Turning FTL playthrough into a captain's log/blog (X-9 Mod!)

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 1, JUMP POINT 11

We have arrived at the long-range exit-beacon. Scanners show intelligent life forms of unknown type or origin on a nearby planet. We decide to investigate. We land the ship in a clearing and are surrounded by a number of very colorful, horse-like creatures. All attempts to communicate with them fail and we decide to load back into the ship and continue on our journey.

As we are leaving, one of the animals comes up to the ship and starts nudging the crew away from the clearing. We are weary of a possible trap, but instead are led to an Engi crash site! Looking through the wreckage, we find some valuable scrap material to take with us but more amazingly is that we find one of the crew members showing faint signs of life. The Engi are partially synthetic beings, and partially organic as well. Perhaps one of their many redundant systems has been able to keep them in stasis all this time. We bring the Engi aboard and manage to restore its vital signs.

The Engi are masters of technology and expert at systems operation and repair. As the Engi awakes, it self-identifies as “Eoin” and requests assignment to our Shield Bay.

We have to explain to Eoin that this craft does not possess a Shield-generator and it is with some confusion that the Engi reluctantly complies with the order to report to the Fire Control Module with Matt to act as backup.

Perhaps soon we can locate another shield-generator compatible with the 'Proto and bring it on-board.

Long Range jump points from the exit-beacon lead to a Rebel controlled Sector or a Rockman controlled Sector. The Rockmen have extremely sturdy ships, capable of deflecting damage from the strongest of lasers. They are known for their brutally effective boarding parties and their ability to withstand incredible levels of heat and fire. I think our chances will be better against Rebel ships, where our hit and run Ambush tactics can be more effective.

FTL powered up, jumping out.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 1

This Sector used to be one of the most traveled in the galaxy. As such, the Rebels have stationed a number of fleets here. We will need to be careful.

Sensors are picking up a Merchant beacon nearby! We will visit that beacon in search of a shield-generator, but before we do, we will need to search for a great amount of salvage, scrap and upgrade materials to barter with. Liu estimates we should be able to hit four jump points before the Rebel Fleet detects our ship's signature and gives chase.

FTL drive charged, jumping out.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 2

This jump-point is shrouded in the clouds of the nebula. An Auto-Assault ship has been stationed here as a listening post to try and find our whereabouts! As we turn to engage, the ship begins diverting power to its FTL drive. We cannot let it escape and raise the alarm.

Pre-igniter armed, Ion-Lasers online, Primary target: Engines and maneuvering thrusters

The plasma bolts score a direct hit, with the ion-charge disrupting its shield layer and the plasma delivering a solid blow to the engine compartment of the enemy ship. While not offline entirely, its attempt to make the jump out of this system is somewhat delayed as its engines sputter from the ion over-charge.

A large laser cannon of unknown type has popped out of the belly of the Auto-Assault ship and is powering up, but our Ion-Lasers are too quick on the recharge and strike first, scorching the weapons control suite, punching glowing holes in the ship's hull. The weapon falls dormant, offline for now.

Matt expertly coordinates and times the attack pattern, alternating between targeting the ship's engines, weapons, shields and other systems, blistering the ship with a relentless volume of plasma bolts. It isn't long before the Auto-Assault ship first goes dark and then just breaks apart under the non-stop barrage.

We salvage what we can but are more glad that we remain a step ahead of the Rebel Fleet.

Jumping out.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 3

A distress beacon nearby reveals a small science station as the source of the signal. It appears a laboratory had an experiment go very wrong and a huge fire has erupted inside the station. Thankfully, we have a drone system with a repair bot! We send in the repair bot to fight the fires and it methodically begins putting out the various fires and hotspots. Our crew soon joins in and mops up the rest of the fire.

The survivors from the station offer us a gift in gratitude that includes valuable upgrade materials and an Attack Drone Mark-I schematic! This could prove a very valuable addition to our offensive arsenal, or at a minimum, it presents an opportunity to barter for other much needed upgrades.

Jump drives online.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 4

We have jumped into an asteroid field and yet another unmanned Auto-Assault ship is here waiting for us! We have no shields to protect us from even the most modest of asteroid strikes. We must get out of here as quickly as possible before the asteroids or the Auto-Assault ship can inflict significant damage.

AJ is maximizing the reactor core output to our FTL drive to get us out of here before we take too much damage. Matt has the Ion-Lasers pre-charged and targeted on the drone’s weapon systems to try and buy us some time.

The plasma bolts score a glancing blow on the Auto-Assault ship. It isn’t enough to cause physical damage to the ship itself but the shields are brought down temporarily by the crackling ion-energy.

WARNING: IMPACT IMMINENT

The ship shudders as an asteroid impacts the starboard edge of the ‘Proto, causing a massive fire in the Drone-Control Bay.

I hate to do it, but we will need the help in putting this massive fire out, so the Life-Support systems are brought down temporarily and power is re-routed to the repair-bot to assist in putting out the fire. Eoin shifts over from the port engine nacelle compartment where the weapons control suite is located to join in the fight against the fire.



The Auto-Assault ship is suffering similar damage. Its weapons center takes a direct asteroid strike, bringing the ion-cannon down. We can see visible cracks forming in the outer shell of the thing. Too many more of those kinds of hits and it will break apart without any help from our guns!

Liu continues throwing around the ‘Proto wildly in evasive maneuvers to attempt to side-slip the incoming asteroids. Two giant rocks go hurtling past the observation screen, missing the ship by a few meters at most.

Matt is hammering away at the Auto-Assault ship with our Ion-Lasers, focusing on keeping its shields and weapons offline and letting the asteroids do their work.

WARNING: IMPACT IMMINENT

Another asteroid strikes, this time on the port engine nacelle. The damage is slight with no fires or hull breaches detected. Meanwhile, the fire in the drone-control room has caused enough secondary damage to completely bring the system offline. Our repair-bot slumps down and goes quiet, leaving Eoin solo in his fight against the compartment fire. Thankfully, half the fire is already extinguished and Eoin is able to control the remaining flames. Quickly, he sets himself to conducting repairs to the drone system. The repair-bot won't be affected by the lack of oxygen in any modules suffering a hull breach and will be able to patch up the damage without suffering complications in the vacuum.

The auto-ship is getting absolutely battered by the combination of our weapons and the heavy volume of asteroids in this system. Entire sections of the craft have been smashed inward by the impacts, and the rest of its hull is riddled with glowing holes where our guns have punched through the armored shell.

WARNING: IMPACT IMMINENT

A loud boom and the X-9 shakes from the impact. Sensors are showing the starboard cargo hold is hit badly, with a breach in the hull. No time for that now. We have to focus on getting out of this area and then we can worry about non-critical repairs.

The Ion-Lasers send a final volley into the Auto-Assault ship, tracing a line of smoldering impacts through the heavily damaged center of the ship. This proves to be the last straw, and the ship breaks apart. We gather what scrap we quickly can and Liu shoves the throttles to max, making a hasty jump out of there.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 5

We have jumped into a nebula system, so scanners are inoperable. Thankfully, there aren't any nebular storms to disrupt our reactor core and sub-systems.

WARNING: OXYGEN LEVELS AT 50%

In the heat of the moment in the last jump point, the fact that the life-support systems had to be powered off was forgotten. The breathable atmosphere in our ship has started dropping into dangerous levels. Quickly, I adjust the system power load to fire up the life-support systems and begin replenishing our oxygen.

Meanwhile, scans are picking up an advance Rebel automated ship near a Rebel space-station. Without functioning sensors, it is impossible to tell what is inside the station. We can definitely use anything we might find, so the decision is made to attack the automated ship in an attempt to gain access to the station.

Matt has the Ion-Lasers pre-charged and ready for a quick strike on the Auto-Assault ship. The first volley of charged plasma is slightly off the mark, but lands solidly enough to bring down its shield layer, with a steady crackling of ionic energy disrupting their shield-generator.

Before it can even charge its first shots, the next-gen weaponry on this 'Proto is already charged again and slams the automated ship with a direct hit against the unshielded weapon control center, tearing into the armor plate and ripping off chunks of metal. The ship's weapons go dark and now, the end result of this engagement is a but a formality. Matt picks apart the Auto-Assault ship with our Ion-Lasers, disabling its engines, shields and maneuvering controls. The unmanned ship is riddled with holes. A few internal secondary explosions and the ship is dead for good. We salvage what we can from the debris field and send in a salvage team to the station as well.

With a substantial haul of salvage and scrap, we set our navigation point for the Merchant beacon!

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 6

This is an old re-supply station used by civilians and Rebels alike. We transmit a fake ship identification code and for once, we actually go unnoticed. We do our best to assume the mannerisms of a local as we dock our ship and browse their wares.

Damn. No shield-generators. A Defense Drone Mark-I catches my eye, as does a Burst Laser Mark-II. While the Defense Drone Mark-I will only shoot down incoming missiles or asteroids, that alone will be a most welcome improvement over our current defenses. The Burst Laser Mark-II is an energy efficient model that will fire three bolts for just two energy lines out of our reactor core. We lack the upgrades to increase our weapon control capacity enough to handle all three laser systems at once. The Burst Mark-II has a significantly longer recharge time than the next-gen Ion-Lasers, so it will benefit greatly from the pre-igniter system the X-9 has installed.

The plan for the short term will be to pre-charge the Burst Mark-II and one of the Ion-Lasers, then after the first firing, deactivate the Burst and reactivate the Ion-Laser for the faster recharge rate. I tell Matt to re-key his attack paradigm in the weapons control suite to account for this.

The Rebel Fleet is getting uncomfortably close to our position with their sensor sweeps. Time to move out towards the exit-beacon. There are some nebula clouds nearby, we could probably slow down their scans if we plot our course through them.

Nav-computations in, FTL drive charged, jumping out.

[spongebobsaget]

Have a bunch more logs in the can, just need to edit / polish them up a bit and upload! Will try to get a big batch done tonight when I get home.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 7

Sensors detect a Rebel automated ship here. It does not engage and seems to be patrolling around long-range sensor station. Sensor data of this system could be valuable. We go ahead and setup for an ambush attack vector on the automated scout.

The combination of the triple-shot Burst and the Ion-Laser is brutal. The first volley nearly rips the ship in half and the follow up shot completes the job. The battle is over before it began.

After downloading the sensor data, we do a quick job of salvaging and get the FTL drive charged up. The nav-data will be invaluable. Avoiding asteroid fields and sun-flare zones will be all the easier.

[spongebobsaget]

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 8

Going through the nebula will continue to slow the Rebel Fleet's ability to scan for us. We will have to be careful about avoiding those asteroid fields in the upper quadrant of this system.

Our jump is successful into the nebula. Our sensors are limited by the nebula storm. The tangled wrecks of many ships wait in dormancy here. There seem to be some lights flickering in some of the debris and we bring the ship in for a closer look. Wait! It's a Rebel Auto-Scout. We cannot allow it to escape. Thankfully, the weapon pre-igniter has the Burst and one of the Ion-Lasers pre-charged.

Matt splits the duty between the weapon systems. The Burst lets out a triple-shot of bolts aimed at the scout's weapons center, and the Ion-Laser is tasked with taking the ship's navigation module offline. The little scout is quite agile and manages to dodge two of the Burst's shots but the third slams home, taking its ion-cannon offline. The blue-tinged plasma of our Ion-Laser scores a direct hit, shutting down the ship's navigation computer with the ion-charged field and causing physical damage to the systems as well. Our Burst is taken offline and the second Ion-Laser is powered up for the quicker reload. Now, both lasers are locked onto the scout's weapons module. We must take it offline completely.



The scout still has a beam weapon operational and without a shield layer to protect us, it is a race against time. Our Ion-Lasers versus its beam weapon

With the Auto-Scout's navigation module damaged, it is unable to dodge the incoming stream of shots. One after another, the blue-plasma finds its mark, pounding the weapons control module repeatedly. Within a few seconds, the enemy ship is breaking apart into pieces.

We salvage a good amount of scrap from this jump-point and plot our course to move above the nearby asteroid field.