Starting out in X3TC

[Monkspeed]

1. Tubes are a secondary resource, are they not?
http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_ ... &version=9

2. Can you jump to Saturn? I bet not; no Gate or Beacon for the JD to lock on. Your trader has same issue.

1. Thanks for the link. That's really interesting, if it wasn't necessary for the QT why production was halted? I guess from the lack of ore or other traders being faster and buying all the shields?

2. I never tried to jump to it, I'm guessing I can't? ;-p
But you've got me thinking, can I place a nav beacon there? I wondered what they are for!

Thanks.

[Snafu_X3]

/Please/ take a look at the (official) Wiki in my sig! Running into problems WRT fight/trade ranks, factions etc is painful for me to read! OTOH you seem to have come out of most encounters pretty reasonably: may that long continue

There are ways to avoid rep loss (from whatever faction) WRT station defence missions, but as of now (where you are cash-wise) they're fairly redundant. Useful for picking up hulks tho..

Don't forget the EVA repair-laser technique to bring abandoned hulls to full hull for extra creds (if selling) & extra speed (to get them safe as necessary)

[ubuntufreakdragon]

Jump beacons are not part of vanilla TC the were ported to vanilla in AP first so you will either have to start an AP game or install the script jumpbeacons by Lucike on TC.
25mj are native to split space, paranids offer factories too.

[RAVEN.myst]

Although, for some reason, my trader in Terran space (Saturn) is not utilising his JD?

Terran space has very little in the way of jumpgates - there's the one in Asteroid Belt that leads to Heretics End, and then much later some other stuff happens... (deliberately vague to avoid spoilers ) The trans-orbital accelerators aren't gates, so the jumpdrive doesn't work with those. Thus, Terran space is a rather different animal, and somewhat harder to be profitable in - consequently, many players tend to leave it at least in the early game.

Also, I figured out why the 25mj shield is so hard to buy in Cloudbase SE and surrounding areas, it seems to be a problem with the Quantum Tube manufacturing plants and their supply chains (especially ore).

QTs are a secondary resource for the production of... well, anything they are used in (Some wares are just like that.) In any case where a resource is shown as being secondary, that means it has no impact on production - it is provided there possibly for "flavour" purposes (ie. for the sake of plausibility/"realism") and as an additional trading opportunity for the player - for example, crystals are always secondary resources at NPC-owned factories (SSPs and weapon factories), but they can be sold quite profitably, sometimes. Those factories in the Argon Prime region are almost always hungry for ore and energy in the early game, until the player intervenes, and once those are supplied, they need to also be kept properly fed with meatsteak cahoonas.

I felt sorry for the local economy so I supplied them at a loss because that's how I roll

Hehehehe, nice! For some of us (yourself included, apparently ) "role-play"-based indulgences like that contribute to our enjoyment.

Happy hunting!

[Honved]

I've been known to park an M5 at the 25Mj shield factory in Cloudbase SE, waiting to snap up any shields before the NPC traders grab them. You should also be able to get them from a factory in one of the Boron sectors NE of the Argon Prime region.

Unfortunately, many of the 25Mj factories get removed quickly by the god engine if they're not properly fed, so I make a point of locating them ASAP and setting up freighters in those areas to supply them. The factory in the frequently mentioned Legend's Home sector tends to vanish before I reach it in about half of my games, and the one in Interworlds is also gone in many games.

Since the Argon don't sell a 25Mj Shield Fab, you're stuck with either using the few existing ones, or else placing your own Paranid or Boron factory and also meeting the alien food requirements (or building it in those races' areas and relying on local food suppliers).

The huge size of the Terran sectors, combined with the lack of Jump Gates to allow the use of a jump drive, makes them a lot less attractive for setting up remote traders, but the absence of Pirates tends to be a big countering plus. You obviously want a fast ship for the task, because otherwise it'll be a lot of flight time between stops.

[Imgran]

The Zeph has been my best buy so far, without a doubt, thanks to all of you.

You're quite welcome. TM's are among the most useful ships in the game, for the most part my ride is either a capitalship, a TM, or a TP for passenger grinding.

I've now been able to stock all my ships with a jump drive, energy cells, shields, and whatever else they needed.

The jumpdrive is totally brilliant and has opened up the game to a whole new level for me.

That's what it's there for. Awesome to hear.

Although, for some reason, my trader in Terran space (Saturn) is not utilising his JD?

Terran accelerators aren't jump gates. Remember that in canon Terra deliberately cut herself off from the gate network and only recently reconnected via one heavily defended access point.

Spoiler

Show

There's a point in the Terran plot where the presence of a jump beacon in Terran space becomes an absolute berzerk button for the Terrans.

Basically don't count on trading via jump gates with Terran concerns.

Also, funny story, one of my traders jumped into Circle Of Labour where there was some huge Kha'ak invasion going on and he was right in the middle of it. I managed to issue "jump to sector" in time without sustaining any damage but got my hole twitching for a moment there

Ahh the jolly old AI, never let imminent destruction get in the way of not thinking about what you're doing.

I am now glad to report, profitssss are on the increase.

Always a good thing. The end of needing to grind money is a weird day for a X universe player. On the one hand it really opens the universe up and lets you do stuff for the hell of it. On the other hand grinding money is so much of what the game is that it leaves some people a little rudderless. Good luck on that transition.

Also, I figured out why the 25mj shield is so hard to buy in Cloudbase SE and surrounding areas, it seems to be a problem with the Quantum Tube manufacturing plants and their supply chains (especially ore). The QTs are more expensive to buy than to sell so consequently, no traders are supplying the medium shield complex the QTs they need. I felt sorry for the local economy so I supplied them at a loss because that's how I roll

Loving it!

25mj shields aren't a "natural" Argon product, scripted factories have them, but they're more prominent in Teladi and (IIRC) Split space. The reason you can't beg buy steal or borrow a 25mj shield in Argon space is becasue everyone else wants to so the demand outstrips supply. The Teladi sectors around Company Pride have a couple factories that stock 25 and 200Mj shielding if you really need it. Don't go to Argon sectors looking for that, especially not in the Argon core region where there's like 5 equipment docks that want to stock shielding, a million freighters who want 25mj shields because it's the best shield for most freighters, and only 1 factory

[BugMeister]

Blastclaw has 650 L cargo capacity, and so it's basically a heavily armed TS for most situations, so you can use it as a powerful trader. Or you can hang two of them off of something like the Hyperion Vanguard and have bonus cargo capacity.

- that's a monster combination..
- my Hyperion has a Blastclaw and a Disco docked..

- heh, heh!

[Monkspeed]

Monkspeeds Chronicles.

Bought 2 Mistrals, one is trading, the other is on mining and trading duties in Ore belt...

That's 5 traders and 2 miners in my humble empire at the moment. I wanted another mistral but annoyingly by the time I set the last one up for mining with all the gear, all 9 Mistral Ls disappeared, but as soon as more appear I will grab them.

Currently on 10 mil credits.

Haven't been able to play as much as I wanted Friday thru Sunday hence no posting.

Happy profiting Captains

[Nanook]

...annoyingly by the time I set the last one up for mining with all the gear, all 9 Mistral Ls disappeared, but as soon as more appear I will grab them....

You don't really save any credits by buying the 'L' variants. Assuming you can find 25MJ shields, just buy the 'S' or 'M' versions and substitute the 25's for the smaller shields, recouping the extra cost of the smaller shields by selling them. Check the Split sectors for 25's if you can't find them elsewhere. They always seem to have plenty.

[Bill Huntington]

For future reference more than anything else. The Split TS is my choice for Local Traders, mostly for its speed and price. Saving $ is always a consideration in a well played game.

I also use Rhonkar's Trial to outfit my traders. I'll keep one TS in the Military Outpost and make sure to have the right items in stock, like Fighter Drones and PACs. If I have just one of the item, I can clone as many as I need. This is handy later for Flails, Hammers and BPs.

I use a Boa to bring JDs then jump the new traders to Ministry of Finance to get their Mark 3 software. I'll generally keep another TS in the SY to hold Mosquitoes and shields.

Many items disappear from MOs and other areas just when you need them. Cloning is legal and allows the player to adjust for the game's GOD engine.

[ubuntufreakdragon]

There is also an exploit allowing you to clone equipment:
You need:
a shipyard(sy) and an equipmentdock(eq) linked to the shipyard.
the eq needs to trade what ever piece of equipment you need and needs to have ate least one unit of it.
the sy need to sell a shiptype that can be brought in bulk (10 at once at most)
you buy two ships at once
you buy the remaining piece of desired equipment for these ships, as you ordered 2 ships both get one unit of this equipment, now you sell it again as 2 ships are selling 1 part there will be 2 at the eq now you buy both and each of your ships get 2 units you sell one and repeat.

[jlehtone]

I wanted another mistral but annoyingly by the time I set the last one up for mining with all the gear, all 9 Mistral Ls disappeared

If you buy one, there won't be 9 left; there will be 10.

You can buy 10 at once and there will still be 10 left -- until the game updates the SY status from "L present" into "no L now".

If you had bought 2 at once ...

[Triaxx2]

I'm not sure how often the game updates the counts, and it might have done it while he was busy outfitting.

Incidentally, you can outfit a full set of 10 at once if you buy them and do all the outfitting without leaving the equipment screen. It's expensive, but helpful for time saving.

[Nanook]

I'm not sure how often the game updates the counts, and it might have done it while he was busy outfitting....

The game never shows less than 10 of any variant, unless there are none, no matter how many you buy.

[Triaxx2]

It will show less than ten if you've just ordered some of them, and then it'll refresh when you enter the next screen to buy more, and show 10 again.

However, in this case it seems to be going from L Outfitting Available to No L Outfitting Available, which I did not think it was allowed to do while you were shopping.

[zooze]

When im in the game itself, i often use the in built encyclopaedia. Really useful for finding stuff quickly. It's in the first menu of the game.

[Nanook]

Edit: unlocked per request by OP.