placed the rest of his money in Weapon Interface Chips, purchasing a few thousand shares. He switched his computer to show the optimum sell time, then carried on with the work of conquering the galaxy in the name of the Priest Emperor. Of course, this is a long and expensive process, and often involves his IRE banks draining his reactors dry in pursuit of flaming plasma death for various Xenon and other ne'er-do-wells. In addition, Xenon N fighters sometimes get lucky and hit my ship more than twice, which reduces his hull very, very quickly. After volleying a pair of Dragonfly missiles at the offending Xenon and noting that its wingmates were 10km out but closing, he ejected, lased his fighter with the repair laser of salvation, and quickly entered the ship to head off the two approaching drones.
As Tir settled into the cockpit, tired from the sudden changes in his environment, he sighed as alarms blared yet again. A Pirate Buzzard had just jumped into the gate that Noru was parked by, and had him bracketed. Rolling out of the incoming lasers, he emptied his capacitor at the offending ship, causing the Teladi pilot to think better of his choice and bail. What fortune; this vessel will do much to aid my accounts.
Alas, it was not to be. As he repaired the stricken Buzzard, it detonated in his face, sending him hurtling away. A stray missile, fired by a system defense platform several minutes earlier, had finally found its mark. Regaining his composure(and his ship), Tir checked the index on his stock purchase, found it refreshingly low, and sold his shares. Tragically, he had forgotten that he had altered the setting, and so a not insignificant quantity of credits disappeared like so much vapor.
After that heartbreak borne of idiocy, several hours of short trade runs and occasional combat missions served to buoy his account to a respectable 1.5M; just enough to upgrade his ship.
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
Available ships classes: TS, M5, M4
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode III, in which Tir finds himself a new ship:
Doing laps around the stretch of Paranid space to the galactic south of Argon Prime managed to net Tir the aforementioned 1.5M or so. Having already captured an M4, he has permission to purchase one. Which, though? The M3-lite Theseus, or the Perseus? Unable to make up his mind, Tir finally flipped a credit, purchasing the Theseus and watching once more as his bank account plummeted to 0.
With the appropriate commands issued, he ordered Olympian up to Argon space for some of the specialty equipment Terracorp is so fond of selling for exorbitant prices. It would seem that his depredations of shipping in the area have not endeared him to the Argon government, however, and Tir is forced to run menial tasks for the humans in order to gain permission to purchase a jumpdrive and Trade Command Software Mk. 3.
The Theseus has the ability to mount six forward FBLs, which is more than enough to vaporize some M5s with a single volley. The trouble, thought Tir as he closed on yet another Pirate Harrier, intent on the prize, is that disintegrated pilots cannot surrender their ships.
With permission to purchase one(I've modified the rules, he can purchase ships as he captures equivalent vessels) M4, Tir's firepower (and survivability) have skyrocketed. Still, prowling through Paranid space and the Pirate Highway (Hatikvah's Faith -> Farnham's Legend) has not found him a single Pirate or Yaki M3 to engage. It might be time to start a war with the Split...
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Theseus Phalanx
~30,000 credits
Edit: Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think? Should I give Tir access to stock market use, or have him claw his way up?
Doing laps around the stretch of Paranid space to the galactic south of Argon Prime managed to net Tir the aforementioned 1.5M or so. Having already captured an M4, he has permission to purchase one. Which, though? The M3-lite Theseus, or the Perseus? Unable to make up his mind, Tir finally flipped a credit, purchasing the Theseus and watching once more as his bank account plummeted to 0.
With the appropriate commands issued, he ordered Olympian up to Argon space for some of the specialty equipment Terracorp is so fond of selling for exorbitant prices. It would seem that his depredations of shipping in the area have not endeared him to the Argon government, however, and Tir is forced to run menial tasks for the humans in order to gain permission to purchase a jumpdrive and Trade Command Software Mk. 3.
The Theseus has the ability to mount six forward FBLs, which is more than enough to vaporize some M5s with a single volley. The trouble, thought Tir as he closed on yet another Pirate Harrier, intent on the prize, is that disintegrated pilots cannot surrender their ships.
With permission to purchase one(I've modified the rules, he can purchase ships as he captures equivalent vessels) M4, Tir's firepower (and survivability) have skyrocketed. Still, prowling through Paranid space and the Pirate Highway (Hatikvah's Faith -> Farnham's Legend) has not found him a single Pirate or Yaki M3 to engage. It might be time to start a war with the Split...
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Theseus Phalanx
~30,000 credits
Edit: Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think? Should I give Tir access to stock market use, or have him claw his way up?
-
Libelnon
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Mon, 22. Aug 11, 13:22
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode IV, in which Tir gets lucky twice in rapid succession.
As his vision cleared and Danna's Chance came into view, Tir had to hastily silence half a dozen alarms. Pirates abounded in this sector, and he had hoped to find a lone M3 to prey upon. Unfortunately, it was not an M3 launching missiles at him, but an M7. Checking the distance, Tir whipped the Theseus around and burned straight towards the gate, a pair of Wildfires in hot pursuit. The missiles closed to about 800 meters, and then his world stretched out.
Brennan's Triumph appeared before him, and the Paranid had no targets present. A few moments later, an Argon Express jumped in from Split Fire. Tir lazily nosed the Theseus towards his new prey, scanning the Express as it barreled towards Danna's Chance. It was virtually unarmed, a lone PAC in its rear turret serving as passable missile defense. The PAC could do nothing against the FBL volleys Tir loosed, and negotiations for ownership of the Express were quick indeed. Performing a brief EVA to repair the transport, Tir sent it packing to Paranid Prime.
Mere moments after his new prize jumped to Split Fire, the Carrack appeared, still insistent on carrying out a vendetta against our hero. Unwilling to make himself prey, Tir headed north, the Carrack in hot pursuit. Unfortunately for the pirate, a set destination of Elena's Fortune was much more dangerous for a Carrack than for the Paranid. Moments after the Pirate frigate entered in pursuit of his 'prey', it was a glorious cloud of vapor and debris courtesy of a wandering Titan.
Flush with the thrill of victory(or at least survival), Tir returned to Paranid space, exchanging the Argon prize for a proper Hermes.
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
255,000 credits
(So, yeah: Not an exciting session. Still no M3, but at least I can train marines now. And thus the rule is set, thanks to Libelnon: No local stock exchange, and it is very probable I'll disallow companies/corps if they turn out to be easy money as well. I've got a 267 million credit plex in mind for Savage Spur, but I suspect that's a long way off...)
As his vision cleared and Danna's Chance came into view, Tir had to hastily silence half a dozen alarms. Pirates abounded in this sector, and he had hoped to find a lone M3 to prey upon. Unfortunately, it was not an M3 launching missiles at him, but an M7. Checking the distance, Tir whipped the Theseus around and burned straight towards the gate, a pair of Wildfires in hot pursuit. The missiles closed to about 800 meters, and then his world stretched out.
Brennan's Triumph appeared before him, and the Paranid had no targets present. A few moments later, an Argon Express jumped in from Split Fire. Tir lazily nosed the Theseus towards his new prey, scanning the Express as it barreled towards Danna's Chance. It was virtually unarmed, a lone PAC in its rear turret serving as passable missile defense. The PAC could do nothing against the FBL volleys Tir loosed, and negotiations for ownership of the Express were quick indeed. Performing a brief EVA to repair the transport, Tir sent it packing to Paranid Prime.
Mere moments after his new prize jumped to Split Fire, the Carrack appeared, still insistent on carrying out a vendetta against our hero. Unwilling to make himself prey, Tir headed north, the Carrack in hot pursuit. Unfortunately for the pirate, a set destination of Elena's Fortune was much more dangerous for a Carrack than for the Paranid. Moments after the Pirate frigate entered in pursuit of his 'prey', it was a glorious cloud of vapor and debris courtesy of a wandering Titan.
Flush with the thrill of victory(or at least survival), Tir returned to Paranid space, exchanging the Argon prize for a proper Hermes.
Assets:
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
255,000 credits
(So, yeah: Not an exciting session. Still no M3, but at least I can train marines now. And thus the rule is set, thanks to Libelnon: No local stock exchange, and it is very probable I'll disallow companies/corps if they turn out to be easy money as well. I've got a 267 million credit plex in mind for Savage Spur, but I suspect that's a long way off...)
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode V, in which Duke's Buccaneers and Yaki are extremely generous.
Heading south through Desecrated Skies, Tir found himself in the Second Duchy, an area of Paranid space flanked by pirates and the infamous Duke's Buccaneers. However, it also boasts several shipyards in close proximity, including one that sells enhanced versions of the Pericles and Perseus.
From time to time, a Duke's Freight Transporter or Duke's Hazardous Materials Transporter will move through pirate sectors. Lucky for Tir, there were several of them in rapid succession, and their pilots have grown craven. In less than an hour, the following all happened:
Jumping into Sacred Relic, Tir found himself confronted by a vast nothing; the sector was nearly devoid of life. One red contact flared up on his gravidar, and he slowly nosed the Theseus towards the Duke's Freight Transporter. A Demeter Super Freighter XL, by the looks of it, with nearly 10,000 cargo space and generators sufficient for impressive shielding. Thankfully, Duke's Buccaneers are a stingy lot, and had failed to provide their pilot with shields to match the ship's generators.
Three volleys from Phalanx and the freighter's shields collapsed, her hull plating melting away under the assault. Unwilling to die for an empty cargo hold, the Demeter's pilot abandoned ship, shouting something about revenge as he executed an unplanned EVA. Tir joined him in space moments later to reappropriate his ship, quickly repairing the minimal hull damage and sending it to friendly space in Heaven's Assertion.
Rolling over to follow his new acquisition, Tir soon passed the sluggish freighter and jumped down to Heaven’s Assertion. Docking to sell off some unneeded missiles, he took quick stock of his assets. He still had not managed to locate a hostile M3 willing to abandon ship, but the Theseus was turning out to be more than a match for most of his assignments and opponents. Its primary weakness was the inability to carry Medium freight, meaning he could not run any form of passenger transport mission.
Undocking, he found the nearby Ore Mine in need of protection. Always willing to defend the Empire’s assets from her enemies, Tir accepted the mission. To his everlasting delight, three Yaki heavy fighters jumped in and burned towards the mine. Phalanx moved to intercept, starting the fight by vaporizing one of the raiders the moment she launched a Banshee missile. Improbably, the second of three duplicated his wingmate’s performance, quickly filling space with an expanding cloud of gases and starfighter debris. The third pilot, apparently intimidated, evacuated after attempting to down Tir with several Silkworm and Banshee missiles.
Tir waited a hundred meters from the abandoned Susanova Hauler, verifying that none of the station defenses had marked the stricken pirate for death by missile. After two minutes, Tir closed the distance, spent three minutes in space, and set his newly-repaired heavy fighter to the shipyard in-system. Spending only a few moments to recover cargo dropped by the other pirates, he docked soon after his prize and ordered its sale. Even with the million credits the sale netted his accounts, he could not yet afford the sleek and powerful Advanced Perseus the shipyard had on offer for some three million credits.
Finding his dreams of galactic conquest delayed yet again, Tir set course for Duke’s Citadel. Upon entering Pontifex’s Seclusion, he found his luck improved: Another Duke’s Freight Transporter was sitting some four kilometers from the southern gate, just moments outside of weapons range. As cowardly as his earlier compatriot, the pilot abandoned ship mere moments after his shields collapsed. It was another Demeter, though a much smaller variant than the earlier capture. Two freighters and a heavy fighter in less than 30 minutes. Today, the Light is with me.
Capturing heavy freighters is great for the ego, but is not wonderful for the wallet. With Olympian running as a sector trader back in Paranid Prime and earning a not-insignificant amount of money, it would still take Tir several hours to outfit his new ships. That is, of course, if the nearby Military Outpost hadn’t been kind enough to give Tir a System Patrol mission worth nearly 250,000 credits. Accepting the mission, Tir moved towards the center of the system, waiting for targets to appear. Yaki fighters did not disappoint; a swarm of M5s and M4s appeared and started engaging nearby shipping. The cluster of light fighters was so kind as to abandon a pair of Susanovas, leaving the heavy ships unprotected.
Unleashing a torrent of 15 Dragonfly missiles, Tir waited thirty seconds and was rewarded with many of the red triangles on his HUD disappearing in flashes of orange. The two Susanovas continued their course, ignoring the torrent of warheads issuing forth from Phalanx. Tir closed to FBL range and fired, dropping the shields on the first with a handful of volleys. Negotiations for possession of the ship were short, and the pilot bailed with his craft mostly intact. His wingman followed suit, but tried to be much more stubborn: Tir had to repair the ship from 4% hull, though that was mostly because he assumed the pilot wouldn’t bail below 50% hull and had continued blasting away.
Giddy with success, Tir flew back through to Heaven’s Assertion. As luck would have it, a Duke's Hazardous Material Transporter was some 25km off the gate. Accelerating, Tir stripped it of its shields and quickly negotiated for its ownership. A Hermes Hauler, ready for upgrades and duty in the service of the Empire. Docking at the shipyard and examining his options. Having received permission to purchase an M3 but until now lacking the funds to do so, he spent some time poring over the available heavy fighters, settling on a stripped-down Advanced Perseus. With less than a million credits remaining to his name, he located a Medium Shield Complex and picked up two 25MJ shields , equal to his Theseus but only utilizing half the capability of his new ship’s generator. Selling off a stack of Firelance and other assorted missiles, he picked up a rack of HEPTs, mounting a lone IRE in his rear turret for missile defense.
In all, Tir managed to capture six ships in three sectors within about 45 minutes. The M3s sold for a combined total significantly above 3M, and the three transports are slowly working their way up to Argon space to be outfitted and then jump back to the area around Paranid Prime to begin duties as STs. I'm positive I have never captured so many ships in such short a time frame.
Assets:
1x Advanced Perseus
1x Demeter Super Freighter XL
1x Demeter Super Freighter
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
1x Hermes Hauler
3,000 credits
Help! I need Greek-inspired names for one Hermes, two Demeters, and the new Perseus. I might just start naming freighters as Olympian I, II, et cetera, since I'm not terribly creative. Suggestions?
Heading south through Desecrated Skies, Tir found himself in the Second Duchy, an area of Paranid space flanked by pirates and the infamous Duke's Buccaneers. However, it also boasts several shipyards in close proximity, including one that sells enhanced versions of the Pericles and Perseus.
From time to time, a Duke's Freight Transporter or Duke's Hazardous Materials Transporter will move through pirate sectors. Lucky for Tir, there were several of them in rapid succession, and their pilots have grown craven. In less than an hour, the following all happened:
Jumping into Sacred Relic, Tir found himself confronted by a vast nothing; the sector was nearly devoid of life. One red contact flared up on his gravidar, and he slowly nosed the Theseus towards the Duke's Freight Transporter. A Demeter Super Freighter XL, by the looks of it, with nearly 10,000 cargo space and generators sufficient for impressive shielding. Thankfully, Duke's Buccaneers are a stingy lot, and had failed to provide their pilot with shields to match the ship's generators.
Three volleys from Phalanx and the freighter's shields collapsed, her hull plating melting away under the assault. Unwilling to die for an empty cargo hold, the Demeter's pilot abandoned ship, shouting something about revenge as he executed an unplanned EVA. Tir joined him in space moments later to reappropriate his ship, quickly repairing the minimal hull damage and sending it to friendly space in Heaven's Assertion.
Rolling over to follow his new acquisition, Tir soon passed the sluggish freighter and jumped down to Heaven’s Assertion. Docking to sell off some unneeded missiles, he took quick stock of his assets. He still had not managed to locate a hostile M3 willing to abandon ship, but the Theseus was turning out to be more than a match for most of his assignments and opponents. Its primary weakness was the inability to carry Medium freight, meaning he could not run any form of passenger transport mission.
Undocking, he found the nearby Ore Mine in need of protection. Always willing to defend the Empire’s assets from her enemies, Tir accepted the mission. To his everlasting delight, three Yaki heavy fighters jumped in and burned towards the mine. Phalanx moved to intercept, starting the fight by vaporizing one of the raiders the moment she launched a Banshee missile. Improbably, the second of three duplicated his wingmate’s performance, quickly filling space with an expanding cloud of gases and starfighter debris. The third pilot, apparently intimidated, evacuated after attempting to down Tir with several Silkworm and Banshee missiles.
Tir waited a hundred meters from the abandoned Susanova Hauler, verifying that none of the station defenses had marked the stricken pirate for death by missile. After two minutes, Tir closed the distance, spent three minutes in space, and set his newly-repaired heavy fighter to the shipyard in-system. Spending only a few moments to recover cargo dropped by the other pirates, he docked soon after his prize and ordered its sale. Even with the million credits the sale netted his accounts, he could not yet afford the sleek and powerful Advanced Perseus the shipyard had on offer for some three million credits.
Finding his dreams of galactic conquest delayed yet again, Tir set course for Duke’s Citadel. Upon entering Pontifex’s Seclusion, he found his luck improved: Another Duke’s Freight Transporter was sitting some four kilometers from the southern gate, just moments outside of weapons range. As cowardly as his earlier compatriot, the pilot abandoned ship mere moments after his shields collapsed. It was another Demeter, though a much smaller variant than the earlier capture. Two freighters and a heavy fighter in less than 30 minutes. Today, the Light is with me.
Capturing heavy freighters is great for the ego, but is not wonderful for the wallet. With Olympian running as a sector trader back in Paranid Prime and earning a not-insignificant amount of money, it would still take Tir several hours to outfit his new ships. That is, of course, if the nearby Military Outpost hadn’t been kind enough to give Tir a System Patrol mission worth nearly 250,000 credits. Accepting the mission, Tir moved towards the center of the system, waiting for targets to appear. Yaki fighters did not disappoint; a swarm of M5s and M4s appeared and started engaging nearby shipping. The cluster of light fighters was so kind as to abandon a pair of Susanovas, leaving the heavy ships unprotected.
Unleashing a torrent of 15 Dragonfly missiles, Tir waited thirty seconds and was rewarded with many of the red triangles on his HUD disappearing in flashes of orange. The two Susanovas continued their course, ignoring the torrent of warheads issuing forth from Phalanx. Tir closed to FBL range and fired, dropping the shields on the first with a handful of volleys. Negotiations for possession of the ship were short, and the pilot bailed with his craft mostly intact. His wingman followed suit, but tried to be much more stubborn: Tir had to repair the ship from 4% hull, though that was mostly because he assumed the pilot wouldn’t bail below 50% hull and had continued blasting away.
Giddy with success, Tir flew back through to Heaven’s Assertion. As luck would have it, a Duke's Hazardous Material Transporter was some 25km off the gate. Accelerating, Tir stripped it of its shields and quickly negotiated for its ownership. A Hermes Hauler, ready for upgrades and duty in the service of the Empire. Docking at the shipyard and examining his options. Having received permission to purchase an M3 but until now lacking the funds to do so, he spent some time poring over the available heavy fighters, settling on a stripped-down Advanced Perseus. With less than a million credits remaining to his name, he located a Medium Shield Complex and picked up two 25MJ shields , equal to his Theseus but only utilizing half the capability of his new ship’s generator. Selling off a stack of Firelance and other assorted missiles, he picked up a rack of HEPTs, mounting a lone IRE in his rear turret for missile defense.
In all, Tir managed to capture six ships in three sectors within about 45 minutes. The M3s sold for a combined total significantly above 3M, and the three transports are slowly working their way up to Argon space to be outfitted and then jump back to the area around Paranid Prime to begin duties as STs. I'm positive I have never captured so many ships in such short a time frame.
Assets:
1x Advanced Perseus
1x Demeter Super Freighter XL
1x Demeter Super Freighter
1x Demeter Olympian
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
1x Hermes Hauler
3,000 credits
Help! I need Greek-inspired names for one Hermes, two Demeters, and the new Perseus. I might just start naming freighters as Olympian I, II, et cetera, since I'm not terribly creative. Suggestions?
-
Libelnon
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Mon, 22. Aug 11, 13:22
http://www.behindthename.com/names/usag ... -mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythological_figures
That of any use?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythological_figures
That of any use?
Sorry, were you expecting a witty one-liner?
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode VI, in which Tir earns 10 million credits in ten minutes.
Gratefully accepting the 1.8 million credit bounty for his latest kill, a Terran Katana in Heaven’s Assertion, Tir adjusted course towards the galactic north. The money in his account was burning a hole in his pocket, so he ordered training for several idle marines about Motility in Preacher’s Refuge. A total of twenty-six marines were in training there, most in basic courses due to the enormous cost involved in advanced training. Ship captures had become much more rare since Tir had upgraded to the Advanced Perseus, its eight HEPTs tending to vaporize targets rather than convince their pilots to depart in peace. He had only managed to capture a scant handful of Yaki fighters, almost entirely M5s, across several station defense and patrol missions.
Jumping Interworlds to place a satellite, Tir stared at his gravidar. A Pirate Osprey, flanked only by a pair of M5s, was 30km off the gate and closing. He accelerated, hoping to scan the ship and figure out his chances of survival. The M5s disappeared under a swarm of Wasps, and Tir’s scanners lit up the Osprey. Although heavily armed, it had neither sentry lasers nor hull polarization. The barest kernel of a plan formed in his mind, and he drained his HEPTs to strip the corvette’s shields. Passing out of the slower gunboat’s range, Tir took a few moments to examine his marines. Picking seven with high(ish) combat ratings, he loaded them aboard Motility and ordered the TP to jump to his system, nudging Poene back towards the gate to close the gap.
As soon as the TP was in transporter range, Tir jumped over, launched marines at the approaching Osprey, and jumped the TP away with 72% hull, switching back to Poene with moments to spare before the jump. Unfortunately, the Osprey was much, much faster than his marines. As he pulled away from the Pirate vessel, he heard his aft IRE turret firing away. It was doing surprisingly well against the Osprey’s shielding. Tir nudged his fighter past the cloud of marines, then spun around and hit his reverse thrusters. As the Osprey burned towards him, it entered the group of troopers, who promptly disappeared from sensors as they latched onto the hull.
Firing the occasional HEPT burst at the Osprey to drop her shields, Tir accelerated away the moment the marines were through the hull. A minute or two later and it was over; the Osprey under Tir’s control without a single marine casualty. Unfortunately, his marines seem to think that capturing an enemy craft is ideally accomplished by blowing up every last component and bulkhead they can find; the stricken pirate’s hull was down to 34% by the time the marines were finished. Cursing, Tir called in Motility and began the lengthy EVA required to repair the damaged vessels, being very careful to check his sensors every minute or two.
At long last, the Osprey headed for the shipyard in Cardinal’s Domain, its capturers having returned to Preacher’s Refuge to continue their aborted training. Tir smirked when he sold the ship, watching his account balance increase by 900%. This had been a very good day.
So, I’m now stuck at an impasse: Tir can’t meaningfully drop his rep with the Paranid, so capturing a Hyperion Vanguard will be very risky. I’ve never flown a Nemesis ,but I’m under the impression they’re pretty solid. Unfortunately, I’m at a point where my combat rank and my combat ability are slowly separating; system patrols and defense missions now bring M6s and I have trouble dealing with them. We’ll see how the next few days go.
Thanks for the names, Libelnon. They'll provide excellent references for many ships to come.
Gratefully accepting the 1.8 million credit bounty for his latest kill, a Terran Katana in Heaven’s Assertion, Tir adjusted course towards the galactic north. The money in his account was burning a hole in his pocket, so he ordered training for several idle marines about Motility in Preacher’s Refuge. A total of twenty-six marines were in training there, most in basic courses due to the enormous cost involved in advanced training. Ship captures had become much more rare since Tir had upgraded to the Advanced Perseus, its eight HEPTs tending to vaporize targets rather than convince their pilots to depart in peace. He had only managed to capture a scant handful of Yaki fighters, almost entirely M5s, across several station defense and patrol missions.
Jumping Interworlds to place a satellite, Tir stared at his gravidar. A Pirate Osprey, flanked only by a pair of M5s, was 30km off the gate and closing. He accelerated, hoping to scan the ship and figure out his chances of survival. The M5s disappeared under a swarm of Wasps, and Tir’s scanners lit up the Osprey. Although heavily armed, it had neither sentry lasers nor hull polarization. The barest kernel of a plan formed in his mind, and he drained his HEPTs to strip the corvette’s shields. Passing out of the slower gunboat’s range, Tir took a few moments to examine his marines. Picking seven with high(ish) combat ratings, he loaded them aboard Motility and ordered the TP to jump to his system, nudging Poene back towards the gate to close the gap.
As soon as the TP was in transporter range, Tir jumped over, launched marines at the approaching Osprey, and jumped the TP away with 72% hull, switching back to Poene with moments to spare before the jump. Unfortunately, the Osprey was much, much faster than his marines. As he pulled away from the Pirate vessel, he heard his aft IRE turret firing away. It was doing surprisingly well against the Osprey’s shielding. Tir nudged his fighter past the cloud of marines, then spun around and hit his reverse thrusters. As the Osprey burned towards him, it entered the group of troopers, who promptly disappeared from sensors as they latched onto the hull.
Firing the occasional HEPT burst at the Osprey to drop her shields, Tir accelerated away the moment the marines were through the hull. A minute or two later and it was over; the Osprey under Tir’s control without a single marine casualty. Unfortunately, his marines seem to think that capturing an enemy craft is ideally accomplished by blowing up every last component and bulkhead they can find; the stricken pirate’s hull was down to 34% by the time the marines were finished. Cursing, Tir called in Motility and began the lengthy EVA required to repair the damaged vessels, being very careful to check his sensors every minute or two.
At long last, the Osprey headed for the shipyard in Cardinal’s Domain, its capturers having returned to Preacher’s Refuge to continue their aborted training. Tir smirked when he sold the ship, watching his account balance increase by 900%. This had been a very good day.
So, I’m now stuck at an impasse: Tir can’t meaningfully drop his rep with the Paranid, so capturing a Hyperion Vanguard will be very risky. I’ve never flown a Nemesis ,but I’m under the impression they’re pretty solid. Unfortunately, I’m at a point where my combat rank and my combat ability are slowly separating; system patrols and defense missions now bring M6s and I have trouble dealing with them. We’ll see how the next few days go.
Thanks for the names, Libelnon. They'll provide excellent references for many ships to come.
-
AShortDropandSuddenStop
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon, 29. Oct 12, 08:26
Episode VII, in which Tir makes friends, enemies, and makes a plan.
At this point, Tir is being paid between 1.5 and 3.2 million credits per assassination mission. Unfortunately, these missions are typically against escorted M6 and M8 class ships, which take some work for the lone Poene.*
With the sale of the Osprey, Tir’s doing well financially, but his burgeoning empire has precious little heavy combat ability and zero manufacturing. However, since his manufacturing goals consist entirely of a very large complex in Savage Spur, he’s not going to start assembling a complex until he can defend it and set it up quickly, meaning he’ll need to own a TL. Purchasing a TL, of course, requires that he find one and liberate it, which is stunningly difficult in an M3.
A quick run through the Pirate Highway has netted Tir four new fighters, which are each stripped and returned to Third Redemption. As he travels, the Paanid leaves behind a satellite network, slowly expanding his intelligence capabilities. At this point, he has every Paranid sector covered in AdvSats, as well as the Pirate Highway and a good chunk of Argon territory around Argon Prime. This gives him the blessed ability to track a target across multiple sectors without having to get off his lazy butt and go find the thing himself.
With all of his marines in training in Preacher’s Refuge once more, Tir returns to the messy business of annihilating every Pirate, Yaki, and Xenon he comes across in Paranid space. During one such jaunt, he encounters a pair of Hyperion Vanguards patrolling together in Pontifex’s Seclusion. Not brave enough to engage both(and the Odysseus in-system), Tir jumps out and goes chasing down a Duke’s transport.
Heaven’s Assertion is one of Tir’s favorite places, having handed him several Xenon fighters over the last few hours. As he jumped in from the North, a quick survey of his satellites showed a strike force of Pirate fighters and the Duke’s Dangerous Materials Transporter he’d come looking for. Rolling to port, he pulled in front of the rogue transport and let rip a brief volley from two of his HEPTs, just to make sure the pilot’s paying attention. The Buccaneer responded with a stream of FBL blasts from a rear turret, which Tir rolled to avoid. For whatever reason, this plot had no desire to negotiate; he died in a ball of flame less than a minute after Tir’s first shots.
Unfortunately, Tir was too busy gloating to hear his computer alert him to an incoming missile, and the Banshee (I think) tore apart his shields and left his hull at left than 30%. The pirate wing had apparently seen Tir from across the sector and decided he looked like a nice target; they’d closed alarmingly fast. The nearest was less than 3km out and had the speed advantage, since Poene was hurting badly.
Thank the Light for missiles… Tir’s gloating from moments ago was certainly shattered with his armor plating, but his cargo hold was able to empty itself with impressive alacrity, returning the favor to the pirate fighters. None of the pilots bailed, unfortunately, and a Harrier got close enough to strip Poene’s shields from the little bit they had regenerated, dropping her hull to 21%. Jumpdrive destroyed. Transporter Device destroyed. 25MJ Shield destroyed. High-Energy Plasma Thrower damaged. The cacophony of alarms from his computer gave Tir a running damage report as he tried to limp towards the nearby shipyard, corkscrewing to avoid incoming fire from the Harrier behind him.
10.2… 10.0.. the distance to the Shipyard could not close fast enough; the Harrier’s weapons were just enough to keep tearing chunks out of Poene, but not enough to outright destroy the ship. Looking at his sensors, Tir noticed a swarm missile incoming, despite having missed the alarm. Cursing his luck, he watched them approach, helpless as the Harrier continued to tear his beloved ship apart.
Blessed silence. Another check of his sensors revealed that that swarm missile had been a Flail, directed at the (now quite dead) Harrier, courtesy of the Paranid Navy. An Ares and her strike group sat 20km off of the East gate, having rescued Tir seven kilometers from being able to dock with the Shipyard. Thanking his lucky stars, Tir went EV and set about repairing the damaged plating of his ship, taking a few moments to check his satellite network for targets. The two Hyperion Vanguards had split off from one another, one heading north to Sacred Relic. Looking at the wreckage of his ship, Tir decided it was time for an upgrade…
On making friends: Every race now considers Tir an ally; even the Boron. It’s a good thing, though: Tir’s at 48% for Honor Guard of Xaar. That should be enough of a cushion to capture a Paranid ship and get away with it…
*Po-eh-ney, spirit of vengeance. Not Pony.
Assets:
~35 million credits
1x Advanced Perseus Poene[/i}
1x Demeter Super Freighter XL Olympian II
1x Demeter Super Freighter Olympian III
1x Demeter Olympian [/i]
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
1x Hermes Hauler
At this point, Tir is being paid between 1.5 and 3.2 million credits per assassination mission. Unfortunately, these missions are typically against escorted M6 and M8 class ships, which take some work for the lone Poene.*
With the sale of the Osprey, Tir’s doing well financially, but his burgeoning empire has precious little heavy combat ability and zero manufacturing. However, since his manufacturing goals consist entirely of a very large complex in Savage Spur, he’s not going to start assembling a complex until he can defend it and set it up quickly, meaning he’ll need to own a TL. Purchasing a TL, of course, requires that he find one and liberate it, which is stunningly difficult in an M3.
A quick run through the Pirate Highway has netted Tir four new fighters, which are each stripped and returned to Third Redemption. As he travels, the Paanid leaves behind a satellite network, slowly expanding his intelligence capabilities. At this point, he has every Paranid sector covered in AdvSats, as well as the Pirate Highway and a good chunk of Argon territory around Argon Prime. This gives him the blessed ability to track a target across multiple sectors without having to get off his lazy butt and go find the thing himself.
With all of his marines in training in Preacher’s Refuge once more, Tir returns to the messy business of annihilating every Pirate, Yaki, and Xenon he comes across in Paranid space. During one such jaunt, he encounters a pair of Hyperion Vanguards patrolling together in Pontifex’s Seclusion. Not brave enough to engage both(and the Odysseus in-system), Tir jumps out and goes chasing down a Duke’s transport.
Heaven’s Assertion is one of Tir’s favorite places, having handed him several Xenon fighters over the last few hours. As he jumped in from the North, a quick survey of his satellites showed a strike force of Pirate fighters and the Duke’s Dangerous Materials Transporter he’d come looking for. Rolling to port, he pulled in front of the rogue transport and let rip a brief volley from two of his HEPTs, just to make sure the pilot’s paying attention. The Buccaneer responded with a stream of FBL blasts from a rear turret, which Tir rolled to avoid. For whatever reason, this plot had no desire to negotiate; he died in a ball of flame less than a minute after Tir’s first shots.
Unfortunately, Tir was too busy gloating to hear his computer alert him to an incoming missile, and the Banshee (I think) tore apart his shields and left his hull at left than 30%. The pirate wing had apparently seen Tir from across the sector and decided he looked like a nice target; they’d closed alarmingly fast. The nearest was less than 3km out and had the speed advantage, since Poene was hurting badly.
Thank the Light for missiles… Tir’s gloating from moments ago was certainly shattered with his armor plating, but his cargo hold was able to empty itself with impressive alacrity, returning the favor to the pirate fighters. None of the pilots bailed, unfortunately, and a Harrier got close enough to strip Poene’s shields from the little bit they had regenerated, dropping her hull to 21%. Jumpdrive destroyed. Transporter Device destroyed. 25MJ Shield destroyed. High-Energy Plasma Thrower damaged. The cacophony of alarms from his computer gave Tir a running damage report as he tried to limp towards the nearby shipyard, corkscrewing to avoid incoming fire from the Harrier behind him.
10.2… 10.0.. the distance to the Shipyard could not close fast enough; the Harrier’s weapons were just enough to keep tearing chunks out of Poene, but not enough to outright destroy the ship. Looking at his sensors, Tir noticed a swarm missile incoming, despite having missed the alarm. Cursing his luck, he watched them approach, helpless as the Harrier continued to tear his beloved ship apart.
Blessed silence. Another check of his sensors revealed that that swarm missile had been a Flail, directed at the (now quite dead) Harrier, courtesy of the Paranid Navy. An Ares and her strike group sat 20km off of the East gate, having rescued Tir seven kilometers from being able to dock with the Shipyard. Thanking his lucky stars, Tir went EV and set about repairing the damaged plating of his ship, taking a few moments to check his satellite network for targets. The two Hyperion Vanguards had split off from one another, one heading north to Sacred Relic. Looking at the wreckage of his ship, Tir decided it was time for an upgrade…
On making friends: Every race now considers Tir an ally; even the Boron. It’s a good thing, though: Tir’s at 48% for Honor Guard of Xaar. That should be enough of a cushion to capture a Paranid ship and get away with it…
*Po-eh-ney, spirit of vengeance. Not Pony.
Assets:
~35 million credits
1x Advanced Perseus Poene[/i}
1x Demeter Super Freighter XL Olympian II
1x Demeter Super Freighter Olympian III
1x Demeter Olympian [/i]
1x Theseus Phalanx
1x Pegasus Vanguard Noru
1x Hermes Hauler Motile
1x Hermes Hauler