Trading Up
22 May 2018Flikre
So after spending nearly all of my piloting career with Ellie, my MkIV Viper, I have decided that as amazing as she is in combat, I need a ship that can hold more cargo.Enter the Arronax. An Asp Explorer.
My previous experience with an Aspx left me pretty underwhelmed, even with extra armour plating most of the time I was dragging the ship back to Thome Gateway, leaving a trail of debris in my wake.
And the less said about the canopy the better, except that I've encountered wet toilet paper with better structural integrity.
Despite all that however, I decided to give Lakon and the Aspx another chance, considering that piracy is less combat intensive than bounty hunting.
I'm so glad I did.
The Arronax is quicker and nimbler than Ellie ever was, and although it can't take a beating like the Viper, it holds up fairly well when a Type 9 decides to fight instead of doing the right thing.
And the view, I'd completely forgotten about how open the cockpit is, how much you can see. It helps on the long stretches where there's no one around, just drop out of supercruise, pour yourself a cuppa and just stare at the beauty of the galaxy. I'm not about to declare that the Arronax is my new favourite ship and sell Ellie though, that tanky 'lil fighter has survived scrapes that would make any Federation ship shake at the rivets.
Not that I'm an amazing pilot, the ship did most of the work, and there has been a few times where if you looked from the right angle you could see straight through the hull and out the opposite side! The ground crew at Thome Gateway were both amused and extremely pissed off at me about getting her to that state.
Nothing could kill that little ship, I'd still be flying her now if she had a larger cargo hold.
But the Arronax is now my main ship, and the huge Type 9's take me a lot more seriously now I'm in a bigger ship. I hardly have to fight them anymore, which is a conforting thought as I raid their cargo for goodies.
Not just the Type 9's either, a couple of guys at Admiral Benbow's (named after a book I think, don't really know the owner that well and ancient literature never really interested me) seemed to think that I'm becoming a proper pilot. I didn't want to tell them why I needed a bigger ship, despite being in an anarchy system piracy is still something to be talked about in hushed whispers. I suppose it might have something to do with being deep in Federation territory...
...
A Type 7 just sped by me, unfortunately it didn't have any mining equipment on board. It's been a long day today, only a handful of ships are around at the moment but they're mostly combat ships and traders, no miners sadly. I'm resisting the urge to call it a day and head to Benbow's but it's looking like today might be a bust.
I'll give it another hour then it's quits, I'm sure I'll be able to find something at the bar to take my mind off it.
Piracy and mining go hand-in-hand, both require patience and persistance. Both are looking for the motherlode, the big haul and (in certain circumstances) both require lasers and cargo space.
One more hour, I suppose I'll update this logbook again if I hit another quiet patch, it kills time quite effectively.