Over the Labor Day weekend, I completed the majority of my adaptation to the post-Engineers Elite.
I have greatly reduced the number, and type of ships I have in my fleet. All have been at least level 1 modded. My cash balance has gone *way* up.
Who's left:
Alison The Asp. 30+ light-year jump, and the ability to defend herself. More than a 1 MCr rebuy, though, so she is only to be used for deep exploring.
Gladys The Cobra 3. The all purpose ship, with a 22+ light year-jump. Less than a quarter of the rebuy for Alison, and good speed in normal space.
Edsel The Cobra 4. What?!? Yes, a Cobra 4. Armored to a fare-thee-well, 5 guns, and sufficient cargo for local missions. Eight internal compartments. It really should be named the Lakon 5. It can also mine, if needed. Very useful.
I found that Mootilda, my Lakon-6, was too vulnerable. Very depressing. Armoring her to a survivable level cut my cargo capacity *way* down. That freed about 4 MCr, after selling her, and her hard-won mods.
Sidney The Sidewinder. The Expendable Data Courier. All modded, and a quite low rebuy. Zippy, and much more versatile than the Eagle, and it's rice-paper hull.
Sadly, I had to put Seymour the Adder to rest. Seymour could not carry the cargo that Edsel does, nor was Seymour as fast as Sidney, or as cheap to rebuy. I had a very sad day after. If you have lost a loved one, or a pet, you know. And the effort to mod Seymour up to speed could be the basis for a very bad novel.
One BookWinder at Tacabs remains. I may be taking Sidney down there, since the rebuy is the cheapest for a 500 light-year trip. I will be collecting exploration data all the way.
So, I am down to four ships, at a good location. I'm allied with all the local factions. The Great Explorers, praise them, have diminished my desire to make long trips, as the most exciting ones seem to have been made. I'm staying within about 40 light-years of my home system. If I have to move, fewer ships means less complex logistics. Also, less politics to track.
Felicity cheats. So do the others. That, plus the tendency for psycho's to attack anyone with engineer cargo in their hold, makes me very reluctant to do the nearly 1,000 light year Grand Tour of the engineers.
If Elite is to be even more "dangerous", many of us will be shifting to smaller, and fewer craft. I do not have the patience to go out to the New Bubble. And 20+ million credits is a *lot* of Sidewinder rebuys, if I have to sell Alison. She is a wunderbar ship, but never fall too hard for a ship: she might not love you back. And, making up after breaking up costs more than 1 MCr each time I'm mobbed by Death Squads. The next to last trip to Felicity was one such occasion. She's a high-maintenance girlfriend, literally. She can do amazing things. She can also leave you broke, out in the desert beyond Vegas. In your underwear, if she is feeling generous.
It gets *cold* in the desert night.
Those of you who quote "winter is coming" should also remember "cash is king".
I have greatly reduced the number, and type of ships I have in my fleet. All have been at least level 1 modded. My cash balance has gone *way* up.
Who's left:
Alison The Asp. 30+ light-year jump, and the ability to defend herself. More than a 1 MCr rebuy, though, so she is only to be used for deep exploring.
Gladys The Cobra 3. The all purpose ship, with a 22+ light year-jump. Less than a quarter of the rebuy for Alison, and good speed in normal space.
Edsel The Cobra 4. What?!? Yes, a Cobra 4. Armored to a fare-thee-well, 5 guns, and sufficient cargo for local missions. Eight internal compartments. It really should be named the Lakon 5. It can also mine, if needed. Very useful.
I found that Mootilda, my Lakon-6, was too vulnerable. Very depressing. Armoring her to a survivable level cut my cargo capacity *way* down. That freed about 4 MCr, after selling her, and her hard-won mods.
Sidney The Sidewinder. The Expendable Data Courier. All modded, and a quite low rebuy. Zippy, and much more versatile than the Eagle, and it's rice-paper hull.
Sadly, I had to put Seymour the Adder to rest. Seymour could not carry the cargo that Edsel does, nor was Seymour as fast as Sidney, or as cheap to rebuy. I had a very sad day after. If you have lost a loved one, or a pet, you know. And the effort to mod Seymour up to speed could be the basis for a very bad novel.
One BookWinder at Tacabs remains. I may be taking Sidney down there, since the rebuy is the cheapest for a 500 light-year trip. I will be collecting exploration data all the way.
So, I am down to four ships, at a good location. I'm allied with all the local factions. The Great Explorers, praise them, have diminished my desire to make long trips, as the most exciting ones seem to have been made. I'm staying within about 40 light-years of my home system. If I have to move, fewer ships means less complex logistics. Also, less politics to track.
Felicity cheats. So do the others. That, plus the tendency for psycho's to attack anyone with engineer cargo in their hold, makes me very reluctant to do the nearly 1,000 light year Grand Tour of the engineers.
If Elite is to be even more "dangerous", many of us will be shifting to smaller, and fewer craft. I do not have the patience to go out to the New Bubble. And 20+ million credits is a *lot* of Sidewinder rebuys, if I have to sell Alison. She is a wunderbar ship, but never fall too hard for a ship: she might not love you back. And, making up after breaking up costs more than 1 MCr each time I'm mobbed by Death Squads. The next to last trip to Felicity was one such occasion. She's a high-maintenance girlfriend, literally. She can do amazing things. She can also leave you broke, out in the desert beyond Vegas. In your underwear, if she is feeling generous.
It gets *cold* in the desert night.
Those of you who quote "winter is coming" should also remember "cash is king".
