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Freelancer Walkthrough/FAQ
Version 1.0
April 1, 2003

Copyright 2003 Jason Merrill
jason at apocalypseorg

Legalese
--------
This walkthrough is subject to the GNU Free Documentation License, version
1.2 or later. See

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html

for details. Basically, feel free to make changes and use bits of info in
your own documents, so long as you let other people do the same and give me
credit.

About this Walkthrough
----------------------
You may notice something a bit odd about this walkthrough: I don't really
talk about the missions. I think you can figure them out for yourself.
Instead, I'll talk about what you can/should do between missions--the Free
part of Freelancer.

This walkthrough is all about spoiling technical info. If you don't want
that, don't read it. I don't mention the plot much, though.

If you have some info you think would make a useful addition, or even want
to reformat some of my sloppy tables, send it my way; I'll probably include
it in a future revision.

Enjoy!

Keyboard Setup
--------------
I mostly use the default keys, with some significant exceptions: map
Afterburn to W and Reverse Thrust to S for a much more FPS-like control
scheme. This assumes that you have a mouse wheel for controlling your
throttle, of course. I almost never use the throttle control, other than
to throttle up again when leaving a base; if I want to back off in a fight
I just use reverse thrust.

With Afterburn on W, I changed Tab to Cruise, which is a bit more
convenient.

Configuring your Ship
---------------------

It's not absolutely necessary, but your accuracy will be much better if all
your weapons have the same projectile speed. If you're flying a freighter,
that basically means 700m/s, though there are a few turrets that have
750m/s projectiles. You'll mostly be fighting enemies with Molecular
shields.

I tend to stick with Graviton shields through the end of the plot, as
they're stronger than the other types.

Dogfighting
-----------
If you're flying a light fighter such as the Starflier or Drake, use your
maneuverability! Don't stand still and get hit, turn around and shoot
back. If you're flying a slower fighter, and getting thrashed by enemies
you can't see, use reverse thrust to improve your turning circle.

If you're flying a freighter, shoot at what's in front of you as much as
possible. Use reverse thrust to prolong the initial flyby, so you can do
more damage before they pass you. And you'll definitely need to use it to
turn around and shoot at the guy on your tail.

A good freighter tactic is to hold down thrusters, go into turret mode,
and shoot at the people following you. Usually they will hold still while
you kill them. This works best if you're in Goto mode, so that the
autopilot will avoid obstacles for you. This also works best with
long-range turrets, so you can shoot them before they can shoot you;
Tachyon turrets have a range of 800, the longest in the game. Most other
turrets have a range of 700, which is still better than most guns. This
really only works if you're already pretty far away from them, like if you
were crusing somewhere and got hit by a cruise disruptor.

You can pull a similar maneuver in a non-freighter, by hitting
thrusters, cutting your engines (Z), and turning around. You'll be
going backwards at about 200m/s. This doesn't work as well in an asteroid
field, of course. While your engines are off, you can change which way
you're going using the thrusters.

Automatic docking can take a long time when you're under fire. You can
speed up the process by flying to the right spot manually before hitting
F3.

I've never really learned to use mines effectively, but people recommend
dropping them shortly before the other guy passes you. Missiles work best
the same way, launched sooner--but I prefer guns. YMMV.

==========================================================================
Walkthrough
==========================================================================

Mission 1
---------
Welcome to Manhattan! You can't do anything until you get a ship, so
follow the instructions and accept the mission.

Before you take off, you can add another Justice Mk I to the ship with your
starting $500. Or you could save your money to buy bigger guns later; you
only get 30% of the purchase price back when you sell equipment. If you
don't buy the gun, you could visit the commodities trader and pick up some
Food Rations; you can buy 10 at $50 to sell at your next stop for $58, a
whopping profit of $80.

Anyway, fly the mission. You might want to remap your keyboard the way I
describe in the Keyboard Setup screen. In any case, useful keys to
remember are F3 to dock, F4 to go into formation, and most importantly, B
to tractor in any salvage. Get used to hitting B every time you destroy
another ship.

When you get to Pittsburgh, you again have the option of upgrading your
ship. You now have enough money for a Class 2 shield. Pittsburgh sells
Civilian laser weapons, which are slightly cheaper and weaker than the
Liberty laser weapons you can buy on Manhattan. If you have a full load of
Shield Batteries or Nanobots, sell a few so that you can still tractor more
in. At $200 each, they'll be a significant source of income in the early
game.

Fly the next mission piece.

Interlude
---------
When you're done, you're at liberty for the first time to do whatever you
want. As the game says, fly some bar missions, haul cargo, or mine. Since
you're still stuck in New York system, the trading opportunities are pretty
limited.

You're now Level 2, so you can buy Class 3 weapons and shields. You can't
find a Class 3 Graviton shield in the New York system, but most bases will
sell you Class 3 weapons.

You'll want to upgrade your ship ASAP. Your best option is the Liberty
Defender heavy fighter, available from Battleship Missouri. Another option
is the Pirate Bloodhound light fighter, available from Rochester Base. If
you want to trade (or pirate), you could buy a Rhino freighter; it has more
gun mounts than any fighter, and freighter shields are the strongest.
Unfortunately, its gun batteries are pretty weak, it doesn't take Class 4
weapons, and there's not much trading to be done just in New York.

Fly a few random missions against the Rogues.

Take the trade lanes around and visit all of the bases. In addition to the
bases along the lanes, there are two criminal bases. Directly north of
Manhattan is the Junkers' Rochester Base. In the south of the system is
the Rogues' Buffalo Base. You should definitely visit Rochester, but the
Rogues hate you, so Buffalo won't let you dock.

You can buy Improved Countermeasures and the Heavy Thruster at Rochester.

There are several abandoned ships in the Badlands, of which the first is by
far the most interesting; Cardamine sells for $1500 on Manhattan.

Flint (lower right C6) - 2xAzrael, 4xBadariel Turret, 20xCardamine
Patrol 27 (middle E6) - 3xJustice Mk III
Agressor (upper right D6) - 4xGunslinger Mk 1, 1xGunslinger Turret Mk 1,
Countermeasure Dropper, 20xCountermeasure Flare

You can mine the Debris fields for Scrap Metal and sell it at Fort Bush for
$20 each, but it's not really worthwhile. Note that turning off
background dust in the Performance Options menu makes mining much easier.

There's not much profit to be made from trade at this point. The most
profitable route is running Cardamine from Rochester to Manhattan, and Food
Rations back, for a profit of $104 per unit per round trip.

When you're done flying around, head back to Manhattan for Mission 2.

Mission 2
---------
Fly mission 2; you end up at Battleship Missouri.

Interlude
---------
Now you have access to all of Liberty. Don't bother to visit California
yet, as you'll be going there for Mission 3. You probably want to wait for
a better shield before going to Texas.

The Silverton asteroid field in Colorado where you just were can be mined
for Silver, which is worth $630 on Manhattan, or $713 on California Minor.
The Copperton field a bit north can be mined for copper, worth $400 on
nearby Pueblo Station.

Conveniently, we'll be going to California Minor for mission 3, so pick up
some Silver before heading back to Manhattan, and then on to California.

Mission 3
---------
Sell your Silver, and start the mission. You might as well pick up some
H-Fuel to sell at Willard. Launch and fly the first part of the mission.

When you get to Willard, sell the H-Fuel, buy a new shield and continue
back to California Minor. Load up on H-Fuel again, and it's back to
Willard.

Interlude
---------
When you land, you'll be at Level 6, so you can buy Class 4 weapons/shields
and Razor mines, though you can't find a Class 4 shield in Liberty. Go
ahead and explore the California and Texas systems now. After you start
Mission 4, you won't be coming back to Liberty for a long time. There's a
Junker base in NW Texas and a Rogue base in E California; you can use the
Patrol Path map to find them.

If you are so inclined, now might be a good time to try your hand at
piracy. You probably want to confine yourself to preying on the Liberty
corporations: Interspace, DSE, Ageira, Universal and Synth Foods, since
they like you a lot and will hate you as of Mission 4. Just shoot a trade
lane out in the middle of nowhere until it breaks and then blow up
transports that come by. Apparently with trains and heavy transports, you
can just shoot off the cargo tanks instead. It'd take a lot of piracy to
make them hate you.

Another approach to piracy is looting Storage Depots. The middle one near
Manhattan contains Polymers, which sell for $491 on Denver. One of the
depots near Fort Bush has H-Fuel, which sells for $360 on Manhattan. Note
that if you leave the system and come back, the locals will forgive you.

If you just want to trade, running Beryllium from LA to Pueblo Station
makes $180 each. On the reverse trip, Superconductors earn $79.

Before you hook up with Juni again, pick up some Engine Components at
Houston. You can make $824 each selling them during the next mission.

By this point, you may have annoyed enough other people that the Xenos feel
positively towards you (i.e. the bar goes to the right). If so, you could
visit Ouray base and buy some of their excellent guns.

Mission 4
---------
Whoops, looks like we need to leave Liberty for a while.

When you get to Mactan base, sell your Engine Components, and upgrade to
the Class 4 shield. Notice that they sell the Dromedary freighter here,
the largest freighter (at 275) in the game, but unfortunately you need to
be Level 10 to buy it.

Continue on to Leeds. You are now Level 8.

Interlude
---------
OK, time for a new ship again. Ignore what Tobias said; there's no reason
to go to New London to get a ship. Instead, he just gave you about $20K.
Either buy the Clydesdale or Cavalier here, or head north to Stokes, then
towards the planet you can see to the north, and dock at Battleship York