WC: Privateer - favorite trading routes

Hey everybody! I just wanted to drop a question out there...

In Privateer...what were your favorite trade routes?

Examples:

Beginning, weak ship:

Get food and a couple of missions at Helen
complete missions
go to Achilles/Hector
Sell food
Get Iron/Tungsten
Get Merc Guild missions
complete missions
go to Helen

etc.


Or, later in the game:

Oxford to New Detroit and back ... or, even.... New Caledonia to Praesepe and back
 
It's a shame but I really don't remember. The last times I played Priv, I used a trainer to quickly get to the story.
 
I preferred to keep my shipping/hunting between New Detroit, New Constantinople, and Perry. For some reason I always felt safer and there was always more game in those areas.
 
Unfortunately, I didn't find trading to be very lucrative. It was handy bonus to get those badly needed credits at the start of the game, but even then I took scouting missions to build up my savings quickly.
 
I always put something into the hold that I could sell considering the missions I had lined up. So if I was going past certain types of bases I would load up with cargo useful for them just to get the extra few hundred credits.
 
I find I usually get enough cargo just by picking up the spoils after battles. Pirates often drop contraband which, if you're quick enough to get to a pleasure base before finding a Confed/Militia patrol, can be very rewarding. They even drop weaponry on occasion, IIRC, as well as food in Righteous Fire.

Of course, letting pirates tear into freighters and picking up the loot yourself is a good way to pick up cash from commodities too. :)
 
I find I usually get enough cargo just by picking up the spoils after battles. Pirates often drop contraband which, if you're quick enough to get to a pleasure base before finding a Confed/Militia patrol, can be very rewarding. They even drop weaponry on occasion, IIRC, as well as food in Righteous Fire.

Of course, letting pirates tear into freighters and picking up the loot yourself is a good way to pick up cash from commodities too. :)

Yeah I did that for a while too, but it was never worth it for me, as the cash you get for the supplies is meager at best. Plus that later became unrealistic for me as I spent most of my time in the Centurion anyways.

I took a lot of Cargo missions, especially from the Guild if they were going in the direction I was heading. They were always good "Pathfinders." Say I was way out there and needed to get to Perry, I would usually be able to find a cargo run that took me right to the base.
 
What I mean is that any cash generated from cargo runs is negligible compared to combat missions. Any cargo I pick up is treated as a bonus, I am not dependent on that as an income in any way.

And of course, loading up on missions with a common destination or objective is an important way of maximising your income.
 
Yeah, I didn't really get BACK into trading until I'd exhausted the cash I got from all the missions...and then it was just playing both sides to see what it was like being a notorious pirate in confed space, a mercenary in kilrathi or pirate space...or a hated-by-all attack everything on sight person ;-)
 
Just out of interest, did you manage to get hostile status on all factions? It's just that killing certain groups will raise your standing with others, but I suppose if you do enough killing (yeesh, sounds like Tolwyn at the end of WC4 there), you could get everyone to be hostile towards you.
 
It seems to me that if you go through the story correctly, then there is absolutly NO WAY to keep the bounty hunter from getting pissed at you, which is a shame because for a while they were the only friends I'd had... then the Kilrathi warmed up to me (shudders)... then Confed came around. I never really got back on the Merchant's good side though.

Can someone tell me what the heck that derelict Corvette is? Its a kilrathi ship which i can dock with, but then it says access denied.
 
After I got a centurion with all the upgrades and the steltek gun the game seemed too easy for me. To get a challenge I started doing cargo runs from Hyades to Ragnarok (I think) going through the Kilrathi systems.

It seems to me that if you go through the story correctly, then there is absolutly NO WAY to keep the bounty hunter from getting pissed at you, which is a shame because for a while they were the only friends I'd had... then the Kilrathi warmed up to me (shudders)... then Confed came around. I never really got back on the Merchant's good side though.

I’m pretty sure if you kill enough pirates and retros the hunters will eventually become friendly again.
 
Can someone tell me what the heck that derelict Corvette is? Its a kilrathi ship which i can dock with, but then it says access denied.
No idea what you're talking about.

I’m pretty sure if you kill enough pirates and retros the hunters will eventually become friendly again.
That's correct. In fact, I'm sure it's possible to kill enough pirates and Retros before reaching Murphy's mission series such that mercenaries in general (non-mission mercenaries) will still be friendly towards you.
 
After I got a centurion with all the upgrades and the steltek gun the game seemed too easy for me. To get a challenge I started doing cargo runs from Hyades to Ragnarok (I think) going through the Kilrathi systems.



I’m pretty sure if you kill enough pirates and retros the hunters will eventually become friendly again.

Yeah that would be nice... I swear I knock out one stupid Drayman and the entire galaxy EXCEPT the bounty hunters want my head on a pike!
 
Just out of interest, did you manage to get hostile status on all factions? It's just that killing certain groups will raise your standing with others, but I suppose if you do enough killing (yeesh, sounds like Tolwyn at the end of WC4 there), you could get everyone to be hostile towards you.

Close...I think I could get militia/merchants/confed/hunters to hate me, pirates neutral, retros hate (duh), and kilrathi to hate me...shouldn't be too hard...at least they didn't have the Freelancer "you can't land here" problem!
 
:)

floundericiousMI

I am just starting Privateer, and I seem to be running the exact same trade missions as you suggested in your original post. It is working out fairly well, and now that I have afterburners, I can at least defend myself a bit.

I have to say that Privateer is a great game. I cannot see how I missed it before now.

Kai Osprey
 
Every mission out, especially early on, should involve as many paying missions as you feel comfortable tackling (make sure they TELL YOU WHICH HOSTILES you'll be fighting - kilrathi are rare in Troy, but they do pop in occasionally) and a cargo run of some kind. Every trip should generate enough profit to buy the next item on your upgrades wish list (minus cost of emergency repairs if something goes pear-shaped).

Remember that in an early Tarsus, you'll be dead meat for a Kilrathi *anything*

Upgrades should go something like this:
afterburner
tungsten armor
two meson blasters
ECM1
generator upgrade 1
two missile launchers (w/ Pilum FF missiles, if you can afford it)
two tachyon cannons
repair droid
ECM 2
Jump Drive (once you have the Jump Drive, foes get much harder)

The two missile launchers will be essential! Facing Talons (retros and pirates), you can kill some percentage of Talons with just two IFF missiles. The trick is to fire at about 5000 meters and double tap the fire button - that is, hit the enter button twice, rapidly - to fire them VERY close together. If they both hit the same quadrant at the same time, you either kill the talon or need only a laser bolt or two to finish him off. Facing Kilrathi, the two missiles will either knock the shields down to nothing/1 bar (Gothri) or blast through the shields and turn the hull red (Dralthi).

It changes your game from being prey to behing a predator. You can start performing 3 patrol missions (if you can find them) and making 22000 or 25000 credits PER FLIGHT. The twin tachyon cannons give you staying power against heavy fighters (centurions, demons, gothri, broadswords) and mean that you can gun down Talons in about 6 double-hits.

A Tarsus with the above upgrades is about the most ferocious thing you can have, IMHO, until you earn enough money (~300,000) to afford the jump all the way up to a Centurion with 2 lasers, 2 tachyon cannons, two missile launchers, Generator 3, Shield 2, tungsten armor, turret with tractor beam, ECM3, etc.

Anyways, have phun! ;-) :)
 
Yeah, have fun. Priv is an incredible game. I think I would pay money to have my memory wiped out so that I could re-experience it again for the first time. :D
 
<shoots Mekt with MIB-style neuraliser> :p

The two missile launchers will be essential! Facing Talons (retros and pirates), you can kill some percentage of Talons with just two IFF missiles.
I've never really used missiles much in WC, and in Privateer especially, I don't think their cost justifies their measly warhead.

Although, I do remember popping Seelig with two IRs just after he becomes hostile. Just for fun.
 
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