Musings on the Python
14 Dec 2015Unrealization
Another day, another drink in the Conway Cantina...It's been so nice yesterday. Been doing missions for NULL. Bring some stuff to some other system, go kill pirates in those 2 systems. Head Office seems to like me a lot. Not sure if that's positive. Anyway, yesterday didn't go as well as I had planned.
I figured I'll drop off the delivery and then go for the pirates. Nothing too serious. I went over to Catarihas, took out the pirates and quickly parked for repairs and to cash in my bounties.
The next hop was Tjindjin, only 3 pirates to kill. Walk in the park, right? It was, until an overly excited SysSec Anaconda decided it wanted to be where I was. My shields dropped instantly and my hull went down to 23%.
I figured it was time to dock for repairs and bounties, and then head home to LTT 4961 to report back to Head Office.
I targeted the closest station and went into supercruise. I was nearly there as when I was interdicted by a Clipper. With only half charged shields and about a quarter left on the hull fighting would be dangerous. But with the extended cooldown time for the FSD and the superior speed of the Clipper my chances to run were even slimmer. I raised hardpoints and turned to fight. It was close, and had it not been for that Anaconda I would have gone out victorious. But I ended up adrift in my escape pod, to be picked up a couple of hours later by a friend.
I paid the insurance company and got access to a new ship with the same equipment as my previous one. It's been the first time I lost the Python, despite having been quite close several times. And now, sitting here after, I took a while to think about my relationship with the Python.
The Python can be a pretty nice ship, but at times it can feel like you're flying a T-7.
When you can pick your targets the Python can keep going pretty much indefinitely, or in my case until multi-cannons and chaff are out of ammo. Fighting in a RES can be a very fun and profitable thing in the Python. You fly around, scan ships and decide which targets you want to take on, or which you prefer to leave alone.
A CZ is a totally different thing. It's basically a team deathmatch, and at any time you can have several opponents shooting in your general direction. As a rather large ship the Python generates quite some interest in a CZ, as the associated payout generally is quite a bit more attractive than that of a Viper or Asp. As a rather large ship the Python also makes a really good target.
Another positive about the Python is that it does make a pretty decent armed trader. It has quite a lot of cargo capacity and does both fight and run a whole lot better than the aforementioned T-7.
Overall I quite like the Python, and I know now to keep it out of CZs, and to stay away from Clippers when I'm half dead already. I can use it for some fighting and can generate credits quickly that way, and I can do some trading in it, and feel relatively safe doing so.
I'll stick to my Vulture for the CZs, although the talk in the cantina seems to be that this Assault Ship the Feds have is quite a killer. Might have to try that thing some day.
I guess a final drink is in order. Got some travelling to do today as I'm gonna be away from LTT 4961 for a while. Head Office has ordered vacation. So vacation I shall!