Newcomer / Intro How many credits before ship upgrade ?

[HAWX]

Hi guys,

I appreciate this could be a very broad question so I'll try to clarify.
I currently have around 320K of credits that I've built up with my free sidey doing board missions etc.
I've crossed swords with the occasional pirate and interdictor and assisted in finishing off more deadly foes with the help of others.
Safe to say that I'm becoming frustrated with the limitations of my tin pot freeby.
I now want to upgrade to a Viper to be able to continue with my chosen career path and be able to defend myself better.
The question is, if I can get hold of a stock Viper for around 120k, will I have enough spare credits to fit it out to a suitable level and up the anti a bit ? I dont want to overstretch at such an early stage but the jump distance of the sidey alone is quite a handicap.
Also, does anyone know where the cheapest place is to acquire ships in my starter system (LH 3447, Potriti etc)

TIA, HAWX

P.S. I'm not looking to go down the trader route, I enjoy the odd skirmish and risk taking to be able to sharpen my combat skills.
I feel I could go for more risky and profitable tasks when better equipped.

 

[Kalara]

It is a very broad question indeed.

However, you can dabble with outfittings using this tool :
http://eliteshipyard.nfshost.com
Should give you the different costs, and also what impact is has on your ship (jump range, mass, ...).
And the best thing you can see what each module class will yield you.

Hope that at least helped partially answer your questions.

 

[Lasse B.]

I've just recently invested 14 Mil into an Asp. That's 6.1Mil for the ship, the rest went into outfitting it. Fun can be had with this setup, but it's far from perfect as most components are one to three tiers below maximum.

To properly outfit your ship when you buy it, I'd suggest to have at least four times the money the ship costs.

 

[Crunch]

Ships tend to be cheap when compared with their high class upgrades. To give examples, a Viper costs 147k but will cost around 3m to upgrade fully with a good weapon loadout. A cobra costs 337k but upgrades run upto around 7m. An asp costs 6m but will cost you around 40m to upgrade fully.

If you are going out bounty hunting NPC's you don't need much for half decent viper. If you are going against players, you'll be dying without those full A class upgrades.

 

[LeetNoob]

I've a viper and have put millions into it but you can get going with a lot less.
One big piece of advice I would give you is buy the viper at a high tech world so there is upgrades available. The first thing you would probably need is a better FSD drive. The basic Viper has a terrible jump range and can really restrict where you can go. If you have enough for that then get the viper, you can then bounty hunt and make enough cash for new stuff afterwards.

Edit: If you want to go trader it might be easier to get a hauler or even Adder first, to bridge the gap. you can get most of your cash back when you go on to the viper.

 

[DCello]

Regardless of whatever ship or upgrades you buy, *always* make sure that you have enough to pay the insurance in case you get destroyed. Always.
Never forget it.

Always.



Insurance.
Always.

 

[baja2215]

http://eliteshipyard.nfshost.com

To the OP .... one bit of advise I see too often where sombody didn't think or know .... pay attention to the insurance cost (as detailed in the above link) and make sure you have more than enough to cover payment of it.

Last thing you want is to be left high and dry with no ship etc and back to a Sidewinder and 1000cr

in short - never leave the station with less than you can afford to lose. A lot of people do, but they tend to only do it once

 

[Abiodyan]

Hi guys,

I appreciate this could be a very broad question so I'll try to clarify.
I currently have around 320K of credits that I've built up with my free sidey doing board missions etc.
I've crossed swords with the occasional pirate and interdictor and assisted in finishing off more deadly foes with the help of others.
Safe to say that I'm becoming frustrated with the limitations of my tin pot freeby.
I now want to upgrade to a Viper to be able to continue with my chosen career path and be able to defend myself better.
The question is, if I can get hold of a stock Viper for around 120k, will I have enough spare credits to fit it out to a suitable level and up the anti a bit ? I dont want to overstretch at such an early stage but the jump distance of the sidey alone is quite a handicap.
Also, does anyone know where the cheapest place is to acquire ships in my starter system (LH 3447, Potriti etc)

TIA, HAWX

P.S. I'm not looking to go down the trader route, I enjoy the odd skirmish and risk taking to be able to sharpen my combat skills.
I feel I could go for more risky and profitable tasks when better equipped.

HAWX:

I recently upgraded from a Adder to a Viper, which I've been bounty hunting in since. I'd bank on just about 1mill in initial upgrade fees. That will just leave you with the C/B --> A upgrades that tend to be very expensive (500k a pop). A Viper fully kitted with B mods is still very much a bounty hunting force in the hands of a skilled player (remember those thrusters!). Also, if you're jonesing for a ship upgrade, grabbing an Adder and kitting it out with C/B mods is *great* for making money, as you can trade/BH (it has an extra medium hardpoint that the Sidey/Eagle doesn't)/run missions. Good jump range, good cargo space, extra weapon hardpoint -- all for 500k with upgrades. That will definitely last you until you can afford a nearly maxed Viper.

-Abiodyan

 

[HAWX]

Thanks guys,
I think I'll grind it out a bit more first, to avoid any chances of a rage quit on my first outing.

 

[Nounverber]

I've only flown each of the small ships so far, but my general rule has been "don't buy a ship until you have enough cash on hand for two of them." Between that and selling off all the D and C modules that I had equipped on whatever I was already flying, that worked well up through the Viper. The Cobra so far has proven a bit more difficult to equip, even after selling off the Viper, so I'm definitely going to have to rethink my strategy as I go toward larger ships and stick with the Cobra far longer than I had anything before it (which isn't necessarily a bad thing as so far I really like it).

 

[the100thmonkey]

Remember that you can keep your old ship or sell the parts then trade in the hull. Selling upgrades currently gets you back the asking price.

From that perspective, investing in parts for your current ship is equivalent to saving credits with a 95% insurance policy if you die. You could, then, really pimp out your Sidey to maximise its earning potential.

Whatever you do, though, I'd be inclined to wait until I had at least a million in the bank before I bought a Viper. There are real power management issues with the ship, its unmodded jump range is abysmal and its stock thrusters are shocking.

It's not, in my experience, a wise upgrade without a significant amount of cash to sink in to it immediately.

 

[ReaperAlex]

keep the sidey. that way if you end up not having enough cash to afford the insurance on the viper you can park it up and use the sidey to earn the insurance cost again.

also get stuck in with your 320K. D class modules are cheap and i have many D rated mods on my viper even though i could afford to A class it. the thing is D class stuff is lighter, which makes your ship more agile and improves it's jump range.

a power distributor is the first one to max out at A, then enough power to get your modules working. i was taking out the elite anacondas with D class shields when my ship was valued at 1 mill (kiting at 2-3KM). though i will say a B class shield cell bank is a real game changer (don't go A, it's got half as many charges!)

LHS 3505 has a good stock of ships and upgrades. neto has a complimentary set of upgrades if you can't find what you want in 3505. eravate (not sure on spelling, right next to LHS 3447) has the B class shield cell banks. LHS 3505 is also next to an imperial system, handy for cashing in bounties when you start using the KWS

the viper is a pure bred combat ship, so it's not going to be the best mission runner. an adder would be better for that until you can afford the cobra. if you want to shoot stuff though then the viper is a brilliant ship, i still swap back to it when i fancy hunting big game even though i have a cobra and an asp.

whatever guns you put on make sure all 4 can hit your target at the same time. this means gimbling some of you mix lasers with projectiles. personally i enjoy all fixed multi-cannons on my viper, but you need to find the guns you enjoy the best.

 

[PhaLynX]

320k is enough for pve. Just bought my first viper from the sidewinder with less. Be sure to upgrade the empty slots first, I think. Then upgrade existing parts and leave yourself a little bank just in case. A lot more fun fighting with this ship now...

 

[Lupin]

It is a very broad question indeed.

However, you can dabble with outfittings using this tool :
http://eliteshipyard.nfshost.com
Should give you the different costs, and also what impact is has on your ship (jump range, mass, ...).
And the best thing you can see what each module class will yield you.

Hope that at least helped partially answer your questions.

Thanks for that link, very useful. Saving for ASP at the moment and all ok until I got to the hull armor (Ouch). So need more cr before the upgrade, not forgetting the insurance.

And advice for HAWX, get out of starter galaxy find a nice trading route away from main areas of play (IF in open play).

 

[DCello]

though i will say a B class shield cell bank is a real game changer (don't go A, it's got half as many charges!)

Is this true for all shields of all ships? In-game stats really suck at telling me what matters =\

 

[ReaperAlex]

Is this true for all shields of all ships? In-game stats really suck at telling me what matters =\

shield cell banks are different from shield generators

a shield cell bank is an internal compartment that can be used to boost your shields. so if your shields are close to breaking then you can use a shield cell to repair them in a few seconds. if however they do break the shield cell can't help until they are online again. you get 5 charges in the A version and 10 charges in the B version making the B version a much better choice in most situations.

shield generators on the other hand do get better as you go up the ranks, so with those an A is better than a B

 

[Kalara]

Thanks for that link.

You are most welcome !

Is this true for all shields of all ships? In-game stats really suck at telling me what matters =\

There is a big difference between shield cell banks ReaperAlex is talking about, and the ship shield (generators).
The shield cell banks just replenish your almost broken shield generator.
But I do agree the info on the shield generators is insufficient. There is a thread in the discussion forum somewhere, where people are trying to make conclusions how the different shield (generators) compare to eachother.

EDIT: And ReaperAlex beat me to it, when I was trying to figure out how multiquote worked
/fires laser beam at ReaperAlex

 

[LeetNoob]

shield cell banks are different from shield generators
you get 5 charges in the A version and 10 charges in the B version making the B version a much better choice in most situations.

But, as far as I am aware, don’t the B class shield cells give you less charge, meaning they won’t fully recharge your shield?
It’s hard to find full details on this.

 

[ReaperAlex]

You are most welcome !



There is a big difference between shield cell banks ReaperAlex is talking about, and the ship shield (generators).
The shield cell banks just replenish your almost broken shield generator.
But I do agree the info on the shield generators is insufficient. There is a thread in the discussion forum somewhere, where people are trying to make conclusions how the different shield (generators) compare to eachother.

EDIT: And ReaperAlex beat me to it, when I was trying to figure out how multiquote worked
/fires laser beam at ReaperAlex

/activates a shield cell

woop woop woop

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But, as far as I am aware, don’t the B class shield cells give you less charge, meaning they won’t fully recharge your shield?
It’s hard to find full details on this.

i believe so, but activating a cell when you are down to your last blue ring is a sensible time to use one and still gives you more shield per reload at station than the A one does. if you wanted to get a more potent solution you could get two B rated ones and have them both activate from the hotkey. takes up a lot more room but double the flight time is a very big bonus

 

[baja2215]

Not sure how having two shield banks interact at same time - will check this tonight Don't know if they both fire, take turns or whatever else