Sector and Universe Trader Guide - Contains Minor Spoilers UPDATED 22nd October 2007

crazymanatuca · Post by **crazymanatuca** » Tue, 10. Apr 07, 04:24

Oh, I forgot the shields...had everything else...thanx.

tofurkey · Post by **tofurkey** » Wed, 20. Jun 07, 21:47

Nice guide Will!

I have a few questions regarding the Sector Trading:

1) Is it not generic which sector will provide a better leveling place for an ST? I can only imagine that it can only be a different sector from player to player.

I've assigned my first ST to goof around in Argon Prime and Home of Light.

After reading a couple of post of where to send your ST to level I've tried that to test if it's any better e.g. Blue Profit, I don't see any significant differences.

2) How long does it take to level an ST to level 10?

Let me first say my ST is at level 5 and it takes a war to gain a new level.

After I've bought the ST and upgraded it with the MK3 Trading Software I had 80k in credits. After more than one day of playing I have 160k in credits.

I've also explored almost all of the core systems, while waiting for the ST to level. Every time the ST is on standby I send it off to another sector. What can you do while waiting for the credits to roll in? I have a sucky discoverer that can't take any beating so what are my options?

Any suggestions and tips on how to improve this process of leveling your ST?

Thanks in advance

the frustrated one

WillWilk · Post by **WillWilk** » Wed, 20. Jun 07, 23:35

The key to quick progression for STs is to have Primary & Secondary food, at least 1 SPP and preferably somewhere that needs the secondary food (e.g. Crystal Fab, most Trading Stations, Weapon fabs etc.). It also helps if the stations in the sector are close together, hence Empire's Edge being so good. I've played through at least a dozen starts with the latest patch and EE's been the best sector by far in each start - generally around an hour's playing time from level 1-10. Argon Prime and Home of Light are fairly poor sectors for STs, particularly at low levels (HoL is OK for higher level STs but still not a patch on the best sectors).

You don't say what ship your ST's in - there's 2 main schools of thought as to the best ST/UT ships, either Demeter SFs or Caiman SFs are generally preferred - good combo of speed, cargo and shielding. Whatever you choose maxing the speed's vital for maximum profits - the cargo can always be upgraded later if you can't afford it at once.

In a disco I'd look for taxi missions to pass the time while credits roll in until you can afford something better or look for

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the frre ships that are waiting to be claimed - there are details in one of the other guides IIRC

HTH

Will

tofurkey · Post by **tofurkey** » Thu, 21. Jun 07, 00:21

Thanks for the fast reply Will.

My ST is a Mercury S.

I will try Empire's edge as you've suggested in your guide and in your reply. I will post an update later.

Thanks again,

the less frustrated

WillWilk · Post by **WillWilk** » Thu, 21. Jun 07, 00:35

The Mercury's OK as a first ST - you'll need to upgrade the shields though to make it a UT (they need at least 25MJ). Also if you're near the start of the game you may need to raise your rep with the Paranid to trade in Empire's Edge - a couple of pirates killed in Paranid space is usually enough - In a Disco you'll really want to find lone pirate M5s or M4s for safety

Glad you've found the guide useful.

Will

tofurkey · Post by **tofurkey** » Fri, 22. Jun 07, 07:06

Empire's Edge is the place to have a kicker! Got my ST leveled from 1 to 10 faster than I could make this post.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the reputation with the Paranid. When I finally needed a pirate I couldn't find any. I parked my scout somewhere in the outskirts of Paranid space and bought some stuff from them. That did the trick too raising my reputation level.

Tofurkey

Kor'ah · Post by **Kor'ah** » Fri, 22. Jun 07, 07:57

Later on in your game when you have money to spend and want to learn factories. Try droping a Soyery L, Soy Farm L, and a wheat farm L in Rolk's Drift all hooked up into a complex. Energy can be found next door easy enough. The cost is 5.4M credits and it puts that sector almost on par with Empire's Edge with training STs. Now you can train two STs to level 10 at the same time in nearly the same timeframe and it's also very nice for training CLS/CAG pilots.

There are alot of places in X where a modest complex like the above works nicely. The more STs you can train quickly into UTs the faster the money will roll in to be spent on yet more fast leveling STs.

Empire's Edge doesn't have the trade volume to be able to rely on that system alone. The first ST will go from level 1-10 very fast but if you send another right after the first has finished training it will take much longer to reach that level. Later on in the game when Xenon P patrols are eating several UTs a day you'll really want to get replacements trained and makeing cash ASAP.

Ramius85 · Post by **Ramius85** » Thu, 23. Aug 07, 04:25

I have read through the thread and not seen a mention of start up capitol. Does this mean you don't need it or is it just so obvious that it was omitted for the dah factor?

Snowship · Post by **Snowship** » Thu, 23. Aug 07, 06:53

for startup capital it's roughly around 2 million.

~200,000 for the base Freighter
~double that for cargo increase/shields software installs etc

tha above prices will increase depending upon the type of freighter used.

and lastly 500,000 for the Trade Command Software Mk3 itself.

also note that you'll need money for the ST/UT to use, they can't buy anything if you're broke.
Only exception to base money is if you have a factory as it's homebase then it'll use that factories money. (this may have changed in the last patch, haven't tried hombased UT's in a long time)

so basically if you have only $100,000 the ST/UT won't be able to buy PPC's etc that are more than that, it'll trade lesser goods.

Ramius85 · Post by **Ramius85** » Thu, 23. Aug 07, 06:59

thanks, all i need now is trade mk3!!! and 500,000cr

Incubi · Post by **Incubi** » Thu, 30. Aug 07, 23:03

My top 5 Sectors for training and in order of best to worst.

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Empires Edge
Preachers Void ( god engine has made this better than Empires Edge on occasion )
Friar's Retreat ( I suggest jumping it in, and jumping out before you turn it to a UT )
Dukes Domain ( yeah even without a spp

)
Queens Space ( watch the god engine, Shores Of Infinity and Dark Waters may surpas it in your game )
My top 5 is consistant from game to game.
If for some reason you are needing yet another ST ( because you want to avoid UTS till you can make them safe.. or because you are mass producing them )
Check out the list in the OP and add
Sacred Relic
Rolk's Drift And
Elysium of light. (I know ELysium of light has only a few stations, but they all have somethign to do with eachother making this a sure bet.. even if it is not as fast as empires edge.)

Also for the choice of ships, some people go for superfrieghters, others go for the super fast ones. Personaly I think Haulers are the best mid ship to use to support the large variety of products the UT/st deals in. Specificly the Caiman hauler and the Demeter Hauler. The other haulers are so slow you may as well just use the Super Frieghter.

Super Frieghters are frustrating as ST ships however, as they often buy more goods than they can sell as a ST. If you plan on using Super frieghters, it may be worth your time to train them in something small and cheap and transfer to a Super frieghter later. That cheaper ship can then transfer to fab work ( with a nice fringe benefit that I will let you discover on your own

) Or train another trader.

ps, the small version of a super frighter is a decent ship too. Similar cargo and speed to a hauler ( close not exact ) but with extra shields.
The Vulture Large Superfreighter is you best friend if you would rather just send them to work and forget.

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Hire in Ministry of finance when the L version is available, and send to Empires edge, ore Dules Domain or Praechers void or SHores Of infinity or Dark Water.

Only other time you need to deal with it is whn it is time to make it a UT ( at level 8- 10 ) or if it needs help selling cargo. This ship shines for the hands off approach. Because of location and immediate availability of trader MK3.
Demeter L Super freighter is almost as easy.. but you will still need to send it a location with mk3. But the Demeter Hauler is in same station.
Caiman L super freighter is good.. but it requires the most Hands on micromanagement to get to work.. due to location....

Ok thats my 2 cents form a player who loves his UT's

An invaluable tool for comparing the ships you are considering is found here http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=141654

I have thought of making a Xverse safe UT mapping guide. But I am horrible with making maps lol. If someone has a map that I can load and edit with the basic windows paint program, I may do it. My idea is to shade each sector a shade that represents the danger level to UTs ( in most games... some events like Kha'ak Invasions can still screww thigns up ) And advise as to what do do in each shaded type area before exploring it.

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sat, 1. Sep 07, 17:22

I have 5 UTs now; the first two I started as ST's in Home of Light and Power Circle. The very first one eventually got to level 25 without too much effort, the second one took a while longer. Now I'm having problems with the others they took a very long time to get up to level 8 and even longer getting beyond that in UT mode.

I have quite a lot of the map explored over half and good relations with most of the races. What's going on?? Oh they are all using normal Mercuries with full upgrades.

WillWilk · Post by **WillWilk** » Sat, 1. Sep 07, 19:23

You've probably exhausted the good trades in the sectors you're starting them off in - they don't use the jumpdrive as STs or low level UTs so the explored map doesn't have any effect. Also standard Mercuries will advance slower than larger or faster TSs as the volume of goods traded over time is less. Try another sector (preferably Empire's Edge if you have the rep with the Paranid) and you should find they advance more rapidly.

Will

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sun, 2. Sep 07, 12:33

I moved the newest ST to Empire's Edge and that one got to level 9 or so very quickly! Thanks for that

The other two are still level 10-12 and been that way for a long time. I will try to move them somewhere else and restart UT.

Also I'm wondering if there is any fix for this UT bug where the trader keeps buying a tiny amount of the same stock from the same factory? The only way I can overcome it is to keep watching my Property screen and manually restarting when I see he has e.g. 3 Meatsteaks. It's getting annoying

WillWilk · Post by **WillWilk** » Sun, 2. Sep 07, 13:48

I don't know of a fix for that - it's one of the few glitches with the UTs (doesn't seem to affect STs) and seems to happen mostly when trading with Trading Stations and Equipment docks. I believe it happens when the station could take more goods on landing than when the trader checked for the best trade, and only if the price is the same - the UT then goes to try and fill the gap between what was originally sold and what they can now sell.

Will

OtterMan79 · Post by **OtterMan79** » Tue, 13. Nov 07, 03:56

You say a UT does not need weapons. Is that your opinion or do they actually not even try to use them?

It would be nice to save the cash from them if they are 100% useless. I just want to be sure, because I am the overly cautious type who would slap on a weapon if it even had a small chance to be effective.

humility925 · Post by **humility925** » Tue, 13. Nov 07, 04:57

No, it's not a opinion, if you give weapons to UT, they will not ran awary, they will fight to death, not good.

OtterMan79 · Post by **OtterMan79** » Tue, 13. Nov 07, 07:55

Ohh, so that's how it works. Good to know. Do you know if that applies to STs as well?

My STs seem to never get attacked but I have a habit of giving them all jumpdrives anyway. Though, they never have any energy cells... heh

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Tue, 13. Nov 07, 08:40

Reader81 wrote:No, it's not a opinion, if you give weapons to UT, they will not ran awary, they will fight to death, not good.

WRONG. This occasionally applied to station transports in X2, but it has never, not in any version, applied to UTs--a Universe Trader's first instinct when attacked has always been to drop fighter drones and get the heck out of Dodge.

sony606 · Post by **sony606** » Fri, 28. Dec 07, 23:25

how exactly does a level 12 UT order a jumpdrive?
i surely don't hope it flies to the sectors where it can buy them..??
how long will it take for it to get it?

and i got 1 level 12 UT now, and it got a jumpdrive and about 800 energy cells witch it bought itself, but it won't use the jumpdrive at all