Page 43 - 26_Q1 3306

featured art

As his Eagle grazed the side of the canyon wall, lighting
up the thin shields on his vessel, Sanderling spoke for all
the Gambit commanders as he bellowed: They are absolutely,
unequivocally, addicted to
Environment and terrain kill you faster than anything else in
the Galaxy! keeping flight assist turned off.

It was magnificent. An entourage of vessels all barrel-
ling down the planetary canyon walls, with a string of un- Almost immediately the yellow thrusters of Sanderling’s
steady trainees in tow. An experience unlike any other in Eagle Mk II lit up as the ship spun around to do a quick
the Galaxy. high-speed fly-by. Pulling a graceful turn, he grazed a
pointed stone structure with the tip of his nose, while
The group began to settle on a ledge of a canyon, some holding perfect control over his vessel.
pilots electing to hover and spin in place while most
trainees decided that powering down the engines would After a few hours, the first session for the trainees came
be a welcome change. They began swapping advice and to a close. After orbiting a touring Beluga liner, leaving
manoeuvres. scorch marks on the walls of the canyon and enduring
heart stopping moments time and time again, the ses-
The pilots vied for attention, performing manoeuvres sion began to break up as pilots headed their separate
with their ships in front of the rookies. After a time, ways.
Sanderling began the lesson again.
Oh, and for agility at slower speeds? The Core Dynamics
Something many people don’t realise is that boost actually Eagle is where it’s at. 100%. The Gutamaya version is sadly
improves whichever thruster you are engaging when you lacking in every single way in terms of agility at speed, which
dump that sweet speed into the engines. is really its supposed selling point. Shiny but ill-conceived.
Don’t fall for the marketing hype! Don’t take a bite of that
A very interesting trick that even I have only been learning apple! Or somethin’…
recently, is using the cargo scoop — which can be config-
ured to lower only when you hold it down — to act as a speed And his final, parting advice:
brake in the middle of a boost. It basically caps your speed
at about half of the usual boost speed, but leaves all the You win by flying a spaceship like a spaceship, not a plane.
boosted rotations and responses on vertical and lateral
thrust — turning your ship into a twitchy demon for a few
seconds...

Newton’s Gambit

Text: Alexander Sepulveda
Pantagruel vs Thargoid Interceptor by Markarian
Images: OrangePheonix

Design: LexMoloch Digital Art
Artwork of Pantagruel, a character that is based on the
Thanks to: Azi Agu, Eagle131, Madrax 573, Nic Elite rank insignia, fighting against a Thargoid Interceptor.
Kowalski, Sanderling, Who The F, Yaga-Shura
42 ISSUE 26 | q1 3306