Basket takes the Rock Cruiser out again, this time with the ship's achievements in mind. The ship is the Bulwark, Layout A, on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled, carrying an Artemis, a Hull Missile and the Rock Plating augmentation, with no drone system. The crew list shows three Rocks: Tai Yi, Berko and Teldarin. Over three parts the Bulwark adds two free lasers and a new crew member, and the run ends in Sector 5, where a Rebel Rigger destroys it for a score of 1978.
Part 1: Two free lasers
The pause menu shows the three Rock Cruiser achievements still locked: "Is it warm in here?", "Defense Drones Don't Do Anything!" and "Ancestry", which means finding the secret sector. Basket plans to go after them, probably by way of the Rock Homeworlds.
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. A black market weapons trader offers an unknown weapon for 45 scrap, and Basket tries it. "We got screwed," Basket says, attacks the ship anyway, and takes the missiles it offers to surrender. A mercenary is paid to delay the Rebels, and a cargo ship's escape from a Rebel station turns into another win.
Then debris from an old battle turns up a functioning weapon, a Laser Charger. "You can shoot four blasts, interesting." At the store Basket tries an Automated Re-loader for the first time and heads for Sector 2, another Civilian Sector. The Laser Charger lets Basket save missiles in the next fights, and in a nebula a weapons storage site hands over a Hull Smasher Laser. "This weapon is really cool."
Part 2: The Uncharted Nebula
Sector 3 is the Uncharted Nebula. A Rebel Rigger goes down to the Laser Charger, which Basket now calls "super sweet. I always ignore the charging things." The store has Drone Control, a Crew Teleporter and Mind Control, but no scrap for any of them, so Basket buys fuel and a missile and repairs.
Another black market trader shows up. "I've been burned by this enough times," Basket says, and fights it instead; the Pirate Fighter surrenders for a pile of missiles. A Mantis Fighter sends boarders, and the Rocks beat them. A lost Rock transport asks for help, and one of the Rock crew offers to lead it out of the nebula, which pays well. Basket spends the scrap on engines, for dodging, and on more power for the weapons. At the exit Basket leans toward the Engi Homeworlds next, hoping for defense drones and the missile achievement.
Part 3: The Engi Homeworlds
Sector 4 is the Engi Homeworlds. A derelict ship sits in an asteroid field, and the Rock Plating lets the crew search it safely. Basket takes the stasis chamber over the weapon: "the stasis pod might be part of that achievement or part of the quest." It shows up as a Damaged Stasis Pod augmentation.
A ship with cloaking and bombs misses everything it fires. "It all missed. It's so good." Then a ship asks for help with a malfunctioning satellite, and shooting it from a distance costs a lot of hull. "We are pretty low on health, only 5 left." A ship with two bombs offers to surrender and Basket finishes it off. At the exit a slave trader offers a crew member for 37 scrap, and Basket pays to free Hassifa.
How it ended
Sector 5 is an Abandoned Sector, and the first fight is a Rebel Rigger with a big bomb and an anti-combat drone. Basket aims for its weapons first, but the shot misses. "I really don't want that to get through." The Bulwark, already at hull critical, breaks apart with Tai Yi, Berko, Teldarin and Hassifa aboard. The game-over box reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 1978.
"We didn't find the sector and we didn't get to do the achievement," Basket says, but "I feel like I'm getting pretty good at the missile thing," and the Rock Cruiser may get another try. The video goes back to the hangar before its end cards.
