Goner Plot (Page 2 of 2)

Written by Spike

Hotting Up

You will receive a message from Avens telling you that Hall's ship is under attack in Wastelands. Head over there and blow the attackers to pieces. You don't have to worry about the ship, the Truelight Seeker, being destroyed as it is invincible. Once the attacking ships are dusted, you get more problems.

A hostile force threatens Goner ships and stations in Bright Profit. You must head over there immediately and deal with the threat. Pirate Syndicate ships will soon begin pouring out of the South gate, heading for the Teladianium foundry. You must protect the station, as per a normal defend station mission.

When all attacking ships are destroyed, a third distress call comes in, this time from a freighter in Company Strength, one sector south of you. You must protect it from attacking hostiles. Jump to the West gate.

It begins to get silly when distress call number four comes in. A TS in Tears of Greed is under attack. Save it, same as last time. Jump to the West gate of Tears of Greed to intercept the foes. Be very wary of Tomahawk Missiles; these will demolish the TSs and must be shot down before they find their targets.

Then another distress call from another TS in Tears of Greed. Deal with it, you're used to it by now! Save, complete the mission, and when you're done saving again in a different slot would be a good idea.

As if you hadn't had enough of combat by now, the Truelight Seeker has been captured by the Pirates. It was last seen heading East from Midnight Star, and you must re-capture it.

When you jump in, you find a Pirate escort squad that needs to be dealt with before you can proceed. Lure them away from the Seeker and destroy them, making sure that you don't hit the Seeker with weapons fire. Once the escorts are gone, you've got less to worry about.

Now you have to capture the Seeker. This could be done with five elite Marines who will be lost as soon as the boarding operation is successful (as the Seeker will immediately transfer back to Goner control when you obtain it), but this is wasteful.

Provided that you didn't hit the Seeker with weapons fire, it should eventually come to a stop. If it doesn't, reload one of your earlier saves from the final Protect Transport mission.

When it stops, you can jump out of your ship and hijack it back for yourself using the 'claim' option. This is by far the least painful way of completing this part of the plot. And after what you've already gone through (and what you're about to go through) you need all the help you can get.

Your day gets worse. Hall was transferred to a different ship prior to your arrival. Your next mission is to follow the ship transporting him. You'd better save before starting. This is a standard follow ship mission, but if you're on hostile terms with the Pirates then it's a follow ship mission through very difficult space. This is why if the Pirates don't like you, you need to that powerful M7 class ship; you'll have Pirate ships including capital ships swarming all over you whilst you're following this guy. If you're friends with the Pirates, a decent M6 will probably do.

You'll find the ship in Merchant Haven. He'll head to a Pirate Base in Gaian Star. You need to follow between 10 and 15km whilst brushing off whatever attacks you are likely to face. It's a long boring trek across Maelstrom but it must be done. When you reach each Gate, a small Pirate force will jump in and attack you. It shouldn't be too hard to brush them off. When you reach Gaian Star, save again and close to 9km from the ship you are following. The Pirate Base, when you spot it, will also launch a squad of Keas to attack you. Stay close to the Blastclaw you are chasing.

When the Blastclaw docks, Hall will escape in a space suit. Open the throttle, get in and pick him up, then activate your jumpdrive and get out. It doesn't matter where.

Save. Then get Hall to the Ozias. That's the hardest part of the Terran Conflict plots over and done with.

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Endgame

The Goners' next move is quite uncharacteristic. They decide that they must destroy the Pirate Base. It's the only way, they think, to halt these attacks. It's your job to do the deed.

When you jump into Gaian Star, Hall contacts you from a Heavy Centaur Prototype asking you to stop. Make your mind up, boy!... but he soon explains his reason. There's a Terran agent aboard the base. You must ship in a load of Spaceweed to gain the Pirates' trust... and then SQUASH Mines to blow the base to bits. Find 35 units of Spaceweed and 60 SQUASH Mines. Don't get caught carrying them in the Commonwealth.

Note that Hall's ship may well come under attack by local Pirate forces; don't worry, it's invincible.

When your Spaceweed is obtained, fly to the Pirate Base and talk to the dock manager. He grants you docking permission, so get on board.

When you dock, the Terran agent will come on board and tell you to make tracks. Undock and hit the throttle, but don't jump anywhere yet. We want to see the fireworks first.

After that's done and dusted, jump back to the Ozias is Elysium of Light. Once you get into transporter range, the plot is complete.

And your reward? It appears in your inventory; it's the Unfocussed Jumpdrive. It will allow you to progress through future Plots, and also allows you to acquire a sought-after ship. Then, after an hour or two of game time, the Truelight Seeker will be gifted to you as well. This isn't much of a combat ship, but as it mounts almost every weapon going it makes a great platform for testing weapons.

Those rewards complete the Goner Plot, and completion of this Plot opens up a number of others.
- Spike

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