Not really. Minifreighters go 1 pc/turn regardless of the original's speed.

The AI often arms its freighters later in the game. They are only a threat if you attack them with fleets, always use single ships to attack them.

If you armed your freighters with powerful weapons, then the same would apply, you would kill 1 ship in an enemy fleet but unfleeted enemy ships would not be killed.

Meanwhile please do upgrade them with lots of engines! Standard freighters are pathetically slow and take a rediculous amount of time to get anywhare.

yes they do! Havn't you ever seen AI mini freighters shoot back when you attack them?

You can use whatever you like for a freighter. But by having an expensive freighter like that would probably not be wise since if you end up going to war with that Civ, It is lost forever. Instead build the Galactic Privateer, and none of your freighters can be destroyed unless you lose the world on which it is built.

I think you would definately be able to build the galactic privateer much earlier in the game before you can build single freighters powerful enough that can withstand enemy fleets. If a Stupid AI manages to build the Galactic privateer before you, then in that case i might say, "go for it"!

Heh, I'd say it's both   At least in half of my games I do get a sizeable part of my income from trade, especially early in the game just after the colony rush it helps me to get in the green faster.

Wrong.

It depends on the game setting.

If you've got hundreds of throwaway planets at your disposal, even a maximized trade array with as many Economic Starbases as you can fit won't be worth that much.

If you've got a Medium Galaxy with Rare Stars and Rare Planets, you'll probably have to make do with only your home system until you conquer other worlds, and even then, you won't have many planets. Here, if you create a trade array of all your trade routes covering the same path, with 4 Economic Starbases per sector, and each with 3 trade modules, then trade will become a major part of your income.



No, even if someone got Privateer before me, I wouldn't make 'Battlefreighters'. It would be better to just keep a fleet of real warships to patrol the route.

The very, very impractical hypothetical plan I was thinking of and will never execute is this: Get Galactic Privateer and make Super-Dreadnought Battlefreighters armed with nothing but a Trade Module and lots and lots of weapons(no defenses, no engines).

Then, if Peacekeepers or Mega-Pirates strike, it would be fun to watch them attack your invincible super-freighters and get blown to bits. But other than that, there's no use. It would just be a deathtrap to bait in enemy ships and get them killed.

No, but 1000-1500 per turn is. Especially on smaller maps with less planets where you arent making 10000 BC each turn. Even then, thats a 10 to 15 percent increase. This has been discussed several times in other threads.

Your not going to strike gold if you just set up 1 effing trade route and let it sit there.

You must set up 8-12 trade routes, depending on your ability, all covering the same path between one of your planets and one AI planet. That AI becomes your trade partner, who you must keep alive and at peace with you. Then, in each sector that the trade routes are passing through, set up 4 Economic Starbases covering the trade vein and add as many trading modules to each as you can. This combination of Trade Routes and Economic Starbases is a Trade Array.

Now, if you want to go even further, get an Alliance with your trade partner and hope that the United Planets passes the 'Allies share Starbases' law. Now you can sell all those Economic Starbases to your trade partner and build another set of 4-per-sector.

For best results, start building your Array as soon as possible, and don't forget to build Galactic Privateer ASAP. That way, in Dark Avatar, your Freighters will 'mature' and become more and more profitable later in the game. Also, try to get an Economic Treaty from your trade partner - this will allow you to get even more money off the Trade Array.

The shorter the Trade Array, the sooner you will be able to complete it. Having longer Trade Routes won't be worth as much as getting your Economic Starbases up and running sooner. Also, the shorter the Trade Array, the less Logistics fees you'll be paying to build the Economic Starbases.

Yeah, it's a lot of work, but IMO, it's fun work. I get to open my box tomorrow and begin my first game. I'll see how it works out in reality. All I know yet is through others' experiences.