20090327

Infinite impossibilities

The mission arcs left me with a feeling that some agent would soon ask me to do something. But they don't. I have to go ask the agents for something to do and so far what they propose has been something less than challenging. Compared to the epic arc these level 1 missions seem all too easy and repetitive. I'm ready to take on more challenges, but the level 2 agents I want aren't available yet. There are some short mission arcs with a more robust plotline and backstory, but mostly it's just standalone missions which fail to deliver a feeling of true involvement. Grinding through 16 missions gives an important storyline mission with increase in faction standings, but the gain in standings is double-edged, no matter what faction you chose to work for some other will like you less for doing so. Limited implants are a typical reward for these level 1 storylines, but they are of little use since I already have all except charisma at +2 and the plan is to get the standard +3 implants for most important attributes as soon as I finish training the required level of cybernetics.

The wormholes and tech 3 ships are certainly going to be out of my league for a long time. However, in league or not I did see a wormhole last week. Someone who had scanned it down left a bookmark at a station undock point and of course I just couldn't resist taking it and having a look 15 minutes later. The possibility of losing a ship to pirate campers or just being stranded in W-space didn't entice me, though, so I chose not to enter.












Besides missioning, hunting NPC pirates, also called ratting, is an option for collecting bounties, loot and salvage. NPC pirates can be found in the asteroid belts, unless the system security is very high. The rats in 0.8 security are suitable for a complete newbie, but the rewards of hunting there are low. For a two weeks old flying a destroyer 0.5 seems like the place to be, plenty of rats and almost decent bounties on them. Occasionally a pirate commander spawns at an asteroid belt. Commanders are tougher nuts to crack and have a significant bounty on them. The loot is better too, quite often 1000 rounds of faction ammo among other things. My salvaging skill isn't high enough to salvage commander wrecks so it is possible that the salvage is particularly juicy. The rewards increase as the security goes down and apparently the rats in lowsec would offer a decent fight for someone of my caliber. I'm just not ready to take on the player pirates I would be bound to meet should I venture there...

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