MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
When I've tried I got matched with one other person but others joined after each round so we had four or five. Much easier for a noob to hide and snipe at other people under fire so you get XP for the assist. I did get insta-killed a lot but you still get the XP for participating. I'm something like level 10 now and you get much better ships pretty quickly, so you can compete a bit more.
But then I'm used to getting rinsed in online gaming so it's BAU really 🙂
It'd be fairer if I, as the first noob, was able to use my Corvette or Cutter instead.
It is good fun, but I do think the ships improving as you level up is a kick in the balls for noobs. I certainly get popped in a couple of shots by some of the old sweats.
There's definitely more people around these days.
Matt
@twonks - I'm playing on PC, keyboard and an old (Microsoft) joystick. Tried mouse, just couldn't get on with it. Just like the others have said, it's a time sink. I'd recommend doing at least some of the tutorials before you jump into the game.
@D0NK - which HOTAS did you go for? My old joystick has a constant yaw to the right that I have to compensate for, which gets tiring. Might be tempted by a modern replacement.
@matt_bl - happy to chip in some time to support the NKL, presumably running missions for the faction via PC helps out a little in the grand scheme of things?
@son-of-mike yes, all systems work in the same way and contribute to the same things. All help appreciated.
Matt
Wow, all this chat is really making me want to put the foot down, get back to the bubble and build a fighty ship!
I'm still about 50-60,000 light years away from the bubble though and really only play for a couple of hours a week in the summer, so could someone keep the tea warm for me till I get back?
Beagy73, flying 'The Beagle', an unarmed DiamondBack Explorer out in the black for the last 18 months. Just on the border of the Formian Frontiers, Veils sector.
p.s. It's quiet out here.....
@Beagleboy I've put a pot on, it should be just about strong enough by the time you get back!
Safe travels!
Matt (mining, so wherever the shiny rocks are)
I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be anyone with a fleet carrier taking advantage of engineering unlock materials as far as I can see.
When I eventually get a fleet carrier i'll consider loading it up with whatever the most expensive material is needed to unlock an engineer e.g meta alloys or lavian brandy and parking as near to the engineers base as possible to sell them to potential engineering unlockers at a huge markup.
I'm currently trying to unlock Bill Turner and couldn't find anyone selling 50 tons of Bromellite anywhere remotely close.
I'm pretty sure if you remove it from your ignore list you can surface mine that much Bromellite at the same time as a hold full of LTD.
I don't think the traffic for unlocks is that great, it's something you only do once even if you visit 10 times.
I am planning to do that with mission materials for BGS though.
Matt
50-60,000 light years away from the bubble
Holy crap, did you take a wrong turning or something?
What's actually out there to see?
@Perchy as above I think bromelite is pretty common, should be easy to mine. Isn't it one of the minerals you can't buy anyway?
Isn’t it one of the minerals you can’t buy anyway?
That's exactly my point. It's one of the minerals you can't buy AT A STATION.
I'm just surprised that no one has, for example, farmed a shitload of meta alloys from a thargoid site and set up shop outside Deciat, selling them two at a time for 500,000 credits each to take advantage of the people who don't want make the trek to Maia and back.
I'd have happily paid top dollar fro 50 tons of bromellite rather than spend a couple of hours transferring my small mining ship, finding a pristine ice ring somewhere close, and mining it, which is what I had to instead.
I got my Sol permit today! No idea why as I'm not elite in anything but the Feds like me. Considering buying a T7 for medium term cargo hauling, refit with most of my AspX and do some of the multi million/high rep runs I'm now being offered. That Corvette won't earn itself.
selling them two at a time for 500,000 credits each to take advantage of the people who don’t want make the trek to Maia and back.
There's lazy and then there's stupid.
I got my Sol permit today! No idea why
Sol permit unlocks with federation rank of Petty Officer.
There’s lazy and then there’s stupid.
...and then there’s late stage capitalism.
son-of-mike, have you got the thrustmaster T flight? I had the yaw issue with that (after a good 12months or so, wasn't all the time either, just every now and again. Got a thrustmaster 1600 hotas (but dual sticks seem to be the thing, dunno how that works) got more features, seems better built, but no "notch" on the throttle to feel where the zero mark is (unless you go with 1 direction thrust only), bit tricky to judge where you're at and come to a dead halt (I increased the deadzone). The tiny headlook joystick on the throttle is a bit skewif, apparently is on many, just increase the deadzone a bit fixes that aswell. You can do all sorts with the TARGET script editor but it seems to virtualise your hotas so ED loses any bindings you had setup, no issue if starting from scratch but I already had a load set & CBA starting again.
MattBL done a few influence missions for NKL, dunno if you'll see the effect of them. That trip to Coribes is a bit of a slog huh? Might hang around for a bit & do more, not sure. Been buying LTDs from players on my carrier for 1M/t might cash them in soon, going for 1.7M/t in Nivati at the moment, not got the time right now tho.
@perchypanther that'll be it. 91% to next rank, Malayamantha is good for ranking up. Reconsidering that T7, might hold off for the vette.
@Molgrips I knew I should have turned left at Albuquerque!
I took a hike out to Beagle Point in my ship, The Beagle as part of a mass, cross platform expedition called 'Distant Worlds 2'. I quickly fell astern of the 11,000+ players who had joined as I'm not as dedicated a gamer as I'd thought. I also had three or four wine induced incidents where I smacked into planets....really hard...and found myself re-buying and playing an increasingly difficult game of catch-up. The actual expedition ended in April last year, but I'm pig headed enough that it didn't stop me from trying to complete the proposed route anyway.
I'm now taking a curving route, clockwise around the galaxy on my way back to the bubble. Been a few cool places, seen some cool stuff, but getting a bit itchy to be back.
At the rate I play, I reckon I'll be back in the bubble around the end of summer. So only just over a year late. 🙂
@DONK Yes, Coribes is a slog, one of the reasons I am going to get a fleet carrier is to be able to jump to the planet rather than the star.
Thanks for the missions. Even a small number of missions have a large effect in low population/low traffic systems. I haven't checked the current system status, I got stuck in Nivati yesterday, after 40 minutes trying to get out of the station I gave up. On the plus side I got full price for my diamonds 1.73M/t
The T7 is a ship I don't understand, it doesn't seem to fit as a medium hauler due to the large pad. I would use a Python for that role. 200+ cargo and could even be made to defend itself. Mind you I would buy a T7 before I would buy a Keelback.
Matt
yeah python is awesome, one of the ships I use the most. minor snag of it being 40M more than the T7 tho. If the T7 was a medium I could see more point to it.
But if youve got the cash get the python.
Yeah that's exactly why I was looking at the T7, cost to benefit ratio. Same reason I ended up with a Cobra 3. It just seems more efficient for hauling than an AspX. I'll probably get a Python at some point as a Luxo Explorer but I reckon I'll save twice as long for the Corvette and get that first.
I reckon I’ll save twice as long for the Corvette and get that first.
Get the Python first. It's objectively the most useful ship in the game. It's the best all rounder there is.
If you have your heart set on a Corvette, you'll need about a billion credits and a Guardian FSD booster to make it useful.
I use mine for mining / pirate murdering and transfer the cargo to my Cutter for long range transport / sale / pirate murdering.
Rear-Admiral Perchy, Duke of GCRV 1568.
@beagleboy - wow, o7 CMDR, top effort being that far out. One question though, have you seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion or watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate? Just curious 😉
@D0NK - useful info, much appreciated. I wish I had a modern joystick, it's a Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro with a Rockfire USB adaptor. I'll take a look at the Thrustmaster, Logitech X52 was on my wishlist too.
@matt_bl - does bringing trade & materials into Kuwembaa system help in any way or is it just missions?
@squirrelking - love my Python, a great all-rounder. YLYMV 😉
@son-of-mike trade and carto data work for the controlling faction of the station. In Kuwembaa system if you trade into Gagnan Port or Henslow Silo then that boosts NKL.
Smuggling into Black Markets harms the controlling faction.
Matt
@matt_bl - great, I'll install more racks on my Python and do some trading into the system, see if I can build up a nice wee loop. I might leave 1T of gold in my hold and go out baiting NPC pirates in Kuwembaa. I was minding my own business collecting some mats from a high grade source en route to dump a bunch of agronomic treatment at Gagnan Port when a pirate stopped by to harrass me. As I'm terrible at combat I panicked and only just made it away with my shields in tatters. I want revenge!
One question though, have you seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion or watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate?
You over-romanticise it. To make another pop culture reference - it's space. Black with twinkly bits.
There always seems to be a huge difference between combat you initiate and combat which is started by other people. Pirates do seem to like to get the upper hand early and come out blasting. I'm going to be running missions tonight myself, before I test the new rewards from hotspot mining.
Matt
before I test the new rewards from hotspot mining.
Good luck with that.
Seems like it's not going too well for all the LTD miners.
It's most likely bollocksed it for my easy Painite mining chill zone as that will now be overrun with the credit crazed and their attendant fleet carriers
Shoulda sold those LTDs last night, sounds like their price/demand mechanic has been changed (and only them apparently, if so it's a blatant money making nerf). Should be able to offload them at somepoint to get my money back, in the meantime dunno what I'll do with my carrier. just use it for warping my pew pew ships to where I want them I guess.
I haven't noticed any great improvement in a single LTD hotspot. Saying that I was looking for SSD deposits and found some decent laser rocks almost by accident (I'll check that at some point). Tritium was really easy to find SS deposits which was good as I had a 20M mission for 54t.
If anyone wants to run some missions etc for New Kuwembaa Labour, we could use Influence in Coribes,, Akuntsu or a little in Kuwembaa itself. Please leave Velniat I am trying to balance that for a war!
Thanks
Matt
does the destination make a difference? If I get a transport mission from Kuwembaa to Velniat does it change anything in Velniat or just Kuwembaa?
No, the influence will count for the mission giver. Though it may increase your standing with the mission receiver.
I'm currently stealing diplomatic bags to help 'win' an election! Got the Chieftain out, for that piratey feeling yarrrrrrrrrr!
Matt
I’m docked in Coribes tonight so I’ll run a few missions for your faction tomorrow and have look at anything else that might help. I had a look at a combat zone here but didn’t know which side, if any, would help your cause. I’m in my Kraft so not much good for transporting but I’m sure I can find something to do 🙂
Kraft?
Single or triangle?
😆
Nearly back to the Colonia highway, only getting a little time each night to play.
@Crewlie, the CZs are for two other factions, so if you want to get some combat bonds pick a side and fire away, one of them has to win. There is an election involving NKL at the moment in Coribes, I ran data and 'recovered' diplomatic bags to further our cause last night.
I am trying to get a war in another system, but there have been so many war and election states recently it has never occurred.
Matt
No, the influence will count for the mission giver. Though it may increase your standing with the mission receiver.
good to know, mission reciever rep change was making me wonder.
******* Newsflash ***********
NKL on the rise?
Support for New Kuwembaa Labour (NKL) is growing as activists promote the faction in the Kuwembaa and the surrounding systems.
Significant efforts are being made made by the faction to increase their influence in Akuntsu and Coribes, where leading up to the ongoing election NKL members have been heard encouraging the populous to 'vote early and vote often'.
In a disturbing twist an NKL courier was killed transporting sensitive poll data to the Li Chotep system, Federal Security Services are looking for an Anaconda which was monitored in the area.
Made about 6kLy in 30 ish jumps last night on the way back from Sag A, it was brilliant - neutron stars galore. Then I died trying to boost from a white dwarf, ended up back at Explorer's Rest. Now trying to do it again but just not finding the neutron stars this time 🙁
Nice. Isn't Thursday the point when it all gets "recalculated" or whatever Frontier do with the BGS? Hopefully the missions & trading I did last night (in solo) helped. Did some wake scanning at the nav beacon and helped the space cops out by blasting some bad apples too so I earned some bounties & scooped some materials. I'm on dad duties this weekend so won't be able to help out until Sunday evening.
Vote matt_bl for President!!! 😉
I had a few hours so like son-of-mike ran a good few NKL missions, mostly election related, and spent sometime at the Nav beacon. I'm allied to NKL now, fascinating to see that this all really makes a difference in the game...still trying to get my head around how it all fits together. Makes RL politics look simple 🙂
@Molgrips that's rough I've heard white dwarf stars a re risky. I haven't tried neutrons properly yet, but it's on the list.
The BGS ticks every day, it would be very slow if you could only see the results of your actions after 7 days. I can definitely see influence increases in several of the systems. Kuwembaa was heading in the wrong direction at one point but is now solidly at 60% which is pretty much perfect.
Matt
Neutron stars are a piece of cake, not really dangerous at all. But it does wear your FSD so you'll need an AFMS to fix it again and a reasonable amount of mats if it's a long trip.
The only think to remember is that they are tiny (as small as 30km in real life) so whilst it looks like you're a long way away you aren't. The jets are also small and since you can be a fair distance from what is a small object your throttle is very sensitive so it's very easy to speed through. You lose control in the jets so make sure you are facing away from the star, graze your way into it and then when you're full (only takes a few seconds) power away. If you are facing away from the neutron star when you hit the gas you'll pop out somewhere in the right direction. If you're facing towards it, well, who knows!
how did you die? overheating? you got heat sinks fitted?
only tried a bit of boosting, think I died first time probably coz I did something stupid, but if you crash out of supercruise is there anyway to survive or are you done for even with heatsinks?
oh and its really annoying how you can only see the edge of the field of the star when you're close to full throttle, why wont it let you see it at all times?
how did you die?
That's a very meta question, I like it. I may work that in to the fan fiction story I want to write 🙂
I'd got blasé about the neturon stars, but the jets on a WD are much smaller and the star is much larger and hotter, so with poor positioning I ended up too close to the start and dropping out. This is a very bad situation and I don't think ships can handle the jets when not in cruise. Everything exploded more or less straight away, then it let me die slowly whilst ragdolling. I self destructed in the end with my canopy gone thousands of Ly from help. I always find that intensely poigniant.
just wondering whether it was slowly cooking while trying to fly out of the hotzone or insta destruction, sounds more like the latter.
I'm not quite so poignant, I love* the game but don't get quite as immersed as others do. Exploration gets boring quite quickly for me.
*While acknowledging it has many, many flaws
It was a lesson in the smallness of humanity against the unfathomably vast universe.
if you crash out of supercruise is there anyway to survive or are you done for even with heatsinks?
I wouldn't even have had time to change fire groups - as soon as I dropped it was mayhem, alarms going off everywhere and failure messages scrolling past faster than they could be displayed.
Exploration is very boring for me also, I'm not even scanning anything just trying to get home asap. Hence dicing with death around WDs!
but if you crash out of supercruise is there anyway to survive or are you done for even with heatsinks?
Yes, blind luck.
I wandered into a WD by accident because my Corvette didn't have the Supercruise assist module fitted which zeros the throttle when you exit a jump.
Wasn't paying attention, exit the jump at full throttle and crashed into the exclusion zone.
The ship was robust enough and , crucially, had module reinforcements fitted , to withstand the battering long enough to fire up the FSD again and fluked being pointed in the right direction for the next jump.
Cost millions in repairs.
Won't be making that mistake again.
Ah is that what it is that parks the throttle? Odd that I have assist on both my ships but only the AspX throttles down automatically, wonder what button I've hit on the Cobra?
There's a setting in the right hand Ship panel for Hyperspace Dethrottle that you can toggle on and off.
I'd recommend on.
Supercruise assist module fitted which zeros the throttle when you exit a jump.
normally don't bother with driver assists they ruin the purity of the driver experience* but will probably fit one next time I try exploring (nearly at elite for combat so that will just leave exploration)
*not really, I just normally have other uses for that slot.
Downloaded and ready to play this weekend.
Also found my ancient Microsoft force feedback joystick and steering wheel in 10+ years of dust.
Cleaned them up and they still power up - need to build a box of tricks to get them working now.
Wasn't going to bother but it seems the Sidewinder Pro joystick is something of a cult amongst joysticks 😀
I like the idea, but I only have supercruise assist in my Phantom (which is also my biggest ship). In the others I have a DDS, Module reinforcement or a 1A collector limpet controller instead.
Matt
Only 7k until I'm back in the bubble, where is the bgs planet we're taking over?
I'm on the combat bus of doom!
There’s a setting in the right hand Ship panel for Hyperspace Dethrottle that you can toggle on and off.
I’d recommend on.
I've never been hubward, I prefer off.
Cheers though!
@Saccades we've been building the influence of New Kuwembaa Labour, around the Kuwembaa system.
I am out of the bubble at the minute collecting Guardian Weapon blueprints (still can't decide whether to try for a heart for the CG). I'll be back later and review the systems, but at this time, any work for NKL in Akuntsu, Coribes or the catchily named Col 285 Sector TY-W b16-6 would be great.
Matt
Wow that was a surprise.
6 or 7 jumps from the bubble I stop to pick some stuff up from a Degraded Emissions signal, an NPC drops in and proceeds to kick seven colours of brickdust out of me. Another rebuy and bye bye exploration data. I swear if I'd cashed in all the data I've lost I would have been elite weeks ago!
Matt
That would piss me off, I've deliberately avoided combat whilst trading/exploring elite so the I'm not worth the effort.
Unexpectedly the missus took the kids to her mum's last night so I enjoyed some fallout4 violence but I'm aimed at the chumbawumba (sp) for bgs stuff.
Yeah, it would piss me off as well, but for the fact I do it so often! Usually it's because I forget to cash in then go and do something dangerous, like a CZ with V8ninety!
Matt
Back in the bubble, tubthumping and now allied with chumbawumba new labour.
I've the platypus custard (multipurpose python) and a vulture in the post to me too.
Welcome back and welcome to Chumbawumba!
Great choice on the Vulture, I was out 'collecting materials' in mine last night, plus some light ganker baiting at Shinrarta. You forget how capable it is against anything slower or which can't turn well. I even managed a dropship with the MC out of ammo, just (what did I say previously about doing stupid stuff!)
Matt
If anyone wants to work for NKL, please don't do anything in the Kuwembaa system itself. The influence is getting close to 70% which would trigger an expansion, into another system. Velniat, Coribes and Col 285 sector TY-W B16-6 would all help though.
If you want to work in Akuntsu, please do 3:! work for Akuntsu Republic Party:NKL
Sorry to be a pain
Matt
Np - this is new to me so guide me like Swiss tony would.
I did see the influence creeping up. Keep on telling us what to do, hopefully it will start to get easier to follow what your trying to achieve and how it all fits together.
I had a look at col 285 etc. , but it wasn't obvious who or what to do there... sorry to be dim 😳
10-4 CMDR matt_bl
If you want to work in Akuntsu, please do 3:! work for Akuntsu Republic Party:NKL
eh? sorry not following "3:! work", am I being dim or can you explain pls?
do 3 times as much work for ARP than NKL?
They properly borked mining didnt they? Taking a break from other stuff cracked about 10 asteroids and i could only get the minerals out of one of them. abrasive blaster doesnt work on core stuff (seems ok on surface deposits)
@D0NK that is exactly what it means, my finger must have slipped when I tried to type a 1.
The aim is to increase NKL, whilst increasing ARP more so they catch us. This will (hopefully) enable us to take over Williams Enterprise from ARP (with a war or an election) then stop working for ARP to push on to take Wylie Dock and control of the system from Imset Patron's Principles.
In theory!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I beleive a mwuh ha ha is probably required here.
Matt
abrasive blaster doesnt work on core stuff (seems ok on surface deposits)
I've only been mining a short while but that sounds about right, you need seismic charges for core and the drill missiles for seams.
It's a bug. I have heard mixed reports of it working if you don't SSD, but I'm not convinced. SSD is working except there is nothing to find (though I have had good success with tritium in single hotspots).
Matt
you need seismic charges for core
blow the core with seismic then you need to abraid deposits off the core interior.
It’s a bug. I have heard mixed reports of it working if you don’t SSD
Hmm, Ive been SSD and surface mining (like to get my moneys worth) before blowing the core, so maybe.
Last time I did it I just blew it and sent out the idiot bots to collect.
Having said that, I did have issues surface mining with one outcrop that refused to budge.
Anyway, took on a load of high payout trucking missions last night. Got smart, bought a T7 and immediately remembered a) it's large and b) all my destinations were outposts. Sold it back, 2 mil down before I even struck a blow.
On the flip side I'm not far off affording a Python sooooo...
cracked an asteroid without ssd mining it last night, could get the goods from inside ok. Only 1 tho so hardly conclusive.
Yeah, I managed the same with a painite core. To be honest SSD deposits for useful stuff are really rare, with the exception of tritium in single hotspots. I keep getting lucky and finding 20M Cr for 54t of tritium missions.
Matt
Been pirate bashing at Velniat for the Chumbawumba Labourers. Needed to rank up my NPC fighter pilot anyway.
@Perchypanther those pirates have taken a bit of a kicking over the week or so, their recruitment better be good or we'll run out. Did you do what I did and get the cheapest NPC available? If you rank them all the way up they take less of your wedge.
My pilot 'Alyana' has ranked up super quick and is now a far better shot with fixed weapons than I am.
Matt
Did you do what I did and get the cheapest NPC available?
Yep.. I just drift around in my Cutter and let him do all the hard work whilst the turrets put on a disco lights show.
Ha ha, exactly this!
She does all the damage while I randomly fry patches of empty space with the PAs
Matt
@matt_bl - how do you know what actions need done for NKL? I don't mean the mission board but is there some sort of dashboard where you're seeing the overall control from each faction? How do you know where to put effort in?
Also, does anyone know if there's any kind of timetable for fleet carriers? e.g. fleet carrier XYZ in system 123 is flying to system ABC at date/time. Just in case I fancy hitching a lift out somewhere.
I wouldn't say it's a dashboard as such. In your right hand panel there is a status tab. This has the status of all of the minor factions in the system, including their influence in that system as a percentage. If you click on each on faction there is more detail which is useful when there are wars and elections, as you can see what's at stake and how it's going. I do a loop round the systems each day to see what happened at the tick. In terms of work most of the time it's boost or defend your position. The NKL systems are pretty small so a little work goes a long way. It's more complicated when you want to tweak more than one faction to get a goal.
Then I use Inara to get the. structure of each system, stations, etc.
There is an elitecarriers reddit which has all that kind of information. It's a bit quiet at the minute due to the tritium crash.
Matt
It’s a bit quiet at the minute due to the tritium crash.
Deciat's one big poverty dock. Sadly the gankers are still about, lost 1.5M in mission kit plus a lot of good will thanks to one.
Yeah, Deciat and Shinrarta, always the same.
I had great battle with a pirate out at Binjia last night. I had 200t of painite and he just kept interdicting me and firing off hatchbreakers. I think the G5 drag drives on the python surprised him and I gave him a ram a couple of times. I was pleased I didn't lose anything as it was 950k per t when I got to the station.
If he'd sent me a message demanding 5t I might have stopped. Though if it hadn't have been midnight and so far to go, I'd have fetched my Vulture and had a go.
Matt