“And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
-thank you control. Ease up the throttle, balance out the thrusters. Rear camera, signal, manoeuvre. Watch the lip of the docking hatch…and we’re out. Wow…
All that time in the simulators, not to mention hours spent staring through the viewing window, it doesn’t prepare you for the first time you actually take your ship out. The endless depths of infinity opening before you, the storm bands on the planet you spent almost all of your life on. In the distance, an Argon Titan, pride of the fleet…one day. Now to take my first steps to the rest of my life, where do I begin?
Equipment Dock seems a sensible idea, have a quick look at the latest developments in space-flight technology. I call the station’s automatic communications system, a bland yet strangely emotive voice responds. Seems strange, I’ve only just left one station and already I’m heading to another. After being cleared for landing I begin my approach, where is the docking port?
Ah, there are the green docking lights, time to ease up on the throttle. Beep-beep. What did I touch?! Oh, it’s just the threat scanner. Careful now, don’t want to run in too fast…
Inside I find only one spare parking space, easing into it the docking computer turns itself on. A quick scan of the message boards shows nothing of interest, best check out the equipment on offer. A large range is listed before me, some of it not compatible with my small disco, scanning down the list I notice the trading system extension. I read about it a long time ago in an old issue of some trading magazine, it allows you to view exact details of what a station is buying or selling, if you own another ship it also allows you to conduct a trade between it and whatever station it’s docked at. It would certainly be useful, I could check out the prices at stations without having to dock. If only I weren’t broke. I saved all I could while I was working in my uncle’s shop, but only managed to scrape together 1000 credits. I didn’t realise quite how expensive everything was. In a reckless attempt to raise some more funds I sell both my 1MW shield and two Alpha Impulse Ray Emitters, I’m not planning to head into combat any time soon and this brings my credits total up to a slightly more healthy 8740.
Since I have only got a small amount of credits I decide the best place to start would be the Solar Power Plant. These produce Energy Cells, a commodity used by practically every other type of station. When I view the prices I find that they’re selling them for only 9 credits each, that’s really cheap and wherever I sell them I should make some profit. My problem is cargo space, the disco is an M5 and unlike TS class ships is not meant for heavy trading, it’s designed for transporting small groups of passengers and small but important cargo that has a tight delivery schedule. I only manage to fit in eighteen cells.
I look over the list of stations nearby and decide that the shield production facility is probably my best bet, I conclude that a high quality facility like that is likely to pay more, although this often isn’t the case. They’re running a little low on Energy Cells so they are willing to pay a reasonably high price, 18 credits each, that’s double what I paid for them. Normally that’s a good way to make a lot of profit but considering the small amount I am dealing with it barely makes an impact on my funds, at this rate it’ll take me years to raise enough for another ship. I make a trip to the equipment dock to improve my cargo space, but can’t afford much of an increase, I can now transport thirty-three instead of eighteen units. This depletes my cash to a measly 3150. Another trip from the Solar Power Plant to the Shield Factory, they’re still charging the same but the factory is willing to pay more.
Feeling slightly depressed I decide to give the message boards a look over, I spot a small advert for a passenger wanting to travel to another station within Argon Prime. There is a slight risk, some Xenon (a mysterious group of self-replicating machines) are looking for this person but I figure it’s such a small journey I could easily make it in my nippy little ship. As soon as we leave the station a Xenon ship is spotted on the scanners, I target the station and quickly boost the engines up to full power. Beep-boop. Missile lock on warning! I start taking evasive action, whether wiggling the controls in all directions is actually helping I don’t know, but nothing happens for quite a while, why did I get rid of the shields…
The station is in full view now, the missile warning light is still flashing but still nothing has happened. I ask for docking permission, hurrying through the transmission as quickly as possible so I can get back to my questionable evasive manouevers. Metres from the docking hatch a message prints the bottom of the HUD, I panic and crash into the side of the station. Boost Extension Destroyed. It turns out the messsge was just to tell me that the missile following had self-destructed, I hurry on inside. Phew, I need a rest after that.
On my way through the interior of the station I spot a cargo container floating about, opening the cargo bay doors I move in to pick it up, I’ll drop it off at lost property once I’ve dropped off my passenger. Hmm, it’s a container of Spacefly eggs. I’m paid my money and he disappears round a corner, it’s nice to have more money but I don’t think my nerves could stand anymore dangerous flights like that, certainly not while I’m so defenceless. What with the urgent nature of this flight I hadn’t paid much attention to our destination, I find myself in a Shipyard, while I’m here I decide to lookup the cost of a new ship. The salesman saunters over, he tries to interest me in the latest fighter technology but I tell him I’m only looking at the transports. He points me over to a bulky looking craft, he tells me it’ll do the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, and can make .5 past lightspeed. It looks like a piece of junk to me so I pass on the offer. I did happen to glance at the price tag, a whopping 300,000 I’m never going to be able to afford that…
I couldn’t find the lost property office, so I suppose the cargo is mine, I could certainly use the money. I’m not quite sure where to sell it though, I decide the Free Argon Trading Station sounds like a general all-round sort of place. While I’m there I get a couple of strange offers, including one man who wanted to trade it for some ‘magic’ beans. Before I can turn him down station security comes along and arrests him, something about narcotics and hallucinations about giants and talking harps. With no real prospects I get ready to leave, just making a quick stop to check the message boards, I find another person looking for transport, again the Xenon are likely to get in the way. I’ve had time to calm down since my last hairy adventure so I decide to take them up on the offer, this time I’m just going to blast at full speed and hope we make it in one piece.
This time however the Xenon ship is not in the way, in fact it’s some distance off and we make it there before they even get into range. At the station there is another person looking to run the gauntlet, I decide I’ve pushed my luck as far as it’ll go and pass on the job. Argon Prime hasn’t really been a good place for me, I think it’s time I stretched my wings and went to another system.
The giant Gate looms before me, it swirls like water running down a plug hole, dragging me in. Closer and closer, until the universe explodes.
Lights flicker all around, blinding and dazzling me. My ship is pulled through at break-neck speed, and then I’m debunked back into real space. The voice of the computer sounds, Entering System Ringo Moon. I fly to the stations clumped together at the centre of the system, nothing reall of interest, I dock in one at random to check the boards, there’s nothing available so I don’t think I’ll stop here.
The next system is Cloudbase North West, Ringo Moon looked fairly similar to Argon Prime, a little darker maybe, this one looks very different to the other systems. Dark with a grey dust cloud obscuring the northern portion (how do you get cardinal points in space?), flickers of lightening play across the cloud. I pick another station at random, a Solar Power Plant, there is a serious stock shortage here, cells are going for 22 credits. I move on through the cloud, to Three Worlds. Again I find very little, cells are going for the much more reasonable price of 14 credits, I pick some up but I’ve only go one space, those spacefly eggs are taking up an awful lot of space, they’re also starting to make strange buzzing sounds.
The next system is much brighter, a colourful orange cloud highlights the dark stations. This is Boron space, whereas the Argon have very metallic, industrial looking stations the Boron go for something more organic. I visit several stations, none of them offer me anything useful. Still unable to find somewhere to offload my cargo I conclude that it’s time I dumped it, it doesn’t represent a financial loss since I found it, and I do need to start earning some money. I decide to drop it near the entrance of one of the stations, maybe I’ll be able to find it again later once I’ve done more exploring. Rather than trading energy cells again I look for something a little higher up the food chain, hoping that it means bigger profits. I pick up something called ‘BoGas’, I can only fit a small amount in my cargo hold but it does cost more.
While I’m there I once again take a look at the boards, this time I spot something interesting. The station apparently has an energy cell shortage and are looking for a contract pilot to deliver some as quickly as possible. They want fifty-eight and are willing to pay a flat rate of 23 credits each, plus a conmpletion bonus. It’ll take two runs but I could do this, the bonus isn’t much but I’d only be trading anyway, and this way I can guarentee a profit. I accept and they give me a list of places I could get some. Firstly I’ll have to sell this BoGas, fortunately the factory that can make use of it is nearby.
I visit the local Solar Power Plant first and pick up as many as I can. They cost 18 credits each which is a little expensive, but I’ll still get 5 profit per cell. I head back to the BoGas station and drop them off. To get more I decide to give the Plant in Three Worlds a try, I’ve still got plenty of time and I might make more profit.
It turns out I can as they’re selling them for 14 credits here, in fact if I’d come here first I could have made more profit on the last batch. But it is further to go and I might have run short on time. When I get back to the station the owners are very happy, I made 1334 on the cells plus I get the 111 completion bonus. In a postive mood I hit the message boards, one person is willing to pay 2000 credits for transportation to Power Circle, that’s a lot of money for me but I don’t know where Power Circle is, I could end up flying in the wrong direction and have a wasted journey. I decide to make another cell run, this time to an Ore station, and find a better offer on the boards. A small quantity, fast delivery job, exactly what my disco was built for, even if I don’t have the engines fully upgraded. It’s to Ringo Moon and only has a small time limit, but I think I can make it.
I bring up the computer and go to the Command Console for my ship, this allows me to use special software to give my ship specific orders. Since I’ve already visited Ringo Star I’ve got the coordinates of the destination in the computer, I can tell the ship to dock at it and it will fly the whole journey on it’s own. This gives me a chance to catch up on the laundry, well I’ve got to have clean clothes haven’t I? On the way I get a message from the supplier, he’s getting impatient deciding that I’m taking too long. Pretty soon I arrive at the TerraCorp 125MW Shield Production Facility, as soon as I dock I recieve a message from the supplier, apparently he’s now over the moon, he’s so happy with my piloting skills that he hands over a big bonus. I was carrying a new porduct line and now he can release it early and get the jump on the competition. My little exploration has really paid off, since arriving at Kingdom End I’ve made a lot of money (a lot for me). I think I’m ready to do a little more, I head through Power Circle (it was quite close after all):
and arrive in Antigone Memorial:
Checking the message boards on a station I find another safe transport mission, it’s heading back to Kingdom End. This arc of systems is pretty small I decide to take the mission, then I can try another direction. In one of the stations I get talking to some of the other pilots, I ask if they have any tips on making more profit trading, the conversation goes off in various directions but they seem to mention the Teladi a lot. I’d heard about them back home, known for their love (and skill) of trading, the pilots recommend I go to their space and pick up some called a Best Buys or Selling Locator, these magical devices will apparently tap into all the stations trading systems and work out the best place to buy or sell certain goods. Besides Energy Cells I’m not sure what other things are good for trading so this seems to be the thing to get. The path from Boron to Teladi space is a straight one, I pass through several systems each more strange than the last.
Finally I reach the neon purple Teladi system, Ceo’s Buckzoid. This system doesn’t have an Equipment Dock though so I move onto the next system, and the next. I end up passing right through the Teladi systems and into Split territory.
I had heard very little about the Teladi, but I’d heard even less about the Split. What I had heard though was that they weren’t very friendly, especially to newcomer, so I quickly turned around and went back to continue my search in Teladi space. This time I headed down rather than across and in the very next system I found what I was looking for.
At the station I quickly found the equipment the pilots had talked about, unfortunately it was well out of my price range, even considering the money I had been making recently. I guess the search will go on.
I take on a series of transport missions, most of them to nearby systems. After completing one of them I get a message from the Galactic Ranking Commission, due to my hard work of late I am now a ‘Petty Vendor’, this will help me get more difficult (read, better paying) missions as people will know I can do a good job.
More transport missions, they’re a little dull and my clients don’t talk much, but at least I know I’m making progress. Each job brings me one step closer to better equipment and by extension better jobs. I’ve now acquired 20,000 credits, I could save up a little more and buy those trading extensions but right now I’m a little worried about my ships condition. I’ve been lucky so far and not run into any more trouble, but space is a dangerous place and I want to be prepared. When I look at the prices I notice that I was paid a pittance when I traded my equipment in, now it’ll cost a lot more to buy it back. I’ve got enough spare though so I buy a 1MW shield and two Gamma Impulse Ray Emitters, I feel much safer now.
I carry on exploring, every system I add to my map is another I can take passengers too knowing I won’t get lost. But with exploration comes danger, and I soon find it in the form of a Pirate ship. Fortunately I don’t have any cargo for it to steal even if it was anywhere near me, as it is there’s 11km between us and he seems busy with something else, probably illegal, although he could just be taking his Mother shopping.
In the next system I duck into a station, I need a rest to settle my nerves.
Whoa sweet start to the week. Not only has the way your telling the game to us better than the previous ones because your doing it as if your the actual character it is so immersive. Do I want to play this game now? Well in reality no, have to wait and see what the rest of the week brings but I do wonder if it would feel odd in such a large environment without actual people to talk to. Sounds rather a lot like eve online just with only a one time fee haha.
Thanks, I felt that my previous entries were a little bland, all the information was there (as well as the terrible jokes…) but it was just me listing off my decisions.
This time I wanted to try something a little different.