Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

[Jimmy C]

Have you already claimed a sector? Are you on a 1.1 start or a 1.2 start? If it's the latter, there should be one more sector.

If it was instantly after you installed the TOA, you could savescum it. But the time interval between that and when the other factions actually make their move is unknown. You would lose hours savecumming. A better approach would be to have everything you need to quickly claim the next sectors. The TOA and the money. Then, you just need to find a Guild Rep quickly after putting down the TOA.

[Deathifier]

I'm just wondering if I can save scum my way through it, the list I have to choose from contains the following sectors:

You can, you just have to go back to a point in time before the sector was claimed.
The decision on what to claim seems to be made at the time the claim takes effect, so there's no lengthy period of uncertainty you have to bypass - if you can see it as unowned (check its info, it can be a HSAP but owned by someone - just like player ones) then the next time the game decides a race should claim a sector it might pick that one, or it might pick something else.

So as long as you have at least some amount of time between loading the save and the claim taking place enough stuff should happen to get a different random outcome.

[Sovereign01]

I found that I did have to go back a bit as there's a delay between the claim being made and the TOA being placed. There's a jump-flash at the trading station when someone else claims the sector and so far it's been the same one each time.

EDIT: After a few reloads just a couple of minutes real-time before someone else makes the claim, this time it was Harmony of Perpetuity that went. A third time, Gaian Star and a fourth, Profit Center Alpha. They can have that sector, it's worthless.

[Jimmy C]

You managed to pin down which station they made the claim at? What about when they made the claim, how long was it after you made your claim?

[Sovereign01]

This was after I placed the TOA to start off the Terran plot, I hadn't placed a claim since then. This was at the trading station in Bad Debt, though I'm sure any station that could have an explorer guild rep would have done the job. I actually haven't made my own claim yet though I could have, what I don't know is whether doing that will trigger the next claim by the races, or whether I have to place a TOA to start that off. Consecrated Fire will be the one I claim first, that's all I'm sure about.

[Deathifier]

This was after I placed the TOA to start off the Terran plot, I hadn't placed a claim since then. This was at the trading station in Bad Debt, though I'm sure any station that could have an explorer guild rep would have done the job. I actually haven't made my own claim yet though I could have, what I don't know is whether doing that will trigger the next claim by the races, or whether I have to place a TOA to start that off. Consecrated Fire will be the one I claim first, that's all I'm sure about.

I'm pretty sure once you build one TOA other than the starter plot one the races will start claiming sectors and keep doing so until they run out.
I don't think just claiming another sector changes that, however building a second TOA might speed up the next claim cycle.

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

[Jimmy C]

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

That only works for the first claim. You won't be allowed to claim another sector until you build a TOA for the existing claim.

[Sovereign01]

So if you have a sector you want to claim - claim it and worry about building the TOA later.

That only works for the first claim. You won't be allowed to claim another sector until you build a TOA for the existing claim.

Thing is, if another sector is claimed between me claiming the sector I want and placing the TOA the only way I'll know is if I periodically check all the sectors on the list and see if another TOA appears. On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

[Jimmy C]

On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

How do you know which station to check? It's the one you made the claim at?

[Sovereign01]

On the other hand, I can periodically check with trading stations and see if another sector disappears until I get enough chips for a TOA.

How do you know which station to check? It's the one you made the claim at?

If I claim one I won't be able to check if any other sectors have gone unless I cycle through all the adjacent sectors.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Problem is that I cannot raise my Strong Arms rep sufficiently to buy PBCs without lowering my Boron rep first. I've been trying to steal the plans for that factory for a while now, no success as of yet.

Black Market - They do show up. Just have to keep checking.

[BrigandPhantos77]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

The HSAP claimed is random and decided after some time interval and I think the claiming starts following the first non-plot TOA you build.
The time interval looks like it starts short (some are claimed pretty quickly one after the other at the start) then a few hours (~3 to 4hrs per HSAP) and gets longer up towards maybe a day for the final couple.

The race claims it before they build the TOA so if you reload at a point where the claim has not taken place (check the HSAP info on the sector map) then you can either hope a different one gets claimed or buy the claim yourself.

Obviously you can still build in the sectors claimed by another race though it is obviously nice for it to be your own sector.

The only true impact to the player outside of obvious ownership, is in "your" sector, no goods are illegal. So you can manufacture anything you want without any government intervening. Once claimed by an empire, there laws apply. Doesn't hurt pirate sectors of course, but considering I manufacture both Space-fuel and Low Yield Side Arms(still confuses me why these are now illegal) in Nathan's Voyage Beta, comes in handy when I want to jump start a training barracks.

[Sovereign01]

With regard to races placing TOAs, is it random which of the available sectors get claimed, and is that decided the moment the previous TOA has been placed? As in, in my game the Paranid have just claimed Consecrated Fire Beta. If I reload a save from just before that, will they still claim that sector or will another sector be claimed instead?

The HSAP claimed is random and decided after some time interval and I think the claiming starts following the first non-plot TOA you build.
The time interval looks like it starts short (some are claimed pretty quickly one after the other at the start) then a few hours (~3 to 4hrs per HSAP) and gets longer up towards maybe a day for the final couple.

The race claims it before they build the TOA so if you reload at a point where the claim has not taken place (check the HSAP info on the sector map) then you can either hope a different one gets claimed or buy the claim yourself.

Obviously you can still build in the sectors claimed by another race though it is obviously nice for it to be your own sector.

The only true impact to the player outside of obvious ownership, is in "your" sector, no goods are illegal. So you can manufacture anything you want without any government intervening. Once claimed by an empire, there laws apply. Doesn't hurt pirate sectors of course, but considering I manufacture both Space-fuel and Low Yield Side Arms(still confuses me why these are now illegal) in Nathan's Voyage Beta, comes in handy when I want to jump start a training barracks.

I found that the Boron had previously claimed the one next to Dark Waters, although the asteroids in that sector do lean more towards ore than Silicon, meaning the sector is more useful for making weapons than fuel/weed. It does have three Nividium ones, a 16 and two 17s so I could set up mines on those. Might be faster than my Mistrals and Geochens (The break-even point for an Ozias full of Geos is about 50M credits, or 3,000 Nividium).

I did find that the Geos do mine noticeably faster than the Mistrals, working in the same sector the former mined 11,000 Nividium while the latter mined 9,500 although that was with 11 Mistrals and a Consus against 12 Geochens. And the Sirokos did do a respectable job of mining too so it's not sitting idle while my marines train.

The Cormorant did fill up quick, however because you cannot tell the drones which material to mine they'll hoover up any debris in the sector, including Silicon with its enormous bulk. And that's with just 4 drones, with a full 12 it's going to be crazy though that means scrounging up 232 microchips to make.

Are low-yield sidearms profitable then? I was looking into making fuel and weed but if those also make credits I might have to give it a try.

[Jimmy C]

Uh, you need Disintegrator Rifles and Rastar for the Barracks. And you don't actually need a constant source. If the objective is just to get the barracks to the point where it can train all three skills, you need to produce less than 200 marines, that's just 600 rifles, tops. You can easily find more than that on the Black Market at bargain prices.

[Sovereign01]

Uh, you need Disintegrator Rifles and Rastar for the Barracks. And you don't actually need a constant source. If the objective is just to get the barracks to the point where it can train all three skills, you need to produce less than 200 marines, that's just 600 rifles, tops. You can easily find more than that on the Black Market at bargain prices.

I didn't know that about the rifles, fortunately, I can also get that factory from the normal Split so I don't have yet another thing I need to acquire from Strong Arms. Once my Geochen Ozias is full (it's just a couple holds worth of space remaining so nearly there and 2 of the ships are approaching capacity) I'll have it offload at the HQ then see if I can do the duplication trick with those beam cannon weapons using its dozen ships. The Phased Array, Plasma Beam and Tri-Beam I can get this way. The Fusion Beam, not so much. While it is listed at the Strong Arms HQ, being a Terran weapon they don't offer the actual factories for that and they don't make it themselves. Something tells me the Astraeus won't be capable of killing bigger ships no matter how many PBCs it wields, its main battery being incapable of mounting anything bigger than corvette-grade weaponry is a trait it shares with the ATF Aegir.

[Jimmy C]

Unless you want to constantly produce new marines (as opposed to just training existing ones) you only need a limited number of rifles. You can save money by just buying the number of rifles you need.

About the duplication trick, do remember that nearly all shipyards only have a single 5-port stalk for medium class ships, the Strong Arms yard included. That means the max you can do is 5x duplication, which can still add up quickly!

You can find the Fusion Beam Cannon in the Black Market, along with the other 3 beam weapons. They usually charge near max price though. If that's all you can find, just buy one for duplication.

[Sovereign01]

My Agents just succeeded in stealing the plans for the third and final beam factory

Unless you want to constantly produce new marines (as opposed to just training existing ones) you only need a limited number of rifles. You can save money by just buying the number of rifles you need.

About the duplication trick, do remember that nearly all shipyards only have a single 5-port stalk for medium class ships, the Strong Arms yard included. That means the max you can do is 5x duplication, which can still add up quickly!

You can find the Fusion Beam Cannon in the Black Market, along with the other 3 beam weapons. They usually charge near max price though. If that's all you can find, just buy one for duplication.

My agents just now succeeded in stealing the plans for the last beam factory from Strong Arms so it's just the spacefly farm that's left- I've got the notoriety so I can buy that if I want. I've gotten a handful of each of the 3 beam weapons thanks to the special weapon fab and the PALC forge. I plan to get enough of each weapon to kit out the most powerful ship that can mount each one. The Enh. Heavy Dragon is not the most powerful but it can mount all three beams albeit only 4 of them in a turret, I will probably grab one while I can to see how they stack up to one another.

Because most M7 need IBLs and can't mount many of each gun they're not the most effective users so will have to use the M2 offerings to get the most out of them.

For the PALC, the Pteranodon is second to none with mountings for 28 of the damn things vs just 4 for the Tiger. Apparently, it's more of an anti-fighter weapon so will still need normal PPCs.

For the PBC the Astraeus has 8 emplacements to the Boreas' 16. From all the ships listed the only one I currently have is the Astraeus; with its minuscule cargo bay it would never be able to carry eight PBCs without removing some other weapons to make room, never mind having enough jump fuel.

And for the TBC the Agamemnon and Odysseus tie with 8 mountings apiece, either offering would combine the TBC with the PSG, I've no idea if that's an effective combo or not.

[Jimmy C]

The problem with the Enh. Heavy Dragon is its tiny cargo hold. There's really not much room left if you mount any beam weapon other than the PALC in that turret.

The Pteranodon, that's a good choice for the PALCs. It's only good as a playership though, so you only need one of them. Same as the Boreas, that ship can take down a K, in player hands.

For PBCs, grab the Carrack and Brigantine. The Brig can mount 32 of them and both ships can launch pods. There are those that swear by how good they are as boarding platforms, but I prefer M7Ms for the task, less stressful.

For Tri-Bs, don't discount the Ariadne. Fill that huge hangar bay with extended drones and you'll never have to worry about damage.

[Sovereign01]

I forgot to check its cargo bay size, looks like it has the same problem as the Astraeus. I did consider the pirate offerings but despite using agents to raise my pirate rep with the aim of getting hold of IBL/PBG factories as well as access to their shipyards. However, it never gets above "State informer". I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.

[Deathifier]

There isn't anything that'd stop the rep increasing and State Informer is -2 Red so one or two full influence agents should move it up close to neutral without trouble.
However pirates are not liked by most races so it's possible that even though you are trying to boost them, other activity is reversing the gains.

The rep needed to buy the factories and larger ships is fairly high though so I'd suggest sticking to agents to steal the factories and finish your marine training (keep in mind they don't need heaps of training to start boarding M7's).