starting out in X3: Reunion

[maikaregion]

hi, ive started my first game and I feel a bit stuck. I don't want to do cheap things like go find a super awesome abandoned spaceship or a million credits in a crate somewhere, I want to earn my way to the top. the problem is i dont really know how to do it. how can i find what some good trade runs are and where can i find some easy pirate fights?

thanks

[dienekes]

I started out in the bootlegging career in Herrons Nebula (north of Argon Prime), running Space Fuel from the distillery to the Trading station - tis illegal, so you might get caught, but it can be quite lucrative and give you a good start. Try capping Pirate ships and selling them too.

[tough boy]

When I started Reunion (after quite a lot of practice with TC) I did the first mission in the buster and I was actually lucky enough to meet a pirate group in Home of Light and make a pirate buster bail it's a very nice ship to start with, but the grind to get it fully equipped after I got it wasn't that simple.
The good thing about Reunion imho is that pirate and xenon fighters are actually better than what you can buy in shipyards, so it's really worth it to hunt for them. Best places for that are obviously pirate sectors but what I would suggest you now is to just explore a bunch of sectors, map all the argon prime block, the boron sectors north and the paranid sectors south: you're likely to find pirate patrols sooner or later, try to fight them and get some bails, bear in mind though that your buster cannot take more than two-three enemies at a time and just don't try to fight a pirate Nova unless you're very skilled and that's the only enemy left. With some luck you'll be able to upgrade to a pirate M4 and eventually an M3, M5s like the harrier/harrier raider have their use as well.
When you find the sectors Split Fire and Farnham's Legend you can start patrolling those sectors and the surroundings for pirates to engage, my suggestion though would be to explore some more and get to Teladi and Split space.
If you took the easy start while you are exploring in your buster you can set you mercury as MORT and start making money: the more sectors you have explored, the better trade you find. If you started in normal and you only have a buster, you first have to make money to afford a freighter and again the best way is to get bails and sell your loot.

[StarSword]

My advice is for TC, but they're not that different.

In my current playthrough, I financed my first factory by capturing a couple pirate fighters from station defense missions, patching them up with my spacesuit's repair laser, then selling them to the nearest shipyard. That got me about seven million credits, which was enough for a cattle ranch in Omicron Lyrae and a couple freighters to CAG for it.

The advice I always give for picking your first factory is to do a little scouting, and find a centrally located sector with several factories nearby that require a basic resource like (in my case) argnu beef. Wheat farms in Argon Prime, Weapon Component Factories in Family Pride, whatever works.

[maikaregion]

thank you for the replies, I really appreciate the help!

and what are the chances of someone bailing ship? is it like 1/20? cause ive killed a lot of ships and havent seen any bails


also whats this about a spacesuit repair laser?

[Nanook]

thank you for the replies, I really appreciate the help!

and what are the chances of someone bailing ship? is it like 1/20? cause ive killed a lot of ships and havent seen any bails

Longterm, around 1 in 10. But since it's pretty much random, you can go long stretches with no bails, and then suddenly the RNG is on your side and you get several close together. Also, ship sizes matter, the larger your ship compared to the target, the better the odds of a bailout. The most important factor, though, is just patience.

also whats this about a spacesuit repair laser?

Not in Reunion. In TC and AP there's a spacesuit repair laser the player can use to repair hull damage.

[jlehtone]

also whats this about a spacesuit repair laser?

That feature is in X3TC and X3AP. Not in X3R.

The chance of bailing ... the more desperately you try, the closer to 0 it seems to be. When you don't care at all, you may leave a trail of blue. One is sure though: it is too late for spacedust to bail.


For obvious nonsense, I did check my (uploaded) stats: Ships killed: 50,864; Pilots bailed: 585. What does that tell? Nothing, really. If one shoots to kill (like I did) and shoots at ships that cannot bail (like I did), the stats go haywire.

Lets take another uploaded stats: Zwiebus, Ships killed: 10,089; Pilots bailed: 1,329. Those numbers do give better than 1/8, but that must have taken a lot of dedication.

Like Nanook already cut in in fine ninja style, one in ten sounds normal.

[maikaregion]

alright cool, thank you


is there any guide about how trading works? I can never find very good deals(other than space fuel) and I don't really understand how to use the trading software

[maikaregion]

ok last noob question hopefully

i bought a freight scanner, whats the default button to use it?

[Nanook]

There isn't one. You need to use the menu system to scan a target, unfortunately. I don't think there's a way to even assign a hotkey for it.

[Snafu_X3]

is there any guide about how trading works? I can never find very good deals(other than space fuel) and I don't really understand how to use the trading software

No different than the way it works in real life: buy low, sell high

Factories require /resources/ to manufacture /products/. You can only /sell/ resources to a factory, & only /buy/ that factory's products. Some factories require more than one resource to produce their product (including secondary resources, of which more later)

Pick an area where you have a clear view of its surrounding sectors, eg Argon Prime. In this area you have lots of factories selling meatsteaks, but not many factories selling what the meatsteak factories require: beef So that's one example.

The meatsteaks produced go on to feed some of the various weapons factories in that particular area, so you're going from Bio (beef)->Food (meatsteaks)->tech (guns, missiles, quantum tubes, crystals, whatever)

In TC the Wheat -> Spacefuel is a bit of a shortcut to get you some money quickly, but it's not generally relied upon as a genuine moneyspinner until you have a bit more experience of how the game works & interacts with itself

In general hi-tech sells for best profit overall, but requires the most investment. Food (not Bio) is a good starting point for trade: good profits are available once you know where to get them

Minerals (ore & silicon) are also good moneyspinners but they tend to flatten out after a while: the factories produce more than you can sell, & they require huge ships to transport a decent amount. However, they're good to start with

Secondary resources. I preferred the X3:R version when secondary resources were /required/ for a factory to produce its stuff; in TC they're only there as window-dressing, & aren't even listed in player-owned factories. However, they are a useful sop to the marketplace when a beginner doesn't know where to sell the <stuff> they've 'obtained' by whatever method

-------------------------------

Trading software:

Trade System Extensions in <playership> is the absolute must. It's expensive at nearly 10K for a beginner, but it allows remote trading, so you can fly around in one ship while using other ships do do the plodding along buying/selling wares for you.

Trade Mk1 will come with any TS (civilian transport freighter) you own or buy or otherwise acquire. These ships are the only easily available transports that can carry XL cargo, such as minerals. At this stage you can forget about it - look in the FAQ (stickied)

Trade Mk2 enables ships with a homebase (ie a factory/base you own) to trade automatically using a robot pilot. These pilots are stupid - they won't protect the ship or run from danger, & their routefinding may lead them into danger, but it's the first stage of automated trade & they can occasionally be useful in some circumstances

Trade Mk3 hires a pilot (or intelligent AI) to trade for you. Other software requirements are minimal (Nav1 only in TC, IIRC). At the start a sector trader will only trade within one assigned sector, & is likely to make mistakes - turn on 'Notify when order completed' to hear their cries for help

Once graduated to L6 a sector trader can trade up to 1 gate's distance away, vastly increasing their trade options. These are known as Local Traders (LTs), & will continue learning & increasing their possible trade boundaries (with your help: you have to reset the boundaries manually) until L20. At L8 you can turn them into a universal trader (UT), but it's adviseable not to do this until at least L12, when they can use a jumpdrive. They will continue learning until L25, but they are completely autonomous: you have no control over where they go or how they get there

If you have the bonus pack installed there are also CAG & CLS traders. CAG is like an intelligent verion of Trade2 above; CLS is a bit more complex depending on which version you go for

All 'Intelligent' traders (Mk3, CAG & CLS) will make use of protections provided (eg Fight 1&2, jumpdrive, better scanners, missiles & drones) as necessary as they become levelled up; some will ask for it occasionally & some may buy it by themselves automatically. However, keep in mind that their primary purpose is to trade not fight, & so they will run away ASAP given the opportunity

Hope this helps

[maikaregion]

thank you, that did help a lot


question about cargo scanning, where are good places to look for smugglers?

[jlehtone]

question about cargo scanning, where are good places to look for smugglers?

Not really, although outside Distilleries might be a slightly more successful spot.

In fact, some players have reported building Distilleries and/or Bliss Places in sectors, where possession of their products is illegal, and then ruthlessly exploiting the bees that are drawn to the honey.