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

How about upgrading them after they get to their destination with weapons/defense with no engines? I think that this would help with pirates and enemies alike if you don't have "just in time technology".

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.

Arming the original Freighter won't mean that the minifreighters on the established trade route get weapons too... or do they?

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

Of course I haven't! My Gold Edition box is yet unopened, I have one more exam to go before I can finally open it. I expect to be stuck on it for hours once I finally install and update the game, and I only got the game 11 days ago. 4 days left.

So do minifreighters keep the hull size and HP of the original too? Does this mean that it's possible to attach trade modules to huge-hulled dreadnoughts and have powerful dreadnought-minifreighters on your trade routes, with which you can later get Galactic Privateer and have a Peacekeeper-eating invincible trade route?

Or is this according to the UP law that Freighters must have weaponry?

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.

And keep in mind that the initial idea of freighters is to generate money, so the more expensive the freighter, the less economical.
I'd prefer making a dash for a galactic privateer with that money...

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"!

sorry the idea of frieghters in da is diplomatic not cash

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.

Trade is worth a lot more if you can plunk down 4 fully loaded (trade module wise) econ starbases per sector along their routes.

If you can't, they are more for diplomacy than for cash.

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.

15 credits a turn is not money

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.