OS Neutral Elite Dangerous Tips

[Huntn]

That's very interesting and helpful! But also a little confusing.

I have a thrust up/down left/right hat switch on the throttle which "slides" the craft in those directions - essential for docking, also very useful when spinning around a platform looking for your docking pad. Do those controls behave differently with Flight Assist off? Can you do VIFFing in Elite? I normally never use those thrusters apart from takeoff/landing/cargo scooping.

With FA off, can I pull back on the stick to pitch up - not pull up, I'm learning! - so I do a 180 and end up flying backwards (and upside down) firing at someone chasing me?

I'm hoping the TrackIR helps too, since the scanner will tell you where the other guy is, but not really what he's doing. If I can look around to some degree and see if he's going left/right etc. then I could anticipate his move - rather than pointing my nose at him only to find he's no longer there.

It can be difficult to put into words. I'd say that pull up, pitch up is the same. I was clarifying the term "turning". In essence you roll until the scanner line of the target, is on the nose and then, pull towards the target. When you do this, usually there is very little surprise. When you pull to the target in this manner, when the scanner line (that represents the targets relative height above or below you) disappears, the target is guaranteed to slide into view on you nose, begging to be shot.

When pulling to the target, adding a thrust up or down input in addition to full back stick deflection, and varying throttle position will change angular rates of change. You just have to play with it.

For FA Off, I've read there are experts who have mastered it and hold the upper hand. I only use it in small doses and would fear having to fight another player PVP who had mastered it. But for my described techniques, it appears to be fine when fighting AI Pilots, even though at times they seem to flip their ships rapidly. Just remember that head-on passes are not always ideal.

My guess is that Track IR could help when fighting another ship accept maybe I don't have the right impression in one regard. When you are looking at a screen with a set fixed view, my understanding is that Track IR points your cursor at whateve you look at. But in ED you only point the cursor by virtue of where the ship is pointed and to see something over your shoulder you'd have to enable "free look". If Track IR can do this, then it might suffice except by virtue of turning your head, are you turning your eyes away from the screen? As I said, I don't know, but my impression is something like VR goggles like Oculus Rift might work better? Just wondering.

 

[whooleytoo]

It can be difficult to put into words. I'd say that pull up, pitch up is the same. I was clarifying the term "turning". In essence you roll until the scanner line of the target, is on the nose and then, pull towards the target. When you do this, usually there is very little surprise. When you pull to the target in this manner, when the scanner line (that represents the targets relative height above or below you) disappears, the target is guaranteed to slide into view on you nose, begging to be shot.

When pulling to the target, adding a thrust up or down input in addition to full back stick deflection, and varying throttle position will change angular rates of change. You just have to play with it.

For FA Off, I've read there are experts who have mastered it and hold the upper hand. I only use it in small doses and would fear having to fight another player PVP who had mastered it. But for my described techniques, it appears to be fine when fighting AI Pilots, even though at times they seem to flip their ships rapidly. Just remember that head-on passes are not always ideal.

My guess is that Track IR could help when fighting another ship accept maybe I don't have the right impression in one regard. When you are looking at a screen with a set fixed view, my understanding is that Track IR points your cursor at whateve you look at. But in ED you only point the cursor by virtue of where the ship is pointed and to see something over your shoulder you'd have to enable "free look". If Track IR can do this, then it might suffice except by virtue of turning your head, are you turning your eyes away from the screen? As I said, I don't know, but my impression is something like VR goggles like Oculus Rift might work better? Just wondering.

I'm not sure I've met any of those "begging to be shot" guys, most of those I've met have been quite reluctant and elusive! I can line him up as you say, and then the two of us are doing airplane-like curves, hoping my curve is tighter than his. I'm hoping that with FA off I could just pitch up (so I'm looking and shooting off the axis of flight) so even if he's turning tighter than me I can still pitch until I'm firing at him. I'd imagine it'd get very confusing if using "non-FA" a lot, but just for quick attitude adjustments like that it could be incredibly useful. I'll just have to give it a go! It would be handy to have an outside view, or somewhere safe with a lot of objects around for reference, so you can see exactly what manoeuvres you're doing. In deep space with nothing for reference, it's hard to tell.

On the TrackIR, it looks very good to me. Your head movements are accelerated, so a slight twist left or right means you can look at side-screens and then use them with your normal UI up/down controls. Because you're only moving your head a little, you're never looking away from your screen. There's no 'activate freelook' that I'm aware of, it's always on. I watched one video which suggested you can target someone when looking off left/right or up above you - but obviously you'd still need to get them ahead of you to shoot. I don't know how far gimballed weapons turn, but I'd guess it's not a lot. Every report I've seen say it becomes incredibly natural to use. The Oculus Rift would obviously be more immersive, but I don't like the idea of the goggles blocking out the outside world - plus I know someone who has a Dev kit and claims he still gets queasy after 20-30 minutes usage. I often play much longer than that, so I think the TrackIR will be - for now - much better for me.

 

[Huntn]

I'm not sure I've met any of those "begging to be shot" guys, most of those I've met have been quite reluctant and elusive! I can line him up as you say, and then the two of us are doing airplane-like curves, hoping my curve is tighter than his. I'm hoping that with FA off I could just pitch up (so I'm looking and shooting off the axis of flight) so even if he's turning tighter than me I can still pitch until I'm firing at him. I'd imagine it'd get very confusing if using "non-FA" a lot, but just for quick attitude adjustments like that it could be incredibly useful. I'll just have to give it a go! It would be handy to have an outside view, or somewhere safe with a lot of objects around for reference, so you can see exactly what manoeuvres you're doing. In deep space with nothing for reference, it's hard to tell.

On the TrackIR, it looks very good to me. Your head movements are accelerated, so a slight twist left or right means you can look at side-screens and then use them with your normal UI up/down controls. Because you're only moving your head a little, you're never looking away from your screen. There's no 'activate freelook' that I'm aware of, it's always on. I watched one video which suggested you can target someone when looking off left/right or up above you - but obviously you'd still need to get them ahead of you to shoot. I don't know how far gimballed weapons turn, but I'd guess it's not a lot. Every report I've seen say it becomes incredibly natural to use. The Oculus Rift would obviously be more immersive, but I don't like the idea of the goggles blocking out the outside world - plus I know someone who has a Dev kit and claims he still gets queasy after 20-30 minutes usage. I often play much longer than that, so I think the TrackIR will be - for now - much better for me.

In the good ole days of flight sims, the best setup was a hat switch that you could click right to look sequentially 45-90-135° right, same for left click and click up to look 45-90° up. That was ideal for me. Free look in ED does not work for me when fighting because I have to devote my thumb to it, and the ships I've flown don't facilitate a "look up" by virture of just a forward screen, so I've substituted by going after the target line on the scanner, and will I've be very interested in how the IR Track ends up working for you. For a bubble canopy, IR Track might be sweet.

 

[whooleytoo]

In the good ole days of flight sims, the best setup was a hat switch that you could click right to look sequentially 45-90-135° right, same for left click and click up to look 45-90° up. That was ideal for me. Free look in ED does not work for me when fighting because I have to devote my thumb to it, and the ships I've flown don't facilitate a "look up" by virture of just a forward screen, so I've substituted by going after the target line on the scanner as a substitute, and will I've be very interested in how the IR Track ends up working for you. For a bubble canopy, IR Track might be sweet.

Hah, exactly my experience. With the Warthog I have no shortage of hatswitches, but I rapidly run out of fingers and talent! I can kind-of handle freelook when flying along alone in empty space, but in combat or in tight spaces (e.g. entering a star dock) there's too much going on at once - but it's exactly then that you need to be able to look about.

 

[whooleytoo]

Ok, I played about with turning FA off, and it's definitely a bit weird. Having to compensate at the end of a manoeuvre in order to stop drifting/rolling adds a bit of complexity, but also means you can't get it perfect - you'll always be drifting a bit. It's probably easier to turn FA off, spin, turn it back on to settle, turn it off again, spin, turn in on again to settle.

Even weirder though is the throttle. Even with the throttle at full, with FA on there are no engine noises so I'd assume it's not thrusting even though the throttle indicator says it is.

I tried the tip mentioned in the post above though, and it works great. If a guy flies by you, get the throttle "in the blue", divert power to engines, roll slightly so you're aligned with him, then pull back hard, turn FA off, thrust up and as soon as he's in your sights flick FA back on again. It takes maybe two seconds to get him back in your sights, vs 5/6/7 or more seconds just by pulling around normally.

I got two kills inside a minute for a total 36K bounty (my previous 7 bounties amounted to 22K) using this. I would have had a 3rd but the guy hightailed it. I feel like I should give you a cut, but the game doesn't allow for that.. sorry.

I haven't tried it without the roll. i.e. if he flies past you to the right, then turn FA off, yaw right and thrust right. I don't know if that turns as fast, but in theory it *should* be quicker since you don't have to roll first.

 

[Huntn]

Ok, I played about with turning FA off, and it's definitely a bit weird. Having to compensate at the end of a manoeuvre in order to stop drifting/rolling adds a bit of complexity, but also means you can't get it perfect - you'll always be drifting a bit. It's probably easier to turn FA off, spin, turn it back on to settle, turn it off again, spin, turn in on again to settle.

Even weirder though is the throttle. Even with the throttle at full, with FA on there are no engine noises so I'd assume it's not thrusting even though the throttle indicator says it is.

I tried the tip mentioned in the post above though, and it works great. If a guy flies by you, get the throttle "in the blue", divert power to engines, roll slightly so you're aligned with him, then pull back hard, turn FA off, thrust up and as soon as he's in your sights flick FA back on again. It takes maybe two seconds to get him back in your sights, vs 5/6/7 or more seconds just by pulling around normally.

I got two kills inside a minute for a total 36K bounty (my previous 7 bounties amounted to 22K) using this. I would have had a 3rd but the guy hightailed it. I feel like I should give you a cut, but the game doesn't allow for that.. sorry.

Glad I could help, I think. What ship are you fighting in?

Honestly I've not yet worked out the best circumstance for flipping your ship. Keep in mind that flipping your ship for multiple head on passes is not ideal from a dog fighting perspective. However it is better than having someone on your tail shooting you, but it's dangerous none the less especially if the other ship has more fire power than you do.

I haven't tried it without the roll. i.e. if he flies past you to the right, then turn FA off, yaw right and thrust right. I don't know if that turns as fast, but in theory it *should* be quicker since you don't have to roll first.

Interesting idea. My impression is that rolling and putting the target in your verticle plane would be more tolerable from a "g" stand point. Although there is no gravity in space there is still force applied to your body based on acceleration and change in direction (I think), and the game does not have this modeled at all, as far as I can tell.

From a practical stand point, but not sure, I'm thinking that having the target in your verticle plane, by virtue of rolling until its vector is on you nose make it easier to adjust to its path until it is visually reacquired. Sliding, yawning to the left or right seems unnatural to reacquire the target, although that might just be my perception.

I was surprised when I first recognized how much info the scanner gives for target behind you, although it does not show which way they are turning. You can look at the holo display of the target to see its attitude in relationship to yours although honestly I'm not looking at that often. One thing about ED dog fighting is that it's completely different from Earth based flight sims in that you don't bleed off energy by being ham fisted, in other words using full stick deflection has no detrimental effect on speed which I assume is because there is no gravity you are fighting.

 

[whooleytoo]

Glad I could help, I think. What ship are you fighting in?

Honestly I've not yet worked out the best circumstance for flipping your ship. Keep in mind that flipping your ship for multiple head on passes is not ideal from a dog fighting perspective. However it is better than having someone on your tail shooting you, but it's dangerous none the less especially if the other ship has more fire power than you do.

No, you definitely helped! Just that little trick (FA off & thrust up) seems to get me back onto his 6 quicker than with FA on. I try to keep heads-on passes to a minimum, but sometimes the NPCs turn FA off, flip around and come back at me. Plus sometimes I find it hard to tell if a craft is facing directly towards me or away from me (if they are off at an angle, you can see the 3 triangles, but not if he's pointing to/away from you).

I'm still in the basic Sidewinder, but with upgraded distribution distribution unit, power plant and shields. And upgrading one pulse laser to a gimballed multi-cannon seems to have made a huge difference. Almost have enough for a Viper (& a little extra for insurance), not sure if I want to step up ship-by-ship or jump to a really good one. I really want to try them all!

Interesting idea. My impression is that rolling and putting the target in your verticle plane would be more tolerable from a "g" stand point. Although there is no gravity in space there is still force applied to your body based on acceleration and change in direction (I think), and the game does not have this modeled at all, as far as I can tell.

From a practical stand point, but not sure, I'm thinking that having the target in your verticle plane, by virtue of rolling until its vector is on you nose make it easier to adjust to its path until it is visually reacquired. Sliding, yawning to the left or right seems unnatural to reacquire the target, although that might just be my perception.

I was surprised when I first recognized how much info the scanner gives for target behind you, although it does not show which way they are turning. You can look at the holo display of the target to see its attitude in relationship to yours although honestly I'm not looking at that often. One thing about ED dog fighting is that it's completely different from Earth based flight sims in that you don't bleed off energy by being ham fisted, in other words using full stick deflection has no detrimental effect on speed which I assume is because there is no gravity you are fighting.

I don't think realistic physics are applied there (or else there is some in-universe explanation I've not heard). When you hit super cruise and are rocketing up to 1000c+ (is there even a limit?) that should get fatal pretty quick. In Star Trek they introduce the concept of "inertial dampeners" to account for the crew not going splat against the bulkheads every time the ship accelerates off into space.

I'd imagine you're right, lateral G is probably more uncomfortable than positive G; but I'd guess the reason pilots roll & pull up has as much to do with aerodynamics than pilots' and aircrafts' G-tolerances. I don't know of any fix-wing aircraft that can yaw really really fast - and if they did I'd imagine they might have problems with the fuselage disrupting airflow to the 'outer' wing. Obviously in space, none of this applies So it's all done to how Frontier decide to model the crafts' capabilities. In theory, thrusters should be able to yaw a craft 180 degrees as fast as pitching 180 degrees, so yawing *should* be faster than rolling & pitching. But Frontier may have decided to keep it similar-ish to an aircraft, so it might not be. (If you've watched the combat in Battlestar Galactica, then that's more like how space combat should be, looking and firing off the axis of flight, not aeroplane style dogfighting).

...I talk a lot for someone who's a complete newbie at this game!

 

[Huntn]

No, you definitely helped! Just that little trick (FA off & thrust up) seems to get me back onto his 6 quicker than with FA on. I try to keep heads-on passes to a minimum, but sometimes the NPCs turn FA off, flip around and come back at me. Plus sometimes I find it hard to tell if a craft is facing directly towards me or away from me (if they are off at an angle, you can see the 3 triangles, but not if he's pointing to/away from you).

I'm still in the basic Sidewinder, but with upgraded distribution distribution unit, power plant and shields. And upgrading one pulse laser to a gimballed multi-cannon seems to have made a huge difference. Almost have enough for a Viper (& a little extra for insurance), not sure if I want to step up ship-by-ship or jump to a really good one. I really want to try them all!

Thinking I wanted an all around vehicle, I held off and got a Cobra. The Viper is 40kph faster, I believe boost speed is the same and the cobra has more armor. I don't believe the Viper turns any faster, but I could be wrong about that. In hindsight the Cobra is not all that wonderful for trading as compared to a type 6 hauler which can be equipped with 100 tons of commodities. I was perfectly happy to Bounty Hunt my way to $2M credits for the type 6 purchase. Now that I'm trading, it's on the boring side.

I don't think realistic physics are applied there (or else there is some in-universe explanation I've not heard). When you hit super cruise and are rocketing up to 1000c+ (is there even a limit?) that should get fatal pretty quick. In Star Trek they introduce the concept of "inertial dampeners" to account for the crew not going splat against the bulkheads every time the ship accelerates off into space.

Lol.

I'd imagine you're right, lateral G is probably more uncomfortable than positive G; but I'd guess the reason pilots roll & pull up has as much to do with aerodynamics than pilots' and aircrafts' G-tolerances. I don't know of any fix-wing aircraft that can yaw really really fast - and if they did I'd imagine they might have problems with the fuselage disrupting airflow to the 'outer' wing. Obviously in space, none of this applies So it's all done to how Frontier decide to model the crafts' capabilities. In theory, thrusters should be able to yaw a craft 180 degrees as fast as pitching 180 degrees, so yawing *should* be faster than rolling & pitching. But Frontier may have decided to keep it similar-ish to an aircraft, so it might not be. (If you've watched the combat in Battlestar Galactica, then that's more like how space combat should be, looking and firing off the axis of flight, not aeroplane style dogfighting).

...I talk a lot for someone who's a complete newbie at this game!

Enjoying your input!

 

[garnerx]

I just returned from a round trip of 16,000 light years. Didn't make it as far as the galactic core, but I had 3 million credits of exploration data to sell and I'm now ranked 'pathfinder'.

The trip home was quite tiring - reminded me of being a kid on a long car journey (are we nearly there yet?) but I found an Earth-like planet on the way back.

 

[Huntn]

I just returned from a round trip of 16,000 light years. Didn't make it as far as the galactic core, but I had 3 million credits of exploration data to sell and I'm now ranked 'pathfinder'.

The trip home was quite tiring - reminded me of being a kid on a long car journey (are we nearly there yet?) but I found an Earth-like planet on the way back.

Welcome home! That you could stare at through the window.... How do you accrue exploration credits- just by appearing in a system? Or are there special steps you must take?

 

[garnerx]

Welcome home! That you could stare at through the window.... How do you accrue exploration credits- just by appearing in a system? Or are there special steps you must take?

If you have the discovery scanner then you fire it when you arrive in a system to start exploring. You can do that while you're waiting for the frameshift drive to cool down for the next jump. The advanced version reveals every object in the system, which earns you a some credits.

After that, you can target the planets and stars individually with the surface scanner to find out more about them. That gives you slightly more credits, and attaches your name to the system if you were first to discover, but takes a long time.

Here's my Earth-like world. To find this one I kept looking at the system map while I was waiting for the frameshift to charge, and if I saw a likely candidate I'd cancel the jump and do a detailed scan. (Note the broken windscreen!)



I kept getting interdicted as I got closer to inhabited space. Luckily my Asp is armed to the teeth.

 

[Huntn]

If you have the discovery scanner then you fire it when you arrive in a system to start exploring. You can do that while you're waiting for the frameshift drive to cool down for the next jump. The advanced version reveals every object in the system, which earns you a some credits.

After that, you can target the planets and stars individually with the surface scanner to find out more about them. That gives you slightly more credits, and attaches your name to the system if you were first to discover, but takes a long time.

Here's my Earth-like world. To find this one I kept looking at the system map while I was waiting for the frameshift to charge, and if I saw a likely candidate I'd cancel the jump and do a detailed scan. (Note the broken windscreen!)

[url=http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/martinkitts/Screenshot_0044.png]Image[/URL]

I kept getting interdicted as I got closer to inhabited space. Luckily my Asp is armed to the teeth.

Interesting planet. Too bad it's mostly functions as a poster. In other words there is nothing to do there. What would be ultra cool as in another space game that is soon to release (No Man's Sky), would being able to land on, explore and survey the planet.

Did you get a system assigned to you? I assume surface scan means flying to each planet to accomplish that? Can you imagine if you were 2/3 of the way to somewhere far away and you died for some reason, you'd spawn way back at your last station stop... Bummer.

 

[garnerx]

Interesting planet. Too bad it's mostly functions as a poster. In other words there is nothing to do there. What would be ultra cool as in another space game that is soon to release (No Man's Sky), would being able to land on, explore and survey the planet.

Did you get a system assigned to you? I assume surface scan means flying to each planet to accomplish that? Can you imagine if you were 2/3 of the way to somewhere far away and you died for some reason, you'd spawn way back at your last station stop... Bummer.

Well, it would definitely be cool to be able to see the surface of the planet but given the scale of the galaxy it just not feasible. A couple of weeks ago they mentioned that 895,000 systems had been explored, which is a lot, but apparently it equates to 0.0002% of the universe. Not many games have that kind of scale...

I got first explorer rights on maybe 150 systems, so there's very little chance anyone will ever see my name there. I spotted quite a few other player names around major landmarks such as nebulas, though.

I was worried about losing all that data, which is why I came back. I spent the money on a combat-spec Viper, and I've been buzzing some RES sites claiming bounties. Great fun! Much easier to enjoy combat when the insurance fee is 99k rather than 1.1 million.

 

[Huntn]

Well, it would definitely be cool to be able to see the surface of the planet but given the scale of the galaxy it just not feasible. A couple of weeks ago they mentioned that 895,000 systems had been explored, which is a lot, but apparently it equates to 0.0002% of the universe. Not many games have that kind of scale...

I got first explorer rights on maybe 150 systems, so there's very little chance anyone will ever see my name there. I spotted quite a few other player names around major landmarks such as nebulas, though.

I was worried about losing all that data, which is why I came back. I spent the money on a combat-spec Viper, and I've been buzzing some RES sites claiming bounties. Great fun! Much easier to enjoy combat when the insurance fee is 99k rather than 1.1 million.

As I said, its just too bad there is nothing out there to do, like fill your hold up with incredibly valuable items, or maybe you can? Did you ever fly a Cobra? Is so I wonder you you feel they compare for combat. I think the Cobra has longer jump ranges?

 

[Huntn]

I know I've all ready mentioned this, but thought I'd ask again. For those who have flown both a Cobra and a Viper for BH, what is your impression? I've been flying a Cobra and so far no real complaints. Based on stats they don't seem too different from a turning/speed/weapons perspective and the Cobra has more armor.

 

[garnerx]

I haven't got both to compare at the moment, but I did have a Cobra a while ago. I got a Viper this time because it was a bit cheaper and it seems to be the ship that the security forces use, so I assumed it would be good for combat.

I'm quite impressed with it. It seems really fast and agile. Jump range is about 15 light years with military spec, so much less than the Cobra.

One bad point - and I don't know if it's the same deal with a Cobra - but when I upgraded all of the systems (shield, thrusters, power plant etc) to A class, there wasn't enough surplus power available to run the weapons.

I had to downgrade the sensors and shield cells in order to have weapons. I've got two gimballed multicannons and two gimballed beam lasers. Quite a change from the Asp, where I could just add anything I wanted, but the risk/reward mechanic is too unbalanced to go bounty hunting in that ship.

 

[Huntn]

I haven't got both to compare at the moment, but I did have a Cobra a while ago. I got a Viper this time because it was a bit cheaper and it seems to be the ship that the security forces use, so I assumed it would be good for combat.

I'm quite impressed with it. It seems really fast and agile. Jump range is about 15 light years with military spec, so much less than the Cobra.

One bad point - and I don't know if it's the same deal with a Cobra - but when I upgraded all of the systems (shield, thrusters, power plant etc) to A class, there wasn't enough surplus power available to run the weapons.

I had to downgrade the sensors and shield cells in order to have weapons. I've got two gimballed multicannons and two gimballed beam lasers. Quite a change from the Asp, where I could just add anything I wanted, but the risk/reward mechanic is too unbalanced to go bounty hunting in that ship.

An A-class power supply for the Viper could not handle the load? Hmm. I don't have my Cobra maxed and am happy with it. I've not seen that issue.

 

[garnerx]

I think the Viper has a size 3 power supply and the Cobra has a size 4, but they both have the same weapon mounts. So I guess there's a lot more headroom with the Cobra.

 

[whooleytoo]

Thinking I wanted an all around vehicle, I held off at got a Cobra. The Viper is 40kpr faster, I believe boost speed is the same and the cobra has more armor. I don't believe the Viper turns any faster, but I could be wrong about that. In hindsight the Cobra is not all that wonderful for trading as compared to a type 6 hauler which can be equipped with 100 tons of commodities. I was perfectly happy to Bounty Hunt my way to $2M credits for the type 6 purchase. Now that I'm trading, it's on the boring side.

I haven't yet tried Trading or Mining, will have to give them all a go, but Trading does sound pretty boring. I think they could 'borrow' some ideas from the X3 games. In X3:Reunion, you can buy/commandeer (or occasionally, find) additional ships. You can sell them, swap into them, but it's more interesting to keep them. You can upgrade them to act as semi-autonomous wingmen, but also upgrade them as traders. So you're free to explore at will, then if you find a great trading route, you call your transports into that sector and you can move on and have fun while they grind up the money for you until the supply/demand runs out. You can equip them with guns, missiles, turrets and even fighter drones that they can deploy when attacked. And you can give them a jump drive so they can jump out of trouble. When fully upgraded, they can even act completely autonomously, roaming sectors/the entire galaxy for profitable routes. It'd be nice if ED had some of that.

(Plus, doing a slow, careful space walk up to a huge ship floating in space, getting close enough to take command of it, then issuing it instructions and watching it wheel around before your eyes and rocket off to your space port is very cool! )

They could spice up the missions too a bit. Instead of "you have 2 hours to get X to station A", how about "10K if you get it to A in 10 minutes, 50K if you get it to A in 5". Or if you're racing a fellow trader, first one to get there gets the deal. This game really has almost infinite potential, I really hope they keep fleshing it out.

BTW, has anyone tried the Limpet item, seems to be for stealing cargo from other ships? Tempted to try it, but I'm doing my best to stay legal at the moment

 

[Huntn]

I haven't yet tried Trading or Mining, will have to give them all a go, but Trading does sound pretty boring. I think they could 'borrow' some ideas from the X3 games. In X3:Reunion, you can buy/commandeer (or occasionally, find) additional ships. You can sell them, swap into them, but it's more interesting to keep them. You can upgrade them to act as semi-autonomous wingmen, but also upgrade them as traders. So you're free to explore at will, then if you find a great trading route, you call your transports into that sector and you can move on and have fun while they grind up the money for you until the supply/demand runs out. You can equip them with guns, missiles, turrets and even fighter drones that they can deploy when attacked. And you can give them a jump drive so they can jump out of trouble. When fully upgraded, they can even act completely autonomously, roaming sectors/the entire galaxy for profitable routes. It'd be nice if ED had some of that.

(Plus, doing a slow, careful space walk up to a huge ship floating in space, getting close enough to take command of it, then issuing it instructions and watching it wheel around before your eyes and rocket off to your space port is very cool! )

They could spice up the missions too a bit. Instead of "you have 2 hours to get X to station A", how about "10K if you get it to A in 10 minutes, 50K if you get it to A in 5". Or if you're racing a fellow trader, first one to get there gets the deal. This game really has almost infinite potential, I really hope they keep fleshing it out.

BTW, has anyone tried the Limpet item, seems to be for stealing cargo from other ships? Tempted to try it, but I'm doing my best to stay legal at the moment

I'm staying legal too so I don't know. X3 sounds cool. I think I have that, but am trying to remember why I did not stick with it? Are there missions or is it sandbox? I think it's on Steam. maybe I should reinstall it.

For ED Trading:
http://roguey.co.uk/elite-dangerous/trade-helper/
http://roguey.co.uk/elite-dangerous/trade-helper/mk3/
https://www.elitedangeroustrader.co.uk/trade-routes-calculator/
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Third_Party_Tools
http://elitetradingtool.co.uk

 

[Janichsan]

One bad point - and I don't know if it's the same deal with a Cobra - but when I upgraded all of the systems (shield, thrusters, power plant etc) to A class, there wasn't enough surplus power available to run the weapons.

I had to downgrade the sensors and shield cells in order to have weapons. I've got two gimballed multicannons and two gimballed beam lasers. Quite a change from the Asp, where I could just add anything I wanted, but the risk/reward mechanic is too unbalanced to go bounty hunting in that ship.

I think the Viper has a size 3 power supply and the Cobra has a size 4, but they both have the same weapon mounts. So I guess there's a lot more headroom with the Cobra.

Since the 1.1 patch, the shield cells draw an insane amount of energy. You can easily push the limits of your powerplant if you put too many of those into your ship.

I have yet to upgrade my Cobra to a 4A powerplant (I'm currently saving the money for it), but that should be sufficient to upgrade virtually everything to A rating equipment - except for large shield cell banks. 4A shield cell banks, at least more than one, probably would be too much.

BTW, has anyone tried the Limpet item, seems to be for stealing cargo from other ships? Tempted to try it, but I'm doing my best to stay legal at the moment

I have dabbled with limpets in the late beta and didn't really found them worth the time. You have to drop your target's shield first and even then, it's a bit of a gamble whether the limpet actually succeeds to attach to your target's cargo hatch. It's probably easier to simply shoot the other guy until he panics and jettisons his cargo. That said, it's possible that the limpets have become a bit more efficient in the release version.

X3 sounds cool. I think I have that, but am trying to remember why I did not stick with it? Are there missions or is it sandbox? I think it's on Steam. maybe I should reinstall it.

You have both options: you can either play a storyline with scripted missions or jump straight into a sandbox mode. However, the X series storylines are notorious for their horrible cutscenes and voice acting.

 

[Huntn]

Since the 1.1 patch, the shield cells draw an insane amount of energy. You can easily push the limits of your powerplant if you put too many of those into your ship.

I have yet to upgrade my Cobra to a 4A powerplant (I'm currently saving the money for it), but that should be sufficient to upgrade virtually everything to A rating equipment - except for large shield cell banks. 4A shield cell banks, at least more than one, probably would be too much.


I have dabbled with limpets in the late beta and didn't really found them worth the time. You have to drop your target's shield first and even then, it's a bit of a gamble whether the limpet actually succeeds to attach to your target's cargo hatch. It's probably easier to simply shoot the other guy until he panics and jettisons his cargo. That said, it's possible that the limpets have become a bit more efficient in the release version.


You have both options: you can either play a storyline with scripted missions or jump straight into a sandbox mode. However, the X series storylines are notorious for their horrible cutscenes and voice acting.

Although it has not really been an issue so far, I want to upgrade my Cobra's shield bank as insurance. I've not played ED in a week...

 

[garnerx]

Since the 1.1 patch, the shield cells draw an insane amount of energy. You can easily push the limits of your powerplant if you put too many of those into your ship.

I have yet to upgrade my Cobra to a 4A powerplant (I'm currently saving the money for it), but that should be sufficient to upgrade virtually everything to A rating equipment - except for large shield cell banks. 4A shield cell banks, at least more than one, probably would be too much.

I sold the Viper and got a Cobra instead, so I've been able to fit mostly A class stuff (except for weapons - where do you even find the A versions of those?)

I see what you mean about the shield cells. I went to a 'high intensity' conflict zone and got into a fight with an Asp. I was doing okay until I had to use the shield cell, at which point the temperature went up so high I started taking damage and my cannons malfunctioned.

Then somebody else started hitting me, I lost thruster power, the Asp turned round and rammed me, and I was dead before I could Alt-F4.

 

[whooleytoo]

I'm staying legal too so I don't know. X3 sounds cool. I think I have that, but am trying to remember why I did not stick with it? Are there missions or is it sandbox? I think it's on Steam. maybe I should reinstall it.

For ED Trading:
http://roguey.co.uk/elite-dangerous/trade-helper/
http://roguey.co.uk/elite-dangerous/trade-helper/mk3/
https://www.elitedangeroustrader.co.uk/trade-routes-calculator/
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Third_Party_Tools
http://elitetradingtool.co.uk

Some light reading there, thanks!

The X3 games are very dated now (visually, and in terms of immersion) so it'd be hard to switch back from ED. But there's an impressive amount of depth there. More ships, more stations, more gameplay options (capturing/finding ships, wingmen, remote trading, building stations & complexes). Reunion - the one I've played the most - also has an insane learning curve.

For instance: in ED, if you take damage you can fly to any station and repair it, cost about 19 credits for 1% damage in my Sidewinder (basic ship). In X3 Reunion, damage can cause components to fail, like the jump drive. Your speed will be affected (halved or more) meaning you can't run. Only a handful of stations in the galaxy ("shipyards") do repairs. And when you get there: the repair cost is the replacement cost. To repair 1% damage, it costs 1% of the purchase cost. Considering you start off with a 400K credit ship, and 5K credits in cash, that's a major problem. Took me several days of gameplay before I could repair a badly damaged ship from one of the stroryline missions. ED is a cakewalk by comparison - though I have to admit, I really grew to like the difficulty of Reunion. It's a bit refreshing

I've only briefly played the others, Terran Conflict, Albion Prelude and the latest, Rebirth. I still think ED could appropriate some ideas from that series though. I am finding the ED gameplay a little bit empty.

 

[Huntn]

Some light reading there, thanks!

The X3 games are very dated now (visually, and in terms of immersion) so it'd be hard to switch back from ED. But there's an impressive amount of depth there. More ships, more stations, more gameplay options (capturing/finding ships, wingmen, remote trading, building stations & complexes). Reunion - the one I've played the most - also has an insane learning curve.

For instance: in ED, if you take damage you can fly to any station and repair it, cost about 19 credits for 1% damage in my Sidewinder (basic ship). In X3 Reunion, damage can cause components to fail, like the jump drive. Your speed will be affected (halved or more) meaning you can't run. Only a handful of stations in the galaxy ("shipyards") do repairs. And when you get there: the repair cost is the replacement cost. To repair 1% damage, it costs 1% of the purchase cost. Considering you start off with a 400K credit ship, and 5K credits in cash, that's a major problem. Took me several days of gameplay before I could repair a badly damaged ship from one of the stroryline missions. ED is a cakewalk by comparison - though I have to admit, I really grew to like the difficulty of Reunion. It's a bit refreshing

I've only briefly played the others, Terran Conflict, Albion Prelude and the latest, Rebirth. I still think ED could appropriate some ideas from that series though. I am finding the ED gameplay a little bit empty.

An efficient summary of the game.