CMDR Aesica profile > Logbook

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Commander name:
Current ship:
Packaging Krait [SA] [AES-14]
(Krait Phantom)
 
Member since:
Jun 3, 2019
 
Distances submitted:
0
 
Systems visited:
4,848
Systems discovered first:
60
12-13 June: Imperial Rank & The Beluga

I spent most of the day circling around the Cubeo system and its neighbours, combining up REP+ jobs for Imperial factions.

I started the day in my Beluga as I'd intended to run REP missions but as I started to combine missions to get multiple drops at destination starports, I found myself dumping passenger cabins for more cargo holds and before I knew it I was running cargo in the Beluga.

This held me back a little even with cargo capacity up to 295, and suitable rank-up missions kept passing me by as I had no combat ability, largo space or was limited by landing pad size.

Because I was amassing REP so fast, I wasn't able to see how missions were affecting gains; my bar was constantly at 100% after rankup.

After taking on the mission for Squire and closing off items on the board with little time remaining, I took a break to have a think about whether to change tactics.

I vaguely considered buying a small ship to deal with the issues and decided that this wasn't feasible; the Beluga does actually have a pretty decent cargo capacity. Removing the shield takes it from 295 to 370, and standing & fighting wasn't an option anyway.

So I considered whether to swap to a Python to allow me more variety in missions, or to continue in the Beluga.

I decided to continue in the Beluga and continue to operate a "run away" policy. Maybe further down the line I'll consider uprating it for weapons and better defence.

After 10-20 more missions, I'd located some more D-rated modules on the journey and fitted Collector Limpets, so had the ship running at a comfortable 30ly jump range, was able to complete a Salvage mission for the Imperial Navy, and ranked further up to Squire. Again I was already at 100% towards the next level, so I logged and flipped the board to try and get a rank up mission. Sadly after 20 minutes everything seemed static so I moved on to my next trading outpost, Tange Vision at Pangilagara.

I managed to obtain a mission there to level me to Knight, taking Reactive Armour to Beker. Suspecting attack due to my already-brimming hold, I upgraded the Beluga with 5 x 0A Shield Boosters.

This caused some power issues but I have the Overcharged Power Plant mod pinned for just such occasions so a little tweaking had her back from 108% to 89.7% again at Level 2.

Onwards to Beker and I ranked up to Knight. Finally not at 100%, I'm 23% on the way to the next rank so I can now get a handle on how to balance REP and mission rewards. I had 5-6 deliveries bundled up for 2 destinations so the next step was to collect the remaining goods and then drop off the items, noting the increase to rank based off REP.

Frustratingly, Bradshaw Works at Beker sold several items I required but inventory space was already limited. So I took some return missions to reduce the blow of collecting these later.

3 NPC interdictions on my route to Mbegua's Cummings Vision and I submitted to 1, got caught on 1, and survived both well with the shield boosters, the second I only had 1 ring when I got naptured.

I'd installed Chaff in the initial build but didn't get a chance to deploy it due to having it duplicated in its Fire Group. So survivability seems to be improving, and I vowed to put on MilSpec armour at the minimum on my next stop, Cummings Vision.

At this stop I monitored my REP drops from Knight 23%:

REP+4 28% REP+4 33% REP+2 36%

So approximately 1.3% from each point of REP.

As I had about 75m left over, I dumped a few million into REP missions and got my Knight rank up to 40%, picking up some Cobalt for a drop further down the line.

I didn't have all the goods in hand for my next drop of 7 missions at Gunter Port with around 250 tons of mixed goods, so I planned the buying stints next, with a view to also picking up some 7D thrusters which weren't available at Cummings - although I upgraded the Beluga to Reinforced Alloy bulkheads. Max jump range is still 39ly so not too heavy a price to pay.

So I found a system selling both the Wine I needed and 7D Thrusters, in AislingSpace, and plotted a course for Cubeo.

Unfortunately I then realized I'd miscalculated and bought goods destined for another station. So I took the risk of shelving the shields and increasing cargo capacity, and picked up the last 2 sets of items I needed for the HIP 5623 delivery; Liquor and Mineral Extractors.

Sadly they sold out while I was planning this, so I put the shields back on and went to find them both at another system; luckily both were available in Cubeo, so I headed to Adelman Station.

I was then able to drop the shields for cargo capacity and fill up for my next delivery.

Heart in mouth, I was ready to take 7 loads and 3 bundles of data to Gunter Station without shields.

This load suffered from an interdiction which I thankfully escaped; I then reapplied the shields. It was at this point I noticed the ship was now exhibiting the well-known overheating issues many others have reported with its full load of Shield Boosters and the overcharged power plant.

I'd need to deal with this later, as I was running out of time on my last two drops: Chelomy Orbital and Tange Vision (where a tenacious pirate is waiting). I had to visit Tange to get the goods for Chelomy, frustratingly; but evaded the pirate and made the Chelomy Drop of another 6 loads, taking my Knight rank up to 70%.

I'd noted at this stage that REP+++++ missions were largely massacres. Thinking this might be good practice, I shipped my Fer de Lance to Shen Orbital to switch up to some of these instead.

Finished up with my last delivery of 300 tonnes of varying goods to Tange, where the pirate was waiting and successfully avoided.

10 points more to REP took me to 80% on the journey from Knight to Lord.

I took a break to consider whether to just shelve or sell the Beluga as a costly exercise - with outfitting and rebuys as I got the hand of it, plus outfitting the passenger Python "Pythenger Thip" I am down from 100m to barely 10m now.

Its definitely time to move onto something else.

Next session I may:

  • recall the AspX - its got a 700k rebuy and a 60ly range so I can flit about and do some exploration to rebuild my funds
  • go find the T9 which is in Imperial space, and try to run some trade to work on the Fatherhood trophy goal and slowly build Imperial rank
  • take out the FDL and try my hand at assassinations to build Imperial rank faster; although I'm concerned with 10m to hand and another learning curve, this may be financially inadvisable
  • go back to home port (Hajangai, although moving to LHS 197 would ally with both guild goals and Yu Port is a better-equipped home base than Schwann) in the AspX and pull out the Manic Miner (Python) and do some opal/painite mining to rebuild my funds and work on TFH trophy goal that way.
First Entry

Decided to start keeping a logbook in the spirit of getting the most out of this game. I've lost interest in most other gaming these days but something about the complexity and vastness of Elite, coupled with nostalgia from having loved the BBC version and missed everything in between, captivates me.

I don't know if anybody will ever read this but I decided to start it with a summary of my achievements so far:

  • started in approx June 2018
  • got my sidey and foolishly spent my 100 Frontier points making it pink
  • started doing little bits of trade and missions, learning how to do SRV runs for data, black box collecting and trading but really had little idea of what I was doing
  • I joined the Fatherhood squadron quite early on in the game but as I was very inexperienced, wasn't really able to contribute much except sass
  • early on I bought a Hauler, and started working on a database that helped me link up data jobs and deliveries so I could do multiple drops at single stations and be more efficient; this allowed me to buy a Cobra which I started trying to outfit for combat
  • having run a couple of wing missions with the Fatherhood against pirates I realized I was in no way ready for combat. I bought a Viper MkIV but the experience was the same
  • in early June I started trying to fly out to Colonia in my Hauler and although I ranked up to Surveyor in Exploration and started getting the hang of data, I realized I was in no way ready for deep space travel
  • I continued to trade and moved to the Hajangai system in July 2018 (Fatherhood space) and slowly started to get the hang of some things
  • in August 2018 I took a break from the game, frustrated and lured by Persona 5 and RDR2, I did not return until Feb 2019 or so.
  • in Feb I got the urge to start again and started doing more trade. I bought a Type 9 Heavy and perhaps unusually, this was when the game started to take shape for me and really grip me

I was suddenly able to do 7.5m trade runs, which allowed me to start outfitting my T9. I was avoiding interdictions and learning to escape if I had been. Slowly I built the T9 into a real beast, capable of fighting off most pirates below Master. I still really wanted to get into combat and bought a FDL, with the goal to engineer it in the background.

  • March 2019: I also bought an AspX and set it up for longer-distance flight. I started heading out around the engineers, learnt to gather materials and data, and got it up to a 60ly range. With this ship I was able to start flying further, and I attempted another little run towards Colonia, this time making it 5,000ly before deciding I needed an AFMU
  • Apr 2019: on my return to the bubble I started getting more involved in the Fatherhood again, contributing to BGS missions and trade goals
  • May 2019: with the money from the trade goals, I started building up my ship fleet and achieved my first Elite in Trade.
  • I bought a few Pythons, outfitting for general missions, mining, passenger missions, combat and trade
  • between trade stints I flew the AspX out collecting mats, unlocking engineers, and using it to fly to remote shipyards and place ships there to accomplish particular goals - a passenger Python at Robigo, a small trade ship in Cubeo, etc
  • I bought an Anaconda and started dragging it and the FDL from engineer to engineer, applying experimental effects
  • I was really starting to learn about outfitting and engineering, getting better at neutron jumping, mapping and really starting to be able to enjoy the game
  • I started flying in Open more often, battling or fleeing from NPC and PC pirates and achieving Mostly Harmless in combat purely in the T9 :)
  • I learnt to Opal mine and started working towards my first billion
  • with my Anaconda close to being ready for use, and my FDL not far behind, I took a break from trade with a goal to start unlocking all the engineers and Prismatic Shields
  • I flew out to Cubeo and dumped enough of the media materials to hit rank 4 instantly
  • I flew to Robigo and ran passenger missions as my Fed rank had already gotten quite high, with a view to unlocking the Fed ships
  • and while I await the tick for Prismatic Shields, I am working on my Imperial rank flying passenger missions around the Cubeo region in a Beluga Liner

So as of June 2019 I'm all synced up with Inara and EDSM, the Fatherhood are doing well in BGS and trade rank and I'm proud to have played a decent part in both goals.

My game goals are now as follows; I know this will take a long time but I'm enjoying having a plan and chipping away at it.

  • Imperial rank from Serf to Duke
  • Fed Rank from Post Commander to Rear Admiral
  • heavy trade for the Fatherhood goal and to start building up my funds again
  • maintain Rank 4 with Aisling Duval and unlock Prismatic Shields
  • unlocking the remaining engineers and guardian sites
  • once the trade season ends, start to undertake combat missions & activities in the FDL and Anaconda, taking breaks to engineer them more fully
  • work towards Elite in Combat, learning all about it and applying those lessons to:
  • fully engineer my FDL and Anaconda
  • replace my T9 with a Cutter for even better safer trading
  • outfit a Corvette for battle

Once these goals are accomplished I'm not sure what further the game will offer. I look forward to finding out. I'm sure there will be more updates and content to come and expect these goals to take a year or two.