Not too bad, those remaining sections are going to be the harder parts as I'm sure that you know.... lots and lots and lots of info...

Yeah, it looks good so far to me. It's gonna take you forever to get all the stuff though, especially for section 4, 5 & 6. Good luck

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm sick of seeing all your signatures and not having one of my own

Greetings, Everybody!

Please critique this FAQ I am working on. It's a work in progress, obviously.

(second Beta)


F.F.F. - Frobozz Freelancer FAQ

A Freelancer Demo & Newbie FAQ, By Frobozz
Date: 11 March, 2003 Version: 0.20 Beta

1. Installation
2. General Info
3. Ships
4. Weapons and Equipment
5. Commodities and Salvage
6. Locations
7. Reputation
8. End Notes


1. First things First:

Demo System Requirements claim that "Freelancer Trial Version requires
DirectX® 9 or greater." Bull. It worked fine in Win98SE with DX 8.1b for me,
and probably for you too if your drivers are up to date. Try running the demo
FIRST before diving into a DirectX update, trust me. If the demo works ,
chances are good so will the full game. Unclick DX 9.0 box in installation.

The first few missions are the training missions, and are very easy. Accept.
When you find yourself on Planet Pittsburgh, save the game. Your Save Game
files are put in the 'My Documents' folder. The file names are in code, but date
stamps should help you figure out which is which. Email 'em to your friends!

(Pros: For a faster load time, edit the freelancer.ini file in the EXE dir:

[Startup
;movie_file = movies\MGS_Logo_Final.wmv
;movie_file = movies\DA_Logo_Final.wmv
;movie_file = movies\FL_Intro.wmv

The ; rem out the logo movies. This works in the retail version, too)

With the retail version, don't try to copy the CD, it won't work.
There does exist, however, a NO CD patch. Easy to find in a search,
I will _not_ tell you where. This is 'Fair Use' in my book, I want to
put that $50 plastic disk in a safe place, with little kids around.

2. General Info:

This FAQ (more of a help file than a faq, really) is geared toward Demo
and new players. I won't bury you with ship spec charts and commodity
price lists. Those are available when you need them from other sources.
What I give you is practical hints. Stuff you'd eventually learn on
your own, but with a lot of unenjoyable frustration.

The manual isn't so good. What's better is to save your game, then
Launch and play around with the controls. Mouseover all the HUD Menu
buttons and try them out to learn how to use them. If you get attacked,
use it as a learning experience and don't worry - you saved the game
after all. Learn how/why to select/deselect weapons. How far your Target
Status Monitor detects. Fire your weapons dry, see how long it takes for
them to recharge. Afterburn. Fly around and explore, it's fun.

Familiarize yourself with the Dock menus the same way. No danger, but you
will lose cash so save first. Buy stuff & sell it. Compare commodity
prices. Mount and unmount weapons. Look at the weapons at the dealer.


3. Ships:

Go in the shipyard and compare the various ship statistics.
All ships go at the same speed. So what makes a big freighter different
to fly than a light fighter is the turning speed (maneuverability).

A good rule with ships is to avoid Freighters until the storyline is over.
This applies to the retail game, too. Don't think you can switch back &
forth from Fighters to Freighters cuz ships are like cars: the second
you buy them, they depreciate! Buy a ship and compare the price of your
NEW ship with a ship on the lot. Ouch. Speaking of buying ships:

When buying a ship, take your time. Click everywhere before you sign on
the dotted line. Look at the equipment. Wouldn't your old shields work
just as good as the new ones? Check the stats, then check the prices!
Often times you can unmount and send back the dealer's equipment and
install your own at great savings!


4. Weapons and Equipment:

Guns.
Guns are your primary weapon. They have lots of confusing attributes,
good against this type shield - bad against that etc., etc.
Don't worry about that stuff - here's the basics.

Weapons have a classification, which is pretty general and mostly
applies to the rating of the Hardpoint on your ship where you want to
mount it. Ships have a maximum weapon class, but so does a particular
mounting location. Just because you CAN load every slot with it's
max weapon class don't mean you SHOULD. A frequently overlooked
ship stat is Optimal Weapon Rating. (read as average) Overload this
badly and you will hear a 'clunk' for your trigger halfway through
a fire-fight. Not good. Power drain number is a critical attribute.

Weapons have two damage numbers, one for shields, one for hull.
Obviously, what the gun will do to the target depends on if you've
gotten through his shields. A great gun for demolishing shields is
the Stunpulse. It's fire rate is four and does a whopping 155 shield
damage like a class 7 gun! Of course, it does little to hulls, so
deploy it with three other guns to actually kill the bogie.

The most under appreciated, but vital, gun statistic is velocity.
Your aiming solution computer aim point is based upon the FASTEST
projectile. Mis-match your gun projectile speeds, and you will see
your 750 M/S Pulse shots hit the bogie and the 500 M/S Plasma shots
miss behind his tail by a mile. Some discrepancy is unavoidable,
but be aware. This is less important in head/tail shots, obviously.

Fire rate is also important. Don't be wowed by the Plasma weapons
powerful punch, the fire rate is a lousy 2 and the speed is slow 500.

Missiles.
Missiles come in two types, like most space sims. Dumbfire and Homing.
Dumbfire missiles have three basic uses. You're following the bogie and
run out of gun energy. You are closing head on with a group of far-
off bogies. Large, slow or stationary targets. (not found in the demo)
Don't BUY a missile launcher. You will eventually salvage one.

Torpedoes & Cruise Disruptors.
These are even more narrow in scope, and of NO use in the demo.

Mine Droppers.
Mines are essential for freighters, but problematic in any mission
where you have allies. They CAN hit friends, even YOU. Salvage, not buy.

Countermeasure Dropper.
Get this, when money allows. They also work on Cruise Disruptors.

Other.
Don't blow your money on Shield upgrades when you are likely to upgrade
to a bigger class of ship soon anyway. The Shields are class-specific.
Thrusters are NOT ship specific, get a better one as afterburner is
used in combat. A lot. I never salvaged an improved afterburner.


5. Commodities and Salvage:


Commodities come in two varieties. Bulk and high value. Your fighter
has way too small a cargo hold to bother with bulk stuff like oxygen,
water, food, etc. That's what freighters are for. Sell off this junk
you have Looted even at low prices to free up cargo space. Hold out on
the high value stuff for a good price, it's profit per cargo space.

Learn how to tractor loot early & often, even in combat. Learn how
to eject cheap Commodities like Scrap Metal to make room for precious ones.
Don't do this in combat, as it drops your shields!

Ships carry fixed numbers of Shield Batteries and Nanobots. These are
common Loot, and can save your buns. I usually launch with less than full
load of Nanobots after I had to leave many of these $200 jewels behind.

When you Loot weapons and equipment, do NOT be in a hurry to sell them.
Think of them as your bank savings account. They take up NO room in your
cargo hold, and may be usable on later ships. Especially in the retail
game, quick cash is handy for emergency maintenance costs, like repairs.


6. Locations:

Your Neural Net Nav Map shows very little base/station information when
you first enter a system. But it DOES show you every path that ships
patrol on. (Not talking about the trade lanes) This is stupid and backwards
if you ask me, I'm sure non-hidden bases will be in every nav map database!
You can use this bug to locate bases and things off the trade lanes by
seeing where everyone is going. Ships don't just go to nowhere for nothing.

7. Reputation:

Rep, as it's known, is an important part of the game. Pick your enemies
with care, or too many people will be after your hide. Getting a faction
hostile to you has consequences beyond the battlefield, now you can't
dock at their base or get offered their missions.

In the demo, the faction you learn this with is the Junkers. They have a
base, which you want to be able to dock with, especially if you want to
eventually become a freighter captain. With this in mind, never NEVER
accept a mission that targets a Junker. Don't mine asteroids, either.
Not only is mining slow and boring, but threatens Junker turf.
You may also find yourself hailed by some Junker who demands you dump
some cargo. When this happened to me, he always overlooked high-value
cargo like Gold and wanted Bulk cargo like food. Let him HAVE it.
It may gall, but think of it like a tax to keep your Rep neutral.
Check your Player Status (in the Neural Net menu) periodically to
see how your actions have effected your Rep.

8. Last things Last:

After you've finished the demo, don't uninstall it, instead use it as a
simulator for the simulator! The demo ends at Level 2, but you can get a
saved game for the demo that will give you a 1 million credit limit at:

http://freelancer.portalive.com

(Thanks, Sir Carcass!)

Now go to www.lancersreactor.com and download: Weapon and Ship Mod v.0.3

This MOD enables all the ships and weapons that are hidden in the sourcecode
of the Demo. (Thanks to Mubata)

Now you can try out loadouts painlessly, and play around with class 10 guns!

For the latest list of Freelancer web sites, goto:

http://www.lancersreactor.com/t/links/d ... Freelancer

Frobozz


"Got anything for me?" - Trent, A.K.A. 'Mr. Eloquent'

Greetings, Everybody!

Sorry about posting the whole FAQ again, the forum wouldn't allow me to edit
the original post. I'll try to edit the 2nd beta when it goes to 3rd beta,
or just post the sections that are updated. For sure I see updates in section
4, Clarify Non-Homing VS true Dumbfire for example, and in section 5.


"Got anything for me?" - Trent, A.K.A. 'Mr. Eloquent'