Necroing this thread for selfish purposes...
As I posted earlier, I had the game sitting around but never truly got around to it. I got around to it very recently and now am going nuts over this. However, I am terrible at the game pretty much in my own awkward ways. Though I am probably tripping over myself in self imposed house rules for a roleplay only I know, I need help. Every damn guide out there says "Start as Humble Merchant, do this, do that." So I started it and it was terribly boring. Terribly easy, and honestly all those "Guides" didn't really teach you how to get to the point the humble merchant starts in. I like a challenge, but not something insurmountable.
So far, I started the Humble Merchant start, played around with this and then restarted: It starts you off to generously and easy. My current game is a Boring Boron where I was only able to begin succeeding after getting a lucky 40k retrieve my ship mission. However, that was luck and I want to actually make my game not hope I get lucky. For example, how do you make money at the beginning when all you start out with is an M5 with or without weapons? I had been doing missions, but they hardly yield good returns. So I started doing combat missions to steal left over missiles and sell those, but then M3's and even once an M6 came out to play. My piddly M5 never stood a chance.
The above paragraph was done in regular xtc. I booted up the xtended version and tried that too and most starts were either terribly easy (Teladi start w/ the TS, Paranid with the TL) or Terribly Hard (Split start in the M5). Being the maniac I am, I fell in love with the concept of the Split start given the events that happened to the Split when trying to colonize.
In short, in both XTC and Xtended, how would you deal with those situations while also working around my own personal rules. Or would I simply need to loosen up on my own restrictions? Can I be pointed in the right direction on how to effectively use the scenarios that start you broke with an M5 or M4? Also, one other thing that is somewhat embarrassing on my end... how best to deal with M5's? They are annoying gnats that dodge all my shots. If the answer is missiles, what are the most cost effective that can fit in a fighter? I had tried mosquito missiles at first but wasn't impressed.
Currently I plan on the order of my games being: x3tc, x3ap, then xtended. My current game in x3tc is the boron game I mentioned earlier, in x3ap I hope to use Argon, and in extended either the paranid or split starts. (I'll probably choose the paranid start with the TL and simply self destruct the TL and go from there)
Rules:
Race Restrictions- Playing an Argon, only use Argon ships, Boron-Boron, etc. Ships stolen from the enemy are sold immediately.
No collecting abandoning ships- I feel it is cheap to run out and collect the Toucan Hauler and the Iguana Vanguard right off the bat for an easy ~2million out the gate.
No Easy Starts- Humble Merchant / Teladi. Starting with a TS already in hand makes the start trivial.
Racial Enemies- Not doing too many favors for say, the Split if you are Boron.
Independence- Alongside the above restrictions of race, not to have a direct affiliation with their empires. So no Terran Defender/Argon Patriot. I am my own neutral party and do as I want pretty much. (Think MnB single player)
Starts that interest me x3tc/ap: Nostalgic Argon, Boring Boron, Unholy Traitor, Savage Split, Suicidal Squid(eventually)
Starts that interest me xtended, sorry for lack of accuracy: Paranid w/TL, Split w/ M5, Teladi w/ TS. (TS / TL would be self destructed at start)
