From Drew Sullivan Jul 7 2003 Dear Paul: I enjoyed reading your new Privateer Guide while sitting here awaiting trial on another one of those trumped up charges. (Don't worry, my mouth piece says I have nothing to worry about, all the State's witnesses having recently decided to become deceased). I have a casual, scholarly interest in the Privateers. Not that I actually ever have anything to do with nasty illegal people like them (and if you say otherwise some of the boys will come by to "reason" with you so watch it, Capisco?) Anyway, here are a few thoughts. Based on what I have heard about the Privateers out on the street. Ya hear things on the street. Ya know what I mean, right? Pods: Early as the Privs send pods (assault pods with a single crew or Gold Pods) to all distant areas of the map. In 5 turns they will have gone 600 ly, in 10 turns 1200. They explore for almost free. AND the bases you make (in the hundreds) all over the map will make some unhappiness (a minor benefit for you) and make the other players furious and irrational (a major benefit for you). A crazed enemy is an ineffectual enemy. Cloak the Gold Pods if you are worried about giving away your HW location, but: Stay mobile. Your population centeres are your greatest vulnerablity. Do not have One Big Base but always have (from very early in the game) 2 or 3, then many more as your Population increases. Be ready to pod away (at 120 LY) if anyone comes near and looks like they will assault your base. GA: The Privs are now _very_ good at GA due to large numbers of troops. So make large numbers of troops. Your initial ships need to start making troops and HG as soon as preactical (given that they need to use their Dust Off devices to grab Contra and Natives). Get your starting MBR in a few easy battles to get it's Experience over 100 (so it makes HG). Your Dwarfstar will make Troops from the first turn (in large numbers). Fill the starting Dwfstr with Cols and 1 crew, let it make crew and troops from turn 1. You can also gain Experience for the starting MBR by stealing. Steal any food you can (from enemy bases). I think the formula is "Food stolen/1000 (as a decimal fraction) =3D Chance of gaining experience. IE if you steal 700 food you have a 0.7 chance of gaining Exp. The Exp boost always seems to be 10 points. Ships: Make lots of "cheap" MBRs. (Those Privateer guys are always rolling in MC and their ships are cheap in metal even if an MBR costs about 5000 MC with crummy engines and shields). Even late in the game the skilled, successful Privateer (not that I actually know any, you understand) has about 1/2 his ships with 400 shields, maybe, Tech 20 engines (free from Ghips or just buy them, speed is life) and maybe 10 SWs and 1 PD. Use those ships for the Dust off devices and as transports and tow ships. (The Privs hit a lot of mines, so have cheap tow ships going 380/turn so the more expensive ship isn't damaged by the minefield). For Hyperdrives on MBRs use two (the average Priv Player is awash in MC, the Hyperdrives cost no metal, and the cost of the second Hyperdrive is nothing compared to, say, your legal fees and bail money). The MBR has 6 pod bays so have one Hype Engine mounted, and the other, spare Hyperdrive engine in an outfit pod in one of those bays. You can upgrade, then Move Old->New and you are ready to switch back in two turns. Carry one Warhop (for fuel efficiency) and one Cydonia (highest tech) for long range. You make most of your hypes at short range (see below) and over the course of the game those Warhops save tens of thousands of fuel. They save tens of thousands of fuel because you a) have lots of MBRs (by turn 40 you should have 150 maybe) and because they hype almost every turn. Use the MBRs (the cheap ones with crummy shields and almost no weapons) to hype onto victims, steal fuel and run a short distance in a random direction. As the Privs, and unable to make Big Ships, you needn't fight the enemy Big Ships. Just strand them. If the idiot sends another ship to refuel the first ship, strand that one too. Once stranded you can plan to board them if you like (Using Lady Royale Siren Haarps and MBR Boarding Lasers). Remeber, boarding is the only way you can get alien hulls for mining, refining, chunneling, fighting. You can't build hulls from alien plans. Killing People: Don't. You don't, as the Privateers, want to kill people. You want to bleed them eternally. You are a parasite, not a warrior. A good parasite wants to keep its host alive (barely) so it can suck its blood for years. Let me ask you a personal question. If you have a couple of compulsive gamblers that own their own small businesses you don't take all their money at once and put them out of business, do you? Of course not! I am sure you constantly take cash from them, run their businesses into the ground (slowly), use up all their credit, but keep them (barely) going for as long as possible.=20 Well, if you exercise that sort of common sense and good judgement in your personal life, why do you play this VGAP4 game any differently? Ya know what I mean, right? You want the EE to stay in the game (crippled and no real threat) while you keep laying grav mines, so he keeps building those H Ross Minesweepers in droves for you to board. You cripple the Rebels but leave their bases with those Cantinas. One Pirate's Cove can steal the Contrra from 6 or 7 rebel bases with Cantinas. Now that is efficient. You don't kill population, you GA (with a fast hyping MBR, no weapons needed), drop an assault pod with lots of troops and HG, capture that Fed or Scavenger or whatever base, use the Cities and Smelters they built for you, but then pod their population to a bare rock (no supplies). Keep transporting food down to the planet (the planet, not the Fed base). The feds will gather the food, you steal it from them (and send it back to the planet), your ship gains experience, you have more troops, you GA more bases. Wash, rinse, repeat. Oh, and make those Fed and Scav and whatever bases hold just over 1 million cols each (so you can put a Lady Royale over the base and make gambling income.). But don't ever kill those people. We need all the compulsive gamblers we can get! Anyway, the judge just came in so I have to stop doodling on my attorneys note pad and look like I am paying attention. Don't worry though. It's Judge Foozle. He draws a "salary" from the "off the books payroll" at Maficci Waste Management. It's not for nothing Maficci Waste Management makes the alimony payments to his last three wives for him. Ya know how it is, right? Affectionately yours, Don Maficci, Honest Businessman President, Maficci Waste Management "Waste" dealt with promptly, discretely and permanently. ----------- A tip from Admiral Quixote: After realizing the Privs could now steal food with their cargo grappler, I sent my starting meteor next to the homeplanet of the Borg. Either he moved his king offworld on turn 1 (unlikely, but I'll check) or the Borg King cannot protect its food from being stolen. No food kind of hurts the Borg King growth bonus.