X3TC; I went back to the beginning.. ACK!!!

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lionheart_001
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X3TC; I went back to the beginning.. ACK!!!

Post by lionheart_001 » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 16:52

Hey all,

Man, I had a huge empire. Using the Cycrow cheat, I had the coolest squadrons, a refined fleet of the best ships, stations, and I was a threat to the pirates and xenon and kahk all throughout the Galaxy.

I thought, 'I'll restart at ground zero and see if I can do this without the Cycrow cheat'.

Man.... It is difficult!!! Several days later, and I am still in my Mercury, trying to find good paying work (Humble Merchant scenario). My ship is too slow, I dont have HyperDrive yet, no one is paying well. I was finding taxi rides for 10 Million during my empire reign. Now I cant find anything.


I might have to bring up cheat. I need a Hauler as I love running passengers around, but I will not be able to afford one for ages. Nothing is fast enough, the enemy shoots me down, I cant find good deals.

Anyways. I thought I would share this with you all. It is fun in a way, starting from new, and knowing now what I didnt know the first time around. If only I could get my ship going faster. It would be nice also if the 'docking computer' was available in the game, as well as Supertune.



lh

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perkint
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Post by perkint » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 17:30

Persevere without the cheats! It's much more rewarding!

As for cargo runs, I would suggest doing some ecell runs until you have enough cash to speed up your boat. Ecells are usually very much in demand near the start of a game, so you'll always find somewhere to shift them at a profit! Then you should be able to do a few more challenging ones and beat the opposition. If not, try looking out for cargo drops. I would suggest staying out of fights for a while - until you've upgraded your ship a bit, they can easily be bad for your health!

Cargo drops can be quite frequent if you hang out in a commonwealth owned sector where pirates often pass thu - eg:
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The start is the most fun, because that's when you see the fastest return for your actions - make a few million from a bail near the start, and it matters. Later in the game, you may not even bother claiming the bailed ships!

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TTD
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Post by TTD » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 18:56

I have just started the DDTC Mod.

Cycrow's Cheat package is SPK so needs his Mod installer,afaik.

The mod installer in incompatible with DDTC,so I have to trawl through the s/m forum to find other scripts to do similar.
Not easy starting from scratch,is it? :D

crgray
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Post by crgray » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 19:31

I've never bothered with cheat scripts but I'm not averse to using a bit of pre-existing knowledge and finding an abandoned ship. I think on my last start I went and found one of the TP's to use as a small trader, but made most of my initial cash as perkint suggested by picking up cargo drops after the military had shot pirates.

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Morkonan
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Re: X3TC; I went back to the beginning.. ACK!!!

Post by Morkonan » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 19:44

lionheart_001 wrote:....Man.... It is difficult!!! Several days later, and I am still in my Mercury, trying to find good paying work (Humble Merchant scenario). My ship is too slow, I dont have HyperDrive yet, no one is paying well. I was finding taxi rides for 10 Million during my empire reign. Now I cant find anything.
The problem isn't that it's hard. The problem is that you haven't had to play the game. :D So, now you have to learn all that "stuff" that enables you to get all those cool ships and such.

I understand cheats. Really. I've been in situations where I've been sorely tempted to d'load a cheat script in order to get past a particular hurdle. (Yayz, Hub plot..) But, then it'd reduce the value of the gameplay to me and I don't want to do that until I can really "expand" my enjoyment by using mods and cheats. (Unless there's a bug I have to fix or X3's fairly terrible asset management system finally gets the best of my sanity.)

You can eventually control a huge empire, more cool ships, larger fleets and be a terror to the galaxy without cheats. And, it will probably be even more rewarding to know that you did it all within the confines of the vanilla game.
I might have to bring up cheat. I need a Hauler as I love running passengers around, but I will not be able to afford one for ages. Nothing is fast enough, the enemy shoots me down, I cant find good deals.
Don't do it! Think of all the puppies that will die if you use cheats! ;) Need a TP but can't afford one? Well.. Do some crappy missions for one of the factions, get your rep up then go hunt a TP to cap somewhere. After capping, apologize to everyone and then do a couple of missions for that faction to get your rep back up. Piracy is a viable part of this game and it appears your humble trader character is contemplating a life of crime, or at least some shady shenanigans, in order to get what he wants.
Anyways. I thought I would share this with you all. It is fun in a way, starting from new, and knowing now what I didnt know the first time around. If only I could get my ship going faster. It would be nice also if the 'docking computer' was available in the game, as well as Supertune.
The Docking Computer is available in vanilla. You can also over-tune ships in vanilla, without installed cheatscripts. Though, technically, it's still "cheating."

Keep on plugging away at it. You'll get a heck of a lot more satisfaction playing without cheats on your first run-through than you would otherwise. Later, once you've paid your dues and struggled along, mastering each hurdle as it comes, you'll find you'll have enjoyed every pain, stumbling block and tragedy. I'm a "noob" playing his first run through the game and, once I reach the point where I am ready for mods and cheats, it will be because they will actually "add" something to the game for me instead of robbing me of an experience. Follow that path and wait until you have done it all, then you can go back to your cheats and mods and raise some real havoc! :D

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Re: X3TC; I went back to the beginning.. ACK!!!

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 19:57

lionheart_001 wrote:Man.... It is difficult!!! Several days later, and I am still in my Mercury, trying to find good paying work (Humble Merchant scenario). My ship is too slow, ...
Doesn't Humble start with Mercury and Disco? Disco would be fast.

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 21:10

It does, but a lot of players automatically sell the disco for trading capital right at the start.

A mistake to my mind, since the disco can take M sized cargo and thus make a good starting taxi once you get CLS :)

David Howland
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Great Man!

Post by David Howland » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 21:45

lionheart_001, My Hero!
Your story has set my imagination alight!
I am still playing my first game of TC after two and a half years because I hate the poverty of game starts. My Empire is huge and I am still doing new things in vanilla, I have been tempted by cloning but not succumbed to temptation.
The satisfaction of doing it all vanilla is definitely worth the struggle, though I do not know if I could return to the hard game, after enjoying the fantasy of Cycrows universe?
If you sold the Disco, that is a popular move but I would agree with Kirlack a mistake especially if you enjoy taxi missions. The ability to play dual roles in parallel from the game start, counts for a lot with this start.
Stick at it mate, and you will soon move into recognisable territory.
Good Luck, I will follow your progress with interest!
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Kirlack
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Re: Great Man!

Post by Kirlack » Sun, 4. Dec 11, 23:29

David Howland wrote: The satisfaction of doing it all vanilla is definitely worth the struggle, though I do not know if I could return to the hard game, after enjoying the fantasy of Cycrows universe?
I actually started my most recent game in vanilla on that game start. Once my taxi mission were netting me 2-5 million a piece and I had my first complex (self sufficient 4x 1MJ shield 'plex in President's End) and a few Mk3 Traders, I switched from vanilla to modified. I figured from here on the game just gets easier, so why not? I've done the hard slog in vanilla (and the even harder pirate slog :p ).

Notably, second hand ships made me a lot of my money in vanilla. Buying a Nova Raider for less than $300k and selling it for over $1.4 mil...you can't beat that :D

UniversalWolf
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Re: Great Man!

Post by UniversalWolf » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 06:57

Kirlack wrote:Once my taxi mission were netting me 2-5 million a piece and I had my first complex (self sufficient 4x 1MJ shield 'plex in President's End) and a few Mk3 Traders, I switched from vanilla to modified. I figured from here on the game just gets easier, so why not? I've done the hard slog in vanilla (and the even harder pirate slog :p ).
That's a good point. Don't "cheat" early; it's the most fun part of the game. Later on it makes more sense because there's almost nothing you can't do with nearly limitless resources. For me it's just a timesaver. I capture a new ship and I don't feel like running it around to four different sectors to fully equip it the way I want, so I "cheat in" the equipment. The money saved is chump change when you have hundreds of millions of credits. Call it a perk of being a famous galactic mogul.

Cheating to become a famous galactic mogul is what should be avoided.

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TTD
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Post by TTD » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 08:14

When using s/m carefully,it can make the game more enjoyable,but overuse detracts from the game.

In a recent heavily modded game,the gameplay was still slow and challenging.
There had to be a "story" reason for using any particular feature,such as gate destruction or building new gates. etc.

I have put that on hold for now,simply because it is taking time to achieve my goal.But I will go back to it.
Trying out the All Plots Financial mod atm.
This tests my trading skills. :D

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Post by Triaxx2 » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 13:48

Whether you've cheated or not, going from an end game stand point to a fresh beginning one is always an 'ACK' moment. No longer will you be swaggering around under 12GJ of shields laughing at the futile attempts to hurt you. Instead you'll run screaming at top speed and die anyway from missile hits.

Nor will you have the ready cash to buy anything you want, but you'll have to work hard and save.
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Post by jlehtone » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 17:10

Not so much 'ACK' if you have already passed the vertical part of the learning curve. For example, entering Xbtf with decent X2/3 exparience was mainly a 'WOW' followed soon by "Where is the hard part?"

Afterburnerz
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Ore Ore Ore

Post by Afterburnerz » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 18:23

Ore is one of the best commodities to trade early in the game.

In Herron's Nebula, Emperor Mines and Ore Belt there are lots of available Ore Mines and the factories in Cloudbase South East, Argon Prime, Red Light and Paranid Prime are always after ore.

Collect the Iguana Vanguard in Family Whi and make a fortune carrying Split around early in the game.

If you're serious about playing a "pure" Vanilla game then I'd recommend starting another game, using the Poisoned Paranid start.
Lots of fun, challenging with a fantastic reward early in the game.

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Post by AgamemnonArgon » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 22:10

I restarted last month.
Taxi Missions.
With an M5.
Then a TP.
Then a Jump capable ship.
Then as the payments go up, a small ship that can dock onto a larger ship, either a TM, Frigate, or Panther.
Taxi missions.
Fast missions, fast reputation, fast rewards and fast efforts.
I started with those first.
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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 23:00

Taxi missions are the easiest of the large paying missions. The best ones are usually either "Military" where you must transfer several troops to a station or "Workers" where you transfer a several workers. In other words, the ones with several passengers at once end up paying the most. And, they only get better as your Rep climbs... I made over 7 million in one trip transferring a group of workers from Heretic's End to Omicron Lyrae last night. But, my Reputation is maxed with the Argon and that means, supposedly, I received the maximum payout for that mission. *

*Edit-Correction - It's Trade Rank, not Reputation, that determines the amount awarded from missions.
Last edited by Morkonan on Tue, 6. Dec 11, 00:11, edited 1 time in total.

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Mon, 5. Dec 11, 23:14

I think Trade rank is also taken into account when determining those mission payouts, if anyone knows better feel free to correct me. As for top dollar, my best has been 12 million credits for 15 passengers, from Elysium of Light to Black Hole Sun (super easy with a Jumpdrive equipped TP) :)

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Tue, 6. Dec 11, 00:10

Kirlack wrote:I think Trade rank is also taken into account when determining those mission payouts, if anyone knows better feel free to correct me. As for top dollar, my best has been 12 million credits for 15 passengers, from Elysium of Light to Black Hole Sun (super easy with a Jumpdrive equipped TP) :)
Ah, that's right. It's Trade Rank, not Reputation Rank, that determines the payout. Thanks for the reminder! (Correcting)

lionheart_001
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Post by lionheart_001 » Tue, 6. Dec 11, 02:36

Thanks guys. Some great advice.

I had totally forgotten about the free ships. I went and found the Iguana Vanguard which is one of my faves. If you 'turbo' the thing with the Cycrow cheat, its incredibly fast. But.... I have a good hauler now and last night, I got to nearly 1/2 Million credits from finding jobs hauling people around. I purchased the engine updates and boost, got her to nearly 200 m/s, found she already had a docking computer, and I was off! Purchased the jump drive at Terra HQ, and did some test jumps to see how much they cost per length of jump. Kind of pricey, but I need to know.


I want to get the Mercury armed with full trading equipment and start it on a trade run, probably in a ore sector up near Ceo's Buckzoid, just south.

Nice.......! Definately a challenge for the business oriented.

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Tue, 6. Dec 11, 05:27

lionheart_001 wrote:...
I want to get the Mercury armed with full trading equipment and start it on a trade run, probably in a ore sector up near Ceo's Buckzoid, just south.

Nice.......! Definately a challenge for the business oriented.
Ore isn't a good trade item unless you can find a few areas where there is really a scarce supply before various race's economies heat up. After that, it's hit and miss. But, trading Energy to ore mines, especially if there are a lot in a sector, can be decent business. Silicon can be lucrative, though, if you can find a good run. But, the best profits of the two are made by your own miners, if you don't mind dedicating a few ships to it.

Food and food components are always good starters. When you can't find good deals on those, load up on energy at a good price to pay for the lost time.

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