Poisoned Paranid start is hard

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clevider
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Poisoned Paranid start is hard

Post by clevider » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 11:22

The poisoned Paranid start is marked as "very hard." I have to say that it really really is! Not only is it hard to scratch the 25mil together (impossible for me, it appears :(), but it's even hard to properly equip a ship in that corner of the universe. I eventually found the trading system extension for sale a whopping 7 sectors from my starting sector and when I finally get there, I find out that my Argon rep is too low?! And not just a little too low, either. I've done two missions and traded a couple of loads of wares, but they still won't sell. Oddly, a 30k credit mineral scanner isn't an issue... :roll:

Best buy/sell doesn't appear to be anywhere in the vicinity either. To be fair, I never really seem to find it near to any of the starting points and it's more of a nicety than a need. No trading system extension, though. Gaaagh!

I can't believe I've actually wound up with two ships, a jumpdrive, a docking computer, over a million credits in the bank and I still can't remote trade or see prices prior to docking! I reiterate -- GAAAGGH! :shock:


ok, done whining now. Back to the game.
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Post by Rednoahl » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 11:28


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clevider
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Post by clevider » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 11:56

So, what you're saying is that good guys finish last. :D
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Post by Threesixtyci » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 20:25

It's really not that hard. First thing you need to get is a TP ship (or work into getting a TP ship). Then do nothing but passenger transport missions. The more you do the more your trade rank goes up. And the more the trade rank goes up the more money you get for each passenger transport, mission. Shouldn't be more than 6 game hours, before you're getting missions that reward you with 1-4 million credits, per mission. Good side effect of concentrating on trade, is your combat rating does not increase, thus the universe doesn't get "flag ship" hostel, towards you. Enemies, generally stay at M5, M4, and M3 class.

A good way to start is to get a M5 with a medium cargo hold, meaning a Disco or a Kestral (nothing S class is going to work, passengers can only be ferried in a M class cargo hold). Fully upgrade it's speed and cargo space. Then find a Passenger cargo upgrade. You'll have to search down a pirate base to buy one, most likely. Then find Passenger missions that don't require a TP ship. Now, earn enough to buy a mineral scanner. After buying one, stay near asteroid infested sectors and search for asteroid scan missions. Shouldn't take too long, before you can afford a Jumpdrive. From then on, money earning shouldn't be much of a problem. Still recommend in buying a TP ship, even if going this M5, route. Some of those TP specific missions are real big, money earners and it sucks when you find one, and find you can't complete it, because you don't have a TP ship.

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Post by gandy|UKCS| » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 20:37

Ive played this game start a few times in the past and this game start is one of the ones i hope that the dev team turn in to the dead is dead game mode.

Its a great way to play :)
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Re: Poisoned Paranid start is hard

Post by Nanook » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 21:15

clevider wrote:The poisoned Paranid start is marked as "very hard." I have to say that it really really is! Not only is it hard to scratch the 25mil together (impossible for me, it appears :(), but it's even hard to properly equip a ship in that corner of the universe. I eventually found the trading system extension for sale a whopping 7 sectors from my starting sector and when I finally get there, I find out that my Argon rep is too low?! And not just a little too low, either. I've done two missions and traded a couple of loads of wares, but they still won't sell. Oddly, a 30k credit mineral scanner isn't an issue... :roll:

Best buy/sell doesn't appear to be anywhere in the vicinity either. To be fair, I never really seem to find it near to any of the starting points and it's more of a nicety than a need. No trading system extension, though. Gaaagh!

I can't believe I've actually wound up with two ships, a jumpdrive, a docking computer, over a million credits in the bank and I still can't remote trade or see prices prior to docking! I reiterate -- GAAAGGH! :shock:


ok, done whining now. Back to the game.
To find the Best Buy/Sell software and the Trading System Extension, head over to Ianamus Zura, not that far from where you started if you have a jumpdrive. All Teladi trading stations sell that equipment. And your rep really doesn't matter to them, as long as you can land.
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Post by Twest09 » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 21:57

The last time I did the PP start I was a pirate. I went and grabbed the Skate Proto derelict ship and used that to liberate many Paranid of their ships in the sector Interworlds... which is an Argon sector. That helped me improve my Argon rep and I even bought and trained some marines up to 4* and used them to liberate a Zeus that decided it was going to patrol through there... probably on his way to attack my new found Argon friends.

And that was the end of me trying to scrounge up the money since that Zeus ended up selling for quite the profit. I even had enough credits to fully outfit the reward...

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Re: Poisoned Paranid start is hard

Post by ephemeron » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 22:53

The first million is the hardest. My playing style is heavy on trading and building, and I found that once I had my first station going, reinvesting the profits into more stations and UT's got me up to 25 mil with time to spare.

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clevider
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Post by clevider » Thu, 21. Oct 10, 23:34

I'd noticed the profitability of TP missions in past games and have been specifically saving up for an Angel while looking for the trading system extension so I could run a MORT simultaneously. It recently occurred to me that I could have set up an ST in the meantime, but I've just now unlocked the darn trade extension so I guess I won't worry about it.

I had thought about setting up some factories (still surprised at how quickly I can afford them in TC), but hadn't been sure it was a good investment since the early game economy is so different than the rest and didn't want to end up supplying a good that was no longer going to sell at a good price tomorrow. Plus, I want that Angel. :)

Just realized that I'd counted the distance to the trade extension in Belt of Aguilar from Queen's Harbor rather than my actual starting sector. Ianamus Zura is the closest place to buy one, but it's 8 sectors away and through hostile territory. I ended up buying one that is 11 sectors from where I started. Am I the only one who thinks that's an awfully long way to go to get such a minor yet important piece of equipment?
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Post by Rednoahl » Fri, 22. Oct 10, 00:07

clevider wrote:So, what you're saying is that good guys finish last. :D
20 hours was a poor time I admit - even doing the start under DiD conditions. What I thought you might of found interesting is that right from the start the very first thing I went for was a Trading System extension.

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Post by Gold Dragon » Fri, 22. Oct 10, 00:34

I had it finished within a day, thanks to a goof with friend/foe settings & Turrent settings :oops:

The good parts were: Selling the ships in total gave me 20 million (at least, once the dust settled, 4 hours later), and that Paranid noteriety gets reset once you get cured.... :twisted:


Bad parts: 20 minutes appologizing to the borons for "error in laser fire".... I never did appologize to the paranid..... THen just went and gained that Blastclaw Proto and sold it. 25 mil + Hyp Vanguard in about a day's time....
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Post by garv222 » Fri, 22. Oct 10, 05:46

I had a hard time doing this start at first since it had been around 6 months since my last game start before this one. My first move was to grab the .... I can't remember.... I think it was a medusa. Was a m3 or m3+ ship that was derelict in one of the pirate alley's. I started raiding paranid ships for TS, but was still struggling for cash. Things really didn't pick up until I got a jump drive and a TP. After that I got 25 mil in about 15 or so game hours later. Delivery/transport missions are probably one of the best if not the best way to make money with little investment/risk to the player.
Duke's Buccaneers... I hate you so much... I am sooo demolishing your HQ when our business is finished....

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