Horizons Interdictions; and why I am leaving E.D. Engineers gameplay.

[Mike Reacher]

I am getting sick of the voices in my head telling me to whinge yet again.
Yesterday I was interdicted by multiple NPC's. Message was 1/2, but most times it was 3, 4, and once, 5. There was always a Python or three.
In Taunetes again (and what a huge mistake that was) 205,000LY and was interdicted every few seconds.
I would boost till FSD cooldown then FSD again. I was probably stopped 25 to 30 times. And NO! I was not going to high wake out and start another 205,000 ly again. It took all day and when I got there my cargo was gone. (Probably forgot to submit a buy). ARRGH! Also noticed my mines did nothing to the chaser's shields.
And the top level NPCs are showing up everywhere again. How do you get engineer's requirements when you can't get through a single system without those damn Anacondas and Pythons jumping you ceaslessly.

 

[Iskariot]

I am getting sick of the voices in my head telling me to whinge yet again.
Yesterday I was interdicted by multiple NPC's. Message was 1/2, but most times it was 3, 4, and once, 5. There was always a Python or three.
In Taunetes again (and what a huge mistake that was) 205,000LY and was interdicted every few seconds.
I would boost till FSD cooldown then FSD again. I was probably stopped 25 to 30 times. And NO! I was not going to high wake out and start another 205,000 ly again. It took all day and when I got there my cargo was gone. (Probably forgot to submit a buy). ARRGH! Also noticed my mines did nothing to the chaser's shields.
And the top level NPCs are showing up everywhere again. How do you get engineer's requirements when you can't get through a single system without those damn Anacondas and Pythons jumping you ceaslessly.

Getting attacked by mulltiple high ranked ships can be bad.
I never engage groups of high ranked large ships, but always flee, or sometimes I first create a distance and try to lure a single ship away from the rest.

I have to say that I am rarely attacked by wings anymore. Lately my attackers are always single ships.


The 25 to 30 interdictions you mention where these done by the same npc?
That is what happened to me when I took on long range missions in Aditi.
The pirate belonged to an Aditi faction and was spawned again and again all the way back to the core systems at least 25 to 30 times.
He was in an FDL and I would have destroyed him if I had been in a combat capable ship, but I was in a trade fitted cutter, so I had no chance of surviving a confrontation. I had to endure these infuriating interdictions again and again until I finished the mission that had spawned this pirate.

I know how to handle interdictions so the FDL had no chance of catching me at all and I think FD should build in a limit of interdictions by one and the same mission spawned pirate. 5 or 6 attempts should be enough for the npc pirate to 'realize' he will never be able to actually get me. He should then go home to his npc mommy.
25 interdictions is simply absurd. It serves no function and will only create irritated and angered players.

 

[Martind Forlon]

@Gaffa: can you please add your current configuration into coriolis.io and post (new) link to your build? Mines are perfect on lvl 1 hardpoints which are on ship back, on others you can risk hit by your own mines, conda is quite long ship. Energy management really do a huge difference, try more practising with this and you will see positive result quickly.

 

[Mike Reacher]

Iskaroit: Yes, the same NPC. A couple of times early another few tried as well, but he was the persistent one. The one in the Python.
My Cobra is as tough as a Cobra 3 can be, but it's puny guns don't scratch Python paint.
Which brings back the multiple whinge about getting engineer bits. Every time I got a piece I got blown around so much that even though I kept the ship, the hatch and cargo was always gone.

 

[Iskariot]

Iskaroit: Yes, the same NPC. A couple of times early another few tried as well, but he was the persistent one. The one in the Python.
My Cobra is as tough as a Cobra 3 can be, but it's puny guns don't scratch Python paint.
Which brings back the multiple whinge about getting engineer bits. Every time I got a piece I got blown around so much that even though I kept the ship, the hatch and cargo was always gone.

But if you are in a Cobra III then an NPC Python should not be able to catch up to you at all.
The Cobra is a great and powerful booster and the Python is slow.
The Python should not have the time to break your shields because within a few seconds you should have 3 km between you and him.

Do you use chaff? When you flee chaff will help you to reduce hits.
Do not try to evade but fly in a straight line away from your target.
Prevent flying away at an angle from your attacker. Keep an eye on the scanner for this. Your enemy should be at the bottom of the scanner and in the same plane (same relative height) as your ship.
If you flee at an angle the enemy will have a longer window to fire at you and might even close in on you.

Do you submit and boost when you get interdicted?
If you fight the interdiction and it fails your FSD will take much longer to recharge.

Also with an enemy Python you might initially turn to face the Python and then boost past him.
The Python is a slow turner and it will take time for him to turn and go after you. You might win valuable seconds this way.
But this depends on the situation. If the Python comes out of SC right behind you then just boost away in a straight line immediately.
No pips in weapons. At least 3 pips in engines.

The fast Cobra is a very good ship for these tactics.

All this will not change the too high frequency of the current interdictions, but it will improve your chance of survival and your chance to get away with all your cargo.

 

[pipo zelvelder]

@OP issue is that you didn't learned use your conda correctly ... use additional armor on trading/mining conda is waste of resources, bcs your main interest should be not lose shields, and with this can engineers help perfectly. You ofc needs to add correct ship energy usage. plus some reverse flying and if target chafs use fixed forward firing mode for turrets. ... you need show some skills, that's it, and it's not so hard ... question is, you want learn use your ship better or continue complain?

So, it is his fault the game sucks??? Get real! Half of the players are worse than the average player. But for some reason FD is only making this game for the top 5% players. I am struggling for 5 months now and when I finally bought a clipper, I am now struggling for 2 weeks already to earn the cash to pay for the insurance of the clipper. Don't tell me there is nothing wrong with this game, because there is... I am struggling in an ASP for weeks now, to get the money to fly my Clipper... how stupid is that???

 

[avow555]

@avow555 ... bye

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And now some tips for cmdrs which may decide to learn better how to use theirs "annie" for trading/mining without fear about losing theirs ship ... (in fact with some practice you can learn how to smoothly annihilate every NPC trying to take your cargo ... or safely flee)

For start we have here ship setup: Mining conda . This variant offer more as enough offensive, defensive and mining capability and offers very comfortable play when upgraded by engineers. Yes upgraded, if you want "comfort", you need have access to Horizons content. And why 2 heat-sinks? ... personal preference, it's aimed to resist long enough thermal attacks.

Now to upgrades:

1. first you may feel the need to assure that you will have enough power to run this build. No problem, just 1! lvl power-plant upgrade (you need good roll ofc) can assure that you will have much more energy as offers stock version. You can also optionally think about lvl2-3 upgrade with good roll for powergen integrity loss (smaller is better).
2. for armor heavy duty
3. for shield boosters 2xheavy duty and 2x resistant ... with 4 pips in shields you can withstand really huge amount of fire coming against you ...
4. for shield thermal resistant
5. for multis: one should be corrosive
6. for beams: i recommend long-range, with annie you can't sit on target 6
7. for thruster: i use clean, ... personal preference. You can go for dirty as well.
8. for mines: Radiant and Ion special effect
9. for distributor can be good variant charge enhanced (some 2-3lvl with good recharge bonus and small capacity loss)
10. for FSD: many prefers upgraded jump range, I chose other variant due my liking appear in "busy" areas. Everyone need to decide what fit him better. Here can be worth to mention that with "incoming" possibility store equipment you can have more as one variant of FSD.

Now for interdictions & fight & fleeing

1. Is good to use at least decent situation awareness. If you see in communication channel direct message about "cargo", is clear that THIS is someone coming after you and is good idea to check what ship he have. Use contacts to mark this ship and look on ship type. In case you will see anaconda, you may decide that is safer flee and adapt on this your further acting.
2. Here can come small middle-step in case you are still close to sun and not want fight: Simply go close to sun, reduce speed on minimum and turn your annie from star. This infuriated NPC coming after your cargo will simply end "in sun" without being able start interdiction.
3. Once interdiction starts you can optionally use navigation panel and chose escape system for high-wake. Now try follow interdiction vector and submit. When you will follow vector, you will spin MUCH LESS after been interdicted and it will give you 1-2 seconds for get prepared for next step.
4. Interdiction usually put attacker behind target and you can use this for your advantage in case you followed previous advice. Put thruster to blue zone, (I usually use flight assist off) and turn your ship. Its nothing difficult and with some small practice you will see that you can turn perfectly against your attacker. Now depends if you want fight or flee ... IF attack: you are in perfect position to do so, simply open fire and take him down. (use reverse thrust + some basic FA off + energy management to keep distance, target under fire and with enough energy for shields, weapons or thrusters as needed); IF flee, kick boost close around him, release mines and smoothly continue escaping. He will lose enough time with turning and mines dealing so you have all the time needed for escape.
5. tactics described above is optional, you can change it or modify as you only wish to fit best your skills and experience. In case that you will encounter chafing target, you can use turret mode fire forward and with this make your aim right on target (requires some skills)

And this is all for now, using tips above you can learn quite fast that your "non-combat" annie is very far from been "easy" target and you can smile on all NPCs attempts to get your cargo and destroy your ship.

Fly dangerously Cmdrs!

EDIT: fully agree with Iskariot, "A" graded conda is not a ship which should be possible destroy if commander want flee.

Your wall of text still doesn't resolve the Interdict issue does it, that is the real problem ingame.
The sooner Fdev address this issue the better the game will be for all but as per usual the devs never respond.

 

[Ian Phillips]

Your wall of text still doesn't resolve the Interdict issue does it, that is the real problem ingame.
The sooner Fdev address this issue the better the game will be for all but as per usual the devs never respond.

Dude. It's SUNDAY.

 

[vindicator jones]

While I agree interdictions can be extremely annoying, and the frequency of them really need to be addressed, especially in high security systems, there is no reason why you should be loosing your conda that much.

If your currently aligned with a powerplay faction, then dump it, you will be interdicted far less.

If your still having problems, please watch these videos. I can promise you using these tactics you will shrug off interdictions as just an annoyance..


[video=youtube;woy8nmaVuVg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woy8nmaVuVg[/video]

[video=youtube;ZzRLt0Zm8Nk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzRLt0Zm8Nk[/video]

 

[pipo zelvelder]

I am puzzled about what you describe though.
You state you are in an A-graded Anaconda and nevertheless you get destroyed?
Even when you boost away?

How is this possible?

Some people just don't seem to understand that there are worse players than them in this game, and these players (like myself) are having A VERY VERY VERY VERY ROUGH time. This goes beyond loosing an occasional ship and is far beyond not getting enough money or rank. It is all about surviving and not able to get whatever progress in the game. As soon as I get something done, I am interdicted without chance of escape (I am talking seconds here!) and all is lost. The first two month i played were tough and hard, but with a lot of help of you guys I managed to get an A-rated ASP and flew happily in it. The last 3 month I am struggling to get any further, but that only goes with a lot of cursing, swearing never to play the F-game again, and when I finally got the Clipper I wanted, I was immediately interdicted as aboven and lost my 50M ship. So i am in my ASP again, barely surviving interdictions (most of the time not) and when my money runs out from that (i can die 5 more time, as i calculate), I will not start again from scratch.

Sure, I probably do everything wrong,


Sure, I well could be the worst player of all time,


And what is is FD going to about that? Why can i play nicely for two months and is it now misery for three months in a row? My fault??? I beg to differ, the game had become unplayable for the bottom 10% and the paid just as much as the top 5%. We should sue them...

 

[Iskariot]

So, it is his fault the game sucks??? Get real! Half of the players are worse than the average player. But for some reason FD is only making this game for the top 5% players. I am struggling for 5 months now and when I finally bought a clipper, I am now struggling for 2 weeks already to earn the cash to pay for the insurance of the clipper. Don't tell me there is nothing wrong with this game, because there is... I am struggling in an ASP for weeks now, to get the money to fly my Clipper... how stupid is that???

I do not know why you should blame the game.
To me it sounds simply as if you, in your particular situation, bought the Clipper too soon.
You focus on this new ship and want to fly it, which is understandable, but ships cost money.
Not just the initial purchase, but also outfitting and insurance. Properly outfitting them can easily triple the cost of a ship.
Many people think the insurance system is even much too lenient as it is.

What is the insurance price of your Clipper?
And what do you do to earn credits?

 

[pipo zelvelder]

Dude. It's SUNDAY.

You Mean, Dude it is a day! I nevber ever saw any response from them, with the exception when 2.1 was just released, when they tormented a player that dared to complain about interdictions... Fdev then claimed that this player was the lousiest pilot ever..

Sorry Ian, but this problem is there for three months now and I wrote a lot of forum/complaints/ticket and bug reports, but never ever saw any reaction other than "were sorry you have this experience" or "we are currently loking into it" . In the mean time, the game I loved for a whole month (the first month was only struggling to get in the game, but the second was fun), has now become a hard 3-month struggle which is slowly descending to a full stop when my money runs out and i will be forced to start again (and therefore stop playing)..

Oh, but it is Sunday, won't bother you again.... (i believe i did buy my game on Sunday.... grumble, never mind)

 

[Iskariot]

Some people just don't seem to understand that there are worse players than them in this game, and these players (like myself) are having A VERY VERY VERY VERY ROUGH time.

I do understand.
But I also understand that this game offers opportunities to learn stuff.
That is why I offered some tips to the op.
It is a game and it has mechanisms that can be mastered.
That is the entire purpose of the game and it is satisfying when you discover ways to beat the tough npc.

Don't think I am that good at Elite.
I was shocked when 2.1 landed and my FDL got destroyed 2 times on one day.
Initially I was frustrated. I am a middle aged guy and a very conservative player. Adaptation is not in my blood so to speak.
But I realized that that would not do in Elite.
So I reviewed my outfitting and my strategy and adapted to the new situation and now several weeks later I think I can say I succeeded.
I am able to deal with what the Elite universe drops on my doormat and it is very satisfying to have learned to handle myself.

Sure, I probably do everything wrong,

Sure, I well could be the worst player of all time,

And what is is FD going to about that? Why can i play nicely for two months and is it now misery for three months in a row? My fault??? I beg to differ, the game had become unplayable for the bottom 10% and the paid just as much as the top 5%. We should sue them...

Your misery is not just caused by the game.
It is mostly generated by your own expectations of how soon you should get from Asp to Clipper.
It took me long time too. I went from Asp to T7 first and did some heavy trade grinding for a while.
My reasoning was that a trade fitted T7 was much cheaper than an A-rated Clipper.

I think you bought your Clipper to soon.
From what you write I now understand that you flew a Clipper without having the insurance money and got destroyed.
Well, don't you think that you have yourself to blame for this?
The insurance system is extremely lenient, but in effect you chose not to use it and take the risk of losing it all.
And you did.

You cannot blame the game for that. That is not fair.

ED is a tough game. But I think that is a good thing.
It is a frustrating setback for sure, but you will learn from it and if you persevere you will laugh about it later. You will master new difficulties and in a while you will feel like a fish in the sea that is Elite.
Elite is a wonderful long term game that can be enjoyed for years, especially with the expansions that are still to come.

 

[Havoc4U]

Interdictions are but a mere nuisance - I just submit & boost away spooling up the FSD - or I target the ship & decide whether to engage the culprit - most of the time I wake out not knowing what it was - I remember in my early days it was a stress moment but after learning how to get away - just a nuisance.....

 

[pipo zelvelder]

I do not know why you should blame the game.
To me it sounds simply as if you, in your particular situation, bought the Clipper too soon.
You focus on this new ship and want to fly it, which is understandable, but ships cost money.
Not just the initial purchase, but also outfitting and insurance. Properly outfitting them can easily triple the cost of a ship.
Many people think the insurance system is even much too lenient as it is.

What is the insurance price of your Clipper?
And what do you do to earn credits?

Maybe I bought it to soon, but it was a well thought off moment. I waited until I had 60M and bought a 50M Clipper, because I wanted to keep my ASP (to fall back to). Immediately after buying it, i was interdicted on a data delivery mission, straight from the sun and almost shot to smithereens. That was when I made the error and upgraded the shields and shield boosters of my Clipper, apparently spending too much money. Made two more runs without problems and then was interdicted again and did not have te money for insurance, so lost my 50M ship.
Fortunately, I got it back when filing a ticket... (thanx FD)... But now I have this Clipper and not enough money for insurance. So I bought a DBS and flew to my ASP, got into my ASP and am now trying for weeks to earn 10M so I can fly my Clipper again.
Came close to 8m doing only trading, data delivery and boom mission, but was set back 2M by another interdiction (not counting the dozens I fled for; for me this game has become only about flying and fleeing, with an occasional trade in between).

So, as you can see, interdiction run my whole Elite Dangerous carreer for the last three months. I know that should not be so, but I simply do not have the means or the skills to play it otherwise. Tried landing on Horizon worlds today, with only trading and no missions, but get interdicted all the time, doing only trading... ah well, landing succeeded two times in a row, so there is some progress... but i really don't know if this will be fun any longer...

I understand that this game has no quick money and a steep learning curve, but in earlier versions I had wonderful shootouts, which were exciting and even fun enough that i did not care to loose. But when I am shot down within a minute while trying to flee the hell out of there, I become really cross...

 

[Iskariot]

Maybe I bought it to soon, but it was a well thought off moment. I waited until I had 60M and bought a 50M Clipper, because I wanted to keep my ASP (to fall back to). Immediately after buying it, i was interdicted on a data delivery mission, straight from the sun and almost shot to smithereens. That was when I made the error and upgraded the shields and shield boosters of my Clipper, apparently spending too much money. Made two more runs without problems and then was interdicted again and did not have te money for insurance, so lost my 50M ship.
Fortunately, I got it back when filing a ticket... (thanx FD)... But now I have this Clipper and not enough money for insurance. So I bought a DBS and flew to my ASP, got into my ASP and am now trying for weeks to earn 10M so I can fly my Clipper again.
Came close to 8m doing only trading, data delivery and boom mission, but was set back 2M by another interdiction (not counting the dozens I fled for; for me this game has become only about flying and fleeing, with an occasional trade in between).

So, as you can see, interdiction run my whole Elite Dangerous carreer for the last three months. I know that should not be so, but I simply do not have the means or the skills to play it otherwise. Tried landing on Horizon worlds today, with only trading and no missions, but get interdicted all the time, doing only trading... ah well, landing succeeded two times in a row, so there is some progress... but i really don't know if this will be fun any longer...

I understand that this game has no quick money and a steep learning curve, but in earlier versions I had wonderful shootouts, which were exciting and even fun enough that i did not care to loose. But when I am shot down within a minute while trying to flee the hell out of there, I become really cross...

It is true it takes time to earn the credits. No way around that.
But do not focus on that Clipper too much.
You can also look at it like this:
You already have that expensive ship sitting in your hangar and won't have to spend the money to buy it anymore. It is yours already.
You are now preparing to make it ready for actual flight.
It was a smart decision to keep your Asp.
You now have a good a-rated Asp to work towards this goal you have set yourself.
Just try to have fun working for that flight-ready Clipper. Do what you like to do.
Try different things. Try doing a lucrative long distance haul or a CG for example.

I believe this is exactly the way Elite should be played: You set your own goals.
Your current goal is getting that elegant Clipper out of the dock.
I think that is actually a great way to play the game.

Actually I am going to the same as you, but with a Federal Corvette.
I have the money to buy one, but not to outfit it appropriately..
I will buy it when I get the rank and leave it in the dock.
It might take me 6 months or even longer to buy all the expensive equipment I need for it.
The 8A powerplant alone will cost me a massive 162 million credits. That will take me a long time. And I did not even mention the A-rated shields, Hull armour, Thrusters etc.
Now I come to think of it... this project might easily take a year.

 

[Mike Reacher]

All players should remember that 5% of players use the forums.
All players should remember that there a large percent of players that suck at this game. (yours truly)
When an NPC flies through a sun or can seem to high wake from said sun to the starport you are going to and attacking from the front (My Cobra can't do that) and a wing of Pythons interdict, and one of them high wakes to a system before you do and is waiting for you .............
Is what I said bad player actions?
I would expect expert players to be able to do that, but they play open.
I play solo, and I can get away from most interdictions but not all. I have noticed that the more interdictions I have on a 205,000 system travel, my maximum standard speed drops. Another post was a similar comment (Maybe same one) and my max speed was 224. A Cobra with A rates should be consistent with it's rate of 300.
Is bad playing responsible for 3 interdictions in almost 2 minutes?
Is bad playing responsible for NPCs sitting on a sun's surface?
Is bad playing responsible for NPCs busting my hatch every time I have an engineers requirement on board.
How many million players have a time and don't tell you about it.
Nahhh ......... The game is good. The engineers suck. The interdictions suck, the trading is fine. I like it.

 

[EzeThieL]

Well, as I don't fly anaconda just yet, I can only say that interdictions isn't something I am afraid or happens to me. I had my ASP full of stuff needed for engineering and not even once got interdicted. I've seen trash talk messages sent by NPC when entering systems but not even once got interdicted, maybe I had luck or something. I do have some friends that have anaconda and they got interdicted with that engie stuff on them but they never ever had problems with them. Chew on the advices around here and things will be better. Fly safe CMDR

 

[Moonax IRL]

G'day all,
well I am over it.

I have spent quite a bit of time playing now (about 10 months) , and am reasonable at this game.
But, these interdiction every time I assemble enough materials to do an upgrade have driven me to start to doubt the sanity of the developers and my own.

I do cargo runs in the A rated Anaconda, which is armed with mines and beam lasers.

Six or seven hours game play a day gets me a nice reward for carrying cargo and then I look at the materials I have assembled to do an upgrade, oh yes just need one more material, which usually is in a system far far away, so off I go, get there and guess what, yup interdicted as soon as I get there.

Now being in an Anaconda the opposition is usually another Anaconda or at least A Federal Gunship, well for a bloke my age, I put up a fair scrap or try to boost away, but when these ship's armament and firepower definitely out weights mine, I don't stand a chance in my A graded and mirror hulled well armed Anaconda.

Crikey, I don't even care about the re-buy cost of 24 million cr's,each time, but it does get a bit annoying losing three ships to the same seniero in three days or nearly every time I am carrying materials to get that upgrade. Like some one said if your carrying materials for an upgrade then you are definitely an open target and magnet for interdiction.

Engineers upgrades, imho, are a brilliant idea,
and I don't mind having to equip a ship to go mining,(and put up with the interdiction). I don't mind equipping another to go to the surface, and use the SRV to look for rare minerals (and then put up with interdiction) and I don't even mind cargo hauling to gain materials, (and put up with constant interdiction's, or even the long hauls to get unlock materials, or the get friendly approaches with Engineers that is required.

BUT, ED, I do mind these over the top senseless , constant interdiction's every time I am ready to upgrade, If ED thinks I am talking out of my hat, then be so kind as to check my player logs and you will see why I am pulling the pin on this brilliant, mostly enjoyable game.

IMHO, I don't believe that I am the only one leaving the ranks of ED for the reason that your rate of interdiction's are over the top, and the firepower and shields of the interdiction ships seems unrealistic. For example no matter what I did with three beam lasers to an Anaconda I was involved with the other day, it's shield would not go below 14%.

Yes ED, I am extremely miffed, have spent a lot of time, and a lot of money , in this game, but as I said I believe that the game play is a bit miss mashed and you need to sort it out before I will come back to gathering material for engineers.

Perhaps, just perhaps, I will take the Anaconda and go exploring for a while, make a few cr's honking around the universe and then hopefully don't get interdicted and destroyed on my return by some mindless, AI, over rated, over the top interdiction ship.

yours aye
D38

Sorry but I just can't understand how player with your time in game cannot assess when it's time to fight or flight and then on deciding to flee how getting away is such a problem especially in an A rated Anaconda as you described. The Ai has already been nerfed and boosting away from interdictions should be a non issue. I have many ships in game inc the big 3, the annie is running a 4A prismatic shield plus a few boosters as I`m back from Jacques and the core (lightweight explorer build). I have no issue whatsoever with survivability in relation to the AI and yes I have been interdicted by FDL,annies and pythons etc many times and yes sometimes I blow them up or if I can't be bothered I just boost away.
There is a guy put a video on youtube in the last few days showing how to survive in OPEN in a T9 , here`s the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXK29dN5eaM . I suggest you watch that, learn and then critique your own ability before posting yet another wailing thread about the AI, you should have no excuse really after watching that vid.

 

[pipo zelvelder]

Sorry but I just can't understand how player with your time in game cannot assess when it's time to fight or flight and then on deciding to flee how getting away is such a problem especially in an A rated Anaconda as you described. The Ai has already been nerfed and boosting away from interdictions should be a non issue. I have many ships in game inc the big 3, the annie is running a 4A prismatic shield plus a few boosters as I`m back from Jacques and the core (lightweight explorer build). I have no issue whatsoever with survivability in relation to the AI and yes I have been interdicted by FDL,annies and pythons etc many times and yes sometimes I blow them up or if I can't be bothered I just boost away.
There is a guy put a video on youtube in the last few days showing how to survive in OPEN in a T9 , here`s the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXK29dN5eaM . I suggest you watch that, learn and then critique your own ability before posting yet another wailing thread about the AI, you should have no excuse really after watching that vid.

Pweh, another post from someone that has no clue about the struggle lesser players have... join the club... After all, this game IS called Elite...

Well, I am one of the unfortunates that play for 5 months now, and barely survive gameplay, played the last four weeks earning just 4M credits, and now am chasing engineer stuff because I udnerstand that otherwise I won't ever make it to a better ship. And this engineer stuff is hidden, so every 15 minutes, I have to look at internet to see what my next step should be. How's that for gameplay???

Man, the 1984 elite was so less complicated, only the fun of flying around and do some trading to collect stuff, ship parts and shoot a occasional pirate...