Buy the best fighter you can find, A Falcon will probably do the trick and can be bought in Rheinland. Now, go to your faction list and pick out who you want to be pals with. Look at their enemy list, odds are they have an enemy that is also a pirate. Choose one of those enemies to be your new whipping boys.
Go to a system where that group operates (you can find this out by right clicking on a star system, selecting the '?' which brings up facts about the system, including pirate presence. Now, take missions from a base where you kill only members of your whipping boys' faction. Repeat until you earn neutrality with the group you wish. Now go to their bases and land, check out the bar and somewhere, you'll be able to bribe them to like you better. Now, buy that ship from their base and be happy.

To make it more concrete, this is what I did: I decided I wanted to be pals with the Corsairs. It just so happens that they hate the Red Hessians, who often hang out in Rheinland. So I spent an hour or two taking misisons to kill Red Hessians for the Rheinland police. By that time I had amassed a few hundred thousand credits and neutrality with the Corsairs. So, I went to Omega 41 (I think) and landed, went to the bar and paid the bartender to hack my faction. Now, we're pals and I'm still neutral or better with every government faction. I could buy a Titan if I felt like it, or their fancy Class 9 guns and class 10 sheild. It's just that easy. If you want to befriend the Outcasts or Xenos, the same option is available (albeit by killing other factions). It does take a while, but if you kill 10 or 15 ships of one faction consecutively, you will notice your faction list change slightly! Keep going!

Oh, and unless you went out and shot up the Zoners, you can always bribe them at Freeport 9 (I think) and they'll let you buy an Eagle.

Don't know why you're having such a tough time. It's not uncommon to have the pirate factions dislike you. You just have to know how far you can safely go with a Rhino. I'd stay out of the Rheinland, if I were you. Try Bretonia instead. You can get a Clydsedale freighter and do some hauling with it.

I took the freighters one step at a time. I went from a Rhino to a Mule. I don't suggest that one, as it's a lot of faction work, unless you want the police and/or bounty hunters after you as well. I stepped up from the Mule to the Clydesdale, then the Drone, and then the Humpback. Each one added an improvement in armor, shields, and weaponry. Those allowed me to take that little extra step into space.

I think more than anything, you need to learn how to run away. Get yourself some countermeasures and mines. Dump 'em behind you as you cruise for your docking point. If you're trade lane is interrupted, target the next ring and use the "go to" command. As soon as you see the ring come back into operation, hit "dock" and get away. Once you get so close to the ring, your cruise engines will shut off. When that happens, or if they use cruise disruptors on you, just tap your thrusters every other second or so. The change in speed will confuse the enemys' targeting, while making your remaining distance to the trade ring that much shorter.

You're playing multiplayer? Get yourself an escort! A lot of fighter pilots think it's a boring assignment. I spent two days convincing another player to escort me on a trade route. I offered him a 50/50 split of the profit. After making about 400k for a few hours work, he's kicking himself for not having jumped at the chance sooner.

By the way, if you're going to buy a fighter yourself, don't expect to buy a Falcoln anytime soon. One, they're in Hamburg, and your whole post is about your frustration in not being able to get to the Rheinland areas. Two, they cost about 250k, and you mentioned only having about 70k. For 70k, I'd suggest heading to Planet Cuaraco and buying a Barracuda - if you want a fighter. Cuaraco is on the way from Liberty to Bretonia.

Edited by - Ether Dragon on 11-03-2003 22:40:26

Plinko and Ether Dragon,

thank you very much for advice.

A few hours ago I joined two friends, one of which had a Humpback and the other had a Barracuda. I swapped the Rhino for a Defender first and gave whatever support I could. We flew to Curacao and they bought me a Barracuda too. Tomorrow we'll be upgrading for two Falcons, I think.

Funny thing; before reading Ether Dragon's post I was kicking myself too, for not joining a group earlier. Duh!

This is the way to play Freelancer MP - joining a group and pulling together for common good (and wealth. And stronger ships. And money!)

how far ur rhino can go?
first time I got hamburg bought myself a banshee ,and fought my way to dresden then found volgtbase where sabre is on sell...
second time I drove my little rhino directly towards dresden and got my sabre
what u need is big money--about 100k..oops thats 1000k...
that's for the VHF (550k for sabre or eagle,770k for titan) and bribe and c10 shield (320k) and some c9 weapon u need in hand before get c10 or nomad weapon.
I did that when I have 1500k.
have fun.
edit: should I write 1000k like 1M or some thing like that? *smile*

Edited by - wuyou on 16-03-2003 21:32:18