Lost ships due to life support running out

[TheChafing]

Typically I do sourcing missions in industrial stations but that is no longer an option now that I'm broke as a joke. I can't even afford new hardpoints on my sidewinder so how am I supposed to do bounty-hunting? I'm in between a rock an a hard place and really not motivated to grind missions only worth 10k for several hours trying to accumulate enough for new hardpoints or ships... :/

Check out this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQJZMW33KCQ

That should get you up and running. Basically, you don't have to single-handedly kill criminals all by yourself in order to collect the bounty on them. Just get a couple of hits in and that counts as participation. You can get some HUGE bounties for some of the more powerful ships. I got over 450K for shooting at an Anaconda a couple of times, the other day.

If you want to do this more organically, try doing courier missions and cargo missions out of one specific station, for one specific faction. Just like real life, doing missions for one customer will build a relationship with them, and they'll start offering you better paying missions. Obviously, you'll need to upgrade from that Sidewinder at some point. I recommend the Cobra, and then, once you've really gotten the hang of the game, the Asp Explorer (which is the best ship in the game, IMHO).

 

[MickyG1982]

Well, I just reset my save, with one trip to Eravate I earned enough to get myself out of the Sidey & straight into the Adder, with insurance too...

Definitely not too difficult to make money.

 

[Hooplah]

...I have no credits to spend on anything, barely enough for fuel...:/

First you did not lose any rankings, alliances with factions, reputation etc which can only be acquired by many hours playing the game. The best ship and lots of credits won't buy you that. All you need now is your Asp and some credits. Simple.

The good news.

Go to a Nav Beacon. Do not have any cargo nor pickup any while there and you won't be bothered (Cargo NO materials YES). Wait for a wanted ship to show up and the good guy NPCs start firing at it. Target the ship to make sure that it is wanted. Attacking without verifying can get you wanted! When it has about 20% hull left get in close and fire away with your two puny pulse lasers in the Sidewinder hitting the ship until it explodes. Don't hit the good guys! You will then get the bounty for all the work the NPCs did for you. Instant 4k in credits for the lowest rated ship. Lots of 20k-60k ships if you are patient...but move fast when they show up as the good guy NPCs are very good! Rinse and repeat but don't get too greedy and cash in the Bounties at the system station. Get killed and you lose them.

Hit a good guy and you get wanted with a bounty for 10 minutes. Leave the Nav Beacon and avoid contacts. One could just drop out of supercruise or into a safe USS and wait. After 10 minutes a high wake to another system clears the Bounty. Kill a good guy and you gat a Bounty for say 6 days! Be careful.

Get better ships and weapons and go to more hazardous places as in rez, lo rez, hi rez in rings around planets (but not Combat Zones for now...It's a different game). The higher the risks the better the bounties but the less there will be NPCs to do the work. Do the same and that wanted Anaconda can provide 200k in credits. Don't get greedy! You'll have your 6 mill Asp in a few hours and the 24 mill to A-rate it in a few hours times 4...maybe even sooner depending upon your skills.

Note if you are in your home system allied with the local factions you will lose rep with the ones you shoot. Totally OK to get started as losing rep is about a 20% loss. Think one mission completed for a faction equals 5 combat losses. But get that decent jump drive and move out several systems away so that you don't influence your local rep. If you accidentally kill a good guy NPC you will get a bounty. Easier to deal with when it is NOT in your home system but that solution is in many other threads.

The bad news? As your combat rating goes up so does the skill of your NPC opponents. Get too greedy advancing to say Expert without being able to hold your own in a 1-to-1 fight and you won't be happy. So get a nice comfortable credits reserve and lose a few Sidewinder/Adder ships learning the basic combat skills needed. Then you'll be a lot more confident in that shiny new Asp when the bad guys come your way. No need to spend weeks to get back where you previously were.

You now have the detailed instructions others have mentioned casually in their replies. There are a lot more opportunities now than ever were in the past. This is just one. I have a fleet of the top ships in the PC version worth billions doing it the hard way for two plus years but am awaiting the PS4 release to start it all over again! First I'll go to a Nav Beacon...

Regards

 

[Itaki]

Typically I do sourcing missions in industrial stations but that is no longer an option now that I'm broke as a joke. I can't even afford new hardpoints on my sidewinder so how am I supposed to do bounty-hunting? I'm in between a rock an a hard place and really not motivated to grind missions only worth 10k for several hours trying to accumulate enough for new hardpoints or ships... :/

You can bounty hunt in a stock sidewinder and make good money. Check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAt62Vc8Uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQJZMW33KCQ - Longer but probably better.

 

[AkimuMC]

You can bounty hunt in a stock sidewinder and make good money. Check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAt62Vc8Uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQJZMW33KCQ - Longer but probably better.

Also, to add here. If instead of talking bad about the game and dissuading friends from playing, get them playing and make a wing (or wing with friends you have in game). I got my wife from a Sidewinder to a Cobra in a matter of hours... I had an FDL, but for fun I got back into a Sidey with her. We had a blast and gained credits quick.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

Who can honestly say they haven't had their hind quarters handed to them at some point with this game.
You can loose the lot if you're not careful.
Best advice,don't upgrade too early,keep some of your early ships,you would have at least not painted yourself into a corner and been able to jump into another ship to build your rebuy back up.
There are normally quick routes to considerable wealth in this game.
Best of luck CMDR.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Had a similar issue in my first asp pre engineers and yes it was my fault with power. Switched most off leaving sensors, thrusters and life support, requested docking and headed in.

First time I had really thought about power so silly mistake. A bit of downrating from As, cargo hatch off and I was running 99% deployed. Did a few thousand LY with that build quite happily.

 

[AkimuMC]

Had a similar issue in my first asp pre engineers and yes it was my fault with power. Switched most off leaving sensors, thrusters and life support, requested docking and headed in.

First time I had really thought about power so silly mistake. A bit of downrating from As, cargo hatch off and I was running 99% deployed. Did a few thousand LY with that build quite happily.

I bought a ship once (can't remember what frame) and fitted it like a champ! Power looked pretty good, but I was fidgeting with priorities to get what I needed on, and what I didn't off when hardpoints were deployed. I couldn't get it right... I was using Coriolis and it said I should be full power with only the scoop and cargo hatch off... WHY WON"T IT WORK!!!! uh... I accidentally bought 1 size smaller power plant... woops... wasted about an hour or so and bugged a couple of friends with my stupidity...

 

[Xenagogue]

Now, I've lost a A rated, fully equipped FDL because when I was rushing it back to my home base (Ceos/Sothis) I got interdicted and crushed. Lost ~85M because I wasn't insured. I've been there, you've now been there, just about everyone's been there. It sucks, makes you feel like crap, and will anger you. (took three weeks off for my loss.) Then I took my remaining credits and bought modules to maximize my Sidewinder's jump range.)D-rated everything, A rated FSD, all optional fuel tanks, and a 2c fuel scoop.) Then I got out there and just kept on trucking.

I'm more than willing to help get you there; you'll have to get the Sidewinder configured, but I'll go with you :]

 

[Harley Quinn]

I bought a ship once (can't remember what frame) and fitted it like a champ! Power looked pretty good, but I was fidgeting with priorities to get what I needed on, and what I didn't off when hardpoints were deployed. I couldn't get it right... I was using Coriolis and it said I should be full power with only the scoop and cargo hatch off... WHY WON"T IT WORK!!!! uh... I accidentally bought 1 size smaller power plant... woops... wasted about an hour or so and bugged a couple of friends with my stupidity...

Been there too, although that was popping in a lower class at an engineer and forgetting to swap back. Just thrusters and sensors that time. We all learn.

 

[Itaki]

OP, there's more ships than the Sidewinder and the Asp. Check purchase locations for different ships with https://eddb.io/station

Eagle, Viper, Cobra, lots of fun to be had in these ships for less than 500k credits. The Eagle is only 44k.

Type 6, Keelback, Vulture - all cheaper than an Asp Explorer.

 

[SinphulAK]

To add to what Andovar said, the source missions don't really pay out so well until you have a pretty sizeable cargo capacity and maybe some bookmarked stations/systems where you know you can get certain things nearby. (or learn how to use 3rd party tools like eddb.io) Once you have the larger cargo capacity and an idea of where to get things, you can stack up the source missions and knock out several on a single trip or small route.

+1 for straight up delivery missions. And don't knock combat in the sidewinder. You could pop into a RES or HiRES and wait until some security forces have an FDL or Python down to 10% hull. Join the fight, land a few (admittedly inconsequential) shots, and BOOM 230k of bounty to turn in. Off one ship. Hang out there and help the cops finish 3-4 more ships this way, and you have a cool million. I did this the other day when I had a bounty in a system (that's why I was in a sidey) and accidentally made 2MCr. Don't bring any cargo with you into combat. It's pirate bait.

Thanks for this add, I'll look into this. In my ASP X I had 52 slots and memorized routes mixed with bookmarks because of certain supply/demand, even then I was only bringing in at most probably 400k per mission and pirates are ALWAYS present.

 

[Craith]

Gosh darn it, it just happened to me, too! I lost everything!

So.... I mean... I'm in Eravate with a dumb sidewinder...

sure thing ... I will be in Eravate ... aaaally ... for sure ... I guess ...

+ (virtual) rep for trying (can't rep you again)

 

[Pdxrobocat]

Agreed a power management issue.
Feel your frustration op don't let it get you down .plenty of fun ways to get your credits back in the black. I suggest winging up with one of the fine forum members and drop into a Cz or hazardous rez you'll get your credits back in no time. Good luck cmdr
Just remember to always keep 3x your insurance in the bank and never hit the launch button till you have fully investigated the issue you just had. 99% of the time it is pilot error that caused the issue in the first place and if it was a bug somebody would have posted and stickied it by now

 

[MickyG1982]

Just to prove a point, at 8pm, I reset my save & restarted in a sidey on the basic CMDR start in Trevithick dock.

It's now just before 10pm & I'm sitting in my brand new Cobra Mk III after doing nothing but delivery missions with no rep in any of the places I visited. The most I had stacked at one time was 6 to one system & in total I have visited 6 systems.

That is how easy it is to make money in this game.

 

[krylite]

OP, did you find out the problem? I think it must have been your life support module was powered down. But when you're docked the ground support gives you life support until you're undocked. I didn't know how the module page showed which modules were powered either initially. It just gives you a small wooshing sound in the background when a module is powering up while showing a progress energy bar on the module but you only see it if you are looking on the module page at the time. Don't feel too bad, my worst mistake was losing a 63 million ship! I think it was a clipper I outfitted with A power and drive, but at the time I didn't have enough to pay the insurance debt and didn't think carefully about it with the excitement of getting this new ship for the first time. I lost the ship and it was my only asset. I had to start over in a sidewinder :/ ......... , and later grind it up again in a cobra mk iii which is decent for doing most missions except big cargo.

But the good thing is that if you rank up with a faction, they give you better paying missions pretty soon. Don't lose hope please. You'll get it all back, best of luck.

 

[SinphulAK]

OP, did you find out the problem? I think it must have been your life support module was powered down. But when you're docked the ground support gives you life support until you're undocked. I didn't know how the module page showed which modules were powered either initially. It just gives you a small wooshing sound in the background when a module is powering up while showing a progress energy bar on the module but you only see it if you are looking on the module page at the time. Don't feel too bad, my worst mistake was losing a 63 million ship! I think it was a clipper I outfitted with A power and drive, but at the time I didn't have enough to pay the insurance debt and didn't think carefully about it I lost the ship and it was my only asset. I had to start over in a sidewinder :/
, and later grind it up again in a cobra mk iii which is decent.

But the good thing is that if you rank up with a faction, they give you better paying missions pretty soon. Don't lose hope please. You'll get it all back, best of luck.

I think you're probably accurate with what happened but it was all so unusual to me I couldn't say for certain. I've been playing for about a year so I thought I was pretty well versed in the game but now I know something new for the future. Thanks for the support, I'm having some trouble allying with a particular faction but it seems federation is the way I'm going to have to go given where I am in the galaxy. I'll keep trotting along.. I appreciate the care.

 

[Cupsuki]

Nice to see you understood your mistake OP this must be a really low blow but in the future.

Check your power levels and priorities and most important of all, don't fly without a rebuy. Wait until you can at least C or B rate a ship while still having enough for the insurance to avoid things like this but I do remember one training video in which barely covers power priorities

 

[AkimuMC]

I think you're probably accurate with what happened but it was all so unusual to me I couldn't say for certain. I've been playing for about a year so I thought I was pretty well versed in the game but now I know something new for the future. Thanks for the support, I'm having some trouble allying with a particular faction but it seems federation is the way I'm going to have to go given where I am in the galaxy. I'll keep trotting along.. I appreciate the care.

Nooooo! You can escape to the darkside of the Empire. I ventured out of the Federation in a Viper III. You can do it! Do not let them control you!!! lol.

Glad to see the turn around/change of heart from the beginning of this thread to now. You have time to gain back. You now know more than you did. ED goes on... So will you.

 

[MickyG1982]

Nice to see you understood your mistake OP this must be a really low blow but in the future.

Check your power levels and priorities and most important of all, don't fly without a rebuy. Wait until you can at least C or B rate a ship while still having enough for the insurance to avoid things like this but I do remember one training video in which barely covers power priorities

And, keep a hold of your old ships it might be tempting when you are within reach of your goal just by trading them in.

But if all else goes wrong again, wouldn't you rather have a cobra or type 6 handy to put you back on track?