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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
Boris got Fragged!!
There he was minding his own business in "Menelaus Frontier" having just signed a particularly attractive deal on a cargohold full of Silicon. When from out of nowhere he is under attack!
I was sectors away in "Cho's Defeat" when I got the message. It's the first time I have been attacked and it was soooo frustrating. Not only could I not do anything about it, but I couldn't even watch the action! It was left to me to merely look on like a spare part as Boris dissapeared from my "Property Owned" list! Pirates I suppose... blast! It took me AGES to locate a cheap silicon deal and even longer to drag the fat boys behind all the way over there.
Ah well... back to my saved postion I guess and Lo, Boris lives again.
This time around X2's mulberry bush I have a cunning plan. Remember I told you that I only ever managed to get to the point in the game where you are sent out to make something of yourself before meeting Bret in Priest Rings? Well I'm now convinced that this was due in no small part to my winging it and not having a cunning plan.. but this time I do.
The way I see it is this. My early adventures in the game (before the customary deletion) usually center around my old buddy the "Silicon Wafer." Try to find someone who is selling it at two hundred odd, then try to find someone else, who is buying it for seven hundred odd.
Its really very time consuming and the fluctuating nature of the games economic model means that it's largely about the luck of being in the right place at the right time.
Oh I suppose I could try to work out a table that told me which stations would pay out the most and when.... but let's face it, there arn't any Badgers in this room clever enough to figure that one out.
So I thought to myself, how can I fix it so that I always know where to sell my favourite comodity for a profit?
Mine it!
Yup! That's my master plan.  I did a bit of reading around and I worked out that the best ship for the job is a "Paranid Demeter" becasue you can fit a mining lazer on it's nose. I don't know how much they are of course, but once I find out I'll at least have a target to aim for as I'm trading up the amount required.
I'll also need (apparently)
A mining Lazer. (guess it would help right?)
Special Comand Software. (So I can tell Boris to reap what I have sown)
Mineral Scanner. (So I know it's Silicon.)
Also the "Demeter" itself looks as though it'll be at least as big as old Boris.
Once I have this set up any Silicon I sell will be for a profit as after I recoup the initial outlay for the equipment, all the silicon I need will be free!
Of course in the first instance there is the small issue of my not being on talking terms with the Paranid. But leafing through the forums I think that I only need to despatch one pirate in a Paranid system in order to gain docking rights.
From what I've read I should be able to take on a "Pirate Bayamon"? even in my little Discoverer, if my timing is right. Alternatively I could just sneak up on him in true cowardly Badger stylee and unload some missiles up his tail pipe before he has a chance to respond! (That sounds better.)
Mind you.... if there is the slightest chance that the pirate might bail? Now how would that be for a fantastic coup!
Anyway... that's the plan mother, that's why we came, that's why I'm here.
Badger
_________________
"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
Sun May 29, 2005 3:00 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
The Demeter runs about the same cost as a Mercury. You'll find some difficulty since the Paranid aren't speaking to you just yet. The Split Caiman, which also can equip a mobile miner, is also unavailable to you just now since they hate your guts on general principle.
I've never done mining, so you'll have to get first hand opinions elsewhere.
As for pricing and bargain hunting, there's a perfect solution just waiting for your purchase.
Spoiler:
Go to a Teladi equipment dock (nearest one is right next to Menalaus Frontier) and purchase the Best Buy / Best Sell software. Put that in the ship you're piloting. Make sure Boris has the trading extension (not Trading Mk1 or Mk2 or Mk3, trading extension for about 8,000 credits). Once everything's in place, bring up Boris from your property list and hit "5" or "6". Make much money.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Sun May 29, 2005 3:57 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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A Bayoman will roast a disco in about 3.5 seconds... one solid hit from its four wing mounted cannons and it's time to watch the scrolling marquee of 'the end'.
Not that it isn't POSSIBLE to take out a Bayoman in a Disco mano-a-mano in a dogfight... it's just aggrevating.
I'm all in favor of the sneaking up on it and unleashing wasp missile death approach, though. As I mentioned... the way I got the kill was by running one over in a transport. Mac truck vs sports car... both end up smashed but one can drive away.
Of course... I'm also the one who advocates hiring a factory transport ship and telling to to 'move to location' to clear minefields. It's not my problem if they're willing to move a multi-million credit vessel into a field of deadly objects for a couple of grand. Well, to their credit they do their best to avoid them... but TL aren't known for their agilty OR braking power. Seems like a good plan to me (though I've always meant to try it myself I've never gotten around to it).
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Mon May 30, 2005 4:56 pm |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
quote:
Originally posted by EverythingXen
I'm all in favor of the sneaking up on it and unleashing wasp missile death approach, though.
Well I did it and then I ran like a greased weasel! It turned out to be a "Salamanda" (from memory) rather than a Bayamon and he had two buddies who chased me right accross a jumpgate and over the next sector! (Boy.. they were miffed at me.)
But my cowardly attack reaped no reward as although I got a thankyou message from the Paranid, they still refused to let me dock, the ungrateful alien scumbags! Obviously they feel that one measly pirate is not worth the entry price and expect me to off a few more.
Ok then so be it! This Badger's not above playing rough if the situation demands it.
Badger
_________________
"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Tue May 31, 2005 9:31 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Most likely "Mandolay"... which is their M5 scout ship. I think you have to kill two of those to get the 1% reputation increase needed to dock. Poor Mandolay probably exploded violently at one missile hit... it's about as good as a disco (and fun to dogfight against in one).
M5 - Mandolay
M4 - Bayoman
M3 - Orinocco
and of course their transport ship... creatively named Pirate Ship.
Still, a victory is a victory! One less pirate scum in the universe of Badgertopia. 
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Tue May 31, 2005 12:32 pm |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
It WAS a Mandalay! Good call
I subsequently managed to capture on as well, completely by accident though. I was actually trying to kill him as you might guess, but as my wasp warmed his tail pipe a little, he bailed out!
So now I have a fleet of four;
Heart of Gold: My trusty disco
Hobbling Boris: Cargo Mercury.
Wind of Fortune: Mr Mandalay
Silicon Midas: The hard working Demeter... he's just a mining fool!
I'm just about to invest in a second Demeter so this is definately the furthest into the game I've managed to infiltrate. Before you know it, that vast empire will be mine!
Badger
_________________
"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:31 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Vast empires are a pain to keep together. I had enough problems with my paltry 41 factories and their oh-so-fragile supply ships being gunned down. I'd pull in a million or two an hour, certainly, but a good quarter of it went to buying new transports. My factories were incidental income once my piloting rank increased to the point where bounty hunting missions paid me 200,000 to 1.5 million.
Some people have thousands of factories and I think that's nuts. I've seen screenshots of a game where there was an ore or sillicon factory on every single asteroid in one of the sectors. 100 factories easy.
In my second game I kept it simple... piracy! Arrrr! I loved preying on ships coming out of the expensive weapon and shield factories. If you could 'convince' them to eject their cargo it was a *lot* of cash right away. One of my first pirating loots was a gamma ppc. Sold to a weapon dock for several million. Arrr! I would also bottom out the economy of every sector I visited in my TL by using it as a mobile trading dock. You can specify it as a home-dock for transports and use the buy and sell wares command. Enter sector, deploy a fleet of captured transports, and buy low. A Boron Hydra would scan the surrounding sectors for good deals once the super-transport had filled its hold (I use a few maxed out Dolphins named 'cargo bay 1' through 'cargo bay 4' to get truly ludicrous amounts of carrying capacity) and once located the TL would move in and trade the sector out.
Was a lot more profitable than factories... though naturally I had to do it all by hand. I'd do it while in flight doing taxi missions or while waiting for a ship to leave a factory loaded down with loot, ya-har!
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:55 pm |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
We definately...... are not worthy!
_________________
"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:21 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Just keep trading, capturing pirates, and mining sillicon and you'll get enough for your first solar power plant. If you haven't aggrevated the squidy too much put a solar power plant in Kingdom's End... it was my first solar power plant and it was my most profitable on a regular basis. A few I had to *make* profitable by building complete factory loops to support them (a few million to set up but 100% profit, minus ship replacement fees  , once they got going)... but not so with Kingdom's End. Never had a problem with crystals at a decent price and always had its three selling ships out making money.
Steady and dependable income if you don't feel like being a combat jockey. There's a lot of credits out there for the dilligent trader.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:24 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I would run out of crystals in KE from time to time. My most reliable solar plant was in Herron's Nebula.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:11 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Where I would run out of crystals in herron's nebula
Which one did you have first? I believe they're close enough to have been competing for the same crystal sources.
It's a matter of balancing production speed with crystal source. Sectors with more sunlight produce energy cells faster so will often be running 'empty' on crystals. However, faster production times means less selling ship idle time so more profit over time.
Expensive and whacky energy sellers are split iguana. One will do the job of two transports because of the speed. Have a pretty good chance of outrunning pirates and khaak, too.
For crystal buyers I often used an M4. Again, faster than a transport and with enough hold space to nab crystals. Problem with them is how frail they are... if you think a transport (which at least has 20,000 hull) goes down quick try a M4. By the time the computer finishes saying 'attention' it's space dust. Forget about 'one of your ships is under attack... Menelaus' Cloud'... it's long gone by the time she finishes 'attention'.
Speed is key to profit. You have to be able to snipe deals from the computer traders.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:36 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
I do HN first. There's competition if you set either plant to 2 sectors. I was generally able to run HN on 1 sector. That's 5 trading stations and a couple crystal fabs, IIRC.
I don't know if I've bought any Split ships yet. I've definitely switched to Boron Makos for my crystal buyers. When maxed, they can carry 30-some crystals (which is generally all there is to buy at any given station), plus they're fast enough to avoid most Khaak and pirate irritation.
_________________
=Proud Member of the Non-Flamers Guild=
=Benevolent Dictator, X2/X3 and Morrowind/Oblivion Forums=
Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:55 pm |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
quote:
Originally posted by EverythingXen
Speed is key to profit.
See there’s my problem right off the bat! I get bogged down in the aesthetic.
The reason I’m so keen on Boris and why in my mind I saw myself buying a fleet of them, was quite simply (and I’ve said this before I know) that the Mercury reminds me so much of the “Eagle” from Gerry Andersons “Space 1999.”
Blatantly ignoring such logical concerns as speed to cargo capacity ratio or defensive potential, I settled for the more visceral approach of.. ”Yeah… I like the way that looks!”
Which is why I suppose, compared to your respective masters of the universe, I will never amount to more than a galactic corner shopkeeper.
That Demeter represented a major change in style of play for me. For the first time I chose logic over emotion, functionality over nostalgic eye candy.
Badger
_________________
"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:09 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Fact: Most trading in the game (if you're successful at it) occurs out of sector.
Fact: You cannot see what the ships out of sector look like.
Thus: Buy and keep and 'Eagle' look-a-like for your own use and have a functional 'out of sight, out of mind' fleet doing what it does in a sector far, far away.
Logic and aesthetics get rebalanced, Cap'n Badger becomes fantastically rich, and all is right in the x-verse.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:54 pm |
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