Posts by Balefire

Ajay, if you prefer lots of batteries and bots (and, I assume, a strong defense generally) I can see why you might choose the Coalition Saber over the Saracen, despite a smaller hold. I hadn't noticed it until you mentioned it, but the Saber is somewhat reminiscent of the Mi-28.

Your beloved Basilisk somehow reminds me of the Orion from Privateer. From your description in the lexicon, I suspect they my have similar handling characteristics.

Iliyan, I think it's entirely reasonable to choose a ship for essentially aesthetic reasons or in any case not only objective ones. I guess the Geko does somewhat resemble an F-18, and if it has sufficient features for the uses to which you intend to put it, what's not to love?

I'm aware, for example, that the Saracen can be said to be objectively better than the Chimera, feature-wise (although I've flown both I don't recall which is more agile, though), and it's a good-looking ship, but I find the Chimera more visually appealing, It comes down to personal taste I guess, and "de gustibus non est disputandum".

I do suspect that my chances of survival in exploring Inner Core systems would be better in a Chimera or Saracen than in my trusty Haidar, though.

A couple of years ago there was a thread asking about people's aesthetic preferences in ships. Predictably, the aesthetics part soon got side-lined, but it was/is a very interesting and educational thread. I was reminded of it when I recently considered the relative merits of greed/acquisitiveness and style/deadliness.

Having finished the Crossfire campaign and a run through Renaissance space, I've been doing some solo itinerant trading while carrying out a more thorough and leisurely exploration of the systems in the Crossfire universe. I've been flying a fully equipped Haidar, which is--IMHO--pretty much ideal for that purpose. It's called a freighter, and it certainly has a freighter-worthy cargo hold, but it is designed to carry VHF equipment. In fact, ship dealers whom I visit seem to think that it's a VHF when they eye it as a potential trade-in. It's not the most agile ship, but it's formidable and to me it seems the perfect design for a pilot with both trading and exploration in mind, but who doesn't suffer a few misguided pirates gladly. It's not exactly the most elegant ship, either, but to me it looks exactly like what it is: a tough, large capacity freighter that can fight its way free of most problems, and make a profit while exploring. I imagine it's the kind of ship that, in a different universe, Nicholas van Rijn (one of my early role models) might have flown as a very young man. Until the Coalition-origin Haidar is more familiar in other areas, it may even be somewhat like the "Q-ships" from WW1 & WW2: it looks like a nice merchant target until pirates get close enough to see the bristling weapons...and maybe their pods end up in that capacious cargo hold.

On the other hand...the dynamic market happened to provide me with a very profitable trade run in Helios recently. Inexpensive engine components were available on Planet Eton but fetching high prices at nearby Empire Station. What's more, at the time I wasn't particularly disliked by the local criminals; possibly because I had shot down quite a few Xenos not long before. With plenty of money, and pretty much all of the gear I could want, I began considering a change of ship. With many systems still remaining to be explored in depth, and with the expectation that risks will abound, I remembered that I was quite nearby a very different sort of vessel, but one which could also be an ideal long-range exploration ship even in the more dangerous corners of the universe. The Chimera is sleek and can be very well-armed, indeed; it would be a pretty good choice for exploring even the areas where the more powerful aliens lurk. Its cargo hold is respectable for a VHF, although not the biggest among them. It's agile, good-looking, and can be quite deadly. There are similar choices available (the Coalition Saracen, for example), but to me it's hard to find a ship that looks as good as the Chimera while being as deadly and still broadly functional in a variety of roles.

So, I'm trying to decide: explore with greed or in style? Decisions, decisions...

Iliyan, around where I live it also now snows around February if at all.

When I first came to the area in the early '70s, a white Christmas was entirely possible.

just the other day the temperature in Tokyo was around +20, very unseasonably warm, surprising and even dismaying us old-timers.

This forum snow might be the only snow I see this year.

Quote from Ajay

Well, about -5 here, but it's rather unusually warm considering where "here" is.

There already is snow though. And IIRC temperature did go below -20 C in November.

Thanks, Ajay, for making me feel warm in comparison!

Enjoy the Christmas BBQ!

For a while, I was seriously considering buying a house in New Zealand, keeping my house in Japan, and spending the warm half of each year in the appropriate hemisphere. Various life issues caused me to revise my plans, but I might still do that eventually. NZ is a beautiful country, and I have friends there, so an "endless spring/summer" might still be in my future.

LOL!

That's what nighttime temperatures are sometimes like here in mid-summer (in a city that has several times set a record for hottest temperatures in Japan).

I did have folks like yourself living in the warmer parts of the northern hemisphere in mind when I said

Quote from Balefire

nicely seasonal for many of us

..."many" but certainly not anywhere near "all".

Enjoy the warm weather; I envy you...at least, I do now when it's cold here.

You might find it interesting that any night here in Japan with a temperature of 25 Celsius or above is considered a "tropical night" by the meteorological agency. Such nights used to be fairly rare, but have become increasingly common in the last decade or so.

I see that it's snowing on the forum. It' a pleasant effect and nicely seasonal for many of us in the northern hemisphere.

It gave me a moment of confusion, though.

Where I am (a couple of hours' drive NNW of Tokyo), the weather forecasters have been suggesting that some snow might not be too far off.

Right now I'm using a laptop set up with a large window behind it, and when I logged into the forum and encountered snow I did a double-take of sorts: I had to check to confirm whethrr I was looking at the PC screen or the window onto the yard.

I'm happy to hear that the problem was solved very quickly.

When I saw Dalian's question but before reading OP-R8R's answer, I was going to suggest inadvertent destruction might be the problem.

It wasn't this mission, if I recall correctly, but another occasion when I was supposed to tractor something in--maybe a capture mission or looting something?--and ended up destroying it instead...at least that seems to have been what happened.

It has been a long time since then, but I still approach wreck-looting rather delicately, using minimum force.

"Once burned, twice shy", as they say.

That's great! Well done!

Let's hope for even higher next!

Welcome back!

I, too, have recently returned and I completely agree with you.

Happy indeed, and grateful for all of the hard work and time invested!

Thanks for keeping us informed, and as always thanks for the hard work, dedication, and investment of time.

I agree with you about clear decisions often being the best approach.

Welcome back!

I've just recently returned from a rather long absence, too, and am finding it good to be back.

I'm sure you will, too.

You are very welcome, but the vote is one of the ways in which we can thank you, for all of the hard work.

Of course, I voted too.

I would certainly encourage all of the happy Crossfire players to vote, as well.

Every vote counts.

Quote from (IOC)Wanderer

There is a walk-around for waiting: just enter formation with the NPCs that are currently docking, and you will jump together with them

That's clever; thanks for the useful tip!

I'm surprised at myself for not having (as far as I remember) ever tried that.

There have certainly been many, many times when it would have come in handy.

I'm tremendously impressed by the Lexicon, and very grateful for the huge amount of time and effort that you gentlemen have obviously put into it.

Your dedication is very much appreciated!

Quote from Ajay

A ship crew getting high on Cardamine and going off course due to trippin' balls was not my idea though. At least, I do not remember writing that, so I wonder who managed to one-up me.

Well, nobody actually said so, but the combination of a hold full of cardamine and having come to grief from following illusory sensor echoes seemed suspiciously like cause and effect to me. Possibly I have a nasty imagination, with a distinctly cynical bent.

Having returned to Crossfire after a rather long absence, I redid the campaign, did the cool new side mission and explored the new region, and have settled down, in my well-equipped Haidar for now, to doing some itinerant trading and thorough (re)exploration.

Now, I know that it's unkind to laugh at others' misfortune.

While investigating wrecks in Coalition space, though, I found a couple of back story explanations that had me chuckling despite my best intentions.

It's difficult, for example, not to laugh at the hubris that drove a couple of Xeno pilots to take on the entire Coalition by themselves, with entirely predictable results.

But I found it impossible to avoid laughing after a careful investigation of a larger wreck elsewhere in Coalition space.

At first, when I learned that the ill-fated crew had run into trouble while chasing random scanner echoes, I felt sorry for them.

When I...ah...liberated their cargo--"looted" has such a negative sound--I became considerably less sympathetic.

They had a full load of cardamine, and I'd be willing to bet that it was sampling their cargo that led the crew to see/hear spurious scanner echoes.

Aide from the possible profits to be made from further investigation of wrecks, I now have another motivation: some of the stories behind them are pretty funny.

Hi,

I used a savegame of the last of the original missions, the one with the attack on the Nomad Dyson sphere.

I played through that and then continued with the Crossfire story, and just in case was discreet about choice of ship: I stayed out of new systems until they were introduced in the story, so instead of going earlier than really "legal" to get a Chimera, I instead legitimately bought a Rapier VHF and played through with that.

Which probably made no difference at all, but I decided--for once in my life--that "discretion is the better part of valor".

I am happy to report that this time, after redoing from the last savegame from the main story as OP-R8R suggested, when I returned from

Renaissance space to Order HQ, the prompt to see Juni and King in the bar worked as it should.

I have no idea what happened last time, but evidently it's OK now.

Thanks very much for your assistance!