Attempt 3 PERMADEATH
After a few false starts sorting out settings, I got a proper start on a Permadeath start-up with Standard Settings (tutorials off).
I found myself dressed in an industrial dark grey & orange exosuit with a red visor on a hilly, grey planet. Tall, finned plant life & odd larger spikes of some sort, pulsed with crimson energy, adding a hellish feel to this rather unappealing starter planet.
This hot biome was permanently tinged red by day & subject to patches of purplish flames breaking out in random places.
Although reasonably accessible, the terrain had many dangerously deep cave entrances that dropped quite far into hazy red interiors.
Quite treacherous with a basic jet pack & no second chances.
I set off northwards in the opposite direction to my Radiant PillarBC1, fixing & installing tech my main priority as I got going.
I was soon to find that this world was largely uninhabited with hardly an outpost to be found. This would greatly affect my chances of finding a wreck to fix, so I began collecting Salvage Modules straight away, making a point to detour to as many as I could, while trying to maintain a ridgetop vantage (if possible) as I made my way northwards.
Once my limited suit storage was filled, I took refuge in a small base & refined my materials into their better grades to free up storage.
It seemed the further north I went, the steeper the terrain got, with some close calls from hidden chasms that were deep enough to end my fragile existence.
After about an hour of trekking over the hilly terrain, I was lucky enough to stumble across a ruin which led me to a second ruin with treasure only about 25 minutes away.
Here I got a break with a 1.5m unit relic.
During an interaction with a Waypoint (which indicated a useless Minor Settlement 4 hours away), I noticed another base on a ridge far to the east) so I set off toward that resigned to the fact that I would need a save point & maybe a new plan.
Although I had enough survival supplies, my trekking was slow & the tedium was going to result in a jet pack related death if I didnāt take a break soon.
Then, without warning, a random Korvax pilot set down nearby & I was able to trade my horded goodies & sell my Radiant Pillar BC1 (with cash to spare). My new ship was a stumpy little Explorer with terrible stats but it was still a pleasant change given the circumstances up to that point.
I made my way to the base, Iād noted earlier which turned out to be a Minor Settlement. Here I bought a few bits an pieces & blueprints & set myself & ship up a little better.
A quick trip to the Anomoly to burn 300 nanites & get my Economy Scanner & I was soon hunting the cosmos for a pirate system.
Luck was with me for a second time today & the next door system was a black market economy & within the piddly 118Ly range of my newly acquired junker.
Once I finished my challenge complete & landed at the Pirate Space Station, I took on several suicide missions with the intention of going out with a bang.
Turns out, reckless craziness with a basic Photon Cannon & a pocket full of Sodium will take you quite a way when pillaging every trader & freighter you go up against & I eventually was completely stuffed with illicitly acquired goods & contraband & yet somehow still alive.
So deciding that I had enough trying to get myself killed harassing Traders, I decided to return to my previous system where I figured a final battle with anti-smuggler sentinels would end this.
Nup.
I warped in, flew right across the system & landed at a Trading Post where I made an amusing 14M profit of my kamikaze goods completely unharassed by anyone.
So in an act of defiance, I sat on the roof of my Explorer in the baking heat & eventually with my shielding fried, I finally got the black screen & a death quote from Steven Spielberg.
Totally different & unexpected series of events but again proof you can get going in a NMS start up & not touch the Radiant Pillar BC1.