Free Captain’s Log (Space Date – August 23, 2198)
(Captain Athena’s Personal Log)
So I’ve just got off the horn with the AI Council. We’re overhauling our tech, it seems, and I was confused about what it all meant until I got a hold of one of them…Splinter…Splinter of…Splinter Cord? Something like that. Anyway, Bind To Install, it’s called. And it’s a lot less scary than it sounds.
When the upgrade goes through on September 4th, all upgradable rare-or-higher items you’ve got installed – that is, that haven’t been upped to Mk I or higher – is going to be converted to a “Mk 0” format. Everything in your INVENTORY stays as is, and you can sell and trade it as before – but if you’re going to plug it into your ship, it has to be “activated”, converted into a Mk O component, at which point it will only “work” for you. An active component, then, can’t be loaned to another Free Captain or given away.
Look at it this way. Imagine a box. You know exactly what’s in it, but as soon as you pop the seal, the item inside belongs to you. It’ll only work for you. Before then, you can use it to upgrade items you already have, sell it and trade it, but once the seal is broken, it’s yours and yours only. You can sell it back to the AI Council for cost, converted into NOMS, two Mk 0s can be combined into a Mk I, all that. But only you can ever install it.
(I asked if there was someway I could “bind” all my special officers to my ship as well, but Splinter kinda dodged that question. Oh well, I’ll just have to stick with handcuffs and duct tape. It’s served me well so far.)
So what does this mean to me and my fellow Free Captains? Honestly, this “big change” isn’t really changing much at all. The higher-ups are just doing what they need to to keep the Star Pirates economy viable, as they’ve managed to keep it for five years or more now.
Whew! So nothing to worry about, it seems. Those weird readings from out near the Oort cloud, though…ah, but that’s a topic for another log. Time for another drinking contest with my engineer – it’s not like he’s going anywhere…