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Advanced Pilots Academy

By Robert Coare...

Welcome pilots and traders of the galaxy to the first annual meeting of the Frontier Advanced Pilots Academy. I am your chief instructor Lieutenant Robert Coare and I will be guiding you through all aspects of life in todays galaxy. After that I will tell you about some of the stranger features in the range of most ships engines .

Trading

When you start out it's best to stick to the Core Systems for safety reasons. In that respect some of the most lucrative routes are between: Or if you prefer the Imperial systems: After you've acquired enough money to buy a suitably large ship such as an Anaconda or Panther class, you can fly further afield to the Cemiess system in sector -2,-2. Here you can buy precious metals or gems on the black market where you are paid a huge sum just to take them away. From there you can sell the cargo at any nearby system that will take them for roughly 4000 credits profit per ton for precious metals .

Mining

Mining is generally considered a low grade profession, but if you must mine do not, repeat do not bother mining planets only asteroids. This is because there isn't a planet within an acceptable range that is worth mining. Asteroid mining can be vastly more profitable but first you need a mining laser and fuel scoop. Search nearby systems for a stable asteroidal body for example Ceres in the Sol system.

Pirates

Pirates usually use smaller ships to attack you because they are faster and generally harder to hit then larger craft. There are various tactics that can be used to combat this threat. One of the most useful for the small to medium sized ship is to set the Set Speed display to 0 and while the pirate is trying to match speeds point directly at him and fire. The disadvantage with this tactic is that it only works at speeds above 30 KMS. If you are travelling at a slower speed then it's best to take a couple of 'pot-shots' and accelerate past him to throw him off guard before having another go. If you are piloting a medium to large ship with 20+ shields and preferably an energy booster then you can lock on to the pirate ship, if it is small, and ram it with little chance of damage. More advanced pilots can switch off their engines and manually match speeds with the target ship while it is closing. At a distance of between 0.5-1.5 KM you are inside its minimum firing range but outside its emergency evasive action range. The ship will literally float in front of you waiting to be destroyed.

Rapid Docking

One of the stranger aspects of modern star ships is their ability to slow from high speed to a dead stop in a remarkably small amount of space. This phenomenon is due to a curious combination of the ships engines, autopilot and stardreamer time control to instantly convert kinetic energy into light. To use this strange effect first lock on to the destination orbiting station or space port, switch the stardreamer to full and accelerate constantly under manual control. When you are within 5 AU's of the destination quickly switch on the autopilot and you will automatically stop in the correct position to dock. Depending on the acceleration of the ship this is a very effective method of avoiding attacks from pirates.

Delivering Parcels

Using the rapid docking technique is a superb way of delivering parcels in the shortest possible time. But to increase your profitability you might consider working for the Empire. When you have the necessary military experience the best place to pick up parcels is in the Facece system (sector 0,-4) because from there you will find lots of missions to the nearby Vequess or Sohoa systems. With fast docking a good pilot can easily deliver 12 or more parcels and return to their starting place in 5 days or less .

Assassinations

Killing people can be very lucrative either for the military or a third person. But if you are discovered it can be very costly in fines. To reduce the chance of discovery it's recommended that you do the mission as far away from inhabited planets as possible. To do that you need to equip yourself with a medium sized ship such as a Viper, Tiger or Asp. They are the best compromise between speed and jump range, you also need a scanner, hypercloud analyser, 15 or more shields and a laser rated at 4MW or greater. Pick the mission you think is best (good pay, not too far away). Fly to the targets start point and wait for it to launch and hyperjump. Jump after it, because your ship is probably smaller you should leave hyperspace before the target. Wait for it to appear and then destroy it using the same tactics as with pirates.

Photographic Missions

If you are fortunate enough to get the military rank of Federation Major or Imperial Lord then you are sometimes required to photograph enemy bases. When you accept a mission of this type you will be supplied with a military camera and the destination coordinates of the base. Fly to the planet and scan the surface by circling it at medium range (you may have to orbit the planet at a few different angles).

When you discover the base (a small dot on the surface) fly down to within 10 KM and take a few pictures. This may sound easy but when you get within 400 KM of the base enemy attack craft will launch to intercept you. A tactic I've found to be useful is to skim the surface at 1000 meters for 50-100 KM's before you get to the base as this will increase the chances of the enemy ships crashing into the planet. A faster but more dangerous tactic for the experienced pilot is to dive head first towards the base decelerating all the time, take a few quick snaps, turn 180 degrees and accelerate away from the planet at top speed to 600 KM then destroy the ships sent after you. Pilots with superior fighting skills may decide to repeat this technique to greatly boost their combat rating .

Bombing Missions

Pilots with a military rank of Federation Colonel or Imperial Baron will be called upon to take part in bombing missions on enemy bases. These missions are very similar to photographic missions accept instead of a camera you will be supplied with a thermonuclear missile to destroy the enemy base. When you have discovered the base fly to within 200 KM of it and launch the nuclear missile at the target as you would any other missile. Nuclear missiles are only designed to be used against bases, if you launch it at anything else a failsafe device will stop it from detonating.

The Mirage

A century ago this section of the galaxy was rife with attacks from a little known but highly advanced insectoid race called the Thargoid, but since then the number of attacks have decreased sharply. It is theorised that the Thargoid's are re-grouping their forces in a bid to take over all known space. To combat this perceived threat the Imperial Navy are constructing a fleet of vessels based on Thargoid battle cruisers that were captured in past raids. The code name for these vessels is Mirage.

To fly these ships the Empire are looking for the best and most loyal pilots from their forces. Little is known about the entry qualifications or ship specifications except that gathered from long range scans, leaked information and speculation. The information that can be pieced together leads us to believe that the pilot must have a totally clean legal record, have a combat rating of Elite and a military rank of Imperial Prince, without any Federation rank (to test loyalty).

From there you need to get an User Ident from the managing director of the Sirius Corporation on Sirius and then search for a completed Mirage ship located at the edge of explored space, 84 sectors from the Sol system. Once you have found the Mirage to further test your piloting skills you have to stay near the ship while dodging its fire without firing back. When the Empire is convinced that you are the right person for the job the Imperial Flagship will arrive, transmit a message to you and then the Mirage will be yours. Even less is known about the ships specification except for the following rough details:

Warning: Some of these details are based on speculation so errors are possible

The Galaxy Today

The galaxy is a very large place, so large that only a tiny percentage has been explored. Even in this relatively small area a number of interesting systems and phenomenon have been discovered. One of these is a number of star systems that although strictly part of the Federation are close enough to the Empire to be useful for military missions even for the smallest of jump engines.

These system include:-

Not all star systems are enjoyable places to visit, some are immensely dangerous or weird places indeed. One of these is the 6th planet of the Ollaex system, even with its small size it has such an incredible high surface gravity that any ship trying to orbit or land on it has an high chance of crashing.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Intiol system. It has strange combination of gravitational fields that distort spacetime so severely that most objects in this multiple system are phased almost out of existence. This makes it possible to fly right through most planets without any ill effects.

By far the strangest feature of all in the galaxy today is entirely artificial in nature. Over 1 million years ago a highly advanced space faring race known only as the First Ones constructed a series of wormholes throughout space at roughly 84 sector intervals to aid speedy travel over immense distances. These wormholes still exist and can be used by any jump capable ship, all is needed is for the pilot to scan their navigation computer in any direction in multiples of 84 sectors and they will discover planets what are easily accessible at unthought of distances.

Here is a list of some of the more well known wormholes for you to try:-

Wormholes of the Universe
SystemSectorDistance from Sol
Sozelia-82,0655.73 ly
Tihoan-163,01,311,46 ly
Qufaol-245,11,966.45 ly
Sorean-327,02,622.93 ly
Foaltia-408,03,277.35 ly
Aackti-490,03,932.90 ly
Phicanex-572,-14,588.32 ly
Intidia-654,05,245.87 ly
Bevein-1061,08,520.34 ly
Daandeth-1143,09,176.64 ly
Andliaque-1225,09,853.29 ly
Andaday-1307,-110,491.75 ly
Canessfa-1852,134118,353.29 ly
Qulaol-2051,148620,319.18 ly
Anphiur-2407,168926,600.68 ly
Tiexex-29,79656.51 ly
This is just an introduction to some of the techniques used by the greatest of Elite pilots everyday. These aren't the only ones that exist. A pilot with enough skill, bravery and ingenuity is quite capable of acquireing their own. So pilots of the galaxy it's up to you to add to the skills and knowledge listed here. 
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