So I've finally decided to fly a ship w/ guns -- now what?

[b0rg9]

I've spent the last three months since I purchased this game and my x52 pro HOTAS trading then exploring. I played a few combat tutorials at first (at which time I realized how much work I need in that area ), but once I jumped into the game I stripped my Sidey of guns and made off for missions, trading, etc. -- eventually finding myself in ships like the Hauler, Adder & Type 6 -- all w/o any hardpoint loadout.

When I finally got the Asp I wanted through about a week of rares trading, I set out to explore. That was my main interest when purchasing the game in the first place. And it still pretty much is.


However, I just got back this week and am 20some million richer for it so I parked my pride & joy at Polya Colosseum in Aymifa (just a beautiful place to come back to after 10's of 1000's of ly's) and picked up a Cobra for trying the other stuff (except mining).

BTW, here's a nice pic from inside Polya Colosseum...

Spoiler

Anyway, back to the Cobra...

Since I had some spare change, I gave the thing the best FSD, Power and Power Dist. I could fit and threw some gimbaled beam lasers on front and turreted cannons below. Beefed up the hull w/ the military grade reinforcement and gave myself some shield cell banks. Pretty much an "easy mode" ship, I think.

From this point though I'm not sure what to do next. I guess taking an easy bounty mission is in order. The new Powerplay elements are a bit overwhelming for now so I'm thinking I should become a better-rounded pilot before diving into that pool.


In short, does anyone have any advice/opinions about first getting into combat-themed play? Part of this change-up from endless exploration is to get a feel for open-play as well. Thanks in advance.


CMDR b0rg9

 

[Siniaera]

More experienced people will probably give you a better reply than me, but I just wanted to thank you for posting the pic, got to go and visit that station !

 

[Para Handy]

1. Go to a RES (fit a kill warrant scanner first) and have fun....

or

2. Go get some gold and fly from station/system to station/system and just submit to the interdiction then have fun creaming the naughty pirate (or running and supercruising away if odds seem too big for you).

 

[Araviel]

well since we are currently sharing the same home station (Polya Colosseum in Aymifa!) i would not mind taking you out on a little combat tour in the area
what time zone are you in?

 

[PiLhEaD]

As above:

Thanks for posting the picture - nice to see there is some variety of stations out there.

Get a Diamondback scout, strap on some weapons and other upgrades, fit a hold, and take missions. Then wait for the inevitable interdictions, set the throttle to zero and enjoy yourself

 

[jabberwalkie]

1. Go to a RES (fit a kill warrant scanner first) and have fun....

or

2. Go get some gold and fly from station/system to station/system and just submit to the interdiction then have fun creaming the naughty pirate (or running and supercruising away if odds seem too big for you).

I recommend number 1 personally, but doing number 2 fully armed wouldn't make for such a bad time either.

 

[GJ51]

I'd nix the KWS unless you really enjoy the extra time needed to scan and then the added pleasure of traveling goodness knows, how many LY's to cash in your earnings. Yeah, you earn more with a KWS but it's really just a PITA. Remember to collect where you are at before jumping to another system, as some bounties can only be collected locally.

Gold in the hold is a good idea. Start at a NAV beacon then move up to Conflict Zones or RES farming.

BTW - if you're still in a PT boat, don't take on any battleships.

 

[b0rg9]

well since we are currently sharing the same home station (Polya Colosseum in Aymifa!) i would not mind taking you out on a little combat tour in the area
what time zone are you in?

UTC-05:00 -- I won't be on tonight (RL w/ family) I can fly back there Sunday eve sometime.

Also, thanks for the haul gold , RES advice, etc. These are things I wouldn't initially have thought of, having been in a different mindset in the game until now.

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

I'd try a Navigation Beacon first, before going to a Resource Extraction Site (RES). NAVs seem to be a bit 'quieter' in terms of total numbers of ships, and don't have to dodge around asteroids. Plus any laser fire you see in the distance is a fight, not some innocent miner.

Do throw a couple of tons of something cheap in the hold. It doesn't have to be Gold (although mentally that has cache!). This is bait for pirates. Some pirates will be clean but still scan you. If they don't find cargo they fly off. If they do find cargo they'll shake you down for it.

Only shoot at ships marked red WANTED in the bottom left of the HUD. Do add a kill warranty scanner to your utility mounts, and do scan ships (this will unlock any bounties from other systems), BUT even if the ship shows up with a bounty from other systems don't open fire FIRST unless it's marked WANTED locally.

So on WANTEDs you can shoot first. I usually do the KWS first, because once I open fire the target ship jumps around a lot more and you need a clear 10 seconds to complete the KWS.

On Clean ships, wait to see if they shoot you first, at which point (assuming you're Clean) they'll move to WANTED and are fair game.

Watch out for NPCs flying in Wings. If you shoot one, you'll likely get the rest of them turn on you too. I try to pick off the easiesy first, Sideys or Eagles, to reduce the numbers of guns pointing at me, then go after the big ship(s) in the Wing.

I'd be cautious taking on bigger ships (Pythons, Anacondas) as these are tougher nuts to crack. But perhaps watch for NPC bounty hunters or cops taking big ships down, and join in for the kill at the end to grab the bounty (if credits are important to you). In v1.3 the NPCs adjust their combat skills based on rankings. So a Harmless NPC will fly just a basic pattern, whereas a Deadly will be using all the tricks you might expect of a real commander.

At the NAV just keep cruising around at 50% thrust, keeping the beacon within around 5Km, and new NPC ships will spawn in every minute or two.

Happy hunting.

 

[Para Handy]

Forgot to say, make sure you power down your cargo hatch. It'll save you some power but most importantly it stops the limpets spilling out your cargo canisters (at least it did, not sure if 1.3 changes this.) For some reason gold in the hold seems to trigger more interdictions than most other things, guess that shiny stuff is irresistible to naughty pirates.

 

[b0rg9]

For some reason gold in the hold seems to trigger more interdictions than most other things, guess that shiny stuff is irresistible to naughty pirates.

I love it. We're comin' for your I Boötis!

 

[Valence]

Equip the cobra with class 2 railguns, and your choice of gimballed kinetics on the class 1 slots. Do not point at face.

 

[CVB]

Become an assassin for a Faction Power. I've joined Zemina Torval and I'm flying around federation space blasting couriers and federal agents in Felicia Winters zone. You'll get a huge bounty level, and the police will show up to the "crime scene" (awesome) if you linger around the area where you've been killing peeps. They will also track you through a system and interdict you several times. They'll follow you, not to mention other players. It's exhilarating and really fun.

 

[b0rg9]

Equip the cobra with class 2 railguns, and your choice of gimballed kinetics on the class 1 slots. Do not point at face.

I have turreted cannons in th class 1 slots. I could replace those w/ gimballed ones. Don't know why I picked the turrets -- just wanted to try them out, really.

So, I have class 2 beam lasers on front. Never thought about the rail guns. I will look into that while in dock, thanks!

Become an assassin for a Faction Power. I've joined Zemina Torval and I'm flying around federation space blasting couriers and federal agents in Felicia Winters zone. You'll get a huge bounty level, and the police will show up to the "crime scene" (awesome) if you linger around the area where you've been killing peeps. They will also track you through a system and interdict you several times. They'll follow you, not to mention other players. It's exhilarating and really fun.

Cool. These are the things I was thinking combat was about. I'm bound to get killed multiple times even by the AI but it's nice to have some credits saved so that beginner small-time combat won't be heartbreaking.

 

[Faybs]

A couple of general rules regarding weapons: 1. Thermic weapons (eg lasers) usually do more damage to shields and kinetic (guns) do more to hull. 2. Usually the less assistance the weapon gives you the more damage it does, so turrets do the least amount of damage and fixed the most. However this is only if you hit the enemy so gimballed are a good compromise. You may have noticed I use the word "usually" in a couple of places; this is because some weapons bend the rules (for example large pulse lasers do a lot of damage to hulls).

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

Re weapons. My Cobra is my default ship. I've fiddled with different loadouts, but find the following the best. I fly keyboard only, on a laptop, and don't consider myself a "gamer", and have never got to grips with fixed weapons (because I can't land hits frequently enough in the cross hairs), so prefer gimbals that require less accuracy, but do less damage than fixed (but better damage rate than turretted).

My Cobra is fully A-Grade (so has the power and power management), but I've found the optimal for me are a pair of Class 2 Pulse Laser Gimbals up top, and I'm currently running with a Class 1 Seeker Missiles (12 missiles) and a C1 Turretted Cannon underneath. I keep fiddling with the Class 1 slots, sometimes both hold missiles (24 in total), sometimes G/T Frag Cannon, etc.

With four pips to weapons I can continuous fire the pair of C2 pulses for around 27 seconds. That's "finger on the button" for the whole 27 seconds before overheat, and the recharge rate is fast. You can do a lot of damage in 27 seconds on continuous fire. With the Burst and Beam lasers I just didn't find them effective, and didn't seem to hit enough.

The missiles are used once the lasers take down the shields, for ships Cobra and larger, to drop the hull faster. The turretted cannon helps for when the enemy gets under me as we manoeuvre in a dog fight, and I can still land some punches when not directly in front of me for the lasers.

Larger ships I also cycle through sub-systems to hit the Power Plant (not needed on smaller ships, as the hull goes down before the power plant will).

Finally, when in dog fights with small ships, where I end up in a "death spiral" with them, I briefly toggle Flight Assist off (which allows for me to make a tighter turn) then flip it back on and revert to 50% throttle once the target comes back into my sights. I'm not skilled enough to be flying FA off all the time.

 

[Pul Myfinger]

I'd try a Navigation Beacon first ..............................

Avatar pic is a Tardigrade or 'Water Bear' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade - Little Astronauts - almost indestructible - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775

Off-Topic :: Hey One-Eye, thanks for the link about the Tardigrade. I started to read the wiki and thought it was a joke ... Guess not. Yeah, splice a brain in and send them to Mars!

EDIT: Also, great info/intro on seeking combat +rep

 

[Pul Myfinger]

......... I'm bound to get killed multiple times even by the AI but it's nice to have some credits saved so that beginner small-time combat won't be heartbreaking.

don't leave home without insurance << best advice I've received

 

[Colonel North]

I'd try a Navigation Beacon first, before going to a Resource Extraction Site (RES). NAVs seem to be a bit 'quieter' in terms of total numbers of ships, and don't have to dodge around asteroids. Plus any laser fire you see in the distance is a fight, not some innocent miner.

Do throw a couple of tons of something cheap in the hold. It doesn't have to be Gold (although mentally that has cache!). This is bait for pirates. Some pirates will be clean but still scan you. If they don't find cargo they fly off. If they do find cargo they'll shake you down for it.

Only shoot at ships marked red WANTED in the bottom left of the HUD. Do add a kill warranty scanner to your utility mounts, and do scan ships (this will unlock any bounties from other systems), BUT even if the ship shows up with a bounty from other systems don't open fire FIRST unless it's marked WANTED locally.

So on WANTEDs you can shoot first. I usually do the KWS first, because once I open fire the target ship jumps around a lot more and you need a clear 10 seconds to complete the KWS.

On Clean ships, wait to see if they shoot you first, at which point (assuming you're Clean) they'll move to WANTED and are fair game.

Watch out for NPCs flying in Wings. If you shoot one, you'll likely get the rest of them turn on you too. I try to pick off the easiesy first, Sideys or Eagles, to reduce the numbers of guns pointing at me, then go after the big ship(s) in the Wing.

I'd be cautious taking on bigger ships (Pythons, Anacondas) as these are tougher nuts to crack. But perhaps watch for NPC bounty hunters or cops taking big ships down, and join in for the kill at the end to grab the bounty (if credits are important to you). In v1.3 the NPCs adjust their combat skills based on rankings. So a Harmless NPC will fly just a basic pattern, whereas a Deadly will be using all the tricks you might expect of a real commander.

At the NAV just keep cruising around at 50% thrust, keeping the beacon within around 5Km, and new NPC ships will spawn in every minute or two.

Happy hunting.

OP, good advice for you above mate, good luck!

One suggestion, if the ASP is your main ship and you are looking for a secondary combat ship as much as I love the Cobra (and I do love the Cobra) as a starter fighter consider the eagle.

For less than CR2M will fully A spec it and if you blow it up the re-buy will be less than a 100k. With A rated thrusters, PP and dis - 1 x g/b beam, 2 x g/b multi-cannons - it can turn C3PO into Luke Skywalker.
Be aware it's not a tank so start off with low rated targets in sidey's and your confidence will soar!

You probably already know but the one thing that most helped me when starting in combat is to keep the throttle in the blue 'sweet area'.

- - - Updated - - -

...having said all that one big plus with the Cobra is its speed. if it all starts to go the way the of the pear it's one of the best ships to make a sharp exit in!