COMMANDERS LOG - 20160112
13 Jan 20165parkyy
Mixed feelings today…After spending a day working on the fleet including pulling shrapnel out the air vents, adding another coat of paint and repairing some of the dents in the bodywork. I stood back and looked at both ships and decided it was probably time to move on.
I had spent a small fortune on repairs at both Wohler and Cleve over the last few weeks and it was starting to take its toll on my finances, especially with bounty pay-outs being so low recently. Enough is enough..
I opened up my portable comms device, opened Starport Services and went to investigate the shipyard page. As luck would have it I found what I was looking for, a brand new Core Dynamics Vulture. Effectively the bigger brother of the Viper, a ship that had served me well for a long time. 230t of killing machine
From the official online sales brochure:
“The vulture excels in the role of heavy fighter in strike missions against larger, well defended targets, but its nimble flight characteristics make it equally devastating against smaller targets.”
Perfect for those tougher than most bounty targets I thought!
One problem. The closest shipyard with stock was Dalton Gateway and I can only fly one ship at a time. I figured I’d sell the cobra at Wohler terminal and fly to Dalton in the Viper that way I wouldn’t be totally defenceless if I got jumped on route. Selling the Cobra was tough but selling my beloved Viper would be tougher.
With my credit balance bursting and my heart sinking. I jumped into the Viper for one last journey.
It took a while to get to Dalton since our jump point into the system was still a fair distance away from the port. It’s a pretty impressive station from the outside at least, it probably puts a lot of pilots off docking due to it’s black and red exterior (common pirate colours) but the staff are friendly and accommodating for the most part. I landed the Viper at the agreed dock number and went straight to outfitting.
The best way to sell a ship is to firstly strip all the valuable parts from it first since you only get a % of the total ship value. However, selling parts you always get the full value of the parts. Pro-Tip for you new pilots out there!
4.9mil was the asking price of the Vulture shown on the shipyard page. I was currently sitting at 7.9mil after selling the parts form the Viper, I had to make a choice. Do I sell the viper for the extra 200k or do I keep it and buy the Vulture anyway? Well, I can only fly one ship like I said and it didn’t want to leave one of my fleet out at Dalton. So with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, I sold the Viper. A few minutes later I was dropping the credits on the Vulture and getting ready to head back to Wohler.
When the automated ship delivery system brought the Vulture to me, I was more shocked by its size than I thought I would be. A huge, daunting, dark block of a ship with almost talon like extremities at the front. A fearsome looking ship in anyone’s mind. I climbed on-board to have a look around.
Fighter ships don’t offer much in the way of creature comforts but it was still a fairly roomy cockpit, not as big as the Cobra but a lot bigger than the Viper. I fired up the display and was presented with the usual Pilot/Ship interface that all modern ships share. A few flight checks to complete and it was time to leave the station. I checked over some of the pre-fit modules on the ship and tweaked some power settings (this would haunt me later.) When I fired up the engines I was almost blown from my seat, the noise was insane. Don’t get me wrong, those engines are big but she’s a heavy ship so speed is not a strong point here.
After clearing station exit protocols I was on my way to Wohler. It was going to take me 3 jumps in the Vulture, one less than the Viper took to get out here. I had expected this since fighters don’t jump very far. 3 jumps later I was back in Kremainn and making my way to Wohler.
I was probably around 200 kilometres out when I got interdicted. A smile stretched over my face, I was about to have my first combat trial in the new ship. I managed to get a quick scan of the ship that pulled me out of supercruise, a Pranav Antal sympathiser out here in Federation space?! Normally I don’t bother with other peoples beliefs so long as they stay out of my way. This guy wasn’t so he was about to learn some respect. Or was he?
I moved to a better attack approach angle and deployed my hardpoints. Those module changes I made earlier could have gone better…
I now found myself with no power and running on life support. 4 minutes of oxygen left in the ship and no shields. I was dead in the water. Before I could even begin to fix the problem, my hull was down to under 20% integrity and my canopy was already gone. Time to eject and chalk this one up to a learning experience. The Vulture was dead and I was about to find myself 260k lighter in credits after the insurance claim. I had also lost over 200k in Empire bounty I was yet to cash in. But hey, I survived.
Back to Dalton to pick up my second Vulture of the day after the insurance sorted it all out for me. I was back to Wohler soon after and went straight to outfitting. A powerplant upgrade was first on the agenda. Once that was done I decided to upgrade to tier 3 Pulse Lasers. The pitiful tier 2 lasers looked pathetic on the ship. Still well within the limits of the new power plant, I think she’s ready for combat…
Now I just need to name her
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