true but its a whole day now with no income 🙂

Well CQC is a riot and as bonkers as you’d expect! I thought they’d put you with other noobs but apparently not so lots of insta-killing, however you level up really quickly and you don’t have to win or even kill anyone to do so.

Yes. You get them as mission rewards in systems with Industrial / Refinery.

Brill, ta. Sorted now, in typical Elite fashion; Quent wants 25. First mission reward I found gave 13, done, dropped off and kept looking. The next gave 11, grrr, but can’t turn it down so done, dropped off and kept looking. The next mission? 31. 😂🤬

Anyone else got a personal ‘to do’ list? I’m fairly limited on when I can get quality time ‘in the black’ for various reasons, so I pop ideas of things I’d like to do in a notes file on my phone whenever they occur to me so I don’t just end up bimbling around without really achieving anything. This is mine; (some are ticked off but I’ve left them on for interest). Curious about other people’s ‘to do’s’?

V8s Elite to dos

– [x] Todd for Multis on FDL
– [x] Dweller first lasers on FDL
– [ ] Guardian sites FSD then Shard Cannon
– [ ] Unlock corrosion resistance cargo
– [ ] Robigo
– [ ] Core mining
– [ ] Further engineer unlocking
– [x] Quent
– [x] Selene
– [ ] Palin (5000 ly from bubble 😳)
– [ ] Acquire DBX and max range it for mat gathering
– [ ] Acquire Krait Mk2 as multirole ship
– [ ] Power play merits
– [ ] Change allegiance; work towards pack hound missiles
– [ ] GitGud combat
– [ ] Hack some data terminals on installations
– [ ] CQC
– [ ] Thargoid stuff

That being said, I do still bimble around dropping into USSs here and there and it’s still fun 👽

As I was starting out I mainly focused on exploring, this was most because I was shite at combat.

So my to do list was:
Get an Asp X, Get a Guardian FSD booster, Engineer it for good jump range then go off and explore.
I visited Barnard’s Loop, VY Canis Majoris, Betelgeuse, and a load of other nebulas, then headed of to Colonia and Sag A*.

Since returning from the void I’ve been focusing on unlocking engineers and building up my fleet of ships. My current roster is Cobra MkIII, Vulture, AspX, Cheiftain, Python, Krait MKII, FDL and Anaconda.

I’m pretty much done with unlocking engineers, the only weapons I can’t get good engineering on now are PAs, which I never use. So my next goal is to unlock the Corvette and then work my way to Triple Elite

I have a similar list:

Hutton orbital
Colonia
Guardian stuff
Corvette
Jamesons crash
Take control of a system in BGS

but to be honest I find I get caught up in bimbling around too often! Bimbling has it’s own acheivements, this week I found my best asteroid 36.89% LTD and made my best single profit in the space cow 5.5M Cr.

Matt

my best single profit in the space cow 5.5M Cr.

thats either a typo or you’re doing it wrong 😂

I haven’t really got a list, I just pick up whatever I fancy when I fancy it. But CQC was one thing I wanted that I got to do.

On that subject, someone I was playing with last night friended me and has invited us (STW squadron) to ally with Armada faction. They seem like a nice bunch and want to help noobs like us, but I’m not sure if alliance between squadrons is an in-game thing or out of game (extra ludorum?)

There’s apparently a whole world of things going on other than the stuff Frontier have provided. It actually is an MMORPG…!

Would you go back to CQC much Mol, or have you scratched that itch now?

Ha ha, until you talk to other people you never really know how you’re doing, I was really proud of 7800Cr/t profit.

Armada look like an agreeable bunch, if this is them https://inara.cz/squadron/6948/

I agree there is loads of stuff going on. We shouldn’t let the moaners on reddit paint the wrong picture of what’s out there.

Kai Zen’s project to search for raxxla, by growing the dark wheel looks interesting for one.

Matt

@molgrips – yes MMORPG, I get that feeling. All the lore behind it etc. Apparently the “Jameson” character in E:D is loosely based on Capt Alexander Lascelles Jamison in the Traveller RPG from the 1980’s. It’s so open ended and I like that you can jump into a specific task, like unlocking engineers or just bimble & explore.

The way I see it for me, I have a few specifics like unlock Sol, get a Python, pin an engineered FSD blueprint, get my name on a few “first discovered” tags. Then there’s higher level aims to slowly drift towards while just bimbling, like get Elite in something (probably trading), explore some sights & lore, stop using Inara/EDDB/Spansh etc, be more social (wing/multi-crew/play in Open).

Jeez, it’s starting to sound like I need to write a PDP document for my E:D “job”. 🙂

@v8ninety – what/who is Robigo? Is that an engineer?

@son-of-mike it’s a location, used for picking up passenger missions and grinding rank, imperial I think but I’m not much of a grinder.

Matt

Would you go back to CQC much Mol, or have you scratched that itch now?

Totally, it was great. Being insta-killed isn’t really a problem as it would be in some games. The arena is small and you respawn in seconds so you can just keep charging back in and occasionally get a hit 🙂 A tactic to farm XP (to level you up) is to just take shots at everyone. Then when they kill each other, you get the assist 🙂

Good combat practice though. You get to try techniques over and over again with no downside.

Armada look like an agreeable bunch, if this is them https://inara.cz/squadron/6948/

Yeah the guy I spoke to was Smeg7634 who is their ‘recruiter’ apparently and possibly a Red Dwarf fan. I am a little wary of getting drawn into this too much, I can’t have obligations in the game really. If we were listed on INARA would we even have a mission statement? Not really!

Chaps; I’ve just found out that if you set up a Cmdr profile on Inara, you can upload all of your in game data to there! You can see the stats of all your ships, modules, ranks, what you currently have in the way of materials… etc. I had assumed that this was a PC only thing but it works 😎 (I am disproportionately excited about this; apologies if you all already knew🙄).

Edit; you can see a statement style summary of your Credits account, with a graph 😂

And you can get a list of ALL your current owned modules, where they are, what mods they have and what ship they are being used on. This is ace 😎

Further edit to avoid excited <multiposting>;

I am a little wary of getting drawn into this too much, I can’t have obligations in the game really.

Me too; I think this lot would suit me (and maybe you?) though;

The Fatherhood
https://inara.cz/squadron/2299/

I assumed everyone knew about INARA, it’s pretty much ace. It is great for the BGS stuff, though in less frequented systems can be some ways out of date.

Matt

So can we register our squadron on there?

Matt seems to be the nerdy details man here – if this were a TV show he’d be the one who stays inside on the computer hacking into everything and telling the heroes what to do.

I think so Mol.

I knew about Inara, but just assumed it was a PC thing, that was just a bonus that we lowly PS4 owners could merely utilise as as a reference guide, but not actively participate. Finding out otherwise is ace 😎👍🏼

Ha, That’s great!

Had always assumed it was PC only too.

Can you share your loadouts with other people?

Does this link to the build of my Cheiftain work?

Linky

Matt seems to be the nerdy details man here – if this were a TV show he’d be the one who stays inside on the computer hacking into everything and telling the heroes what to do.

Are you saying that nerds can’t be heroes too?

That’s a controversial take. 😉

Does this link to the build of my Cheiftain work?

That is affirmative Cmdr; Blue thunder is looking both blue and thundery 😎

Rich, nice ship, big shields!

If you want, I think you can share pretty much everything. I’ve now got V8ninety’s bank balance and pin number!

Ha, ha, I didn’t actually check to see whether it was blue!

Matt

Looks like Armada are based in Beetrix so I guess I/we could head over and just do their missions and stuff, if they have a faction, or ask and support whoever they are.

That is affirmative Cmdr; Blue thunder is looking both blue and thundery

Awesome

Right everyone post up your bestest ship so we can share the love

Armada is a minor player faction as well. They control the Beetrix system, but I guess they are looking to expand.

Matt

Alright, well he sounded like a nice chap which is enough to secure my allegiance, I might head over there and chip in ad-hoc.

Closest to being the ship I want it to be:

https://inara.cz/cmdr-fleet/239639/1756083/

The legend that is the space cow

https://inara.cz/cmdr-fleet/239639/1799266/

Matt

@molgrips I have no idea if that’s the case. They are only present in one system, so if they are interested in building their own faction through BGS, expansion is really the only direction available. Of course they may be working with allied factions, there are literally thousands out there.

Matt

Alright, well he sounded like a nice chap which is enough to secure my allegiance, I might head over there and chip in ad-hoc.

If you’re going to the Beetrix system then surely you should potter over there.

@v8ninety.

Your FDL is looking nice, but try swapping your Incendiary MCs for a mixture of Corrosive and Autoloader.

The way you have it set up now almost all the damage you dish out it thermal, great for stripping shields but less good against hull.

I take it at the minute you are using the beam to take out the shields and then the MCs for hull? If so swap to corrosive and auto loader and you will rip hulls apart in no time.

Your FDL is looking nice, but try swapping your Incendiary MCs for a mixture of Corrosive and Autoloader.

Weird; there’s one MC showing as not having an experimental effect; that one has (or it should have) a corrosive shell mod. Apparently the corrosive effect is very effective but does not stack so having it on more than one weapon is a waste.

I am certainly no expert though, lol.

I haven’t experimented with the auto loader mod; does it just let you braaap continuously?

I take it at the minute you are using the beam to take out the shields and then the MCs for hull?

I just let rip with all guns at one to be honest; seems very effective. I need my second trigger for spamming chaff. My most amusing kill so far is an eagle that stopped and scanned me at a nav beacon whilst I was stationary limpet scooping mats; I kill warrant scanned him right back, then opened up. He just had time to accelerate towards me before he popped like a bug on my windscreen; must have been about 0.7 of a second 😂 Sometimes the AI is not the brightest 🙄

I haven’t experimented with the auto loader mod; does it just let you braaap continuously

Pretty much, the reload rate is about half the fire rate, you can’t fire infinitely but you need to hold the trigger down for a long time to empty a magazine. If you are using small bursts against an evading target then you will never run out.

EDIT

I’m happy to go all guns too! I pretty much fire everything, but keep an eye on my distributor draw and favour what weapon I need most for who I’m shooting at. So when their shields are up I blaze away with everything, then as the distributor drains I take pops at them mainly with the beams.

I also use beams to cool the ship (thermal vent mod) if i need to pop a shield cell bank, this way i can run without a heat sink launcher and use that utility slot for an extra shield booster.

When I have the shields down I mainly fire MCs but have a pop with the beams to keep their feet warm whenever I have enough distributor charge. Or if one of their wing mates is having a pop at me then I add some pips to Systems and just have two for weapons. MCs can fire pretty much all day even on just two pips

I need my second trigger for spamming chaff.

Assign a button combo for chaff, that way you don’t have to assign it to a fire group. I have a button combo set up for chaff and one for sheild cells

Assign a button combo for chaff, that way you don’t have to assign it to a fire group. I have a button combo set up for chaff and one for sheild cells

Now that’s food for thought. What combo do you use?

Another thing; on your HUD, to the left of the left hand firegroup weapon and to the right of the right hand side it shows more things like chaff and scanners etc. Anyone know why, and/or how I can use them?

On Xbox the three button combos I use are LB+LT (L1 + L2 on PS) LB+RB and RB+RT.

LB+RB works the best as you will never be throttling up and down at the same time. I use this for cell banks as you don’t want to fire off one by mistake.

The other two combos are for chaff and heatsinks (if my builds run them) You might accidentally trigger them (using the throttle while firing) but firing of a chaff or heatsink by mistake isn’t the end of the world.

Chaff always appears on the left of the HUD whenever I’m in combat mode I think. If you go into the control options you can find a lot of functions that you can dedicate a button combo to

I just let rip with all guns at one to be honest; seems very effective. I need my second trigger for spamming chaff.

This is what fire groups are for. One for shields up, one for shields down. It’s easy to flip between the two.

I have beams + burst for shield stripping and burst + MC for hulls.

I hadn’t thought of a button combo for chaff, but tbh I think I’ve got basically every button combo mapped to something.

I can see I’ve got some button mapping to do. I use firegroups, but I find them a bit clumsy. Thanks chaps 😎

Had my first go at CQC after reading Mol’s post. Ended up in a run of one to ones against another noob. When I quit he was on level 5 and I’d reached level 2. My combat skills need some work I think. Good fun and good practice though.
Talking of button mapping, how have you all got thrusters mapped, as default or some other combination? I’ve put pitch and roll on the L stick, lateral and vertical on the R and yaw on the L3 clicks (x-box)…not at all sure that’s the best way though.
P.P’s beetrix potter line 😂

If you want a laugh, look up the Kunti system on the Galaxy map and read the system description.

I was there yesterday to sell some LTDs.

Kunti is a rough neighbourhood. EDA Kunti League was founded when some tough Kuntis got together with some reckless Kuntis to spread their message: \”Oi Kunti, it’s time to harden up!\”

It made me chortle anyhoo.

I use firegroups, but I find them a bit clumsy.

What do you have mapped for switching fire groups? IIRC there was a shoulder button combo mapped originally as well as the touchpad, but I’m now relying on top right and top left touchpad because I nicked the shoulder button combos for something else.

Talking of button mapping, how have you all got thrusters mapped, as default or some other combination? I’ve put pitch and roll on the L stick, lateral and vertical on the R and yaw on the L3 clicks (x-box)

Still on defaults. Not sure if this is the same on XBox but slight left and right on the left stick is yaw, and hard left and right is roll. Works well, since in combat yaw is too slow to be useful. Then on the right stick there are two modes – standard in which up and down is vertical thrust and l/r is yaw, but I find ‘alternate’ much more useful in which l/r is actual sideways thrust. In combat, when someone is coming at you use vertical thrust downwards to duck under their line of travel so as you pitch back you can keep your guns trained on them. Do about half your turn with down thrusters applied then boost to make the rest of the turn. In the Fer de Lance if you keep using down thrusters you end up facing them as they fly away but travelling backwards yourself, then you can hit boost and zoom off after them.

I couldn’t believe Kunti had made it into the game, but obviously it makes me giggle every time. They are reputed to be super-strict about swearwords in cmdr names or ship names.

[Edit] So now Kunti is covered in diamonds!

The NPC names are ace, I love that they must have put time into some of them. So far I have seen:
Spaceman Spiff
Dent, Arthur Dent
Arch Stanton

Matt

I think for NPCs they have a random generator and they’ve enriched the database with silly stuff. It’s genius.