Learning Curve
25 Apr 2018Psimek
I didn't make it to Ross 310 in the end, after taking on some missions around Gateway I had contact from the Terran Colonial Forces wing Cmdr 301ST.TCF CRASHBX who informed me of a ongoing war with a Federation faction in BD+47 2112. I decided to seize the opportunity to get involved and made the short journey there straight away. Once in BD+47 2112 I headed for a low intensity conflict zone, I was a little nervous as to whether my combat skills and Diamondback Scout would be enough for the fight but my excitement pushed me on. As soon as reached the conflict zone I put some distance between myself and the battle so I could target one of the weaker ships for a easier fight. This tactic seemed to work well as I assisted in taking down some Federation ships and started to collect bounty vouchers, I took some damage but seemed to be on the wining side as there was more TC ships than the feds which meant most of the enemy fire was directed elsewhere. It wasn't until I got cornered by a bigger ship and was faced with a full on assault that I started to panic. It made quick work of my shields and my countermeasures might of given me a few seconds to escape but I was down to 3% hull by the time I got my FSD drive charging. Luckily another TC ship must have got its attention as his weapons fire stopped battering me and I was able to escape into supercrusie without taking anymore damage, it wouldn't have taken much to finish me off! Elated by my close escape and bounty claims to make I made my way to Orsini Mining Platform for repairs, only my second experience of a conflict zone and I had a taste for more! I was contacted again by the TC wing en-route to the station, he told me they are heading to same conflict zone but I knew my repairs would take a while and I had other personal business to take care of so would not be able to join them this time. By the time I was ready to head out again the war had ended with the TC victorious so I decided to take on some massacre missions in the vicinity of BD+47 2112 where I could experience more conflict zones and bounty hunting. These were a mixture of successfully assisting in some kills of big targets but again pushing my luck too far and getting taken down once the stronger ships had me one on one, I had made some more credits though and could now afford to upgrade my Diamondback Scout to a Explorer. Perhaps I should have waited until I had enough for a more specialised combat vessel but the upgrade to module capacity allowing me to install more reinforcement packages seemed like a good option to help me finish the current massacre mission that was causing me trouble in a conflict zone. I kitted her out with the best shields, hull reinforcement and module reinforcements I could afford as well as some more powerful lasers and a missile rack. This only improved things slightly though as each time I re-entered the combat zone I was taken down too quickly, it seemed like there was less allied ships to help me out now. After multiple ejects and re buys I was left with no money for insurance so took that as a sign I should abandoned this mission. Time to go back to bounty hunting pirates and taking on assassinations that would be more balanced with my level.
The next few days I spent building up my funds by doing some missions for the TC in Eranin after they contacted me for support and then joining in the last day of the bounty hunting community goal for Rind Gold Electronics Org in Rind. I successfully made it to tier 1 of the goal rewards after taking out some high bounty targets, but had a setback when I was I interdicted by a Federal Corvette piloted by a Cmdr Godfree. Seeing as I was well outmatched by such a ship and still have limited combat experience it didn't take long for him to send me to the re buy screen. My tactic was too try to escape with boosts and evasive maneuvers but his guns and these damned thermal attacks inflicted too much damage and I was ejecting before my FSD had cooled. This was my first totally unprovoked attack and one I will remember for a long time, I checked out this Cmdr Godfree's background and it appears he/she has a reputation of combat logging, a particularly cowardly tactic indeed.
My next plan is to build up my funds again so I can purchase a new ship more suited to combat, I have my eyes on a Vulture as it sounds like a perfect choice for a heavy fighter that won't take too long to get the cash for. I heard on the grapevine about some systems where I can make decent money scanning high value worlds and then selling the data on to Universal Cartographics, I calculated a route that would bring me in enough to afford a Vulture and then outfitted my newly named DBX 'FireDrake' for exploration into the black.