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.
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.
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
to buy the Crusader heavy fighter.
You can go pretty much anywhere now, but I'd just explore Leeds for the
moment. There are some interesting derelicts:
Lorenzo (lower right C2) - 2xPyros Type 2, 1xDragoon Turret Type 1, 20xCardamine
This is in a radiation zone, so watch out. When you get to the hazard
buoys, follow them around to the right until the Lorenzo shows up on your
contact list, then get in and out quickly. Go ahead and sell the
Cardamine at LD-14; you're not going to get a better price in Bretonia.
San Vicente (left D6) - 2xDragoon Type 2, 1xDragoon Turret Type 1
You can mine for Niobium ($640) in the middle of the Stokes field, near the
Asteroid Miners.
Before you leave to meet Juni on Cambridge, stock up on Optronics from
Leeds. When you get to Cambridge, sell them, buy Diamonds, and go talk to
Juni.
Mission 5
---------
After your archaeology field trip, you'll end up back at Leeds.
You are now Level 10.
Interlude
---------
Sell your diamonds. You can now buy Class 5 weapons/shields, the Tadpole
mine launcher, and the Starkiller torpedo launcher. And better ships.
Unfortunately, none of those ships are sold nearby.
If you're up for a challenge, try picking up a load of H-Fuel and going
back to Mactan to pick up the Dromedary Freighter. It's more complicated
than it sounds: even though the Hackers like you OK, the Outcasts hate you,
and they have an alliance. So if there are any Outcasts around Mactan when
you approach within 5K, it will go hostile and you'll have to reload from
your autosave to try again. It's OK if you see and kill some Outcasts (and
Lane Hackers) along the way as long as you don't do it within 5K of the
station or its weapons platforms. You only need to get close enough for
the base to give you permission to land; once you're in the landing
sequence, they can't change their minds. This works better if you approach
from the Manchester gate; I tried doing it from the New York gate, which is
closer, but the Outcasts always showed up. I haven't tried coming via the
jump hole from Leeds. YMMV.
Once you've landed at Mactan, buy the Dromedary and a Class 5 shield. I
outfit my Dromedary with the Dragoon 2s from the San Vicente, five Angelito
1 turrets from killing Mollys, and one Hellflurry 2 from Mactan.
While you're here, you can also bribe the Rogues and Lane Hackers in the
bar, which makes the Outcasts no longer hate you. If you don't do this,
you'll have a hard time getting off the base alive. Note: If the bribe on
offer isn't the one you want, just launch to space and reload the Auto Save
to try again. You could also just bribe the Outcasts, but that's more
expensive.
On your way back into Bretonia, why not loot the storage depots at
Sheffield station to fill your new freighter? The Bounty Hunters hate you
anyway. They have Boron, Optical Chips, H-Fuel and Hydrocarbons. If you
can't carry it all, leave Hydrocarbons behind. Sell the H-Fuel at
Birmingham (or take it back to Mactan), take the Boron and Hydrocarbons to
LD-14 in Leeds, and the Optical Chips to Leeds itself. There's a jump hole
from Manchester to Leeds in the upper right of D3.
Now that you've got yourself a spiffy freighter, it's time for some trade!
The Leeds-Cambridge Optronics/Diamonds run you've already done once is
quite lucrative ($745 profit per unit, round trip). If the Corsairs don't
hate you, an even better route ($1502), is running Artifacts and Light Arms
between New London and Cadiz, a Corsair base in the Omega-5 system; get
there through a jump hole in SE Cambridge. While you're in Cadiz, you can
also pick up an Advanced Thruster and Advanced Countermeasure Dropper.
While you're trading, explore a bit. There's a Junker base NW of
Southampton Shipyard in New London. There are a couple of derelicts in
Cambridge near the Omega-5 jump hole:
Henry Jones (lower left F5) - 6xStarbeam Turret, 10xGold
Caraz (right E6) - 2xAngelito Mk 1, 20xArtifacts
There are a bunch of derelicts in Omega-5; most of them are empty, but a
few drop weapons:
1xRoter Blitz Turret, 2xNatter
1xNatter Turret, 2xNatterturn
2xAngelito Mk 1
2xSalamanca Mk 1
When you're ready, pick up more Diamonds (though you might leave some room
for salvage), and continue on to Dublin.
Mission 6
---------
OK, the race is a bit more difficult in a freighter, but you don't really
need to out-race Hovis. Just fly the course at cruise speed without
missing gates or running into anything, and Hovis will screw up towards the
end and let you win.
At the end of the mission, you'll end up on Leeds again. You can either go
straight into Mission 7, or decline and explore Bretonia a bit more first.
You'll be leaving Bretonia in the next mission.
Mission 7
---------
Before you leave, pick up a load of Light Arms.
Ignore Juni when she tells you to attack the cruiser. In your freighter,
you're a sitting duck for its turrets.
If you don't have a Class 5 Graviton shield, Advanced Thruster or Advanced
Countermeasures yet, buy them at Shinkaku.
When you get to Kyushu, sell the Light Arms.
Interlude
---------
Welcome to Kusari space. If you're tired of flying a freighter, try going
to the other extreme--the Kusari Drake light fighter is the fastest ship
in the game. It even turns faster than the Starflier you started the game
with. If you want something a bit heavier, your options are the Bounty
Hunter Barracuda or the Kusari Dragon; the Barracuda turns faster, but the
Dragon has a larger weapons battery. Or just stick with the Dromedary.
Your choice. If you want the Dragon, you'll need to visit a battleship.
There's one at the western end of the trade lanes in Kyushu. The Hawk
isn't very interesting; it doesn't turn any faster than the Barracuda, and
it doesn't carry as many guns.
I went with the Drake, armed with two Angelito Mk 1s and two Dublin Duster
2s. Don't sell all of your Angelito turrets; keep one for later in the
story.
If your game is going like mine, you don't have any enemies in Kusari
space. That's kind of boring; try flying a few freelance missions against
one of the factions to make them angry. I suggest flying against the Blood
Dragons, as they'll like you again soon.
Things off the trade lanes in Kyushu:
Hokkaido Jump Hole, E2
New Tokyo Jump Hole, G4
Nansei Research Complex (Samura), C4/5
Kagoshima Depot (Farmers Alliance), G4
When you're ready, head on over to the bar at Shinagawa.
Mission 8
---------
Pick up a load of Food Rations for the trip, and sell them at the end.
Interlude
---------
Time to see how the other half lives. There's not much in the Chugoku
system, just Kyoto Base and jump holes to Hokkaido and Honshu. Hokkaido is
worth a visit, though, at least for the derelicts.
Things in Hokkaido:
Chugoku Jump Hole (C3/4)
Kyushu Jump Hole (C6)
Tohoku Jump Hole (E3, closed)
New Tokyo Jump Gate (E6)
Chugoku Gate Construction Site (D3)
Ainu Depot (GCs, C6)
Battleship Matsumoto (Kusari Navy, D3)
Sapporo Station (Police, E6)
Kusari Naval Fighter derelicts (C3)
Salvage: 2xScrambler 2, 2xSunfury 2, 2xDisinfector 1
Trade lane construction site with DSE storage depot: E/F4, E5, D/E6
Salvage: Construction Machinery
If you go by Ainu Depot, pick up a load of Cardamine for Mission 10.
When you're done, head back to Kyoto. You're now Level 16, and can buy
Class 6 equipment; upgrade your shield before you head out again. I
also swapped out my Dublin Dusters for the Sunfury 2s.
Mission 9
---------
When they say "approach from below", they mean below the arch, not below
the massive rock.
At the end of the mission, you'll end up back at Kyoto. You can either go
straight into mission 10, or decline and enjoy your freedom a bit more.
Once you start mission 10, you won't have another chance to earn money
until the end of the story, so be sure you have enough money. $100K should
be plenty, and you ought to have more than that if you did any trading in
Bretonia.
When you're ready, go to the bar.
Mission 10
----------
When you are near the jump hole to New Berlin, a derelict will show up on
your map:
Old Imperial Navy Fighter (C5) - 2xDIAMONDBACK, Wasp launcher, 10xWasp
missiles, 20xDrone Mine, 20xCountermeasure Flare
There are more of these here in Sigma-13, but they'll have to wait until
you're done with the story.
When you get to New Berlin, sell your Cardamine and buy Light Arms.
At Bruchsal, sell the Light Arms and buy H-Fuel. Also buy six Luger Type A
guns, and a turret if you can; they have the best damage/second of any
Class 6 gun. Try reading the news in the bar to see the Rheinland spin on
recent events.
You only need to destroy one of the experimental ships; just fly to a spot
where it's between you and the other ships, and fire away.
Mission 11
----------
Welcome to the Order! You probably want to switch to the Anubis heavy
fighter; it's a fine piece of equipment, and quite reasonably priced. Load
it up with the Lugers, and if you couldn't buy a Luger turret, one of the
old Angelitos; it's better than either of the Order turrets. Do NOT buy
the Order Thruster; the Advanced Thruster you already have is much better.
Also pick up a torpedo launcher if you don't have one yet. You'll be
taking down a bunch of stationary targets in the next few missions.
In Buffalo, sell the H-Fuel. If you have the money, which you should, buy
Cardamine. Now get ready for some difficult fights; you'll be going up
against ships with very heavy weapons.
Mission 12
----------
Refill and do your thing. It's convenient that Nomads drop Nanobots
and Shield Batteries.
Mission 13
----------
Last one.
Afterwards
----------
You're back on Manhattan; sell the Cardamine.
And you're done with the story. Orillion says he'll be in touch, but that
seems to mean in Freelancer 2. There's still lots to see out there,
though. Travel around through the systems you haven't seen yet. Visit the
homeworlds of the Corsairs and Outcasts. Upgrade to a ship that can carry
level 10 guns, and fight Nomads to get some of their guns. Visit the
planets of apes and robots.
You are now at least level 18; now that you're done with the story, your
level depends on how much money you've made. Max level (38) seems to be at
around $2.4 million.
A - Gun/Turret slots
B - Armor
C - Cargo units
D - Nanobots, Shield Batteries
E - Weapon class optimal/maximum
F - Turn speed (degrees per second) (approx.)
G - Gun battery (approx.)
Lower line: Weapon classes of the gun/turret slots, and where you can first
find the ship.
