egosoft.com

The Fighters that are High-Tech Traders are some excelllent and rare ships.

Argon High-Tech Trader M3 - Nova Prototype.
Boron High-Tech Trader M3 - Barracuda Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M3 - Falcon Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M4 - Kite Vanguard.
Split High-Tech Trader M4 - Scorpion Prototype.

Very Rare Freighters (TS's) and Personnel Transporters (TP's) thanks to Rednoahl.

Argon Mineral Transporter (not all of them - most are just normal super-freighters) - Mercury Prototype, can't install weapons just a tractor beam.
Teladi Mineral Transporter - Vulture Prototype (same instances as above)
Argon Weapons Transporter (TP) Express Prototype, Look for 4x25mj shields
Teladi Weapons Transporter (TP) Toucan Prototype, 4x25mj shields again
Paranid Weapons Transporter (TS) Demeter Prototype, top speed 130m/s

Semi-Rare Personnel Transporters (TP's) thanks to Eisenkalle and Jimlpearce.

Argon Passenger Shuttle (TP) Express Hauler, 165 m/s
Split Passenger Shuttle (TP) Iguana Vanguard, 186.90 m/s
Teladi Passenger Shuttle (TP) Toucan Hauler, 137.50 m/s

Also available as NPC (race) employee shuttles, food transporters, and livestock transporters

Whenever I see one of these I open fire and am working on getting them all to bail. It will happen sooner or later.

I now have the PHQ and have made blueprints from them. Plan on filling carriers with the fighters eventually. Should be fun.

*edited to add to list and give credit to those who have contributed.

Argon High-Tech Trader M3 - Nova Prototype.

Next Argon related start I do I'm hunting that. Screw grinding Teracorp missions for 300 years.

Yea I got my contract cancelled with them and a couple of the other corps also. Its good to have another way to get these ships.

Currently grinding my way through the dukes missions to get the medusa prototype. If there were another way to get one I would say to hell with the duke but for now im stuck grinding mission after mission constantly losing paranid rank and scrambling to get it back.

The T series ones are harder to spot (and much less use!):-

Argon Mineral Transporter (not all of them - most are just normal super-freighters) - Mercury Prototype, can't install weapons just a tractor beam.
Teladi Mineral Transporter - Vulture Prototype (same instances as above)
Argon Weapons Transporter (TP) Express Prototype, Look for 4x25mj shields
Teladi Weapons Transporter (TP) Toucan Prototype, 4x25mj shields again
Paranid Weapons Transporter (TS) Demeter Prototype, top speed 130m/s

I had no idea about the tp's and ts's, that is great to know thx Rednoahl.

Now I've got a whole new set of rare ships to collect, excellent. This also leaves me wondering if there are more.

If anyone else has more input on this subject please post.

mntnd3w wrote:The Fighters that are High-Tech Traders are some excelllent and rare ships.

Argon High-Tech Trader M3 - Nova Prototype.
Boron High-Tech Trader M3 - Barracuda Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M3 - Falcon Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M4 - Kite Vanguard.
Split High-Tech Trader M4 - Scorpion Prototype.

Is there a way to tell if there a prototype or just a regular ship?

nksharp wrote:

mntnd3w wrote:The Fighters that are High-Tech Traders are some excelllent and rare ships.

Argon High-Tech Trader M3 - Nova Prototype.
Boron High-Tech Trader M3 - Barracuda Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M3 - Falcon Prototype.
Teladi High-Tech Trader M4 - Kite Vanguard.
Split High-Tech Trader M4 - Scorpion Prototype.

Is there a way to tell if there a prototype or just a regular ship?

All fighters that are "High Tech Trader" (NOT High Tech Transporter) are prototype ships. If you really want to make sure, all the M3s and Kite Vangaurd have 4x25mj shields. The Scorpion prototype goes faster than some M5s - nearly 400m/s. It's only the T series prototypes that are hard to spot.

I'm interested in grabbing these ships for my PHQ, but in all my travels, I have never once seen a "High-Tech Trader". Just transporters...

Hmm. It would be easy enough for a script to add a special tag (like a "*") to every AI ship in the game where the shiptype contains prototype/enhanced/advanced.

Pitifully easy string operation.

It's not like that would be a real cheat because if you can see a ship, you can always see it's stats and figure out if it's a "special" one.
That a computer does some sorting/filtering of available data for you is nothing new. They do that all the time.

Gazz wrote:Hmm. It would be easy enough for a script to add a special tag (like a "*") to every AI ship in the game where the shiptype contains prototype/enhanced/advanced.

Pitifully easy string operation.

It's not like that would be a real cheat because if you can see a ship, you can always see it's stats and figure out if it's a "special" one.
That a computer does some sorting/filtering of available data for you is nothing new. They do that all the time.

I could see that being really useful, especially if the game hides rare ships amongst other classes I've not found yet. I'm sure one of the moderators said that there is a very slim chance that the game will spawn a "weapons dealer" in a rare M3+ (most are in standard M3 or M3+) too but I've never been able to confirm that. Very interesting indeed.

Yes Gazz that would be a great script to have. If you do write this please let me know. I am interested and I'll bet others are also.

Dont want to add a permanent modified tag to my game but if possible load the script, look at sectors to see which ships are out there, then unload it without saving. Would this work to keep the modified tag away? Correct me if i'm wrong but this seems like it would work.

The modified tag? Oh please...

It doesn't bite and it doesn't equate with cheating. All it means is that you finally decided to play the game the way it's meant to be played.
And that's the way you want to play it. Noone else is playing your game so why would anyone else's idea of right or wrong ever matter?
Or are you not important enough to matter that much?

Asking for improvements of the game, yet considering them some kind of dirty... that's not nice. Makes me sad.

Not got the modified tag on TC yet, but I don't think there is anything wrong with having a modified game at all. Like Gazz says, a script for highlighting rare ships wouldn't be cheating - I imagine the script (as a type of software upgrade) could be sold at pirate stations; something so sneaky would be something the pirates would come up with. To be honest, I don't think the game is finished as far as Egosoft are concerned so in my opinion it makes more sense to play a modified game at least until Egosoft say Patch #x is the last patch (in other words, the game is how they intended it to be - or at least as close as they can get it.)

I'm trying to learn how to use the mission director in Reunion at the moment, before long I'll have to do the same with TC. I have my own ideas of how I want TC to be and I think a script that highlights rare ships would be a great addition to the game and should even be submitted for the bonus pack if it gets made IMO.

Was not my intention to be not nice or make anyone sad. Certainly not considering improvements to the game dirty.

Sorry if it came across that way.

mntnd3w wrote:Dont want to add a permanent modified tag to my game...

Sorry for being off topic, but what is this modified tag and where do you see it?

mntnd3w wrote:Was not my intention to be not nice or make anyone sad. Certainly not considering improvements to the game dirty.

Sorry if it came across that way.

I certainly didn't mean to make you feel you have to say sorry for anything - you never said anything wrong at all. The X universe belongs to you; it is your playground. There is nothing wrong with sticking to a vanilla game and there is nothing wrong with having a modified game either. You must play the game how you want; Egosoft designed the game so you could.

The only thing that matters is YOU have fun. Nothing else matters

Yes Rednoahl I know. Believe me I am having fun and hope to continue doing so.

BTW I have run across (and attacked) several of the T class rare ships you posted about. Most pilots went down with their ships, but I did get a Mercury Prototype to bail. Will continue to hunt the rest of them until I get them all. Just a matter of time, patience, and some luck.

Thinking about starting a DID game with a rule that says im only allowed to fly rare (non-purchasable and/or prototype, enhanced, advanced) ships. Would be a good challenge and fun.

I find the best way to get the T class ships to bail is:

Get into an M6 that can mount IPGs (I use four) and some light weapons to annoy the target.
Find your target, and get fairly close 500m.
Save the game.
Quit to windows
Re-load the game and continue from save.
Hit the target with light weapons to turn it to enemy state.
Blast the enemy with four IPGs until it's Hull gets to about 80%
use just 1 IPG to attempt capping

I have never got one to bail if it drops any cargo or launches drones, and I've capped a fair few.

Not exactly prototypes, but sometimes still hard to identify (but easy, if you know about the higher speed!):


Argon Passenger Shuttle (TP) Express Hauler, 165 m/s

Split Passenger Shuttle (TP) Iguana Vanguard, 186.90 m/s

Teladi Passenger Shuttle (TP) Toucan Hauler, 137.50 m/s

Sometimes you get a used one offered.... got me 2xExpress Hauler+2xIguana Vanguard.

Great info, had no idea that these rare ships were available as a passenger shuttle. Will be collecting some more of these soon, thanks.