Basket dusts off the Engi Cruiser Type B for a fifth try. The hangar shows The Vortex on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled: a Heavy Ion and a Heavy Laser I, an Anti-Personnel drone, two System Repair drones and the Drone Reactor Booster augmentation. The crew is a single Engi, Kirkner. "I'm going to try and get this one to Sector 8," Basket says. The run gets as far as Sector 5, the Rock Homeworlds, where a Slug Instigator destroys The Vortex for a score of 1650.
Part 1: A crew of one becomes three
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. Basket sends Kirkner to answer a Federation signal ("worst case we lose the guy") and sets the anti-personnel drone loose on an intruder. The plan for fights is set early: the Heavy Ion knocks the shields down, then the Heavy Laser hits the weapons. A Rebel Rigger offers to surrender "for not very much stuff," and Basket says no. A Pirate Scout with two blasters waits in a nebula, and a Federation message sends The Vortex hunting a second Rebel Rigger. Basket turns down its surrender too, hoping for more scrap.
An Auto-Assault in an asteroid field hits with a missile, but the two repair drones keep up. "I like having the two repair drones, but I wish I had more attack stuff." A Rebel Fighter and a Pirate Scout follow. Then a well-known slave trader, in the event's words, offers "laborers" cheap, and Basket pays 40 scrap to buy one and free them. Stelly, a second Engi, joins the crew.
A Rebel Disruptor with a combat drone tries to jump away. "I really hate it when they get away," Basket says, and keeps shooting at its piloting until the fight is won. The Vortex comes away with a Breach Bomb Mark II. At the next beacon Basket hires a Human, Bjorn, and puts them on the shields. "We're actually doing really well. Now we have a bomb."
Part 2: Drones and a Heavy Laser II
Part 2 crosses Sector 2, the Mantis Controlled Sector. A Mantis Fighter drops boarders but carries only one ion weapon, and it goes down. At a store Basket sells a System Repair drone to buy a Defense Drone II and repairs the hull all the way. "Anyway, we're broke, so we'll just continue on." A wrecked station from an old battle gets skipped: "I really don't want to lose a guy."
Sector 3 is another Civilian Sector. In an ion storm a Pirate Interceptor with two shields gives up: "You are considerably more well-armed than I would have thought. We surrender." Basket takes the 7 missiles, 2 drone parts and 17 scrap. The next beacon hands over a free Combat Drone Mark I, and the shields get an upgrade. A fight at a sensor station costs two drone parts for 16 scrap and some sensor readings. "So that wasn't worth it." An Auto-Surveyor drops a Hull Repair Drone. "Oh my goodness, we just beat the game," Basket jokes.
At the last store of the sector Basket buys three fuel and a Heavy Laser Mark II, upgrades the weapons system to run it, and adds a Backup Battery and some drone parts. An abandoned station pays out a little more scrap before the part ends.
Part 3: Out of fuel in the nebula
Sector 4 is the Uncharted Nebula, and The Vortex arrives with two fuel. The first beacon holds an Auto-Assault with two shields, and with no fuel to run, Basket has to win. It does, for three fuel. A second Auto-Assault with drones knocks out the weapons and jumps away before it dies. "Man, that guy really beat us up." Basket adds two bars of reactor power. With one fuel left, a Rebel Rigger has to be beaten too, and it pays a little fuel. The drone bay gets an upgrade.
A heavily damaged Federation ship is hiding in the nebula, and following it brings in Shirai, a Zoltan. "Oh, we got a free guy." With the distress beacon on, a Rebel Fighter shows up, and Basket targets its pilot so it cannot run, winning fuel. A Pirate Instigator is too much: "I'm just going to jump because I'm not winning this fight."
The hull is critical when the sector map offers the Rock Homeworlds or Zoltan Controlled space. Basket picks the Rock Homeworlds. There a Slugman fuel depot asks prices Basket cannot pay ("wow, those trades are ridiculous"), the haggling goes badly, and a Slug Instigator with two shields attacks.
How it ended
The engines go critical, and The Vortex breaks apart in Sector 5 with Kirkner, Stelly, Bjorn and Shirai aboard. The game-over box reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 1650. "We got a little further I think than before with this ship, but we didn't get as far as I wanted," Basket says. The video goes to the hangar and the ship list before its end cards.
