Well, I was doing some universe exploring in my Banshee (finished story), and I JUST finished making THE trade run that I always wanted to do.

Went to cambridge, traded in my ship on a clydesdale, loaded up on luxury foods, and sprinted to Manhattan. Course, I got to start out with 100,000 cash

I did encounter bad guys blocking the lanes, but I just ran to the next lane and kept going. If I couldn't use cruise engines, I'd afterburner. At one point I was being chased by like 8 bad guys near a planet and the trade lane was far away, so I just docked, and then left again hoping they'd be gone (And they were). A few times I was able to hook up with other friendly/neutral ships going the same way and take advantage of their convoying. And I got one kill with the turrets while waiting to pass through a trade lane against a outcast that was being chased by several escorts Closest part was a backed up trade gate, where I had to use some serious batteries and nanobots.

It was pretty fun.

ER

I sold my starflier after about mission 3 for a rhino, started trading and kept doing that in between missions all the way along.
The only freighter I ever had trouble fighting in was the Humpback (reeeeeeeeaaally slow to turn) all the others I could defend myself satisfactorily, but most of the time would just stick to tradelanes (except if moving cardamine) and run when attacked because frankly, stopping to fight was a waste of time and time = money in trading...
Kusari was the sweetest system during the SP, I stopped after we got there, bought a drone and traded cardamine and luxury goods for about 90 mins for 850k...I had so much money from trading that by the end of the SP campaign my character jumped from level 17 to level 32 in one go!!
Definitely the way to go for money.

I didnt kill anyone until after I had about 1 million credits. Did all trading up to level 32.

I guess that's my trouble then. I played several quests in SP, and did a butt-load of hired hit type jobs and now my ratings in faction for all the bandit types is deep red.

So I bought a frieghter and tried that, and got so shot up in seconds on my first run I just reloaded prior to the switch and bailed on the idea.

I think the SP kills you here, it so polarizes the factions. Any way to fix this on low credits and still in Liberty system?

hmmmm try a run from (I think) detroit munitions to battleship missouri, light arms nets you 41 credit profit, and then in a rhino you make 3200 credits for a simpleback and forth run.... no figting neaded

Did somebody say my name?
-Gamma Wing
It's the dreaded G-Man[![![![!
-Moose

How do I get to Detroit Munitions? Where exactly is it?

Thanks

Well, I usually start out as a trader, just use your newbie starflier to do a few jobs for the navy/police to get enough cash to buy a rhino.

Usually I'll do a few more missions using the rhino so I get a good budget to start trading, then I buy as many H-Fuel as I can from Battleship Missouri and sell it at westpoint(one lane apart), then buy water from westpoint and sell back at Battleship Missouri, should get 4000 every round trip..

Then after maybe 15 round trips, should have enough to buy a Drone and start trading luxury consumer goods and engine components between New Tokyo and Planet Denver.

This should yield about 200k per round trip, then I'm pretty much set, just do a couple more and I get enough to buy a Humpback and get around 300k per round trip on the same route. Do three rounds and boom, I'm a millionaire.





Edited by - Sabretoothed on 16-03-2003 16:22:19

Tokyo? How do I get to Tokyo?

I'm still in Liberty sector, haven't gotten a sniff at any other areas yet. California, Denver, Colorado, and NY, that's all.

Sounds nice to make 400K a round trip, can only dream of 4K right now, heh.

So wheres that base mentioned above,and how do I find Tokyo??

I think what he means is:

How did anyone manage to start out as a "Trader" right from the begining of the game. Before you did any of the in-game story missions. Because you have no Ship when you start the game.

I don't think there is a way mate! I think you have no choice but to take the 1st mission in order to obtain a ship. But I know were you were coming from in your question. Buy the best Ships and Weapons first! Then start in-game story missions later.

I was aso wondered about that myself. If I'm wrong please correct me!

Edited by - Gary Bolton on 16-03-2003 18:51:21

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How do I get to Detroit Munitions? Where exactly is it?

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In New York.

Ok found it, it's west of NY - Manhatten a ways and not owned by a outlaw type faction even (like some of the bases).

ok off to work I go

Edited by - mc1csmo on 16-03-2003 20:15:56

I spent as lot of time in a frieghter in SP when I was in Bretonia and it really pays off later int eh game SP game, in the sense that I went into the later missions with 800K in the bank - so I never had any problem buying all I needed in way of nanos and shield batterys, new wepaons and new shields for the HFs I was using later. I can't imagine what it would be like trying to complete the SP without that cash.

And frankly, trading is way more fun than the combat missions you can take, not to mention the fact that you tend to explore more by default when your trading.

I'd love to do more trading, but the SP quest missions and the several jobs I took (that were hunt and kills types also) just ruined my faction. I'm still only in NY so maybe when I get out it will be a relative fresh start, but here I find that if I use the freighter anywhere outide the main NY central area, I am toast. And fighters are not lucrative enough unless I want the kill missions that make my rep even WORSE.

SO I am screwed basically till I can get a better ship or can figure a way to improve my standings. Right now I am just hauling stuff till I build up credits and then see where I go on the next SP mission.

Thing is, I can't really explore much, I just can't hack it solo in the debree fields and such, I get ganged up on and frieghter is no match alone.

Well, without spoiling too much... the first few SP missions did not do *anything* to my criminal factions. I was watching Liberty Rogues faction carefully and it didn't budge. If anything ruined your faction with the Rogues, it was the kill jobs you picked up from the bar and any other criminals you may have killed in self-defense while not on a plot mission. The plot does mess with your factions, but it does so in a big way. It doesn't just move your factions a little.

As for early pacifist cash, I recommend Pharmaceuticals from Fort Bush ($111) to Planet Pittsburg ($144). Run Boron back. I think the prices on Boron were $120 at Pitt and $144 on Fort Bush. So $57/unit for the round trip, which is one trade lane jump in each direction. Very fast. Very boring. If at any point you get lane hacked, just zigzag around on thrusters for about 15 seconds and then hit the lane gate when it comes back up again. In fact, first thing you should do when getting dumped from a lane is click on the next gate so you can see when its blue energy reading comes back up, Remember which end is the one you will fly into when it's back online also. You don't want to let the autopilot taxi you to the lane when you've got a half-dozen Rogues on your tail. Afterburn to it the moment it comes up and hit dock just before you pass through the ring.