Just got Elite Dangerous

squirrelking
Member

Just hopped into my Challenger and the materials I had collected automatically came with me.

Oops, never read that properly!

Ha, well I am enjoying collecting materials for Felicity Farseer, but not that much. After spending so long exploring, it’s nice to do something different. I even got the SRV out yesterday and had a mooch around some ice planets looking for phosphorus and manganese.

Had a go at mining last night.

Wow its a good way to make credits!

After various false starts (not taking limpets, then not taking a refinery) I spent about 40 minutes surface mining for low temperature diamonds.

I was a bit clumsy, bounced off the rocks a few times and generally wasn't too efficient. I only half filled my cargo space before I ran out of limpets. But I mined 40 tonnes of diamonds and made 45 million credits.

Realistically I think I could probably double my efficiency, so I could make close to 100 million credits a run

Did you get ambushed on the way back?

I got interdicted in the mining system and in the system I was selling the diamonds.

Managed to dodge both. I also got scanned while I was down at the rings but I hadn't collected any cargo yet so they left me alone.

I was in a Python, but had no weapons, just mining gear. I think I'm going to rethink that though. If I'm only surface mining for diamonds then I don't need to carry the seismic charge launcher or the ablation blaster.

Mining lasers only need medium hardpoints so I could free up at least two large hardpoints and fit a large beam and a large overcharged multicannon. That should make pirates rethink their life choices!

Maybe I'll try a bit of trade or mining.... I thought I'd be Combat Man now I've got the Vulture with bigger guns, got a bit ambitious and took on an Expert massacre mission to rap the knuckles of nine pirates, and I think I spent more time running away from batterings (Chieftans, Pythons, Fer De Lances) than killing bad guys - not lost the ship yet, but close shaves of particular note were a shattered canopy that I managed to escape, land and repair with literally about 20 seconds of oxygen left, and this lunchtime's "run away! Run away!" moment with a hull integrity of one percent. Still, mission complete - might try something else for a bit, save some cash and bling the Vulture before I go a-huntin' again... What surprised me is that I thought the Vulture was manoueverable but everything - everything - can turn inside me, no matter how quick or slow I'm going.

This game eats your life. 😀

I did a massacre mission at Competent for four pirates. Took me about 60 seconds to slaughter a ship but about half an hour to find each one.

If I were you I'd fit enough beam laser to strip shields (one medium and one small gibmalled seem to do the job) and then multicannons and burst lasers for the rest to mince their armour.

Ah, the downside of a Vulture is only two hard points. Both large, though.

Ah, the downside of a Vulture is only two hard points. Both large, though.

This is true, but mines a 'kin tank!

I have 10 more systems to scan, by which time I should be ~500Ly away from my base. Then it's big jumps back and get the playtime mining and bounty ships out! I have scanned about 100+ systems and found 1 ELW. My wife is getting annoyed at me saying how big space is!

The AI indictments are rubbish so far. I have dodged them all in my Asp X. I have seen some good advice to get engineered fast spin up on the FSD, so you can just submit, then run away again.

Matt

Been wooing felicity, nearly at 5 star level with her but need to collect some more parts.

Range is now up to 42ly on the AspX (Orange Dwarf), plan to grab a shed load of parts and get the python flown over so I can it modded too.

Struggling to get on as the missus has decided she hates the game and let's the kids use the telly for their PS3 battles.

I have seen some good advice to get engineered fast spin up on the FSD, so you can just submit, then run away again.

Don't bother, unless you are in something arse slow, like a Type 7 then just submit, stick four pips to Engine and boost as soon as you drop out of super cruise, they will be lucky to land a shot before your FSD spins up.

Engineered Increased Jump Range is a lot more useful than fast spin up

My wife also doesn't like it. Normally she loves repetitive absorbing tasks, but she can't handle the UI and the flying confuses her.

Engineered Increased Jump Range is a lot more useful than fast spin up

This is what I’m concentrating on at the moment. I’m currently parked at Dav’s Hope and tomorrow I’ll be off in the SRV for a chemical processor and manipulator search. I’ve read that there are a lot of materials scattered around.

Engineered Increased Jump Range is a lot more useful than fast spin up

Dunno, if you have a combat focused ship then a quick spin-up and hence quick escape route would be a confidence booster.

Re chemical processors, I seem to get lots of those in the wreckage of pirate ships.

5 star with felicity - have made the nearby space port my base whilst I upgrade all my ships fsd's.

I did a lot of spamming 1 star mods to build the love.

Python is just short of 30ly with only 4star upgrade and still filled with crap. need to grab some arsenic fir the final upgrade.

@RichMtb Thanks I was going for increased range for the explorer, but was thinking faster spin up for the miner. I guess it's about not panicking and having a plan. Can you get different tweaks from the same engineer?

I see chemical processors in the wreckage at degraded emissions, but they are not very common. I find the most shield emitters and worn shield emitters.

Update on the exploring, I scanned 143 systems in total, with 6 firsts (so my name is recorded out there in the black) and 1 space anomaly (Lagrange cloud, I think). In total I made ~30M credits, but that took me around 5 days. I would say don't do it for the cash, but when you are mapping hit the efficiency bonuses. The Asp X is now equipped with an SRV so I'm going to give landing a try.

Matt

You can get different tweaks from the same engineer but not for the same module. So if you go for Increased Range for you FSD you can't also apply faster spin up for the same module.

Remember to pin the blueprints you are going to use all the time whenever you unlock an Engineer that can do Grade 5 modifications.

For example Felicity Farseer can do G5 Increased Range. Once you have unlocked this with her pin the blueprint. Now every station you visit can do "Remote Workshop" upgrades of your FSD for Increased Range. You don't gain any rank with the engineer using the remote workshop but you will only be pinning the blueprint once you have Grade 5 mods unlocked anyway.

This is really useful when you buy new ships or swap modules - like using a smaller class shield in a mining ship or a smaller power distributor in an exploration ship.

The only thing you can't do with remote workshop is apply experimental effects.

Well I have Felicity and Elvira unlocked now, may have "cheated" and bought the Meta Alloys but whatever, there's enough grinding to come.

Found 2 water worlds now, never managed to get a DSS for the first one but the system was worth over 880K without it, went back and did the extra scan so hopefully it'll be worth mroe when I get to Farseer.

@squirrelking I think the multiple is around four between an FSS and DSS scan, so you could be in for a good payday.

Matt

Pinned blueprints is a game changer!

Core mining last night and no cores...

Core mining last night and no cores…

Are you using a pulse wave scanner?

I've not really tried core mining yet. I just go Surface mining in Borann.

Rumour is they are going to nerf mining in the next update. So if anyone wants to make credits now then outfit a ship for mining and get over to Borann and start mining Low Temperature Diamonds.

You will take a couple of goes to get the hang of it but I'm managing to get about 100m Cr an hour in a Python

Rumour is they are going to nerf mining in the next update. So if anyone wants to make credits now then outfit a ship for mining and get over to Borann and start mining Low Temperature Diamonds.

You will take a couple of goes to get the hang of it but I’m managing to get about 100m Cr an hour in a Python

Noted, thank you! Just bus-driving tourists about to rebuild credit after a misguided, slightly drunken and massively over-optimistic return to the world of combat that cost me the Vulture in about fifteen seconds of "WT actual F?" combat? Ah well, easy come.... 🙂

Ooh, I spotted loads of low temperature diamonds in the last system I scanned, its only a few jumps from Maia and no thargoid signals iirc. If anyone is interested I can jump back on later and get the system name.

I think the multiple is around four between an FSS and DSS scan, so you could be in for a good payday.

Sweet!

Rumour is they are going to nerf mining in the next update.

Remove a huge chunk of the game? Really? They'd better replace it with something.

Remove a huge chunk of the game? Really? They’d better replace it with something.

Not remove it just make it significantly less profitable. At the very least they will re-roll the hotspots so people have to go out and discover them again - which to be honest I don't see an issue with.

Mining has kind of broken the game economy anyway, you can basically afford any ship you want now after about 10 hours game play.

It's not unreasonable, stuff which is 0.5 to 1.5M credits per tonne shouldn't be as readily available as they are!

I'm a hobby miner to be honest, but I can make 10M an hour easily. I made a dual mining python last night, which is looking good, especially with 224t in the hold.

I am predicting <10 hours for the new motherlodes to be discovered. It's all about balance though and they will never make everyone happy.

Matt

I might mine so I can afford a bigger ship with an SLF, and then go hunting with a buddy.

Best combat ship with SLF?

Just needs real-world economics, innit - if the market's flooded, the price should drop out of it. Easy for me to say... 🙂

At the minute its just a bit unbalanced.

A long exploration trip (20,000ly+) might take you 2 or 3 weeks and net you 100 million credits - I played this way a lot - I'm Elite for exploration but it took me months to get this rank.

Bounty hunting / assassination / massacre mission might net you 2-3 million an hour - maybe a bit higher if you get a few nice bounty vouchers. I love this style of play - my engineered Cheiftain is a beast, unless you are coming at me with 3 Condas in a wing, you are going down! But I'm still only "Master"

You can run trade or passenger missions. its okay money wise - definitely better than combat and very low risk - but dull as shit.

Or you can go to Borann, shoot some rocks and reliably make 100 million a trip and level up your trading rank to "Elite" in a week

I might mine so I can afford a bigger ship with an SLF, and then go hunting with a buddy.

Best combat ship with SLF?

Federation Corvette!

More realisitcally the Krait MkII, its a good multi-purpose ship that's more combat focus than a Python and has the option of an SLF

I have quite good Federation rank already but yes the Krait 2 is a bit more reasonably priced.

Presumably with higher specced SLF bays you can get better fighters? What are the better ones like?

All fighters can use any fighter bay, but bigger fighter bays have more slots for "reloads" and can launch 2 fighters simultaneously

Ah right. I only had one option when I had a bay.

That's annoying - docking at my 'home' station, Ray Gateway after a three-stop passenger mission, go to options to turn the music off, and when I come back to the game, auto-dock has taken me somewhere trespassy and the authorities were sufficiently not amused to shoot me to death. 🙁

So I got to Farseer Inc. last night, payday! Netted over 3m for my scans and got up to level 4 (and next engineer) in one shot. Modded my FSD for distance (over 29LY) and the DSS for coverage. Time to go shopping for the next mods!

One question though, I've opened level 2 FSD mods but can still purchase level 1, would that make any difference or am I better just saving up for L2?

Spam lvl 1 to get a better relationship with felicity.

Almost got griefed this morning, spotted a player fdl with 6 mill bounty and decided to scoot away but got interdicted from fsd.

Hit me with a missile and God knows what else as everything collapsed down with loads of warnings and cracks on the windscreen within 10 seconds. I'd thrown all power to shields in preparation and it must have taken the edge off his attack and I managed to jump away.

Hull was 2%.

just bought a Vulture and hating it due to the short jump range.
will start doing some missions now to get some standings up as i have mostly just been mining to save up a bunch of cash until now.

I use my Vulture purely for combat, Haz Res sites and Nav beacons.

For mission type stuff I have kept my Cobra mkIII, which has ~20Ly jump range, room for a planetary vehicle and 32t cargo space. It's not half as useful in a scrap though, it took me about 5 minutes to get through the hull of a type seven with the Cobra's miserable 'pew pew's, whilst the large multicannon on the Vulture rips them apart.

Matt

might just be my aim as the one time i managed to get to where i needed to be in the Vulture i could not get through the shield of a tiny ship with 2 multicanons.

I run a large beam laser for stripping shields and a large multicannon for hull work. The beam is fixed and cannon gimballed. It's a good combo against the NPCs.

The beam run hot but that just means taking your finger of the trigger for a few seconds each time. Then when the shields are down hammer away with the cannon. Try it, obviously you could gimbal the beam as well, but fixed have better damage and range.

Matt

will play around with it.
Also bought a Mamba just because i like how it looks, thing cant turn but that Big Multi Cannon is fun 🙂

btw did any of you ever play Jumpgate?

The Mamba is without doubt the coolest ship out there. There are a lot of basic triangles in the other ship designs.

Is that a 'huge' hardpoint that it has?

Matt

think i have mined to many Diamonds, i see spinning Asteroids and lasers when i close my eyes 🙂

yes the Mamba have got the Huge hardpoint

So want to try some exploring, ASP Exlorer or Diamondback explorer?
cost is not an issue been a busy bee in the belts around Borann 🙂

Some git with a big ship was hanging around Deciat last night killing players. Thanks dude, cost me an evening's enjoyment making my money back.

Also discovered a great boom time mission spot but forgotten it's name. But found out that taking on too many missions at once can cause trouble; I could deal with the individual ships that came to intercept me but they just kept on coming, two or three at a time! I died again.

That is why i am playing in Solo mode, i am not ready to have to deal with people who think its fun to ruin other peoples fun just because they can.

I have an Asp X for exploration. In some ways it doesn't matter quite as much as some of the other 'jobs' since exploration typically means you have loads of spare room in your ship to keep the jump range up.

The DBX has the better jump range and seems to be a great little ship, but I love the Asp X.

Griefers/Gankers seem to be a marmite thing across the forums. I knew Deciat could be trouble, so I took the Cobra for the first trip. Do you need to actually take each ship you need engineered? I think I've only seen one or two real cmdrs around my usual base, which is a surprise as I'm not that far from Borrann (sp). I feel for you though, I have some very nervous moments flying around with 60M of minerals or bringing 10 days worth of scan data back to the bubble. I always play in open though.

Matt

I was playing in open but moved to solo as I got completely wiped out and having to pay up to a loan shark is no fun.

Now I have resources again I'm moving back into open (I think).

Next job is learning the srv a bit better, last time I forgot where I parked my ship.

I've been playing with the SRV, not what I would call intuitive!

My planetary landing mistakes have been numerous; no gear down, not aligning properly which mean I'm down to 69% hull on the 1st day of a week long trip. Then it took me an internet search to learn how to refuel the SRV.

I have found a system with 76 planetary bodies though!

Matt

My wife's watching telly again 🙁

So want to try some exploring, ASP Exlorer or Diamondback explorer?
cost is not an issue been a busy bee in the belts around Borann 🙂

I’d be taking a long hard look at a Phantom in your shoes. Can’t afford one yet myself so an Asp X It is 👍🏼

Now I have resources again I’m moving back into open (I think).

Private group may be a good halfway house just for those in STW1 Squadron?

Next job is learning the srv a bit better, last time I forgot where I parked my ship.

Quick tip - if your ship is no longer on your scanner it’s probably taken off. You can then recall it and it will land close to where you are. I spent a few hours this afternoon looking for arsenic. I eventually found some, but boy do I get a lot of motion sickness from driving the SRV. I have to take breaks as it makes me feel pretty rough after 30 minutes or so.

How do you send the green message?

Same question here! 🙂

Wait, what time is it?

How do you send the green message?

L2/R2 when in the chat box

Gave this a bash last night and couldn't remember how to do anything so worked through the Pilot Training program...when on earth did they implement supercruise assist!! That is a game changer imo and such a good one, there was nothing worse than overshooting a station or having to time when to de-throttle to 75% with 0.03s to go or whatever and still failing miserably. Such a QOL change right there.

Whole game ran and looked rubbish on this potato so will be back in the seat once the new laptop arrives.

So I'm an Elite Dangerous billionaire

Last mining round trip got me 227 million and got my trading rank up to "Elite"

Might grind a little more so I never have to worry about credits again

I'm not sure if i'm interested in a fleet carrier, what i'd really like to do is get 2 or 3 ships fully engineered but unlocking some of them is just a laborious grind-fest, all that mining did have the bonus of unlocking one more engineer though.

That's excellent mining, are you near the super hotspot?

The trouble is, with A rated units, you could probably spend near enough a billion equipping a corvette (my end game ship). You might need to pop out for another billion, just to be sure!

Matt

I'm mining the triple hotspot in Borann, just surface mining in a Python.

I get a little bit more efficient each run.

Top tips for fast mining:

Make sure you ignore everything that isn't LTD

Roll your ship so the fragments are below you after you have depleted an asteroid, it really speeds up the limpets.

While you are collecting start firing off prospector limpets to find your next target.

Target the prospector limpets so you can identify good rocks quickly, but don't be too fussy anything above 10% LTD is worth mining.

Trying to get my non-STW mate to get Horizons for a bit of multi-crew fun.

Thanks richmtb, I have only done a little surface stuff in my dual mining python. I think my problem is I have only mined RES sites or small hotspots. At those places it is difficult to try and cherry pick one type of mineral, otherwise you would be out all night.

I'll give these tips a try and maybe even head to Borann next time I'm back. I didn't realise actually how close my home base is!

In the metallic/metal rich rings surface mining seems to be a good secondary source of materials for systhesis, engineers.

Matt

Matt if you head to Borann give me a shout my miner is currently there.
Mission send me trespassing last night anyone want to come shoot me and ear the massive 1000cr bounty?

I don't get deploy the hardpoints for less than 10k. Besides there's a couple of gankers out Borann way, who are up to ~2Billion bounty, now that's good money.

I'll be back in around 4/5 days, it would have been sooner, but my planetary landings have improved greatly! I'll give you a shout.

Matt

In-game name Gris Grusom

Was out mining Painite last night - need to do it for step 147 out of 243 of engineering grind.

Spent 90 minutes filling the hold with 192 tonnes of Painite, was on my way to sell it when I got interdicted. Submitted and got ready for a fight - my mining Python is pretty well armed. The NPC managed to drop my shields and get my hull down to 80% and then insta-killed me by ramming me.

No more Painite!

A 7 million rebuy.

I went to bed!

Tried mining last night. Made about 10kCr in an hour. I'm finding my mining hobby by making millions on boom time missions.

Gotta say, I think I'm giving up on mining for now, Cobra MkIII's just too fragile - if I find anything of value, I just get killed, and that's in solo. 🙁 I'm going back to boom missions and passenger runs... Is there any money in exploration?

Is there any money in exploration?

There is plenty of money in exploration, it just takes a while.

a 2 week trip out of the bubble travelling 20,000ly and visiting a few hundred systems should get you 100-200 million. Its quite a chilled out way to play. You definitely won't get ganked.

Just pick a target in the galaxy - a distant nebula or Sag A* and head out, don't forget your fuel scoop.

Honk every system and map any higher value planets - Earth Like Worlds, Water Worlds, Ammonia Worlds and any terraformables.

You can break up the journey by doing a bit of surface exploration in your SRV, this doesn't get you any credits but you can occassionally find rare materials.

or Google "Road to Riches" which is a route that has been plotted that uncovers loads of high value exploration data

Mine diamonds in Borann solo, jump into the ring wait for pirat to spawn, will then leave as your hold is empty, never managed not to evade interdiction by NPC unless I want to stop to kill the pirat.
In python it's around 60 diamonds in half an hour and can sell them for 530k credit each one jump away.

Thinking about this, I might need to get a dedicated mining ship. The AspX is a bit too vulnerable. I could swap the loadout on my Challenger but I might prefer to have another ship.

before getting the Python i mined diamonds in the Challenger worked quite well.
I had 1 small mining lasers and fitted turrets in all the other slots, this was enough that i could kill the pirates that spawned in belt.
But easy enough to work around the NPC pirates when in Solo.

maybe some mining in a Wing in Borann at some point in a Private group session to boost our wallets 🙂

60 diamonds in half an hour and can sell them for 530k credit each one jump away.

Or 1.1m about 6-7 jumps away, worth doing the price research I think.

Richmtb, that's brutal, you must attract a nasty class of NPC. I have only had a couple of NPC interdiction attempts when mining, so I figure I must be lucky in my choice of mining/selling locations or both. I always follow Mikkel's protocol as well, the NPCs never bother when you have a hold full of limpets.

I loved the ASPx for mining, it is so maneuverable, while deep core mining I found I could do multiple loops round the asteroids facing inwards at some speed (also helped when trying to swerve interdiction). I only moved to the python for double the hold space and the chance to do a double build.

News from the black is that I now have 4 consecutive landings without ship damage, a personal record!

Matt

I’ve only mined with the AspX, and it does seem good at the role. Never had any piratey dramas either; a couple of attempted interdictions that were easy to dodge. I don’t even take weaponry with me, for what it’s worth. I’m still at the stage that a 50mil pay day is amazeballs, 😎 so haven’t considered the need for a bigger hold yet.

Richmtb, that’s brutal, you must attract a nasty class of NPC

More like over confidence on my part. My Python is reasonable well armed, but I'm used to be able to hull tank in my Chieftain. A Python fitted with cargo racks and limpet controllers instead of Hull reinforcement modules doesn't last that long against a "Deadly" NPC in a FAS

I’ve only mined with the AspX, and it does seem good at the role. Never had any piratey dramas either; a couple of attempted interdictions that were easy to dodge. I don’t even take weaponry with me, for what it’s worth. I’m still at the stage that a 50mil pay day is amazeballs, 😎 so haven’t considered the need for a bigger hold yet.

Now I'm feeling picked on! Was mining Borann yesterday, got scanned three times with goodies in the hold, killed twice and escaped once.

... jump into the ring wait for pirat to spawn, will then leave as your hold is empty...

Is it just a waiting game, then? They'll spawn, scan then leave, and no others'll spawn? Maybe I should give it another try before embarking on tour...

Just had a quick half hour and earned about 4mCr on a single hop exploiting booms.

If you think doing boom time deliveries is boring, try picking ones above your pay grade and stacking them. It's quite.. exciting... 🙂

maybe some mining in a Wing in Borann at some point in a Private group session to boost our wallets

I'm in. Is it worth having someone on mining and someone on fighter escort?

Or 1.1m about 6-7 jumps away, worth doing the price research I think.

I did, and i decided i was happy with half and not having to make the jump, it was more like 15-18 jumps when i looked at the ones with prices around the 1 million.

Will have a closer look when i next to back to get some diamonds.

Is it just a waiting game, then? They’ll spawn, scan then leave, and no others’ll spawn? Maybe I should give it another try before embarking on tour…

You are avoiding the ‘resource extraction site’ nav points aren’t you? It’s lots quieter if you aim for the hotspot convergence manually. I usually get a single pirate, and sometimes a solitary miner. If it’s not that, then yes, Fdev just have it in for you...