Tales from the spacelanes...

[Falcon777]

So I had finally done enough milk runs between zaonce and Lave to get me several imporatant upgrades to my Cobra Mk III, including fuel injectors and the military upgrade, iron armor, forward and aft beam lasers, ecm, large cargo bay, fuel scoops, external heat shielding, some shield boosters, a scanner targeting enhancement, and an advanced space compass. I had also recently changed my milk run to zaonce and Isinor, seeing as the latter would give me a larger profit per run. While at Isinor, I noticed that the navy had decided to move a command base in, which was cool. More safety for me, right?

In any case, I was about to make a run to zaonce when I saw a wormhole open up and an anaconda escort group go through it. I thought, eh, heck with it, I'll go too. I've got a decent kit, right? I had a few kills under my belt by that point, so I felt comfortable with engaging in combat, if I had to. And if it got too hairy, well, that's why I bought those injectors, eh?

So I go through and I find myself at Ensorius. I checked the market prices and realized I had been missing even more profit. I noticed there was a navy group ahead of me heading towards the planet, so I felt confident I could race towards the planet, and if need be inject back towards space if I encounter anything too much to handle......

well let me tell you what, I didn't even get past scanner range of the navy group before I ran into a massive group of pirates. It had to have been at least eight of them, maybe even more. They didn't hesitate to start firing on me, so I ran right back past the navy group. As luck would have it the two groups ran into each other and a huge furball ensued. I was looking around, targeting things with my scanner and saw a pirate or two that I felt I could engage. So I fired off a missile and immediately chased after a different pirate. I only managed two kills before the darn guys actually destroyed the behemoth in the navy group. At that point I was pissed, so I fired off another missile. I caught a krait at the end, and was glad to see plenty of vipers still alive.

Next thing I know I'm being targeted by one of those vipers! I checked my legal status and found I was a fugitive! What the heck had happened? I wasn't going to stick around and find out, because it seemed like the navy had no tolerance for me at the moment. I injected out of there into another system while jamming to some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hBOhZK ... 354FA47E0C music.

Once I had hyperspaced to a different system I took some time to think about what had happened, and I realized what I had done. When I had fired that second missile, I had a viper as my current target, because I was just watching the battle unfold and was a bit distracted with the fact that those pirates had destroyed the main ship in the navy group. I couldn't believe my rookie mistake. Sigh...so I was on the run from the navy for a while, just going from system to system scooping fuel from the stars.

I got lucky because I already had outfitted my ship with fuel scoops, external heat shielding, and military grade fuel injectors. Some of you hard up pilots don't have that luxury. So, the moral of the story to you new pilots is: don't fire your missiles unless you've double checked your targets, especially if your not the only one on your side. It'll save you some hassle.

[Diziet Sma]

So, the moral of the story to you new pilots is: don't fire your missiles unless you've double checked your targets, especially if your not the only one on your side. It'll save you some hassle.

<chuckles> Sound advice at any time.. Good to see you dodged a Darwin Award!

[Solonar]

After a long voyage of killing people and raiding enemy convoys in the name of the King of Esceso, I returned to my beloved revolting dump of a homeworld to deliver the goods and to collect further rewards and renown. On my way in I wasted some pirates as I always do in the Esceso system, because I have decreed all piracy there is illegal, and after salvaging some ships I took one in tow (Credit Norby's Towbar) back to the main station before going planet side to visit the Royal Court.

I go into low orbit, requested docking clearance at the main and waited in the queue. I watch ships go in and get put on hold again as ships come out. I was watching the traffic and occasionally looking behind me to see that the salvaged Novabat I stole was still on the tow. I see one Cobra Mk3 and then a second come out of the station egress and veer directly at me. 'Wtf?' I think to myself as both ships take collision courses towards me, one after the next, only to turn away at the last second before colliding into me. 'I will fucking waste you guys if you hit my ship!' and such other thoughts did I ponder as my queue came up and maneuvered to the docking lane. The nerve of them! And in the orbit of my own homeworld!

So I am in the docking lane at this point, still looking back to make sure that Novabat is still in the tow, when behold, those same ships that almost hit me turn about and come at me again, almost ramming me up the back side before turning away at the last second.

'You sons of bitches, you are lucky I am towing a ship into the station,' Otherwise I would have wasted both of them just for challenging me. They continued to do this, almost ramming me up my back side until turning away last second all the way until I docked with the station.

Whoever those guys were, they better not let me find them again!!

[Diziet Sma]

This game really does produce some surprising events at times.. I wonder what caused that behaviour?

[metatheurgist]

That looks a lot like the behaviour scavengers display when they try to scoop something up near you and then veer away at the last second.

[Zieman]

Maybe they were Scavengers trying to scoop the ship in your tow? Realising just before collision that a) you're too close (as if already scooping it) b) it is not a cargo canister

[Capt. Reynolds]

Oh god, if they can't tell the difference between a cargo container and a unpowered ship or similar...

I now have a mental image of a Scavenger turning up for a maintenance overhaul with a derelict Anaconda jammed in its fuel scoop, the pilot saying "dunno what's wrong but the handing's gone to pot".

[Diziet Sma]

I now have a mental image of a Scavenger turning up for a maintenance overhaul with a derelict Anaconda jammed in its fuel scoop, the pilot saying "dunno what's wrong but the handing's gone to pot".

Dammit sir.. I laughed 'til I choked!

[Falcon777]

So, I had recently managed to clear my name from the fiasco that happened at Ensoreus and I was returning to Isinor. I had only a few days prior returned to doing my milk runs between the two planets, when I felt like doing a bit more penance, so I went over to the navy sector command station. When I docked I was greeted by the usual low ranking officer and told about their promotions. See, I had previously docked here before and had purchased ten victory bonds. After purchasing the bonds I had found out from other pilots that it was a scam and that they never appreciated in value.

So, knowing that it would be money down the tubes, I purchased fifteen more bonds. I then left for the mainstation.
Upon arriving I requested for docking clearance and received it. Unfortunately for me, after lining my ship up, my hand slipped on the control interface and I accidentally hit the laser fire trigger instead of the control to slow the ship down.

I panicked when I saw the message "Leave or be fired upon!" I immediately aborted docking protocols and raced away using my injectors to get away from the police that were rapidly pouring out of the station. In order to truly escape, I activated the extra fuel tanks on my ship, since I didn't have enough fuel to jump away. After leaving the Isinor system, I popped a bit of appropriate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-v2RS0mJQ music for what had happened.

I groaned from Isinor to Cetiisque, then got my act together and headed back. By the time my legal status had returned to clean I had made my way back to Ensoreus. Needless to say I got very familiar with the controls to turn off my weapons systems.

[Norby]

I now have a mental image of a Scavenger turning up for a maintenance overhaul with a derelict Anaconda jammed in its fuel scoop, the pilot saying "dunno what's wrong but the handing's gone to pot".

Dammit sir.. I laughed 'til I choked!

I also.

Moreover I really saw the situation many times during development: I added derelict ships before the dock from script (to salvage them instantly), but those scavengers often scooped up my haul in front of my nose!
But I never imagined the consequences...

[Commander McLane]

Moreover I really saw the situation many times during development: I added derelict ships before the dock from script (to salvage them instantly), but those scavengers often scooped up my haul in front of my nose!
But I never imagined the consequences...

Which means that this is a bug in the OXP that needs fixing. Does the derelict by any chance have scanClass "CLASS_CARGO" (or any other of the triggers that make scavengers go for it)?

[Diziet Sma]

I had previously docked here before and had purchased ten victory bonds. After purchasing the bonds I had found out from other pilots that it was a scam and that they never appreciated in value.

So, knowing that it would be money down the tubes, I purchased fifteen more bonds.

The Navy doesn't do scams.. you get your value for the bonds in other ways..

[Falcon777]

Oh, I know that now, I was just being in character.

[Diziet Sma]

That did occur to me later.. but I decided to leave it up anyway, for any newcomers who might see it..

[Falcon777]

I couldn't believe my luck the last time I docked at Ensoreus. I had just dumped off my cargo and decided to take a quick lunch on station instead of making food on my ship like normal. So I went to a place that served a great steak. When I was sitting down, I couldn't believe my eyes. My cousin Benny and my friend Phillip from the Lave Academy had just entered the place. Naturally I invited them over to my table, and before long the food comes and we're swapping stories.

Benny spoke asking "Michael, you've been up to any trouble lately?" I replied with a shake of my head.

"Naw, I've mostly just been going back and forth between Isonor and Ensoreus, trying to make a quick buck, you know? I've got my eyes on that new ship Cowell and MgRath came out, the Supercobra. I really liked my well equipped Cobra Mk III, but if I wanted to upgrade to the new Cobby I knew I'd need an intermediate ship. So a couple of months ago I traded my ship in for a used Python. It's so slow by comparison, but I've scored more kills now with it than with my old cobby. What about you? You still plying around in your python?"

He grinned. "Nope. Philip and I just traded our pythons in for different ships. I got one of those really nice dragons and Philip got himself a Boa class cruiser. They're currently outfitting the ships with the equipment we requisitioned."

My eyes went wide at this. "Ah, so you made it to competent then, huh? I knew you always wanted to work with the military while hunting bounties, though with your own rules." I then turned towards Philip. "And look at you, you're finally getting to pursue your dream of crossing the galaxy, exploring what it has to offer."

Philip nodded before leaning back. "Man, I can't believe you want to go for the SuperCobra. You could retire in extreme wealth long before you ever made it halfway to buying that thing."

I snorted. "Pish posh. Look at yourself. You've earned enough to buy a Boa cruiser and you want to talk to me about retiring in wealth? Hah. You both know I'm aiming for the top, to be an Elite bounty hunter. And I'll make it too. I just need to have a good ship to do it in. But enough of that, how have things been with your pythons? Anything interesting happen?"

Benny cleared his throat and began to speak in a slightly more hushed tone of voice. "Well, I actually made it to competent a little while back, but didn't have enough to purchase the dragon and outfit it properly, so I thought I'd try my hand with helping out the military in the mean time; you know, run a little mission here or there just to get my feet wet with what I'd be doing. Next thing I know I'm on my way to a neighboring system, Esesla, to help the navy save the system because there was going to be a thargoid invasion.

When I got there, I saw the navy from the navbeacon and quickly formed up. When I saw what we were looking towards, it looked like an astroid field approaching. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were simply so many of them. To my shame I panicked and injected my way away from the battle. Once I was nearly out of scanner range, I started firing on one of the ships near the edge. I managed a kill, but then I was pursued by several additional ships, and they had somehow picked up the little tharglets from the first invader and were commanding them. Before you know it I was surrounded and taking fire so quickly my shields went redline. I injected out again, and didn't look back. When I returned to sector command at Isonor, they didn't say anything about it, though I did get a lot of dirty looks. That's why I'm glad I'm upgrading to the Dragon AN. It's pylon load is so much larger and it's speed so superior to the python that next time I won't have to run."

I shook my head in amazement. "You know, I've heard most rookie pilots don't survive their first encounter with a thargoid invasion. The fact that you did is pretty incredible. By the way, are you still going to name your ship that ridiculous name you came up with when we were kids?"

Benny looked miffed. "Fury's Roar is not a ridiculous name, especially considering the type of ship I'm giving the name to."

I just shrugged and smiled.