Hey, thanks for posting. I'll tell you what i know. The only good guys can be considered the strandless. They don't want to take part in this war and quite frankly they have had enough. They want peace. However, peace is unattainable. But hey, why would you want piece anyway? If you side with the Zidagar, you get ships with beam weapons, side with the Azdgari and you get a cool shield generator, side with the Igadzra and you get a fine cruiser. Why make peace 
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Ace Battlepilot
<mercenary for hire>
"My contract is simple. Give me a Miranu Gunship, give me upgrade funds, and turn this mad dog loose, cus once I'm let out, there's no hope for you..."
There really is no "good" side in the strand war, it all depends on what kind of technology you want access to.
The Igadzra: the Igadzra style of warfare relies on brute force. Their warship, the Igazra, is the most powerful ship in the crescent. Side with them if your strategy is to crush eveything in you path with sheer firepower.
The Zidagar: known for their melodramatic tendencies, the Zidagar are the most well-rounded strand. Their small Zidara warships are a good mixture of speed and power, and they make the most of the space available on a ship. They have an upgrade that can add 20 tons of space to your ship, and their phased beamer is a formidable weapon.
The Azdgari: these guys are the most disreputable of the strands. They don't have their own warship, but use Crescent Warships. Their unique ship is the Azdara, easily the fastest ship in the game. This reflects the Azdgari emphasis on speed and hit-and-run tactics more than firepower, making them the opposite of the Igadzra. Azdgari ships require skilled pilots to be effective in combat and avoid enemy fire while strafing their opponents repeatedly.
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It all boils down to how you play the game.
If you like having a large, heavily shielded ship with lots of guns and secondaries, then go with the Igadzra. Their Igazra ship is by far the best "heavy battleship" in the game (IMO). The problem with the Iggies is that their technology really leaves something to be desired. The plasma siphon has its uses, but there are better secondaries. The SAE modules are just like the SAD's... they suck. Can't hit anything. Still, I like going with the Iggies so I can fly in my Igazra. I just ditch all the secondaries and get a Crescent Fighter Bay. it serves its purpose, and I've "beaten" the game many times by siding with the Iggies and using the Igazra.
The Zidagar.... well, I don't really like them. I think their mission string is the most fun/entertaining, but overall, I think the other strands are better. The Zidagar have a rather weak gövt ship. Lots of people like the Zidara, but I don't. The phase beamer is a waste of space (space that can't be had back) because as a weapon, it kinda sucks, and added to that, the low amount of fuel gives you little time to use it. The only reason I'd go with the Zidagar is to get that free 20 tons of space. That can come in VERY handy on any vessel. The ECM system is nice, but secondaries don't hit anything in 1.0.2 anyway, so what does it matter? 
The Aggies have the best technology in the game. The shield enhancers can make certain ships damn near invincible... which is a nice quality to have in the game. But, then again.... I have the need for big ships and lots of guns and turrets. The Aggies have a nice gövt ship, but you can't buy it, which really sucks. You could steal one early on, before you side with any strands, but then you'll have to work harder to get your rating with them back up. But, once again.... for me, the shield tech is rather useless... the ships I use hardly see the difference in shield regeneration time. Plus, the aggies have a rather boring mission string.
So, there's my 2 cents.
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I'd have to agree with most of that... the Zidagar mission string is the most interesting, and their systems upgrade for 20 free tons of weapons space is great provided you're in a ship you're gonna be keeping a while when you receive it! But I do like the Zidara.. although I think it isn't actually as good as a Lazira really.. because the Lazira can get the 3 turrets, or 2 turrets and a phased beam, with 2 more jumps of fuel to use on it.. and it doesn't have a fighter bay, which you are stuck with in the Zidagar case :frown:. Also, the Zidara only has about 50 more in shields than the Lazira, and no more armour, but 1.75M credits more to buy it, and only 15 tons of cargo.
The Azdgari mission string isn't that exciting, but it's the only strand one that changes systems - Raigar becomes uninhabited, Stror becomes temporarily inhabited and Terapin uninhabited. It also includes the only mission in the game where you have to fail to proceed :). And I'm the same in terms of ships - I don't like small fighters - much prefer to have a large list of upgrades in the info window :). Also, their azdara bay takes 180 tons of space, which means most ships can't fit it, or they are totally stripped in order to do so. Azdgari warships do make the best captured escorts because they never run out of azdaras :).
The Igadzra missions are interesting, and they reward you heavily, about 5M credits at the end, I think to make up for their relative lack of exciting techs. The SAE modules are hard to use well, and of course you can only get more of them from Igadzra. The Igazra is a great ship, and has plenty space on it - in fact it is the best ship for the Azdara bay, and can get it if you side with them as well - just possible to do. And it is also interesting to note that the Igazra is the only big warship with a 2 rather than 3 day hyperspace time, but as most missions are completed by the time you can buy it, this is not that important a factor.
As has been said, they each have their attractive points, but there is no feeling of a right side, IMO.
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Quote
Originally posted by Jonathan:
Second, for the plug-ins like "Beyond the Crescent" do you need to have completed the missions for one of the Strands to be able to access the missions in the plug-in?
The Read Me for Beyond the Crescent says that you only need the UE Central Objective and the Paaren Station missions complete.
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Skyblade is right. Never thought anybody actually read readme's!
There's no hard and fast rule about whether you should take sides in the Strand War before you play the excellent BTC plug. Some Strand technology might be nice though, since it tends to be better than anything the humans put together.
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That's true, and of course they're the only ones to have worked up a good defence relationship with the Miranu, which is another nice quality. I think they'd definitely be the most open to exchanges with humankind, not that it would benefit them much, except maybe for the dospect armour :).
And they also don't really seem to concerned with winning the strand war - when they ask you to help defend it's always like their time is up :)- they really don't want to have much to do with the war, which would be why they try to get their enemies fighting amongst themselves :). Which is much unlike the Azdgari especially, who seem to just want to kill, for no reason except that they can! And unlike the Igadzra, who really just want to be left alone, not just in terms of the fighting :). So yeah, it is easy to see them as the 'good' guys, but for most people that's a bit less important than getting an 'invincible' azdara it seems :).
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