Merchant help

[tooth]

Hello all,
I have been toying around on a merchant and I enjoy it, I only have a few questions for you guys:
1.what exactly does the trade record ability do?
2. As far as stats go ive been pitting my xp into pilot and negotiation, should I focus on anything else?
3. Ive been flying the neutiquam erro, and It suits my needs, what should I look for in my next ship? Should I value cargo space above all else? Or maybe a faster ship?

Thanks in advance

[Officer Genious]

May 11, 2014 12:36:23 GMT -5 tooth said:

Hello all,
I have been toying around on a merchant and I enjoy it, I only have a few questions for you guys:
1.what exactly does the trade record ability do?
2. As far as stats go ive been pitting my xp into pilot and negotiation, should I focus on anything else?
3. Ive been flying the neutiquam erro, and It suits my needs, what should I look for in my next ship? Should I value cargo space above all else? Or maybe a faster ship?

Thanks in advance

Trade records happen when you buy/sell large amounts of cargo. When you do, a record (restricted good) is placed in your cargo, which are great ways to boost rep with a faction (just watch spy wars as that will drop rep with another faction).

I'd toss a few points into Warrior just incase an alien finds you or worse, an Indy pirate. Don't forget that you don't HAVE to level up immediately- taking some time to make/spend on your ship before things get serious has saved many a captain's life.

If you have 200k, I'd consider designing my own ship, especially one with high sails, engines and cargo. Honestly, because of Aliens and Independents I'd always go for fast/quick ships. You can always upgrade them for cargo, but upgrades for speed aren't equal to a ship bought at those stats. Be sure to bounce around to different factions for new ships and look for one's with high Starport ratings (bottom left of Urban screen) or ones with rumors of bustling starports.

[tooth]

Thanks for the super awesome response, once again.
Im really hesitant about making my own ship because I dont want to leave something out.
Would a hull of 9 be too small to eventually upgrade cargo space? Or is it possible to have a big ship that is fast.
Perhaps I should just play more and learn through experience.

[Officer Genious]

May 11, 2014 14:49:42 GMT -5 tooth said:

Thanks for the super awesome response, once again.
Im really hesitant about making my own ship because I dont want to leave something out.
Would a hull of 9 be too small to eventually upgrade cargo space? Or is it possible to have a big ship that is fast.
Perhaps I should just play more and learn through experience.

The upgrade stats stay the same for all ships unless they're based on percents. This means that I can build a ship with a hold of 25, then upgrade it with the water fuel upgrade, which means that I can buy 25 water fuels at a time while still having 25 space for anything else. It's magical. Speed and Agility are based on the sail to hull ratio/engine to hull ratio, with fast/quick being 2:1 or better. Hulls represent control of the ship, so don't get high-hull ships unless your Pilot = hull, or Pilot+intimidate= hull. It's kinda complicated. 

[tooth]

You are awesome. Thank you for all the help. I am in the process of filling my coffers to the.brim. I have good rep with javat and thulun working on more. I smell a new ship.

[ChocoCrowbar]

I would recommend higher sails than engines. Sails allow you to escape any enemy encounter, since it counts ant long range. Engines count at medium/short range, and since you're a merchant and not a Military Bounty Pirate (like me), you don't really want to be in the mid/short range in battles.

The also reduce the amount of water fuel you need to get from point A to B, so that means more room for cargo.