General Advice on PvP from a Lone Wolf

[droscoe]

This is more of a general question.

I've become a little...empty, on ideas of what to do in the game. Not bashing. Relax. The meta-gameplay just isn't there for me.

I'd like to try my hand at PvP, but admittedly I know little, if not nothing, of how to start.

I have 200m in the bank, a Cobra MK III, Python, and Viper and have extensive experience in a Vulture.

What should I be looking for in a system (state) to hunt in? WHO should I hunt, and most importantly, what should I expect? I've never done PvP before, and it just seems to me that PvP would end being a hassle. You get a fine for scanning, interdicting, shooting, killing....so why do it? I'd like to try it, but it seems like it would cut me off from otherwise welcoming regions of space that would then put my face on a wanted poster.

If I do interdict someone, what subsystem should I go for in PvP? Frame shift drive?

Thanks for any advice. I play alone, none of my buddies play PC games. So I'm always a lone wolf, left to my own devices in every game I play.

 

[Cosmos]

Well as a first port of call you are gonna need engineer mods. Without them you will be slaughtered.

FDL is a sound choice for PvP and not too expensive to rebuy..

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

I'm rusty at pvp , having avoided it since the rngineers came along; however if you want to avoid bounties or becoming hostile to your favourite factions/areas try your first actions in Anarchy systems. This will prevent you becoming wanted and also give you time to hatch-break and scoop the loot without the police interfering.
You need a high-traffic anarchy in middle area of bubble, off the top of my head I think Yama is such a system but hopefully more experienced pyrat types will chip in ( and probably tell you that pc piracy is dead and to go for the diamond carrying npc's )

 

[droscoe]

Well as a first port of call you are gonna need engineer mods. Without them you will be slaughtered.

*sigh...i was afraid of that. Can I speak my mind for a moment? If I'm off base here, let me know. Perhaps I'm being overly-pessimistic about it.

All of the requirements of the engineers warrant a dedicated ship built solely for the purpose of obtaining the required items for engineer access. Traveling 5000ly away or going to Maia for MA or mining 500t of ore...I have to buy and outfit a ship to do that. That will take a few hours right? Just to get access to them....

How many hours will I have to spend grinding for materials then buying a spin at the wheel of fortune for upgrades? That's another job in itself.

perhaps I'm talking myself out of it, but the engineers seems a quite tedious to me. Again, if I'm way off base here let me know. I'm open to new ideas or critiques, I may be wrong here.

I just have a problem with spending materials to 'work up the ranks' at an engineer. What a waste. I wish upgrades had fixed costs.

Anyway, /endrant, maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and go after each of the engineer's requirements for tier 5 upgrades. How many days will that take me. lol just to get involved with PvP....

 

[Cosmos]

I'm rusty at pvp , having avoided it since the rngineers came along; however if you want to avoid bounties or becoming hostile to your favourite factions/areas try your first actions in Anarchy systems. This will prevent you becoming wanted and also give you time to hatch-break and scoop the loot without the police interfering.
You need a high-traffic anarchy in middle area of bubble, off the top of my head I think Yama is such a system but hopefully more experienced pyrat types will chip in ( and probably tell you that pc piracy is dead and to go for the diamond carrying npc's )

The easiest way to get in a fight is go to a CG system, always lots of PvPers circling there. Deciat, Wryd and Wolf 359 are also busy with players..

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All of the requirements of the engineers warrant a dedicated ship built solely for the purpose of obtaining the required items for engineer access. Traveling 5000ly away or going to Maia for MA or mining 500t of ore...I have to buy and outfit a ship to do that. That will take a few hours right? Just to get access to them....

How many hours will I have to spend grinding for materials then buying a spin at the wheel of fortune for upgrades? That's another job in itself.

Its far easier now than it was.. Lots of gone through the grind of Engineers, if you wanna PvP and be a reasonable prospect you need an engineered ship. Other than that, its CQC. [haha]

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

Ahh yes Cosmos I steamed in without reading fully he did say pvp not piracy ; to the OP unfortunately if you want to be competitive you will have to rngineer your ship to @ least a moderate lvl and all the way to rank 5 if you wanna hang with the 'big boys' of the pvp world.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

"2.2 The Summoning" will make it even easier to obtain engineer mods on ships with low jump ranges and as Cosmos said 2.1.x introduced some minor tweaks to make gathering slightly easier (but no less boring)

Sadly you're going to need them ... and the "meta" at the moment is thermal shock so good luck when at the Wheel of Fortune.

 

[Cosmos]

Ahh yes Cosmos I steamed in without reading fully he did say pvp not piracy ; to the OP unfortunately if you want to be competitive you will have to rngineer your ship to @ least a moderate lvl and all the way to rank 5 if you wanna hang with the 'big boys' of the pvp world.

After they made changes to the materials engineering ships isn't that bad at all now. Very easy to rank up to grade four by spamming level one upgrades. Its the unlocking business that takes the most time now.. Should be able to do it in several weeks..

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perhaps I'm talking myself out of it, but the engineers seems a quite tedious to me. Again, if I'm way off base here let me know. I'm open to new ideas or critiques, I may be wrong here.

I just have a problem with spending materials to 'work up the ranks' at an engineer. What a waste. I wish upgrades had fixed costs.

Raising engineer grade is easy now with abundant easy to get mats. FD did get a lot of stick over engineers at first, its way better now. I'd say its worth the effort. Just don't expect to be competitive without them

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

I have started to peek at the rngineers since the changes and done a few mods to my favourite all-purpose Asp. Still don't really like the power creep of them or some of the specials, but don't want to go off-topic and rant .

To the OP fit the best ship you can be comfortable with losing ( multiple times ) and go to some of the places Cosmos highlighted CG etc and pick some fights, best way to learn. I allways found the major part of pvp was learning to deal with the adrenal rush so you can respond calmy under fire even while taking heavy damage and practice will make you cool with it.

Also look to join some pvp groups like adle's armarda or others, they will give you plenty of tips and 'practice' fights look here to find groups to join .... http://inara.cz/wings

 

[Ozram]

Bad time for it OP. Basically it's mostly modded FDLs, Corvettes and Cutters with heat weapons. Sometimes it's other ships... With heat weapons. Bad time for PVP here.

 

[Snuffle]

As a member of Adle's Armada I invite you to join our discord and take a shot at pvp with us. http://inara.cz/wing/336 We teach players about pvp and provide a very busy place to dip your toes in. If you join tell them Snuffle sent you.

I'd recommend upgrading your ship (The top tier pvp ships are usually FDLs and Federal Covettes/Imperial Cutter) engineering rank 5 upgrades. Community goals are quite busy usually and will feature high bounty commanders to intercept and engage or even some small fry gankers/pirates.

 

[droscoe]

Well, the other day I tried piracy. I admit....I evidently SUCK at piracy.

I had a non-engineered Cobra MK III and a god damn Orca took my shields down and I had to bug off to station. I was a bit upset.

 

[Siranui]

How many hours will I have to spend grinding for materials then buying a spin at the wheel of fortune for upgrades? That's another job in itself.

perhaps I'm talking myself out of it, but the engineers seems a quite tedious to me. Again, if I'm way off base here let me know. I'm open to new ideas or critiques, I may be wrong here.

I just have a problem with spending materials to 'work up the ranks' at an engineer. What a waste. I wish upgrades had fixed costs.

You probably have many of the bits you need. You will have accumulated them while simply playing. Lower level mods are particularly easy, commonly requiring things like a lump of sulphur! Some of the engineers can have their higher tiers unlocked via other means, such as trade or exploration data. It's really not as difficult as you may think,especially if you are only tuning one ship.

Of course, it will be a lot less fun tuning for PvP because everything needs to be good and all the weapons will doubtless need SFX on them. You will likely be building the ship that someone has told you is good, rather than your own personal goal, which is someone less motivating.

Picking up mods is actually quite fun if done over time, rather than in a 'I need to get level 5 mods NOW and it is an obstacle to my gameplay'. It's also a good way of exploring the game and new aspects of it. If you view mining and exploration as chores because you have never done them, it's going to be a lot less fun than deciding to try mining and exploring and seeing if you like them.

That said... you might not actually need it all. If you want some PvP practice with AA, I doubt they will demand that rookies immediately load up with level 5. Likewise, if you are doing some fun roleplay style piracy, then it also may not be required, as if you pick your targets, they will either run or surrender most of the time, so it is less likely to come down to a fight.

Mods will require playing parts of the game that you seem not to want to play. It may be a good idea to go into those parts of the game with an open mind, rather than with a grind mentality if you want to enjoy it.

tl;dr: Exploring is fun: try it!

 

[Zylark]

1: Get engineering. You want ability to dish out heat, and ability to soak up heat. Don't bother engineering your PVP ship a little at a time, get your Asp out, do missions, go surface scavenging and collect material and datascans whilst getting the engineers you plan to use up to level 5. Then start upgrading your PVP ship(s) with the good stuff. Bring extra of all you need, as you'll probably have to try your luck a few times at the casino, urrr, engineer.

2: Visit a CG, PP HQ or if particularly cunning, hang out in SC at an engineer system, pick a target and good luck.

3: If you find it quite fun, seek a group that focus on PVP. Fighting alone is not entirely viable in the long run, you will want some wing-men. However - fair warning - with wing combat, instancing will be a pain and at the moment disconnects are rampant when in a wing and doing transitions from or to Hyperjump/Supercruise/Normal Space. So much so it's turned me entirely off wing-PVP at the moment. It just give rise to frustration and a giant waste of time and effort.