pioneerspacesim/pioneer — pull request #2696 by nozmajner (2014-01-28 23:18:18+00:00)
Title: New starting ships

There were some questions and complaints that the Xylophis starting ship makes the game quite hard. Especially when my balance came about striping her hyperdrive too.

So new starting ships for each location:
* Earth: Sinonatrix with standard outfit, has both hyperdrive and a gun.
* New Hope: Pumpkinseed with similar outfit.
* Barnard's star: Xylophis with minimal outfit. No hyperdrive or gun, but the player can sell the scanner and buy one.

The first two ships are about the same capabilities, Sinonatrix has a decent range, but it's heavier and a bit slower, Pumpkinseed is lighter and has a bit shorter range, but it's faster. Barnard's a tougher starting point with the simplest outfit, no weapon or hyperdrive but with a class1 drive it will have a decent range.
It's progressively harder with Earth at the easiest, Barnard's the toughest. (Fits the later nicely, a recently released inmate with the best rig his prison credit could afford.)