So giving this a try. Hopefully the whole saving via Steam stuff works and whatnot, but no guts no glory as they say. There may still be guts...mine...drifting in space.
***if I survive long enough there will be spoilers***
Start:
Suicidal Squid
X3: AP - no scripts or anything
Rules:
DiD obviously
Being of the squiddy ilk, I have a preference for Boron ships and stations - though I will use what I have to.
Repair laser - its point and shoot, figure that's enough to patch holes in fighters. Beyond that I'll have to pay.
Accepting suggestions too if someone's got a brilliant idea.
To be clear here, this is reliant on the Steam save thing actually working - so random autopilot death, gate transit fails, etc are all legit ways for this to end. I'll just have to be careful.
Here goes...
Part 1: Whattheckhappened?
Last thing I remember is having a round at the local Trading Station while watching the Boron Eels beat the Split Vipers at Zero-G Football - an Argon sport, but one that we Boron have gotten rather good at. Must be the tentacles. Now here I am in an Octopus (don't remember owning a ship, so sweet!) and although it's a little cramped, at least there's some Space Fuel aboard.
Wait..this isn't Kingdom End. Queen's Harbor? How'd I get to the arse-end of nowhere? Ugh.
Well, best not sit around. Gotta figure out what's going on and maybe get back toward home. Red on my limited gravidar points out that Paranid and Split ships are not friendly. Best give them a wide berth.
Onward and northward. Seem to remember there being Teladi sectors north of here, and those goons will buy most anything. Maybe I can sell them this Space Fuel.
No, guess not. I keep trekking onward, finally poking my greenish-snout into Grand Exchange. Xenon sector nearby, so taking a little extra care I start casually moving across the large sector. No angry computers in sight, but a couple Pirates showing red come into view. Again I give them room and again I'm left alone. Gonna need more of this kind of luck I suspect.
Argon turf is next with Belt of Aguilar, and though the Trading Station doesn't want my Space Fuel either, I see a few drifting missile crates. With only 5 units of cargo, I take a last pull on the Space Fuel before jettisoning it. No good getting caught with illegal goods right now, and I think the missiles are worth more credits. One of them blows up on impact - medium sized I guess - but I scoop up three (a couple wildfire and a firefly I think...didn't happen to take notes).
Putting along I swing into Interworlds and dock to dump off the missiles. A bit risky, but I also sell my 1 MJ shield, buy a duplex scanner, and spend the rest on freight and speed. It's not much, but even a minor upgrade helps.
Off I go again, heading back north. I must have done something to upset the Three-Eyes, so I've no desire to enter their sectors with nothing but a paper-thin hull. A quick pit stop at the Pirate Base in Nathan's voyage where I splurge on a cargo life support system, and I set off again. Not much in the way of missions I can take just yet, though I did return someone's Disco that they'd left floating in Treasure Chest. Guess I'm not the only one who had a rough night of partying.
Entering Omicron Lyrae...and it's not as foggy as I remember, nice.
Great Split in a good mood!!! That is a fleet! Terran warships by the look of them, and an impressive display of power by the Argon too! A full dozen capital ships between them, and closing...well, slowly.
Parking next to an asteroid, feeling relatively safe (I'm not on the Terran Xmas card list, but they don't seem to want to kill me either). Time to watch the fireworks.
1 x Octopus
300 credits
I am Iron-Squid! Maybe... [Suicidal Squid DiD]
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theroguewriter
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I am Iron-Squid! Maybe... [Suicidal Squid DiD]
Last edited by theroguewriter on Fri, 8. Jun 12, 18:41, edited 2 times in total.
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Triaxx2
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Is this AP? Or TC? It looks like AP, given the Terran Warships, but I'm not sure.
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theroguewriter
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theroguewriter
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Part 2: Salvage
Well, turns out I've found my lot in life. At least for the moment.
After a quick run to Scale Plate Green to retrieve someone's beat up Harrier (another partier, no doubt) I took a mission to defend one of the stations in Omicron Lyrae - figuring naturally that there's enough firepower here to level a Xenon Core Sector, I might as well pretend to be helpful. And pretend I did, ingeniously watching as the Pirate (oddly enough, in a Harrier) flew in, peppered the stations shields, and forgot to turn, plastering himself and his ship all over the docking clamp. To quote a Terran entertainment program, "Ha ha."
The Pirate did leave behind a couple small missiles which I, being the humanitarian that I am...Boronatarian? whatever...naturally cleaned up - wanting to keep space free of litter. Sold them off, and noted a few more missile crates floating around, Argon/Terran litter, and I cleaned those up too. At least the small ones, being that I am limited.
Incidently, I tried to take a taxi mission, seeing as I have a Cargo Life Support System, but the silly primate refused to squeeze into the cargo hold. I tried to convince him he'd fit - just deflate his air bladders, fold in his limbs, and maybe with judicious use of a crowbar, but he was having none of it. I aborted the mission. Evidently people don't like to be jammed into tiny spaces.
With the massive battle in OL slowed considerably, I took off for the north into Circle of Labour and then on into Heretic's End. Another Terran task force in both sectors, and upon heading back toward Omicron again, found some more worthwhile salvage - particularly a couple Remote Guided Warheads. Serendipitous! It took two trips to scoop up the S sized cargo, but all in all the sales let me do some major overhaul to the Octopus - software upgrades, max speed and cargo (still pitiful cargo mind), a pair of IRE's and 2 x 1 MJ shields, some a Trading System Extension, plus some fuzzy dice and custom rims. It's still a little lackluster, but it's mine. At least I assume it is, since I woke up in it...
A couple random notes:
1: The docking clamps of the Equipment Dock in Omicron Lyrae are very inconvenient. I've taken to manual docking there as the autopilot really wants to dock me into the asteroid. I've filed a formal complaint with the Argon, but I don't think they take me seriously.
2: I have seen my future flagship! Yes, decided that just getting home to Kingdom End is not my foremost goal. I want me a Thresher! Sleek lines, lovely shade of Boron-Green, form and function, and GIANT FRONT MOUNTED GUNS!!!!
Oh dear, I've inked...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
~50000 credits
Well, turns out I've found my lot in life. At least for the moment.
After a quick run to Scale Plate Green to retrieve someone's beat up Harrier (another partier, no doubt) I took a mission to defend one of the stations in Omicron Lyrae - figuring naturally that there's enough firepower here to level a Xenon Core Sector, I might as well pretend to be helpful. And pretend I did, ingeniously watching as the Pirate (oddly enough, in a Harrier) flew in, peppered the stations shields, and forgot to turn, plastering himself and his ship all over the docking clamp. To quote a Terran entertainment program, "Ha ha."
The Pirate did leave behind a couple small missiles which I, being the humanitarian that I am...Boronatarian? whatever...naturally cleaned up - wanting to keep space free of litter. Sold them off, and noted a few more missile crates floating around, Argon/Terran litter, and I cleaned those up too. At least the small ones, being that I am limited.
Incidently, I tried to take a taxi mission, seeing as I have a Cargo Life Support System, but the silly primate refused to squeeze into the cargo hold. I tried to convince him he'd fit - just deflate his air bladders, fold in his limbs, and maybe with judicious use of a crowbar, but he was having none of it. I aborted the mission. Evidently people don't like to be jammed into tiny spaces.
With the massive battle in OL slowed considerably, I took off for the north into Circle of Labour and then on into Heretic's End. Another Terran task force in both sectors, and upon heading back toward Omicron again, found some more worthwhile salvage - particularly a couple Remote Guided Warheads. Serendipitous! It took two trips to scoop up the S sized cargo, but all in all the sales let me do some major overhaul to the Octopus - software upgrades, max speed and cargo (still pitiful cargo mind), a pair of IRE's and 2 x 1 MJ shields, some a Trading System Extension, plus some fuzzy dice and custom rims. It's still a little lackluster, but it's mine. At least I assume it is, since I woke up in it...
A couple random notes:
1: The docking clamps of the Equipment Dock in Omicron Lyrae are very inconvenient. I've taken to manual docking there as the autopilot really wants to dock me into the asteroid. I've filed a formal complaint with the Argon, but I don't think they take me seriously.
2: I have seen my future flagship! Yes, decided that just getting home to Kingdom End is not my foremost goal. I want me a Thresher! Sleek lines, lovely shade of Boron-Green, form and function, and GIANT FRONT MOUNTED GUNS!!!!
Oh dear, I've inked...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
~50000 credits
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Kirlack
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theroguewriter wrote:Oh dear, I've inked...
Actually doesn't quite cover it, that was a definite LMFAO moment
Madder than a bastard on Fathers Day
My DiD Stories: Peace(s) of Eight (Inactive) - Way of the Gun [KIA] - Status: Online (Active)
An Illustrated Idiots Guide to CLS
My DiD Stories: Peace(s) of Eight (Inactive) - Way of the Gun [KIA] - Status: Online (Active)
An Illustrated Idiots Guide to CLS
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Triaxx2
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Added to the DiD list.
And funny, that last bit only happens to me when it's bearing down, and firing at me.
And funny, that last bit only happens to me when it's bearing down, and firing at me.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016
The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
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The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
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theroguewriter
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Part 3: Well I had a second ship...
Spent the early part of my day tooling around between Interworlds, Treasure Chest, and Belt of Aguilar doing various missions - most for piddling amounts of money .Scanned some asteroids, retrieved a ship, refused to retrieve one (Hey, it was in Thyn's Abyss - not only hostile to me, but on the other side of a Xenon Sector. For a measly 600 credits you can mosey over there and get your own darned ship.), scanned some more asteroids, shot up an underarmed Paranid Asp and attempted to liberate a Royal Dolphin from the creepy Three-Eyes, but to no avail. A sad day when a Boron is forced to respectfully eliminate one of our own vessels, but alas, it had to be done.
The net result of all that running about, counting both failed and finished missions: about 5000 credits extra, and reputation with Paranid (bad) and Argon (not bad) have remained the same give or take a few percentage points.
While floating safely above the trade lanes in Interworlds though, I saw something most disheartening. A Python-led Split battlegroup registering their destination as Reservoir of Tranquility. Sadly I can neither stop the Split nor warn my brethren in RoT, so I'll have to hope for the best and swear righteous revenge later.
On the bright side, had a pilot wanting to sell their Mercury freighter on the cheap, and while it is inferior Argon tech, I decided it would do for the time being and paid the lowly sum of 18k for it. Some speed upgrades and a small shield for it and I christened it 'Hoover' as that's what I intended for it to do - cleaning up the leftovers of this Argon/Terran war. Really, why are the hairless monkeys fighting? It'd be like greenish-blue boron fighting against purplish-green boron - essentially no difference. There's just no reasoning with some though, and I figured I could make like a Teladi and profitsssss from the carnage.
As my Mercury was heading through Black Hole Sun, in route to Omicron Lyrae, it got ganked by a Q. *Face-Tentacle*
So there's more righteous vengence that will have to wait.
All told my various reputations are unchanged, I'm down about 30,000 credits, and now the Pirate Lasertowers in Nathan's Voyage are showing red - I am not trying to dock there again for a while, though the station is still friendly to me. Not entirely sure what happened. Today has been a whole lotta nothin.
Right, time for a change of scenery and more friendly environs. In retrospect, it was probably quite foolish to dive into a Xenon Sector in my lowly scout ship, and moreso knowing I have a couple unfriendly split sectors after that, but I did what I did. It was all or nothing, and thankfully the Xenon Sector - while teeming with the ticked off computers - was safely transversed. Not so lucky was the freighter pilot I followed in...
Thyn's Abyss was no problem, though I admit a smile crossed my face when I saw a horde of Xenon tearing up Split space. Serves you right for sending a battlegroup to Boron territory! I think it was Family Njy up next, though honestly I was more concerned with darting from asteroid to asteroid, always keeping a big rock between me and the sector police. Up in Ghinn's I was immediately fired on by a missile frigate, and having no desire to tangle with a flail barrage, I ducked back through the gate. After enough time for the missile threat to pass, I poked my snout in again and with no warnings, made fast for the east gate.
Into Hila's Joy, joy! Time for a short respite and a break to see what the locals here have to say. Despite a few false starts with the autopilot, I was eventually able to get safely docked to the Military Outpost. I swear that autopilot has it in for me - I've been forced to do a great deal of manual docking of late.
While one of my longer term objectives is set, I'm not going to feel particularly safe until I get some decent shielding around me. That means something a smidge bigger than an Octopus - and no one makes M4s like we Boron do. Primary goal then is to get myself a Mako!
For now, to sleep, perchance to dream of Threshers...
1 x Octopus
~15,000 credits
Spent the early part of my day tooling around between Interworlds, Treasure Chest, and Belt of Aguilar doing various missions - most for piddling amounts of money .Scanned some asteroids, retrieved a ship, refused to retrieve one (Hey, it was in Thyn's Abyss - not only hostile to me, but on the other side of a Xenon Sector. For a measly 600 credits you can mosey over there and get your own darned ship.), scanned some more asteroids, shot up an underarmed Paranid Asp and attempted to liberate a Royal Dolphin from the creepy Three-Eyes, but to no avail. A sad day when a Boron is forced to respectfully eliminate one of our own vessels, but alas, it had to be done.
The net result of all that running about, counting both failed and finished missions: about 5000 credits extra, and reputation with Paranid (bad) and Argon (not bad) have remained the same give or take a few percentage points.
While floating safely above the trade lanes in Interworlds though, I saw something most disheartening. A Python-led Split battlegroup registering their destination as Reservoir of Tranquility. Sadly I can neither stop the Split nor warn my brethren in RoT, so I'll have to hope for the best and swear righteous revenge later.
On the bright side, had a pilot wanting to sell their Mercury freighter on the cheap, and while it is inferior Argon tech, I decided it would do for the time being and paid the lowly sum of 18k for it. Some speed upgrades and a small shield for it and I christened it 'Hoover' as that's what I intended for it to do - cleaning up the leftovers of this Argon/Terran war. Really, why are the hairless monkeys fighting? It'd be like greenish-blue boron fighting against purplish-green boron - essentially no difference. There's just no reasoning with some though, and I figured I could make like a Teladi and profitsssss from the carnage.
As my Mercury was heading through Black Hole Sun, in route to Omicron Lyrae, it got ganked by a Q. *Face-Tentacle*
So there's more righteous vengence that will have to wait.
All told my various reputations are unchanged, I'm down about 30,000 credits, and now the Pirate Lasertowers in Nathan's Voyage are showing red - I am not trying to dock there again for a while, though the station is still friendly to me. Not entirely sure what happened. Today has been a whole lotta nothin.
Right, time for a change of scenery and more friendly environs. In retrospect, it was probably quite foolish to dive into a Xenon Sector in my lowly scout ship, and moreso knowing I have a couple unfriendly split sectors after that, but I did what I did. It was all or nothing, and thankfully the Xenon Sector - while teeming with the ticked off computers - was safely transversed. Not so lucky was the freighter pilot I followed in...
Thyn's Abyss was no problem, though I admit a smile crossed my face when I saw a horde of Xenon tearing up Split space. Serves you right for sending a battlegroup to Boron territory! I think it was Family Njy up next, though honestly I was more concerned with darting from asteroid to asteroid, always keeping a big rock between me and the sector police. Up in Ghinn's I was immediately fired on by a missile frigate, and having no desire to tangle with a flail barrage, I ducked back through the gate. After enough time for the missile threat to pass, I poked my snout in again and with no warnings, made fast for the east gate.
Into Hila's Joy, joy! Time for a short respite and a break to see what the locals here have to say. Despite a few false starts with the autopilot, I was eventually able to get safely docked to the Military Outpost. I swear that autopilot has it in for me - I've been forced to do a great deal of manual docking of late.
While one of my longer term objectives is set, I'm not going to feel particularly safe until I get some decent shielding around me. That means something a smidge bigger than an Octopus - and no one makes M4s like we Boron do. Primary goal then is to get myself a Mako!
For now, to sleep, perchance to dream of Threshers...
1 x Octopus
~15,000 credits
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Triaxx2
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He shouldn't worry, chances are if anything does make it to Reservoir, it'll be so depleted, a bunch of Octopus can deal with it.
And why is he after the piece of junk Mako, when the infinitely superior Pike is just around the corner in Ocean of Fantasy? Better shields, better guns. The only thing the Mako has is a bit more speed. And 8 m/s isn't that much.
And why is he after the piece of junk Mako, when the infinitely superior Pike is just around the corner in Ocean of Fantasy? Better shields, better guns. The only thing the Mako has is a bit more speed. And 8 m/s isn't that much.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016
The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016
The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
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theroguewriter
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Part 4: A Hot Tip on Promotional Plates
A hot tip received from one of patrons at the Military Outpost bar indicated that I should be looking more toward the Pike rather than the Mako. A glance at the stats and it seems to be a good pointer. This thing looks to nearly be on par with M3s - funny I've never had any experience with the Pike, but for now I'll keep it in mind. Seems like a fine ship. A fine ship that 15k credits won't buy me, so after buying my new friend a drink I zip back out into space to see what's what.
Hila's Joy doesn't have many missions on tap, but I do defend a station from a few Fujins. Seems the Yaki ganked some Paranid tech with those things - ugly. Well two of them did me a favor by running into the station, and I toasted the other two. Couldn't entice either to bail out - maybe has something to do with my non-threatening fight rank of 'Competent'.
Onward to Ocean's of Fantasy which I'm sure will be stunning based on the name...er...well, it's um...lovely. Ahem. There are some missions to be had here though, so I scan a few asteroids - about the most lucrative thing I can do at the moment really, and the pay isn't terrible at all. There's also a Stock Exchange here which, like the aforementioned Pike, I have no experience with. I stop in for a look. Hm...we have numbers, and colors. Oh and products. After a couple minutes of staring at it all I think I get it, and happily invest all my cash into Promotional Plates.
Net profit -10,000. Oh dear.
Well, best be off then. Maybe it'll go back up, but sitting around watching numbers isn't my cup of tea. I'm not sure if other Boron drink tea, but after trying some from the Terrans I quite like it. Anyway, seems someone has lost their Pegasus (the dangers of Space Weed kids) so I set off to find that one in CEO's Wellspring or somesuch. Plenty of time to get it returned - only 6,000 credits, but it's better than nothing. While that's making its way back to Oceans, someone in Blueish Snout wants to sell me their Perseus for 170k. Yes please! Er...maybe later?
I jaunt back into Oceans to check on my highly lucrative Promotional Plates, and find that yep, they've gone up. Turned a profit of 1,000 credits or so if I sell now. Not nearly enough, but the Perseus pilot has agreed to hang around for another 10 minutes or so. So I wait. Ugh, darn things dropped to lowest prices again. Ah well.
Heading back north and the Perseus pilot is flying away...and then he explodes or jumps. I'm not entirely sure which. Point is, he's gone. Oh well, maybe more deals will be forthcoming when my money isn't tied up in tchotchkes. I do however pick up a pair of asteroid scanning missions, which is a hoot to run simultaneous like, but I do manage to get them both done. A good chunk of money there too, so things are looking up. Notably, there are some fine asteroid yields up here, which is good to know in case I want to get into the factory business. Earning money and planning for the future at the same time seems like win-win to me.
Heading back south toward Ocean's of Fantasy and someone wants to be rid of their Demeter Hauler for some chump change, and I readily accept, immediately ordering the rig to the shipyard. Specs are okay, but I'm not sure I'll keep it. At least there's no Q's in the area.
Another check on my stocks and it's time to bail on the Promotional Plates business, for quite a tidy little profit! Maybe I'll do more of the stock thing later, but after missing an earlier ship deal I think I'd prefer to keep my capital free - and that seems a wise decision. The local shipyard has a fella selling a Pleco. He's asking just north of 300k for it, nearly all of my money, but a ship I can dock my Octopus to, and one that can hold far beefier shields seems good. Control is turned over to me, and my new rig has a 1 MJ shield, 1 IRE (yay) and a jumpdrive! Woo! Also sitting in the hold is my very first Boron marine! Seems he's a little green (both literally and figuratively), but I'll take it.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco
1 x Demeter Hauler
~5,000 credits
Time: 09:51
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars)
A hot tip received from one of patrons at the Military Outpost bar indicated that I should be looking more toward the Pike rather than the Mako. A glance at the stats and it seems to be a good pointer. This thing looks to nearly be on par with M3s - funny I've never had any experience with the Pike, but for now I'll keep it in mind. Seems like a fine ship. A fine ship that 15k credits won't buy me, so after buying my new friend a drink I zip back out into space to see what's what.
Hila's Joy doesn't have many missions on tap, but I do defend a station from a few Fujins. Seems the Yaki ganked some Paranid tech with those things - ugly. Well two of them did me a favor by running into the station, and I toasted the other two. Couldn't entice either to bail out - maybe has something to do with my non-threatening fight rank of 'Competent'.
Onward to Ocean's of Fantasy which I'm sure will be stunning based on the name...er...well, it's um...lovely. Ahem. There are some missions to be had here though, so I scan a few asteroids - about the most lucrative thing I can do at the moment really, and the pay isn't terrible at all. There's also a Stock Exchange here which, like the aforementioned Pike, I have no experience with. I stop in for a look. Hm...we have numbers, and colors. Oh and products. After a couple minutes of staring at it all I think I get it, and happily invest all my cash into Promotional Plates.
Net profit -10,000. Oh dear.
Well, best be off then. Maybe it'll go back up, but sitting around watching numbers isn't my cup of tea. I'm not sure if other Boron drink tea, but after trying some from the Terrans I quite like it. Anyway, seems someone has lost their Pegasus (the dangers of Space Weed kids) so I set off to find that one in CEO's Wellspring or somesuch. Plenty of time to get it returned - only 6,000 credits, but it's better than nothing. While that's making its way back to Oceans, someone in Blueish Snout wants to sell me their Perseus for 170k. Yes please! Er...maybe later?
I jaunt back into Oceans to check on my highly lucrative Promotional Plates, and find that yep, they've gone up. Turned a profit of 1,000 credits or so if I sell now. Not nearly enough, but the Perseus pilot has agreed to hang around for another 10 minutes or so. So I wait. Ugh, darn things dropped to lowest prices again. Ah well.
Heading back north and the Perseus pilot is flying away...and then he explodes or jumps. I'm not entirely sure which. Point is, he's gone. Oh well, maybe more deals will be forthcoming when my money isn't tied up in tchotchkes. I do however pick up a pair of asteroid scanning missions, which is a hoot to run simultaneous like, but I do manage to get them both done. A good chunk of money there too, so things are looking up. Notably, there are some fine asteroid yields up here, which is good to know in case I want to get into the factory business. Earning money and planning for the future at the same time seems like win-win to me.
Heading back south toward Ocean's of Fantasy and someone wants to be rid of their Demeter Hauler for some chump change, and I readily accept, immediately ordering the rig to the shipyard. Specs are okay, but I'm not sure I'll keep it. At least there's no Q's in the area.
Another check on my stocks and it's time to bail on the Promotional Plates business, for quite a tidy little profit! Maybe I'll do more of the stock thing later, but after missing an earlier ship deal I think I'd prefer to keep my capital free - and that seems a wise decision. The local shipyard has a fella selling a Pleco. He's asking just north of 300k for it, nearly all of my money, but a ship I can dock my Octopus to, and one that can hold far beefier shields seems good. Control is turned over to me, and my new rig has a 1 MJ shield, 1 IRE (yay) and a jumpdrive! Woo! Also sitting in the hold is my very first Boron marine! Seems he's a little green (both literally and figuratively), but I'll take it.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco
1 x Demeter Hauler
~5,000 credits
Time: 09:51
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars)
Last edited by theroguewriter on Sat, 9. Jun 12, 02:25, edited 1 time in total.
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Nathancros
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Neeros
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theroguewriter
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theroguewriter
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Part 5: Ah Safety...kinda
So, in my Pleco now, but even after selling the Demeter I'm short of being able to buy a top line shield for it. The extra cash supply does allow me to do some trading, running some more ecells (and saving some for my jumpdrive). After delivery there's someone who wants Radioactive Material transported, and there's a pretty strict time limit. I'm willing to risk it, though not telling Nini Fi (who is still hanging around in back) what we're transporting. Need to know and all that. So we pick up the goods and we're off to the races. If by race you mean jumping to the next sector and making for the desired station. I've got a pretty minute amount of time to make it to the delivery point, and I've got the Pleco chugging along at max speed. Now there's no time left to muck with the autopilot, so I'm going to have to do this manual. Time is ticking.
45 seconds.
30 seconds.
Gonna make it, but I have to hit the docking clamp on one shot.
20 seconds.
It's amazing how fast 100 m/s seems when you're barreling toward a station in a ship with 1 MJ shields.
15 seconds.
Crap, I overshot I think...swing to port...
Whew. The docking clamp got me, and I earn a cool half million credits. That was close!
First thing to do with my new funds then, I run to the equipment dock and snap up a 200 MJ shield. I feel safer already. And a good thing too, as it's only a few minutes later when 'Scavenger' is redocking after running an errand that it runs into me. Knocked it down to 30% hull, but a quick repair and a mulligan on the docking procedure and we're good to go.
First things first then, since I have the fundage, a quick detour back to Atreus HQ so I can buy docking computers for the Pleco and Octopus. Won't help with autopilot, but it'll make for less nerve-wracking missions.
Jumping back to Menelaus' Paradise and things are quietish. There's another delivery mission, which I take even though it's not for as much as the previous. A quarter mil is fine for few minutes of effort though, so off I go. Though time is short again, that docking computer immediately pays for itself by shaving a few kilometers off my trip - roughly five.
And what do I find next - a Barracuda Vanguard up for sale! And, I can afford it this time! Woot! I release my inner impulse buyer, and order it to dock. Thankfully autopilot succeeds without incident, and a few minutes later I also get a great deal on a Mercury Hauler.
This leaves me in a pretty good place, and gives me some options:
- Refit the Barracuda and have an M3 - sadly not the greatest, but it would be a fighting ship.
- Sell it (roughly 1 million credits) and buy something else - would be a Pike in the short term, but even that would need more to fully kit out.
- Take up miming (hey, miming is very big in Kingdom End these days).
- Sell it and buy a station or two - Plankton seems in mighty short supply up in this quadrant.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
~112,000
Time: 12:23
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
So, in my Pleco now, but even after selling the Demeter I'm short of being able to buy a top line shield for it. The extra cash supply does allow me to do some trading, running some more ecells (and saving some for my jumpdrive). After delivery there's someone who wants Radioactive Material transported, and there's a pretty strict time limit. I'm willing to risk it, though not telling Nini Fi (who is still hanging around in back) what we're transporting. Need to know and all that. So we pick up the goods and we're off to the races. If by race you mean jumping to the next sector and making for the desired station. I've got a pretty minute amount of time to make it to the delivery point, and I've got the Pleco chugging along at max speed. Now there's no time left to muck with the autopilot, so I'm going to have to do this manual. Time is ticking.
45 seconds.
30 seconds.
Gonna make it, but I have to hit the docking clamp on one shot.
20 seconds.
It's amazing how fast 100 m/s seems when you're barreling toward a station in a ship with 1 MJ shields.
15 seconds.
Crap, I overshot I think...swing to port...
Whew. The docking clamp got me, and I earn a cool half million credits. That was close!
First thing to do with my new funds then, I run to the equipment dock and snap up a 200 MJ shield. I feel safer already. And a good thing too, as it's only a few minutes later when 'Scavenger' is redocking after running an errand that it runs into me. Knocked it down to 30% hull, but a quick repair and a mulligan on the docking procedure and we're good to go.
First things first then, since I have the fundage, a quick detour back to Atreus HQ so I can buy docking computers for the Pleco and Octopus. Won't help with autopilot, but it'll make for less nerve-wracking missions.
Jumping back to Menelaus' Paradise and things are quietish. There's another delivery mission, which I take even though it's not for as much as the previous. A quarter mil is fine for few minutes of effort though, so off I go. Though time is short again, that docking computer immediately pays for itself by shaving a few kilometers off my trip - roughly five.
And what do I find next - a Barracuda Vanguard up for sale! And, I can afford it this time! Woot! I release my inner impulse buyer, and order it to dock. Thankfully autopilot succeeds without incident, and a few minutes later I also get a great deal on a Mercury Hauler.
This leaves me in a pretty good place, and gives me some options:
- Refit the Barracuda and have an M3 - sadly not the greatest, but it would be a fighting ship.
- Sell it (roughly 1 million credits) and buy something else - would be a Pike in the short term, but even that would need more to fully kit out.
- Take up miming (hey, miming is very big in Kingdom End these days).
- Sell it and buy a station or two - Plankton seems in mighty short supply up in this quadrant.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
~112,000
Time: 12:23
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
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Triaxx2
- Posts: 7229
- Joined: Tue, 29. Dec 09, 02:15
If your Octopus is armed, you can crib the guns off of that. The Cuda could fire two IRE's pretty much forever. The Pike would also have a long time to fire. Either way though, you're going to need Mosquitoes, because neither one has turrets.
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016
The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016
The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
-
Nathancros
- Posts: 674
- Joined: Tue, 30. Nov 10, 04:46
Not bad, i personally would keep the merc for remote trading, and i Think the pike would be better*for now*, when u need to upgrade to a better ship you could try to find a used skate, or even jump up to a hydra.
So my votes on selling the cuda for a pike
but hey, im not quite the veteran that triaxx is
good chapter, i liked teh humor
miming XD
So my votes on selling the cuda for a pike
but hey, im not quite the veteran that triaxx is
good chapter, i liked teh humor
miming XDNullam et arcu vitae magna instabilitate omnia solvit
Am a recovering Addict of the CREATIVE FORUM.
Long live X3
Am a recovering Addict of the CREATIVE FORUM.
Long live X3
-
theroguewriter
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon, 28. May 12, 04:12
Part 6: COME ONE COME ALL TO IRONSQUID'S USED SHIP EMPORIUM! WE'VE GOT OCTOPI, DOLPHINS, BARRACUDAS - YOU WANT IT, WE GOT IT BARGAIN BASEMENT PRICES, HURRY DOWN NOW BEFORE I GO CRAAAAAAZY!
Things started off today pretty quiet. I'm still not certain of what to do with the Barracuda Vanguard. A closer inspection shows it and the Pike to be very close in specs. The Barracuda V. has an insignificant amount of extra laser energy, doublt the shielding, and the ability to mount ion disruptors - something that will prove essential for future capture attempts. The Pike boasts slightly higher speed, slightly more cargo space, mounts Energy Bolt Chainguns (making laser generators more or less moot), and it just looks cooler. By my reckoning I can't go wrong with one over the other - for the time being though I'll leave it at the shipyard as my emergency 1 million credit fund.
While I drift around seeking doable missions, which largely have dried up like a Boron on a hot summer's day, 'Scavenger' is doing some scanning for me. Now Spires of Ellusion, just east of Bluish Snout, has some mighty good asteroid selections - including a 17 yield Nividium! I wonder if I could retro-fit an Ore Mine to do that job... Anyway, Spires is currently on my short list of home sectors once I start my manufacturing.
I'm durdling around, setting up the Mercury for remote trading (needs shields yet, but otherwise is good to go) and then I have 'Scavenger' zip up into the Xenon sector north of Getsu Fune. Nothing there but a lone Q, so giving it a whide berth I send it north westish until it finds an Unknown Sector - Explorer Software is pretty fantastic. Once in U.S., I set it to exploring and scanning - and indeed as I guessed, there's more wonderful asteroids here. Looking like this will be prime territory for more shady activities.
Since 'Scavenger' is so adequately earning his keep so far, I next send him through Ghinn's to map some sectors on the way toward Kingdom End.
Meantime, the Mercury is tottering to pick up some Bogas in Hila's Joy since there's quite a shortfall in the area - in fact I'm thinking a fab of my own would be most lucrative.
In Snout I buy someone's used Dolphin Hauler and pick up the pilot too - no sense making him space walk back.
Taking a peak at Hila's it seems something's going on as there'a few crates on the map, so I jump down to investigate. My Mercury, it seems, has casually slipped past a Python and a Tiger pummeling the local Military Outpost. Seems they've already nuked one of the OWPs, but a dozen Banshee missiles survived. Salvage time! Giving the destroyer its space, I snag the missiles along with a few other random ones - apparently dropped by sector defense forces.
So where is the Boron reponse? A few Skates and a Hydra? Wow - they don't last long. Pity. The Outpost is going to be toast... Not good. Ah, a Kraken! Here comes the pain!!! Er...why you no fire?!? This is embarassing.
As much as I hate to pick up the scraps of my own people, I'm not above it - easy profit is easy profit after all. Buying as much Bogas as it can, I order the Merc to run hoover duty while I head back to Oceans - autopilot seems less liable to accidents when no one is watching. Maybe it gets nervous.
Back in Oceans and there's another ship for sale, a Dolphin Tanker this time. I have to sell the Dolphin Hauler to buy it, but its solid profit and nets me another passenger.
Unfortunately now both passengers are asking why Nini Fi is glowing, and naturally I insist it's just a healthy glow...it's not like I transported radioactive waste or anything...geez...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
1 x Dolphin Tanker
~248,000
Time: 16:40
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu and Halilo Ga
Things started off today pretty quiet. I'm still not certain of what to do with the Barracuda Vanguard. A closer inspection shows it and the Pike to be very close in specs. The Barracuda V. has an insignificant amount of extra laser energy, doublt the shielding, and the ability to mount ion disruptors - something that will prove essential for future capture attempts. The Pike boasts slightly higher speed, slightly more cargo space, mounts Energy Bolt Chainguns (making laser generators more or less moot), and it just looks cooler. By my reckoning I can't go wrong with one over the other - for the time being though I'll leave it at the shipyard as my emergency 1 million credit fund.
While I drift around seeking doable missions, which largely have dried up like a Boron on a hot summer's day, 'Scavenger' is doing some scanning for me. Now Spires of Ellusion, just east of Bluish Snout, has some mighty good asteroid selections - including a 17 yield Nividium! I wonder if I could retro-fit an Ore Mine to do that job... Anyway, Spires is currently on my short list of home sectors once I start my manufacturing.
I'm durdling around, setting up the Mercury for remote trading (needs shields yet, but otherwise is good to go) and then I have 'Scavenger' zip up into the Xenon sector north of Getsu Fune. Nothing there but a lone Q, so giving it a whide berth I send it north westish until it finds an Unknown Sector - Explorer Software is pretty fantastic. Once in U.S., I set it to exploring and scanning - and indeed as I guessed, there's more wonderful asteroids here. Looking like this will be prime territory for more shady activities.
Since 'Scavenger' is so adequately earning his keep so far, I next send him through Ghinn's to map some sectors on the way toward Kingdom End.
Meantime, the Mercury is tottering to pick up some Bogas in Hila's Joy since there's quite a shortfall in the area - in fact I'm thinking a fab of my own would be most lucrative.
In Snout I buy someone's used Dolphin Hauler and pick up the pilot too - no sense making him space walk back.
Taking a peak at Hila's it seems something's going on as there'a few crates on the map, so I jump down to investigate. My Mercury, it seems, has casually slipped past a Python and a Tiger pummeling the local Military Outpost. Seems they've already nuked one of the OWPs, but a dozen Banshee missiles survived. Salvage time! Giving the destroyer its space, I snag the missiles along with a few other random ones - apparently dropped by sector defense forces.
So where is the Boron reponse? A few Skates and a Hydra? Wow - they don't last long. Pity. The Outpost is going to be toast... Not good. Ah, a Kraken! Here comes the pain!!! Er...why you no fire?!? This is embarassing.
As much as I hate to pick up the scraps of my own people, I'm not above it - easy profit is easy profit after all. Buying as much Bogas as it can, I order the Merc to run hoover duty while I head back to Oceans - autopilot seems less liable to accidents when no one is watching. Maybe it gets nervous.
Back in Oceans and there's another ship for sale, a Dolphin Tanker this time. I have to sell the Dolphin Hauler to buy it, but its solid profit and nets me another passenger.
Unfortunately now both passengers are asking why Nini Fi is glowing, and naturally I insist it's just a healthy glow...it's not like I transported radioactive waste or anything...geez...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
1 x Dolphin Tanker
~248,000
Time: 16:40
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu and Halilo Ga
-
theroguewriter
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon, 28. May 12, 04:12
Part 7: Disaster Averted
Nearly went all fatal today, but I'll get to that part. Everything started so well - Scavenger was merrily scouting sectors on the way to western Boron space. I jumped behind to do some cursory scans and keep an eye out for missions. Had Hoover II out hoovering things up - that Python causing more havoc in Hila's Joy.
Made it back to Kingdom End, let a few friends know that I was still alive, but no one seemed to know what happened to me. Ah well - my old pals were impressed with the Pleco. They wished me luck as I set out again, so I ordered Scavenger back to Queen's Retribution, and as I guessed it took an alternate route through Split Fire and Brennan's Triumph. Unfortunately, with no real warning, it got destroyed by a Falcon in Danna's Chance.
That wouldn't be my last run in with the Pirates today.
Luckily I have a spare Octopus docked on the Pleco that someone was selling for a mere 18,000 credits, so jumping back to Ocean's of Fantasy, I send that for refit and then poke around for some missions. Bluish nets me no missions, but another freighter for sale. Snapping that up, along with the pilot, I head cautiously into Menelaus'. Quite a lucrative transport mission, so I accept and pick up the passengers - they just want any Teladi station in Getsu Fune. Didn't realize what kind of a pain that was going to be. Xenon everywhere in the sector.
Well after some jumping around I manage to get an opening, and race to the Teladi Equipment Dock with a few minutes to spare.
At this point with one ship gone and seeing enemies everywhere you'd think I'd call it a day, but no...back in Bluish Snout someone's had a ship go missing. Good money, so I say why not and set off to find their Jaguar.
Won't be super fast getting to it with the Pleco, but with creative use of the jumpdrive it should be no problem.
That's what I thought.
Remember the Pirates? Yep, they're back, and heading toward me. I pull up to the Jaguar, keeping a close eye on them as they seemed distracted by traders, but alas, I get an incoming missile beep and my shields take
some light IRE fire.
Now I'm not wasting time and slam down the jump drive button, but damn that takes a long time when one is under fire. A Buzzard, a Buster and a couple Discos doesn't seem like much, but that 200 MJ shield of mine evaporates surprisingly fast. Uh oh...
70% spooled...
down to 40% hull...
90%
Docking Computer destroyed...
Jumping with 16% hull left. I may or may not have inked again.
Thankfully the jumpdrive didn't go - those things are well known to be made of brittle glass.
Well, lesson learned, I'll be far more careful in the future. That said, I've made my decision on the Barracuda and that, for the time being, is to slap some shields and weapons on the bugger. If people are going to punch me, I want to be able to punch back, and the 'Cuda will let me do just that. Not ideal, but it will do for now.
No more Mr. Nice Squid.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
1 x Dolphin Tanker
1 x Dolphin Hauler
~5,000
Time: 20:24
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, and Sala Fi
Nearly went all fatal today, but I'll get to that part. Everything started so well - Scavenger was merrily scouting sectors on the way to western Boron space. I jumped behind to do some cursory scans and keep an eye out for missions. Had Hoover II out hoovering things up - that Python causing more havoc in Hila's Joy.
Made it back to Kingdom End, let a few friends know that I was still alive, but no one seemed to know what happened to me. Ah well - my old pals were impressed with the Pleco. They wished me luck as I set out again, so I ordered Scavenger back to Queen's Retribution, and as I guessed it took an alternate route through Split Fire and Brennan's Triumph. Unfortunately, with no real warning, it got destroyed by a Falcon in Danna's Chance.
That wouldn't be my last run in with the Pirates today.
Luckily I have a spare Octopus docked on the Pleco that someone was selling for a mere 18,000 credits, so jumping back to Ocean's of Fantasy, I send that for refit and then poke around for some missions. Bluish nets me no missions, but another freighter for sale. Snapping that up, along with the pilot, I head cautiously into Menelaus'. Quite a lucrative transport mission, so I accept and pick up the passengers - they just want any Teladi station in Getsu Fune. Didn't realize what kind of a pain that was going to be. Xenon everywhere in the sector.
Well after some jumping around I manage to get an opening, and race to the Teladi Equipment Dock with a few minutes to spare.
At this point with one ship gone and seeing enemies everywhere you'd think I'd call it a day, but no...back in Bluish Snout someone's had a ship go missing. Good money, so I say why not and set off to find their Jaguar.
Won't be super fast getting to it with the Pleco, but with creative use of the jumpdrive it should be no problem.
That's what I thought.
Remember the Pirates? Yep, they're back, and heading toward me. I pull up to the Jaguar, keeping a close eye on them as they seemed distracted by traders, but alas, I get an incoming missile beep and my shields take
some light IRE fire.
Now I'm not wasting time and slam down the jump drive button, but damn that takes a long time when one is under fire. A Buzzard, a Buster and a couple Discos doesn't seem like much, but that 200 MJ shield of mine evaporates surprisingly fast. Uh oh...
70% spooled...
down to 40% hull...
90%
Docking Computer destroyed...
Jumping with 16% hull left. I may or may not have inked again.
Thankfully the jumpdrive didn't go - those things are well known to be made of brittle glass. Well, lesson learned, I'll be far more careful in the future. That said, I've made my decision on the Barracuda and that, for the time being, is to slap some shields and weapons on the bugger. If people are going to punch me, I want to be able to punch back, and the 'Cuda will let me do just that. Not ideal, but it will do for now.
No more Mr. Nice Squid.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard
1 x Dolphin Tanker
1 x Dolphin Hauler
~5,000
Time: 20:24
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, and Sala Fi
-
Kirlack
- Posts: 1995
- Joined: Fri, 25. Jun 04, 15:59
Close call Iron Squid! I was worrying you might not make it
Seriously, really enjoying this one. Good call on the 'cuda, I flew one for a while recently (whilst playing Po8) and they're actually pretty good ships, despite not having missile defence turrets. Like Triaxx2 said make sure you take mosquitoes for bonus coverage. If you're all for Boron ships though I'd suggest a Skate at some point. Experience has taught me the Skate is a very solid ship
Madder than a bastard on Fathers Day
My DiD Stories: Peace(s) of Eight (Inactive) - Way of the Gun [KIA] - Status: Online (Active)
An Illustrated Idiots Guide to CLS
My DiD Stories: Peace(s) of Eight (Inactive) - Way of the Gun [KIA] - Status: Online (Active)
An Illustrated Idiots Guide to CLS
-
theroguewriter
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon, 28. May 12, 04:12
Yep, thought I was a Goner for a minute there. Turns out, I'm still a Boron. 
Part 8: Revenge Via a Temporary Truce
With vengence in mind, I set about fully kitting out the Barracuda. Funds are slim, but with Hoover II having picked up some trade stock I soon have enough to give my M3 a pair of 25 MJ shields and the basic array of software - then transfer a couple PACs over from 'Pickle' - along with the 28 Banshees I've sourced thus far. Not ideal, but it'll do for the time being. Takes a bit of hopping around, but I find myself up in Menelaus' Paradise again looking for a few extra credits and small test of the new ship - seems the Xenon are in an obliging mood.
Easy Xenon invasion, just a trio of N's, and I take them out easily enough, though there's also a PX group and a Q group on opposite sides of the sector. Neither is part of the invasion I was tasked with, but their havoc has left some more wares to scoop up - 45 firefly missiles, immediately tagged for sale, 70ish Bofu that I'll grab with the Pleco, and an assortment of other missiles.
Thanks to the Kraken response team, the two other Xenon task forces that I was not suited to dealing with at present were vaporized. Next step then, revisiting the scene of the crime down in Danna's. Hopefully get on the Pirate's good side until I've got more firepower available. At least that's the plan - and it's likely to be at the expense of Split shipping.
Entering the sector and there's the Falcon who killed my original ship. It's not easy to resist the urge to kill him, but the fact that he's got four wingmen and my Barracuda has no turret to keep them occupied stays my trigger flipper. For now. In Freedom's Reach I pick up a job scanning asteroids, which is a nice easy little windfall, though I'm not clear if it's done anything for my reputation with the piratical folks. Heading into Nopileos after, and sending Scavenger II on ahead to Aladna Hill, I take a mission to scan freight and am guarenteed 4% of the results. Works for me, and a few minutes zipping around gives us about 5 million credits worth of goods, giving me a cut of about 250,000. Not bad for ten minutes of work - though I was keeping one eyestalk trained on the Buzzard and two Harriers kicking around. Don't want them attacking me or 'Pickle'.
The pickings seem slim here right now, so for the moment I'm gonna pursue 'Scavenger' down toward Lucky Planets which will give me another relatively safe base to jump to as needed. In Light of Heart I buy a used Nova for about 300k credits, turning it around for about 600k profit - and on top of that I got my first bailout. A station apparently had ticked off one cowardly Buzzard Vanguard pilot, and he'd come in to show them who was boss. Me. He couldn't hop out quickly enough. Left him to float though as I didn't think he'd get along with my lone marine or my other passengers.
A little more hopping around and I end up in Lucky Planets. Apparently here they sell the Guppy, which despite its name looks fairly badass. Add one of those to my shopping list! Though it's just now for the second time I've hit 1 million credits, so I think I need to be focusing on a more steady cashflow somehow - that in turn will support my desire for bigger and cooler ships to add to my ragtag little fleet.
I'd still like to make nicey-nice with the Pirates. Will make it easier to sneak a few hundred Squash Mines buried in a mound of Space Weed onto one of their stations. What? That's been done? Hmm... Well anyway, it's either be nice to the scurvy bunch or get myself enough firepower to deal with them at a moment's notice. There's also the matter of getting my lone marine trained up, and maybe showing the other folks I've got how to hold a weapon and so forth. Maybe the whole revenge thing can wait for a while then, as it sure seems like I need the Pirates for the time being.
I'd also quite like to see how that Guppy fares in a fight, as long as I'm not on the opposing team. Then there's the matter of funding all of this, so I think entering the factory owner ranks is now a really viable option.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard 'Ship to be Named Later'
1 x Dolphin Tanker
1 x Dolphin Hauler
1.73 million
Time: 23:04
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, and Sala Fi
Part 8: Revenge Via a Temporary Truce
With vengence in mind, I set about fully kitting out the Barracuda. Funds are slim, but with Hoover II having picked up some trade stock I soon have enough to give my M3 a pair of 25 MJ shields and the basic array of software - then transfer a couple PACs over from 'Pickle' - along with the 28 Banshees I've sourced thus far. Not ideal, but it'll do for the time being. Takes a bit of hopping around, but I find myself up in Menelaus' Paradise again looking for a few extra credits and small test of the new ship - seems the Xenon are in an obliging mood.
Easy Xenon invasion, just a trio of N's, and I take them out easily enough, though there's also a PX group and a Q group on opposite sides of the sector. Neither is part of the invasion I was tasked with, but their havoc has left some more wares to scoop up - 45 firefly missiles, immediately tagged for sale, 70ish Bofu that I'll grab with the Pleco, and an assortment of other missiles.
Thanks to the Kraken response team, the two other Xenon task forces that I was not suited to dealing with at present were vaporized. Next step then, revisiting the scene of the crime down in Danna's. Hopefully get on the Pirate's good side until I've got more firepower available. At least that's the plan - and it's likely to be at the expense of Split shipping.
Entering the sector and there's the Falcon who killed my original ship. It's not easy to resist the urge to kill him, but the fact that he's got four wingmen and my Barracuda has no turret to keep them occupied stays my trigger flipper. For now. In Freedom's Reach I pick up a job scanning asteroids, which is a nice easy little windfall, though I'm not clear if it's done anything for my reputation with the piratical folks. Heading into Nopileos after, and sending Scavenger II on ahead to Aladna Hill, I take a mission to scan freight and am guarenteed 4% of the results. Works for me, and a few minutes zipping around gives us about 5 million credits worth of goods, giving me a cut of about 250,000. Not bad for ten minutes of work - though I was keeping one eyestalk trained on the Buzzard and two Harriers kicking around. Don't want them attacking me or 'Pickle'.
The pickings seem slim here right now, so for the moment I'm gonna pursue 'Scavenger' down toward Lucky Planets which will give me another relatively safe base to jump to as needed. In Light of Heart I buy a used Nova for about 300k credits, turning it around for about 600k profit - and on top of that I got my first bailout. A station apparently had ticked off one cowardly Buzzard Vanguard pilot, and he'd come in to show them who was boss. Me. He couldn't hop out quickly enough. Left him to float though as I didn't think he'd get along with my lone marine or my other passengers.
A little more hopping around and I end up in Lucky Planets. Apparently here they sell the Guppy, which despite its name looks fairly badass. Add one of those to my shopping list! Though it's just now for the second time I've hit 1 million credits, so I think I need to be focusing on a more steady cashflow somehow - that in turn will support my desire for bigger and cooler ships to add to my ragtag little fleet.
I'd still like to make nicey-nice with the Pirates. Will make it easier to sneak a few hundred Squash Mines buried in a mound of Space Weed onto one of their stations. What? That's been done? Hmm... Well anyway, it's either be nice to the scurvy bunch or get myself enough firepower to deal with them at a moment's notice. There's also the matter of getting my lone marine trained up, and maybe showing the other folks I've got how to hold a weapon and so forth. Maybe the whole revenge thing can wait for a while then, as it sure seems like I need the Pirates for the time being.
I'd also quite like to see how that Guppy fares in a fight, as long as I'm not on the opposing team. Then there's the matter of funding all of this, so I think entering the factory owner ranks is now a really viable option.
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercuury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard 'Ship to be Named Later'
1 x Dolphin Tanker
1 x Dolphin Hauler
1.73 million
Time: 23:04
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, and Sala Fi
-
theroguewriter
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon, 28. May 12, 04:12
Part 9: If You Build It...
A quick jump into Hatikvah's shows that my efforts to be Pirate-Friendly, feeble though they've been, aren't helping. With a Kea wing making a bee-line toward me I'm getting the message loud and clear. Hopping on over to Nopileos and there's not much work to be done there either. I wonder if nuking pirates in station defense missions is what has got them so riled up. Maybe I should avoid thosse for a while.
Figuring maybe if I sell some junk to them they'll be happy, I hop up to Void of Opportunity where there's a base, but immediately there's a Scorpion wing headed my way and I don't have time to transfer over to 'Ship to be Named Later' and get 'Pickle' out of a pickle, so I just pull a U-turn and head back into PTNI. A fella named Yago-something something something wants to sell me his Harrier for a couple thousand, and I'm fine with that kind of deal. He's coming with me too.
Well, the Pirate things seems to be a bust right now, sad to say, but I do have a goodly amount of money at the moment, so I jump back to Oceans, grarb the local Orca, order 'Hoover II' to go load up on ecells, and then head into Bluish Snout myself so the Orca pilot doesn't get nervous and blow himself up.
Ah now we're talking, for about 400k Malo Ga wants to offload his Barracuda, so I say why not. Now it's just a matter of waiting until the Orca can pick up what I need. Now this latest Cuda will also sell for close to 1 million, which is great, but I think I'm going to keep it in the Pleco's hold for a little while - it might just be worth kitting out as a wingman. Maybe a wingman with a hold full of Wasps.
Finally the Orca shows up with my cargo and I set about placing a pair of Bogas Fabs, right in the middle of the sector but a safe distance above the ecliptic, and then complex them together. Roughly 750k of investment there, plus the 200k float I'm giving it to start off. Not sure how much it'll need. With 'Hoover II's arrival I transfer over his load of ecells and set him to buy more, and I reassign the Dolphin Tanker as 'Bogas Seller' as there's several stations in dire need right in Bluish. Incidently, while allowing other races to buy/sell if they want, I've limited my ships to zero jumps. This might be a mistake, but for now I really don't want them wandering up into Menelaus' Paradise, and at least initially there's three SPPs to buy from, and plenty of stations to sell to.
If I've done this all correctly it should make a profit and provide a slow but steady income for me. I imagine it'll be a while yet before the mini-complex gets into the black, but I'm pretty confident it will. Eventually.
There's so much that needs to be done it's difficult to suss out what to do next. I've got 'Scavenger II' poking around in Paranid space. With the Pirates so miffed at me I'm wondering if the Yaki are in a similar state of mind, so hopefully I can find their space. Pretty sure it's in that area. I don't want to build too much more until my first plex starts cranking along - ideally I can use profits from stations to build more and not have to touch my personal funds quite so much. Finally, while the Barracuda Vanguard is a fine ship, it runs out of weapon energy pretty quickly even with only two PACs on board, and I'd quite like something in the 1GJ shield range sooner rather than later. I've also been hearing rumors about people finding abandoned Khaak ships, and while personally I don't believe a word of it, I can imagine Kyoning the hell out of anything would be quite fun.
I've been lucky so far. No gate accidents - I always gate transit manually, stay close to the edges, and boost as soon as I clear the event horizon on the other side. No traffic accidents - if I'm doling out orders I'm always doing so well above or below the trade lanes, and keeping one eyestalk on the gravidar for red blips. When I do use autopilot I make a point of not using SETA at the same time - that seems to scramble ths ship's computer a little more than is safe. And finally I'm picking my fights carefully - avoiding things with turrets and generally more than three bogies at once when possible. Hopefully my luck holds out.
I would have been content living out my existance in Kingdom End, but this is different. This is exciting even at the most boring times. Even my small plex in Bluish Snout can have an impact on the local economy, and with that my thoughts are getting bigger. How much can one Lar effect the whole Universe? We all know the legend of Squiddy McSquid - most of us heard about him as children, but I'd always assumed it was just a fantastic story. Now I'm starting to wonder...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard 'Ship to be Named Later'
1 x Barracuda
1 x Dolphin Tanker 'Bogas Seller'
1 x Dolphin Hauler
142,000
Time: 1-01:00
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, Sala Fi, Malo Fa, Yago the Teladi
A quick jump into Hatikvah's shows that my efforts to be Pirate-Friendly, feeble though they've been, aren't helping. With a Kea wing making a bee-line toward me I'm getting the message loud and clear. Hopping on over to Nopileos and there's not much work to be done there either. I wonder if nuking pirates in station defense missions is what has got them so riled up. Maybe I should avoid thosse for a while.
Figuring maybe if I sell some junk to them they'll be happy, I hop up to Void of Opportunity where there's a base, but immediately there's a Scorpion wing headed my way and I don't have time to transfer over to 'Ship to be Named Later' and get 'Pickle' out of a pickle, so I just pull a U-turn and head back into PTNI. A fella named Yago-something something something wants to sell me his Harrier for a couple thousand, and I'm fine with that kind of deal. He's coming with me too.
Well, the Pirate things seems to be a bust right now, sad to say, but I do have a goodly amount of money at the moment, so I jump back to Oceans, grarb the local Orca, order 'Hoover II' to go load up on ecells, and then head into Bluish Snout myself so the Orca pilot doesn't get nervous and blow himself up.
Ah now we're talking, for about 400k Malo Ga wants to offload his Barracuda, so I say why not. Now it's just a matter of waiting until the Orca can pick up what I need. Now this latest Cuda will also sell for close to 1 million, which is great, but I think I'm going to keep it in the Pleco's hold for a little while - it might just be worth kitting out as a wingman. Maybe a wingman with a hold full of Wasps.
Finally the Orca shows up with my cargo and I set about placing a pair of Bogas Fabs, right in the middle of the sector but a safe distance above the ecliptic, and then complex them together. Roughly 750k of investment there, plus the 200k float I'm giving it to start off. Not sure how much it'll need. With 'Hoover II's arrival I transfer over his load of ecells and set him to buy more, and I reassign the Dolphin Tanker as 'Bogas Seller' as there's several stations in dire need right in Bluish. Incidently, while allowing other races to buy/sell if they want, I've limited my ships to zero jumps. This might be a mistake, but for now I really don't want them wandering up into Menelaus' Paradise, and at least initially there's three SPPs to buy from, and plenty of stations to sell to.
If I've done this all correctly it should make a profit and provide a slow but steady income for me. I imagine it'll be a while yet before the mini-complex gets into the black, but I'm pretty confident it will. Eventually.
There's so much that needs to be done it's difficult to suss out what to do next. I've got 'Scavenger II' poking around in Paranid space. With the Pirates so miffed at me I'm wondering if the Yaki are in a similar state of mind, so hopefully I can find their space. Pretty sure it's in that area. I don't want to build too much more until my first plex starts cranking along - ideally I can use profits from stations to build more and not have to touch my personal funds quite so much. Finally, while the Barracuda Vanguard is a fine ship, it runs out of weapon energy pretty quickly even with only two PACs on board, and I'd quite like something in the 1GJ shield range sooner rather than later. I've also been hearing rumors about people finding abandoned Khaak ships, and while personally I don't believe a word of it, I can imagine Kyoning the hell out of anything would be quite fun.
I've been lucky so far. No gate accidents - I always gate transit manually, stay close to the edges, and boost as soon as I clear the event horizon on the other side. No traffic accidents - if I'm doling out orders I'm always doing so well above or below the trade lanes, and keeping one eyestalk on the gravidar for red blips. When I do use autopilot I make a point of not using SETA at the same time - that seems to scramble ths ship's computer a little more than is safe. And finally I'm picking my fights carefully - avoiding things with turrets and generally more than three bogies at once when possible. Hopefully my luck holds out.
I would have been content living out my existance in Kingdom End, but this is different. This is exciting even at the most boring times. Even my small plex in Bluish Snout can have an impact on the local economy, and with that my thoughts are getting bigger. How much can one Lar effect the whole Universe? We all know the legend of Squiddy McSquid - most of us heard about him as children, but I'd always assumed it was just a fantastic story. Now I'm starting to wonder...
1 x Octopus 'Scavenger II'
1 x Pleco 'Pickle'
1 x Mercury Hauler 'Hoover II'
1 x Barracuda Vanguard 'Ship to be Named Later'
1 x Barracuda
1 x Dolphin Tanker 'Bogas Seller'
1 x Dolphin Hauler
142,000
Time: 1-01:00
Marine: Nini Fi (0 stars) (Slightly glowy)
Passengers: Boso Lu, Halilo Ga, Galala Gi, Sala Fi, Malo Fa, Yago the Teladi