Knowledge is to be shared! I will be happy to inform! I personally liked the Tachyons more than anything, they had the right balance of energy drain and damage potential compared to the Fusion cannons.
As to the beefed up Centurion. Heres how to beef it up.
1. Grab the proggie "PREDIT". Linked in the files section at the CIC files page.
2. Start RF from the beginning. You have the famous Tarsus ship. Sell all accessories so there is nothing but the ship itself. Save the game. The saved game will have the file extension .prs
3. Copy this new saved file and name it different. Change the extension from .prs to .sav.
4. Load the PREDIT program and have it open your saved game with the .sav extension.
5. In the menu, change the ship to the Orion Class. Give yourself some credits so you can use the credits later. Enough to buy the level 7 engines and sheilds for the Orion, or load up level 5 engines and level 5 shields. Save the file.
6. Rename the extension of the just edited file to .prs.
7. Start RF and load your edited save game file.
8. Head over to the repair and upgrade and purchase level 7 engines and 6 shields. Do not purchase anything else!! Save the file again.
9. Rename that file extension again to .sav, and load it up in PREDIT once again. Select ship type and select the Centurion. Save the file. Then rename the extension to .prs.
10. Start RF and load your edited save game again. You now have a Centurion with level 7 engines and level 6 shields, the engines wont show in the hanger, the ship will appear as if no engine upgrades are loaded, but you can look in the item list under "sell" and your new level 7 engine and level 6 shield will appear, meaning you have those on your craft. The engine may appear damaged, but dont worry, buy the repair droid and he will fix it right up. Dont be suprised if the repair of the engine racks up to over a million credits! Ignore this and let the repair droid fix it for free. It will take aprox 20 mins for the fast droid to fix up the engines. The damaged engine will not hamper your guns or shield charge rates.
This will give the Centurion level 7 engines (game max) and level 6 shields (or any other shield level you desire, up to level 11 that the PREDIT will allow you to choose).
Quite a few steps to go thru but it works!! It definately helps during that battle with Jone's elite guard loaded up with those copies of the Steltek gun!! Although I completed the game long before I found the editor and a way to beef up the ship, it did make the game a bit more exciting, especially going thru that asteroid field taking on Jone's goons!! They somehow like to lead you into that asteroid field!
If you listen carefully during your battle with Jone's hords when you jump into Eden, the copy of the Steltek guns sound is the giveaway. It uses the same sound as the tractor beam. Long after you defeat Jones and win the game, some of the Kilrathi ships still have that copy of the gun, you can listen to the sound when they fire at you, which has the same sound as the Retro's copy of the Steltek gun, which uses the tractor beam sound. This hinted to me that some of the missions where you take on more Kilrathi do in fact still have that copy of the Steltek gun. That is the reason why I went thru the trouble to find a way to beef up my Centurion. Since they still have it, I want beefier engines and shields!! It worked too!
Enjoy!!
RFBurns
[Edited by RFBurns on 03-16-2001 at 17:13]