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Starting a new game...
You'll notice that when the "new" game begins, you are in an Argon Buster. The Argon Buster is a M4 class fighter.
Although somewhat stable and can hold its own in a fight,many refere to it as a flying coffin.
Many people in the X forum will tell you...
"When you start a "new" game, dump that piece of crap Buster and go for the Argon Discoverer.
There are many advantages to this.
One clear advantage is that you have speed on your side.
Although the Argon Discoverer is an M5 Class fighter and only has two 1Mw Shields, its very quick and very manuverable. It also sports two Gamma IRE's to boot and has enough room for adding extra cargo space.
After selling the Buster...not only will you have enough money left to buy the Discoverer, you'll also have enough to do one of two things.
The first of which is upgrading the Discoverer.
The second choice is to buy a Transport.
Now...when you first put in the CD and started to play the game. You'll notice that there are saved games there already. These are there for your convienience. Also...what I just described is also one of the saved games that are already there. The Discoverer and the Transport.
It all depends on your style of play.
You can be aggressive...or...you can be cautious. Both styles of playing can be fun.
AGGRESSIVE PLAY
If you're an aggressive player. Then you might want to take the Buster, sell it as descibed above and get the Discoverer. From this point, you'll have the option to upgrade the fighter. Remember...it will be a naked ship until you put the appropriate items in it.
The items you should be looking for are the weapons. Take the right weapons for the right task.
I use the following on all "personal" ships.
2 Alpha, Beta, and Gamma IRE's For the M5 class Fighters.
(with the exception of the Boron Octopus, it can only mount three Beta IRE's And there's not enough space for extra weapons)
Basically...two of each weapon as you have two weapons mounts on each fighter with the exception of the Octopus.
After you have chosen the weapons, then I suggest expanding the cargo bay a litle and make sure that you get a few rudder tunings and engine tunings to make the fighter a little faster as well. You shouild have the speed well above 225 m/s (meters per second).
The rudder tunings should be around 20 (For the Discoverer).
Once that is done, make sure that you add the following as it might come in handy...
Freight scanner
Ecliptic projector
Strafe Drive
Engine boost
Trade extension
Nav Map
*(this will show the cargo pods that have been dropped as the Gravidar doesn't show them)*
A little later on you might want to invest in a life support system for your cargo bay as well. This can be purchased and installed on board a pirate base.
With these purchases you will be fully outfitted to hold your own in a fight...and if your playing aggresively...you'll need this edge.
The firast thing you'll want to do is set out and explore east ward towards Atreus Clouds *E,N,E* This should bring you directly to Atreus clouds. From there you'll be in te area of heavy Pirate activity as there is a pirate base directly east of the Trade Station there.
South of Atreus Clouds are the pirate sectors/unclaimed Space. They are:
Farnham's Legend,Elena's Fortune,SplitFire,Olemonkeslot's Treaty,Bala Gi's Joy, Brennan's Triumph, Danna's Chance,Nopileo's Memorial, and Haktiva's Faith. *theses are just the Pirate sectors SOUTH and EAST of Atreus Clouds*
Of the three types of pirate fighters M5 to M3 (Mandalay,Bayamon,Orinoco) the Madalay is the hardest to capture due to its being so fragile and agile.
The Bayamon can be used as a transport of sorts as well. It has an excellent speed and has a goos amount of cargo Space. The main factor being the speed as nothing can really catch it with the exception of the M5 class fighters. The Orinoco's on the other hand have a really good value to them...their worth up to 500,000 credits.* One fighter can just about pay for an Argon Factory and tranportation costs for it*
CAPTURING FIGHTERS
The trick of capturing fighters is to know when to stop firing.
The "trick" to getting the pilot to bail out of the fighter is to take the shields down quickly enough to scare him, but also just enough as to not destroy the ship. Using the right weapons for this task also helps.
When capturing M4 Class fighters, its a good idea to take the shields down with Gamma PAC cannons and to keep them down with either the Alpha IRE's.
Keep in mind that the Gamma PAC's are quite powerful. One or two shots will take the shields down to half.
When capturing an M3 class figher, use the Gamma PAC's to take the shields down and depending on the type of shields it has you may either want to use the Single Gamma PAC or Both Gamma IRE's.
In this case, the M3 fighter is an Orinoco. It has two 5 Mw Shields.
Take the Shields down to about half with the Gamma PAC's and then kep them down with the Beta IRE's.
BE CAREFUL The Shields will give out eventually making the pilot eject. Keep the Shields down to about 2% with the Beta IRE's. When One of the shields is destroyed Instead if taking the shields down by 1% it wil take them down by 2%. If the shields are at 1% when firing both Beta IRE's, the ship WILL explode. Best to switch to Alpha IRE's until the pilot ejects.
IF you're flying the Discoverer, then use the Gamma IRE's to take the shields down to half and continue as stated above.
This method of aggressive playing is also known as pirating.
If you're going after pirate ships, keep a few things in mind. Obviously you have the Freight scanner...Use it. It will tell you the greatest speed the fighter is capable of and if there are multiple ships of the same make, it will tell you which ship is the slowest. Also remember to take out the fastest ships first. Usually these would be the Mandalays. If you can capture them...GREAT...if you can't...well..its unfortunate...but you ranking will increase with its destruction.
The next fastest ship would be the Bayamon. These can be captured and used as tyransports.
I can honestly say, that although I have many factories...I've never BOUGHT a transport...I've capturd Bayamons and Pirate Transports and used them favoring the Bayamons over the slower transports as they can mount four Alpha PAC's and have a top speed of 200 m/s. The Pirate tyransports CANNOT be upgraded to go faster or hold more than they already have, although the rudders can be upgraded.
CAUTIOUS PLAY
For those of you that like to trade more than fight...this can be done as well.
The save game with the transport will come in handy for this as its already done for you. Fly the transport with the Discoverer as your wingman with the orders of "protect my current ship" and you should be somewhat safe. Beware though... The freighter is very slow and the Discoverer is a M5 class fighter. It can hold its own...but its fragile with only two 1Mw Shields.
There is no right and wrong way to trade in XT. Buy low and sell high is the best advise anyone can give.
WHAT to trade is the trick of it.
Raw materials is the best to trade. The best trade item that is both affordable and in demand is the energy cells. Every station needs these and one can make a pretty good profit tradingthese at first.
When you get enough for the Freighter to be up graded...Make it faster and manuverable then go for the Extra cargo space. A small fleet of these can quickly make you alot of credits in a small amount of time.
BUYING STATIONS
At some point, you'll want to buy your own factory.
There are a few that will get alot of money and quickly become self sustaining.
These are as follows:
Bogas Factory
Wheat Farm
Teladianium Foundry
Ore/Silicon Mines
These factories are fairly cheap to buy and have the potential to make you alot of money.
Fortunately, Mines work just about anywhere... The best places to place them are near or in systems that will need this raw material. Every race has a need for both Ore and Silicon. Seizwell is a good place to place them as there are a good amount of asteroids available and both the Teladi and Split would have access to them.
Bogas Factories work very well in the Teladi Sectors. Especially where there are alot of Sun Oil refineries and Flower farms.
The Teladianium Foundries work very well in either Atreus Clouds due to the Bio Gas Factories there or in Rolks Fate as the Bio Gas Factories from Atreus Clouds,Rolks Fate, and Menelaus Frontier will have the quickest access to them as well as the rest of the Boron Sectors North and West of Atreus Clouds.
Wheat farms Seem to get the most use when placed in either Atreus Clouds or Farnhams legend.
The Boron have a need for the wheat as well as the Argon in the neighboring systems.
Of course the Boron sectors South and East of the Paranid Sectors have to rely on the pirate sectors for their wheat and the Three Argon Sectors East and South of Haktiva's Faith.
The real trick is looking at which sector has a need for the resource that you want to sell, and then being able to place the factory in the right system so that neighboring systems have quick access to your factory.
In X-Tension...location is everything.
It also helps when you set all of your sale items to the lowest price. This creates a sort of Price war that you can win. Not very many other Factories will go to the lowest price. With the low cost of the energy cells, you can afford to make the sale price very cheap.
There are also quite a few missions available in extention. You can 'haul' goods for factories by contract...or you can take on some of the fighter missions that will be offered. Everything from a simple item fetching to a professional hitman contract can be offered.
There is also the infamous Perseus mission awaiting as well. For this to be offered however, you'll need to have a really good relationship with the Paranid and the Argon...otherwise...it won't be offered. Your Rank has alot to do with it as well. I believe it should be up to Commander.
THIS MISSION WILL ONLY BE OFFERED IN PARANID SPACE!!!
A fighter will approach you about it...so travel at a moderate speed when going through paranid space as the fighter that offers the mission can be opf any kind from an M5 to M3 class fighter. This mission has a familiar ship for you and a chance to get a previously UNKNOWN ship. This mission requires you to be able to capture the ship, but destroying it completes the mission as well..This mission is a double mission as you also have to escort a TL class Transport as well. Both are hard mission but VERY rearding in the end. |
