Newcomer / Intro When should I upgrade my ship?

[henlo pigeon]

Hi guys! New to the game. I worked myself up to a D-C rated diamondback scout and found myself struggling with it in combat, so I downgraded to an A rated adder and found it so much more fun and solid to fly. I'm sat on around 6 or 7 mil in assets now and not sure what to go for next.

Is it generally the case that you should wait until you can afford to fully upgrade a ship before buying it instead of squeezing your budget into a bigger hull and skimping on it's components, or did I just feel the way I did because the adder happens to be the one true chariot of the gods, first lord among ships and noble ruler of the spacelanes like I suspect?

Input appreciated.

 

[MrGreen13]

Hi guys! New to the game. I worked myself up to a D-C rated diamondback scout and found myself struggling with it in combat, so I downgraded to an A rated adder and found it so much more fun and solid to fly. I'm sat on around 6 or 7 mil in assets now and not sure what to go for next.

Is it generally the case that you should wait until you can afford to fully upgrade a ship before buying it instead of squeezing your budget into a bigger hull and skimping on it's components, or did I just feel the way I did because the adder happens to be the one true chariot of the gods, first lord among ships and noble ruler of the spacelanes like I suspect?

Input appreciated.

It just depends on what you want to do? Fighter....then save up for a Vulture (make sure you can afford a rebuy). She will cost a good amount to upgrade though. Exploration....get an Asp Explorer (awesome ship! Still one of my favorites). Cheap multi-role for me was a Type 6.

 

[Hooplah]

Maybe a little too much too fast as bigger ships cost a lot to upgrade for the needed maneuverability, speed, shields etc that combat requires. For a combat progression with decent Adder skills I would think the Viper would be the next ship to try. Many do very well with it and make good profits. An A-rated 3.5m Viper versus a 6.5m Scout with the same hard points would seem the better choice for now. Just one way of many to go.

 

[d8veh]

I always wait to buy a ship until I've got enough credits to fit it out exactly like it needs to be for whatever I want to do with it, There's nothing worse than going out in a ship that's not up to the job.

For combat, my favourite route is stay in the basic Sidewinder until you have 3 million, then an A-rated Viper until you have 16 million for a Vulture, then 100 million for a FDL.

 

[Para Handy]

Maybe a little too much too fast as bigger ships cost a lot to upgrade for the needed maneuverability, speed, shields etc that combat requires. For a combat progression with decent Adder skills I would think the Viper would be the next ship to try. Many do very well with it and make good profits. An A-rated 3.5m Viper versus a 6.5m Scout with the same hard points would seem the better choice for now. Just one way of many to go.

The Viper MkIII is Elite's best kept secret - it is just so much fun to fly. I'm not into the pew-pew but this little ship is a real beaut. If there is anyone on here that has skipped it, give it a try, it's the sort of thing that kids will buzz pre-spaceflight civilizations in just to start new religions for kicks.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

Yeah Viper to Vulture would be my suggestion if combat's your thing. You've got enough to A rate a viper and have rebuy but the Vultures just a bit beyond you cost wise ATM.

Or stick with the Adder and make a heap more cash.

Oh and if selling your Adder remember to sell all components first as they sell for 100% cost but if you sell them with the ship they lose value.

 

[henlo pigeon]

It just depends on what you want to do? Fighter....then save up for a Vulture (make sure you can afford a rebuy). She will cost a good amount to upgrade though. Exploration....get an Asp Explorer (awesome ship! Still one of my favorites). Cheap multi-role for me was a Type 6.

Yay thanks for the advice. At the moment I'm really enjoying the planetary landing stuff, but I like to do light exploration and combat on the side too. The only thing that's been putting me off ships like the viper and vulture is the tiny jump range.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

If you're insisting on an all rounder then the Cobra MK III is the obvious choice but you might be better having dedicated fighter and a dedicated explorer. Of course the Cobra can do both but you need to outfit it for each role - mind you you don't lose cash buying and selling modules so as long as you get a good outfitter station with lots of modules you should be OK. It also make a reasonable early miner if you want to try that.

 

[PBSF Pendragon]

the best advice 100% is do not purchase anything you could not afford to upgrade a little and still afford two or three (minimum) rebuys.

If you like exploration, an AspX is an absolute beauty. I hated the look of mine at first but after spending countless hours in her (ooh err) I actually miss it when I'm not in it these days.

Viper and vulture are great for combat, Asp, I wouldn't go near combat in one (personally) but she does also make a good trader / passenger ship.

 

[Maymo]

Depends what you're going to do with the ship. If you're going to run cargo and data then it isn't unreasonable to buy a cobra, fill it with racks and head straight out (as long as you can handle interdictions) and build the ship up as you play. Done this with Viper4's plenty of times without problems...

Combat is different though, you can still cut a few corners in outfitting if you plan to fight somewhere safer like a nav beacon, but the general rule is to A class the combat essentials like distributor/thrusters/shields before getting your hands dirty. You learn what you can get away with from experience mostly...

A Viper3 would definitely be a good choice, 2 medium beams and two small cannons was the most dangerous loadout I found. 4mc's also works very well...

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Imperial Courier is a pretty amazing early game ship, requires some Empire rank though.

As others have said the Cobra III is the all-rounder king.

T6 is great for trade & distance exploration early on before you can afford an Asp Explorer or proper Diamondback Explorer.

 

[Strangepork]

Hi guys! New to the game. I worked myself up to a D-C rated diamondback scout and found myself struggling with it in combat, so I downgraded to an A rated adder and found it so much more fun and solid to fly. I'm sat on around 6 or 7 mil in assets now and not sure what to go for next.

Is it generally the case that you should wait until you can afford to fully upgrade a ship before buying it instead of squeezing your budget into a bigger hull and skimping on it's components, or did I just feel the way I did because the adder happens to be the one true chariot of the gods, first lord among ships and noble ruler of the spacelanes like I suspect?

Input appreciated.

When you have enough for 3 rebuys and a full hold of palladium?

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

An A-rated smaller ship will usually outperform a D-rated larger one. But what can make a ship really shine is doing a bit of engineering as well. I engineered an Adder last weekend. It now boosts to 600m/s.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

wrt when to upgrade to a bigger ship: I believe this depends on what you use it for. If you want a combat ship then better to wait until you can equip it more or less as you want it plus re-buys as poorly equipped combat ship is not going to last that long and had big rebuy costs. However, if you are looking to do cargo runs then nothing wrong with buying a ship a lot earlier. This risk of ship loss is relatively low and as cargo space expands so does income so the sooner you upgrade the quicker you earn cash. If you are mission running then probably somewhere between the two as the is a higher risk of interdiction.
.
I generally keep my existing ship and upgrade early. If I find the new ship is still a bit under equipped then I'll continue on my older ship for a while earning more pennies for upgrades. I really started doing this since I bought my Cobra this has resulting in me owning quite a large fleet. Also at times I have stripped my other ships as I lose no cash selling the modules and keep the hulls that I would have otherwise lost 10% on them when sold. At a later date then go back and re-fit them.
.
The one rule is though to not fly with no insurance. Ideally never have less than twice or three times the insurance. Over the years there have been many sobbing threads from people who did and the lost everything when they were destroyed.

 

[Richard]

The Viper MkIII is Elite's best kept secret - it is just so much fun to fly. I'm not into the pew-pew but this little ship is a real beaut. If there is anyone on here that has skipped it, give it a try, it's the sort of thing that kids will buzz pre-spaceflight civilizations in just to start new religions for kicks.

The Viper MkIII is Elite's best kept secret - it is just so much fun to fly. I'm not into the pew-pew but this little ship is a real beaut. If there is anyone on here that has skipped it, give it a try, it's the sort of thing that kids will buzz pre-spaceflight civilizations in just to start new religions for kicks.

Oh you Teaser you.

On a serious note you've just made a decision for me. Was thinking about kitting out a dedicated combat ship and was wondering whether to go for a Viper or Vulture. The Viper sounds fun and the cheaper insurance whilst I'm relearning the pugilistic arts is not to be sneezed at.

To OP, I don't normally worry about fully speccing a new ship at the time of purchase. I'll normally C rate it asap, then work on earning the funds to fit A rated components where required. Mind you, I've mostly been trading/mining/running missions until now. For a combat ship, I would probably get it fully equipped and loaded (as best I can) for bear, before going and looking for a fight.

 

[CMDR CODY]

I'm sat on around 6 or 7 mil in assets now and not sure what to go for next.

Now that depends on what you want to do. I dont do combat, so cant help you there. I used an Eagle, and combat was boring. Saddle up and shoot at conda for 20 minutes, boom.
My ship of choice is the Diamondback Explorer. No guns, dont need them, cant get pulled out of super cruise, so never have to fight anyone.

 

[HurstLlama]

"... cant get pulled out of super cruise, so never have to fight anyone..."

Is that because you are very, very good at avoiding interdiction or is there some gizmo that I haven't heard of? (asking for a friend)

 

[Maymo]

"... cant get pulled out of super cruise, so never have to fight anyone..."

Is that because you are very, very good at avoiding interdiction or is there some gizmo that I haven't heard of? (asking for a friend)

It's really not that hard to beat the interdiction mini game (from npc's anyway).

Interdiction's are usually only lost within the first few seconds when the escape vector whips away from you, as long as you're expecting the interdiction to come (pirate chatter, contacts awareness) you should be ready to respond.

When it happens it's important to ignore everything else apart from the escape vector, don't twiddle with the throttle or try and avoid planets....just stay at 75% throttle and keep working away at the vector.

...and yeah, you'll get good at it really quickly if you go out without guns on your ship.

 

[HurstLlama]

Thanks for that

 

[Maymo]

Thanks for that

Lol, sorry Hurstllama! I thought it was a legit question you were asking... (you've been playing ED for years)

Hope you enjoyed my little lesson anyways!