Actually, the markets work according to supply and demand (the planets have government types and culture types for a reason), the quests are scalable to fit into them with any equipment (don't tell me you have to "hurry" to make 3 jumps in 80 days), and the primary source of income isn't grinding, though it does have uses.
If you want to start good, get a warrior type with an improved engine and a missile launcher. The missiles are expensive, but they deal sufficient damage and have quite long range. First you have to do the fed-ex and surface missions to raise some money (get a loan from the business centers if you need money fast), then when the second energy weapons (Lezka in the russian version) come around, search for the lightest ones through the search system, then buy them off and upgrade them.
Three lezkas and a missile launcher will give you enough firepower to start assisting military operations or system defence. When dominators die, they sometimes drop their equipment - I got a lightweight 70-power tractor beam that way. You can also sell their nonstandard equipment (that which you cannot equip at all) to the science stations for double their worth. If you do this consistently with only one station, you will accelerate their research into special anti-Dominator technology. But beside that, you will go up in military rating, and the military bases will give you some free equipment every tim you rise in rank, and provide you with free subroutines to use against Dominators.
There're a lot of things you can do in the game, just remember that at its heart it's a roguelike - don't look for enemies until you can handle them, and you'll be fine.
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Topic: Spore (Read 100408 times)