Which ship do you set up your first colony with?

Dalhamir · Post by **Dalhamir** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 12:48 am

So this is my first time playing through the game and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I do have two big questions, both of which assume I am trying to set up a long term colony. One, should I save up for a Whale before I set up my frist colony, or set one up as soon as I can get 40k in my Merchant Freighter w/ 80cargo? Also, what weapons are worth the price and where should they get put in this whole ship/colony order? I'm sure there are lots of different takes on this, and I would like to hear what everyone has to say. Thanks.

Proletariat · Post by **Proletariat** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 1:25 am

Definitely go for the whale, or at least something better than the freighter. You're not going to be getting much revenue from your colony for a while, and you'll eventually spend a ton of dough building it up, so trying to save that little bit of cash is pointless. Get everything you're going to need and make sure you have good chunk of cash left over, before you even think about building your colony.

As for weapons, I usually pick up the fusion blaster or the hellbore, as both of those are fairly effective against NPCs of all types.

furtim · Post by **furtim** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:32 pm

Interesting. I would expect the Dream Sower to make a better choice for a first colony, being way cheaper than the Whale and having slightly more cargo space. I know the Whale has the advantage of better shielding and a way more useful special, but I wouldn't expect that to make much of a difference early in the game before the piracy starts picking up. But 7 out of 9 people so far think I'm wrong.

Ipps · Post by **Ipps** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:55 pm

Well the Galaxy Whale and Dream Sower have almost exactly the same cargo to fuel ratio (Dream Sower is slightly better I believe). However, the Dream Sower is EXTREMELY unsafe and EXTREMELY slow also. So to me it's worth it to spend the extra cash on the Whale to be safer and to have to spend less time to hop between systems.

Proletariat · Post by **Proletariat** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm

Yeah. Actually, I think the verdict was that the whale was more fuel efficient with a high WIS and/or some IG maps, while the DS performed better on average, but it's pretty much negligible either way. The place where the DS makes a difference is shuttling resources between planets once your seeder colonies have been established and most of your fuel is spent landing.

The problem with the DS, aside from the paper thin armour (a single IG/ISC/Sethdar NPC with nukes and it's all over), is that it is so god awfully slow. The one thing that DS is good at - shuttling resources between planets - is ironically what makes it so unbearable. A one-way trip from one planet to another within the same system that would normally take 5-10 seconds in a whale could easily take triple that time in a DS. Couple that with the fact that, since you're a colonizer, you're probably not going to invest too many points into DEX, and the game basically grinds to a halt.

Also, the cost difference is not that great. Sure, you can get the DS a lot sooner, but it's not going to do you a whole lot of good until you max out the cargo holds - and that alone will cost you a lot more than the ship will.

furtim · Post by **furtim** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:53 am

Hmm. Very good points. I've been noticing the handling issues with the DS lately, and it's been driving me somewhat nuts.

That thing is just... Yeah. Like a pig. No fun at all to fly!

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:30 am

Where is the CEO and ISC in the equation?

Irobeth · Post by **Irobeth** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:41 am

nobody in their right mind could get an ISC in the first days of the game

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 2:36 pm

Your joking right? You just wait till I get some time on my hands I'll show you whats what. "First few days"? You better have an ISC at LEAST by the second day on BR or your behind the game.

I don't set up colonies until I get ahold of the CEO, never before... I usually have that by the first.. well, depends when I want to give up the smooth riding merchant freighter. But usually within the first 2-3 hours of playing, at least on BR. Cash flows well there.

On other servers it can take a day or two if my luck really sucks.

Phase · Post by **Phase** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:01 pm

How the fart do you get an ISC by day 2??!?? I really would like to know... Iv'e done it before but that was before they reduced the tax output of colonies by 50% if you have another way, PLEASE TELL ME!!!

Proletariat · Post by **Proletariat** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:22 pm

I think he's referring only to BR. I don't know of anyone who can get ISC by their second day (Sethdar, sure) under normal circumstances, even when they save up fuel for several days before starting.

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:47 pm

Between the days of yonder when I was learning the game, and the new patches cutting the economy of the galaxys, it was pretty easy to get an ISC on the first day of playing, sometimes within a few hours even in some cases.

Take into account that you USED to be able to get millions from taxi-ing very quickly, using black holes. Trading was more efficient, NPCs didnt' have sheild anihilating missiles and nukes, you could fill up a colony with colonists and rake in millions that way from 20% taxes (i'll not miss that) and the big one, 5k rep only costed $2M worth of bounties instead of $5M.

Things arn't like that anymore. However, it hasn't changed so much that it just isn't possible... Just not very likely.

You want my strategy? I'm insanely lucky. Thats half of it. Here's some pointers.

- It HELPS, but it's not essential, to be able to take on a thief with any weapon while in the merchant freighter armed with a peashooter, 0 cash in your pocket, less than full sheilds. I don't know how many good starts I've gotten just getting lucky and finding a juicy thief to kill - though sometimes they got me.
- Don't pick fights that won't be worth it. This point has two parts... First, I personally don't target certain ships cuz they'll hurt me more than they will give me. I'm not real good at efficiently taking down merchant cruisers for example, and they arn't worth alot so I don't mess with them. However, the various trader ships (like the flower ship, whale, barge, but not really the merchant freighter) are well loaded with cash and can be easy to take down.
- I never attack yellows unless I know they will give me 1k x more cash and than some, than the repuation I will lose from it. I always attack Lts, Ensigns, and sometimes warrant officers, but usually not anything below that.
- If you DO fight, you gotta be good at it or it's just not going to be profitable.
- It's good to not put all your eggs in one basket. Put some cash in the bank incase you die. Also, to preserve cash and if your not in the merchant freighter, carry turrets to take out missles. Nukes may do only 2k shields to your ship, but thats 40k to your wallet.
- There are other ways to make money besides fighting. It doesn't matter what ship your in, you can still trade while taking care of other buisness. Buy some stuff and sell it whenever you can. I only do this sometimes, not because it isn't profitable, but cuz I'm too lazy ^.^

Back to the point, when I'm going for the ISC (which is always) I always anologize that reputation is money to me. 1 rep is worth 1k cold cash, if you conver it to bounties. I dont' often apply bounties to get the ISC, but on the slower servers you sometimes have to, and it's sometimes not that bad if you happen upon a surplus of cash.

Haha I wrote too much ^.^ Sorry.

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Fri May 13, 2005 6:22 am

Well, just to update this topic, I obtained an ISC within the first 6 hours of the rebang on BR... Any nonbelievers can eat a screenshot

Seriously tho, it's not that hard... As long as you got that kind of goal in mind.

Annnnd I'M BACK IN THE GAME! WAHOO! Hopefully I'll be able to stay for the whole 2 weeks.

Wolf · Post by **Wolf** » Fri May 13, 2005 5:16 pm

¿ISC in 6 hours? That is a piece of work. Congrats. Anything you would like to share with the rest of the class???

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Fri May 13, 2005 6:42 pm

Like I said, if you want it you can get it. Grab your gun fly out to a hot system, and blast every RED npc you come arcross, meanwhile keeping your self alive and reasonably well. I spent probably 10 minutes in the merchant cruiser, 2-3 1/2 hours in the merchant freighter, and maybe an hour or less in the CEO... It was pretty rough, a few close calls but I did it.

Dalhamir · Post by **Dalhamir** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:06 pm

So MSR, did you just trade with the freighter until you got enough money for shields and a fusion blaster, then combat from then on out?

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:10 pm

I taxied once for enough for the freighter, then I think I got a good taxi in there or two after that... cuz I didn't have to fight with the peashooter for long. I do "passively" trade sometimes (if I know I'm going someplace that buys a certain good, I might pick some up)...

And then... yeah, combat then on out. I got a screenshot of me in a freighter and a good dozen NPCs in a bit of mortal combat...

Garygolf · Post by **Garygolf** » Sun May 15, 2005 7:15 pm

ya peace congrats on the isc and for nonbeleivers i was there and even saw him in the ship after i took his igp lol

Drifter101 · Post by **Drifter101** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:33 pm

I will taxi enough to get a merchant freighter which has enough cargo bays to comfortably build a small cash farm. To build my first serious colony i upgrade to the whale, I have used the CEO instead but the extra 30 holds in the whale can overall save you several trips to the starport, which could be a few hops away for some resources.

Lev · Post by **Lev** » Mon May 30, 2005 11:33 pm

I'm not able to get ISC in first day.. or even first 3 days usually. I just have the willpower to get my rep positive fast enough. What I find that I usually end up doing is getting up enough money for my grav within the first day, and then fighting for a couple days to get my rep up to 3-4k, and then buy the rest of the rep and the ISC ship. This round, on Battle Royale, I made 5 million the first night, but my rep was only around 200!!! So I bought a grav and put $2mil in the bank. So, I'll be spending the next couple of days working on getting my rep up!

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:29 pm

*chants spell of revival on this dead topic* aka - bump.

I came across this shuffling in the archives of the forums. It reminded me of the GOOD old days of starport. Man I miss em.

MadAce · Post by **MadAce** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:52 pm

What's the difference with nowadays?

zinfab · Post by **zinfab** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:05 pm

assuming you aren't able to get 5k rep that quickly, the Whale is your best bet (and others agree according to the poll).

I spent a LONG time in a whale with just the simple pea-shooter. The whale's special let you get away from most enemies (sans nukes).

Once I had colonized enough planets to earn 5k rep, I upgraded to an ISC. Of course the ISC is the best bet for 'all-around' ship.

Relentless · Post by **Relentless** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:46 pm

I colonized in a whale when the entire CREEPS corp on 11th dimension were in ISCs / IGS shooting at me. Every time 5-6 of them gang-banged me [believe me whenever I was somewhere they'd say "Person [name] is HERE" on /c probably

And they'd all show up... though I died a few times I didn't mind because I was accomplishing my goals and colonizing pretty nicely

.

Crosseyed · Post by **Crosseyed** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:42 pm

Irobeth wrote:nobody in their right mind could get an ISC in the first days of the game

I can get an ISC on day 1 pretty easily, but I'm not in my right mind.

Hell, even when I first started as a dumb clueless newbie on PV2, you'll remember I was in an ISC fairly early.

And me, I originally did my colony builds in an ISC first, too. Now I might do so in a whale, but probably in an ISC again.

Phase · Post by **Phase** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:25 pm

on page 1.... i think thats one of my first 10 posts....

(MSR)Peace · Post by **(MSR)Peace** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:04 pm

MadAce wrote:What's the difference with nowadays?

Um. This topic was made prepermaverse, so I'd say that is QUITE different.

Not to mention all the out-of-game changes, like the people and faces we see around here. I'm not saying "nowadays" arn't good days too, just reminscing fondly of days long past.

MadAce · Post by **MadAce** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:06 pm

Indeed, the atmospehere and the public changed.

Sarbanes · Post by **Sarbanes** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:16 am

LUCK!

this is what you need to get an ISC in the first few hours of the game, in permaverse2 i was lucky after playing for 30 min i manage to kill someone with a 25mil bounty who was sleeping so its luck