The New Beginning !

[Nort The Fragrent]

The New Beginning !

As my current Game run through is getting a bit long in the tooth, 22 Greened sectors. 300 Billion. Ships Galore, and stations , so many stations !.
My Miners are dropping like flies, from the new assault on them by the new games mechanics, it has become too much of a pain to keep replacing them !

Thinks !

Start a new Game ! But how and what is the objective?
I have the long game as a reference for where and what is what, It’s much better than the encyclopaedia for information !

First things first, Run a couple of simple small trades, Then sell the Discoverer, change it for a pegasus, No Guns. Pick up some dropped boxes, and sell the stuff. Buy a Courier, set him off to Distribute wares. Awesome little chap, gos all over the show buying and selling small quantities. And advancing my Rank with the Factions.
Take my time to open up the Map, and visit each station to get it logged into the map.

Rules,
Use no Highways.
No Guns.
Stay out of trouble.

Moneys building, and Get a Demeter, set him off to Distribute wares.
After a time, I now have Two Demeter’s, 1 Courier, and a small miner. All busy .

Wasn't long before the new attack’s start having a go at my small fleet of traders. Make sure they Flee, and not sit around and get destroyed. Happened once, so reactivated the game to cheat that lose. ! it took me so long to get that ship, and to loose it so soon was a real kick in the teeth. So cheated, !

Right ! My goal .

In the last huge game , my most profitable station related to cost. Was a Solar power plant in Brennan’s Triumph. Thats my aim to start a small at first Solar plant going.
I have the Solar Module, and a small Argon container storage unit.
I want a Luxury 3x6 Dock, and the Teladi single pier. As these I think, give the best look for a station. I could use the small storage unit but think it better to wait and get the Medium argon storage. Giving the station better scope to cope early on.

Lux dock 589,398
Pier 2,301,612
Medium container storage 602,701

Then there will be the Plot cost, the build cost and the hire of a builder. So even for a small build the cost at early game is huge.

The station will have no habitat, as that adds too many on going costs, for food and bandages. That quite frankly are nothing but a spanner in the works.

I intend to not get into mining, as in the last game it has become so counter productive. Waisting time replacing them, thats not fun, nor desirable to be doing.
I want a very simple game, no hassle, no big stations, no fleets of ships to baby sit.
Not yet gone into Split sectors, they can wait for later.

Eventually, my traders will be replaced by the Minotaur raider, carries 2370 units, and is very well defended. This will give a steady yet small income, as I will not be needing much for my game plan.

As I am flying around in the small Pegasus, taking in the sights and sounds off the x space. It is evident that having no stations to manage, fleets of miners to baby sit. And the surprisingly quiet war zones, the game is very nice indeed. peaceful, at rest. There is a trickle of money coming in, and I am really pleased thus far.

It is going to be interesting to see how my non involvement in the normal game play effects the factions. Will they fight each other?
Will they succumb to the HOP, or will each faction stay stagnant?
Will the game slowly wither, and become empty?
If so I could pop in an Admin and turn each sector green again with very little cost, or indeed effort.

Some of you may be thinking how dull, and boring. Not so ! Getting any where in this game takes time, I enjoy the flying around, do a trade here and there. Content in the knowledge I have hurt no one. Baby xenon can sleep at night, knowing Daddy will be home for tea.

[frisonic]

hope you will keep us updated to how that turns out could be a good story and fun interesting reading.

[Tanvaras]

Nice read, and interesting idea for a play through.

Keep us posted on your progress

[Nort The Fragrent]

Progress thus far ! If you can call it progress !

Thought it a good idea to get an other Courier going in the PIO and TER sectors , so to get the rank increasing. Sent him off to Brennan’s Triumph, gave him as many Pilot seminars as he could eat ! This brings him up to Not Two stars ! So he is useless. He can revisit knows stations ! Fat lot of good that is. so he is just sitting there asleep. ( Stars are **** )
Waist of money when money is so very tight.

I go off to try and get the MIN rank up. Do some trades with their stations, and no change in rank. Normally after a couple of trades the rank go’s to +1. But no. I persist, even taking a hit regarding profit, sell stuff to them at a lose. Still no rank change, ! Waist of time again….

Flying around picking up drop boxes, selling for a minuscule profit, and keeping an eye on my small fleet of traders who are constantly being harassed. And consequently Flee’ing.

There is a Rattle Snake being a Bully in Silent Witness, When ever one of my 4 ships ventures in their the Rattle Snake homes in on them ! It’s like the game knows exactly where to place the Snake so it can strike every time. Again and again. ( I wonder How the Game Knows !!! )

After many many hours of baby sitting my tiny fleet, I can buy the Teladi single Pier, the Luxury 3x6 dock, and the Medium Argon storage modules. This almost brakes the bank, leaving just enough for the traders to trade with.

Right, off to Brennans Triumph to plan where to build the Solar power plant !
Money dribbling in very slowly, so it’s a waiting game.

The cost to buy the plot is small as I only need a pier, a panel, dock and storage. This can all overlap if space is tight,
The intention is to play my tiny station method. By putting multiple Panels and storage occupying the same space. So you can if you want place 10 Solar panels all in the very same spot ! And it all still works.
1st Pier I turn at 180 degrees, so when I can afford to put a second pier on, it will snap naturally to the normal rotation and not fail if I needed to have to rotate ! This can be a real pain for a novice builder.

Early Sunday morning ! Not enough money to do the build yet !.
Set the bike trainer up, Go onto Zwift, and start the Alp du Zwift ride.
Now I am 64 years old, having had one hart attack, and have a broken knee from a snow skiing accident. So I can only cycle very slowly. It takes me 3 hours to do the climb. Many stops to baby sit my ships.

After the 3 hours , there is enough money to begin the build, and hire the build ship.
Confirm the plan, transfer the money into the build fund. the only build ship available is an Argon one. Who take’s an age to arrive. He has taken his cut, and the Hour class is active on his ship.

Waiting. Set up the Pegasus to watch. Knowing that not having SETA, this will take a while !

So far 1469 energy cells have been delivered for the build.
And thats it.
Nothing else has or looks like arriving.
Seems I am going to have to divert my ships to come over and find the resources needed.
Not even my 3 star pilot in the Demeter will Trade for build storage, so I am going to baby sit each ship to get the materials required.

This is going to take a very very long time to do.

As I have the time, I shall begin the wet nursing the ships to find what I need.

Some times I think this game is shit, when you have to hold your ships hand. And get them to do what you want.

[SumUser]

Ship AI definitely needs a gentle coat of polish. I found using trade rules helps to alleviate some of it.. for some reason my station miners think it's entirely valid to travel 4 sectors away to mine some Si when there is a higher yield in the same sector my chip factory is "coincidentally" located in...


Keep up the good fight!

[Nort The Fragrent]

Needed to get Claytronics, and Hull parts.
Hull parts ! Closest were from Black Hole Sun V
Claytronics from True Sight.

Combining the Demeter and a Courier, all required mets were gathered .
This taking the rest of the day to achieve.
You can only assign a ship to a station after a section has been built! Only then can you get it to trade for Build storage. And to be honest, it’s quicker to send them off with explicit orders. Else they sit there for ages scanning for trades. And if they find one within range, they dither, and splutter around. Goodness knows who thinks this stuff up !

My one panel solar Station is producing cells at last. No habitation. And no defence turrets yet. Too expensive at the moment.
The Station will over time grow, to be the local Power house of the know Universe ! One day..
Next is remove a pleb service crew from the Courier, and plonk it in the station as Manager. Seems to matter not who you stuff in as Manager ! Give them the Seminars, and they are a wiz at selling Cells. They couldn't Manage a paper clip, but thats the game !

Not one ship delivered stuff from the other Factions! Not one. All left up to me.

Partly I suppose being out of they way, although I would have thought PIO would have helped. But they have not the resources.

Expected operation budget is $0.Free Cells to sell off cheep as chips.

Now some will say, but you had to spend Millions to build the Station. That I did.
However, one needs to see things not as an accountant, and more as a philosopher.
My money, now my station. To think the Cells as being a free commodity, makes it worth all the Hassle to get the thing built. If you're worried about a return on your investment, then you are trapped by the modern worlds deluded rules.
Reset the Demeter to Distribute wares, only to see it still static in Argon Prime. !
The police have stoped him and the ship is waiting for an hour. So go into settings and reduce the time to 1 minuet. What the stupid clot put that rule in the game? Why? What off Earth dose it achieve, other than to frustrate the player.

I have paid handsomely for the Argon Medium Beam Turret blueprint, and the Teladi Medium shield blueprint. These I shall use to add Beam and shields to the Solar panel, and storage.
Can not be bothered to go scanning for them, as I only want what I need, best buy them and get what I want when I want. I can then keep my weapons load-out selection to the minimum. So the list is kept short and not filled with stuff I shall never use.

In the Solar Stations credit transfer, I have set it to 100,000. This I think will then auto transfer at 300,000. The station needs no money, so shall squeeze it dry. See what happens to the managers morale, over time! The station cells are in high demand, not getting much above 3000. Before getting snapped up and sold. So the next exercise is to add the Turrets and shields then copy the Panel, to double production.

[Nort The Fragrent]

My small Courier miner, is as useful as a pin on your chair! So it needs to be replace. The pilot has almost three stars so he is in the elite group of pilots you can expect to get in this game!
Send the Courier off to the HOP wharf. Then buy a new Demeter. Dump the obligatory floor sweeping Pilot you get as standard. Never ever in Two years have I got a good pilot when buying a ship. Transfer all crew as well into the Demeter, set him off to Distribute wares. Just remembered ! Have to go into ships setting to tell it to escape when harassed or attacked.

I have stopped the other Courier from trying to trade in PIO space as it spends most of it’s time searching. Assign him to the power station, and he is quickly off selling Energy cells.

Scraping every credit together, to build the second Solar Panel. Doable only just!
The newly established Demeter is I think plane stupid. No matter what I set him to distribute wares, he just sits their searching.
Perhaps my first impressions were misjudged!

So move him from sector to sector, testing all the variety of products he could trade in. But no! He is supposed to be 2+ stars, yet I think he is a little simple in the head.
Cancel his trade orders, and get him fetching build materials for the new Panel. This he does impeccably. Now the real test can he be a station trader and sell my now ramped up production of energy cells ? Yip ! He is off, happy to be a dumb delivery driver for the station manager.

Setting the station account to the 100,000, is working well. Auto Transferring cash over and above 300,000.

I can go off on a tour of my nice and quite Map. There is the odd skirmish, but nothing serious. All the HOP seem to be doing is lumbering around as if the party was over. The Xenon stumble around with no purpose, then vanish for a while.

The Solar station is pumping out cells, and again they are getting snapped up just as fast. So more panels will be added when the funds have accumulated.

[Midnitewolf]

Glad you found a new theme to run with. Personally I have trouble in that arena because so many of the game play elements that allow for emergent gameplay are missing from the game. I keep getting stuck at "Fight the Xenon".

My next run through will be with the Star Wars Interworlds mod running. That should shake things up a bit.

[MHDriver]

Glad you found a new theme to run with. Personally I have trouble in that arena because so many of the game play elements that allow for emergent gameplay are missing from the game. I keep getting stuck at "Fight the Xenon".

My next run through will be with the Star Wars Interworlds mod running. That should shake things up a bit.

I enjoyed Star Wars Interworlds. Some of the new game stars in it make it interesting.

[frisonic]

uff trading in PIO and terran Space generally gonna be a pain as it's trade economy is so broken that only thing that can get things floating is e-cells or Protein paste rest is gas mining for a steady income but the story line though wow that is really really good.

[Nort The Fragrent]

Moneys acquired by having the patients of a snail ! Have re planed to fit two more Solar panels to the station. Bringing it up to four panels. The only build ship was in Black Hole Sun V. It took so long to arrive, in the meantime I snatched the Demeter away from selling cells to get more Hull parts , and Claytronics.
Also added shields to the panels, and Turrets and shields to the storage. This now requires Advanced Electrics, Field coils, Shield components, and Turret components. Non of witch are to be found locally.
Demeter is sent off as far as Memory of Profit IX, picking up stuff on the way. Filled to the brim it returns back to Brennans Triumph.
Just this addition of two panels, and shields has taken 8 hours of game time. So frigin slow it’s a good job I have real life stuff to do in-between the waiting !
Setting ships to trade for build storage will not work, as the products are out of their range.

Conclusion !

Not only is this micromanagement to the extreme, It takes so very very long to get anything achieved. A good percentage of my brain cells have disconnected during this time of absolute boredom.
Having the station reset its self to auto sell price, when a new Module is added, is a pain. The station is not selling cells at $16. So I re activate fixed sell price of 12 credits. This works very well.

Had a good sleep ! ( no ! The game was turned off )

Next phase is to add four more panels, so send the Demeter of again first to get the Advanced Electrics, Field coils, Shield components, and Turret components. He needs wet nursing during this operation ! With again explicit orders where to go and what to get. As he has a tendency to go back to where he has been, if those dock at orders are not removed.
The now steady income from the station is more than enough to pay for all the materials and more! With plenty of money to get the Build ship back to start work again.
5.6 Million in the bank, and climbing.
Now have 8 solar panels pumping, with 110,000 credits every 5 minuets or so being transferred.
Get the Teladi disk defence blueprints, and add two defence disks to the build. I don't have the rank yet to get the Argon L Beam turrets.
Go off in search of Argon stations to keep the two trading Demeter’s chasing new trades. Go up into Morning Star IV to log the stations, and get pounced upon by those naughty Kha’ak.
Hull down to critical, and escape with the skin of my teeth.

My available map is still missing the Inner TER sectors, the Split, and those odd out of the way sectors. Trying to keep the game close, and not too cluttered.
My plan is working ! Got no miners to worry about. The power station is churning out tons of early game cash. And have two Random Demeter’s out and about trading.
It is quiet arduous holding the hand of the resource Demeter to get what is needed. If I don’t it go’s to sleep.

In the plan build drop down section, I have tried my best to fathom the resource quantities !
What’s in stock, and what is required! They seem only to be relevant to the current module being built! Then only when that is finished, it spasms to demand more !
I give up !
So just buy a ship load of what ever, dump it into the build storage. And see what else a ship load to go and get next.
Very add-hock, and inefficient. But who cares, ES have I am sure got it all figured out. Me ! Not a clue !

[gevers]

This thread is so painful to read... I feel you mate...
It's like the devs do not play the game or they made x4 for themselves...

[frisonic]

ha ha yes i feel it too everything takes so dang long time and the ai.. pfft yes and mm everything starts to take it's toe on me too.

[Nort The Fragrent]

What next ?

The Minotaur Raider ( scavenger ) ship I would like is only from what I can gather, SCA in the Cove. And only as a blueprint. To then build one I need a S/M fab module. 116,364,875 credits. Way too much at the moment !
As I am not at rank 20 with any race, I can not buy the Trade licence. This would save me the bother of the routine run around to activate trade opportunities. Again a real pain !
Evaluating where, what, and it’s worth. I have decided to build a second Power station. This one will be in Second Contact II Flashpoint.
A busy cross roads, affording many directions to sell the EC’s. Found a good location to give clear access to all Gates, avoiding the floating rocks.
Plot size: 3,3,1,3,2,2. cost, 806,000 ish credits. This size is just large enough to fit the single pier, panel, storage Lux dock and now Two defence disks.
Cost to build is around 4Million. Pop money into build. And the station is underway almost instantly. Nothing like the hassle of the earlier one in B,T.
Having an odd plot size is for a good reason ! It puts the Plots focus, high in the plot !
This is where ships head for, then when closer turn to go to the dock.
I am not going to bother to try and get resources for the build, until the end. Then see what might be needed if anything !
Observation from all my previous builds in the long game in x4. Piers on stations are nothing but show ! You only need one pier. OK when a large build get cranking first time, the large ships do build up. But it’s not long before the station settles down, and only one pier is ever used. When you are traveling around, how many three piers are full.

Just over an hour later the station is pumping out cells, and selling them. The other one took several days ! Partly down to available of funds, and it’s location.

Repeat in Memory of Profit IX, not long before the Teladi rank gets to 20. Then spend every credit on the Trade licence. Cr16,000,000.
Trade ramps up and the money begins to flow once more.
As that area is prone to attack, I decide to get an Argon Nomad, use it as a well defended trader. What a waist of time that was ! By the time it filled up and got to the trade, there was no trade. It bounced back and forth across the sector selling absolutely nothing at all !
It has been commended to return to the Argon shipyard for striping and selling back to them. I know at a loose, but will I hope kick the +18 rank up a notch. Keep the pilot as he has almost 3 stars. Not that that means much. Seems to matter not what stars they have. They are all useless.
Stripped all that I can from the ship, and guess what ! After taking over 3/4 of an hour to dock at the shipyard . The dumb pilot decides to undock. I want to transfer him into my ship. But no the fool is now on a snails manoeuvre again. !! Not content to just turn round and dock, No ! He is taking the scenic route, circumnavigating the station.
Time for some Tea, a full corse meal, a run in the park, do some shopping, paint the house, have several more children. No! He still hasn't docked. I can not remove the pilot as he is busy !

The ship is now suspended in the large building bay, not moving! It hasn't registered as being docked. My frustration has not only boiled over, it has completely evaporated. As is soon to happen to this ship and its Dumb pilot.
Sold. Thank God .
Perhaps I can get on and play the game !

[Nort The Fragrent]

At last ! Argon have rolled over to 20 Rank. Get the L Beam Turret blueprints. + the bridge defence module, and the Argon Disk defence.
Also spend 10,000,000 on the Trade licence.
Snatch a Demeter, sending him off to get the Ad electrics, and Turret components, to top up the first Power station build storage. I shall give the Demeter my undivided attention during this arming of the three power stations.
My compony policy is to over arm stations with an absurd quantity of Turrets. Never mind the cost, !
Other factions that have rolled to rank 20 are the PAR & HOP. So again spend up large getting their trade licences.
I am at the stage were I can get 5 Couriers. Make a list of commodities in the opened map thus far, and divide the list between each ship. This list per ship is all documented, so when one go’s down I know what it was trading in.
Out of the 5 Couriers, 3 could be levelled up to 2 stars, so got their distribution orders and off they went.
The other 2 could not, I swopped them for the ones operating from my power plants. So they then could distribute wares.
5 little ships wizizng around happily buying and selling, all was good for a while. They cost about 9,000,000 to get all decked out. Then the harassment messages started thick and fast. Despite being ordered to flee, each one was soon dead and gone. 9,000,000 down the drain in no time at all.
WTF.

What next?
Have to wait for the money to build up, as my account is just about empty. Do some research and decide to get a Selene sentinel from the HOP. This I shall use to get a stock of build materials, that I shall store in some of my build storage tanks that just sit there idle. So when I am ready to build, I have a stash of stuff ready and waiting. Not sure if raiders snatch from build storage, this will make me find out !

I am standing on-top of the helm station in the Selene, good view as my 2 star pilot does all the work. Ha ha.

[Nort The Fragrent]

Been having some Map zoom problems, it randomly zooming in very close and staying there!


When the Selene was ordered, the station had not the resources to build the ship, so I set my remaining Demeter to find what was needed. It searched and searched. Then scurried of three sectors for some hull parts. Ok. Once full it was deciding where to sell said hull parts. So I intervened and sent it back to sell them at the shipyard. When looking for more stuff, ( me ) I find most of what is required right next to the shipyard ! Why is it, that the auto orders for ships to go get stuff is always far far away, when the stuff is right under there nose?!?
The Selene has been ordered to go pick up Turret components from Silent Witness I, the orders are in place, the line evident on the map. But it is dormant just sitting quite still. The ship takes ten minuets before starting to move ! Do the engines need warming up? Is the Captain in the loo? Are the crew singing the ships joyous song before they start working? Who knows!
Get into Argon prime, facing the correct way, slumbering along over the top of the highway. Then stop. Do a 3 point turn dropping down below the highway, speed along straight through into Hatikvah’s Choice I , good so far ! But wait ! No we stop, spin around as if looking for the toilet again. Off we go, getting close to the danger zone where the xenon are renown to have ships blasting about. I do a quick save. Silent Witness and do the same loo looking manoeuvre. Crash right through a lump of rock, fly straight past the station at speed. Take a close look at one pier, moves along, then returns to the same pier ! Loaded up we make the return journey. Keeping a close eye on my three fingered three eyed pilot .
After several more Toilet look arounds, we get back safe and sound.
I have come to the conclusion, these ship pilots were once tour bus drivers, stopping frequently so the aged passengers can relieve themselves. Then they went on to be Taxi drivers who failed due to getting lost too often.
Do the pilots have similar data difference like engines have in the game? Some are quick, yet can not turn, some can turn, but are very slow! Or are they generically plan stupid, no matter how many stars they have?
This trip in My new selene has made me laugh, not the funny kind of laugh! No ! The kind of laugh you do when you hit your thumb with a hammer, or stub your tow. You know you want to cry, yet a restrained laughter suppresses the pain.

[frisonic]

yup we all feel the pain i remember the time where where one could make a pot of coffee and log in to the game and enjoy the living world of X4 going about doing there things didn't matter much what you did as a player the footprint wasn't that impact full unless you wanted it to be traders traded with each other you could build a little factory they came and bought you wares you took a zip of coffee and thinking wow amazing they actually bought my wares your miners did there things and you had a steady income from time to time you had to help a bit in some sectors so the xenon wouldn't get to much power the npc's did there job keeping the balance in the game so it was a pleasant experience there was a ongoing tread all over the universe but.
That tread has shifted now everything is a stagnation and just awaiting input from the player and forcing decisions on you that you actually don't wan't to make have a big impact on how the game plays out try put a little factory down and that faction becomes a super nation traders don't trade anymore miners are screaming for resources and resource probes xenons has gotten a virus in there ai mainframe and get eradicated everywhere and passively lets it happen i love the game and have been for many years but as it is now in the current state the only tread i have left is the taste of my coffee yes it is still there the rest not so much.

[Nort The Fragrent]

At last the Advanced Foundation game has been saved for future use.
A good base game to start afresh from.
The Donkey work complete.
The Map has Argon, ANT, TEL, PAR, HOP, and PIO sectors. just the basic ones.
No Split, or inner Earth sectors, also those Xenon bits and pieces ones are missing as well.
So quite a medium map as a starter.
All the main map factions are at Rank 23 ironically, Having obtained the Trade licence from each one.
The Statistic list is predominantly all 0.
Having done not a lot regarding common game play.
No shots fired,
No lock boxes opened,
No highways used.
No Seta.
Etc etc.

The game has the normal start up blueprints, + a single pier, Luxury 3x6 dock, defence disk, one M & L shield , and L & M turrets. One Med Container storage.

It has 4 very compact Power stations, with two traders to each station. So a steady income is underway.
No miners, ( as they are now such a pain to manage )
No missions undertaken, so the game is still almost a virgin. ( if there such a thing )
Very simple, very quiet, with faction stations all over the map, faction ships galore.

This has taken just over two weeks of very patient and methodical game restraint.

This base game affords me the ability to restart a new run through without all that tedious Donkey work running around. I can start knowing I have no tether attached.

What have I learned during this arduous beginning ?

The new marauding ships are way too effective, killing off small and medium ships with ease,

Ship logic, and pilot logic is as broken as ever ! Really needs some attention from the developers to sort it out.

Basic game usability is still fractured, this also needs looking at. Some game alignment is in serious need of attention.

What I must say is the game looks awesome, thats why I have endured this restart. I do like flying around in this games environment, compliments for that.

Despite the game faults, it is still worth playing. And I shall.

[Nort The Fragrent]

Solar power stations have increased to 5 with one in Pontifex’s Claim.
This being after some analysis, then a sleep, got it in the back of my mind to do, but not in a rush.
It was to have been placed in Holy Vision, but I have the memory of a Gold Fish, and reverted to a thought from who knows where! So it is in P.C. Bugger. !
Never mind !
It is churning out cells non the less !
Idiot !

Being of the Gold Fish mentality, I have decided to Waite it out. !
I have got the blueprints for the osprey, as I think the time required to get the Scavenger is way way too far away.
I did Order an Osprey from the Teladi, but there Wharf got destroyed, and I lost the order, the money, and my sanity.
I can not get an Osprey from MIN, as my rank is still only +7.
The intention is to build my own, and for that I need the S/M build Module.
I need approximately Cr117 Million. For the S/M.
This is going to take a while, After 6 hours, the 5 power stations can generate 30 Million.
Thats 24 hours in Gold Fish calculation’s, sort off, their abouts, Ish.
During this intensive period of the game, I shall have a sleep, drink may be 30 cups of tea.
Oh! I am cutting down the Fig tree in the garden, it has been crushed by an old pine tree, that fell down last year. So needs some Xenon attention. Chop it right back.

The Morale of the lonely station managers has fallen to nothing, their management skills have increased. Each station is at 100%, so the managers have the odd counselling session, then wonder back into the bleak office, and stair at the ceiling. ( any one worried about their managers mental state ? ).

It’s 4:30 am, up after a good sleep, off to work soon.
Universe as still there.
The Teladi shipyard fell during the night. Never mind!
Still not enough money, so have to do a few more laps of the Fish Bowel.

[Nort The Fragrent]

After the long wait in space time, I have the money to get the S/M build Module. It fits very neatly on the end of the solar panel, to the station in Memory of ProfitIX.
I chose this station to not have to have an other built plot, and for the Wharf to one day build ships for the Teladi.
I still need Engine blue prints, but they can wait, as the building of the S/M will consume much.
Sending the Selene back and fro to get my stash from Second Contact, this speeding the build.
It is again a very slow process, so to not get lazy. I am back on Zwift, climbing that 3500ft mountain. Stopping each time I need to unload the Selene. Puff, pant, Gosh it is hard work.
Added to the build is a second container M storage, The station primarily for Solar cell production, the storage is adjusted to allow good cells to accumulate. The rest is just enough to gather materials to build An Osprey once in a while.
Off to get the PAR M Mk3 combat Engine blue print, on my return I see the station has been pillaged, or raided. Not sure, there are box’s strewn all over the show. And the ship trader is also missing ! WTF.
Re assign the Selene to pick up what it can, !
UM !
Whats it doing ?
The track’s are there to each set of box’s,
You would think it would move in close and start picking the box’s up.
But No !
It fly’s into the middle of the sector and stops, then the cargo drones all pop out.
It’s ****** miles away !
The cargo drones are slow, very slow, like a snail crawling up a window slow.
Shaking my head in bemusement !
To be honest, this kind of stupidity has broken me, so abandon any hope of getting the box’s back.
Put some extra cash into the stations account and it get’s what it needs.
I have a new ship trader in place, so build my first Osprey.
Yay.

The Ospreys are to be solid traders with attitude. They are well defended, carry a reasonable amount, and look like you would step aside for them.
I know not very efficient traders, but I am not wanting to grow too fast. They I hope will last longer than the Couriers, and Demeters.

I am sure ES have some traps set to trip this method up ! Have to wait and see.