My first day out

At first, there was blackness.
But then the creator invented light and sound. And headaches! Holy **** what headaches.

Hmmm, I'm somewhere out in space with a moon(?) in front of me spinning fast. So fast, I'm inclined to blame nausea for the rocks color. Where the heck am I, anyway? And how did I get out here is a friggin capsule coffin? Oh, contacts - and even a space station. So much for the prospect of suffocating next to pukymoon. This day is beginning to seem better and better.
Oriented to the space station, noticing the friendly, blue contacts, I set out to dock with the station.
So, I bought a new ship (as far as one can go and call the spider-can a ship).
Undocking, I commed my soon-to-be new best SnRV friend. 6k hire fee? Ooookaaaay. I guess. Cargo space *is* at a premium in my tin- can, after all.
Back to the stations interactive cargo-market, I wonder what to buy, then choosing a TSK.
Wait - no cargo pod arrived. New TSK under my equipment section. Soooo, how do I get rid of it once more? *Click*. *Click**Click*. Damn. Ah, well, can't be helped. I tried to buy some other stuff, but they won't sell anything to me that doesn't sound like I won't get rid of it once more.
Damn suckers playing favorites...

So, I brought up navigation, reading through the list of waypoints.
(If backwater is a barrel, then that barrel has a bottom, that bottom it's own barrel and this system must be on the bottom of _that_ barrel)
Common metal mine. Old Privateer instincts flashing, I set a course, put power to engines and hit thrust override to get my out of the stations inhibitor field and soon enough, I once more see the beautiful green lines of LDS travel around me.
The autopilot dropped out of LDS some 25km in front of the station (damn conservative computers, can't match a good pilot...) and my wingman should be arriving just behind me. Just behind me... where's that blue dot? Searching the contacts list, I find him, where I left him. Well, I guess I hired someone with the tendency to follow commands like a well-trained dog and the initiative of a well-trained computer. If he's going to be just as loyal with my cargo, you won't see me complaining.
Comm, form with me, wait, watching his approach (and noting that he won't go to LDS until he's out of the stations inhibitor field. An inhibitor field that is, by now, several 100.000km away! [nice] At least he's got the same ideas about speed limits as I have (and my good upbringing won't let me mention them here).

So, that Station will now form the first part of my upcoming riches. I can smell the money already. Just order a few pods of ore, load them up and head out to the common metals refinery.
Called my wingman to get his sorry aftthrusters back to me...
So, we arrive and I bring up the market-menu. 1500? They'll buy the ore for 1500? *I* bought it for 1450. Margins in the order of 300 are not going to feed me, not if I have to pay for upkeep for two ships. Not to mention that my loyal friend might wish to get paid someday...

Ok, let's sell those pods and have a look at what this station will sell me.

Which boils down to ... nothing. What, did I capjump into favorite-country or what??? They won't sell me anything?
How is a small privateer supposed to build a fortune in this corner of space? On 50-per-pod ore deliveries?
That may be their way, but it sure isn't my way.

Let's see, I only got a Tug *but* I got a military level rapid-fire PBC along with it.
Well, backwater may be where the weak beat up the weaker, but that as well isn't my way...
Two major corps are operating out here, it seems. Az-something and EtCom. EtCom is, at least here, the smaller of the two, so I'll take a peek at their operations around the single L-Point out here.
But first, I'll need to hire another freighter, to actually carry away what I liberate from the monopolistic, capitalistic, greedy claws of the corp. Yeah. I'll liberate stuff. If they like their googs enough, they can always buy them back from me, right?

So, here I am, hanging around the L-Point, just as an EtCom megafreighter passes through. 6 light Fighters for escort... easy prey.


*end record*



Yay, I've come back to EoC after a long period of absence. And what's ready to download? Middle States, now known as Torn Stars.


Installed game, patched, installed TS, started.
Quit, re-done my own control config, re-started

Well, aside from my observations above, I had a few others:

-UniGUI menu is still "only" mouse-controlled. I would so love keyboard shortcuts, but that can't be helped, right?
-Getting a foot out trading is not only hard, it's pretty un-intuitive. I'd like to see some basic goods (especially foodstuffs) that sell at nearly every station to allow the to-be trader to both seek out new trade routes and have him earn a basic income in the process. That way, the learning courve would be much less steep and it'd be easier to have some initial successes without ferrying ore from a common mine to a refinery and nothing back. I actually tried my hand at more trading than I wrote down above, but I admit that I might never have given it the chances it deserves. I'm more than ready to be reconvinced
-I'd like the ability to drop a permanent nav-point (meaning permanently on my contacts list) at my current position. That way I could quickly autopilot back and forth between stations without having to bring up the UniGUI navigation. Of course, part of my reluctance to do so stems from the fact that I have only the mouse for input - which is so much slower and less conveinient than the keyboard.

But, don't be fooled by those points I made! The game itself is highly impressive and VERY interesting, even in this early phase of my exploration of it's possibilities.

-theBlind

---
on wings of destiny
through virgin skies
to far horizons I will fly

Hi TheBlind,

Very nice post on your 'First day out'.

I have to agree with you about that moon. Even though I am responsible for all the new planets, I hate that one!! Why did my least favorite of all have to be the first thing that new players see??

And yes those wingmen certainly are slavish, but hey, that’s the way we like them! They may become a little uppity in Traffic, so enjoy their current robotic obedience while it lasts.

Trading has been balanced to be fairly challenging. We would rather have it be a little bit too hard, than too easy. To do well at it requires some very real thinking, planning and executing. It is complex, but rewarding for those who plan routes carefully. That being said, your suggestion is very good. No harm in adding a few basic commodities that could assist inexperienced traders in their early career. However, it doesn't make sense to just have any old good sold, for the sake of giving something to the player to ferry back. These stations are factories after all, and thus they are limited to selling mostly what they produce, and little else. I usually manage to carry goods both ways by setting up trade routes that use two different stations per system. Basically I trade from and to two different sets of stations.

I think there is a waypoint setting mod already existing in the mods section of this site. If it is compatible with TS then you could have that feature right now!.

In any case, glad you are enjoying the game, and thanks for your feedback! Please post more if you have it, as we are happy to hear it, good or bad.

I think that the start of trading is just as hard or easy as it should be. My story as a complete TS newbie follows below. Perhaps I was just lucky, but I really think I got some strong hints from the game:

SPOILER WARNING

Common ore is sold for 1450 in Alcuin.

There is also a rare metals mine in that system. Their ore may be really expensive. Huh, what? It is actually 450 cheaper??

Then I bet I have to travel really far to sell it. Huh [once again]? There is actually a rare metals processing plant in the system next door??

Ok. I will buy some.

[2 minutes later]

Huh? A 50% profit! Can't wait to get back to Alcuin and buy the next load of rare metals. Or perhaps I should just check into the common metals mine in this system first and check their prices... HUH, WHAT?


But I totally agree that mouse driven game menus is a PITA.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Profits are actually fairly simplistic: they're based almost entirely on the distance you ship the cargo.

You'll note that there's a rare metals mine within the same system as the processing plant, and they only pay 5% profit per run between them.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

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