How do I win race against Hovis in Freelancer?

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reconviperone1

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I'm about ready to break my keyboard, I've raced Hovis about 20times, and can't beat him. I had to sell my heavy fighter, and now have a clydsdale freighter(armed to the teeth), If I dont beat this guy, i dont get clues about Quintain, so I really need some help on this, and at this point, I'm not above using cheat if you know any.
 
Solution
Sell the Clydsdale and get a light fighter just for this mission, after you beat him then you can get your other ship back but for the moment use a light fighter and use your overdrive (Shift+W) in 3rd Person view an you shouldn't have any issues other then a few times to get use to the new ship. :D

kaitheus

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Sell the Clydsdale and get a light fighter just for this mission, after you beat him then you can get your other ship back but for the moment use a light fighter and use your overdrive (Shift+W) in 3rd Person view an you shouldn't have any issues other then a few times to get use to the new ship. :D
 
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kaitheus

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When you trade in your ship you have the option to not sell any of your gear, for the race just use a basically naked light fighter and get your old ship back after you win the race. :D
 

reconviperone1

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Thanks Kaitheus and Vampyrbyte, I'm gonna keep at it, but i do have another question, what planet can i buy another heavy fighter in, before i met Hovis, I tried to fly to planet los angeles to trade my freighter for a heavy fighter, but in liberty territory i get attacked immediately.
 

frank_93

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a bee or pirrana(bounty light ship) in cruise mode keeps the ship at constant speed but u just got to fly thru the rings without missing any and hovis will mess up ! As u already know from losing 20 times! remember to follow the advice the game gives u before the race starts? If u mine for gold around graves station watch out for the deadly mines! They r sensitive and dusted me a few times trying to collect gold...ouch!
 
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Well I got completely stuck on this race, and I searched around google, before I realised how to win the race easily - it hasn't been mentioned in this thread so I should mention it now, in case other people search google and end up here.

The thing that really really makes a difference in the Hovis race in Dublin (much more than having a light ship) is:

using: Shift + W to speed up at the beginning of the race

(instead of pressing F2 or using the 4 icons at the top of the screen)

If you don't use Shift + W then most likely you will find the race very hard. I couldn't do it at all, then I used Shift + W and I did it first time. If you use F2 or the buttons at the top of the screen then it keeps on drifting about during the race and dropping out of cruise speed at random moments. Using Shift + W makes things a lot more stable.

I later changed to a Clydesdale with 125 units of gold aboard and it took me 3 tries. I am sure that bigger ships are less manoeuvrable because now I have a Humpback with a 250 unit capacity and it turns around really slowly (imo). But for the Hovis race I don't think the ship really matters too much.

And btw what type of thruster (Basic, Deluxe, Heavy, Advanced) you have doesn't seem to matter either. The difference in thruster seems to affect how long you can use your afterburner (tab key) before it needs to cool down. The only time the afterburner might be useful is right at the beginning of the race - but it's not really necessary imo.
 
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oh Kaitheus said use Shift + W. Sorry, However maybe it helps to emphasise that:
entering Cruise speed with F2 and
entering Cruise speed with Shift + W
are *completely* different things in this race.

F2 has exactly the same effect as Shift + W except that if you have a pink navigational target then it will automatically steer towards that target (with F2). With Shift + W I think it will just continue going on straight. For some reason this makes a big difference in the race.
 
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