User:CaptSolo

Background

Third generation American citizen born February 1, 1946 in a small town in North Dakota. Father's parents were German speaking citizens of Russia. Their ancestors immigrated to the region around the Black Sea during the reign of Czarina Katherine the Great. Time and circumstance played a part in my paternal grandparents immigration to America. They arrived 1913 aboard the Rotterdam III at Quebec, Canada and made their way thence to North Dakota via the Canadian Pacific Railway. I knew these people very well and often pestered my grandfather with questions about his youth and experiences. He lived to the ripe old age of 93 and his mind was sharp till the day he died. I know less of my Mother's parents. Her mother died when she was just six years of age. She was of Polish heritage and grandfather was German. This makes me a European transplant in America as are all Caucasian people who live in the USA, some of whom still know their heritage and honor it.

Growing Up

My parents were farmers and from the age of eight me and my brother worked beside them. It was hard work but a good life on the whole. North Dakota in summer is very hot and the constant work in the sun and wind burned our bodies brown. But it all seems so long ago now as I grew and received education and aspirations took me away from home. In my younger days I would return there from time to time. There is nobody there now; just a few run down old buildings leaning and falling down, battered by storms and the ravages of time. My parents are gone too but as long as I live they continue in my memories.

Work

I trained and worked in the health care industry as a respiratory therapist. After graduation, I worked for awhile near San Bernardino, California. Then one morning I awoke from a dream in which I heard the wind rustling through prairie grasses and smelled the fragrant smells of grass and wild flowers. This experience is probably akin to an old sailor who misses the salty air of the sea. So I returned to my origins and have remained to this day.

Computers & Elite

One day in the mid 1980's, while working in the Pulmonary Function Lab, our department head brought into the lab an Apple II computer. That was the beginning of my adventure with computers. In the lab it was supposed to be all business - a device to record patient test results. But I found myself staying long past clinic hours just to tinker with it. It had a primitive DOS via BASIC commands. I was hooked and began shopping around for my own personal computer and found it: The Commodore 64. This machine was more advanced at the time than the Apple II. In short order I taught myself BASIC and even dabbled in Assembly. I subscribed to a couple magazines geared to the C=64. Those were good times indeed, especially when I joined a local C= users group and exchanged ideas with its members. It was about this time I discovered a game called "Elite", originally programmed by David Braben and Ian Bell, two brilliant British guys. I got chills every time the game finished loading, the title SID tune began playing while the Cobra Mk III rotated in space. "Load New Commander?" Absolutely brilliant game! Space trading, combat, and adventure all rolled into one. For about a year I played no other game. So immersed at times it seemed I was alone in space in my ship and just about anything might happen.

Oolite - the game

After the C= days I purchased several computers. Even though my C64 still functions I rarely use it anymore. I discovered emulators for it and relived the old days with them. Then one day I Googled, "Elite Galaxies". In the list there was a reference to a game called "Oolite". Hello! I installed the game, launched it, and could not believe my eyes. There before me was that trusty old Cobra Mk III all beautifully textured and polygon filled. But Oolite plays differently than Elite. The main thing - the player is no longer the center of action. The player is placed into a scene where other things... other events are occurring. For example, one might come upon a space battle that you can avoid or participate in. It is a deeper experience all beautifully done for modern computers and it has one other advantage: It can be expanded by addition of user crafted OXP's. It didn't take me long to try my hand at authoring an OXP. Some people were making new ships or modifying existing ones. That piqued my interest but I had no experience working with a 3D modeling program. Oh well, no harm in trying, and after a month fumbling with a program called, "Wings3D", the pieces started falling into place or rather into my head. And so, among all my other activities and interests, I am still playing and have released several OXP's.

Oolite Rank

Elite as of 13 August 2011. It took me six months hard going but worth every minute.

Oolite Character

Solo (short for Solomon), first name John, a human born in the year 3035 on Teaatis, a planet in chart 1. His parents were well-to-do land owners. They did not use peasants to work the land because they were morally opposed to that practice. They rented their land to as many as 20 families who were allowed to retain 50% of the profits. Being the seventh of ten children, Solo knew at an early age that his eldest brother would inherit the family business. Besides, his interests lie elsewhere - among the stars that shone brightly from his bedroom window.

After graduating Lave Academy, he signed a contract with an Onriraian company as a lone trader. He often became the target of derogatory remarks at annual performance reviews because of his practice to never attack "clean" ships to gain their cargo. "Your parents morality is holding you back", they would say. To the dismay of his peers as well as his employers, he was able to buy out sooner than anyone before or since.

Commander Solo's career extended beyond ordinary trading of goods to include defending the innocent and defeating the aims of heartless thieves. His only black mark came about during an incident that will be told in "The Sotieriaian Conspiracy".

Solo's Adventures and The Sotieraian Incident

Location: Chart 1 also referred to as Alpha Galaxy
Ship: Cobra Mark III 'Just Reward'
Rating: Dangerous
Equipment:
The best standard stuff money can buy. Working for Lord Crunk did not net me much but nearly all of it went into kitting the ship. She is also equipped with an ore processor to extract ores, metals and gems from space rocks but used only when necessary.

Planned Trade Route: Ararus to Riiser, trading between industrial and agricultural worlds.
Most dangerous stops:
Ararus - poor agricultural, anarchy
Zaalela - average agricultural, fuedal
Qutiri - rich industrial, multi-government
Aronar - poor industrial, fuedal
Eninre - poor industrial, anarchy

Commanders Log

Real Date: 22-08-11
2084123
Docked at Teaatis
Purchased 35 tonne of furs for 59 Cr per
Flight plan: Witchspace to Larais, skim sun and then on to Onrira

2084125 Exited witchspace Onrira
Checked market price for furs = 93 credits per tonne - great!
uneventul trip in system until quite close
Assisted Galcop by bagging fugitive Moray... bounty - 158 Cr.
Docked and sold furs, profit after refueling - 3417 Cr.
Frequented Hangar bar and then to sleep.

My Oolite OXP's

Accipiter
Cobra Mark III-XT
Console HUD
Copperhead
I_Missile
Moccasin
Mod-HUD
Naval Torpedo
Solo's Silver Ships

Favorite Things

Food: TexMex
Bevies: Tea in the morning, Beer with dinner, Kentucky Bourbon with friends
Books: The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
Authors: JRR Tolkein & Alf White (pen name: James Herriot)
Non-fiction: Science & History
Movies: The Andromeda Strain, The Spy Who Loved Me, 2010 Space Odyssey, Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back
Movie Quote: "You're gonna need a bigger boat" Jaws I, Roy Scheider to Robert Shaw
TV Comedy: Keeping up Appearances & Red Dwarf (both British)
TV Drama: NCIS
TV SciFi: Star Trek TOS, Dr. Who, & Babylon 5
Actors: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, David McCallum, Uma Thurman to name a few
Travel Destination: The British Isles
Sports: Golf, Soccer, & Baseball
Pro Golfers: Padraig Harrington & Martin Kaymer
WC Teams: Netherlands & Germany
BB Team: Minnesota
BB Player: Henry Aaron (slugger of yore)
Times: A quiet moment in my garden

Will Humanity Survive?

Yes, if:
1) People us their power of reason rather than emotions
2) People respect cultural, racial, and religious differences
3) No mega-catastrophe occurs.