Solo Playing

[DaPlayaFA-]

Not everyone who isn't a trader is a hunter.

I am a miner. Gotta love the Human Border Cruiser.

Last vet game I ended with like 4k and gained around 10k total (died a bunch, but I don't really care about that) from just shooting forces and at people. Never traded once. Plus I came in at the latter half of the game.

each level u gained brought u closer to speefy!

only 496400 to go bob! too good

[Imhotep]

Not everyone who isn't a trader is a hunter.

I am a miner. Gotta love the Human Border Cruiser.

Last vet game I ended with like 4k and gained around 10k total (died a bunch, but I don't really care about that) from just shooting forces and at people. Never traded once. Plus I came in at the latter half of the game.

The post topc is "Solo playing", not B.O.B.'s life in an alliance where he can mine and die endlessly with no repercussions. You pretty much have to trade as a solo player or you will not be getting very much cash. OK, if you are a decent hunter and get some kills on some rich traders you can maybe sustain yourself, but even then I believe you will have to eventually trade a bit if you want to have the resources to build and maintain a planet and/or mines. Killing and trading are the only 2 easy ways to get exp. You can get a small amount from PR or PBing. Good luck on those endeavors solo though Inceidentally, there does not need to be alot of people for you to kill to be a hunter, you can just kill the same people over and over again. Assuming the kill exp is working right (and there are a few posts claiming it might not be) you should get quite a bit of exp for killing the people higher in exp than you. Less exp for lower ranked traders.

[Trigek]

You can also make a fair bit of a XP being a professional mine clearer.

[B.O.B.]

Not everyone who isn't a trader is a hunter.

I am a miner. Gotta love the Human Border Cruiser.

Last vet game I ended with like 4k and gained around 10k total (died a bunch, but I don't really care about that) from just shooting forces and at people. Never traded once. Plus I came in at the latter half of the game.

The post topc is "Solo playing", not B.O.B.'s life in an alliance where he can mine and die endlessly with no repercussions. You pretty much have to trade as a solo player or you will not be getting very much cash. OK, if you are a decent hunter and get some kills on some rich traders you can maybe sustain yourself, but even then I believe you will have to eventually trade a bit if you want to have the resources to build and maintain a planet and/or mines. Killing and trading are the only 2 easy ways to get exp. You can get a small amount from PR or PBing. Good luck on those endeavors solo though Inceidentally, there does not need to be alot of people for you to kill to be a hunter, you can just kill the same people over and over again. Assuming the kill exp is working right (and there are a few posts claiming it might not be) you should get quite a bit of exp for killing the people higher in exp than you. Less exp for lower ranked traders.

To point something out to you:

If your not a trader, how do you get your levels? Are there really THAT many people to kill? Dont you atleast trade so that you can afford a ship, or do you have your alliance purchase it...? Did they change how much exp you recieve from kills?

His question and my answer at that point was inrevelant to solo playing, and if you notice: "or do you have your alliance purchase it...?"

[Imhotep]

His question and my answer at that point was inrevelant to solo playing, and if you notice: "or do you have your alliance purchase it...?"

Which you didn't address in any way in your original answer. I was meerly pointing out that while there are other things besides trading and hunting as you point out, you DO need money to continuously buy ship unless you are in an alliance like BOB and can have them given to you willy nilly Mine laying and mine bashing can be great fun, especially with the mine bashing exp, but they are huge money drains and are really not realistic goals for a single player (unless you can get a rich alliance to sponsor you)

[Shesmu]

Just wanted to add a comment based on the topic name. Realisticly it's very difficult to play as a solo players - especially as a relatively inexperienced player.

A good alliance will help protect traders and build planets, but even a weakly coordinated alliance can function as a sort of insurance/bank system. You put in cash in the Alliance Account and when a player looses a ship, he doesn't have to start from scratch. It evens out the risks and reduces the time you have to trade in small ships.

Concerning your trading questions, I have a few comments:

1) Aim for a better trader than one with 120 holds. I like the IST (around 5 mill. price). Upgrading your trader should be a prime objective.

2) Decide whether you're seeking XP or cash and choose your trade-route accordingly

3) If trading for cash, you should aim for around 100 credits per hold per turn ie. with 120 holds, you should be making around 12.000 credits. For comparison a 7x lux-comp route will earn around 20.000 credits.

4) As you trade more with a given race, your relations with that race will go up, and this will make it easier for you to hit the correct price and increase your earnings. You start with crappy relations, so the route you have going now is probably ok.

5) Always keep surplus money in the bank, and always enough to replace your current ship !

These numbers are by memory, so they could be a bit off. Note however that the developers are currently considering significantly reducing profits from trading (and rightly so), so these numbers will go down.

[NotHere~]

Thanks for the advice My current NG4 route is giving me 25k a turn. Im flying the human ambasaddor becuase I didnt feel like wasting the time to find the IST in a game that is ending. However, in NG5, since I will most likley be WQ Human, I will find the IST soon as i have enough to buy it

What type of routes are better for xp? Short routes with low level goods? Or long routes with high level goods? Is it better to just begin a long, decent trade route right away, or go trade goods with 2 sidebyside ports to raise relations? After 700 turns in NG4...with 400or so spent on trading, ive got 800 relations with humans (500 racial, 300 personal).

[Shesmu]

Both cash and XP are determined by length of the route. Th elonger the better. But XP are indifferent to type of good, so if you're trading for cash, go after the longest route with high-level goods. If you're trading for XP, then go for the longest route period.

Of course this means that the best route is a long lux-narc route, since it provides both high XP and high cash (+ high risk from hunters !)

Often it pays in the long run to use less-tan-perfect routes, since this makes it more difficult for hunters to locate you ...

YES, starting by trading adjacent ports to increase relations is worth while. it costs you some turns in the beginning, but pays off fast. Remember that the more holds you have, the more your relations increase per turn, so don't go trading in your pod to increase relations While you trade for relations - just accept the prices offered and your relations will increase automatically.

[seldum]

or you could guess prices in the beginning it works fairly well if you know what youre doing then you can trade an actual money route (which everyone is concerned about in the beginning of games) and still get some exp and still watch your relations rise

you just have to be safe because wrong guesses hurt bad