Ship costs feel like a thing to be feared.....

[Snarfbuckle]

I actually have a hard time seeing myself going up over an Asp in a ship.

After the Asp the next ship is 17 million - that's one hell of a gap.

Also, it has 6 hardpoints for a flexible loadout and a wonderful cockpit.

I will most likely get myself a Courier though, it's just too cute.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

So I'm still kind of new to ED so my knowledge of outfitting costs is sorely lacking at best. I'm currently in what i believe to be a fairly well equipped eagle. I'm now looking into buying a new ship. As a almost strictly combat pilot I'm looking at the cobra mk III but all the talk of price to outfit is making me fearful of even considering buying unless i'm a billionaire. This fear stems from the obvious cost of the ship and the high prices of outfitting and even from ammunition prices since my missions don't seem to pay what feels like enough to be incentive to upgrade. I really like my eagle but it just doesn't make the grade for combat anymore and the missions I am offered tend to make it feel like a grind. This isn't so much a complaint as it is a need for some advice so please by all means make your suggestions for me and any new players. I'd like some insight into the overhead of upgrading my ship to higher tier vessels as well as outfitting costs. Thanks in advance to all with input on this matter.

Never, EVER lose this fear. Hang on to this fear well past the anaconda stages of the game. Every pilot in ED needs to understand that the minute you hit that launch button, you've consigned your ship to the void.
.
ALWAYS appreciate the worth of your ship. People see the eagle as a stepping stone. I see it as a extremely efficient and capable craft for when I know lots of death is expected.

 

[Bertrand Du Guesclin]

This is super helpfull so thank you very much. Checked out a very heavily kitted Viper and it came to about 5 mill! I am currently sitting at 800k that is a long long way off lol we'll see what happens so keep that info coming commanders i greatly appreciate it.

Do you mean 800k + your equipped eagle, or 800K in total assets ?

I cleared my save at 1.3 release, here is my upgrade path :
- dumped my sidey asap, bought a stock Eagle

- Did pirate kill missions and RES hunting and some entry level Assassination until I had a fully equipped Eagle http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70L,5QG5QG5QR3wo,2-3I4s4s2C3I3c3c,7Pc7cG9pC

- I then focused more on assassination missions (as they usually pay more, and give a big adrenaline boost during the mission, and when you finally succeed and kill your target) and bought a stock Diamondback Scout (I chose the Scout over the Cobra mainly because I don't like Faulcon Delacy ships. Just personnal tastes)

- did a few more missions, started upgrading the scout, but I was still flying the Eagle

- I stripped my eagle (didn't sell it) so I could get this build (which I consider sufficient for missions)http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70h,5QG5QG7OX7OX3we,2-6u6u6k3m4s3I6k,7Pc7fO7fO9qm

- kept upgrading the Scout and did more assassination missions. my max payout was around 150k for a single target, which was nice.

- Fully upgraded my Scout (http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70h,5QG5QG7OX7OX3wo0_g0_g01Q,2-6Q6Q6Q3m4s3I6k,7Pc7fO7fO9qm), re-upgraded my Eagle for safe keeping as an additional safety net, on top of the insurance money.

- bought a stock Vulture, upgraded it while earning money in my Scout

- stripped my scout (didn't sell it), upgraded my Vulture.

I'm now in a fully upgraded Vulture, with 10 millions in the bank.

I consider the Vulture as the ultimate dedicated fighter, so i'll never sell it. My next ship will be a sidegrade rather than an upgrade, and it will either be a Federal Dropship (if I manage to rank up with the feds despite the bugged ranking missions) or an Orca.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

I actually have a hard time seeing myself going up over an Asp in a ship.

After the Asp the next ship is 17 million - that's one hell of a gap.

Also, it has 6 hardpoints for a flexible loadout and a wonderful cockpit.

I will most likely get myself a Courier though, it's just too cute.

It really all depends on what your play style is. If you focus on getting money then the jump to the next ship up isn't too bad. Incrementally improve your Asp to be largely A rated equipment etc. then you'll realise the buy & replace cost of the next tier ship isn't that much of a pain... make sure you've enough left over for insurance, cargo and outfitting though. I think it took me longer to buy the Asp from the Sidewinder than it did to get the Clipper. Trade grinding I don't enjoy. I tend to either explore (fairly low return per hour), potter around with missions/trading/combat or do CGs. CGs are actually a really good way to get large amounts of cash for upgrade. I did a few combat CGs and basically doubled my bounty revenue.

Having the biggest ship isn't really that important to my enjoyment of elite.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

OP - do not fly what you are not willing to lose.

 

[althaz]

So I'm still kind of new to ED so my knowledge of outfitting costs is sorely lacking at best. I'm currently in what i believe to be a fairly well equipped eagle. I'm now looking into buying a new ship. As a almost strictly combat pilot I'm looking at the cobra mk III but all the talk of price to outfit is making me fearful of even considering buying unless i'm a billionaire. This fear stems from the obvious cost of the ship and the high prices of outfitting and even from ammunition prices since my missions don't seem to pay what feels like enough to be incentive to upgrade. I really like my eagle but it just doesn't make the grade for combat anymore and the missions I am offered tend to make it feel like a grind. This isn't so much a complaint as it is a need for some advice so please by all means make your suggestions for me and any new players. I'd like some insight into the overhead of upgrading my ship to higher tier vessels as well as outfitting costs. Thanks in advance to all with input on this matter.

If you want to mostly combat, go the Viper. It has better shields than the Cobra, plus it's faster and more manourvreable. Side bonus: it's also a good chunk cheaper. I *loved* my Cobra (I went Sidey -> Adder -> Cobra and now have an Asp and a Vulture), but the Viper is better for combat, hands down (though the Cobra is a great allrounder).

For the price of the base Cobra, you can have a decently equipped Viper to bounty hunt your way to untold riches: http://coriolis.io/outfit/viper/03D3D3D2D3A3E2C1a1a1717--0143-2h.Iw1+kA==.CwBhEYy6aA==

That's an extra 50% shields, lower maintenance costs, cheaper upgrades and bucketloads of firepower. That said, if you want to experience things other than combat, the Viper is not the ship to go for - the Cobra can be outfitted to do whatever you want - but it'll cost you a bit more.

P.S. Coriolis.io (link in my sig) is a great way to have a look at different outfitting options to see what you can afford and how much power you have to play with. There's also EDShipyard (http://www.edshipyard.com/) which is similar (though I obviously like Coriolis more, hence why I contribute to it ).

 

[bendover]

Well if the price of a Cobra III scares you dont look at the price of Full kitted our Anaconda you will evacuate your Bowels

 

[CMDR Harada]

Viper is your next step. With the new bounty changes, RES sites with a KWS is about on par if you have a good spawn. I tended to let the local sys-auth pilots take out the targets shields before i would jump in. You ended up risking less and still got the bounty. DON'T FORGET THE KWS, that will double, even triple some bounties. You are throwing money away without the scan before a kill.

After a Viper, get that Vulture. Vulture is king of the fighters. You will never look back. A fully kitted Vulture will run between 20-30 mill, depending on preferences. A good RES spawn is 2 million an hour in the bank.

 

[Darrett]

I went Sidewinder -> Eagle -> Viper -> Vulture -> Diamonback Scout for combat.

I did pick up a Cobra between the Viper and Vulture, but it was a downgrade from the Viper from a combat perspective.

The Vulture was somewhat boring to be honest. It's just too capable and you don't feel nearly as vulnerable. On top of that, it has a high insurance cost that I'd rather not risk. I did still keep it for when I just want to make money as fast as possible, but the DBS is proving to be the sweet spot for effectiveness vs fun.