I apologize in advance for the novel, just kept on writing!
I bought ED last Saturday after perusing Steam for something new to buy. I played the original Elite back in the day, however my memories are a lot fuzzier than it seems most people here! I played a couple hours and really enjoyed it (I've tried Eve Online a few times but always would drop after a while as I wanted to really place a space flight simulator). Played some more last night, just did a couple of missions taking package A to station B, had my first interdiction (and death), but was still wondering exactly what I wanted to do. I only have 9,000 credits, and I really want to move up a bit in the amount of power I can impose.
So last night, I was stuck between watching a movie and playing some ED. Long day at work, brain was a bit frazzled, and almost settled down. I had to walk past the PC though, and as I did I reached down, pushed the power button, and said to myself, "Ok, maybe I'll just play for like an hour".
Question. What do I want to do now? I'm covered in sand in this sandbox of a game, but I have no idea where to start digging. I decide to look at the bulletin board in the station I'm docked at (Eravate system), hoping for a good mission to undertake. I see they have a pirate mission, and I have been reading enough online that I figure at this point, I have some clue of what I'm doing. I decide to accept the mission and head to the nearest nav beacon.
I am playing open play at this point, and I quickly notice there are around 7 or 8 commanders floating around the nav beacon. I still see a lot of human players, which I'm assuming has to do with my close proximity to the starting system (LHS 3344 or something like that?). After about 10 minutes I finally see the "Wanted" text pop after a scan, and I quickly dispatch of the Sidewinder. I should mention I'm still in the stock loaned Sidewinder with no upgrades. I then spend about 30 minutes trying to kill another wanted ship, but all the local human players would always kill it first. I decide to head to solo play just so I can finish the mission.
Elation. I switch over and a short time passes and I see another wanted ship. There are a couple other friendly ships attacking it, so I switch targets around a bit to see who is attacking and to make sure they are not wanted. I deploy my hardpoints, and open fire. FLASHING RED IN UPPER RIGHT CORNER, YOU ARE NOW WANTED, FIRING ON A FRIENDLY SHIP. I look down at my targeting computer. Oh no. I had forgot to switch back to the wanted ship and had opened fire on one of the friendlies that were attacking it. The bad part is I am surrounded by numerous friendly ships, and within a couple seconds my screen starts to flash. My shields are rapidly dropping, and soon I am taking hull damage. I quickly set all power to shields. Panic sets in, I am still a rookie pilot and instinct is still a while off. I hit boost, which gives me a few seconds of relief. It's not long until I am being hit again though, and at this point I don't think I'm going to make it. Then I remember something I read, let's try to jump into super cruise and get the heck out of there. Hit the jump button. BZZZZTTTT. Hardpoints are deployed. Hull is decreasing. 55%. 44%. 32%. I quickly scramble to hit the button on my flight stick to stow them. What seems like a lifetime later, I am finally able to start up my FSD. Still getting hit though, and all the ships and the massive fireball of a star are delaying it's warm up. I attempt to burst again, and amidst all the smoke and crackling wires, I see the warning that I don't have enough power. I'm never going to make it. Wait. I set all power to shields, no need to now, they are still long from coming back up. Set all power to engines. Hull at 15%. FSD still charging. I hit the boost one last time, praying to some God of some alien race to just put enough charge into my capacitor to get me going. SLAM. The boost kicks in, and the deadly beam lasers temporarily miss their mark. Hull at 10%. My FSD has two marks left to charge, come on baby, we're almost there. Time has run out, I am back in the sights of my new enemies, and the first salvo hits. 8% hull. Well at least it was a fun ride, can't complain. FOUR SECONDS TO JUMP. The FSD has engaged! WHAM. 7% hull. THREE. TWO. ONE. WHOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH. I can't believe it. I actually made it out of there. I look down and to the right. 5% hull. A couple more shots and I was done.
Frustration. I set course for LHS 3344, head to a station, pay off my bounty. Refuel and repair. Still jittery from what I just went through, I decide to head back to Eravate, might as well finish this mission. At the nav beacon, I kill four more wanted ships. That should be it, that's the five I needed. I head to the nearest station and cash in my bounties. Go to the mission board. 1 out of 5 pirates killed. What? That can't be right. I head online to do some research, and quickly realize that actually identifying what is a pirate and what is not is not as easy as just being wanted. I then spend the next hour and a half killing and warping, and after 7 more kills, I now have 3 pirate kills. At this point I am thinking about just giving up on the mission, it's getting late, and heck, I've got 22,000 credits now in bounties, so at least I have doubled my money.
Excitement. I decide to make one more run to the nav beacon. As I warp out, I instantly notice that there is what I believe was an Adder. I start my scan, and soon the red wanted words appear. I'm not willing to take him on myself, and he is also listed as dangerous. I start to look around, and about a minute later I notice laser fire in the distance. Some friendlies are attacking the Adder. I boost into the fight, figuring I'll try to get a kill shot. All power to weapons, let's maximize our chances. After a couple minutes of fighting, the Adder's hull is almost gone. I let my weapons charge a bit so I can eventually just hold down the trigger and unleash a non-stop barrage. A couple seconds later, I depress the trigger. Lasers pulse from my ship, showering the Adder with sparks. BLOOOM. The ship erodes into space debris. BOUNTY AWARDED, 131,000 CREDITS. Wooooooahhhhhhhhh. 131,000 CREDITS!!! All my other bounties had been for five to six thousand credits. My mind races with what I will do with my new riches. I quickly warp to a station, not going to take a chance of losing this bounty. I take it extra easy entering the station, and soon I have earned my first trust fund.
Death. Sadly that did not count as a pirate kill either, and after my Adder kill I am pumped with adrenaline again, so I decide to stay the course and once again rinse and repeat. Kill, kill, kill. Warp. Nothing. Kill, kill, kill, Warp. One pirate kill. So now I'm at four. I really want to sleep at this point, but I'm so close. This is it, no more messing around. One more time and that's it. I warp to the nav beacon, and quickly see a wanted Sidewinder. Let's kill this guy, him alone, and warp back. I target, deploy hardpoints, and open fire. His shields are going down rather quickly. Then BZZZZT. Something is attacking me. I still don't know what, but someone else was out there and was not happy. Strangely, my target was not a wing, and was wanted, and I did not repeat my earlier mistake. I hope it's just some pot shots and I can ignore them, but soon I'm back where I was last time. Trying to boost, trying to jump out, hull rapidly failing. The gods weren't with me this time, and soon enough it is time to eject. I watch as my trusty Sidewinder, the ship that had survived an incredible night, explodes into pieces. I head back to my last station and accept the loan of a new Sidewinder. I can only hope she treats me as well as the last one did.
I bought ED last Saturday after perusing Steam for something new to buy. I played the original Elite back in the day, however my memories are a lot fuzzier than it seems most people here! I played a couple hours and really enjoyed it (I've tried Eve Online a few times but always would drop after a while as I wanted to really place a space flight simulator). Played some more last night, just did a couple of missions taking package A to station B, had my first interdiction (and death), but was still wondering exactly what I wanted to do. I only have 9,000 credits, and I really want to move up a bit in the amount of power I can impose.
So last night, I was stuck between watching a movie and playing some ED. Long day at work, brain was a bit frazzled, and almost settled down. I had to walk past the PC though, and as I did I reached down, pushed the power button, and said to myself, "Ok, maybe I'll just play for like an hour".
Question. What do I want to do now? I'm covered in sand in this sandbox of a game, but I have no idea where to start digging. I decide to look at the bulletin board in the station I'm docked at (Eravate system), hoping for a good mission to undertake. I see they have a pirate mission, and I have been reading enough online that I figure at this point, I have some clue of what I'm doing. I decide to accept the mission and head to the nearest nav beacon.
I am playing open play at this point, and I quickly notice there are around 7 or 8 commanders floating around the nav beacon. I still see a lot of human players, which I'm assuming has to do with my close proximity to the starting system (LHS 3344 or something like that?). After about 10 minutes I finally see the "Wanted" text pop after a scan, and I quickly dispatch of the Sidewinder. I should mention I'm still in the stock loaned Sidewinder with no upgrades. I then spend about 30 minutes trying to kill another wanted ship, but all the local human players would always kill it first. I decide to head to solo play just so I can finish the mission.
Elation. I switch over and a short time passes and I see another wanted ship. There are a couple other friendly ships attacking it, so I switch targets around a bit to see who is attacking and to make sure they are not wanted. I deploy my hardpoints, and open fire. FLASHING RED IN UPPER RIGHT CORNER, YOU ARE NOW WANTED, FIRING ON A FRIENDLY SHIP. I look down at my targeting computer. Oh no. I had forgot to switch back to the wanted ship and had opened fire on one of the friendlies that were attacking it. The bad part is I am surrounded by numerous friendly ships, and within a couple seconds my screen starts to flash. My shields are rapidly dropping, and soon I am taking hull damage. I quickly set all power to shields. Panic sets in, I am still a rookie pilot and instinct is still a while off. I hit boost, which gives me a few seconds of relief. It's not long until I am being hit again though, and at this point I don't think I'm going to make it. Then I remember something I read, let's try to jump into super cruise and get the heck out of there. Hit the jump button. BZZZZTTTT. Hardpoints are deployed. Hull is decreasing. 55%. 44%. 32%. I quickly scramble to hit the button on my flight stick to stow them. What seems like a lifetime later, I am finally able to start up my FSD. Still getting hit though, and all the ships and the massive fireball of a star are delaying it's warm up. I attempt to burst again, and amidst all the smoke and crackling wires, I see the warning that I don't have enough power. I'm never going to make it. Wait. I set all power to shields, no need to now, they are still long from coming back up. Set all power to engines. Hull at 15%. FSD still charging. I hit the boost one last time, praying to some God of some alien race to just put enough charge into my capacitor to get me going. SLAM. The boost kicks in, and the deadly beam lasers temporarily miss their mark. Hull at 10%. My FSD has two marks left to charge, come on baby, we're almost there. Time has run out, I am back in the sights of my new enemies, and the first salvo hits. 8% hull. Well at least it was a fun ride, can't complain. FOUR SECONDS TO JUMP. The FSD has engaged! WHAM. 7% hull. THREE. TWO. ONE. WHOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH. I can't believe it. I actually made it out of there. I look down and to the right. 5% hull. A couple more shots and I was done.
Frustration. I set course for LHS 3344, head to a station, pay off my bounty. Refuel and repair. Still jittery from what I just went through, I decide to head back to Eravate, might as well finish this mission. At the nav beacon, I kill four more wanted ships. That should be it, that's the five I needed. I head to the nearest station and cash in my bounties. Go to the mission board. 1 out of 5 pirates killed. What? That can't be right. I head online to do some research, and quickly realize that actually identifying what is a pirate and what is not is not as easy as just being wanted. I then spend the next hour and a half killing and warping, and after 7 more kills, I now have 3 pirate kills. At this point I am thinking about just giving up on the mission, it's getting late, and heck, I've got 22,000 credits now in bounties, so at least I have doubled my money.
Excitement. I decide to make one more run to the nav beacon. As I warp out, I instantly notice that there is what I believe was an Adder. I start my scan, and soon the red wanted words appear. I'm not willing to take him on myself, and he is also listed as dangerous. I start to look around, and about a minute later I notice laser fire in the distance. Some friendlies are attacking the Adder. I boost into the fight, figuring I'll try to get a kill shot. All power to weapons, let's maximize our chances. After a couple minutes of fighting, the Adder's hull is almost gone. I let my weapons charge a bit so I can eventually just hold down the trigger and unleash a non-stop barrage. A couple seconds later, I depress the trigger. Lasers pulse from my ship, showering the Adder with sparks. BLOOOM. The ship erodes into space debris. BOUNTY AWARDED, 131,000 CREDITS. Wooooooahhhhhhhhh. 131,000 CREDITS!!! All my other bounties had been for five to six thousand credits. My mind races with what I will do with my new riches. I quickly warp to a station, not going to take a chance of losing this bounty. I take it extra easy entering the station, and soon I have earned my first trust fund.
Death. Sadly that did not count as a pirate kill either, and after my Adder kill I am pumped with adrenaline again, so I decide to stay the course and once again rinse and repeat. Kill, kill, kill. Warp. Nothing. Kill, kill, kill, Warp. One pirate kill. So now I'm at four. I really want to sleep at this point, but I'm so close. This is it, no more messing around. One more time and that's it. I warp to the nav beacon, and quickly see a wanted Sidewinder. Let's kill this guy, him alone, and warp back. I target, deploy hardpoints, and open fire. His shields are going down rather quickly. Then BZZZZT. Something is attacking me. I still don't know what, but someone else was out there and was not happy. Strangely, my target was not a wing, and was wanted, and I did not repeat my earlier mistake. I hope it's just some pot shots and I can ignore them, but soon I'm back where I was last time. Trying to boost, trying to jump out, hull rapidly failing. The gods weren't with me this time, and soon enough it is time to eject. I watch as my trusty Sidewinder, the ship that had survived an incredible night, explodes into pieces. I head back to my last station and accept the loan of a new Sidewinder. I can only hope she treats me as well as the last one did.
