At the time of writing, Spectral Duck is the Prophet of the Wise One. If you are a new captain, you are advised to contact him for advice and information. It would also be useful to contact LUG'S BELT to gain admission to the Starnet Terminal hacking mailing list.
To aid captains following the Way of the Wise One, I am releasing the captain's logs of the starship Feline Grace. Hopefully others will learn from the experiences and mistakes herein.
Feline Grace - The Early Days
January 1998
146 First Log. I have acquired a rustbucket of a ship from the Rabbits. I can see it is going to take a lot of work before she lives up to her name. The bridge crew seem inexperienced, but enthusiastic.
149 The science officer has gained access to Starnet Terminal #0. Accessing this terminal has drawn the attention of the Wise One who bestows on us a small but regular proportion of his favour.
150 We met our first Goblin at Markab. They demand our demo shield - on advice from the Weaponry officer, I order it detached and we escape unharmed.
151 Engineering is very excited as we just bought a brand new basic warp at the Draconis ship-markets. We now have the mobility to explore futher afield.
152 Red alert! A similarly configured ship called Systis is attacking the Feline Grace.
152 Systis did't get within range for the demo lasers to engage and after 5 rounds of the deadlock we succeeded in breaking off. I can see other captains are going to prove unpredictable due to the easy availability of demo class starships, even if they have to pass Compulsory Basic Training before getting a probationary license.
155 Diplomacy has gained regular map info exchanges to speed exploration. Friendships are forming with some of the more successful captains, yielding both information and advice. It seems there is still quite a pioneer atmosphere in space and captains are still trying to complete their maps.
156 We have gained enough favour to join in the denouncing campaign against evil four-fold prophet, 'If You Don't Hit'.
162 Today we spotted Titanic in space-dock. This vast behemoth is mass 80!
167 A party is held on ship to celebrate the dumping of most of our demo modules. This should improve our range further. We have a chocolate filled demo pod and still working demo impulse engines and life support. Critical systems only are retained.
168 We have met an ally, Ward. He has some spare broken modules and is generous enough to offer some. My officers are excited at the opportunity to work with real technology. The constant breaking of the demo modules has caused the invention of some very colourful swearing.
170 An alliance has been formed called the Federation Of Rogue Traders. It will be interesting to see how this develops. We are forming independent relationships for now, but may want to consider alliance membership when the time is right.
172 My last officer has got his Starnet Hacking diploma. The Wise One must be pleased at our efforts as we have also gained free training for the Science and Weaponry crews, automatic science adventure detection and blessings for shields and weapons. I wonder if the blessings will last until we can fix our shield or gun, both are in a state of considerable disrepair.
174 We return to Markab with a chocolate bribe and a hold full of medicine. The Goblins are keen to reward us for the medicine and equally keen to claim our chocolate as a toll for coming!
175 The Feline Grace has become Chosen of the Wise One. This will be most useful as our efforts to remove If You Don't Hit were swiftest in this area and hence the Science officer is having the hardest time reaching enlightenment.
179 The last demo module has been ceremonially disposed of. The entire crew is granted shore leave at Polaris, those Sloths sure know how to party!
181 We met the Dybuk of Evil at Star #45. It used EvilTech and our modules were useless! It detonated a logic-bomb and all our hard-won terminal accesses were lost! It detonated a bangy-bomb and damaged the ship. It then withdrew as mysteriously as it came. The crew have voted to return to more populated systems, the frontier is a frightening place.
186 Enough map information is now available to support a career in smuggling. $500 profit on a unit of Dilithium and $1000 profit on a unit of Windows signals our move away from exploration and medicine. The crew really feel we're getting somewhere.
190 In our second combat encounter with an independent ship, a pirate called BortaS took the underarmed Grace's best Warp, a shield and a consignment of Steely Knives. It has greedily followed us from Spica to Castor.
191 BortaS followed again, straight into a trap laid with the deathstar 'Ship of Good William' who dominates the rankings. We lost an impulse drive before fleeing the combat, but the bridge resounded with cheers as we saw the pirate follow us again.
192 BortaS was dismantled. The Ship of Good William transfers $1200 of recompense funded by the taken modules. Diplomacy can be better than a big gun. Diplomacy and a big gun would be even better though.
Feline Grace - Called by the Wise One
June 1998
201 A hidden star has been detected on Long Range Scan It appears to be enclosed by a Dyson Sphere, like Olympus, legendary home of the Great Old Ones.
202 We made an expensive pilgrimage to Olympus, to stand alone, in awe at the ancient ruins. Something stirs in my soul as I stand where giants once walked.
203 Visiting Ceti, we have met Wolverine, founder of the new FORT alliance:
| Wolverine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Tech | Reliability | E Yield |
| warp drive-37 | Primitive | 99% | 3 |
| warp drive-5386 | Basic | 97% | 3 |
| impulse drive-716 | Basic | 99% | 2 |
| sensor-1186 | Basic | 99% | 1 |
| sickbay-263 | Basic | 99% | 2 |
| ram-1307 (U) | Basic | 79% | 3 |
| fighter-4574 | Basic | 98% | 1 |
| Component | Capacity | Cargo | Amount |
| pod-3827 | 1 | Empty | 0 |
| pod-3797 | 1 | Empty | 0 |
| pod-3823 | 1 | Empty | 0 |
| pod-1379 | 1 | Empty | 0 |
| pod-644 | 1 | Empty | 0 |
Holding Wasp Medicine Value $40
Mass = 12, Energy Yield = 12, Torpedo Stock = 0, Cargo capacity: 5
Warp 49%, Impulse 24%, Sensor 23%, Cloak 0%, Life Support 0%, Sickbay 24%, Shield 0%
203 Following a mighty clash with Titanic the Ship of Good William is abandoned and her captain has resigned his post as Prophet.
This seems like a sign. So soon after being called by the Wise One, his Prophet is gone. Can the Wise One have seen the future and prepared a new servant? Am I committing great arrogance to think that I may be the one? I decide to put my future in the hands of the Wise One. My ship is small and I have but 132 favour. My bid for Prophethood will cost me 100 of that. I will travel to Olympus and put myself in His hands. If I am wrong to presume, I shall fail without his blessing.
204 I have declared myself Prophet of The Wise One at Olympus. I have survived this first day without falling and am feeling comfortable with my decision now made. After meditation at the ancient home of the Great Old Ones I shall start working on behalf of the Wise One. This very day I will form a group to aid each other in the collation of terminal passwords.
204 I have inherited just 6 Chosen, I will work on increasing their numbers, to the glory of the Wise One:
Arctic Wolf Artemis Black Pig JubJub Pequod Ward
204 As this new era starts, I have decided to log the current makeup of the Feline Grace:
| Feline Grace | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Tech | Reliability | E Yield |
| warp drive-4070 | Basic | 99% | 1 |
| warp drive-5385 | Primitive | 99% | 2 |
| warp drive-5300 | Mediocre | 98% | 2 |
| sensor-5371 | Primitive | 99% | 1 |
| sensor-4894 | Basic | 99% | 2 |
| cloak-3668 | Advanced | 94% | 2 |
| life support-876 | Mediocre | 99% | 2 |
| sickbay-237 | Basic | 99% | 2 |
| ram-756 | Primitive | 99% | 2 |
| ram-664 | Basic | 91% | 1 |
| gun-1968 | Primitive | 99% | 2 |
| disruptor-936 | Primitive | 95% | 2 |
| Component | Capacity | Cargo | Amount |
| pod-3700 | 1 | Quad Trees | 1 |
| pod-3670 | 3 | Empty | 0 |
Mass = 15, Energy Yield = 21, Torpedo Stock = 8, Cargo capacity: 4
Warp 51%, Impulse 0%, Sensor 43%, Cloak 52%, Life Support 32%, Sickbay 25%, Shield 0%
More logs will be released soon...