The Complete Privateer Walktrhu
by MACHiNE GUNgsTeR of Blazing Aces NG!


Part I. Game Objectives.

Ok. Now that you installed all six discos (and maybe that three of Speech Pak)
and typed PRIV, you become a Privateer. For those who didn't launched game yet
I recommend to do so and view the introductory animation - it's quite impress-
ive. Later on you can skip it clicking either mouse button or pressing a key.
So, as I told, you are now a Privateer - a free space trader. Let's see what's
the epoque we're operate in.
The time is quite hot: the war against Kilrathi is still raging. No one can
feel himself safe enough even in humans' space - Kilrathi raiders can appear
anywhere. Although it's not your work to fight them as it was in Wing Comman-
der - you're not a soldier, you're free man and you can do whatever you want.
And you're not alone: in space and grounded you meet other privateers, pirates
and so-called Retros, who in fact are followers of so-called Church of Man.
The only thing you should know about Retros is that they hate new technology
that allowed humanity to reach stars and they use it only in aim to kill
"techophiles", as they call other people. You also can meet militia, who
guards lines against pirates, and confederation forces, who are in fact
military. This is your environment. And you can choose either way of decent
trade, or you can become a pirate.
This game looks quite unimpressive until you get to the start of storyline.
When you reached it, I think you won't stop until you go thru all of it. Many
fites, alien artifacts, misterious murders, finally an encounter with aliens
who're millions years older than Humans and Kilrathi - this is shortly what
expects you on your way. In this walkthru I tried to gather all information
needed to complete the game. I also provided a MoneyMaker, which may help you
to get your money quick and do not waste time sticking around the base and
attacking any approaching ship in hope to get some cargo from it or working
that low-cost missions that the Mission Computer provides.

The following walkthru is formed in Q&A manner, that is I'm giving answers to
the questions most likely to be asked.


Part II. Game controls.

Following are game controls which I used during the game (maybe there are
some more of them, but I finished the game using just these):

Anywhere:

Alt-X Exit (might be not immediate)

At bases:

"C" or both mouse buttons click brings up a Quine 4000 Console, where you
can load or save game, watch your performance, financial status and mission
status. Point and click mouse for all other actions.

In space:

Fx keys - change view (also switch to additional turrets if you have
them). You are not able to hire crew for your ship, so you'll
have to switch to turrets and shoot or activate tractor beam
by yourself.
Arrows - well, I think you're not that stupid :)
+ - increase set speed
- - decrease set speed
BackSpace - stop
Tab - activate afterburner if you have one
Space - shoot guns (should first activate them)
Enter - shoot missiles (if you have them)


W(eapon) - see weapon status, also change missile type if you bought
missiles of more than one type.
G(uns) - see weapon status, activate/select guns (active guns will
lit)
A(utopilot) - activate autopilot (should set the course first)
D(istance) - shows distance to selected destination point
E(nemy) - switch to enemy status view
R(eport) - report internal damage and all like that
T(arget) - switch to radar view
L(ock) - lock target (you can shoot FF - Fire'n'Forget missiles only
if target is locked, else they won't lock their targets. BTW,
they say FF stands for "Friend Or Foe", but I'm quite sure
this is not the case with THESE FF missiles - they're quite
stupid to hit your own ass if you give 'em a chance)
P(ause) - hmm, very useful key, ain't it? But they maybe better gotta
implement B(oss Alert) key, that's what I think. :)
N(av comp) - turn on Navigation computer - this is where you set course
for autopilot
J(ump) - do a hyperspace jump (activated only in jump points)
C(omm unit) - activates Communication unit - not so often used item. Land-
ings are performed automagically as you reach the automatic
landing zone - no talks required.
M(ission) - brings on mission objectives screen
S(hiels) - shield generator control (cycles thru all available modes of
operation: Full/Two Thirds/One Third/Off). Be aware of this
key in battle, for if you lower the shields and then decide
to raise them back you'll have to turn them off first because
of cycling switching scheme, thus making yourself unprotected
for a short time which although may be quite enough to get
blown to bits.
[ - cycle thru all available views (G,D,E,R,T,C,M)

Remember that guns, shields and afterburner are all powered by the same
source: your main engine. If you turn shields to two thirds mode, then more
energy will be available for guns (you'll be able to shoot more often) or
for afterburner (you'll be able to keep it active for longer time). But if
you turn off guns that won't have any effect other than you'll be unable to
shoot.

There's also a key for dumping cargo if you're in tough break, but I never
used it and though don't know which one is it (my friend told me there is
one). I believe that the key is 'X'. And also there should be key to acti-
vate ECM system, but I didn't find it - well, it maybe works automagically..


Part III. Getting to and thru the storyline.

The Privateer has quite twisted storyline. First of all, you're not yet on
it when the game's just begun. You should first get to the planet from where
it starts.
When you start the game, you have just 2000 cosmobucks and a ship, which
name I didn't noticed for I soon changed it. You ain't got a jumpdrive, so
you cannot jump to other systems. You are currently in Troy system, Humboldt
quadrant. What you gotta do is to make some more money so that you can buy a
jumpdrive and become able to jump to another star systems. You also will need
to buy additional sector maps (this is done in Software Booth at Ship Dealer's
hangar), or you'll be unable to find anything in uncharted sectors. Each map
costs 2000 cosmobucks, but you can buy all of them for just 5000.
There's much of action in the game but anyone should solve his fighting
problems himself - there's no common way to defeat enemies. For example, I
used my MoneyMaker and made 255 FF missiles before each mission. This amount
is quite enough to get thru the most tough missions, like the one where you
encounter total of 11 Kilrathi in three waves and then Kamekh with two
Grikaths of cover (that's not counting retros). Sure, you can try to go thru
without any cheats, especially when you have a joystick for ship control via
keyboard's too rough to point guns exactly where you want :(u'll see that by
yerself).
It would be wise to save game before each new mission - this will allow you
to replay it if you fail. Unlike Wing Commander, Privateer's storyline is
straightforward and if you fail one of the crucial missions you'll be unable
to go further and finish the game. By "crucial" I mean missions given by
game characters. Those you get from Mission computer, Mercenaries' Guild or
Merchants' Guild are not important for the storyline - they're just mean for
making money.

Ok, let's go over the game now.

Q: Where can I get the money?
A: There's couple'o'ways: you can take missions at the Mission Computer and
receive paiment after accomplishing them (most likely those will be
patrols or something like that), but that will take much time 'cause your
ship ain't a helluva-gunpower killing machine and you might expect that
you'll be shot down not only once or twice...
The other way is to save game rite as you started, exit and use
MoneyMaker on it. You'll be able to set any account you want. Then go
back to game and buy anything you want. I suggest that first of all
you'll buy a Centurion. This is a helluvaship, with ultimate shields and
gunpower. Outfit it with afterburners, shield generator, guns, nav/targe-
ter and whatever you select and proceed further.

Q: I got enough money, bought and outfitted cool ship. What then?
A: Fly to New Detroit in Potter quadrant. Visit bar. You'll see a man
sitting at the front table. Talk to him. This is Mr. Sandoval and he
opens the storyline. He'll give you a milk-run mission and an alien
artifact to keep it for a while.

Q: I did mission Sandoval gave me and found that he's dead. There's a girl
sitting in the bar instead of him. What should I do?
A: Just do what she tells you. She will help you to hide artifact good
enough and also she's paying quite a lot.

Q: After completing first Tayla's mission (deliver cargo to Oakham instead
of Newcastle as claimed in manifest) she told me that I've failed it and
kissed me goodbye. What should I do with it?
A: You probably landed somewhere else before reaching Oakham. You should
go directly to Oakham and land there - no other landings allowed before
you do it. You gotta replay the mission.

Q: I did all four missions for Tayla. What now?
A: When you made final mission, she told you that she couldn't find out
anything about the artifact but she knows person who can help you and
that that person's name is Roman Lynch and she arranged a meeting with
him for you. Lynch is a contrabandist's king and his residential is at
New Constantinople which is one jump away from New Detroit. Fly there
and visit bar.

Q: I did all missions for Lynch, but in the last one I was attacked by his
bodyguard Miggs. Sure I blew his brains out but when I returned to the
New Constantinople there's no Lynch, no payment and no clues. Where
should I go now?
A: During the briefing before the last mission, Lynch told you that one of
his men found out something important at Oxford's library but there are
problems recovering him and the information from there so you should fly
to Newcastle and recover him. That's where Miggs ambushed you. Now fly to
the Oxford thyself and visit the library. Oxford's in the same quadrant,
somewhere near the bottom of the map. You will have to work for
University to get free access to the library.

Q: How could I protect Hunter Toth from that Retros? Second wave just
blowing him up before I'm able to engage...
A: Well, let's go over tactics - this mission's not of kill-em-all-an-get-
the-hell-out kind. You'll have to buy all 20 missiles and better they be
FF type. First wave of two Talons is very easy to defeat. Spare missiles
and get them off with guns. Just don't leave them alone for long time so
that they won't have much time to aim and shoot Toth's Drayman. But wait!
Don't kill the second Talon right now! Second wave of three fighters
won't arrive until you down this one, so let Toth get outta here as far
as he can. Then kill second fighter of first wave and try to intercept
incoming triple before they come close to Toth. Now you can use your
missiles. Lock first target, shoot about 4 missiles at a time, lock
another target, shoot another 4, lock third and go after him. First two
brothers won't think of anything else but their lives (but that probably
won't save them, cause FF missiles are very hard to avoid). If you see
that no missiles left on radar (they're of yellow color) but some targets
remain, repeat the sequence. Most probably this tactic will lead you to
success. Note, that mission's not accomplished until you kill or drive
away all five enemy fighters (you may think that if you just lead Toth
near the Oxford and land then mission will count as success - in fact,
this is not the case).

Q: Well, I did all missions for the University, examined artifact but it
just told me that this thing is of unknown origin, made of unknown
material and then show me a page about someone called Monkhouse. Where
should I go now?
A: The page says , in short words, that Dr. Monkhouse is the only person who
is able to tell you what the hell this artifact is and that he was last
seen at Palan. Go there. Palan's in Fariss quadrant, somewhere in the
top-right corner of the map. There's a planet and a mining base (Basra)
in the system. First you should go to the planet. It is blocked by a
bunch of Demons - do not try to shoot down all of them - it's impossible.
There will be always six of them. Instead activate afterburners and go
straight to the planet. Most likely you'll break thru the blockade and
land. Once landed go to the bar and meet Dr. Monkhouse. He'll describe
the situation and ask you to get him outta here, but first you should
penetrate the blockade around the Palan. Go to the neighbouring Basra
base and meet Lynn Murphy in the bar. Follow her instructions. The next
four missions will be of kill-em-or-die kind. But not too hard for such
professional as you :).

Q: Ok, I did that. The planet's clear. What then?
A: Fly to the planet, pick up Dr. Monkhouse and deliver him where he asked
you to. There will be an encounter with Kilrathi, so watch out. Doctor
will give you another piece of artifact and you'll discover that the
artifact is actually some kind of star map. But the space shown on
this map is not yet charted. Go to Rygannon in the same quadrant and
visit Tarin Cross at the bar. Do all reconaissance missions.

Q: In the last mission I found huge alien base abandoned eras ago. I landed
there and picked up an alien weapon from derelict fighter. After that
strange bogie started to go after me. It looks like an almost black egg
with green carvings and it seems to be invulnerable. What should I do
with it?
A: Yes, this thing is inpenetrable to your weapons, including that one you
found at abandoned base. This is Steltek's Drone and it's aim is to kill
YOU, because you got an artifact of Steltek's technology (the gun). Drone
is very fast, maneurable and heavily armed. Even with activated after-
burners you won't get away from it. Here's what you gotta do:
Carefully return to base, get your money and kiss girl goodbye. Then head
to Nexus. You should avoid contact with Drone. If it rushes after you,
use missiles on him and activate afterburner. This won't let you escape
him until you get to jump point but at least you'll be able to keep him
far enough. Whenever you see it's closer that 4 miles shoot FF missile
again (don't forget you should lock him before). Although missiles cause
no harm to him, he always trying to avoid them for some reason.
On the Nexus go to the bar and meet Sandra Goodin. She'll invite you to
Perry Naval Base. Go to Perry (in Clarke quadrant) and visit Admiral
Terrell's office. Accept his mission and go to the system he named. In my
case that was Blockade Point Tango. Before the last jump to destination
you should meet Steltek ship. Use Communication unit and force them to
trade with you. They will power up your derelict weapon so that you'll be
able to penetrate Drone's shield in exchange to coordinates of that huge
bogie where you found the weapon. Now jump to destination, meet ambush
forces (use Comm unit to force Drone to come) and then kill the Drone.
You'll see an attractive animation and one more when you return to Perry
and visit Admiral Terrell again.
That's it! You made thru it and now you can exit and type "echo y|del."
at the DOS prompt. This will save you about 16Mb of disk space. :)

And so your career of Privateer is over... until Origin release Privateer II,
if it will. Well, bye until then.

MACHiNE GUNgster//BANG!

P.S. Greetz to my friends: eXORcist, Nimble, Leo, TDV, Shade and anyone who
knows me and loves me :)