Trading: Seeing as you start the game with 1500 creds, you can buy goods to trade with and sell for profit right from the beginning. It is a good idea to buy expensive things when you have enough money, rather than trading in little goods to make profit. For instance, buying a Supercomputer at Hiathra for 90 credits and selling it at Micon I for 115 credits is better than buying Hybrid Grain for 20 credits and selling it for 25. This does not always apply, however, as there is great demand for Brandy at Free Guild Outpost in Bassruti, and they will pay nearly 200 creds for it! My best trade route is : Buy full cargo of Brandy at DenebPrime Starbase. Travel to Bassruti through Malir gate.
Sell Brandy at Free Guild Outpost.
Buy most expensive contraband on offer.
Travel to Deneb through Malir gate.
Sell contraband at DenebPrime Starbase.
Keep repeating this and you will be able to fully upgrade your ship and have plenty of creds for Missiles, Repairs etc.
How do I trade in contraband? There's this droid named Robo-Crook who appears in the bars all over the Far Arm. Talk to him and he will ask for 100 credits and let you stick your hand in his sack and retrieve an object. Most of them are useless, but if you keep trying, you will get Forged Cargo Papers which fool the Cargo-checkers at Bases in to thinking that you have legal goods onboard your ship. This doesn't always work, so save your game just before you dock.
Trading notes:
Anagathics: I don't know what these are, but I do know that you should save your game just after you leave the place where you bought them,
as they sometimes spoil from just normal space flight.
Malir Gates: Be careful of trading certain merchandise between systems, as some get spoiled in the Malir gates. I don't know all of them,
but my Antibiotics where spoiled, and I heard of Radioactives
also spoiling.
Piracy: This is one of the quickest and easiest ways of getting money. You must be careful, however, not to let the Guild disklike you so much that they hate you, because then traders will just attack you when you fly in a sector that they are also in. That can be a hassle, but if you are a pirate through-out the whole game, you will not be attacked by other pirate ships (which stand more chance of killing you than the average Scow or Tanker) and so you will not have too much trouble in space. Also, when you attack a merchant ship, try not to kill them, as a bounty for your death will increase. This causes Hunters and sometimes Imperial ships to attack you. Rather just attack a merchant ship and bring its armour down to about 30 or 40. If it hasn't surrendered to you already, it probably doesn't have any cargo (and with that little armour it should be trying to flee) so let it go.
Bounty Hunting: Probably the hardest route to follow to get credits, you will require a well upgraded ship and a good amount of combat practise. Although at first you can just blow up pirates with a single SM-1 missile without them attacking you, sooner or later they are going to start disliking you and attacking you if you enter a sector with one of their ships in, so be careful and keep repairing and restocking your missiles. When you are hated by the pirates, you will not be able to surrender to them, so you will always have to fight them or run away (which is not so easy). The best system to hunt in is Bassruti, as the Scarlet Brotherhood of Pirates have their Outpost there. Because of this, pirates and rogues frequent the system. Another good system for finding pirates is Sigure, which is also the most popular system for the Manchi ships. Zed is also popular with both Manchi and Pirates, but it is quite hard to dock for repairs and supplies at its Station because of the asteroids around it.
The Non-Player Characters:
Duchess Avenstar: The duchess is on DenebPrime starbase, to the right of the entrance. She gives you a test the first time you meet her. Answer the questions honestly, even though the Green Cube is fake, and not poisenous as she says. She sends you on your mission to find out what happened to Targon, but once you finish that, you can not see her again, as she moves to the Imperial home planet.
Vengor: To the north of Avenstar's room, her alien bodyguard Vengor talks to you whenever you enter, and can give you some interesting information. Don't insult him, or else he beats you up. He remains after the Duchess leaves for her home planet, and gives you the messages she left for you.
Orellian: He is situated on Hiathra base to the north of where you buy upgrades and repairs. You can acquire a CRC-07 (used on the Koth for a tour) and a Pilot's License from him. Here are the answers to the test that he asks you when you apply for a License: 1) 3.26
2) Type O
3) F = ma
4) Imperium
You also need to give him a statuette during the game, but he must be told that it is not a bribe.
Sir Eld: The master trader of the Micon I outpost, Eld gives you information on trading and also asks you to do him the job of delivering the statuette to Orellian. Once this is done, he gives you a Stealth Box for staying away from pirates, and gives you some useful trading information. After this, you can't talk to him because he si always busy.
Veda:
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Veda is a trading Alien who, like many of the other NPC's, is a randomly appearing character. He sells rare items to you, but you only need to buy the Contact Lenses from him (250 creds), which are used on the Koth.
Geul Barret: Situated on Micon I outpost, he talks to you about music and he is able to be bribed. When you buy him a drink, ask him about important people such as Koth and Avenstar. Bribing him costs 10 credits.
Kale:
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Kale is an RAC (randomly appearing character) Bounty Hunter who asks you of your proffesion. By selecting either Bounty Hunter or Merchant he gives you advice, and you can talk to him again and choose the other proffesion to read advice on it.
Somar Tan: He is an RAC who has lots of information on NSB's (Nuero Stabilising Boosters) and the Bassruti incident, so be sure to talk to him.
Flitch: Flitch is an RAC rogue who offers you information on ships, info on pirates and offers you a job. These cost 25 credits each. Be careful: Once the pirates start to dislike or hate you, you won't be able to talk to him.
HAL9-K: This droid is situated on Hiathra. He doesn't have any really important info, but he can tell you about Titan ships (and about himself).
Dr. Felsane: This alien student is in the Hiathra bar. She offers you the job of saying "RAKBIT" to Shizaz, an alien on Ross in Nar'See. Once you have done this, she gives you a Malir Artifact as a reward.
Borf: Borf is a Shizaz alien who hangs around in the bar on Ross Station. You need to buy him a drink and then say "RAKBIT" to him. If you say anything else while he is drinking he attacks and kills you. Be careful, because he is a member of the Black Hand and will kill you after you have talked to Janus about the mission Avenstar gave you.
Ichiki: Ichiki, a RAC, sells you information about certain things, but I only found out about the Manchi and Targon (which he will say nothing about). Offer him the Ruby Cube (you get it from Robo-Crook) or the Dilithium gem (on Hiathra) as payment for information on the Manchi.
Robo-Crook: Robo-Crook, another RAC, offers to let you stick your hand in his sack of items and retrieve one for 100 credits. I got some very good stuff from him, most of it useful, such as the Forged Cargo Papers and the Ruby Cube.
Cebak: Cebak lives on Hiathra, to the right of Orellian, and tells you about HIVE and about her sister, Tiwa, who lives on Legrange. There is a Key-Card in the pocket of one of the Vac-Suits in her room.
Tiwa:
Tiwa, Cebak's sister, lives on Legrange mining station. She gives you a letter to take to Cebak.
Gut:
Droughton Gut is the leader of the pirate group The Scarlet Brotherhood, situated on Free Guild Outpost in Basrutti. He becomes your ally after you destroy a Titan, and he helps you very much near the end of the game. He also has plenty of information for you as well, and he does all this even if you are hated by the pirates.
Omar:
Omar is Gut's right-hand-man, and he allows you to see Gut once you have destroyed a Titan. Don't blow up a Titan before he asks you to, because it won't count.
Sister Nycen: Nycen meditates in the garden-lounge on the Sigure outpost. She tells you a little about Priestess Vilanie.
Priestess Vilanie: She is to the top-right of the bar on the Sigure outpost. Vilanie is plotting against the Empire along with Koth, and she holds the cause of the Manchi attack: the Queen-Egg. This is in the locked room to the right of where she is. She also probes your mind, but I don't know what that's meant to do.
Dr. Elanius Ferah: Dr. Felsane is on DenebPrime Starbase, to the top left of the bar. She is a blind facial surgeon. She operated on Rayson, altering his appearance and giving one of his eyes a milky blind look. Ask her about Rayson.
LUX-23A: This droid is on the Station in the Deneb system. He is looking for his `girlfriend', a droid named MAID, and asks you to try and find her for him.
MAID:
MAID is posing as a female rogue on Free Guild Outpost in Basrutti, in the bar. You must tell her you are either a rogue or a merchant, not a Bounty Hunter, or else she won't talk to you. Say LUX-23A to her and she joins you by becoming a repair droid on your ship. You should give her back to LUX-23A just to make them happy, and also (because of some programming bug, no doubt) you can go back to Free Guild and pick her up again, as a repair droid.
Soldier: There is a one-legged soldier on the Koth carrier, in the bottom left corner outside. He gives you information on Koth, aswell as information on the war such as weapons and tactics. I never found out his name, though.
Janus: Janus is on the Koth in Arcturus, acting as the tour guide and information officer there. Like Vilanie and Koth, she is also in on the plan to overthrow the Empire. For a tour of the Koth, you must give her the CRC-07 slip that you got from Orellian. Once you are on Avenstar's mission to find Targon, she asks you if you are the one she sent. Say yes, but refuse the bribe.
Toom:
Toom, a RAC, is an off-duty soldier who has some information you can ask him about, but otherwise he is not important.
Targon: Targon is the insane man in the bottom left corner of the Arcturus station. You must give him a dose of NSB (it is on Basrutti station) for you to be able to talk to him. He gives you a lot of information about Koth and Vilanie's plan, but then goes crazy again. Once this is done you, must go back to Gut and tell him of the plan. Also, your ship used to belong to Targon, and so all the log messages you read are what he has written.
Drak Stephons: He is the owner of the Arcturus mining station Micon II. He doesn't tell you much, other than complain about mining workers.
Blutous: Blutous is the trader on the Convec East station in Gryphon. He has some information on trading and the Basrutti incident.
Omas Tyran: Omas is the seemingly crazy character in the south-east corner of the Convec East mining station in Gryphon. He seems insane, but has lots of information on the Malir.
Teb:
Teb is a miner, or rock-picker, on Micon IV station in Zed. He tells you a bit about mining, but I think you can learn something else from him, although I don't know what (I know this because of the "Other..." command).
Prosk: The scientist Prosk is working on Micon IV inventing things, the latest of which is a Warp-Drive which can jump you to other systems. You find out that he needs a Transmutation Coil in order for it to work, so you must go about finding one. It is on the Koth carrier, in the power-unit in the locked room. You need the contact lenses from Borf to get the coil, or you will be blinded from the light. Return to Prosk with the Coil, and select the Null Damper instead of the Stealth Box, as you can get one from Sir Eld. At the end of the game when you have the Manchi egg, go to Prosk and use the co-ordinates GC 3409 to get to Ja-Karn, the Manchi home system.
Barmen: The barmen through-out the Far Arm have information for you most of the times that you buy drinks. As you progress through the game, their information changes, so visit them often because there might be clues or just gossip waiting for you.
The Items:
Pilot's License: Obtained from Orellian, this certifies you as an official Imperial citizen and legal Pilot's rights (whatever they are). See the section on Orellian for the answers to the test.
CRC-07: Also obtained from Orellian, this enables you to go on a tour of the Koth when you give it to Janus.
Statuette: Obtained from Sir Eld on Micon I to be taken to Orellian on Hiathra. Tell Orellian that it is not a bribe.
Ruby Cube: One of Robo-Crook's items, you can trade this for information with Ichiki.
Forged Cargo Papers: Also from Robo-Crook, these fool the cargo inspectors into thinking that you have only legal goods onboard your vessel. They don't always work, so save your game just before you dock.
Ameobic Contact Lenses: Obtained from Borf for 250 credits, these allow you to look at bright lights without your eyes being injured. They are used on the Koth when you retrieve the Transmutation Coil from the power unit.
Glob Cube: Borf sells you this aswell, but I can't remember for how much. I also didn't find any use for it. Maybe you can trade it with Ichiki, I don't know.
Transmutation Coil: Found in the power unit in the locked room aboard the Koth, this must be given to Prosk so that he can finish his Warp Drive.
Nuero Stabilising Booster (NSB): This is in a drawer in an office on Basrutti Station, and is given to Targon (on Arcturus Station) to make him sane. It only lasts a short while, so read what he has to say very carefully, as it is needed to complete the game.
Malir Artifact: You get this from Dr. Felsane once you have done the job for her. I didn't find any use for it tin the game, but maybe you cn trade it with Ichiki for information. I didn't try it though.
Key Card: You can obtain this either from Robo-Crook, or from one of the Vac suits in Cebak's room. It lets you open some locked doors, but not all of them.
Manchi egg: This is in the locked room to the right of where Vilanie is. You must pick it up and then take it to Gut for information. After this you must go to Prosk and be transported to Ja-Karn, the Manchi home system, where you give it to the Manchi automatically when you land on their planet.
Onboard Equipment: There may be more equipment through-out the game, but this is all I found:
Stealth Box: Obtainable from Sir Eld once you have done the job for him, or from Prosk when you give him the Transmutaion Coil. It (supposedly) hides you from the long range scanners of Pirate vessels. I didn't notice too much difference, but I'm sure it works a little.
Null Damper: You can choose either this or the Stealth Box when you give the Transmutaion Coil to Prosk. It prevents your armour from being depleted while you are in a worm-hole.
Beam Auto-Lock Device: I didn't notice what this did, but I assume it automatically locks your beam weapon. Maybe it lets you hit the enemies easier. Duchess Avenstar gives it to you after you have spoken to her and given her information about yourself.
Repair Droid: This is actually MAID, LUX-23A's `girlfriend'. To get her to join you, you must say LUX-23A to her, using the other command (she is on Free Guild Outpost). She poses as a repair droid while you are giving her transport back to LUX on Ross Station, Deneb. You should let LUX have his girlfriend back, as you can go back to Free Guild Outpost and pick her up the same way, and the second time round you get to keep her.
The Quests, Jobs and Missions:
Sir Eld's statuette: Sir Eld gives you a statuette to be taken to Orellian. Simply fly to Hiathra and give it to him. Be sure to tell him it's not a bribe, and return to Eld for your reward: a Stealth Box and trading information.
Joining the Scarlet Brotherhood: To join the Brotherhood and be able to talk with Gut, you need to talk to Omar, who tells you to destroy a titan. Here is the best strategy I could think of: Fly closely behind the titan, and then turn off your TAC so that you have targeted yourself. Fire a Nova missile straight into the rear of the titan, and once it has hit you must start firing slow powerful shots with your beam weapon. Stay behind the titan and keep firing until you can fire another missile, with your TAC off again. The reason I do this is because it becomes a straight flying dumbfire missile which isn't affected by ECM, but still has the same firepower. The titans have strong ECM, and homing missiles are very often diverted from it. Keep doing this and you should defeat the titan a bit quicker and easier than usual. This tactic works on all the ships that have (or don't have) ECM, and I use it just about all the time.
Finding the Transmutation Coil: The Coil is aboard the Koth carrier, in the locked room. Walk to the power unit (don't walk on the block directly under it - it's an alarm plate) and select inspect. You must be wearing Ameobic Contact Lenses to retrieve it, or your eyes will burn up. Once you have it, you must take it to Prosk, who rewards you with either a Stealth Box or a Null Damper.
Basrutti Station: Onboard Basrutti Station are a dosage of NSB's and a safe with a few credits in it. Once you leave your ship, walk to the landing strip to the top left of where you start off. Walk around the bottom left corner there for a few seconds and then (quickly) walk down to the southern entrance. Don't waste any time standing around as the monster could attack you if you are standing in one place too long (walking there on the landing strip makes the monster move to the top left of the building, away from where you want to be). Walk to the room to the left of where you entered and stand between the safe and the chest of drawers. Inspect the drawers, get the NSB's, and then pick the lock of the safe and take the credits. Now leave quickly the way you entered. After this, you have no reason to land on Basrutti Station again.
Finding MAID for LUX-23A: LUX-23A, the droid on the Deneb Station, asks you to find MAID, his girlfriend. She is posing as a female rogue in the Free Guild Outpost cantina. You must tell her you are either a rogue or a merchant so that she talks to you, and then say LUX-23A (by selecting the Other... option). She joins you secretly as a repair droid, and you must fly back to LUX-23A and give her to him. Don't worry about losing your repair droid, as you can go back to Free Guild and pick her up again (the same way) without having to give her to LUX.
Finding Targon for Avenstar: The Duchess aks you to find out what you can about Captain Targon, the previous owner of the Jolly Roger, who was on a secret mission, Operation Ferret, for her. He is in the bottom left corner of the Arcturus station, and needs to be given a dosage of NSB's to be made sane for long enough to talk to you and tell you all about the Black Hand's plots and secret information. You must tell him the name of his secret mission from Avenstar in order for him to tell you these things. After you have spoken to him, he goes insane, and (as far as I know) can't be helped again.
Retrieving the Manchi egg: After you have spoken to Targon, return to Gut, and he will assist you with getting the egg from Vilanie by sending his Pirates to attack the Outpost while you are aboard, distracting the guards. The egg is in the locked room to the right of where Priestess Vilanie is. You need just pick it up and leave the station, and return again to Gut.
Taking the egg to the Manchi home-world: After you have given the Transmutation Coil to Prosk, and you have the egg, return to Prosk and explain to him about the egg. He will let you use his Warp Drive to transport you to Ja-Karn, the Manchi home system once you have given him its co-ordinates - GC 3409. Note: Before you go to Ja-Karn, make sure you have fully repaired your ship and have a full supply of missiles. Once you are in the system, go to your Nav screen and select Helm. You will most probably be attacked on the way, but that's why you repaired yourself and bought missiles. When you arrive in the sector with the home-world, just land as you would on a normal station, and you've finished the game!
Other Notes: If you are tired of having to fly so slowly to dock, I found that you can dock at a speed of 18 m/s, but any faster and you will ram, losing armour.
If you enter a sector where you want to dock and your target, such as a station, is quite far away, you can fly (using the Nav screen) to another sector, and then return to wherever it was you wanted to dock, and you could start off much nearer your target.
