Station License / Beacons / Progress so far

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 1:43 pm

Hi, all.

This is basically my second post with newbie questions ( 2 questions here, and maybe an invitation for feedback). I received my key and activated Renegades Full just yesterday afternoon. "Arghh... I be having a jolly time so far, me hearties", and doing fairly well, although as a newbie pilot my 'career' is not yet that... 'colorful'.

(1) Okay - first question. Documentation *IMPLIES* that a pilot can only purchase ONE station license (ONE license from ONE(?) station). Partial quote from the Strategy Guide: "Choose the system carefully when investing in a license, make sure it carries the ....". I need confirmation before I commit a blunder. IF that is the case (a pilot can only have 1 license) is there any reason NOT to buy it at Sapphire / Evochron station? Or is there a generally better place to buy the license?

(2) The Beacon Quest. I read the documentation and Strategy Guide before starting a serious game, and I understand that before the player fully embarks on the beacon quest he should have a good, beefed up ship. Eventually I plan to do this, but haven't started yet, as of now I haven't activated the first beacon yet. Question; other than exploration and adventure, and occasionally finding "interesting things" (implied in forum posts) are there any specific benefits from the beacon quest (I guess a yes/no sorta hint no spoiler answer is appropriate - just want to know a LITTLE what to expect, and how much "pressure" I should feel to do the quest). Any SERIOUS "gotchas" to watch out for (I understand from one post that for the last beacon the player BETTER have large fuel tanks).

Okay - where I am so far. If anyone has any useful comments on how I am approaching the game feel free. So far my playing style is a bit cautious.

Callsign: Storm / Cash: 759555 / Rating: 3 Rookie / Paid Contracts: 1 (clean a solar panel) / Kills: 0

Most of my cash so far came from mining asteroids near Outpost 5 in the Sapphire system.

Frame: Talon (I tried a Pulsar for a while, but I did miss the slightly better speed and agility, so I fell back to a Talon).

Weapons: IceSpear, MetalVaporLaser, 2x Echelon

Equipment : Mine/Tractor, Fulcrum Drive C2, Shield Boost X2, Cannon Relay Sys, Repair Sys C3 (no room for any more on the Talon frame).

Shipyard : Talon / Engine 1 (S:1020) / Shield 2 / Cargo Bays 5 / Fuel Tank 1200 / Wing Sys 1 / Hard Points 2

Assembly left: 5
This Talon is pretty much maxed out, until I find "better" weapons / equipment; which probably means eventually leaving the Sapphire system. If I want to stick with a Talon (eventually I imagine I will move up to a heavier ship), eventually I would probably drop cargo bays for better shields, maybe engines and wing systems (if there is room).

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:03 pm

1. you can buy licences for many different stations

2. oh yes, but it would spoil the surprise.
You don't need a beefed up ship, in fact your progression through the quest can mirror your progression through developing your ship.
You don't need to do the beacon quest, you can get all your equipment/upgrades elsewhere - but if you want to visit the Vonari or Earth it is well worth it ( doing the beacon quest is much quicker than trying to get to earth any other way

)

Hints: Trading is a faster way to make cash than mining. Probably the first other system to visit would be olympus - there be reds there, but there are few, and not heavily well armed - though I'd advice going back to a pulsar first.

You don't need such a big fuel tanks unless you plan on exploring, most pilots often keep the smallest tank- use your assembly points on engines and wings for a faster, more agile ship ( oh yeah and good shields are a must

).

Even on big ships you only get 5 equipment slots, but thats a pretty darn close to the setup most combat pilots use....

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:10 pm

Welcome home.

1. You can buy one license from one station.
You can buy many license from different stations.

I suggest you, select strategically important place, check prices and hostile activities. Dont forget to add your station in your log list (add log) finding your station easily.

2. Forget all things, clean your head and go for search. I suggest you earn some money, improve your ship and your skills little bit then begin the quest. You can find many things on the planets, in the space, everything.But beacon quest is enjoying and prize is big at last

"interesting things" sometimes you can find yourself (many), some things part of the beacon quest

See you in MP.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:14 pm

Originally posted by verbosity
1. you can buy licences for many different stations

2. oh yes, but it would spoil the surprise.
You don't need a beefed up ship, in fact your progression through the quest can mirror your progression through developing your ship.
You don't need to do the beacon quest, you can get all your equipment/upgrades elsewhere - but if you want to visit the Vonari or Earth it is well worth it ( doing the beacon quest is much quicker than trying to get to earth any other way )

Hints: Trading is a faster way to make cash than mining. Probably the first other system to visit would be olympus - there be reds there, but there are few, and not heavily well armed - though I'd advice going back to a pulsar first.

You don't need such a big fuel tanks unless you plan on exploring, most pilots often keep the smallest tank- use your assembly points on engines and wings for a faster, more agile ship ( oh yeah and good shields are a must ).

Even on big ships you only get 5 equipment slots, but thats a pretty darn close to the setup most combat pilots use....

Verbosity - Thanks(!) - I consider my questions very well answered then, much appreciated.

In one post, someone implied that for the *last* beacon, you needed a large fuel tank though - apparantly the last beacon is "very far away" (from refueling opportunities). So in the meantime, I probably will fall back to a smaller tank (heck, in the demo a 400 tank seemed like enough I guess).

I will study the system characteristics in the documentation, and learn to trade (better).

You said "visit the Vonari". My understanding is that they are hostile. You mean, "Visit the Vonari, get torn apart creatively and eaten by grouchy aliens", yes? (hehehe)

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:19 pm

Originally posted by Storm
In one post, someone implied that for the *last* beacon, you needed a large fuel tank though

yup, depending on your warp drive, 800 -1200 units of fuel would be needed.

You said "visit the Vonari". My understanding is that they are hostile. You mean, "Visit the Vonari, get torn apart creatively and eaten by grouchy aliens", yes? (hehehe)

yeah pretty much

, but they are the best combat practice in the game ( apart from PvP) and the true test of a pilots combat skills

Lastly as far as trading, there is only one way to learn, by doing, explore around - sometimes you don't even need to take a long journey. there can be varying prices even in the same system, in fact my fav trade route involves 1 jump gate and 1 in-sector jump each way, and can make a load of cash ( though in fairness one side of the route can be just a little risky)

[Edited on 1-6-2009 by verbosity]

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:23 pm

Originally posted by verbosity
Originally posted by Storm
In one post, someone implied that for the *last* beacon, you needed a large fuel tank though
yup, depending on your warp drive, 800 -1200 units of fuel would be needed.

You said "visit the Vonari". My understanding is that they are hostile. You mean, "Visit the Vonari, get torn apart creatively and eaten by grouchy aliens", yes? (hehehe)
yeah pretty much , but they are the best combat practice in the game ( apart from PvP) and the true test of a pilots combat skills

Okay then - Vonari soup it is!!! I'll just take in a supply of vary large bandaids.

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:23 pm

Okay then - Vonari soup it is!!! I'll just take in a supply of vary large bandaids.

Huh, wait - how did you learn the Vonari use bandaids as a main ingredient in their soup?

In any case, politically said:
The beacon quests offer advantageous opportunities for those who complete it, but is in no way required to achieve maximum efficiency or to complete the game.

Lunaraia · Post by **Lunaraia** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:58 pm

Indeed, oh and one little thing about the vonari, their main tactic: Swarming, seriously, 16 at once is way to much wwen all of them are continously calling in reinforcements, managed to kill about 15, but then everyone of em decided to launch missiles.... I endedup as a pile of junk in less then a sec

[Edited on 6-1-2009 by Lunaraia]

DX101 · Post by **DX101** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:40 pm

I'd hate to break it to all of you, but you DON'T NEED TO DO THE BECON QUEST TO REACH EARTH! You just need a big fuel tank. I'd recumend a class 10 of course, because you'll be on a looong trip of jumps. I'll post a new thred on how to get to Earth! without the quest!

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:04 pm

Finding Earth is easy...Just ask for directions in Multiplayer. It's exactly like exploration for real, you hear scuttlebutt in a bar and you ask around and some grisled traveler will be willing to share their secrets after applying the right amount of Aldebaran Firewiskey.

I have about two dozen station licenses all over the galaxy. I typically have them in hostile territory so I can dock at the station and not get shot at by the locals.

First step in the game is try out all the various ways of making money - clean windows, blow up asteroids, race the locals, find and retrieve lost boxes, visit the various stations and friendly places and get a handle on what sells for what where.

Mining and selling what you mine is the fastest way of making cash at first. Equip your ship with 5 cargo holds and a mining tractor beam and visit Rivoch. Land on the planet right next to a city. Hit Alt-b to turn on your mining tractor beam and turn on your inventory panel and watch your holds will up with platinum, gold, silver, diamonds, and metal. Within a few minutes your holds will fill up. Discard the metal and let that hold fill up with something valuable. Then turn off the beam, go to the city, sell the stuff for million credits, and then go back to mining the planet. You can make a few million credits in an hour, without traveling anywhere far, and nobody will bother you. If you spend a whole day doing this you won't have to worry about cash for a while.

If you want to be really lazy you can dock at the city and mine Oxygen while sitting docked at the city. Just turn on your beam and let it fill your holds. You won't get as much money, but you can just sit there all day, selling off the oxygen as you get it.

You can do this on any planet, but Rivoch pays more than many and it's an easy distance from sapphire.
Happy flying!

DX101 · Post by **DX101** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:03 am

yes, but WITHOUT the use of wormholes;)

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:09 am

Why would you want to do it without wormholes, when it's faster to just use them?

Granted, it's still a lot of mantis jumps just to GET to the gates, but it's still much faster to go that route.

There is a one minute direct way of getting there from anywhere in the galaxy, but it's only for advanced players who enjoy the risk.

DX101 · Post by **DX101** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:00 am

Originally posted by berighteous
Why would you want to do it without wormholes, when it's faster to just use them?

Granted, it's still a lot of mantis jumps just to GET to the gates, but it's still much faster to go that route.

There is a one minute direct way of getting there from anywhere in the galaxy, but it's only for advanced players who enjoy the risk.

...Or those who has not completed the becon quest

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:27 am

There is a one minute direct way of getting there from anywhere in the galaxy, but it's only for advanced players who enjoy the risk.

Ok, I've heard this a few times now, but I've never come across this in my gaming experience. Anyone care to share (or send me a U2U since it may be a spoiler)?

-Accountant

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:31 pm

Originally posted by Accountant
There is a one minute direct way of getting there from anywhere in the galaxy, but it's only for advanced players who enjoy the risk.
Ok, I've heard this a few times now, but I've never come across this in my gaming experience. Anyone care to share (or send me a U2U since it may be a spoiler)?

-Accountant

I know of two Wormholes that lead to Sol system, but I did not know that you could get there using any wormhole in the Galaxy in one minute. If this is the case?, I would like a U2U too about how!;)