So you want to be a Commander. Great. I've been a Commander for a long time now. Well...it seems like a long time. I suppose three years really isn't long. But it feels like a long time when you are mostly on your own, building your hauling company from scratch. Three years is a long time in the cockpit with nothing but holofacs for company.
Everyone wants to earn a few credits to get the ship they want, whether it's a Fer-de-Lance or a Type 9. And you can get there. You just need to pace yourself. At about the one year mark in my career at ITO Orbital, I was still making small cargo and data runs for East Galaxy Company in my Cobra Mk III. And I flat burned out. Woke up one morning and could not bring myself to go to the ship. Sure, I had some credits in the bank, but the mind numbing hyperspace jumps as a box mover was driving me crazy. I just stopped. Didn't leave the station for a month. Watched a lot of movies on Galnet. Luckily, my cousin, Sampson, covered for my absence at East Galaxy, saying I had an illness. Then he finally pounded on my hatch until I answered and dragged my ass back into the world.
I shook it off and made some changes in my life to prevent the insanity.
Pace Yourself & Mix It Up
Don't make your life as a pilot all about the credits. Take some time to find the fantastic views that are out there. It's practically an endless tableau of amazing sights and sounds. BEFORE you get burned out short hauling cargo or passengers, go buy yourself a cheap exploration vessel and take some passengers sight seeing for a few days. The destinations they seek can be stunning.
Had enough of that? Okay, buy yourself in inexpensive fighter and go to the nearest resource extraction sight at a gas giant. Work on your skills taking down wanted pilots. Earn some bounties and some combat reputation. And let's admit it - flying around asteroids and shooting at other ships is just plain fun.
Had enough of that? Okay, find a planet or moon that has canyons. Take your fastest ship down into the canyons and pretend you are shooting Womp Rats in your T-16.
Had enough of that? Okay, check Galnet for the Road to Riches and earn some credits scanning earth-like planets for a few hours.
Had enough yet? Use eddb.io to find the closest neutron star and go behold the beauty of its twin beams of death.
And what about those generation ships that everyone is talking about? Those are a sight to behold up close and personal. And creepy as hell.
Oh, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you have never equipped an SRV and raced up and down hills on a bumpy moon, or explored a sprawling settlement.
In between all of these leisure activities, run a few missions you've chosen for your main credit earning activity (hauler, miner, fighter). You are still making credits. You are just not grinding yourself into dust in the process.
Fly safe. Keep your sanity.
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