Best way to get more jump drives?

[awfulworldkid]

I beat the FW storyline and got the Wanderer License, but I have two Shield Beetles parked with no Jump Drives and I really want to get them up and jumping. Any idea where I can find some more jump drives with just my Bactrian flagship? Also, while we're on this topic, what should I outfit my Bactrian with? Right now I have a bunch of Electron Beams and Heavy Lasers with Wanderer engines, power, and shields, and I'm interested to know how I could optimize it better.

[larrybagina]

Easiest place to farm is during the Pug invasion during the campaign.
If you have only one jump drive, your best bet is either waiting on the edge of Syndicate space for a Korath to jump in, or buying a Wanderer fleet and hunting Hai on the far east edge of Wanderer space. If you have a good fleet you can go after the Quarg but I'm never a fan of attacking friendly species (you can conquer Humanika and loot two drives from that fight without making them too angry, though).

If you don't have the money to buy fleet in Wanderer space, you can also outfit your Bactrian with minimal outfits and several ramscoops and stay cloaked in systems where the Wanderers are fighting Unfettered and uncloak and board Unfettered as they're disabled.

[Sinsling]

You can farm Korath Raiders for more if you didnt farm the pug during the FW story. You can find them east of syndicate space. I recommend going to Durax (located north-east of Zaurak) and farming the ones that occasionally jumps in there if you only have 1 jump capable ship at the moment.

IMO, drop the wanderer shields when possible for a large system core, which you can get from the korath when you have a few more jump drives to take a fleet into their territory. If you are using any fore weapons, scrap them and use the extra space for shielding. And upgrade to sunbeams at your earliest convenience.

[awfulworldkid]

Well, I couldn't get my hands on any Large System Cores, but now I also have 2 Shield Beetles outfitted with Wanderer tech and jump drives. I ditched all the fore weapons on all my ships and refitted them with Sunbeams; and ditched all my previous shielding, power, and engines and replaced them with their Wanderer equivalents. How much more of a fleet do I need to go looking for Large System Cores, and where can I find them? Also, how do I get enough cargo space for them? My Bactrian is almost out of cargo space with all the Mass Expansions I've needed.

EDIT: I also bought 3 more Shield Beetles and as of now 1 of them is properly outfitted, bringing the total to 3 properly outfitted escorts. I also replaced all of their turrets with Sunbeams, and I'm wondering if I should also do that on my Flagship. Each still has Anti-Missile turrets. I'm running a bit low on cash, so I'm planning on looting pirates and the Korath for money, but I'm not sure if my Bac has enough space to make it worthwhile.

[Tortellini]

I got randomly lucky as a newby on my 1st attempt learning the game. Earned enough cash capping and looting pirates and went for 3 Bactrians and made way to the Shield Beetles so I got 8 of them. Then had like 20 something more ships from the captures, mostly heavies and mediums. (3 Bactrians and 8 Beetles means normal human space is only noisy not dangerous)

During FW parts with a lot of distance back and forth, I found my fleet was cumbersome and parked it. After I got to the Pug part of FW story and got the 1 Jump Drive I had to figure out how many Jump Drives and how to get my fleet, or at least some support, into Pug space. Time to check the "i" screen for where they are, how many, etc....

Turns out the system I parked the fleet in was 1 jump from an outfitter in Pug space already. I gotta farm jump drives to get my fleet OUT not in!!!

[Storm Crow]

South-west of Sko'kar'ak.

[larrybagina]

Originally posted by awfulworldkid:

How much more of a fleet do I need to go looking for Large System Cores, and where can I find them? Also, how do I get enough cargo space for them? My Bactrian is almost out of cargo space with all the Mass Expansions I've needed.

Cores are on Korath ships. Since you're farming gear and not capping ships, give your Bactrian more cargo space or switch to a cargo hauler with heavy defenses. Or keep your Bactrian heavily geared and crewed and just cap whole Unfettered ships with the drives already on them.

[Sinsling]

You can find Korath ships east of syndicate space that have large system cores. You can find them east of Hai space as well, but those ships are considerably stronger, and I would suggest waiting to try farming those.

[Avior]

Pretty sure that Raiders have medium system cores, while World-Ships have large system cores.

It's considerably more diverse in automaton-controlled territory.

[Sinsling]

Originally posted by Avior:

Pretty sure that Raiders have medium system cores, while World-Ships have large system cores.

It's considerably more diverse in automaton-controlled territory.

By 3 ships, for a total of 4, that all have insanely high self-destruction rates. By the time you successfully disable and board one to pull out a core you have 30 small to medium ships breathing down your neck.

I also never said raiders, I said east of syndicate space. :p

[Avior]

I was not necessarily responding to your statement.

[jaymc1130]

Originally posted by awfulworldkid:

Also, how do I get enough cargo space for them? My Bactrian is almost out of cargo space with all the Mass Expansions I've needed.

A generic plunder Bact load out in your general tech range with the qualities you desire:

3 Dual Sunbeam Turret
2 Wanderer Anti-Missile

1 Jump Drive
1 Fuel Pod
4 Mass Expansion
1 Outfit Scanner
1 Cargo Scanner
4 Wanderer Heat Sink
2 Dark Storm Shielding

1 Blue Sun Reactor
1 Hai Fissure Battery

1 A520 Atomic Thruster
1 865 Atomic Steering

Pertinent Ship Stats:
450 Cargo Space
305 Speed
95 Turning
76 crew required
245 crew space
800 Fuel

This should be a pretty versatile load out for your flag ship at the stage of the game you are in. It will be able to do just about anything you ask of it and could be very easily modified with more mass expansions to convert to a Cap Bact (loads of bunks) or Shield Bact (loads of shields) and some of its outfits can be easily down graded to get more cargo room for a Cargo Bact. You're going to be pretty nimble and have moderate speed with moderate firepower and shield strength in this default configuration.

[awfulworldkid]

I haven't started the Wanderer war with the Unfettered yet purely because I didn't have any spare Jump Drives, and I ended up taking out everything except 2 each of the Type 3 Wanderer engines, 2 Dark Storm shields, and one White Sun reactor from my Bac to add more Cargo Expansions, to hold more outfits for selling. Is 5 Shield Beetles with 8 Sunbeams and 2 Chameleon Anti-Missiles each enough for the war, and should I add more shield onto my Bac or keep it the way it is?

EDIT: Each of my ships also carries 5 Wanderer Ramscoops, and all my Shield Beetles have 2 Dark Storm shields, 2 of each of the Type 3 Wanderer engines, 2 White Sun reactors, and 2 Fuel Pods.

[Avior]

You are more than ready. As long as you have enough credits to eventually upgrade to a Wanderer warship (as in, locked behind the Wanderer military license), of course, once they are available.

You have 5 Shield Beetles, each with...

• 8x sunbeams
  
• 2x chameleon anti-missiles
  
• 5x Wanderer ramscoops
  
• 2x dark storm shielding
  
• 2x type 3 radiant thrusters
  
• 2x type 3 radiant steering
  
• 2x white sun reactors
  
• 2x fuel pods

1. Remove the 4 ramscoops; you do not need so many. A single Wanderer ramscoop is already good enough.
   
2. Add one more fuel pod (you will eventually need to make 4 jump drive jumps on a mission).
   
3. I would suggest you take out some of the sunbeams and replace them with ion cannons, though you do not have to follow this; I personally do not like ion cannons, because they are bloody huge.
   
4. Replace the engines with
   
   • type 1 radiant thruster
     
   • type 2 radiant steering
     
   • type 4 radiant steering
     
   • type 4 radiant thruster
   Provides greater maneuverability for about the same outfit space.
   
5. I assume you are using mass expansions, because otherwise you should not be able to fit all of what you listed. In that case, get 3 mass expansions and install a liquid nitrogen cooler.

[awfulworldkid]

I just farmed my way to about 218M Credits and an extra Jump Drive, and I'm about to give my first spare Jump Drive to the Unfettered Hai and kick off the war. Will update on how it's going later.

EDIT: Gave a single Jump Drive to them, learned about Alphas, reported to Ikkat Rex, chose not to keep a surveillance device, scattered them all, talked to Hai officials, found natural stopping point. Currently farming for more Jump Drives to give to the Unfettered for $$$ and backstory.

EDIT 2: Just read the post above this, and yes I have 5 mass expansions on each Shield Beetle. Will make all changes but the Ion Cannon swap ASAP.

EDIT 3: Have now made all changes but Ion Cannon and Liquid Nitrogen, will add Korath Heat Shunts later.

[jaymc1130]

Originally posted by awfulworldkid:

I just farmed my way to about 218M Credits and an extra Jump Drive, and I'm about to give my first spare Jump Drive to the Unfettered Hai and kick off the war. Will update on how it's going later.

You'll need to give them 4 I believe.