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[TartarusMkII]

Heya,

This'll be a short post, I just wanted to point out that some of the combination of choices you make when you start the game simply make no sense.

My favorite example is that if you choose to be a bounty hunter who has just acquired a new weapon, you get a medium energy weapon. However, when you start the game you only have a Wolf that can use such weapons. And this weapon in particular causes too much flux to be useful with the Wolf, and in my opinion is totally inferior to the set up the Wolf begins the game with.

Just seems sort of pointless!

[Megas]

I want the Heavy Blaster start every time.  It has power and hits for hard flux.  I think it is far superior to Graviton Beam start.  Beam only Wolf is too hard to use without Advanced Optics hullmod.  Also, heavy blaster is rare in shops, and I will gladly take the freebie.

[CrashToDesktop]

The Heavy Blaster is a definite upgrade over the Graviton Beam - you can just lay down a pounding on the enemy of your choice.  You'll usually be able to get out 3 good shots that can either overload an enemy's shields or rip their armor to shreds.  Combine that with the speedy venting of the Wolf and you can usually get both those in and bring the enemy down to half hull or more, depending if you use missiles / rockets or not.

That does depend on your point of view though - you've still got the option of getting +4000c, which is fine if you want to totally refit your Wolf.

[TartarusMkII]

But how do you fit it to the starting wolf without bricking it from flux efficiency?

Thanks!

[Aeson]

I tend to agree with Megas and The Soldier. I'm much closer to feeling that the improved crew veterancy and the extra starting money are worthless than that the Heavy Blaster is worthless. If you take the easy start and actually use the Hammerhead in combat, the Heavy Blaster might not be great, but if you're flying a lone Wolf against anything with halfway decent shields, the ability to drop the graviton beam for something that does hard flux damage is worth quite a bit. It might be a bit more new-player-friendly if it gave a Pulse Laser rather than a Heavy Blaster, but a beams-only Wolf without the extra range for its Tactical Lasers has a hard time beating anything quickly and has a very limited range band for kiting while firing its full weapon set against most opponents. I do like flying a Graviton Beam Wolf more than I like flying a Blaster or Pulse Laser Wolf, but not as a solo frigate.

For the Trader start, the only option that I feel probably isn't worthwhile is the money option, as 30 Volturnian Lobsters stand a very good chance of selling for more than that even on the open market (you need only sell them for 191 credits apiece to earn more than 4000 credits selling them on the open market), and the Hermes is more or less 6000 credits that you don't have to spend on your fleet.

For the Smuggler start, I don't really think any of the options are bad; the recreational drugs stand to make you a lot of money at the start (probably more than the 4000 credits), but you'll probably be trading on the black market or with everyone's enemies in order to do it. The 4000 credit start lets you get into legal trading a bit more easily, if that's the direction you wanted to go, since you won't have any black marks on your record that you'll have to rub out, while the Heavy Mauler makes it a little easier to transition into a pirate or bounty hunter (the Heavy Mauler might be a bit questionable, since Hounds and Cerberi really aren't the kinds of ships you want to bring to a fight, though if you picked the easy start I think the Mule can use it - but that has the same issue as starting with the Hammerhead does for the bounty hunter, if you were looking to transition to that kind of playstyle).

[TartarusMkII]

Thanks a lot for the insight! As I've mentioned in other threads, I am by no means experienced, and struggle through the game often.

I trust your judgement, and will try a bit harder to figure how to fit the wolf properly.

Admittedly, I do start with the destroyer often, but I hate it. It does not fly itself into range nearly enough of the time..

[Megas]

For bounty hunter start, it helps to get Technology 2, for Navigation 2 (to speed up the Hammerhead) and either Computer Systems 2 or Mechanical Engineering 2 (for more OP).

Yes, pulse laser start is more newbie-friendly; without Advanced Optics, that should replace Graviton Beam as the default option, with the heavy blaster from the high-tech weapon option as the upgrade.

About other bounty hunter starter options...
More money is worthless because everything you want to buy to fight better requires positive reputation (which player does not have at first) to unlock.  Player must survive several fights to get to that point, more than in previous versions.  For example, I want a Lasher or two to help fight.  What? Only neutral? Sorry kid, go get a Hermes instead.

Experienced crew is worthless because after a few fights, you get experienced crew.

[Wyvern]

A tip on outfitting the starting wolf to use a heavy blaster: you don't actually need to fill all of your weapon slots.  My standard starting variant carries a heavy blaster, a sabot rack (stolen from the extra hammerhead - which I then just sell), a swarmer launcher (if I can find one for sale - if not, 2x sabot rack), and that's it.  Requires some fancy flying to avoid getting demolished by salamanders, but it means you can afford max vents and unstable injector and a decent number of capacitors.

When fighting, if my opponent can't return fire (hint: go to tech 5 first, get your 25% bonus range), I'll often vent after every one to three shots.

Later on, I add one burst PD - but that still leaves two small energy slots that I just don't use.

[SatchelCharge]

More money is worthless because everything you want to buy to fight better requires positive reputation (which player does not have at first) to unlock.  Player must survive several fights to get to that point, more than in previous versions.  For example, I want a Lasher or two to help fight.  What? Only neutral? Sorry kid, go get a Hermes instead.

The 'money' option is bad yes but it's real easy to find a lasher on the black market...

[TartarusMkII]

Awesome, thanks again for the advice!