Conference hydra::amiga_v1

I bought the game about two weeks ago.  I like it.

The flying is in real time as you would expect.  I find a joy stick makes it
much easier to navigate through the Malir Gates but I find the keyboard better
for docking procedures.  

For a while, there wasn't much happening in the game.  I'd just fly between
bases and build up the attributes of my ship.  Now that my ship is somewhat
capable, knocking off the pirates and aliens is fun and still a challenge.  I 
also was able to talk with the duchess and she explained more of the story or
purpose of the game.

One last point, I have had the game blank the screen a number of times.  This 
only seems to happen during combat but it is a little fustrating.  I especially
had trouble in the Sigure quadrant.  I would not let this stop me from buying 
the game, but I save alot.

All in all, a fun game.
David

Ps.  It has the look word up in the manual type of copy protection.

	Well I got the traders tips, the stealth-box and had a full load of
     manure, heading over to Lagrange via Deneb from the Koronus Malir Gate.
     But just before I got there (outside the gaseous nebula) a Manchi Vulture
     jumped me.. 
	To make a short story shorter... I wasn't real familiar with my weapons
     system, forgot about the 5 second delay in reload of missiles and didn't
     lead my target properly.. 
	Results: His particle beam cut me in two.
	
	Re -1: How do you have your ship set up? I've got a for and aft shield
        both Grade 1s, Plasma and SM1 missiles, and a beryl laser installed.
        (can I sell the Garnet Laser? I forgot to check to see if I even
        have it still), and the stealth box.
	       Have you found anything useful with the Magnetic Key-Card?
	So far it just lets me into rooms with nothing in them that I can take.
	Have you gotten past level 5 in the hive game? I always blow it on 
	level 4..
							Ed 

My ship currently has a plasma laser, fore shield II, aft shield I, 8 cargo pods
500 armor, turbo booster, and beam lock.

I can sometimes knock out a vulture but have fun with darts, wasps and corsairs.
I haven't tried anything bigger yet.

No, I haven't found anything useful with the key card.  I think it might be of
use on the carrier.

I have not tried the hive! game.  I figured I was making enough being a merchant
that I didn't need to bother with the game.

Keep an eye on the prices of items.  In one case I was able to sell something
for $100 profit per item.


I am currently looking for Captain Targon.  He was disguised as a pirate.  I 
think to find out any more info, I am going to have to become a pirate, myself.
The guy at the Free Guild tells me I have to shoot down a Titan to be allowed
in.  I think I need some more practice before I try that move.

David

 Well, I put this game down for a while but have picked it up with a vengance
. 
 I finally got to a similar status as David "re:-1", My Reputation is now 
 Fierce, (does this go higher?). The Pirates dislike me, The Merchant Giuld
 feels neutral, ( They put a bounty on my head , but I paid it off.)
  I still have only a Beryl laser, fore shield I, aft shield I, but the
 additional armor and beam lock I picked up, seems to do the trick.
  I also am looking for Targon, and have a good idea where to find him.
  
  Questions: Has anyone found a Thermocoupler Coil?
	     Has anyone seen Maid?
	     Has ANYONE been able to survive Bassrutti Station?

								Ed

Re: .4

Am I the only one with a broken Space Rogue? I picked it up after the 
discussion here for a very good price(~$30). Installed it on hard disk,
played for a while and ka-boom. It crashes mostly at a "Spacecraft detected"
situation and during combat. Never in the stations. 
I now use a bootable floppy with blitzdisk installed to reduce the load times.
Reducing # tasks helps. Switching to 68000 mode helps, but is still not
perfect. Maybe my 1.3 ROM, or just plain buggy? 
Well, I'll send in that registration card and a detailed report, but I've
little hope with games. SimCity and Falcon seem to be exceptions to the rule.
It seemed to be such a nice extention to the small selection of 
multitasking/OS compliant games I call my own.

> My Reputation is now Fierce, (does this go higher?)
How did you get this? I'm still "unknown", since I avoid fights because of
the bug(s) above. Did you go after any ship or mostly darts and that other
pirate type vessel (since the pirates don't like you).
> I still have only a Beryl laser, fore shield I, aft shield I, but the
> additional armor and 
It seems that I'm at least a good merchant, ;-) since I have a particle beam,
fore and aft shield III, 500 armor, 50% ECM, turbo thruster, 8 cargo pods,
stealth box and null damper.
I've been able to blast Vulture class ships into oblivion with this setup 
w/o problems. 
My success as trader of, uh, specialty items, is mainly founded on those 
forged cargo papers... ;-)
>beam lock
Where did you get that??? 
  
Answers and spoilers follow:

> Questions: Has anyone found a Thermocoupler Coil?
If you mean a transmutation coil that the Prof wants, yes.
It's on the carrier...
>	     Has anyone seen Maid?
Nope...
>	     Has ANYONE been able to survive Bassrutti Station?
Nope, but I've been able to stay in one piece for quite a while, by keeping
stockpiles and trash between me and the friendly greenish monster. This 
tactic also works great for guards...

    The screen blanking during combat is a major anoyance.., but it never
    happens to me often enough to throw the game away...
     I just save often, since this process is fairly painless.
     (What I can't stand is the manual look up after every reboot, but as 
    some one else mentioned, It's better than disk based protection).
     Another option may be to copy the disk to RAD: if you have enough
    memory, this would speed up load times considerably. (Think I'll
    try that.)
     I haven't been able to make much as a merchant so I went for bounty
    hunting instead.
     I think I'll give it another go though since every-one else in the 
    merchant buisness has got better equipment than me :'(.
     Mostly I been fighting Corsairs and Darts. If I find any Manchi, I
    take em out (cause thats what good citizens do ;')).
      It took me awhile, but I seem to have some pretty solid tactics in
     space warfare.
      Here's What I do.
    
     1.) As soon as I return to cockpit view I target my opponent and bring
    my speed up to about 10.
     2.) Once I get him in my sights I start hitting him with my beam
    weapon while bringing up my speed to over-take him.
     3.) When he fills my screen, I let loose with a nova missile.
         Gets him every time.
     4.) if he's still alive and I still have over 200 armor, I'll 
        ram him.
     5.) if he's still around, go to step 2.
    
     Well, it's not gracefull but it works!
    
    I found out that the coil was on the carrier last night, but even
    though I had the proper papers and took the tour, I couldn't get it..
     I searched the rooms, but couldn't find anything.
     Maybe I didn't look hard enough?
    
     Now for a spoiler about the beam lock.
    
	You've got to fight to improve your reputation, although this can
     be somewhat of a "Catch 22" situation because depending on who you
    beat-up on will affect others of that groups attitude toward you.
    	If you've been to the deneb system, and gone to the star-base,
     you've probably talked to the princess... 
    	Once you've satisfied her requirements, she will give you the
    beam-lock.

Re: .6

>     (What I can't stand is the manual look up after every reboot, but as 
>    some one else mentioned, It's better than disk based protection).
What's even worse is that there's no retry option. If you mistype the
keyword, it's time to load the whole sheebang over again.

<Savage tactics deleted.. ;-) ;-) >    

What puzzles me is that:

a) other than direct hits with plasma torps and ultra-short range missile
shoots, the tracking never seems to work. I.e. I'm ~ 1400m away from my
selected target, any missile I fire first takes a sharp U-turn and than
maybe fly in the general target direction w/o ever hitting it. Can't be
ECM all of the time, heh, some of these vessels even weren't equipped with
it.
b) while I happily slaughtered hundreds of sentient beings by destroying their
means of space transport and was rewarded bounty by a zynic government, I
never saw something different than "0" at my bounty status...
Could it be time to visit my Imperial representative???

Spoilers follow:



>    I found out that the coil was on the carrier last night, but even
>    though I had the proper papers and took the tour, I couldn't get it..
>     I searched the rooms, but couldn't find anything.
>     Maybe I didn't look hard enough?
Maybe. ;-) Ya should take a look in EVERY room and especially around technical
equipment. Beware of alarm pads.

<CB>

RE:-1


>What puzzles me is that:
>
>a) other than direct hits with plasma torps and ultra-short range missile
>shoots, the tracking never seems to work. 

 The guidance systems for these missiles leave much to be desired.
 I've ducked quite a few incomeing as well.
 (I want a Partical Beam and I want it now! :'))

>b) while I happily slaughtered hundreds of sentient beings by destroying their
>means of space transport and was rewarded bounty by a zynic government, I
>never saw something different than "0" at my bounty status...
>Could it be time to visit my Imperial representative???
  
 I just ripped-off a few tankers and scows (blew a couple up by accident as
 well). All the sudden I went from being liked by the "Giuld" to neutral.
 Thats one step away of being disliked, and found a bounty on me.
 If I had better weapons, I'd take on the bounty hunters but as is, I paid
 the bounty off at the star-base.

 (P.S.- I'm tempted to start shooting "Pirates" again to see if I can get em
 to "Hate" me :').
 (P.P.S. thanx for the tip! Malir Gates are more a bother than a challenge now)
			
							Ed.  

Re:-1


> (I want a Partical Beam and I want it now! :'))
This sucker isn't all that great. I've been giving a tanker at least 10
direct hits which resulted in a mere 10 point damage. And then all of
sudden my hits started to do some real damage. Shields _should_ have no
effect on the P-Beam...
 
> (P.P.S. thanx for the tip! Malir Gates are more a bother than a challenge now)
Yeah, quite annoying. Hopefully I can talk the Prof into letting me testdrive 
his newest toy...

<CB>

    Well I found the coil, brought it back, and picked up my null damper.
    Kind of a let down, I was hopeing to do better!
    I'm now rated at "Deadly" and I didn't even have to go on a killing
    spree..., one Pirate attacked me and after waxing him I got $495
    bucks in bounty! Thats the highest so far.
     I also filled my cargo hold with Video-games on Deneb for $20 each,
    and unloaded them for $140 at Bassruti!
     So now I've got:
    		     Sapphire Laser
    		     5 SM-1 Missiles
    		     5 Nova Missiles
                     500 Armor
    		     ECM 25%
    		     CLASS 1 FWD SHIELD
    		     CLASS 1 AFT SHIELD
    		     STEALTH BOX
    		     BEAM LOCK
    		     NULL DAMPER
     
      I Guess I'll work on uping my shields, or installing a turbo
    thruster. 
      I'm still following my lead on Targon.
    
    							Ed
    

Re: .10

>     I also filled my cargo hold with Video-games on Deneb for $20 each,
>     and unloaded them for $140 at Bassruti!
Hehehe, with contraband like explosives, X-rated holos, etc, purchased at a
mere 20-50 bucks can be sold at Deneb for 5-6 times and at Karonus for even
more...

<CB>_still_unkown.    

    HEY! 	
    	How do you get the stuff by customs? I always ended up getting my
    stuff confiscated :'(.
    
      Ed_need_to_make_some_quick_Bucks
    

    
    Re: .12
    
    Hehehehe, I already told some reply's back that I have forged cargo
    papers. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Spoiler:
    
    RSN ;-)
    
    
    
    
    
    To get them, have one or several "sessions" with yer friendly
    neighborhood mechnical crook...

    Ah!!
     I lost some money on that guy already, I should be due.
    
     Contraband, here I come!
    
     Buy the way, do you have a pilots license ?
                                                  Ed
    

    Re: .14
    
    Of course I have a pilots license, the test was rather dull for an ole
    SF buff like me. ;-)
    
    Now for an update, after anilihating several pirates in the Zed system,
    my status rose to pesky and soon to fierce, yeah.
    But the Prof (Prosk) wouldn't let me use the warp drive, bummer.
    
    I also have a very good idea who and where Targon is, however I
    don't seem to be able to "snap him out it".
    
    Hint...
    
    Don't trust Janus...
    
    <CB>

    Sounds like I'm just behind you on this one....
    I too found Targon and as you said, he doesn't respond well.
    I pretty shure I'm gonna have to search Bassrutti station, but since
    I've recieved my gift from a grieving husband, I think I'll check out
    the Black Hand.
    
    	Thanks for the Tip.
    
     Oh, on a different note it seems that people don't hold grudges here.
    After forgoing my usual See&Slaughter tactics to concentrate on the
    advancment of my mission, the Merchant giuld started "Liking" me and
    the Pirates dislike went to neutral!
     'Course I still have to defend myself ;').
     Also, I almost bought the farm in the Gryphon System, I was attacked 
     Three times on the way to Malir gate. 
      As you know Gryphon doesn't have repair facilities and all my ship
    systems were damaged except for my Saphire laser.
      If it wasn't for the null damper, I'd of disentegrated in the Malir 
    gate.
    	Thanx again for coil tip!
    
    								Ed
    
    

Re: -1


>    Sounds like I'm just behind you on this one....
Maybe, maybe not.. 

>    I pretty shure I'm gonna have to search Bassrutti station, but since
>    I've recieved my gift from a grieving husband, I think I'll check out
>    the Black Hand.
??? What grieving husband??? Aren't husbands all struck be disaster? ;-)
    
>     Also, I almost bought the farm in the Gryphon System, 
Who, what, when, where???

<CB>

  Of course you realize that when I said "bought the farm", I meant "Almost
 kicked the bucket", "Bit the dust", or "nearly went to that big boot block in
 sky". There isn't a farm for sale in the Gryphon System.;')

  Basically I was attacked 3 times while flying to the Malir gate in the 
 Gryphon system . The first time was a Vulture, it took my Aft Shield and
 Engine out.
   Second I was pulled into a fight between a Dart and a Cruiser.
   My systems glitched on me cause even though I had Targeted the Dart
   on my Tac. When I hit auto fire it started blasting the criuser!
     So I had to take both of them out...
   They shot up my missile launcher and for shield.
   Finaly a Corsair started up with me. By now I was getting nervouse cause
   my armor was decreasing signifancently. Luckily this guy showed up in front
   of me and I just outblasted him.
     If it wasn't for the null damper, I couldn't have gotten out of there.
    As it was, with the engin damage I had to pass through the gate at about
    10 instead of my usual 23-24 % thrust.


	About Grieving Husbands......
       <SPOILER ALERT>

  
   On the mining station in the Gryphon system is a man (called Olin, I think).
  Who asks you to bring a message to his wife.
   After you bring back her message, he gives you a psionic shield amulet to
 protect you against psionic powers!
   So now I'm going to go back to Trochal and talk to the Priestess.

   I still can't find maid.
   The guy who sold me the ameobic contact lenses wants me to buy a music
 globe, but I don't know if I should waste my money on it...

   
							Ed
        

	Important update and spoiler needed!!!!
	Do not read unless you've straightened out Targon and gotten his 
	story.

		Spoiler Warning



	Well I got the story from Targon and have retrieved the Manchi Egg
	from the Psionic's Station.
		I've gone to the professor to use his warp drive to enable
	me to bring the Manchi Egg back to the Manchi Home System.
	  We were all set to go, but then he asked me for the coordinates
	of the Manchi Home System.
	  I had gotten this information early on in the game from the 
	Bashki Trader by giving him the blue-globe sold to me buy one of the 
	other creatures (same one that sells the Ameobic Contact lenses).
	  I wrote it down, BUT LOST IT!
		I spent most of the weekend trying to find the guys
	with the blue globes so I can trade it to the Bashki for information
	on the Manchi home system, but haven't had any luck.....
		If someone out there knows the coordinates to the Manchi 
	Home System PLEASE either E-mail or reply with spoiler.
		
			THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!

							Thanks,
								Ed

Re: .19

Well, I finished it this weekend and I didn't loose my note... ;-) ;-)
I gave the beryl cristal I found at some mining station to the
Far-Trader for this information.

Spoiler follows: (Hopefully the FormFeed survives ;-)





While I don't have the coordinates handy, my flakey memory keeps telling
me that they're GC3904.

If that should be wrong, I'll post them tommorow.

<CB>

    Many Many Thanks!
    
    
    
    						Ed 

    Well, I used those coordinates <CB> and guess what......
    
    I was warped into nothingness.......
    My final screen message was "You find yourself staring out into
    emptiness, no stars, no planets, nothing.... You spend your last few
    days wondering why you gave the Proffessor the wrong coordinates..
     Better luck next time."
    
     Er, you didn't happen to get the correct ones did you? ;')
    
    							Thanks;
    								Ed
    
    

    Re: .22
    
    Well a little slip.
    
    
    
    Hopefully you saved the game before that tragic move, I know I did. ;-)
    
    It's GC3409, I wasn't sure about the GC maybe being CG so I just
    checked that yesterday...
    
    <CB>
    

    Thanks again!
    

    Finnished the game !!!
     Wish I could go back an finnish biulding up my ship though :'(.
     I wonder if they'll have a sequal? 
     
    						Ed
    

    My reputation is deadly, I own a particle beam, aft and fore shield
    III, turbo thruster, 8 cargo pods, 500 armour, 75% ECM, repair droid,
    dilithium gem, globe, amoebic lenses, forged cargo papers, beam lock...
    
    But how do you use the beam lock?
    The shields don't seem to work! 
    Anyway...I've challenged and busted all kind of ships, last day I went
    Titan class warships hunting, it was too easy, they didn't even fire at
    me, maybe it was because I kept behind them!
    I need to know where I can find Targon (Ferret).
    You'll find MAID east of Deneb.(Bassruti, Gryphon, Zed??)
    Yes... the missiles never work properly (altough I killed a Wasp with a
    single SM1 from more than 2000m afar!)
    I wonder if the shields really work in this game...they seem to have no
    effect.
    
    regards,         Miguel