Long Haul Passengers | Lesson Learned
13 Feb 2017BloodSteyn
CMDRs LogDate: 3303.02.09
So a friend of mine, CMDR InnuendoSA, decided to cast off the bowline and set off on some long haul passenger missions and exploration. I was usually taking the odd 3m contracts to do quick round trips under 500 LY, so I was following his story as he set of to Sagittarius A on a 60,000 LY round Trip for some Explorer paying a nice 70m for the journey.
Anyway... I decided to do something similar, go and see some sights, make a nice profit. Can't be too difficult I thought.
Docked my Python at Papin City in 7 Andromadae, ringed up Galactic Shipping and had my Long Range Asp Explorer delivered to my Home base. Because I'm Allied with the controlling faction I had built up enough trust to get really lucrative passengers lined up. I settled on a conservative first trip, 5,500 LY with a 17m pay-out taking some secretive Explorer to visit a Wolf-Rayet class star and land on the local planet's tourist site. Easy, right.
I've done enough research on what to do for a long haul, D-Classed everything I could, A-Class FSD, B5-Fuel Scoop, Advanced Discovery Scanner for extra income along the way and a nice First Class cabin for my guest. 3D Shield Generator for the odd bumps along the way, AFMU "Spare Tyre" and 3 Heat Sink launchers as my guest is particular about not being seen and the odd Near-Start SC Dropout where many unwary and under prepared Commanders ended their journeys short.
Set off a few days ago. Was managing about 1000 LY per day, since that's the limit for plotting in GalMap. I figured I'd be smart, plot 1000 LY, save system as a way point and so on to make a trail of bread crumbs to easily navigate back to the Bubble.
Finished last night with about 1,200 LY left to go. Decided to do a real push today, and cover the last bit in one go.
Made the last few hops and jumped into the System to this Massive white star, beautiful.
Update from "Dora the Explorer" down in First Class, head to the only planet and the tourist site. I fly out 2000ish LS to the cutest little purple planet, line up for orbital decent like I have hundreds of times before.
Orbital Flight About 150km from destination.
Enter Gliding mode with around 100km to go.
Finish my glide about 8km from the tourist spot, Textbook approach.
I fly towards the site and like I would any Surface Base I'm about 2km away and I pull back throttle, push Up thrusters and pull the nose up....... but it keeps going down...
SHIT...
I point nose up more, BOOST... but to no avail... I crater into the surface less than 1km from the tourist site... Shield Generator does nothing to absorb that impact. A split second later I was out cold, the force of my Escape Pod launching out must have pulled some serious G's.
There is an old saying, “You get what you pay for” and being the owner of a Space Ship does have its advantages. You get to sit in the only seat with an ejection function. Crew, Passengers… sorry for them. In the event of an emergency it’s the Commander that gets taken care of. Everyone knows the risks of spaceflight. A small ship has only so much room for systems and emergency equipment. If you want escape pods for everyone, charter a Beluga.
When I awoke from Cryo-Sleep I was facing a gentlemen with a tablet, on it was the Insurance claim screen. I click and pay the devils their 800K. I'm back at Papin City, 5,500 LY feels like an instant when you’re asleep. My escape pod was picked up and the return to sender address was the last station I departed.
I feel sorry for the Explorer, whose name I didn't even bother to note down as he kept to himself and never asked for anything along the route... Saving up his entire life to afford a chartered trip out to a beautiful Wolf-Rayet star, only to be buried in a manmade AspHole crater walking distance from his destination. The last thing that must have gone through his mind was probably a heat sink launcher.
I may be down 800K and missed out on a 17M Pay-day, but he's cashed in his chips and left the game for good, all because I overestimated my piloting skills.
Lesson learned...
Approach unknown planets with caution.