So last night was entertaining. running a few simple missions to claw in some cash, then decide, its time to get back to the passenger game. pick up two loads of passengers - turns out one of them was an illegal passenger.. sigh. Didn't notice this detail when reading over the deal.

I finish off a delivery to a planet, then off to deliver my two loads of passengers. its a long haul - 250000Ls... but thats ok. then I get a request to visit another systems tourist spot.. I've only just headed off, so why not -another $120000 always helps. takes the total reward up to $5.2M for the two loads of passengers. So jump to system, scan point, jump back - then resume long super cruise. All goes really well.. no one chasing me, no interdiction's.. too easy. way too easy.

I'm flying in a wing with some friends (in another system) I drop out of super cruise, request docking... pass comment that this is the easiest cash I've ever made... I'm just at the station, when I get scanned. oh no!!!!
scan finishes and I'm inside the station when docking privs are revoked. get hit with trespass penalties and police getting antsy. I'm now wanted! So all pips to systems, flip 180degrees (in the anaconda) inside the station and head out into the posse waiting for me. ugh.. quickly select a random system and just boost it to avoid the station mass lock.. I'm a D rated conda, so I'm dying... shields don't hold up too long.. armour getting peppered.. lots of complaints from the passengers... let me out now.. the deal is off! lol

ugh - kiss that 5.2M goodbye. so 22% hull left.. manage to jump out to another system.
Still got these illegal passengers.. I need to ditch them... but perhaps not jettison them. so - head to another station.. this time, will have to silent run it.. but I have no heatsinks and I don't really know how to do this..
drop out of supercruise.. head towards station, request docking and then engage silent running.. probably too far out as it happens. my heat shoots up.. I'm not worried.. just trying to get in the slot asap... 140degreesC.. alarms going off. armour takes more damage... 16% left... almost there... almost there... then just in the slot.. about to switch off silent running.. pop - cargo door blows open and I start dropping cargo into the station... more fines! and possibly lost cargo I needed for other missions. so annoyed!! but also laughing out loud about how Elite keeps you humble.

turns out I had a bunch of reward cargo from successful mission delivery and that was what fell out - not my haulage contracts. whew.

love this game :)

M

Well, a few days into the anaconda ownership. Its such a slow moving hulk. Haven't really had time to stretch its legs yet - used it to finish getting Hera Tani, now onto Broo Tarquin. run a few small cargo missions to keep the empire rank grind on. Been interdicted a few times - nearly died once (NPC conda vs my D rated conda) I couldn't out turn this guy the first time, so got very owned during the FSD cool down - tried to run, but this npc just owned me. managed to escape, only to be interdicted again by the same guy. Second time I submitted, so the cool down wasn't so bad - and this time the police arrived - still was down to 35% armour. Needless to say, bought even more shield boosters and some chaff.. too bad if I lose a bit of range. Still, its a D class shield - so really only good for protecting me from dying while docking. also lost my canopy... flying an anaconda to a destination without a canopy is hard - very much a fly by instruments til you can see things for real. landed with 1m of air left

learnt a tip from a friend - if you get interdicted - pop over to the nav menu, pick another system and be ready to highwake out of there. Apparently you don't get mass locked for high wakes - only low wakes...

still - got the blood pumping, good times.

So bit the bullet and got me a conda. configured it as bit of a frieght hauler for now, but did line it with weapons. A graded the FSD, D graded most other stuff for now. Need to earn some cash before I upgrade. never flown something so big - finding it very cumbersome and slow. Guess i skipped the python stage of adjustment.

straight across to felicity to get a grade 5 FSD long range before the engineering changes come - just in case. may tweak it a little. thought I'd then head to kamitra to work on the cigars and Hera - just to get used to flying this thing. might try some very low level combat.. but its not really spec'd out for combat and will probably be a huge target. so many options :)

So - I've based myself down in the empire for a while and have begun a little rank grind / slow money making deal. building up to friends and allies with a few factions in a few systems, running their jobs and taking on the rank up missions in the empire. I've moved beyond outsider and into serf - edging towards master. its very slow going taking boom data runs, and one way deliveries. may have to do some planetry base raids, or fly some combat missions, as that seemed to rank me up fast in super power rep in the alliance.

passenger missions got somewhat nerfed today - probably won't affect me too much - never ran more than a few missions here n there. Was nice to get 5M for a fairly short run once, but .. no big deal.

So flew back to the place that gave me all the lucrative missions, but seems like things weren't quite as good as before. maybe the system state changed. So flew to a neighbouring system in boom, but needed to build rep up - spend most of the evening flying multiple data delivery and small goods missions - took a few hours, but made 6.4M and build rep with several factions in the system -to high cordial or friendly with a few, so hopefully next time out, I'll get some more valuable missions.

noted there were a few missions that gave ok returns, but I couldn't do because my type7 is too big. can't win :)

Just for a change of pace from engineers - taking a stab at trading for a bit. did some reading, thinking rares was the way to go.. but it seems that with my type 7 that I purchased and fitted out / engineered, that just trading regular commodities is better. turns out imperial slaves turn a good profit...... found a round trip inside the empire that gave me $5000 per ton profit.. not too bad. with 256T of space, thats about 1.2M on a round trip.

but.. after a few trips back n forth.. really not sure that kind of trading is for me. I either want bigger returns or a bit more stimulation (other than interdictions which picked up a lot). so looked into taking a mission to liven it up a bit.. turns out I could stack 7 missions on a 250Ly trip -going to just 2 bases. Made a quick 10M or so.. thats more like it. Might flight back, keep boosting my rep and get some nicer missions... will keep an eye on the passenger missions too - old type 7 may need a refit to be passenger friendly. pretty sure my slaves in the cargo holds didnt fare too well.

So finally got all my bromelite and access to Bill Turner. next up... join the empire to get Hera Tani, then avoid the killers as I flip to the federation and work on Bris Dekker and the sarge.

may pop over to ceos and investigate that run - maybe grab a type 7 and haul freight for a bit? see how things work out.

Slowly getting there - 40 of 50 bromelite delivered now - just 10 more to go. turned down a few missions with bromelite rewards - distances and time were far to great compared to reward - but took a short trip to get one of the last 6 classified scan databanks I need for Ram Tah to unlock. close to unlock 2 more engineers.. then can either join the empire to get another, or start the federation for more.

Back on the engineer grind - Alioth this time. Been collecting Bromolite via passenger missions, slow but more fun (for me) than mining it. Got a period where there wasn't much on offer, so took a 10M journey for a rich tourist.
started out ok, 3rd (of 4 destinations) was a 500000Ls trip - so that took a while. Then, on the last destination, got interdicted by an expert cobra Mark III. For some foolish reason, I figured - I can take him easily! (forgetting I'm in my passenger/cargo fitted aspX, not my combat engineered FDL) Turns out this guy had rockets and was rather good at using them - I had pathetic size 3 shields on the ASP currently, so those were whittled away quickly and then I took some hull damage... which annoyed the passenger and they got scared and cancelled the contract! ugh! over an hours work and 10M gone. doh! At least I got some good scanning in along the trip to make up some of the loss. Passengered demanded to be let off at the nearest space port... screw that - if you aren't paying me, you can go back to where you started lol. got about 5 jumps into the return journey and he got so pissed that he ejected out of the ship!!

Next time out - back into the bromolite passenger missions. doing a shorter tourist trip this time and encounter a neutron star. Figure I can speed things up with supercharged FSD - so scan the star, then head on in.. but way too fast and not far enough up the arm - end up in the exclusion zone and cooking my ship.... normally not a problem, but this time, it says my cargo hatch took damage and got some corrosive substance on it... and it fails - bye bye all the bromolite I had on board!! doh!! looking at my modules, it still says cargo hatch 100% so what gives? At least the passengers stayed with me, and I got 4 more bromolite and just over 6M in credits from the 2 sets of passengers onboard..

Taking a break from the engineer grind, and back to 70 Virginis for some bounty hunting with the wing. pondering next ship purchase - want to do a deep space mission, but not sure if I go light - using an asp X, or keep saving for an Anaconda and max it out. Need to get some cash in first though - may need to buy a freighter and use that to cash up quickly, then buy the Anaconda. more research needed