Gladys The Cobra

[Ralph Vargr]

Just went back to Gladys The Cobra after a long weekend of experimentation, with other ships, loadouts, and playstyles.

Seymour the Adder did it's best, but just does not have the payload or defense. To make it jump more than 20 light-years, you must sacrifce too much to survive in inhabited space.

Vipers can fight, but have no jump range.

Eagles are fun, but have power and range limitations. Plus, no Advanced Discovery Scanner should *ever* be mounted in an Eagle. Your insurance agent will drop you.

T6's are great little cargo ships, but are horribly vulnerable. I would have to hide out, crazy far, mining, to even think about one.

It is a long, long jump to an Asp from a Cobra. We need a ship to plug that gap. I can certainly *buy* the Asp. But I would have no capital afterwards for multiple rebuys. I can rebuy Gladys over 20 times over. Call me paranoid, but I *need* that kind of safety cushion when I'm way out there. Gladys can haul the ADS, DSS, weapons, and shields/defenses, and tons of cargo, inside inhabited space. I need that to cross the Belt Of Doom.

Note to new players: trading ships is expensive, and stored ships are not liquid assets when you are out there in the deep black. Pick one ship you feel good with, and rack up lots of credits for insurance.

Must. Sleep. Now.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Gladys has now been to Sol, twice.

We made two rares runs, cashing in at Abraham Lincoln. Then we toured the system.

The gas giants were pretty. It was neat, comparing distances within Sol, to our frontier explorations. The system is surprisingly compact, compared to my usual 400,000 light-second runs to the next star.

The Earth's polar caps have melted, making much of the low lying areas submerged. The changes were shocking.

Mars High Station looks like an oil kingdom's ultimate attempt to out-Vegas Las Vegas. Palm trees on the pads...

It's not a good system to buy ship outfitting in. The small ship owner is pretty much out of luck.

No T-Shirts were worth buying.

It's time to head back out there. Just watch the vids, don't bother with the trip.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Oh, yeah. I followed another poster's idea, and bought a stock Sidewinder, to serve as a marker for Sol. Parked it at Abe. It's better than the free Sidey, as I bought some things up to "D", and better guns and defenses. Had to visit Venus and Mercury to find anything *small* enough to fit. It's a 100 KCr backup plan, as well as a map marker.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I've bought Gladys back. Alison has been parked in the docking bay with my depressed Russians looking her over.

Had a nasty encounter in Alison, loaded down with cargo. 3:1 against me, just got out. The sunk cost of the cargo would have bought a T-6.

The rebuy costs were also rising, especially after the purchase of "A" class equipment for range, and to survive. No amount of purchases could match the Cobra's boost speed. Running is about the only option, and the Asp simply isn't fast enough.

With all them Vultures circling, Speed Is Life.

So, I downgraded to Gladys the Cobra. I didn't sell Alison, to avoid the loss on sale. It did free up millions in cash, and gave me at least 16-20 rebuys for Gladys. Gladys has more than 22 light years of range. I do miss the 30+ light year capability Alison had, but there are only so many places that sell A5 gear, at 5 MCr a shot. Alison has been mothballed down to a minimum state.

I mix rares trading, with exploring, as my playstyle. It works well. 22 light years jump is good enough for most of the galaxy, and I can run my routes quckly.

My best trading, and ship outfitting star systems are now marked out with stripped Sidewinders. Someday, the dev's will allow bookmarks for systems. A legend for ranges in km or light-seconds next to the scope would be nice too.

I'm going to have to get used to driving something other than a Lakon, now. Gladys is very, very responsive in maneuver, and it was a shock at the speed at which she moved again.

The wheel turns. I'm glad I'm small-time.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Just crossed inhabited space in the opposite direction. I sold Alison the Asp, as the sunk cost was too great. Gladys has a 22 light-year jump, more than sufficient for anything except the abysses. Fuel and maintenance costs are low, and hull integrity should hold up for a while. And, the Cobra can boost away where the Asp cannot. Armed and shielded for the anarchy barrier, I'm going out there for a while.

The trigger was trying bounty hunting. It was boring for me. Additionally, it was causing SJA's Critters to form Death Ship flights to pursue me for hitting pirate factions. Time to leave town. Hopefully, they should be busy with the new Power Play wars when I get back, and be too busy to pay attention to me, should I set up shop in The Depressed Russian Tea Lounge again. Since I'm headed in the opposite direction, I may choose a new home when I get back.