Deleted member 115407
D
So I reluctantly upgraded my miner from a Cobra MkIV to a T-6. There were two reasons I hadn't done so before:
However, I reasoned that the insurance cost wouldn't be much more (turns out to be less, actually, since I downgraded my refinery and am no longer carrying 2D mining lasers). And with a 250k insurance cost, one successful trip back from the rings gives me 4 extra lives. I'd also watched a few of the vindicator videos that go over basic use of thrusters and how best to use high and low wake to escape attackers.
The cool things is that all of the research, advice, and more careful/thoughtful playing over the past week or so also really helped me to build a rugged and useful rig.
So, in my big space pig, I took a deep breath and launched. The controls weren't nearly as lumbering as I thought they would be. I made it to the rings, and did what I always do... eased it into a non-RES spot, thrusted away from all contacts, and got set up for mining.
So here's the deal -- I turn on all of my mining subsystems, and turn off my shield boosters for the extra power. I'm a little concerned, but you never see folks out there in the middle of the rings. Get set up in front of an asteroid, 3 pips to weapons, one to sys, and start blasting away. I got about 4 units of metals in when...
...server disconnect. Cool, no big deal. I restart and am sitting slightly above the asteroid field. All systems and pips are in the same spot, and I thrust down into the field. Unfortunately, when the game reset, so did the neighbors. Some dude picked me up and wanted what I had. I thrust away and am looking at the various info, when I realize that I still only have one pip in sys and none in eng... so my thrusters are out of juice and, oh, I'm about to put my face through a big ol' asteroid. No shield boosters, remember, and a mean guy on my tail. I thought "Welp, this is it".
I didn't die.
Sure the collision took my shields down, and then both getting shot at and scraping along the edge of the asteroid took my military grade hull down about 10%, but I was still able to right myself and thrust into the field while FSS showed up and took care of the problem. They were Johnny-on-the-spot, too. And I made the correct decision of not turning back to watch the show.
Mined to my little hearts content, switched back from mining to travel mode, and made my way home, safe and sound.
I know there are folks out there who are still having problems. I took a couple of really fast interdictions last night in my combat Cobra. One I died in, but it was a really bad setup -- interdicted close to a star, turned to thrust and was blinded. Didn't have my escape jump planned. Panicked and deployed hardpoints even though I was already 50% down on shields. On top of that, I figured out later that I could have better optimized those shields, and had chosen not to do so in lieu of firepower that I never even use. I fixed that right away.
Just thought I'd share a story about how it is possible to adapt to this more dangerous galaxy. And, imho, that extra risk and the care that has to go into mitigating it actually makes finishing a mission or a mining run in one piece feel that much more satisfying.
- Optional Internals -- I like to auto-dock, and knew that I'd miss my module.
- Speed and evasion.
However, I reasoned that the insurance cost wouldn't be much more (turns out to be less, actually, since I downgraded my refinery and am no longer carrying 2D mining lasers). And with a 250k insurance cost, one successful trip back from the rings gives me 4 extra lives. I'd also watched a few of the vindicator videos that go over basic use of thrusters and how best to use high and low wake to escape attackers.
The cool things is that all of the research, advice, and more careful/thoughtful playing over the past week or so also really helped me to build a rugged and useful rig.
- Power distribution and pip management -- use the power you need, when you need it, where you need it. No point keeping pips in weapons if your weapons are made for breaking rocks.
- Shield boosters and alloy upgrades are your friends. On top of which, I started looking at gear stats more, so instead of one A booster at 1.2 power draw and 20% boost, I'm running two C boosters at 1.4 power draw and 24% boost -- well within my usable power range, with a little extra kick.
- Always keep your weapons or utility loadouts ready, i.e. jumping out of the rings and heading home? Have your chaff ready before you start your trip. That way, if you get into trouble, additional safety is only a click away.
- You can change your overall power draw by turning off systems. No need to turn on your refineries, lasers, controllers, or scoop until you're actually in the rings, away from all contacts, and ready to mine.
- FSD? I'm not jumping to Andromeda. I need enough range to jump 5ly to escape to my nearest system. So no need to dump millions into a big fancy FSD. I did dump a good deal of cash into my thrusters, though, as I figure they'll get me out of trouble faster and help me turn a quicker profit.
- Auto dock? I can dock it myself.
So, in my big space pig, I took a deep breath and launched. The controls weren't nearly as lumbering as I thought they would be. I made it to the rings, and did what I always do... eased it into a non-RES spot, thrusted away from all contacts, and got set up for mining.
So here's the deal -- I turn on all of my mining subsystems, and turn off my shield boosters for the extra power. I'm a little concerned, but you never see folks out there in the middle of the rings. Get set up in front of an asteroid, 3 pips to weapons, one to sys, and start blasting away. I got about 4 units of metals in when...
...server disconnect. Cool, no big deal. I restart and am sitting slightly above the asteroid field. All systems and pips are in the same spot, and I thrust down into the field. Unfortunately, when the game reset, so did the neighbors. Some dude picked me up and wanted what I had. I thrust away and am looking at the various info, when I realize that I still only have one pip in sys and none in eng... so my thrusters are out of juice and, oh, I'm about to put my face through a big ol' asteroid. No shield boosters, remember, and a mean guy on my tail. I thought "Welp, this is it".
I didn't die.
Sure the collision took my shields down, and then both getting shot at and scraping along the edge of the asteroid took my military grade hull down about 10%, but I was still able to right myself and thrust into the field while FSS showed up and took care of the problem. They were Johnny-on-the-spot, too. And I made the correct decision of not turning back to watch the show.
Mined to my little hearts content, switched back from mining to travel mode, and made my way home, safe and sound.
I know there are folks out there who are still having problems. I took a couple of really fast interdictions last night in my combat Cobra. One I died in, but it was a really bad setup -- interdicted close to a star, turned to thrust and was blinded. Didn't have my escape jump planned. Panicked and deployed hardpoints even though I was already 50% down on shields. On top of that, I figured out later that I could have better optimized those shields, and had chosen not to do so in lieu of firepower that I never even use. I fixed that right away.
Just thought I'd share a story about how it is possible to adapt to this more dangerous galaxy. And, imho, that extra risk and the care that has to go into mitigating it actually makes finishing a mission or a mining run in one piece feel that much more satisfying.
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