"- What is the best ship in the game for h.f. or fr? It seems to me that the Corsair TItan is the one to go for? What level do you need to be to buy the titan?"

I'd assume you need to be level 30 for the Titan but I never bought one so I'm not sure...I'd say the Sabre is better even tho it doesnt have as much armor. It handles better and can fire all of its weapons forward.
Also many of its weapons will be mounted onto the wings and since the wings can easily be destroyed should you lose your shield thus you will then lose all of the weapons mounted on the wings.
When it comes to freighters I prefer the Humpback instead of the Dromedar due to the additional armor. The loss of 25 cargo space doesnt matter since you will make tons of money in no time anyway. Some people seems to be doing a LOT of trading and I cant really figure out why since there is no need for all that money. Right after SP ended I bought myself a Humpback and started trading for a couple of hours. I made millions in no time and advanced to lvl 30+. Then I just bought a Sabre/equipment and started exploring bigtime.

"- Know of any good trade routes to make good money trading? is there more money in missions? I think wilacott research center (cardamine) => Planet manhatten then h-fuel back would sorta work but it's a bit long (and lsf are a little put out with me at the mo). Any good suggestions?"

Took this from Chamelion Sun:
"Boron from Planet Pittsburgh($120) to Sheffield Station($600).

Light Arms from Sheffield Station($280) to Planet New London($350).

Luxury Consumer Goods from Planet New London($192) to Planet Manhattan($1,200).

Water from Planet Manhattan($15) to Pittsburgh($30).

4 Jumps total. 30mins to do a whole cycle.

payoff = $506,366 a complete cycle(give or take 1k per loss of Luxury Consumer Good)

Rinse and repeat.

will have over 1 million credits in an hour with a lvl 10 or higher Freighter.

fairly safe run too really."


There is way more money in trading than there is in missions unless you count the level 38 missions which will get you money faster, but its way more hazardous More fun tho hehe


- Any popular shipping routes that are out of the way enough to make a little piracy viable?

Check Hokkaido system in Kusari space. There is a company there hauling construction parts or something. Also every supply depot (one close to every unfinished trade lane gate) contains tons of goods.
They will hate you but they are mainly in Liberty space and they are pretty much harmless IF you are level 15+ or so...just fill up, jump back to one of the other systems and sell + all of the pirates will soon be ready to carry your babies

"- Is there any engine or even a hack to speed up the cruise engines/thrusters? 300 is really painful! Is there any sorta hyperdrive thing to be bought later maybe to enable jumps from anywhere?"

Sorry, no there isnt. Only trade lanes and jump gates/holes. Well not that I know of atleast and afaik I have checked out most things in the game.


"- Is it possible to group weapons so that a hotkey will activate guns/turrets, a second to activate missiles, third for torp/disrupter/countermeasure, etc? At the moment I just have guns cos missiles ran out so fast when you use them in the same group as the guns, but if they were selectable it would be fantastic. Can't wait to level 10 and to get some starkiller torpedo action!! Ahem. "


Yup you can group weapons but I never bothered...check the manual and key config for that...
I used all of my mounted weapons / turrets on primary fire and then there are hotbuttons for the others...
q for missile
e for mine
shift+q for torpedo
shift+e for cruise disruptor
c for counter measure


Hope this answers some of your questions