im on a station!

Excellent! Those asteroid based are pretty cool.

Finished mining; made $317,571,408, which was a full hold (192t) and six in the bins. Brimmed!

Thanks for the tip off 😎👍🏼

80 jumps to go i cant wait to see a station

Have you stopped at any of the Asteroid bases on the Colonia highway?

Awww, man. Safe trip 👍🏼

Ooh! Wing mining anyone?

In a private group, obvs 🙄

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

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?

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 🙄

Does this link to the build of my Cheiftain work?

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

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 😎👍🏼

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/

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

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

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

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 👽

Also considering going after some Guardian stuff. Anyone else interested in a wing trip?

Ooh yes! I’m up for that and I’ll be on 2000-0000ish tomorrow and night after.

Have researched this a little bit; two bay SRV hangar and point defence fitted to the ship are highly recommended.

I don’t think V8ninety or Matt actually hit anything in their (my) fighters, I kept them safe with my 4E burst laser

Ha! If by ‘keeping safe’ you mean ‘popped like a melon in a microwave’ thus returning me quickly and safely to the co pilot seat of the Anaconda, then yes, yes you did… 😂🤪😜

Anybody had any luck finding modular terminals for Marco Quent?

I feel the same about the Anaconda

Grade 5 dirty drag drives are your friend in this situation I think. You should try a type 9 with D rated thrusters if you want the Anaconda to feel sprightly!

That update looks (literally) game changing. Wow 🤩

Managed to squeeze a mining sesh in before the kids school time this morning; I’m very aware of the 9/6/20 ‘everything changes’ deadline. Prices back down to 1.1mil/tonne, unfortunately but still got 200+ mil for my 193t load. Uneventful save a poor attempt at an interdiction by an NPC. Pushed me into trading ‘Elite’ too, which was nice 😎

I definitely feel like the poor relation amongst you guys!

Err, hi 👋😂 ‘only’ 350mil in the bank and no large ships here; I know how you feel! I struggle to get the time to get on as much as some so most of the time I enjoy my space zapping vicariously through you lot…

I wonder how much a kitted out FdL costs?

I haven’t much change from £150mil for my current sled. It’s pretty effective though. 😎

I’m not going to be able to get back in the black for about a week now, frustratingly, but I’m totally up for a bit of wing mining when I return.

o7 cmdrs 😎

Really enjoyed the last couple of evenings. First evening, playing the part of an actual wing man, escorting Matt on his mission and dropping in when he got repeatedly interdicted by grudge bearing Anacondas felt properly space cowboy like. Those ‘Condas were tough, too, worth a lot more than measly bounties they gave, the buzz from working together was priceless. I reckon we both saved each other’s asses on more than one occasion. Seeing your wing mate zoom in and attack the ship that’s zero’d in on you is brilliant.

Last night, flying the two fighters from Molgrip’s Anaconda was hilarious. The fighters are next level manoeuvrable, and give a real X-wing feel. Some highlights; my entertaining first docking experience (what happened in the ‘roids stays in the ‘roids Mol 😉), formation flying and pack hunting bounties (not the coconut kind) in Haz res asteroid fields, got my “Great kid, don’t get cocky’ turret kill trophy, Molgrips ‘Accidentally’ exploding me in about 10ms with his massive weapon 😂. A few entertaining mid space mishaps.

All in all, a highly entertaining experience.

Thanks both 😎👍🏼

I’m definitely up for that; do you have an SLF now? I know it can be done remotely but let me know where to meet up still so we can retain options 👍🏼

Wing something; I’m cool with missions, CZs, even a bit of wing mining which is meant to be lucrative and would be a bit of a laugh I’m sure, or a mixture?

Okay STW1 commanders; shall we RVP tomorrow at 2000hrs? Someone name a system and station ahead of time and I’ll try to move my fleet there ready 👍🏼

Whatever you do; don’t do what I did and take a last quick pirate kill mission before logging off, and then only realise that it’s a wing mission when you open fire on your target and your world rapidly disintegrates by the light of laser beams, fire and plasma ☄️💥🔥✨⚡️

Oops. One £10m rebuy later… 😫😣😫

Fun evening in CZs last night with Matt.

As molgrips said combat in the CZ is definitely more fun when you have friends on your side! There were a few times when I was pleased to see a Krait zoom in to help with a difficult enemy

Now that’s what I’m talking about! 😎👍🏼 Jealous that I missed it. Hopefully there’ll be someone about on Wednesday or Thursday when I can get a evening sesh in 👍🏼

NOICE! like a big maroon personal issue star destroyer 😎

Ouch; that jump range 😳

actual paid for expansion coming early 2021

I know! I’m trying not to get all excited about this just in case it disappoints, but they’ve been working on it for years, and apparently the reason there’s no community goals or active Galnet is because all the devs have been allocated to working on the big update. Fleet Carriers is just a small change in comparison (which I’m not overly excited about, it’s aimed at people with a lot more time to game than I have). I am looking forward to FCs being introduced and settling in though, because Frontier have said that they will then start releasing info and teasers about the ‘New Era’ update.

Talking of ‘time to game’ I’m afraid I can’t join you tonight as I’m on nights 😫. Next time hopefully; o7 CMDRs!

How do I clear my bounty though?

I think you need an interstellar factor; you know, the guys who’ll cash any bounty but take a 25% cut.

Could also be that you need to wait for your ‘notoriety’ to fade.

Did you know you could synthesise life support refills in the right hand panel, inventory tab? May be of use next time.

Surely there’s still room for a Little collector limpet controller? Otherwise collecting up all of those sweet high end materials is going to be a painful chore?

Little PSA for PS4 users; I’ve found that you can have a second commander with whatever name you like; You just have to make a new user profile on your PS4 and go through the Frontier process again. You then have to make your account with your PS+ sub your ‘primary’ account on that machine in the settings, and it will share the PS+ sub with all user profiles.

Apologies if everyone else already knew this. I thought it was interesting though; I sense an evil Imperial alter ego in my future…

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.

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?

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 😎

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.

Little side question; does anybody else feel a little irrationally bad about abandoning a collector limpet that’s worked hard to collect all your booty when you have to jump into super cruise? I know it’s just a disposable drone, but still…

And on that note, are COVAS modules portable between ships. My assistant doesn’t seem remotely deadpan enough.

Yup; Holly off of Red Dwarf has been glumly informing me that my temperature is critical in all three of my ships so far.

oooh! Just met my first Thargoid

Ooh! Eerie, aren’t they? 👽👾👽

There’s an engineer based at Colonia? Rubbish business model.

There’s several, covering quite a lot of stuff, apparently. Loooong way to go though 😳
Frontier Devs introduce Colonia engineers

Very jealous of your progress chaps 😏I’ve had hardly any personal time to dedicate to Elite over the last fortnight; still stuck in an AspX with ‘only’ about 30mil to my name. Should get some opportunity soon though; Sunday Monday and Tuesday evenings coming have been pencilled in for a bit of Elite and Dangerous fun. 😎😎😎😎

Old ships have some use as storage For engineered modules that you don’t want to get rid of but may be useful in the future I think. Other than that it’s just sentimental value I think, as it actually makes quite good economical sense to flog then as the depreciation is so low. I’ll be flogging my Asp when I’ve got a nicer ship; don’t like it at all.