That's odd, when I mapped my keyboard to the turn keys, it worked fine UNLESS I was in turret mode - then it simply rotated my turrets left and right. Of course, I tried that back in the demo, so maybe they fixed it for the final game.

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That's odd, when I mapped my keyboard to the turn keys, it worked fine UNLESS I was in turret mode - then it simply rotated my turrets left and right. Of course, I tried that back in the demo, so maybe they fixed it for the final game.

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Maybe I did it in 3rd Person View mode.
Haven't played a few days, so won't know until I get time to play again.
In either view-mode it's the same advantage.

Lemlestarn, THANK YOU!! I'd been going nuts trying to find an INI file that might help... but I was looking in the Freelancer game directory.

What a strange place for Microsoft to put it.

I wish they wouldn't do the "My Whatever" thing so often. It's my flipping computer, I think I can tell they're my documents. (Yes, I've renamed the others, but I have a feeling I can't rename this "My Games" folder.)

They seem to be doing this with many of their new games.

I don't know if it works but I wonder if that setting accepts more than just 0.00 or 1.00? What happens if you put 0.80, for example??

Or 5.0. One shot, you're dead.

I put in 0.50 for the difficulty setting first. It was fun... briefly. It was kind of neat having every single missile fired hit the target. And it was fun getting some revenge on the blasted Mollys for all those times they blew me up. I took a trade lane into the midst of a mess of Mollys, about a dozen ships I think, and took them all down without even having to use one shield battery.

Then I loaded the previous saved game. That's only fun for about five minutes. I want a challenge, I just don't want to be destroyed any time I leave the station. Right now I'm playing on 0.85 difficulty, and it seems to work fairly well. If I play for a while and find that it's too easy, I'll push it up a bit. I just got tired of *never* having a missile hit unless I fired head-on, and from very close range, and of being blown into very small pieces by ridiculously small enemy forces.

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Oh, I definitely have shields. I should've said, it's more like zap-zap-z-z-z-z-z-zap-BANG-BANG-BANG-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM, to be more accurate.

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If that's the case then your ship, or perhaps just your shield, is too weak for the area you are flying. Still, a big group of bad guys can make short work of you even in a decent, well-equipped ship. If I pop out of a trade lane into a fight, I immediately hit the thrusters and start zig-zagging my way to the next dock/lane/gate. If you get lane hacked, do the same while you wait for the lane to come back up.

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As for staying around Liberty, you don't have that option in the single player game. I guess I'll have to be a fighter pilot, it seems the only way to survive.

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Not true. You can spend as much time as you like between missions, but once you click "Accept" for a plot mission from Juni, you're in it until that mission is over. Of course, it's not always obvious what the consequences of doing a plot mission will be, so be sure to save the game before clicking "Accept". Feel free to click "decline". You don't lose the game or anything. You just end up telling Juni to wait.

So... spend a little time making some cash and exploring the systems you have access to. Find the best equipment you can for your ship. You're right though, the SP game does seem to be designed for the player to fly a fighter. Doesn't mean you can't fly a freighter. Heck, I even won a race against a light fighter with my Dromedary. Freighters are sluggish in turns, but make up for it a little with stronger shields.

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By the way, how does the multiplayer game work?

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Multiplayer is open-ended. You can go anywhere you want and your level is determined only by your net worth. Some jump holes and gates available in SP are not usable (or just not there) in MP. Other than that, go anywhere you think you can survive. Not much point to it other than exploring, making money, killing stuff (or other players), and upgrading your ship though.

Theres nothing like launching a really expensive torpedo at a freighter, on shot does the job. I must say... 11k damage is alot for any ship to take, but the damn battle ship can really take a punch.

--------------------------------
Michael"TRAPPER"Needham
The Weak Shall Perish

...Yes sir thats right... just drop your cargo or I can open your hull with my twin plasma blasters, and take the cargo for myself.......Thank you, have a nice flight.

You have to explore! The only way to get better ships is to visit new venues! You will find better shields, guns, ect ect but you will not if you do not go out and find them.

Yeah I'm gutted that I cant use keyboard controls to turn while in turret mode... I hope they fix that in a patch...

However 'strafe left' and 'strafe right' still work properly, tho it isn't very effective.

What I tend to do is once I hit the trade lane I get into turret mode and hit spacebar. When I get lane hacked, I immediately hit the cruise engines, if I get disrupted I just hold down tab. I target the gate and hit F2 (go to), and start shooting at the pirates and dropping mines behind me. I keep the gate targetted so I can see the moment it's shields come back up, then I hit F3 (dock) and run like a little girl.

If I feel like fighting them, I'll just select the gate, F2 then stop the cruise engines myself. I then take care of the bad guys, and the gate usually comes online just as I get into docking range.

TIP: If you have 5 mouse buttons, rebind some of the "fire weapon x" controls to the different buttons. ATM I have mouse3 fire missle, mouse4 drops a mine and mouse5 drops a countermeasure. That way I drop mines behind me, and fire missles infront of me.

Always go for greater tracking ability rather than high damage types of mines/missiles. Being a freighter you simply don't have the time to get into a good firing angle.

PS - shoot down missiles with your turrets. All enemies have handy little red dots infront of em so you know where to shoot even if you dont have them selected.

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What a strange place for Microsoft to put it.

I wish they wouldn't do the "My Whatever" thing so often. It's my flipping computer, I think I can tell they're my documents. (Yes, I've renamed the others, but I have a feeling I can't rename this "My Games" folder.)

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Not strange at all! Especially for Microsoft. Remember that XP is meant to be a multi-user OS. Also remember the option during install, "Install for All Users." By putting your user files in the Documents folder, multiple users can play Freelancer and not mess up each other's savegames.

That said, I don't know too many people who would need to do that; it's so much easier with one user.

Sorry if this has been stated before, but:

In MP, the best way to use a freighter is to remember you're playing multiplayer. Find a couple of people to escort you. The trick is though, stay formed on one of the fighters at all times. That way you can go into turret mode, and the guy piloting the fighter will basically do the flying for you while you turret. This works great because you are harder to hit when moving around constantly. Also lets you concentrate solely on turreting and countermeasures. It takes some getting used to (can be disorienting at times), but once you get it down, your little convoy is unstoppable.

I know this doesn't help at all in SP, but hey, MP is much more fun for freighter pilots anyway IMHO...