Greetings all and welcome to the ISD Predator ship report from the week ending 14^th November 2004…lots of info today.

News

1.65 Released

Big news of course this week is the (early) release of version 1.65 of Freeworlds. I’m sure those that have played it will agree with me – it rocks. You can download it from two locations:

1. The Burnout Site - http://usa.assassinsden.com/Default.aspx?tabid=89
2. Gilad’s Mirror - www.isdgreywolf.net/Freeworlds-1-65[1].zip.flmod

Some people have reported problems downloading from these locations. If you are having problems, please let me know and we’ll see what we can do about it.

With the release of 1.65, some obvious changes have occurred. The foremost amongst these is our ship list. I’ve already posted this in numerous locations so I won’t detail it here again, but it can be viewed at: http://usa.assassinsden.com/Default.aspx?tabid=150 (and yes, we are non-aligned).

Rapax Squadron

There is a new tag in there – Rapax Squadron, which for membership purposes works in the same way as Eidolon and Argosy (more on this later). Rapax has been created by myself in response to a new 1.65 Territorial Engagement Rule:

Regular Transports may no longer be used to capture bases in TEs.

Instead we have to use designated troop transports. Rapax has two – the Maru Transport and the Marauder Corvette. This basically means that those people who flew Transports in TEs (Wampa and Argosy Pilots) still can do the same via the Rapax tag. So I’m encouraging those pilots to also form a Rapax character for use in the TEs, although anyone can join. Simply email me your BO Forum name and desired tag name.

And yes, Rapax can be used outside of TEs.

Fleet Commander’s Honour Guard Points

With the approval of the OPS, giving money to the EH Bank now earns you 1 FCHG point for every $100,000 (instead of the previous 200k). The purpose of this is very simple – to encourage more of you to give money to the Bank and help new players get set up, which is vital in the early days of the new release. You can give money to any EHC character (Me, Sarin, Keller or Vlad). We’ll record it and then give it to new characters as needed.

This change is in effect for the next three or so weeks.

Eidolon, Argosy & Rapax

Membership in these Squadrons is not exclusive! This means you can hold a tag in say, Wolf, and also tags in any of these Squadrons. This allows you to have a primary Fighter character and a secondary Trader character. Again, to set these up, simply email me the aforementioned information.

Allies & Hostiles

So far, pretty much every faction is Neutral to us, including the NR (confirmed by Wasabe). The only exception is the Black Sun, which is hostile to us. Further, we’ve been asked to stay out of the following systems: Kessel & Y’Toub. This means no Spice trading for now (we’re working on setting up a deal).

Zacc has asked to renew our EH-Empire Alliance, this will be up shortly. In the meantime, treat all Imperials as Allies.

I also remind that you should not take any hostile or insulting action towards another Faction unless specifically instructed to – what you do has a severe repercussion for the faction as a whole. Mess around and you risk being dragged in front of the HCI.

Getting Started in 1.65

Ok, so once you’ve created your character (make sure you’re on the EH User List first! - http://usa.assassinsden.com/Default.aspx?tabid=22&g=posts&m=21202&#21202), you’ll find yourself in Kuat, the new “central” system. Buy yourself a T/F as normal – don’t forget to bribe the Imps in the bar.

As usual, making money at the start takes time. Personally, I’d suggest mining for a while rather than taking on missions. I reckon the best place to mine is in Hoth, near the Keld Station. You want to mine Niobium (henceforth known as “Nobrock”). You can sell the Nobrock right at the Keld Station for the princely sum of $700/unit. In a T/F, a full load of Nobrock will give you $28,000. Not too shabby. Keld is currently held by the Trade Federation.

As soon as you get enough money, you will either want to upgrade to a better fighter and start doing missions, or get a transport and start running any of the numerous trade routes. Info on these are on the new FW board (see below).

Freeworlds Private Forum

For a variety of reasons, I’ve had a private forum created for EHers to use for FW stuff. It’s located under the main FW board – but you won’t be able to see it unless I add you to the userlist. To get this done, you need to give me your ELS handle either on IRC, PM or email. This board will be used to post information such as Trade Routes, Map Packs, Ship Locations and also to discuss Territorial Engagements.

This is a secondary board – the main one will still be used for the all the usual stuff.

Predator Email List

Some of you (mainly those in Eidolon/Argosy) have pointed out that you’re not on the Predator mailing list. To get added, you must email Keller (ehkeller@op.pl) and he’ll do it.

Whether you hate mail groups or love them in a perverted way, you should really be on this one if you intend to keep playing FW. All the important announcements go out on it and you’ll miss out if you’re not signed up.

Alright, that’s all for this report. Remember, if you have any questions or problems, please let me know.

High Admiral Priyum
COO Assistant, Logistics Assistant, IWATS Professor
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MoH/ICx2/OoR/GOE/GSx5/SSx4/BSx3/PCx5/ISMx10
MoI-BC/IS-1BR-1GRx2/LoC-CSx9-Rx1/MoC-3BoC/CoE/CoLx5/CoB/LoAx10/OV-5E
[DRAG] {IWATS-FW-GFX-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-NS-RT-SM/1/3-TT}
Gloriam Imperator

COM/RA Solar Macharius/ISD Predator/ASF
[EHC]Spellfire