Equipment Tips
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Weapon Groups and Weapon Energy
Recommended Weaponry

Gunbeard: "For God's sake always buy an Advanced Thruster, you need the extra burn time to survive longer in combat. If you can't find an Advanced, then buy a Heavy Thruster instead."

Lovable Rogue: "The higher your player level, the more loot and equipment computer opponents will drop when destroyed. Remember this when you are a high level but low on cash."

Steve: "When you buy a ship, make sure you have enough money to spare afterwards, or you might find you can't fit it with the best weapons and shields."

Rhodan: "Nanobots and Shield Batteries are a fact of life in Freelancer. Use them and remember, your opponent has them too, and if they don't, it's their problem, not yours."

Chilli: "It might be tempting to buy all missiles, but you can only stock 50 of the same missile, so if you have two launchers, you've just halved your total ammo!"

Choiceofweapon: "Always have at least one standard gun on your ship, you might need it if you run out of missiles and only have pulse weapons left, which do TINY hull damage!"

Knuckles: "Xenos have some great Particle weapons for classes 2 and 3, so if you can get your hands on them, you've got an advantage, especially if you combine them with Stunpulses."

Johann: "Turrets are usually better than normal guns of the same class, most of them have longer range and more damage. You can get a class 6 pulse weapon (rare!) by buying a Debilitator (Ageira) or Borroco Turret (Corsairs), very nice!"

TheBeastofCortez: "Detroit Munitions, New York and Pueblo Station, Colorado both sell the Debilitator (class 7) and Adv.Debilitator (class 8) Pulse weapons. They fire large sparkling balls that can distract an opponent's vision, and are better than Corsair Pulse weapons."

Weapon Groups and Weapon Energy
The best way to use weapon groups is to have Pulse weapons as well as normal ones.

Have a weapon group with the pulse weapons deactivated and switch to it once the target's shields are down. You'll save weapon energy as pulse weps only do minimal hull damage.

Lovable Rogue: "Use a pulse group with some of your normal weapons deactivated, saving energy until their shields are down, then group out your pulse and group in your normal guns for their bare hull."

Gunbeard: "I don't like sacrificing firepower to get pulse weapons, but when you reduce their shields fast, they often burn and turn in a panic, and that's your chance to outmaneuver them."

Rhodan: "Missiles require an opportunity to fire as well as a refire rate of 1.00. An accurate hit opportunity may take several seconds to achieve, so consider this when calculating your weapon setup's damage rating."

Chilli: "Pulse weapons on an unprotected hull won't do much physical damage but will drain weapon energy."

Recommended Weaponry
We talk about some of the best weapons available.

Chilli: "Outcasts definitely have the best particle weapons, with the highest damage of any 4.00 weapons in their class. Awesome but very power hungry. Names to look for are Pyros and Kraken."

TheBeastofCortez: "Ageira Technologies sells the best class 6, 7 and 8 pulse weapons and turrets, but if you're looking for class 9 pulse you can only get them from the Corsairs."

Lovable Rogue: "The Gas Miner's Guild (GMG) sells the best 8.33 fire rate weaponry, but you do need to pay careful attention to their friends and enemies to get the best reputation for the higher class weapons. It is definitely worth the effort, though."

Gunbeard: "For small ships, look for the 4.00 Xeno particle weapons called 'Scorpion' and the 8.33 rate Junker 'Barragers', they have serious punch for low class weapons. Also, as an alternative to Outcast 'Pyros', the Xenos sell 'Tarantula' particle guns with slightly less power but similar specifications."

Rhodan: "Equipment price is based on their class. All weapons in the same class will cost the same, no matter where you buy them."

More advice will be added in time...