Distant Worlds 2, week 2 - Omega Nebula: Mining, Exploration, Bounty hunting, War
27 Jan 2019Thunktone
3304-01-19 15:15,Omega Mining Operation, Omega Nebula,
Calm.
We have a mission to build a new station near the centre of the galaxy, so this week we will be gathering some of the necessary resources. They're available from old-fashioned laser mining so that's what I've kitted my Type-10 out for, temporarily. It took 15 hours to get a better power plant and a small shield generator delivered. I didn't plan ahead for a refit so I'm stuck with what was in storage at Jameson.
I just got back from my first mining trip which would have been much shorter and less productive if not for the friendly pilots who invited me to join their wing. I had 16 limpets in my corrosion resistant cargo rack but I totally forgot to buy more after installing a class 8 bay. Fortunately they brought more than they needed and I was able to make use of their excess. I didn't take enough collector limpet controllers either, just two to try and keep a 4A refinery busy. The most damning error though was in not upgrading my distributor. I could only really keep one mining laser firing and even that I had to let recharge a bit before burning out the last 20% of ores. I've just sent for a slightly better one, 4A charge enhanced instead of 4D high capacity. It's all I had at Jameson and it should make a difference, but that's another 15 hour wait.
21:10,
Omega Mining Operation,
A little bored.
I took a second mining trip, this time with more collector limpets. I didn't wing up with anyone this time but there were core-miners knocking about. I never realised how far away you can spot a seismic blast. Those dust clouds are vast.
A shipyard has been opened here so I've sent for my Viper. It was cheaper than getting those modules sent out but it'll take just as long. I was going to take a Sidewinder into one of the extraction sites for a little bounty hunting but a CMDR just got back to the station in some distress. It seems he shot at the local law enforcement by mistake and earned himself some notoriety. I gave him a little advice and told him where the nearest detention centre and interstellar factors I knew about are. It's about 1500 Ly to the gaol, or 800 to the factors. I think I would explore my way to the factors and pay the fine there. Not sure what he decided to do.
3305-01-20 15:16,
Omega Mining Operation,
Reflective
I haven't flown yet today, I've been writing these journals instead. There was a FleetComm announcement from Dr Kaii since I spoke to that pilot last night. It seems a detention centre has been built much closer to here, I'm not sure where exactly. I hope he got the message and isn't going all the way to Eagle Sector. He left before I could send him a friend request so I might not be able to tell him.
3305-01-21 07:54,
Omega Mining Operation,
Still half asleep.
My Viper, Romeo is Bleeding, arrived while I was writing yesterday so I took it out to the nearby HazRes for some bounty hunting. There were some surprisingly good pirates out there, I fought two that were rated Deadly. I guess they are following the fleet but I'd have thought they'd be better off hunting core miners back in the bubble. The first one, Blob, was flying a Diamondback Scout and didn't give me any trouble, though it took a while to get my eye in with the plasma. I took out a couple of easier targets before tackling the next Deadly one, Valerie Darkgen in her Federal Dropship. This was a much tougher fight as it's hard to stay behind those Core Dynamics mediums. The Assault Ship is the worst, but I took the occasional battering from Valerie. I had her down to about 25% hull when she took out my shields and I was on 17% hull when I finished the fight. There are more tricks I could have pulled if I'd been on better form but I haven't flown Romeo is Bleeding in anger for a couple of months.
After some repairs I called outfitting to fit the 4A charge enhanced distributor to What is Home?. I also swapped a class 5 collector controller and a class 3 prospector controller for class 3 collectors and a class 5 cargo bay. The next mining trip was the most successful yet and 100 limpets was more than enough to fill my cargo bay. I should have kept the class 5 collector controller though. With three class 3s that would give me ten active limpets which would normally be enough to scoop everything from an asteroid. Before heading off to sleep last night I not only put a class 5 controller back in, but upgraded all the controllers from D grade to A. I'm going to try slowly drifting through a belt system with flight assist off blasting asteroids on the way and I'll see if my limpets can cope. At 30 m/s or so my shield should save me from the occasional bump.
13:21,
Omega Mining Operation,
Fired up.
I just took a short trip back to the HazRes in Romeo is Bleeding. An Expert in an Anaconda provided a nice, easy start and a 250.000 credit bounty. The deadly pilots are going down more easily today and it might be time to start tackling wings again. Then again it might be more fun to find a wing to fly with, mining or bounty hunting. Or, my mining lasers are on turrets so I could try and find someone to fire them for me while I cruise around.
Before this hunt, I took What is Home? out to try the new mining set up. It wasn't efficient enough to just drift blasting on the way but it was a big improvement over the last trip. I don't think I'll do another solo mining run as I must be securely into the top 50% of contributors by now. Besides, we already have enough to build the station. I may go back out with a wing, and I may convert my Beluga into a mining ship when I get back to the bubble. I reckon five mining lasers with a good distributor should strip a rock in about three seconds. Then if I can fit in 15 to 20 grade A collectors then I should be able to fill a class 8 cargo bay in under an hour. Then again, the biggest internals in the Beluga are class 6 so maybe another ship would be better.
3305-01-22 08:05,
Omega Mining Operation,
Distracted.
I'm done with laser mining. I should be quite secure in the top 50% of contributors now and frankly the limpet spam is getting to me. I keep an eye on the top-right panel for the message "asteroid depleted" as that is the important message that tells me it's time to move on. But the more collector limpets I use, and the more efficient I make my operation, the more often that message is concealed behind a large and irrelevant message telling me that one of those limpets is bored. They just need to shut up and wait.
Anyway, I've refitted What is Home? with all the exploration and science gear and I finished last night by taking it out to see some lagrange clouds another pilot had reported in Omega Sector AF-A d153. They are much more impressive than the proto lagrange clouds I saw back in the bubble. One was bright orange, and the other was red. It seemed odd that they would be so different, having formed in the same system. There were metallic crystals in both. One cloud had Rubeum crystals, a form I hadn't seen before, and the other had some of those steaming goat tods mixed in. There were bark mounds on some of the nearby moons too, I added my name to the system by mapping one of those.
14:03,
Omega Mining Operation,
87% paint, 100% hull, modules ~ 98%,
19 megacredit UC claim,
calm.
With What is Home? restored for exploration I decided to take a trip around the local area, see what I could find. There are a lot of bark mounds, and I saw various volcanics including nitrogen ice geysers, which were new to me. They weren't as violent as water geysers tend to be though and the really odd thing was that parking my SRV on top of an active one didn't reduce my heat or do any damage to the hull.
I also stopped at some silicon fumaroles because they offered a reliable opportunity to pick up some polonium. I only got six units though, I guess I need to find some volcanics or life on a world with 1.5% polonium or so. 19 megacredits isn't bad for a fairly lazy morning though. I only had to go a couple of hundred light years out before everything I saw was undiscovered.
If I want to make really big bucks on this trip though I'm going to have to test my theory about where to look for earthlikes. If I can find a dozen or so on the four month trip I'll be happy.
21:06,
Observation Post Epsilon, Trifid Nebula,
86% paint, 100% hull, modules undamaged,
24 megacredit UC claim,
1st new earthlike,
Sleepy.
I followed a lead to the Trifid Nebula to see some Blatteum Collared Pods. They looked like swollen leaves but they turned toward my ship when I got close. I guess they normally keep themselves pointed at the star. On the way I discovered my first new earthlike of the expedition.
They're hospitable enough here at the observation post so I reckon I'll take a stroll around the station then get some sleep before heading back to Omega.
3305-01-23 11:31,
Omega Mining Operation,
14 megacredit UC claim,
84% paint, 100% hull, modules undamaged,
Calm.
A fairly uneventful return trip. I discovered more bark mounds near both the Trifid and Omega nebulae and a few HMC terraforming candidates. Then there were some methane ice fumaroles, new to me. Nothing more exciting than that though and doesn't it show in the credits I earned, 10 million less than the outward leg.
Last day for mining station-building supplies today. Then the truckers will need to get to work on loading up for delivery. I think they'll wait for the main fleet to depart on Sunday though. Why risk some "prank" or terrorist act undoing all that work?
I don't think I'll do any more laser mining, I'm still in the top 50% so I reckon I've done my part. But I might offer my services as a fighter escort later. The tier 11 stretch goal has almost been reached, that must be enough to build at least four stations. I wonder if they'll let us nominate other systems to colonize?
3305-01-24 09:00,
Omega Mining Operation,
15 megacredit US claim,
Calm.
I took a trip around the bright stars beyond the Omega Nebula yesterday after hearing tales that they are full of Blatteum Anemones. Indeed I did find a few systems with them including one that hadn't been mapped. Still no luck finding life in rings. I didn't realise just how rare this was when I found inhabited rings near Mammon last month.
Back at basecamp, the mining goal reached tier 11 and the cargo bay workers have gone on strike. So that's over but they're continuing to promise a bonus to bounty hunters if we can clear up a few more pirates. I guess that was less about defending the miners and more about boosting security for after we're gone. It'll end any minute though, these programmes are only allowed to go on for one week for some reason. Politics.
I have done a little more bounty hunting in my Viper but without having gotten organised enough to find a wing it's been slim pickings. I took out several elite pilots last night but they favour Diamondback Scouts out here and they haven't really been able to build up decent bounties. I was getting 30,000 credits or so, better off going after competent pilots in Fer-de-Lances really.
I also took some time out last night for fighter club. They were doing mercenary work in, uhm... OK, I don't actually know what system I was fighting in last night. Reorte maybe? But I flew Taipan's for one of them, fixed beams. They're not so good once the enemy's shields are down, especially with military armour going the way it is. So I was trying to wreck shield generators and power plants. I could take on Eagles and Vipers on my own though so I made myself useful enough. And when an Anaconda pilot panics and starts turning to shoot a Taipan, that helps the guys in Cutters and Corvettes too. We won four battles, a decent contribution to the war effort.
I still prefer Condors to the other fighters. They just don't spin so easily after collisions. I prefer plasma repeaters to beams too as you can keep them firing for longer and they work better against hulls. Aegis Condor is surely the best? Although I'm carrying Gelids too on What is Home? because if I'm just swatting some chancer then sometimes I just want the easy aiming that gimbals provide. They're also good against skilled pilots in Eagles that haven't fitted chaff.
I'm quite looking forward to the next leg of the expedition. I'm sure we'll be heading vaguely core-ward but there should be four more stops before we get to the site where we'll be building the station.
3305-01-25, 11:59,
Omega Mining Operation,
Excited.
I woke up to a surprise this morning, the docker's strike has escalated into a full-blown rebellion. And I don't mean a riot either, there is a civil war being fought between the communist Workers Union and the capitalist Omega Mining Corporation. I don't know how they've managed to organise this at a time when so much exploration and mining must be massively boosting the corporation's standing. There must be others in the fleet that sympathise with them, and they must have been making donations. Well, now it's my turn to contribute. I thought Romeo is Bleeding would be mothballed today, packed up ready to be shipped on at some later date, but I took it out today and helped win a battle for the workers.
I wonder who else from the fleet will get involved? Will some favour the capitalists? Communism isn't my favourite form of government but really, with 15,000 residents, it'll be more of a worker's cooperative than a communist state. I'm tempted to send for my Mamba. It's the tedium of fighting modern warships with medium weapons that pushed me to join this expedition in the first place and I just ran out of ammo again with only three confirmed kills. Is it worth it though? I'd only have one day to fight with it unless I delay the second leg like I delayed the first. And I can help win battles with my cytoscramblers, it just isn't much fun and I get no credit.
14:34,
Omega Mining Operation,
Distracted.
Three more battles won, but the war started earlier than I realised. The first day didn't go too well for the workers but all is not yet lost. It does suggest that members of our fleet were fighting for the corporation though. I wonder if it's from conviction or if they're just supporting them because their previous business has gained them "allied" reputation? If I really wanted to help them win I suspect I'll have to stay after the main fleet leaves. Not sure I care that much. I did send for my Mamba though. It's not so finely tuned as my Viper but the huge multicannon keeps firing much longer than my medium plasma accelerators.
19:06,
Omega Mining Operation,
Tense.
Two more battles won, that's six in total. With thousands of independent CMDRs in the area I can't afford to get too hung up on who wins. My six victories may be just a drop in the ocean. So that's going to be enough in my Viper. I'll fight some more this weekend in my Mamba.