A guide to the Survivor Acheivement

Written by OliasofSunhillo

This Guide is a hint at how you can play Suicidal Squid mode in Albion Prelude, to obtain the Survivor achievement. It is intended as a guide only not a walk-through as by its very nature no two games can be the same.

Alert: Spoilers within!

From this Point:

Dead is Dead will be referred to as DiD,
Rep is reputation with races,
Rank is your overall game standing for fight or Trade,
Autopillock is Auto Pilot,
Follow Fred is "my business partner stole a large sum" mission,
Robot Revenge is "Xenon Sector invasion" mission,
Scan Roids is "I need some asteroid scans" mission,
Return Wreck is "Someone abandoned a ship belonging to me" mission,
L2W is "My ship is in for Repair and I need to get to X"
CC is the Command Console (Shift-C)

Firstly some general do's and don't's

Don't: be impatient.
Don't: play the game tired or p*ss*d - a lack of concentration and you will die.
Don't: use Autopillock for anything other than crossing a Sector.
Don't: use Autopillock to dock - you will crash sometimes (the same for Gates).
Don't: use SETA for anything accept crossing a Sector - even then use caution.
Don't: trust the AI to do anything right - do it yourself!
Don't: go banging into anything in your Spacesuit as you will die.
Don't: pilot a ship larger than an M6 yourself, an M7 for instance is very susceptible to the “Ram up the Rear” (RUTA) syndrome on exiting gate.

Do: use pause if you leave game (even for only a few seconds).
Do: drive yourself it's about 67.489 times safer than Autopillock.
Do: buy a docking puter as soon as you can - it saves lives!
Do: keep an eye on the game all the time especially when Autopillocking.
Do: collect the freebies at the Start of DiD.
Do: use Scorp's Map with the default Map loaded it's useful.
Do: install Bonus Pack 5.1 from egosoft, the mosquito missile defence is a game-changer for the better.

Secondly some Mission do's and don't's

Don't: accept follow Fred missions until you have some form of rear turret.
Don't: over-reach yourself in Combat you will die, (Let the Locals do the big stuff).
Don't: imagine your just playing Albion Prelude, dying doesn't result in a reload from your last station.

Do: accept protect convoy missions - then get out of Sector
Do: accept Defend Station missions - then stay out of the way on SETA.
Do: accept Scan Roid missions as these pay well and is a great way to increase Rep.
Do: accept Return Wreck missions, another good way to increase Rep.

The Game is Afoot!

Firstly plan broadly what you want to do and stick to it.

For me that involves clearing my name, getting out of this crap ship and making money!

You start in Queens Harbour, nearly as far south east as it is possible to be. This Sector is home to two important things for you, Atreus HQ and the Recon Drone Fab. The first sells a Jumpdrive and Docking computer and the second oddly enough sells Recon Drones. More on these later.

Your Ship is a pile of crap an Octopus with no weapons one shield and minimal cargo space, in fact this is the worst ship in the game good for nothing so the immediate priority is to get rid of it and get something a little safer.

In the hold are two Space Fuel worth ¢726 each now this may seem quite valuable as you only have ¢1000 at the moment, but I advise you drop them, they will still be here when you return, (at least they have been for me on the 20 or so occasions I tried it).

Head east into Menalaus Oasis, then South to Distant Clouds. Once you arrive open the CC and choose "move to position" which opens the Map, using the NUM Pad 4,6,2,8 then the INS key and 2,6 manipulate the Map Cursor until the co-ordinates bottom Right read 21.1 then 5, then -12.3 (note the minus) and press enter, the ship may take a circuitous route but you eventually end up near a crate which contains ¢75,000! Drive over this and collect money.

At this point you may want to Map Sector and find the few stations that are in here. Bearing in mind the mission Do's and Don't's look out for White light Bulbs, Orange Cent signs and Red Reticule signs.

Ideally a Red Reticule Defend Station would be the first port of call, if you find one of these missions accept and back away to at least 20km from the offending station, and stick SETA on. Eventually the attacking ship/ships will crash into the station gaining you reward and Rep. Great we are up and running.

Next Travel back to Menalaus Oasis and Map the the Sector you should find 11 Stations and missions, by mapping the the Sector you can fly in at the gate open the map and see any missions at any Station regardless of how far it is away. Hopefully you might get a Return Wreck or Defend Station mission, at this point I don’t recommend taking any other type of mission.

Keep an eye on the Ships flying in your Sector, every so often a symbol may appear beside one usually an Orange Cent or Red Reticule, most of the Cent Ships are beyond our reach at the moment but it doesn't hurt to comm them, I got a battered Mako for ¢15,000 in one start I had. The Red Reticule Symbol over a Trading ship is an Escort mission. To accept this mission you need to get out of the Sector, so using this example I find a Vulture needing an Escort to Faded Dreams from this Sector Menalaus Oasis this is West and West, so I accept and head South back to Distant Clouds to wait it out, or if your near the West Gate shoot through here double quick, actually doing these Escort missions they will be attacked every 20km - Fact - so get out of the Sector before the Transport has travelled 20km. More than 70% of Escort missions tackled this way will succeed, gaining you Rep and Creds.

So onward! We arrive in Queens Harbour again and decision has to be made do you collect Space Fuel and run to to Void of Opportunity to the Pirate Base, or leave it and Motor on? I have found that that the Pirate Base option is seven times out of ten dangerous, but can be profitable. Lets take both options, first dock at the Royal Boron Trading Station and Buy Engine upgrades (5 at least) and cargo extension (full to 15).

So to Option 1:

Collect the Space Fuel and head West to Faded Dreams, there is a Military Base here Map it then Continue South to Void of Opportunity. As soon as you in Sector turn right and head over your shoulder as it were until you come across a Rehabilitation Station and then the Pirate Base Dock and Sell Whiskey, this improves your Pirate Rank although you can't check this but you will notice more blue Pirate Ships on your Map always a good thing! Taking a mission here is usually dangerous or down right impossible so check but generally ignore them. head back to Faded Dreams. I have simplified things here as you may come across many enemy Pirate ships either entering the South Gate or in the Pirate Sector - never a good thing, this is why we upgraded your speed so that escape is at least possible, although you won't outrun many rockets/missiles yet. You might find a fight brewing when you arrive at the Pirate Base both the Split and Boron have been seen blowing this Station up in my Play throughs, if Boron are there dock anyway they will leave you alone, but Split on the other hand will kill you on sight. When returning to Faded Dreams you may see Boron and Split Military Ships Fighting, Stay out of the way and collect any cargo boxes left after the battle, ideally Remote Guided Warheads with your newly enlarged cargo you can collect up to 6 of these worth ¢27000 each, but more realistically you may find 2 and a few Silkworm or Banshee Missiles worth ¢5000 and ¢13000 each. This kind of Battle has happened many times in my Starts which makes it worth doing the SF run.

And Option 2:

Ignore the Space Fuel and look for Pirates or Dukes Dangerous Ships flying through Queens Harbour, go and sit beside the Heavy Weapons Platform next to Atreus HQ and wait the interlopers will be killed and you can slurp up the goodies. If at this stage you find a RGW (Remote Guided Warhead) Dock at Atreus HQ and sell your slurp selling the RGW gives you a little profit when buying a Docking Computer a Life Saver in this Game.

Hopefully you will have survived this far! Option two is the safest, and you have a few Creds now, it is time to head North. Queens Retribution has a Shipyard (with some interesting Ships for us) and an Equipment Dock although never dock here unless you absolutely have (say a mission), instead dock at the Shipyard and choose upgrade. If you do dock at the Equipment Dock leave by choosing landed ships from the menu and command your ship to dock at another station, you can always cancel this when you in space. Map the Sector then Head East to Hollow Infinity and Map this Sector, a Mission that crops up a lot in rocky Sectors is Scan Roids always worth while, and you have enough time to duck back to Queens Retribution Shipyard and buy a mineral Scanner, but I would avoid these at the moment unless it's a Split or Paranid asking then I would do it no question.

The Split and the Paranid:

You will have noticed that as you started the Game the Split and Paranid are enemy to you, very unfair in DiD I thought, but not impossible to overcome. In Hollow Infinity and later Bright Profit (North of here) a fair few Scan Roid Missions become available, be aware though if you Scan the Asteroids first you won't be offered these missions as the Roids have to be unknown to you. So Hollow infinity and later Northern Sectors are a good place to take Split and Paranid missions. In Faded Dreams you will also find missions for these two Races but inevitably it involves going into Enemy territory which at this Stage of the Game is a no-no. One mission each for these Races is a priority and having done that you notice that the Races are still Red in your Map, at this Stage that isn't too bad because you can Comm the Red Ship and apologise this will turn them Blue. Don't worry at this Stage if you haven't done any missions for them (I used to obsess about it and often died trying silly missions to gain the all important Rep), as you will have plenty of chance later on, when you will be better equipped to do them, in fact you are moving away from Split and Paranid for a while, so two less enemy Ships to worry about. If you haven't sorted the Paranid and Split by the time you start the Main Plot you will Die entering Argon M148 as there are Military Paranid and Split here presumably invited by the Argon to help with the War Effort. This is a small but critical point to master otherwise Game-Over again!

Back to the Game

From Hollow Infinity travel back to Queens Retribution and head North to Sanctity of Corruption. Map the Sector and note any missions, doing stuff for the Teladi is a priority from here on in. Hopefully you get a couple of defend Station Missions which will boost your Rep for no danger again, using the technique I outlined earlier. Head East to Company Strength careful here as there are quite a few Pirates milling around as always avoid the Red as your in no position to tackle them. Head North to Bright Profit and Map the Sector looking for Paranid and Split Missions if possible but doing Teladi ones if not.

Another word about Missions:

At this Stage it must be noted that you cannot buy any ships from any shipyards apart from Boron at this stage so refuse those missions, also another word about missions they can quite vague before you accept them and details come in the form of an incoming message at this stage you may realise that you can't complete it and from the mission window cancel the mission be aware though this can loose you Rep as fast as killing a certain Races Ship. So sticking to a certain type of "Safe" Mission should help you avoid this pitfall.

Back to the Game

Head North from Bright Profit to Tears of Greed avoiding the Pirates that are here (there is a Pirate Base top left of this Sector). Into Tears of Greed, Mapping the Sector will reveal Missions and hopefully there will be a couple of simple safe missions, to build up your Teladi Rep. Onward West to Grand Exchange. Caution is advised here as this borders a Xenon Sector to the North and stray Xenon L's, M's, N's and even Q's over this Sector like a rash. Two things to note here here is firstly Xenon activity and secondly looking to your Left a Gate way way way off in the distance.

Given that you haven't been lucky with missions and not spent too much (you will have about ¢60,000 at this stage) Dock at the Teladi Stock Exchange Directly in front of you as you enter the Sector, about 30km ahead. On Docking you will receive an incoming message open this and you will see a note about the Stock Exchange select the yes button and leave the Station. You are now ¢10,000 lighter but bear with me. Head from here to the West Belt of Agular.

Entering this Sector can at times be dangerous as any Xenon Ships that make through Grand Exchange are heading here. I have died of so called "Friendly Fire" by emerging into an on going Battle at the Gate, as ever wait and Slurp up any stray goods that you can. So your still here? Good we can continue Dock at Jonferco HQ here you can sell any Slurp you have and buy a trading System Extension for about ¢9,000, if you are tight for Creds i.e. less than ¢40,000 leave it at that, but if you have more upgrade your speed to maximum it will help. Leave Jonferco and Map Sector (always handy) then proceed back to Grand Exchange. On exiting the Gate turn Right and head for that distant Gate I mentioned, this is another life saver. This Gate leads to Merchant Haven and we will Travel there anon. Pass the Gate continuing South until the South Gate is 30km behind you. You are now in the Safest place nearly in the whole Game even though the Xenon are a consistent threat, and Pirates emerge from the South Gate. Your position 30km South keeps you off their Radar and them off yours. Safety a very very precious commodity in this Game. We will now settle into the Stock Market a thing we can do because we are technically still in Sector, we could achieve the same with a satellite but they are M(edium) Freight and the Broken Glass Ship (sorry Octopus) can only manage S(mall), this is the reason you can't accept Taxi Missions in this Crap!

The Stock Market:

You may have looked at this, you may have dabbled with it, but in this Game Context, DiD it is the Safest way to make Money. You haven't a lot of Creds at this Stage, or maybe you have depending on your Luck with missions, So we will start small.
Press NUM Pad Enter to open the Menu and select Stock Exchange for a Sub-Menu, from here select Local Stock Exchange. Don't be overwhelmed by the full page of names and numbers that greet you as it is quite simple to decode. The first two columns are Supply and Demand, these are critical to your Dealing and keeping an eye on these will become second nature after a while. The coloured columns are your first port of call you will notice the numbers range from 0 (green) to 200 (red), ideally you will looking for numbers here around 100 to 110 both in the Red. The higher the number corresponds to Supply and Demand.
So you have found something at 100 and want to trade it it click on it for a dialogue containing Buy, Sell and Return to Previous Menu, Select Buy and type in a series of 9's and press Enter this will buy the amount you can afford. Congratulations your now trading! Some Stocks to watch for here are under the Natural Heading and I always look for Deals on Jumpdrive Components (always a good bet in Grand Exchange) and Luxury Foodstuffs and Medical Equipment these two seem to Tag each other so it's a way of doubling the Stock you own.
Now the boring bit with the main Stock Market window in view hit Shift-J (SETA) and wait ideally you are looking for your share to 10 points (the two columns to the left of the Index) but all 3 of the above can rise much more than 10 points. When happy with a profit (seen on the right in green) select the stock in question and press enter, this time selecting sell. Your first Profit!
Do this until you have accumulated about ¢500,000 now it's time to trade at the Shipyard and get rid of this bucket of crap your currently in.

Buying a new Ship:

The type of ship you buy is entirely up to you, but as a recommendation I would suggest the Kestrel an M5 with 5 times the Shielding you have and twice the top speed! This costs around ¢220,000 but is another life saver, ideally at this point you will have the Credits (if not more Stock Exchange), the full (L) version will be available (if not back to the SE until it is) and you have the Rep to buy it (Teladi Profit Opportunity) and this is trickier as you will have to do a few more missions to achieve this, the Sector I mentioned before, beside you is good for this (Merchant Haven). You don't have to move from your current safe position as the Trading Extension allows you to Trade from here.
Right we satisfy the conditions above and buy a L Kestrel, now send the ship to the Stock Market and trick it out, tuning, rudder and Cargo to full, you now have a ship that does 605 m/s and has M Cargo of 55 over 3 times what you had. I would now meet this ship at a neutral station in the Sector possibly the Shipyard and change Ship, also transferring the the Equipment you had in the Occy. Once you have changed Ships sell the Occy if you have tricked it out it's worth ¢69,000. Throw a party because the balance of the game has shifted more to your favour!

Piloting your new possession:

The only reason I'm writing this is because the Kestrel along with a Paranid M5 and a Yaki M5 fall into the Super-fast Category that the game has trouble dealing with. As an example clicking on a Far Gate and selecting Autopillock through Gate will often see you shoot past the Gate and the come frighteningly close to destroying itself and this effect is even worse with SETA engaged, so the warnings I posted at the beginning are especially true here fly it yourself maybe SETA over the distance between Gates - be warned this is another Game Over Scenario (one of many as you will already have gathered).

Back to your game:

Your in your shiny new Kestrel and its time to trick it out, re-trace your steps to Queens Harbour (I know going over the same old ground again, there is a fair bit of grind in this Game), Docking at Atreus HQ Buy a Triplex Scanner and a Jumpdrive (yay we're motoring now). Other Equipment you may need you can buy from the Equipment Dock (Shipyard) in Queens Retribution, I can recommend the Mineral Scanner and Navigation Software if you don't have it already.
At this stage the Game is yours to discover but suggest staying on track for the completion of the Argon War Missions. At least now you can Transport a couple of passengers which pay well and the Split seem to love moving a few troops around, and you can Scan Roids at a terrific pace (just don't crash into them - easy done at this pace).
Hopefully you have been able attain the Rep of Creature with the Split and Nomad with the Paranid if so it's time to cosy up to the Argon so head back to Belt of Agular, Once there turn North into Albion Gamma and through the Trans-Orbital Accelerator into Albion Beta, apart from the nice music these Albion Sectors are great for picking up Split and Paranid Missions, you may get a mission from a Split to travel to Zyarth's Dominion or Zyarth's Stand and here in the Kestrel you are able to do them. The technique involves flying through the Xenon Gate in Grand Exchange and turn left at full speed you will avoid any incoming fire from Gate-Hugging J's,K's and an I, you will also out-run all missiles if you head away from the enemy Ships, turn slightly North and head for the left-hand side of the Gate until you have passed it by about 10km then turn and head for the Gate through the back it still works and the enemy AI cannot deal with this, practice this in a neutral sector first and then your away. Your through into the Split Sectors if you have done no other Split missions avoid all patrolling Ships and concentrate on your mission hopefully you will succeed and if you don't you cant loose much more Rep than you already have. You can now Jump over the Xenon Sector if you need to, an alternative to buying Database files from a Light-bulb Mission.
Concentrate on building up your Argon Rep to Accepted Advisor as at this Rep the Main Plot will kick in. Before setting off to change the universe in Argon Sector M148 mind your Paranid and Split Rep.

Doing missions is fine for getting the Game off your back (less enemies and the main plot starting), being prepared is everything to finish Plot, I would recommend an M3 for the Start of the Main Plot and you are given an M6 for one mission but I would recommend Building up a small fleet of more appropriate Ships for the Plot and I will list my favourite per mission.

As always the key to buying ships and equipping them is of course Rep and Money, lots and lots of money. So its back to the Stock Market in Grand Exchange. Deal here until you have at least a million Creds and then we will move on to the Company Markets.

Stock Market Company Index's:

This Market differs visually from the Stock Market in that is simpler there is no Supply and Demand, and the Index only goes to 100. the key here as in the Stock Market is to buy at 99 or 100 and wait it really is as simple as that, bearing in mind that quantity is better than price so at the beginning look for shares that trade at anything from ¢19 to ¢32 any more and you will only be buying a few shares and this means less profits.
As before you are aiming for a rise of 10 to 12 points it wont be long before you will be making a million profit on each trade. Once again SETA is your friend.

So you have built up a few Million Creds at first the best purchase you can make is TM Ship, a small carrier holding 4 ships and the best of these is the OTAS Zephyrus. To obtain this you need good Argon Rep and be able to travel to Legend's Home, to get here safely you can obtain some recon drones in Queens Harbour and send these through the two Xenon Sectors that stand in your way, or you could chance it in the Kestrel using the method I outlined above.

The Zephy is no Slouch at 140 m/s and 600k of shielding, it makes for a formidable Player Ship and it can mount some useful weapons too.

Another Money Spinner:

Before taking the Plot on you are free to Travel the War Sectors without fear of attack, but again be aware "Friendly Fire" can strike here too. In all the War Sectors Ships are being blown up with an alarming regularity your interest lies in Scooping up the Debris and selling it once you have a ship capable of carrying M(edium) Freight your in business, Slurps can amount to ¢500,000 sometimes!

The Plot:

I don't need to run through the plot here Roguey and others have done an excellent job here already I want to point out the pitfalls and tips on how to do this in DiD.

Starting:

You are called to Argon M148 bear in mind all I have said the Zephy is good enough for this.

Aiding the war effort:

An M3 (OTAS is good) or M3+ Argon or Teladi good for this, even better if you have been able to Hack one of the 4 or 5 Plasma Burst generator Forges, 8 of these on a Teladi or Argon M3 is another Game-Changer one shot kills here.
You will need to kill (Ram) 3 or 4 Terran ships in the war Sectors for the Plot to continue.

Jonferco Eavesdrop:

The Argon give you a Advanced Disco for this so your Zephy is great for getting around with the disco docked.

Highway Patrol:

You're given an M6 Centaur for this, but whatever Ship you use make sure you have a 100 or so Mosquito Missiles and Mosquito Missile defence set in the Secondary Commands for your Ship, set your Rear Turrets to Missile Defence as you will receive a lot of incoming Missiles. My Recommendation the Auster (OTAS) Bomber with about 40 Tomahawk missiles a hundred or so mosquito’s (as above) and two HEPT on the back Turret set as above. You will have to move to within 15km of the Tokyo at the end of this mission otherwise it remains invulnerable, but if you bomb it from here you can ¢1,000,000 for this alone.

Jonferco under attack:

If like me you went with the Bomber then the M6 Centaur is good enough for this. The Secret here is to get the Lasertowers before they have charged then take out any fighters.

Protect the Transporter:

The M6 is good enough for this.

Albion Defenceless:

Your Centaur good enough here.

The Beryll:

This is Critical you need 3 Lasertowers and the minute you get the mission they disappear from every Station within 20 Sectors so Buy them as you go along (even before you start the Plot) you have been warned there will be incredible frustration ahead if you don't do this.

Then you will need Computer Components, Microchips and 10 IRE, again they disappear as you get this mission so as in above get them first.

Now the Hardest part they need a Xenon L. Through Trail and Tribulation I have found that the best weapon to get Xenon to Bail is the FLAK Cannon used during a Sector Invasion Mission. Now these will only mounted on an M7 so you will need ¢29,000,000 for a Teladi Shrike at the minimum then another ¢10,000,000 to outfit it, so it's back to the Company Markets again. You may have been very lucky and capped one whilst taking a Robot Revenge Mission and if you did you have saved yourself a world of Grind.
The Zephy is the ideal Ship here as it will hold all the Goods needed and store the L for you, it will be ideal for picking it up after you Cap it, So you can see the value of this Ship to this Game.

Plutarch Rising:

M6 Centaur good enough here or bring your Shrike if you went down that route.

Trial by Fire:

Kill a few Terran in the War Sectors, so the Centaur good enough here.

Uncovered:

The Centaur good here too. The Secret here is to target the Cerberus and when he Jumps you will too. when you arrive at Albion Beta stay away from the Pirate M7 that is here other ships will deal with this and concentrate on the few M3's around.

General Piloting:

Use your M7 in Sector only if you did get one, Jump it to a Sector you want to be in then follow it in, pilot your own ship everywhere though Gates and Sectors, as for instance Autopillock won't avoid the huge battle going on in front of you!

Done!
Given that you followed my Guide-lines the Plot part of the Survivor Achievement is not going to kill you, getting there probably will. In 70+ play-throughs I only managed it twice, so above all prepare to die for all sorts of silly reasons but the satisfaction at the end is "Punch the Air" happiness!