Ship / travelling Newb questions.

[jaffaz32]

Ship / travelling / general Newb questions.

I have just posted a ship list request but feel this deserves it's own thread.

Here are a few questions regarding buying new ships and general navigation.

I know a few answers so will answer myself for other newbs which will hopefully help them out

1. Q: Can I have multiple ships?
   A: Not at present, this will be a feature to come.
   
2. Q: What happens if I explode (shot or crash) with cargo?
   A: Unlucky it's lost.
   
3. Q: Why can't I go in to hyperdrive?
   A: Hardpoints (Guns) are out, Landing gear is down, cargo bay is out, ship is too hot, let it cool down.
   
4. Q: Why does it take ages to fly any where? (yes I really spent about a hour grinding my teeth)
   A: Dude engage the hyper drive (Awkward....).
   
5. Q: Navigation why can't I get to certain systems although there is a blue link?
   A: dotted lines only!, jump one system at a time, then on to the next, you may not need to stop to refuel (Solid I think means they are too far for starter ship.)
   
6. Q: When locked on to a system how do I actually navigate there?
   A: The main radar is not the navigation! the little thing above to the right is your navigation, if it's a outline of a square you are facing the wrong way, pull a you turn , if it's a solid square move around until you align it in the middle
   
7. Q: How do I dock when at a station?
   A: You have to open up left control panel, contacts and request to dock at the station, the station will only be available when in range, if denied try again. If it keeps to deny and you start to loose the will to live, save the game go back to main menu and try again.
   
8. Q: What do I do if I run out of fuel while in flight?
   A: If no cargo just bring up right menu and self destruct, if you have a valuable cargo from same right menu, distress beacon but apparently the fuel is uber expensive, I guess you are given the option to go ahead, how valuable is your current cargo?

So on to some questions I've not found answers to.

1. Q: When looking at purchasing ships does the "MK. *" refer to later revisions of ships for example new models and you can purchase all old and new models or are only the latest ones available to purchase?
   
2. Q: When you upgrade your first ship what happens if you explode? (crash or get shot down) Can you purchase it back for free like you can the sidewinder?
   
3. Q: Part of the top, how does the insurance work I've heard about?
   
4. Q: part of the above 2, what happens to upgrades? ie. weapons?
   
5. Q: Is it worth upgrading to the Eagle? or jump to the next ship available after saving? Eagle and Sidewinder look similar but what isn't mentioned is hyperspace distance?
   
6. Q: With a better ship can I jump / skip (miss out star systems) when travelling a distance or do you still have to jump to each star system before you can go to the next?
   
7. Q: When looking at the map, how do you jump to different systems? you can see the parth to get to each star in a particular system but what about systems with no visible path how you get there? surely it must be available in the beta as some contracts are available within those systems? Could this be a lack of jump distance with starter ship?
   
8. Q: When travelling to a system, how do you know from the list which ones have dockable ports?, so many times I've travelled around the system finding out by error.
   
9. Q: Can you land on any planets or space stations only?
   
10. Q: Do all space stations, docks look very similar in design and shape or is there any different looking ones you can visit? as the heading picture on the site shows a awesome a Elysium looking station.
    
11. Q: Is there more money to be made as a newb adventuring away from the starting area of trading points? or are you best to stay in the system you start?
    
12. Q: What will happen when the game officially goes live? We will have to start again or carry on with our current ship / balance etc? I think we should be allowed to carry on as a thank you for the support .
    

I might add some more questions as I think of them.

 

[Commander Dave]

So on to some questions I've not found answers to.
[*]Q: When looking at purchasing ships does the "MK. *" refer to later revisions of ships for example new models and you can purchase all old and new models or are only the latest ones available to purchase?

Just that model variant is available. It indicates that there were older models in this ship's design history. For example the Cobra MK2 I think, was a complete disaster and was taken out of service quickly.

[*]Q: When you upgrade your first ship what happens if you explode? (crash or get shot down) Can you purchase it back for free like you can the sidewinder?

Yes.
Assuming you can afford the insurance for it of course.
And do not forget to tick all the boxes otherwise you'll end up in a similar ship to your old one but without your weapons.

[*]Q: Part of the top, how does the insurance work I've heard about?

I think it's 10% of the ship hull value plus 10% of the value of the upgrades fitted to the ship. Although I'm not sure about this second part.

[*]Q: Is it worth upgrading to the Eagle? or jump to the next ship available after saving? Eagle and Sidewinder look similar but what isn't mentioned is hyperspace distance?

Don't know about the HS differences between them.
The Eagle is very fast, very manouvrable but is very weak in the hull department. The Sidey is a considerably tougher ship but has one fewer weapon slot than the Eagle which has three class two mounts.
Personally I found the Sidewinder to be more than a match to the Eagle and against a well flown Cobra the Eagle about as effective as a paper hat in the rainstorm. That said if the Eagle pilot knows what they're doing it can be devastatingly effective against almost everything other than the really big ships.
Same cargo hold as the Sidewinder at 4 cannisters.

[*]Q: With a better ship can I jump / skip (miss out star systems) when travelling a distance or do you still have to jump to each star system before you can go to the next?

Yes.
Bigger ships tend to have larger engines and a correspondingly larger jump distance.
In a Lakon-6 I can go across the width of the playable sphere in two or three jumps depending on exactly where I'm going. Max jump in it with no cargo is about 26ly I seem to remember.

[*]Q: When looking at the map, how do you jump to different systems? you can see the parth to get to each star in a particular system but what about systems with no visible path how you get there? surely it must be available in the beta as some contracts are available within those systems? Could this be a lack of jump distance with starter ship?

Hop from system to system.
Hyperspace to a close system, the target the next and hyperspace to that. You don't need to visit each station along the way as long as you have enough fuel. Your fuel tank is bigger than the max jump distance so you can make several jumps on one tank of gas.

[*]Q: When travelling to a system, how do you know from the list which ones have dockable ports?, so many times I've travelled around the system finding out by error.

Almost all systems have a station. Styx is thus far the only one I personally know of without a station.
when you get there open up the left panel and have a look down the list. You'll see planets and there'll be a station there somewhere. Target it and off you go.

[*]Q: Can you land on any planets or space stations only?

Stations only at the moment. Planetary landings are slated for a future expansion pack as far as I recall.

[*]Q: Do all space stations, docks look very similar in design and shape or is there any different looking ones you can visit? as the heading picture on the site shows a awesome a Elysium looking station.

There are different stations and plenty of different designs. Get yourself to Wyrd for a look at one.
The interiors are all broadly similar in that they have a central port, landing pads and appropriate control systems. They have to be really. Same thing as every shipping cargo port looks pretty much the same with the same cargo handling facilities.

[*]Q: Is there more money to be made as a newb adventuring away from the starting area of trading points? or are you best to stay in the system you start?

Personally I would suggest you get yourself familiar with the basics of combat and ship handling in the single player scenarios.
Then in-game start by trading your way to some upgrades. Then you can make significant money in the combat zones around Eranin's planets and other places. When you some more money I'd suggest that trading takes over as the best way to make large sums.
Buy a Hauler and find a milk run and you'll be in a Lakon-6 in no time. Then a Lakon-9 and then an Anaconda which you can fit out to the max and go hunting. At least that's what I'm in the process of doing.