Earth and Beyond Week?Day Two: Earth

In Day Two of our Earth and Beyond Week, we take a look at our future relatives from Earth as we examine the abilities of the Terran Trader.

It?s always a trip to see Earth in a game based in Outer Space. When you begin as a Terran, your training will take place in high-Earth orbit. Earth and Beyond has a wonderful newbie experience that?s put together to get you up and running in no time, and completing this early training in orbit of our home planet is always nice. As a Terran, your beginning levels will fly by with the comforting glow of Mother Earth nearby.

As a Trader (and as a Terran), accumulating money is the bottom line. Your Terran trainers will teach you that you should always be looking out for the Almighty Dollar, even in situations of local security. Your first mission is, quite simply, to take 500 credits and double it however you can. Sounds easy, doesn?t it? It is, if you learn the ins and outs of trading.

At a nearby base you learn the basics of running trade routes. ?Buy low, sell high? is the mantra of the trader, and by talking to certain merchants throughout the galaxy, you?ll learn what bases in which systems need which items delivered, and you?ll pick up those items and fly them out to the needy system to sell them for a profit. For example, you?ll find that a nearby station needs oxygen canisters badly, but the one you?re on has a surplus. You buy as many canisters as you can from your station and shuttle them out to where they?re needed, making a happy profit with each canister you sell. You then ask that merchant what products he likes to send to other stations, buy those products, and shuttle them out to where they belong. All the while you?re making money and Trading experience, and that?s never a bad thing.

Eventually, though, you?ll run into trouble. Either your trade route will be beset by pirates (who will slag you in short order), or you might be sent to a place that doesn?t quite appear on your scanners, or you?ll be asked to craft an item that requires a rare material. In those cases, don?t fret. Just invite a warrior or two and an explorer to travel with you on your trade routes. The warrior will clear out any pirates or other foes, and the explorer?s extended scanners and prospecting ability will help you find your destination and the rare materials you need. Not to mention that some explorers can cloak their entire group. You?re not entirely powerless in a group, though; your ship has the largest cargo capacity in the game, you can negotiate better prices for the things your party takes from fallen enemies, you can build just about any item in the game (or reverse engineer things you find for the plans to make your own), and you?re the only class in the game with the Repair skill, which allows you to ?heal? your groupmates and yourself.

If making money, building rare equipment, and being the glue holding a group together are your bag, then the Trader might be your best bet. At launch, Earth and Beyond will only feature the Terran version of the Trader, so those with entrepreneurial leanings will have to start in Earth orbit for now.

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