Now that's intruiging. I look forward to the results of your testing.GCU Grey Area wrote:Think I might have found a way of doing this - if you realign a set of Hub gates to one of the gates inside the Hub it seems to break one of the links but preserves the other. Just started doing the Hub missions (for the second time) in my current game & (just to see what happened) tried realigning the gates this way. End result was Xenon Core 023 & beyond were isolated from the rest of the universe so, theoretically by establishing links to sectors around the edge of those pirate sectors you mentioned, then breaking the links (by realigning to Hub gates) it might be possible to isolate them.
Apparently helping out the Goners wasn't such a grand idea after all. Ended up biting off a bit more than I could chew.
We were all fine delivering the three freighters they requested and they didn't even query the condition they came in, which is just as well cos it would have been kindof tricky to explain that one to a pacifist. Build 'em a Teladianium factory? Yep, no probs. Got 'Fatboy' on the case and job done in no time. Even rescued the Elder Council from a couple of ne'er do wells.. tho quite what their panic was I've no idea since their ship seems to employ the same type of invulni-armour that Ban Danna likes to cower behind. In hindsight tho I probably should have left them to it as by this point they'ld got this funny notion I was going to rescue all their little Goner buddies too. Altruism not really my strongpoint.
To be fair tho they have been paying me quite well to not really do a whole lot and that's not really the kind of business relationship you want to sour so I guess I can run a few escort missions.
Now you wouldn't think that a bunch of hippy do-gooders could really get themselves into too much strife, but you'ld be wrong. I'm not sure how, I'm not sure what they did, I'm fairly sure I don't even want to know what they did, but somehow or other these Goner chaps have really annoyed somebody. I'm not talking your average call somebody savoury names when they nick your docking clamp space kindof annoyed.. more your stab them to death with a rusty spoon kindof annoyed. Which I think you'ld agree is fairly annoyed. Hopping down to Bright Profit to escort a freighter I'm set to deal with a couple pirate troublemakers. Instead I get swamped by a pirate armada..
Wings of ships and not just fighters, M6 too. All after one little freighter. Good for him they came up from the south because I was able to intercept them but that's a little overkill there, I was half expecting a Brigantine to show up any second. With the TS safely away I thought that was it, but no, seems another Goner under attack elsewhere. Turns out anything in the surrounding sectors with a Goner tag on it is wearing a target as these pirates are after it in force. The next TS I don't make it in time as the pirate M5s reach it way before I can get there, the next couple missions are station defence which is much easier and then it's another ship protection.
It's a Goner Ranger to protect, this time tho I'm ready for it. I jumped my support-hauler in during a lull in missions and loaded up on Disruptors. As expected the M5's break away for the Ranger but they've got Disruptors after them at the 28Km mark and as they're arriving at the Ranger so my Disruptors are arriving up their tailpipes. The rest is M3 and bigger and no problem for 'Thunderchild' to handle.
Then they want me to go re-capture one of their ships. Unfortunately it's quite literally guarded by eight Centaurs/Ospreys and being a professional coward I'm very much not inclined to take that lot on simultaneously. Normally I'ld resort to high-explosives at this point and use a Hammerhead to blow them all up but my Goner employers very specifically requested I recapture their ship not atomise it so that rules that out.
Plan B is call in Gold-wing so they can give me a help AND use high-explosives. I tell you no plan is ever sound without some suitable application of high-explosive somewhere along the line. I'm limiting myself to Hornets and Thunderbolts tho.
With Gold-wing guarding my back I go to full throttle, fire a swarm of missiles on the way in and plough thru the centre of the pack taking out an Osprey on the way thru while missiles impact all around me. Swinging back around for a second pass it seems a lot of my missiles made it thru and Gold-wing is busy causing mayhem. With the damage my missile-volley inflicted on their shields, Gold-wing mixing it up and me spraying HEPT and PBG everywhere it's a fairly short and brutal fight. Sadly Gold-1 got fried but job done. Apparently I was supposed to send in marines to capture the Goner M6 but it turned out I could just claim it normally which is just as well as all my guys were in training anyway.
Anyways, now I find myself trailing a pirate Blastclaw back to his base of operations and so far he's heading towards Malestrom.. I have a horrible feeling I'm in for a very long and boring tracking job all the way to Gaian Star..
Total Assets:
1x HCP 'Thunderchild'
4x 200Mj shield
6x HEPT, 2x PBG, 3x PBE, 3x ION-D
1x HCP 'Walk Softly'
1x HCP 'Big Stick'
1x M7M Minotaur 'Shoot First'
1x M7M Minotaur 'Ask Questions Later'
1x Elephant 'Fatboy'
1x Zephyras TM
1x Medusa 'Questionable Ethics'
1x Blastclaw
2x Blastclaw Prototype
3x Caiman SF - L
2x Caiman SF - S
1x Caiman Hauler 'Logistical Support'
1x Caiman Miner 'Red Dwarf'
1x Toucan Hauler 'Training - 01'
2x Hermes
1x Express 'Carjacker'
650,000cr
) gives a hefty race rep loss.
