(TC) Argon Patriot doing Terran Plot. Impossible to get 25MJ shields.

[Cubemonkey]

I'm about to do the sixth terran mission, and I'm still flying the starter elite with 2 5MJ shields and 4 PACs.

I'm a newbie, but it seems that I can't buy 25MJ shields anywhere but the one Terran station, and I don't have enough rank (9% short) to buy them. It seems like there are no missions offered in Terran territory, too. The helpful tips for this missions suggest having 25MJ shields on everything.

Am I missing something?

Also, why would my Demeter go to a solar farm where I've ordered it to buy energy, dock, and do absolutely nothing? It docks, leaves, and goes home to my wheat farm. I had to switch in to it and buy manually.

[Burnt Pies]

You're looking for a medium shield production complex, which should sell 25 and 200mj shields.

The ones nearby Terran space are in Argon M148 and Interworlds, but the Terrans themselves don't manufacture them. You'll have to head out there to buy them yourself.



Does the wheat farm have enough credits to buy the energy cells?

[Nanook]

I'm about to do the sixth terran mission, and I'm still flying the starter elite with 2 5MJ shields and 4 PACs.

I'm a newbie, but it seems that I can't buy 25MJ shields anywhere but the one Terran station, and I don't have enough rank (9% short) to buy them. It seems like there are no missions offered in Terran territory, too. The helpful tips for this missions suggest having 25MJ shields on everything.

Am I missing something?

Probably missing the fact the X-Universe is a big place and you need to get around more. . Also, feel free to leave the plot(s) at any time and go off and do your own thing. They'll wait. And you probably won't get a whole lot further if you don't get better equipment. Do generic missions, trade, kill some bad guys and steal their ships, or whatever else seems like fun. This is a sandbox game, where you can pretty much do whatever you want whenever you want. It's not a linear, plot-driven game like most others.

Also, why would my Demeter go to a solar farm where I've ordered it to buy energy, dock, and do absolutely nothing? It docks, leaves, and goes home to my wheat farm. I had to switch in to it and buy manually.

We need a bit more info on your factory/freighter setup before answering. In addition to Burnt Pies' question, is the freighter homebased to the Wheat Farm? What orders did you give it? Etc.

[Cubemonkey]

Thank you both for responding.

I get the sandbox nature of the game, but I read some old posts and found that doing combat missions can make plot enemies scale up too high, making the missions impossible. Is that still the case?

Regarding the freighter, it is homebase'd at my wheat farm. I send it to "buy wares" at the solar farm in Circle of Labour. It docks, does nothing, and undocks. When I switched in to it and bought energy manually, it went back to the farm and just sat there. It wouldn't unload. It doesn't have best buy/sale locator and only trading software II, but that should be enough, right?

Does my ship need trading extension?

[Morkonan]

As far as your Terran Rep goes, you'll make that 9% up very quickly. So, you'll be able to buy those 25mj shields with no problem. Go to Heretic's End and kill pirates or do some regular Missions for Terrans, either in Terran Space or just outside, in the surrounding regions. You will get Terran Rep by accepting missions from Terrans, no matter where in the Galaxy they are located.

In regards to combat and "Fight Rank", missions involving combat will become more difficult as your Fight Rank increases. Basically, larger ships and, I assume, with better loadouts on them. But, it shouldn't be an issue in any of the Terran Plot missions. AFAIK, it has only been described as an issue for the Operation: Final Fury story plot. Even then, it can probably be overcome by throwing a larger fleet at the problem.

I had an issue getting 25mj shields when doing one of the Terran Story Plot missions, but was able to find some several sectors from Terran space. Just look around a bit.

[Allan F]

Does your factory have any credits in it's own account? What price does it buy ecells at?

[Shootist]

Thank you both for responding.

I get the sandbox nature of the game, but I read some old posts and found that doing combat missions can make plot enemies scale up too high, making the missions impossible. Is that still the case?


Does my ship need trading extension?

TC Missions cannot get too hard as you can always bring a fleet to a fight (warning: You may have to spend a half billion credits, or 20 billion Cr. It depends on you).

If you want to look at prices in sector without landing, you do. If you want your other ships to use Best Sell/Best Buy, the other ship does as well.

[Vim Razz]

In that part of the map the Federal Argon Installation in Black Hole Sun is another source of 25 MJ, though availability is unreliable past the early stages of the game.

[Cubemonkey]

So I managed to get some 25MJ shields, and I repaired and sold off a bunch of claimed ships. I have enough to afford a Nova Raider L, I just need to finish this one mission.

Does your factory have any credits in it's own account? What price does it buy ecells at?

I...it needs credits? I have it set to buy energy at 12 and sell wheat at 48.

[Terrachova]

So I managed to get some 25MJ shields, and I repaired and sold off a bunch of claimed ships. I have enough to afford a Nova Raider L, I just need to finish this one mission.

Does your factory have any credits in it's own account? What price does it buy ecells at?

I...it needs credits? I have it set to buy energy at 12 and sell wheat at 48.

The factory draws from a separate account when its freighters buy resources. I was under the impression that, if a factory account reached 0, it just drew from your regular account, but...

Under adjust station parameters, just above where you can set the maximum jump range of its freighters, you can transfer money to/from your account to the factory's account (factory being on the left I think). Throw an amount in there (I usually go with 250k per station to be safe), and you should be good.

Also, in the command console for the factory, you can set a limit at which point the factory will automatically transfer funds to your account (profits). Set that to, say, 1 million, and then every credit it earns past the 1 million mark gets automatically transferred to you.

[jkjklkl]

I...it needs credits? I have it set to buy energy at 12 and sell wheat at 48.

Just like you can't buy anything if you're broke, neither can the factory.