Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

[Codger]

I decided to do what I actually came back to the bubble for, and install an SCO drive on my DBX.

Although I'm actually waiting until I can buy the new Cobra MKV, in the meantime I figured I could at least put the new technology on my most-used exploration ship.

Of course, I needed to engineer the new FSD, and of course I didn't have the required materials.

I recently read that getting Chemical Manipulators is easy now -- just find a Convoy Dispersal USS and drop in, there will be loads of them.

So I fussed around looking for that kind of USS, and eventually found one. I dropped in and...it was empty. Not a single material of any kind.

Well, screw this I said to myself, and headed off to Dav's Hope instead. I made a number of boring laps and got enough stuffs to do my new SCO and a couple more (cuz I'm going to want to engineer the Cobra too, of course).

It was like old times, only now I'm jaded and found it mostly annoying. Anyway, I got the mats.

Trying out the SCO turned out to be a very mixed bag for me. It wobbles so badly it's difficult to actually steer. It overheats, rapidly. It uses a ton of fuel, and is just generally hard to control.

At least I did get a slightly longer jump range out of it, not that I needed another LY of jump range. Meh.

I have heard that the new ships handle the SCO much better than old ships like the DBX, so I'm hoping the Cobra MKV will be better to fly with the SCO. Four days until I can find out, I guess.

I probably won't be using it that often with the DBX

 

[Miscellaneous]

I probably won't be using it that often with the DBX

View attachment 410823

I'll bet you 500CR you probably will though!

 

[aRJay]

The old ships vary in how unstable they are in SCO and how hot they get, the grade of the SCO drive can affect this.

If you throttle down to zero after engaging the SCO things tend to be a lot better.

The new ships so far handle the SCO slightly differently to each other the Python is the most wobbly but they are all much more economical and less prone to turn your ship into a ball of flame.

There is a thread over in DD about speed of the new SCO drives with all sorts of facts and figures.

 

[Simon Templar]

I decided to do what I actually came back to the bubble for, and install an SCO drive on my DBX.

Although I'm actually waiting until I can buy the new Cobra MKV, in the meantime I figured I could at least put the new technology on my most-used exploration ship.

Of course, I needed to engineer the new FSD, and of course I didn't have the required materials.

I recently read that getting Chemical Manipulators is easy now -- just find a Convoy Dispersal USS and drop in, there will be loads of them.

So I fussed around looking for that kind of USS, and eventually found one. I dropped in and...it was empty. Not a single material of any kind.

Well, screw this I said to myself, and headed off to Dav's Hope instead. I made a number of boring laps and got enough stuffs to do my new SCO and a couple more (cuz I'm going to want to engineer the Cobra too, of course).

It was like old times, only now I'm jaded and found it mostly annoying. Anyway, I got the mats.

Trying out the SCO turned out to be a very mixed bag for me. It wobbles so badly it's difficult to actually steer. It overheats, rapidly. It uses a ton of fuel, and is just generally hard to control.

At least I did get a slightly longer jump range out of it, not that I needed another LY of jump range. Meh.

I have heard that the new ships handle the SCO much better than old ships like the DBX, so I'm hoping the Cobra MKV will be better to fly with the SCO. Four days until I can find out, I guess.

I probably won't be using it that often with the DBX

View attachment 410823

Might be nothing in it, but I find the bigger the ship the less the shudder. My trade Cutter has been transformed by the SCO. Some of the smaller ships are like bucking broncos and I reserve it for getting out of trouble.

The fuel drain can be a bonus - my controller batteries died while in SCO. Fortunately it dropped to 5% fuel and dropped me out before the ensuing damage cost me a 48m cr rebuy!

 

[]M[]

I decided to do what I actually came back to the bubble for, and install an SCO drive on my DBX.

Although I'm actually waiting until I can buy the new Cobra MKV, in the meantime I figured I could at least put the new technology on my most-used exploration ship.

Of course, I needed to engineer the new FSD, and of course I didn't have the required materials.

I recently read that getting Chemical Manipulators is easy now -- just find a Convoy Dispersal USS and drop in, there will be loads of them.

So I fussed around looking for that kind of USS, and eventually found one. I dropped in and...it was empty. Not a single material of any kind.

Well, screw this I said to myself, and headed off to Dav's Hope instead. I made a number of boring laps and got enough stuffs to do my new SCO and a couple more (cuz I'm going to want to engineer the Cobra too, of course).

It was like old times, only now I'm jaded and found it mostly annoying. Anyway, I got the mats.

Trying out the SCO turned out to be a very mixed bag for me. It wobbles so badly it's difficult to actually steer. It overheats, rapidly. It uses a ton of fuel, and is just generally hard to control.

At least I did get a slightly longer jump range out of it, not that I needed another LY of jump range. Meh.

I have heard that the new ships handle the SCO much better than old ships like the DBX, so I'm hoping the Cobra MKV will be better to fly with the SCO. Four days until I can find out, I guess.

I probably won't be using it that often with the DBX

View attachment 410823

It is quite a bumpy ride on older ships - particularly the DBX as i recall, where it feels like you are in a neutron stream the moment it is engaged...!

...newer, SCO-era ships are much better - with the Mandalay being my new choice of explorer/longer-distance runner - with 5A SCO it cruises up to 4200c almost effortlessly and is even quite fuel efficient, relatively speaking

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I decided to do what I actually came back to the bubble for, and install an SCO drive on my DBX.

Although I'm actually waiting until I can buy the new Cobra MKV, in the meantime I figured I could at least put the new technology on my most-used exploration ship.

Of course, I needed to engineer the new FSD, and of course I didn't have the required materials.

I recently read that getting Chemical Manipulators is easy now -- just find a Convoy Dispersal USS and drop in, there will be loads of them.

So I fussed around looking for that kind of USS, and eventually found one. I dropped in and...it was empty. Not a single material of any kind.

Well, screw this I said to myself, and headed off to Dav's Hope instead. I made a number of boring laps and got enough stuffs to do my new SCO and a couple more (cuz I'm going to want to engineer the Cobra too, of course).

It was like old times, only now I'm jaded and found it mostly annoying. Anyway, I got the mats.

Trying out the SCO turned out to be a very mixed bag for me. It wobbles so badly it's difficult to actually steer. It overheats, rapidly. It uses a ton of fuel, and is just generally hard to control.

At least I did get a slightly longer jump range out of it, not that I needed another LY of jump range. Meh.

I have heard that the new ships handle the SCO much better than old ships like the DBX, so I'm hoping the Cobra MKV will be better to fly with the SCO. Four days until I can find out, I guess.

I probably won't be using it that often with the DBX

View attachment 410823

I wasn't fussed about an SCO. But my pre-built Mandalay came with one.

One thing I found quite handy with it was leaving a planet. As soon as the mass lock clicks off and I enter SC, I hit that SCO. Much faster. Sucks fuel though... but with a nice scoop on the boat, it's not really an issue.

 

[Hellstar]

SCO is useful to me in system to cut down travel time if I know I can refuel at my destination, and my destination is at least 100,000 light seconds away. I can keep it steady until the heat alarms get crazy then I let it recharge and always keep an eye on fuel.

I think the real benefit of SCO is overcharging the jump on a white dwarf or neutron star.

 

[]M[]

Today I made it to back to about 15KLY from Sol - yesterday I was still over 20KLY, but did get to enjoy a bit of hydra battle in Procyon, over the shoulder of our dedicated AX squadmate Xernoxious… here’s the first bit of the battle:

Thargoid Invasion of Sol | PROCYON 01

Source: https://youtu.be/KJloLOH09Sc

 

[the100thmonkey]

I wasn't fussed about an SCO. But my pre-built Mandalay came with one.

One thing I found quite handy with it was leaving a planet. As soon as the mass lock clicks off and I enter SC, I hit that SCO. Much faster. Sucks fuel though... but with a nice scoop on the boat, it's not really an issue.

SCO is significantly more efficient on the new ships, but it's completely indispensible for me now, regardless of ship. I used to not care about long travel times too.

For closer targets, I divide the distance in LS by six to get a ballpark figure of the max speed I should let it get to before disengaging. When you can time it right, it works well. When.

 

[Miscellaneous]

I think the real benefit of SCO is overcharging the jump on a white dwarf or neutron star.

But you can do that with the old Sirius brand drives too. I believe this jump boosting only depends on if you have a fuel scoop

See your local Inter Astra shipyard for details

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Just did a ground CZ and hit my record in bonds. Not bugged either. Just north of 29mCR.

There's a particular layout whereby two check points can become uncontested and the game never loads a third one. I love these as it means I can be on the winning side just by shooting the enemy. And, this time 'round, there was an excellent percentage of enforcers and sharpshooters {scum - I never bother weapon swapping for these; they just eat hot plasma), both of which yield the most when they go bye bye.

 

[Nekozji]

Heard that those shiny paintjobs were back in stock...

Although now I'm considering renaming this ship to the Love Rocket...

Anyway, as lucrative and personally affirming as running refugees out of Sol is, it seems likely I should look at alternative actions. From what I know, the Sol system is effectively unassailable right now so imma check out some invaded systems instead and see how useful I can be.

Turns out, one of them is very pink.

Same old mix of occasional very high paying missions with more moderate ones. It would probably make sense to spend an hour or two in a single system, get some reps rolling, rather than spread around and dabble in a bit of everywhere.

But overall, the invasion of Sol has been incredibly lucrative. I'm up over 500m and now sitting just over the 3bn credit mark. If this keeps going until Christmas, I might actually be able to afford a fleet carrier

 

[Nekozji]

For closer targets, I divide the distance in LS by six to get a ballpark figure of the max speed I should let it get to before disengaging

This is interesting to me because my rule of thumb is SCO for around 15% of the total distance - a very compatible number with your 6th At 20% I am doomed to overshoot.

Although mostly I just watch the countdown and try to disengage to be as close to 7 seconds as possible. It's ok to be at 5, the gravity well will slow you down; at 4, you're overshooting.

On the whole, SCO works best for me in familiar systems. The current refugee runs are a great example, because I get a feel for how much I can push. First time in a new place, it's loop of shame time

 

[the100thmonkey]

Just did a ground CZ and hit my record in bonds. Not bugged either. Just north of 29mCR.

There's a particular layout whereby two check points can become uncontested and the game never loads a third one. I love these as it means I can be on the winning side just by shooting the enemy. And, this time 'round, there was an excellent percentage of enforcers and sharpshooters {scum - I never bother weapon swapping for these; they just eat hot plasma), both of which yield the most when they go bye bye.

This is the military base with the square walls, no? Whre the NPCs don't seem to be able to work out that C and E exist?

 

[]M[]

This is interesting to me because my rule of thumb is SCO for around 15% of the total distance - a very compatible number with your 6th At 20% I am doomed to overshoot.

Although mostly I just watch the countdown and try to disengage to be as close to 7 seconds as possible. It's ok to be at 5, the gravity well will slow you down; at 4, you're overshooting.

On the whole, SCO works best for me in familiar systems. The current refugee runs are a great example, because I get a feel for how much I can push. First time in a new place, it's loop of shame time

It depends a bit on length of journey and gravity fields/wells: i’m finding the edge between over & under-shoot to be around the 4s mark - if you hit 3s, you’re likely to have to apply a bit of “hard gravity” braking as you get close to destination, ie: turning away from target so that the well slows the ship and you regain throttle control of momentum…

…loops aren’t necessarily shameful btw - you can learn to use them to your advantage, spiralling in on your target much faster than a straight-line journey would allow

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

This is the military base with the square walls, no? Whre the NPCs don't seem to be able to work out that C and E exist?

Yes, exactly that layout.

It's my favourite, too. Sometimes, though, they find Charlie and I find that annoying

 

[Miscellaneous]

Yeah CMDR ]M[ it's just my intuition not too scientific, but I find the last legs of deceleration faster to try and aim past the thing. Even when it was not my intention, I can usually turn it into that in a roundabout way, usually staring out the side or roof at the thing. Oh, and go "wheeeee!", until ur close enough to straighten out and depending upon the jungle of mass, throw it back to blue throttle zone and the supercruise assist can usually catch the window of dropportunity. Remember to stop going "wheeee!"

Meanwhile, part-timing for the Navy, I WILL SERVE.

Sounds like a personal tea time opportunity for me and Mrs. Hollyrood!! And here I am going the extra mile service and fly real careful-like with the tea I can get it in three trips instead of five

By the way, nobody shoots tea so I'll be all safe.

It's for the East India Company

Always cool to find stellar specialities & often get lost in them, shooting reams of colourful, near-psychedelic footage that i keep meaning to edit into something someday... so yep, would be welcome thanks - nice to find near-ish to Sol, either to drop in on on my way back... or for getaways when based in the bubble

On an inspection of the Noon family records - perhaps the same records that must explain how I ended up with Penny's Python mkII, I guess - it was this system:

Smojai HN-G b12-1

And there is some record that Rupee did find a couple of others around there but had forgotten and Penny did not find. She sure could have used THE SMOJAI REPORT now available in the spoiler. Tag some goodies around there if you stop by and make history CMDR!!

Spoiler: VIEW THE JUST-RELEASED SMOJAI REPORT

"timestamp": "2022-04-19T06:11:39Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- CMDR rupee noon's original doomed expedition with ill-fated politician aboard https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/what-are-you-up-to.442368/page-1044#post-9830022 Orca FOR HER PLEASURE
"timestamp": "2022-07-16T06:59:38Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- Return in fortified ship victory tour Orca PERMANENT VACATION
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T02:41:44Z",- "System": "Smojai MP-V b58-0",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T03:02:31Z",- "System": "Smojai IJ-X b57-1",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T03:58:22Z",- "System": "Smojai GF-Z b29-0",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T04:00:21Z",- "System": "Smojai GF-Z b29-0",
"timestamp": "2023-10-21T01:42:14Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- Penny abourd the Hauler LIMITED SPACE LTD

 

[KnezBP]

Damn. Things suddenly got heated down at Mars High. They were still hitting me with missiles as my feet were touching the landing pad! I was nervously staring at the hull even after docking was confirmed.

There's just no decorum these days. 0% away from my first rebuy.

Capital ships showing up and Europeans sitting down with their first cups of tea may be connected.

I thought I'd take my noob AX Krait to a familiar station and test the waters. It was quiet for a while so I was able to make a little money playing with scouts while the interceptors were mostly distracted by a few NPCs. Then it ramped up in a fun way and I got a nice 8M bounty for firing a few shots at a dying Intercepter. That lasted a while before it got all Rebel Alliance vs the Death Star and I'm more frequently racing a shieldless Krait through the letterbox for repairs.

I'm definitely aware that my utility mounts aren't set up the way I'd like so I'll have to jump out and mess around with them next time.

 

[Codger]

Oh, and go "wheeeee!"

Ah ha! This is my mistake when using the SCO. I haven't been saying "wheeee!". That explains the problem, thanks!

 

[]M[]

Yeah CMDR ]M[ it's just my intuition not too scientific, but I find the last legs of deceleration faster to try and aim past the thing. Even when it was not my intention, I can usually turn it into that in a roundabout way, usually staring out the side or roof at the thing. Oh, and go "wheeeee!", until ur close enough to straighten out and depending upon the jungle of mass, throw it back to blue throttle zone and the supercruise assist can usually catch the window of dropportunity. Remember to stop going "wheeee!"

Meanwhile, part-timing for the Navy, I WILL SERVE.
View attachment 410893

Sounds like a personal tea time opportunity for me and Mrs. Hollyrood!! And here I am going the extra mile service and fly real careful-like with the tea I can get it in three trips instead of five
View attachment 410894

By the way, nobody shoots tea so I'll be all safe.

It's for the East India Company




On an inspection of the Noon family records - perhaps the same records that must explain how I ended up with Penny's Python mkII, I guess - it was this system:

Smojai HN-G b12-1

And there is some record that Rupee did find a couple of others around there but had forgotten and Penny did not find. She sure could have used THE SMOJAI REPORT now available in the spoiler. Tag some goodies around there if you stop by and make history CMDR!!

Spoiler: VIEW THE JUST-RELEASED SMOJAI REPORT

"timestamp": "2022-04-19T06:11:39Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- CMDR rupee noon's original doomed expedition with ill-fated politician aboard https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/what-are-you-up-to.442368/page-1044#post-9830022 Orca FOR HER PLEASURE
"timestamp": "2022-07-16T06:59:38Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- Return in fortified ship victory tour Orca PERMANENT VACATION
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T02:41:44Z",- "System": "Smojai MP-V b58-0",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T03:02:31Z",- "System": "Smojai IJ-X b57-1",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T03:58:22Z",- "System": "Smojai GF-Z b29-0",
"timestamp": "2022-07-23T04:00:21Z",- "System": "Smojai GF-Z b29-0",
"timestamp": "2023-10-21T01:42:14Z",- "System": "Smojai HN-G b12-1",<-- Penny abourd the Hauler LIMITED SPACE LTD

Awesome, thank ye muchly!

i will check these out when i'm closer to Sol... and recovered from neutron-hopping fatigue... i'm inching across the map - only about 15KLY to go... ;p

Hmm... lots of red flags on the map... oO