i briefly recall hearing something about it being possible to play two or more sides of the strand war without using any plugins (such as triple agent). if so, how would i go about this? thx.

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/ a c h

1. Accept the inital Igadzra mission at Kitrak.
2. Stop at Pozdag-3 to complete the first Zidagar mission.
3. Finish your delivery to Igadzra.

Nothing stopping you from working for both of 'em now. You must , however, be in a 1 day/jump ship.

2nd variation (much more challenging): Start at Kitrak and accept the Igadzra mission. Make a bee-line to South Tip Station, meaning don't ever stop for anything, even fuel - best to be in a Miranu Courier or similar. Accept the Azdgari mission from ST Station then head straight to Igadzra, drop off your eels, go to their bar to get the next mission, and leave on a direct route to Racet and then Apert. Then go straight on to Muid for the next Azdgari mission.

Now there's nothing stopping you working for that combination - you definitely have to have a 1-day jump ship this time though!

k thx guys.

so basically u can work for the igadzra/zidagar or the igadzra/azdgari but u cant work for the zidagar/azdgari and u cant work for all three? is that about right?

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/ a c h

Yup.

Or you could do what I did. Get your pilot to the point where he's getting good enough to take any strand, then copy it three times.

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Battler of the unjust Forklift.
And still blowing up them Strands, 'cause the Aggies haven't given him the new shield generator yet.

Yep, that's been done too :), but it's not nearly as challenging and doesn't give you the chance to get a cool combo of strand stuff on board - like an Azdara with a Plasma Siphon, or Igazra with Phased Beam, or one with Shield Generator and Azdgari Upgrade :).

How is it possible to play for multiple Strands even with a plug like Triple Agent or one of the strategies already discussed in this thread? Entire PLANETS are destroyed of depopulated during the mission strings. I can see this interfering greatly with the missions-you have to get a mission at a plent that doesn't exist!

(Edited to make a minor fix in punctuation)
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(This message has been edited by Azdara Pilot (edited 09-12-2001).)

Well, the only combination where that really matters is the Zidagar + Azdgari, with Outpost Terapin being destroyed - and conveniently, you can't play that combination without the plugin :). For the other combinations, you just have to do things in the right order. For instance, if playing Igadzra and Zidagar, don't do the mission to gas Diudir until you have done the mission to destroy Azdgari defenders in Diumin from the Igadzra - I found this one out from experience :). For the Igadzra / Azdgari, just don't destroy Outpost Terapin until you've finished the final Igadzra mission - they take the system on but don't manage to destroy the Outpost, the Azdgari do. Other than that, I'm not even sure if they still give you raiding type missions to places that no longer exists, but they're easily aborted anyway :).