So at great cost I might add, I have sat and passed my pilots federation License.
It was not easy. Compared to the Flight systems of my KeenSWH Pirate Corsair, Built by Space Engineers it was a nightmare of undocumented buttons and switches.
But if I ever wanted to leave my home system, it had to be done. There is an entire universe out there to explore. Far larger than rock hopping asteroids.
It took time to reconcile the controls I was fluent with on my rock hopper (er i mean pirate corsair... ye.. corsair.. its a rock hopper with flames and a skull and crossbones painted on the side.. give me a break I was pretty young at this point in the story..) with the frankly absurd complexity of controls in a small frame shift capable ship.. but I get there eventually.
About the only advantage is being considered "harmless" after about 2500 undocumented hours of pirating in my corsair
Downside of course is with my Pilots Federation Registration comes a debt of many thousands for my first frame shift capable ship. This is no dinky little Rock Hopper out in the belt - this thing is fast and long range. I have to keep on the right side of the law until it is paid off. Except as it turned out I immediately ended up on the wrong side of the law.. and had to stay there making enough money to get things straight again..
The station where they delivered my sidewinder was of course a rotating station. This "rental" had a defective flight stick which failed the initial pre-flight check.. and it didn't improve from there. Considering its condition I begin to suspect it wasn't delivered there; it was abandoned here.. and the reason they sent me here for my test was because it was the only one they had to spare if I passed... I get the impression they didn't think i would.
Alone with my "new" (reconditioned?) ship, dumped in a system in the ass end of nowhere - it was no walk in the park. My flight training and certification was at a remote Outpost past the Oort cloud, only covering basic flight and combat. Nobody explained these rotating stations, or taking off from them!
Hundreds of buttons on the control panel.. yet the hat controls on the flight stick queues up navigation and coms? What fool thought that was a good idea? Millions of commanders out there using the same controls? Lunacy!
I select coms and request permission to take off. Released from the landing pad I raise the landing gear and pull up navigation, picking a location at random - I lock it in but it causes the guns to suddenly deploy.. why? I've not even left the station and I have a 100 credit fine now? I attempt to stow the guns and a fault in the system panel miss fires my after burner. I watch in horror as I scrape the side of my ship along the inside of the station... bleurgh! Now someone is yelling at me on coms about the speed limit.
Things get worse.. I kick the reluctant system panel several times to get it to stow the guns - live firing a freakin missile in the process before it finally responds. Lucky for me it's as defective as the ship and turns out to be a dud, clanging off the wall uselessly. With only half the flight controls responding... I somehow manage to avoid fire from the local system Authorities who are now shooting at me.. where was that afterburner again... Finally some luck!- they activate! Quickly I turn on the one axis that actually still works and perform a 3 point turn then boost again to escape the station and hostile gunfire. Well the ship isn't useless in a straight line at least, I outrun the authority ships and keep running until the radar is clear. Well I don't care for all the red flashing lights and alarms.. I think I took damage.
After more troubles with the navigation systems, where exactly is super cruise.. it's a sub menu off navigation? Errr.. how do I stop it again.. there is no visual queue.. why is my throttle disabled? Only the throttle overrides on the console work in super cruise? Eh? I eventually manage to target the system I actually wanted to travel to - somehow activate the jump - arrive and nearly crash into the star. Each jump drops you on a collision course with a star... what the actual F...
Now my frame shift controls are bugging out, how the hell do I drop to normal space now? frantic random pressing of keys I manage eventually to drop out near a station. I manage to request docking without deploying the guns this time.. and head for the slot.
Oh right the station is spinning. I am expected to manually match rotation..? lucky that axis actually works on this factory second of a ship.. those thousands of hours in a rock hopper dodging spinning rocks and wreckage finally pay off. They have the audacity to give me a mortgage to pay off for this ship? I've salvaged better wrecks in the belt than this junk heap. Too bad none of them had a working reactor or jump engine. The ship in front of me is rapidly approaching.. I go to hit the match speed control... and then discover there isn't one.. in all the hundreds of controls.. nobody thought to add that one? Even my rock hopper had that feature. Sigh. Emergency reverse thrust.. phew close. I make out some freaked out passenger peering at me through a porthole in the ship in front. I just shrug at them. They frown and shake a fist at me. Top 3% my ass.
This cut price ship is also too old to have a docking computer. Apparently all the newer models have one now. Lucky me.. I get a bona fide vintage collectors edition without one. Well I managed to get in the slot.. but where is my assigned landing pad.. er.. uuhm? Oh there it is - only had to spend 2 minutes blundering around like a drunken sailor in the dark to spot that faint blue smudge in a remote corner of the station. What do you mean 100 credit fine for loitering.. oh for the love of.. they didn't think indicating your assigned landing pad on the radar was a good idea? Ugh...
Right - to land I need to coast in, lower landing gear, cancel out my forward momentum and... oh crap I hit flight control/assistance instead of zero my thrust.. why are both buttons next to each other.. and unlabeled? What a stupid design.! ....aaaaaand now my throttle has been disabled and jammed at 30..
I curse as my ship randomly drifts into the nearest space station wall.. again. So much for my paint job. Luckily this place is a bigger dump than my ship and nobody notices the mark on the wall.
Ok flight controls are online again... there is my pad but speed wont go below 1? Is it stuck? I line up the horizon.. slowly approaching my pad. Er.. how do I descend.. Franticly I page through a stained (... I don't want to know what THAT stain is) and faded sidewinder flight manual I find under the seat. aha... the key marked F (f? huh?) Oh crap another button next to flight control assist.. I curse as I hit the wrong key again... overshoot the pad to crash into a wall for a third time. I slam the throttle into full reverse... until I line up with the pad finally. Landing gear down, descent thrust... Oh damnit now I am taxing instead of hovering.. I abort and retry.. my coms panel starts scrolling like a stockmarket readout as one after the other I get another series of fines... another loitering fine, 100 credit blocking fine, 600 credit trespass fine, someone is yelling at me on the radio for entering the station without landing approval.. ARGHHJHHHH!!! for the love of... I ran out of time.
much cursing and thumping flight controls with a spanner later
Ok I am back approaching the assigned pad. According to this flight manual I need to use the mini squiggly ship icon on the radar to align to land.. that wasn't covered in orientation videos either. Achh.. it doesn't tell me which way the pad wants me facing. much frantic reading of manuals and watching of videos later ugh the videos only cover combat? Ok.. right only one direction works.. Nearly out of time I finally line up correctly and hit the tarmac. With a thump and grinding of docking clamps I have landed. Somehow I have also managed to pay off my fines without incurring a violent brutal flaming death. This time at least.
Right I need to trade or something to make money.. er.. ok nothing covers the trade process.. I cant even SEE a market anywhere on this station? sigh
many many hours of adventures and swearing at the ship later
Right so I've done some bounty hunting, data deliveries, system defense and a bit of trading. I' sold that flying scrap heap the moment i paid it off and fitted out a Diamondback. I can't even remember what system I started in at this point. Lets try some passenger tourist missions they sound relaxing... who doesn't enjoy a vacation?
WHATS THIS.. ILLEGAL PASSENGER! This was supposed to be your honeymoon? What the hell did you have in your luggage? Get the hell off my ship.. What! I cant eject these passengers..? Darnit.. now I am wanted? I will never pay off the damn ship at this rate....
Wait.. what.. I need to pay extra for the ability to land on a planet now... some module called "horizons" and a landing suite? Oh for the love of.... sound of static
Many years later..
I've been working for Archon Delaine for a long time now after a copy of my uuuh... 'interesting' record with the inner system authorites found its way onto his desk while I was visiting Harma.. he had me run a few errands and blow up a few things.. it was not like I could say no.. apparently i reminded him of someone he used to know. I mostly managed not to screw up so he sent me to Colonia to organise Kumo operatives out there in the stations.. which once again I managed to get right mostly... around that time he got very rich and started messing around in politics.. so he finally left me free to do as I pleased.. so long as if he calls.. i come running back.
He runs an entire star alliance now.. he has other people.. but I keep flying his colours as I do my own thing.. he hasn't called me back since that stupid conference in 3307.. ..and I just made my first Billion..