= thanks sherlock- good tip

Thought it would save some time, if somebody wants those guns.

I had spent more than half an hour in the Silverton field battling Xenos patrols but all I got for my trouble was 11 of the normal class 2 things and a hold full of assorted loot, but I wanted the class 3 Advanced Scorpion. When I had found the trick I exercised it three more times and had 4 Adv. Scorpion in less than ten minutes (I wanted the Adv. Scorpions because they are ideal for beating the game in a light fighter like the Patriot).

I think those lone 'cruising' Startrackers must be couriers or something with a special loadout, because they also dropped engine components in addition to the guns. The Startrackers in the patrol wings never did this.

how is that supposed to work?

if you see a xeno, its gonna start attacking you.

I think there are different "classes" of ships being generated.

Transporting ships

Random Hostiles (like at EVERY jumphole)

locals (lone ships or wings patrolling)

I've seen the advanced Scorpians for sale at the Xeno base in the Kepler system, I haven't checked the base in the Colorado system yet. They should sell it at that system as well, though having a good enough rep with the Xenos to get on their base might be the hardest part.

Yes, that's precisely the point. It may be possible to appease the Xenos a little so that they stop shooting and you can dock with their bases; it could even be that you don't have to be very friendly with them in order to be able to by low-level items like the Scorpion or Adv. Scorpions. But I do not think it does your rep sheet much good to get actually friendly with the Xenos.

Be that as it may, it is way faster to just shoot the right kind of Startracker out of the sky and tractor the guns.

You start neutral with them.

Yogimus, the Xenos are normally hostile at the start of a game, both in singleplayer and multiplayer modes.

Some more observations: the Startrackers that do drop the Adv. Scorpions are ferrying cargo and they do not normally engage you. If they do engage (because they just came out of a jumphole, for example) then they will try to cruise away at first opportunity. If you attack them while they are about to dock they will not engage either, and if you have only Justice Mk I then they have a good chance to escape before you have hammered through their armour.

I have seen them flying between Ouray base and the New York jumphole or between the base and the tradelane. Once I saw one that was headed in the direction of the planet, and out of curiosity I followed it (did not have a cruise disruptor). I thought I could catch it when it tried to dock with something but no dice, it took a dive in the sun corona.

The jumphole and the base are good places for picking them off but if there are regular patrol wings in the area as well then it can be difficult to choose the right targets (because you have to scan them to see if they carry cargo).