There are a few patches that remove the storyline and/or open all the jumpgates from the start. Check out the downloads section.

However another option is to start a mulitplayer server on your PC and then join it.

Get through the first part until King leaves to meet Juni. Then you are on your own for a while.

You can not level up without doing the SP missions but you can buy a freighter on Manhattan and start trading making up routes as you go.

You will still have to do missions to level up unless you MOD your game to by pass all the stuff in the original SP. Or yes you can make a MP server and put yourself as the only member.

I personally had about 300K in the bank before I went to the mission for level 7. I won't say what happens there as that would be a spoiler. Take the old mans advise and make some money before you get there!

Just some thoughts from the edge of space!

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thanks for the reply. i want to go on sp missions. but, i just don't want to follow the storyline right away. this is what i would like to do. tell me if this is possible. i would like to build my character by doing some random missions. then start some of the storyline missions. then go back to some random missions. then storyline missions. can you go in and out of the story like that? something like Morrowind. you can join some factions. do some missions for them. try the storyline for a while. then go back and do some faction quests. can you do this in FL as well? thanks for all the help.

I dont think you will find FL as fexible as morrowind when it comes to picking up the storyline and leaving it. After every mission in single player you are basically told to bugger off and do some stuff on your own - until you have enough total worth to get to the next storyline mission. This might sound like what you want, but it isnt for 2 reasons.

1 - Your reputation with alot of groups is fixed after you have completed most SP missions. I.e there is a mission where the Lane Hackers bail you out and after is you are left to your own devices at a lane hacker base. Thus you are friendly with lane hackers. This means you will be hostile with their enemies. So no matter hwo much work you had done for their enemies they will hate you now. Obviously sometimes a mission will not affect your rep much with some factions but due to the (exellent) interplay between faction reps you are unlikely to get away without at least some change.

2 - Certain ships, equipment etc require you to be above a given level before you can buy them. Thus you must have reached a certain point in the storyline before you can buy them. Again i think this might be addressed in a mod but i'm not sure.

I think your best bet is to complete SP, then start again in a MP game or with one of the OpenGate mods or a similar one. Having completed SP you still have a hell of alot of stuff to find, even in the systems you have been to, never mind the ones not even touched by SP. That way you can complete the storyline (which is sweet) but then pick your own faction without worrying about it being screwed up by the storyline. Try and not compare FL to morrowind, i have yet to find a game as openended as morowind and if you go on like that you will get pissed off quickly. FL is better than morrowind in various ways but not as an RPG.

I tried to avoid the missions to collect some money, but on number 4 Juni came after me when I got to Manhattan.

So I had no choice but to do the mission even though I had said no.

Keith

she came after you? lol. you mean as soon as you landed ,you were forced to accept the mission?

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Some of the bases see to trigger a mission cut scene as soon as you land, then you're stuck with the mission.

Top Tip? You're told in advance where to go for the next mission, if you don't want it yet, don't land there.

redeye wrote:

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1 - Your reputation with alot of groups is fixed after you have completed most SP missions. I.e there is a mission where the Lane Hackers bail you out and after is you are left to your own devices at a lane hacker base. Thus you are friendly with lane hackers. This means you will be hostile with their enemies. So no matter hwo much work you had done for their enemies they will hate you now. Obviously sometimes a mission will not affect your rep much with some factions but due to the (exellent) interplay between faction reps you are unlikely to get away without at least some change.

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The events of the story do change your rep sheet rather drastically at times but many of these changes are temporary. It is interesting to note that your rep is not affected by the things you do in the line of duty.

For example, a couple of days ago I did a fast run through the campaign. During the first two story missions I killed quite a number of Liberty Rogues (42 kills total; some of those were Anubises so it must have been about 37 Rogues) but my rep with the Rogues was still at the initial 65% hostile. If I had shredded that many Rogues while freelancing then they would have gone fully hostile.

Moreover, after the end of the campaign my rep with the Rogues was again at this value because the game had undone the story-based changes. Note: I took only 3 freelancing missions total and two of these did not involve bloodshed. That is why my rep with almost all factions was at unchanged default value after the end of the campaign.

65% hostile:
Mollys, Hackers, Corsairs, Rogues, Outcasts
30% unfriendly:
Bounty Hunters, Republican, Samura, Hogosha, FA, GC, Bundschuh, Kishiro, Gaians, Junkers
65% friendly:
Universal, Ageira, DSE, LPI, Interspace, Synth, Dragons
90% friendly:
Liberty Navy, LSF

The rest were absolutely neutral. It looks like the game backed out almost all story-based changes, doesn't it?

Edited by - Sherlog on 21-05-2003 19:53:59

Yes you are right about the changes to your rep being temporary as soon as the SP is over you are basically right back where you started in Liberty space. I haven't tried it yet but I would be curious to see if it reverts all the way back or if everything you do in Liberty Space remains the same as far as your rep goes.

I was doing a lot of trading and Killed a lot of xenos before I took on the mission where we have to abandon Liberty and become outlaws. Unfortunately my Computer took a spike big enough to kill it and the VERY expensive protector attached to it. So right now I am without my FL so I can not continue on my quest to finish the SP in a LIGHT fighter! Bums me out but hopefully they can save my HD data and all will be good in the world again. If not well thats why they play the game! LOL

Doe's anyone else know if it is a set faction list when SP is over or do your actions in LS change it and then it goes to that setting after the SP missions are over?

Just some thoughts from the edge of space!

@sherlog

I am totally with you on the mission kills vs. freelancing kills affecting your rep differently. However i think the more interesting point is whether completing the game restores your rep to the same status every time - i.e. does everyone end up with exactly the same rep after finishing SP?

I spy from other posts that you're into a bit of modding so maybe you can find out from an .ini/dll, if not its probably worth a post.

It could well be that I am mistaken in attributing the virgin state of my post-campaign rep sheet to the fact that I killed hardly anybody outside story missions. As you said, another possibility is that the game simply gives everybody the same rep sheet after the campaign ends.

However, currently I cannot load one of my earlier "game beaten" savegames as they are no longer shown in the "Load Game" screen. I guess I'll have to write a script that converts all the savegames to text so that I can search for the correct one.

Sorry to hear about the spike thing, especially unfair as you did take the necessary precautions. Maybe you should max out an Eagle and then go visit the manufacturers of the protector that didn't. Would be a good use for Sunslayers and those uber mines that cost more than $7000 a piece.

Update: me plenty heap fool. Managed to locate the savegame from my first time through the campaign (more than 1000 kills, most of them outside the story missions) and the rep sheet is exactly the same! So redeye was right, everybody starts with the same reputation in the afterlife.

Edited by - Sherlog on 22-05-2003 18:54:06