Diary of a new scavenger

[GreyAreaUK]

So, as per the other thread, I reset my alt PC account and started afresh.

My rules for this Commander are:
Open only.
No missions.
No rebuy (I must use an existing ship or the free Sidey)
No ‘easy wins’. Bit cloudy on this bit. No Void Opal mining, for one.

And now for a bit of good old Role Playing scene-setting...

- - -
Diary of a scavenger.

Well, I did it! I got my Pilots’ Federation licence and I can now roam the skies in the Sidewinder they graciously loan you. With 1,000Cr in my wallet as well.

Big of them, I suppose.

The PF. You...hear things about them. There are bad Commanders out there. Commanders that will shoot first and not ask questions later, because the only question they want answering is “what’s in your hold?” and they can answer that themselves.

The PF is supposed to be against this sort of thing, but...well, as I say, you hear stuff. Rumours only, but enough of them to make you think they’re not necessarily the good guys.

And since I made my distrust of them known, I seem to have...irked them.

When you start out as a new Commander you’re supposed to have certain rights. You’re supposed to be able to take missions from the local factions. They’ve always got jobs that need doing, and taking a few Data Delivery missions is a quick and easy way to bump up your cash. You won’t get rich in a hurry but you won’t starve either.

You’re also supposed - encouraged, even - to take out insurance on your ship.

But not if you’ve been blacklisted.

And I have, it seems. Ticked off the wrong people. No factions are offering me missions. No insurance company will return my calls. I’m on my own.

I’ve got my (well not my, but hey) Sidey, 1,000Cr, and what are laughingly supposed to be my wits.

The PF.

Yeah.

Still...it’s not all bleak. It’s pretty bleak I’ll grant you, but there’s a bright side:they can’t stop me scavenging legal goods. Illegal goods as well, for that matter, but I’ll take it easy at first. Work up to it. The Nuisance Value (what I named my ship, as a sort of two fingers to the PF) is a fine ship, but she’s not a gunboat.

The first task will be to get a ship of my own. Well, the first goal will be to get a ship of my own. The first task will be to find stuff to sell. Maybe then I can start trading. Even the PF can’t stop you doing that.

I think.



Here we go...





CMDR Moorcock.

 

[Philip Coutts]

Good luck Commander, Once i hit triple Elite I'm considering doing the same but also adding in FAoff flying only just because it won't be difficult enough

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Good luck Commander, Once i hit triple Elite I'm considering doing the same but also adding in FAoff flying only just because it won't be difficult enough

Thank you! FA Off lies in my future, but only when I can configure the Warthog throttle to be more amenable.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Diary continues...


Salvage. That’s how I’ll have to start. My Sidewinder is a fine little ship, but a cargo capacity of 2 is...well, it’s 2. There are ships out there that can carry 700, 800, more.

I can carry 2.

But it’s a start. Technically I could trade. Buy goods here, sell them somewhere else, but it’s too risky at this stage. I’m a pilot (technically) but not yet a trader. I don’t know the markets. I could buy two units of something, fly to the next system and find they sell for half the cost. And I don’t have a fuel scoop yet, so I’d be out of credit on fuel as well.

1,000Cr doesn’t get you far.

However...salvage...

No one I’ve spoken to knows why, exactly, but there’s a huge amount of stuff just lying around on the average landable surface. Someone must have put it there - it’s generally surrounded by a perimeter and guarded by skimmers - but it’s legal to collect it. Mostly.

Weird.

Of course, the skimmers will object if you linger but they’re not much of a threat. Or so I hear. From PF sources...

Hmmmm.

Our ship’s computers are marvellous things. For one they can identify legal salvage from illegal salvage.

No, I don’t know how they know.

Our ship’s scanners are pretty remarkable as well, even a lowly Class ‘E’ as the Nuisance Value has. When you’re about 5km-ish above a surface they can identify what the PF refers to as a POI or ‘Point Of Interest’. Generally this boils down to ‘something that isn’t just rock or ice’ but it’s a good indicator check out. So that’s my plan: launch, and fly out over the landscape, hoping to get lucky.

...

I got lucky!

I flew a mere 15km from the base I picked up my ship from when I spotted a blue circle on the scanner. They fade out as you lose altitude (again, no idea why) but I landed as close to the centre as I could.

I landed! I didn’t even ding the paint! Much. Small victories, eh?

Anyway, deployed the SRV. Done a lot of training in this, and I’m very familiar with the ...er...echo...scanner...thingy. I’m not good with names. But I can recognise a metallic signature, and that’s what I saw. Headed towards it.

Perimeter fence, because of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. Remembered to put pips to SYS. Drew close. And yes, canisters. And yes, skimmers. Of course.

At this stage I don’t really care what I get because it’s 100% profit, assuming I survive. Which would be nice. Targeted the nearest and yes! It’s legal!

Well, I’m having that. Drove full tilt towards it, screaming like banshee over the computer’s warning about entering privacy zone, or prohibited zone, or some zone starting with ‘P’ and ending with my death if I linger. Hit the canister dead centre and exited the zone with a whoop.

Then realised that I was going to have to do this again, but this time with the cargo hatch open.

Small details, but they matter.

But I did it! And then did it again on whatever canister was closest. Beat a hasty retreat back to the Nuisance Value, boarded the ship, took off and returned to the base.

Sold the goods, and I now have 6,000 Credits!

I’ll call it a day there. Don’t want to push my luck.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

If you REALLY wanna do it hardcore, stick to picking up escape capsules (and maybe black boxes).

How much cargo can you fit in a Sidey these days, assuming you take an SRV and no shield?

 

[GreyAreaUK]

If you REALLY wanna do it hardcore, stick to picking up escape capsules (and maybe black boxes).

How much cargo can you fit in a Sidey these days, assuming you take an SRV and no shield?

Stripping out the flight assist and docking computer gives me 6. If I lose the shield I think I’d gain 4 more, but I’m keeping the shield. Current plan is to keep doing this until I can afford something like a Hauler and start trading.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

10 painite cannisters will buy you a Hauler.
Just sayin'

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Honestly I’m enjoying both the Sidey and the role play. I’ll be patient, build up my cash, see where it takes me.

Next step: upgrades.

 

[Maolagin]

No one I’ve spoken to knows why, exactly, but there’s a huge amount of stuff just lying around on the average landable surface. Someone must have put it there - it’s generally surrounded by a perimeter and guarded by skimmers - but it’s legal to collect it. Mostly.

One does wonder about that. Not uncommon to find canisters of high-value stuff like gold or narcotics in those sites. You'd think someone would be coming back for that. In fact, the presence of the space equivalent of police tape and a couple bored sherrif's deputies (or sketchy toughs, in the case of the wanted skimmers) would seem to suggest that they're the equivalent of a crime scene, that someone is definitely coming back for that, and won't be too happy that you got there first.