An Undramatic Life

~or "Money or Immersion?"

What do I fear...

Fear Factor...

I have found my niche, my place in the UEE and in Stanton. I am a freelancer, not the ship but the title of an independent man of many trades. One who works solely for himself, or takes contracts for his various services, a man beholden to none.

I do as I please. I mine a little, I trade a little, I do a little "security work" and a little "wet work" from time to time... It all adds up and I like it all and I am happy and happy is... well, it can be a little dull. Seriously, being "Happy" is dull. Not so much the living of it, but the telling of it can be.

Oh there are still the occasional 30Ks, though those have been getting quite rare in the last 2 months. And yes, there are still the noticeably more occasional glitches, to some of which you can still lose ships and gear and while you can still lose cargo, that is extremely rare now.

30K Protection Works! Thank your local RSI Rep Today!

No, nowadays our collective fears have changed from "Unexpected Loss of Everything to The Game" to "Unexpected Loss of My Stuff to..." well, that's the hard part for many players, you see...

In Star Citizen as it was in EVE, Loss is REAL... Different in detail, but still real.

We now fear that when we lose a ship, whether we "pledged" for it or bought it ingame, we also lose all the gear we are wearing and/or carrying and all that was stored inside our ships. It does not matter if it is to a pirate or a griefer or a glitch... or the worst, to a stupid mistake.

Add to this that your body & gear does "persist" for a while, and it can be looted by other's or by you if you get there in time. Plus your ship will drop the stuff that was stored inside, again lootable to all. Because of this many players now eschew any extraneous gear at all.

Of course I "might" lose this stuff. So? I'll still play my way.

No expensive undersuits, the cheapest armor, or no armor at all... the noob pistol and the one mag it comes with, and maybe a few Med Pens but that's it... They are all too scared of losing those "precious things" they bought... to use... in the game. Huh. I guess they are waiting for the game to get "safer" or something.

It's like the VPTSD we all share about the next time... and there WILL BE a "next time"... that you die to Breathing Vacuum. IE, forgetting your helmet. These are the "logistics" and the "costs" of Death and Loss that we now live with in Stanton. The same ones I have lived with in New Eden for 10 years... I say bring it ON! I was regenerated for this!!

So it has been very interesting to me as I watched the players switch from wearing cool undersuits and using the the whole range of available Armors... from the perfectly matched sets to wild, and oft really horrid, mix-and-match armor suits.

But nowadays a lot of players live in a noobsuit all the time because... "Don't wear (or carry) what you don't want to lose."  The SC variant of the age old EVE, "Don't fly what you can't afford to lose." mantra.

Is it Safe? Is is Secret?

Fear of Gear Loss controls player reactions and actions. I'm different that way. With every wipe and every ship-loss I still carry a full set of gear on all my ships. I STILL wear undersuits and armor ONLY when appropriate. Meaning when I am going to need to deal with vacuum or a inhospitable environment I wear an undersuit and at least Med Armor. I also gear up with guns and meds if the expected situation warrants it.

But if I am going to be landing at Area18 or New Babbage to sell cargo or refined ores, I change into civvies, "civilian wear" meaning T-shirts, pants, jackets, etc. Whatever I feel is appropriate for the business and the climate I will be in then.

As I pull each ship out after a claim, I stock each with a BSL, a "Basic Ship Loadout" including 2 undersuits, 1 to 2 sets of Med or Hvy armor (depending on the ships storage capacity), a basic set of guns & ammo, Med supplies, several days of food & water and a selection of civvies.

Basic Ship Loadout

I do this for EVERY SHIP I own. And yes every time I have to claim a ship I have to resupply that "new" ship with another BSL of gear because you do loose all your gear every time you lose a ship... so what?

You want IMMERSION right? Well, that's the cost. You are welcome to play the game and enjoy ALL the amazing immersive aspects of a virtual life... you are also welcome to run around in a noobsuit forever because you fear losing a few credits. Take your pick.

And yes it is "a few credits", I spend around 5K to 10K aUEC for each Basic Ship Loadout. I bank enough cred from trading and mining to buy SPACESHIPS so I barely notice the cost of a BSL for each ship.

Basically when I buy anything on the BSL list I buy 10 of each every time and I have yet to run out of anything and I really LIKE having the choice of a suit, helmet, armor and guns when needed, or street clothes when not. I like playing ALL of the game.

It feels real... and I like that.

Recent Events...

I have been living in my Andromeda mostly. I always bedlog out deep in the black, powered down and on the float and it's been working great, bedlogging and the game as a whole lately. Yes I have seen a few 30Ks, but like 2 in 2 months... and yes, I have lost stuff to a few glitches... but again fewer, much fewer than I am used to. Bed-logging and living full time aboard ship has been rock solid for me at least, and that is HUGE to me.

I have been trying something different in mining. Everyone, including me, mines Quant because it's the highest profit ore. I wondered what simply mining whatever I found, regardless of what it was, would bring in. Turns out, it's ain't Quant, but it ain't crap either.
.
I have been seeing what kind of ores are available right off the door step of ARC-L1. I literally am mining basic ores just barely out side of the Armistice Zone... and making way more than I'm spending. It's easy, simple and very fast. No warping, thrusters alone and you can do a LOT of trips out and back lemme tell you! To me personally the ease, simplicity and yes, the safety of this method more than make up for the difference in ROI over Quant.

Down to 892cr, but once I sell my refined ores...

New Balance, 28,495cr, a profit of 27,703cr

The Inventory System has seen some love because I no longer have to move everything three times to get it from a Loot Crate to Local... YEAH!! But you do still have to move Each Damn Item one-at-a-time... but it's better, much better and headed in the right direction.

So, I am happy. I wake in my rack in my ship. I go about my day, usually with a few trade runs. I love the short quick moon runs. Buy Agricium or Laranite on Lyria or Wala, sell at the TDD at Area 18. Later, if I have any completed refining jobs, I might run the refined products to market. Sometimes I switch over to my Prospector and either head out to th' Belt for Quant or fly lazily out into the local rock garden and munch on whatever is closest... both are enjoyable and profitable.

Oh, and I moved from Orison to Area 18. That 10 to 15 minute climb up out of atmo from Riker is a killer. I could have moved my Image to Port Olisar, but who would want to live at Port Ollie?

So Area18 is now my home of record and I moved my Image to Everus Station. But, as I said, I live in my ships... on the float out in the black... where I am safe, happy and at peace.

Nude Mining anyone??  =]

Fly it like it has a Mortgage!
=/|)=

PS
My take on the recent Spectrum Drama over Changes to the Release View.

Seems CR/CIG decided to roll back the Release View to ONLY those things that were ACTUALLY close enough to actually be released to Evocati, the first actual step in bringing any feature to the PTU and hence to the PU.

The Progress Tracker is what we should be looking at anyway as it tracks actual progress. Meaning work that IS actually being done now.

The Release View DID just "get in the way" because so many saw the Release View as "Written In Blood on a Stone that Feature "X" WILL BE DONE BY..."

It was seen as a Promise... but it wasn't and no one wanted to accept that it wasn't so yes, taking it down a notch was a good move.

As for how it was said... well, if we are all honest here much of the things CIG and CR and the Devs have been called have been WAYYYY beyond the pale for years now. That they hit back a little, if they did... 

Good on them I say.