Crusader Kings 2: Some medieval doggerel

Some medieval doggerel, or,
The Ballad of the Concubine Addiena, to whit:
G*d d*mn the Patriarchy
A tale from 9th-century Ireland, from Crusader Kings 2

Tis a tale of the wanton in the far isle of Eire
A young girl had been raised who had the longest black hair
In the palace she lived, with the Queen and the King
But the name of her sire, no courtier could sing

A bastard was she, yet cared for and fed
With the grace of the Queen, though not in her bed
The Queen lent a wet-nurse and paid for another
(But surely kept quiet about being the mother)

The girl's name was Addiena, uncommon to most
And as she grew she was more often to boast
Of her silken black hair that she wove forth in tresses
And the beauty of the linens in her fine English dresses

Now later, much later, when quite fully grown
Addiena and the Queen disagreed 'bout the throne
For the Queen's husband had become quite neglected
And Addiena, the rogue, had become quite disaffected

So Add, in her wisdom, seduced the poor King
(King Coscrach, the dotard, suspected not a thing)
And bore him a child, with no expressed shame
Arnemetia she called it, her own mother's name

A fitting tribute, she reckoned, to her bastard existence
A new life on Earth and a social resistance
The King, he ashamed, did wed off the maid
And the Queen, she angered, his doom she emprayed

So be this a lesson for every Queen to know best
If ye bring forth a babe from beyond royal nest
Set a household ban on all Concubina
And don't let your husband meet the fair Addiena

See also:

Games: Crusader Kings 2 - Stayin' alive, 25 October 2018 

Games: Crusader Kings 2 - House of Dunkeld, 5 May 2013

Games: Crusader Kings 2 - The new kings of Ireland, 7 July 2012

An AI-generated Dungeons & Dragons campaign

Obviously loads of people are mucking around with ChatGPT and similar sites at the moment, seeing what they can do. Seeing Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves yesterday reminded me that while there are already plenty of random adventure idea generation sites out there, it would be worth trying out the new AI approach.

The result of my ChatGPT query set out below are promising, which isn't too surprising given how much D&D content there is on the internet. The core ideas are reasonably well-formed, if a little hackneyed. The AI fails to provide nuanced details such as suggesting specific Forgotten Realms locations for the adventures, and it doesn't really understand the concept of 'low fantasy' (a less mythic milieu, rather than the super-powered 'high fantasy' of powerful magic, mighty kings, gods and immortals). And surely any starter adventure worth its salt has to include a mandatory kobold encounter?

---

Query: Write an outline of a 'low fantasy'-themed multi-adventure Dungeons & Dragons campaign for starter players set in the Forgotten Realms world.

Response: Sure, here's an outline for a low-fantasy D&D campaign set in the Forgotten Realms world:

Title: Shadows of Faerun

Premise: The players are a group of adventurers hired by a local lord to investigate strange happenings in a nearby village. The lord has been hearing rumors of dark magic and otherworldly creatures, and he fears that the village may be in danger. The players must explore the village and surrounding areas, facing various dangers and uncovering a sinister plot that threatens to unleash an ancient evil upon the world.

Adventure 1: The Haunted Village

The players arrive in the village and discover that it is indeed being plagued by dark magic and other strange phenomena.

• They explore the village and surrounding areas, investigating the source of the disturbances.
• They eventually discover that the local necromancer has been using forbidden magic to raise the dead and control the minds of the living.
• They confront the necromancer and put an end to his dark plans, but not before uncovering hints of a larger conspiracy.

Adventure 2: The Forgotten Tomb

The players follow a lead to an ancient tomb that is said to hold powerful magical artifacts.

• They must navigate a series of traps and puzzles to reach the tomb's inner sanctum.
• There they face off against a powerful undead guardian and retrieve a powerful artifact.
• However, they also discover that the artifact is cursed and may have unintended consequences.

Adventure 3: The Cult of the Dragon

The players hear rumors of a cult that worships dragons and seeks to bring them back to power.

• They infiltrate the cult's stronghold and discover that they are planning to summon a powerful dragon from another realm.
• The players must prevent the ritual from taking place, fighting off cultists and their dragon minions.
• They are ultimately successful in stopping the cult, but they also learn that there are other, more powerful cults at work in the world.

Adventure 4: The Demon's Curse

The players encounter a village that is being plagued by a demonic presence.

• They discover that a powerful demon has been summoned to the village and is possessing the minds of its inhabitants.
• The players must track down the source of the summoning and put an end to it before the demon can do more harm.
• They discover that the summoning was orchestrated by a powerful mage who has been experimenting with forbidden magic.

Adventure 5: The Final Confrontation

The players learn that the mage they encountered in the previous adventure is part of a larger conspiracy to unleash an ancient evil upon the world.

• They must travel to the mage's stronghold and fight their way through his minions to reach him.
• In a climactic battle, they confront the mage and his dark master, a powerful demon lord.
• They must use all their skills and wits to defeat the demon lord and prevent the apocalypse.

Conclusion:

• The players are hailed as heroes and rewarded for their bravery.
• However, they also realize that there are still many threats to the world and many more adventures to be had.

See also:

Games: Spinward Marches naval shipyards, 17 August 2022

Games: Republican candidates as D&D characters, 29 October 2015

Games: Random adventure generator

Rimworld: The martyrdom of Karlsen

The settlement, shortly before takeoff

In the end, the lynxes of Rimworld were by far the worst. Barbarian raiders, pirates and mechanoids couldn't compete with the awesome destructive power of a prowling pack of scaria-enraged lynx foes. One of my colonists was stranded, as is so often the way, outside the settlement walls when the pack emerged, and in his flight back to safety managed to let the entire enraged furry crew inside to prey on my panicked crew. One by one the defenders fell, until there were more comatose wounded than survivors able to carry them to the blood-drenched sickbay. After a grim night of fighting grievous lynx wounds seven colonists had died, thereby halving my contingent. Not to be satisfied with this loss, the devastating effect of losing her husband to the lynx's claw meant my mild-mannered researcher Cathy suffered a psychotic incident and frantically stabbed one of her comatose compatriots to death in the medical ward. (Bit of an overreaction if you ask me, and hardly very neighbourly).

All par for the course in the chaos of this sci-fi survival game, of course, and part of the rich tapestry of story-telling the game creates with its twists and turns. And for this playthrough the lynxes weren't even the most poignant incident. That came near the endgame, as hordes of raiders and mechanoids threw themselves at the settlement to attempt to steal the precious starship my colonists had painstakingly constructed. A troupe of raiders was preparing to assault from one corner of the map, while a clanking cohort of mechanoids lurked in the other extreme of the map. To draw the raiders into an unprepared attack, three of my colonists grabbed sniper rifles and ventured outside to soften up the enemy. This proceeded according to plan until one lucky shot winged my captain of the guard, Karlsen the Defector. Despite his gleaming Marine Armour, the minigun-wielding trooper was crippled by a lucky raider bullet, suffering a cruel wound to his leg. At that moment, the mechanoids commenced their attack, so the remainder of the colonists had to retreat inside the settlement walls. Karlsen, alas, was too slow to reach safety, and was abducted by the wicked raiders, to be taken to an unknown fate of presumed imprisonment.

Karlsen no doubt rues the day his compatriots fled the harsh Rimworld backwater for the safety and new opportunities of interstellar space, leaving him to his fate. Sorry old bean!    

Traveller RPG: Spinward Marches naval shipyards, 1105

Source: Travellermap.com

After a recent campaign of Mongoose's edition of Traveller with friends, I've gotten back into reading my collection of vintage Games Designers' Workshop Traveller RPG books from the early 1980s, and messing about with Traveller Map online. Having greatly enjoyed The Spinward Marches Campaign book from 1985, which covers the Fifth Frontier War between the Zhodani and the Third Imperium, I've been doing some research within the context of the vessels explored in Supplement 9: Fighting Ships (1981). 

The great majority of the naval warships detailed in Fighting Ships are Tech Level 15 vessels - TL-F in Traveller's hexadecimal system - with the odd exception like the Azhanti High Lightning-class 60,000-ton Frontier Cruiser and the Gazelle-class 300-ton Close Escort (both TL-14). This means in practice there are limited numbers of A-class starport shipyards in the Marches in which the Imperial Navy can construct its prime fighting forces. 

In examining ship building potential in the Third Imperium in the year 1105, there are four types of A-class shipyards in the Marches - A-class being the only ones capable of building jump-capable starships. Planets are presented with their Spinward Marches hex reference and name, with high-population worlds over one billion population denoted by their names being rendered in capitals.

They are presented here in descending order of importance to the Imperial Navy:

Priority 1: High-tech, high-population producers

3214 MORA TL-F population 10 billion

3235 TRIN TL-F population 10 billion

2716 RHYLANOR TL-F population 8.3 billion

2036 GLISTEN TL-F population 8 billion

These shipyards produce the vast majority of the front-line fighting force of the Imperial Navy in the Marches, from 1000-ton Destroyer Escorts like the Chrysanthemum and Fer-de-Lance classes, to the largest fleet carriers and dreadnoughts with displacements over 100 kilotons. The worlds they are situated upon all feature both Imperial Navy and Scout Service bases, and are highly defended both by interstellar naval forces, plentiful system defence boats (SDBs) and fixed defensive installations. They are the only shipyards in the Marches capable of producing the fastest Jump-6 vessels like the 400-ton FF Fleet Couriers that are the backbone of naval communications and liaison. 

Priority 2: Second-tier high-tech shipyards 

3029 PALIQUE TL-E population 3 billion

1826 Tenalphi TL-E population 30 million

2327 STROUDEN TL-D population 9 billion

2124 LUNION TL-D population 8 billion

1705 EFATE TL-D population 4 billion

1904 Boughene TL-D population 100k

If a Gazelle is encountered in the Marches, it was probably built at the huge shipyards on Palique/Mora, which also construct a range of larger second-tier vessels for reserve fleets and support vessels. In a pinch they can construct Jump-4 craft, but the technological compromises required when compared with TL-F vessels means that the resulting ships can seldom stand in the line of battle. Trusted client states outside the Imperium might also win contracts from the Palique yards if they pay a sufficient price. The yards at Strouden/Lunion, Lunion/Lunion and Efate/Regina are also adept at producing vessels that don't require jump-drive technology, like asteroid monitors, battle riders and SDBs large and small.  

Priority 3: Third-tier mid-tech shipyards

1106 JEWELL TL-C population 6 billion

1910 Regina TL-C population 900 million

3025 FORNICE TL-C population 20 billion

0534 Karin TL-C population 40 million

0732 Iderati TL-C population 20 million

2334 Ffudn TL-C population 900 million

2336 Bendor TL-C population 8 million

TL-C worlds can only construct ships with up to Jump-3 drives, so are mostly unable to construct front-line naval vessels that can keep up with the Imperial Navy's Jump-4 fleets. These shipyards produce short-range starships such as bulk freighters, tankers, fleet tenders, maintenance vessels and troop transports that aren't required to keep up with fleet maneuvers. They also devote plenty of shipyard space to routine vessel maintenance and upkeep for active and reserve fleets. 

Priority 4: Low-tech shipyards

1204 Mongo, 1903 Pixie, 2202 Kinorb, 2509 Paya, 3110 Aramis, 1116 Frenzie, 1119 VILIS, 1719 Lanth, 2613 Fulacin, 2712 Risek, 2715 POROZLO, 2814 Jae Tellona, 2912 Henoz, 3212 Margesi, 1824 Ababicci, 2621 Fosey, 2728 Duale, 2927 Maitz, 1731 Grote, 1934 Weiss, 2536 Squanine, 2537 Dobham, 2733 Edenelt, 2936 Hammermium, 3039 Youghal.

These worlds either have low tech levels, or in the case of places like Pixie and Fulacin (TL-D) and Margesi (TL-C), have such tiny populations that there is an insufficient workforce to produce starships locally. 

Stellaris: the 27-year war

Before the storm

Just before a week's planned holiday in the South Island my Stellaris game as the United Nations of Earth reached an interesting precipice, just as the timer hit 2400AD. Instead of the end-game crisis, I got the dreaded 'giants in the playground' warning, where two formerly dormant precursor races, the Zaanami Vestige and the Juvan Forerunners, both decided to awaken from their isolationism and return to the galaxy to do terrible things to one another and the galaxy more generally. Their fleets are of course legion, way outnumbering anything in my almighty conquering UNE navies.

I was actually pretty good pals with the Juvans on the other side of the galaxy, given I'd donated the genetic data records of an extinct race to them so they could attempt to preserve and research them. But it's the Zaanami I'm neighbours with - their territory is a mere four jump lanes from Sol, and they definitely don't like me. To keep the peace I've not claimed the two systems bordering their empire, but when things kick off between the Juvans and the Zaanami I can tell things might go badly with a super-powerful enemy that close to my homeworld.

The UNE is taking precautions in case they're not completely futile. All UNE fleets are converging on Sol to combine into the largest possible concentrations of naval power, just in case they might be able to foot it with the Zaanami. My three most important core worlds, Earth, Vishnu (Alpha Centauri III) and Anchor (Sirius III), are working out which important facilities they can afford to deconstruct to build Planetary Shield Generators, to go along with the umpteen static defence installations that will also need to be built. And obviously it's also time to get the UNE shipyards cranking out anything that can fly and shoot a weapon to max out fleet size.

Who knows, maybe they'll let me stay neutral given the size of my empire? Wish me luck...

 

Victory is ours

So the United Nations of Earth did eventually decide to join the war of the Ancients in Stellaris, taking the side of the Juvan Forerunners against our near neighbours the Zaanami Vestige. The Juvans & Zaanami had been duking it out for 12 years already and the rest of the galaxy had all taken sides, but I'd stayed out until an annoying galactic storm had subsided, making warfare easier. The Zaanami fleets were daunting, at least four separate battlegroups with over 100k strength each, and my UNE navy had three fleets with around 70k each.

The enemy wreaked havoc in my far-flung colonies, splitting its forces and landing invasion armies in plenty of my colony worlds, but didn't attempt to breach my core systems. I left the Juvans to tackle the big guns and invade the Zaanami homeworlds, and instead focused my fleets and armies on retaking the invaded worlds one by one, and hunting down smaller fragments of Zaanami navies. With high-risk science ship sorties I was able to examine Zaanami wrecks and glean the dark matter technology to give an impressive boost to my navy drives and sensors, and after a long and laborious programme of fleet upgrades it was finally time to take the fight to the enemy.

It was hard to keep an eye on all the myriad enemy battlegroups, and at one point the Zaanami managed to take the starport in Alpha Centauri briefly and even infiltrate one of their fleets into the Sol system itself. But the numerical advantage of the Juvans plus the UNE forces and their allies eventually told, and with a brutal campaign of ground force invasions to root out invading forces and liberate the taken colonies, the Zaanami were finally defeated in 2451, 27 years after the UNE joined the war and 39 years after the 'giants in the playground' war between the ancient empires began.

Pioneer 51

Prospecting for yttrium in the Ploi Thua sector

For several years I couldn't play Elite Dangerous at all, what with my ISP being incompatible with the Frontier server requirements. A few months ago my street finally got fibre installed and I switched to a different provider, and could therefore play the game I've spent over a thousand hours in once more. As always, it's been a process of relearning the game mechanics, with an added dose of the traditional Elite Dangerous chore of resetting all the keybinds the game seems to wipe every so often, thereby bringing you back to square one. At first I reacquainted myself with the combat gameplay, and then taught myself the asteroid mining mechanics that were introduced a few years back. 

Then it was time to delve into another new gameplay area - the revamped exploration system. The old system involved a discovery scanner 'honk' on first emerging from witchspace into a new system to reveal the bodies orbiting the star, followed by approaching planetary bodies of interest close enough for a detailed scan. The updated exploration system is now more complex, but it's an interesting complexity. A commander entering a new system still triggers a powerful scanner burst on jumping adjacent to the main system star, which reveals all the system's stars plus the number of planetary bodies in the orbital plane. Then after travelling a short distance from the main star to gain a clearer sightline, the Full Spectrum System Scanner reveals the trace signals of all the different planetary bodies, and the commander can tune the scanner to identify each body, locking on to the correct frequency for each body and zooming in and out to complete the scan. It's a fiddly process but ultimately quite satisfying, and the FSS' ability to identify particular planetary types allows a commander in a hurry to just latch onto particular bodies, such as water worlds and Earth-likes, while ignoring the less lucrative icy bodies. 

Once I'd got the hang of this new skill I decided to head out of the civilised bubble for my first exploratory expedition in years. I rigged my Anaconda-class, Cahokia, with a compact power plant and distributor, lightweight engines and an enormous 28MCr fuel scoop, a minimal shield to protect from bumpy landings, and an SRV bay to explore planetary surfaces. All the Cahokia's weaponry was sent to storage to reduce weight, and ultimately this bare-bones approach boosted the ship's maximum jump range to a smidgen over 54 light-years, without the benefit of fancy Guardian jump booster technology.

Commander Totinges departed from Arrhenius Terminal in the Bard system, 150 lightyears from Sol and home of the Cosmic Caretakers Corporation, and headed rimwards through the Oochost and Hegeia sectors. The first major find of the journey was in the Hegeia sector, where the Cahokia came across a remarkable system (Hegeia ZS-U D2-48) with two water-worlds and a beautiful earth-like world. Further afield, Commander Totinges found a system with twin water-worlds (Gludgoi IH-D D12-50), and another with an earth-like and a water-world (Hypou Ain LY-2 D13-32). The furthest extent of the journey was at Hypou Ain JG-V C16-9, 5536 light-years rimward of Bard, and the point at which the Cahokia turned back towards civilised space so as to reach a settled system in time for Christmas! After 106 jumps the final destination on the trip was Hiyya Orbital in the Arjung system, which has long been a popular destination for Commander Totinges on his travels about the galaxy. 

The successful exploration mission took Totinges' exploration rank to Pioneer 51 (up 20 rank points), netted 40MCr for the bank balance, and set a new record for highest total system scan payout, at 7.8MCr. Next step will be to hop into Totinges' Krait Mk.2 and read up on how to unlock the Guardian frame shift drive booster to make the next exploration expedition even speedier.

See also:

Blog: Rares trader, 13 April 2020
Blog: 1000 hours of Elite Dangerous, 25 June 2017
Blog: Intrigue in Bastanien, 5 February 2017
Blog: Ranger 27, 13 April 2016

Cars and trucks and things that go

Below are two screenshots from my current Transport Fever 2 game on a French-themed map. There's one of a late-model tram plying the busy streets of the city of Deurdan, ferrying people between the southern and northern train stations and the aerodrome on the northern outskirts of the city. And the other shows a massive diesel freight train transporting what looks like a small load - planks, perhaps, I can't see closely enough - as it passes through an intermediate freight station loaded up with ore for another train on a separate route to collect.

I've been playing TF2 since January, having been inspired by the walkthrough videos of vlogger Katherine of Sky, who explained the basics with admirable clarity.

It's not a graphically complex game, but the bones are solid. One of the best features of the game is the player's success or failure in shipping essential goods to towns on the map is the main driving force in how quickly those towns develop. And the game evolves the buildings, vehicles and townsfolk's attire as the calendar progresses through the decades, starting out with horse-drawn carriages, cobblestoned streets and hooped dresses, and eventually graduating to modern cities featuring towering skyscrapers and 21st-century light rail. You can influence the direction the city grows in by spending funds on new roads, but without this input the city will grow organically, with a pleasing sense of realism.

One of the things I particularly enjoy about TF2 gameplay is it's quite challenging to make ends meet for the first fifty-odd years of the game from 1850 onwards, during which time the prevailing technology levels mean you have to rely on expensive and puny early steam engines that can barely haul any cargo, and tiny horse-drawn wagons and coaches that are incredibly slow and have limited capacity. It's really hard to make a living in the early years, and it's expensive to build the rail networks that will eventually unlock the full potential of moving goods and people around the map efficiently.

But when you realise that by filling in the gaps between a bunch of separate rail lines, and adding a few signals and double-tracking tweaks, you can fling a cargo from one end of the map to the other and make a huge profit to boot, it's a golden simulation gaming moment. 

I'd best be off: my electric passenger trains are getting old and I'm itching to build a TGV line.

See also:

Blog: The Night Mail, 17 May 2016

Blog: Wellington tramlink, 14 January 2015

Blog: The break of gauge, 14 January 2014

Elite Dangerous: rares trader

Cmdr Totinges pilots the Krait Mk.II Bruce McLaren

This Easter, having realised that the once-legendary Robigo run was no more, I decided to revisit the age-old enterprise of rare goods trading in Elite Dangerous. Starting from the Ceos system on the outskirts of inhabited space, I flew my Krait Mk.II, the Bruce McLaren, around 400 light years to join the famous rare goods circuit at the Witchhaul system. The Bruce McLaren is rigged for hauling rather than fighting, but as a nod in the direction of self-defence it's equipped with two Class 3 burst lasers and two Class 2 beam lasers, all gimbal-mounted. (I later swapped the beams for Class 2 seeker missile racks). Top speed is 310 metres per second, with a boost speed of 434. Its current maximum jump range is 44.3 light years, although this declines to around 33 light years fully laden.

After picking up a load of Witchhaul Kobe beef, I struck a snag at the next port, Futen Station in the Fujin system, at which due to some bug there was not only no famous Fujin Tea for sale, but the starport market had no goods for sale at all. Skipping on to the next stop on the route, I collected Tauri Chimes at 39 Tauri, Zeessze Ant Grub Glue at Nicollier Hangar in the Zeessze system, and, for the devotionally-minded, Pantaa Prayer Sticks from Zamka Platform in the George Pantazis system.

Then it was time for the first long hop of the loop, the 141 light years from George Pantazis to the Zaonce system, where the full cargo of the Bruce McLaren could be sold and the second half of the rares run commenced. In one of the intervening systems Cmdr Totinges had his only brush with piratical intervention, being interdicted by an enterprising Cobra Mk.IV. The ensuing skirmish showed I was very rusty in combat, but the Krait's big guns eventually paid dividends, bashing down the Cobra's shields and sending it scurrying to escape. 

At Zaonce, with a newly empty cargo hold, I started the route back to Witchhaul by purchasing the strangely popular Zaonce Leathery Eggs (there's no accounting for taste). Hopping the short distances around the planets of the Old Words cluster, I visited the legendary Lave Station for its fiery Lavian Brandy, snapped up Azure Milk and Leestian Evil Juice at George Lucas Station in Leesti, and stocked up on Ma Corn at Shifnalport in Diso. I didn't complete the full rares circuit because after visiting Orrerre and purchasing its Vicious Brew there was no room in my cargo hold to visit either Uszaa or Shinrarta Dezhra. So instead it was a straight run of 192 light years from Orrerre back to Witchhaul. With a full hold this took six stops, scooping fuel from stars en route with exotic names: Gaohikel, Anyanwu, LHS 2447, Baxbakaeris, Borr and Metzili. 

After returning to Witchhaul and selling off my rare goods, I netted MCr4.194 in 82 minutes, which is an hourly earning rate of MCr3.07. Hardly a guaranteed pathway to easy riches, but still a fun way to see the universe as long as you've got a fast ship with a decent cargo hold. Next stop: Alliance space to raise my profile and make some new allies.

The Bruce McLaren's cargo hold at its final destination, Witchhaul

See also:

Games: Realising childhood sci-fi dreams, 27 April 2015

Games: Fine-tuning the Robigo Run, 2 March 2016

Games: David Braben's 22kb galaxy, 10 March 2017  

Games: 1000 hours of Elite Dangerous, 25 June 2017

Crusader Kings 2: Stayin' alive

Northern Europe in CK2, 1189AD

I've started playing CK2 again after a long break, and in between bouts of Cities Skylines. Returning to my old save of the Empire of Britannia, I've played another 75 years or so to the year 1189, moving from Emperor Thoraed the Shadow to his son Eadfrith the Black (pesky excommunication, people will make a fuss over nothing), and now Thoraed's grandson, the aging Emperor Osmund, who lacks a cool nickname.

Thoraed managed to live to age 59 but met his end at the fangs of an irritated serpent, which found its way into the royal bed thanks to some unnamed ne'er-do-well. He was lucky to have finally secured a male heir after many years of trying, but it was a close-run thing: his first son Eadfrith only arrived after eight daughters.

Eadfrith, it's fair to say, was something of an opportunist. Not only was he excommunicated by the Pope a couple of times, but he racked up a total of four wives - consecutively, not simultaneously, mind - and to preserve his hold on the throne there was also the small matter of having his cousin Queen Mildrith of Greece assassinated. Well, she was trying to seize the imperial throne in a war of rebellion, so as a strictly impartial observer I think Eadfrith's subjects should just cut him some slack...

As for Osmund, most of his reign was hamstrung by a massive anti-British pact across the Christian kingdoms of Europe so he couldn't wage any perfectly sensible wars against his younger brother, the rebellious King of Scotland. A bigger problem manifested itself early, in that when he was the Crown Prince he and his Italian wife Cecilia only managed four daughters before Cecilia hit the game's age 45 childbirth cut-off. No male heirs, which is serious business in this game. And then to make matters worse the first two daughters died young, with Princess Wulfthryth dying of natural causes in 1175 aged only 28, and the unpronounceable Princess Beorhtflaed, Queen of Poland, dying in childbirth in 1182 aged 32. 

This left young Princess III, otherwise known as Wulfgyth, who was unmarried, as the main heir. Osmund adoped several tactics to address this pesky problem.

First, a matrilineal marriage for Wulfgyth to the unlanded commoner Aethelfrith Byrhtnothson of Werle (a forgettable German county somewhere near Mecklenberg), in the hope of giving her offspring with the 'proper' male chromosomes. Said commoner spouse promptly demanded to run off to devote his life to the Knights Hospitaller, which Osmund had to decline and take a 100 Piety hit. Make heirs not martyrs, Aethelfrith! This marriage eventually helped Osmund's predicament by producing four children in the royal line, including three sons, although one of these was a bastard.

Second, Osmund adopted the Seduction life-path in the hope of siring an bastard to legitimise. After plenty of trial and error, including a failed sally in the bed of the Countess of Slesvig (which was more in the hope of convincing her to become a Brittanic vassal, really), Osmund's long-standing mistress, the beautiful Aelfthryth Cenwulfsdohtor, finally produced a fine, ginger bastard of the male variety, Prince Eadfrith. Sorry, Wulfgyth! You're out of royal luck. Now Osmund has gone all pious and switched to the Religious focus to reap the rewards of the Health bonus, in the hope of staying alive long enough so the little bastard reaches his majority. Eadfrith is currently age 3 and counting, and with plenty of jealous older cousins by his father's mistress to complicate matters should he live long enough to become Emperor!

1000 hours of Elite Dangerous

Outbound Faulcon DeLacy Cobra Mk3 'Dragonfall 5'

It used to be the release of a new version of Sid Meier's Civilisation was the catalyst for me to upgrade my PC. But my most recent rig, which saw me swapping from a 17-inch laptop to a desktop with my first SSD, was designed with Elite Dangerous in mind. Before I could even play the game I spent hours watching videos of other people playing it - in particular the seemingly effortless pilot wizardry of Isinona's Flight-Assist Off series. Jousting with pirate Vipers, locking horns with Commanders in gunned-up Vultures, ducking in and out of asteroid fields to throw pursuers off their targets - it all looked so exciting. Then in April 2015 my new rig arrived and finally I could play the game myself. With Logitech 3D Extreme Pro joystick and a new monitor, I headed out into the void, navigating my tiny starter Sidewinder into the black.

Like many people I had played the original 1984 Elite, but only on friends' computers and never to any degree of proficiency. If I have any memories of it, it was of a game that was fiendishly difficult, and which generally resulted in a brutal death at the hands of the remorselessly rotating space stations that proved so difficult to dock with. On my Commodore 64 I preferred games with an easier learning curve, like the mounting stress of PSI-5 Trading Company, coaxing a stricken freighter to its destination amidst a storm of pirate attacks. (The spirit of that game is best captured in the recent indie game FTL).

The modern Elite Dangerous quickly proved addictive and became my main gaming hobby, and this weekend I finally clocked up 1000 hours of ED gameplay on Steam, the first time I've reached that total for any game. (My next highest total, by way of comparison, is currently 300-odd hours for Civ 5). The prospect of flying the kinds of spacecraft I had always daydreamed about as a child proved every bit as engrossing as I suspected it would. I'd describe my style of ED gameplay as schizophrenic - I seldom stick at one career path (bounty hunting, mining, trading, exploring) for more than a few days. This makes exploration in particular more of a psychological challenge, because venturing far from the human-inhabited bubble becomes a grind of endless repetition, with the thrill of discovering new worlds balanced by an admittedly thin and repetitive exploration gameplay.

Saud Kruger Dolphin passenger liner 'Cicero' on a tourist excursion

This complaint of thin gameplay, which is often levelled at ED on the game's busy subReddit, is generally fair but many players are prepared to overlook the game's limitations and take enjoyment from what it's capable of doing well. Sure, the endless development of Star Citizen does show considerable potential, merging starship action, FPS combat and gameplay, plus a richly tailored and scripted environments. But the big difference about the lavish $100m Star Citizen extravaganza is that you can play ED now, and while it's not perfect yet, it's got plenty to do and it's continually improving.


There's been a bit of disquiet on the forums recently because of a lack of information about where the game was going, with some suspecting that development was winding down. This was dispelled by the announcement that the final expansion of ED's second 'season' - a suite of DLC that was originally intended to last a year but has taken quite a bit longer - will finally see the return of the Thargoids, the implacable alien foes from the original game. This news has been a long time coming, and will hopefully address the community's fears about the game stagnating. From my perspective, by under-promising and over-delivering, Elite Dangerous remains a stalwart of sci-fi gaming, and I plan to spend plenty more hours flying the Milky Way in my assortment of starships, fighting, trading, mining and exploring as the whimsy takes me.

CMDR Totinges piloting a Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle (SRV)

Elite Dangerous & the 22kb galaxy

David Braben, creator of the games Elite and Elite Dangerous talking to Kathryn Ryan on procedural generation in 1984 & 2017, the recent discovery of star system Trappist-1 and how it's reflected in Elite Dangerous, system and planet formation in the game, keeping up in game design terms with rapid scientific developments, the rarity of sentient life in the galaxy, and a brief discussion of Raspberry Pi. Ideal general interest interview for new players or perhaps explaining to your mum exactly how this funny game is made.

Radio NZ: Kathryn Ryan talks to David Braben about his work, planets & dark matter, 10 March 2017 (32 min)

Intrigue in Bastanien

Potential plague? Don't worry, I'm on it!

This week I've been experimenting with the background simulation in Elite Dangerous. The intricate underlying machinations map the effects of the myriad interactions of both the major factions (Federation, Imperial and Alliance) and the countless minor factions that contest for control in every inhabited system in human space. While systems with large populations are hard to influence, in the smaller systems - ones with around a million population or less - a single player can influence the balance of power between minor factions by completing missions for them. Seeing as I was already intending to get back to ranking up in the Imperial Navy so I can one day purchase an Imperial Cutter, I selected Imperial space for my experiment.

It wasn't hard to find a system led by a dictatorship, because that's common across the Empire. In the end I selected the backwater mining system of Bastanien, located 104 light years from the Imperial capital on Achenar and 191 light years from the Federal capital on Mars. Orbiting a G-class star a little smaller than Sol, Bastanien boasts a string of eight high metal content worlds, an ammonia-wreathed water world, two unassuming gas giants and a far-flung ice world. Only two of Bastanien's worlds have attracted Imperial attention. The first is the tidally locked and airless world of Bastanien 4, with its surface mining activities centred on the southern territories near the domed city of Bering Settlement, and ships docking above in orbit at the industrial outpost of Sweet Port. The second is Bastanien 8, a high metal content world being terraformed from orbit and served by the outpost known as Shaw Colony. With Bastanien 8 currently far from habitable, it looks like the terraforming initiative is at its early stages: a long-term proposition, then.

With a population of 243,000, Bastanien is a comparatively small system. Most of its people will likely be living in or around Bering Settlement. The minor faction controlling the system when I arrived, a dictatorship known as the Imperial Inquisition, had a firm grip when I arrived, with 73 percent of the total influence in the system. While I targeted this dictatorship largely due to its name, I also discovered that it's actually a player minor faction (i.e. rather than one run by AI) with interests in eight systems, headquartered at the nearby Brestla system:

The Imperial Inquisition is a group of Imperial fanatics based in this [Brestla] system. They are dedicated to defending the Empire from threats, both internal and external. Led by their inspiring leader, Mavia Kain, they are determined to become a major player on the galactic stage. 

Fortunately I enjoy a challenge!

I selected an opposition faction to support in Bastanien, to usurp the control of the invading Inquisition. Ruling out the second-most-powerful faction, the Bureau of Yeng Front, because it too was a dictatorship faction, I settled on the third-biggest faction, the Social Bastanien Unionists. A communist faction, the SBU only had 7 percent support when I began running missions for them. The ship I'm using is Cmdr Totinges' Asp Explorer, Hirokazu 824, rigged out for speedy cargo transport with a capacity of either 80 tonnes, or 112 tonnes without a fuel scoop.

The key is to run as many missions as possible for the SBU, to increase its influence in the system sufficiently to challenge the Inquisition for control. Most of the missions on offer are commodity or data delivery runs to nearby systems within about 15 light years such as Sawait, Brestla, Vasukili and Heilelang. A few others request hard-to-find resources, such as agricultural produce, the nearest producer of which is Dumnites 3, a water world 31 light years away with a population of over a billion. Once the mission board at Sweet Port is exhausted of jobs, Totinges flies over to Shaw Colony for a brief stop to see if there are a few extra SBU missions to pick up there. Then the key is to run the missions as quickly as possible to get back to Sweet Port for another round. If the surrounding systems offer decent missions, either to stations the Hirokazu is already scheduled to visit or back to Bastanien's outposts, they are accepted, but not those to any other destinations. There might be lucrative jobs on offer that are ignored, because they're a distraction from the main objective, and because the Inquisition is strong in most of the nearby systems, it's important to avoid boosting its fortunes.

In the first five days of running SBU missions, Totinges has made a sizeable dent in the Inquisition's hold on Bastanien. Its influence has declined from 73 to 51 percent, while the Social Bastanien Union has ballooned in influence from 7 to 24 percent. If the campaign continues successfully, at some point  both factions will draw level in influence and a fully-fledged local war will kick off in the system. Then it will be time to fetch my hot-modded Fer-de-Lance Accipitral and take its Class 4 multicannon into the Conflict Zones that will spring up around the system. Destroying Inquisition ships and running SBU combat missions will help their cause, and if it goes particularly well, the SBU might even seize control of one of the system's outposts. This would be ideal, because then even simple trading will boost its control of the system.

Onwards for communism!
   
See also:
Games: Fine-tuning the Robigo run, 2 March 2016
Games: Pathfinder 60, 12 July 2015
Games: Realising childhood dreams, 27 April 2015

Real street appeal

So I'm playing Grand Theft Auto 5 for the first time, and the graphics are so impressive that when I'm checking out one of the main characters' accommodation - the dilapidated trailer of petrol-huffing, homicidal psychopath Trevor - all I can think is, 'Man, if he tidied up that yard and maybe painted over some of the rust, this place could have real street appeal'. An ideal doer-upper, bargain hunters!

Trevor's trailer, Sandy Shores, San Andreas

I captured a Boyar

Lord Margaer of Ulburban. Don't all queue up at once, ladies.

Indie fantasy RPG Mount & Blade Warband, which I picked up in the Steam summer sale, is a lot of fun but there's a steep learning curve. It's frustrating how comprehensively rubbish I was at combat at the beginning. And in a game mostly about combat that could be considered something of a liability. Like many others starting out, I was captured and imprisoned by more puissant warrior-folk four or five times in a row when I first ventured out into the perilous kingdoms of Calradia. This quickly became irksome. The only solution was finding the wandering ransom broker to sell off some bandit hostages for cash, then track down my two freebie hero companions, Katrin and Ymira, who I was split up from when captured for the first time by some Khergit Khanate pillock with an overwhelming stack of doom. Plus I needed to raise enough to buy another horse, because being a medieval pedestrian totally sucks.

Part of the solution to these problems was capturing a Boyar. Having learned a few of the combat ropes by trial and a lot of error, I barged into a relatively even fight between a raiding Vaegir lord and a Swadian count with whom I had a passing acquaintance, and my 30 meagre chaps tipped the balance. A few days later before I could track down a ransom broker I got a message offering me 3800 denars for my noble prisoner! At the time this was an enormous sum to me, and I wasn't sure what to do with all the dough, but I vowed not to blow it all on a fancy pony.

At this stage I was only just tinkering with giving battle orders, preferring a simple and straightforward approach of going at 'em and trusting to fate. This seems to have worked so far, perhaps because my warrior, Margaer, became somewhat more skilled in evading stronger pursuers.

Not long afterward I noticed a fleeting game message saying Margaer had graduated to the lofty realm of those with ‘right to rule’. This seemed to result in more effusive greetings from nobles who knew me relatively well, and was presumably aided by my recently captured another unlucky Boyar for ransom. This latter gambit didn’t pan out though, because my captive vanished from my inventory before I could cash in when Swadia declared a truce with the Vaegirs.

Having really enjoyed graduating to the ranks of the slightly less insignificant, I particularly relished how the game remembers your dealings with various lords. One Rhodok lord who I’d pleased by laboriously training up six Veteran Spearmen sent me on a message errand to a Khergit lord, and after traipsing for days to the Khergit’s court at the edge of Calradia I was told that we’d met previously on the field of battle. Presumably I’d fled!

By this stage Margaer was keeping a strong well-trained force of around 40 to 45 men including six named companions, and was broadening my search for missions into Rhodok lands. This led to a foolish leap in the dark when on a whim I pledged my allegiance to a Rhodok usurper, seeking to depose the current king. I didn't realise this would mean revoking my hitherto profitable allegiance to the king of Swadia. And the situation became doubly entangled when I cut loose the would-be usurper, without realising the huge impact would have on my character's honour and standing.

However, after this string of mis-steps, things started to look up. Venturing north into the snowy realm of the Vaegirs, I chanced upon King Yaroglek and pledged my allegiance to him. Margaer could've been knocked down with a feather when the king offered him a village of his own to support his efforts in the king's service. Sure, Ulburban is a desolate, poverty-stricken, isolated, snowbound hovel, but it's my desolate, poverty-stricken, isolated, snowbound hovel. Lord Margaer of Ulburban now sports a well-trained fighting force of 60 men in the service of the Vaegirs, and has befriended several influential Boyars, including the current marshall, Boyar Naldera. Things are looking up!

See also:
Games: Elite Dangerous, 2 March 2016
Games: Civ 5, 11 February 2014
Games: XCOM, 25 January 2014

Ranger 27

DSV Tsibliyev before the exploration mission

Having finally upgraded to an Anaconda, the DSV Tsibliyev, I decided the best way to put it through its paces without spending an enormous sum outfitting it was to take it on an exploration run. Typically my previous journeys have been in an Asp Explorer, out about 1000 lightyears and then checking out whatever I find around that destination.  This time I decided to go a little further, with a light build I spotted on Reddit. The initial destination would be the Cepheus Dark Region, which sounded suitably mysterious, and the course would take an anti-clockwise route from there.

To get things started I sold my Federal Assault Ship at Umbila and traded in my smuggling Asp Explorer at the popular outfitting system of Diaguandri. The first major stop was HIP 97589, around 1000 lightyears from Sol, and during the journey I managed to spot two new water worlds at Wredguia ES-H C24-3 A5 and Wredguia EX-J B51-0 2. Looping round another 400 lights, I encountered an interesting close-orbiting trio of high metal content planets at Wredguia TA-N B49-0 5, 6 and 7. Onwards towards the edge of the galaxy, I reached the farthest point of the journey at PLAA EURK LL-Y D5, which is 2075 lightyears from Sol. Hooking around through waypoints at Synuefue GW-C D20 and Oochoss GA-F C28-1, I ran into a multitude of M-class stars orbited by dull pink ice worlds: hardly exciting finds. On the journey back to civilised space via the Stock 2 Sector, I encountered a splendid deep blue water world at Synuefai ZI-C C2-3 2.

Water world Synuefai ZI-C C2-3 2

As I returned to sell my exploration data at Killough City in the Mapocori system, another exploration journey came to a close. Once more, I had failed to discover a rare Earth-like world. To welcome me back to reality, an incompetent pirate Diamondback Explorer tried to interdict me for no useful reason. (The mysteries of the AI's brain are hard to fathom). The journey had encompassed 217 systems, earned me MCr4.883 from the data, and boosted my exploration rank by six points to Ranger 27. I don't know if I can manage a truly long-range exploration mission, given the lack of variety in gameplay and the danger of succumbing to space madness. But these one to two week missions are just about manageable without starting to hallucinate space ghosts in the cockpit.

See also:
Blog: Fine-tuning the Robigo run, 2 March 2016
Blog: Ranger 15, 14 January 2016
Blog: Pathfinder 60, 12 July 2015

Fine-tuning the Robigo run

The Asp Explorer-class smuggling vessel Brabant Ascot 

A much-travelled route in Elite Dangerous is the path from the civilised bubble out around 400 light years to the isolated outpost at Robigo Mines, owned by the mysterious CDE Corporation. Being so far from the rest of humanity, there's obviously demand for the usual accoutrements of modern life, but the main reason most commanders venture out to this particular base is for the lucrative Shadow Delivery contracts that exist, bringing 'certain wares' from Robigo to select systems back in the civilised worlds. The fact that those wares are either stolen or involve contraband human cargo - for Robigo appears to be an entrepot for fenced bullion and slaves - matters little to the credit-hungry commanders who flock to the crowded facility. The only catch: ships carrying the illicit cargo must not be scanned at any point before delivering their ill-gotten cargoes.

Most commanders outfit a Lakon Asp Explorer for the smuggling run, suited as it is to being stripped down for speed both through witchspace and when on the run from pirates and the law. Only the fastest pilots can hope to avoid being scanned and claim the highest delivery contracts - often several million credits per consignment.

My first three attempts at the Robigo Run have fine-tuned my approach to smuggling, which is quite necessary given my relative ineptitude as a pilot. With no weapons and stripped down for speed, the Asp can outrun nearly every other ship in the 'verse, but the trick is avoiding being scanned while entering patrolled main stations. A Docking Computer can really help by permitting the fastest possible approach to the station mailslot, with the computer taking over for the crash-avoiding deceleration to the landing pad. The rewards for a successful return trip can be phenomenal.

The first run in the Brabant Ascot involved stacking around 12 missions from both Open and Solo mode, half of which were Shadow Deliveries (each over MCr1) and half Data Deliveries (usually MCr0.25-0.50 each). My inexperience as a smuggler showed though, because halfway back to civilisation I was pounced by a clutch of Authority Viper interceptors, one of which pinged me with a scan. Missions Failed! Still, after completing the remaining Data Delivery missions I netted a cool profit of MCr5.0 in 82 minutes, a profit rate of MCr3.68 per hour. The main benefit was to my rankings - my trade rating climbed from Broker 74 to 80, my Imperial rank rose from Baron 30 to 35, and my Federation rank climbed a point to Lieutenant 55.

The second run went much more successfully. With only one Shadow Delivery mission failure, and that only due to a mysterious and impossible to achieve 13-minute deadline from Robigo, I delivered every other mission to its correct destination without being scanned. In 97 minutes I earned an enormous MCr18.6 at a rate of MCr11.5 per hour. There was a major rank boost too, as I reached Broker 98, Baron 42 and Lieutenant 60.

In my third and final Robigo run I took mainly Shadow Delivery missions, having decided that the last half hour of a smuggling run shouldn't be spent in boring shuttle runs dropping off paltry data contracts. The run itself proved the usual mix of heart-stopping near misses, pirate and authority interdictions, swift getaways, and in the Federation system of Beldarkri, a near catastrophe when my Asp was nearly stuck in the Johan Station entry mailslot while an authority scan started on me. Luckily I was able to free the ship with a dangerous boost inside the station, which left me with frazzled nerves but a few more ill-earned millions. This time the earnings were slightly lower at MCr17.4 in 66 minutes at a rate of MCr15.85 per hour. Dropping those signal missions proved to be the right move. And my rankings moved to Entrepreneur 5, Baron 54 and Lieutenant 65.

Heady stuff. But now I think it's time to move to the other side of the law and pay back my debt to society. I see the Czerny Terminal shipyard in Lalande 2450 has a nice new Federal Assault Ship with my name on it for a spot of pirate hunting!

Ranger 15

Exploring a broad ice moon canyon in the SRV

I've just returned from another short exploration hop in Elite Dangerous, an expedition out about 1000 light years from Empire space to survey a few systems. The reliable DSS Pipitea, my Asp Explorer vessel, clocked up 101 systems visited. This entailed setting out from my base in the Gende system, pausing only for a refit in the high-tech system of Pangilagara. Then the Asp's nose was pointed in the direction of the blazing giant star HIP 77638, which after a journey of many jumps into witchspace to cover the 912 light years, turned out to be orbited by a peculiar solo water world. Cruising the nearby systems towards HD 116041 occupied a few days, and I took advantage of the new Horizons game expansion to land on a few planetary surfaces to prospect for minerals and explore in my SRV buggy, picking over the remains of ancient wrecked starships. In the end the Pipitea returned to civilised space at the Evans Enterprise outpost in the Camundju system, where I handed in nearly 3MCr of survey data and hocked off a few illicit items of salvage that I'd turned up on desolate, unsettled moons beyond the frontier. Then it was back to the nearest high-tech system for a refit - and it turned out to be Pangilagara again. Only problem was, the blighters in the shipyard sold me missile launchers without the actual missiles. Quite a nuisance when you're being chased by pesky pirates demanding your valuable cargo of Progenitor Cells bound for the hard-working citizens of Mirolunts 1.

See also:
Games: Elite Dangerous ship size comparison, 15 December 2015
Games: Pathfinder 60, 12 July 2015
Games: Realising childhood sci-fi dreams, 27 April 2015

Elite Dangerous v1.5 ship size comparison

Youtube user Mat Recardo has updated his short video comparison of all the vessels in Elite Dangerous to include the new ships included in update 1.5, like the Asp Scout, the Keelback and the Imperial Cutter. An excellent way to get a perspective on the various ships, plus a spot of the soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange for an added garnish.

Patton Oswalt: Republican candidates as D&D characters

This is possibly the most niche blog post ever, but for people who are interested in the Republican party presidential nomination race AND who are Dungeons & Dragons fans, here's comedian and actor Patton Oswalt's Twitter summary of the 10 candidates as D&D characters, from tonight's GOP debate in Boulder, Colorado:

Donald Trump = level 21 demi-lich, Lamarkin's Rod of Disease, Cloak of Revulsion

Mike Huckabee = gelatinous cube

Marco Rubio = paladin, 18 charisma, all other stats 9, cursed broadsword

Ben Carson = necromancer, 19 intelligence, 4 wisdom

Jeb Bush = NPC with 8s in all attributes and leather armor

Rand Paul = halfling thief

Carly Fiorina = level 5 Drow elf with a + 1 Ring of Vampiric regeneration

Chris Christie = shambling mound

John Kasich = level 4 fighter with standard plate armor and a standard long sword, 10 strength

Ted Cruz = dwarf cleric with 3 Charisma

Pathfinder 60

Checking out a binary system in the Asp Explorer

Having just returned from a week-long mission in the Asp Explorer, it's time for a stock-take in Elite Dangerous. Departing LHS 317 a week ago, an initial outbound leg of 881 light-years to trailward took me to HIP 42822, followed by a detour above the galactic plane to Wregoe OT-J B38-1 and onwards to the farthest point of the journey, the binary G and M-class star system of Wregoe KX-J D9-10, around 1100 light-years from Federation space. As usual for my exploration runs, I failed to find a single Earth-like planet, but as a consolation I managed to scan four new water-worlds for the interstellar cartographers. I also chanced upon my first black hole, and as any pilot worth their salt would do, I approached as close as possible to get a good look.

First visit to a black hole

In this particular exploration mission - which was admittedly small by hard-core travellers' standards - I visited 137 systems and performed 589 Level 3 scans, moving from an exploration rank of Pathfinder 37 to Pathfinder 60. With a healthy haul of high metal content planets discovered along the way, the trip netted me just under 5MCr. My usual approach to exploring is a once-over-lightly method - the main priority is keeping moving towards the ultimate destination (in part because I must confess I do get a bit bored on exploration missions). The main star is always scanned, and then if the rest of the system hasn't been visited before, I target the innermost planets - as long as they look likely to be high metal content planets or 'better'. Anything beyond 1000 light-seconds has to look pretty interesting for me to venture out to scan it. Gas giants I target only if they're within about 1500 light-seconds, because their mass means they generally can be scanned from around 500 to 1000 light-seconds out. I only scan moons if they're orbiting the last planet I'm visiting in the system, because then it doesn't matter how deep I go into its gravity well. Icy planets 5000 light-seconds out at the edge of the system, or entire star systems orbiting secondary stars 100,000 light-seconds out? No thanks, some completist can scan you.

One of four Water Worlds discovered on this trip

I can see that if I really want to progress as an explorer I'll have to venture much further afield, but I doubt I can cope with the time commitment of a massive expedition to the galactic core. Wherever my next exploration adventure takes me, it will certainly be in the new Diamondback Explorer, to take it for a test run.

Pretty ringed HMC planet

Now I'm back in Felicia Winters' territory the intention is to strike out in a new direction. Don't tell my faction paymasters, but the idea is to take my Vulture on a jaunt into neutral space and then defect from Winters' cause, becoming a true freelancer once more. (The Powerplay dynamic hasn't really grabbed me, and it makes flitting around inhabited space less easy). Then I'll head over to the Empire to start rising up the ranks of the Imperial Navy so I can fly an Imperial Courier for the first time. If I like it, there's the chance to stay longer and work my way up to a sufficient rank to fly the Imperial Clipper too.

Asp Explorer back at Bacon City, Carnoeck

See also:
Games: Elite Dangerous: realising childhood sci-fi dreams, 27 April 2015
Games: The occasional jaw-dropping beauty of Elite Dangerous, 2 April 2015
Games: A thing of beauty, 26 March 2015