2008-02-15 - Participant In Entropia

Participant In Entropia - 21st Report: Athena Teleporter Killed the Spaceship Business

Amid all the upheaval of the aftermath, I had come to realize one major positive since my release from the subterranean cryogenics plant, the exact location of which I still didn't know.
That the Calypso government had been forced into probably the biggest renovation and reformation programme of all time, because I was coming across new locations all the time that hadn't previously existed. Stumbling over the last few boulders and divots in my sheer climb from the coast, finally revealed tell-tale glimpses of the latest one. Latest for me anyway, although just to be certain, I checked my e-map once again which also allowed me to get my breath back.
'Hi!' I stirred in the direction of the ladies voice, making sure not to lose my footing.
'Eh! Oh, 'Hi' to you too. I'm making for Athena , as odd as my predicament may seem right now..'
'He, he â?? so I can see. Yea, that's where I'm heading for. Been doing some mining all the way from Zephyrus.'
'OK, well I've been running shotgun through all manner of mobs from Boreas. I just got the teleporter there half an hour ago, but I've not been to Athena Spaceport before which I think is the last teleporter I have to get.'
'Right, I see, that's good... Although there's a whole lot of other new places on Amethera as well that weren't there before the typhon blow-up.'
'Yep I know â?? I have those. Spent most of yesterday getting them and a great deal of ammo. Anyway, just hold up there a bit and with any luck I'll get to you if I can just get over this ridge here.' Minutes later, we're both heading for a steel and concrete complex unlike any new location that I've seen so far, with an iconic teleporter in the middle throwing a beam of light up into the heavens. 'I'm going to the asteroid resort. That's why I've come this way.'
'Club Neverdie?'
'Yep! There's some new changes there, like new types of creatures and stuff...'
I looked around as she was telling me all this, but couldn't notice one very important thing. 'But where's the hangers? Having said that, I haven't seen any hangers anywhere where they used to be, like North Space Base for instance.' Immediately she enlightened my obvious and understandable confusion. 'There aren't any hangers or spaceships anymore. You have to teleport from here to Neverdie. '
'What? No way. Never knew that. Thanks for saying...' We stopped near the teleporter itself as she made me aware of another important statistic. 'Yep! From what I've read and been told, this idea was introduced because some citizens were complaining about having to get to hangers from the nearest teleporter place, often running into creatures on the way â?? and the resort owners were also kicking up a fuss because they felt it was putting people off going there...' I shrugged my shoulders, partly agreeing with with the rationale.
'Right. Get you. But a lot of those spaceship businesses must have been mad as hell. They invested millions in those things. I remember like it was yesterday, a pilot that I knew who said she was convinced that things would really open up, so there's an irony there somewhere.
'That's too bad. I can imagine she must have had a real downer... So, where am I? Right, sorry to be rude - mmm...'
'Oh â?? John...'
'Right, nice talking to you John but I'm strapped for time unfortunately â?? there's a a hunting event, bla, bla, there in about forty minutes, so mustn't be late... It costs twenty-five credits by the way for the TP to get there.'
'Wow! OK. No problem. P-M me if you want. Code PC3718-45892 â?? and see you around.'
'Byee!' At that she alighted onto the portal to the asteroid and vanished in the next split-second.

 

Participant In Entropia - 22nd Report: Teleporting to the Asteroid

A while later, after having put yet more accumulated bits and pieces into personal storage, I thought more about teleporting from here to the asteroid.
I wasn't too sure if using this new method of getting there was totally safe. Teleporting from one area to another on Calypso was one thing, which had been tried and tested for nearly ever, but using a teleporter to get to an asteroid was something else. In the end curiosity got the better of me, so I paid the 25 credit teleporter-fare and pressed the engage button. Standing in the fairly familiar looking control room in the next split second, I produced my e-map and hit the power switch.
The only things that seemed the same were the biodomes and the main complex, but everything else had changed! The myriad of docking bays had all gone, which sort of made sense as there were no spaceships anymore. There were two control rooms which I didn't really see the sense of and the discos were gone which was a bit of a shame as you used to get good crowds in them, now it seemed all I could do was seek out more mobs in the domes, or go sightseeing. Why not... I decided to go and check it all out.
Going to the teleporter in the middle of the control room, I read through the destinations list. I was amazed at the number of teleporters for the main complex â?? Main Complex North; Main Complex Block A; Block B; Block C, and so it went on right up to Block F and then Main Complex South at the bottom.
I went for Block A as it wouldn't make any difference which one I selected, and arrived there in next to no time. I looked around and realized the situation strait away, as any entropian who knew anything about anything would have done, and headed-out for the centre of the main complex, but then headed back to the perimeter again when I realized it was just a statue slightly different from what was there before â?? and the planetarium had also gone... I then walked and ran around the complex for a bit, noticing the 'Business Area' signs every two-hundred yards or so with nothing actually in the areas other than empty alcoves in the walls with shelving that presumably were going to be let as retail units at some point.
In the end I decided to go to the biodomes to at least get some more commodities. I had no idea which mobs were in which domes, and there still were no mob charts anywhere on the walls just like before, so I would have to find out for myself. Going back to the main complex, I teleported to the first one, Biodome 01 and started to head south away from the two automated gun turrets. There was nothing showing for the first few hundred yards of genetically modified foliage, but eventually two red dots appeared on the scope slightly to the west.
A large hill prevented standard visual ID so I had to use the virtual periscope which revealed two Ambulimax, one of which started charging straight for me as I was well within it's aggression range. It lay in a heap in front of me a few well aimed rounds later, and once again the matter converter transferred the by-products to my personal inventory, leaving just a trace of DNA on the ground. Half an hour or so later, I had managed to get a few more before running out of ammo, so it was time to get back to the control room and offload the goodies into a personal storage.

 

Participant In Entropia - 23rd Report: Entropia's Eternal Sea

'Ahhh- Gignibs!' Someone was obviously having some issue.
'Problem?'
'Yer â?? I wanted to get some equipment out but completely forgot that P-S-U's up here don't store things you've got down on Calypso.'
'Ha â?? yep. I've been caught out by that a few times. The same happens the other way round. What you've got here won't be sitting in storage units on Calypso either...' Needing to sit down after the biodome excursion, I took one of the seats next to the unit. ' - but the real thing that gets me is that there's hardly anyone here. I just came out of number 1, been here nearly a day â?? but you're the first Calypsian I've come across.'
'I'm not surprised! Fact is many haven't found out since the blow-up that you have to go to Athena to get here. Everyone's still looking around for spaceship hangers!'
'He, he... Well count me in on that score, because until recently I didn't know that either. There's no notices anywhere on Calypso. I think the spaceship ride was part of the attraction for coming here...'
'I know what you mean. The whole deal is going down hill. Blame the greedy government. All they saw was a way of removing the spaceship businesses by providing this sneaky alternative way of getting here. Many traders I knew went under because of it, not just the pilots... Anyway, looks like I've gotta go back down. I was planning on going back in to one of the domes...'
'OK. See you around maybe...' At that he goes to the teleporter and disappears in a ball of light in the next split second.
I had done enough creature killing for a while for the same mediocre returns in exchange for nearly having got myself temporarily retired yet again. No matter how economical and efficient you tried to be, you could never really beat the symbiotic relationship between the creatures and the biodomes that supported them, and as I was low on ammo anyway, I didn't want to go back to Calypso either! I simply had to get a lot more credits somehow before even contemplating the return fare. However I also knew that trying to beat Entropia's powers-that-be by sticking to the system was very dificult, so it was time once again to maybe not stick to the system so much.
Gambling was about the only thing that worked so long as it was with someone that didn't perhaps have the experience that you did, and so wouldn't realize that gambling was taking place in the first place.. It was also highly illegal for that reason and Entropia's rulers came down heavily on anyone that did it. I would just have to find someone that was game.
I went to the teleporter and selected Alpha Apartment Complex North as my next destination.

 

Participant In Entropia - 24th Report: Second Rock From Calypso

'New planet? I wonder how they managed to find that out.' The two Tripudions in Biodome 8 that still hadn't moved, suddenly became unimportant.
I responded in the only way I could think of at that precise moment. 'W, what â?? where...'
'On the reader...' Delos confirms Jenna's blockbuster revelation, still partly watching the Tripudions just as I was. 'Eck! It's true! On the personal message reader.'
I cast my left eye down whilst also watching the creatures, still certain that the one to the right would move first. All too clearly in vivid red was â??Astro-survey finds new habitable planet officially named Rocktropiaâ? followed by â??This new world of endless possibilities and adventure awaits all Entropian colonists - see Information Terminals for detailsâ?.
Meanwhile, Dillinger was still shuffling left 'n' right in his inimitable manner near the teleporter also watching the two giant frogs, as the fifth member in the team came in with a much needed reality check. 'They've been saying this sort of thing for years already and no planet was actually ever found. Besides, there's no info terminals here so we'll have to go back to the control room to find out. If it's true it'll probably cost a small fortune to get there anyway. In the meantime this wager's still on. I still bet that the one to the left moves first. John! I think you'll lose this time...'
'Lets wait and see Ben. Then we'll all call it quits here and see about this Rocktropia...'
The Tripudions had been motionless for minutes already, so one of them had to move soon, especially as they were no more than fifty yards away from us - and I still knew that the one to the right would move first in spite of Ben's misplaced confidence. Any competition was won before it was fought. Suddenly the one to the right bounced towards us and everyone opened fire. Then the second one and a third rushed in. Moments later it was all over with the carcasses in a heap before us. 'John â?? I don't believe it! The nearest Tripudion usually always jumps first!'
'Not always. It depends. Anyway, better luck next time.' Noticing the slightly sheepish expression on Ben's face, I walked over to the pile of credits on the ground and transferred them into my personal inventory in the usual way.
Minutes later we're back in the control room and Jenna has made a beeline for the nearest information terminal. 'Hey everyone! It says you can get there from any teleporter on Calypso, from here or from Crystal Place and creature spawning areas have been introduced. Costs fifty credits from here or C-P or fourty from Calypso. Heck â?? that's one way only!' Whether forty credits or fifty credits, this seemed a small price to pay to me. This was a whole new frontier â?? a once in a lifetime opportunity.
'Then it has to exist. No doubt Entropia's â??powers that beâ? want to recoup some of their costs for finding it...' I paused, thinking there might be more. 'What else does it say.'
'Cool! There's a â??City of Dreamsâ?, a â??Lemmy's Castleâ? - a whole lot of other places, and EBN has a broadcasting station there already...' What Jenna was saying, was almost unreal. I ran over to the next nearest information terminal to see for myself. 'What the... Someone or someone's have been here big time! There's over twenty teleporters here! That means there's colonists there already. In a month the place will be choca-block. If we don't go now, we'll lose out.' Delos rallies to the cause.
'I'm in! Sounds like fun to me...'
'O.K. I'll join, even though I just lost a hundred credits. I'm bored with the asteroid anyway.'
'Right... Dillinger?'
'Don't know â?? fifty credits is a lot to get there for me at the moment and I'm a bit low on funds. But what I'm really worried about is not making the next rent on my apartment which is two days time. Remember that the nanocleaners and heating switch off when the rent is overdue...' I hadn't thought about this, but then considered that we wouldn't be there for too long anyway for a first trip. 'Yep, that's a good point, but I'm thinking of just three or four days to begin with, maybe a bit longer if it turns out to be worthwhile. Apartments should be O.K if they're not left unattended for months or something...'
'Yea â?? maybe you're right. I'll join you, but we share the loots equally on team hunts...'
'Of course! Don't we ever... Anyway, according to the e-map â?? which seems to have been updated by the way, as I'm sure Rocktropia wasn't on it yesterday, we can go to Lemmy's Bridge, City of dreams or Studio Street.' Jenna had already made her mind up as to where she was going to go.
'Lets see what City of Dreams is like. Sounds interesting...' Minutes later we had a unanimous decision for the same destination. The trip to the new planet was on. 'Lets go to the teleporter...'

 

Participant In Entropia - 25th Report: First Day on Rocktropia

Seconds later I'm standing next to the others near a teleporter in a whole new territory. Jenna must have arrived slightly ahead of the rest of us as she had obviously taken in some of the sights already. 'Great! We're back together... Those apartment blocks over there go way up!' Delos cuts in.
'Heck they're huge - those yellow windows look weird.'
'They sure do! Could be tinting or something. And there's a huge road here. Lets cross it and go and have a look...' Ben utters his agreement.
'Why not. If we could get one in the near future â?? an apartment, we could use it as a base to put loot in...' We ran to the road and started to cross it to get to the tower blocks. 'But at risk of changing the subject, I'm sure glad we all got here in one piece.' Dillinger concurred with Ben.
'Me as well. I was a bit sceptical back at the asteroid. Just one slight hitch and we could have ended up scattered all over space!' I was in total agreement with this, having been concerned myself when we were still back at Athena.
'Yer â?? I know what you mean... I preferred spaceships myself... And why is this road so wide and seems to go for ever in either direction?'
'I was wondering the same thing â?? why are the roads on Calypso much smaller. I don't get it either...' As we got nearer to one of the skyscrapers, Jenna filled us in on an important little detail in slight frustration. 'Grrrr! This one's fenced-off, so we couldn't get one anyway. That sign says it's still under development.'
Dillinger looked over at the other two towers. 'Typical! That was a waste of a walk then, and from what I can see the others have fences around them as well. I think we should put an apartment on hold for now anyway and get some loot first. There's no point in having one if we've got nothing to put in it...'
Dillinger was right on that score. Although an apartment would be an advantage in the near future, it wasn't essential for getting our planet-hopping enterprise off the ground.
'Yes! We definitely need the loot first, and for that we need to know where the mobs are and what minerals, matters and so on is here.' Jenna still had her mind on real estate.
'Yea, maybe that's the priority, but I'm just thinking about the alternative of sleeping rough. We'll need somewhere eventually...' There were bound to be other places we could check out.
'I'm sure we'll find somewhere that's not barricaded over twenty-odd teleporter locations that we can squat in or something before it gets dark. For now though we'd better start TP jaunting to see what's where. We need loot...' Delos comes up with a suggestion.
'Well we haven't seen any mobs here yet. Why not try Studio Street that's just east of here â?? according to the map...'
'Sure! That's nearest to here. According to the map, this planet's huge â?? if it's to the same scale as Calypso, so we'd better check out as many places as possible as quickly as possible. Lets go back to the teleporter...'

 

Participant In Entropia - 26th Report: Video Vixens and the Pop Dragons

Seconds later we're all standing around the teleporter at Studio Street, which I double-checked by quickly looking at the e-map. 'Right, going by the map this is one of just a few teleporter places that we have automatic ID clearance for, the others being Lemmy's Bridge, Vicar Village, Lemmy's Castle and where we just came from â?? the point being that there's probably loads of other places that we have to get ourselves, and I'm sure that only then will they show up on the map.'
At first there's not much of a response, and Jenna and Dillinger have started a 3-AM dance for some reason. 'Well don't all reply at once!' Delos finds this funny.
'He, he! I think it's just that we're all a bit numbed out John. There's something not right about this planet full stop, and what you said â?? and I'm sure you're right, that we'll have to find wherever else completely blind?'
'Of course... What else can we do? There's obviously no 'other location' info, we checked that back on Calypso...' Jenna has stopped dancing.
'Yea, we did. Anyway, lets look around here a bit.' Ben makes an observation. 'There's a large building to the east that's downhill all the way from here. Maybe that's the studio â?? who knows?' I started walking east. 'Good idea, lets have a look. We can watch out for mobs on the way. Something tells me we're gonna see something soon on the scopes as we've seen nothing yet.' Minutes later and we've all stormed into the front of the building in the same way that we always did. 'Well at least this one isn't fenced-off, but there's just loads of the usual terminals here... Nothing interesting at all.'
'I agree Delos. It's a typical tourist trap made to look more on the outside than it really is. They just want our repair fees and to buy stuff from the trade terminals, but we all need ammo so may as well get some...' Dillinger informs everyone of nearby creature activity.
'Everyone! There's red dots on the scopes slightly further east! Get enough rounds everyone and lets go see what they are...' Moments later we're heading down a long, wide road away from the studio, and the red dots slowly but surely get closer and closer to the middle of the scope. We were in for a reality check.
'What the... There's four or five female-like entities moving very strangely along the sides of the road. They ID as Video Vixens, whatever that means.' Jenna voices her own opinion.
'Yea! I don't like them. They look like half dressed mad bimbos...' This has everyone in hysterics which for some reason brings out my more ruthless streak. 'Ha, yer! Whatever. Lets ping em anyway â?? whips or no whips. I think they're quite easy.'
'Yea! I hate em! Lets ping all of them.' I turned to Jenna and laughed as Ben cut in with slight concern. 'I dunno... It'd make me feel kind of odd shooting them. They look so entropian, it would be like sort of murder...'
'I see what you mean, but if we just try an go past them they'll approach us anyway. They're obviously mobs what ever they look like, otherwise they wouldn't be showing up as red dots. C'mon, lets ping em...' Seconds later we had a more or less unanimous decision, so I opened fire on the nearest one with the Isis-HL6 and it jigged towards me erratically in a strange kind of dance as a huge slice came of its health indicator. It cracked the whip at me a few times which was sort of pointless as I wearing good armour, and I fired a few more rounds that brought it to a heap in front of me. At the same time, Jenna opened up on the second one and Delos, Dillinger and Ben dealt with the remaining three. Minutes later they had all been transferred to our personal inventories by the matter converters.
'Ell â?? they were a bit too easy. Personally I think they're not much more than eye candy for the more deranged colonist...'
'True Delos, but er... It's still loot. Not much but it's a start, and they're economical on ammo. Anyway, lets see what those other red dots are in the direction of those hills there. It's difficult to see what they are with this roadside wall in the way.' Soon we're all standing on the edge of a field looking at a huge herd of two-legged purple behemoths. 'Heck! Pop Dragons? At this distance they must be huge! These look like major league mobs to me.'
'Dillinger! I think you're right... We should all ping just one of the younger looking ones to find out.' Seconds later we're all aiming at the nearest Pop Dragon with anything long-range that we've got. 'Fire!' Five laser beams converge on the purple creature which then starts hurtling towards us at incredible speed for something so huge, but most worrying of all was that hardly anything had come off its health-level. We all fired another round, and a bit more came off, but not enough as it was suddenly upon us.
Then, whack! Once again the dreaded yang-yang sound filled my head and seconds later I was back at the nearest revive along with everyone else.

 

Participant In Entropia - 27th Report: The Encounter with a Vehicle

Jenna exclaimed out loud. 'No way am I going up against them again! It hit me just once and that was it!' We were all just standing there half dazed, and Dillinger once again started shifting left-and-right.
'We should've stuck with the Video thingies – they were easier to kill and nicer to look at!' Jenna still hadn't lost her ironic sense of humour. 'Yea! Lets all get those bimbos again. At least we'll get some loot!' Ben, Delos and myself were by now rolling around in stitches at the comedy act. Somehow I regained my composure. 'Ha, ha! Yer - I'd sure rather settle for those, but our main task is still to find other teleporter locations. Lets just follow this road round this time and not go directly to Studio Street. I have a feeling this road links up with different places anyway.'
Moments later we're all running south from the revive at City of Dreams at thirty-plus miles an hour along this narrow, winding, up-and-down road. Ben mentions something that in truth had been in the back of my mind since first arriving at the new planet. 'You know this will take time John... Even running. I mean – just look at the size of this planet, going by the map...' I'm about to reply, when suddenly – whoooosh! We all stood still as a large metallic object whizzed past us. Jenna shrieked out. 'Eeeeeee!' I was also startled. We all were. Delos asks the question on everyone's mind.
'What the...? What was that?' I looked down at my scope. 'No idea, but the scope says it's entropian. It's another green dot on the scope, not a red one, going right to the edge. The 'green dot' then stopped and started coming back towards the middle of the scope, which meant coming back towards us... 'It's returning, but we're not in a PvP zone going by the indicator?'
'No Delos we're not. I've no idea why it's coming back or what it is. But I'm sure glad it wasn't a robot. We'd be at the revive again if it was, because we weren't checking the scopes.'
'Yer – but the way it's glinting in the sun, it looks like a robot and is sure as fast as some of them..' The robot, or what ever it was, is still coming back towards us at some speed. Jenna then gives us some very welcome info. 'Hey everyone! I just did an ID check and there's someone called StarGal in it – a freelancer! And it's not a robot! It's called a Saehrimnir-M-K-One.' I then quickly checked myself, wondering why I hadn't done earlier. 'Thanks Jenna! You're right! It's definitely entropian. Well everyone – lets just wait here a bit. What else can we do...'
The robot-looking object then suddenly stopped about thirty yards away and 'StarGal' stepped out of it and walked towards us. For all I knew it could have been a cleverly disguised drone and the green-dot on the scope could have been faked, so I increased the reflector shield on my armour just in case.
'Hi! I'm StarGal. If you're trying to get to places I can help for a very small fee.' I now knew there was nothing to worry about. She was as much an entropian as anyone else. Jenna replied. 'OK, thanks... Erm – what is that? You gave me and my friends a bit of a scare just now, he, he! We thought it was another robot, but then saw that a red dot wasn't showing on the scopes...'
'No, no – it's a vehicle. Have you not seen one?' Jenna shaked her head.
'No, never... We've only been here a very short while. We came from Calypso.' Dillinger then introduced himself. 'Yea, that's right – and nice to meet you. I'm Dillinger. What are 'vehicles'?' Some sort of drone you control yourself? I've not seen one either. None of us have...' StarGal explained in some detail what vehicles were, including how they were powered by combustion engines that needed refined crude oil to operate, but the most important enlightening piece of information, was that some new fabricating plant had introduced them just over a day ago, which explained why we hadn't seen one before. There certainly were none on Calypso when we left...
'...so, that's it really. The thing is that they're great for teleporter runs, so if you're all still trying to get the other teleporters, you'll save a lot of time. Rocktropia is much bigger than Calypso...' Jenna asks about the most important factor of all. The cost... 'How much are you charging?'
'Not too much, just 3 PEDs per TP per passenger if you need just a few of the harder one's to reach, or a small discount at 59 PEDs each if you need all of them. Apart from the one's new arrivals get auto ID clearance for, that is...' Dillinger asks an equally important question. 'Mmmm – seems reasonable to me depending on how many other TP's there are...'
'Twenty-one altogether... Anyway, you all coming? There's mad wolf packs, flying dragons and things called Zombies near and around many of them, so they're difficult to get to. With this you'll get there much more quickly...' We all agree on the offer and moments later we're all crammed into the vehicle's seats. StarGal then presses a switch and the vehicle roars into life. Dillinger forgot to mention his sometimes nervous disposition, hitting the underneath of the vehicle's roof in surprise.
'Ow!'
'Ooops! Sorry – forgot to mention these things make a bit of a noise when they start up.' It was time for comedy act number 2. 'Thanks for the warning... I c'can see now why it's a safer and not just a faster way of getting TPs. The mobs would run away from it!' Mild hilarity ensues for the next few minutes, and then finally everyone calms down. 'He, he! It depends on which creatures. Some will, but some will attack it, especially flying dragons. But the engine will quieten down as we speed up. OK everyone! Here we go...'
I noticed as she pushed her foot down on some sort of lever and suddenly we're moving at great speed along the road.

The next great adventure was truly on.

 

Participant In Entropia - 28th Report: Destinations Not Known

General chit-chat commenced as I checked the e-map, which told me that we were heading due south. StarGal informed us as to where we were going just as we passed a few Android Video Vixens lingering on the side of the road. 'The first place we'll get to is Mulholland Way. It's not too far. When we get there you'll have to do the usual ID-clearance bit.' Jenna asks a question as we continued at some speed through Rocktropia's sunlit landscape.
'What are flying dragons like? We got hit real bad the other day by a Pop Dragon â?? are they like those?'
'I can imagine â?? they're quite tough! Flying dragons are even worse, or Lemmy Dragons as they're really called, plus they fly of course so harder to deal with. We'll see those at Lemmy's Castle, but not today as they're way up north...' Finally we approached the first teleporter not far from the side of the road in the middle of a huge expanse of blue tiles, before StarGal slowed the vehicle to a halt. I got out and went over to it whilst checking the e-map, which wasn't showing a teleporter symbol, so not one that I already had auto ID clearance for. I stepped-up onto the platform and sure enough received the standard message saying that a new location 'Mulholland Way', had been added to my destination list.
The others followed suite except StarGal, just as I realized that we had potential company. I turned in the direction of the red dot on the scope; a lone Vampire Chick New Born skulking on the other side of the road, which luckily meant we didn't have too much to worry about. 'Should we ping it? Looks freaky...' Delos realised as I did that Jenna still obviously resented female humanoids, which was understandable. 'You just can't stand those things can you, and is it worth pinging just one between all of us? Lets get the teleporters first â?? and StarGal's waiting anyway...'
'Yep! You're right â?? Jenna, you've been voted out. C'mon, lets go back to the vehicle...' Moments later and we're all back inside waiting for info on what our next port-of-call is, when StarGal politely informs us of an important little factor. 'Welcome back everyone! Don't want to sound rude, but all the time that the vehicle is running it's consuming fuel, if you understand where I'm coming from? So if I can get on it, I'd be grateful...'
'Yes! Sorry about that. We were just having a mini conference. Anyway, which is the next place?
'Studio Gate South. There's not much there and fairly much the same mobs, but we're a little rushed so lets get going...'
StarGal pushed the gas peddle and the vehicle screeched-off down the road leaving the Vampire Chick in a world of its own.

 

Participant In Entropia - 29th Report: Back on Calypso


Nothing about entropian life was a certainty. Just a few days ago, we had managed to get to all of the teleporter locations on Rocktropia, thanks to StarGal and her incredible vehicle, but me, the team and her were no longer a unit, and I was back on Calypso doing what I usually did â?? freelancing! The split-up was more or less by everyone's agreement or choice and not down to any real animosity of any kind.
Cost had been a major factor for Dillinger and Jenna, and for myself if I was to be totally honest. Constant teaming round-the-clock had a habit of racking up expenditure, even though the general consensus entropia-wide was that teaming helped reduce the outgoings; the reality was different however... Teaming was OK once in a while, but not all the time, and Delos simply wanted a vacation to somewhere called Another Werld to get away from creatures and general hustle'n'bustle for a few weeks, and StarGal still had her own little transport enterprise to take care of. Whatever, why ever, I was back down here and I had a few things to take care of.
I transferred all of my weapons, armour pieces and attachments into a repair terminal via the matter converter, as they were in that bad condition, then pressed the usual buttons on the machine and watched as the particle cleaner made short work of dents, welts and rust-spots in a few split-seconds. Once everything was back in my inventory, it was time to pay a visit to somewhere that I hadn't seen since before the trip to the other planet. The apartment for which the rent was long overdue. I stepped-up onto the Fort Ares teleporter and vamooshed into the fourth-dimension in the usual fashion.
The stars were out in the heavens because Omegaton West Habitat was in a different time zone on the other side of Calypso, and the double-helix tower block containing my humble little abode stood imposingly against the night sky on the raised artificial plateau. I televated to the second floor and went up to the estate terminal for my apartment and transferred the required credits to pay the rent, then went on in via the sliding door.
It turned out that Dillinger's point about the nanocleaners switching off had been correct, as the first thing to hit my senses was something akin to slightly rotting foliage. Luckily this started to clear as no doubt they had started working again. Then I transferred all of the Rocktropia loot to my personal-storage-unit before leaving the apartment and going back to the teleporter, where I bumped into an old friend, Bela Lee Cyras, a member of a fairly well known society called UnitedCalypsonians. Sometimes life was full of irony.
'Ha, ha! How you doing Player? I was just on my way up on the off-chance you'd be in. I'm looking for people to join a hunt at Nea's Place. There's five already including me but we need another...'
'Well ... Don't know... I've just got down from Rocktropia. Been weeks up there which cost a bomb, so if it's just Ambulimax I'll do it, anything harder I'll give it a miss...'
'Yep, it's Ambu's. You'll be OK. Anyway, the team's waiting so lets get there...'

 

Participant In Entropia - 30th Report: The Great Ambulimax Hunt

There was quite a team assembled at Nea's as I arrived in the next second or so. Someone called Destiny was brandishing a longblade wearing no armour and SlybutFast held a mean looking carbine, whilst Emma from Entropia Resolution was standing next to an all-terrain vehicle. Then there was Jeaves, Bela and myself.
SlybutFast set the scene. 'OK, lets go and get the Ambu's before other teams arrive and spoil the loot pool!' We started running north from the teleporter, navigating all manner of foliage, divits, hills, dips and odd looking huge plants. Suddenly there were Ambulimax everywhere just ahead of us, confirmed by a mass of red dots on my scope. Ambulimax are one of the more unique creatures in Entropia, with the size and mass of a small tree, only lengthways supported on two relatively small legs right in the middle, that suddenly run at you like maniacal torpedo's when disturbed â?? which is what happened to the nearest one as we all zeroed-in on it with everything we had.
Somehow we all managed to stay alive until finally it fell in a heap, then once again the matter-converters kicked-in and distributed the proceeds between us. This was just the first of many others, with the next hour at least being a non-stop frenzy of whizzing binary bullets, laser bolts, slashing swords and swishing limbs and high-pitched wails from the infuriated reptilians.
We were on a roll. More and more loot was piling up by the minute, but at some cost to ourselves, as we weren't having everything our own way. A few of us ended up at the nearest revive terminal, including myself; because of a misfire, or because one of us had become isolated and were suddenly facing two or three of them at once.
What ever, we were certainly in the thick of things to say the least, but it had all been more than worth while in the end, and a great deal of fun to boot.

 

Participant In Entropia - 31st Report: Boats, Hovercraft, Flyers and the Black Box.

I checked through all the items lying in my personal storage unit that included all the loot from the Ambulimax hunt some days ago, then went outside the service centre at Cape Corinth to test-drive my latest acquisition, a hovercraft that I had won at the auction yesterday.
The Valkyrie was still the vehicle of choice for road travel, but of course I couldn't go across water with it - I would have to get out and swim. So this was the whole point of getting it, which would also allow me to go over certain types of terrain as well as water; but my big question was, would it be any good. Time would tell.
I spawned the hovercraft not far from the teleporter before getting into it, and a whiring sound filled my ears as the intake turbine kicked-in and inflated the air cushion. The whole thing lifted and suddenly I was floating majestically above the ground. I had no idea what the acceleration was like, so I went slowly at first in an effort not to go into any of the surrounding objects, including a gun-tower, which I nearly hit by mistake, but luckily managed to avoid.
Eventully the way ahead became slightly clearer and I was able to go a bit more bravely. Soon I was on a narrow track following the coastline and I was amazed as to how effortlessly the craft was moving. I turned to the right and increased the throttle to max', sending the craft into the sea, just as two flyers screached overhead and disappeared into the distance. I had noticed them just a few minutes before near the quayside, so no doubt they had taken-off from there, but where ever they were going to, they were certainly in a hurry.
I continued westward accross the vast ocean, more than impressed at the crafts performance, then noticed what seemed to be the beginnings of a small island on the horizon when I had just been considering turning back to Corinth. Checking the e-map revealed no island, yet there was definately something infront of me, so this was a bit odd. Curiosity got the better of me and so I carried on, reaching it not much later, and there wasn't much to it; very small and very flat. No creatures were there, no mobs - nothing was there.
The big question on my mind now, was if there was yet another uncharted island after this one. I pushed the autopilot button and started to make a rollup as something definitely weird was going on - not that I'm really the nervy type, but I wanted a mini-break anyway... The craft carried on for another hundred yards or so, and then I decided to call it a day once again and head back to Corinth, when suddenly there was something else showing in the distance. Another island, with something odd-looking on it? It was still too far to tell, but it was something so I carried on towrds it.
Eventually I got to it, a much bigger island than the first one, and again also not showing on the map. As to the odd-looking thing on it, I was now staring at a huge black box bang in the middle of the island. Something was not right, and my first thaughts were the safety of myself and the hovercraft. I immediately vacated it before putting it into my perosnal inventory and producing my trusty carbine, then checked the scope for any creature activity, but no red dots were showing.
I checked the entire island, not that there was that much of it to check, and had inspected the black box for some ten minutes or more, but I couldn't find anything. Not an entrance, no windows - nothing at all! In the end I realised there was no real purpose to it and no danger of any kind, so I respawned the hovercraft and started to go back. I was less than twenty seconds into the return journey, when a powerboat went passed in the oposite direction and alighted onto the island.
Something told me that they had come here with purpose, that they hadn't discovered it by accident like I had, so I asked if they knew what the black box was all about, but I got no reply... I pushed the throttle once more and headed back for Corinth.

 

Participant In Entropia - 32nd Report: Enigma of the Typhon Crater


One of the biggest landmarks in Entropia is a huge crater caused by the Typhon impact that completely destroyed the old capital city Hadesheim and that rearranged Planet Calypso. There's nothing new here in itself; most entropians know about this, but the real mystery is why the crater is so heavily guarded by robots.
Always one for going off on some foolish solo escapade, I decided to try and check-out the crater once and for all. After the weird black box discovery, I had gone all the way from Cape Corinth to Corinth Hills, a small residential area north-east of the crater, so it seemed that all I would have to do initially, was to go in a due south-westerly direction towards the crater rim, and so I set-off to do just that.
After a few minutes of running, I had quite a few encounters with Berycleds and Daikibas which were easy enough to deal with, all the while getting closer and closer to the rim of the crater - but then everything started going dark, which I took as a bit of a bad omen - because why all of a sudden?
Just moments before, visibility was OK, now I could hardly see anything except the silhouette of the ridge against the night sky. I increased the gamma level of my visor to compensate, and then began the slightly arduous task of scaling the crater ridge, finally getting to the top some ten minutes or so later.
Once on the other side of the ridge, I was met with the strangest of scenes. The entire area was awash in a thick fog, with dead, leafless trees all around, and the distant centre of the crater glowed eerily in a reddish light. I started to go lower and lower into the crater, and soon enough robot activity became evident on the direction scope, identified as Legionair's and Droka's which I knew were very hard-hitting robots, so I decided to try and circumnavigate the perimeter to see if I could find a less heavily guarded route before once again attempting to go further downwards, but which ever way I went it made no difference.
However, I still wanted to at least try and find out what was down there; near or at the centre. I knew my chances were very slim, but I felt it was worth the risk. In the end, I decided to discard my armour and dispense with the carbine and just run as far as possible as quickly as possible. The idea was that no armour and no weapon would have the robots consider me as less of a threat - well, that was the theory.
Soon the numbers of robots started to increase rapidly in all directions, but I wasn't going to turn back now. On and on I continued, and minutes later the scope was thick with red dots as I made a beeline for the centre of the crater, still hoping that I could see anything unusual that I could get a screen-shot of that I could use as evidence of any find, but inevitably my luck was about to run out.
Robots from all directions just zeroed-in on me; it didn't matter what one's at that precise moment, although I did manage to get a decent shot of a Droka Generation 1 moments before I was hit by a multitude of laser bolts and subsequently sent packing to the nearest revive.
I didn't make a second attempt as I knew it would be pointless, but I was still convinced that there was something down there other than the robots themselves. I wondered if the Typhon itself had formed some kind of robot base, or if there was something else that the robots were shielding?
I pondered the distinct possibility that a large team made up of uber colonists would one day find something down there, but for now the mystery of the crater still remained to be seen.

 

Participant In Entropia - 33rd Report: The Hovercraft Race

Somehow I made it back to Corinth Hills in one piece from the revive point near the crater, and from there had gone all the way back to Cape Corinth in the hovercraft, but I wasn't entirely convinced that this was the best form of transport for going along scenic roads with. It had proven itself in the test run a few days ago for going across water, but this was something else.
The thing was that it simply turned too erratically on any terrain that wasn't level and wouldn't move at all on anything with an incline of more than thirty-degrees, so I went to the auction building to see if there were any Valkyrie's for sale, the same thing that I had been taken for a ride in on Rocktropia. Eventually I found one with good condition level and a reasonable buyout price, then transferred it into my personal inventory.
'Ha, ha! Look who it isn't.' I turned to the familiar sounding voice coming from behind.
'Delos!' I was surprised to say the least. 'Any problem...?'
'No, not at all. I just saw your hovercraft and was wondering if you'd be interested in a little wager. Now there's this great new open tarmacked road place called New Harlem Express Way on Rocktropia that I saw a few days ago, and it would be great for racing on. Even in hovercraft, and well I've got one as well, so... Hardly anyone goes there, so no spies...' I was interested. I had never thought of a hovercraft race before, but it sounded like fun to me. 'OK – how much? Baring in mind it will cost 40 credits to get there...' Moments later we agreed on a reasonable amount before heading for the teleporter. Enough to make it worthwhile, but not too much to break the bank balance.
Suddenly we were standing underneath one end of a flyover looking at a lone female video clone standing fifty yards or so away from the teleporter plinth, but hunting mobs wasn't the reason we had come here. Testing-out the express way was...
Turning around had me looking down the express way itself, a vast expanse of tarmac going way off into the distance, wide enough for at least three vehicles. We spawned our hovercraft, then started speeding along it, passing one tower block after the other and clocking the occasional red dot on the scope every now and then. It seemed to go on for ever, but eventually we got to the end and immediately noticed an exit that hooked-up to a familiar looking ring-road that links-up a number of teleporter locations in that area, at least going by the map.
We turned right into the ring-road almost wing-to-wing, then turned right again into the other side of the express way. All the way down it we went, to the point where two chequered finish-banners hung suspended beneath a road bridge. We had decided on two laps, so there was still one more to go. We whooshed under the bridge like some futuristic silver-white phantoms at some speed, causing havoc among the thronging crowds of video clones that by now were all over the road – occasionally running a few over, like something out of Danger Race 3000.
On and on we went with virtually nothing between us, passing or going through yet more video clones and somehow not managing to prang the transports against the curbside or the occasional unexpected bollard. We reached the finish-banner bridge once again a few minutes later, and I was convinced that I had crossed under it first by just a few split-seconds. I brought the hovercraft to a halt and pushed the intercom switch.

 

Participant In Entropia - 34th Report:[FONT=Times New Roman, serif] Warrior's and Warlock's

[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]'What do you think Delos...” I looked across at Delos through the visor of his hovercraft that was now also stationary just a few feet behind me. 'He, he! That was a lot of fun! Er – I think you just shaved it John. Gratz! I'll just do the usual bla, bla...'
The virtual trade window fizzed up in front of me just like a billion times before and I quickly transferred the credited amount into my personal depository. 'Thanks Delos. It was a close-run thing, could have gone either way...' I then informed him about some info concerning a new robot menace.
'By the way! I got a message earlier from Entropia Express asking me to investigate that large crater where Hadesheim used to be. They say that allegedly there's some new types of robots there – and would I like to find out for them what the truth of the matter is. Don't know if you'd be interested in coming along?'
'Sure! I'll join you – if we can get some of them, they might be worth a bit...' Returning our respective hovercraft to our personal inventories, we spent the next few minutes working out some sort of plan of action, then went to the nearest teleporter to get to Camp Phoenix. From there we started going north towards the crater itself, and the first new robot that we immediately discovered was a Defender Generation 02 battling away with two other colonists.
'Looks like they were right John. I've certainly not seen one of these before. Certainly it's a new type – but what's brought it here? Does Entropia General Council know?' It was certainly a new type... Just a few days ago there had only been the usual massed-ranks of JamRaider's here and nothing else. As to what the General Council knew, that was anyone's guess.
'Nope! They've not been here before, that's for sure. Lord knows what EGC knows, but I bet they know something about this.' Delos just nodded as we continued in a north-westerly direction instead of going directly north which would have been the quicker way to get to the crater, if not for more of these Defender robots in the way, although at that precise point, I suddenly remembered what Delos had said earlier about having a go at some of them, and I certainly needed the loot as much as he did, in spite of the won wager at New Harlem Express Way.
'Shall we have a go at that Defender just ahead of us? We may as well find out now what they're capable of...' Delos had obviously made his mind up, as he was already heading for the nearest of these new Defender's with his BLP carbine at the ready. 'Yer - lets go for it before someone else does...' We both closed in and opened fire on the menacing looking metal foe, with his BLP rounds taking care of the robots armour defences, whilst my laser bolts dealt with the electronics. Both of our own armour defences took quite a battering as it opened-up on us in retaliation, but it was soon caught in a steady crossfire that won the day for us. Piled up in a crumpled heap before us moments later, we then transferred equal amounts of the remaining valuable components into our inventories, and then headed for the next one.
We managed to get two more of them over the next ten minutes or so, by which time we could see the distinct outer ridge of the crater against the horizon, and thick cloud or smoke beyond it.
We continued going north-west, and a VTOL aircraft flew overhead along the way as we passed a number of hovering Steel Bird Generation 01's, which we had seen before, although they hadn't been in Entropia that long. We were tempted to 'have a go', but something told us that they would be quite a challenge, and in any case we weren't here just for hunting anyway. We just continued towards the ridge, and minutes later were looking over the edge and down into the centre of the crater.
I remembered the centre of the crater as having been bleak and barren with a light-grey mist and just a few trees and rocks here and there. Now there were strange, partly lit constructions that had probably been put there by the robots, and the scope told me that there was quite a few roaming around down there somewhere. Edging further down, we soon became aware of a number of Warlock Generation 07's! Very predatory looking, new types of robots that I was sure we had to stay well clear of, if we were to avoid being sent back to Camp Phoenix and having to begin the long trek north all over again.
I voiced my concern, saying that we should get some good screen-shots first by switching the auto-video on and maybe continue hunting later using greater fire-power, and Delos agreed. As we continued ever further towards these new structures at the centre, we somehow managed to avoid being attacked by a multitude of Droka's, Coordinator's, Warrior's and more of the new Warlock's, and one or two of another new type of robot that wasn't there before - Steel Bird Elite's. These were larger than the Steel Bird Generation 01's, and weren't just hovering there in one spot waiting for someone to attack them, made all too evident as they unexpectedly swooped down onto some other colonists that had just appeared on the scene.
Now virtually at the centre of the crater and right in among these constructions, we discovered another odd looking artifact called a Launch silo. In fact there were quite a few of these Launch silos, and perhaps rather foolishly, we started to inspect one of them in great detail, thinking that perhaps these are the things that launched Steel Bird's, which sort of made sense going by what they're called. Foolishly; because suddenly, but far too late, we noticed a lone red dot zeroing-in on the centre of the scope, which meant zeroing-in on us!
We turned and saw the Steel Bird Elite upon us, surely one of the pack that we had just passed. Once again I received the dreaded 'yang-yang' sound and then everything went red just as always when you get killed in Entropia. Moments later we were both in front of a revive-terminal at an outpost south of the crater, where a gathering of colonists stood looking just as dazed as we were.
Perhaps they didn't want to go all the way back to the crater just to face this new robot menace again either, at least not for a while. 'Phew! That got us! Wasn't expecting that one...'
'No! I second that!' Lets call it a day for now and edit those images and send them in – then we can go at them again...' We produced our respective e-pads and started going through the video captures.[/FONT]