4:17:54 notes (raw)

These are the notes I used for my 4:17:54 run. They might not be the best tool to learn though, since they're pretty bare.

(I have updated the notes several times to incorporate new strats and findings.)

[Mission 1]
    Quit to Main Menu after the first "loading", load Autosave
    Create Savegame (for cutscene skips)
    Cutscene Skip Bartender, Juni+Diplomat
    Take Mission 1 (cutscene skip)
    Sell Bats & Bots
    Buy Javelin + Ammo
    Kill Order, fly to Fort Bush Lane once dead and dock asap
    Form up with USV Brandt
    Kill Rogues, use Tradelane as soon as USV Brandt is within 2000m of the lane
    Dock at Pittsburgh, load savegame, Undock from Pittsburgh asap (cutscene skip)
    Form up with LSF Fighters, defend XT-19
    Fly towards Manhatten, stay within 2.9k of the Waypoint till Beta-4 Comm
    Fly towards the Particle Cloud, rescue Beta-4, continue to the cloud
    Shoot down Weapon Platforms, head for Pittsburgh

[Freetime 1]
    Dock on Pittsburgh, buy Rhino + Stunpulse Turret, undock
    Loot DSE H-Fuel Depot as Fort Bush
    Fly to Manhatten, sell H-Fuel+crap, buy ammo, buy Justice guns/turrets
    Accept Mission 2 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 2]
    Cutscene Skip Lonnigan
    Fly to the Colorado Gate and use it - make sure King follows you through the Trade Lanes, as he is required for the Unity Trigger
    Fly to the waypoint and then to the Tradelane to Pueblo, scan DSE - Unknown as soon as you see him
    Take out Kosmo, dock with the Trade Lane as soon as "Game Saved" appears (King has to come with you)
    Take out the Rogues, fly towards Ouary asap
    Take out the Rogues, weaken the last one and fly towards the NY Jumphole
    Get within firing range of Ashcroft, use EK to kill him
    Fly to NY, when flying to Fort Bush make sure King comes with you, as he is required for the Rouges Trigger
    Fly to the Rogues, aggro them on you and kite them towards the H-Fuel depot
      take out all containers as long as there is an enemy within 2.4, otherwise only 2
    Fly to Missouri, dock and cutscene skip

[Freetime 2]
    Sell 16/48 H-Fuel
    Fly to Fort Bush, plunder the H-Fuel Depot
    Fly to Manhatten, do cutscene skips
    Fly to California Minor, load Autosave after jumping
    Buy Slingshot Missile, Lv. 3 Shield and Heavy Thruster
    Accept Mission 3 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 3]
    Undock, fly to the Magellan Gate and head to the position where the Transporters spawn (left of the Rheinland nebula)
    Stay close to the Transporters until the 3rd Buoy
    Take out the Outcasts, head to Willard as soon as the last one dies
    Dock, sell H-Fuel, Undock
    Directly head to California Minor Docking Ring
    Take out the Rheinlanders
    Fly to California, go into EK to get rid of Juni, dock with California Minor
    Enter the bar, skip the cutscene
    Undock, Fly to Walker, Fly to Willard as soon as the game acknowlegdes that you were at the Waypoint
    Take out all Rheinlanders (if you're fast enough you can take them out before the Bomber spawn, but softlock risk!)

[Freetime 3]
    Fly to Manhatten
    Sell crap, buy H-Fuel, buy Ammo
    Undock, load Autosave
    Accept Mission 4 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 4]
    Undock
    Stay close to the Trade Lane towards West Point, dock with it as soon as possible
        Make sure King and Juni come with you
    Thrust through West Point and dock with the Trade Lane to Ithaka
        Make sure King and Juni come with you, as they're required for the Benford Trigger
    Fly towards Benford
    Do whatever you want, except dying - your position will be reset after the Cutscene
    Fly to the Magellan Gate and dock with it ASAP (go in EK at a distance to get rid of Juni)
    Fly towards Mactan, Attack the Bounty Hunters as soon as you can (even when they're neutral)
    Fly to Mactan and dock with it (don't repair if you want to go for the repair Tobias cutscene skip)
    Undock, kill the Rheinlanders, head to the Leeds jumphole
    Fly to Planet Leeds, dock with it
    Repair your Ship, press F1 until you hear the dealer menu open (-> Tobias Cutscene Skip)
      Alternatively do the normal Cutscene skip but do NOT load the Van Pelt savegame!!!!!!

[Freetime 4]
    Buy 80 Optronics, sell 45 of it, Buy 35 H-Fuel, Buy 2x Adv. Stunpulse, Imp. CM
    Fly to Battleship Norfolk
    Sell H-Fuel, buy Crusader, default shield and garbage, buy Lv 4 Shield, another Slingshot, Lv 4 Weapons and Ammo
    Fly to Camebridge, sell Optronics, buy Diamonds
    Accept Mission 5 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 5]
    Undock, Follow the Waypoints until you Reach Freeport 1
    After leaving the Tradelane, fly directly to Sprague
    Take out the Rheinlanders and dock
    Undock and fly directly towards Baxter and dock with it
    Skip the cutscene
    Undock, kill the Rheinlanders and fly directly to the Camebridge Hole
    Fly to the Waypoint until the 2 Rheinlanders appear
    Fly to the Leeds Hole, don't stop
    Kill the enemy Rheinlanders, dock with the hole
    Fly directly to the Tradelane, which gets marked (only this one ring works!)
    Dock with the Tradelane, dock with the Planet
    Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 5]
    Sell Diamonds, buy Mining Machines (also sell garbage)
    Fly to the Hood
    Sell Mining Machines, buy Gold, but Torpedoe, buy 1 Catapult, buy ammo
    Accept Mission 6 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 6]
    Undock, win the race, dock with the Hood
    Undock, fly to Glorious directly
    Kill the Rheinlanders, dock with Glorious, load savegame (cutscene skip)
    Undock, head for Waypoint 1, kill the Rheinlanders
    head for the Leeds Hole and kill all Rheinlanders on the way
    Use the hole, fly to Planet Leeds and Dock
    Accept Mission 7 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 7]
    Undock, kill one Agent, use the Tradelane ASAP
    Kill the Rheinlanders (2) until they cloak, use the Tradelane to the Gate
    Kill the Rheinlanders, dock with the gate ASAP
    Fly to Holman and then directly to the Tau 29 tradelane
    Fly to the in construction ring for the Tau 23 Lane as soon as the Battleship uncloaks
    Dock with the lane
    ignore the corvettes, Fly to the Jumphole, dock with it and head directly to Shinkaku
    Dock and Undock, fly to the point of the Schiller Battle directly
    Take out the Schiller Fleet and head to the Tau 23 hole as soon as the last enemy dies
    Fly to Cali and dock, skip the first cutscene, enter bar, skip the second cutscene
    Fly to the Kyushu hole immediately
    Land on Kyushu, Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 7]
    Fly to New Tokio
    Sell Gold
    Buy Barracuda
    Buy Light Weapons
    Fly to Shinagawa
    Accept Mission 8 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 8]
    Fly to the Honshu Gate
    Fly to the Honshu Hole
    Fly to Yukawa Shipyard, take out the platforms and fighters
    Go into formation with the transport
    Take out the Marine fighters, Fly to the Chukogu hole
    Land on Kyoto
    Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 8]
    Sell Light Weapons, sell garbage, refill ammo
    Accept Mission 9 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 9]
    Fly to the Tohoku Hole
    Fly up to 5K distance to Outpost Ryuku
    Fly to the arc, kill the patrol encounter
    Take out the generators
    Do the rest of the mission fast
    Cutscene Skip upon landing on Kyoto
    Accept Mission 10 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 10]
    Undock, fly to Sigma 13
    Kill all 8 fighters (or 4 cruisers or 1 battleship)
    Head to the Wrecks and loot them
    Fly to New Berlin (Cutscene Skip on landing)
    Fly to Holstein, get rid of Fischer with EK to dock before him (NO Cutscne Skip!)
    Fly to Bruchsal, defend it, land there and skip the cutscene (don't load the last mission save!)
    Sell Wreck Loot, buy Luger (4x, for later) and a Driller Mine, buy Ammo
    Undock, fly through the passage and destroy one experimental ship
    Wait until Botzler dies, then fly directly to the Hamburg hole (stay within 6k of von Claussen until Botzler is dead)
    Fly to the Waypoint, dock with the Osiris once the goal appears
    Accept Mission 11 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 11]
    Buy an Anubis, buy Debilator Turret, buy mines, sell garbage
    Fly to the NY Hole and dock
    Take out the Liberty Ships
    Fly to Buffalo and dock (cutscene skip, "Mission 11: Buffalo Base")
    Undock, fly to NY Jumphole, Fly to the Satellite
    Take out Satellite and fighter, head to Walker
    Form up with Walker (you need him)
    Kill the fighters until Juni enters the code, dock with the gate ASAP
    Fly to Mitchel, go into EK at ~4.5K distance and Dock
    Fly to the NY Gate and stay close to it, dock with it as soon as possible
    Fly to the Omaha, wait for the Osiris to uncloak and dock with it
    Accept Mission 12 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 12]
    Fly to the first generator, wait until it's damageable
    Destroy the 3 generators
    Fly into the Nest and get the Energy Cell
    Fly to the hole as fast as possible and dock with it
    Head to Toledo, ignore the Nomads
    Accept Mission 13 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 13]
    Cutscene Skip
    Destroy the first battleship (head left)
    wait for the docking order, dock, cutscene skip, undock
    Fly to the Osiris immediately
    Dock, cutscene skip, refill ammo, Undock
    Fly to the Hyper Gate immediately
    destroy the nomads, dock with the gate ASAP
    fly to the entrance, destroy the 4 generators
    fly through the entrance
    fly to the first generator immediately
    destroy the generators

Basic Route and Strategy Guide

Guide with notes and a bit more “how to” information for most recent route adapted from SydMontague’s notes (https://www.speedrun.com/Freelancer/guide/oeyn3)

Notes are still a bit rough 

[Mission 1]
Quit to Main Menu after the first "loading", load Autosave
Create Savegame (for cutscene skips)
Cutscene Skip Bartender, Juni+Diplomat
Take Mission 1 (cutscene skip)
Sell Bats & Bots
Buy Javelin + Ammo
Kill Order, fly to Fort Bush Lane once dead and dock asap
Form up with USV Brandt

Kill Rogues, use Tradelane as soon as USV Brandt is within 2000m of the lane
	-Note: it helps to wait for the USV Brandt to start moving, watch the distance after being told to dock with the trade lane, when the distance changes from about 1800m to 1600m it is usually safe to use the trade lane and not fail the mission 
Dock at Pittsburgh, load savegame, Undock from Pittsburgh asap (cutscene skip)
Form up with LSF Fighters, defend XT-19

Fly towards Manhattan (waypoint is slightly to the right of Manhattan), stay within 2.9k of the Waypoint till Beta-4 Com (at Beta-4 Com, turn left toward dark black particle clouds)

Fly towards the Particle Cloud, rescue Beta-4, continue to the cloud
-Fly about 2k away from the waypoint, looking at the waypoint turn about 120 degrees left to be facing the base when it spawns it.

Shoot down Weapon Platforms, head for Pittsburgh

[Freetime 1]
Dock on Pittsburgh, buy Rhino + Stunpulse Turret, undock
Loot DSE H-Fuel Depot as Fort Bush
Fly to Manhattan, sell H-Fuel+crap, buy ammo, buy Justice guns/turrets
Accept Mission 2 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 2]
Cutscene Skip Lonnigan
Fly to the Colorado Gate and use it - make sure King follows you through the Trade 
Lanes, as he is required for the Unity Trigger
Fly to the waypoint and then to the Tradelane to Pueblo, scan DSE - Unknown as soon as you see him
	-You can scan him by selecting him and pressing "o" or whatever key you have bound to scan cargo before he comes into normal range

Take out Kosmo, dock with the Trade Lane as soon as "Game Saved" appears (King has to come with you)
	-You can hit Kosmo a few times before he turns hostile without failing the 		mission. About 3 shots should drop most of his shields without failing the mission. You can start firing after King finishes saying the word: “engines”

Take out the Rogues, fly towards Ouray asap

Take out the Rogues, weaken the last one and fly towards the NY Jumphole
	-The last Rogue should at least have his shields dropped before activating cruise engines to prepare to intercept Ashcroft. Sometimes your allies will kill him before you have a chance to get to Ashcroft. Proceed normally if this happens it is not a run ending amount of time loss.

Get within firing range of Ashcroft, use EK to kill him
Fly to NY, when flying to Fort Bush make sure King comes with you, as he is required for the Rouges Trigger
Fly to the Rogues
-You can start attacking them before they turn hostile toward you with no penalty and can score at least one easy kill on them

Fly to Missouri, dock and cutscene skip

[Freetime 2]
Fly to Fort Bush, plunder the H-Fuel Depot
Fly to Manhattan, do cutscene skips
Fly to California Minor, load Autosave after jumping
Buy Slingshot Missile, Lv. 3 Shield and Heavy Thruster
Accept Mission 3 (cutscene skip)
[Mission 3]
Undock, fly to the Magellan Gate and head to the position where the Transporters spawn (left of the Rheinland nebula)
Stay close to the Transporters until the 3rd Buoy
Take out the Outcasts, head to Willard as soon as the last one dies
	-Kill about 4-5 of the first wave of Outcasts (they spawn in toward the left)
	-Fly toward the transports and destroy the cargo pods to steal the artifacts (start with transport 2 if it is killed you will not fail the mission, if the Transport Leader is destroyed the mission is failed)

Directly head to California Minor Docking Ring
Take out the Rheinlanders
Fly to California, go into EK to get rid of Juni, dock with California Minor
Enter the bar, skip the cutscene
Undock, Fly to Walker, Fly to Willard as soon as the game acknowlegdes that you were at the Waypoint
Take out all Rheinlanders (if you're fast enough you can take them out before the Bomber spawn, but softlock risk!)
	-To avoid softlock it can be faster to take most of the Rheinlanders out and then cruise toward the bomber spawn and use Engine Kill to intercept and destroy them before they reach Willard.

[Freetime 3]
Fly to Manhattan
Sell Artifacts, buy H-Fuel, buy Ammo
Undock, load Autosave
Accept Mission 4 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 4]
Undock
Stay close to the Trade Lane towards West Point, dock with it as soon as possible
Make sure King and Juni come with you
Thrust through West Point and dock with the Trade Lane to Ithaca
Make sure King and Juni come with you, as they're required for the Benford Trigger
Fly towards Benford
Do whatever you want, except dying - your position will be reset after the Cutscene
Fly to the Magellan Gate and dock with it ASAP (go in EK at about 5-5.5K distance to get rid of Juni)
Fly towards Mactan, Attack the Bounty Hunters as soon as you can (even when they're neutral)
Fly to Mactan and dock with it (don't repair if you want to go for the repair Tobias cutscene skip)
Undock, kill the Rheinlanders, head to the Leeds jumphole
Fly to Planet Leeds, dock with it
Repair your Ship, press F1 until you hear the dealer menu open (-> Tobias Cutscene Skip)
Alternatively do the normal Cutscene skip but do NOT load the Van Pelt savegame!!!!!!

[Freetime 4]
Buy 80 Optronics, sell 45 of it, Buy 35 H-Fuel, Buy 2x Adv. Stunpulse, Imp. CM
Fly to Battleship Norfolk
Sell H-Fuel, buy Crusader, default shield and garbage, buy Lv 4 Shield, another Slingshot, 2xRippers and Ammo
Fly to Cambridge, sell Optronics, buy Diamonds
Accept Mission 5 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 5]
Undock, Follow the Waypoints until you Reach Freeport 1
After leaving the Tradelane, fly directly to Sprague
Take out the Rheinlanders and dock
Undock and fly directly towards Baxter and dock with it
Skip the cutscene, (Good time to resupply on missiles if you’re running low)
Undock, kill the Rheinlanders and fly directly to the Cambridge Hole
Fly to the Waypoint until the 2 Rheinlanders appear
Fly to the Leeds Hole, don't stop
Kill the enemy Rheinlanders, dock with the hole
Fly directly to the Tradelane, which gets marked (only this one ring works!)
Dock with the Tradelane, dock with the Planet
Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 5]
Sell Diamonds, buy Mining Machines (also sell garbage)
Fly to the Hood
Sell Mining Machines, buy Gold, buy Torpedo, buy 1 Catapult, buy ammo
	-This can be done at Leeds to avoid possibility of IMG neutrality bug in which you won’t be allowed to buy the missiles or torpedoes at the Hood. 
Accept Mission 6 (cutscene skip)

[Mission 6]
Undock, win the race, dock with the Hood, cutscene skip
Undock, fly to Glorious directly
Kill the Rheinlanders, dock with Glorious, load savegame (cutscene skip)
Undock, head for Waypoint 1, kill the Rheinlanders
head for the Leeds Hole and kill all Rheinlanders on the way
Use the hole, fly to Planet Leeds and Dock
Accept Mission 7 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 7]
Undock, kill one Agent, use the Tradelane ASAP
Kill the Rheinlanders (2) until they cloak, use the Tradelane to the Gate
Kill the Rheinlanders, dock with the gate ASAP
Fly to Holman and then directly to the Tau 29 tradelane
Fly to the in construction ring for the Tau 23 Lane as soon as the Battleship uncloaks
Dock with the lane
ignore the corvettes, Fly to the Jumphole, dock with it and head directly to Shinkaku
Dock and Undock, fly to the point of the Schiller Battle directly
Take out the Schiller Fleet and head to the Tau 23 hole as soon as the last enemy dies
	-Safest strategy is to hide in the large opening in front of the battleship Schiller and use missiles to kill it, when the battleship dies thrust out and rejoin the battle. 
	-It can be faster to take ships out and go directly into combat but riskier in terms of getting killed. Either way pay close attention to your shields/health gunboat missiles can 1 shot and the Cruisers' turrets do a lot of damage
 
Fly to Cali and dock, skip the first cutscene, enter bar, skip the second cutscene
Fly to the Kyushu hole immediately
Land on Kyushu, Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 7]
Fly to New Tokyo
Sell Gold
Buy Light Arms
Buy ammo
Fly to Shinagawa
Accept Mission 8 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 8]
Fly to the Honshu Gate
Fly to the Honshu Hole
Fly to Yukawa Shipyard, take out the platforms and fighters
	-Have the countermeasure dropper activated to automatically drop countermeasures when missiles are fired. The weapons platforms’ missiles deal a lot of damage. Watch your shield closely, if it drops or is even close to dropping the missiles can 1-hit you. 

Go into formation with the transport
	-Often there will be a long wait for the transport to hit to cruise speed, there appears to be no way to speed this up if it happens, which it does, frequently.

Take out the Marine fighters, Fly to the Chukogu hole
Land on Kyoto
Cutscene Skip

[Freetime 8]
Sell Light Weapons, sell garbage, refill ammo 
-Often it requires to buy, and sell, and then buy back your torpedoes to trigger the level up

Accept Mission 9 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 9]
Fly to the Tohoku Hole
Fly up to 5K distance to Outpost Ryuku
Fly to the arc, kill the patrol encounter
Take out the generators
-Keep countermeasure dropper active as the missiles from the battleship can 1-hit you if your shield is low. 

Do the rest of the mission fast
-The fight after the arch cutscene can be dangerous, use countermeasures for the missiles from the gunships, watch your shield closely. Take out fighters first, as fast as possible.

Cutscene Skip upon landing on Kyoto
Accept Mission 10 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 10]
Undock, fly to Sigma 13
Kill all 8 fighters (or 4 cruisers or 1 battleship)
-Fastest can be the 8 fighters if you’re quick, Battleship is safest if you hide in the front part.

Head to the Wrecks and loot them 
	-Old Imperial Navy Fighters one should have ONYX located in grid 4C the other should have DIAMONDBACK in grid 5C

Fly to New Berlin (Cutscene Skip on landing)
	-I’ve started to sell the lvl 10 weapons and resupply on New Berlin to be well equipped for the Bruchsal fight

Fly to Holstein, get rid of Fischer with EK to dock before him (NO Cutscne Skip!)
Fly to Bruchsal, defend it, land there and skip the cutscene (don't load the last mission save!)
Sell Wreck Loot (if not sold already) , buy Driller Mine, buy Ammo
Undock, fly through the passage and destroy one experimental ship
Wait until Botzler dies, then fly directly to the Hamburg hole (stay within 6k of von Claussen until Botzler is dead)
Fly to the Waypoint, dock with the Osiris once the goal appears
	-Must have the purple waypoint spawned on it, otherwise it will softlock
Accept Mission 11 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 11]
Buy an Anubis, buy Debilator Turret, buy mines, sell garbage
Fly to the NY Hole and dock
Take out the Liberty Ships
Fly to Buffalo and dock (cutscene skip, "Mission 11: Buffalo Base")
Undock, fly to NY Jumphole, Fly to the Satellite
Take out Satellite and fighter, head to Walker
Form up with Walker (you need him)
Kill the fighters until Juni enters the code, dock with the gate ASAP
Fly to Mitchel, go into EK at ~4.5K distance and Dock
Fly to the NY Gate and stay close to it, dock with it as soon as possible
Fly to the Omaha, wait for the Osiris to uncloak and dock with it
Accept Mission 12 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 12]
Replace Debilitator turret with Reaper or Death's Hand turret only "hull damage" is needed from now on.
Fly to the first generator, wait until it's damageable
Destroy the 3 generators
	-Turn on countermeasure dropper after the 3rd generator, for some reason the nomads sometimes have cruise disruptors

Fly into the Nest and get the Energy Cell
Fly to the hole as fast as possible and dock with it
Head to Toledo, ignore the Nomads
	-Keep Countermeasures active
Accept Mission 13 (Cutscene Skip)

[Mission 13]
Cutscene Skip
Destroy the first battleship (head left)
wait for the docking order, dock, cutscene skip, undock
Fly to the Osiris immediately
Dock, cutscene skip, refill ammo, Undock
	-The final fights are ahead so stock up fully

Fly to the Hyper Gate immediately
	-Occasionally the waypoint will reset to the Osiris if this happens quickly find Orillion on the radar and follow him the mission will still work normally.

Destroy the nomads, dock with the gate ASAP
-fighter’s first, your allies will shoot very powerful missiles at the battleship when it is the only target left

fly to the entrance, destroy the 4 generators
fly through the entrance
fly to the first generator immediately
destroy the generators

Name	Author
4:17:54 notes (raw)	SydMontague 6 years ago
Basic Route and Strategy Guide	HotSliceOfJesus 5 years ago