Let's Play The Ur-Quan Masters
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Chapter 1: Meeting the Neighbors
Part 1: Landergeddon
All right, I've finally finished by business in the Sol system. It took less than a month!
Speaking of which, here's the deal regarding time:
-The game starts at February 17, 2155.
-When in a planetary system, one day passes every 30 seconds of real time.
-When in hyperspace, one day passes every 5 seconds of real time.
-Time does not pass when on a planet, in combat, in a conversation, or on any menus.
With that in mind, My absolute time limit is August 30, 2158. So, I have about 1250 days to free my people from oppression. Piece of cake!
Let's look at a new screen:
Presenting the starmap. The diamond in the lower-left corner is my current location, and the crosshairs is my destination. Circles indicate the territory of races that I have met, and the larger gray circle is the maximum range my fuel can carry me.
My current destination is Alpha Centauri, where I will meet another alien race and do some extreme harvesting.
And we're in hyperspace! Unlike regular space, we have friction here, and will grind to a halt if we don't keep the engines burning. Also, moving through hyperspace costs fuel. the black starry spaces are entrances into star systems. It would be easy to get lost, but the starmap can allow us to auto-pilot our way to our destination.
Welcome to Alpha Centauri! You may notice something different about this system, regarding color schemes. The closer to red the orbit path of a planet is, the hotter it will be. Thus, this entire system is a deadly, blazing inferno. Hence why I'm saving.
Now, why would anyone want to come to a terrifying place like this?
Two reasons.
This is the first. There are two gem worlds in this system, which means huge, succulent deposits of Exotics. A man could become rich with a bit of effort here...
Or, with the slighest lapse in effort, they could become dead. I don't have a backup lander right now, so this requires the utmost care.
After scouring both ruby worlds, I'm down 23 crew and up 317 exotics. A fair trade, if ever there was one!
On to reason two:
Is that an alien spaceship I see? Why, I think it is!
..'Inevitably Successful in All Circumstances.'
I'm going to gloss over this conversation, as it is long and not terribly exciting, but the point of it is thus: The Melnorme are traders, who deal in the trade of information. If I bring them data on alien lifeforms or the locations of 'rainbow worlds,' they will give me valuable technology in return. I don't have anything to give them for now, but I'll come back once I do, during chapter 2.
With that all done, it's time for a bit more mining...
The Beta Lyrae system, just adjacent to the Centauri cluster, has another gem world. I'll use it to come as close as I can to completely filling my cargo hold with exotics!
351 units of exotics, at 25 RUs apiece... you do the math. I'll pick up some random crap to fill out that last 149 units of cargo space, then head to Earth.
I much thought so myself, Hayes!
Those 9555 RUs will now be used to make this baby truly spaceworthy.
NOW we're cooking with gas. I've maxed out my speed and mobility, and doubled my capacities for crew, fuel, and cargo. Thus equipped, we are ready to start making alliances and taking names.
NEXT TIME: Why stop at bullying just ONE Spathi into joining me?
<< | ^^ | >>
Chapter 1: Meeting the Neighbors
Part 1: Landergeddon
All right, I've finally finished by business in the Sol system. It took less than a month!
Speaking of which, here's the deal regarding time:
-The game starts at February 17, 2155.
-When in a planetary system, one day passes every 30 seconds of real time.
-When in hyperspace, one day passes every 5 seconds of real time.
-Time does not pass when on a planet, in combat, in a conversation, or on any menus.
With that in mind, My absolute time limit is August 30, 2158. So, I have about 1250 days to free my people from oppression. Piece of cake!
Let's look at a new screen:
Presenting the starmap. The diamond in the lower-left corner is my current location, and the crosshairs is my destination. Circles indicate the territory of races that I have met, and the larger gray circle is the maximum range my fuel can carry me.
My current destination is Alpha Centauri, where I will meet another alien race and do some extreme harvesting.
And we're in hyperspace! Unlike regular space, we have friction here, and will grind to a halt if we don't keep the engines burning. Also, moving through hyperspace costs fuel. the black starry spaces are entrances into star systems. It would be easy to get lost, but the starmap can allow us to auto-pilot our way to our destination.
Welcome to Alpha Centauri! You may notice something different about this system, regarding color schemes. The closer to red the orbit path of a planet is, the hotter it will be. Thus, this entire system is a deadly, blazing inferno. Hence why I'm saving.
Now, why would anyone want to come to a terrifying place like this?
Two reasons.
This is the first. There are two gem worlds in this system, which means huge, succulent deposits of Exotics. A man could become rich with a bit of effort here...
Or, with the slighest lapse in effort, they could become dead. I don't have a backup lander right now, so this requires the utmost care.
After scouring both ruby worlds, I'm down 23 crew and up 317 exotics. A fair trade, if ever there was one!
On to reason two:
Is that an alien spaceship I see? Why, I think it is!
..'Inevitably Successful in All Circumstances.'
I'm going to gloss over this conversation, as it is long and not terribly exciting, but the point of it is thus: The Melnorme are traders, who deal in the trade of information. If I bring them data on alien lifeforms or the locations of 'rainbow worlds,' they will give me valuable technology in return. I don't have anything to give them for now, but I'll come back once I do, during chapter 2.
With that all done, it's time for a bit more mining...
The Beta Lyrae system, just adjacent to the Centauri cluster, has another gem world. I'll use it to come as close as I can to completely filling my cargo hold with exotics!
351 units of exotics, at 25 RUs apiece... you do the math. I'll pick up some random crap to fill out that last 149 units of cargo space, then head to Earth.
I much thought so myself, Hayes!
Those 9555 RUs will now be used to make this baby truly spaceworthy.
NOW we're cooking with gas. I've maxed out my speed and mobility, and doubled my capacities for crew, fuel, and cargo. Thus equipped, we are ready to start making alliances and taking names.
NEXT TIME: Why stop at bullying just ONE Spathi into joining me?
<< | ^^ | >>