Terran/Aldrin Mission Timers

EagleTwoThreeX · Post by **EagleTwoThreeX** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 21:02

tl;dr: How do you complete missions in Aldrin with the 10-15 min timers (which is all i've seen so far)?

Ok, so I did a 'humble merchant' start. I did the plots for the main story, hq, hub, and corporation troubles. I don't like to pew pew except vs Xenon and Pirates, so did min kills needed vs terran during the main plot. No problems really.

Now I'm trying to run the 'shady business' plot. From the main plot, my terran rep is 22% Terran Renegade, so no trading with terrans. Once I get my Terran rep to -1 (I think), I'll be able to trade with them, and that will open up the path to improving rep with them.

The problem I'm running into is that the 'shady business' plot ends the war (will be my choice), but to do one section, you have to get 'hull plating'. Only from Terrans...that I can't trade with.

Sooo...trying to do missions for them until I can trade is my only option. I see only 2 ways to do that:

1. Trash my rep with Argon/Boron by doing 'kill war ship' missions for terrans. I'd rather not as I have about 20 UT's in other races space, not to mention stations.
2. Do other missions for terrans.

#2 is my problem. The only missions in the war sectors are to kill war ships, and the only missions in the Segaris/Megnir/Aldrin2 sectors is to the Aldrin sector, with mission timers that seem like the devs forgot you can't jump there. If I take a ship fast enough, it will be too weak for the kill mission, if I take a ship deadly enough (M3) it will be too slow to beat the mission timer. I also saw a 'take me there' mission to Aldrin...with a 10 min timer...to a spot 452 km from the gate. WTH?

Is the only way #1? If so, why did the devs set it up where you do a plot to end war by making the war worse (initially) and trashing your rep, so you are right back in the situation you were trying to end??

I'd send my arrow to explore Aldrin more, but the normal 'explore sector' will not really work there due to size and peanut butter ball in middle. Is that the key? I have to be cheaty and use the online map to send the arrow around finding stuff so I can use the aldrin gates to move around aldrin faster? How does that help for kill missions?

What am I doing wrong?

ubuntufreakdragon · Post by **ubuntufreakdragon** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 21:30

First don't do things you can't.
If the timer is to small for the target there will be a next mission.

You could board rapid response ship carrying a jumpbeacon so you move with a small fast ship to the target pos evict the beacon and jump in your combat ship.

You can camp in Segaris for Xenon to kill, you can use the hub to link the west gate of segaris to another xenon sector e.g. 472 than destroy everything inside 472 including the SY now bigships should travel from 023 trough Segaris and hub to 472.

You could buy a Aldrin Springblossom a 360m/s M6 once your Rep is high enough.

You can use the BP's booster device to increase your speed.

You can build stations in Terran space and let them buy your stuff themself (this works even with really bad notoriety, but takes much time)

I can offer you a save of mine with better standings to the Terrans(+10 should be enough^^), I have 3 versions here one before all plots and one before just at selecting the allied company in SBplot, one shortly before ending it.

EagleTwoThreeX · Post by **EagleTwoThreeX** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 22:14

ubuntufreakdragon wrote:First don't do things you can't.
If the timer is to small for the target there will be a next mission.

You could board rapid response ship carrying a jumpbeacon so you move with a small fast ship to the target pos evict the beacon and jump in your combat ship.

You can camp in Segaris for Xenon to kill, you can use the hub to link the west gate of segaris to another xenon sector e.g. 472 than destroy everything inside 472 including the SY now bigships should travel from 023 trough Segaris and hub to 472.

You could buy a Aldrin Springblossom a 360m/s M6 once your Rep is high enough.

You can use the BP's booster device to increase your speed.

You can build stations in Terran space and let them buy your stuff themself (this works even with really bad notoriety, but takes much time)

I can offer you a save of mine with better standings to the Terrans(+10 should be enough^^), I have 3 versions here one before all plots and one before just at selecting the allied company in SBplot, one shortly before ending it.

I am still a boarding noob. I saw that the Diemos could equip the cls, and then later realized it can't use/launch marines. Oops. I did buy a Phantom though, so I'd have to practice some before taking on a rr ship. My marines are only trained in eng lvl2 (all) and a few hacking lvl3, all are at least fighting lvl2. I need to train them up more too, I would guess to take on a rr ship.

I tried the xenon thing, but none seem to come into segaris. Maybe I don't understand the hub thing. I thought joining two sectors just means ships and enter/leave, but once in the hub, can go anywhere hub is linked to. That would be bad news since the other hub links systems I have stations in. I guess I'd have to change all three to avoid that.

The boost software and turbo 1 just boost your acceleration, right? Max speed is still what it was without them. Not sure about turbo 2. I actually thought of this before, and scoured pirate sectors looking for engine tuning crates. I didn't find anything. Nothing. Not even a free ship. I had used the discoverer to 'explore' 40 km from center...that's not enough maybe? The only free anything (other than missiles) I have seen was a m4 Kha'ak in Megnir. I guess I am just not that lucky, or have not looked far enough from sector center.

I didn't know that about building in Terran space. I thought if I can't trade with them, they wouldn't use my stations. I can try that...any particular stations to try? Ore? Dwheat?

Thanks for the save offer, but I'll keep banging my head on the wall a little longer. I will try waiting on Xenon, put a station in Asteroid belt or Megnir, and realign the gate if I get desperate...err...more desperate.

edit* If I remove Segaris, Megnir, Aldrin, Althes, and Aldrin2 from the black list of my UT's, will my UT's trade with the terrans even though I can't?

Thanks for ideas.

ubuntufreakdragon · Post by **ubuntufreakdragon** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 22:43

For boarding you really need a M7M especially for the hard nuts like rapid response and xenon. you need 2 good hackers and a good average mechanics skill and as much fight as possible, the rest is irrelevant.

The HUB: if a Xenon M2/M1 get destroyed it can only respawn in a SY sector so they have to fly there by feet(using the shortest possible way), so all you have to do is to kill all Xenon SY but in 023 and link a Xenon sector that lost some K,J,Is. and link the west gate of Segaris so the Xenon have to enter it to reach the hub, not the east gate.

nope there is something called BonusPackage you can download on this side, it contains user created stuff that Ego thinks of being a good addition to their game. On of these addon is a booster that increases your maxspeed.

They will buy there if you allow them to do so(its your station so you decide who trades there)(use anything the terrans trade too)

I don't know about your UT's try it.

EagleTwoThreeX · Post by **EagleTwoThreeX** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 23:08

I have the bonus package and the turbo we're talking about is one and the same...I have the ~ 2M Cr version, not the 7M Cr version. BUT, I think there is a keybind missing somewhere, because when I pushed to boost, it just raised my speed to max very quickly. I also tried holding it down, and nothing changed. Unless your speed goes above that displayed in the bottom of the hud. I will check it out.

As for UT's, why would mine be any different from anyone else's?? The question I was getting at is: if you yourself, in your ship, can dock at a race station, but cannot trade with that race because your rep is too low, can your UT's trade with that race? I think the answer is 'no', but I read your reply as 'yes'.

ubuntufreakdragon · Post by **ubuntufreakdragon** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 23:26

The keybind is not under controls but under ui.

I don't know but I know how Ego writes AI-scripts in general e.g. the manual trade command can freeze the game to death, in XR the autopilot uses disabled jumpgates, so UT's could or could not trade with the terrans, I don't know, but it's worth a test.

And you could build an equipmentdock and add terran wares you need with the dockwaremanager, raise the buyprice and the terrans will deliver them.

RAVEN.myst · Post by **RAVEN.myst** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 23:28

There's another alternative: you can pirate the Hull Plating from Terran tech transporters (usually TS Baldrics, occasionally TM Toukons, and sometimes M6 Springblossoms - those last I wouldn't try at this point.) The way to do this is to scan the freight of likely transporters (usually something like High Tech Trader), and when you find one with what you want, shoot off his shields then back off, and suggest politely to him that he shed his heavy burden (you may need to transmit a few times.) Doing it this way may net what you are looking for in a single such act, though more likely will take two or three. However.... and I'm sure you already see the "however" - you will not be endearing yourself to the Terrans - firstly freight scans of Terran vessels in Terran space is always illegal. Secondly, of course, you are aggressing against their ships, which won't win you any friends. Also, you will need to be able to cart off the loot in a possibly hostile shituation, if any of the locals come to the donor's aid.

If, however, you prefer the peaceful path of befriending the Terrans, you can also try to check for Xenon forces in Segaris and Megnir, though they may not yet have a way into Terran space at the point you are in (sorry, I don't remember either way.)

For speed (to help beat those mission timers) you may consider a Turbo Boost on your ship (if you don't already have one) - it helps you to zoom around (at the cost of ECs, or failing that, shield and laser energy.)

Finally, there is often a pirate base out in the outer reaches of Sol - sometimes as far in as Uranus 1 or 2, but most often out past Oort Cloud. If you find one, then you can count on pirate traffic in those areas, and shooting those will earn you brownie points with the Earthlings. You may also be able to snag the occasional mission from Terrans on that station. Of course, at your standing you may have to cross Core Security sectors (Neptune, at the very least) to get to those outer sectors, and the Terrans may be red to you there.

Best of luck!

jlehtone · Post by **jlehtone** » Thu, 2. Mar 17, 23:29

EagleTwoThreeX wrote:BUT, I think there is a keybind missing somewhere, because when I pushed to boost, it just raised my speed to max very quickly.

Yes, and that action is not bound to any key by default. (There are other unbound actions too.)

EagleTwoThreeX · Post by **EagleTwoThreeX** » Fri, 3. Mar 17, 00:19

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I'm trying not to p-off the terrans any more than they are already. I'll think about the other pirate methods though.

I did find that I was missing the keybind for "that other turbo" and have now used it successfully on my Diemos.

edit* Har, har, the second time I used the turbo, the game crashed. I think that's only the second time the game has crashed in 145 hrs.

I'll try letting my UT's go into the non-war, non-core Terran sectors and see what happens I guess. There's always 'load game', right?

EagleTwoThreeX · Post by **EagleTwoThreeX** » Fri, 3. Mar 17, 00:58

Wait. What?

Ok, so I know the rank progression for the races is on a scale that is not linear, i.e. it takes more and more effort/actions to increase rank the higher you go, but...

I found a 'kill this guy' mission, and it wasn't to Aldrin, thank god. I went and killed him, as he was in a M6.

My terran rank went from -2 (22%) to +3 (94%). Holy crap. I guess I can trade with them now and progress the 'shady business' plot.

I think I need to go look up the rank system again to get a better feel for effort/progress.

edit* It looks like that one mission was worth 1040-ish rank points. Wow. And I see the requirements for other ranks....1,000,000 for top rank (rep really), wow #2.

ubuntufreakdragon · Post by **ubuntufreakdragon** » Fri, 3. Mar 17, 01:03

http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_ ... nswer=1338
it's a logarithmic scale from -2 22% to -1 0% you need about 7000 points from -1 0% to +3 94% less than 1333 point the rep gain of missions mainly depends on combat/trade rank.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 3. Mar 17, 01:19

BP Turbo addon has 2 versions: the cheaper is for ships up to size M6/TP (may include M8 ); the more expensive is for capships (M7x up to M2/M1)
UTs will trade in Terran space, but won't jump in (at least in TC; I don't remember how JBeacons affect UTs in AP) so they'll have to slog the 'long haul' if they latch onto that area as a potentially profitable trade. They'll also need enough spare fuel to jump back out: check their auto-refuel status!
Pre-connected Aldrin in TC is a superb (if slow) place to train up /Universal/ Traders as they can't jump in or out.. but they do 'magically' pick up JDs at a +10% premium (useful for insta-equipping your new Springy fleet!). Once Aldrin is connected those trained UT pilots will promptly disappear off to try to kill themselves elsewhere, so remember to take timely appropriate action as necessary!
I can't remember if AP allows gate access to Aldrin from the start or not; if it does, ignore the previous

ubuntufreakdragon · Post by **ubuntufreakdragon** » Fri, 3. Mar 17, 01:50

Snafu_X3 wrote:
BP Turbo addon has 2 versions: the cheaper is for ships up to size M6/TP (may include M8 ); the more expensive is for capships (M7x up to M2/M1)

UTs will trade in Terran space, but won't jump in (at least in TC; I don't remember how JBeacons affect UTs in AP) so they'll have to slog the 'long haul' if they latch onto that area as a potentially profitable trade. They'll also need enough spare fuel to jump back out: check their auto-refuel status!

Pre-connected Aldrin in TC is a superb (if slow) place to train up /Universal/ Traders as they can't jump in or out.. but they do 'magically' pick up JDs at a +10% premium (useful for insta-equipping your new Springy fleet!). Once Aldrin is connected those trained UT pilots will promptly disappear off to try to kill themselves elsewhere, so remember to take timely appropriate action as necessary!
I can't remember if AP allows gate access to Aldrin from the start or not; if it does, ignore the previous

It does but there are jumpengines in Atheles.
Aldrin is still a good sector to skill traders through Lucikes flytime based EST profit even more from the System.