Humble Trader Start / Walkthrough for New-ish Players

[jwigeland]

Thanks for the feedback Snafu! Glad you liked it!

Excellent starter guide, but I noticed a few things:

1) The Toucan Hauler you mention early on is, IIRC, unique, so it may not be to your advantage to sell it (don't forget ships sold at shipyards are scrapped so you won't find it later on in the game). Similarly for your Iguana Vanguard. The Pericles & Eclipse are also unbuyable, but you can cap them later if necessary (I think they may also turn up as rewards in corp plots, but I'm not sure)

You are correct - I thought I'd found a shipyard that sells the Toucan Hauler but I am mistaken. I know I've seen them and the Iguana Vanguard available as used ships for sale, however. You could certainly get away with keeping the Toucan as it's resale value isn't a big component of the bankroll - especially if you strip and sell off its guns and shields and leave it parked somewhere as a holding ship for marines. The Pericles is also unique and getting another one involves a lot of missions for the pirate corporation. The Eclipse I believe may not be rare (as you say, pirates can fly these sometimes) but this one you kinda have to sell as it is the main component of the starting bankroll.

2) Mosquito Missile Defence is IMO more useful for your larger ships than Turret Missile Defence, as OOS your traders may try to fight with their pea-shooters rather than running/jumping away

I think Mosquito defense was added in the bonus pack... I haven't downloaded or played with it yet. All my MK3s will eject their drones when attacked (the ones they purchase on their own) and jump out of the sector, so I've yet to loose one this way. Also, iirc, turret commands are ignored OOS.

3) You don't mention Best Buy/Sell s/w. Whilst only useful for the playership it /is/ extremely useful IMO, especially early in the game, despite its expense

Eek... here's my NOOB-ish showing here. I've never tried these...

4) For the early playership fight missions PACs are more useful than IREs as they do quite a bit more damage for only a relatively small increase in expense & gun battery power; later on you'll want PRGs but these are a) significantly more expensive & b) use quite a bit more energy

I agree. In my earlier games I upgraded from the Disco to the Buster to the Nova and tried IRE, PAC, PRG, and HEPT. Eventually I discovered the PBG could work on the zippy Nova Raider, and this was by far the most potent fighter combo I'd found. So, in my quick-start guide, I basically avoid all combat until I get the fire-breather Nova Raider.

5) Obtain Ship missions - these don't have to be new ships bought; they can be ships you've capped. Don't forget the reward is the ship's value +maybe a bit more, so repair them first for more profitss if you've the time (& remember to transfer out any cargo they may have)

That's quite true! I'm OCD however, so I never keep claimed ships unless it's a ship type that fits in my fleet, so whenever I stumble across these missions I have to buy new.

5a) Buying a brand new ship is like buying a brand new car - the depreciation is horrendous! Even if you buy the ship at the shipyard & then immediately sell it back without flying it anywhere you can make a serious loss. This will get better (ie less) with increase in race rep, but never gets as far as 100% - plus any equipment on a ship sold to a shipyard is only sold back at 50% of its purchase price. So, be careful when making new ship purchases, especially early on, & strip out any salable weapons, shields & cargo to sell elsewhere first. S/w (including jumpdrives, scanners etc) cannot be sold except with the ship, so if it's expensive or hard to get transfer it to another ship before you scrap)

You are right on the money here - this was the number 1 aggrevation in my earlier games in that I'd waste all my hard earned money buying the wrong type of ship and then get pittance for it when I wanted to sell and try something else. I'd hoped that my recommendations in this guide would provide new players with ships they can use for a long while so as to avoid buyer's remorse.

6) I /think/ the Chokaro is faster than the Boa (nope - 1m/s slower; just checked), but it handles like a pregnant cow under anasthetic even with max tunings, so if you're going to fly your TM go for the Boa. However the Chokaro has nearly double the cargo bay size & double the shields for the loss of 1 hangar bay, so it's horses for courses there..

I love to fly my TM. =) The Chokaro was originally in this walk-through as a good alternate to the Boa - until I tried to fly one. Also, you can't max it out right when you purchase it as there's no EQD in Senator's Badlands. I don't recommend fighting in a TM, so that's why I thought the Boa should win out in the guide. But hey, a lot of players swear by the Chokaro - that and the Zephyrus are both excellent ships.

7) You can get the Docking Computer from the EQD in Trinity Sanctum (another extremely useful shipyard to know about): S 4 sectors from Split Fire

Yup! I think I said any Paranid equipment dock should have the Docking Computer. I just suggested Paranid Prime becase the player would have already been there on their way to get the Pericles and Eclipse.

8 ) Remember Advanced Firewall s/w, Internal Sentry Lasers & Hull Polarisation mean nothing to the player's ships except for (maybe) upping their selling price a bit, so don't knock yourself out or spend a fortune on 2nd hand ships that have these items equipped.

That's right - no function except coolness factor. I'm one of the people who will spend a fortune on a used TM to get these useless softwares. =)

Marines coming with ships may or may not be useful; you won't find out their training levels until you have a bioscanner installed on your playership. Marines with high Fight levels (above 3 stars) are your best prizes as the other levels can be trained up with money. Training takes a loong time, so if you're going that route start them as early as you reckon you can afford it (a use for that unique Toucan Hauler?), & it's more cost-effective to use Advanced training levels rather than Quick or Normal. Training marines can be done at any non-Boron Military Outpost or IIRC at some EQDs or Trading Centres as well at the Marine Training Centre (I think there's only one)

Good stuff - maybe I should add marines to this guide? I kinda wanted to keep it simple but... nothing's simple in the X-verse!

9) Remember that once you have access to Terran space its economy becomes live, so use those stripped cheap hulls you gained from bailing ships to keep important stations alive (ie not removed by GoD) until you can work on the Terran economy. Dock the hulls at any Terran station you find (except shipyards, defence or supply stations, SPPs or mines) & leave them there to prevent the game engine (GoD) from deleting the station whilst you're building up your finances elsewhere

I think that'll do for now. Good luck & happy hunting!

[edit - spelling & clarity]

Oh it's worse than that - the Terran and Aldrin economy start ticking down to destruction right when the game starts! I have another thread on how to save these economies but I thought i'd better leave that out of a beginner guide as it's a bit complicated... meh, I'll add it in anyway. Thanks!

[CotillionRope]

Great guide! My only question is about the PRG's. I can't seem to find the Pirate STations anywhere in the system. Is it possible they were destroyed?

[Snafu_X3]

I know I've seen [the Toucan Hauler] and the Iguana Vanguard available as used ships for sale

Yup - just seen one of each myself (the extra Iggy came in very handy as now I can dock one at Atreus & one at Strong Arms & do both those corp plots at the same time, swapping between each with my Springy)

I think Mosquito defense was added in the bonus pack... I haven't downloaded or played with it yet.

Not at all? Not even for X2 (it's been around since then)? Also, MDM is useful against those missiles coming at you from angles your turret can't reach, like ahead or to the side a bit

All my MK3s will eject their drones when attacked (the ones they purchase on their own) and jump out of the sector, so I've yet to loose one this way.

Drones aren't much use against missiles, though, plus if you're correct

iirc, turret commands are ignored OOS.

(which I didn't know - cheers). Also, I don't think main guns are ignored (it certainly used to be the case in previous versions that armed traders would fight uselessly, leading to lost traders), so if you're remoting a freighter that has that capability make sure only the turrets are armed, which I don't think you can do other than switching to the ship & configuring its guns personally - at least I haven't found another way.. yet

BB/BS sw

Eek... here's my NOOB-ish showing here. I've never tried these...

Not much of a problem, as you don't seem to do much personal trading in the guide, but very useful for finding cheapest wares for those early deliver cargo missions, especially when combined with ASats & TSE s/w, so worth a mention IMO

[...]So, in my quick-start guide, I basically avoid all combat until I get the fire-breather Nova Raider.

Fairynuff. Personally I prefer PRGs in the Nova Raider for a) the extra range over PBGs b) the NR has the battery power to take them (still got to watch that with PBGs) & c) less chance of POing friendlies. I mustard mitt the PBG does /look/ damn impressive though! However, I stand by my decision - PACs for main guns in the early playership until you can afford PRGs (you don't need to fill every bay if you're short on battery) & IREs for missile defence turrets

I'd hoped that my recommendations in this guide would provide new players with ships they can use for a long while so as to avoid buyer's remorse.

Good point, but you still may like to add the warning about equipment & s/w being sold at 1/2 price at shipyards

I just suggested Paranid Prime becase the player would have already been there on their way to get the Pericles and Eclipse.

Fairynuff again; I suggested exploring to TS because of it's very useful shipyard - more stations & ship options than Paranid Prime, so useful later on when you might want a Demeter SF XL for UT

add marines to this guide? I kinda wanted to keep it simple but...

I agree with KISS in principle, but you mention doing the Terran plot (where you get some free marines) as well as getting marines from ship purchases, so you might as well mention what to do with them

the Terran and Aldrin economy start ticking down to destruction right when the game starts!

Eek! I thought I'd seen something like this, but I put it down to a bad dream However, see above about mentioning the Terran plot - you're shortly going to be given a set of 3 scouts that are pretty much useless for anything besides stripping for weapons & shields. They're not even worth much at resale, & by this time you should have plenty of money, so you may as well make /some/ use of the hulks Similarly for those bailed Ms & Ns you'll start getting around this time

Cheers

[aaronwestley]

Before going south to Argon Prime, at the start I pick up a load of ore on the way, and sell it to that factory right by the equipment dock. Fast way to triple your money at the very start.

[XanII]

This is a good reference thread for newbies. Good job.

Started out with this start myself. M5+TS = good way to make the dosh if you know how.

[WildDoktor]

I literally just registered for this site soley to thank you for this tutorial, jwigeland! I picked up the X3 TC/AP deal on Steam a couple weeks ago, along with the 2 DLPs, and must say the game is just what I was looking for...but without this awesome thread and a really good youtube tribute to this thread I would have been lost, alone, and scared.

I'm now up to the Terran Plot, and having a hoot.

I had been unable to obtain any PBGs before getting to the Terran Plot; mostly because I didn't understand the "hacking" instructions. So I headed in to the 2nd mission with all IREs a-blazin', but it took me several attempts figure out the technique for the last part of it. I ended up running scared to the Pirate station, which had a light bulb. For grins I communicated with them and saw an option to pay money to do something to both forge and the rehab center. I blindly paid for the forge, thankfully! I landed there, un docked again and dumped all 8 IRE and some other stuff, and bought 8 PBGs. I outfitted them and headed back to the fray, and wow...fire-breathing is right!!

Anyway, again, just wanted to say thank you so much for this guide; it's got me started off on the right foot with a great foundation. And I appreciate all the other comments here as well. What a huge universe it is!!