O'reihn Saltberg, now captain of his own luxury liner called "The Batavia" tells his tale of succes and how he got where he is now:
Greetings everyone,
I bet you all remember the day, when you finally got that piloting license and your first ship capable of space travel! I was so thrilled to go out there, explore, trade and make a name for myself, that it had almost got me killed the first day!
Out of curriosity, I wanted to fly too the other side of manhattan in my Rhino freigher - and I did - coming up on my scanners some flashing red names when I reached the other side, "Xeno's" they were. Man that was so intense! The ships voice was like "Incoming missile" so I replied: "What?! where?!" ofcourse the voice didn't reply, but the missile did with a bang! "Shield down" was the next thing she said. Well at the point I had almost written myself as "doomed" a liberty police Inc. patrol apeared, that had got my distress message, phew!
But, I am going a little off the point. I was going to talk about my succes! Right, ehm.. Ah yes my Rhino liberty freighter, ah fine ship it was back in the day. It was not the best by far ofcourse, but good enough to start some trading runs in. One of the first runs I did, was shipping consumer goods from Planet Texas to Freeport 2 in Bering. You'd get the goods for about 30 credits each and sell them for over a hundred credits, lovely trade run that was. It was also the run that got me my borderworlds freighter called the Dromedary, which was provided to me by the freeport.
This new ship gave me the opportunity to fly somewhat more risky routes, namely from Planet Manhattan with luxury consumer goods to planet Baden Baden, and then a short trip to planet New Berlin to buy those nice Diamonds they've got there and ship them back to planet Manhattan, met a lot of those nasty Unionners and Hessians on that route. They are pesky and enjoying, so be careful when you encounter them... ( they were really enjoying when they forced me to drop my freshly bought shipment of diamonds in the Hamburg system, -mutters- )
On the subject of pirates, one thing I must admit, the pirates in Rheinland space have more style than those brute rogues of liberty! Not to mention the outcasts... Oh and a friendly word of advice: If the odds are not more then 99% favourable for you, then just do what the pirates say. I know, I know, losing a shipment or a lot of cash is never fun... But its better then being blown to space dust!
Ah but there I go again, totally off the topic about my succes... After spending some time, the run was not as populair anymore and I started looking for new opportunities. Thats when I met a nice group of lad's all of them had nice fat trading ships (made me look so small at the time) which agreed to take me along on their routes. Man it payed off! After only a short time I had enough cash to afford me a real Transport ship, along with its crew! So advice to be taken: team up with other freighters, not only does it increase your profit, but also your protection and adds good company to boring trips.
So the group continued, this time we were passing by the Sigma-13 system fully loaded with shiny diamonds that were headed to planet New Tokyo. What we didn't know was that there was a big pirate raid going on in there... blasted pirates... Anyhow, our group was 5 transports and 6 escorts strong. We felt sure we could beat them, a little to sure. We opened fire and a second later one of the transports blew up! I mean that was so fast, it scared the hell outa me and my crew! it was a little like this:"Engage!" *Boom* "What was that?! oh my... LETS GET THE HELL OUTA HERE, NOW!!".
I feal kind off bad leaving the other transports behind, but getting turned into space dust didn't really seem like a good idea at the time. I returned to shipping goods on my own and on one occasion met a person called Blake Carrington, another soul who was trying to earn his credits by means of trade... We hooked up on some trips, mainly on a somewhat populair route from New Berlin to Cambridge and back. Met the corsairs for the first time then, strange bunch of pirates, but better then those in Rheinland or in Liberty if you ask me! There is atleast some sence of respect I get from them, its not "Hey you. 1 million or I turn you to space dust!" but more like "Good evening senor, would you please hand over 1 million. I fear it would mean hostilities between us if you do not." See what I mean?
Ah, but I rattle on again about pirates... they are a common thing to come across as a trader.
During our trade runs, we came across a rumor that there was a new Rheinland transport up for sale at planet Stuttgart. It was called the "Behemoth", such a name we could not ignore! he-he-he! Once arriving at Stuttgart we made the math, and came to the agreement that the Behemoth would replace our old and rusty transport ships. Now at that point, the real deal of the trade began! Money was flowing in with every completed trade route, I was able to buy the most stylish clothes and visit the best restaurants on Planet Cambridge! Oh yeah, if you have the money, you should try it out aswell, the food there is amazing! (Much better then what Synth Foods produces, I'll tell you that...)
Well, telling you all the trade routes would be telling a secret of the "trade" he-he, so I will keep it at this as much as trade routes are concerned. I was 16 when I started to work at the local trading shop in Manhattan, got my pilot license when I was 21. Now that I am telling you this story its 14 years later, which makes me 35 years old now. I used my good relations with Spa and Cruise (namely because I brought goods to planet Baden Baden) to get information on the luxury liners, and gave the building order when I was 32. I had about 3/4 of the cash needed to get the ship build at that time, I loaned the rest from my good buddy Blake at the time.
When it got finished a week ago I named it "The Batavia". A name that came from thousands of years back in history, which luckely was kept, and taken with the sleeper ships. History is a side hobby of mine, when I am not trading than it is likely you'll find me reading about old history back in the Solar system.
Hmm... That had nothing to do with my succes story eh? Well, I am now looking for Contractors that will hire me either on long term base, or on short term with high revenue.
I guess this concludes my stories of succes, I wish you all a fine day.
O'reihn Saltberg
Captain of the luxury liner "Batavia"
Alright, a few things that high light are:
- The easy trade route for beginners, from Texas to Freeport 2 in Bering with consumer goods.
- Good relations with other traders can help you find new routes and friends.
- Pirates are stronger than you, unless your more then 99% sure you can handle them.
- Borderworlds are usually filled with the above mentioned pirates.
- Not giving the pirates what they want will get you turned into space dust if you don't know what your doing.