My Terrifying Experience In Open (or how I learned to stop worrying and love Modular Terminals)

[DNA-Decay]

So - Qwent.

Don't laugh, I know you've been there.

And it's not like we even like him. Power Distributors? Really? We're all slicing each other's throats to get a little more distribution action? Yeah, nah - we want the G5 Thrusters baybee and Qwent is the gatekeeper to Palin. And a post on the home forum said "yeah Palin from scratch is 3 or 4 days"

So Sirius rank.
*sigh* fine I've got permits before.
G R I N D
(stop for a month to [REDACTED - OP: SEC])
G R I N D

Yay I'm in. Check the system
Civil War: "Hey Sirius.Gov - Sirius Corporation is about to lose it's last asset in Sirius to a Civil War with the Feds!"
"Not interested. Talk to Sirius.Inc - We hate [The Mad Bomber]"

"Uh Sirius.Inc - you know about the Civil War?"
"No, but thanks for the tip off. We hate [The Mad Bomber] too."
(sounds off stage of Sali Vader and co smashing Fed NPCs - I chucked a half mil and a rebuy in the CZ poorbox too)

Good oh - that's my good deed for the day done, now Modular Terminals.

R E F R E S H that mission board.
nope.
Read a post by Gluttony Fang "Find a couple of hi tech systems in boom"
GalMap looky look.

Two nearby one jump apart both with lots of Fed factions.
Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
Yay 4 MTs!

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
"Hi dad, wotcha doing?"
"Looking for a particular type of mission"
"You've been here ages, I want to watch a movie. - Is that it? [points to Fed navy recruit mission]"
"No that's joining the Fed navy"
"Don't you need that to go to Earth?"
"Uh, yeah, but"
"YOU SAID!"
*sigh* "fine" [joins bloody Fed navy]

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
(Days go by)
So now I've given 12 Modular Terminals to Qwent. Halfway (almost).
But the mission boards aren't being kind and I'm grinding a little Fed rep and rank in the hopes that it will all open up together at once.
But it doesn't.

So I take another rank mission for the Fed navy (Yay Cadet! woo hoo!) and it's to drop a data cache a couple of jumps over. And I get into the system.

Hollow Square.
Uh oh.
:O

90 degree turn normal to the planetary plane. Select hollow square and rotate so that destination is on the pitch up axis. Watch the hollow square. He turns slowly to me, it's a Fer De Lance and my hands are greasy with sweat. But he doesn't try to get behind me yet.
So I throttle to low blue and turn to scan him back: CMDR (Public Enemy reference) [CNTRL]

Now at this point a lot of things are going through my mind.
I've been working on my bank balance, but Python rebuys are EXPENSIVE.

And I recognise that group tag.

[CNTRL] is short for C.O.N.T.R.A.I.L.
The acronym is daft, but the name is kinda cool. Tough guys.

I'm on super high alert now. You don't name your CMDR with a group tag, unless you're committed. Which usually means senior.
Which means big ships. Unless you are into PvP, in which case it means highly engineered ships.
And what do I know about CONTRAIL?
How much are they bad guys? I can't remember, I can't remember, I need more time.

So I say: "G'day"

And I get an "o7" and a polite but short question about "What are you doing here?"

Now at this point I remember reading on facebook (I'm Dan Decay there) about some bloke hiding out in Sirius pirating CMDRs on their way down to see Qwent and getting his MTs that way. Which I guess is your classic "Emergent Content".

So I need a plausible but kinda lame reason to be here.

"Uh - I'm grinding Fed rank"

There's a pause and I take the opportunity to line up on my destination and throttle up.

Then he asks if I "could go do that somewhere else. We're trying to expand out of here."

"Uh well, it's just a destination mission, I'm trying to rep up closer over to Sirius"

Dammit - why did I say Sirius?

And then he lays the bait:
"Do you need Modular Terminals?"

And I ask myself: "Do I need Modular Terminals?"

Now I ask you:
Do you need these Modular Terminals?
What do you say?

 

[Mangal Oemie]

Brilliant stuff...

.... and yes you do! G5 dirties rock

 

[DNA-Decay]

Brilliant stuff...

.... and yes you do! G5 dirties rock

You're right - Yes I do.

So I said "Yeah I need Modular Terminals"

And he says: "Well I got this T-9 over at ANLAVE that is full of spares, I could give you some".

And I'm thinking this:

Spoiler

but I'm also thinking this:

Spoiler

Mars and Spawrks ridiculous search for Modular Terminals on a planet that orbits inside a star.
[video=youtube;uY5YaEz-5PQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY5YaEz-5PQ[/video]

So we have a chat and head on over to ANLAVE.

I don't get the feeling he recognised me. And sometimes I feel it's kinda cheeky to be in a player group and not have it in your name or ship ID. Like I'm conning him. But I've also "got a bad feeling about this".

He offers the MTs "Free to a good home" and I say I'll buy them by doing one positive BGS mission for every three MTs.

ANLAVE and I'm looking for the ambush, twisting and turning trying to see if the're anyone on silent running and after a minute there's CMDR (almost the same name) [CNTRL] in a T-9.

And it wasn't a trap.
It was a straight transaction.

I got 15 Modular Terminals.
And I did 5 missions for CONTRAIL in return.

And now I have very sexy Power Distributors (if you're into that sort of thing).

Next stop: Palin!





[Epilogue]
Just so you know a bit about why I was absolutely crapping myself:
CONTRAIL are a PvP oriented group with a smallish BGS operation.
They are friends of The Code and no friends of the Feds.

Respek!
http://contrail.enjin.com/recruitment

Their history from their site:

Spoiler

Contrail has been in the game since its release, and has gone through many ups and downs as the environment have changed. Our history can in broad terms be divided into these five distinct chapters:

The Beginning: Getting our foothold in the game, building slowly. Set up shop in Catun, where by chance a very lucrative at the time trade-route was just next door.

The Nganji - Benapus War: Soon other groups sniffed out our trade route - prices began to fluctuate and drop. Large battles ensued between us and the combined forces of the BBfA, RoA and a scruffy bunch of freelancers.

The Power Play: Following in the wake of our war, we had developed a good relationship with the Code. Given the ample opportunities for profit, and keeping in touch with the more 'flexible morals' groups we set up operations working from Archon Delaine space. Millions were made, but we soon found Power Play both pointless and not something we'd like to get mired in. In fact, it nearly killed us.

The Reboot: We were looking for a new home, and to refill our ranks after the Power Play disaster. Through a Frontier SNAFU, we did not get our old home of Catun to call our own. It was given to another group who already was given another system! Without a proper home, we were scattered and basically going where the cash was and getting into trouble where we could. We needed a new base though. Something entirely different from Catun. What we settled on was Anlave. Former home of the Federation Navy. A central and large system, which closely resembles Sol in composition.

The Anlave Transformation: By another Frontier SNAFU, we got our minor faction into Anlave at only 14% influence, yet still control of system and controlling station, Suri Park - where all others got installed at 60% plus controlling station. Not phased by this we set out to take over. Somewhat complicated by the fact that Anlave is a Hudson Control system, and a few Hudson and Federation die-hards not being entirely amused by our presence. The first Civil War went well, gained Brunton Gateway. The second Civil War ended in nothing - and the most recent Frontier SNAFU... In the midst of it, taking Suri Park away from us. Then later giving us the 60% we should have from the beginning, but not Suri Park. So when it was over and we won, we got back Suri Park, but gained nothing from before the war. Then followed in rapid succession the third Civil War, the fourth Civil War and the fifth Civil War, where we gained Hogg City, Bain Dock and most recently and finally, the biggest and closest to the star station, Kobayashi City.

And now, we move on to another chapter. Keeping Anlave safe for all traders - as we have in the lulls between Civil Wars and also, stake out our new course. Our home system is safe, our back is clear, our ambition is met. Now we seek to make it thrive, set it up as a hub for likeminded open players who need a safe haven. Ideally situated a mere 30LY from Sol, it already sees a healthy amount of traffic.

Fifteen Modular Terminals!
On a dead man's chest.
Yo Ho and a bottle of Lavian Brandy.

Spoiler

I've included this here for a bit of context. It's very outdated and the CMDR who put it together is a notorious PvP CMDR so that kinda skews the reading of it. Shame we don't get something like this every six months. Some bodies biased who's who of the top 21 groups. With a particular emphasis on PvP.

 

[Dad Rock]

This was a great read made me chuckle.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

Snip...

Great write up, and yes Modular Terminals are good for you

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Cmdr Eran Mintor]

Ha I've yet to do the MT grind but I will think of your story when I do. Will have to rep when off mobile

 

[space voyager]

Lovely story! Thanks. Is there a way to rep on mobile?

 

[smiths121]

Contrail are no longer a PvP only group, more of a mixed action group. Anlave was a large system to tame, rather forcing them to develop their PvE side. At the moment they are expanding their sphere of influence doing PvE, and like all player groups they are always looking for new recruits. I chatted to them on their discord server, a month or back, which is a far cry from early 2016 when they used to shoot me on site in Analve!

They all seem to have FDLs though, and I beleive they had a dust up with another player group a month or so back, so I guessing they use PvP where PvP is the right tool.

They are and were always a fai group though. Around this time last year, when I gave up opposing in Analve, I asked if I cold come pick my Python up, they let me into Anlave and escorted me out!

That was a good deal you struck with them - fair on both sides.

Simon

 

[thelivingdeadguy]

So - Qwent.

Don't laugh, I know you've been there.

And it's not like we even like him. Power Distributors? Really? We're all slicing each other's throats to get a little more distribution action? Yeah, nah - we want the G5 Thrusters baybee and Qwent is the gatekeeper to Palin. And a post on the home forum said "yeah Palin from scratch is 3 or 4 days"

So Sirius rank.
*sigh* fine I've got permits before.
G R I N D
(stop for a month to [OP: SEC])
G R I N D
Yay I'm in. Check the system
Civil War: "Hey Sirius.Gov - Sirius Corporation is about to lose it's last asset in Sirius to a Civil War with the Feds!"
"Not interested. Talk to Sirius.Inc - We hate [The Mad Bomber]"

"Uh Sirius.Inc - you know about the Civil War?"
"No, but thanks for the tip off. We hate [The Mad Bomber] too."
(sounds off stage of Sali Vader and co smashing Fed NPCs - I chucked a half mil and a rebuy in the CZ poorbox too)

Good oh - that's my good deed for the day done, now Modular Terminals.

R E F R E S H that mission board.
nope.
Read a post by Gluttony Fang "Find a couple of hi tech systems in boom"
GalMap looky look.

Two nearby one jump apart both with lots of Fed factions.
Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
Yay 4 MTs!

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
"Hi dad, wotcha doing?"
"Looking for a particular type of mission"
"You've been here ages, I want to watch a movie. - Is that it? [points to Fed navy recruit mission]"
"No that's joining the Fed navy"
"Don't you need that to go to Earth?"
"Uh, yeah, but"
"YOU SAID!"
*sigh* "fine" [joins bloody Fed navy]

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.

So now I've given 12 Modular Terminals to Qwent. Halfway (almost).
But the mission boards aren't being kind and I'm grinding a little Fed rep and rank in the hopes that it will all open up together at once.
But it doesn't.

So I take another rank mission for the Fed navy (Yay Cadet! woo hoo!) and it's to drop a data cache a couple of jumps over. And I get into the system.

Hollow Square.
Uh oh.
:O

90 degree turn normal to the planetary plane. Select hollow square and rotate so that destination is on the pitch up axis. Watch the hollow square. He turns slowly to me, it's a Fer De Lance and my hands are greasy with sweat. But he doesn't try to get behind me yet.
So I throttle to low blue and turn to scan him back: CMDR (Public Enemy reference) [CNTL]

Now at this point a lot of things are going through my mind.
I've been working on my bank balance, but Python rebuys are EXPENSIVE.

And I recognise that group tag.

[CNTL] is short for C.O.N.T.R.A.I.L.
The acronym is daft, but the name is kinda cool. Tough guys.

I'm on super high alert now. You don't name your CMDR with a group tag, unless you're committed. Which usually means senior.
Which means big ships. Unless you are into PvP, in which case it means highly engineered ships.
And what do I know about CONTRAIL?
How much are they bad guys? I can't remember, I can't remember, I need more time.

So I say: "G'day"

And I get an "o7" and a polite but short question about "What are you doing here?"

Now at this point I remember reading on facebook (I'm Dan Decay there) about some bloke hiding out in Sirius pirating CMDRs on their way down to see Qwent and getting his MTs that way. Which I guess is your classic "Emergent Content".

So I need a plausible but kinda lame reason to be here.

"Uh - I'm grinding Fed rank"

There's a pause and I take the opportunity to line up on my destination and throttle up.

Then he asks if I "could go do that somewhere else. We're trying to expand out of here."

"Uh well, it's just a destination mission, I'm trying to rep up closer over to Sirius"

Dammit - why did I say Sirius?

And then he lays the bait:
"Do you need Modular Terminals?"

And I ask myself: "Do I need Modular Terminals?"

Now I ask you:
Do you need these Modular Terminals?
What do you say?

Hang on.

He stored the Modular Terminals in a T-9? Since when has that been possible?! I thought cargo swapped ships with you automatically.

Well - done on opening comms by the way. I don't tend to make idle chat with CMMNDR FDLs....

 

[Saool]

I never understood the issue with modular terminals. I pick them up regularly doing the BGS. For me there was no grinding at all. I'd do some missions, go drop some off. After a few days I'd unlocked him passively.

 

[Alec Turner]

I never understood the issue with modular terminals. I pick them up regularly doing the BGS. For me there was no grinding at all. I'd do some missions, go drop some off. After a few days I'd unlocked him passively.

Great story OP!

And on the subject of Modular Terminals, I'm doing the Fed missions at Lebedev/Niu Hsing and I'm literally jettisoning the damn things, they seem to be multiplying like tribbles!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Great story!

Ah, the dangers of Open.
I had a similar story, a CMDR in a fully armed and modified Federal Corvette, offered me some MTs. Scary stuff.

I now permanently carry MTs around with me at all times.
The NPC pirates are so lame these days, that i just take them everywhere. Nav beacons, RESs, on tours around the galaxy. I keep meaning to offer them to someone, but I've been trapped in solo for the past few weeks due to very intermittent internet issues (Hopefully fixed Wednesday now!).

 

[DNA-Decay]

*snip *

They are and were always a fai group though.

What is FAI ?

I think you mean "fair", but when I first looked I thought i = imperial.

That was a good deal you struck with them - fair on both sides.
Simon

To be honest - he was perfectly fine to do "free to good home".
I just, - uh - because he hadn't recognised me as an AEDC CMDR, and I have no idea whether there is any back story between the two groups. (pretty sure it's cordial neutrality) I kinda didn't want to owe a favour that might get called in at an inconvenient time.
So he didn't check up, and I didn't screen grab what I did for proof - and TBH one of the BGS actions was just selling exploration data (SFX: sound of pennies falling tink . . . tink . . . tink . . . tink . . . into an empty wooden box)

Anyway short story long - I wanted it to be a fair exchange with closure that didn't leave any loose ends.


@Saool and @GigerFace Re: "Modular Terminals are easy" - It's a bit like "Palin is 3 or 4 days from scratch".

If you're ranked up Elite Combat-Explo-Trade and you're Allied Fed-Imp-Irish and you've got some hours to put in - reckon Palin from scratch in 3 or 4 days is plausible.
But I'm like this forever mid-ranked dude. All my rank is a meat byproduct of doing other stuff to support the Alliance. Money too. It comes from doing THINGS not smashing out some lucrative activity for the purpose of sorting out my bank balance.

For my time in game I should have a 'conda and be at least one rank Elite, but I am the king of 'meh'. *

Anyways, if folks are looking for MTs they could do worse than talk to a Player Group, because like Saool and Alec Turner say: "Rich folks are throwing them away".
(In fact I probably could have asked at home - plenty of rich folks upstairs at AEDC HQ but I'm kinda into DIY )


(* - no offence to actual imperial kings of 'meh')

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Does the Kitchen Staff take a lot of Supervising, or are we talking about supervising desserts?

 

[Noctover]

The way i was reading it in my mind made me feel like i was having a stroke! But it was cool, REP .

 

[smiths121]

What is FAI ?

I think you mean "fair", but when I first looked I thought i = imperial.

Yes you are correct - going for fair - the "R" got away from me. I blame crap laptop .. or something.

 

[Stealthie]

I've been dumping Modular Terminals out the airlock for weeks, after receiving them in payment from the folks at Niu Hsing, where there isn't always a market to sell them, and I've needed the cargo space.

*EDIT*

And don't get me started on the hundreds of exquisite bloody focus crystals I've got choking up my mat's stockpile on the assumption that I'll need the damned things eventually.

 

[Duane Dibbley]

The way i was reading it in my mind made me feel like i was having a stroke!

I hope you mean a blood supply to the brain problem?...otherwise...eww!

 

[Noctover]

I hope you mean a blood supply to the brain problem?...otherwise...eww!

Lmao, did not think of it that way! I dont think that my kind of content .

 

[Goose4291]

So - Qwent.

Don't laugh, I know you've been there.

And it's not like we even like him. Power Distributors? Really? We're all slicing each other's throats to get a little more distribution action? Yeah, nah - we want the G5 Thrusters baybee and Qwent is the gatekeeper to Palin. And a post on the home forum said "yeah Palin from scratch is 3 or 4 days"

So Sirius rank.
*sigh* fine I've got permits before.
G R I N D
(stop for a month to [REDACTED - OP: SEC])
G R I N D

Yay I'm in. Check the system
Civil War: "Hey Sirius.Gov - Sirius Corporation is about to lose it's last asset in Sirius to a Civil War with the Feds!"
"Not interested. Talk to Sirius.Inc - We hate [The Mad Bomber]"

"Uh Sirius.Inc - you know about the Civil War?"
"No, but thanks for the tip off. We hate [The Mad Bomber] too."
(sounds off stage of Sali Vader and co smashing Fed NPCs - I chucked a half mil and a rebuy in the CZ poorbox too)

Good oh - that's my good deed for the day done, now Modular Terminals.

R E F R E S H that mission board.
nope.
Read a post by Gluttony Fang "Find a couple of hi tech systems in boom"
GalMap looky look.

Two nearby one jump apart both with lots of Fed factions.
Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
Yay 4 MTs!

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
"Hi dad, wotcha doing?"
"Looking for a particular type of mission"
"You've been here ages, I want to watch a movie. - Is that it? [points to Fed navy recruit mission]"
"No that's joining the Fed navy"
"Don't you need that to go to Earth?"
"Uh, yeah, but"
"YOU SAID!"
*sigh* "fine" [joins bloody Fed navy]

Refresh! Refresh! R E F R E S H those mission boards.
(Days go by)
So now I've given 12 Modular Terminals to Qwent. Halfway (almost).
But the mission boards aren't being kind and I'm grinding a little Fed rep and rank in the hopes that it will all open up together at once.
But it doesn't.

So I take another rank mission for the Fed navy (Yay Cadet! woo hoo!) and it's to drop a data cache a couple of jumps over. And I get into the system.

Hollow Square.
Uh oh.
:O

90 degree turn normal to the planetary plane. Select hollow square and rotate so that destination is on the pitch up axis. Watch the hollow square. He turns slowly to me, it's a Fer De Lance and my hands are greasy with sweat. But he doesn't try to get behind me yet.
So I throttle to low blue and turn to scan him back: CMDR (Public Enemy reference) [CNTRL]

Now at this point a lot of things are going through my mind.
I've been working on my bank balance, but Python rebuys are EXPENSIVE.

And I recognise that group tag.

[CNTRL] is short for C.O.N.T.R.A.I.L.
The acronym is daft, but the name is kinda cool. Tough guys.

I'm on super high alert now. You don't name your CMDR with a group tag, unless you're committed. Which usually means senior.
Which means big ships. Unless you are into PvP, in which case it means highly engineered ships.
And what do I know about CONTRAIL?
How much are they bad guys? I can't remember, I can't remember, I need more time.

So I say: "G'day"

And I get an "o7" and a polite but short question about "What are you doing here?"

Now at this point I remember reading on facebook (I'm Dan Decay there) about some bloke hiding out in Sirius pirating CMDRs on their way down to see Qwent and getting his MTs that way. Which I guess is your classic "Emergent Content".

So I need a plausible but kinda lame reason to be here.

"Uh - I'm grinding Fed rank"

There's a pause and I take the opportunity to line up on my destination and throttle up.

Then he asks if I "could go do that somewhere else. We're trying to expand out of here."

"Uh well, it's just a destination mission, I'm trying to rep up closer over to Sirius"

Dammit - why did I say Sirius?

And then he lays the bait:
"Do you need Modular Terminals?"

And I ask myself: "Do I need Modular Terminals?"

Now I ask you:
Do you need these Modular Terminals?
What do you say?

As a sidenote, can you let me know next time you put me on a 'Most Wanted' artwork?