Quests

Captain's Log

3/2/2015
3/4/2015
3/6/2015
3/8/2015
3/12/2015

---

Captains Log: 3/2/2015

Having yet to do much with Ap beyond a brief test a couple years back when buying the entire X series on a steam sale and some initial messing around the over the weekend, I figured a custom start would be a good way to begin, especially since the mod mentions all storylines are enabled. (Back when I first purchased the X pack I decided to play through from the first one on up through, and only recently got around to finishing TC so Ap is pretty new to me.)

A short time later I found myself in Argon Prime in a Viper MK VII (optimized layout) and ready to take on the 'verse with the surrounding 5 jump area uncovered.

A quick check of the load out reveals a full set of EBC's, nearly 100 mosquito's and a half dozen Phantom Missiles.. (some seriously heavy fire power I initially doubted I'd need anytime soon.

My initial exploration of the sector is brought up short by the realization none of my key controls carried over from X3 (obviously) so I spend the next several minutes rebinding keys, only to have a wing of pirate blast claws jump in the sector mid keybind and decide to mix it up with me. Having half my keys still unbound, the battle is over before I set a key to accelerate forward and I'm back at the loading screen.

Right, new custom start, same set up, only this time I get smart and dock with a station before fussing with my keys, and am surprised to find myself auto docking from 20km away. (sweet!) then just as I am about to undock, remember after the fact I should probably enable the Thereshallbewings code and to reinit script cache so the mod runs correctly. (Is this part actually needed?) Another lengthy period later and all the new hotkeys are properly rebound and infinite salvage insurance "cheat" turned on. (Being able to save often whenever you like is especially handy when you live in an area with frequent power outages during the winter, and also helpful when play testing to more easily revisit a battle/mission that turned out to be potentially buggy.)

The next 40 minutes or so goes pretty smoothly with some simple kill missions against Star Wars B wings for 40k-147k, and I am pleasantly surprised to find I can now teleport crates on board my ship (or order the ship to auto port them onboard) and no longer need to hassle with flying around to hunt them down piece meal. (This is such a huge time saver!) Along the way I also find a random eliete derelict parked 947k from Red Lights center. What it's doing all the way out there isn't really my concern, (although I suspect the pilots over imbibing of space weed and/or space fuel may have had something to do with it!) and a short time later the ship is claimed and on the way back to dock.

Unfortunately the time I spent getting out there means my latest kill mission will be out of time before I can finish it, so I abandon the mission before it can fail and move on, docking to vendor the non useable missiles, bofu and other assorted junk and feeling quite content with my progress thus far

A short while later I find a nice trio of kill missions in Cloud Base South West, one for 47k another for 493k and one for 1.4 mil. After being a bit shocked to find such a high level kill mission on offer so early into the game I eagerly accept all three and am even happier to find they are all within a couple sectors of each other, with the 47lk and 493k being in the same system and roughly 30 mins a piece on the hard ones with a generous hour and change for the 47k bounty.

After a quick mental calculation I decide to take on the 1.4 contract first, figuring it will take the longest to nail, and if time runs short it's the one mission I want to be certain to finish. A few moments later I find myself in queens space bearing down at 400+ ms on a collection of M4's, M5's (Star Wars X wings by the looks of them) and....2 Split Tigers?!?! (one of which is my target) I find myself both shocked and thrilled to have such a hard target offered to me during my first hour or so of play, and quickly come to the conclusion the only way I'm taking it down is by expending my payload of Phantoms and even then, it's going to be a hard kill.

Using the Viper MK VII's speed to my full advantage I first do a quick strafe against the Tiger, tickling its shields with my guns to draw off the escorts, quicily leaving them in the dust a short distance away and swinging back around, my missile alert warning a continual beep, which is about the time I realize I'd completely forgotten to set orders for the rear turret of my viper. (Doh! although in my defense I'm used to the normal version which doesn't have a rear turret.)

Hoping my battery of mosquitoes will do the job I Angle downward, aiming for the beasts under belly of the Tiger and let rip with four Phantoms before peeling off to zip around it in a wash of turret fire, the flash bang of incoming ordinance lighting up the darkness of space behind me, my target lock happily revealing a quick loss of shields, followed not long after by more explosions and the hull counter of the Tiger quickly disappearing. I flip around ready to finish it off with another Phantom only to have it erupt in a wash of light and fire a few km away as I realize the swarm of missiles the fighter escort had lobbed in my direction had also hammered into the Tiger on my close pass, (along with it's twins heavy weapon fire as well I'm assuming) making an otherwise tough fight something of an unexpected cake walk.

My smile of success is short lived as the escort and remaining Tiger bears down on me with a vengeance, the loss of their lead M7 by their own missiles not something the split pilots likely want to report back to head command without being able to add in the report of my rapid demise soon after. Once again using the Vipers speed to my advantage I lure the escorts off and engage in a thankfully brief dog fight with the m4's and 5's, clearing the sky within a few minutes with only some moderate shield damage to show for my efforts, lining up on the remaining Tiger and debating if I should loose my last 2 Phantoms and try my luck at finishing off the wounded beast or quit while I'm ahead?.

A quick check of the mission timer and I find myself with only 18 minutes remain to finish off the last two kills. The Split got lucky this time. Without delay I hop over to the next sector, finding a swarm of asteroids filling the zone, nestled in their heart a Paranid Nemesis and wing of escorts. Compared to the pair of Tigers this feels much more within the bounds of doable. Not trusting my previous tactic of leading missiles on a merry chase (and realizing about 10 seconds after I engage the escorts I *still* haven't set that pesky rear turret up yet!) I decide to take on the 40k bounty and light escort and quickly mop them up before focusing my attention on the Nemesis.

During my dog fight of dodging among asteroids I am deeply pleased to see the Nemesis slam face first into a sizeable asteroid, eliminating its shields and half of its hull, making for what I expectto be a very easy kill in a few moments after I take out the last couple of escorts.

As I finish off the last M5 and am linging back up on the heavily damaged Nemsis I notice a further swarm of red dots invading my space, it seems wing of Yaki M 4's and 5's have decided to join the party! No big deal I figure, as I adjust and quickly take them on, using the asteroids to full effect to keep their missiles from finding my rather vulnerable (if pretty!) back side. After slaying what I think is the 9th Yaki I come to the realization the "wing" of Yaki is actually an endless stream of angry hornets trickling through the near by gate, and my EBC ammo is dwindling faster than I'd like.

It's also with some consternation I notice my hull is around 50%! After a moment of confusion I realize these Yaki are packing Mass Drivers, and the seemingly annoying threat is quickly re-evaluated to a deadly menace, not to mention the fact in the mean time the Nemesis has regenerated a good portion of its shields and my mission timer is down to around the 4 minute mark. Peeling away from the Yaki skrimish I make a beeline for open space, hoping to lure the Yaki off far enough that I can safely scurry back and finish off the Nemesis before they gang up on me again.

A few moments later I notice to my amusement the Yaki have decided to turn on the Nemesis, and despite it's shields being almost to full power now, they are eating away at it's hull at an alarming rate. My satisfaction of letting them do the dirty work of killing my bounty for me is dashed as I recall that unless I get a few hits in on the M6 I won't get a credit for the death. A quick strafing run and mosquito volley later I've dented it's shields enough to be satisfied and the Nemesis goes up in a ball of fire and the my bank account increases by several more digits.

With my Hull down to barely 40% I limp back to the nearest gate with the Yaki hot on my tail, a spread of Mosquito fire keeping them distracted long enough for me to make my escape although I am disappointed to leave behind the huge list of loot still filling the sector. With a mental note to return later I limp back to the dubious safety of Argon prime and eject form my ship with the intention of repairing the several million credits worth of hull damage with my repair laser.

This plan is dashed to ruins as I notice for some reason I don't have a repair laser equipped, nor it seems is my space suit capable of installing one? (Is this a bug or design feature?) After cursing the designer of such a shoddy survival suit I climb back in my viper and head to where my Elite has finally managed to dock itself and begin transferring equipment over to it, figuring I can make do with the vessel just fine until I can afford to get my Viper patched up. Unfortunately the Elite is unable to equip my Vipers EBC's leaving it toothless, and rather useless given it's limited cargo space compared to my Viper.

After returnign my equipment to its rightful place and dropping by a trade port in a near by sector I notice I can now afford an Argon police license, so at least now I'll be getting paid for keeping their sectors of space free of riff raff.. I also notice my Argon rank is (5), and I recalled reading once I reached rank 4 the main plot for Argon would start, yet it hasn't? (A bug or do I need a higher rep?)

Looking at the time I decide to call it a day and spend the night at the station and write up a Captains log for the rest of the pilots to pour over before my next foray into the black.


Asset Tally:

x1 heavily damagedColonial Viper MK VII (42% hull)
x1 undamaged, (but unarmed & unshielded) Elite
X1 Yaki Raider, critically damaged (17% hull) without any shields or weapons)
x2 Phantom Missiles
x67 Mosquito Missiles.
2,894,321 credits.

To do list:

Find a way to acquire more EBC ammo, which shouldn't prove too troublesome given the Teladi border is close by.
Acquire enough credits to repair my Viper MK VII or find a way to make the repair laser on my space suit work.
Begin working for Argon in the pursuit of loftier goals and ambitions. (The main argon Plotline)
Edit: and finally set up that blasted rear turret on the Viper MK VII


The Good:

-The dog fight with the Yaki among the asteroids was arguably the most fun I've had in an X game to date, while running into so many fighters packing mass drivers so early in the game was a bit irksome, it certainly made the dog fight against a fleet of M4's and 5's far more fun than it would have been otherwise.

-Teleporting containers on board the ship, such a wonderful time saver.

-Space feeling much more "alive" than in previous X games.

-Despite all the hull damage I received I didn't lost a single installed component, this I found especially convenient given the time sink of flying around to rebuy all of it can be a real pain in the arse, especially later int he game when you have tons of stuff installed, and only some of it is voiced by name when destroyed.


The Bad:

-Not being able to use a repair laser to fix up my fighter at the end of the day, if the bad guys are going to be packing mass drivers from day 1 I should be able to pack a repair laser to off set the guaranteed hull damage I'll incur from fighting them.

-The Argon plot line not activating, if I hasn't popped after another hour or so of play I'll restart and see if it does then.


The Ugly:

The unmentionable things that was done to the poor split pilots that blew up their own cap ship and then let their attacker escape virtually unscathed after the fact.

The state of my Vipers hull after tangling with two dozen Yaki's in an asteroid field

The look i got from Rosella (my significant other) for being up at 1am still typing on the computer instead of in bed like a I promised her I'd be 2 hours ago. :

---

---

Captains Log: 3/4/2015

So my career in the Agron sector wound up cut surprisingly short, (After doing a fresh install the game refuses to load my save citing "wrong version" ah well only a few hours or into it.) I decide to start over, same start, same ship, etc.

My new foray into Argon space is surprisingly quiet this time around, no rogue Blast Claws nothing except for a couple stray missile crates in need of collection, which oddly enough my transporter refuses to pick up. A quick check of my cargo bay reveals oddly enough it's jam packed full of 6-7 of each weapon type my viper can equip, along with a chunk of ammo and missiles leaving me with 14 units of space left? Making a mental note to fire my ship outfitter next time I visit the equipment dock I quickly jettison the particle beams, the impulse ray emitters, the matter anti matter launchers, and other assorted weaponry until I'm left with my desired load out, 3 energy bolt chain guns and 3 pulsed beam emitters with a frag bomb launcher in the rear turret and suitable array of missiles.

That done and the back turret properly configured (and nicely enough it was already set to missile defense.) I head through the nearest gate in search of adventure, and the next, and the next, by passing the purchase ship and station delivery missions in the hopes of finding a kill mission, but it seems Argon space is at peace today, not even a random pirate skirmish or Khack incursion. I spend the next hour or so doing some easy ship retrieval missions and a couple kill missions (one of which gets poached out from under me before I even reach the sector it's in.) for a few thousand credits each until I pull a covert ops mission for 22k and a "hard" anti xenon patrol of Ore Belt 247k.

Only 247 K? how hard can it be? I eagerly accept both, trusting the generous 1hr 47 mins I have to complete the covert mission will be more than enough time for me to knock out a single sector patrol.

The patrol starts off easy enough, a few N's, some L's and a mix of M's, which make fora fun challenge and seriously eat into the 5k rnds of chain bolt ammo I have. What quickly becomes apparent is my Vipers power plant seems woefully under optimized for the 3 PBMs in front and FBL in the rear turret, and is usually hovering around the 0%-4% mark most of the battle, leading me to rely heavily on my chain guns as yet more waves of Xenon continue to spawn, even a few swarmer missiles into the mix does little to thin out the numbers.

A good 45 minutes later the horde of Xenon think out, just as my chain guns are down to 15 rnds a piece, I finish off the last N with sigh of relief, right as I notice 2 new red contacts on my radar, a pair of P's have apparently been informed I was almost out of chain gun ammo and decide to take advantage of the fact. Not one to give up so easily I deactivate the rear turret to give my front guns the full energy amount and head in at full throttle. A short time and (many missile later) I have one P dead and the others shield down by half only to notice more contacts on radar, CBDR. Frack, *more* Xenon.

I flip about ready to engage them, silently hoping there's not more P's or worse, a Q in the mix, only to find it's a dozen Yaki Raiders, it seems they got the memo about my chain gun ammo shortage too. Fortunately they seem to have an equal hate on for the P, and I fall back to place the P between them and me, planning to finish off the victor. Surprisingly the damaged P puts in the good showing and all but cleans the sky of Yaki, leaving behind enough missile salvage for me to promptly put an end to it's victory lap.

Not wanting to waste any more time I quickly eject and use the 10 pack of repair lasers on my suit to repair my Viper from the many laser burns and missile shrapnel that had dropped it to 71% hull. I stop off at a couple missile factories to restock my supply and I decide to finish up the covert mission before hunting for more chaingun ammo, since it's likely to be light on the combat side.

I make it to the meet up point with 20 minutes to spare, and begin following a shady looking boron in a Buster, who's sipping along at 328ms, not bad, and faster than the 80ish ms I was anticipating. The tailing op is pretty sedate, as I follow behind at a comfortable 10km, the sectors elevator music lulling me into a light slumber, when unexpectedly a canine paw slaps my controls, sending a missile streaking towatds the tail pipe of my mission objective! (note to self: flying with a German Shepherd in your cockpit is unsurprisingly ill advised, even if his name is "Lucky." )

I watch helplessly as the heavy missile streaks in for the kill, my exclamation of surprise tempered by the realization I'd have probably fallen asleep at the stick if he hadn't taken an extreme dislike to our shifty target. I hold my breath as I notice the Boron is right at the lip of the gate, and Lucky's ill fated ordinance delivery might just miss it's mark. I quickly zoom in with the video enhancement goggles to watch, but Unfortunately the missile dissolves the boron in a wash of light nano seconds before it reaches the gate entry.

No sooner does the mission cheerfully ding in failure than a swarm of pirates exit the gate, apparently out for my blood. Noticing they are in Novas and none to shy about expending their missile payloads in my direction I decide to call it a day and barrel for the far jump gate, a few swarmer packs covering my retreat. After safely docking in home of light I notice my rank with the Argon is now 5, yet no offers of employment are filing my com link. A quick check of the galactic infopedia tells me I need to be in Argon Sector M148 for them to take notice of me, and so I set course, greateful for my Vipers 478ms top end speed.

Along the way I get an interesting message from a group called the "Cartel" informing me they are setting up shop in the area and for me to steer clear and not try to compete. Signed Dim Wit something somthing. Thinly veiled threats aside they sound like right tossers, and I make a mental note to find some of their trade convoys and liberate their contests (and ships if possible) for myself in the near future.

A short while later I arrive, only to find aside from a testy split wanting me to assault an Argon trade convoy on his behalf (sounds like a set up to me!) no one is interested in talking to me. A quick fast forward on Seta just in case and not much has change, except the Split apparently gave up on finding a lackey for his murderous intentions and now has a companion hiring pilots to do patrols of the near by unknown sector. Deciding to call it a night while I'm ahead, (and before the amount of shed fur in my cockpit completely clogs the life support system) I dock at the near by military outpost and file another captains log for my fellow pilots to learn from. (and be amused by.)


Asset Tally:

x1 Colonial Viper MK VII fully repaired.
x1 undamaged, Xenon N sitting in the Argon equipment dock. (sending it out on mineral scans is tempting, or to explore the galaxy, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet.)
15 rnds Chaingun ammo (I couldn't find a factory that had any in stock.)
x15 Swarmer Missiles
x20 Mosquito Missiles.
3,321 credits.


To do list:

-Figure out why the Argon won't offer me a job (the main plot)

-Acquire some Cartel cargo and ships for myself, hopefully they'll be push overs equivilent to Dukes cargo hauling co, time will tell.

-Vacuum all the dog fur from my cockpit.


The Good:

-it was nice to see a more peaceful start to things, the variety keeps the game interesting, and the chance of a tranquil start makes it viable for a trader beginning.

-The smaller number of viable missiles makes it much easier to select the ones you want in the heat of combat and keep track of what does what.


The Bad:

-The Viper seems to have serious energy issues with the back turret active, Not sure why but the FBL rear turret seems to suck energy at the rate it does, but it's aggravating.

-The Argon plot line *still* not activating.

-Having my 138k kill mission poached when I wasn't even in the sector.

-Trying to find sufficient amounts of missiles and EBC ammo in the galaxy. The factories seem to have very little in stock, and in the case of EBC ammo they were out of stock entirely.


The Ugly:

-The look i gave Lucky when he blew my covert mission by pawing my keyboard to get my attention.

-My credit balance after buying a full complement of missiles.

---

Captains Log: 3/6/2015

A trade career that was over before it really began, and a an asset out of reach for the immediate (and farther) future.

It started off pretty straight forward, I set out, (with my canine co pilot suitably chastised for unauthorized missile deployment) to find and acquire some shiny Cartel ships for my fleet, and teach them a small lesson in threatening me and make a tidy profit along the way. (after selling my EBC's and purchasing an array of PAC's at an argon equipment dock.)

For an up and coming trade empire these cartel blokes seem to be a bit on the scarce side, at least around Argon sectors, so I explore south. Paranid space is about as I expect the ugly Cuthulhu incarnates are hurling insults in my direction and generally being disagreeable, just shy of gun fire as long as I stay from their core sectors which suits me well enough. A few missions around emperor mines and priests pity grants me access to their core worlds, and as I branch out further "east" (by the galactic sector map alignment anyway) I encounter a Dukes dangerous materials transporter, hates by the Paranid and easy pickings for my Viper MK VII.

With a cautionary reminder to Lucky not to missile Duke's bastu I slip in behind the offending freighter and close to gun range, only to have the hauler open on me with a flack array! In a blink my shields are ripped to shreds along with nearly half my hull, as a strafe underneath the hauler and begin chewing into its underbelly with my PAC's, grateful to be out of its arc of fire. (Note to self: Approach haulers from the belly from now on, seems the pilots have wised up and packed on more weaponry these days.)

Fortunately Duke's dookies don't carry fighter drones (or at least not this one) so I'm able to eat his shields and convince the pilot to bail around the 70% mark, leaving me with a newly liberated hauler I christen "Lucky Strike," and my Viper MK VII a smoking ruin in need of serious repair, (and a couple new 25MJ shields) I hope back out and repair both my viper, and newly acquired trade ship back up to 100%. Deciding a few trade runs are in order to recoup funds and allow me to better outfit my new trade ship and re-shield my Viper I quickly transfer the remaining shields and ware from my Viper to Lucky Strike

Not feeling comfortable with leaving my unshielded Viper to fly back to Argon space on it's own I dock it at the nearest shipyard in Paranid Prime, figuring a Core Paranid sector will keep it safe, and a ship yard has low enough traffic it won't get booted into space by another docking ship, (which has happened to other assets parked at solar farms and bofu factories in the past.)

Fighter secured I head out and begin trading in the Paranid areas eventually picking up a "hard" lucrative E-cell contract for the fussy Paranid who wants them pretty much yesterday to power his complex. With the recent engine tunings I've purchased should let me finish with a few minutes to spare. All goes according to plan and Emperors Wisdom is flush with E-cells due to the presence of 4 solar plants so prices are rock bottom. The first run goes as planned and I'm just undocking from my second run an 7 km from the gate when my Canine co pilot demands my attention. Using the handy time deceleration feature of my SETA I slow the world to a pause and leave the controls with out concern.

A few moments later I hear the unmistakable sound of a ship hammering its hull against something solid, not the sound one wants to greet them when their back is to the flight controls. A mad dash back to the cockpit find one of my feline passengers has so cheerfully repostioned mouse enhanced flight controls from their stationary position onto the floor, sending the world back into motion. The cringe worthy sound of hull on hull is caused by Lucky Strike battering itself ineffectually against the hull of a Split Elephant that has recently exited the gate. only a portion of the hull remains as the ship careens in towards the side of the TL once more and I quickly hammer the eject button, launching my self into space milli seconds before Lucky Strike erupts in a wash of light and scattered Energy cells.

My cursing of the now spaced feline passengers is cut short as I notice the Elephant is now red to me, and Betty cheerfully announces I've "lost reputation." Not sure what (if any) guns the elephant is packing I turn tail and flee at the 100ms my space suit is capable of for the nearest station, a Paranid owned Soy farm.

Well so much for that trade mission. a quick check of my status and it seems both the split and Paranid are now less than happy with me, the Split far more so than the Paranid who only consider me a "Nomad" compared to the "Shameless Creature" the Split have categorized me as. Knowing my Paranid Rep is about to plummet further when my trade mission expires a few minutes from now I move to order a pick up by my Viper MK VII, realizing just before I give the command it's docked in a core Paranid sector, which is likely already off limits to me, and I don't fancy risking my unshielded Viper on a run from the sector without me at the stick.

Cursing the space hand who convinced me hiring gene lifted animals as part of my crew was a good idea ("They'll work for table scraps, way cheaper than a human crew matey!") I order my Xenon N down from Argon space to retrieve me, hoping it will arrive before the hauler mission ends and I become a shoot on sight nuisance in Paranid space. A fully repaired Xenon N moves at a good clip, and manages to retrieve my crew and me with a little over 4 minutes left on the mission clock. Knowing the time is way to short for me to get back to Argon space I point my N at the East Gate and make a run for Shores of Infinity, hopefully the Boron are in an obliging mood.

A short while later I arrive in Boron space, docking at a bio gas plant just as my Paranid mission expires and my rep falls to "Tainted Wanderer," not as bad as I feared, but I'm not getting my Viper out of impound anytime soon. (Not that it's much good to me in its current state anyway.) So now I look towards an uncertain future in Boron space in a Xenon scout ship, (Christened "Lucky Break") which while not the best of vessels at least has x1 PAc and 1x MJ of shields, and on closer inspection a slipstream drive? What was a Xenon scout doing with one of those? Hopefully I'll love long enough to put it to good use, barring any more insubordination from my so called "crew" anyway.


Asset Tally:

x1 Colonial Viper MK VII unshielded and missing most of its wares stranded in the shipyard of Paranid Prime.
x1 undamaged, Xenon N with a very cramped cockpit.
x4 Aurora Missiles

323,701 credits.


To do list:

-Acquire enough credits to purchase a bigger ship or find an abandoned one.

-Restore my viper Mk VII to fighting form and retrieve it from Paranid Prime

-Find some more reliable crew of the humanoid variety.


The Good:

-A nice spread of missions to be found, and it's nice to see kill missions that can lower rep with other factions if accepted.

-The space suit upgrades, I'd probably have been vaporized by the Split Elephant otherwise.

-Nice music for some areas, not sure if it's the mod or AP expansion but it's a nice change from the TC music.


The Bad:

-it seems the plots are not functioning for the custom start character (I have another terran play through I'm doing the plot missions with and cheating my ass off in to see if the missions work correctly which they seems to be, so not bothering with a play log of that one.)

-Finding out the hard way haulers aren't easy pickings any more.

-Losing my hard won hauler to a playful kitty.


The Ugly:

-What the Paranid think of me currently.

-My future income prospects now I'm in a Xenon M5.

---

Captains Log: 3/8/2015

A Xenon N isn't he prettiest piece of hardware to grace the black, but it gets the job done well enough for an M5.




A quick tally of my inventory of what I was able to scavenge from the wreckage of Lucky Strike and it's a bit better than I anticipated:




It's a bit cramped with my crew plus all the salvage from my hauler, but at least we got out alive, which is more than I can say for most pilots who cross Paranid in their home sectors.

I spend almost 100k of my available funds on upgrading the N to better handle the coming challenges, picking up a mineral scanner in a near by sector feels like a good investment as well, and I spend the next few ours running transports and doing asteroid scans for Boron and Argon employees, aside from one pampered Boron twit that refused to ride in anything but a TP after getting a glimpse of the cramped N cockpit and my Canine and Feline crew mates.

I can't blame her really, but mentioning her standards when she posted the job request might have saved me (and her) lots of time.

I even manage to grab an "easy" kill mission for a couple grand off a Boron who wants revenge on some Paranid that ran off with the company fortune. While it won't sweeten the tentacle heads to my cause any I'm only a shot rep gain from having access to a Boron law enforcement license which will let me take scanning ops and further broaden my employment contracts so with some reservation I accept.

Thankfully the hunt is pretty straight forward, just an M5 harrier that has no clue I'm gunning for him, although the Yaki pirates tearing up the sector take immediate interest in my arrival my N's speed lets me over take the squid head and open up on him with a comfortable margin of safety, only to find 2 particle guns drain an N's capacitors in about 4 seconds, leaving me with a very angry Paranid who's still at half hull and bleating for help across all channels.

Not fancying waiting around for any support to show up I quickly feed him an Aurora missile up his tail pipe and arc away from the ensuing debris cloud... Right into a furball with Yaki raiders and Boron police ships.

A bit of fancy flying and a nasty plasma burn on the hull later and I'm far enough away to watch the chaos ensue and safely pick over the debris, it seems the Boron called on some rapid response craft, a pair of Threshers that swatted the Yaki from the sky like so many gnats on a Teladi's tail ribbons.

The salvage fills my hold to the brim with Silkworm and Wildfire Missiles; but the real prize of the fight is an abandoned Yaki raider just waiting for a new pilot.




Looks like a nice upgrade from my N, and the additional cargo space will make things a lot more convenient in the long run, although the amount of tuning I put into the N makes me hesitate before I recall Pandora tuning exchange should let me transfer it easily over.

A long days work of transport and scanning ends with me in Aladina Hill, docked and trying to get the stench of Yaki pirate from my shiny new Fujin Raider I christen "Lucks Favor." (Do Yaki ever bathe? This thing smells like Paranid locker room during spawning season.)

Asset Tally:

x1 Colonial Viper MK VII unshielded and missing most of its wares stranded in the shipyard of Paranid Prime.
x1 undamaged, Xenon N with a very cramped cockpit.
x1 Fujin Raider
x7 Aurora Missiles
x5 Silkworm Missiles
x12 Wild Fire Missiles
x2 Particle Cannons

177,021 credits.


To do list:

-Acquire enough credits to purchase a bigger ship or find an abandoned one.

-Acquire the firepower to raid Paranid Prime and free my Viper from impound. (I've given up trying to repair my rep with them, since after my latest kill mission I'm now an "Enemy of the priest Duke, I guess that harrier pilot had some lofty connections.)

-Figure out how Pandora tuning transfer works so I can exchange my N tunings onto the Yaki Raider.

-Slowly work my way back to Argon prime space

-Knock over another Duke transporter and see about resuming my trading career long enough to purchase a combat worthy ship

The Good:

-N's are a lot more nimble and combat worthy than I initially gave them credit for, but their energy generation is crap, great ship for high speed passenger transport though.

-Built in cargo life support systems into each ship is a nice change, no more sweating a bit of hull damage killing my crew and marines.


The Bad:

-the Boron passenger throwing a fit about wanting a TP to ride in after I show up for the pick up, it should have been listed in the mission summary before accepting.

-Being stuck ina little M5 with 1MJ of shields after being accustomed to the 125MJ of shielding an M3 Viper gives.

-My rapidly dwindling credit balance.


The Ugly:

-The smell my Yaki raider came with.

-The amount of pride one has to swallow when they find themselves running from fights they otherwise would have gladly taken and easily won. (Never before has a pair of pirate Falcons out for blood caused me to flee a sector with all haste.)

---

Captains Log: 3/12/2015

Don't believe the hype about Yaki ships, despite pirate claims to the contrary they're far from the lethal killing machines one would expect, and their laser batteries have just enough juice to seriously upset anything you shoot them at before running dry.

This will more often than not leave you with a slightly embarrassed grin and half thought out wise crack to defend yourself with before your enemy proceeds to return fire and remove your ship from his piece of the black.

Thankfully they are fast, fast enough to flee angry pirates at any rate, and after escaping north through Aladina Hill with 37% hull remaining, I came across a Xenon incursion laying waste to the northern quadrant of the sector, with several rapid response ships dropping in to counter them.

Judging by the com chatter it was going poorly for the home team, and some unlock boron transport and her escort got caught in the middle of it, with rapid response ships slinging enough plasma across the area to pop her transport like an over stuffed fishstick.

Sucks to be her I thought, and moved in to salvage the bevvy of energy cells that lay scattered across the area when com traffic informed me of her boron escort bailing, leaving behind hopefully a better ship than my still reek worthy Yaki raider.



A Mako Sentinel, a nice step up from my Yaki breeder pod, and with some engine tuning and cargo extension already installed.

A quick cargo transfer later and I have much shiner, and nicer smelling ship, which thanks to Boron organic technology is already healing itself back to full health.

I'm just settling into my shiny new ship and in the middle of ordering my Yaki fish tank to dock with a near by shipyard for vendoring when Betty begins yelling about an incoming missile!

A quick check of the gravidar shows some Pirate bounty hunters on their way to ruin my day, and this time they've come with the guns to do the job right. 2 falcons and 3 novas flanked by a few harriers and a scorpion, not much chance of winning this fight, and half of it can catch me, with the other half's missile more than able to do the same. Or so they assume.

With a middle fingered salute to the hunters I nod to Lucky to engage the slip stream drive and have to peel myself from the seat as the little Mako goes from 0 to 5000 m/s in less time than it takes Lucky to whine in surprise.

Unfortunately changing direction with a slip stream active proves impossible, and my hour is pointed in the general direction of the bounty hunters, and a ship yard. At that speed I figure the impact with the shipyard will be over before I even feel it, and brace myself for the collision only to be quite surprised when instead I find myself docked securely seconds later.

With a quick utterance of thanks to whomever installed that safety feature I quickly order my Yaki Raider to dock and then make a quick beeline for the nearest gate, west into...

Hatikva's fate, a pirate zone, lovely.

The area is scattered with a few red dots, but thankfully nothing close to the gate, that is until the bounty hunters begin streaming through in hot pursuit, more missile locked on and closing. Thankfully I had just enough time to point my nose for the north gate and punch the slipstream, leaving the pirates and their missiles in the dust.

Thurukk's beard is Split territory, and they are decidedly unhappy to see my ship on the gravidar, and even less thrilled by the bounty hunters that fall in behind me a few moments later.

They seem to have my scent and aren't about to give up, so it's time to get creative. Ignoring Spaz's advice to bribe them with left over meat steak cahoonas, and Lucky's suggestion to growl threateningly until they go away I set course for Teladi space, and what I hope will be suitable grounds for a cunning trap.

The Teladi are as expected happy to have someone with credits in their sector, and Company pride has exactly what I'm after, a Teladi Military Condor loitering around near the equipment dock, their captain looking decidedly bored.



Putting on my best "Spacer girl in need" expression I park myself on their port side and proceed to make small talk with the captain about shipyard locations and if he might be in the market for a used and strongly scented Yaki raider.

Fortunately just as discussions are winding down and I'm realizing the captain is more interested in acquiring my trade advisor for a late night snack the bounty hunters arrive in force, a couple hastily launched missiles flashing into the Condors shields and diverting their attention from having my crew for supper.

One would think tangling with an angry Condor is something even none to wise Yaki would no better than doing, but apparently these bounty hunters were short on brains and thirsty for revenge. (Lucky's choice commentary about their mates being of the bovine variety may have helped with that.)

As expected the Condor makes rather short work of them, leaving behind a half dozen wild fire missiles for me to scavenge. A short trip back to Aladina to vendor off my Raider nets me a sizeable profit, which then quickly disappears into a mineral scanner so I can accept a most generous job offer from a rather charming lass.



Several similar missions and a few passenger transports later I find myself a few hundred thousand credits richer and back in familiar territory, Red Light.

It's nice to be home, the slightly too greasy fried tubers of the trade station diner, the over priced Thunderbolt missiles from the Image Seeker missile complex, the eager to please girls at the Midnight Star Brothel, (my favorite part of Red Light) and- wait, what's a Xenon Carrier doing in this sector?



An "I" by the looks of it, and set to lay waste to everything near by, unless the rapid response Titans convince it otherwise.

My thoughts of a hot meal and some much needed R&R disappear as Lucky cheerfully points to the wealth of salvage on the gravidar, more missiles, and other assorted trash than I can hope to fit in my little Mako, with more to come as the conflict intensifies.

I break out a ration bar and spend the next several minutes watching the drama unfold as the Xenon carrier proceeds to make a solid showing for itself and annihilates the first Titan, reducing the second to a quarter shields before erupting in a wash of light and salvage, a nice spread of missiles and guns, many of which I would love to hang onto, but am forced to vendor due to the rather sparse cargo limitations.

In the midst of my second salvage run I notice an astronaut on the Gravidar, her life signs dwindling with only a few seconds left before her passing. A quick punch of the turbo booster and I'm rocking in her direction, only time for a single pass, no second chances this time...

In an amazing display of piloting finesse we manage to collect one Ulla Cruise with 7 seconds on her life support clock! While initially skeptical of my good natured rescue she quickly warms to Lucky and Spaz as I scan the surrounding area for her hastily abandoned ship, a moment of hunting reveals...

A Starfury?



A quick check of the galactic encyclopedia informs me it's a sleek M4, with plenty of shielding and a rear turret, just the kind of upgrade I need until fortune favors me and I can once again return to the warm confines of my Viper.

Law of salvage says its mine to take, and I waste no time in eagerly doing so, miss Ulla being somewhat miffed her hastily abandoned fighter is now my property I offer her a generous salary, sign on bonus, and spot on my crew should she agree to leave the service of the Argon military and join me in penning the Cartel in the galactic book o' the dead.

Given the Argon military had left her out here to die and I was the one who rescued her at the last second it's an easy sell and she readily accepts my proposition and offers to man the rear turret and help me keep Lucky out trouble. (Although I suspect from the look in her eye she's likely to get me into more trouble than Lucky and Spaz combined.)

Several salvage and shopping runs later and my Star Fury is kitted out nicely, with an array of missiles, 100 MJ of shielding and plenty of handy wares to make hitting the Cartel in the daddy bags that much easier and painful.



Now for some well earned R&R, and a chance to for my crew and me to get more familiar with our new Gunnery officer Ulla.


Asset Tally:

x1 Colonial Viper MK VII unshielded and missing most of its wares stranded in the shipyard of Paranid Prime.
x1 Star Fury
x14 Aurora Missiles
x8 Silkworm Missiles
x7 Wild Fire Missiles
x1 Particle Cannon
x4 Phased Repeater guns
x6 Typhoon Swarmer missiles
x7 Thudnerbolt missiles

30,004 credits.


To do list:

-Acquire enough credits to purchase an M6 or find an abandoned one.

-Acquire the firepower to raid Paranid Prime and free my Viper from impound. (Or alternatively lead a large enough contingent of Yaki/Pirate/Xenon Bounty Hunters into the sector to suitably distract the Paranid long enough for me to abscond with my Viper MK VII.

-Find and Acquire a Cartel trade ship.

-Knock over another Duke transporter and start some automated trade within Argon space.

The Good:

-The universe really seems alive, watching the massive battle between Xenon and Argon forces was fun.

-Finding an abandoned Starfury, sweet looking ship I'm eager to put through combat trials.


The Bad:

-Bounty Hunters not giving up and showing up in such overwhelming numbers. (If not for hiding behind the Teladi Condor I'd have been chased by them anywhere I went, which can be a bit frustrating if you're in an M5.

-The cool down timers on ejected astronauts seems a little short?

-How much it cost to fully outfit my Starfury. (But it takes money to make money so it "should" be worth it in the long run.)


The Ugly:

-The mess the Xenon made of Redlight.

-The look Ulla gave me when I salvaged her abandoned Starfury seconds after rescuing her.

* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Nice update!

The Slipstream Drive will attempt to automatically dock with a station IF YOU TARGET THE STATION. In other words, it will dock if the drive knows that you want to dock at the station.

You probably know that an alternative to a Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) for recovering your Viper Mk7 would be to do a few missions for the Paranid. But, then, Hostage Recovery sounds more fun.

Normally ejected pilots have two hours to get to station. That is usually sufficient, in most sectors. Pilots ejected by LIFE, on the other hand, have shorter clocks (30 minutes, maybe?).

Starfury is a nice M4+. You're going to like it.