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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
There are lots of random elements in the game, so it's entirely possible for there to not be a single fighter drone in the entire universe in your game.
Admiral dte's Log: I squeezed in a little gaming this afternoon. I decided to pick up the main story again. After discovering that I should have paid better attention to the instructions to "stock up", I went searching for some energy cells I could buy to power my jumpdrive. Up in Split Fire, I was nearing a SPP when "unknown ship" popped up. This little booger didn't yield much info on a scan, but I noticed it was slower than my Buster and didn't have great shields. Grabbing my crotch and wiping my nose for effect (different hands...gotta remember different hands), I decided to kick a little Khaak. I lined the snail up and blasted the heck out of him. He turned ever so slowly, shook his head and fired his weapon. One shot. ZZZZZZTTTT. 5MW shield toast. Entire buster hull toast. Admiral can't even go down with the ship, cuz there ain't no ship. One shot.
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=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! |
Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:25 am |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
My deepest condolences, I'll remember that lesson!!
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:22 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
When I see a full Khaak cluster...I run!  Actually, the M3 cluster isn't too bad in my fully-laden Nova M3 but they still make me nervous. Their beam weapons have like a 5km range compared to my 1.5km. On the other hand the little Khaak M5's just platter on my shields except they're so damn fast!
Another scare is accidentally wandering into a full Xenon sector. You won't do that again in a hurry...
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 8:24 am |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
Grabbing my crotch and wiping my nose for effect (different hands...gotta remember different hands)
ROFL! I have to remember to put the drink down before I read Admiral dte's log. It'll save on mopping up afterward!
Any chance of a specific thread didicated to Admiral dte's log? I'd really enjoy reading the ongoing adventure.
Badger
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"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:18 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Yeah, I figured out about the time compression accelerating the game as a whole by looking at 'hours played'! I know I'm hardcore and put in a solid day of playing yesterday (power was out the day before) but even I can't play 19 hours between 10 am and 7 pm.
I ended up with a restart to try and get the pirates to hostile without being kill on sight. I don't know if that will work or not. Again, after 8 hours I have 250k credits (and I've got a save game this time with 400k so I don't have to do the first hour of the game again.)
Only this time I have.
Three maxed out Expresses
One repaired Merc
One tricked out Disco
I've also explored every sector in the universe that is conventionally accessable (like Freelancer I'm guessing the story will take you to a few that can only be reached by way of story) while raking in money (left the battered merc at the argon prime shipyard to buy Expresses every time I hit 300k). Xenon sectors excluded as going into one of those is a good way to explode violently in about a half second.
This time I'm trying to do some TP shuttling around. I bought a jump drive to bounce around anticipating big credit payoffs in some fringe sectors where I see jobs offered for 4800 per sector visited. With a jump drive that's potentially a lot of sectors! It's not working... I need my pilot rating up, I'm thinking. But I can't get my pilot rating up without blowing up pirates, and I don't want to blow up pirates because if I do they instantly aggress against me. Not good when floating around in a Disco in a heavy pirate sector. So while pondering I've been doing heavy trading.
I'm farming out trade runs in rapid order now. Bleh. I've got one little trooper, Shuttlecraft One, who has been trading at 15 buy, 22 sell for something like 12 hours straight in Arteus' Clouds. I'd love to let that guy go with the 500k autotrade purchase. Still, it only does take a second to get my transports moving (I have the best buy/sell). The others waste more time in sector transit than trading as they can make about 5 runs in a sector before it becomes barely profitable (I leave when it's 1 credit per cargo hold in worth. 1500 or 2250 I can stomach but I hate seeing effort for 750 credits.)
I idly went back to trying for the mines (trying to get a jump drive for my disco). This effectively put my trading on hold, unfortunately, as my Disco doesn't have the best buy/sell installed. After 9 hours of trading with the best buy/sell on you can't go back to checking every factory in the sector manually... it seems just as hard to do as going back to dial up from high speed internet.
I thought about putting the BB/BS software in my Disco but it's not working... I was able to transfer equipment at a station ONCE but I've never been able to replicate this feat. I suspect it has to be at a equipment dock or perhaps even a shipyard.
I thought about going the 'sell crystal route' but the best deals I've seen so far with best buy and best sell (love those upgrades. Worth every penny of the 50k they cost combined) is buy for 100 under average and sell for 70 over. I took it ... it came to something like 80 credits per cargo space which made it the most profitable single run I've done in the game... but it was only once and it was DANGEROUS.
I lucked out that the SPP needed something like 100 crystals and that 100 crystals were all I could afford at the time. Had I bought the 250 that my ship can hold I'd be out a LOT of money for a long time.
Lot of fun but I'm wishing I had a M3. I guess an M3 after a day of playing is too slick for me.
@DTE: Until you can get an M3 pirates are NOT profitable. I can kill Mandalays all day but in my other game I bagged 12 for 6000 credits and had to pay about that much to repair the hull of my Disco.
@Dhruin: I wish I could get that ship you posted in your spoiler, but that faction, like the Paranid and the Pirates bases, won't let me dock. Guessing that changes in the story.
_________________
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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Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:53 pm |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
Managed to make 200k today very quickly by selling Silicon. Bought for under 300, sold for nearly 700 per unit. You do the maths!! If I'd had more cargo space, I'd have made more money, but it would cost me about 30k to increase my cargo space 100 units. That just doesn't seem economic to me. After that, it gets absurd!! Cheaper to buy a new ship with more initial space.. I'm tempted to get a Dolphin. Good idea??
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:05 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
quote:
Originally posted by Badger
quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
Grabbing my crotch and wiping my nose for effect (different hands...gotta remember different hands)
ROFL! I have to remember to put the drink down before I read Admiral dte's log. It'll save on mopping up afterward!
Any chance of a specific thread didicated to Admiral dte's log? I'd really enjoy reading the ongoing adventure.
Badger
Thank you for the kind words, but I don't think I'd handle the pressure well. My creative juices are only capable of about 1 decent line for every 3 posts. I know it's not a competition, but let's be honest- I'm "Dude, Where's My Buster", not "Young Franken-badger".
@Corwin- Silicon is a great cargo, but I hardly ever find a mine with favorable stock levels. Worse yet, a crystal fab (think that's the right place, and most commonly found customer) only accepts 150 units if they're completely out, which leaves you running around with ~50 units still in the hold.
_________________
=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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Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:08 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Pardon the bump, but this is a crisis...
RUINED, I TELL YOU! I'M RUINED!
After picking up my "Teladi Trade Crutches" I noticed that advanced satelites in Ringo Moon were on Blue Light Special. Granted, that's the only place I've every seen any mention of the things, but I figured an equipment dock or free trade station would let me unload the things for a tidy profit. Alas, it is not to be. I've got ~150k worth of of satelites (advanced sats, not navigational sats) and no way to unload them. Someone have mercy on this poor trader and point me to the nearest black market fence that will take the damn things off my hands. Pretty please???
_________________
=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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Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:09 pm |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
Ahhhhh dte. Such is the fate of the Gordon Ghekos of space trading, if they take the time to pamper themselves by stopping for lunch.
I on the other hand must report a small victory for the Badger camp. < Circles desk in Badger victory dance.>
My pc might not quite have the muscle to do justice to combat in this game, but I just had a very entertaining session which only involved trading. Oh, and juggling.
I was at The Rimes factory in Home of Light and I was idly flicking through the items on the bulletin board, (The way you do) when I cane across a mission from a man looking for power cells in a time limit.
I clicked ok out of curiosity really, as I’ve always been turned down for missions so far and suddenly…. “You have been cleared to proceed with this mission.”
Whoa! Erm…. What was it they wanted again? 2000 Power Cells!? And my Disco only has a capacity of 50 units, brought down to 30 by the stuff I’ve installed! I have to get out of this.
But there’s no way I can do it. I’ve put my paw print on the contract and I have to at least have a go. But wait a minute I thought, what’s the worst that can happen. They’re offering a good price for every unit I deliver and a 7,700cr bonus if I deliver them all.
So the worse scenario I’m looking at is that I make a profit on as many as I can ship.
They actually offered me a list of possible suppliers in neighbouring sectors. But I thought never mind that, I’ll just get them from the power plant right here in Home of Light. Presently selling for 15cr and I’m getting 25cr each. Cha-ching.
So, three runs in made easy by a combination of auto pilot and time compression and I’m already making a little bit of green but thinking what a shame it is that I won’t be able to deliver it all and get the bonus.
Suddenly I kick myself! I’m not thinking this through properly.
I have a Merc after all and it’s just finished a run of Microchips to the computer base in Black Light. Just a sector away!
Cursing myself for wasting time I route the Merc to Power Plant in Black Light to stock up to the gills with cells before meeting me at the Rimes factory in Home of Light. It can hold just over 600 units and suddenly there’s a chance of getting that bonus after all.
Two more trips back and forth in the Disco and the Merc has arrived. But what’s this? My new employer is only counting the stock I have on board the Disco and ignoring my fat boy!
Reasoning that he can only see stock in the ship I am actually piloting I realise I have to swap ships….. but how?
I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that there should be a “Swap Ships” command if you have more than one parked in the same place. But I just can’t see it.
I know from warnings and from personal experience that ejecting inside a space station leads to a program bug which makes your ships vanish into thin air! So internal space walks are out.
In the end I flew the Disco just outside the station, moved out of the way of the door and got out of the ship. Next I told my Merc to fly to the Power Plant.
Now I’m space walking directly in the path the Merc will take when it leaves the station. When it comes at me I’ll “shift E”. In a couple of seconds I’m either going to be at the helm of the Merc or a stain on its windshield!
Happily for me it was the former and now nothing could stop me. I popped back into the Rimes factory and sold my 600 cells then set course for the Power Plant to get the next lot.
Target, “Shift D” and finally “J”….. What do you mean “No time compression fitted!?”
Oh the agony of sitting and waiting for the Merc to waddle back and forth twice to complete the order. As Dr Smith was prone to say.. “The Pain, The Pain.”
But there you have it. Target reached, bonus achieved and a tidy little 30,000cr better off for the venture. It might not be much by the standards of you big boys. But for we poor Badgers, it’s a princely sum indeed.
Badger
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"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 11:27 pm |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
Badger, if both your ships are docked at the same place, 'x' will let you switch ships. You can also get a transfer device at the Goner temple.
I commiserate with you DTE, I can't even find any vanilla Nav Sats to buy never mind advanced ones. Like Drones, every supplier I find has 0 in stock!! I've had no trouble finding Silicon at good prices just in the local starting area. (I haven't ventured very far afield yet, maybe soon) Selling has been easy with the BB/BS software. Now I'm just not sure whether to go Manta or Dolphin for my next ship. I want decent speed and lots of cargo space without having to pay obscene amounts for each upgrade. I guess I need a good starting size. All the stuff I have just gives the max size. Any thoughts?
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Sat Feb 21, 2004 11:54 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
Pardon the bump, but this is a crisis...
RUINED, I TELL YOU! I'M RUINED!
Well, I found one place - so I guess there's more but I can't find them. All but one Adv Sat factory is in Split or Paranid space so I guess they're the most likely (although I checked a lot of them).
Paranid Prime's Trading Station will buy them for 13476. In my game they have 8/20 stock.
Paranid Prime is directly below Ore Belt if you haven't found it yet (no gate from Ore Belt- - you'll have to go round the block).
If they won't let you dock, you need to kill some Pirates or Khaak in their sectors. Only one or two should do the trick.
@Xen - See above on landing with the Split. It's not story related - they're just suspicious of you Argon folk. 
@Corwin - depends on whether you're going to fly it yourself or not. The Manta is twice as fast but doesn't carry XL freight or qualify for TS BBS missions. If you are going to remote control, I'd get a Manta - you probably won't carry XL freight much and the extra speed will get you more trade runs.
If you're going to fly it yourself, get a Dolphin -- that's where I made most of my early money. Slow as a dog but fit the free jump drive and you'll get good BBS missions left, right and centre. 1500 starter cargo (IIRC) but you can expand to around 2000 for a reasonable price (take full engine speed tunings whatever you do!). Past 2000 it's expensive and past 2500 it's criminal.
@Badger - well done! Keep the stories coming!
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Sun Feb 22, 2004 12:20 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Hmm. Killing pirates, eh? So in order to get a good and cheap (400k or less ship price) ship to kill pirates I have to kill pirates in my Disco?
Sigh. So much for taking it easy on the pirates hoping to reciprocate.
Then again, an Orinocco blew up one of my Expresses (103k) fully upgraded (another 50k) with the automated trading utility (500k... not sure if it's worth it. The robotic trader managed to make 100k in something like 20 minutes, which isn't bad... but I could have done the same with micromanaging). I hate them and want them to die (I reloaded. No way am I watching 3/4 million credits go up because some trigger happy pirate transport captain got twitchy).
_________________
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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Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:16 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
My first ever station was a Silicon Mine in Ore Belt. I had read it was a risky place for a station but I figured Pirates had never once proactively attacked me. Bad mistake...about a million credits gone. Now I make it my business to hunt Orinoccos. 
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Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:22 am |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
Dhruin, I need a ship to complement the merc. I could fly either one and get the other to trade more or less without me. I want to get enough money to buy an SPP and move on from there. Eventuall I want a Nova to use for the obvious fights that will eventuate. Your thoughts?
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Sun Feb 22, 2004 7:35 am |
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Badger
Stripey Forest Dweller
Joined: 18 Mar 2002
Posts: 924
Location: UK |
Questions, questions.
Once more Badger brings himself to the tree of knowledge and reaches up toward the wisdom that is its fruit.
As I’ve travelled around I’ve seen various big ships going about their business and I wondered;
1/ When you have such a beast, where do you park it? I mean it won’t go in a station right?
2/ From what I’ve seen of stock levels, it’s sometimes hard just to fully stock a Merc. How on earth do you fill the cargo holds of one of the big fella's?
On a more general note…
3/ I haven’t invested in any software upgrades yet. Trading, Fighting etc. Are they cumulative? Can I skip trading software 1 if I can afford to go straight to 3 for example? Or would I miss out on some functions?
4/ While window shopping in Shipyards, I can’t see where in the ship information page, you can tell what class of ship you’re looking at. I.e. M5, M4 etc. I know in some cases from the limited descriptions in the manual. But with others I’m just guessing.
5/ X2 Has many of the ingredients of an RPG. You play a character, there are evolving stats, and there is a dynamic economy which you actually affect by going about your business. So does anyone think that we might be able to have a Forum for it and who do we have to ask?
Badger
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"Ducks are Dumb!" Badger-2005. Go ahead... quote me! |
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Sun Feb 22, 2004 12:19 pm |
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