This has been rattling around in my head for the last few days, so I finally decided to try to actually get the idea fleshed out. TL;DR universal rewards, more events that motivate in-universe changes instead of more hangar flair.   4.2.1 brought the Resource Drive online, which I’m not a fan of. It tries to get players to care about in universe events for out of universe reasons. Because of the earnable paints and armor, players are more concerned with those than supporting a particular planet/corporation. Events like the Resource Drive are closer to “item giveaways” than “events”. These “events” are unhelpful in fleshing out the Persistent Universe as something that feels alive, and instead promote hollow, laborious gameplay sessions that actively discourage engaging with the Persistent Universe by replacing it with FOMO. Why choose a corporation that aligns with you/your character when you can grind for all of them? Another good example of the type of event I dislike was the “Fight for Pyro” event. The in-game lore and motivations for each faction was mostly ignored for whichever paint each player thought was the best. I’d agree that actually finding faction information was difficult and even basically impossible in the case of the Frontier Fighters; but even if each faction had a 5 page dossier and backstory I still think they would’ve been ignored for the red and black paint that was up for grabs. As simple as it sounds, I think most of these issues I have will go away once hex code paints are available (I know, I know, soonTM). Once custom paints are available, players are going to toss these event paints to the side. Players can have a red and yellow ship instead of an ArcCorp themed one, or a green and purple ship instead of a Headhunters one.   Until we get that, I think the solution is to run events with a universal reward similar to the Supply or Die Event, but with opposing sides and only one winner (To be clear, anyone who participated, winning or losing side, would get the reward). What would be a mandatory addition is easily accessible lore for each faction involved in the event, tailored in particular like a prologue to the event itself. Something like Hurston Dynamics vs the United Workers of Hurston in some kind of struggle about the Indentured Servitude contracts. Make it a competitive event with cargo hauling or PVP, but the important bit is that doing just one mission will attribute the hangar reward. This would motivate players that care about the storyline to take a side and shape the outcome of the universe, while letting players who just wanted the reward quickly get back to gameplay they enjoy.   I’m just shooting from the hip on these ideas but maybe HD wins and they charge higher docking fees to make up for the extra security they hire. Or the UWH wins and the price of Attritions go up to compensate for the demands for better working conditions. This is getting beyond the scope of what I’m talking about, but there could even be an economy based trigger that restarts the mission line every X months/years for newcomers or anyone that missed it the last time. This can deeply enrich the Persistent Universe itself with storylines people can easily pay attention to along with a universal hangar reward for participating in any capacity on either side. Unfortunately the entire storyline itself would be completely ignored if working for one side gets a blue paint in their hangar and working for the other a red paint.   The Persistent Universe as a living, breathing place will continue to suffer at the expense of ship paints and item giveaways. I understand it’s still in Alpha so I’m willing to be patient, but the halfway approach to introducing lore and storylines to the game in 2025 and beyond will continue to fall flat until there are tangible consequences in the game itself, instead of another paint that will ultimately be forgotten about once there is more customization in game.

A Red Umbrella, Worms, and Uninvited Guests

“Do you think just us the three will be enough to fight the worm?” “No, not really, but I’m sure we’ll get at least a couple more. Murph and Shveet will probably show. Five or six should be enough.”

By the end of the night, including our reinforcements and folks who dropped in and out, we would end up numbering over two dozen scattered across the server. The battle ended up being waged over the course of about four hours and involved numerous capital ships and at least two sizable orgs. One of which was a top tier PVP org that by all rights should’ve easily trounced us. Oh, and worms. Lots of worms. But first, let’s go back a few hours to a bit earlier in the day, to a very different operation under very different circumstances.

Part I: Operation Exterra’s Red Umbrella

It was mid afternoon on the East Coast United States, Redscar and Exterra were wrapping up a very successful Align and Mine joint operation. A couple days earlier, the Nomads and Exterra had very literally bumped into each other in the Orbituary Contested Zone (shockingly, with zero casualties on either side) and after a quick cordial chat Exterra invited Redscar to join them for a joint operation on Saturday. We were on good terms, and didn’t really have anything else planned, so we agreed. I proceeded to type up the event information for the Nomads and settled on “Operation Exterra’s Red Umbrella” as Exterra’s request of us was for air support. And so about ten Nomads showed up and we dutifully reconed the Hathor location and then proceeded to guard Exterra’s ground team and miners for two-ish hours. It had been relatively uneventful with only some light air combat from a few potential threats For most of the operation, Redscar’s “Red Squad” flew CAP (Combat Air Patrol). We would patrol the skies and call out any “bogey” that any of us spotted (a particular shout out to A.Z.H, whose call-outs were consistently on point and really helped guide our fighters to their targets). The closest pilot would generally try to engage and at least scare off anyone who wandered into our patrol area. Most engagements, for better or for worse, resulted in the interloper being shot down. We don’t really take chances in situations like this, and we had a job to do, so we did it. However, a couple hours into the operation a pair of solo’d Idri frigates with a Polaris escort cut things short and tried to crash the party. Exterra’s naval assets and Redscar’s pilots fought a very successful holding action (aka we stalled the capital ships) so that Exterra’s mining team along with their freshly mined goodies could withdraw. Notably, during the closing moments of holding action as the cargo ships were extracting back to Seraphim, our glorious leader, Pioneer, and flight lead himself MurphyJack decided to take a somewhat… risky… course of action by attempting to goad both Idri and the Polaris out of the flight path of our extracting teams. To the surprise of everyone, this worked and the two Idri chased Murph’s lone Hornet into deep space. The Polaris proceeded to break off and dock which gave me an opportunity to slip aboard to get intel on the owner which I passed on to Exterra’s leadership to do with as they wish. Unfortunately for MurphyJack, his ISP (Internet Service Provider) had other plans for the rest of his afternoon and proceeded to cut out during his brave maneuver. He had been pointing towards deep space, his ship was lost, and he was never heard from again. The Idri then vanished as well. Exterra decided they were still up for a fight and started regrouping for a hunting operation to get revenge on the folks that interrupted their mining operation. Not that there was necessarily “need” for much revenge as the operation was quite successful and losses had been extremely minimal. Aside from Murph’s tragic loss to the endless depth of space, only one Nomad crashed (quite literally from a game crash which resulted in a ship crash). Exterra’s AAA was destroyed in a possible incident of friendly fire with the taskforce’s Idris. And I believe a single Exterra pilot was shot down by the intruding capital ship force. All in all, a successful operation. Around 30-40 people between Exterra and Redscar showed up (the majority being Exterra of course) and all our objectives had been achieved even if they might’ve been cut a little short. By this point, it was around 4 PM and it was a nice day out, so I needed a break and a walk. I said goodbye, gave the usual interorg formalities and thanked the Exterra folks for inviting us and a job well done and headed off. But it, along with a message from Murph, got me thinking… What if we could get these kinds of numbers for a worm hunt (Stormbreaker)? Little did I know a very “sweaty” and skilled PVP org had been apparently thinking the same thing that very same day…

Part II: Worms

Worms. They’re in apples, the ground, brains, all over the place. In Star Citizen, you can hunt them. The biggest, so far, are in Pyro, specifically on Pyro I in the middle of a very large darn near planet wide storm at an illegal research facility. To summon the largest of worms (known as “Valakkar” in lore) you must get an access card from another planet, don a “Pillsbury Doughboy” radiation suit, and “do some science” (shoot lots of NPCs). I’m skipping a few steps but that’s the gist of it. After chatting with some of my fellow Nomads who had peeled off from the earlier “Red Umbrella” operation with Exterra we decided we were still up for some action today and would gather for a worm hunt later in the evening around 7 PM Eastern. That was about three hours from then and that was a somewhat short window of opportunity for anyone potentially interested to set aside a few hours of their time to join. I’d put out the invitation to Exterra too and maybe we’ll scrounge enough folks for a proper hunt. Flash forward to 6:50 and the turnout was looking a little sparse. Only five folks had signed up for the event and two of those had been marked as “tentative.” With just myself, PlutoProductions, and Skeeter in the voice channel we briefly discussed if we could even do it with such low numbers. I gave my assurances that at least a couple more folks would show. Fortunately, I was correct and Murph (who was NOT lost to the depths of space after all), Shveet, and a handful of other Nomads did trickle in putting our numbers around eight as we undertook our first worm hunt of the night.

Worm Hunt 1:

“Players! One down.” “How many of them?” “Looks like four.” “Let’s try talking to them. We’re twice their numbers.” “Okay I’ll tr… another down.” “We’re on the shuttle. You’re going to kill them all before we can even get there?” “Probably They keep running into my gun!”

There were seven of us on the shuttle with one or two trying to catch up. Our scout, Autumn, was currently engaged in a little “force recon” at the ASD facility. We had debated if it was too hot but ultimately decided we could easily take on a party of four. And hey, we could maybe even recruit them and add em to our numbers? We never got the chance. By the time we got off the shuttle Autumn had wiped half their team, and the worms they’d spawned took care of the last two. All that was left was to kill the big ol’ worm. Easy enough. And… well… it was. It was so easy that a couple of our group, including Shveet and Shinzo (no related to the former Japanese Prime Minister) peeled off to help a newer player traverse the Stanton-Pyro jump point. We had it all under control. Bringing down the worm is a straightforward affair. It just requires ammo and lots of it. Shoot the weak spots, don’t get melted by the smaller ones, watch your radiation, and don’t get jumped by players. That last part was our biggest concern since we just took out another team and they could very well come back for revenge.

“Do you still have a marker for your Connie?” “Uh oh, no.”

That’s a big red flag and we had just killed the big worm and started cleaning up (looting). So, I hopped on the shuttle back to the landing area to check on my ship. I fully expected a fight and a one-way trip but… no? Nobody here? It was clear. All the ships we’d brought were dead but otherwise they looked fine. Weird. No one ever interrupted us at the facility either. Huh, okay. Called for extract and we made it out with our booty. Easy… too easy… let’s do it again!

Worm Hunt 2:

We regrouped, rearmed, and refitted at Checkmate and headed out again. I scouted ahead this time and, after passing on what appeared to be a busy one, I found another ASD facility for us. This one had no players and almost no empty ships, so it seemed like a good candidate. And it was. Things yet again went smoothly, we killed the worm, and it was time to get those teeth and pearls out. BroccoliRob, Ranok, and I hopped on the shuttle to go check on our extraction ships. The ships all still had AR markers on our HUDs, so everything seemed kosher. The three of us were standing on the shuttle riding back chatting and overhearing the cleanup crew getting to work on gathering the teeth and pearls when we got near the landing area. I turned around just as the fog cleared, and a terrifying rectangular silhouette, surrounded by multiple smaller ones, came into full detail as they hovered over the landing zone.

“OH SHIT! IDRIS!!!”

Part III: Uninvited Guests

“GET DOWN!”

We dropped to the floor in the hope that none of the ships had spotted us. Even if they didn’t, there was no way the roughly half a dozen (at least) heavily armed dudes standing by the shuttle’s docking station could’ve missed us. It was a quick firefight. Rob and Ranok went down but were thankfully only incapacitated. I managed to survive but was wounded. It wasn’t clear how many of them we took out. I know I got at least one. We held them off long enough for the shuttle to depart with us badly beaten but amazingly alive on it. As we limped back to the ASD facility and started digging in, our air support arrived back at the landing area, and we started to get the full scope of the threat approaching us. Per the scans of our fighters, there were:

• At least seven aboard the Idris (which is, as of the state of the game now, approximately a full crew).
• An Asgard (this will be important later)
• A Fury
• A Zeus
• Multiple other fighter craft (Talons, Gladiuses, Hornets, etc.)

Toss in the roughly half a dozen infantry we had already made the acquaintance of and that added up to a crew of well over a dozen, likely over 15 but we’ll never really know. Plenty of other third parties would join the ensuing melee. At first, it was quiet (well, mostly, the occasional NPC would still wander into our guns). We pulled most folks back to shuttle’s docking station on our side of the storm. Our fighters tried probing and thinning the enemy’s air support but ultimately, there wasn’t much they could do against that frigate. Murph put out a call for reinforcements (we needed capital ship support in particular). In the meantime, we dug in and expedited the worm cleanup. However, we had other problems, beyond the Idris that is. Our numbers were split. With seven of us on the facility side and all our reinforcements stuck outside the storm, we were pretty solidly outnumbered. Not to mention our ammo was getting low as the worm ate it all. The first uninvited guest was clearly just a scout. They came alone on the shuttle and were swiftly dispatched before they could get off. I found a barely operational Ikti mech and placed it behind the boxes at the shuttle station drop off. The next few shuttles were empty which gave us some preciously needed time to call for reinforcements and wrap up cleaning up the worm. Then, they stuck. A shuttle brimming with figures in heavy armor and heavy weapons swooped in and we opened fire. We got most of them but three made it out the side and fell out of our sight. Murph and a couple of folks from the cleanup team managed to take them down but not without taking some losses. That could’ve gone worse… A few minutes later… it did.

“IKTIS! ONE? TWO… THREE… FIVE! Five dropping in from the Asgard!”

These hit us hard. We took lots of loses. I managed to kill two of the intruders and hide but we lost almost everyone else on our team in the process. Most had set their spawns at the facility and were able to get back into the fight quickly. However, many didn’t, and I was briefly entirely alone as Ikti mechs stomped around the facility. In the meantime, on the other side of the storm, our air and space forces were busy in an almost equally desperate fight. Cadoyle answered the call and brought his Idris Fuji’s Revenge to the rescue. Yet he too was incredibly outnumbered by the enemy’s fully crewed Idris and its fighter complement. A friendly org of Canadians had said they were on their way with a couple of Idri as well but were having troubles with the jump point from Stanton. Pluto, Autumn, and our other fighter pilots managed to down multiple Talons, Gladiuses, and Hornets left and right, but that Idris was still too much of a threat to approach the landing area. By this point, we’d managed to retake the ASD facility. Took out another shuttle full of enemies, got the pearls out, and were digging in when suddenly another enemy group of players appeared out of nowhere. They downed a lot of us and executed both members of our party and those from the enemy Idris team. The situation was quickly degrading into a full-on melee, but we still had a job to do: Get those worm teeth out. And by golly, we were going to get those damn teeth out.

Teeth Extraction

After getting rudely executed by our new uninvited guests, I spawned back on Checkmate (I hadn’t set my spawn at the facility). I grabbed some ammo and hopped on my Asgard with the hope that I could swoop in and extract the teeth and team. I made it back to the air space above the landing zone to see a chaotic scene of fighters engaged in various isolated dogfights and the enemy Idris vacillating between attacking our Idris and threatening the landing zone. I took the Asgard to a “safe enough” distance above and tried relaying the situation to everyone. As I took my overwatch position and a new white dot popped in on the radar. “Uh oh, another Idris, on fast approach” There was immediate confusion if this was one of the Canadian Idri we had heard was coming. It wasn’t them. One fully crewed enemy Idris was already more than we could handle right then, could this be another? To our relief, it joined in the fight against the enemy Idris. This gave me and a wingman enough of a window to swoop down to the surface despite having pretty much no clue what awaited us there. Despite the endless melee at the facility, the ground team at the facility, Murph, Superion, Rob, and Ranok, managed to start delivering the precious worm’s teeth to the shuttle station. Those of us on the landing zone side then slowly and precariously extracted them to Checkmate. We did only one first just to see if we’d even make it out alive.

“First tooth stored!”

Tired cheers from the ground team.

“Keep em coming.”

Then three. More cheers. Two left. Then our formerly “friendly” third party Idris turned on our air and space team and things started going downhill fast. Our Canadian friends only managed to get a single solo’d Idris through to help us but, unfortunately, it died quickly. It was past midnight local time. Despite our numbers having swelled, we were exhausted and all spread out. Our capital ship backup was still too far out (if it was even still coming at all) and neither enemy team was giving up, but they did give us a window of opportunity, and it was closing fast. Both enemy Idri pulled out, with the fully crewed one clearly just going to repair and return as some of their fighters stuck around. We were still missing two teeth though. The ground team could account for one but not the other. Yet time was up, and Murph called for extraction. After debating whether they should hijack the Zeus the enemy left at the landing zone, they discovered that someone’s Prowler Utility was amazingly still in one piece. The team shoved the final tooth in that and finally got the hell out of there. It was already well into the next day. My “semi-impromptu worm hunt” had turned into a massive, hours long battle and the Nomads were all dead tired. We had achieved all our objectives and, as it turned out, taken on two orgs (Ares and Part-Time Heroes). The former of which is a notorious PVP org that should’ve beaten us soundly. On all fronts, the Nomads were victorious that day.

Cyclones came in clutch for doing hostile bunker missions… But it all started with a bored Sunday afternoon – Figured to mess with some ground vehicles – preparing for a future raid, maybe figure out a way to storm a train station.. A small crew of us; Echo, Hobo, Pluto, and myself at first figured to Roll through some ground missions. but with an Asgard thanks to Pluto, and a Spartan supplied by myself, we decided to hit up some ground-based missions as a warm up and some practice. First mission, Microtech’s surface – Cold and terrible, snowy and dark. Spartan is reluctant, climbs the hills and the flood lights show us a way. First into a hill face, then another and another – bumping around, high-centering on crests of hills but we find our way through the dark in our first ground mission. Easy in-and-out clear, we begin to head back. Decided to look for hostile bunkers or missions to get a better idea of were to look for landing. Second mission; A hostile ground cargo facility out on Hurston. Asgard lands, besides another the rear door drops – we roll out with the spartan again. Not sure where to go as the marker was a vague area, we rolled through the facility. It felt like driving through Fallujah while in the spartan, Not sure where combatants are, but it’s just us. isolated. we head down a short road, see nothing and begin to turn back, maybe we passed by something, and we did. An oil refinery looking part of the facility. 8 floors of cat-walks around a central fuel tank of some sort. but it’s quiet. Myself as the driver, I drop the boys (Pluto and Hobo) off and gun fire lights up the streets. Echo on their way over, I switch over the remote turret and take on two GT-215s. As i do, Hobo dummy-ing an NPC into the concrete is one of my first views (it was sick). After we clear the platforms to the top – we get a wave warning. more to come. on a building across the street, Echo perched up – sniper in hand. 2 shots ring out from Echo and Hobo as the boss shows up. Dropped like a sack of potato. Nice. missions accomplished. After the take out, we rolled out of the tight roadways and underpass but we loose the Spartan to a Tree (in the business, we call this foreshadowing). a 70 ton APC defeated by a branch. It was like watching a master swordsman holding a pupil down with a  kendo sword in a fight to the death battle. Head pinned into the earth – Unmoving, humiliated. We bailed, wrote it off as a loss, but also an opportunity. Head over to a local Garage surface side, figured to take a look at whatever other vehicle would make sense. As we land, night as fallen. and a Avenger titan and its pilot, loading full sized SCU boxes from the freight building into the little space penguin, a reminder of where most of us started with so many years ago. Simpler times. Hobo stops to the lone pilot to chat, reassure him we’re not here to bother him. Just looking for the ground vehicle terminal. As i turn the corner of the freight building – Big and beautiful. big lit up sign saying “AMD” in red. Mustang Omega – such a rare sight to see, even as someone who is lucky to have one. Behind it, the vehicle services building. Pop on it, Hobo in tow, who starts being a loot goblin and finds another red chest to the other side of the room from where I’m facing. Nothing fun of note. But  we decide on Cyclones, a TR and MT. both 3 seaters, both with ways to deal with ground crew in another way than out own rifles. Figured some air support of the MT would be nice as well. (in the business, we call this foreshadowing). loaded the Asgard, and off to the next. As we clear another Bunker with the 2 cyclones, we’re met with a 5th. Superion who joins us. He figured it’d be best to bring along a Pieces rescue. Asgard doesn’t have it and no one hurt too badly yes so we accept. Superion is a bit far out so we head off to our 4th hostile bunker for the night and figured to meet him there. landed a bit out of distance but the hostile bunker. AAs were hot and took Echo out in a F7C-M Mk2 Heart seeker hornet. See his marker and watched it land over a click and a half from the Asgard. Pluto and Hobo off to the bunker, i return and head to pickup Echo. Clear the bunker and begin to head back. We find a second Asgard not far from ours. It seemed abandoned and Echo takes control – Bird is still good, and figured it’s worth it as a backup. Onto the next mission, another Hostile bunker. As we land Hobo and I head to the bunker with the MT. Pluto driving the TR. We reach the bunker but somehow someone got stuck, don’t get the full story but it sounded like Pluto was heading to Echo or Superion to pick them up. But  between us and them, was a mountain range. Pluto went to pick them up in the cyclone TR, climbing the mountain side like a Toyota of the future would. all grip, and little power but somehow managed to get the TR stuck in a tree at the top of a mountain.  Pluto heads back figured the Cyclone was a loss and Hobo and i cleared the bunker quickly and headed out. 1 red box that time. The loot RNG has not been favourable to us tonight. we load up the MT and begin to head back, i was determined (stubborn) to get the cyclone TR back, it’s been good until now. We drive up the mountain side and reach the first hump, 700m out to the TR. how hard could it be? the sun begins to set as we crest the top of this hill, it opens up to an entire canyon to get to it. Unwavered, i press forward (and “A” and “D” and “S”) weaving through the massive rocks, in my years of playing mud runners and offloading IRL – Easy. get pinched in a few spots, hard to see paths as you climb, turn around and nearly get stuck a few times. AAs still in range on this side of the mountain, we can’t get stuck…  but we find a patch upwards, 300ms out. straight shot. Dodge the last few rocks and we find the Cyclone TR, in the same low-lying branch the Spartan was shamed under. Hanging. A few bumps and rams with the MT, and the TR is free. I jump out (as i originally drove the TR the fist few missions, Hobo takes His MT back down. We learned CIG implemented the Anti-roll and Anti-flip counters from the Mule to the cyclone, caution to the find, bounce down the mountain side. It was something out of ski-free to get to the Asgard, except the Yeti was a rock that you’d get stuck on. thankfully i know how to doge the Yeti. loaded up again, 2 Asgards and the pieces Headed to the next hostile bunker on the dark side of the planet. Now this is where the fun begins Land and touch down, mountain range tapering to the right, cliff face barely visible to the left. We head right, Hobo part way, trying to climb the mountain side in failed effort, we both head right. Echo landing much further ahead in a valley, he wandered drunk into the night. Lost but using his intuition and headed some vague direction towards out next bunker. Having room, I pick up heading about 90 degrees in the wrong direction. It’s all good. the cyclone eats the bumps and rocks all day. But it was in fact night time, and we hit every stationary object physically possible, spinning us repeatedly, flipping us occasionally. we roll up to the front gate. 6 enemies guarding the elevator. The GT-210 on the Tr lights up. the 9-series longsword canon on the Cyclone MT canon sending bodies flying 50ft into the air. Cartwheeling out of our way. As the cyclone shields shimmer we were not going to stop at the NPCs attempt at a defence. we wouldn’t let them. we’re taking this bunker. all 5 of us, Echo Pluto, hobo, Superion, and myself all jump in, down the elevator and see our first red box as the elevator clicks into place on sub-floor 1. Nice! Quickly three FS-9s echo through, ringing in our ears. Watching Superion hold the left side corridor, Echo send rounds between Superion’s legs, Hobo above Echo’s and myself above Hobo’s shoulders, text-book phalanx manoeuvre. easy clear as the last enemy falls. We search around after finding the first red box. A second one pops up. We’re rich boys. and a 3rd and a 4th. and a final 5th hidden away in a corner. 5 Red chests, we hit it big tonight – we had been chasing a 4-red box bunker high for 3 weeks now. however the loot wasn’t great… none the less. lets get out here. 30 minute leave warning pops up or else we get trespassed. a notification we’ve ignored until now. Time to move onto the next bunker…. or so we thought. We came up the elevator, and see that its still dark outside from the busted blast-doors. we see AA light up the sky as we head out into the open, guns going mad – gunning something out in the air. A Connie in the air – coming in. wait, a second shows up behind it, following, taking hits. Shields shimmering in bright blue against the black sky. we scram to the cyclones, a single Connie can mean anything, but two means something more organized. but as they come into the airfield, we see a 3rd ship trailing. Bad news. we have to go. The AAs continue to fire upwards, red laser beams looking like tracers out of something straight out of the bombing of Berlin WW2. the 3rd massive ship had its headlights on – can’t see for a while as we loaded up. but we did catch a glimpse, Reclaimer coming in hot behind the 2 Connies. A big crew munching abandoned ships at bunkers. Good money idea, one we didn’t want to be part of. Dark still the cyclones scatter and we see the reclaimer laser something from a distance. Turns out I got turned around was was heading the wrong way the entire time, away from the asgard. Pluto’s 7520 plate on his Asgard popped up 4.6km. targeted it and flip around and haul ass back, in hopes to load up and head off this god forsaken planet. we keep apart, trying to not attract attention, the Reclaimer hovered right over Superion and Hobo in the Cyclone MT – they tried to fight them, but the missiles weren’t coming online. From my view looked like a UFO abduction of a cow. until i cross over the hill – out of sight. checking scans, a gladius had shown up, running distortions, started to blast the connies and reclaimer. We figured we still had time, that we can make it before the Reclaimer feasts on our only way out. Another hill, two, a bounce off a few rocks and a tumble down a hill. We reach Echo’s Asgard over the mountain side. Engulfed in flames, nothing to take away, we keep going. 700m to Plutos Asgard. Fire. Also gone. As we pull up Superion flew in with a pieces. figured it was in tact – nah. burnt to a crisp. I see the reclaimer coming down to land, or so i thought, from the corner of my eye – Echo corrects me and it’s going down hard. Full swan dive into the planet’s surface. flames and all. Fuck it, our rides are trashed but we have the cyclones. Hop a few mountains and get to the flaming wreckage of the reclaimer, but it’s upside down. not much we can do with that. Flip around and head towards the First of the two Carracks, surprisingly it was on its feet, front landing ramp down. We’re taking it. We need to. We have no other way out. I park up the cyclone against the bottom of the ramp that was a bit too high up and boosted Pluto and Echo into the ramp to check if the ship is still operational – they cleared it, checked the bodies, a player. I get a notification for destruction of personal property. The Cyclone MT is gone. Hobo and Superion got out in time before it went out. The Gladius starts to head out, 4.6km out and doesn’t notice the TR with Pluto, Echo and myself. I figured, okay i dropped off Echo and Pluto to check the Carrack, I’m gonna go pick up Cosmic and Superion – Start heading over. 15 minutes remain. leave or be trespassed from the bunker area. I see the other two’s markers in the distance and start to head out that way. I see the second carrack, it’s belly up. As i near closer to Hobo and Superion, i see the wrecks of a dragonly and a hurricane off to my left. I pick up the stranded.I hear back, the first carrack is confirmed dead, nothing works inside. Turn and haul ass to the hurricane, seemed intact, little red but landed on its feet. Dead on arrival after some inspection. no options left, our flights are gone. the 3 that could have are dead as well, and the few we found don’t work either. We found ourselves in a wasteland. but had to return back to a station. We need out – We need a hero. a few of our boys in Redscar are online called out Wikkett, JarJar, and Duke sitting in voice chat, thumbs up their butts, bullshitting the evening away. I pop in and ask for help. We’re 5 souls – and we need extraction, told them the 5 of us but 1 wasn’t redscar. JarJar begins ragging on me “Ohhh look whooo needs heeeelp! someone from Exterra.”. A little bit of back and forth banter, Duke was already in the sky. Wikkett following in something that wasn’t a drake to sooth Hobo’s anxiety to everything Drake-shaped. The call for help was put in. We have a chance to get out. 10 minutes remaining. Flip around and head to the horizon, much like the sun, daybreak was here. With Hobo and Superion. had to get out. Death was on the line and the timer we never really noticed was ticking faster. Cyclone putting in the work, Seen what looked like a white valkyrie from a distance, sitting up on its landing gear but can’t make out the rest. It was hope, had to pop over another hill – it was another Asgard. Toasted. Engines ripped off, never to see any more use. But maybe it could still help us. Pull up the rear ramp that was down – no additional ground vehicles. damn. Bird was gone, and nothing left. We pull away and head for the Horizon. 7 minutes remain We crossed the boundary, we’re free – Dropped off Cosmic and superion safe from whatever execution that would be caused from still being within the quest zone. they hunker down while i head back back to Pluto and Echo – they’re still in the zone. heading to their own safety. 6 minutes remain 5km out hope over the same fresh corpses and wreckage, the dragonfly on its side. 5 minutes remain they’re still 3km out. I pass the Connie, and they surprised me how far out they’ve made it so far. 4 Minutes remain roll up beside Echo, have him join me. Pluto another km ahead of where Echo got picked up 3 minutes remain Hope over a hill, Cyclone giving it all – Land beside Pluto. He loads up GO. Looking for flat land, what direction, bump into a cactus, get flipped around. how much further man – we’re not gonna make it. 15 seconds remain We’re not going to mak- a new warning appears, Leaving area we’re out – free. into the wild. out of the zone. safe. stranded, but safe. the TR sputters to a stop at the top of a hill. overlooking the combat zone, wreckage of the reclaimer and connie visible from where we are. I continue to roll out. Around the mountain range, heading back to Hobo and superion for evac. The scorching heat and the sun in full morning, lights the lands. We pull to a stop as Duke arrives in the airspace, Wikkets marker following behind from a quantum jump. we park up beside the Quasy grazers Pluto and Echo feeling for the hunt – the Cyclone and its last 200 rounds open up. lighting the wild herd. those that were hit, died. The rest were uneffected. built different i guess. Duke in a cutlass black, turn and burns – lands, opening the small doors of the cutlass black. Pull the cyclone TR into the back and shut it off for the last time. You did good my little war machine. We all meet back up on seraphim station. It usual crowded-ness only improved with a stray red couch, a wing of an arrow and a golfcar added to the floor decore. Pose up for a group photo. Rescued.

Last night Wyldecard, Jaggr, Wikkett and I went down to one on Daymar for a bounty mission, soon after landing a player Hornet came down and took out Wyldecard’s Cutty Red in which he had some filled cargo boxes. We pushed on with our mission at the PAF and also decided to show Wylde and Jaggr around it since it was their first time and get the new Quartz SMG for them. I went to check the dish activation status and saw we could activate it with two more alignment cards, so we decided to do that as well so they could see the worms and also gain access to the final loot room where the OLP battery is located. Meanwhile every time we looked into the sky there was a massive air battle happening, missiles flying everywhere and even stray shots hitting around us. We put in one card and fought off the worms and NPC Nine-tails quickly followed by the final card and wave of worms, the loot room opened and it held a Spectre quantum drive, the last one we really needed for our Armory. We grabbed it with a tractor and ran away from the dish to hide in the hills overlooking it while we called for a pickup. While we made it to some boulders we tucked ourselves into it the best we could when a freaking Polaris came down and was hover right over us with the lower turret manned shooting NPC’s on the ground. Then an Idris showed up and the Polaris took off to fight it! We decided now was the time to make our way to Wylde’s husk of a Cutty to get his cargo boxes and get to a big open spot near there because Cadoyle was on his way with his Idris to pick us up! Running along the outskirts of the PAF we kept an eye on the sky which was full of fire and ships, that other Idris that the Polaris was now engaging was firing off its laser and our view of it – about 10km away was awe inspiring. One of those moment when your like.. holy shit this game. We made it to a new spot and we huddled again as Cadoyle quickly swooped in firing off noise to keep him masked as we made our way onto the ship.. but poor Wylde was suffocating as he had run out of oxygen in his suit! Crawling up the ramp of the Idris with his medgun out continously pumping that green goo to keep himself alive he made it into the Idris hangar with less then 10 seconds to live and we quickly flew off to CRU L1, everyone alive and with our newly acquired Spectre plus Wylde’s Cargo!

I was buying and stock pilling commodities for the Supply and Die missions.  Anubis came online and mentioned he’d been making a killing doing the same thing.  He mentioned that he had an abundance of copper and corundum at the Magnus Gateway station.  He was getting close to the maximum personal storage for the station but needed some Tin, which I had stored there.  We made a trade and in the interest of efficiency and time I borrowed his C2 loaded with copper and corundum.  I boarded the C2 and checked the cargo hold to make sure we were secured for the trip to Pyro Gateway station.  Noticed he had an Atlas onboard the C2 and he told me to take it. All set to make some money I departed for Pyro Gateway.  Once I arrived and landed in my hanger, I proceeded to unload the multiple 24 SCU containers.  I attempted to use the Atlas but I was unable to gain access to the unit.  Pulled out my trusty Pyro multi-tool with tractor attachment only to find out the 24 SCU containers exceeded its capacity. Now I was in a situation.  I needed a Maxlift Tractor Beam but in order to get one I’d need to leave the hanger.  Once I left the hanger my borrowed C2 would store along with the cargo and who knows if it would persist.  Tried to hail good old Anubis to no avail.  Reached out to anyone online in discord but my plea remained unanswered.  What to do? Logged in my Alt account for the first time this patch.  Purchased a Maxlift and proceeded to Pyro Station where I joined my main in the hanger.  Logged the Alt account off and proceeded to unload the C2 with my newly acquired Maxlift tractor. What I haven’t mentioned is a peculiar clipping issue with the C2.  When both the back and front cargo ramps are extended the C2 has a tendency to bounce around and be unstable.  One solution to this is to keep the front ramp extended and retract the rear.  This stops the bouncing but now the front ramp has a gap to the ground which you can’t traverse to gain access to the ship without assistance.  Of course, the cargo gods were against me, and I clipped through or fell off the C2!  So, you would correctly assume easy enough just extend the back ramp or use the elevator to gain access to the ship.  Remember this is a borrowed ship and the party member, Anubis, has now logged off.  I no longer have access to ship controls like elevators and ramp controls. I tried several ways to gain access to the C2 to unload the remaining cargo that at this point was out of reach for the Maxlift from outside the ship.  I tried making ramps with armor boxes and cargo that had been unloaded but nothing worked to get me back on the ship. Then I remembered some previous adventures with Murphy.  We had occasions that required traversal to higher ground.  We incapacitated each other then moved the body with the tractor then revived.  Time to login the alt again!  Had the alt melee take down me and tractor my character onto the C2.  Since this was a non-lethal take down, I revived now aboard the C2. I was able to finally complete the unload and store all the cargo.  All told This whole adventure was over three hours to unload a few boxes from a Hercules.  Never give up, never surrender and remember to hydrate with Cruz Lux.  Without my Cruz Lux I would not have been able to complete this mission!

Whilst doing my usual spree of gathering some pyrotechnics amalgamated supervisor cards, i decided to try my luck and run the contested zone at Orbituary, and all went as usual up until the abandoned medical area with the blue keycard imprinting machine, where, to my dismay, appeared an 18 minute cooldown. This… lets just say dampened the spirits, as obviously, someone has just been through here and is now probably in hangar 30 claiming some lovely comp boards and components instead of who should be, me. However seeing as i had already used my supervisor keycard i decided to push on to the printer for comp board number 4, which had a 20 minute cooldown, but hey ho i’ll just wait for it to end. Now imagine me, waiting there for the printer to reset, as a citizen runs past me to check the machine, fully kitted out in heavy armour, so of course i take the opportunity to… help myself to his belongings, and lo and behold, they have a number 4 compboard? While running the cz and running to the number 4 machine? Now i was thinking, what if they had just been waiting in here for the cooldown? However, as i made my way to the main hangar, i found myself face to face with a lone civilian, cowering in the corner next to the main compboard machine in the loot hangar, obviously terrified of my presence. What caught my eye was that this machine had only 5 seconds left until resetting, so after removing the possible threat from the situation with extreme prejudice, i claimed another sweet prize from this unexpected adventure to contribute to the Redscar Armory.

While running contested zones with the Rangers, we found ourselves trapped on Checkmate due to an elevator outage. The only person that could rescue Cadoyle, Murphy, Lord-Anubis was Just-a-guy-with-a-name. The ship he was in and only one available to him was the trust Aurora! Now I had a full set of executive hangar comp-boards and red/blue key cards.. so this was an important rescue. We squeezed in, I took the coffin bed while Cadoyle and Anubis held onto Guy’s pilot seat. Guy got us safely to Orbituary!! Its not the size.. its how you.. rescue.

What a day! I am honored and humbled to have received the title of Voyager. Being part of such a dedicated Star Citizen org has always been an incredible experience. Every mission, every dogfight, and every adventure has been a blast! A huge thank you to Murphyjack for the generous package—truly appreciated! Looking forward to many more late-night flights, great moments, and unforgettable journeys ahead. Cheers! #26

Introducing our premiere episode! Comms are open. A show for the community, Open Comms Radio puts listeners in the chair to share their stories, experiences and love for Star Citizen, Squadron 42, and CIG. Want to call in? Join our Discord to join the conversation: https://discord.gg/5TNk5BsxTR Join us LIVE on Twitch Wednesdays at 19:00 / 7:00pm ET Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heUAZtMQrYk&t=6s Listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lnbEKk72C12oMRhZTHJ9h    

Continuing my exploration of the Checkmate contested zone, I ran into a group that was predictably unhappy to see me. Upon waking up in the hospital, I decided to head back and see if I could recover my kit. The group that took me down was apparently in such a rush to get to through the red supervisor door, while they were looting they accidentally swapped their backpack with mine. The backpack they left behind included some snacks, LMG ammo, and the red supervisor card they were planning on using. Lucky me. After storing the card, I decided to try to sneak up on them and negotiate. I thought I had found them further in without them noticing me so I tried communicating over text. Turns out they had realized shortly after I lifted their card their mistake and left the CZ, so this was an entirely different group I was stalking. While narrowly avoiding the second group, we negotiated a place to meet, the local bar. After talking at the bar, I was feeling generous so I only charged 50,000 UEC for the card. They happily paid, making me think I should’ve charged more. Right after that deal, someone else started asking if anyone was selling Crypt keys. I think there’s a potential market in card sales.

Crafting the perfect character, let alone their name, can feel like an odyssey of its own. I spent countless hours wandering the labyrinth of possibilities, unraveling the essence of Dorian Mersk—a hardened man forged by toil, yet destined for something far greater than the confines of his origins. Jyn Voss, however, demanded a more delicate hand. She underwent transformation after transformation, evolving through countless iterations until she emerged as the magnetic force she was meant to be. Her presence needed to strike a delicate balance—terrifying yet captivating, resolute yet compassionate—perfectly aligned with her intricate story arc. Every detail, from her upbringing to her innermost struggles, became a tapestry I wove behind the scenes, shaping a life that subtly unfolded before the audience without laying everything bare at once. Then there’s our enigmatic Lorville man—a character who exudes cruelty and disdain. He was designed to be utterly unlikable, and I couldn’t be more satisfied with how his malevolence came to life. Each of these characters is a puzzle piece in a larger narrative, each one painstakingly shaped to resonate in ways both obvious and subliminal.

As Save Stanton progresses, it is becoming clear that to gain rewards citizens must choose a faction to help in the fight surrounding The Slicers. I have dug up as much relevant information I can in order to help everyone make an informed decision and have the appropriate knowledge to discuss which direction Redscar Nomads should take.  

Headhunters

Overall: Started as a smuggling gang in the Virgil system in the 2610s but quickly relocated to Ruin Station in 2620. The Headhunters lost control of Ruin Station in 2740 and instead started taking over outposts in Pyro. The Headhunters is one of many gangs operating in Pyro. Save Stanton: In regards to the Save Stanton story line, the Headhunters want to maintain the status quo of Pyro. The missions for the Headhunters are specifically worded as “Protect Pyro”. The main agitators of Stanton is a gang called The Slicers, which is an unknown gang to The Headhunters. They are infuriated that they are being attacked by the Frontier Fighters despite having nothing to do with The Slicers other than sharing a system. Their missions revolve around striking supply convoys and clearing outposts. Gameplay Ramifications: If siding with the Headhunters, the Citizens for Prosperity will become hostile and landing at Citizens for Prosperity controlled outposts will be met with hostility.

Frontier Fighters

Overall: Not much is known currently about the Frontier Fighters, but it seems that they were formed in 2954 as a response to the Slicer incursion. Their goal is to wipe out the Slicers and “any gangs that get in their way”. Save Stanton: As stated above, the goal is to wipe out the Slicers. The missions for the Frontier Fighters are worded as “Purge Pyro”. They seem to want to strike out and attack any and all gangs in Pyro, whether or not they are aligned with the Slicers. Their missions revolve around assaulting asteroid bases and attacking outposts. Gameplay Ramifications: If siding with the the Frontier Fighters the Citizens for Prosperity and Headhunters will become hostile and landing at both Citizens for Prosperity and Headhunter controlled outposts will be met with hostility.  

Citizens for Prosperity

Overall: Started in 2950 in Lorville, the goal of the Citizens for Prosperity is to expand the non-outlaw population of Pyro to the point that the UEE will claim the system and bring it into the Empire. Initially starting as raids into Pyro to eliminate gangs, Citizens for Prosperity pivoted to trying to make safer spaces for civilians to live in peace in the hope to eventually attract commercial enterprises. Save Stanton: While the Citizens for Prosperity seem to be somewhat aligned with the Frontier Fighters, they are operating at odds with each other. The missions for the Citizens for Prosperity are worded as “Reclaim Pyro”. Citizens for Prosperity seem to be just another of the gangs in Pyro that Frontier Fighters are looking to eliminate.  Their missions revolve around cargo hauling. Gameplay Ramifications: If siding with the Citizens for Prosperity, the Headhunters will become hostile and landing at Headhunter controlled outposts will be met with hostility.   Note: all of this information is NOT FINALIZED and SUBJECT TO CHANGE. I’ll be updating this as more information from CIG comes out (Last updated 1/11)

Entry #006-03012955 Aginor94   Here I am, just finished consolidating the high valuables from 4 mining excursions into a single Hull A cargo haul. Cargo manifest:

• 7 – Stileron
• 22 – Gold
• 9 – Taranite
• 26 – Bexalite

Taking full advantage of the 64 SCU cargo capacity of the ship, it goes for a total of about 530k aUEC! It is a long flight from Ruin Station to Stanton Gateway, but eventually I get there.   Not losing any time, I head straight to the gateway and do the jump as fast as possible!   A little bit of a rough ride, but made it trough. On the other side, I start up my Starmap to plot the jump over to Orison, where I plan to sell most of my load. But the Starmap is saying that “Testination is in another system”. How come? Must be bugged. Exit an re enter the Mobiglass. Same message… I look out of the ship, and it is all redish, and I have QT-markers for RAB stations… oh no.. Double time back to the Stanton Gateway. This is the first time this has happened to me. Might I have piloted the ship a little to roughly through the wormhole?? Or have I turned around mid jump?? Only one way to find out! Ready for jump #2 Okay, and this time I am 100% exiting in the Stanton system, as the end of the tunnel turned blue, and my flying was stellar. Sike! I am back in Pyro. Quickly, and just for good measure, lets try it one more time! The third time was not the charm… It seems I am trapped in Pyro! I resign for today, as too much was at stake for my liking, and went to seek refuge inside of Stanton Gateway Station.   Stay safe out there.   Aginor out

continuation from:

Fourth: Securing the hangar’s entrance

Inside we discovered three things: 1) A nonexisting door 2) 9 marked slots 3) 5 lights. When we first entered, there were 3 green and 2 red lights. Minglewood was so kind as to research the mechanism. And from there we learned that there was truly not much to be done but wait for all the lights to turn green. Each one takes about 22minutes. Yes, we just sat there for +40minutes. While rest is important, so is nourishment! Let’s not forget today’s sponsor: Now back to the regular program. Since at the end of todays adventure lay a ship to be claimed, Cadoyle took it upon himself to organize a raffle between the willing participants. Wikkett, not being one to passively wait for a result, offered himself to take the slots of the members that opted out of the raffle. His efforts were met with laughter by the group. On a very transparent manner, Cadoyle drew the winner, it was JarJar! Wikkett demanded a recount, as he was sure he was the actual winner. JarJar being such a solidary giraffe, gave the ship to LordAnubis. After twiddling our thumbs, all lights eventually did turn green! Murphy lost no breath and went straight into action, and inserted all 7 comboards into their respective slots. The nonexistent door sprang into existence and gave way towards the executive hangar.

Fifth: The executive hangar

Anubis went straight to the ASOP terminal and claimed the ship. Until now we did not know what ship it was going to be. The suspense was palpable! A Cutlass Black emerges from the hangar! No time was wasted gathering all scattered components and weapons. The securing party also went to peek into the hangar. The Polaris might have gotten a bit too close to the hangar! It got stored. Anubis got himself stuck, so much so, that he could not be retrieved anymore. He had to kill himself and find his way back to Gaslight Station. All Nomads that were still in the executive hangar hopped into the new Cutty for its maiden voyage to Gaslight Station. After handing out the components and weapons we formed up for a group picture in front of the new ship. Guess who is missing. The owner of the ship!! We waited about 10 minutes for him to show up. And when he did, he came in his tightie-blueies. Left to right: WeenerDawg, Murphy, SapphireFire, Minglewood (kneeling), Tav, LordAnubis (sexy), Wikkett, Cadoyle (kneeling), Nautautumn, Aginor. And just like this, the day concluded with the first completion of the Contested Zone loop by the RedScar Nomads. Congrats on all for being part of such a monumental feat!   Aginor out

Entry #005-01012955 Aginor94 A retelling of what happened on the 29 and 30 Dec ’54  

First: The Contested Zone

It is the 29 Dec of ’54, and the Nomads are in Ruin Station above Terminus. Many Nomads traveled from far away for today’s bonfire. I had it easy as I already was stationed there for mining operations. The goal is to loot components, fps gear and compboards. The following Nomads showed up. Not in the picture is DukeLetoII. Before entry into the CS everyone needs 5 reminders to transfer their imprint into the Clinic of RS. As non compliance would be detrimental for today’s operation. Might I add, the receptionist is a real slacker, they will refuse to assign you a room! How rude. Also, drink up! You don’t want to be eating or drinking in the CS! As demonstrated by Cadoyle, who has severe allergies to every drink, for the sole exception of smoothies. His drinking technique is quite something! A little while later: It didn’t go as well as intended. Fault did not lay completely on myself, but the BwIn value was high, desync was the true enemy. Or that is what I like to believe. The rest of the nomads stayed and fought! Of the times I was in the CS, when it did work, only the compboard printers worked. I have yet to see the loot they promised.  

Second: Intermission – The warm up

On the 30 Dec ’54 we are in Stanton, close by SPK. Objective: clear Cadoyle’s CS3-“upsi”. Currently, if you get send into jail, ehm Klescher Rehabilitation Center on Aberdeen, you might need to server hop till you find one where the elevator works. Many citizen have found themselves captured by an overly attached Klescher warden. Cadoyle’s fate lay in Murphy’s, Minglewood’s and my hands. I loaded my Cutter with a Pulse, so that Cadoyle could make the drop into the com-array around Celin. The deactivation worked on the second try, and no mission popped up as to request the array’s reactivation. Since the Pulse was locked into the landing mode, where the max speed is caped at 30m/s, I went in to retrieve our criminal. Two missiles were launched against me. The first one failed to hit its target, and the second one I never saw coming. So much so I did not even launch flares. Thankfully I just respawned in Orison. I rented a Cutter, since it has no claim time and it is only 9k aUEC to rent. This I did with the hope of getting back to SPK to help out! On my way to my hangar, I stepped into the nothingness and found myself in the unseen part of August Dunlow Spaceport… IRL duties called, and I had to hop off. Later Murphy reported that Cadoyle managed to clear his CS! Hooray! But Minglewood also got shot down by a missile. Unlike me, he did end up in Klescher. Mingle got lucky, as the warden was not having an attachment crisis.

Third: Nomads and the CZ

Just like the day before, we started doing the CZ on Ruin Station. Not long after we got our first full set of compboards! Unanimously, we agreed to use the opportunity of the very low population server to go to the Executive Hangar. On my way to the hangar where Cadoyle’s polaris was waiting, by a miss click, I ended up in my own hangar. My two ships were… well, having a party? And the party markers were also little amiss. After loading up the Polaris, we headed out to the executive hangar!  

Fourth: Securing the hangar’s entrance

We divided our forces into a boarding party with fps gear, and a patrolling/securing force with ships. Still hot from the action of the CZ, while in the air lock, the boarding party was ready for action! Any NPC or players inside of the “outpost” would be overwhelmed, no doubt about it! After sweeping all the rooms, we deemed the station clear! The boarding party: (not in the picture JarJarJabroni and myself) The securing party: SapphireFire, NautAutumn (not in picture Polaris with Cadoyle and WeenerDawg, and Tav in an Furry)

Continue the story with the button on the right ->

     

Entry #004-28122954 Aginor94 For today, some of us met up on Pyro jump-point to make our first group-jump towards Pyro. We flew in with a Polaris by Cadoyle, a F8A by Wikket and a Hull-A by me. This was Wikkets firt jump! SapphireFire lost her Hornet Tracker, she did leave it parked on the Polaris, but still it got lost to the universe while quantum-jumping. So our next stop was Gaslight for refueling and claiming a new Hornet. We then hit it towards an abandoned derelict on Fuego. The whole crew:

Entry #003-27122954 Aginor94   The day started in Orison. Why? Because I had to do a character repair the night prior. After successfully claiming the bridge of an Idris with GoA, I got killed in action by swarming NPCs. It did not take much to neutralize me, since I was already on my last leg (Tier 1 arm, tier 2 chest). Even though I died, I remained as a ghost on the Idris bridge. Nothing would move me from there, not logging off nor alt+f4. I would always spawn right back into my incorporeal self. A character repair was warranted. (3.24.3) I wanted to continue mining in Pyro, and so I flew back with the rented Hull-A. If I were to be shot down upon arrival, it would not have mattered, the ship was not mine 🙂

Entry: #002-26122954 Aginor94   A few industrious days hauling from Seraphim to Orison with the Hull-A have past. Quite profitable, yet not as much as it should have been. Each trip conglomerates 5 to 6 Hauling missions, but when turning them in at Orison only 2 or when lucky 4 get registered. So with money in my pocket I got to buy the Prospector I went to Lorville and go it! I have heard that for mining, Pyro is the new hot deal, so lets go! Terminus will witness my first steps in Pyro-mining! Very impressive planet! Yet I could not imagine one more tedious to fly around in. With its high atmospheric density, the maximum travel speed is of 130m/s!! You have to climb over 7k to get faster. Four trips to the refinery later, and I already had about 520k aUEC in ores being refined! The ores in of itselfe is the same as in Stanton. The rock clusters on Terminus are few an far apart (at least so it feels with the low travel speeds). Yet when you find one, they are loaded with rocks. I found one with 18 rocks! (all small and Beryl…). I even found enough ore for 1 SCU of Riccite!! One rock stood out today—not for the profit it yielded, nor for the challenge it presented in the moment. This rock was a symbol, a promise of what lies ahead in the mining trade.It was a glimpse into a future of industrial ambition and collaboration. This solitary giant spoke with clarity and purpose: for a time when we’ll need not just larger ships, but the camaraderie of a dedicated crew, working together to unlock the true potential of the ships. It whispered of teamwork, ingenuity, and the boundless opportunities that await those willing to rise to the challenge. It truly is beautiful! We will see where I will mine next time, for there is much yet to be seen on other worlds.   Aginor out o7

Wow, what a week. First our small Flotilla starting to salvage near CRU L1 Ambitious Dream Station. Did quite well with a single Vulture and Corsair, saw no less then 6 other Vultures doing the same, we made sure to wave! Following day we hit the Jump Gate and blasted towards Pyro! Scraping near cluster KKE (KEE KEE to Murphy). Did ok with selling at Gaslight, was a little slow but was fast to sell.. just needed to skirt past all the garbage in that station.. wow. After finishing the op I was called by NautAutumn that the Ghosts of Aberdeen were under attack on Bloom. Linking up with them in my Corsair we quickly took down an enemy Polaris and were able to rescue Just_Scum stranded on the surface! The next day we made our way back to Stanton and decided to setup shop in the Yela Asteroid Belt. Here we made over 3 million in short order. Drake ships making that money and a busy few days in the ‘verse!

Entry #001-24122954 Aginor94

A fresh start

With the 4.0_Preview launch just a few days ago, all attention is on money making. What works best and fast? I have ships to buy and fun to be had! Mercenary missions will pop up briefly before they disappear. Although I did the Certification on Crusader I am not getting any mission other than “Provide Backup”. No biggie, I am not big on FPS as money making anyway. But its entry cost is so low, it was nice for making my first 300-400k aUEC to get the ball started. Salvaging: the ball is not big enough to buy the Vulture just yet. There should be a Vulture rental. Bounty Hunting: Bounties tremble!! As I fly in with my green Cutter! I did the first certification and a few VLRTs. I stopped when I downed a Hull-A with a lot of cargo. Until then, I was not aware that 12SCUs could fit into the Cutter! The Medical Supplies sold for a pretty penny 😀 And sure enough, you can rent the Hull-A! Many Nomads were doing they first money with Bounty Hunting. They already had fighters of they own, and a new feature OR bug (we are not sure just yet) will give full payout to all members that are sharing a mission. So it became a Bounty-Sharing fest! (To bad, you need to have the reputation of the mission to be able to accept it). Player beacons: why even bother? In the mission description they will not tell you your distance to the rescuee, or even if it is in Pyro or Stanton. Ship Mining: You can rent the Prospector and also the MOLE! Only thing is, with the stock mining-lasers, your rock selection is very slim (max ~5k Rock with the Prospector).  Although nice to try, I will enjoy it a lot more once I have bought the ships outright! After 4 Months of no mining, still got my dynamic Prospector landing dialed in 🙂 Hauling: Tricky but worth it! With only doing 4 trips and about 2 hours, I did a little more than 1M aUEC! That is the “worth it” part. You just need to take ALL the Seraphim -> Orison hauling missions. There are 6 of them, and each pays 50k. By investing about 10min loading and 10min unloading, you can move all 50 SCUs of cargo (in 1 SCU boxes). 300k per trip from the safety of you hangar. Safety from players that is. The “tricky” part is as follows. Those 4 trips are the result of about 8 attempts. The issues:

• Hangar might spawn your ship BELOW the platform! And when you call another ship, the platform will lower and squeeze your first ship trough the platform. If you are lucky, it will be fully squeezed trough and flyable, but normally it will just squeeze halfway trough, or end up destroyed. (This happened mostly at Seraphim). Workaround is to first spawn a small sacrificial ship. Have it spawn incorrectly, “store” it, and then with the platform on the lower position call up the ship you intended.

• Hangar might not spawn your ship altogether, but it will always be ready to be retrieved. Oddly enough this only happened with the rented ships (Hull-A and Prospector), the Cutter and Hoverquad were no problem. (This happened mostly at Orison).

• Hailing but no response from Orison. It sucks to have your fully loaded Hull-A floating around the spaceport spawn-hailing for 15 minutes. Before giving up, I tried to fly into the hangar of someone that just left his own. Hopefully the ship will not get impounded and I can unload it straight away, but no. The ship got impounded, but not so my hope. Payed of the fine and tried to spawn the ship (hopefully with the cargo still attached and the hauling mission active), but I got a repetition of the previous bullet-point.
• Hailing and getting an hangar! Flying in, just to explode on contact with the invisible doors…

(recreation of the incident)

• Current classic: stuck cargo elevators. The good thing is, that unlike to the elevators from outposts, your hangar elevators will eventually respond. Patience is required (sometimes 5 minutes for each elevator movement).

 

Some extra snippets from the previous days

My first gold-run: parked the Cutter at a stuck elevator, and spend ALL of my money on gold! Behold the mighty haul of 2 SCUs!

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My second gold-run: While hanging around CRU-L1 with: WeenerDawg in his Vulture with Memedog26 as box-monkey. In the Corsair is Murphy to transport and sell the RMC. And ShadowGazer in his Polaris. Shadow and I had not much to do. So, together with Shadow and his Polaris we did a gold-run! Feeling frisky I again spend ALL of my money on gold (192SCU of Gold for a buy-in of 1 Million aUEC). I only did it, because I had the protection of the mighty Polaris as an hauler! Total profit of 189k, split halfway does not feel enough to risk it again.

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As the Nomads did their first salvaging excursion into Pyro, I was motivated to do my first ever jump through the wormhole! At first I was not sure what to do, I see the hole and some ships nearby. To be able to fly to them faster I switched into NAV mode and then the big semi-circles started to line up the “runway”. Good! Just sitting there and saw how the Jumppoint expanded and contracted, I thought I should be getting some kind of prop as what to do, but got nothing. Flying a bit closer the HUD changed to the full cycle and now I knew I was at the right spot! HUD and MDFs flickering, and with dramatic music I get pulled into the hole! Cool! Oh wait, you have to navigate through the hole and around pillars!? I got this! ehmm, kinda got this? Controls seems twitchy and it feels like there is a constant pull toward whatever wall you are closest to. After hitting a few walls and pillars I got my bearings and got through to the other side unharmed! I am now in PYRO!!! Shit! Murderhobos spawn camping the jump point?? Thankfully the only ships there were fellow Stanton-Pyro travelers that mean no harm. The jump only consumed 110k of my 1M QT fuel, quite an economic jump! No screen captures were made. The show images are from the trip back into Stanton. The Nomads were around Pyro V, so I needed to get there. But my Cutter was not cut for that kind of long jump. Had to refuel along the way. Not knowing better I tried EVERY landing pad on Pyro II, but none had any fuel to spare… Upon consultation with the Nomads I got redirected to Checkmate, the ONLY station I had any fuel left to make the jump. After refueling I made the rest of the Jump and joined the salvage Op as a scout for panels around RAB-Victory. That Op had an abrupt intermission as we all got black-screened! It feels like it is new new 30k. Only way out is to alt+f4.

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Faced with 3 consecutive buggy cargo hauling missions, I decided to look for something else to do. Look at that! Luminalia gifts are till to be had! 18 gifts later I made 9k aUEC 😀

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Did you know, you can park you Hull-A in an hangar and still use the ship elevator? Perfect!   Aginor out o7

Tar Pits are an illegal salvage and piracy gang operating in remote areas of the Stanton system by posing as legitimate towing and repair services.

“70,000 for a LumaCore? This is ACOM, not A&R, you’re out of your mind”. I opened my mobiGlass as the doors to Dumper’s Depot hissed closed behind me. Current balance: 25,000. Long way to go, especially now that my Otoni handler here in Area18 had gone dark. The Stanton III jobs board was noticeably quieter than usual, which left one unsavory option. 30k didn’t go as far as it used to, but at least the job didn’t require anyone except the drugs to get hurt. The facade of ignorance helped to alleviate some of my apprehension. I had never personally interacted with Tar Pits, and if they’re pissing off both Hurston and the Advocacy they must be doing something right, but the dishonor of becoming hired muscle for some shipjackers wasn’t easy to dismiss. Still, I had my own less-than-scrupulous aspirations and they required me to be around Stanton I. This job would cover the cost of the trip and get me closer to being able to afford that power plant, overpriced or not. I sighed, lowered my wrist, and headed to Riker.

Dupree Industrial Manufacturing Facility © Unknown via Spectrum

Under the night sky and dense smog of Hurston’s crippled atmosphere, the center was visually indistinguishable from Farnesway, another off-limits production center publicly owned by Hurston Dynamics. This confirmed to me that the company had been involved in its construction, though it didn’t speak to their involvement in its current operations. I wasn’t sure who was running the place now, but figured that Hurston could and would have shut it down if it wasn’t in their best interest to keep it going. If Tar Pits didn’t want to handle this job themselves then it would probably be best to proceed with caution. I shut my weapons and shields off as I lowered my ship below the clouds, trying to limit the Defender’s emissions as much as the conspicuous Banu ship could manage while remaining flyable. Weaving through bombed-out canyons and valleys, the billowing smoke and glittering lights of the massive structure finally rose over the last ridge and joined the stars and nebulae sitting silently overhead. The quiet didn’t last long as the automated missile emplacements caught a glint from the ship’s golden hull and locked the entire cross section, immediately sending four missiles to intercept it. I dumped chaff and turned, too hard, with barely enough time to roughly plant the claw-like landing gear into a boulder-laden crater. Shaken but breathing, I sprinted out of the cabin before the outlaws occupying the facility and surrounding ancillary buildings came to investigate.

DIMF supply network, including automated rail transit between departments © ArenoMusic via mobiGlass feed

The main entrance gate was covered by a security checkpoint that led to the cargo area and landing pads. I spotted a maintenance access ladder between two of the pads, climbing up and into the exterior cargo loading section. Sneaking past a group milling around one of the cargo elevators, I ascended further up a catwalk and onto the roof of elevator structure itself. Using the ventilation systems as cover, I made my way towards the main entrance along the rooftops. There was a patrol making rounds from the lower security checkpoint, walking slowly up the streetlight-lined road towards the main entrance and exit. Judging by their pace, they were not very excited about their task at this time of night. I took a moment to relate while I waited for them to round the corner at the top of the road, and quietly followed behind once they were out of sight. The guards were headed for the entrance, leaving the exit gate wide open as I crept closer behind the concrete barricades along the side of the road. The interior of the production center was similarly unguarded, which gave me easy access to hallway leading to the storerooms where the outlaws were stashing the narcotics. I approached the bulkhead door to the supply rooms and winced as the proximity sensors jolted the door open, creaking and groaning as it was raised. I heard a voice behind me and didn’t even think before bolting straight through. The rooms were directly on my right upon entering the supply section. I punched the first door’s console as fast as I could. Empty. No narcotics, no production equipment, not even some loose credits. Just standard maintenance garbage and a fucking Pico the Penguin plushie looking back at me with his beady black eyes. Was this a joke? Did Tar Pits get bad information? Was it a setup? These questions didn’t have time to form as I ran to the second room, which was also completely empty. The voices had swelled to shouts, obviously directed at me. I looked back at the beams franticly illuminating the pipes and cables of the bulkhead I had entered through and decided the only way out was going to be to go further in. Turning my back to the oncoming force and menacing Pico, I crossed the next bulkhead into the warehouse. The facility was a maze of transit lanes, scaffolding, hallways, staircases and elevators, providing plenty of options for my escape. I dropped into a vent, let my eyes adjust to the darkness, and lurked through the innards of Dupree Industrial. Clearly, I wasn’t the first person to spend time here as there was an assortment of food and drinks around what appeared to be someone’s makeshift habitation unit, tucked next to a slowly humming fan. I helped myself to their leftover blue bilva before continuing through the damp underbelly. It tasted like home. At the end of the tunnel, another vent opened into a lobby with a bank of elevators. I awkwardly climbed out, surprised to find this large area was also devoid of any personnel. Whoever operated this place was doing it on a skeleton crew, and most of them were seemingly off looking for me. I took the closest elevator back to the main entrance level, hoping the patrol that had been there earlier was the same one that chased me deeper inside. Cassa finally smiled upon me. The entrance was vacant. I said my thanks and sprinted back towards the cargo elevators. Too fast, I realized too late. Part of the group that had been at the cargo elevators earlier was still there – four of them – and they spotted me right away. They didn’t waste any words, opting to go straight to bullets instead, and I dove behind a fence-lined crate as they opened fire. I had brought the S71 for my own sense of security more than it’s actual firepower, and the ninety rounds of 5mm I equipped for it started to feel like ninety pebbles. Before I could start to consider engagement distance and armor penetration, I was standing and shooting at them. They weren’t targets so much as they were single points of light, uninterruptable beams from their helmets constantly shooting photons right back at me. I kept shooting as I felt my TrueDef armor take a round, then my undersuit, and another. Bleeding, I am bleeding, I thought, but I couldn’t see how many beams were left through my compensator-amplified muzzle flash and the grid of the fence. The mag clicked empty and I dropped behind the crate again. The bleeding wasn’t as bad as I had thought, a single medpen put the hemozal where it needed to be to do its work. My vision blurred as my BDL spiked, and I rolled over to see how many attackers were left. No beams. Scrambling, I grabbed what supplies I could from the four outlaws and ran to the landing pads.

Dupree Industrial Manufacturing Facility, some of its perimeter defenses and supporting buildings © Unknown via Spectrum

The 7km walk to and from the location where I had landed my ship had given the outlaws plenty of time to go check it out, but it seemed like they had been preoccupied with my infiltration and left it alone. The ship warned me that the defenses still had us locked as I dropped what little gear I had taken from the site and took the pilot seat. I dumped more chaff on takeoff and flew straight towards Stanton, hoping the star would cover some of my signature. The missile turrets threw their final volley which careened off course and slammed into the side of a mountain, no doubt already bombed countless times, as I sped away from the facility and back into space. In orbit, my quantum drive started acting up. It would spool just fine, and it could calibrate to a location, but it wouldn’t activate. I cursed the stock power plant, the entire reason I took the job in the first place. I couldn’t service it from the outside with the damage to my undersuit, which I was going to have to replace. With no drugs to destroy, Tar Pits wasn’t going to pay me or even offer another contract, and now I was out the cost of the trip, too, putting me even further behind. At least you’re alive, I thought, and settled in for the flight to Lorville, the long way.

I had a ship and 5 aUEC. So the best thing to do was to look for work where I could use what I had and get paid. I opened the contract manager and started browsing. Hmm Bounty Hunting? 8 contracts available, that seems promising. But they were all player contracts. And I only had a Zeus CL. And I suck at PVP. SO on to the hauling mission we go! There’s only one available and would you believe it? Its bugged. The cargo never shows up. So i decide to head out into Pyro and see if I can find some work at one of the local outposts.   I first headed out to Yang’s Place on Pyro II. But after wasting around for a while I confirmed that Yang wasn’t home and took off again. Checking the contract manager I saw two hauling contracts to pick up goods at Patch City and bring them to Rustville. Perfect. Loading the Sophie was a breeze with the ship tractor and then I was on my way to Pyro I. That’s when I noticed I was very low on QT fuel… Of course when I clicked on “auto” for refueling back at Patch City I forgot to take into account that I only had 5 aUEC. So now I had absolutely no money and just enough fuel to reach my destination. On approach I noticed there were a few ships on the ground. another Zeus, a couple cuttys, a gladius… I was nervous but running low on options. My first thought as I started walking around was “where the hell is the cargo elevator?!” I walked all over the settlement. Saw some friendly locals. And just as I had walked into one of the larger buildings in the compound I heard the airlock behind me cycling. I took out my gallant rifle and crouched behind some cover. I put my crosshairs right on the armored figure I could see in the airlock. That’s when I saw I only had 15 rounds. The door opened and the stranger walked in. I held my fire, hoping for another way out of this. One were I didn’t need to test my ability to kill with so few shots. The stranger saw me and stood still. I took a chance and flashed my headlamp at him. He flashed back. I bobbed up and down. He did the same. That was it. The universal sign for “lets not kill each other”. Wearily I put away my weapon and backed out to the airlock. I was out the door and safe. As I continued to look for the cargo elevator I started to wonder why this settlement needed so much waste. What the hell were they doing with all that shit? Then, in a poorly lit hallway with items strewn all over the floor I saw signs of organic manufacturing.  “Oh look, they ARE making something. How industrious!” I thought. “Wait, are those drugs? Yup, those are drugs.” I calmly and coolly walked out of there and headed back to my ship. ASs I went I started to notice little details about the way the locals had chosen to decorate their settlement. “Are those skulls? Yep. yep yep yep. Those are skulls.” I now walked with even more calm, cool, deliberation than before.  That’s when I saw the cargo elevator. Right near my ship where I thought it would be at the very beginning. In what was surely a masterclass on gravitational cargo manipulation I emptied the hold of the Sofie and sent the goods down the elevator. Mission complete. I was now in the green with 98,000 aUEC. I loaded up on fuel CALMLY pointed my ship’s nose at the stars and blasted out of there like a rat out of an aqueduct!   I jumped to empty space and cut my engines. After a much needed cruz-lux I hoped into my bunk and signed off. Hero-to-zero and back again. And no one got hurt.    

The time had come. No point in putting it off any longer. For weeks now I’d been reading stories from traders and mercs coming back from the jump GATE/POINT. Reports of big profits, wild new planets and epic fights had me staying up late staring at the ceiling.    I could get through one more cargo run between Orison and Seraphim station. Maybe some people could do the same old routes day in and day out and be satisfied with watching their cred count creep slowly up. But I was done. I wanted some risk. I needed to be the first to see something new. And maybe make a big score.    Loading up the Sophie, I knew this really was a big risk, especially going it alone. But as I loaded each bit of cargo, each suit, each ounce of fuel I thought of how I could lose it all. And honestly… it excited me. I WANTED to lose it all. I wanted to know that I was really as tough and ready for this life as I always tried to seem. One way or another I was going to find out.   :GATEWAY GRANTED: That’s it, time to leave. Decoupled and engaging thrusters the Sophie drifted up through the hangar doors. I glanced back at the two crew seats behind me, empty but for a single pico, and wondered once again if I should have taken some backup. :PYRO GATEWAY LOCKED: I pulled back on the trigger and engaged my QT drive. I’d done that hundreds of times before and this one felt no different. Blasting across Stanton was just a walk around the block. The real fun would come once my QT drive cut out and I joined the queue at the gateway. With a shudder my zeus dropped out of quantum and I was at the Pyro gateway. Already I could feel my heart beating as I cruised to the gateway and joined the others waiting for the jump point to open. I started having doubts… maybe I should have done some of the practice sims. Maybe watching videos and reading guides from others org members wasn’t really enough to prep for my first jump to another system. Cutting into my panicked thoughts –  Calibration finished and a notification read :ENTRY REQUIREMENTS MET: Suddenly there was a tear in space and a tunnel opened up in front of me. The Sophie leapt forward and I was blinded by white light as I crossed the threshold into the jump point.  It was like sliding down a waterslide at the park when I was a kid! I felt barely in control and the Sophie wound its way through the coursing, twisting, vortex. For the first few minutes there was more than a little doubt. I had messed up. I wasn’t in control, and this was going to end badly. But as quickly as I had lost my nerve it was back. The ship was alive in my hands and I was confidently piloting around the various pillars, twists, and turns of the worm hole.  It felt like it had only been seconds when I noticed the color of the tunnel change. I was getting close to Pyro. Suddenly there it was. I could see Pyro at the end of the tunnel. It looked like a harsh rusty colored eye and I was streaking right for the pupil. And then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. I was coasting forward on the momentum from the jump and surrounded by the densest, meanest looking asteroid field I had ever seen.  My hands flew to the controls as I deactivated NAV mode and pumped energy into my shields. I wasn’t scared, just wanted to be prepared. I set course for the jump point station and requested docking. My head was on a swivel and my eyes were trying to look in every direction as I made my approach. It wasn’t until I had touched down and the hangar doors started to close that I realized I was holding my breath. “Looks like we made it buddy”. I grabbed Pico and headed out the cargo ramp. I stroked the bulkhead as I left the Sophie and thought “thanks to you girl”. The first thing I did was hit the shops. I was not ready. I needed supplies. Ammo purchased. Multi-tool, better make that two. Med-pens, check. Maxlift? Yes I will definitely need that. Then I went for the essentials. I bought two bottles of cruz lux and stashed them away. I started to walk away when I decided I needed one more bottle of the green stuff. :INSUFFICIENT FUNDS: “What?” Oh no… I had spent all my credits. Well, I still had 5, but that wasn’t going to get me far.  I had heard of lunatics doing one of those social media challenges, ‘zero-to-hero’ they called it. I always thought they were nuts. But here I was. In Pyro. With 5 Auec to my name and no idea what to do next. I guess now I’d see what I was made of.

I picked up my first cargo contract from Covalex. An easy job, pick up 11 scu from Baijini Point and deliver it to Riker. At least it should have been. I don’t know who they have directing traffic, but those fools gave me the runaround for 10 minutes, tossing me in and out of the queue. I was finally granted a hangar, landed, and promptly impounded for ‘trespassing’. I paid the fee and got my Zeus back; there is no way to negotiate with ArcCorp. These goons at Baijini Point don’t know what they’re doing so I have to pay the price? I can’t help but feel like this perceived incompetence is just one big plan by ArcCorp to squeeze the working-class. There is no justice.