Difference between revisions of "Mystery Trader"

Revision as of 01:09, 22 February 2008

The Mystery Traders are ships from an advanced alien race that appear randomly anytime from 2430 onwards if Random Events is enabled with the message "A mysterious trading vessel broadcasting a proposal has been detected entering known space." The MT flies in a straight line at a speed between warp 8 and 13, but often (for reasons known only to himself) changes course and speed which can make a rendezvous rather difficult. If, however you manage to get a fleet of ships holding at least 5000kt of minerals within hailing distance, that whole fleet (including any escort ships) will be 'absorbed' by the MT and you will be given either a piece of unique technology, a boost to your current research, or a few of the Traders support vessels(MT Ships) in return.

You may increase the amount of help you receive from the Trader by giving more minerals - up to a maximum 9800kt. The chances of getting a particular kind of help from a particular trader are random, but that trader will give the same thing to everyone who visits it. If the MT is giving away a specific MT Toy which you already have(either from a previous MT or from tech trade) the MT may give anything(that MT's give) or nothing.

If you are given a unique part, the amount of materials in the fleet is irrelevant so long as it is 5000kt or more. You may only visit each Trader once. If you try again you will be turned away regardless of how much cargo you have to offer.

Tech Resources

How much tech will I get? This is still not precisely known, but the higher your current tech, the less tech you get and the more minerals you give, the more tech you get - usually.

• See MT Technology for details

MT Toys

MT toys are components that cannot be researched by players, but are only available from the Mystery Trader.

• See each MT item for more details of each item, or MT toys for a complete detailed listing.

Unique Technologies

• Hush-a-boom

  A specialised lightweight standard bomb which surpasses the destructive potential of the venerated Cherry Bombs. Their unusually low mass allows for the construction of gateable bombers.

• Enigma Pulsar

  Probably the most sought after MT item, the Pulsar is an engine. And a very good one. It not only functions as a ramscoop, but is warp 10 capable, as well as cloaking the ship and raising its battle speed.

• Mega Poly Shell

  Much the same as the Langston Shell, only occupying an armour slot. It is considered to be of more use than its shield counterpart however, due to its greater abilities in the same areas which allow for a longer useful life.

• Langston Shell

  A shield item which also provides additional armour, cloaking, jamming, and scanning. A very useful combination of abilities, only let down by its mediocre overall strength which means it is easily surpassed by the more advance standard items.

  • The armour component is unaffected by the Regenerating Shields LRT.

• Multi-Function Pod

  An electrical item that functions as a cloak, jammer, and increases battle speed. The increases are small, but allows a ship to have a 'bit' of everything rather than all of nothing.

  • This is the only electrical item capable of raising speed, so use this if mechanical slots are at a premium.

• Anti-Matter Torpedo

  A missile based weapon item with the highest base accuracy, longest range, and lowest mass. Not especially powerful but the very long range and overall cheapness make them fairly useful, however they seldom see much action as they have very high biotechnology requirements - biotech being the least 'valuable' of research fields.

• Jump Gate

  An unusual mechanical item, which enables an equipped ship to travel to a stargate from anywhere (even deep space) within the gates limits. If you are an IT, you want this item.

  • This can be used for fleets of ships, but EVERY ship in the fleet must be equipped with a jump gate, otherwise the jump order will be ignored and a standard course will be set.

• Genesis Device

  This is a planetary device that is built from the factory screen. For the massive cost of 5000 resouces you get a brand new planet.

• Multi-Contained Munition

  Another weapon, only a specialised range-3 beam. It increases scanner range, and torpedo accuracy as well as cloaking. Not to mention being able to drop bombs on planets AND lay standard mines!

  • This is the only way for War Mongers to have access to minelaying.

• Alien Miner

  Specialised high-tech mining equipment, the miner not only provides a decent mineral output, but raises ship speed, along with providing both cloaking and jamming.

  • This is the only advanced mining equipment you can get if you picked the Only Basic Remote Mining LRT.

• Multi-Cargo Pod

  Enables a ship to carry an impressive 250kt of extra cargo, as well as providing both a cloak and extra armour.

<tooltip text="Mini Morph hull layout"></tooltip>

• Mini-Morph

  This is the only non-item thing the MT will give you. It is the plans for an exotic ship chassis based loosley on the Hyper Expansion Metamorph ship. Its smaller and has fewer equipment slots than a Metamorph, but is much cheaper and makes an excellent minelayer and light skirmisher despite being poorly suited to combat. (Low initiative and armour.)

MT Ships

<tooltip text="MT Probe layout"></tooltip>

• MT Probe

  A Mini Morph ship with 4 Anti Matter Torpedoes, 2 Enigma Pulsar Engines, 3 Mega Poly Shells, 1 Multifunction Pod, 1 Multicargo Pod, and 1 Jump Gate.

<tooltip text="MT Scout layout"></tooltip>

• MT Scout

  A Mini Morph ship with 4 Anti Matter Torpedoes, 2 Enigma Pulsar Engines, 3 Langston Shells, 1 Multifunction Pod, 1 Multicargo Pod, and 1 Jump Gate. The mystery trader issues 2 of these ships. Very fast ship, yet weak in combat.

<tooltip text="MT Lifeboat layout"></tooltip>

• MT Lifeboat

  A Nubian class ship with 3 Enigma Pulsar Engines, 6 Mega Poly Shells, 6 Langston Shells, 6 Anti Matter Torpedoes, 9 Multicontained Munitions, 6 Multifunction Pods, and 3 Multicargo Pods. This is a capital ship, although it's more deadly as a bomber than as a combat ship. This ship also lays mines.

Following the MT (A warning)

If you want to prevent others trading with the MT by following it with the fleet, that fleet WILL NOT follow the MT if you target it with the right click on the blue diamond (objects in the same location) and selecting MT. To move the fleet in the same location as MT in next turn, you need to target that MT with a ship that's not in the same location, and target that ship with the "interception" fleet. OFC you can try to travel with the same speed and along the same path as MT goes, but if it changes speed/direction, your ships will not end in the same location as MT. - iztok [1]

Articles

• Mystery Trader Types by Chris Spagnoli - 1998-08-17 v2.6/7i
• Mystery Trader FAQ 3.1 by Rogier van Vugt - 1998-03-23 v2.6/7h
• MT Parts Guide by Walter Pullen - 1997 v2.6/7
• How to Catch the MT by J. Olsen - 1996-10-14 v2.6/7

HWF Discussions

• Some answers about common MT questions... (long)
• MT parts details