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[Girlinhat]

So I'll start generically, like every other thread does.  Almost.  I'm sure there's another thread for this, but I didn't search.

Regardless, I recently discovered that my computer can run TC, which is quite a bit different from Reunion.  Warmed up a new game on Custom Start, dropped into Argon Prime with a buster, dual IREs, and 1k credits to my name.  Unfortunately it's a bit different from Reunion, because when I went to try and start capping pirates, turns out the military is a lot more proactive about shooting them down.  Also the missions are impossible.  Go to X station and return to Y station withing Z minutes, where Z is 1/3 the time required.  20 minutes for a delivery?  G'damn...  Still, managed to scrape a few missiles off the battlefield and sell them for surprising profit.  Beluga missiles are gonna end up buying me a new ship!

So far all the guides I've read have been along the lines of "Step 1: Take your Terran Supership and..." except that Custom Start gives you a Buster.  Little IREs are almost laughable.  Can't hardly take down pirate ships, at least not until I try and mount a PAC or four.  So in the meantime...

Anyone got experience with piracy?  Namely, pirating TS?  How do I go about it without bringing the whole of a civilization down on me?  I want to do the HUB and HQ quests later, so I need good standings, at least for now.  I hear that the Teladi don't care about piracy, but something tells me if I start shooting, they'll start shooting back.  Does piracy not lose rep if it's done in a pirate sector or something?  My only experience so far has been capping pirates, so I've hardly needed to care about Argon police disapproving.

[GreatJustice]

Afraid the most recent X series game I've played is X2. However, if TC is even remotely similar, the first thing you should do is start trading in-system and get a TS (upgrading from an M4 shouldn't be that expensive). Then, trade with that until you have the money to get a System Trader. Get a couple of those and upgrade them to Universe Traders, whereupon you can stop worrying about them and get yourself a nice M3. Then do some actual missions.

Oh, and IIRC pirates are more common in border worlds, whereas you've probably been flying in core worlds.

[Girlinhat]

Actually I've been in border worlds, but those seem a bit more policed now.  Even got an orbital weapons platform!

The whole "trading" idea is nice, in theory, except that I'm in a buster, and you start with 1k cash.  I'm up to like 70k now I think, but that's hardly enough to start trading on.  Especially the buster's got such small cargo, it's difficult to make it worthwhile.  I'm all in favor of traders, but seems like system traders only work good in homeworld systems where there might be several consecutive resource chains.  They won't supply a crystal fab no matter how many silicon mines are next door, making them slightly limited.  To that end I much prefer to set up a station and set the traders to pull resources and push goods - they don't need Mk3 software for this, and certain stations cost less than Mk3.

But that's neither here nor now.

[Silent_Thunder]

First off, are you trying to pirate by blowing their ships up and stealing what little drops, or are you trying to get them to bail out. Sadly without mods, the pilots seem to enjoy riding their ships into the fireball of death. As far as piracy goes, the fact is you probably will lose alot of rep doing it, but only with that particular faction. POn my pirate games I usually camp out by Emperor's Mines and harass Split(?) ships, then when they start gunning for me, retreat back through the warp gate back into Argon space.

NOTE: I am running Albion Prelude, which is sorta an expansion to TC. The map might be slightly diffrent.

[Girlinhat]

That piece of the map is the same.  Right now I think my big option is pirating TS though.  You take a few shots at them, drop their shields and damage a bit of hull, then comm them and demand they surrender.  Cargo pilots are more likely to bail or at least jettison some tasty cargo.  Otherwise I could keep picking up debris from big battles, I suppose

[Nelia Hawk]

hmm i would advise to start a "argon story" character... (think there are 2 main stories, one argon and one terran... and the custom stuff... well and later unlockable starts).
simply because you get some... "goodies" pretty quickly.

ohh that was the albion prelude...
still the story is probably a good idea to start with and going to custom games when your more used to the game or so.

regarding pirateing:
not 100% sure if it changed (i did never realy bother with pirateing myself), but before i think you always end as enemy of some faction that you pirate TPs from. think it doesnt matter if the sector is owned by pirates or not.
but maybe it changed, no idea.
if its still the same then its a pretty pain if you are an enemy of a faction... i.e. if you have factories with traders and they go into enemy sectors... and you yourself get attacked all over... so ya... i mostly tried to be "friends" with the main races so i didnt have to bother fighting them too.

snatching rockets after battles is a good way to get some money as some rockets can sell for quite a bit.

for shooting pirate ships... i think with 2-4 IRE you should be able to kill M5 and M4 pirates... and M3 you can kill pretty good/quick with the ... next up laser... what was it? particle something?
well atleast you dont "require" energy plasma lasers to fight M3s. or just shower it with 6 IRE for a while...

oh and for missions...
yeah like 80% cant be done in whatever ship your in at the moment haha.
-timed courier ones usually requite a m5 with max speed.
-fighting missions atleast a good m3.
-transport missions a ts... jump drive probably to get somewhere (slow TPs)... and satelites all over to find the required items.

grabbing a quick TS is usually what i did in my games. and then a few hours buying/selling items to get money for a cheap station... then i could either go back to the fighter and leave the ts for the station or still use the ts and buy a 2nd for the station and hide the fighter in some main tradeing station.

so overall maybe start a argon (?) story game...  you get something to do with the story... a few goodies from the story... and some money.
custom starts can be a bit... overwhelming: "so now i am in this m4... and have to find the 5% of missions/stuff/things to do that i actually can do with this ship"... whats a bit hard if your pretty new to the game and dont know most of the 5% already from i.e. the other X games

[Eagleon]

Just to forewarn you, if you're excited about building up to having a fleet of your own ships in tow to destroy your enemies, get ready for hilariously/heartbreakingly stupid suicidal AI, with no concept of 'If you run into things, you explode.' Pretty much the only option available if you have fighters is to order them in wings through gates you use, and towards where you're moving. And never, ever forget to move a good distance away from a gate before telling a wing to follow - they'll blunder straight up your backside, forcing either a reload or losing a potentially huge amount of credits.

[Silent_Thunder]

The biggest salvage I've found is in the aftermath of battles in AP:Rebalanced mod, which repalced the AP skirmishes with a full blown invasion by the terrans, where they get stuck in about halfway through into the Argon space nearby, attempting to push into 2 particular sectors (forget which). Without player intervention on one side of the other, it almost always tends to stalemate as they replensish ships, leading to tons of salvage, if you're brave enough to try to grab it from two activly fighting fleets.

[Girlinhat]

Been there with wingmen, one of my successful Reunion characters managed to get a carrier and decent fighters, mainly stolen pirate Novas that were repaired via a mod item that repair docked ships, a little OP for field repairs costing credits, but meh.  I very quickly learned to use the "jump and fly to position" command for a carrier, to get the carrier far away from obstacles, THEN launch fighters.  I very rarely had fighters use the gates, and I tried to do it OOS because they ignore collisions in OOS simulations.  Still, for TC the best bet seems to be M6-M7 big ships.  I saw a pirate corsair take the argon navy to town, took two and a half waves of ships to deal with the one.

I need to get some mods running, a bail extension always seems to be a good idea...

[10ebbor10]

Been there with wingmen, one of my successful Reunion characters managed to get a carrier and decent fighters, mainly stolen pirate Novas that were repaired via a mod item that repair docked ships, a little OP for field repairs costing credits, but meh.  I very quickly learned to use the "jump and fly to position" command for a carrier, to get the carrier far away from obstacles, THEN launch fighters.  I very rarely had fighters use the gates, and I tried to do it OOS because they ignore collisions in OOS simulations.  Still, for TC the best bet seems to be M6-M7 big ships.  I saw a pirate corsair take the argon navy to town, took two and a half waves of ships to deal with the one.

I need to get some mods running, a bail extension always seems to be a good idea...

Also a mod to fix formation distance. Whitout it fighters tend to crash into each other whenever you go into SETA.

As for getting start up, I suggest doing the Terran plot mission. Gives you 3 ships, among which one of the best M6'es (I think) and gives acces to terran sectors.

[Anvilfolk]

I never got the X games because I know I'll let infinitely many hours into them, which I don't want to do as there are other things in life. But this conversation........

[Silfurdreki]

...  I want to do the HUB and HQ quests later, ...

Just so you know; the custom start has no plots (i.e. mission series) available at all, it's more of a template for modders that want to change the game world in whatever way. That means that the HUB and HQ quests will be unavailable.

Note: None of the main plots except Treasure Hunt are available if you choose Custom start, and the Terran plot is not available if you choose the Aldran Adventurer start.

Quote from Egosoft FAQ

You might want to start over with some other start before you get too far in. You'll also start with some more stuff in the other starts. The Argon trader (or something) has the Buster along with a Mercury which makes trading early more viable, for example.

[Shades]

Still, for TC the best bet seems to be M6-M7 big ships.

Personally I like the Paranid Hyperion Vanguard, it's an M6+ class but the poisoned paranid start lets you get an overtuned one which is randomly generated up to something like a top speed of 250. (the one I had was only 220ish. This makes it faster than all the m3 and m4 classes bar the insanely fast terran spitfyre.

Highly manoeuvrable, fast, tough, good range of high powered guns and the generators to use them, nice cargo space and can carry two fighters as well.

Anyone got experience with piracy?  Namely, pirating TS?  How do I go about it without bringing the whole of a civilization down on me? 

As long as you try and target just one or two races then you'll only build dislike from them, and that can be easily fixed if you visit pirate bases near/in their space. For actual capping of ships its seems to be related to how fast you strip the shields and hull, you want anti-shield weapons and enough hull damage to take then under half hull in your first volley. Be careful with wingmen or turrets though as these tend to destroy ships your trying to cap.

Generally I found about 1 in 15 or so ships would bail using vanilla, I haven't tried any mods so I don't know how that will effect it.

[Antioch]

I really want a solid state disk before playing this again, there is just too much loading and saving.

[10ebbor10]

You might want to start over with some other start before you get too far in. You'll also start with some more stuff in the other starts. The Argon trader (or something) has the Buster along with a Mercury which makes trading early more viable, for example.

Yeah, the trader start is both the best fighter and trader start. You get more credits, a trader ship you can sell; and I believe an M5.