Part 1: Update #1 Welcome to Primus

It was hard to keep my mind on what Cornellius Wrak, the Controller of Primus, was chattering about, when my whole life was in ruins.

It was all so unfair--how little things add up. A tiny pebble no bigger than my thumbnail--a speck from the rings of Saturn!--had blown a hole in the main fuel tank as my supply ship entered the upper atmosphere of Titan. Normally, the sealant would have plugged the hole, but the feed line to the outer hull shuts down during final entry. So there I was, blowing my fuel reserves into space. What else could I do but jettison the cargo? Would they have been happier if I lost the ship and the mine equipment?

But they blamed me fore the loss and forced me to hock my ship to pay for the equipment. My insurance company said they'll have a claims adjuster check things out as soon as possible. Probably a year or two. Yeah. Right.

So here I am, stranded on Titan.

"You've worked with us before, Mr. Jetland," Wrak was saying as he studied my file on the monitor. "We can always use a person with your skill in the mines."

"Anything else available?" I'd become a Nomad roaming the frozen Titanian surface before I sold my sold to Paramount Mining, Inc.

"There's always free-lance bounty hunter," Wrak said with a smile, clasping his fat fingers together over his mound of stomach. "As a matter of fact, we do have rather an unusual situation here on Titan. We've lost contact with our newest project, the city of Proscenium. Because of the gravity of the matter, we Controllers are offering a handsome reward to the first party who discovers why the comm-links went down. Enough credit to reclaim your ship from customs. Sound interesting, Mr. Jetland?"

"Seems simple enough, I'll do it." I started to rise from my chair, but Wrak's frown made me hesitate.

"if it were simple, we wouldn't be offering so large a lump of credits," he said with a sneer. "You'll need assistance getting to Proscenium... and more than a little luck. Personally, I doubt if you have the intelligence or the intestinal fortitude to succeed. Titan is no paradise."

He reached into the drawer of his vast desk and flipped a small pamphlet at me. "A present, Mr. Jetland," he said. "Our Visitor's Guide to Titan. My last copy, I'm afraid, and a bit tattered. Welcome to Titan, Mr. Jetland, and a good hunt to you."

Leaving his office, I wondered if Wrak meant I was to be the hunter... or the hunted.



...A little cash would not only buy a ticket to Parallax, but a vac suit from the armory, and possibly even something heftier than the .22 you're packing.
You pass by a small bar where ex-marines in search of jobs hang out. You could use a drink, as well as a crew, you drop in. As you're making small talk at the bar, an announcement blasts over the intercom. "Attention all mining personnel. All mines on Titan will be closed until further notice." Everyone in the bar looks dumbfounded. They've never shut down the mines before! Well, at least you won't be the only one around with lots of time and no cash. You order another drink and start making friend...



Need booze, lots of booze. Watch the dancing lady and more booze.

<several hours later>

*hick* Now I gotta find a some chumps to do all the work for me. *hick*




We're just going to skip through until we find someone with rifle skill

<8 applications later>



*hick* So... tell me about yourself.

Ex-cop : I joined the Police Force at the age of 19. I was then asked to remain for 4 more years. During that time I increased my melee skill and was promoted and trained in rifle skill.
Following that term I was then removed from service.
I am now 27 years of age and at your service.



For reference here are Tom's stats.



You're hired. Your name is now TheMostFrench
Now come mug some beggars with me.
Ex-cop: I certainly won't have any moral qualms about that!



Welcome to Primus and the city mode, we get a first person view screen as well as a minimap. We run around in 10 foot steps at a time like so:





I wonder what all the icons mean.



Classifieds? What's the dating scene like?



Cybil sounds hot.



And she's a damsel in distress!




Oh let's not piss off the sysop.
What's Titan like anyway?




TheMostFrench: Let's go say hi to my old buddies.




I'm busy what do you want?

Got any bounties?


According to the map, the university is nearby.




---

We've now got a choice of different things to do.

A) Keep exploring around Primus. This was the first colony and introduces the player to a lot of things.

B) Go visit Cybil and try our luck in the Primus dating scene

C) Investigate the missing specimen.

D) Start picking fights with anyone and anything to acquire credits and skill up the characters.

I should explain the way skills and skill training works in this game.
When a character participates in a fight they increase a hidden counter which gives them the ability to train a skill of their choice (the game shows this on their character screen as "Eager to learn").
Stats are trained the same way and affect health, chance to hit, melee damage, etc.
Skills (with some exceptions) increase both the effectiveness of their related items and the ability to use high tiers of those items.
Rifle is probably the skill we're going to be concentrating the most on simply to make my life much easier as we progress into harder and harder battles.
There are some slightly hilarious skills like arc guns that I'll be showing off though.