[TC] A Pirate's Revenge [Book One Complete]

[Scion Drakhar]

The trouble I've found with high fight stats is getting them to survive long enough to raise those stats. And numbers are great, if I can get the M7M to fire them all at once.

Yeah, it's kind of a circle as the one leads to the other. I tend to ignore the 'board' commands on an M7M as a lot of the time the M7M gets confused. Instead I use either a a missile barrage after switching to pods. Wait a few seconds in between selecting the pods and issuing the barrage order to ensure the pods have been loaded with marines. Seriously. It will send a few dummies out there but if you're firing into the flak solution of say a pissed off tiger a few extra can't hurt right? My personal preference, though, is to mix flail barrage missiles with a 'launch all marines' command. Every once in a while the missile boat will forget a few but I usually get good results.

I find that there's a point even in three stars where you've got to be above it. It's like plus the halfway point to four stars. I tend to train Mechanical first, since the rest of it doesn't matter if they can't get in.

Capital Hulls seem to require pods even if they are wrecks. It's got to do with the length and collision mechanics. TP's won't get to distance before they veer off to avoid crashing.

Sorry, you're right. Yes, huge ships, M1's M2's and TL's, all require pods and high mechanical stats. EVA boarding doesn't work past frigate level. You can still EVA capture M7's though.

I picked up a Tiger, or will pick up in a couple of chapters, and had to move in and take some FAA on the chin in order to keep it from blowing up pods. I was IonDing it, but it was causing lots of hull damage, but not burning anything off.

It's a pain I grant you, although I'm surprised by the hull damage. I very rarely do more than a percentage point or two with ion-D's. As far as what gets burned off it's entirely random and can take quite a while. Personally I've gotten into the habit of just using the M7M from a long way off, pissing whatever the target is off bad enough so that it's chasing me and shoving those pods right up its nostrils. So far it works pretty well. One thing, though. Turret scripts, M.A.R.S. specifically, will make pod boarding very difficult, ie impossible.

[Triaxx2]

I've been watching for shipyard TP's and TM's, since they almost always come with free marines.

Another thing is if you're actively hunting military transporter personnel, is that sometimes you'll get excellent marines that need to be converted via the Personnel Transfer tool. I've picked up a couple of three/four star fighters out of it.

I use piracy because it means I can concentrate on dropping the shields, rather than trying to get them down and keep them down long enough for the pods to get there. For all the good points of the Gannet, it's not exactly a speed demon and P/Oing a Tiger isn't really good for it's health.

It can be done you're right, but unless they are wrecks, it's such a pain I don't even bother.

Yes, I got down to 85-87% hull damage before I decided I'd have to pod now or miss my chance. And frankly that was a reload, since the time before I'd gotten caught up on the Tiger and beat it to death with my Hydra. It was indeed massively undershielded so...

---

Let's see, CODEA tips first...

M3's are not spectacular attack fighters. It sounds a little insane, but those that are fast enough to get there and do the job don't have the shields to survive. And those that do have the shields, can't get there in time. They are excellent as Interceptors, because they can simply drop out and be right in the face of the attackers. And you're going to want heavily shielded types, because the more they can absorb, the less the carrier has to.

Falcon Haulers are good Cargo salvage, but any fast ship that can carry M-class cargo makes a better people hauler. If you're in a Xenon sector, ESCORTS ARE NOT OPTIONAL. They will continue to jump in and then you lose both the Cargo Salvage, and the salvaged cargo.

Discoverer Raiders are great Recon, though any Raider variant needs only shields, guns, and a pilot to be ready right away.

Can't think of anything else specific, so ask whatever else you want.

---

CLS: Where to start. First, I don't use CLS1, ever. I've never been able to make it work the way it should, so I just ignore it in favor of the infinitely more configurable CLS2.

Excellent uses of CLS2 include: Automatic supply of Navigation sats in conjunction with Explorer Command software to maintain the sat network. Use a TM as a staging ground, sitting in space near a Sat Factory, or near your own. One CLS2 buys sats and transfers them to the TM. If you want to can have a ship that brings energy to the TM for the Sat Supplier to sell to the factory to mitigate the costs.

Then two Discoverer Raiders, for speed and M-class capability, use CLS to haul the sats to two separate Sat Layers. I use East and West, one starting in Argon Prime, the other in Ocean of Fantasy, and these are Disco Haulers, for speed and cargo capacity. If left to their own devices they'll use up their sats, perform cursory scan of the sector they're in, fail to find sats for sale, and dock at the trading station. Raiders are fast enough to keep supplying them to keep them from running out so they don't stop until destroyed.

Find yourself needing to move masses of resources? TS's not enough? Get three TL's, and park two of them near the complexes you need the resources moved to and from. The From complex becomes the Source TL, the to complex become Destination TL.

CLS freighters are prepared at each complex, loading resources and dumping them at the Source TL and Loading from Destination TL, and unloading them at the other complex.

Now, give the third TL CLS and orders to load at the Source, and unload at the Destination.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 41: Cruising for a bruisin'

I feel the need to fight and I'm still looking for a nice Frigate, so I decide to jump to
Rhonkar's Clouds. There I get a patrol to Two grand, which nets me a nice sum. And then
a patrol in two grand itself, which is sufficiently large that I call in both Decadence and
the Gunboat Diplomacy. The Decadence cleans up the scene and both head to their
current home berths, the Decadence's is the Federal Argon Shipyard in Legend's Home,
and the Gunboat Diplomacy at the Military Outpost in Aladna Hill. It's not an optimal
solution, but I haven't got the cash to do anything about it. For now though, I stop in at
the local Teladi Trading Station to see if anyone has any hot tips. Finding out the answer
is a resounding NO, I jump back across to Rhonkar's Fire. There I get a slot in a patrol of
the sector, for more Xenon. Precisely what the Xenon are doing so far from home, I
haven't foggiest, but it's credits. The fight isn't that hard, consisting primarily of fighters,
and being a Split sector, it's pretty hard for me to tag more than a couple, before the Split
steal all my thunder. But fortunately six is enough to convince the mission giver that I'm
doing my job.

A return ship mission later and I retire to OTAS for a break from flight. On launching
again, I run a few return ship missions, until I come across a Frigate. A Boron Thresher in
Montalaar. Quick Recruiting a Z-team from the Aladna Hill Military Outpost is a
disaster, though they manage to get hold of the ship anyway. The pair of survivors join
the C-team that's just finished training and get to sit on the Gunboat Diplomacy for a
while.

Chasing around the Universe, I set up the Viper Strike to transfer the Microchips from the
Galleon and the Great Hold to the Delivery Wagon/Hub, which is the name the
Mammoth is now going by. Four hundred and nine of them currently. Ninety-one to go.

Gonna be a long ride. Cruising through the Split Sectors, I pick up a return ship mission.
For a Shrike. Okay. Fine. If the universe want's me to have a Shrike, I guess I'll take this
one then. 15 marines away, 12% hull remaining.

Mos Eisley drops in, and the Amazon undocks and then lands on the Shrike. Rolling over
all the equipment from one to the other, and some energy from the reserves on the
Gannet, I order it to jump to my friendly neighborhood Yaki Shipyard. Then I slip into
the local Equipment Dock to wait for the fight to start.

A look at the timer tells me it's going to be a bit, so I decide to move along sooner rather
than later. Dropping into Nyana's, and realizing I'm nearly out of fuel, I skim around and
annoy a Paranid Energy Transporter. The trick is to slide in, rip a chunk out of it's
shields, and issue a threat. If you've scanned it to ensure it's not packing fighter drones,
and is packing energy, you can refuel in short order.

If not, it's not a pleasant experience. Fortunately, I did all my research and came out 500+
energy cells richer. The locals want a Split Solar Power Plant M built in Two Grand. I
can do this easily. I order Decadence to move some of it's extra equipment off, and send
it to the Zyarth's Dominion shipyard.

This turns out to be a considerably bad idea. As it enters the system, a PX patrol group,
which is thankfully quite light, is just coming into range of the Adv Sat in the sector. As
I'm frantically banging on the Jumpdrive button to get it to jump me faster, the
Decadence launches it's CODEA fighters, five Interceptors and five Attack Fighters.
They prove able to not only kill the fighters, but also eliminate the PX itself.

The unfortunate problem, is that it costs them six casualties, though at least one of the
pilots is able to eject and is recovered by the Cargo Salvage. This is in fact not a bad
thing, since it could have been the Ryu which was destroyed. And that's exactly the
reason it carries fighters, to protect it from such nasty situations. And yes, the Ryu is
armed and shielded, but it's most assuredly not a true capital.

That said, it does an admirable job, docks, picks up the SPP and jumps back to Two
Grand. I follow, and drop the station. The mission completes and I not only make back
the price of the station, but also some more over the top of it.

I do like the Solano for many purposes, but as a defensive fighter, it's not a particularly
good one, since with one notable exception, which was a brand new pirate Eclipse that
had just joined the ATF wing, Solano's were the entirety of the killed fighters. This is
somewhat perturbing, since as M4's the entire attraction of the Solano is that it's cheaper
to replace. This is not the case with the Solano, and frankly, I don't want to go and pay
out more cash for something which is just going to fall apart every time something
threatening is pointed in it's general direction. Instead I think I'll have a look at the
options. Eclipses are nice and have heavy shielding, but they're expensive. And slow.

Slotting in Scorpion Raiders seems a good idea, but the best weapons for them are HEPT,
which they don't really have the energy for, or Mass Drivers, which have to be supplied,
both the weapons themselves and Ammo. Frankly I'm not interested in trying to provide
ammo for MD's because if they run out, chances are high they'll do it in the middle of an
operation. And what's worse, the Jag Raider only has one 5MJ shield and I don't really
think that's going to be sufficient for survivability. Particularly not with the numpties I've
got for pilots. I think I need to institute a training program here. And quick before I spend
a ton of money on idiots who can't find the eject handle, or who do stupid things. Like
crashing into their own carriers.

Plus I need to put up an FAA production facility. The Galleon mounts a LOT of them. 10
on the available turrets. I want it to have a lot of heavy punch, so I'm not mounting it
where I can put IBL's and even so I've got to find something else to go in the forward
turret.

Not even mentioning that all three of my Albatross can mount 8 FAA.

So I think I'm going to have to invest in a fab, and possibly a mine to provide ore for it.
But no more, I'll ship in Energy from the SPP L in Akeela's, and Nostrop from the Teladi
sectors around Ianamus Zura. Of course, first I have to afford all this, which means
finishing out the last of the requirements for Mahi Ma's chip fetish. 427 chips and
counting now.

[Scion Drakhar]

Great chapter. (Although I’m sensing the need for a supporting cast.)

Ok, boarding, yeah given your current equipment and ordinance supply, theft by Gannet is probably ill advised. Especially against something going 240% your top speed. That could get very ouchy.

You do know, however, that on return ship missions you don’t need to capture those frigates? You can just hop out and claim them. A little tricky to get close enough sometimes but a lot easier (and less expensive) than having brand new marines blow holes in the ship.

Okay, questions,
Regarding the personnel transfer tool, how do I turn a marine into a marine? Is there any way to create more Helmsmen and Machinists? (I swear the next time I get a hold full of Paranid Gunners I’m going to start blowing these transports to hell …)

Regarding cargo salvagers: how do I get them to launch? Even when there is nothing on the screen but a couple of hostile freighters a looooong way off they sit in the hangar bay eating popcorn instead of fetching me those tasty phased shockwave generators …

Regarding escorts: erm, uhh … how do? As in how do I assign escorts to anything? What hangar do they launch from? How do I configure them? Etc.

CLS. Hmmm. I think I’ve been trying to get away with too few ships. I also think I need to slow down and configure for the long haul. My biggest problem has been the transfer of multiple products from a factory to a single TL. Since the products tend to be small I’ve been trying to use a single freighter to carry all of them … and it hasn’t been working.

[Triaxx2]

I could use a supporting cast, but I'm not good at writing too many characters.

Ordinance isn't really a problem, because I don't tend to do things spur of the moment. So I've got a while to acquire the necessary equipment. I've had Missile/Pod Fetcher working non-stop for a while now, and I've lately added both a microchip and Flail fab to my Legend's Home Complex. I prefer Tomahawks to Hammers, so...

I do know that I can claim them, and I've had to do so a couple of times, including the Gannet, simply because I didn't have any marines to do it with.

Marine to Marine: Just click on the marine in the passenger compartment, then 'Set marines into operational room'.

There's a list of all the available retrainings in the Support topic for the Personnel Transporter, but you basically use Change Regular Occupation to make them marines, and increase the various ranks to whatever you need, and then change Occupations again. I start with Logicistian's to make it easier.

Make sure you're using Falcon Haulers. They're the only ones with the XL cargo necessary to pick up PSG's. Also open the Code of Conduct and allow them to fly during enemy contact.

Also here you'll get the option to have Cargo Salvage Escorted. That's done by adding fighters to the Escort Hangar. They'll automatically launch when the Cargo Salvage does.

Yeah, that's a common problem. CLS can do a lot, but it's not as efficient at it as say CAG, but CAG has completely different functionality. So you'll either need to be patient and wait, or use a different approach. If you want to move a lot of small stuff, more ships is the answer. I've got Greater Hold, one of my Albatross' set up in the Hub, with 7 Discoverer Haulers moving energy from my Solar Power Plant in Akeela's, to the Great Hold, and then on to the Complex in Legend's Home.

Other than a shortage of Silicon, which is being taken care of by two CLS freighters working off of a Silicon mine on the 55 asteroid in 'Avarice', the complex is now ticking over quite nicely.

Of those seven Disco Haulers, 4 of them are bringing energy to the Albatross, and 3 are taking away from it. Plus it gives a free standing refuel point for large ships. The Discos don't move a lot at a time, but they do it fast.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 42: Hunting Roid's.

So... the first thing to do is find a nice roid of the right size. I'm thinking Montalaar, or
perhaps Aladna Hill. Though there are some nice ones in Legend's Home, that's quite the
distance from the Teladi sectors, and the shorter trip north takes them through the pirate
filled Haktikvah's. Not that I'm stupid enough to pick on my own traders, but I have more
interesting things to do then sit in the sector and bang together the heads of any pirates
who decide to take pot shots at my traders.

One minor technical difficulty however, is the fact that the Amazon, which is my go-to
bird for scanning enormous rocks, is currently holed up with my Shrike, sitting at the
Yaki shipyard. And I'm not entirely enamored of the prospect of jumping in and finding
myself in the midst of the Split task force that's been dispatched by the annoyed owner of
the Shrike. I didn't incur a drop in race ranks from the rep loss, but that doesn't mean I
won't if I have to fight through the battle group.

So instead I'm going to use my alternative plan, and play around with the Buster Raider
I've had sitting in the hangar of the Mos Eisley for a while now. It's not currently
shielded, at all, but I believe.. ah, yes, Decadence has some shields kicking around in it's
hold. An excellent plan all around.

Having quickly scanned all the roid's in the area, and determining that yes, the best place
to put up the complex is actually in Legend's Home itself, I set about doing just that,
ordering Great Hold to put up a Cattle Ranch M that I bought by accident, and the
Decadence to drop a Teladi Ore Mine L, and Argon Crystal Fab L. Then I add a Cahoona
Bakery M to the mix. This means it'll be under supplied, but that I won't have to devote
dozens of ships to the mix.

Hopping down to Barren Shores, I scan the Asteroid's there, while waiting for more chips
to show up.

This gets annoying quick, and I decide to be a bit more proactive. Telling the pilot to take
a break in the bar, I hop in the Viper Strike and jump to Cardinal's Domain, and then
dump 16 Tomahawks at the local Chip Plant. For the effort, I pickup two Microchips.
And an official war footing with the Paranid. They aren't too happy, so I jump out before
the missile that they've shot at me gets close. Skimming the Tomahawk Plants in the
universe nets me another 24, and I hop to Sacred Relic, where the Trading Station has a
full twenty in stock. As it happens, I have just enough Tomahawks to break open the
station and I snatch up the 4 chips I'm left with and jump clear of the rozzers.

Dropping into Acquisition Repository, I find a Chip Plant that I'd never seen before.
Possibly because I'd never been here before. It's got eleven chips, and then sliding
through the south gate, I pick up another three at the Teladi Trading Station. Checking in
at the two collection points, I now have enough to satisfy the Fishy.

But while the Viper Strike is busily collecting them, I decide to go annoy the Paranid
Traders in Gunne's Crusade. I really like this sector, there's a lot of traffic through it, and
a lot of it is Paranid. The first one I run into is a Bio trader, who immediately drops a
horde of fighter drones as soon as I scan it. He doesn't have anything I want though, so I
ignore him, even though I have no doubt I could take what he's got away from him.

The second freighter, which is a Mineral Transporter, with the decidedly suspicious
destination of the Loomanckstrat's Pirate Anarchy port. Scanning it, it's got a lot of
Silicon, but also a unit of Nividium.

Hammering into it with PRG's, he drops the Nividium right off. I pick it up, and jump
north to Aladna Hill. The Viper Strike is refueling, but shortly will be dropping in to meet
up with the Galleon, now known as the Unsuspected Gains and collect the last of the
necessary chips.

I do note however, that sending my only partially shielded, and Slow, FAT Mammoth
into the Hub is a very, very poor plan. Which is of course why I'm NOT doing it. No,
instead, the first thing I'm going to do is jump in myself at the helm of the Gunboat
Diplomacy. It's not really heavily armed, but it's more than capable of punching in the
face any capital class difficulties that might be hanging around. I will then follow it up
with the Unsuspected Gains, because that's packing capital class weapons.

First things first though, I've been asked to retrieve a ship in Clarity's End. Fun times.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 43: Kickin' in the door and Breakin' faces.

Sitting in space, waiting for the Helmsman and Navigator to make themselves comfortable, I busy myself looking over my Marines. I've got a few nice ones, and some still in what amounts to space dock in the various bits of the 'verse.

I do note the minor problem that I'm lacking in Hammers, having a grand total of 6 of them. I have 51 Flails though and 6GJ of shields. Short of dropping into the face of a Q, or K, I should be fine. I think. One thing to do then. Jump in face first.

Empty....empty... empty... Not a soul, or soul-less killing machine in sight. Awesome. Unsuspected Gains pops in through the other gate, and swings sideways, lining up on the gate. Anything coming through is in for a rude surprise. The Mammoth Delivery Wagon/Hub pops through and begins it's long trek up to the Hub docking. Viper Strike follows a moment later, and follows. Some nasties do pop in. An L that drops in the middle of the sector takes three flails to the face. Another one that comes through the far gate gets vaporized by IBL fire before it can do more than seriously annoy the Unsuspected Gains. A P meets the same fate.

The Q that drops behind me is something more of a problem, but Viper Strike is on the case and shoves a barrage of tomahawks up it's nostrils. Flails take care of all but one of the fighters following, an N that escapes back through the gate. The Delivery Wagon/Hub docks and the Viper Strike lands and begins moving cargo across quickly.

Mahi Ma gives me a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, but at the end of it he also gives (I'm assuming Mahi Ma is a him anyway.) me the short version, I can reconnect one set of gates, but the power is on the fritz and I have one go at it. Great. I give the go ahead to slot it in between Akeela's and Legend's Home. It takes five minutes. Five long minutes, not even punctuated by the excitement of a Xenon attack. Then we're clear of the threat of the Xenon, at least for a while.

He'd also quite like me to fetch a few more things. A mere hundered and fifty thousand Teladianium , and four hundred thousand Ore.

Sure, I'll just run out and snag all that right away. Sure. Right after I win the lottery.

Back in Aladna Hill, I cruise in to dock at the Military Outpost, while Unsuspected Gains has been sent to the OTAS shipyard for repair. I have a feeling it's going to be EXPENSIVE.

So my first act after placing my own sector between two Argon Sectors is to pick on a Paranid Trader. It's a good move, because he's hauling a couple thousand units of Argnu Beef. Great Hold pops in, scoops up what he dropped, and collects the rest from the ship, then pops out as I blow the ship to scrap. There's nothing else in the sector at the moment, so I jump to Aladna Hill to make sure the Gunboat Diplomacy arrived safely, and then bounce on down to Gunne's Crusade. Nothing pops on the radar, though I amused myself popping Paranid Recon for a bit. Deciding that the day had been filled with enough excitement, I shut down the systems, and tucked in against a rock, becoming just another of debris in the sector.

Though not before dropping a trio of Adv Sats to alert me of any naughty contacts. I don't trust the rest of the verse that much. And particularly not this close to pirate space. I do have a little planning to do. According to my calculations, it'll take more than a month to get all the Teladianium I need to fulfill Mahi Ma's technically obscene request for resources. Unless I build way more stations than I have any ability to support. I can pull quite a bit out of the economy, but the problem is that I'll have to do it manually, since those are in Teladi sectors, and much as I like the Teladi, they have a habit of getting too focused on credits and not paying enough attention to what those credits are buying. Or is getting harassed while it's going on.

Ideally, I'd like to drop in with a TL and several Peregrine's, using the Peregrines as fast moving, well shielded transporters. Considering my entire bomber fleet consists of one currently toothless Viper however, I need an alternate plan. I have one Blastclaw Prototype. It carries 650 units of cargo and is nicely fast. I'm going to do a little pirate hunting and see if I can encourage some Blastclaw Prototype pilots the value of bailing out before I have to get rough with them. The trick will be finding them alone or in small groups. I don't fancy trying to separate an M7 from it's escort, nor do I want to engage a Galleon just to snag the one or two Prototypes it might have on board.

No, I think I'll need to snag the Amazon and do a little high speed scouting in the area's south of Merchant's Haven. I've seen other BCP's in the area. No reason to suspect they aren't there now. And every reason to be afraid, because they'll also be armed with PBG's. Not even the amazing speed of the Amazon will save me if I get tagged by one of those.

So the only thing to do is be VERY CAREFUL.

Scratch that. Very.VERY careful.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 44: Heart Attack

I'm not dead. I just had a bad experience with a Galleon.

I decided to go with shields instead of speed. I'm very glad I did. First thing I did was order the Gunboat Diplomacy to jump to Tears of Greed, and drop in not far from the Arena hanging around there. It was not to be though. This one is packing Internal Sentry , and Hull Polarization. So is the Phoenix hanging around and the Condor which seems to be on patrol between Merchant Haven and Tears of Greed. And the Phoenix in Exchange, as well as the Local Supply Albatross.

Guess they heard I was coming through. Oh well, parking the Gunboat Diplomacy at the Grand Exchange shipyard, because you'll never know when lots of heavy weapons.

Merchant Haven is completely boring and not even Tomahawks in the fabs. Maelstrom is a bit more exciting. By which I mean I come through the gate and suddenly have a Pirate Harrier wipe out into the nose of my ship. This is both an auspicious start to my trek across Maelstrom, and Not what gives me the heart attack.

The crossing to the gate which is in a general Way-the-hell-off-that-way direction is largely uneventful. Until I reach the gate. This is where I experience the heart attack. It starts with a pirate taking a liking to my ship, or perhaps a dislike to me personally. Either way, he's busily using his Nova in an attempt to BBQ off my shields, while also flinging PBE my way. Fortunately punching the turbo gets me clear of him.

So instead he flings a Hammerhead at me. I use a naughty word, and pull up and over the gate, incidentally snagging a Remote Guided Warhead as I go. This turns out to be insanely fortuitous, because as I'm busy rolling over the gate to come around behind the back, a Galleon pops through. I could have had the same experience as that Harrier.

The Galleon isn't particularly pleased to find me right there either. I'm sure of this because of the huge globs of flaming death he's flinging at me in the form of IBL rounds. Fortunately I'm only a moment from the gate and I get through with a full 40% shields remaining.

On the other side, I'm greeted with three Carracks and Escorts. One is not displeased to see me. Unfortunately, the only other ship in the sector that's blue is a bailed Goner Ranger. Making a quick left, I pound heartily on the Turbo button until I go screaming away.

Oh, wait that's me screaming. I should have stayed in Gunne's today.

I really hate having missiles shot at me, you know? Tempests, Typhoons, I mean, even if I can just shoot them down with Mosquitoes, I don't like having them shot at me. As I run away from the pirates around the gate, they start flinging those at me. I've only brought Mosquito, though it doesn't matter, because I'm far enough away with the help of the Turbo that they expire before they can catch me.

Frankly, I'm finding lots of Blastclaws, and one prototype, but they're all escorting capitals which I'm not terribly inclined to tangle with. I think this is a bust. Rumor is that there's an unknown sector down this way. I seem to remember it being here, but it's fuzzy. All I do know is that it's on purpose. Perhaps I'll find out why I'm remembering not remembering being there? Or perhaps I shouldn't remember why I don't want to remember?

Of course, I think I'm babbling. Time to find that goofy gate. I'm nearly at the Gate when one of the Carracks decides to fire a Tempest at me in a last ditch effort to annoy me. Doesn't work though and I glide on through without incident.

Now I understand why I don't remember. This sector is dingy. One little sun, WAY off. Not a lot of light in the sector, and a lot of rocks.

I really can't see spending a lot of time in this sector. Dark and dank. And frankly, a good place to hide. But I'm not in the mood to hide. Kicking in the Jump Drive, I hop back up to Grand Exchange and dock at the shipyard to pick up some energy from the Gunboat Diplomacy's cavernous hold. Now I'm ready to explore south of Tears of Greed. Again I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I've been picking up all the abandoned ships I can lay my hands on, and sending them to the nearest shipyards for sale.

Rumors are of shipyards south of Tears of Greed, so I'm going to head down that way and see what I can find. I'm not sure who has shipyards, but I'll have a look and see.

Bright Profit holds a suspicious number of bailed ships. There is, it turns out a Pirate Base up beyond the North Gate,. Leaving them to their fun, I pick up the lot of them and send them back north, after splattering the pirates that try to interfere. Passing through the South gate, I'm a bit ahead of a group of three Pirate Nova Raiders.

This is my second gate experience with a carrier, though this one isn't quite so coronary inducing. A Teladi Condor is on the other side, and I scan it, though it's also got Hull Polarization and an Advanced Firewall.

However, witnessing the fate of the three Nova Raiders, which are handily smashed into space dust just by the guns of the carrier, I reconsider my thoughts of capturing one. Not without a massive number of IonD wielding fighters... disposable fighters, to burn off it's shields and weapons. And equipment, first. From a long way off. I figure a hundred or so Eclipses should do the trick. If not more.

Nothing exciting occurs until I hit Queen's Harbor. First, I find a Boron Casino that's thoroughly undershielded. It's got both Hull Polarization and Advanced Firewall Software though.

Cruising on a little further, I'm suddenly glad that the Casino wasn't a target. This sector has 3 Threshers, a Ray and a Shark. Plus an Orbital Weapons platform. That's very nearly a Split-like amount of firepower.

Two sectors later, I somewhat revise that opinion, locating a Tiger with just a touch more than half it's shields, and which is severely under armed. None of the trio of naughtynesses that are instant no-no's. Hmm... I'll need some fighter drones, and some missiles to deal with the shields. I think it's doable, but for the moment I'll leave it alone. Rumor has it that the Patriarch's Conclusion shipyard is well stocked and is one of the only places in the universe where I can find a Panther along with a couple of other ships. More importantly though, it's a back door to the Southern Paranid Sectors. That gives me the way to grind up the entirety of Paranid space. I hope.

It is indeed what I expect, and even though a mission to recover a Viper jumps me up to Interworlds, I know now how to engage the Paranid. The harder I think about that Tiger, the more I think the universe is trying to tell me something. Not of course that I'm not also keeping the Shrike. But this is going to be my new flag ship.

Next time: Operation, Poking the Tiger.

[Scion Drakhar]

Ooooh. Going after the good stuff now.

[Triaxx2]

Yeah, doing my best.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 45: Poking the Tiger

Operation: Poking the Tiger has two tiny little problems inherent in it's effects. One is the local Military Outpost. If it's full of fighters when I engage, I might find myself a little overwhelmed. Two options exist to deal with it. Wait until it's empty of fighters, or it completely. Destroying it is harder, because then I'll have to work back the reputation such a kill would incur. Waiting might mean that there are other capitals in the , making it harder to engage the Tiger.

Plus the math for the firepower to destroy it works out to way more Tomahawks than I have. Possibly more than currently exist in the universe. And again, waiting for the construction of more might complicate the fight.

The other problem is the local Orbital Weapons Platform. I can attempt to avoid it, or destroy it outright. Avoiding it might be possible, but only if I preposition the Gunboat Diplomacy off away from it.

Destroying it is again a lot of Tomahawk's, and again more than I have available, though I have none at all at the moment, which means any number is more than I have.

I guess avoiding it and attacking while there's no fighters is the best option.

Well, here goes nothing. The (Gannet) Gunboat Diplomacy drops in and moves to a position some 30km south of the gate, where it's got a nice clear firing line on the Tiger. A Remote Guided Warhead eliminates the Chimera tagging along, and a Firestorm ers the Dragon escorting it.

The Tiger might have a blind spot. I don't know. It seems to have quite a lot of guns in quite a lot of places. I found a tiny spot under the belly where I wasn't having Flak shoved up my nose, and didn't have IBL hammering at me either. Fortunately, even PBE takes a bit to cut through 600MJ of shields, and I manage to burn off quite a few weapons before I have to break away. Thankfully the two 1GJ shields are the first things to burn off, so I don't have to worry about them after the initial attack. That does mean that controlling the shields is harder during the boarding stage, but it's easier knocking them down while I'm blasting at the weapons. It's down to 95% without burning off all the and I don't suspect I'm going to get much more out of it. So I break off, and order the Gunboat Diplomacy to launch. Then I swing back in and take FAA on the chin while the pods are inbound. Doesn't help, since the Tiger still tags a single pod. Fortunately the other 15 Marines are more than capable of taking control of the ship. 66% of the Tiger remaining and... 2 IRE's. Fantastic. Couldn't have had only that left while it was shooting at me. No...

Oh well, the Tiger is mine. Decadence pops in and transfers a Jumpdrive and Navigation Mk1, plus some fuel and then swaps in new from a docked fighter, and both jump out again. The Tiger goes to the Hub for fitting, and Decadence back to the Federal Argon Shipyard in Legend's Home.

Meanwhile, the Gunboat finishes collecting the survivors of the blown boarding pod and hops to the Light of Heart Shipyard. I follow, but drop to my Solar Power Plant L in Akeela's Beacon. This has been a busy day, and I feel I deserve a rest. I'm going to kick my feet up. Hmm... I think perhaps I'll have to pay a visit to the Yaki and see if I can negotiate myself a few IBL's. I need some for the Shrike too, but at the moment the Tiger is the priority.

And I again find I need more FAA. But now I've got both the cash from abandoned ships, as well as the facilities in place, mostly, to construct a fab. I'll have to calculate the costs of bringing in food. I don't think I want to have to have freighters running across several sectors fetching chow. Probably be easier too. Hmm... a project for the morning. For now, I'm going to have a nice sleep.

[jimlpearce]

Ahhh Finally caught up with this. Keep up the good work

On the same note as Scion i agree that a backing cast would benefit this story. Perhaps you could pick a few of your crew members and create personal logs for them similar to those you write in 'from nothing'. Just short pieces on varying subjects from story critical events right down to petty little comments. From there it might be easier for you to write the characters into your main story. Just an idea. Either way you have me eagerly awaiting the next chapter!

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 46: Administrative Details

Sigh. For being a seriously impressive pirate, I sometimes get buried in paperwork. It's really annoying to be completely honest with you. The Crystal Fab in Legend's Home has been whining about not having enough silicon. Don't know why it's whining, I've got two 's assigned to do nothing but purchasing.

The Tiger is turning out to be not quite so hard to outfit as I expected, since I've still got some shields lying around from outfitting the Gannet. Of course I've only got two and no heavy weapons for it, but one thing at a time. I really want to get an FAA forge up and running, and to that end, the Delivery Wagon/Hub heads to the Ceo's Sprite shipyard.

I really need to set up some protection for these various TL's. They can carry fighters, so I think some M3's set to protect ship should turn the trick. And probably one spare in the Mammoth for hauling things like Energy wherever it happens to be.

First thing is first though, getting the FAA. The Delivery Wagon/Hub picks up an FAA fab, a Sun Oil Refinery L, and Flower Farm L Great Hold picks up a Cattle Ranch L, and CCK. And Decadence picks up 4 CCK's and a Cahoona Bakery L.

It's a bit frustrating trying to put together a complex, but when it's all said and done, it'll be worth it. For now, the Vulture Miner that's been docked there full of Silicon is emptied, and sent out to mine more, after I hire a prospector to pilot it. I suspect that Light of Heart has some, but we'll find out soon.

The two Mercury Superfreighter XL's that are there are set up as CAG's and sent to fetch the materials necessary for the construction of the FAA's.

I note that it's again out of energy. I think I'll have to do something to supplement the energy transfer, since it's consuming a lot of it. The SPP in Akeela's has quite a bit of over production, so it shouldn't be a problem to do, just have to arrange more efficient transportation of it. Hmm.. I think I need some more TL's and some more fighters to move energy.

Sigh. More expenses. Even if I get them free. Okay, for now I'm going Ghetto shipping.

Greater Hold is stripped of it's cargo and dropped into the Hub, which is sitting between Legend's Home and Akeela's Beacon. 7 Disco Haulers from the Federal Argon Shipyard in Legend's Home are equipped as CLS2, and four of them haul energy from my SPP in 's to the Greater Hold, while three of them haul it to the Crystal/FAA complex.

By using 4/3, this means I'll be inputting more energy than I'm taking out. And Disco Haulers mean rapid turn around speed, so that they'll be able to get from A-B and then be moving back for another load in short order.

When I start moving Teladianium to the Hub, I'll use a variation of this, but with TM's instead of TL's.

Feeling too much an administrator, I do a little pirating in Haktikvah's and find out that while there are a bunch of red pirates, there are also not a few blue ones, and the Anarchy Port is also blue. It's got nothing I'm particularly interested in, but it's nice to know they like me some.

Having had enough of being shot at by MkII fighter drones, the result of a miscalculation on my part, I decided to pop to Weaver's Tempest while I wait for them to run out of energy. I'm immediately two IBL's richer, and I call for the Great Hold to jump in and set up shop, using a Falcon Hauler to not only purchase IBL's but also to make some cash on the side by moving Spacefuel from the two Distilleries to the two IBL forges.

It's set so it will only do that if it's making a profit, but I know that can sometimes go awry. And this sector does seem a little starved for energy. I wonder if it might be worth it to bring in a TM to supply the various factories here with energy, and add a couple of mobile miners to mine some ore? Hmm... interesting idea. I think two Caiman Miners' and a Chokaro with Disco Haulers, and a Caiman to bring in energy.

I could free up the Great Hold by also having it's Falcon Hauler dump IBL's at the Chokaro and having the Caiman take them with it. Yes, excellent plan. I'll have to 'acquire' a couple of ships to generate the cash for it, but I like the plan.

[Triaxx2]

Asset List: Chapter 46: Administrative Details:

Stations:
Solar Power Plant L alpha - Akeela's Beacon

Xenon Hub - Unknown Sector

Flak Artillery Array Complex – Legend's Home
Cahoona Bakery Lx1
Cahoona Bakery Mx1
Cattle Ranch Lx1
Cattle Ranch Mx1
Flower Farm Lx1
Sun Oil Refinery Lx1
Ore Mine Lx1
Silicon Mine Lx1
Crystal Fab Lx1
Flak Artillery Array Forge x1

Ships:

M1:

Pirate Galleon (Unsuspected Gains)

M7M:

Gannet (Gunboat Diplomacy)

M7:

Split Tiger

Teladi Shrike

M6:

Boron Hydra (Snake in the Roids)

Teladi Osprey (Legend's Defender) 'Captain Gil Gusta'

M8:

Split Viper (Viper Strike)

M3:

Pirate Blastclaw (ATF Blastclaw) {Decadence} 'Recruit Gil Giorno'
Argon Eclipse (ATF Eclipse) {Decadence} 'Petty Officer Janit Ohneaim'
Argon Nova (ATF Nova) {Decadence} 'Petty Officer Frenk Giorno'
Teladi Falcon Hauler (CSV Falcon Hauler) {Decadence} 'Recruit Janit Cheram'
Split Mamba (CSV Mamba) {Great Hold} 'Recruit Yatima Keppel'
Pirate Advanced Eclipse (Valkyrie) {Mos Eisley}
Boron Barracuda Vanguard {Unsuspected Gains} 'Logistician Jo Seldon'
Pirate Blastclaw {Unsuspected Gains} 'Cargo Messenger Scot Springer'
Pirate Blastclaw Prototype
Teladi Falcon {Unsuspected Gains}
Teladi Falcon Hauler (IBL Mover) {IBL Supply Transfer Station} 'Forwarding Agent Holu Lu'
Split Mamba {Unsuspected Gains}
Argon Nova Sentinel {Unsuspected Gains}
Argon Nova Vanguard {Unsuspected Gains}
Yaki Tenjin x2
Terran Xperimental Shuttle

M4:

Buster Raider (Busta Raida) {Mos Eisley}
Pirate Buster Hauler (INC Pirate Buster Hauler) {Decadence} 'Petty Officer Jarren Cheram'
Pirate Elite {Decadence} 'Recruit Endy Jerigan'
Pirate Buster Hauler (Hub Energy Supply) 'Supplier Endy Braks'
Pirate Elite
Pirate Elite {Decadence}
Boron Mako Raider
Yaki Raijin {Unsuspected Gains}
Split Scorpion {Unsuspected Gains}
Split Scorpion Raider

M5:

Pirate Kestrel (Amazon) {Mos Eisley}
Argon Discoverer Raider (Disco Sat Dropper)

Argon Discoverer Hauler x7 (Great Hold Mover 1-7)
1 'Courier Aron Slamer'
2 'Courier Kaylen Halter'
3 'Courier Ban Selek'
4 'Courier Erine Hang'
5 'Courier Frenk Keswen'
6 'Courier Pico Sahkarna'
7 'Courier Jo Springer'

Argon Discoverer Hauler (Weaver's Energy Mover 1) {IBL Supply Transfer Station} 'Apprentice Uma Keppel'
Argon Discoverer Hauler (Weaver's Energy Mover 2) {IBL Supply Transfer Station} 'Apprentice Ulla Sillarne”
Argon Discoverer (Fuel Trader) 'Logistician Warron Sillarn'
Argon Discoverer Hauler (Fuel Fueler) 'Logistician Iaron Springer'
Argon
Split Jaguar Hauler (Lucky SOB)

TL:

Yaki Ryu (Decadence)
Argon Mammoth (Delivery Wagon/Hub)
Teladi Albatross (Great Hold)
Teladi Albatross (Greater Hold)

TM:

Yaki Chokaro (IBL Supply Transfer Station)
Yaki Chokaro (Mos Eisley)
Argon Zephyrus (Tow Wagon II)
Split Boa
Split Boa

TP:
Boron Angel (Economy and Supply Trader (EST) Angel) 'Major Dealer Kleo Springer'
Argon Express Hauler (People Picker) 'Lieutenant Latasha Springer'
Argon Express (Wheat CAG) 'Logistician Sayreen Gusta'
Argon Express
Split Iguana x2
Boron Manta Hauler

TS:

Argon Mercury (Crystal CAG) 'Dealer Tomes Weamond'
Argon Mistral (Crystal Humper) 'Logistician Sihoban Yatar'
Argon Mistral Superfreighter (EST Mistral SF) 'Major Dealer Kaylen Gilharno'
Split Caiman (Hold)
Argon Mercury (Hold 2)
Split Caiman (Hold 3)
Split Caiman (Hold 4)
Argon Mistral Superfreighter (LH Energy Tran) 'Logisitician Liom Rana'
Argon Mercury Hauler (Light of Heart Fuel Tanker) 'Supplier Val Halter'
Argon Mercury Superfreighter (Missile/Pod Fetcher) 'Forwarding Agent Ban Bro'
Argon Mercury (Niv Mover) 'Logisitician Toki Cornell'
Argon Mercury Tanker XLx2 (Niv Tank A/B)
Split Caiman (Salvage Bucket)
Argon Mercury Superfreighter (Silicon CLS(Sil CLS)) 'Logistician Uma Gisler'
Teladi Vulture Miner (VultureM Prospector 1) 'Chief Prospector Jako Braks'
Teladi Vulture Miner (VultureM Prospector 2) 'Chief Prospector Erine Claassen'
Split Caiman (Weaver's Delivery Service) 'Cargo Messenger Jarren Giorno'
Split Caiman Hauler
Split Caiman Miner (Weaver's Mining Op 1)
Split Caiman Miner (Weaver's Mining Op 2) 'Apprentice Pu t'Ztk'
Split Caiman Superfreighter x2
Split Caiman Superfreighter XL
Boron Dolphin
Boron Dolphin Hauler
Boron Enhanced Dolphin
Argon Mercury
Argon Mercury Hauler
Argon Mercury Superfreighter x2
Argon Mercury Superfreighter XL x2
Argon Mercury Tanker
Argon Mercury Tanker XL
Teladi Vulture x3
Teladi Vulture Miner

[Scion Drakhar]

The empire is growing.

[Triaxx2]

Yeah, just a bit.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 47: Fun with Freighters.

More or less anyway. For one thing, actually getting all these freighters to Weavers is going require jump drives. Plus purchasing the ships and actually setting up all the CLS and prospectors.

I think I need another crate of fuel to deal with all this.

Since the Paranid don't really like me, like... at all, I'm going have to make sure the Caiman has enough fuel to jump in and out of here. I really don't like the idea of having it suddenly decide it's out of fuel and then try to fly here manually, because it's going to end killed by Pirates, or Paranid. I wish I had the Teladianium necessary to finish out the second set of gates. Ore is easy enough, but Teladianium is not so easy. Then I could just the second gates here between Weavers and Senator's.

As I'm getting all set up, I get a little lucky. Skimming through the Property List, I run across a Caiman I bought while wandering through Cho's Defeat. There's also a pair of Boa's there, that I picked up on the cheap. One of them has some marines. Actually, they both had marines, but there were only five so I condensed them. I don't recall why I bought them, except that at the time it was a good price.

Also in sector is an under shielded, fighter-less Panther. Can I really jack two Split ships in less than a day?

No. Not unless I acquire a Cerberus and arm it with Ion so I can stand the assault of 5 FAA's, long enough to burn off the ISL. I think I'll pass.

I do seem to be bleeding money somewhere though. I sold a 7 million credit freighter and ten minutes later, I'm getting messages that some of the CLS and CAG's can't draw wages because I'm out of cash. Sheesh. No idea where the hole is, though I suspect it's my FAA complex, which isn't producing the way I want it too.

I think I need some mobile mining. Or rather, a lot of mobile mining. Say, in Barren Shores.

I've heard that capable prospectors, like the Vulture Prospector in Ore Belt, can do a good job if given a Terran TL, something called a Mobile Mining Base Ship. That would mean gaining access to Terran space.

Given that I've been told by the traders that have been in there, it's somewhat scary. Apparently, they have a military presence to make Split sectors look like Goner conventions.

And it seems that jump drives don't work in their space. All in all I'm not feeling particularly confident about going in. I think I'll wait until I can do it flying the Tiger. Nothing says safety like 4GJ of shields and a lot of firepower. But first...

I HAVE TO GET MY STUPID COMPLEX TO START PRODUCING!!

Argh. And no, that's not a piratey 'Argh' either.

I do have one tiny bit of good news though. Now the Chokaro, IBL Supply Station is now in place instead of the Great Hold, and not only do I have a Caiman moving energy to it, but also two Discoverer Haulers selling energy from it.

Deep breaths. Slow, deep breaths. Okay. I'm better.

I'm also hopping around the universe like a frog having a seizure, trying to find more Teladianium, so I don't have to build my own factories.

It's not looking good. Thankfully, all they need is energy, which I can provide in ample supply. I think I'll set up in Ceo's doubt. Not far from the power plants down there. I'll probably get in some Paranid, but I can live with that. I'll have bugs planted by the dockworkers. That'll give me an inside into the enemy sectors.

Then I can follow the freighters and BLOW THEM ALL UP! Okay, probably not. I might drop a mine field around the complex though, with only the Hub exposed. Any one coming to attack it, like the Pirates which always populate Teladi sectors is going to have a very bad day.

[Triaxx2]

Chapter 48:Fuel for thought

It seems that not only does Light of Heart lack totally for Silicon, but that my Nividium operation, which has been providing supplemental income in Ore Belt has run out of Nividium to mine. This is an unpleasant turn of events, for three reasons. First of all I still a credit leak I have not been able to lock down, and second because I was relying on that supplemental income to repair the multitude of ships I've got wandering around in places. Third, and last of all, it means that the Prospectors are doing nothing but swilling space fuel without making me any money. And that irks me something mighty. while they are now both experienced prospectors, they are as the inestimable Mak G'yvr would say, complete numpties at anything else.

There are of course other deposits of Nividium floating around the universe, but tracking them down is going to be a hassle. Unless I manage to stumble across one, and that's not really my style. Well, first thing is to get the two numpties off the bar and into space. Family Zein is up north of me, and I've heard that it's full of rocks. I suspect there might be something interesting up there, and so I'll have one of the two head up that way. The other will light his engines and make a survey of Ore Belt. If there's not any more Nividium, perhaps there's something else of value. If nothing else, I'll be able to drop in and sell the yields of the minerals to some bunch of numpties looking for them without the hassle of doing it myself.

Meanwhile, the two idiots in Weaver's can't seem to find any ore. I think I'll have one of them move up to Ocracoke's Storm and survey it, while the other looks to see what's in Weaver's. If nothing else, I'll drop in with Snake in the Roid's and apply some high explosives to the local rocks. So while those four are getting their rocks... scanned, I'm going to go pick up some boom from from the local high yield complex.

Mean time though, the Caiman 'Weaver's Delivery Service' seems to be doing a bang up job of hauling huge amounts of energy to the IBL Supply Station. And the Disco's are running themselves ragged dropping energy. I've considered having them join the Falcon in moving space fuel, but the problem with that is that it occasionally forgets to sell it all, and then it ends up with a hold full of the stuff and won't pick up the IBL's. This is in fact annoying. I'm going to instead acquire a third Discoverer, dedicated exclusively to moving Fuel around Weaver's. Thus should the Falcon be relieved of the effort of moving fuel and the Discoverer will have no need to worry about being full of fuel save for not a place to unload it.

Me? Oh, for now I'm going to find a nice spot dead in the middle of Gunne's Crusade,and begin looking for Paranid Freighters hauling Teladianium. No point in making more than I have to if I can simply take it away from the Paranid.

I do have two thoughts outside of all this pirate work. I have a complex producing a serious overage of Nostrop. Or at least it will be once it's getting enough energy. Such would give me both improved anti-capital, as well as increased anti-fighter potential. It would also mean that Gunboat Diplomacy would be carrying a LOT more diplomacy. Instead of simply looking really, really scary.

In the words of Steve, I shall make an Ode to things which explode. Since there's not quite enough. Silicon in Legend's Home, and I'm a tad short of cash, I'm going to jump into the Amazon, and check out the Unknown Sector between Montalaar and New Income. I seem to recall seeing roid's there when I was through last, but it's been a while. I do remember that it was a huge sector, so I'm not going to go in with something as slow as the Snake, and since there's no report from the prospectors yet, I've got a little time. Mos Eisley is at the SPP in Akeela's, so I'll drop in there, and make the swap.

The prospectors aren't too happy about their new assignments, and I've received a number of complaints. Fortunately, I don't really care. They work for me, I pay them, I expect them to do what I tell them.

Doesn't take long for the Miner who'd been informed he should survey debris in Weavers to inform me that there wasn't any. I ordered him to check out the roid's instead.

While I wait for all of that, I both construct a Silicon Mine in the Unknown sector, having found a 55-yield Silicon Asteroid, and then assign a spare Caiman SF to run silicon to the FAA plex, crystals to the SPP, and energy to the mine.

Mean while two vultures are making their way to the Ianamus Zura Space Equipment dock for refitting to work as CAG's. For myself, I continue to expand, adding a Flail Missile fab to the FAA plex, as well as a Chip plant.

Then having had enough of playing tycoon, I slip into something lethal, namely the Unsuspected Gains, and go to do a little pirate hunting after out fitting it with a bunch of spare PAC's. 16 IBL's and 14 PAC's isn't exactly the most impressive anti-fighter outfit, but it easily rips apart 4 pirates in PTNI.

I do manage to have a slight traffic accident while in PTNI though. Heading to the equipment dock, I fail to notice that I'm about to run over the Chip plant, from which I've purchased 12 microchips. I bang it pretty thoroughly and lose some rep. Fortunately I'm able to stop and back off without destroying it, or myself. I've also succeeded in partly arming the Gain's, picking up four FAA from the local Fab. Moving well around the chip plant, and apologizing to the local Condor, I dock at the EQD and equip all the docked and unhangared ships. Which is all of them. In short order I have two attack fighters, and an interceptor. All under armed and undershielded, except for the lone Mamba.

Skipping back to Akeela's Beacon, I find that the Cluster Flak Artillery Array forge is fully stocked. The Blastclaw Prototype I captured not too long ago drops out of the ship, lands, and snaps up 6 of the 8. After playing around with them, I slipped into several of the fighters, and took them out into space to apply a little repair laser. Then I spent the better part of three hours, welding all the pieces of the Unsuspected Gains back into place. Docking at the closest capital capable station, which happens to be the Hub, I decide to take a rest.

I find myself enjoying flying Unsuspected Gains. 4 GJ of shielding, and capital class weapons really makes it easier to deal with fights that suddenly drop in on me. As I'm preparing to leave dock, I skim across Akeela's and see a left over Navigation Beacon from the Treasure hunt. I have a sudden feeling of glee. I'm going to do two things. First I'm going to dock at the Military Outpost in Aladna Hill, outfit the rest of the fighters on board, with pilots and guns and such, and see if the Xenon are up for playing, and if this ship can really handle itself in a fight. If it can, then I've got a new flagship. If not, well I had a good run.

[Scion Drakhar]

Ouch. Talk about a chip on your shoulder ...

[Triaxx2]

47? Or 48? I think I was frustrated with the game when I wrote 47. No, I don't think it. I know it. I'm busy trying to do things with the capitals, and I'm constantly getting messages that 'there are no minerals here'. Apparently Prospectors don't allow the auto-respawn. Which is fine, it's just not something I knew, so I wasn't continually blowing up more roids.

So yeah, I was having a hard time of it right then and so...