Just got Elite Dangerous

I'm already bored with the exploration idea after about 2 hours. I wouldn't mind going on a proper long trip but I'd only have to come back.

You can cheat to get back quick...

Blow up the ship.

Thought you ended up at nearest station if ship goes boom

Ooooh. Handier.

Can buy a cheap ship nearish to SagA, run in, blow up and cut 1-2k of travel off!

Lose your exploration data tho.

Found this on reddit, made me chuckle as he's next but one on my list!

A letter to Broo Tarquin
Humor
Dear mister Tarquin,

I am writing to you to inquire about the nature of your most recent request.

Ever since I started working with miss Tani, your name has come up in conversation. At one point recently I mentioned my wish to get a little more juice out of my laser weaponry and she offered to get us into contact with one another. I was delighted to then find your invitation in my inbox and happy to visit you in your home system for a cordial chat. During this chat you, of course, mentioned that you have a particular fondness for Fujin Tea, and would gladly perform your services in exchange for some of this universally appraised delicacy. Now, I consider myself a friendly chap and have no problem running an errand for a good friend, especially if it is an exchange of favours, and since I have business near the Fujin system anyway it would be my pleasure to pick up some of that delicious tea for you. I am, however, a bit unsure about the quantity you requested.

50 tons.

Did you perhaps mistype and mean to request 5 boxes of tea instead? I find it difficult to imagine what one man would do with fifty tons of dried tea leaves. The average tea afficionado might consume five cups of tea a day and I imagine it might feel like you burn through your supply rather quickly at this rate, but the amount you requested would be sufficient for 25 million cups of tea! To put this into perspective, this is enough tea to supply nearly 1.500 afficionados like yourself for life! Perhaps you mean to share it with your entire colony, which I can understand. Everyone likes to buy a round for a friend on occasion. Regrettably, though, I must decline this errand as I simply find it unbecoming of a gentleman to ask for such a monumental donation of a friend.

Yours truly,

Commander Skude

PS: I might have to have a chat with miss Tani as well about the 20 million cigars I gave her.

Brilliant, but what a bunch of glorious nerds Elite players are 🙂

Yeah the 50T of random rare commodity to unlock an engineer gets old pretty quickly. And there are 3 of them that need this.

A half decent story driven special mission would have been a better way to unlock engineers.

Thankfully I think I'm mostly done with unlocking engineers.

Now I'm grinding for Federation rank, got promoted to Ensign yesterday, just 5 more ranks to Rear Admiral and a shiny new Corvette

Midshipman for me, but I love how fast it shoots up when you skip the cash and take 5+ REP missions.

I'm off to see Selene later this week and in true Matt_RPG mode I'm going to mine the painite on the way.

Matt

Yeah I mined the Painite to give to Selene too. There was at least some basic story lore as to why you had to deliver Painite.

It was a little bit grindy but at least was sort of understandable from a gameplay perspective. Certainly better than "Bring me tea".

80% away from Rear Admiral.
Been running missions in ceos to the system next door with 250 cargo I can sometimes get 3 cargo missions plus data couriers in one go.

My quickest jump was the two stacked mining missions, taking the rep-iest rewards.

@Molgrips I promised a review on the rails and missiles.

Missiles have too limited ammo for HAZ Res, where you want to stay out a while.
Seeker missiles are visually satisfying, but only work when the shields are down.
I couldn't find a fire group combo that worked between gimballed bursts, rails and missiles, at least without a load of switching groups. I've not given up on missiles.
Rails are challenging, it's not just the fixed mount, but the 1 second wind up time (I wonder if an engineer can speed that up?)
When you hit something with rails it's very effective. I nearly 'one-shotted' a Sidey (to be fair he was sat in front of me, some kind of intimidation I think!)
My next test is going to be Rails and gimballed multi-cannon, with thermal mod on the Viper. Yesterday I had an Anaconda sat in my sights for about 5 seconds while I blasted away with the beams. That seems like a prime candidate for rails.

And one general bit of advice from my pirate mission, double check that the wing is 2, not 3! Ran for my life (and my 2M in bounties) with 6% shield remaining. Viper-speed!

Matt

And one general bit of advice from my pirate mission, double check that the wing is 2, not 3! Ran for my life (and my 2M in bounties) with 6% shield remaining. Viper-speed!

I've been getting quite cocky taking on wing assasination missions in either my Krait or my Cheiftain. Generally I try to take down the biggest ship, then zoom away and let my shields recharge and then finish off the smaller ships, the space cops are generally helping out by that point too.

Last night it didn't go so well. The target was an FDL and his wing was 2 Vultures and a Python. The shields on my Chieftain popped in about 8 seconds, I ran but my thrusters got taken out. I span around getting shot for about 20 seconds before i was done. I went back in my Krait, which has similar firepower but better shields and a fighter. My fighter lasted about 10 seconds, my shields went down shortly after and I ran, managed to jump away with 15% hull.

I abandoned the mission!

I wouldn't have even taken it!

That's 7 large hardpoints, just from the wing. Big, big shields required.

Matt

on the Diamonds again, think i want 2billion in the bank before i buy a Corvette.
Just found a 37.5% LTD roid, that is the highest i have come across.
how high do they go anyone know?

I've found quite a few 33-35% but no higher.

I would guess that's about the limit. They go high for metal rich, I have seen painite and gold up to 50%, but never that much for LTD.

Matt

hope my luck holds now that im setting off to sell 6 jumps away with 233 in the hold 🙂

Fingers are crossed for you!

Matt

all went well, an Anaconda tried to intercept me when i arrived at destination system, decided not worth trying to fight if i could avoid so i evaded him and sold all my diamonds at 1030 a piece.

What were you flying?

Just out of interest, what ship should I get with the 20 odd million I have lying around if I wanted to jump on this diamond mining, cash cow bandwagon?

How much are Pythons? You can get 180-odd tons in one of them. IIRC, you can get 60 in a Cobra Mk III, which is plenty to get started. 🙂

I started with my Asp Explorer. That bought me an Anaconda IIRC. You won't make 250m a trip, but you will make 50m a trip and the trips will be shorter and hence much less boring.

Asp x, good for 96t if fitted out right. It will be a bit slower than the bigger ships but will make you 100M per run. The python for 200t, then type 9 for 700t. Retire a billionaire.

Matt

Yea I am thinking of downgrading the cargo on my T10 if I can power the big size 8 shield instead.

Are you carrying weaponry as well as mining kit or do you just do a Brave Sir Robin if baddies covet your hard gotten goodies?

Brave Sir Robin for me - no supercruise assist, no docking computer, diddy fuel scoop. 🙂

I carry guns, medium beam lasers, small burst lasers and large multi canons all turrets and I don't fancy trying to aim in this lol I have killed Anacondas when doing missions in it when I just used my mining outfit. But there seems to be a big difference in how well the NPCs are fitted. Last night a fed gunship attacked while running missions and it got blown up in 2 passes.

Same as Pondo pretty much. Using a Python.

It works for your 200 docking trick as well, Perchy. I have no need to do it most of the time, but it is so much fun!

Matt

I’ve just flogged my partially engineered Vulture in a fit of pique after narrowly losing a battle with an NPC pirate in another vulture. I got him down to 2% hull and I was on about 30%, but then he managed to damage both of my weapons almost simultaneously so there was no point continuing the battle. Unfortunately I failed to disengage safely and got blown to smithereens as I attempted to boost outathere.

I’m now the proud owner of a bright orange Fer De Lance. Hope it works out a little bit better; I only needed a little bit 😡

On the plus side, several engineered modules swapped straight over, so I’ve already got a decent (for an FDL) jump range and a couple of other bits and bobs.

Getting module damage is a ball-ache.

I was heading home last night after hunting raws and stopped into the Nav beacon, to practise with my rail guns. I started a fight with a triple wing, including a Chieftain. I was doing OK until something started hitting me and wrecking modules. I just finished off the Chieftain before I was hit several times and lost thrusters. I fired up a reboot/repair, while in a miracle of timing the police showed up and dispatched the other wing members! After the reboot I had 1% thrusters and 13% hull, most other modules were around 60-70%. I didn't do the 200m/s docking on this occasion!

Let us know how the FDL works for you, I'm looking for a ship that will last longer than 30s in a CZ; my record in the Viper.

Matt

I've got a Vulture, a Chieftain an FDL and a Krait MkII.

I like the FDL the least out of all of them. Maybe I haven't spent enough time in it but compared to the other it just flies "funny". It was also a huge pain in the arse to try and scoop cargo due to the shape of the nose. I need to fly it more but at the minute I tend to stick with other options

I love the Vulture, its easily the most fun to fly, its agility is amazing but its just not tough enough for taking on the biggest ships.

My two favourite are the Cheiftain and Krait MKII. The Cheiftain is nearly as nice to fly as the Vulture, its got great firepower and a tough hull. Its let down a bit by its weak shields. I tend to fight until i start losing hull then run and hide until my shields come back up. I've fitted bi-weaves instead of standard shields. Its great for hanging out at Compromised Nav Beacons and fighting at RES zones. Once you've taken a bit of hull and module damage you can bug out to a nearby station and get repaired

The Krait isn't as maneuverable but has much better shields, you can also carry a fighter for added distraction. I prefer the Krait for CZs and assassination missions where it might be a longer fight.

Getting module damage is a ball-ache.

Didn't even know it was a thing until last week - absolutely horrible, got minxed by an NPC whilst mining LTDs in the Python, fighting with a solitary mining laser is not the way forward, everything 0 to 2% by the time the rozzers saved me, but close to impossible to fly. More impressed than I could say that I managed to post it into a station, but 0% of a successful landing. The sense of futility was overwhelming - didn't help that Mrs Pondo was watching a US soap episode with the death of a long-running character, so loads of really sad music as I flailed about. 🙁

I finally reached a waypoint on the Colonia Highway late last night.

Almost made an absolute arse of it.

Stopped two jumps out, restarted all my weapons and shields etc and in the process I broke my FSD. WTF?

Got it working then headed to the “space port” and flew like a complete noob…

Other ships, beacons, panic over pirates meant I tried my best to get lost and turned around back to the beacon to eventually find the “space port”. It was a little odd as I looked at it in space but blamed my lack of familiarity on docking and headed to it slightly nervously, then realised that it was a planetary landing. Space port my arse.

The slowest landing possible and I ****ed it – dropped out of orbit 200km early (too shallow an angle), had to jump back out and back in again.

The relief as I got into the no fire zone, then nearly crashed into the space station as I pissed about trying to remember what to do (it was late).

So, 15,000ly and nearly 350unique systems scanned and I’m a quarter of the way on my journey to Sag A. I’m 120m richer (now an actual billionaire instead of theoretical) and jumped to Ranger explorer rank (I had hoped for higher).

My most interesting discovery was a double void opal hotspot which overlapped with a Grandedite (sp) hotspot, shame it’s 1K Ly from this two horse town, although 24 of the 25 jumps would be lovely and safe. There are no ship parts for sale here, so useless as a base – someone is missing a trick.

My paintwork is all shiney again and I have some nice polaroid pictures to hang on the wall.

That's a trek, well in! 🙂

Nice work Sacc.

What sort of combat techniques are people using? I'm experimenting with using both sticks to turn - so when someone flies over my head I nose up but then use down thrusters on the other stick. I don't technically turn any faster but I'm more able to keep the ship in sights so I can get in behind. A bit like flying with FA off but less mental.

new record 37.95% LTD 🙂

Chapeau!

First flight out of Jameson in my shiny new Anaconda, playing in open (against all advice) and I was rammed by twice by some ganker fool right outside the station. He took my shields down and I just managed to get away from the mass lock and FSD away before any hull damage. And I end up with a fine for reckless flying, there's no justice in this galaxy!
Not a great start with the big girl, she might not be the ship for me.

i know if i played in Open i would lose interest quite quickly, i just cant handle people who are only out to ruin other peoples enjoyment of game.

I've played in open since day one. I wasn't really aware that solo was a thing. To be honest I only see a player every now and then. Deciat and Wolf 397. I am not able to go to Shinrata Dezra, but it is generally gank central.

Matt

I like the open world concept, but it's such a strange way to behave, and it could spoil it as a multiplayer world. Maybe there's some resentment at lots of new LTD rich trader elites (like me) appearing at Jameson Memorial at the moment.

Can you switch the same profile between the two? Not sure I'm that bothered playing online with a bunch of nerds with bad intentions.

I'm not sure it's a new thing, or resentment. As Mikkel said they are just looking to ruin peoples day/week etc. I would be more than happy to have some interaction with other players who are contributing to the game. Pirates for instance, if I got pulled out of supercruise with a message to drop 10t of diamonds, I would do it happily. Yarrr

Generally, the interaction I get with players is that they disappear, almost before I can send an 07. Check your Contact History panel, human cmdrs will appear in there.

Matt

In fairness, I got a cheery o7 yesterday in passing from someone, there are probably more good than bad folk out there. I didn't let this cmdr spoil my day, fortunately I'd seen somewhere before that ramming outside Jameson was a thing so I was watching for it, with full shields up, and I escaped ok, just shaken. It was more the worry of a rebuy minutes after purchase and fitting out.

What's o7? 🙂

FSD grade 5'd - bloody hell, that's better! Passenger embarked, off we go a-travelling... 🙂

Shouldn’t it be <o instead?

o7 is the wrong hand.

Not a great start with the big girl, she might not be the ship for me.

Her shields and hull saved your neck!

I use my Anaconda a lot. It's brilliant to have space for so much stuff! Mining gear AND weapons? No problem!

Handling isn't all that bad with A rated thrusters either, and that's before I've engineered it. Only annoyances are the low top speed (still) which lets people escape; the long nose; and the fact that the huge hp and one of the larges are right underneath near the back, so you can't bring all you weapons to bear unless they're in front of you. It's fun when they are though!

Let us know how the FDL works for you, I’m looking for a ship that will last longer than 30s in a CZ; my record in the Viper.

Okay. So these are my initial thoughts after kitting out the FDL and taking on the same assassination missions that kilt me ded in the Vulture.

I had an enjoyable, successful evening. Toughest bits were pirates in a Fed Assault Ship (mega damage but weak shields and armour fortunately, I thought I’d had it for a moment) and a Python, both of whom damaged me to about 60%. The pirate that killed me in a vulture never really stood a chance. I’ve set up the FDL with a huge beam laser and four medium multicannons, which seems a highly effective combination. No engineering on them yet but a little bit on the distributor and shields, and maxed out the FSD (irrelevant to combat but makes it less painful to get about).

But.

I have definitely improved my tactics and load out since the Vulture. I’ve learnt the value of;
Chaff, when the fight becomes a space joust;
Point defence when the missiles are coming to finish you off when your shields go down (automatic defence FTW)
And I’m starting to gitgud with utilising vertical thrusters liberally in combat; Max down when in a turning fight and more gently up or down when pursuing your quarry in order to expose a larger aspect to shoot at. I’m a long way from good at it but there’s definite benefit showing now. It’s also really useful when lining up for the slot shot; I seem to have improved at docking quite considerably over the past 24hrs.

So to sum up; the FDL is definitely a weapon, but actually in hindsight there was something wrong with both my build and how I was using the Vulture, which makes me want to revisit it in the future. FDL for now, though 😎

What sort of combat techniques are people using? I’m experimenting with using both sticks to turn – so when someone flies over my head I nose up but then use down thrusters on the other stick. I don’t technically turn any faster but I’m more able to keep the ship in sights so I can get in behind. A bit like flying with FA off but less mental.

Yeah this works well, depends a bit on the ship, some ships have really good vertical thusters.
FA off is a bit mental but I think the best way to use it is just to flick it off, spin your nose round to the target then flick it back on. I don't do it very often bit it can be useful in getting your nose on target to finish someone off.

I've decided grinding data deliveries would be a soul crushing way to gain Federation rank so I've changed tack and set myself up in Sol.

I look for pirate assasination or massacre missions in a nearby system, then hop to another station (I think there are 12 in Sol, 3 just round Earth) and look for another massacre or assasination mission in the same system against the same faction.

So if the first station gives you "Massacre 16 Pirates from the Barnard's Star Blue Faction" and "Assassinate Molgrips of the Blue Faction" then you go to the second station and you get "Massacre 24 Pirates from the Barnard's Star Blue Faction" then these mission stack. As you kill Pirates both mission counters count the kills and you assassination target also counts towards the total.

Okay its not as quick as courier mission for gaining rank but, its not soul crushingly dull either. You also gain combat rank and get more money from the mission givers and by handing in the bounties. As a bonus you can scoop materials from all the destroyed ships.

I found that turning FA off doesn't mean the ship pitches any more quickly. It seems to need forward thrust as well. Still haven't mastered it. I may go back to the training missions to learn about FA off.

Doesn't gaining combat rank just increase the skill level of NPC pirates who attack you while you're mining the billions in LTD's ?

I'm aiming for Elite in trading and Exploration and Mostly Harmless in Combat before I start getting into deliberate fights

@V8ninety thanks, something to think about.

I'm space trucking for Terra-Ex Astro Corp tonight (selecting high INF really works on those) and gonna try a little smuggling.

Will try the Vulture in the CZ in the next few days, what could go wrong!

Matt

Perchy, if you are at a Nav beacon then you can start a fight with whoever you want. If there is a pirate who is an Eilte FDL, leave him alone, but there will be plenty of harmless - competent Cobras, Adders, Asps. Their tactics are not very sophisticated and their weapons are not great, so you will cope easily.

As Rich said, great for farming materials, ship scans, wake scans and collecting the fragments from blown up ships. If only Technetium floated around Nav beacons they would be perfect.

Matt

Their tactics are not very sophisticated and their weapons are not great, so you will cope easily.

....and increase my combat rating, so that the NPC pirates who come sniffing round my unarmed mining ship full of diamonds are Dangerous rather than Harmless?

@pondo o7 is a salute, Perchy is ignorant of Space Corps Directive 3571-25B.

I've been playing open since I started, maybe there are less arseholes on PC but I've not had any real grief. I think the last issues I had were more down to reckless mission stacking than human commanders.

Doesn’t gaining combat rank just increase the skill level of NPC pirates who attack you while you’re mining the billions in LTD’s ?

After a while you kind of want the NPC players to be a bit tougher, otherwise it ends up like clubbing seals although its kind of funny when a random "Mostly Harmless" NPC in a Sidey interdicts you and you melt them in about 4 seconds

Perchy is ignorant of Space Corps Directive 3571-25B.

No officer with false teeth shall attempt oral sex in zero gravity?

….and increase my combat rating, so that the NPC pirates who come sniffing round my unarmed mining ship full of diamonds are Dangerous rather than Harmless?

To be fair, a tactic I learned from this here parish is to get in place (even plant your first prospectors) and wait a few minutes - sometimes nothing happens, sometimes one or max two pirates will come and sniff around, but if you've nothing on board, they'll leave you be. Then you're clear to mine in safety until the hold's full (I once spent five hours loading 394 tons into my Big Pink Anaconda with not a spot of company after the first couple of minutes.

Where you need to be careful is if you've hit a dry spot and supercruise to try another place in the same belt, the pirates will spawn again when you come out of cruise, and if you've booty aboard, they'll want a share. Hence last week's windmilling Python. 🙁

I think griefing/ganking is really localised and a real minority, Shinrata, Deciat, Borann are genuine hotspots. Outside of these places you see one cmdr every 2-3 days and they are typically doing something else so they blink out before you can send a message.

There will be rare others associated with Powerplay/BGS.

At the minute there is a 'high threat' in Enayex, which I can't work out. It's not an engineer base and there are no player factions there.

Perchy, that's directive 3571-25C, directive 3571-25B: No crew member shall sniff the seat of the exercise bike in the women's gym!

Matt

Yes I never saw another CMDR until I got ganked at Deciat, and even then it was my third or fourth trip. Just don't go late in the evening when the Americans are online.

its kind of funny when a random “Mostly Harmless” NPC in a Sidey interdicts you and you melt them in about 4 seconds

Yes, the time between "I'm going to destroy you!" and "Nooo this can't be happening!" can be amusingly short.

Tried CQC for a combat fix, got no matches. Anyone fancy a bout?

Back in the real world, exploring and discovered some biologicals and a system with 5 stars, two of which are an actual binary star. It's cool.

That *, *, *, * key binding for engine boost. In the Viper or the Asp X it's a bit of a laugh, flip round and back to the pad, but in the space cow, another 9.5M Cr. I swear I'll never make a profit on this ship!

Return to the station who just blew you to smithereens and they tell you how pleased they are to see you again, yeah, didn't say that last time as you were decorating the walls of your dock with the internals of my ship!

Matt

I've swapped select target infront and boost now, so errors should be less costly!

Ouchy - not 100% sure what a space cow is, but maybe I won't get me one of them! 🙁

Type-9, loads of space but not the best to fly. To be fair I have boost issue with every ship, just the Space Cow is so much harder to recover from.

Having fun tonight, annoyed some a passenger so much she jumped out (she wanted consumer goods which were 100Ly away on a 13Ly trip!). Now flying to a station which is 1.7M Ls from the star.

Matt

I'm on a killing spree in the Mamba have taken some kill lots of pirates mission to get the last bit of the way to Rear admiral, but think I will go gather materials so I can engineer more stuff before buying the Corvette

I've decided to try and find interesting stuff that's a bit closer to home. Trying to get to Orion Nebula but Sector Col 70 is annoyingly in the way.

annoyed some a passenger so much she jumped out

Wait, so she ejected into the void of space rather than spend a minute longer in your company? We've all been there, haven't we?

Yeah, you only sit with your back to the door on a date once!

My default position with these passengers is 'no'. They agreed to be ferried around by me in a Space Cow, what the hell were they expecting? I put them in the good cabin, but it's definitely not in the top 1% of all liners.

Actually I'm a bit torn, if you accept the REP option they seem to shoot you up in rank pretty quick. I only did a few on the way back from space trucking and I'm almost Petty Officer.

Matt

Has anybody explored a Guardian site yet? I quite fancy trying to get some guardian blueprints I think. Maybe even as a wing, if people’s schedules tally up?

I haven't, but I would be up for it if schedules match.

No Type-9, I promise!

Matt

Don't eve know what a Guardian site is 🙂 but like the sound of it, what was the squadron setup name again?

Basically, ancient ruins for access to super engineering mods.

I think there are skimmer type things which are quite shooty.

Edit: STW1

Matt

I've done the trip to get the Guardian FSD booster. Its quite a fun little adventure.

Not sure it would work in a wing though. There is only so much guardian tech at each site and I'm sure you can only get 1 Guardian blueprint each time.

I noticed that there was a 'guardian' category of civilisation in the list on the map, and selecting it revealed one system. I was goign to explore it but then I read too much online which has spoiled the surprise somewhat. But yeah I'm up for it, drop me a line on PS messages cos I have it on my phone.

I also want to try CQC. Does anyone actually do it?

I’m just keen to ‘wing up’ again; don’t really mind what for. That evening we did a few weeks ago really enhanced the gameplay for me despite us all being varying degrees of hopeless at that point 😂😂😂

Re CQC; never tried it, it appeals to me much more if it’s amongst us lot rather than just randoms, but I have heard that it’s pretty much dead. Shame really.

I could really have done with a wing last night to takedown the Pirate in an FDL and his two buddies in Vultires.

They beat me twice and then i even re-configured the ship, adding an extra shield booster and a shield cell bank. I flew back feeling a bit more confident and they rocked up with a wing of 4 rather than a wing of 3 and i got killed again!

I would be happy to wing up for something, even if it's not the guardian stuff. I'm still some degree of hopeless, but hopefully less so than a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't tried CQC. As I understand there is a new queuing system which will be implemented when the new Fleet Carriers go live. Perhaps that will increase the interest.

Matt

think i applied to join the squadron..

Matt if you are in a T9 then how about trading or cargo missions - you haul I'll be the escort?

Who else has a big ship?