No you do not need to be high friendly, or even friendly with Outcasts to buy it. I have never been anything but neutral w/them and I got it from them. I don't know how high you need to be, though, you may need to be nearly friendly, or you may just need to be neutral...

I see How about money? Am sitting in a Rheinland Valkyrie. I got about 620'000 in cash .. the sabre is said to be 550'000 or something. But I read several articles on people waiting for 900'000 to go for it. Is this purely accidental?

The sabre costs $558,550 but many people prefer to save up to 1+ million before buying so they can stock it up with the best weapons avalible.

You could alternately go for the Sabre from the Red Hessians, who have it at Dresden's Vogtland base. That is probably a bit easier, since your Bunschuh rating is neutral by default after SP, and their Frankfurt base has a hessian bribe.

However, if you do that, beware of Daumann...the bribe for the hessians makes them rather mad, and if they go hostile you will get shot at by anything and everything rhineland that is anywhere near a Daumann unit/base.

Or you could sit in New York and snipe trade lanes until the Outcasts go neutral(at which point the Titan will also be opened up to you if the Corsairs were hostile), which is a positive profit as opposed to a negative one when you go bribing.

Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless

Or you could just go find the lvl 10 weps in wrecks that are free and better than you can buy anyway! Just save yourself a few hudgred g's to buy shield and some lvl 9 guns if you can't find them on a wreck somewhere. Be careful if you bribe the Hessians, it'll really piss off the Corsairs.

While you only need to be just neutral of hated to buy the ships, you have to be very friendly to purchase any class 9 weapons from them. SHields also only require just above hated to purchase. Mount some class 10 weapons on that bad boy, as for class 9 weapons, either become friendly with them, or just take out a few of their VHFs. I prefer the salamanka?sp from the corsairs. These have same shot speed as class 10s, so better aiming. Some like the Outcast lvl 9s.