Hunting gets better

I've spent the past two days hunting to the south east of Twin Peaks. There are some middle level creatures there that I can take on without too much damage. The loots have been average too, so I'm not making a big loss.

Today, though, I came across one that was a bit too tough - an Armax Bull. It was only a young one, so I thought I wouldn't have too much difficulty with it. But it killed me with relative ease. At least I pumped a good amount of ammo in to it whilst it was hitting me :-)

I'll give this area a go a few more times and see how I get on.

The property market

Whilst I've been exploring I've noticed a lot of private residences, ranging from simple apartments to houses or even full blown castles. I started wondering what it'd cost to invest in such a property, and what the benefit to me would be.

The costs, at this stage, seemed prohibitive. I'll need to wait until I have significantly more money, and more importantly, until I have a definitive need for a property. So far the only use I've found for a property is storage, and for meetings, neither of which I need right now.

On the hunting front I've not had any more spectacular loots. Over the past couple of days I've tried hunting near Tethys Creek and near Fort Argus. Nothing interesting to report about either.

I'm still on a quest to find a more interesting hunting ground that challenges me, but also isn't out of my league.

Loots becoming poor

For the past few days I've been continuing with the hunting, but without much success. The loots have been generally poor, and I'm steadily losing money. It's not just me, though, others are saying similar things. I'm getting rather depressed about it all - I can't just keep throwing money in to this because I'll soon be broke.

So I'm starting to consider my options. There are other professions here on Calypso, and I guess the next one to have a stab at is mining. It's equally likely to lose money, but it's worth a try. Unforunately I don't have the capital to get started, so I'll have to wait until I next get some money from back home on Earth.

The main problem I have is my lack of experience. I've not even been on Calypso for a month yet, so I don't have the confidence to take on anything that costs too much. Hopefully I can get some help from my society.

A decent hunt, and a reasonably big loot

This evening I met up with someone I'd bumped in to a few days ago called Smoerble. We decided we'd go for a hunt, so I loaded up with plenty of ammo and made sure everything was repaired, then headed to our meeting place north of Atlas Haven.

We fought through all kinds of creatures, and even died a few times, but it was great fun. The loot was coming in steadily, which was good. Then out of the blue Smoerble got a 6PED loot from one creature. Just as I was congratulating I got a 7PED loot! That was a big deal for me, I'd never looted that much before, and it was all mine!

By the end of the evening I took a good look through everything I'd collected. I estimated I'd looted around 20PED in total, which wasn't far off the amount I'd spent on ammo. So once again, a break even hunt.

This evening goes down as one of the most fun I've had so far in my time on Calpyso, even if I didn't make a profit.

More interesting loot

Today I found a new type of creature to hunt - the snablesnots. The male and female snablesnots look quite different, both both squirt acid at you when they attack. Thankfully my armor offered me some protection against this.

After killing quite a few I discovered that the females gave the better loot, so focussed on them. Then something unusual happened - I got armor in my loot. Up to this point I'd only got money and things like skins or hides, but never any useful items.

By the end of the hunt I had a small collection of Pixie parts. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, so for now I'll leave them in my storage. I'll certainly be hunting these creatures again.

Some more exploring

I had a good look at a full map today and realised there was still a small handful of teleports that I hadn't been to yet. These included a few of the Hadesheim ones, some in the center like Meduza, and some more eastern ones like Echidna and Pandora.

So today I spent most of my time finding these. On the whole they were quite easy going now I had a gun. All except one, Fort Pandora. Whichever way I tried to get to Pandora I ended up running in to Atroxs. I tried from the east, the west, and the south, but with no luck.

As I was reaching the point of desperation someone in my society offered to help, but I had one last thing to try. I jumped to Echidna and headed south east to Morningtear Castle. From here I headed south west to Pandora. Maybe it was just luck, but I eventually made it. To celebrate I decided to dispatch a Berycled, which rather fittingly gave me no loot.

I now had the full complement of teleports on Eudoria, so headed over to Amethera to see what I could find there. I only had the time to collect the few on Treasure Island, so there are still plenty more to find.

Team hunting

Today was my first experience at team hunting. Myself and a few other society members met up in a land area north of New Oxford on Amethera. This land area is currently owned by a guy called Akoz, and he's had the area populated with some large creatures.

The overall experience was good. Given the group firepower we rather quickly moved from one creature to the next, taking a steady loot on the way. It was good fun sharing the hunting experience with others, and it was nice to have the support of others when things got a bit out of control.

The main thing I've learnt today is that there is little chance of me taking on creatures like this on my own. I could maybe manage one, but I'd be so badly injured afterwards that I'd not be able to continue. I've clearly got a long way to go before I reach the same levels as others within our society.

Breaking even

Today I began to wonder how I was doing financially. I'd spent a fair amount recently on guns, armor, and ammunition, but I'd also taken a bit of loot.

I sat down with some paper and added up the TT values of all the items I had. I didn't take in to account an extra value these would make when sold, just their raw TT value. I added this on to the amount of money I had and was pleasantly surprised to see it being approximately the same as the money I started out with.

On the surface this looks good - it at least means I'm breaking even. But also bear in mind that some of the money has come from sweating, and that costs nothing to do. So on the hunting I'm probably slowly losing money, but I guess that's to be expected when I'm not very skilled at what I'm doing. On the other hand, some of the looted items will sell for more than they're worth, so maybe that'll balance it out?

Hopefully in the longer run I'll get more skill using my gun, and learn where and when to hunt, which in turn might help to bring in a profit. A team hunt is something I'm yet to experience, so maybe that'll be more profitable too.

Amplify that rifle

Although I'm happy with my Opalo and armor set, I'm still left wanting to do more damage. On the easy creatures around Fort Troy I'm doing ok, but on anything tougher I'm struggling. I discovered what I probably needed was an amplifier for my rifle. An amplifier is an attachment for a gun that increases it's damage at the cost of extra ammo burn - hopefully with the increase in damage being more than the increase in ammo.

I had a chat with Kyl in my society and after some discussion I concluded an A103 would be suitable for me. It wasn't quite as economical as the lesser models, but it gave more damage, and that's what I was after. Kyl kindly offered to sell me oneb at a good price, so we headed to Camp Caravan to do the exchange. This was the first time I'd been buying, rather than selling, so I was glad it was with someone I could reasonably well trust.

The A103 I'd purchased wasn't in great shape, but this was reflected in the TT price, so I'd not lost out. I headed to the nearest repair terminal and dropped it on. I was amazed at the cost to repair it, but went ahead and did it anyway.

Back in Fort Troy I headed off to find a creature to test my new combination on. It went down in three shots - amazing! At some point I'll find something a bit tougher to have a go at.

An image change

I bumped in to another member of my society this morning and whilst chatting he commented on my orange jumpsuit. I'd not really given it much thought since I'm not an image concious person, but he seemed to think it'd give people the wrong impression about me. He was probably right; I seemed to instinctively have more respect for people wearing something else.

I headed down to the auction to scout out some new clothes. I didn't intend to spend a lot, it just had to be something other than orange :-) I ended up splashing out nearly 10PED on a new shirt and pants.

For a while I've been thinking about armor. Everyone else out hunting seems to have it, so it's probably a good idea for me to get some too. So whilst in the auction I took a look for some Pixie armor, which I'd been told would be a good choice for a fairly new person here. A full set didn't look like it'd set me back too much, so I took the plunge and got that too.

I left the auction and changed in to my new clothes. Then I slung the armor on and took a good look at myself in a mirror. Now I really did look good - no more orange jumpsuit for me! I grabbed my gun and ran straight off to find out what the creatures thought of my new look...

A message from home

Today started off with some great news - a message from home. It was short and told me that everyone was doing well and wished me luck on my journey. I'll have to write back at some point. The more exciting news was that it came with a payment of 271PED. Wow! I thought the 13 PED I'd earnt yesterday was a lot, but this was simply amazing.

Before I got too carried away I decided I needed to make this money last. There was no point blowing it all at once. After taking some advice I went off to the trade terminal to purchase a gun. I selected a relatively cheap pistol and some ammo, and paid for it.

It was an exciting moment to run outside with my new gun. I felt like I was really moving on in this world. The first thing I did was to find one of the many creatures I'd been sweating around Troy for the past few days. I took careful aim and fired. It barely did any damage. I fired a few more times, and still little damage. It seemed to take forever to kill the creature, and I was disappointed.

I chatted to some other people about this and they advised me to try a rifle. I headed back to the trade terminal and traded in my pistol and ammunition for a Sollomate Opalo rifle. I also took the opportunity to pick up a first aid pack, since I wasn't fairing too well when killing these creatures.

This rifle had more of the desired effect. It used ammo more quickly, but it took the creature down quicker too. I finally got my first loot, it wasn't much, but it felt good.

I spent the rest of the day with a combination of sweating and hunting, all the time getting better at using my new rifle.

Settling down

It's been a few days since my last entry, and I've been keeping quite busy... sweating :-)

I started off four days ago at an outpost somewhere south of the oil rig. I'd covered most of the map by that point except for the south coast. I headed west and didn't really find much of interest. I eventually decided to take a short cut and head across the sea to the bottom land mass. It wasn't long after this that I found Fort Troy.

Troy is one of the largest places I've seen. It has a huge building that appears to be a stock exchange, although it doesn't seem to be open yet. I found the teleport and added it to my map, and also took a wander around the nearby buildings. Everything seemed quite handily placed here, so I figured I'd hang around for a bit.

The next day I had a better look around the surrounding area. I discovered quite a lot of creatures, but they all appeared quite weak, which would make them perfect targets for sweating. I rapidly developed a tactic of sweating the creature until it attacked me, and then running to the nearest gun turret. This would dispatch the creature and allow me to move on to the next, although eventually it would leave a large pile of dead remains.

This continued for a couple of days until I had around a thousand bottles of sweat. Today I decided it was about time I sold them. I jumped on the teleport and headed back to Port Atlantis. The area around the teleport is a frantic selling ground, everyone shouting about what they have and what they want. I watched for a while to get an idea of prices and then picked someone to try and sell to.

The selling experience itself was pretty straightforward. I approached the buyer and said I had a thousand bottles of sweat to sell. He said he'd pay 1.25 PEC per bottle. I accepted and handed over the sweat in exchange for around 13 PED. Now I was really starting to get a bit of money!

I'm now back in Fort Troy, which is rapidly becoming my home. The sweating routine is pretty dull, but does seem like the best way to get started. I'm sure I'll be doing it for a while longer yet.

Almost there

Heading out from Fort Zeus today I heard a new teleport had been put up at North Space Base, so took a quick detour past there to grab it. Then I headed southwards to Camp Caravan.

This journey proved tricky, and in the end I opted for the slightly easier option of swimming. Camp Caravan is on the east coast of the northern land section, making it easy to access from the sea. It took a while to swim there, but there were no creatures to dodge. When I arrived it was a remarkably quiet place, but had a decent set of facilities. Maybe it'll make a good starting point for a hunt one day.

Next I headed to the outpost at the bottom of this large island, again taking the swimming route, which actually worked out shorter. From here a quick hop over the river, and I ended up in Minopolis.

Minopolis is unlike any other place I've been to. It's small and quaint, tightly packed with brightly coloured buildings on multiple levels, and has a huge dome in the middle. I took a while looking around and admiring the scenery before heading south again.

After a long trek through various terrains I arrived in Nymphtown. I'm not sure where it gets it's name from, but it does seem rather odd. Not much to see here apart from the lake next to it. I headed across the lake to the settlement called Lake Serene on the other side, narrowly avoiding being eaten my some nasty looking pond life.

The final stop for the day was an outpost south of another unsafe zone which I decided to take an evasive route to avoid walking through. I heard there's an oil rig in that zone which one can collect free oil from, but that it's closely guarded by some very skilled people and some very nasty creatures. That's not a place I fancy going yet.

I'm nearing the end of my journey around Eudoria now, and I have to say I've enjoyed it more than I expected.

Welcome to EuTropians

I had been planning a journey down the eastern side of Eudoria today, but instead I ended up reading a message from a guy called Bullet in the EuTropians society. He was offering to mentor new arrivals and welcome them in to the EuTropians society.

I got hold of him and had a chat about mentorship possibilities. He explained that he wasn't taking on any more disciples now, and that he wasn't sure he'd have enough time over the next couple of months to help me. He did, however, invite me to join the society. I found a society terminal and put in my application, which was later accepted.

At the moment I don't really know anyone within the society, apart from Bullet, but I hope I'll get chance to change that. I look forward to participating in society events, and I hope the other society members can offer me advice and help as I settle in here.

To the ends of the land

After my unfortunate death at the hands of an Umbranoid a couple of days ago I decided to take a different route heading north. My plan was to get to Hadesheim, and from there head across the top of Eudoria.

There were no surprises this time. After a long walk I arrived in South Hadesheim and began to explore. To my surprise the place was deserted. There were huge buildings and shops everywhere, and a whole bunch of teleports. But, no people. It was like a ghost town, so I decided not to stay for long.

I headed further north to the beaches at Corinth. It's a lovely place up there, and the residents have some great views from their properties. Maybe one day I'll own my own house, but that seems like a distant dream. I ran along the beach and up to the Cape Corinth compound. There was another teleport here, so I added that to my map and then took a few moments to relax and enjoy the view.

Next I headed along to Fort Ithaca. This wasn't easy; there were plenty of creatures surrounding it and they kept killing me. After a few attempts I went north east from Cape Corinth and came in to Ithaca from the north. My plan was that if I died I'd be within the reach of the Ithaca revival terminal. I was right, and made Ithaca the easy way.

From Ithaca I headed east towards Fort Argus. As I passed over the Rogue Plains I met a couple of guys from a team called The British Bulldogs. We had an interesting chat, and I learnt more from them about the society structures on this planet. I ought to start thinking about joining one soon.

The final destination of the day was Fort Zeus, which is where I am now. Everything is an eery blue up here, and it feels a long way from home. Looking at the map I have I can see it's about as far from Port Atlantis as I can get on Eudoria. Thankfully there's a teleport here, so it's only a short hop back home.

Exploring Eudoria

Today I decided to explore Eudoria some more. I only had three teleports at that point, so there were plenty more still to find. I jumped to Camp Phoenix to start my journey and decided I'd head east.

It was an easy trip as far as creatures went. I didn't encouter anything too challenging, and on the whole I just took an alternative route to avoid groups of creatures. I'm looking forward to the day when I can afford to buy a gun and plough straight through the middle of those groups!

Towards the end of the day I'd been to places like Jason Centre, East Scylla, and Twin Peaks. I'm amazed by the variety of places that exist on this planet, each with its own culture. When I was at Twin Peaks I heard people selling tickets to travel to CND. I didn't even know what CND was, let alone why you'd pay someone to take you there. I was starting to realise how new I was on this planet, so I headed back to the familiarity Port Atlantis.

In the evening I decided to take a stroll north of Port Atlantis. I found myself at an outpost with no teleport, somewhere near an unsafe zone (turns out other people can kill me in there, so I'll stay clear for now). I met up with another guy and together we headed north to Orthos West Mound. On arrival at Orthos he asked where I'd like to go next. He seemed a little worried when I said north, and said he'd have to get guns. Before he left he signed me up as a disciple.

I waited for a while but he didn't come back. I'd heard bad things about mentors signing up disciples and then just ignoring them, so I thought it might be best to cancel the discipleship until I had a chance to talk to him more thoroughly. I left on my own and headed further north.

It wasn't long until I got near a place called Farikak. It seemed to have a lot of people gathered around, so looked interesting. Just as I was approaching I noticed my radar showing them all as hostile. Before I had chance to do anything one of them, an Umbranoid it seems, came charging at me with a dagger. I didn't stand a chance, and moments later I was dead.

I revived at Orthos and took the jump back to Port Atlantis. That was certainly enough action for one day.

Learning to sweat

I spent yesterday wandering around the Port Atlantis area trying to get familiar with the layout, but instead spent most of my time getting lost. On my travels I got talking with other new arrivals and learnt that one can collect sweat from animals using mindforce powers. I wasn't sure how to do it, but I figured it was worth a try. Apparently the sweat can be sold to traders, so it seemed like a good way to start earning a living.

After a few attempts I managed to utilise my mindforce. I didn't get any sweat, though, but at least I was getting somewhere. Usually the creature would come chasing after me, so I'd either end up dead, or running for my life. By the end of yesterday I'd got a couple of bottles of sweat, but judging by the market rates this wouldn't get me much money.

This morning I was determined to try harder. As I was leaving Port Atlantis I bumped in to a group of other new arrivals standing around a clearly more experienced citizen. He was offering to take them sweating and help teach them how to do it as a team. I asked if I could join, and he graciously accepted.

We headed to the hills around Port Atlantis and began sweating. The creatures, it turns out, are pretty stupid. If a group of people sweat the same creature it won't keep attacking one person, instead it bounces between you. Our guide kept telling us to stand our ground until the creature moved on, but it was hard to do, and I kept running off. He was patient with me though, and kept healing me when I was getting weak.

After a few hours of this I'd managed to collect 100 bottles of sweat. I was quite proud of that, even though it'd only get me around 1 PED at the market. The next lesson our guide had for us was trading. He showed me how to go through the process of a private trade, and much to my delight offered me 2 PED for my sweat.

Checking my PED Card now I realise that I've collect about 5 PED in total. It won't buy me anything useful, but it's a start. I guess I'll be spending many more days sweating, and I only hope it gets easier.

Arriving on Calypso

Our ship landed on Calypso on the western side of Eudoria in the early afternoon. There were quite a few other people in the arrivals area looking just as dazed as I felt. I realised we were all wearing orange jumpsuits and guessed this was the standard issue clothing. We weren't able to bring anything with us from Earth, so I had no baggage to worry about.

Checking through my pockets I realised I had a PED Card. It seemed to be empty though, so I'd have to start thinking about how to get some money. My family back on earth should be sending some through, but I have no idea how long that'll take.

After a brief wander around I discovered that I was in a place called Port Atlantis. There seemed to be a lot of people not really knowing what to do, me included. By coincidence, it seemed, it was just then that a woman, who's name escapes me, appeared and offered to show the new arrivals around. She explained there was a teleport system on Calypso that could transport you instantly to any other teleport terminal on the planet. The only catch was that you had to find the teleport terminals before you could transport to them.

Myself and a handful of other new arrivals followed the woman to the Port Atlantis teleport. This was the first teleport on my map, which wasn't going to be much use on it's own. The woman said we'd be heading out to Billy's Spaceship where there was another teleport. She gave clear instructions to stay behind her if we got attacked.

Did she say attacked? It hadn't occured to me that I'd be in danger so soon. It seems there's lots of native animals on this planet, most of which don't take too kindly to our presence. She assured us that the animals on the route we were travelling were mostly passive, so we shouldn't have too much to worry about. It came as a relief when I heard one of the other new arrivals saying there were revival terminals on this planet, and if you died you'd be instantly transported to the nearest one.

On the way to Billy's we encountered a bit of trouble, but nothing our leader couldn't easily handle. It seemed like such a long way, but looking at my map I realised we'd barely travelled far at all. Once we'd got the Billy's teleport on our maps we headed east towards Camp Phoenix. As we arrived at Phoenix our leader shared out the loot from the animals she'd killed on the way. At least I had a bit of money now, but not enough to buy anything. She bid us farewell, and left us as quickly as she'd arrived.

It's now early evening and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow will be the start of my first full day on Calypso, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it, in fact I'm feeling pretty scared. Did I do the right thing coming here?