This article is biased because I'm a crew member of Normandie, and I actually get 10% commission on any friend who signs up for their flat rate transport fee. (so please mention me if you do sign up :D) But I also love NI, would like it to be a lot more accessible, for my own sake as well as others! and would definitely be posting this anyway. Before space expanded I was happily planet-hopping several times a week in my Sleip, and calling in frequently at NI. I've sometimes even managed to drag half my Soc oven here with me! I t wasn't a problem working this in my repair crew Mothership Duties, cos I could fly out to join the MS within 30 min from any place in Universe. No longer. Now I'm virtually stuck on Caly, if I want to keep my job, because that's where Normandie summons from usually. And my chances of organising another Soc trip to NI are close to zero , as things stand. I've noticed that I'm not the only one with problems getting back and forth from NI. I've also met people who are desperate to get a flight out from NI, by any means at all, and hang around for days, just looking for a pilot. Thrusters and vehicles only rarely appear on auction, of course. But there looks to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Normandie is, after all, a commercial passenger ship and she's now equipped with Warp Drive and beginning passenger service in earnest. She can now jump from Caly to NI in a matter of seconds! On the downside: most passenger trips are from Caly to Arkadia, and back, of course because that's where all the people are. NI appears on the schedule once a week , on Fridays, and I'm not even sure if we can expect that to happen, if there's no demand come Friday. So I want to ask everybody, like me, who wants a regular passenger service to and from NI as often as possible to go to Normandie's website and post about it ! If you sign up for the flat -rate unlimited travel package, all the better (100 PED /month, and even if flights remain weekly, that could still work out as a pretty good deal, compared to commercial quad flights, if you travel 3-4 times a month,) There are also single-flight rates on offer. Remember, this a new service, so there's a lot of scope for the schedule to alter, in response to public demand. So please let John Black Knight (the owner) know that the demand is there. Remember, too, that the warp drive is expensive to use, so if Normandie can't get enough paying passengers per trip, it just isn't gonna happen. So don't just ask for the service, do try to put your money where your mouth is, and use it! Thanks, jay :) PS don't forget to mention what times you could travel. Normandie is currently running flights around 20.00- 21.00, because JBK and many of the crew are British, and this is a very convenient time for us. It mifght be worth bearing that in miind, if you are American, for example I know that JBK origuinally planned to hand over to differents captains to run flights more suited different time zones, but I doubt that will happen soon. In the short time, if you can go for times when we Brits are still awake, that's prolly easier to arrange.
John Just started a new a new thread on PCF for Normandie. Normandie will be calling at NI at 20.35 tomorrow (Friday) then warping to Calypso at 21.00. If you are on Caly or RT , you can catch a flight in to NI tomorrow, if you on NI want a flight out, or want to talk to JBK and/or suscribe, be there (i would suggest CC as the obvious place) when the ship arrives. I should add that once you are the GL of a mothership, you can then be summoned from anywhere on planet, and only need to click "yes" to go up into space. But you do need to meet John to get yourself added. Like I said, please do try to use this service, to ensure its continuation!
