[dalgo]

I am using the Tweak pack now and am very impressed with the amount of work that has gone into it. I have found no gameplay problems and in particular I like the idea of taking combat missions away from planets to avoid the constant 'Entering Automatic Landing Zone' interruptions.

However, for me personally the game is virtually unplayable. I suck at combat and have always played Privateer as a trading game. The tweak pack has nerfed trading to such an extent that it has virtually removed that feature from the game. As an example a recent run from Helen to Hector with a full cargo load netted me exactly 1745 credits. At that rate it would take me 112 trading trips to fully outfit a Tarsus - so a Centurion is completely out of the question.

I realize I am very much in the minority here and I'm sure most people will get a lot out of the combat changes, but I will have to switch back to the original version.

[podbelski1]

dalgo,

I can send you a personal small patch to boost trading profits if you wish)

but TBH you miss the whole game if you only trade in Troy until you can afford Centurion. At least, better trade in Junction - I think the most lucrative trade runs are between agricultural and pleasure planets, it's even possible to make 3-3.5k in one intrasystem flight, cool for a half-a-minute jumpless journey. I really don't think it's fair to make it bigger

Or, go to the central systems (around New Detroit obv), take Cargo missions for 'safer' routes, and buy additional commodities depending on which planet type your primary mission is for. Is it clear what I'm suggesting? Look through the docfile within the patch for hints on which systems are 'safe', I guarantee Troy is not the only one. Your profits will vary between like 2k and 5-6k, which is very nice I imagine

Also, trading contraband is very profitable, but of course risky. You can easily earn 10-15k flying from Capella to Junction (2 jumps)

[podbelski1]

...and I totally disagree that the patch 'removed the trading feature from the game'. In original Priv and GG, I almost never bothered trading commodities, but now I'm always looking for it, it's fun and addictive, for my taste...

ideally, you have to mix your jobs constantly looking for the most profitable combinations. Like fly cargo mission, doing a bounty hunt along the route and filling up your cargo bays with appropriate commodities

[dalgo]

I didn't say I only trade in Troy, that was just one example of a low profit trade run. Most of my trading is based on New Detroit because of the better selection of goods available there. I also use the Merchants Guild a lot. However I'm back with the original PGG game now and trading is much more lucrative.

I have been playing Privateer since 1994 and my game style has always been as a trader. I generally max out a Tarsus and then switch to a Galaxy when I can afford it, then continue to build up credits until I can finally buy a Centurion with everything on it. Only then do I take on the plot missions - and fail miserably. In all the time I've played Privateer I've only ever won the game once, and that was probably a fluke. If I can complete a mission just with missiles that's fine, but hitting anything with a gun is pretty well beyond my capabilities (even with ITTS).

As I said in my previous post, I realise I am in the minority here, but I am quite happy just playing the game as a trader. One of the advantages of the original Privateer was that it catered for many different gameplay styles.

[podbelski1]

hmm... I see

my aim was to bound profits to difficulty of a job, and cargo/commodity runs are obviously the easiest. If I can buy a ton of commodities at any time, fly safely a jump or two and earn like 10k credits then I lose motivation for other mission types... or have to make them more payed, that should certainly end up with standard payments of 15-25k, what means it's enough to fly 15-20 times and you almost don't need any more money...

though if you are not a fan of space combats, I think boosting trade profits is a fine solution. I wish there were some built-in difficulty tweaks in the game

[podbelski1]

Big bug I've noticed with your patch is when purchasing commodities, it doesnt check the cargo space in your ship. Sometimes I purchase over the cargo limit, it lets me purchase the items, but the items that are over the cargo limit mysteriously disappear, eating up my money. I checked with the 1.03 GG and it has the "NO ROOM IN CARGO" check.

Also, I've seen some odd behavior from ships spawned in Escort missions, namely the Broadsword. Its turrets continuously shoot at nothing when there are no enemies and if you comms the ship, it gives you options as if it were Hostile to you. However, the Broadsword doesn't turn around and attack me nor do its turrets aim at me.

If this was your last patch, which files should I not install to go around these two errors?

sorry, just noticed your message

1) strange thing, I actually made quite an effort to get rid of this sort of bugs GG had a lot of other cargo-related glitches, looks like I introduced a new one while fixing those.
Do you use the latest version of the patch (2.8.1)? If so, probably you have to live with the bug, or provide a reproduceable scenario to nail the bug...

[upd] the bug might be related to a "cargo expansion pack" given along with the initial Tarsus. You have to sell it b/c it is glitchy.

2) Broadswords behave like this regardless of my patch... not a big deal IMO

[hghlndr]

I think there is a bug with the hull strength of the broadsword. Also the armor levels of the capital ships is pretty insane.

[podbelski1]

1) "broadswords bug" - can you be more specific?

2) yeah they are really tough, and even tougher w/o my patch!

[Manolek]

Thanks for this great patch!

I discovered that if sold by cargo expansion of tarsus at the beginning of the game is bug fixes the problem.

Another Ideas
- In the original had red jumps, it is very difficult to implement?
- Also the missions have a bug, if you land on a planet before their mission, not appearing on my computer, in the original could not land to fulfill the mission

[podbelski]

Hey guys,

long time passed since last update, so v2.82 accumulates quite a broad number of changes, though they are smallish:

+ Trading Advanced fuels yields profit everywhere
+ Higher chance for a random commodity to have double quantity and/or reduced price
+ No contraband runs from Merchant guild available now
+ Defend missions now available at Merchant guilds
+ Patrol missions now available at Merc Guild instead of Defend missions
+ Slightly increased encounter chance in Patrol missions
+ Easily noticeable reward rebalance for guild/computer missions
+ Hunter Toth ship made a bit more more durable
+ Introduced new mission subtype: Express cargo mission
+ Made it almost impossible to become friendly with Kilrathi
+ While on a Cargo mission, now you can see cargo quantity in Quine mission brief
+ Reduced Dumbfire missile damage a little bit, it is now equals to IR missile
+ Some asteroids made bigger and harder to blow up. Now asteroid field combat becomes tougher, in this sense the gameplay becomes closer to Privateer... The only drawback I see is those big rocks colliding with each other look weird...
+ Increased Centurion price to 300000
* I suddenly realized that Tarsus cargo expansion that is given when you start a new game is not bugged anymore, so you don't have to sell it. Looks like it was a side glitch fixed in one of the previous versions of the pack. I also tried relentlessly to reproduce a "missing cargo" glitch someone was talking about earlier, but I could not. The game correctly counts the number of cargos no matter what combination of Cargo missions and Commodity exchanges you do.

Enjoy!