Flieger, grüß' mir die Sonne, grüß' mir die Sterne und grüß' mir den Mond. Dein Leben, das ist ein Schweben, durch die Ferne, die keiner bewohnt! - Hans Albers, F.P.1 antwortet nicht (Adaptation in the 80s: Extrabreit)

Friday 26 September 2014

In search of Eranin conflict

This is the ongoing event at the end of the beta1 client, and I reckon it is also a test for Frontier´s event management for the final game. Unfortunately, I find it a bit difficult to follow. The GalNet newletter contains some hints, and apparently we are left to figure out how this is connected to which in game mechanics. Not a bad approach, a little guesswork challenge. At the same time, like this, Frontier keeps some kind of control about what happens in their world, thereby also steering the spirit of the community; if they do it right. Not bad, not at all.

So, what is going on?

"Eranin is flaunting its freedom in the face of Federal systems by announcing a celebratory liquor produced in Eranin and its fellow independent communist system Wyrd.  In response the Federation has banned liquor in the local area and deployed many black ops teams around the systems, which has even disrupted our own Black Market data gathering this week." - GalNet 19-9-2014
Means: Eranin sells a special commodity, Eranin liquor. It is illegal in Federal space, so you have to smuggle it (which means you must avoid scans lest you are shot at by police vessels) and accordingly you can only sell it at black markets.
Means: Federal space black markets have high prices for personal weapons (and probably other civil war related commodities), and similar to the liquor, this is a above average opportunity for CMDRs to make some profit.

"The net result, however, is a significant militarization of the ships out there around two thirds of all trade-ins to the Cobra have been from trading ships like the Lakons and the ZP Hauler. Thats an awful lot more combat capability flying round the galaxy" - GalNet 22-9-2014
Means: Half price Cobra, doh. Also, may hint at upcoming combat heavy event?

GalNet of 23-9-2014 reports how the community has taken up the incentives, naming specific CMDRs who achieved top scores in various activities, thereby further incentivicing CMDRs to become part of this innovative way of publishing a top score list. Not bad, not bad at all.

"The Eranin government wants to see even more destinations targeted with the now-symbolic liquor to spread support for their cause. Off the record they are also keen for more practical assistance from Commanders in fighting." - GalNet 24-9-2014

Means: The community should try to look beyond trading liquor only the black market at I Bootis. Consequently, a CMDR in the forum hints that Wyrd to LS 3262 is a underused smuggle route, and the next GalNet reported about the stong increase of smuggling activities throughout, in particular also from Wyrd.
Means: The community should engage more at the conflict zones for the Eranin side. No idea why, though. Beyond the easy bounties of 250 Credits for each Federal fighter, there seems to be no connection to any Event based scoring. Well, beyond the number of kills, obviously.

Besides that, this issue continues to report top scores and pseudo-political statements of various CMDRs. Probably a bit over the top, in my opinion; I am very sad at the ongoing war in the Ukraine and the near east in real life and I do not need blatant re-enactment of civil war situations and the corresponding idiotic fanatism crap and propaganda. I just want some easy going action without meaningless pseudo-ethical mumbo jumbo. If they want to go really ethical, then I want to be able to truly choose sides and be able to achieve the right things. So, right now, I choose to stay out of crap like this. There is no way to sanction war activities. Maybe I will find one, maybe by attacking every military vessel I can find (I have to think about this a bit more, there might come something more out of these thoughts...).

"Black Ops teams are moving to more overt than covert operations in support of the rebels...
We are getting reports of Eranin-supporting agitators whipping up political unrest in the following Federal starports:
  • Chango Dock (i Boötis)
  • Louis de Lacaille Prospect (LHS 3262)
  • Romanenko Estate (Opala)
  • Moxon's Mojo (Bolg)
Meanwhile, there are whispers of covert Federal activity in Asellus Primus and Wyrd." - GalNet 25-9-2014

Means: No idea. It is the most mysterious newsletter for me so far.

I docked at Chango and did not notice anything which could be linked to "political unrest" at this station.

In the meanwhile, I had spend some time in the Eranin conflict zone "Federal distress call". First time in, I chose the Eranin side and shot down those easy Fed fighters until I reached overall 400 kills. One of the last fighters proved to be particular difficult, though. That bugger rammed me and thus brought me down to 10% hull, while itself largely undamaged. I had to fight very carefully from then on. Then all fighters were gone and respawn was very slow, so I went out to drop in back again into a different instance. And lo and behold, the new instance had plenty of Federal fighters, but almost no Eranin sidewinders. The reason became quickly apparent: Two Anaconda class ships, with CMDR Epoch71 and CMDR CP.

Temptation was there, and in hindsight, I am annoyed that I did not give in. I had not chosen my side yet, so all entities were neutral/yellow to me still. As such, I just approached them while still being yellow. I should have chosen Eranin side and tried to combat both Anacondas. I might have perished quickly, but I also might have achieved success; since I would have started from close-up, there might have been a chance to stick to one of them and maneuver such that it would block firing position for both of them. However, with just pulse lasers, I would have needed an eternity to whittle down even one of them. Besides, my hull still was at 10%. So I probably did the right thing and chose Federal side this time. But I regret the missed opportunity for some really impossible-level challenge. After some Sidewinder kills, I left the zone and docked at Eranin to cash in all the bounty vouchers from my Eranin-side fights; some 11.000 Credits, minus repairs of 4200 Credits. Yes, this is much more easy on the portemonnaie then if I had been in an Anaconda...

After my desire for some action had been stilled, I went back to Asellus Prime in order to see if there are new special missions from the bulletin board, but nope. I then tried to discover what could be behind the hint from GalNet about those "Federal activities" in Asellus Prima and Wyrd, but no luck. I remember that I once discovered a kind of staging point for Federal fleet forces, at a nav beacono close to the I Bootis twin sun; a bit farther out to not disturb and remain a bit hidden. In consequence, I tried to travel to Asellus Prime´s twin sun, which also is a bit farther out, in order to probably uncover an event-based similar staging point.

However, the twin sun is 0,17ly out there and supercruise only accelerates to a maximum of maybe 1000 lighseconds/second. The speed indicator on the hud shows speed increases well beyond 1000c, but this does not correspond to what the ship is really doing. I eyeballed the 1000ls/s-value from the distance increase per second from Asellus Prime A, as shown in the rightmenu. If my (bad) math is correct, this corresponds 1000 lightminutes/minute. Which means that 0,17ly or 365days*24hours*60minutes*0,17 = 89.352 lightminutes would need to be covered and supercruise, which would accordingly need 89.352 lightminutes/1000 lightminutes/minute = 89 minutes to get there. Nah. I do not have the time to travel there this long just based on a hunch. Besides, this might be a bit too far off for Federation forces, too.

Well, today is Friday, and maybe a new GalNet issue plus the weekly newsletter will sehd some more light on the unfolding events.

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