Rags to Riches - Difficulty Level?

[OriginalGrubby]

So I'm still new to the game, but I've done a few of the story starts and have decided to venture out on my own with a Rags to Riches Challenge.

I'm looking at a Terran start, possibly Oort Cloud as my initial system.

I'm a bit stuck with a bone stock Frog Courier ship as Terran don't have any other small transport ships. The lack of weapons has me a bit worried, but I like space trucking so I figure this will be OK.

I've offset the lack of weapons with 1,000 starting credits since i'm not really sure how I could earn any money if I started with nothing and had no weapons. I couldn't even hire a pilot and go hunt for an abandoned ship to potentially sell.

Factions are what ever the default is for an open universe start.

I'll own no properties, and have no other systems explored to start with.

Am I overdoing it for a player with only 60 hours in game so far? I'm really enjoying the game so far and this seems like a fun way to kick it up a notch.

Thanks.

[Duke Flapjack]

Eh, I enjoy those kinds of underdog starts myself. It's actually not easy to NOT make a fair amount of money: you really have to stick to your rules. I personally enjoy watching my ships do their things. My favorite start is with a scout and a courier. I let the scout scout and turn deadtater on for my courier and let it do its thing.

Terran space for the most part is VERY safe. You're highly not likely to see many enemies. You'll occasionally see some Yaki, but they tend to ignore you. Xenon get wiped out almost immediately. I'm not sure if the McCallum Relay is part of the base game or if it's a part of the X4 Reemergence mod, but that's the most dangerous sector in Terran space and it's way past Pluto.

Personally I see this as not a bad way of learning the game mechanics pretty well. Just stay outside the Mars orbit and you'll be fine. You may find better trading in Pioneer space but you'll have a pretty solid trading partner with either. Just bear in mind there is basically NO trade between Terran/Pioneer and anybody else.

[Ferenczy]

With a Terran Frog starting out....you should have access to Transport Missions.
- Ferry this person to that location.
- No weapons needed.

[OriginalGrubby]

Originally posted by Duke Flapjack:

Just stay outside the Mars orbit and you'll be fine. You may find better trading in Pioneer space but you'll have a pretty solid trading partner with either. Just bear in mind there is basically NO trade between Terran/Pioneer and anybody else.

What is at the Mars orbit?

And does that mean I'm not allowed to go and trade with anyone else?

[OriginalGrubby]

Originally posted by Ferenczy:

With a Terran Frog starting out....you should have access to Transport Missions.
- Ferry this person to that location.
- No weapons needed.

Ooh, I never even thought about that. I'll have to be sure to hunt for some of those. Though to be 100% honest I'll have to look up how to do missions. Like I said I've really only done the story starts so I just did what I was told to do for them.

[FuryoftheStars]

Provided you have the spacesuit repair laser, you can also do signal leak repair missions. And missions requesting satellite drops at the gates. Oh, and sector patrol missions.

Originally posted by OriginalGrubby:

What is at the Mars orbit?

Iirc, you need to be at a certain rep with Terrain to go into Mars (and subsequently Venus and Mercury), and then another rep level for the Moon and Earth itself. They'll warn you as you get close to the gates, but won't do anything until you actually cross through.

[Zloth]

Repairing satellites earns cash, too. In fact, the Project Genesis start has you do exactly that right out of the start of the game. (It's an interesting start, you get to see where the HQ came from.)

If you really want to go hard core, some people start with NO ship - just floating out in space. I think you would need some cash doing that, though, or some stuff you could sell at a space station.

[Doom]

Originally posted by OriginalGrubby:

Am I overdoing it for a player with only 60 hours in game so far?

No, it cant be quite entertaining. Once you know the ropes starting with nothing will no longer a challenge, so enjoy the experience.

[Cellar_Cat]

I wouldn't say such a start is difficult, just slower. With zero money you can still scavenge drops and do missions. Even with no ship, you can hitch rides on other craft, until you find yourself on a station that facilitates flying out to grab inventory wares to sell with your spacesuit. Or comm ships in battle and ask them to surrender lol.

[Azunai]

Do a few taxi missions and you cn soon afford a gun. At that point it won't be much different from any other start.

[Duke Flapjack]

Originally posted by OriginalGrubby:

Originally posted by Duke Flapjack:

Just stay outside the Mars orbit and you'll be fine. You may find better trading in Pioneer space but you'll have a pretty solid trading partner with either. Just bear in mind there is basically NO trade between Terran/Pioneer and anybody else.

What is at the Mars orbit?

And does that mean I'm not allowed to go and trade with anyone else?

You absolutely CAN trade between the Terrans/Pioneers and everybody else...provided you can find something TO trade. The economies are not compatible with anybody outside of Terran/Pioneer space.

[Doom]

Originally posted by Duke Flapjack:

The economies are not compatible with anybody outside of Terran/Pioneer space.

Terrans produce medical supplies and energy cells which are compatible with the rest of the galaxy.

The interesting (and underutilized) thing in the game that each race produces medicine with a different recipe, but they end up making the same item.

[SievertChaser]

Originally posted by Duke Flapjack:

Originally posted by OriginalGrubby:

What is at the Mars orbit?

And does that mean I'm not allowed to go and trade with anyone else?

You absolutely CAN trade between the Terrans/Pioneers and everybody else...provided you can find something TO trade. The economies are not compatible with anybody outside of Terran/Pioneer space.

Yeah, and you can't really autotrade anywhere in that space either. The Terran economy is just frustratingly simplistic.

You can haul Energy Cells from Mercury to anywhere in the system, if they let you that far.

[Duke Flapjack]

Originally posted by SievertChaser:

Originally posted by Duke Flapjack:

You absolutely CAN trade between the Terrans/Pioneers and everybody else...provided you can find something TO trade. The economies are not compatible with anybody outside of Terran/Pioneer space.

Yeah, and you can't really autotrade anywhere in that space either. The Terran economy is just frustratingly simplistic.

You can haul Energy Cells from Mercury to anywhere in the system, if they let you that far.

I actually find autotrading works quite well in Terran space and I can make a considerable amount of money doing it. Of course, I also have a ton of mods. I haven't been able to speak for vanilla since about four hours or so after release.

[OriginalGrubby]

Thank you guys for all of the info. Think I've set the bar high, but this sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.