SFXB Forum

Ship wise it really depends what you're looking for - the various races all have their different strengths. The Paranid M5 can rocket along at around 1000 (insert speed unit here) but has virtually no cargo space which in turn impacts on weapons capability. But if you want the "run away" option, or a ship for doing courier runs, it's your best option. I tried the Boron Octopus for a while but it's got a weird piloting position - fast though. The Discoverer is a M5 of course. Right now I'm using a Teladi Harrier because of its cargo space - it's not super-fast, but because I've now got a Corvette it's useful for transferring cargo across. I've got several factories up now - even an enclosed loop which was very expensive to set up but basically guarantees supplies to factories which sell externally. Most recently I was trying to take down a pirate base, but I need a little more firepower it seems...

You won't be able to go head to head with Khaak / Xenon until you have a much better ship - as you've noticed, your shields will be gone in a second if they lock on to you. Mantas are very useful ships because they're fast enough to outrun the Khaak M3s and given decent shields might even last long enough to open up the distance - plus they're the only TP to carry XL cargo. M4 wise - Boron Makos are handy, and I had one for a while. Argon Buster too. Again, if you look at the stats you'll find variations in terms of defence, speed, offence and so on between the races.Apparently having fighter drones on freighters helps a lot, as does not arming the freighters - if they fight, they'll die. But that's more for Out of Sector combat - which is handled more as a maths table style thing. Typically by the time I get a warning that one of my ships is under attack there's no way I can get there in time to assist, even jumping in. So it's worth not upgrading them too much. Plus although giving them escorts sounds sensible, if the escort goes odds are the freighter will too and you lose two ships.I could make other suggestions but I don't want to spoil it for you - and you've got experience of the earlier games in the series anyway so you're probably more familiar than I am anyway...