It seems a bit one-sided to me that upgrading power cells is dependant ONLY on combat status. Would it not be more fair to say that they require the same minimum for EITHER combat 1 / trading 1 | combat 2 / trading 2 | etc?

Yep.

The hive fast charge can be used by anyone.

roguelazer: Thanks for the link to the previous thread. Sorry I couldn't see it on the "Read this before posting new stuff" list!! It's encouraging to see that this debate has cropped up before, but less encouraging that in over a year nothing has been done about it yet!

TRS: Yes I am aware that Hive FCs can be used by anyone, but that does require developing considerable combat prowess to achieve - which kinda defeats the whole point of developing a purely non-combatant trading character!

The point is that I dont think it is realistic for any intelligent culture, which relies heavily on the transportation of trade goods in order to survive, to allow a situation where tradespeople are not able to equip with sufficient horsepower to be able to do their job properly. It would be like somebody working in, say Landscape Gardening, taking their pickup to the local garage and saying "please can I pay you to put a bigger engine in this, because I often have to haul large amounts of earth around" only to have a mechanic reply "No sir, not unless you can prove you are trained in the use of a rifle and quite prepared to shoot a man in the face. The insurance company requires that proof for the upgrade to be legal."

Dont get me wrong, I have more than one character on here and only on of them is a pure "trader" character, but this issue seems like a strange imbalance. Combat characters are restricted anyway in their choice of weapons, based on their experience, but there doesn't seem to be enough justification for restricting the use of batteries on the same basis.

[stamp of approval]

this has always subconsciously bothered me. The thing I am uncertain of is whether it's possible to have a piece of equipment available on an "either/or" license requirement.

One potential alternative would be to make all power cells available at level 0, and to balance them against each other with price and mass.

Another would be to have a separate line of trader power cells available only to those with certain trade levels.

you can buy a hive fc from a player. if your noncombat, a single hive power cell should last you forever. this is a perfect example of combat characters providing goods and services to trade characters.

The hive FC isn't infinboost, and traders are the sort of swine that need that feature most.

Also traiding in Grey gets you killed by Dr.Lecter, which means you need more batteries.

Hey, I'm only on sometimes these days. Look to my fellow trader eradicators, such as Jolly Rodger and look...no hands, as well.

remember, traders... it's a dangerous sky out there; grumble and whine all you want, but the day will come when you'll outwit a pirate or two based on skills you learned getting those combat licenses....

Thur. the point is some of us want a trader only character.

********************
Fast Jump Battery -

Capacity: 100

Charge Rate: 50/s

Mass: 400kg

License: 0/0/0/3/0
********************

Commence your invocations of Din now please, and impose limits where necessary! I'm eager to hear your critisicms. Supportive thoughts are allowed too, I guess...

Racer battery... sweeeeeet.

Reward for completing 500 trade missions?

I remember from the old thread that the problem would be that people could use it to run away, because they could jump in less than a second for in system jumps.

A trade only character should not die. They should not be in grey, in a storm, or see a pirate. If your seeing pirates, you should get some combat skill. The hive power cell is the third best trade power cell available, and it can be used by anyone.

That's ridiculous TRS, for rp reasons a trader in grey makes perfect sense. Brave the grey space for greater profits avait ye there, but beware of the LECTER for he shall blow you itsy bits, especially with your free gov battery...

there is nothing wrong with traders in grey. we call them combat zone traders. they should have combat skill. get some.

I don't wana, I got a combat char with 10 combat, I dont wana train combat on my trader, and you can't make me!

Now g37 m3 a b@773ry ya n00b or I shall s1m1t3 you with my uber l337 sk1llz