With the entire galaxy at war with itself, it really is a great time to be a pilot. There are endless job opportunities, especially as a Freelancer Pilot. I am told to destroy, capture or escort all manners of craft, from Civilian Transports to Spice Runners. But I have had perhaps the best time in the game manning a turret aboard the NorthStar Flagship, under Imperial Captain Aefairz.
It all started out one night when I was just running a few ground missions with my main character on Eclipse, a Bothan Ranger called Gledako, getting 1K per mission, a little xp, and a bit of hide, bone or meat to show for it. I wasn't having a whole lot of fun.I decided to just take a trip to Theed and see what was going on in the cantina there, so I hopped in my Dunelizard, the Sidewinder, and traveled to Theed.
The cantina was dissapoingly dead- when I turned off AFK chat, barely anyone was speaking in the cantina, though it was full of people. I was out of credits, as I had just purchased a trapping/harvestingdroid,so shopping was out of the question. I had just gotten Novice Rifleman and Novice Ranger, and getting xp had become a dull grind instead of the fun it used to be. I was about to log when I saw Aefairz standing in front of the Theed Starport.
He was running and advertisement macro, trying to get peopel to help him man his Decimator. I had no idea what a decimator was at teh time, but I heard something about fun, credits and loot, so I sent him a tell saying that I would help him out on his ship. Soon he invited me, and another person, Heru', joined teh group soon afetr. We all gathered around the starship terminal and launched.
When I was in the Decimator, Iwas ammazed. I ran through the entire craft looking at all the itemsAefairz had added to it, checking out all the cool views of space. And then I found the turrets.
Man, was it awesome. We went out to a semi-dangerous area of Lok Space to run a few missions. I, for the first time, started knocking out various space craft from the bottom turret, chatting with Heru' and Aefairz in the numerous lapses of action. It was great- having never gone hunting with a group or gone spacing with a group, it was all very new to me. And the idea that I was one part fo the working ship, that without me they would have a hard time, despite my lack of very good piloting skills, and the idea that without Heru' gunning and Aefairz piloting I would have ahard time, was exiting in a way.
Wehn we finished, it was five in the morning where I was, and I was dead tired. For the hours I spent gunning I got a ton of xp, enough to level twice and finish my tier one stuff off, a ton of credits. Aefairz then allowed Heru' and I to take a look in the loot box and take what we needed. I took some tier one components, including a better engine, a weapon, and a capacitator. My Dunelizard was enjoying the customization immensly, I am sure. And with some of th eloot money, I bought a texture kit and paint kit, and, following my Ranger theme, decked it out in Jungle Camo.
I was on a few night later and got a tell from Aef that he needed another gunner. I said I would be glad to help, dropped what I was doing, and spaced off to Theed to meet up with him again.
The second time, even though I hahd had a taste of it before, was just as fun as the first. HEru' want;t there (and indeed I have not sen him since), but there were new guys. They hadn't been on the ship before- it was pretty cool, being "un-noobed" by the fact it was my seond time gunning.
After that ended, I started going on runs withAef regularly, blasting away anythign and everything. At one point there were around five people on the ship, including one pilot, three gunners, and two repaimen. Pretty fun.
As I went more and more, there was only two other peopel besides myself taht regularly went with Aef on the missions. There was Jade(forgot the rest of his name), who also had a Decimator, and Gaige, the onlyfemale crew, who gunned pretty well. Wewent on Jade's Decimator once, and I was thrilled to be on the top turret. Though slow, even a glancing hit would usually send starcraft, up to tier threes, into a chain reaction that ended ina magnificant explosion and a bunch of xp for the group.
I got enough xp and cash in the end to buy msyelf a Kimogila fighter. Though she was little more than a slow space-slug in the beginning, with various loot pieces from my numerous runs with Aef and the NorthStar Flagship I have managed to just about max her components out, at least for the level I am on now. Just last night, I played escort for Aefairz in Dathomir space. It was the first time my ship was strong enough to be in the same area as Aef's, the first time my pilotingtwotch skills were ready to take on his tagrets,and it was the frist time I declared as a Rebel in space. Just about every headhunter in the area attacked me, and in the end, I had to hyper to Corellian Space and get repaired and land to undeclare myself, but the experience of pilotng alongside a Decimator was truly awesome.
All this has since given me the idea to form a Guild for Freelancers, with a roleplaying atmosphere as pirates. I had been wondering what I would do once I was finished Mastering Ranger, and now I have a purpose. Also, with all the stories I heard from various crew members, I have decided that once I am settled in, I am going to drop Rifleman and a bit of Ranger for a while, and Master quite a few professions before I return to my MAster Rilfman/MAster Ranger template. Smuggling is the life for me- and then smithing maybe. And the doctoring up my fallen comrades. Their is a whole galaxy to explore- why shouldn't I master everything?
So,I would like to thank Aefairz, the crew of the NorthStar Flagship, and Jade, for allowing me to gun and pilot with them. I plan to keep gunning for him long after I Master Frelancer, and as a veteran gunner for him I can say that crewing ths ship ona regular basis has been one of the bsetexperiencesI have had in my month and a half of playing SWG.
Gledako Fo'Kray- Retired Master Ranger
Encoded until further notice!
Proud Captain of the YT1300 Vasarian Escape- Confirmed Stats from Last Battle- at least 3 kills, 5 disables, 2 spacebombs to the rear shielding and 4 snubs to take us down. Go crew!
Current one-on-one win-loss ratio for the Escape and her Crew- 11:1
Gledako -- Mercenary Dog of Spice --