Sooo the entire universe doesn't have a SSC forge, what now - resolved

[fireanddream]

My save has been running for too long that the two starting SSC forges despawned. I'm aware that Terran factories become purchasable once I complete the Aldrin plot, but I see the OFF plot as my final/endgame thing to do, so that's out of the question.

The only way to obtain SSC now is boarding terran capital ships that have them? I heard someone got those through bartering, but I searched all the orbital defense stations and the merchants there sold c-ration or MRE, etc. Worst (or best) case scenario my Osaka has to use MAML. Oh well.

[Timsup2nothin]

Switch to commonwealth capital ships. Always an option.

[MarvinTheMartian]

I take it you're playing TC from the sound of it as things are a little different in AP. Anyway, if you're not up for stealing SSCs from the Terrans (shame) then you can clone them.

What you need is a shipyard and Equipment Dock (Orbital Defence Station) that sells SSC (even if they have none in stock) in the same sector plus at least one SSC on hand. Mars and The Moon meet this criteria in AP so hopefully this is the same in TC, check the encyclopaedia for others if this is not the case.

The process is to sell 1 (or more) SSC to the ODS then buy 10 of the cheapest ships that can hold SSC (L cargo) which is probably a Baldric S. Now equip 10 ships at once and "equip" each ship with as many SSCs as you sold and should still be in stock at the ODS. You now have 10 Baldrics each with 1 (or as many as you sold to the ODS) so 10x what you had to start with.

It's hardly an exploit as you are paying for 10x SSC plus the loss you make on the Baldrics if you don't need them. This can be repeated for any ware the ODS/EQD stocks so you might want to load up on other lasers, shields and missiles while you're at it to offset the loss on the resale of the Balidrics.

Enjoy

[Timsup2nothin]

You can repeat this on the equip ship screen as many times as you want, depending on how many the dock can hold. I don't know the number for the item in question, so I'll use 25MJ shields for the example.

The dock holds six, so make sure there is one in stock and buy six Baldrics. Equip with one. Then go back to none. Since six ships each unloaded one, the dock now has six. Equip six. Dock is empty, but you now have six on each ship.

Go back to five. Since each ship unloads one the dock is again full. Load the max. Now each ship has eleven. Rinse and repeat until either the ships are full, you run out of money, or you are convinced you have as much as you need.

[MarvinTheMartian]

SSC (in AP) is sadly only 2 items max in the dock but I haven't tried that method before so I'll have to give it a go next time I need to rustle up some 25MJ shields or, more likely, missiles!

[Cpt.Jericho]

Non-mission Xenon capital ships sometimes drop Terran weapons.

[Timsup2nothin]

SSC (in AP) is sadly only 2 items max in the dock but I haven't tried that method before so I'll have to give it a go next time I need to rustle up some 25MJ shields or, more likely, missiles!

Not sure how docks work in AP, but in TC for things that the dock only holds two you just buy two freighters and cycle between one and two units. When you drop one it fills the dock so you can add two to each ship. Rinse and repeat. Keep in mind this produces two really expensive freighters.