Young gun looking for some help, new ship and trading.

[DEL 707]

I've been following a guide to get me going. I started as a "Young Gun" and so far I have a few miners to my name, 1 trader and a Energy Cell station. I have 7 million cr in the bank. I've got a ton of questions and I'm looking for some help.

Can anyone recommend a nice upgrade ship from my Elite Vanguard, I'm a "Friend of the Argon Federation".

On stations, what do the sell and buy offers means? Also how do you see how much stock the station actually has of a product?

On the trade filter, what do the hexagons next to items mean?

How useful is automatic pricing? My energy cell station is automatically setting the price to 21cr, which no one is buying. Another energy station a few sectors away is selling at 13cr. If I manually lower the price, then people start buying my stock. Following the guide, I set up my station to trade hull parts, but again, the automatic pricing isn't really helping much, there's 1cr difference between the buy and sell price. I'm not getting many customers

When it comes to exploring sectors, is there a way to know if you've found all the stations in the area? Also, how well does auto explore work?

[Panos]

I've been following a guide to get me going. I started as a "Young Gun" and so far I have a few miners to my name, 1 trader and a Energy Cell station. I have 7 million cr in the bank. I've got a ton of questions and I'm looking for some help.

Can anyone recommend a nice upgrade ship from my Elite Vanguard, I'm a "Friend of the Argon Federation".

On stations, what do the sell and buy offers means? Also how do you see how much stock the station actually has of a product?

On the trade filter, what do the hexagons next to items mean?

How useful is automatic pricing? My energy cell station is automatically setting the price to 21cr, which no one is buying. Another energy station a few sectors away is selling at 13cr. If I manually lower the price, then people start buying my stock. Following the guide, I set up my station to trade hull parts, but again, the automatic pricing isn't really helping much, there's 1cr difference between the buy and sell price. I'm not getting many customers

When it comes to exploring sectors, is there a way to know if you've found all the stations in the area? Also, how well does auto explore work?

a) If you do the PHQ quest, you get a Frigate. Is a great ship and huge upgrade over the starter Elite.
Now, what ships to get/use is what you like to do. I usually RP sticking to my racial ships.

If you do not care to roleplay, then there are some amazing S ships like the Ares Sentinel (HOP) or the Buzzard Sentinel (MIN). Tough S size ships with plenty of guns.
Is personal choice to be honest what you will fly.


b) Is a quick indicator of the amount available to sell/needed to buy which is affecting the price too.

c) AI freighters, like you the player, wants to make money too. If you sell at 21cr (which is calculated based on the buy price of nearby stations if I am correct) the AI will not buy from you. However if you assign couriers/freighters to your own station as subordinates, they will sell at the higher price available (21cr) to the stations who buy it down to the lower price set. How much they will sell will depend the pricing, how far they will go to sell depends the skill of the Manager at the stations.
If you plan to sell EC use S couriers. Many of them. They are fast delivering the right amount of EC most stations need per circle and you can feed whole sectors with 3-4 of them.

d) Nope. Many times stations are outside boundaries. Only way to know ALL stations a faction has (even hidden ones) is to buy the 10,000,000 licence. You won't need to install satellites too, as you will have "live feed" of pricing across the faction.

Never used Auto Explore :/

[Old Drullo321]

Can anyone recommend a nice upgrade ship from my Elite Vanguard, I'm a "Friend of the Argon Federation".

Depends on what are you want to do. Explore, trade, scout? The Argon and ANT aren't best known for their superior ships. If you want something to explore and do quests that don't require fighting, a Pegasus would be a good choice. You don't need Paranid reputation, you can buy them at the Alliance of Word shipyard in Trinity Sanctum 7. If you want something a little bit more tanky for fighting, I wouldn't recommend any S class ship. I would go for a M class corvette. Good choice are TER Katana, Split Dragon and HOP or PAR Nemesis.

On stations, what do the sell and buy offers means? Also how do you see how much stock the station actually has of a product?

The whole buy and sell offer is the base how faction and player owned station handling the trade. Buy offers are made for buying wares up to a certain point, and sell offers do the same for selling. So if you right click a faction station you see what the station will buy or sell. They don't trade with anything else.
For the actual stock of NPC factions there three choices:
1. You have to manual scan the station, i believe it was at least 33 or 35% to see the current/max stock
2. You can reach a certain reputation high in the 20th of the race then you see the stock of each station without scanning them
3. You can assume their stock based on the trade offers. If a station buys a ware for +20% (yellow/orange) their stock is low. The amount of wares the station requests is an indicator on how big their cargo for that ware is. Same goes for selling a ware

On the trade filter, what do the hexagons next to items mean?

Just a quick info how many of them are available regardless of the price. For example there could be a fully stocked hull complex which offers cheap hull parts but has only small storage for them, probably only showing 1-2 hexagons. Or then there is the fully stocked big complex, offering 10k hulls, which would result in three hexagons

How useful is automatic pricing? My energy cell station is automatically setting the price to 21cr, which no one is buying. Another energy station a few sectors away is selling at 13cr. If I manually lower the price, then people start buying my stock. Following the guide, I set up my station to trade hull parts, but again, the automatic pricing isn't really helping much, there's 1cr difference between the buy and sell price. I'm not getting many customers

First, an energy station is not a good first, and not a good 10th station. If you don't exactly know what youre doing, it is best to ignore energy cell trading and just build some modules for your own stations. Auto-Pricing can work quite nicely in certain situations and is a good choice in the beginning. I use it for several mining hubs.

When it comes to exploring sectors, is there a way to know if you've found all the stations in the area? Also, how well does auto explore work?

No, there is no way. But in almost all cases, at least where it matters, all are in the initial hexagon. There are exceptions, especially if the game continues and place some in strange places. Later on you can buy trade licence to automatically view and reveal all stations of a faction.
The best way to explore is using scout ships just shift/right clicking move-to orders exploring a whole sector and then send them via explore through a gate, afterwards cancel the order. Auto-Explore takes way too long.

[Sirus5]

There are many different ways and all are enjoyable.

I started as Young Gun, found the sparkly thing to tell me there was a mission and found the Boron to start the PHQ quest.
Before embarking upon any of this, I went west to the next sector where HOP were battling the Argon/Ant - and there
were lots of dropped containers - that netted me nearly a million and gave me a good start.
I then embarked upon the plot and when I had dropped some sats and res probes, instead of goingto do what the Boron said,
I went anomaly jumping - through the anomaly quite a few times trying to find my way back - but finding many different sectors.
This was quite useful because I could later send traders towards one of these new sectors and start exploring quickly.
I found a wharf in Trinity Sanctum VII - which sold Nodans and bought one - they are a reasonable step up from the Elite and
I have captured over 10 minotaur raiders using just a Nodan - it will teach you how to fly and hit things.
Stations - yes, other things are more useful than an ECell factory - but you do need ECells for most other production modules -
therefore, I would have Solar Power module as my first one and build from there. Most factories when being built require
Ecells, Claytronics and hull parts so guess which my PHQ produces now (I have 3 Claytronics, 4 Hull Parts and 2 ECells).
HOWEVER, you will need microchip modules, Quantum tube modules etc and it's better to build one of most needed items before
you add the claytronics or hull part modules.

[jlehtone]

There are many different ways and all are enjoyable.

Well, if one follows guides/advice, then one has less opportunities to discover and more chances to unnotice some unmentioned paths.
On the other hand, not knowing most of the game features is also prone to create frustration, rather than discovery.
Tricky balance that. If you know too much, some fun is spoiled, if you know too little, you might never find it.

Better than Elite? Some say: anything. I can't say that, for I haven't flown that ship. I don't really count how many times I die in a ship, but subconsciously that probably affects which ships I prefer. (Just kidding. I flew a ship in X2, so I have flown its namesake in X3R, X3TC, X3AP, and X4. Just "because". )

[Sirus5]

There are many different ways and all are enjoyable.

Well, if one follows guides/advice, then one has less opportunities to discover and more chances to unnotice some unmentioned paths.
On the other hand, not knowing most of the game features is also prone to create frustration, rather than discovery.
Tricky balance that. If you know too much, some fun is spoiled, if you know too little, you might never find it.

Better than Elite? Some say: anything. I can't say that, for I haven't flown that ship. I don't really count how many times I die in a ship, but subconsciously that probably affects which ships I prefer. (Just kidding. I flew a ship in X2, so I have flown its namesake in X3R, X3TC, X3AP, and X4. Just "because". )

Ahh yes, I would fly namesakes but I can't find my Bayamon in X4

[DEL 707]

Thanks for the all the help.

I spent a few hours working on my PAR rep and I can now finally buy a Nemesis, my next question is, what weapons shall I put on it?
At the moment I just have a load of Plasma MkI, are there any up to day weapon guides out there?

[xant]

I assume you already noticed that projectile speed and accuracy are important when fighting S and M sized ships. For turrets I'd go either M Pulse or M Flak (Argon have those, best M turret in my opinion).

As for main weapons... Pulse is always a solid choice. If you're up for an adventure, you can try to get the Thermal Disintegrator from the Split. Great weapon that deals damage through shields, making it an ideal choice if you want to destroy some surface elements on bigger targets.

Plasma is just too slow for anything smaller than L, so I'd not use it.

[Alm888]

Can anyone recommend a nice upgrade ship from my Elite Vanguard, I'm a "Friend of the Argon Federation".

ARG does not have any really good ships prior Behemoth (L class destroyer), but then a Behemoth is not that good either. More like "usable". Not for personal usage though, more for your fleets.
I'd say get yourself a good S-class fighter. Arguably, the best is a Chimera (ZYA). Moreya (YAK) is no slouch either, albeit somewhat unwieldy with only 2 engines. A Takoba (PIO) is a nice choice, having great cockpit view, nice shielding, adequate hull, great speed and dynamic, but somewhat lacking on firepower -- it is for those who like to play defensively. A Pulsar (ANT) on the contrary, is for true Kamikaze Bad Boiz -- the most armed S-class ship in the game -- a terrific attack power, but is made of cardboard and is somewhat on the slow side, which spells its doom (I wouldn't recommend use it un-modded).

Don't bother with M-class ships. They are junk, IMO. There are never enough M-docking bays, they feel like trains (get ready to miss a station some 20+ km upon "breaking") and so big that they act like bullet magnets, so their increased durability is only good on paper, but not in reality. Oh, and M-class Shield Generators are garbage. You can pick a corvette (Nemesis, Dragon, Katana, Kuraokami) if you must, but you'll struggle during peaceful times and be wiped out in any really hot combat (like, soloing against 20 S-class fighters or 50+ Defense Drones).

On stations, what do the sell and buy offers means?

Just what it says on the tin. What a station sells and what it wants to buy.

Also how do you see how much stock the station actually has of a product?

Logistical Overview can show what a station currently has in bulk, but this does not mean all of the wares are for trading (stations have some intermediate goods reserved and some goods may be already sold to NPC traders which are en route to the station to collect).

On the trade filter, what do the hexagons next to items mean?

Quantity. Or, more accurately "abundance" (quantity relative to max amount).

How useful is automatic pricing?

Depends. It is mostly used for ware distribution. It is also works well for final products of a station.

My energy cell station is automatically setting the price to 21cr, which no one is buying.

Just wait till the storage space fills up. A manager will correct the price accordingly. This is why having large storage is not necessarily a good thing -- large storage leads to large buffer stock (can be manually adjusted in Logistical Overview).

When it comes to exploring sectors, is there a way to know if you've found all the stations in the area?

Provided the shroud was removed, just start building a new station and try to place the plot -- you'll see which places are already occupied.

Also, how well does auto explore work?

Dunno. Did not use it.

[xant]

I'd say get yourself a good S-class fighter. Arguably, the best is a Chimera (ZYA). Moreya (YAK) is no slouch either, albeit somewhat unwieldy with only 2 engines. A Takoba (PIO) is a nice choice, having great cockpit view, nice shielding, adequate hull, great speed and dynamic, but somewhat lacking on firepower -- it is for those who like to play defensively. A Pulsar (ANT) on the contrary, is for true Kamikaze Bad Boiz -- the most armed S-class ship in the game -- a terrific attack power, but is made of cardboard and is somewhat on the slow side, which spells its doom (I wouldn't recommend use it un-modded).

Don't bother with M-class ships. They are junk, IMO. There are never enough M-docking bays, they feel like trains (get ready to miss a station some 20+ km upon "breaking") and so big that they act like bullet magnets, so their increased durability is only good on paper, but not in reality. Oh, and M-class Shield Generators are garbage. You can pick a corvette (Nemesis, Dragon, Katana, Kuraokami) if you must, but you'll struggle during peaceful times and be wiped out in any really hot combat (like, soloing against 20 S-class fighters or 50+ Defense Drones).

Okay, so do I understand you correctly that your recommendation for a beginner is to use a small fighter to solo 20 fighters and 50 drones? Really? What's next, maybe "go board an Asgard, it's easy, I do it all the time"?

For peaceful players, those who just started playing the game and only want a safe way to fly around, explore and maybe do a little bit of fighting, there's nothing better than a Corvette. It is faster than many fighters, has enough firepower to solo most missions or random Kha'ak or Xenon encounters and is sturdy enough not to go boom after a few (inevitable) hits.

[Panos]

I'd say get yourself a good S-class fighter. Arguably, the best is a Chimera (ZYA). Moreya (YAK) is no slouch either, albeit somewhat unwieldy with only 2 engines. A Takoba (PIO) is a nice choice, having great cockpit view, nice shielding, adequate hull, great speed and dynamic, but somewhat lacking on firepower -- it is for those who like to play defensively. A Pulsar (ANT) on the contrary, is for true Kamikaze Bad Boiz -- the most armed S-class ship in the game -- a terrific attack power, but is made of cardboard and is somewhat on the slow side, which spells its doom (I wouldn't recommend use it un-modded).

Don't bother with M-class ships. They are junk, IMO. There are never enough M-docking bays, they feel like trains (get ready to miss a station some 20+ km upon "breaking") and so big that they act like bullet magnets, so their increased durability is only good on paper, but not in reality. Oh, and M-class Shield Generators are garbage. You can pick a corvette (Nemesis, Dragon, Katana, Kuraokami) if you must, but you'll struggle during peaceful times and be wiped out in any really hot combat (like, soloing against 20 S-class fighters or 50+ Defense Drones).

Okay, so do I understand you correctly that your recommendation for a beginner is to use a small fighter to solo 20 fighters and 50 drones? Really? What's next, maybe "go board an Asgard, it's easy, I do it all the time"?

For peaceful players, those who just started playing the game and only want a safe way to fly around, explore and maybe do a little bit of fighting, there's nothing better than a Corvette. It is faster than many fighters, has enough firepower to solo most missions or random Kha'ak or Xenon encounters and is sturdy enough not to go boom after a few (inevitable) hits.

Amen.

Also to add Minotaur Sentinel with it's 4 turrets is a good ship even if not as good as a proper corvette.

[jlehtone]

Some missions are "transport with ship that can dock at S-pad"; requires S-ship.
Some require a mineral miner.
Some require accurate low damage weapon.
Someone described frigate (M size) with a docked S size miner being a combo that can do almost all missions.
(Back in X3R I had M1 Carrier with docked M5, M4, and M3+ and M6, TS, TP, and M2 within jump distance. Just to be able to do most missions. )

what weapons shall I put on it?

The "best" weapons are the ones that you can get the job done with. If you can't hit with something, then its "numerical superiority" is a paper tiger. Fly and get a feel on what you can hit with and how long it takes to kill a thicker target. That is exploration.

[GCU Grey Area]

Some missions are "transport with ship that can dock at S-pad"; requires S-ship.
Some require a mineral miner.
Some require accurate low damage weapon.
Someone described frigate (M size) with a docked S size miner being a combo that can do almost all missions.

That's what I'd recommend too, Falx with docked Kopis miner is my current ride of choice. Very useful setup for missions & if I run into a combat encounter which turns out to be a bit more than I can cope with there's always the drones - 12 more things for the enemy to shoot at & against slower targets an extra 12 mk1 Pulse Lasers is not an insignificant level of additional firepower to have on hand.

[Panos]

Some missions are "transport with ship that can dock at S-pad"; requires S-ship.
Some require a mineral miner.
Some require accurate low damage weapon.
Someone described frigate (M size) with a docked S size miner being a combo that can do almost all missions.
(Back in X3R I had M1 Carrier with docked M5, M4, and M3+ and M6, TS, TP, and M2 within jump distance. Just to be able to do most missions. )

what weapons shall I put on it?

The "best" weapons are the ones that you can get the job done with. If you can't hit with something, then its "numerical superiority" is a paper tiger. Fly and get a feel on what you can hit with and how long it takes to kill a thicker target. That is exploration.

There is a single solution ti resolve ALL this and always fly the favourite vessel.

Send the ships required to the location and teleport to them after they arrive


Same way I do the taxi missions or war guild missions asking for open boxes, satellite placement etc.

[jlehtone]

There is a single solution ti resolve ALL this and always fly the favourite vessel.

Send the ships required to the location and teleport to them after they arrive

Your solution to "I can barely afford two ships, how to choose" is "fill every sector with all kinds of ships and get teleport research done at your PHQ"

Eventually yes, but not for a "young gun" now.


Besides, teleporting is for trekkies. Real men tap-dance through Kha'ak fire in a suit ...

[Alm888]

Okay, so do I understand you correctly that your recommendation for a beginner is to use a small fighter…

Correct. It has the maximum chances at actually escaping trouble.

…to solo 20 fighters and 50 drones?

That's a task for future. Not for beginners. But it is possible fith an S-class. Not so much with an M-class.

What's next, maybe "go board an Asgard, it's easy, I do it all the time"?

Now that' you've mentioned it, yes, it is easy. Time-consuming (getting all the crew to bail), but easy. I would not recommend it for beginners though. Because of my next reason.

For peaceful players, those who just started playing the game and only want a safe way to fly around, explore and maybe do a little bit of fighting, there's nothing better than a Corvette.

No, that's fundamentally wrong. Peaceful players have no use for corvette's firepower. What they want is speed and versatility. To travel fast and comfortably. To be able to easily dock with any station or ship, doing "taxi" missions.
Hence, a good scout (Pegasus Vanguard) is ideal. A corvette is just plain dumb choice.

It (vaunted Nemesis) is faster than many fighters…

With piss-poor dynamics.

…has enough firepower to solo most missions or random Kha'ak or Xenon encounters…

A Pegasus also has enough firepower to solo a stray M, N or Hive Guard. And we are talking peaceful players. Not the kind to assault the hive or protect mining ships.

and is sturdy enough not to go boom after a few (inevitable) hits.

Nothing is gonna boom after a few hits. And in case of S-class vs. Graviton Turrets… Yeah, like a peaceful player should be anywhere near a K or an I. Not to mention, they won't hit, ever.

[DEL 707]

Again, thanks for the help.

Loaded out my Nemesis with 4 Bolt Repeaters and an Ion Blaster, then put some Flak on the turrets.
I am absolutely destroying Xenon N's and M's now!

Talking of the Xenon, the Teladi are having a bit of a problem at the moment.

https://i.imgur.com/sOfZGFA.jpg

I took out a crap ton of defence drones but they just kept coming.
At this stage in the game, is there anyway I can realistically help?

[Vastly oversize image replaced with link. You should check the forum rules for image size limitations. Thanks, Nanook]

[Panos]

There is a single solution ti resolve ALL this and always fly the favourite vessel.

Send the ships required to the location and teleport to them after they arrive

Your solution to "I can barely afford two ships, how to choose" is "fill every sector with all kinds of ships and get teleport research done at your PHQ"

Eventually yes, but not for a "young gun" now.


Besides, teleporting is for trekkies. Real men tap-dance through Kha'ak fire in a suit ...

Taking a responce out of context? Challenge accepted.

a) When you can afford teleportation and corvettes you can afford scouts/courriers/s miners. Which was my responce direct to.

b) Young Gun starts the game with +5 ships available from the get go. (not including the Ody or the Drill)
Your starter ship,

Spoiler

Show

the Elite in GE1, the Perseus in SW12, Courier in NF2 and the frigate from the PHQ mission. Usually PHQ is not a pre-requisite to do the HAT storyline so you get another courrier ship there by just speaking to an NPC from the start of the game.

So 5 ships. If you cannot make enough money to buy at least scouts and S miner within the first hour then doing something wrong.
Hell can make 2-3mil within 10 minutes if you go to Flashpoint 2 and collect the drops from the HOP vs ANT/ARG conflict. Plenty of Interface Units and the parts needed to make SETA.

And ofc can grab an unlimited amount of S and M ships if you put few antimmater cells in your cargo from the pirates. The ones you get from the PHQ explosion are enough. (usually 1-2 out of the 3 needed). And usually making 600K from stripping the Elite and send it to explode plus the money Boso Ta gives you.

Same applies to the Paranid start which you start with the same position as the Young Gun and the PIO, FRF, ZYA starts too.

[xant]

I took out a crap ton of defence drones but they just kept coming.
At this stage in the game, is there anyway I can realistically help?

Depends on the risk you're willing to take.

What makes defense stations (well, all Xenon stations and capital ships) so dangerous are the Graviton L turrets. They absolutely shred everything they hit, but their range is limited (around 5.5 km). The AI has a hard time dealing with them, unlike you as a player. You can exploit blind spots, fly and shoot from the right angle etc.

Manage to destroy them and the station is more or less defenseless against Teladi destroyers. But as you already noticed, there are drones and also many other turrets if you come too close. The better way is to get your own destroyer, but even then destroying Xenon stations takes a while.

Realistically I'd stay away from the Xenon and come back again when you're better equipped to deal with them. The Teladi won't die, don't you worry. They may lose a few stations and a sector or two, but they'll come back.

[Eyeklops]

b) Young Gun starts the game with +5 ships available from the get go

You should probably spoiler tag some of this.