Shoo t'Rgt: Honour and Reason [DiD]

[Argon tactican Justin]

must not have noticed

[Master of the Blade]

Well, I've got a while now, so I'll post a chapter. Also, I just found like five typos in the previous chapter, one being my character's name! *fp*

Chapter 13: Design Flaw

With the enemy battleships out of the way, it was a reasonably quiet trip to the Eighteen Billion gate until a Xenon P decided it would try to attack. No problem - a lone, suboptimally equipped corvette worth about 6 million credits against a battleship sized craft with all turrets primed for combat with reasonably powerful weapons.

Turning the ISR equipped right hand turret towards the P, t'Rgt looked in disgust at his shield counter - the P was ripping his new ship to pieces with just a few Adv.HEPTS. Not good. Stupid civilian TL designers thinking a huge ship like a TL needs a paltry 1Gj of shielding...

The result was the P being destroyed, along with a good 7% of Nomad's hull. And he'd been hoping to impress the Paranid with his mothership. Still, there was a Teladi military base with marines available in Eighteen Billion, so he could get them to patch up the hull a little at least. Then he'd have repair capabilities for captured ships as well anyway.

After his Elephant's hull had been fixed, he asked around for missions and discovered that the Xenon had been planning an attack on the sector. He signed up to the defence force but was disappointed when a paltry few fighters and a P turned up, which were demolished easily.

Evidently his little visit had had a detrimental effect on the Xenon's offensive capability. If only he had a frigate he'd have been able to destroy the X347 Xenon station as well...

t'Rgt set off for the Cardinal's Domain region, where he knew Unholy Descent was, though still not its exact location - locals hadn't been very helpful. Still, the Teladi had evidently seen some way to make profit out of him - several had offered him construction missions, most scams which offered less of a reward than the station was worth, but a few incredibly profitable ones to build stations readily available at the Ianamus Zura shipyard. These he accepted and completed easily.

That'd given him an idea, though: until then he'd been without a real homebase, mostly using the HQ of Spirit Industries to carry out logistics. He'd seen the newly developed 'Asteroid Bases' of the Teladi, large warehouses which could recycle ships and hold vast amounts of wares. Reasonably priced, one of these hidden in a rocky sector would be a good base for him.

Still, he had the more pressing matter of meeting this 'Pyren'. He noticed that Cardinal's Domain had been rebuilt after the Argon attack, but there wasn't any need to stay in the sector. He carried on through the area and found the beautiful Heaven's Assertion sector, with its (relatively) nearby supernova event tinging everything with a blue light.

But that wasn't what he was looking for - he'd gone the wrong way. But he couldn't find another gate anywhere in the sector block.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he decided to trawl the area for missions. A few station defences and some station constructions later, he'd accumulated around 20Mcr again, and decided to have another go at finding Unholy Descent.

Fortunately, indeed improbably, he was spared the trouble by a cartographer in Friar's Retreat, who sold t'Rgt the location of the sector for a few thousand credits.

t'Rgt checked that his ship's systems and aesthetics were as perfect as they could be, changed into his best flight suit and set the jumpdrive for the new co-ordinates.


Assets:
~23Mcr
1x Gauntlet Military Transport, 'Berzerker'
1x Jaguar
1x Drake, inoperable, 'Swift Justice'
1x Caiman Superfreighter XL - sector trader
1x Hermes
1x Angel
1x Mamba, 'Fortuitous Acquisition'.
1x Lofn
1x Kestrel
~6x assorted sector traders. One's the Angel, I think there are two Hermes ones and one's the Caiman SF. Other one's the Baldric. Another's the new Caiman Hauler.
1x Cutlass.
1x Enh. Jaguar
1x Vidar
1x Claymore
1x Elephant, 'Nomad'
1x Verdandi Sentinel

[wreckzors]

nice update, looking forward to the next one.

[Snowship]

I think TL's should have the reverse of weapons/shields than Vanilla...
Very heavy shielded 8gj+ but only anti-fighter weapons. (pirates/enemy corps attacking them, anything bigger it should run away)

Also a temp HQ is always tempting, although I find after placing it, later in the game it becomes onselete, but this being a DiD it might just be more use in the short term

[Argon tactican Justin]

Turning the ISR equipped right hand turret towards the P, t'Rgt looked in disgust at his shield counter - the P was ripping his new ship to pieces with just a few Adv.HEPTS. Not good. Stupid civilian TL designers thinking a huge ship like a TL needs a paltry 1Gj of shielding...

The result was the P being destroyed, along with a good 7% of Nomad's hull.

THIS is why the Superior needs to travel at high speeds; at one point I had another Colossus, that I called the Peacekeeper, which had the exact same equipment and could only travel at the standard speed they were designed for to serve as my flagship. While trying to get the Split government to neogate with the Boron, the Peacekeeper and part of the vanguard of the Argon fleet, along with the first ship in my fleet, a Minotaur named the Interdictor, were stationed on the Boron sectors bordering Split space. While I was gone setting up my fleet HQ in M148, a large Split task force ambushed the fleet and a single Python broke through the defenders and wiped out the Peacekeeper's shields (which was equiped with the max. number of 2 GJ shields allowed) and destroyed it in mere seconds. The only ship to survive was the Interdictor, which launched its entire compliment of flail barrage missles to distract the Split fleet while it escaped. After that, I had the Superior built, along with 2 Titan- class destroyers and 2 Minotaurs for its escorts and 60 Eclipse class fighters for its fighter compliment. By itself at standard speeds, the Superior is somewhat vulnerable to attack from capital ships, but when combined with a good fighter compliment and above average speeds, it can stand against almost anything.

[Master of the Blade]

Phew. Sorry I haven't even turned up recently to say sorry I can't post a chapter. HOWEVER, this state of affairs will continue until my flu-like affliction stops addling my brain. I'm just not up to large amounts of typing atm.

I'll still be around the forums though - I need something to do when I'm bedridden...

@Argon tactician Justin, I'm not sure what the speed of carriers has to do with the atrocious shielding of TLs... Still, interesting experiences.

@Snowship, agreed - I preferred it in X2 when the TL class was basically a fortress with shielding comparable to - or better than - destroyers, but had basically no real firepower. Much closer to how I'd imagine the TL to be designed.

[Argon tactican Justin]

@Argon tactician Justin, I'm not sure what the speed of carriers has to do with the atrocious shielding of TLs... Still, interesting experiences.

I'm saying that carriers seem to have the same problem with shielding and supertuning allows the speed to make up for it. Sadly, there are more issues with the autopilot at speeds over 300-500 m/s (which is insane for a carrier), so keeping the max speed below that will reduce those problems, but I rarely have those problems at 500m/s and it actually gives me some interesting events where the Superior seems to orbit around an asteroid or fly through an asteroid field with such precision that I almost can't believe compplaints about the auto pilot crashing into things that are stationary: if I don't override the autopilot, it almost always reacts in a way that prevents it from recieving damage to the shields. Then again, my computer has some freakish ability of making more intelligent decisions in games than the AI for the game was even programmed to make, even learning from me, appearantly. Sound familiar?

[Master of the Blade]

AtJ, if someone named winters comes a-knocking at your door, for the love of God don't let him near that computer.

Anyway, good news. I'm not dying anymore. There was nothing here and never will be. I did not say I would post a chapter, then promptly die again and not post a chapter.

[Master of the Blade]

Ugh. Well, I think it's more or less gone, so I'll post something relevant now...


Chapter 14: Pyren

t'Rgt launched his Vidar and docked at the trading station in Unholy Descent. He was taken by an attendant to the quarters of the ever-mysterious Paranid he'd been contacted by all that time ago. He hoped the delay hadn't been too long.

'Welcome, inferior being, to the holy quarters of the great and holy Pyren. I trust you have good reason to take so long, but I have no wish to enquire further. Indeed, I would quite like to leave very soon. My belongings are ready to be loaded onto your ship.' t'Rgt was slightly unnerved by the Paranid's hurry, but still replied,

'Of course, holy one. My craft is ready to take off whenever. It is good that you will work with me.'

'Indeed. Let us go. Incidentally, Pyren will do - no longer do I require such honorifics.' They moved through the relatively small station towards the hangar bay, and lifted off in the Vidar. As they travelled to Nomad, Pyren was studying the schematics of the corvette and eventually spoke,

'This craft is of a similar design to the fighter you are assigning me. Its engine, weapon and armour technology are remarkable for its class, though its level of advancement is inferior to some craft of holy design. You collaborate with powerful entites, Shoo t'Rgt.'

'Yes. The diplomatic turmoils between the Boron and Split, and the Terran and Commonwealth in general are worrying to me. I intend to help remedy these arguments before the Universe falls into war, by showing these people who would fight a war who their enemies should be.'

'A most admirable, though not very typical of a Split, intent. I believe my services will be well used.'

'Thank you. We're landing now - your stuff will be in the lobby on the third deck, as are the cabins. You can take your pick, since I have no other hands onboard except the marines I employ for mechanical work. They stay on the fourth deck, nearer the landing bays and engine room.'

The Vidar moved alongside Nomad and entered its containment field, and t'Rgt and Pyren were transported to the bridge.

'I shall get ready for when I am needed.' Pyren said when they had shaken off the unsteady feeling short-range transports often left behind. T'Rgt returned to his command chair and set a course for unknown space behind the West gate.

In that unknown sector was a small, semi-civilian Pirate base struggling to survive with inadequate food supplies in the area and police stopping freighters. An offer was made by the base for some food factories, which t'Rgt accepted mainly due to the incredibly large profit he'd make on the stations, available nearby.

He was occupied for a while constructing stations for the base's residents, but was somewhat richer when he finished. He set off for another unexplored sector.

Finding a damaged Pirate Eclipse there, he took it back to Nomad for repairs and resale - despite being an inferior Pirate model, it was still an M3+ and quite valuable. The circumstances of its abandonment were less than reassuring - a dead feeling was about the sector, so t'Rgt left as quickly as possible.


Assets:
~35Mcr

1x Gauntlet Military Transport, 'Berzerker'
1x Jaguar
1x Drake, inoperable, 'Swift Justice'
1x Caiman Superfreighter XL - sector trader
1x Hermes
1x Angel
1x Mamba, 'Fortuitous Acquisition'.
1x Lofn
1x Kestrel
~6x assorted sector traders. One's the Angel, I think there are two Hermes ones and one's the Caiman SF. Other one's the Baldric. Another's the new Caiman Hauler.
1x Cutlass.
1x Enh. Jaguar
1x Vidar
1x Claymore
1x Elephant, 'Nomad'
1x Verdandi Sentinel
1x Pirate Eclipse

Note: I think I'll go back to 1st person+present tense. DiDs don't lend themselves to this perspective of writing.

[Argon tactican Justin]

I can't wait to see what you've got planned for me in this. With the thing about my computer's ability to make more intelligent decisions in games and learn from what I do, things are more unusual than I first said: it's not just X3TC that I've seen that happen on and it's also happening on another computer I use so appearantly there's some connection between them, and I'm the only one that uses the second computer, so I have no idea what it could be

[Master of the Blade]

How about good programming on the parts of the programmers of whatever games you play? Even basic logic coding can result in interesting things sometimes, including the autopillock. I'll admit it has its moments of glory now and again.

[Snowship]

I shall review ship operations and then meditate for battle readyness, comm me if you require anything.

-Pyren

[Argon tactican Justin]

How about good programming on the parts of the programmers of whatever games you play? Even basic logic coding can result in interesting things sometimes, including the autopillock. I'll admit it has its moments of glory now and again.

Even in a game at least 8 years old?

[kgkosio]

The best AI coding I have ever seen was for X-COM:UFO Defense released in the early 90's. The AI usually used the best attack mode, but sometimes it would make mistakes similar to what a human opponent would make.

Keep going with the story. We are a patient lot, even if it does not seem that way. One did went 4 months without a post, but still has a good following. (don't get any ideas from that last statement)

[Master of the Blade]

Even in a game at least 8 years old?

Ohhh, yes. I've got an ancient tank combat game called 'Wild Metal Country', an early one from the now-Rockstar Studios (better known for GTA) in which the AI was scarily good. It really forced you to fight tactically - if you didn't, you died against even the weakest enemies. At least, until you unlocked a boss tank to use...

Anyway, enough of that, I'll get the next chapter done. I'll be going for weekly updates now so I don't fall behind.

One did went 4 months without a post, but still has a good following. (don't get any ideas from that last statement)

Don't worry. While there's a chance it could happen, I'll do everything I can to not make it happen.

Also, jarring perspective change for the lose, but I'll do it regardless.

Damn, I thought I'd be able to post screenies this chapter, but new computer = no old screens.

Chapter 15: Obsolete

Ferrying the Eclipse to a shipyard and selling it for a good 3Mcr, I remember a ship. That old corvette, Swift Justice had been rather forgotten with all the goings on in the Universe, but the gravidar signature from the unknown sector was still there, if fainter than it had been before.

I decide it's time to recover it once and for all - I'd left the North East of the universe very much alone for a long time in light of the rumours of massive Xenon incursions in that area. Still, with all the ordnance I was lugging around onboard Nomad and Pyren's and my skill with fighters there shoud be no problem.

One short jump to Family Ryk later and I'm on my way to the furthest reaches of known space. I send the military transport Berzerker to Spirit Industries to free up the docking space I'd need for the recovery operation. Though it had been possibly the least used of my craft, this was because I hadn't deemed any ships worthy of being boarded and anyway, my marines were all picked for their ability to repair ships, not board them. Soon I'd have teams of elite marines under ym cmmand though...

In the far North, Menelaus' Paradise, I find that the tales of Xenon are at least partly true - the sector's residents need urgent help to repel a Xenon attack force. I accept the mission, seeing it as a good way of showing my intent to the Boron Kingdom.

The Xenon are rather pathetic - a mere few Ps and some fighters enter the sector, and by the time we arrive in the fighters I'd set aside for interception duties (Pyren taking the Verdandi, I in Fortuitous Acquisition ) there's not a lot left to kill due to the large OWP slaughtering the Xenon with barrages of Banshee missiles. Most unsatisfying - after all that travelling I'd been hoping for a good fight. Maybe in the next sector.

As I approach the gate to Getsu Fune, I see a large fleet of Xenon craft enter the sector, including a Q. Now, while Nomad can quite comfortably outrun Q class craft, this particular one is right in the damn way, so just asking to be obliterated. I launch in the still nameless Vidar and duly obliterate it with the M/AMLs. Most of its fighter escort follow suit, except for the Ns, which again manage to thwart the slow firing cannons of the Vidar. I dispatch Pyren to mop them up with the Verdandi's speed and accurate PNC weaponry.

Speaking of which, the Terran weponry produced by Spirit industries is indeed impressive: the Phased Neutron Cannon, or PNC, is an energy based equivalent to the Split mass driver - and to say it is energy based is to say that it can be fired almost indefinitely by the Terran M3 fighters even without ammunition. A truly devastating weapon against small fighters.

And then there are the capital weapons: variants of the Point Singularity Projector which remedy its poor firing rate or increase the power of its charged attacks, and the Electromagnetic Wave Generator - or EWG - which puts Boron ion weaponry to shame with its mighty shield damage and ability to rapidly neutralise enemy equipment.

Anyway, while I consider the power of the new Terran weapons, Pyren has killed off the elusive fighters and returned to Nomad's docking bay so I reactivate the engines and enter the gate to the incredibly foggy sector of Getsu Fune.

An unusual feature of the sector - or so I heard - is that it contains equipment docks of all the commonwealth races, a useful feature in theory but not in practice, as the sector's remoteness and lack of equipment production means these docks are usually empty of useful goods. Of course they all still offer the upgrades of each race, but still, their lack of stock is rather offputting to visitors.

I confirm this feature with a little exploration, finally uncovering the Argon equipment dock to the far North and docking for supplies. Then I set off for the Xenon sector to the North which I'd have to travel through to reach my Drake. But first, I sent my secret weapon through the gate: While I'd been buying the Verdandi in Mars, I'd noticed another ship in the showroom - the Mani M5 light interceptor.

Shaped like a disc and armed with 4 lasers and one dual turret it looked very attractive in its role, but the 5Mj of shielding, 570m/s top speed and good laser generator meant I just couldn't leave without it. So I didn't, and it's been sitting in Nomad's hangar for ages. Time to use it.

Fortunately the Xenon hadn't set up one of their legendary gate blockades and forced me to do some fancy flying with the Vidar to take out their battleships, so I command the Mani to return and enter the sector myself.

Now, the gate to the Unknown Sector is to the far West, but I have no idea where to the far West, so I set off in that general direction and hope. The flight goes uneventfully in general, with Pyren being sent to take out a few fighters who look at me wrong, until I meet a Q. I'd been hoping not to encounter a battleship, but it was inevitable really.

Now, not that long ago I visited spirit Industries to get new guns, and Nomad is now armed with 6 IBLs and 6 flak cannons. Since the strafe engines of large craft are quite potent, I decide it's probably OK to have a go. WRONG!

It starts OK, my IBL turrets engaging the Q properly, but rapidly running out of power and stopping firing as the Xenon ship returns fire with its Advanced PPCs. Now those things hurt: one hit is about 800Mj of shield damage and I know this because I let one hit me and promptly fall to 20% shield integrity. I hit the boost extension and Nomad's engines rumble as the TL accelerates away from the Q.

Fortunately I escape without major damage to the systems - a few fried conduits but a mostly functional ship with no damage to its armour. Lucky escape - though I obviously pissed the Q off, it has no chance of catching me at full engine capacity.

At long last I see a gate as I pass over an asteroid. It's go to be the one I'm after - nothing interesting's happened for a good thirty kilometres. I fly to it and enter into another foggy sector - and lose the Drake's grav signal. it was somewhere to the far Northeast - a good three hundred kilometres off the ecliptic as I recall. I set the ship's autopilot to fly to the general vicinity of where I remember it.

After a good three quarters of an hour of searching the nebula gases, I finally pick up a corvette sized mark on the grav. Practically disintegrating, the Drake still has functional shields, but its computer is offline so the hull's self maintenance has also shut down. The reason it'd stopped broadcasting its position was probably the computer crashing, according to Pyren anyway.

I move within operational range of the very expensive Teladi gadget I'd been assured I needed for the recovery of the Drake and activate it - a Salvage Claim thingumywhatsit that cost me four million credits. It does its job though, and reactivates the Drake's systems from 4 kilometres away so I can transport some marines over to repair the engines, which had become delapidated along with the hull (which was at 150 points).

The ship soon looks more like a ship and is safe to bring onboard Nomad, so I do and jump back to the sector's gate to explore the main area. Turns out it probably was a scrapyard sector - there's a Falcon Sentinel just dumped here, though not as damaged. I claim it and return it to Nomad.

A though occurs to me: what with all these new and powerful advanced weapons, the 400Mj of shielding of Swift Justice is rather inadequate and the ship is reasonably obsolete for its role, being rather too easily killed by fighters. Damn!

Assets:
~35Mcr

1x Gauntlet Military Transport, 'Berzerker'
1x Jaguar
1x Drake, 'Swift Justice'
1x Caiman Superfreighter XL
1x Hermes
1x Angel
1x Mamba, 'Fortuitous Acquisition'.
1x Lofn
1x Kestrel
~8x assorted sector traders. Yes, I have a few new freighters working for me - they really do bail a lot even on reasonably low settings.
1x Cutlass.
1x Enh. Jaguar
1x Vidar
1x Claymore
1x Elephant, 'Nomad'
1x Verdandi Sentinel
1x Pirate Eclipse

[Snowship]

Paranid suggests leaving the Xenon Frigates to be taken on by a worthier ship. TL's are for homebasing small fighters and Station deployment

-Pyren

[Argon tactican Justin]

The Skirnir would be a far more effective warship for taking out capital ships, due to the fact that it's the only ship that can use Shadow missles AND has three turrets that can be equiped with matter-antimatter launchers, making it a major threat at any range

[Master of the Blade]

Except they're expensive as hell to run, have been patched so that they only have one point defence turret which is at the rear, and require either an obscenely high Terran rep to buy (Cadius kindly added the standard ATF ships to Terran SYs) or must be boarded. And I'm at the point in the game where I already have a frigate (narrative dropped behind again ), so am more than slightly tight on the cashes.

I'm hoping to post a chapter tomorrow. Today, however, I'm shattered.

[Argon tactican Justin]

Except they're expensive as hell to run, have been patched so that they only have one point defence turret which is at the rear

That's..... depressing considering the Skirnir is my favorite ship in the game Perhaps I should try to figure out how to make my own ships to counter this disapointing event. Imagine what I'd make

[Master of the Blade]

I'm sorry this has once again been so badly ignored. Things on this end have been hectic to say the least recently, and anything I've tried to type has been a load of crap. I'll try for a chapter tomorrow - no wait - I WILL post a chapter tomorrow to make up for it. I may even have a go at two.

But yeah, once again real life has smote me most mightily.