Some noob questions

[ConorC]

Hi guys, long time X player playing rebirth for the first time and I have some questions:

1. I have figured out how to trade deals by doing the chat mini game (that's not gonna get old ) but can I only have 1 trade deal per station complex?

2. The "i" icon on the stations, I don't have a clue what is the story with these. Are the important? What am I supposed to do about them?

3. I'm doingbthe campaign so I have a trade ship and I have it trading but can I trade with the skunk too? If so, how?

4. I got a better scanner but I still have to get really close to the stations to get information. Is there a way to get the info, docking ports etc. From a greater distance?

I will have more questions as I go through it.

Also, I'm running the game vanilla for my first play through so no mods at this time.

Thanks

[radcapricorn]

1. If by trade deals you mean "Trade Agents", then yes, you only need one per station. They'll keep your trading computer up to date with station offers. What you can do multiples of is get various discounts. Some are unlocked via chat mini-games, others via hacking a trade terminal and station scanning, which is...

2. ...what you do when you get close to those "i" icons, and trading port icons (that have + or - on them). Sometimes those unlock special offers (cued by a sound and a short message on your radar monitor). Those offers stack up with discounts you get from NPCs. Once I've "discounted" myself so much that a station started paying me for buying their product (I don't know if this has been fixed since).
You can also get missions to scan a particular station to XX %. The percentage goes up with each "i" scanned. Scanning is somewhat easier if you put your scanner into "Station Scan" mode, which would highlight already scanned modules both in the cockpit and on the radar.
One other benefit of scanning is getting production info into your encyclopedia. But for that not only do you have to scan a production module, you should also open it's information and actually look at the production cycle.
Some stations can only be scanned to 100% using a (illegal) drone.

3. You can't trade commodities with the Skunk, no. What you can trade is "inventory" items that you pick up or craft. You can buy and sell these via remote trading so as to not dock to stations every time.

4. Scanner does not affect station scanning range, that can only be increased via mods.

[ConorC]

Cheers Radcapricorn, that helps a lot. I will have more questions soon.

Meanwhile, is the lady with the window into her "decolage" beside me in the ship whose name I can't remember the only person in the x rebirth universe with hair? If so, where can I buy a razor factory? I wanna corner the market.

[radcapricorn]

Well, maybe there's more to that "ice cream plus reactor coolant" story than she lets on

[Falcrack]

Cheers Radcapricorn, that helps a lot. I will have more questions soon.

Meanwhile, is the lady with the window into her "decolage" beside me in the ship whose name I can't remember the only person in the x rebirth universe with hair? If so, where can I buy a razor factory? I wanna corner the market.

I suppose when you spend 90% of your time going around with a space helmet on, you would want very short hair, or even be shaved bald. But I do find it ridiculous how hideous they made every single NPC look for Rebirth.

[radcapricorn]

Compared to beautiful inhabitants of the universe circa X2?

[ConorC]

So I'm having some difficulties with this game. I take it the trade agents stop working for you after a short time, because I'm getting really terrible deals from them when I was getting really good ones before. Does this mean I have to keep going back to the same stations over and over again to re-do the chat mini game (which isn't getting old at all, I swear )?

I know this game is deep, all X games are, but I feel I've only scratched the surface, in fact I feel I'm not getting through the surface at all. I've only been playing for 3 days and I'm not really sure of what the hell is going on. I'm doing the campaign but I'm working through it slowly, my next task is to get 100 Ecells for some dude.

The trading system seems to be non intuitive to to me, it involves a lot of to-ing and fro-ing for very little reason. this whole scanning the exterior of the stations thing is really tedious and seems to be a really counter-productive way to initial trade relationships. Is there something I'm doing wrong here? Is there a way to speed this process up?

Basiclly I'm a little lost here, and a little frustrated. i could use some guidence

[Alan Phipps]

No the trade agents don't stop working for you. What you see just reflects the actual dynamic state of the deals known to where you have agents. Agents on more stations equals more and better deal options so keep spreading them around - and not just on PMC-owned stations since the plot comes back to bite you there!

You don't need to bother with i-point scanning to set up a trade agent at a station. Cut out most of your station scanning if you don't like doing it (and don't mind missing the odd station special trade commission or discount). Of course you may miss out on some useful station missions that you fail to find ...

As far as the 100 e-cells is concerned, the quantity is so low that I wouldn't even bother looking for a deal unless you want extra e-cells as well; just pick up the 100 at whatever price where convenient to you and then look for the exact 100 e-cells buy offer at the target station and set that up for your trader with the e-cells.

[ConorC]

Thanks Alan, that clears it up with the agents, I didn't consider the dynamic economy.

Thanks for the heads up on the PMC stations, I'll expand my area of trading some more.

I haven't started the 100 ecells mission yet, I was just using that as an indication of where I am in the campaign.

[ConorC]

New Question, my trading Rahanas (sp?) ship only has 3 waypoints. Can this be increased? does it increase with experience?

[Alan Phipps]

You need to buy increasingly expensive trading computer upgrades to have the ability to increase that to 5 and then 7. You buy the upgrades from NPC mechanics on stations. You can see what your ship upgrades do in their individual Information screen or in the in-game Encyclopedia (strangely enough under the 'wares' heading).

There is also the relevant Egosoft X Rebirth wiki page.

[ConorC]

Thanks Alan. Since I posted that question I found the relative trading computer upgrade.

With your help I think I am making progress in this game.

[ConorC]

Got me another question, I have a construction ship building my first station, it's the campaign station in DeVries. My question is: although I have given the architect all the money she asked for, will I then need to provide the raw materials required to build the station too, or will she buy them herself?

[bitvoid]

Your architect will try to buy the resources within her trading range (should be sector by default). This may prove challenging in DeVries because the economy there is barely working. There are a few galaxy traders roaming around the universe which may supply some of your building material but this could take a long time.

You're probably better of delivering everything yourself in the beginning until you've got your own stations for the basics up (reinforced metal plating, fusion reactors) and even then you may need to fill some supply gaps.

Spoiler

Show

If you have the Home of Light DLC you'll probably find a good supply of the materials you need in the new sectors.

[ConorC]

Cheers Bitvoid, I'll get my Rahanas to grab the stuff.