Corsair missions in Crete/Malta/Tripoli I think.

If it wasn't for the inky blackness of the night you wouldn't appreciate the brilliance of the stars...

Omicron Alpha (Outcasts, against Bounty Hunters)
Omicron Gamma (Corsairs, against Bounty Hunters)
Omicron Theta (Bounty Hunters, against Corsairs)

Also nice (don't need class 7 ship or higher):
Omega-41, Leon Base (Corsairs, against Red Hessians)
Omega-41, Freeport 5 (Bounty Hunters, against Red Hessians or Corsairs)
Tau-23 (IMG/Bounty Hunters, against Outcasts)

For class 5 ship or class 6 w/o decent equipment:
Omega-5 (Corsairs/Red Hessians, against Red Hessians/Corsairs)

Haven't tried Omicron Beta yet since the Outcasts almost always hate me but it should be at least as good as Omega-41.

Forget Omicron Beta. If you take on 120k+ jobs, GMG shows up in suped up Eagles with 6 Skyeblast B. And they never seem to have the power problems that I get with that gun.

A level 40+ job in Beta is a nightmare compared to anything anywhere. IMO.

Omicron Theta doesn't seem to want to give me anything greater than $50-55K missions.

I think I'm going to fall back to my save at level 32 when I had just a lowly Hammerhead with an underclassed loadout (Skyblast A in the 9's and Sunblast B in the 8's instead of Skyblast B in the 9's and Skyblast A in the 8's). The missions I ran with that ship in Omega 41 were quite fun. Currently I've succumbed to the allure of nomad weapons and have a Sabre sporting Skyblast B's in the 9's and nomad blasters/cannons in the 10's--I think I miss running out of energy.

--/\/

Nukenin, the Bounty Hunters are sub-contracting you, that is why they are so stingy with money. Go to the people who are running the show (just a short drive, look at patrol paths) and you'll get up to $93k in SP mode and $240k in MP mode. Not very healthy for your rep sheet, though.

Omicron Theta can get get a bit tough for a Crusader or Barracuda but for Anubis or Stiletto it is just about perfect (in SP mode). The advantage of using low-level ships in this system is that the repair cost for radiation damage is much lower, and if you use the Anubis then you don't even have to sacrifice space for commodity loot. Of course, there is no Anubis in MP ...

I wonder how my Hammerhead will fare in Omicron Theta. Currently I'm shopping around for a good mix of weapons--not the best mix possible, but something other than a line of green GMG weapons. I may keep Skyblast A's on the class 8 hardpoints, though, since those still fire at full rate when energy is depleted (with an occasional rift from one of the left Buckshots when I tried loading a full complement of Buckshots in the class 9 hardpoints).

I'm honestly having more of a blast in the Hammerhead--just enough of a challenge to keep me from getting too bored, which I saw happening in the Sabre/Eagle, especially after I'd succumbed to the power of zero energy nomad weapons.

Hmm, maybe I'll go back to my Omega 41 save (right after attaining level 32), bribe the Corsairs, run some money/faction missions for 'em, and get the Hammerhead decked out with Salamancas and a Tizona del Cid or two...

Edit: Well, I'm a lazy gunner and don't like bothering to switch weapons on and off--and unfortunately when energy is depleted the Tizonas seem to want to hog the bus as power becomes available--especially if I mount two Tizonas, then when energy is depleted they tend to take priority and only occasionally one of the Salamanca I's will fire.

So now I'm trying a full Salamanca loadout on the Hammerhead--usually when I go at an enemy with full shields it's after I've taken a breather for a second or two from the last kill, so the full broadside of 6 Salamancas will be brought to bear on fresh shields, so it's not too bad. I could probably also just mount a Tizona and leave it toggled off, and just fire it manually as needed (like a pseudo-missile) but--nah, too lazy.

Btw, to build up funds and faction with Corsairs without overly ruining my BHG rep, I was running anti-Hessian missions from Leon Base in Omega 41--and getting $80-86K missions from Corsairs in the bar (not job board missions; didn't look at those). Not bad.

--/\/

Edited by - Nukenin on 28-07-2003 08:03:29

You'll probably get bored with a Hammerhead in Omicron Theta (except in MP mode when missions with highest difficulty level are available), same as in Omega-41. BTW, in my earlier post I confused Omega-41 and Omicron Theta - it is Omega-41 where you can get $90k missions in SP mode; in Omicron Theta there are only the $50k Bounty Hunter jobs.

I think a good rule of thumb for optimal mission difficulty is ship class times 5, times 6 for very good ships (Anubis ...), and up to times 7 for truly outstanding ships like Dagger and Drake. This ensures that the missions are challenging enough to be interesting but not so hard as to become frustrating. I.e. you have a fair chance to get killed when you are sloppy but otherwise there is no doubt that you will come back with your ship completely intact (perhaps one fireball in 50 missions). Adjust the factor downwards if you have sub-optimal equipment.

Of course, in SP mode the problem is to find places with good missions for class 6 ships and higher ...

Yeah, I figured you'd been referring to Omega 41 and Leon Base for the ~$90K SP missions.

I think for a challenge I'm gonna switch to a Drake using 8.33 weaps--GMG Sunblast A photon in the class 6 slots, and Vengeance Mk II laser in the class 5 slots. Definitely not the most damaging (Advanced Tarantula or Pyros Type 3/Tarantula or Pyros Type 2) or efficient (Vulture 3 or Vulture 2 from the Farmer's Alliance) but then it's more of a challenge that way. Although I'm tempted to try to see what I can do to get ahold of those Vultures, that's a weapon I've not thought about before.

--/\/

Edited by - Nukenin on 28-07-2003 18:16:56

in addition to the above dresden can be lucrative .the missions dont go much above 100k and can be a lot less but the loot sells for a lot in one of the bases there and the hessians drop a lot of niobium
you dont need as good a ship to hunt there a barracuda or banshee will cope admirably but a vhf will scoop up a lot more loot
in fact thats where im hunting on freeport 9 server ,they start you with an anubis, and its a perfect hunting ground for it

Nukenin, the FA drop those guns so you don't need to get friendly with them.

Incidentally, the FA base was the only one in Kusari that refused to give me missions at level 9. There is a chance that the FA missions are a bit less boring than other jobs in Kusari (best is difficulty 15 in Hokkaido which is tamer than the local fauna there ).

I do not like weapon groups very much either (cumbersome, glitchy) but against high-level enemies it is a big advantage to have a shield buster because it helps to destroy enemies faster while using less energy. The difference is especially noticable if you fight against groups of VHF in a Drake ... Pity that there is so little choice of shield busters below class 7; the Corsair thingy is a bit weakish for difficulty 35+ missions and it forces you to use slower main guns (or accept mismatched projectile speed but that negates the advantages of a light fighter).

If you have a single shield buster gun then you can configure the caps lock key to toggle it on and off. Works a treat, especially if you synchronize the weapon state with the caps lock LED on your keyboard before heading into battle.

Well, I've now got a save with my Drake decked out with the Sunblast A and Vengeance Mk II loadout, another save with the Drake fitted with Advanced Tarantula and Tarantula, and then another save with a Falcon inheriting my Hammerhead's GMG loadout (Sunblast B's and Skyblast A's) and the class 8 graviton shield I carried to Sigma 17 in a Titan.

I think of these three I still have a preference for the Drake w/ Sunblast A and Vengeance Mk II--I like the brilliant blue bolts from the Vengeance. (I've flown this same combo before but with Tanto instead of Vengeance Mk II--identical stats I believe, but the Tanto has white bolts.) Yes, the Tarantulas mow down stuff faster, but the laser/photon weapons just "feel" faster.

The Falcon just reminds me too much of the fact that I'm a save and a few system jumps away from getting an Eagle with nomad weapons--the overkill I'm trying to avoid.

So now I need to take my laser/photon Drake and find a fun system in which to hone my light fighter skills. I don't quite think I'm ready to tackle level 35 missions in the Drake yet.

--/\/

I found GMG Eagles to be even easier than Bounty Hunter Hammerheads in my ole Sabre.

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