Have I been duped?

[Mrat13]

Ok, so I practiced in my A rated non engineered FDL bounty hunting until I was ready....for conflict zones. This was it, where the money was at, where my skills would be put to the test....until it wasn't.

Seriously, the only thing that conflict zones have going for them is the number of ships. No granted, I was conservative and only picked off strays from the pack but still. I could do this in a vulture quite happily and at lower cost.

So what gives? Should I get the cash back and buy back a vulture, or am I missing something. Thanks in advance.

 

[kurush]

Conflict zones are not that hard if you know how to avoid engaging 4-5 enemies at a time and also can jump away quick enough if you actually did this. A pack of deadly "wanted" ships can be easily tougher. For ultimate PVE hardcore try a compromised beacon with some gold in your inventory

 

[Stealthie]

HazRes's are a better source of revenue IMO.

Take any one of the big 3 into a HazRes and it is, basically, a license to print credits.

 

[GraXXoR]

TLDR; Player takes care not to get himself into trouble by "picking off stray targets one by one." Then complains the game is too easy for his ship...

Wade into the middle of the carnage, my friend, then you'll see the value of the FDL over the Vulture.

 

[Mrat13]

TLDR; Player takes care not to get himself into trouble by "picking off stray targets one by one." Then complains the game is easy...

I think that's what I'd class as "missing something".

Plus, I think it's not about being too easy, more I expected it to be harder. I expected to need the FDL, rather than just a vulture.

Also at this point easy credits seems to be hauling in a type 9, at least on a budget, so this is more about what's fun, with a little consideration into not wasting credits where I don't have to.

 

[V'larr]

The real mistake is in wanting combat to be the best source of income.

It's really not. Trading is *all about* making credits, you know...and there's lots of info I can offer you about that.

For-profit combat is best done in a RES, pick your poison with what level of RES to go in.

Compromised nav beacons & combat zones are best for working your way up to Elite combat.

If you really want to commit to making money only through bounties, then you should get into powerplay and pledge to one of the leaders offering bonuses to bounties: Arissa Lavigny-Duval who offers 100% increase on bounty payouts at rating 5 (stacking on top of her base 20% bounty payout bonus akin to Li Yong Rui's 15% discount bonus), or Zachary Hudson who is essentially the same for our purposes, but Federal instead of Imperial. Pranav Antal also offers the 100% increase at rating 5, but does not have the base 20% bounty payout bonus. Yuri Grom also has a more limited base bonus that increaes with rating up to 15% (but also includes exploration and bonds and so on).

 

[Mrat13]

The real mistake is in wanting combat to be the best source of income.

It's really not. Trading is *all about* making credits, you know...and there's lots of info I can offer you about that.

For-profit combat is best done in a RES, pick your poison with what level of RES to go in.

Compromised nav beacons & combat zones are best for working your way up to Elite combat.

If you really want to commit to making money only through bounties, then you should get into powerplay and pledge to one of the leaders offering bonuses to bounties: Arissa Lavigny-Duval who offers 100% increase on bounty payouts at rating 5 (stacking on top of her base 20% bounty payout bonus akin to Li Yong Rui's 15% discount bonus), or Zachary Hudson who is essentially the same for our purposes, but Federal instead of Imperial. Pranav Antal also offers the 100% increase at rating 5, but does not have the base 20% bounty payout bonus. Yuri Grom also has a more limited base bonus that increaes with rating up to 15% (but also includes exploration and bonds and so on).

It's been pointed out in an earlier post I should go to a haz res for pure profit. I'm merely asking it seems like a waste of money to fly an FDL over a vulture, unless someone explains to me why I'm wrong.

 

[Kevin Kyle]

Take a Vulture to a hazres and you might wish you had the FDL

 

[yolomcbobbinz]

HI cz are easier than a haz res and LI cz you already fully upgraded the fdl I'd keep it, you'll fall in love with it soon enough if you're not to interested in the engineer grind even g1 and 2 mods will greatly improve the fdl

 

[Mrat13]

HI cz are easier than a haz res and LI cz you already fully upgraded the fdl I'd keep it, you'll fall in love with it soon enough if you're not to interested in the engineer grind even g1 and 2 mods will greatly improve the fdl

Wait so low intensity czs are better than high intensity? Or have I read that wrong?

 

[metatheurgist]

The money part only happens if you can find a good source of massacre missions. Otherwise the pay is less than RES.

 

[Stealthie]

It's been pointed out in an earlier post I should go to a haz res for pure profit. I'm merely asking it seems like a waste of money to fly an FDL over a vulture, unless someone explains to me why I'm wrong.

Fit the smallest possible cargo hold into your ship, buy 1t of gold and head for a HazRes and you'll soon figure out the difference between a Vulture and an FdL.

The Vulture IS a terrific combat ship but it's ultimately limited in it's Time-To-Kill by it's weapons.
On that basis, it probably is the better tool for a CZ.
In a CZ you don't have to actually destroy other ships all by yourself.
Fly around shooting at every enemy you see and, as long as they get destroyed eventually, you'll get the combat bonds.

Normal RES's aren't great for making credits because the cops are there and they can steal your kills or chase you away if you accidentally fire on a clean ship.

Which leaves HazRes's.
They're great because it's every man for himself and there's no cops around to steal your kills.
You'll get a Wanted tag if you shoot a clean ship but none of the other ships there will care.
The problem is, it's purely down to you to make every kill in a HazRes, which is when the Vulture suffers due to it's smaller weapons and longer TTK.
Conversely, a FdL will allow you to smoke one outlaw and get after the next one quicker.

Course, if you really want to farm HazRes's, you could do a lot worse than one of these:-

Spoiler

 

[thirstyfish]

Wait so low intensity czs are better than high intensity? Or have I read that wrong?

More difficult due to that it is easier to end up being the only one on your side in a swarm of a dozen hostiles. High CZs keep the balance better.

And HAZ RES is nothing to scoff at. I take my FDL in there with caution. Dangerous and deadly larger ships in wings are not fun. Especially when they have SCB spamming and just face tank you. Elite Anaconda's usually require me to kite them around the asteroids a bit. Hopefully my upcoming shield and weapon engineering will help fix this. Remember that HAZ RES has all the same spawns as HiRES without any cops. CNB + rocks is the gist of it.

 

[Mrat13]

More difficult due to that it is easier to end up being the only one on your side in a swarm of a dozen hostiles. High CZs keep the balance better.

And HAZ RES is nothing to scoff at. I take my FDL in there with caution. Dangerous and deadly larger ships in wings are not fun. Especially when they have SCB spamming and just face tank you. Elite Anaconda's usually require me to kite them around the asteroids a bit. Hopefully my upcoming shield and weapon engineering will help fix this. Remember that HAZ RES has all the same spawns as HiRES without any cops. CNB + rocks is the gist of it.

To me that sounds like I need an anaconda to be on the safe side in a haz rez, and a vulture can do everything else?

Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying the FDL but I'm a money conscious individual and if I can save money I will.

 

[rrobes]

The issue isn't staying out of trouble, it's courting trouble.

It's what you make it in your mind, whatever ship you use.

The Vulture I owned helped me get into the medium ships from BH credits so I'm partial to it.

 

[Stealthie]

Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying the FDL but I'm a money conscious individual and if I can save money I will.

This is just my personal opinion but I tend to think of the FdL as a "single ship killer". It's for either doing assassination missions or for PvP.

It can be fitted with some powerful weapons but it's armour isn't super strong and it can't fit a huge shield either.
As a result, it's going to take damage in sustained combat, unless you're capable of continually dodging incoming fire.

It can certainly be fun to dogfight in an FdL (or a Vulture) but if you're doing it for the credits then you just want the tankiest ship possible so you can soak up fire without having to wait for your shields to recharge before you engage the next target.

 

[Kevin Kyle]

Stealthie said it best. Sure you can do a lot with a Vulture. I love mine but I dont go to hazres for the reasons talked about.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Ok, so I practiced in my A rated non engineered FDL bounty hunting until I was ready....for conflict zones. This was it, where the money was at, where my skills would be put to the test....until it wasn't.

Seriously, the only thing that conflict zones have going for them is the number of ships. No granted, I was conservative and only picked off strays from the pack but still. I could do this in a vulture quite happily and at lower cost.

So what gives? Should I get the cash back and buy back a vulture, or am I missing something. Thanks in advance.

If you fly smart, you can handle anything in less than Vulture, even. I started doing CZ's back when my best ship was a Viper III, a ship I still take into them, or a HazRES, sometimes.

The AI can turn well and aim well, but tactically it's dumb. You don't need a mega ship when what you're actually doing isn't so much out-fighting them (although you are too), but out-thinking them.

The recommendations to take go to a HazRES or Compromised Nav Beacon with some cargo in you will do the trick, although I find it a little... forced, myself. These are my recommendations:

1) The easier challenge: Go into a HazRES and find a miner, or a CZ and find a friendly ship, and fly as their escort. Your job is to keep them alive, at all costs. See how long you can help them live.

2) The serious challenge. Get a ship, and spec it out for mining. After it can genuinely and honestly mine, then load the rest of it out to fight. Then load up some limpets, take it to a nearby High or Haz RES, and mine. Don't mine further than 5 or 6 km from the center of the RES, but make a serious effort to mine some ore to make a small profit.

The fighting will happen soon enough.

 

[Mrat13]

This is just my personal opinion but I tend to think of the FdL as a "single ship killer". It's for either doing assassination missions or for PvP.

It can be fitted with some powerful weapons but it's armour isn't super strong and it can't fit a huge shield either.
As a result, it's going to take damage in sustained combat, unless you're capable of continually dodging incoming fire.

It can certainly be fun to dogfight in an FdL (or a Vulture) but if you're doing it for the credits then you just want the tankiest ship possible so you can soak up fire without having to wait for your shields to recharge before you engage the next target.

Which sounds like I need an anaconda instead. Which to me means sell the FDL, get the vulture, scrape up the cash through whatever works best (probably passengers), get a type 9, do loop trading, then kit out a battleconda and go has rez.

Other than 'it's fun' (which the vulture is too, I sold it for the FDL), I see no reason to keep the FDL if what your saying is correct.

 

[EvE4evah]

Which sounds like I need an anaconda instead. Which to me means sell the FDL, get the vulture, scrape up the cash through whatever works best (probably passengers), get a type 9, do loop trading, then kit out a battleconda and go has rez.

Other than 'it's fun' (which the vulture is too, I sold it for the FDL), I see no reason to keep the FDL if what your saying is correct.

Mrat, looks like the issue is your way of getting enjoyment out of this particular game. Sure, if you get a bigger ship, things will generally go smoother. But to this day, I have an Annie and a Vette, but the most enjoyable moments came and still come from medium and small ships, particularly the FAS, the FdL, the iCourier, the Cobra, the Sidewinder (!), the DBX, the Dolphin and on and on. So, different things, different results, a somewhat complex game. Open your mind.

More specific comment: you just have to either practice more (keep proper distances and position against wings, know when to advance and retreat, fly properly, manage pips) or go for one of the big three, if your focus is really credit efficiency.