another nooby

Regan · Post by **Regan** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:40 am

had VS for a while, only just started playing it with any vigor.

A few things I've noticed:

The LIHW holds grudges. (I swear, it was only a LITTLE bit of contraband...)

Taking prisoners is not recomended. (Aparently LIHW doesn't like you selling pirates into slavery...)

Combat without any CAFC (Computer Assisted Fire Control) involes a lot of misses. And playing chicken.

Space is Big. Running away is easy.

I've been doing the Cephid-17 cargo run a bit, as well as some extended trips out into the 'black in my Llama, selling cargo, doing runs, avoiding combat when possible. Not cowardly, but it doesn't take much to punch a hole in my tin can. And, as I said above, the LIHW don't like me much.
I'm about to start the campaign a bit, and, gathering about 100k credit, I was wondering:

A). should I dump the llama or keep it

B). if I keep it, how should I re-fit it

Here's my current layout.

Shield lvl 4 light (21 MJ all round)
reactor 0 (1k MJ/s recharge, 10k cap)
Radar (stock-standard skyscope alpha 30 k km range, no ITTS or AFHH)
Fuel: 68.26 MT of lith-6
Hold: 600 m3

here's what has been added to it:
Meason blasters replacing the lasers
Swarms replaceing the dumbfire
Jump drive
100m3 of cargo space
extra fuel
Confed Milspec Isometal armour mod

thanks

Regan

Post by **loki1950** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:56 am

the llama is good general purpose ship when you trick her out first increase the capacity of the reactor to power everything.shields can also be upgraded auto-tracking on all mounts,ITTS and AFHH are useful and you get better range as well.have fun

Enjoy the Choice

Ravenstar · Post by **Ravenstar** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:03 am

The LIHW holds grudges. (I swear, it was only a LITTLE bit of contraband...)

I'll just put in my 2 cents on your problem with the LIHW. When you encounter one or more, keep him in your hud. Go out of combat speed (y key) and run like the dickens the whole time firing comm '1's at him, I mean a bunch. If you can outrun him and survive the fire you'll eventually get your reputation to zero or in the plus column, now they'll leave you alone. I have a button on my joystick that cycles thru enemy targets (less than zero rep). I can tell if I've won them over by hitting this button and there is no sound and their color in my radar scope starts to turn green.

My advice with the Llama is keep it till you can afford a plowshare, it's cargo hold is 4,000 (Side note: I've read in another thread VS won't let you sell the starter Llama, don't know myself never tried it). You can make some nice bucks in one trip with the plowshare and it's not all that expensive. And if you ever get blown into a pod with your plowshare you'll still have the Llama to revert back to.

Regan · Post by **Regan** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:18 am

Hmmm.... plowshare, huh? I'll trick out my llama a bit more, see how much I have spare.

Thanks for the advice guys

Regan · Post by **Regan** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:01 am

neeed....powerfull....engines... *gasp*. Also, I think I went a tad overboard on the reactor. Firing my weapons puts a tiny gap in the power, which is almost instantly recharged. Maybe I need bigger guns....

Vector_Matt · Post by **Vector_Matt** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:24 am

Regan wrote:Maybe I need bigger guns....

The solution to everything.

simplex.spes · Post by **simplex.spes** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:42 am

Ravenstar wrote:
The LIHW holds grudges. (I swear, it was only a LITTLE bit of contraband...)
I'll just put in my 2 cents on your problem with the LIHW. When you encounter one or more, keep him in your hud. Go out of combat speed (y key) and run like the dickens the whole time firing comm '1's at him, I mean a bunch. If you can outrun him and survive the fire you'll eventually get your reputation to zero or in the plus column, now they'll leave you alone. I have a button on my joystick that cycles thru enemy targets (less than zero rep). I can tell if I've won them over by hitting this button and there is no sound and their color in my radar scope starts to turn green.

My advice with the Llama is keep it till you can afford a plowshare, it's cargo hold is 4,000 (Side note: I've read in another thread VS won't let you sell the starter Llama, don't know myself never tried it). You can make some nice bucks in one trip with the plowshare and it's not all that expensive. And if you ever get blown into a pod with your plowshare you'll still have the Llama to revert back to.

If you've read some other posts, you'll find out that the game will *ship* your ships to your current location for free (if you are in the same system as the ship you want) or for a small fee of 6000 (if that ship is in another system).

What you can do is this then:
-At one place, say a bio-diverse planet, go the the shipyard and "buy" the plowshare that you own. This will make you switch out of the llama into the plowshare. (It won't cost you anything unless you left the plowshare in another system)
-Go to the trading center and buy everything you want/can.
-Go back to the shipyard and *buy* your llama. Now you are in the llama.
-Fly to your next destination.
-Go to the shipyard and switch to your plowshare
-Sell your stuff for a heft profit
-Buy more stuff
-Switch back to llama, and repeat.

If you do this, you'll have a much better chance of surviving since you'll never be forced to defend yourself in a plowshare, and for that much extra cargo space that the plowshare offers, 30000 is pretty cheap.

One note though, it seems that if you switch in and out of ships, you will lose your current missions, so if you plan on finishing a mission, stick with one ship until it is done.

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:45 pm

Well once the LHWD (or whatever their called) had a contraband mission to transport THEIR contraband to one of THEIR stations, but then they attack me saying "Contraband detected"!! But they were the ones who wanted it transporting!

Post by **loki1950** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:42 pm

may be there just cheap

Enjoy the Choice

Shissui · Post by **Shissui** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 3:43 am

Warning -- good upgrades will cost more than your ship.

I do not recommend transporting any form of contraband until you find & install a cloaking device. Or, perhaps I am just a coward. I have never tried moving contraband the hard way. Rather, I notice that I get scanned several times when crossing any system and tractoring in lightly abused pilots just doesn't seem worth the risk to make unwanted enemies out of those factions that don't yet hate me.

And I agree with Loki1950. It might just have been a scam to impound your ship.

Captain{}Blood · Post by **Captain{}Blood** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:18 am

I haul contraband al the time, of course I run heavy shields and have become quite adept at avoiding an attacker with my screwball flying methods.

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:02 pm

Every faction hates me, so I just do contraband missions, and if the factions have a problem...? Then they can say hello to my little friend, Mr.Torpedo... Violence is always the answer.

Vector_Matt · Post by **Vector_Matt** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:26 am

Dark-Blood-Hound wrote:Mr.Torpedo...

Except torps are expensive, and require a heavy_missile mount.

Captain{}Blood · Post by **Captain{}Blood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:35 am

Actually if you luck into one, a Milspec Goddard is not a bad find. with a cloaking device and those longrange turrets, you stand a pretty good chance of finishing your run. Add a cloaking device and some extra cargo space, I is not a bad choice for cargo runs and taking out the odd corvette.