Before you bought your 1st ship..

...

This post has been edited by WickTownEV : 02 March 2007 - 10:35 AM

I'd start out doing Rush Deliveries in my shuttle, until I'd get enough money to afford an Argosy. With that ship I would do the Capella-Nemisis trade run, and visit some nearby pirate systems to boost my combat rating and see if I could get the UGE missions. When I did get them, I would save up 2 million credits for a Corvette. With a Corvette, I usually would head to Darven to get some money off pirates, and continue the UGE missions, until I'd get about 8-9 million credits for the Kestrel. Then I'd head to Diphidia to do the 1 million credits mission against the Astex, which also would give me a good record with the Rebels. I'd get my Kestrel, and then I would probably get the Rebel mission string.

Actually, I did about what DE described there, sans UGE missions and plus Diphidia II missions (in an ARGOSY of all things).

I get the Rebel string early, but don't do anything too dangerous until I have something a bit more powerful than this shuttle.

Shuttle, rush missions. Argosy, haul cargo. Hire escorts, haul more cargo. Buy Corvette, find pirate system. Lurk on uninhabited planet until I capture a Kestrel.

After you have your kestrel just sell off your lightnings and capture new ones. Then sell them. Repeat.

Basic missions until I can get a ship big enough to hold only torpedo launcher and torpedo's, because they are long range. At this time I don't even bother with shields or other upgrades. Then I head toward Altair system (no asteroids and a close freindly system to land) and wait for pirate ships, focusing mainly on the Corvettes and Kestrels, they have the most money.

Method of Madness: Once a pirate ship enters the system, before it even appears on my screen, I target it, and immediately hit it with torpedos and quickly move away before the pirate's weaps can reach me. I think an Argosy takes 3-4 torps to disable, a Corvettte 6 and a Kestrel 8-10. Sorry, I can't remember exactly, and can't check because I'm in the middle of a plugin.

This does a few things.
1. Increases your combat rating
2. Looting said ship gives you quick cash without having to do boring cargo missions
3. Allows an opportunity to capture a better ship for your self or escort

Drawback:
If more than one pirate ship enters the system at the same time and I am in a puny ship, I'm dust. Then I just let them kill me and I start again, because torps are expensive and I want to make each one count.

EDIT: PS, the Empire series of plugins have spoiled me rotten. For the most part, capital pirate ships are easy to loot and have lots of cash. Right now, I have $100 MILLION, most of it looted, and I am only half way through the game. Plus, I love Tim Isles' Blockade Runner. I wish EV and EVO would have incorporated a similar ship.

I'm happy to see EV is still being played. Rock on!

This post has been edited by wondergirl : 02 June 2005 - 11:15 AM

My preferred method is to run a few missions or board a few ships to get about 125000 credits. Then, I buy a scoutship, and put on some armaplast, three or four lasers, and a missile rack with about 8 missiles. Then I go pirate hunting in Darven and Propus. Once I have about 1.5 million, I get a Rapier. I keep that until I get the Kestrel, and often times, I fly it much longer than necessary because I love it.

Oh, I almost forgot about the UGE missions. If you don't want to fight or loot, you can make easy cash this way, especially if you can combine 2 missions at the same time.

...

This post has been edited by WickTownEV : 02 March 2007 - 10:36 AM

WickTownEV, on Jun 3 2005, 03:08 PM, said:

then it's kind of like you just missed out on a big part of the game, yet it is convenient when you are starting a new file and you don't want to take forever to get a good ship(and also when you don't want to cheat)...View Post

Good point. You should have a decent base pilot anyway, before you start any of the strings.

I grab an argosy, as it's sturdy, fast, strong, easily upgradeable, easily modifiable to be task-specific...yeah, it rocks.

I then make a crapload of money on missions (rush deliveries, etc.) and kick ass (even Kestrels with proper training) in my seemingly insignificant Argosy. BAM! Weapons fold out of the ship. You're screwed. HAHAHA!

Give me your money, your weapons, your cargo, your fuel, and your life. HAHAHA!

Then, within about 8 total hours of gameplay, and getting really involved in mission strings, I say a loving goodbye to my REALLY beat-up argosy, and buy myself a Kestrel. Having little money for upgrades, I build up a fleet, unless (like normal) I already had one from my Argosy days. I make more money. I rock the socks off the galaxy. w00t!

WickTownEV, on Jun 1 2005, 03:05 AM, said:

...
I have found that trading was the best way to do it, I actually managed a way to be able to get a million cr a minute. Of course, I wasn't using a shuttlecraft! But, I will tell you what I did after I hear a few responses. NO PLUGS
-WickTown
View Post

Where is your trade route???????

Normally I do rush mission, until i have enough money to buy a Scoutship, I fit it out with 2 Neutron Cannons and hunt pirates (even Corvettes and Kestrels), until I have enough money to buy a Corvette, I fit it out with 4 neutron cannons and missles and hunt pirates until I have enough money to buy a Kestrel.
This takes a VERY long time, in EV:N I would trade, but I don't know good trade routes, so please tell me your best routes! I don't want to play 5 hours to get a Kestrel. Help!

Wow, lots of Argosy users here. I never got into slow ships (though an upgraded Argosy has some decent engine power), and trading wasn't quite as exciting for me as pirate-hunting.

Personally, I went for the Scoutship so I could do whatever the heck I wanted, sometimes went for the Clipper but generally went straight for the Corvette, then the Kestrel. Actually the first time through I bypassed the Kestrel and got the Rebel Destroyer instead, which is cheaper and way more powerful. I'll admit though, it doesn't have quite the same kind of fashion statement as sporting a couple fighters in your belly, but I think they're both cool.