Can Junkers... well junk?

[Demoses]

I decided to try something new and start a Junker from scratch. I intend to stay extremely close to the Junker roleplay of collecting scrap from debris fields and exchanging it for cash. However, I have encountered a problem. As I go about collecting scrap in my little CSV and selling it on Rochester or Beaumont, I can't help but notice that other Junkers carry their finds to Planet Pittsburgh.

Now my first thought was, "TRAITOROUS SWINES!!!" as they seemed to be carrying away perfectly good loot to somewhere other than a Junker base. But then I decided to follow them. I found that on Planet Pittsburgh, one could obtain about 12 times as much pay as from an Junker base in the entire Sirius sector.

I find this... disturbing. Are Junkers suddenly becoming obsolete? Do corporations now own personal sorteries and smelteries?

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"If there is a god, let him be a terrible god. Let him be cruel, unjust, irrational, and emotional. Let him consume the weak to strengthen himself. Let him be envious of all those who worship him. Let him be empty and have him fill that void with material pleasures. In other words, let him be man."
--Raisiphus, Mercenary

[TFinnegan]

Well, now most of this is pure conjecture, but here's my take on it...

Junker bases tend to all be space stations, which is a terrible place to smelt metals, in low gravity that is. The reforming crystals dont bond properly and tend to slake off. Whereas most places that pay well for ores/scrap are planetside. Junkers, being slightly less than legal (think of us as mafiosos, not hardened murderers) don;t have any planteside bases. So we trade with legit corporations, and bring our profits back to our bases, which act as refit-reload-rest-relaxation spots.

-as a real life paralell....
Mickey 'the wrench' Cicione runs a trash hauling business (to cover for his drug trade) which picks up scrap from local construction sites. he doesnt drive the scrap to the restaraunt he owns and does busines out of, he takes it to a legit slag merchant (pittsburg smelter) who pays him his paultry pennies, then goes back for a game of poker and some 'cosa nostra' conversation to his restaraunt (Junker base). Then he call one of his captains and sets up a drug buy (starts running black market goods in his spare time, cardy/slaves/munitions/nukes etc), sits back, puffs a cigar, and tortures a snitch for lunch (smacks around an LPI guy)

This is why Junkers are on the unlawful side. Not because we're pirates, we're not. But because our REAL money doesnt come from junk, but it does make a nice cover.

How's that sound?

-Tim Finnegan, Junker Guard

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[AJBeast]

Lemme add a lil something here. If you don't like selling the scrap to anyone other than Junkers, you can always haul it back to Culebra in Puerto Rico. It sells decently there, and you can even go and salvage it in Texas. Also, Finnegan, we are not unlawful per se, we are quasi-legal, but your analogy is quite correct regardless.

Also, this whole Pittsburgh buying scrap for a crapload of money thing was because of an ALG event, in which they started cleaning up the place. I don't think any of the houses except Rheinland actively recycles scrap though. So yeah, we are still useful.

[Agmen of Eladesor]

One other minor detail about Junkers, too.

Consider that the space stations are primarily docking and trans-shipping places, not regular smelters and refining ports.

So they pay you a certain amount for scrap metal, do a bit of sorting and such to it, and then they (out of game play) send out these huge transports full of scrap to the smelters. Same thing like what happens here in my town with aluminum cans - and we have an Alcoa plant right here, so they CAN re-melt aluminum here.

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Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.

[Tenacity]

Junkers dont care who we sell our junk to, as long as they're paying. If DSE pays more at pittsburgh than what we can make selling from markets on the promenade of our own stations, so be it.

Pro-Junker Tip, though: You get 500c/u for scrap at bornholme depot in omega 15, that's the primary junker junking grounds =P

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[Dusty Lens]

There is a better place to get scrap at the moment.

I wonder where it is.

[Bazza]

There is a better place to get scrap at the moment.

I wonder where it is.

Waaay ahead of ya.

I think.


I have a few ideas regarding the scrap business, I, as a career Junker, would love to see it greatly expanded on.

One of them was to increase the different types of raw materials and "generic" goods, turning Freelancer into a *Tycoon game.

For example, instead of Copper -> Base it would be Copper Ore -> Smelter = Copper Wire -> Factory + other goods (industrial planet/base) = Finished product (perhaps expanding on Consumer Goods?) -> Consumer ("affluent" planet/base) Say, Copper + Silicon + Aluminium = Consumer Electronics/Computer Components etc.

Bauxite Ore -> Aluminium Mill = Aluminium -> Factory + something -> Aluminium Hull Panels

Iron Ore + Coal (there wouldn't be coal in space, so planet-side operations?) -> smelter = Steel + other material = product. Scrap Metal would be taken to a smelter built for it, which would then sell Steel, Copper and Aluminium at decent prices. Culebra would be one of those. People make a bit of money bringing in scrap metal, and make a bit more taking the metals to a factory for recycling.


Scrap fields would still drop the usual "scrap metal", but the player would become much more involved in the operation, since they will probably then take the recovered materials to another factory, increasing interaction.

Playing Railroad Tycoon II too much in my early years has permanently scarred me.:(

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[Mounteblanc]

There is a better place to get scrap at the moment.

I wonder where it is.

Are you referring to the one in Rheinland?

If so, it is actually more profitable to haul Mining machinery to Bornholm from there.

[Elsdragon]

Junkers dont Junk exclusivly, They are LIke, the Mafia running trash collecting.

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No longer a slave to the man!

[Canadianguy]

Junkers do:
Smuggling
Junking
Pirating on oportunity (not camping lanes)
Flying around
Saying who did what to the cops
Others

And yes, they are neutral, so they can dock on lawful bases.

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