Cult Citizen

[shubn]

The 'verse can be as beautiful as it can be treacherous. Much like our ancestors recounted about the once-feared oceans of our common home planet of Earth, this ocean of stars gives, and it also takes. To the enterprising citizen with the right mindset, to survive or even thrive, any challenge, or even a simple job, can present a wealth of opportunities. Take the underground facilities, or UGFs, dotting the planets and moons of Stanton, for instance. Have you ever been on a visit, authorized or otherwise, and taken a look into one of those red boxes that are sometimes laying about? Have you ever found the type of small arms you only wish you could buy at Cubby Blast, and, since no one around seemed to mind, or was in a position to mind, took it back to your personal stash at the closest orbital station, only to think to yourself: "Perhaps I don't need 10 railguns, 15 grenade launchers, and 25 sniper rifles; at least not right now"? Well, my friend, I can think of three magic words that can help clean up your stash and fatten your digital wallet: The Free Market. Indeed, one citizen's clutter might just be another's treasure, and I have been made aware that such items are, in fact, in regular demand. I hear that the much prized Scourge Railgun, for example, typically commands prices of around 100k aUEC (give or take 50%), as does the Animus Missile Launcher.


Apocalypse Arms Scourge Railgun

Lacking a better infrastructure for the sale of goods between private citizens, one common means of setting up a trade is the intrasystem communications network (also known as "Chat"), and another one I am aware of is the "Subreddit Discord Server". Once a trade has been set up and prices agreed upon, the safest way for both parties to transact is to make use of shared storage, officially known as "external storage". Using external storage makes it possible to safely transfer small arms between citizens while inside of an armistice zone, greatly reducing risk for both buyer and seller. Certain ships currently come with such storage compartments, such as the Crusader Hercules series or the Anvil C8R Pisces, to name a couple. Another common type of external storage is 1 SCU and 2 SCU crates, which must be procured by either party. Trading with an untrusted party outside of an armistice zone is not recommended for reasons that should be obvious. Even inside of an armistice zone, risk is never completely eliminated, and the buyer or seller could simply choose not to keep their end of the bargain. My limited experience tells me that this risk can be mitigated when trading multiple items by processing transfer and payment one item at a time. While there is no immediate recourse for transgressions, the name of the offender could be written down for eventual retribution, or, in the case of the aforementioned "Subreddit Discord Server", their reputation publicly tarnished.

For reference, the weapons that seem to be of worth as of 2953 are the Scourge Railgun, Animus Missile Launcher, GP-33 MOD Grenade Launcher, Demeco LMG, and all sniper rifles. More common weapons like the FS-9 LMG may also be of worth when trading in bulk.


Klaus & Werner Demeco LMG

In addition to small arms, certain rare armor parts may be of interest to some citizens, and you could do worse, if time and the situation allow, than to pick up rare-looking armor pieces and store them, just in case.