Idea-Commander's log

[Sarin]

As I am slowly playing Oolite, I got an idea. I could, as I play, write a log and share it here. It won't be updated so often tho, with the way I play...one hour today, half hour tomorrow...a little problem might be, since I am playing with a lot of mission and other OXPs installed, it might be full of spoilers.

First entries, to see if it's gonna work. It'll be mostly going through what happened before...


Commander's log, date 2084...who cares anyway. Place: Qubeen

I've heard in the bar today that some old spacer sold his memories to Tionsila Chronicle for a pile of credits. More than my old Cobby's worth, actually. A lot more. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to keep a log, when I get rich and famous, it might be worth a lot.

Gonna start from the beginning...where else, anyway. After wrecking a training Sidewinder and two instructors' nerves, I graduated at Lave academy. Didn't know where to go first, till some blue frog told me about Xexedi-Leanin route. Said it's a good place to start, and it was. Kinda boring tho, so once I got reasonable kit to take on some tougher pirates, I decided to go out there. Browsing the chart, I ran upon Anal...Anarlaqu- Vetitice route. Figured that since that commie system is known for its asteroid mines, I could do some unlicenced mining and licenced pirate bashing on the way from Constore to main station. As expected, my kill count and bank account went up reasonably. Only notable thing to happen there was a "little" encounter with buggers' Carrier. Big thing it is, indeed. Luckily, I managed to scoop up two unexploded hardheads from pirates earlier, so now I used 'em...I'm not a missile person otherwise. Too expensive. Eventually I managed to take that thing down...took quite some time, and had to use my mining laser a few times when my forward military almost blew up from the heat.

I can't stay on one place too long. Wanna see the Galaxies, that's why I've gone into this bussiness anyway...so I decided to buy two passenger cabins and be a taxi for a while. I'm telling ya, being out there alone is MUCH better sometimes. Those lobsteroids can be such asses, perhaps because they don't have any...all goes out the same way it goes in.

After some time, I got a weird message from some guy...said his papa wanna go from Soladies to Qubeen. He was rich he said. Well, I smelled trouble, but I needed money...should've though twice about it. The passenger was weird...some kind of blue frog. Didn't talk much, but instead of using passenger quarters, he (she or it, you never know with those) occupied the empty copilot's room and stayed ther till the end of journey. Never seen him away from it, not even when we ran into a bunch of pirates. I wanted to ask him some questions, but the smell of trouble and money kept me away from it.

At least he didn't object when I picked up another guy for part of the trip. All went well till Qubeen, blastin' a few pirates along. But when we arrived at Qubeen, things started to look serious. Normally, civil wars stay on the surface, that's why I ignore that stuff. But this time, a few rebel ships were waiting at beacon on us. Their ships looked like some homemade copies of Asps, and their pilots were even worse. Not a problem, but one of those guys happened to mount a EMP missile. Luckily, only TME got fried. When I landed at local Coriolis, my passenger finally decided to tell me what's going on. Royal family, my ass. Wanted to make him pay for the repairs as extra, but the dozen of guards at landing pad made me think twice. Well, they couldn't fix that damn thing anyway, too hitech for 'em.

But well, he paid quite well, and luckily, a lot of people wanted to go home from this hellhole. Two of them were headed for Pulsar worlds, Beor and Beraanxe. If I take one extra jump to Zasoceat, it'll give me enough time to make it in time to both places. So let's go. Goodbye, Qubeen, I hope I'll never see you again.


(with english accent) Captain's personal log, stardate 47422.4

Oh dammit. I've heard stories about ship computers developing personality after getting EMP'd, but never thought it's gonna happen to me. Even worse, my comp got hooked on a thousand year old holovids. Dunno why, they weren't even 3D that time. Now I'm stuck with it, at least till next overhaul.

In other news, Buggers freaked me out big this time. Thorgon Cruiser with two frigates. Good thing that after my meeting with carrier, I bought two nukes. Nasty thing, gave that cruiser helova headache and blew up frigate that flew alongside of it. Victory didn't come cheap tho, I had to dock manually once again after docking computer got fried. At least Navy paid well, gave a thousand creds for those Thargies in addition to their bounty.

My vault is getting full, I keep picking up cheap gold, gems and platinum and have nowhere to offload them. Got about 5k worth of that stuff.

Geez, I never thought writing a log would be so tough. It better be worth it.


Log entry, date:2084110. Place: Tianve

Tianve. Home. I've never seen it from space before, actually. When I booked my trip to Lave, I didn't have creds for first class. Second class neiter, actually, nor any other, unless you consider cargo hold a "last" class.

Ever since my encounter with bugger cruiser, thing have been dull. I dropped off my passengers without any problems, and when I realized that I'm just one jump away from home, I just had to go there. Now I'm standing on a surface pad, still in spacesuit because of pulsar radiation. Those felines that live here don't need these, but I am one of few humans born here, and we haven't adapted on these conditions yet. The shining nebulae make night almost as bright as day, something that cannot be seen anywhere else in the eight charts, altho I don't understand why my computer keeps calling the area "Briar Patch".

Things haven't changed much at home. Still the same, heavily shielded house, same garden under the protective dome. And still the same parents.

But I wasn't here just for a social visit. Tianve is one of few worlds in first chart that have technology for manufacturing military grade shield boosters, and I've heard that Navy is hiring freelancers to kick some buggers' abdomen. Even despite I've earned a high reputation as reliable space taxi, I don't think it's what I want to do. Now with almost 200 kills, I have high enough rank to do some military stuff. Inines is just one jump away...


Commander Sarin's log, date 2084112. Location: Esbiza

"This one's on the house." First postive thing I've heard since I jumped in this system, and Giles knows I needed that. I'm sitting at the bar at local Coriolis, thinking about last hour. Was it only hour? Seemed like a whole day.

It sounded easy. Meet up with other reserve pilots at Esbiza witchpoint and sweep the system clean of bugs. What they forgot to tell us is how many bugs are there. Two battleships, at least four cruisers and Giles knows how many smaller vessels. Against that, half a dozen Cobbies I and III and some privateers that happened to be on wrong place at wrong time. There was a Behemoth, too, but she was too slow and bugs knew it.

Somehow, we survived. Some of us, that is. I don't think that anybody will ever know how many people died here today. If the bugs weren't stretched thin as they looked for prey, we wouldn't stand a chance at all.

First battleship awaited us less than 30 kliks from the beacon, and I learned that the nukes aren't 100% ECM proof. it blew up halfway toward the battleship, not scratching any of buggers. Luckily, Thargoids aren't best shooters. But they do make up with numbers.

I don't remember much from the following battle. I know I have tried to take down the smaller ships first before going for battleship. We were like flies around the candle, waiting to be swatted by its plasma cannons. When it was gone, we all thought we made it, that we'll just take out the remaining trash. We couldn't be further away from truth. After blasting a few more invaders and scooping their thargons, I rushed ahead. Bad idea, as I ran into second battleship, along with cruiser and few frigates. This time, I was alone. If it wasn't for that second nuke on my pylon, and bugger's bugged accuracy, I wouldn't be writing this. I tried to keep on max range, sniping the battleship with my fore and aft military lasers, and from time to time even with my side mining lasers. It was enough...but just barely. At the time that both cruiser and battleship went down, both my shields were in red, and I have already taken a few hits in hull, luckily without damaging vital systems.

If the battle was bad, what I have seen after was even worse. If the thargoids tried to recreate Tionsila Graveyard here, it couldn't be worse. Some ships were almost intact, with just a hole or two drilled in their hulls. Some were just expanding cloud of debris and cargo. As I flew through, I thought I will never ever volunteer anymore.

When I have seen the station, I realized I can't turn back, and I don't want to. Not even the most heavily fortified place in system could survive bugs' attack intact. Scars from laser fire were visible over its originally yellow paintjob, and from a hole in hull was sticking horribly disfigured nose of a Cobra III. When they attacked, the ship must have been in pressurized landing bay, and when the hull was breached, ship was sucked into hole with enormous force. I do not dare to think about its crew.

When I signed up, I thought I'll get money and rank. But now, those 22 kills and about 7000 extra creds in bank seem strangely unimportant...


Personal log, date: 2084117 place: Engema.

I took another job for the navy. I didn't know if I want to...but things always turn different than expected. As soon as I returned to Inines, navy had another mission ready for me. Didn't give me time to think, I had to go now, or never. Bugger fleet was closing to Engema, and navy was scrambling all ships into system. I couldn't let this go...not when I thought of what happened at Esbiza.

I had to hurry, had to take a few extra jumps to Teveri and Orso to get there at time. No stopping, no cargo hauling. All the money I made en route was from those few unlucky pirates that got in my way. And I barely made it in time. Before I had the time to get in formation, they were upon us. Three battleships and Giles knows how many smaller vessels. But this time, we were ready. The fleet was led by a Behemoth called Gorgon, complemented by half a dozen frigates and lots of smaller ships, including mine.

When I looked over the incoming fleet, I realized that if I kept to my usual style, I'd be watching this battle from escape pod, if lucky. But Thargoid ships are big...bug enough to be sniped out, and that's exactly what I had to stick to. I didn't join the frontal attack, but moved to left flank, picking a target. First bugger was easy, invader warship took full load from my Ingram. Then I noticed a battleship going after one of our frigates, both were close enough already to exchange plasma fire. I closed to 10 kliks before opening fire, and gave the battleship all that was left in my forward laser. She certainly didn't like it, and my nuke didn't make it like me any more. Then, I turned away...as expected, battleship was after me, along with a cruiser. Well, I have aft laser too. Right on, commander...but the cruiser was on my tail. Navy didn't leave me in it alone, two Asps were enough help to take the cruiser down quickly.

When I looked at scanner to find the next target, I realized it's useless. If I didn't know that most of contacts were thargons, I'd probably freak out and drop a Q-bomb in my pants...there were hundreds of contacts. Well, I got my eyes too...I just fired at first bugger that got in my sight. After a while, we knew we have won. There weren't many buggers left...but one battleship was still fighting. This one was more a race for a kill than a fight, but it was the race I won.

To my surprise, when the battleship went down, the navy declared that reservists are free to leave, that their mission is complete. Nobody left tho...some because of thargons they can scoop, some because they just don't leave the stuff unfinished. Me, for a bit of both.

Although the battle was won, it wasn't so easy. Over half of frigates were destroyed, and Gorgon took heavy damage too. Small crafts took most damage...only about 1/4 survived the battle.

But this time, the witchpoint was a buggers' graveyard. I'm sure there was over hundred, maybe two hundred inactive thargons surrounding the witchpoint. I spend at least twenty minutes by scooping and shooting them, when the cargo hold was full.

Service at navy certainly has its advantages. Normally, I'd take a day or two in line for maintenance, but this time, despite the bay was full of damaged craft, mine got serviced first. But I had to face a tough descision, about formatting my ship computer. She did develop a strange personality indeed, but I got a bit used to her...besides, it's good to have someone to talk to during long days in space. Eventually I decided to keep her.

Navy called last hour, said that local Bugger fleet was wiped out, so the area is safe for now. So now, I'm waiting in line for launch, wondering where to go now...

(female voice) Incoming priority one message

Thank you, who's calling? What, Imperial navy, why the hell...put them through.

Sir?.......thank you, I've been doing my best....what, Constrictor? I've heard some rumors, but nothing specific.....WHAT? You lost it? When Tionsila Chronicle finds out, they'll....oh well, I have nothing better to do, so I might take a look at that. No sir, I assure you, there will be no record of this anywhere. Goodbye, I'll contact you when I find her.
.
.
.
Oh crap, I forgot to turn this off.


Ship log, Date: 2084131 Place: Orrionti Ship computer recording.

Our search for Constrictor has been unsuccessful so far. We followed the trail to Arexe, where Constrictor reportedly jumped to Chart 2. We followed it here, but we have no clue where has it gone then. For last several hours, I have been reviewing all available intelligence as well as sensor logs provided by station's security, but without success. Commander, on the other hand, has decided to inquiry some locals, and I am awaiting his return.

*knocking on hull*

"Jan? Can...can you ooop-en p-please...I think I...I forgd keys."

*beep...voice recognition confirmed. Initializing external camera...face recognition positive. Enter, commander Sarin.*

"Good morning, commander. Have you been successful in your search?"
"Wh..whatcha tal...oh. That shi.."
"I believe you need coffee. Please, sit down."
"Th-thanks."

*several minutes and two cups of coffee spiked with detoxicant later*

"Much beter...have you *hic* found anything?"
"I am afraid not. No ship similar to Constrictor has been encountered during specified timeframe, and there is no record of outgoing wormholes outside station perimeter or any wormholes matching target signature."
"Then we lost him. I have been in every bar on the station, but only thing I found was some feline selling trumbles. I'm telling you, never try to drink in high G if you weren't born there. Any idea where he might gone?"
"Negative. Imperial Intelligence Agency was unable to provide us with any information regarding thief's motives or identity."
"Then we might as well roll the dice to decide where to go now."
"Confirmed. Do you want to use standard cubic die, 12 or 20 sided variant, Aronar 5-D holodice, or-"
"Forget it. I'll just go get some sleep. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, commander."

*End of recording*

[DaddyHoggy]

Why not! GO for it - I did exactly this on the original C64 version '85-'87 - when I found them years later my diary entries made odd, funny, strange and enjoyable reading - wish I knew where they were now - they'd be a rich source of story material!

[Sarin]

Okay, I'll go on...I suppose that locals will give this a good proofreading-I'm sure I will make some typos. Don't expect any regular updates tho, I might write whole page in a day and then don't play Oolite for a whole week.

[Cody]

I agree... go for it. This is in-game, immersion stuff and is interesting to read.

[Corny]

I'd subscribe to your log, too!

[Sarin]

If you are in Personalities OXP, there's a good chance that you'll actuallyget a mention

[Sarin]

Log entry, date:2084110. Place: Tianve
...

[Cody]

I like the style, Sarin, keep it going.

[Sarin]

Last log for today. It's getting grim when a fresh commander encounters a reality of war with Thargoids.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Sober and chilling words from the battlefront. Something for the hotheaded glory hounds to reflect upon: war is hell indeed.

[Sarin]

I haven't really planned it this way, that's the beauty of this writing...I just take what happens in game, and try to write as the person living the game would do.

This whole log was pretty much born en route to station after battle, when I realized that I am not flying through asteeroid field, but graveyard. For this commander, Thargoids were more an amusement, a game rather than enemy. Until now.

[Zieman]

Great stuff!

I wish I had the talent, energy & time - let's put it this way: thanks for sharing, your work is appreciated.

[Sarin]

Thanks.

I've tried a little writing before, but never got into it. Strangely enough, as I play Oolite and write about it at same time, both are getting more immersive.

[Cody]

Right on Commander!

[Diziet Sma]

Nice idea, and well done.. keep up the good work.