Cargo Conditions

[Redspear]

Computers/Machinery turning into alloys during a jump does strike me as a bit far-fetched. Why don't I turn into biowaste myself?

Because you're in a specialized container known as a cockpit
But yeah, perusing my latest, you'll see that I'm moving on from that.

It seems to me, you might be trying to re-invent the passenger cabin for other purposes. If so, you might consider starting with the passenger cabin, rather than the generic cargo-pod

Good point. But once again, I'm working with my crummy coding skills and so currently imagining that each cargo 'berth' purchase is actually a fee to remove an unseen, unnamed, inert block occupying 5TC of capacity.

First, it is not so simple. One has to run the gauntlet of the pirates to make the better profits. And it takes time.

You know, I think it might be. This idea isn't to delay the player purchasing their first upgrade, rather it's to delay the rest of them.

We've both done the standard mkiii start right?

You fumble your way through a few trade runs and you still don't have enough for your first sensible upgrade or even to fill your hold with the good stuff. But once you can do the latter: 20TC or more of the good stuff, then there's an upgrade waiting for you roughly every two jumps. Even then it's sometimes only because you have to wait to get back to the higher tech system for it to be available.

So whether using my idea here or not, purchasing your first upgrade can occur around a similar time if the player wishes and surviving until then remains the biggest challenge.

Also, as a number of people have remarked over the years, it seems peculiar to start off owning a 150,000 ship lacking such basic equipment as Docking aids, STE, ASC, Fuel Scoops, etc.

Yeah, there's a bunch of weirdness there.  Cargo Scoop as Standard manages to be an upgrade without being a giveaway in the usual sense (doesn't grant fuel scoops while the reverse is true).

 Escape Pod As Standard arguably encourages a more challenging play style and  Indestructible Injectors I still think should have been a core change for the elite to oolite transition with its changes to masslock and its implacable, wormhole jumping pirates.