Entry #8 (no title)
11 Jan 2016Tuts
*** HIP 117870 system, Feustel Camp, StarDate 1.8.3302 ***In a sentence: The Asp Explorer is a more versatile ship than I thought... but the cost of upgrades hurting me so bad.
I haven't travelled many light years these past few days, but that does not equate to idleness. Guardians of Harmony has an election in this system, and I'm running some missions and doing my part to support the endeavor. If it goes well, we should gain control of one of the ground installations, hopefully Conway. It has decent facilities for spacers, and it's a nice little mission hub. It would solidify their influence in this system.
I've amassed more credits out here than I've ever had at once in my life. This allowed me to pony up for the Asp Explorer recently, and I have been both pleased and surprised by just how versatile a ship she is. I started out using the ample cargo hold for mining, but of course its jump range makes it the recon/exploration vessel of choice for the majority of the galaxy. This turns out to be great for mid-sized trade runs.
I never realized just how economical a long-range jumper like the Asp is on fuel consumption! If I plot an "economy" route with lots of shorter jumps, it's not unusual to travel 100 ly without using even a quarter of my fuel. In fact, I swapped out the stock 16 ton fuel tank for one half its size, reducing my overall tonnage (when fueled) and extending my maximum jump range even further. And food for thought, it means much less time scooping fuel - if I'm loaded with high value goods, I can even choose to forgo scooping altogether.
There's always a catch though, isn't there? In this case, it's the credits needed to purchase the best upgrades. Suddenly, if I want to install the best 'A' rated systems, I'm required to cough up 5 million credits. For EACH MODULE. I could buy TEN cobras with the standard package for the price of one new Grade A FSD, or Military spec armor, or several other of the modules I'd like to have installed. I could literally start my own colonial defense wing for that many credits. Mind blown.
Postscript: I've been logging a lot of hours in the ship to ship combat sims.