IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FED2
FED AND THE ART OF SPACESHIP MAINTENANCE
TRADING UP
Sooner than you think, you will want to trade in your spaceship for a bigger model with go-faster stripes. You can only sell things that actually belong to you, so before you can trade her in you have to repay the outstanding loan that has been hanging round your neck like an albatross. This, incidentally, will trigger your next promotion - once your loan is repaid you become Captain Newbod.
Jarrow Shipbuilders pride themselves on providing an all-inclusive service, so they will take your rusty old ship off your hands in part exchange when you buy a new one, knocking 50,000 ig off the price. If that sounds like a pittance considering what you paid for it, don't forget that the loan you took out included a hefty interest payment - there is no such thing as free banking!
This time when you type 'BUY SHIP' from the comfort of Jarrow's spacious salesroom, you will have a chance to specify exactly what makes up the ship of your dreams. You will be asked what size hull you want, if you require extra armor or any shielding, what weapons you want, the level of computer, the size of power plant and the size of fuel tank. At each stage of the proceedings, you are given an update of the price and the cargo space remaining, and at the end the salesdroid will show you the final specs and ask you to confirm your purchase.
There are restrictions of the size of ship you can buy. Guardian ships are only available to Merchants and above, Mammoth ships to those who have reached the rank of Industrialist, and you have to be at least a Manufacturer to fly around in an Imperial.
The Jarrow Shipbuilders Pricing Schedule gives you the options and their prices, to help you work out in advance what you can afford - see the next page of the Idiot's Guide. If you try to be too ambitious when custom-ordering, you will find you don't have enough money and you'll be told to get knotted.
Remember that the larger the ship, the more fuel it will consume!
Don't be tempted by all the bells and whistles the smooth salesdroid will offer. At this stage in your career your main concern is cargo space - add-ons take up room that could otherwise be used to carry lucrative cargo. Besides, the Galactic Administration is currently enforcing a strict moratorium on the use of weapons in Sol space, so there is little point arming yourself to the teeth (or equivalent).
When you buy a new ship, your storage locker is moved from the old ship to the new, along with all its contents. However, if you have bought the navcomp software upgrade, that won't be transferred to the new ship; you'll have to buy it again.
Of course, you don't have to buy your ship from Jarrow; you could visit one of the out-of-Sol planets and trade your ship in there. Planet owners can vary the prices at which ships are sold, so you may end up paying less. If you type 'DI PLANET planetname', the planet display will show the shipyard markup. If it's a negative number the ships will be cheaper than in Sol; a positive number and they will be more expensive. A markup of zero means the price will be the same as Jarrow Shipyard.
Ships bought in Sol will be registered to Panama. Outside of Sol, some planets will have their own ship registration facility so that if you buy your ship there it will be registered to that planet. You can see a list of all the ship registration facilities by typing 'DI REGISTRY'.
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