OS Neutral Elite Dangerous Tips

Huntn · Jan 11, 2015

Ok forget anything I said about not getting it.

I took a chance and need some info.

I'm doing tutorials. When dogfighting and make a headon pass, is there a way to keep the adversary locked up with guidance to show you the shortest way to turn to require the targets? Thanks!

Janichsan · Jan 12, 2015

You probably mean if there is some HUD symbol showing you the direction of the enemy when he's not in plain sight? No, there is nothing like that. You can lock on the enemy (which you probably know), but the only way to see where he is, when he's not in front of you, is the scanner. But you'll find with some practice that it's really easy to read and to use.

The basic tips: when you keep the throttle in the blue area, your ships turns the fastest. You can increase your maneuverability quite a bit by re-routing more power to the engines (at the expense of shield and laser recharge rate).

A somewhat more sophisticated technique is firing your maneuvering thrusters while turning: firing the down thrusters while pulling the nose up makes you turn quite a bit faster.

The most advanced technique is turning with the flight assist off: your ship can (normally) pitch faster than it can change the direction of flight, but FA limits the pitch rate to your turn rate (so that the handling feels more like flying a plane). By switching FA off, throttling down, pulling the nose around and then reenabling FA while throttling up again, you can fly very tight turns. But that takes some practice.

Huntn · Jan 12, 2015

Janichsan said:
You probably mean if there is some HUD symbol showing you the direction of the enemy when he's not in plain sight? No, there is nothing like that. You can lock on the enemy (which you probably know), but the only way to see where he is, when he's not in front of you, is the scanner. But you'll find with some practice that it's really easy to read and to use.

The basic tips: when you keep the throttle in the blue area, your ships turns the fastest. You can increase your maneuverability quite a bit by re-routing more power to the engines (at the expense of shield and laser recharge rate).

A somewhat more sophisticated technique is firing your maneuvering thrusters while turning: firing the down thrusters while pulling the nose up makes you turn quite a bit faster.

The most advanced technique is turning with the flight assist off: your ship can (normally) pitch faster than it can change the direction of flight, but FA limits the pitch rate to your turn rate (so that the handling feels more like flying a plane). By switching FA off, throttling down, pulling the nose around and then reenabling FA while throttling up again, you can fly very tight turns. But that takes some practice.

Thanks for the help!

Using the Scanner:
Since posting this I've figured out the scanner basically as you mentioned to keep track of turning targets. Enemies have a vector that shows a target left or right, pointing up or down, with a tail (a line) of varying length. The way I'm interpreting it, the longer the tail the more angular displacement behind you and if the target is pointing up, the shortest distance to reacquire is to roll until the vector is centered on the scanner and to keep pulling up. As the tail shortens to nothing, the target will appear on your nose. If by chance the target is pointing down, it means it's closer to being on your tail, than you are to being on its tail, and a quick rolling reversal might be in order.

I'll have to look for the throttles "blue" area. I'll have to figure out how to reroute power on the fly. It appears I had a misunderstanding of the "down" and "up" thrusters thinking they were used mostly for docking and basically applied thrust to a side of the vehicle, but not producing angular displacement. I'll have to play with that. And I'll have to play with flight assist.

As far as controlling the ship, do you use joystick or keyboard mouse? What is your button setup? I've read online comments saying that it's basically easier to use keyboard mouse. I've not yet broken out my joystick, but instead have been using a Razer Nostromo controller which is mostly a minny keyboard with other buttons available. Last night I tried the following setup:
Roll- A,D
Yaw- mouse
Pitch- mouse
I've got preset buttons to increase/decrease thrust, and preset thrust at 25 and 75%.

I'm not sold on this setup and am going to try pitch with W,S. If up/down thrust works as you say, it might be handy to program both up and down thrust to pitch inputs in a single button. I'll try that.

I'll also have to play with flight assist and find out if there is any reason to have it always on? Can you describe why you would (want it always on)? Thanks!

Janichsan · Jan 12, 2015

Huntn said:
Using the Scanner:
Since posting this I've figured out the scanner basically as you mentioned to keep track of turning targets. Enemies have a vector that shows a target left or right, pointing up or down, with a tail (a line) of varying length. The way I'm interpreting it, the longer the tail the more angular displacement behind you and if the target is pointing up, the shortest distance to reacquire is to roll until the vector is centered on the scanner and to keep pulling up. As the tail shortens to nothing, the target will appear on your nose. If by chance the target is pointing down, it means it's closer to being on your tail, than you are to being on its tail, and a quick rolling reversal might be in order.

That's pretty much the gist of it.

Your ship's in the middle, the angle in front of it shows your field of view your cockpit window (in two dimensions). The target positions on the plane of the scanner are shown relative to your position, and the flagpole shows whether the target is above or below the plane. Very simple, as I said.

(On a sidenote: the scanner is set to show distances logarithmically by default, so might notice that scanner blips closer to you move faster and that the flagpole also grows or shrinks depending on the distance, if the "altitude" of the target does not actually change.)

I'll have to look for the throttles "blue" area.

See that blue area beside the throttle display to the right of the scanner? That's the mentioned sweetspot for the velocity.

I'll have to figure out how to reroute power on the fly.

To the right of the hologram of your ship are three bars marked "SYS", "ENG" and "WEP", which correspond to the currently available energy for your ships defensive systems (mostly shields, later on you can also buy things like point defense and ECM systems), engines and weapons. The pips below the bars show how much energy is currently allocated to the systems. Two pips is the default, four the maximum. I have to admit I have forgotten what the default key binding for rerouting power is (cursor keys, maybe?), but on joysticks, it's assigned to a hatswitch and on gamepads to the d-pad. And then you simply assign more power by pressing into the direction shown on the display: up assigns more power to the engines, left to the shields, right to the weapons, down resets to the default ("RST" = reset).

It appears I had a misunderstanding of the "down" and "up" thrusters thinking they were used mostly for docking and basically applied thrust to a side of the vehicle, but not producing angular displacement.

You aren't that wrong.

Their main purpose is to be used while docking, but you'll find that thrusters are actually very useful in combat. You can not only use them to "drift" around a turn, but also to avoid slower moving projectiles coming at you, like dumbfire missiles and plasma accelerator shots.

As far as controlling the ship, do you use joystick or keyboard mouse? What is your button setup? I've read online comments saying that it's basically easier to use keyboard mouse.

I'm using my Saitek X52 Pro HOTAS flightstick, and I would say that's really the best way to play. You have precise control over all axes (roll, pitch and yaw) and by default have the maneuvering thrusters mapped to the hatswitch on the throttle lever. Other less sophisticated (and expensive) flightsticks should also work very well.

Over the holidays, when I was visiting my parents, I played with an Xbox 360 controller. A good alternative in my opinion, but the simpler presets either eschew yaw controls or left/right thrusters (thruster and/or yaw being mapped to the right thumb stick). There is also an "advanced" controller preset which basically let's you control pretty much everything with the controller, without ever having to resort to the keyboard, but that requires you to memorise a dozen or two button combinations.

Keyboard and mouse is by far my least favourite control scheme for that game, but I have to admit I didn't bother very long with it and never looked much into the customisation options for it.

I'll also have to play with flight assist and find out if there is any reason to have it always on? Can you describe why you would (want it always on)? Thanks!

Flying with flight assist is just simpler and more intuitive. While you can pull off some wild maneuvers by disabling it, it's also very easy to get into a difficult to control tumbling. Without flight assist, you have to counter every control input you make yourself: for instance, when you start to roll to the left, you have to manually stop the rolling by pushing the stick to the right. It would definitely be possible to fly without FA completely, but that takes a lot of practice.

Huntn · Jan 12, 2015

Janichsan said:
That's pretty much the gist of it.

Image
Your ship's in the middle, the angle in front of it shows your field of view your cockpit window (in two dimensions). The target positions on the plane of the scanner are shown relative to your position, and the flagpole shows whether the target is above or below the plane. Very simple, as I said.

(On a sidenote: the scanner is set to show distances logarithmically by default, so might notice that scanner blips closer to you move faster and that the flagpole also grows or shrinks depending on the distance, if the "altitude" of the target does not actually change.)

See that blue area beside the throttle display to the right of the scanner? That's the mentioned sweetspot for the velocity.

To the right of the hologram of your ship are three bars marked "SYS", "ENG" and "WEP", which correspond to the currently available energy for your ships defensive systems (mostly shields, later on you can also buy things like point defense and ECM systems), engines and weapons. The pips below the bars show how much energy is currently allocated to the systems. Two pips is the default, four the maximum. I have to admit I have forgotten what the default key binding for rerouting power is (cursor keys, maybe?), but on joysticks, it's assigned to a hatswitch and on gamepads to the d-pad. And then you simply assign more power by pressing into the direction shown on the display: up assigns more power to the engines, left to the shields, right to the weapons, down resets to the default ("RST" = reset).

You aren't that wrong. Their main purpose is to be used while docking, but you'll find that thrusters are actually very useful in combat. You can not only use them to "drift" around a turn, but also to avoid slower moving projectiles coming at you, like dumbfire missiles and plasma accelerator shots.

I'm using my Saitek X52 Pro HOTAS flightstick, and I would say that's really the best way to play. You have precise control over all axes (roll, pitch and yaw) and by default have the maneuvering thrusters mapped to the hatswitch on the throttle lever. Other less sophisticated (and expensive) flightsticks should also work very well.

Over the holidays, when I was visiting my parents, I played with an Xbox 360 controller. A good alternative in my opinion, but the simpler presets either eschew yaw controls or left/right thrusters (thruster and/or yaw being mapped to the right thumb stick). There is also an "advanced" controller preset which basically let's you control pretty much everything with the controller, without ever having to resort to the keyboard, but that requires you to memorise a dozen or two button combinations.

Keyboard and mouse is by far my least favourite control scheme for that game, but I have to admit I didn't bother very long with it and never looked much into the customisation options for it.

Flying with flight assist is just simpler and more intuitive. While you can pull off some wild maneuvers by disabling it, it's also very easy to get into a difficult to control tumbling. Without flight assist, you have to counter every control input you make yourself: for instance, when you start to roll to the left, you have to manually stop the rolling by pushing the stick to the right. It would definitely be possible to fly without FA completely, but that takes a lot of practice.

Thanks for the info! I'll play some more and come back with more observations and questions.

Huntn · Jan 12, 2015

First stupid question: Is this a MMO where you can get PVP ganked?

garnerx · Jan 12, 2015

Huntn said:
First stupid question: Is this a MMO where you can get PVP ganked?

You'll rarely see anybody unless you deliberately hang around the busiest stations. I've met about half a dozen other players ever.

Regarding targeting, have you tried using the circular scanner to the left of the main radar? If you've locked on to a target, just follow the blue dot until it's in front of you.

Tholian · Jan 12, 2015

Have you tried the tutorials on the Frontiers website?

Also go to Youtube and search for Elite Dangerous tutorials. Many of these are worth your time.

But the best thing I can say is practice, practice practice!

----------

BTW, has anybody tried the game with Oculuis Rift Dev kit? What are your thoughts?

Huntn · Jan 12, 2015

If you can be PVP destoryed, do you have to buy insurance? What is the death penalty and how does it work?

Solo vs Open Play, which do you reccommend?

garnerx said:
You'll rarely see anybody unless you deliberately hang around the busiest stations. I've met about half a dozen other players ever.

Regarding targeting, have you tried using the circular scanner to the left of the main radar? If you've locked on to a target, just follow the blue dot until it's in front of you.

I have not! I'll try the tutorial and look for that. Thanks!

Tholian said:
Have you tried the tutorials on the Frontiers website?

Also go to Youtube and search for Elite Dangerous tutorials. Many of these are worth your time.

But the best thing I can say is practice, practice practice!

----------

BTW, has anybody tried the game with Oculuis Rift Dev kit? What are your thoughts?

I have run through all of the tutorials multiple times. I'm feeling more comfortable about flying.... I will check out youtube.

Thanks!

Update: Just tried this in training and I see no blue dot to follow, just an image of the target, it's attitude, and it's status. Could you clarify?

960design · Jan 12, 2015

Check out some of the Voice Attack video tutorials to have more immersive, combat, on the fly, power switching fun. Also commonly used to deploy/retract landing gear.

Huntn · Jan 12, 2015

960design said:
Check out some of the Voice Attack video tutorials to have more immersive, combat, on the fly, power switching fun. Also commonly used to deploy/retract landing gear.

I saw a blurb on voice commands and wondering how many important things can be accomplished with them? I'll have to check that out.

Right now I'm looking for a comprehensive control list. Does one exist?

Janichsan · Jan 13, 2015

Huntn said:
First stupid question: Is this a MMO where you can get PVP ganked?

In theory, yes. Judging from the forums, there are quite a couple of griefers around. But just like garnerx said, the universe is big and depending on where you are, there are few players around.

I personally prefer solo, though. I don't have the nerve to put up with these idiots.

Huntn said:
If you can be PVP destoryed, do you have to buy insurance? What is the death penalty and how does it work?

Your ship is always insured, but that normally covers not all replacement costs. Your basic starter ship (with the starter equipment) is always free to replace, but every module you buy and every other ship requires a premium. You can always check the rebuy costs on the right-hand status panel. When you have enough money to cover that cost, you can get the same ship with the same equipment you have replaced. If not, you can take a loan to cover the costs (up to 200,000 cr), which you then have to pay back by giving a 10% share of your profits. You can also forfeit to replace some of the modules to lower the replacement costs.

Currently, you'll always lose all cargo, though. There is apparently a cargo insurance planned, but not yet implemented.

Update: Just tried this in training and I see no blue dot to follow, just an image of the target, it's attitude, and it's status. Could you clarify?

I think garnerx means the compass (to the upper left of the scanner as seen in the screenshot I posted), but that does not lead you to targeted ships, only to navigation targets.

Right now I'm looking for a comprehensive control list. Does one exist

Other than the control config menu, you could take a look at the game's manual.

garnerx · Jan 13, 2015

Huntn said:
Right now I'm looking for a comprehensive control list. Does one exist?

There are hundreds of controls, many of which are duplicated or seldom used (e.g. jettison cargo - why would you ever want that bound to a button?)

When I was setting up the controls I printed out the game's control .config file and cut them up into little labels. Then I printed a blank picture of my controller and stuck the labels on the appropriate buttons, so I could have it in front of me while playing and move / remove labels as required.

Just jump in and play. The tutorials aren't all that worthwhile.

Huntn · Jan 13, 2015

Combat question- are there large Capital ships ala Eve? There is an attraction to having a large ship.

Save option- when signing out I see a save option? This might have just been for the tutorial progress?

Playing with friends mode- How do missions work? Can the group pick up the same missions?

Regarding the scanner- I read a blurb online that says the length of the target's tail as displayed on the scanner represents verticle but not horizontal displacement. So my understanding is when a target moves behind you out of visual contact, you have no idea how far behind you they are.

Janichsan said:
In theory, yes. Judging from the forums, there are quite a couple of griefers around. But just like garnerx said, the universe is big and depending on where you are, there are few players around.

I personally prefer solo, though. I don't have the nerve to put up with these idiots.

Your ship is always insured, but that normally covers not all replacement costs. Your basic starter ship (with the starter equipment) is always free to replace, but every module you buy and every other ship requires a premium. You can always check the rebuy costs on the right-hand status panel. When you have enough money to cover that cost, you can get the same ship with the same equipment you have replaced. If not, you can take a loan to cover the costs (up to 200,000 cr), which you then have to pay back by giving a 10% share of your profits. You can also forfeit to replace some of the modules to lower the replacement costs.

Currently, you'll always lose all cargo, though. There is apparently a cargo insurance planned, but not yet implemented.

This alarms me a bit. What you describes sucks, lol for replacement cost. It's one reason I did not play Eve, an alarming death penalty. It makes the WoW death penalty look like peanuts in comparison. My understanding is that you can play solo or group and can jump back and forth between the two environments with the same equipment/ships? But my understanding is that even Eve has protected space where the AI authorities will attack someone who attacks you, no?

The attraction to a MMO is that you are not out there alone. I believe they should implement a PVE mode that allows you not to be ganked unless you signal your willingness to fight. Or like Eve, have both protected and unprotected space. Right now I am playing in group mode, and I did see another player at a station, but they did not bother me. One huge attraction to this game is no subscription and the option to play solo or just with your friends- innovative IMO.

I think garnerx means the compass (to the upper left of the scanner as seen in the screenshot I posted), but that does not lead you to targeted ships, only to navigation targets.

Other than the control config menu, you could take a look at the game's manual.

I just want a list that's printable and editable for reference.

garnerx said:
There are hundreds of controls, many of which are duplicated or seldom used (e.g. jettison cargo - why would you ever want that bound to a button?)

When I was setting up the controls I printed out the game's control .config file and cut them up into little labels. Then I printed a blank picture of my controller and stuck the labels on the appropriate buttons, so I could have it in front of me while playing and move / remove labels as required.

Just jump in and play. The tutorials aren't all that worthwhile.

I wonder the config file would be copy and paste editable? I'd be using it for quick reference. I've not seen a list in the manual and the manual is printed with a texture background. I don't want to dig through the manual looking for a particular command. My goal is not to have to create a command list from scratch, but I am building one as I play the game.

I'll disagree with you about the tutorials. They are essential for getting your feet wet with combat maneuvering.

antonis · Jan 13, 2015

So, by solo you mean it can be played in off-line mode and players can freely switch between online and offline whenever they wish to ?

If it is so, playing online only gives the benefit of grouping or are there other differences as well ?

fat jez · Jan 13, 2015

antonis said:
So, by solo you mean it can be played in off-line mode and players can freely switch between online and offline whenever they wish to ?

If it is so, playing online only gives the benefit of grouping or are there other differences as well ?

as I understand it, you're always online. You have a choice between single (solo play) and multiplayer (invited group or public) though. Not sure if that is classed as separate games (e.g. separate ships, cargoes, etc)

Janichsan · Jan 13, 2015

Huntn said:
Combat question- are there large Capital ships ala Eve? There is an attraction to having a large ship.

There are capital ships, but they are AI controlled. Whether or not you will be able to control one yourself in the future is not yet clear. You can fly a couple of rather large ships, though, like the Python and the Anaconda, which can be formidable battleships when properly equipped.

Save option- when signing out I see a save option? This might have just been for the tutorial progress?

That save option will be there no matter what mode you play, but it's always a cloud save, not local.

Playing with friends mode- How do missions work? Can the group pick up the same missions?

Not yet. That's the game's biggest flaw at the moment: the multiplayer part is severely underdeveloped. I have no idea how they thought releasing a game that is supposedly an MMO without proper multiplayer part is a good idea. However, one of the first larger updates will bring "wings", which are basically Elite's equivalent to clans. Though details are scarce, it seems co-op missions will be a part of that update (coming early this year).

Regarding the scanner- I read a blurb online that says the length of the target's tail as displayed on the scanner represents verticle but not horizontal displacement. So my understanding is when a target moves behind you out of visual contact, you have no idea how far behind you they are.

No, the scanner shows all targets within range (that aren't masking their heat signature) precisely, no matter if in front or behind you.

This alarms me a bit. What you describes sucks, lol for replacement cost. It's one reason I did not play Eve, an alarming death penalty. It makes the WoW death penalty look like peanuts in comparison.

It's actually not as bad as it might sound like. You will mostly be able to get your ship back as it were when you were killed and by the time the rebuy costs is higher than the maximum loan, you should be able to make enough money to cover the excess costs without too much problems.

My understanding is that you can play solo or group and can jump back and forth between the two environments with the same equipment/ships?

antonis said:
So, by solo you mean it can be played in off-line mode and players can freely switch between online and offline whenever they wish to ?

If it is so, playing online only gives the benefit of grouping or are there other differences as well ?

fat jez said:
as I understand it, you're always online. You have a choice between single (solo play) and multiplayer (invited group or public) though. Not sure if that is classed as separate games (e.g. separate ships, cargoes, etc)

You can switch between open and solo virtually anytime and have the same ship, equipment and cargo in both modes. You have more or less the same experience in both modes, except for the missing player commanders in solo.

But my understanding is that even Eve has protected space where the AI authorities will attack someone who attacks you, no?

It's the same in ED: when you have the option enabled to report crimes against you, the system security will turn up after a while and attack your attacker. Unless you are wanted, your attacker will also get a bounty on his head, making him a valuable target for anyone else.

The attraction to a MMO is that you are not out there alone. I believe they should implement a PVE mode that allows you not to be ganked unless you signal your willingness to fight. Or like Eve, have both protected and unprotected space. Right now I am playing in group mode, and I did see another player at a station, but they did not bother me.

The open/solo discussion is the matter of long and heated (and actually very repetitive) discussions over at the official ED forums, and there doesn't seem to be any consensus possible.

Some players choose the available middle ground between open and solo mode, group mode. There are a few groups that found together by wanting to play only PvE.

…the option to play solo or just with your friends- innovative IMO.

GTA Online actually has the same options.

I wonder the config file would be copy and paste editable?

It's an XML file, so it's basically human readable. You can find it in C:Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings\Custom.binds.

garnerx · Jan 13, 2015

Janichsan said:
That's the game's biggest flaw at the moment: the multiplayer part is severely underdeveloped.

The game's biggest flaw is that there are only a few activities to do, and only one of them (trading) earns you any real money.

Exploration - everywhere looks the same, 99.9% of the galaxy is uninhabited and has no landmarks. Nothing to discover, no alien planets, mysterious artefacts, etc. Travel 1,000 light years, return to sell your data, earn about 100K.

Mining - shoot at rocks for hours on end. Make tiny amounts of cash.

Scavenging - any cargo you find floating anywhere in space is marked as stolen, and you will get fined far more than it's worth if you're caught (which you frequently will be).

Bounty hunting - you can make a little more from this, but the AI isn't much of a challenge to fight. You lose all your bounties if you're destroyed before you can dock at a station.

So, trading - get rid of all weapons and other bits on your ship to maximise cargo space. Get a Cobra (60 cargo) and then a Type 6 (112 cargo), use this site to find trades in your area with profits of over 1000 per unit each way. Grind, grind, grind, and repeat.

(I'm totally addicted to it, but it is probably the most repetitive, one-paced game I've ever played)

Janichsan · Jan 13, 2015

garnerx said:
Exploration - everywhere looks the same, 99.9% of the galaxy is uninhabited and has no landmarks. Nothing to discover, no alien planets, mysterious artefacts, etc. Travel 1,000 light years, return to sell your data, earn about 100K.

I agree with you that exploring doesn't make much money, but come on… everywhere's the same, no alien planets? There are neutron stars. Black holes. Nebula. Planets covered with lava lakes. Giant water worlds. Planets with ammonia and methane oceans. Gas giants with floating life forms. Admittedly, you cannot go down to the planets and visit these things yet (you will by end of the year), but if that's not "alien" I don't know what is.

Scavenging - any cargo you find floating anywhere in space is marked as stolen, and you will get fined far more than it's worth if you're caught (which you frequently will be).

Learn to remain undetected and you won't be scanned and fined. It's really not difficult.

Bounty hunting - you can make a little more from this, but the AI isn't much of a challenge to fight. You lose all your bounties if you're destroyed before you can dock at a station.

What can I say? Cash in your bounty vouchers regularly, and you won't lose them. Risk and reward.

So, trading - get rid of all weapons and other bits on your ship to maximise cargo space. Get a Cobra (60 cargo) and then a Type 6 (112 cargo), use this site to find trades in your area with profits of over 1000 per unit each way. Grind, grind, grind, and repeat.

I don't see making money as the only goal of the game. You don't "win" by having the most money or simply the biggest ship. The point is that you can do what you want. Want to visit the largest known star or fly to the Orion Nebula? You can do it. Become a flying killing machine and feared bounty hunter? You can do it. Be the scourge of other players? You can do it. Be the scourge of the scourges of other player? You can do it. Want to mess around with the faction influence in a specific system or change the outcome of a GalNet news story? You can do it. Want to do a bit of everything? You can do it.

Becoming filthily rich is just one of the things you can do. (I will totally agree with you, though, when you object that many of these things could be fleshed out more.)

Apart from that: I think you are seriously undervaluing the other ways to make money. Especially with the smaller ships, there are ways to make more money than with trading. Bounty hunting can easily pay off a couple of ten thousands credits, even with just the measly beginner's Sidewinder. Simple transport missions from the bulletin board can pay off a couple of times the amount of money you could earn by trading in the beginning. You will also find missions that pay out in the ten or even hundred thousands of credits, especially when you've earned the trust of one of the factions.

garnerx · Jan 13, 2015

Janichsan said:
...Planets covered with lava lakes. Giant water worlds. Planets with ammonia and methane oceans. Gas giants with floating life forms...

Different coloured planets, that's all. I haven't seen any floating life forms (clouds?). Where are the Halo rings drifting in space, derelict alien structures, anything? There are just four basic types of station in the inhabited zone.

Janichsan said:
Learn to remain undetected and you won't be scanned and fined. It's really not difficult.

Care to share? I line up with the station doors from a few miles out, hit the boost and switch to silent running. I'm pretty good at landing very quickly but scans still do happen. Also if you stop at a USS and it happens to have feds.

You can't really do things like become a feared killing machine without spending money on ships and weapons. If you want a Cobra that can take down the big-bounty pirates and not get two-shotted by them, it costs plenty.

Missions might pay a few tens of thousands here and there. My current trade route is two jumps, about three minutes of supercruise, and 250K profit. If you ever want to fly something like a Python (57 million for a basic empty one, another 150+ million to kit it out) it's the only feasible way to do it. Luckily I quite enjoy docking.

Huntn · Jan 13, 2015

Which space game could you land on planets? I was thinking it was this one. I like the idea of Eve, but I don't like the subscription. This has it going in its favor, if things are slow, at least your not subscribing... A good selling point but also a critique of ED, what good are 400 million (billion?) systems if they are devoid of things to do? Is this supposed to equal the space of the Milky Way?

garnerx · Jan 13, 2015

Huntn said:
Which space game could you land on planets? I was thinking it was this one.

You could land on planets in Elite 2. Supposedly it's something that will be added in this one.

Star Citizen will have planets one day. No Man's Sky in the nearer future.

Huntn · Jan 13, 2015

My experience is hit miss with missions so far, a narrative follows. Playing "public".

Mission 1
Starting Point Trevithick Dock LHS 3447 System
*Select Star Point Services
*Select Bulletin Board
*Picked Pesticide Delivery Kadenyuk Orbital in Kini System.
:: Did not have to pick up cargo. Should I have checked my cargo hold?
*Launched, moved 5 Km from station.

*LShift/A to pull up Nav list, found Kini in list, Selected Lock and Engage Hyperdrive.
:: Would not let me, LG still extended.

Hyperdrive is a killer to get out of. "J" is the default key to engage.
- I throttled back to zero and kept blowing past station.
:: Do you have to hit "J" to disengage (I think)?

Flew to 5 km within station, requested docking via Interface, docked and was rewarded.

Mission 2
*Something about finding rebel communication lock boxes, never done that so I thought I'd try something else. I have no idea how much searching of the System that entails? Picked up a scrap metal hauling job to a refinery in the Yakabugai System. Did not pick up any cargo.

::By virtue of accepting the mission, is the cargo auto loaded or do you have to pick it up?

*Launched, tried to set in Yakabugai System for the scrape metal, but the destination was listed as red with a Excess Mass Message- What does that mean? I did not want to blow up or waste time so I abandoned the mission. Read online that the Eravate System had good trading, so I set a course there. Is that a dangerous area? Set course to Akerman.

Did a haphazard approach to Ackerman Market overshooting it several times and something funky happened, it seemed like a lot of purple stuff flew around, then I was under attack by what I thought was a real person named Croon, of Kroom, but he could have been AI for all I know. I fought him, was kickign his buttock, but midway through the flight I noticed some other ships arrived and were attacking him. I finished him off, there were 3 of them, and they killed me! Got a message that "System Authority" had killed me- HuH???

I ended up back at the Kadenyuk Orbital Station again. This time I decided to head back to Ackerman, requested docking, got it, flew inside by my docking pad was not illuminated, docking pad 15. There were pads in the 30-40s, but not low numbers. I flew around inside the station looking for it. Most aggravating when it did illuminate, I had 4 minutes left to dock, set down, but the station was not happy with my position or something, I got a "docking loitering" message and the station attacked and blew me up- bastardos!!!!!!! I ended up back at Kadenyuk AGAIN. $%#@^%!!!

Threw in the towel for tonight to go relax in Pandaria.

Janichsan · Jan 14, 2015

garnerx said:
Care to share? I line up with the station doors from a few miles out, hit the boost and switch to silent running. I'm pretty good at landing very quickly but scans still do happen. Also if you stop at a USS and it happens to have feds.

Well, number one: don't boost. You flare up like a spotlight on their scanners when you do that, even if you switch to silent running afterwards.

You are close to doing it right, though. Line up to the letterbox, turn off every system but thrusters, sensors and maybe life support. Turn on silent running, throttle up to cruise speed (i.e. the usual blue sweet spot) and ease your ship into the station. You can immediately turn off silent running when you in the station and your heat level probably won't even have hit 100% if you don't dally. I have done this countless times already and haven't been scanned once.

Avoiding system security in space is admittedly a bit more difficult, but when you notice ships at an USS, you normally can turn your back to them, boost away and initiate supercruise as soon as you can, and you usually can avoid getting scanned. When you get interdicted, either try to escape the interdiction, or - when it becomes clear you won't make it - submit and then do the same as above. (When submitting to interdiction, the FSD cooldown time is the same as when dropping regularly out of supercruise.)

Huntn said:
Which space game could you land on planets? I was thinking it was this one.

Planetary landings will be the first big expansion for ED. As garnerx already said, its predecessors Frontier and First Encounters both had planetary landings.

A good selling point but also a critique of ED, what good are 400 million (billion?) systems if they are devoid of things to do? Is this supposed to equal the space of the Milky Way?

Yup, it's 400 billion systems and yes, its supposed to be a original scale recreation of the Milky Way.

Huntn said:
:: Did not have to pick up cargo. Should I have checked my cargo hold?

…

::By virtue of accepting the mission, is the cargo auto loaded or do you have to pick it up?

Yes, for these transport missions, you get the cargo automatically. When you check your cargo hold (right panel), you'll find the cargo is already loaded.

Hyperdrive is a killer to get out of.[/B] "J" is the default key to engage.
- I throttled back to zero and kept blowing past station.
:: Do you have to hit "J" to disengage (I think)?

Yes, you have to disengage supercruise manually, normally by tapping "J" again.

Also, keep an eye on the blue throttle sweetspot: when you set your throttle to this (normally around 75%) during supercruise, you'll never overshoot. The navigation panel to the right of the scanner and the "safe disengage ready" message shows you when you can disengage (around 1 Mm away from your destination and with a speed of less than 1 Mm/s).

Mission 2
*Something about finding rebel communication lock boxes, never done that so I thought I'd try something else. I have no idea how much searching of the System that entails?

For these missions, you have to check a couple of the "unidentified signal sources" in the system. From my experience, you usually won't have to inspect more than three of those to find the stuff you were to look for. (I should note that the cargo you found then will count as contraband and has to be smuggled into the station as I described above.)

Did a haphazard approach to Ackerman Market overshooting it several times and something funky happened, it seemed like a lot of purple stuff flew around, then I was under attack by what I thought was a real person named Croon, of Kroom, but he could have been AI for all I know. I fought him, was kickign his buttock, but midway through the flight I noticed some other ships arrived and were attacking him. I finished him off, there were 3 of them, and they killed me! Got a message that "System Authority" had killed me- HuH???

Someone interdicted you, i.e. pulled you out of supercruise. Pirates and system security do that (or griefers). Whether someone is a player or an AI can be discerned by the "CMDR" prefix of their name ("CMDR" = commander = player) and their scanner blips (player blips are hollow).

I assume that the system security attacked you because you hit one of them with your weapons in the heat of the moment. You immediately become wanted and get a bounty on your head when that happens. Unfortunately, the security is very unforgiving in that regard. That can be avoided when you pay close attention on what is going on in front of you before firing your weapons. Better hold your fire when in doubt.

I ended up back at the Kadenyuk Orbital Station again. This time I decided to head back to Ackerman, requested docking, got it, flew inside by my docking pad was not illuminated, docking pad 15. There were pads in the 30-40s, but not low numbers. I flew around inside the station looking for it. Most aggravating when it did illuminate, I had 4 minutes left to dock, set down, but the station was not happy with my position or something, I got a "docking loitering" message and the station attacked and blew me up- bastardos!!!!!!! I ended up back at Kadenyuk AGAIN. $%#@^%!!!

Yes, the sometimes missing landing pad numbers is a known bug. I had this a few times myself. If that happens, look at your compass: the blue dot always points to your landing pad. (There are also a few landing pads that are easy to miss because they are very close to the front wall of the docking bay and hence not immediately visible.)

Regarding the landing orientation: the tower is always in front of you, the yellow gangway on the right and the image of your ship in the docking hologram must always point away from you.

And yes, the penalties for docking infringements are very harsh.

I also agree that the game has quite a learning curve. Not as bad as EVE, but still. Even I as Elite veteran found myself struggling with some of the new concepts that just aren't getting explained properly. You'll figure most things out with time, but the game could definitely do a better job in helping you doing that.

garnerx · Jan 14, 2015

Janichsan said:
Well, number one: don't boost. You flare up like a spotlight on their scanners when you do that, even if you switch to silent running afterwards.

Excellent, thanks. I was just trying to get it done as fast as possible - once I'm through the door I can touch down in 10 seconds, assuming the pad is actually lit up. Heavy landing sometimes, which is why I still sacrifice one cargo bay for a shield generator.

Not sure I'll ever go back to smuggling. I just upgraded my drive and powerplant (at a total cost of 2x the price of my ship!) so I can now make my old two-jump 250K trade run in a single jump.

From loading up at one station to delivering the goods, loading up for the return and docking back at the start, takes about nine minutes. Some day that Anaconda will be mine (assuming they don't run out of cheap palladium - still over a million units left).

OS Neutral Elite Dangerous Tips

macrumors Core

macrumors 68040

macrumors Core

macrumors 68040

macrumors Core

macrumors Core

macrumors 6502a

macrumors member

macrumors Core

macrumors 68040

macrumors Core

macrumors 68040

macrumors 6502a

macrumors Core

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68040

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68040

macrumors 6502a

macrumors Core

macrumors 6502a

macrumors Core

macrumors 68040

macrumors 6502a

Our Staff