So, I Finally Got My Cobra, And...

[Ralph Vargr]

I traded in Orson The Fourth (killed 3 times before), my latest maxed Eagle, for a Cobra Mark 3.

Outfitting was much more expensive, but I expected that. The *space* available onboard was incredible, coming from the Eagle. I fitted the fuel scoop, and as many goodies as I could afford, and took off for the outer systems.

The Cobra flew well. The speed was fantastic. No troubles docking. NPC's ran when I showed up at signal sources, etc.

Then, I tried scooping. For some reason, stellar objects and I do not play well together. Kept trying different vectors and speeds. It was a C2 scoop, so it should have done well. I lost 4% hull on even the best trials.

Docked for repairs and fuel. Several tens of thousands of credits later, I had a functional Cobra.

Then, I went to the bulletin board. Somehow, those BB missions weren't looking so good. I am no merchant prince, either. The systems I tend to fly around in have lots of metal, and not much else. Wasn't getting paid any more for exploration. I had an A2 sensor rig in the Eagle. The best I could find with the Cobra was a C3, and boy was it expensive.

Everything was expensive.

I was out of my league. I needed to get way better at earning before upgrading ships.

I took the Flight Of Shame to Belyayev Dock, and (whimper) cashed the Cobra in for an Adder. I felt dirty, and shameful. It had the room, it had the upper medium hardpoint, and it had a fuel scoop for *dire* emergencies. Plus, I had cash.

And, it was nearly as cheap as the Eagle to run. Now, I could explore long distances, haul the bigger cargo BB missions, and pick up some measly profits on the spare cargo hold. Weapons were better than the Eagle, and I now have point defense.

It just makes me sick to fly, with it's terrible cockpit. The nausea inducing engine sounds are not helping, either. It moves OK, but the off-kilter view is just *so* wrong.

Pride goeth before the fall.

 

[tomPhoenix]

Get a Viper =) Yea, your jump range won't be so hot (you can upgrade it to something acceptable though and remove certain things if you know you're going far)...But it's a blast to fly and if you want combat - you can't get much better for the price.

As far as earning, with said Viper (or Cobra or Eagle) go to resource extraction sites (found at planets with rings) and blow up NPCs with bounties. You can usually get the police to help you too =) Just wait til they bring an Anaconda down a good bit and then blast away. You only need to tag it. Don't worry about getting the last shot. Enjoy. You should be able to earn a Cobra every night.

 

[Raf von Thorn]

Well, ship is like a lady. You should get what you can afford, or the relationSHIP will be unhappy and a short one.

Here, have + rep for following the rules: beginning the whine with the mandatory "So"...

 

[Bomba Luigi]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience with the Cobra, I quite like mine. Dunno why you had trouble with Fuel Scooping, I did that quite a lot with my Cobra und never got any Damage. And the Equipment is a bit luck based in the End, if the Stations near you don't have anything worthwile your out of Luck unfortunatly. The only Solution would be to travel somewhere else and hoping for better luck.

But since I am a Fan of the Cobra I of course hope you give it a second Chance sometime. Its great to be a Cobra Commander!

 

[Rearden]

Rare goods are very nice for a Cobra and they should pay for it pretty quickly

 

[terminatahx]

Uh, if you have metal resource nearby, you should consider refitting the cobra or Adder for mining.

But, no matter what ship you purchase, you need to make sure you have enough cash to outfit it above factory specs. My rule of thumb is to make sure I have enough for:
- insurance
- 1 full trading run round trip
- 1 million CR

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience with the Cobra, I quite like mine. Dunno why you had trouble with Fuel Scooping, I did that quite a lot with my Cobra und never got any Damage. And the Equipment is a bit luck based in the End, if the Stations near you don't have anything worthwile your out of Luck unfortunatly. The only Solution would be to travel somewhere else and hoping for better luck.

But since I am a Fan of the Cobra I of course hope you give it a second Chance sometime. Its great to be a Cobra Commander!

Oh, I quite agree that the Cobra is a marvelous ship. You're right about the refitting lottery. I lucked into the "A" power distributor for the Adder, for example. I really miss my "A" sensors from the Eagle.

I'm just going to have to learn how to play for a while before moving up.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Uh, if you have metal resource nearby, you should consider refitting the cobra or Adder for mining.

But, no matter what ship you purchase, you need to make sure you have enough cash to outfit it above factory specs. My rule of thumb is to make sure I have enough for:
- insurance
- 1 full trading run round trip
- 1 million CR

Got everything but the million in cash...

 

[WO-One]

You'll come back to the Cobra, a little practice is all you need.

I have a Cobra for (eh) fun and a Lacon 6 for profit.

 

[Thermidor]

sad story, fuel scooping is a doddle though, i think ill make a youtube vid on it tbh, there is a knack.

+rep for starting the whole thing off with so...
(seems to becoming a thing)

 

[Unpleasant]

Fuel scooping 101

Fly above the sun, pitch up while on your side and do loops, if your heat starts to raise, just come higher off the sun and keep looping in circles.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

sad story, fuel scooping is a doddle though, i think ill make a youtube vid on it tbh, there is a knack.

+rep for starting the whole thing off with so...
(seems to becoming a thing)

Yeah, the trick to scooping is just to slow down to minimum supercruise speed while you're doing it. I mean, you come in a bit faster to set an intake volume that is good for you heat limits (depends on the scoop and power plant) then throttle all back to neutral and coast. I personally set mine at 90-95% max heat. Tweak pitch up and down to control that last bit of heating up or cooling down. Once you get this set, you can hang out there forever.

 

[Druid]

Sorry OP you have not stuck to format . This isnt a moan thread its just a "life is tough thread" . Please dont use "So ... to start the thread if it is not a moan.

Rules is rules like .

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Fuel scooping 101

Fly above the sun, pitch up while on your side and do loops, if your heat starts to raise, just come higher off the sun and keep looping in circles.

I think of that as the "drive-by" scoop, and I often take one pass at the sun at speed when I'm traveling through system quickly. But once you get to your destination or really start getting low, set up the situation I described previously, and you can sit there until you're full up.

 

[ermtony]

It just makes me sick to fly, with it's terrible cockpit. The nausea inducing engine sounds are not helping, either. It moves OK, but the off-kilter view is just *so* wrong.

Mine feels and sounds just like my old (and much loved) Transit van. And the driver's seat is in the right place

 

[19th hole]

Fuel scooping 101

Fly above the sun, pitch up while on your side and do loops, if your heat starts to raise, just come higher off the sun and keep looping in circles.

let me tell you all a secret:
You dont need to circle anything. Simply right after the hyperspace exit, fly towards the (center of) the star slowly while monitoring the heat. Until you come to a point where the heat stabilizes little above or around 100% while the fuel scoop capacity is almost scooping at max rate. When you find this point, put FSD throttle at minimum and enjoy the star's beauty whle refuelling commences... that's all.

more edit: errr,
BrewerGeorge
seems to have summarized it already in a slightly different way...

 

[Flavio]

Fuel scooping 101

Fly above the sun, pitch up while on your side and do loops, if your heat starts to raise, just come higher off the sun and keep looping in circles.

No need to fly in circles, get into the upper layer of the star so that your due scoop activates and slow your speed to the minimum, when your temperature stabilises fly slightly lower (scoop at a higher rate) and put your speed to minimum keep on doing this until your temp is at about 105% and fly with your nose pointing slightly upward at minimum speed - at this point I make a cup of tea!

 

[Ralph Vargr]

let me tell you all a secret:
You dont need to circle anything. Simply right after the hyperspace exit, fly towards the (center of) the star slowly while monitoring the heat. Until you come to a point where the heat stabilizes little above or around 100% while the fuel scoop capacity is almost scooping at max rate. When you find this point, put FSD throttle at minimum and enjoy the star's beauty whle refuelling commences... that's all.

Sounds simple enough. I'll try it in the Adder. Thanks!

 

[Connor Caple]

Uh, if you have metal resource nearby, you should consider refitting the cobra or Adder for mining.

Hate to derail the thread, BUT ED Mining is so tedious and fiddly and clunky.

I was almost tempted to activate my Indy account on EvE just to remember how Mining SHOULD be done...

I really, really wanted to like Mining in ED. I gave it a real shot and then packed it a.ll up and sold the mining ship/gear in disgust. Mining should be relaxing, not this insane mess.

Still, at least exploring is fun. It just means I play ED way less than I would otherwise. I used to enjoy sitting with a good book, filling up the Orca in EvE with low grade ores so I could make cheap stuff like missiles and stick them on the market.

It was my way to relax in downtime between system battles.

For all people go on about EvE being this great war and having battles all the time, most people run away unless they have huge numerical superiority. The only way to get a stand up fight is to do something silly in smaller ships

 

[Ralph Vargr]

No need to fly in circles, get into the upper layer of the star so that your due scoop activates and slow your speed to the minimum, when your temperature stabilises fly slightly lower (scoop at a higher rate) and put your speed to minimum keep on doing this until your temp is at about 105% and fly with your nose pointing slightly upward at minimum speed - at this point I make a cup of tea!

At this point, I usually have my "cocoa" come out of my nose, as the sun gods dump a blast on me...

 

[Connor Caple]

No need to fly in circles, get into the upper layer of the star so that your due scoop activates and slow your speed to the minimum, when your temperature stabilises fly slightly lower (scoop at a higher rate) and put your speed to minimum keep on doing this until your temp is at about 105% and fly with your nose pointing slightly upward at minimum speed - at this point I make a cup of tea!

I find 95 to 98% works quite well too, the tea brews slightly longer and has a richer flavour as a result.