Early days

[Zbond-Zbond]

..there I was, ambling along with some ethically obtained furs, happy slaves and those very interesting alien items. They'd be easy to unload at Beenbeor, I was sure of that. And if they disputed the willingness of any "indentured labour" to be transferred across stellar systems (in some paroxysm of democratic fervour), well the Lezaer Corporation would close on a deal with no questions asked, and I could get that equipment upgrade I'd been saving for. Together with a proper maintenance overhaul.

But first, the cocktail cabinet being somewhat depleted (the slaves get rather thirsty at certain times), it's "Ho!" for Lege and.. whoooOsh ..here we are ..oh yess ..liquor at ¢19.2 ..here we come!

(o )(o ) what was that? That asteroid. It looks like something sticking out of it. Yes. Definitely something there.

Wheeling around I scanned the thing for life. "ROCK HERMIT" (whatever that was). But no time to ponder on that bit of probably useless information: I was about to crash into it!!! Aaarrgh!!!! What moron is co-piloting this tub?? there is no co-pilot; there is an ex-co-pilot in the cargo hold otherwise there is only me. ME!?

KILL TORUS DRIVE SLOW WITCHSPEED SLOW WITCHSPEED SWERVE DIVE ROLL CLIMB DO IT DO IT

..are those flashing lights in there?
..is this something I can dock with?
slowly, slowly, I entered the mysterious cavern, and sure enough - rough hewn from the rock - it was there. A docking bay. A docking bay in an asteroid.

That was my first experience of new things & the variety possible in a Universe of Cobras, Pythons & BoaClassCruisers. It had taken three galaxies to get there, but it lead to my gradual discovery of all the extras: equipment, scenery, places to go and ships to buy, available with Oolite.

What early excitement lured other Commanders into this life, I wonder?

entries on a postcard, please, addressed to Lave Academy (at any of the usual locations) marked "Early Days" -- or simply post on this board.

Whatever your recollections, I'm sure the collection will be interesting one.

[JazHaz]

Especially as they are good for great prices on precious metals, I recommend that you get hold of the Rock Hermit Locator.OXP!

[Zbond-Zbond]

well this event prompted me to install just that - and FTZ & HoOpy Cas'o
both pretty cool..

edit: it all happened before I knew there was an Oolite Bulletin Board, or AddOns, or anything else except that there were a few missions available (the native ELITE missions) which I was working through, having only just downloaded the game
now I got 80 or 100 OXP's downloaded to pick & choose from

[JeffBTX]

Well, it gets lonely on a ship.

Especially when jumping in to a place like Ararus, with a cargohold full of computers.

The trip from the witchspace beacon to the station in a system like Ararus can be spooky and exciting, but it imposes a LOT of anxiety.

There are times when you wish that you weren't alone, that you had someone to talk to when half a dozen bandits might pounce at any moment. But I'm out for fame and glory, you know?

And there are some awfully kind hearted souls out there willing to help, willing to make things better for a new pilot.

Some stranger came up out of nowhere... "You look like someone who could use a trumble on your Cobra Mk III! Yours for only 30 credits...."

I wish I could find that guy.

I want to thank him.

Personally.

[Commander McLane]

Not sure whether this topic wouldn't be better suited for the Fiction forum?!?

[JeffBTX]

Hard to say, could make a case for it either way.

It is stuff that HAPPENED written in the STYLE of fiction.

[Zbond-Zbond]

..............well I was thinking of a list of "My First Memorable Event" events, like Rock Hermits and Trumbles, just for the record (and general interest)(and maybe oxp ideas); but if the prose goblin steals us away from time to time and a word becomes a sentence. then the stars shine brighter in a more beautiful sky or something,,

[ClymAngus]

Fun with monks , or “how many lasers has that thing got?”

There I was minding my own business, a bit green but not totally Jameson, floating in a universe full of possibilities. Making a bit of cash with platinum contracts and looking forward to my first ship upgrade. Then I get a distress call. Apparently there are some debt collecting bounders flying about trying to take out a clean trader.

Now I had heard a lot about the Black monks from the board and I'd dutifully downloaded the oxp as a result. Debt collectors cool, I don't like debt collectors. Something else to shoot at. Really? Well no as it happens.

But it all started off so well. If I'd got any closer to the station I'd be up it, a flight of police were screaming towards said Monk. The fight had the air of being wonderfully one sided. Unfortunately shooting those things is only good for getting their attention. Which I did and it did.

Next thing I know my front shields are gone, I'm loosing power and systems, the air is full of more lasers than a jean michel jarre concert and Clymee be bugging out. Fortunately one of the vipers said “hello” giving that giant skeletal s.o.b. something else to kill.

The rest bite was short lived. Within about 30 seconds my tail end was getting a toasting, down and down and down until it was just me, a chair, a steaming yoke and a vaporlock suit. In a word “bang.”

This annoyed me some what. NEXT time we used a bit of smarts. Much the same situation, one shot at a monk and he was all over me like a horny dog in a prosthetic leg factory. This time we had a python. Kept my nerve dropped face first into the station and stopped. Dumb monk slammed about 10 rounds into the station then slammed into it full tilt. Station 1 Monk 0 sure, I didn't get the kill but that's why god created adders.

The moral: Monks don't know their Sun Tzu art of war.

After that I knuckled down and build the Cady. The rest as they say is plasma laced history.

[Lucidor]

The early days are lost in the mist of time, but I can tell you what happened a few days ago. I had wasted most of my witchspace fuel chasing down an eggheaded Fer de Lance pilot that kept shooting at me for no reason at all.

So I made a quick refuelling pit stop at a salvage gang. I browsed through their equipment list while the pump station did its work. They had a decent selection, but I already had most of the stuff installed. Suddenly I saw it! A naval energy unit, only 37000 credits! I had it installed and raced to the coriolis on injectors to register the new piece of equipment with my insurance company (called Quick Save. I've never felt very comfortable with them, but as the name implies: they are cheap).

As usual there were five or six cobras waiting outside the station to attack me, but this time I didn't mind, I wanted to try the new energy unit.
Boy, was that a disappointment.. it seemed to be worse than the extra energy unit I had before. I called up the diagnosis tool on the console, and guess which piece of equipment showed up as broken? Right.

I docked again to have it repaired. A quite embarrassing experience. Every mechanic in the shop crowded my engine bay, and every one of them looked like s/he tried hard not to laugh. Eventually I was told that they didn't have any spare parts and that I should try at Tezaeded, a TL 15 world 37 light years away.

Having invested about half of my money in the NEU, I ground my teeth and went to Tezaeded. There I got to speak with a professional looking old engineer in a spotless shop, a far cry from the greasy bozos at the other place.
He had one look and the unit and burst out into a laugh. He laughed so hard he was crying, which troubled me no end. Finally he said that he would have been happy to fix it if it hadn't been made of random pieces of junk welded together.

[9000Parts]

Im still quite new to this although I remember playing Elite on a BBC-B many years ago when I was still in single figures.

Anyway, been trawling about the various Galaxii (is that the correct plural?) in my heavy equipped Boa trying to keep me and my craft from being turned into those little specks that remind me so much of the old Windows 'Starfield' screeensaver. Memory does not recall where I had jumped to but heading inbound to the station I noticed a blue 'brick' in my flightpath. Scanned the radar screen but nothing showing, toggled the targetting scanner on and nothing seen. A quick burst on the injectors got me up close and personal with a Police Battlecruiser. Of course, being a clean trader I decided not to open fire despite knowing I have the firepower to take this thing down. Cue another burst of injectors and a glance in the rear view mirror saw the 'Brick' following me! So, I backed off the throttle in an attempt to get him to rear-end me (good for a whiplash claim methinks) but no, he stopped to. Power on and the battlecruiser was still there just following me around.

It mattered not what maneouver I pulled the 'Brick' was still behind me. Despite the scanner and radar seeing nothing I was unable to hyperspeed to the local station so I carried on trundling to the station. On arrival at the portal with the Docking Computer taking control I again look back and guess what?

Yep, that hulking great big Blue Brick was still right behind me, haunting me silently!

[JensAyton]

…the various Galaxii (is that the correct plural?)

I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

[Cmdr James]

Galaxy is from the greek. Greek is kind of old like latin, and latin words are pluralised by adding ii to the end. You now, jut like virii is the plural of virus

[Lucidor]

It's "galaxies", to answer the question.

Spooky story. Must have been the Galcop Intelligence Bureau that suspected you of something.

[JensAyton]

You now, jut like virii is the plural of virus ;)

*thwap*

[9000Parts]

Spooky story. Must have been the Galcop Intelligence Bureau that suspected you of something. Smile

Cant imagine what though? Its not like I go dropping energy bombs around crowded space lanes and then scopp up all the cargo afterwards...