Setting up new characters is of course a pain, unless you know where everything is and how to put it all together speedily. The below guide is intended to help players of the Bowex) official faction and interested indies set up their own Bowex ship. Feedback and queries can of course be posted here, and this forum account or any Bowex) member will endeavour to answer you in a speedy and helpful manner. Now - on to the set-up!

Putting some thought into your character's name is important. Official Bowex members of course have a naming system that they have to use (the surnames of famous British, Irish or Commonwealth figures), but independents have much more freedom. The prefix that Bowex NPC transports use is 'BES', meaning Borderworld Exports Ship. If you do not want to join the official group but still wish to fly with other Bowex players, using the BES- tag would be useful: you would be able to find each other ingame in order to arrange convoys and such. For the purpose of creating the below guide, I made the ship the BES-Bretonia.

Now, depending on your budget, there are two ways you can proceed from here. If you don't have the money to spare, read on - this method can be done without any transfers of cash into your new Civilian Shuttle. If you do, skip the next section and continue to the one below.

1. Low Budget: Create your character and use the /restart BrCorpBowex command.
   
2. Go to the Bar and take some missions to get your first cash.
   
3. After a few missions you should have enough cash to buy the Clydesdale Bretonian Freighter and to take some commoditys to start to trade.
   
4. When you got a decent amount of money (Over $10.000.000) go and start to trade Gold Ore.
   
5. You can find this Gold Ore on the Player Bases that are placed in New London. (Canary Wharf is in front of Planet New London).
   

Here's how to do it if you've already got a little cash close to hand.

1. Higher Budget: Create your character and use the /restart BrCorpBowex command.
   
2. Fly with your Civilian Shuttle towards the Scarborough Shipyard in Newcastle.
   
3. Land on the Scarborough Shipyard and look for the Bretonian Container Transport or the Bretonian Train.
   
4. Just buy one of these two ships and start to trade Gold Ore or normal commoditys.
   
5. You can find this Gold Ore on the Player Bases that are placed in New London. (Canary Wharf is in front of Planet New London).
   

Bowex players can fly a truly vast array of ships, ranging from the unimposing Starflier to the behemothic Shetland. Of course, if we covered all of these ships this guide would eat up an unholy amount of forum space. Due to this, we'll be looking at trade craft from the Bretonian shipline, simply because we feel that's the series that best reflects the faction. After all, Bowex builds most of them.

Cost: $1,603,210.
Location: Battleship Macduff, Newcastle; Planet Cambrigde, Cambrigde.
Cargo: 560 units.
Equipment: x3 class 8 guns, x5 class 5 turrets.
Our Loadout: x3 Splitter tachyon cannons. x2 Advanced Debilitator MkI pulse turrets, x3 Splitter tachyon turrets. Nuclear mine, Train Cruise Disruptor.

Comment: Don't trust Cyber Dragon's review of this excellent ship. It's misleading at best and wrong at worst - we don't think he played with it for very long. For examples of the Clydesdale's combat prowess, you need only look at recent posts in the Bowex InfoNet. Clydedales are deadly, particularly in numbers, downing heavy fighters, bombers and even gunboats when used correctly.

The Clyde makes for a good beginners trade ship, but a great escort ship once you've put armour and top of the line equipment on it. Most certainly worth investing in. You won't make much trading, but you can offset that by selling your services as a scout, or killing pirate bombers that try to extort you. You can claim these with local bounty boards, for extra profit. There's nothing quite so humiliating for pirates as being wiped out by a freighter.


Cost: $12,600,500 .
Location: Scarborough Station, Newcastle.
Cargo: 2,600 units.
Equipment: x5 class 4 Transport Turrets.
Our Loadout: x5 "Iron Hammer" Small Transport Turret Mk I. Train Cruise Disruptor.

Comment: We recommend the use of the Small Transport Turret MkI for one good reason: the Percheron looks ridiculous with standard sized turrets. The Percheron is a small and agile transport, complete with a cruise disruptor slot - useful for privateering actions against Kishiro, Samura and KNF transports, should the fancy take you. It provides a relatively large cargo bay for its cost, allowing new players to get a foothold in the transport market.

In combat, the unarmoured Perch suffers from a tendency to explode in one shot from SNACs. This can be circumvented by installing a Universal Armour Upgrade VIII, which will boost your hull to 187,500 - well out of the instant death zone. Use the transport shield your ship comes with - installing the Advanced shield will cause your power to run out when it regenerates.


Cost: $100,600,500.
Location: Scarborough Shipyard, Newcastle.
Cargo: 4,200 units.
Equipment: x12 class 4 Transport Turrets.
Our Loadout: See comments.

Comment: What can be said? The Shire is an utter beast of a combat ship. Your loadout will differ based on what you want it to do. If you want to give pirate bombers a run for their money, invest in Type 4 Transport Turrets. If you intend to mercilessly slaughter enemy transports and even gunboats, you should try a combination of Type 1 and Type 2 turrets (mostly Type 2). When fighting in this ship, you should always keep your enemy directly in front or behind you - that is where you can fire all 12 guns. If they attack you from the side, you'll only have a meagre 6 cannons to defend yourself with. A major issue with the Shire is its extreme susceptibility to cruise disruptors.

All passing NPC patrols will knock you out of cruise, as will pursuing pirates due to your lack of a countermeasure. Your best bet in an encounter with a hostile player is to try and talk or shoot your way out, as opposed to running. If you intend to use this for fighting, an Advanced Transport shield and Universal Armour Upgrade VIII is essential kit.


Cost: $150,600,500.
Location: Scarborough Shipyard, Newcastle.
Cargo: 5,000 units.
Equipment: x1 class 4 Transport Turret.
Our Loadout: What's the point, really? Use the turret with your favourite projectile, I suppose.

Comment: The Shetland is arguably the end-game of the Bretonian trade shipline. Possessing the largest cargo hold of all, topping out at 5,000 units, this is the ship that will make you the most cash in the least time. This is counterbalanced by the fact that it is unarmed. To trade effectively in it, you're either going to have to pay for escorts, think carefully about your route or possess a silver tongue in regards to pirates. Either that or the luck of the Irish Mollys.

You won't need the power for anything else, so stick a Advanced Transport shield on it. Because of the train shape, you'll be immune to most NPC disruptors from most angles too. Stick a Universal Armour Upgrade VIII on it in order to boost its already respectable 185,000 hull, to an amazing 462,500 - that's more than a stock Bretonian Destroyer.