In my current game, I've acquired a Klessan signal device, a quark bomb, and a Pelengan spy satellite. Any suggestions on how to use these items?

I tried the quark bomb and it was pretty underwhelming. The description makes it sound like it'll clear the screen but the reality is that it's a pretty small blast radius. As far as I can tell, its best use is for cash. Basically, you drop it out your cargo hatch and then shoot it when the enemy gets close to it. If your timing is right, you'll damage a ship or two - I don't think it killed any of the targets I tried it on.

Dunno about the other two.

I haven't played SR1 that much, but I'm willing to bet that Klissan signal beacon works like transfactor beacon in SR2. When you use it, week or two after its activation a fleet of Klissans warp into the system where you used the beacon. Strenght of this fleet depends on the beacons charge, which raises with the time you keep it in your cargo hold.

JHGT is right about the Klissan signal device. It can be useful if you want to capture a lot of protoplasm or Klissan equipement easily... just go to a system with a rangers centre and / or science base, then summon some Klissans, kill them, then lug all the protoplasm and equipment to the stations. Some other rangers will steal some of the loot, but it's still easiest to donate stuff in-system without making a jump.

I found the quark bomb more useful than HereForTheBeer did. If I detonated it in the middle of a crowd of Klissans it would usually destroy or almost destroy the whole group. The biggest ships wouldn't be killed but were heavily damaged and easy to finish off. Of course, I was playing in the easiest difficulty so it may have been more effective for that reason.

Maybe it got nerfed for SR2 since that's the one I used it on, also at Easy (my first play through). Or I didn't use it well. What sort of blast radius did it give you? When I tried it, it only covered an area of roughly the size of a planet onscreen. For me, it only damaged one or two of the smaller (500-hp) Dominators.

Next time I get one, I'll try dropping it off atop a base and see how it does.

in SR1, the blast radius was about twice the size of a planet, I think. Also, there are many Klissan ships with low HP, in the 100-300 range, that will immediately get annihilated. The bigger 500 or 700 HP ships would ger reduced to only 100 or so HP left, which meant I could mop them up easily.

It is hard to actually time the blast though... I used quark bombs a few times when I found them but really just getting a better ship and shooting up the enemies is easier.

I too have a question on a couple of items I picked up. Both are dominator items, but I don't know how or if I can even use them or if they are merely to be sold on for credits.

One is called Binomial T-21/4 and the description says "An intellectual model unit comprised of four processors; the main two are for information processing, while the two secondary ones are for recording ata to stabilitron."

The other one is a Reproducer with a description that says "Part of the reproduction system. Duplicates the undamaged elements of its own body."

Now I figured that unusual items like these might be useable in the small slots on the side of the hull, but they don't fit anywhere on my ship.

Do I just sell them then or can I maybe use them in some way now or later?

And as a side question, if I want to store items like these, is it best to store them on ranger/military stations or planets? I noticed that the stations have shields and structure points, so I guess they can be attacked and destroyed, but what about planets? Would I lose my items if it were invaded by dominators or could I reclaim it when liberated?

Maybe I could just store items on an uninhabitated planet instead of storing at a planet that might turn hostile later in the game ...

I'm not 100% certain but I think those items are just generic parts that you can sell for good money at science stations; you'll also find tubers and others that you can't place in a shipboard slot.

When selling at a science station, be sure to use the "help with Dominator research" option from the dialog choices on the government screen instead of selling from the ship screen; go through each of the three types of Dom until you find "(x2)" after the value. Some items do not give you that x2 bonus, usually those that you can use on your ship, such as fuel tanks and radars. That makes sense since the scientists wouldn't learn as much from a Dom fuel tank as they would from completely new tech. This means they'll pay you double for that item if you sell it for that type of research. Selling those items anywhere else will get you the standard % rate as defined by your merchant / trade skill.

For certain the stations can be destroyed so it's somewhat risky to put the stuff there. Dunno about planet storage. I try to sell the stuff to the scientists as soon as I can.

Thanks a lot for your answer, I'll try getting these to a science station then.

Once you get enough power or speed to take on or evade the Dominators, this becomes a great source of revenue since you're getting either 100% or 200% of the listed value for that item, instead of the reduced rate from your merchant skill. When that skill is sitting at a lowly 20% early in the game, selling Dominator stuff to the scientists can make a huge difference in your ability to raise cash.

I have only played SR1, but those sound very similar to the parts that Klissans drop in the first game. Some of them are useless and can simply be sold for research... the first one sounds like a Dominator "brain" that you can sell for research. But other parts are basically analogs of the various equipment that you can install on your own ship. The second piece you found sounds like it's essentially a repair droid. You could install it instead of your repair droid but my guess is that it isn't as good, so it's better to sell it for research.

Thanks so much for the replies. I've been playing SR1 a lot over the past week. Good fun! I've mostly got it figured out, though levelling is a bit of a slog.

I lucked on finding the Eyes of Makhpella. Nice weapon for a low-level character like mine, though not the superweapon I hoped it would be.

Actually, some of the dominator equipment is FAR better than anything you'll find anywhere else, so do check out the equipment before selling it. There are some occasional gems to be found.

A small hint regarding Dom weapons: Try to keep a Turing MM or two with you. Vertixes and IMHO-9000s dropped from Doms tend to be quite big, and using Turing on them has minimal effect on their already excellent firepower.