I've been wanting to get one of the Outcast ships for a while, so I decided to go try this. I start out, in the green with the usual Liberty good guys - Police, Security, Ageira (sp), etc.

Soon I find out, that even on "neutral" terms, most factions will not sell me anything above a certain dollar amount. For example, I couldn't get any class 6 bounty hunter weapons even though I was neutral, on the friendly side ( white bar sort of greenish at the tip ) with them. I had to be really friendly, with a good green block or two.

Of course I'm being pounded by bad guys the further I get out from Liberty.. So I start running through a lot of ambushes, trying to through even with their cruise disruptors. I hit neutral stations, and start spending money to improve my reputation with the bad guys. I start getting in the green with Outcasts, Corsairs, etc. Now I'm red with the previously good guys - and so I cannot use any jump gates, trade lanes, most bases, and almost all planets. I'm stuck flying through radioactive debris fields in unknown uncharted space.

I buy myself a solid green rep with the Outcasts, and make it all the way to their planet to buy the ship I need. But now, I'm fairly broke having spent a fortune on reputation hacking to get here. Because I'm at odds with the majority of the good guys, the majority of civilized space is now off-limits to me.

Is this how most of you go about getting your powerful Corsair ships and Outcast ships? Or am I going about this the wrong way?

I need about a half-million credits to buy back a good reputation and make it back to civilized space now, hah!