Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

[Jimmy C]

I've gone through all the companies myself. I've just decided I don't want them red to me from now on.

Except for Dukes, they're a source of free ships.

[Sovereign01]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

[Jimmy C]

Supposedly, a reload will cause them to reroll which sector they choose. The problem is knowing when they choose. It wasn't when I claimed a sector or when I installed the TOA. But they eventually claimed sectors anyway.
Best decide on your top two or three sectors and have everything ready to claim and TOA the subsequent ones quickly after the first.

[Deathifier]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

The HSAP claimed is random and decided after some time interval and I think the claiming starts following the first non-plot TOA you build.
The time interval looks like it starts short (some are claimed pretty quickly one after the other at the start) then a few hours (~3 to 4hrs per HSAP) and gets longer up towards maybe a day for the final couple.

The race claims it before they build the TOA so if you reload at a point where the claim has not taken place (check the HSAP info on the sector map) then you can either hope a different one gets claimed or buy the claim yourself.

Obviously you can still build in the sectors claimed by another race though it is obviously nice for it to be your own sector.

[Sovereign01]

I'm just wondering if I can save scum my way through it, the list I have to choose from contains the following sectors:

1. Consecrated Fire
2. Family Rhonkar
3. Gaian Star
4. Harmony of Perpetuity
5. Profit Center Alpha
6. Rhonkar's Trial
7. Unclaimed Sector

1- is the only sector in that list with 10 asteroids with a yield of 100 or more
2- has barely half as many asteroids
3- has only a handful of roids, none of which have a yield of more than 20
4- has some decent roids but is behind 3 pirate sectors including Malestrom
5- is completely empty and therefore worthless
6- much like 4 only swapping pirates for Strong Arms
7- has 1 ore and 1 silicon roid >100, rest are less.

So in all 1 seems to be the only one worth having.

[Jimmy C]

Have you already claimed a sector? Are you on a 1.1 start or a 1.2 start? If it's the latter, there should be one more sector.

If it was instantly after you installed the TOA, you could savescum it. But the time interval between that and when the other factions actually make their move is unknown. You would lose hours savecumming. A better approach would be to have everything you need to quickly claim the next sectors. The TOA and the money. Then, you just need to find a Guild Rep quickly after putting down the TOA.

[Deathifier]

I'm just wondering if I can save scum my way through it, the list I have to choose from contains the following sectors:

You can, you just have to go back to a point in time before the sector was claimed.
The decision on what to claim seems to be made at the time the claim takes effect, so there's no lengthy period of uncertainty you have to bypass - if you can see it as unowned (check its info, it can be a HSAP but owned by someone - just like player ones) then the next time the game decides a race should claim a sector it might pick that one, or it might pick something else.

So as long as you have at least some amount of time between loading the save and the claim taking place enough stuff should happen to get a different random outcome.

[Sovereign01]

I found that I did have to go back a bit as there's a delay between the claim being made and the TOA being placed. There's a jump-flash at the trading station when someone else claims the sector and so far it's been the same one each time.

EDIT: After a few reloads just a couple of minutes real-time before someone else makes the claim, this time it was Harmony of Perpetuity that went. A third time, Gaian Star and a fourth, Profit Center Alpha. They can have that sector, it's worthless.

[Jimmy C]

You managed to pin down which station they made the claim at? What about when they made the claim, how long was it after you made your claim?

[Sovereign01]

This was after I placed the TOA to start off the Terran plot, I hadn't placed a claim since then. This was at the trading station in Bad Debt, though I'm sure any station that could have an explorer guild rep would have done the job. I actually haven't made my own claim yet though I could have, what I don't know is whether doing that will trigger the next claim by the races, or whether I have to place a TOA to start that off. Consecrated Fire will be the one I claim first, that's all I'm sure about.

[Deathifier]

This was after I placed the TOA to start off the Terran plot, I hadn't placed a claim since then. This was at the trading station in Bad Debt, though I'm sure any station that could have an explorer guild rep would have done the job. I actually haven't made my own claim yet though I could have, what I don't know is whether doing that will trigger the next claim by the races, or whether I have to place a TOA to start that off. Consecrated Fire will be the one I claim first, that's all I'm sure about.

I'm pretty sure once you build one TOA other than the starter plot one the races will start claiming sectors and keep doing so until they run out.
I don't think just claiming another sector changes that, however building a second TOA might speed up the next claim cycle.

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

[Jimmy C]

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

That only works for the first claim. You won't be allowed to claim another sector until you build a TOA for the existing claim.

[Sovereign01]

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

That only works for the first claim. You won't be allowed to claim another sector until you build a TOA for the existing claim.

Thing is, if another sector is claimed between me claiming the sector I want and placing the TOA the only way I'll know is if I periodically check all the sectors on the list and see if another TOA appears. On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

[Jimmy C]

On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

How do you know which station to check? It's the one you made the claim at?

[Sovereign01]

On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

How do you know which station to check? It's the one you made the claim at?

If I claim one I won't be able to check if any other sectors have gone unless I cycle through all the adjacent sectors.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Problem is that I cannot raise my Strong Arms rep sufficiently to buy PBCs without lowering my Boron rep first. I've been trying to steal the plans for that factory for a while now, no success as of yet.

Black Market - They do show up. Just have to keep checking.

[BrigandPhantos77]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

The HSAP claimed is random and decided after some time interval and I think the claiming starts following the first non-plot TOA you build.
The time interval looks like it starts short (some are claimed pretty quickly one after the other at the start) then a few hours (~3 to 4hrs per HSAP) and gets longer up towards maybe a day for the final couple.

The race claims it before they build the TOA so if you reload at a point where the claim has not taken place (check the HSAP info on the sector map) then you can either hope a different one gets claimed or buy the claim yourself.

Obviously you can still build in the sectors claimed by another race though it is obviously nice for it to be your own sector.

The only true impact to the player outside of obvious ownership, is in "your" sector, no goods are illegal. So you can manufacture anything you want without any government intervening. Once claimed by an empire, there laws apply. Doesn't hurt pirate sectors of course, but considering I manufacture both Space-fuel and Low Yield Side Arms(still confuses me why these are now illegal) in Nathan's Voyage Beta, comes in handy when I want to jump start a training barracks.

[Sovereign01]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

The HSAP claimed is random and decided after some time interval and I think the claiming starts following the first non-plot TOA you build.
The time interval looks like it starts short (some are claimed pretty quickly one after the other at the start) then a few hours (~3 to 4hrs per HSAP) and gets longer up towards maybe a day for the final couple.

The race claims it before they build the TOA so if you reload at a point where the claim has not taken place (check the HSAP info on the sector map) then you can either hope a different one gets claimed or buy the claim yourself.

Obviously you can still build in the sectors claimed by another race though it is obviously nice for it to be your own sector.

The only true impact to the player outside of obvious ownership, is in "your" sector, no goods are illegal. So you can manufacture anything you want without any government intervening. Once claimed by an empire, there laws apply. Doesn't hurt pirate sectors of course, but considering I manufacture both Space-fuel and Low Yield Side Arms(still confuses me why these are now illegal) in Nathan's Voyage Beta, comes in handy when I want to jump start a training barracks.

I found that the Boron had previously claimed the one next to Dark Waters, although the asteroids in that sector do lean more towards ore than Silicon, meaning the sector is more useful for making weapons than fuel/weed. It does have three Nividium ones, a 16 and two 17s so I could set up mines on those. Might be faster than my Mistrals and Geochens (The break-even point for an Ozias full of Geos is about 50M credits, or 3,000 Nividium).

I did find that the Geos do mine noticeably faster than the Mistrals, working in the same sector the former mined 11,000 Nividium while the latter mined 9,500 although that was with 11 Mistrals and a Consus against 12 Geochens. And the Sirokos did do a respectable job of mining too so it's not sitting idle while my marines train.

The Cormorant did fill up quick, however because you cannot tell the drones which material to mine they'll hoover up any debris in the sector, including Silicon with its enormous bulk. And that's with just 4 drones, with a full 12 it's going to be crazy though that means scrounging up 232 microchips to make.

Are low-yield sidearms profitable then? I was looking into making fuel and weed but if those also make credits I might have to give it a try.

[Jimmy C]

Uh, you need Disintegrator Rifles and Rastar for the Barracks. And you don't actually need a constant source. If the objective is just to get the barracks to the point where it can train all three skills, you need to produce less than 200 marines, that's just 600 rifles, tops. You can easily find more than that on the Black Market at bargain prices.

[Sovereign01]

Uh, you need Disintegrator Rifles and Rastar for the Barracks. And you don't actually need a constant source. If the objective is just to get the barracks to the point where it can train all three skills, you need to produce less than 200 marines, that's just 600 rifles, tops. You can easily find more than that on the Black Market at bargain prices.

I didn't know that about the rifles, fortunately, I can also get that factory from the normal Split so I don't have yet another thing I need to acquire from Strong Arms. Once my Geochen Ozias is full (it's just a couple holds worth of space remaining so nearly there and 2 of the ships are approaching capacity) I'll have it offload at the HQ then see if I can do the duplication trick with those beam cannon weapons using its dozen ships. The Phased Array, Plasma Beam and Tri-Beam I can get this way. The Fusion Beam, not so much. While it is listed at the Strong Arms HQ, being a Terran weapon they don't offer the actual factories for that and they don't make it themselves. Something tells me the Astraeus won't be capable of killing bigger ships no matter how many PBCs it wields, its main battery being incapable of mounting anything bigger than corvette-grade weaponry is a trait it shares with the ATF Aegir.