Questions on how to advance through the game

[Eternalrift]

So I've been playing this game for a while and have been content with lurking. I think I have a pretty solid grasp of how to play and some neat tricks to get me by. Due to the very nature of games like Transcendence though, I'm sure I don't know everything. I would like to ask some things about how others deal with certain situations that the game puts everyone though.

Unmodded game of course --- it would be very easy to breeze through the game with tons of helping mods.

1. Pre-S.K. space
-How do you make the initial jump from being cashless and fighting through Eridani? Probably more useful if you include which ship you are using since it makes a huge difference.
-Related to the above: Where do you get the first bits of cash to afford fuel and what do you do with the cash?
-About how much cash do you obtain before moving on?
-Is mining worth it anymore? I remember you used to be able to get Duralloy in the second system before (allowed you to craft level 6 armor with a tinker), but now it seems to be mostly level 1 and 2 ores --- really cheap and maybe even not worth the fuel?
-What do you do with the items you want to keep, but can't hold?
-Probably related....How do you kill the Salvager nomads in the early game?
-I generally prefer to use a monopole deflector until better comes along. What would you say your preference for an early game shield is and for how long do you keep it before upgrading? (please don't say Class V )
-When do you feel capable of taking on level 2 Korolov missons with the pirate ships? If the answer is when you have an omni turbolaser, what if you don't find one?
-Do you search systems for the random wrecks? Is it worthwhile or a gamble on fuel?
-Do you do the arena?
-If you do, what kind of armor, weapons, devices, and shields do you prefer for it and how soon do you do it?
-MAG launchers.....that is all =/
-How do you deal with Charon. I don't think I've ever managed to actually save it post .99c without godmoding my ship.
-How do you kill the fortress with its dual omni particle beams?

Post S.K. (Sung Space)
-What upgrades do you prefer to have before moving on?
-Where do you get the money for these upgrades?
-How do you deal with Sung Slave Camps/Fortresses/ in general?
-Do you feel a howitzer is necessary? Particle resistant/reflecting barrels/gems necessary?
-Do you skip Dwarg camps (3-4 in a cluster) completely like I do now
-Earliest point to grind Ferians? (what weapon combo to safely take out warriors)
-Do you backtrack now to earlier systems to take out skipped camps?
-What camps are the ones you tend to skip the most?
-BTW, do Marauder outposts respawn Marauder platforms for farming 100mw reactors?
-How do you maintain fuel (mostly a problem if you have a hungry shield and a small reactor)

Sanctuary space (pre-Ares)
-I've always had trouble with this break point. How do you gear up for this? The difficulty seems to jump with Xenophobes, Ventari, and higher Sung camps
-How do you make the transition from your 100mw power level to being able to farm Ventari for their 250mw reactor?
-What is your main source of cash at this point? Do you save higher items now for the shift to rin currency or do you sell your higher military items to survive this shift?
-Your preferred loadout at this point.
-Any special tricks? I'll say that I don't have much experience with this space without mods.

Ares Space
-Even with mods, when I first get here Ares' ion cannons rip me apart if I engage a group of 4 or more sandstorms. How do you deal with the change in damage source?
-How do you manage to get rin to get the higher items from Taikon and the Ringers?
-Where do you normally get the 500mw reactor and the 1gw reactor now that you can't order the Hyperion anymore?
-What loadout do you have now before you get to the end game loadouts (I would say probably the level 7 or 8 weapons/shields here)
-How do you maintain fuel at this point? Basically, I find that a level 7+ shield is needed at this point, but I find that I'm probably still stuck with a 250mw reactor. Your shield draining 100mw+ along with your weapons/devices really hurts me before I upgrade my reactor ---but anything less than a level 7 shield gets eaten far too quickly.

Heretic
-There are several tips around, but what order do you generally take in Heretic?
-What weapons do you use vs the sentinels (since that is the bigger problem than the big boss himself)

Anyway, you don't have to answer all the questions. It is probably a long list. I can post some of what I do and what loadouts I prefer, but I rather ask first so I don't influence the answers of others. Maybe this can give me more insight about how others deal with these situations that I have trouble with.

[PM]

1. Pre-S.K. space

#1a. EI500, I start scum until I get targeting ROM and four barrels of regenerative nanos. I use the targeting ROM, and sell my equipment such that I have about 2000 credits.
#1b. Sapphire, I start scum until I see solar items or at least get a targeting ROM. With solar items, I do not need to worry about wasting money on fuel.
#2. Complete as many missions as possible in Eridani. If I can get mining equipment, I strip mine the whole system.
#3. After missions and mining, about 10,000+ credits. I spend it on bigger reactors, solar armor, and omni weapons.
#4. Mining can be the most profitable activity if you get hundreds of tons of ores and know how buying limits work so you can sell the most items for the most profit. It is tedious without ore detection mods, though.
#5. Stash them in wrecked stations, in systems without Salvagers. This is tricky early game since few systems are guaranteed to be Salvager free. I usually take the time to haul items to Eridani, Rigel, or St. K's, which are Salvager free.
#6. Get a shield with laser resistance, to withstand their turbolasers, then just shoot. (Beware, if they loot a better weapon, they can equip it and blast you with it, causing an unexpected YASD) With a dual weapon, sit inside a planet, and shoot.
#7. I use what I loot. Sometimes, I will get a Solon shield from Tinkers. Solon is very effective against laser using enemies, namely pirates and salvagers. Only problem is Solon prevents laser use. Kinetic weapons are uncommon, used by slower enemy ships, and easy to dodge with the faster ships.
#8. When I have a Solon or level 5+ shield, and armed with omni/tracking weapon and a NAMI launcher.
#9. Yes, if the ship is fast. With a fast enough ship, it is possible to dive through systems and upgrade equipment just from looting wrecks.
#10. Yes. In fact, if Korolov does not spawn, you must fight in the Arena before Militia offers the first mission for military ID.
#11a. For melee and early matches, whatever I can find. When Manticores begin to appear, I skip until I get wingmen and military gear. Then I backtrack and curbstomp the rest. A well placed ZG24 MAG from an enemy Manticore WILL one-hit kill anything that does not have blast resistant armor.
#11b. In addition, I like to keep the Black Market in Rigel active so I can sell stuff to it later in the game, and finishing the Arena the good way will destroy it.
#12. MAG Launchers? What was the question?
#13. That is a luck based mission. To stand a chance, you need a powerful primary weapon, say dual particle beam weapon, lancer, or enhanced turbolasers, lots of missiles (or MAGs), and Volkov to help.
#14. Like any other station. It goes down easily enough with a long range weapon, or a dual weapon while under cover. You will have cover since it is in the asteroid belt.

Post S.K. (Sung Space)

#1. My goal is a jumpdrive. With it, I can jump straight to Heretic then backtrack and look for a Teraton fabricator. Until then, I want a 150+ MW reactor to power the jumpdrive and (for non-Wolfen) a Titan drive for speed.
#2. Complete militia missions until Colonel rank, buy military equipment, enhance them with the Domina power Ingenuity, then sell the enhanced equipment to the Black Market.
#3a. Slave camps: If I want to play it safe, snipe at all turrets with omni laser or particle cannon, then snipe at the camp. If I am impatient, just snipe at the camp. Select some slave quarters, rush in, dock, then leave before my ship gets shot at too much.
#3b. Fortresses: Without WMD, sit inside the fortress, fire until it is almost 100%, active Defend Domina power, finish off fortress while invulnerable. With howitzer, just snipe until it is dead.
#4. Howitzer is very useful due to long range. Most consumables are useful but not necessary. The exceptions are longzhu spheres and ion or thermo enhancers. Those will turn endgame weapons into god weapons.
#5. And pass up on loot? No. Gotta loot 'em all!
#6. Domina powers can deal with warriors, or least protect you long enough for you to get to a friendly station where guards will take out the warriors (or warriors take out station and give you more stuff to loot). Use radiation to contaminate a bunch of miners then run away before the miners die and the warriors spawn.
#7. By camps, you mean any enemy station, and not Sung slave camps? If so, then it depends. If the station has infinite reinforcements, I prefer to spare them so I can farm the neverending stream of ships, especially Ventari and Ares. Otherwise, smash the station for the goodies and a place to stash loot.
#8. Huari, because I want to try to befriend them. Any other station with reinforcements after St. K's because you usually get more loot from farming ships than a one-time kill on the station.
#9. A quick read in the .xml tells me only Drakes and smaller pirate ships are Marauders' reinforcements.
#10. I sit on a star with my four segments of solar armor and wait until my fuel is full again.

[PM]

Sanctuary space (pre-Ares)

#1. By now, I have a jumpdrive. I jump to Heretic, backtrack until I find a Teraton fabricator. Spawn endgame equipment until I have a godship. Warp back, and kill-'em-all with my newfound godlike power.
#2. If my ship is not that strong, I sometimes use a planet for cover.
#3. Excess items I fabricate are sold to Teratons for rin, or the Black Market for credits.
#4. IM90, Fracture Cannon, Taikon-200, Hyperion (or Koshiba if fabricator keeps giving me megadrives), enhanced Titan (if non-Wolfen), transpace jumpdrive. Anything else is gravy. Teraton fabricator makes much of this possible.
#5. Get a jumpdrive as soon as possible, find a Teraton fabricator, spoil yourself how they work, and profit. With a jumpdrive, you can also reach places with cheap fuel very quickly.

Ares Space

#1. Already prepared thanks to fabricator.
#2. I only use rin to pay Ringers to install my level X devices and any Iocrym armor I find.
#3. Teraton fabricator. It is very easy to spawn a 500 MW reactor here. 1 GW is a gamble. Sometimes, I will buy one from a CSC, since credits are much easier to raise if you have access to the Black Market.
#4. See above, thanks to fabricator shenanigans.
#5. If I am too impatient to sit on a star with solar items, either I warp to a CSC for free fuel (if fleet rank is high), or I warp to a system with Sisters of Domina and donate a few hundred credits worth of fuel items, then use Pilgrim's Aid to refuel my military reactor.

Heretic

#1a. First, clear all pteravore nests. Doing this before starting anything not only clears the way for Kate, but also gives you a place to stash items.
#1b. Second, if you do not have Iocrym armor, use Nebular Sight to locate Iocrym outposts, fly to them, and destroy the sentinels guarding the outposts for loot. Do NOT destroy the outposts because that will begin the sentinel onslaught.
#1c. Quests: I start with the Taikon quest for few reasons: One, I do not want Iocrym interference as I kill Xenophobes. Two, you get the ROM only after you give the tower to the scientists at Taikon. Before I give them the tower, I visit Kate to get her going. When she is done dancing around the star, I give the tower to the scientists, then visit Kate.
#1d. Next, Ringer mission, I can stop midway to intercept the first Iocrym wave, then resume the quest. Also, the ROM I need is on the quest ship, which means I still get what I need even if the Ringers station gets slagged by Iocrym.
#1e. At this point, I should have my three ROMs to shut down the quarantine. If not, my next choice is the Sisters' neurohack mission, because the ROM is acquired there. I avoid the Nares station because I usually play Wolfen, and cannot spare a device slot for their plot device. I do that last, if necessary.
#2. Enhanced IM90. That is all. I may use Fracture cannon instead if I need to kill Sentinels faster (to stop them from fragging a station). Against the final boss, gem of sacrifice plus Defend power plus cherry tapping of any kind two-hit kills the boss instantly. No need to worry about sentinels when the boss does not have a chance to spawn them.

[Eternalrift]

I've actually never thought of using a jumpdrive to gate to Heretic. I might want to give it a try. Though experience tells me that I hardly ever find a jumpdrive before at least post Sanctuary. There is also the credit farming to buy one since I believe they are quite expensive and share a level with another device (could end up in getting wrong device).

I also wonder what you are doing with the fabricator. You will need high level damaged equipment to use it....and I doubt you will be able to take down a Phobos with a 150mw reactor. The lightning cannons will destroy you in 1 volley wouldn't they? Ummm while I guess extreme kiting with 80+ is possible...I don't think it is too efficient. You will also need at least a 500mw reactor to power 200mw+ level 8/9 weapons. IDK, I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the info about Marauders too. I guess there is no farming of their 100mw reactors =/.

I'll also have to try the solar panel/armor. I've never seem to see much of an effect with the solar panel (turning off all systems + sit on sun), but maybe the solar armor + panels will be better.

Oh and the MAG launchers in arena always kill me. So I always skip any enemy with them and pray that the Slicer doesn't have one. Though for some reason the Black Market ship that you have to take out doesn't bother me as much. I find I can normally kite that one and get the +50% rom neatly if I come back for it later.

EDIT: Well the answer seems to be abuse the teratons. I'll see to trying that since it seems to skip past the problem of the mid-late game.

[Atarlost]

New Beyond
In Eridani I just kill the hostile stations and do shipping if there are any commodities besides titanium ore. That usually gives 3k minimum and more like 6k on a good run. I sometimes start scum for medical stations. Medical->Enclave is the best trade route possible in Eridani.

It should be possible to clear Eridani with only one refuel.

Emphasizing armor over shields reduces fuel expenditures. I'll stick with the HPI with a Wolfen or go for a class II on a Sapphire.

I do not mine. It's not worth the monotony for me.

I do not keep items I cannot hold. There's very little worth saving that's more than a few kilograms. Sell it or install it.

I usually upgrade my shield at Rigel, part way through the arena.

For Korolov I like the RK15 or smartcannon. Both are solid weapons that will serve you well against light opponents into the ungoverned territories. When the missions start to get too hot I delay them until I've hit the low lying fruits in Rigel.

I search around planet scale space objects. I don't bother with the potentially trapped crates.

The Arena is best done with heavy armor and a light shield, though the definition of light shield changes when you get to the tougher enemies. The Ceratops line is usually best. For weapons the RK15 is the gold standard. It does good damage and you can hit with it while dodging like a maniac. Arena opponents can have Solons that make the omni turbolaser impotent, but nothing resists kinetic enough to stop the RK15.

What about MAG launchers?

You're not supposed to be able to save the Charon Korolov.

Longbows have 90 ls range. Particle beams have 80 ls range. You can provide your own snarky comment.

early Ungoverned Territories
Kinetic or Rasiermesser enhancer is nice. Kinetic for the RK15, either for the smartcannon. Something blast is nice, preferably a Moskva or Howitzer. It's important to have some sort of level 5-6 weapon. Lancers are IMO the best particle weapon. If an Invincible Deflector is available it's the best shield for a while.

Arena and Korolov will pay for your St. K upgrades. Loot starts selling for a lot more in the Ungoverned Territories. It's both more valuable and there are shops with better buy prices. Upgrade as you go, looking in particular for thermo howitzers, Katana starcannons, Xenophobe lancers, patcher arms, tritium boosters, longzhus, and Taikon armor. Do not use the enhancers yet except optimizer roms.

I deal with Sung slave camps and fortresses exactly like PM, except that I usually use the 4 or 5 px gap directly "north" or "south" of the fortresses if I don't have WMD instead of using Domina powers.

Howitzers are not necessary, but either a howitzer or a lancer pretty much is. I don't use reflect. I prefer extra hitpoints on armor and shields since they help against both sung and dwarg.

Dwarg camps are good loot. I sometimes skip the fortresses if I don't have a howitzer because they're unkillable with lancers.

I don't usually grind ferians. They don't stand still and it's just a pain and uses more fuel than I get back. You can't sell infinite ore to ringers anymore, making Teraton sales an even better deal than before.

I usually try not to skip camps and don't bother backtracking.

I skip Dwarg fortresses if I don't have a howitzer, but kill pretty much everything else.

I maintain fuel by having a low power shield and good armor.

late Ungoverned Territories
This is a bad break point indeed. The higher Sung camps are a danger because of the hacks. Relying mostly on armor helps against shieldsdown and having Jenna or Rama helps against the weapon hack. Use long range fire. Lancers with +fast really shine here because they put out a constant stream of fire that you can rake across the fortress area after you take out the Earth slavers to destroy turrets. Ventari are best avoided until you have Taikon armor, but if you have to you can play range games with a howitzer. Xenophobes you just avoid until you've got Circle of Wrath and Defend. Circle does a lot of high type damage they're vulnerable to and Defend keeps them from killing you while you run into range to use it.

Ventari farming is all about range control. Ion effect immune armor also helps, but if you get into range of everything the damage alone is substantial.

Main cash source is selling undamaged equipment to Thor's or Adventurer's Outfitters. I don't really worry as much about which shop as some people. I get a *lot* of TeVs and ion resist enhanced orthosteel in the progress of farming a SN2500.

I hoard light ringervaluable stuff like uranium nodules so I can buy stuff like longzhus and tritium boosters, but I don't really get into the rin economy until Ares space. Once you get into Ares space you get so many positron cannons and lightning turrets that enough are undamaged to set you up for rin.

I like a Katana or Xenophobe Lancer, preferably the latter. Octocarbide is the ideal armor, but hexcarbide is okay. Trenton is my preferred shield here. I like patcher arms. Fusionfire is good to have here as well, but a Mark V is adequate.

Outer Realm
You should already have high level and/or ion resistant armor when you reach the Ares.

The most expensive items are white elephants. Enhancers are worth picking up. The Taikon-200 is worth picking up. The Advanced Tritium Cannon is worth picking up. Octocarbide is worth picking up. Hyperion is worth picking up. Nothing else is worth the rins.

Buy reactor upgrades from CSC or Ringer shipyard. Skip the Koshiba if you see a Hyperion.

Octocarbide with whatever Domina Ingenuity gives. Katana or Xenophobe Lancer or Fusionfire with Domina's +20% or +fast. Ares Lightning Turret with +20% or Omni Thermocannon with +150%; save up those tritium boosters. Advanced Tritium Cannon with +150% if possible; this takes enhancer priority over the omni thermocannon: if you get this go for the Ares turret instead. Ares Positron Cannon or Ferian Plasma Cannon if the ATC isn't available. Taikon-200 or Kaidun, at least +30% from a molybdenum crystal; test crystals out on your penultimate shield. Ion Flame Cannon +fast or +30%, +80% without the Bushido Enhancer: use longzhus if you have to. Bushido Enhancer if you have the Katana. This is my endgame loadout and I go to it straight from the loadout described for the late Ungoverned Territories. Whichever omni you choose is for firing at things while you run away. The omni thermocannon is also good for turret sniping. The Ion Flame Cannon is anti-projectile. Use it against Tundras. It's also good against Sandstorms and Chasms if you're waiting for your ALT to recharge or want to conserve thermo shells. The Katana, Xeno Lancer, or Fusionfire is for base busting and for taking on capital ships at long range. Katana's the worst basebuster, but a pretty good capship killer. FFH is the worst capship killer but best basebuster and has recoil, which makes range control easier. Xeno Lancer is the best capship killer and an in between basebuster, but hardest to get. APC or FPC is for killing Luminous and for short range anti-capship work. ATC is for short range anti-capship and anti-gunsip work. If you don't have a high type weapon try to avoid Luminous. The ATC is worth having to avoid the luminous for the speed with which it kills things. Use it with Domina Defend to put a serious dent in any enemy.

CSCs give free fuel with high enough fleet rank. The missions are the best places to try to get early APCs and ALTs. Deimos and Phobos and Gaians also drop lots of pteracnium rods. Gaians especially are a net fuel gain and also provide free ammo if you're using the omni thermocannon.

Trenton is a 50mw level 7 shield that, if used over good armor with patcher arms, gives the best regen and therefore spends the most time at full HP. At full all shields currently draw 50% power. Weapons draw something like 10% power when not in use. Patcher Arms are 1mw. Disable everything else when not using it.

Heretic
I do the pteravores then Kate then the anomaly detection one because it's really quick if you can triangulate, then the Xenophobe one, then the Hyugens one.

The Advanced Tritium Cannon enhanced to +110% or more is the easiest way to kill lobsters. It has one of the highest type adjusted peak DPSs in the game. I think it's second only to the Fracture Cannon, and it has a lot more range. Enhanced to +110% or higher it can kill a lobster from full shields and full health in a single heat cycle. Lobsters going after stations are very easy targets. If you don't have it a heavily enhanced omni thermocannon is good or a good plasma weapon. I prefer the Ferian plasma cannon for farmability, range, and unstoppability. The Fracture Cannon is also unstoppable and does more damage, but the range is much worse. The EI plasma cannon has inadequate shot hitpoints at this time. I haven't tested the Ares Archcannon against lobsters since its upgrade. If it single shots them it's a good choice. If it doesn't the firerate is too low for it to be good against them.

[PM]

I've actually never thought of using a jumpdrive to gate to Heretic. I might want to give it a try. Though experience tells me that I hardly ever find a jumpdrive before at least post Sanctuary. There is also the credit farming to buy one since I believe they are quite expensive and share a level with another device (could end up in getting wrong device).

Jumpdrives are easy to spot even if unidentified. It is the only level VII miscellaneous alien device. They can found for sale in any system after St. K's.

Unindentified jumpdrives are expensive, unfortunately. My primary way of raising cash is to sell enhanced military items to the Black Market. At first, I get military items from Commonwealth Fortresses, since they are sold at a hefty discount once you reach Colonel. Unlike other stations, Black Markets have unlimited cash, but they cannot buy items worth over 100,000 credits. If there is a Black Market shipyard, I buy a 250MW reactor when I can afford it, enhance it, sell it back, and a get another.

I also wonder what you are doing with the fabricator. You will need high level damaged equipment to use it....and I doubt you will be able to take down a Phobos with a 150mw reactor.

Transmuting damaged (or undamaged) mid-level items into undamaged high-level items. Yes, the output item can be a higher level than the input item.

You do not take down Phobos with 150MW reactor and low level equipment - you flee! The 150MW reactor (or enhanced Nova-100) is the minimum necessary to power the jumpdrive. Even then, 150 MW is not much. Once I get the jumpdrive, I search for fabricator. My first upgrade is reactor. I upgrade a low level reactor up to 500 MW. 500 MW is easy because it is the only level 8 engine/drive. 1 GW is hard because fabricator chooses megadrive over Hyperion 10 to 1. Next, I spawn other equipment. If resources are few, I fabricate up to level 8 equipment. When I am stronger and have more resources, I go all the way to level 10 and spawn extras to sell.

I'll also have to try the solar panel/armor. I've never seem to see much of an effect with the solar panel (turning off all systems + sit on sun), but maybe the solar armor + panels will be better.

Refueling with solar items is tedious. You need to sit on a star, turn all of your equipment off, and wait. If you have Ingenuity, this is a good time to spam it as you wait. This is one reason why I want to get a jumpdrive as soon as I can. Once I do, I can ditch my solar armor and warp to the Sisters or a CSC anytime I need fuel. Warning: Solar armor is fragile! If you rely on solar armor for most of the game, you need to rely on powerful shields, have a way to deal with radiation, and know when to run away before a situation turns fatal (if you want to honor permadeath). Avoid Earth Slavers at all costs if you rely on shields as your primary defense.

Oh and the MAG launchers in arena always kill me.

In the arena, only Manticores have the killer ZG24 MAGs. Other ships with the MAG launcher have less powerful MAGs.

EDIT: Well the answer seems to be abuse the teratons. I'll see to trying that since it seems to skip past the problem of the mid-late game.

Teraton abuse is my answer because it makes the game easy. It requires spoiling yourself how they work. Trying to find out without spoilers is a waste of time, not unlike discovering combinations in other games (e.g., assemblies for DoomRL).

The nice thing about late game is no enemy ship is as fast as a Wolfen. The only things you need to watch out for are sniper ships like the Xenophobe worldship.

Tip: If you do not care about permadeath, Teraton research stations will give an item if you survive. You can offer yourself over and over again, although a delay is enforced between sessions.

[Neuromancer]

I almost always play with a freighter, I like having lots of device slots.

I'll generally clear Eridani and kill Arco Vaughn then breeze through the next few systems to Rigel. I'm looking for Solar Armour and a laser collimator. With 4 segments of Solar Armour you can charge a 100mw reactor to full in about 15 seconds with autopilot running, so it's not a big deal. The 100mw reactor is also the most efficient, so it'll burn less fuel for power generated. At Rigel I'll generally find an omni turbolaser to switch to and run with that. A Fast collimated turbolaser will do 13x5dps, so it'll do well for a few systems past St. Kats. I don't bother with the arena at this point.

Once I'm done with Rigel I'll generally breeze through again until I get to St. Kats. Here, I'll look for a howitzer to bring back to Charon to crack the fortresses there and make myself eligible for Military missions. I'll do at least one military mission to get the ID rom, and possibly more to raise my rank, and then I'll go looking for an Invincible-class deflector. Once can usually be found either at St. Kats or at a Commonwealth Fortress a few systems past St. K's. Black Market Stations are worthwhile shots too. Once you're armed with 4 solar pieces of solar armour and an Invincible-class deflector you're good to go for a while. Just stay away from Sung Earth Slavers and Citadels. I might head back to Rigel at this point to get Hiro's Rom and bring the deflector up to +50%.

Now that I'm free of fuel worries thanks to the solar armour and pretty safe from any attack thanks to the deflector I'll start base cracking with my howitzer and saving up cash for a jumpdrive. An Adventurer Outfitters, Thor's, or Corporate Trading post will have one. It's just a matter of time and patience. At some point along the way to the Jumpdrive I'll also have probably found an Omni Tev9. If so, I'll switch to it an start ordering Particle Source upgrades to bring it up to 150%. That will kill Ares fighters in 1-2 shots, and is capable of bringing down anything the Ares have besides a Phobos. Killing a Deimos is quite possible, it just takes patience.

Once I have the jumpdrive I'll go to a CSC and do missions until they'll offer me free fuel, at which point I'll buy my way up to a Hyperion reactor. Now that I'm near the endgame I'm going to keep cracking Ares Communes, and particularly Ares defense turrets for their Positron Cannons, which go for 10,000 Rin at any Teraton station. Doing this a few times will let me buy an IM90 from a Taikon station, by now I should have plenty of longzhu spheres so once I get the IM90 I'll Ingenuity it and then enhance it up to 150%. The Enhanced IM90 is enough for basically anything in the game, so once I have it I'll pretty much just look around for Iocrym Armour and a Taikon-200 or Nephren X1 Shield. Then it's off to Heretic.

In short, it's like this;

Weapons:
1. Omni Laser Cannon
2. Omni Turbolaser
3. Omni Tev9
4. IM90

Secondary Weapons:
1. Any low level Howitzer, preferably level III. (Sometimes a fast fire laser cannon works well too, especially if you have the collimator. It does 1 damage per shot to a station, and most go down surprisingly fast)
2. Fusionfire Howitzer.
3. Ares Plasma Archcannon.

Armour:
1. Solar Armour
2. Carbide Carapace/Heavy Omsk or equivalent
3. Iocrym Armour; or OctoCarbide, Heavy Ithalium etc. if I can't get Iocrym. I should definitely be able to get Iocrym armour in Heretic.

Shields:
1. Monopole Deflector Screen
2. Class III (Class V if possible)
3. Invincible-Class
4. Mark II Omsk Shield (If I've been able to get plenty of Heavy Omsk Armour)
5. Taikon-200/Nephren X1

Devices:
Transspace Jumpdrive
Longreach Autocannon
As many patch spiders as I could find.
Pteracnium Megadrive
Hyperion Reactor
Quantum CPU

[CYRUS KGABO]

I hate using omni direction weapon coz they make killing the bad guys too easy and this makes the game the game boring for me.dual weapons are my favourate coz i get to chase around the bad guys before turning them into a pile of scrap.but the invisible class deflector is definately handy.

[DangerousDude]

Okay, I'm going to answer your question about holding things.

Answer: Get A Mule Auton.

[digdug]

Well, looks like PM and Atarlost gave exhaustive answers covering nearly everything.

I could give some alternative solutions when using the Freighter.

Eridani and New Beyond
Save scum until you get a weapon dealer (Sell all the damaged weapons you get to it) and a targeting ROM.
Start by selling the 4 armor patches, that should give you 1500 credits.
Go around and dock with all the commonwealth slums and do the missions (usually 1 available), then go on and destroy all centauri and Pirate stations you can find.
Sell all the centauri rice to the corporate enclave. If you are lucky, you will get 1000-3000 credits.
Now use the money to buy ores (not titanium) from the miner station and sell them to the corporate enclave. Do 1 miner mission while you are at it.
Now, go to Raisu and accept Arco's mission.
Approach Arco, target it with the targeting ROM and when at ~80 ls, shoot the missiles. He will die without shooting a single shot. Loot Arco, from the loot you get, you can plan your upgrades. (centauri nanos or enhanced armor segments)

Items to search for: tritium propulsion, omni turbolaser, laser collimator, NAMI launcher (don't bother buying missiles, just the launcher, use only the missiles you get from enemy ships and rely on your main weapon)
Destroy and loot everything, with the freighter you have lots of cargo space, collect everything.
Next step is Battle Arena
First thing to do is to sell all the cargo items you got from the previous systems and upgrade. You should get around 20000 credits by doing so.
Complete the arena, with the money of the arena you should be fully upgraded with at least a Class III, level 6+ armor, and a bunch of missiles for your NAMI launcher and be left with 10000 creds or so.
The class III is a suprisingly good shield, a Salvager takes lots of time to penetrate it with its turbolaser, giving you enough time to take it down.
Do the Charon system, it's not possible to save the station unless you have Volkov, a particle weapon and MAG launcher, so don't bother trying if you don't. NAMI launcher and omni turbo with collimator and +Fast ROM makes Charon a breeze.

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Other strategies I use:

Sung Slave Camp. Hit and Run method: fly over the central station of the slave camp, don't bother with the turrets. Hold space and use a few missiles or MAGs. Quickly dock with the station, loot, undock and dock with closest slave quarters, collect slaves and leave. If you are fast enough, a Class III and a few missiles is all that you need to not get a single scratch.

Dwarg masters: the masters are faster than the freighter, and the cnydocyst cannon has enormous range. It's really a problem to get attacked by a dwarg master with the frieghter. My solution is ZG24 MAGs, they can tear down the zoanthropes fast and kill the master without the need to aim carefully, which is difficult since I usually play with 100+ tons of cargo. Also the ZG24 fragments can stop the cnydocyst shots.

Try to find a Dwarg behemoth, the holochroal armor is a divine bless against Sung I usually skip Sung stations until I find a behemoth unless I'm playing for "never backtracked". In that case, order green etherium field crystals, and use them just before attacking a Sung citadel. Destroy first the Earth Slavers as they can take down your shield. Then just sit in front of the citadel and destroy it for longhzus

[Sebastiani]

For Charon, I was hesitant to try it, so I saved beforehand.

My equipment:
Dual particle beam+20%
4 pieces of VI Blast pate, one +20%
IV Ceratops shield+20%
NAMI launcher (and approx. 200 s500 guided missiles)
Nova 50 reactor

I did not use one missile, and it was easy, my shields didn't even go down. I sat just outside of the circling defending ships and shot at the incoming red dots (enhanced display rom).

[Sebastiani]

Oh yeah, and no Volkov either...

[digdug]

Last post was Sep 25, 2012 !
THat's a bad case of necromancing. Please don't do it again. Thanks.