DarkMere pathetic commander

[DarkMere]

Thanks for your welcomes and tips in the introductions thread.

Have to confess to still finding this a steep learning curve, and having moments of frustration were I throw my joystick (Black Widow) into the corner and vow not to play it again, only to pick it up 30 minutes later and try again.

I zoom around race tracks in rFactor, land boeing 747's in MFS X, drive across Europe in UTS 2, but I can't even get started in Elite.

I have no problem in docking at all, its dead easy. I have no problem getting from A to B, but the problems I am having are this.

I have twice tried to deliver to the closest democracy, figured out how to use the super drive, figured out that it does not become mass locked as you near the station as the old Elite would and will fly right past. Okay I go slow as I near my target, how do I come out of the drive? I can't find any key map that says disengage the drive. Somehow I have managed to dropped out into normal space (but don't know how) after many frustrating fly bys, only to hear the twice in two attempts. Don't panic, just give my your cargo, to be followed by a rapid death. Which brings me to my second problem I cannot get the hang of the combat at the moment, and my instincts to just trade for a while before I get better equipped result in my rapped death even in a democracy area.

Maybe this game is just not for me, but I can see the massive fun penitential within the game, but frustrated is not the word.

 

[Yaffle]

To exit supercruise it's the same button you pressed to engage it. I think the default is 'J' but you may have rebound it.

If you are going at more than 1,000kms-1 then you'll have to press it twice to do an emergency stop.

Also have a read at Fangrim's guide - http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31807

 

[Scourge]

The button you use to go into Supercruise is the same button you use to leave, hope this helps.

 

[RobFisher]

It's the same key you use to go into the drive. H, possibly. Or J? I can't remember.

Your speed and distance need to be in the blue zone on the left panel (i.e. you need to get within 1000km). You should also see the text "safe disengage ready". Then you will exit the super cruise and appear near the station.

 

[Mirex]

Exit supercruise with j button (remap it if you wish). Learn combat in Federal distress signal near Eranin 2.
You will learn, don't give up!

 

[RobFisher]

Also note you can exit super cruise anywhere, but if you exit within 1000km of your target, you will be magic-ed to the right location.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

as a tip if you keep your throttle in the middle of the blue zone so the '0' at the end of the line turns blue and then slow down a little when you here the engine note change you'll find you fly past your target a lot less often. make sure you are locked on to it in your nav panel as well as distance to target determines the throttle scale the frame shift drive sets. the nearer you get the slower it goes, down to a minimum speed of 30km per second from a maximum of around 20 times the speed of light (c)

 

[RobFisher]

Finally, trading is very safe right now. If you meet pirates, you can just run away. Use the boost button. Press J when you are far enough away and you can continue.

And a tip: once you build up some money with trading, resist the temptation to use *all* your credits to buy cargo. If you crash, you will lose all your progress that way.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Also note you can exit super cruise anywhere, but if you exit within 1000km of your target, you will be magic-ed to the right location.

i wouldn't say magic-ed as there is a fairly easy narrative reason, hitting the exit button tells the nav computer that you want to exit sc and how long it has to perform the task. the frame shift drive shuts itself down at such a rate as to always drop you out at around 20 km from your target. this is a safety feature to avoid hitting other traffic, or the space station itself.

i would say its very much llike applying the breaks on a car, an experienced driver knows how hard to press the pedal and when to start applying pressure from varying speeds and can get it to stop at the same place regardless, provided enough warning is available.

this explains why emergency stop sometimes causes ship damage as you drop to real space too quickly for the frameshift to decelerate you from 30km a second or more back to normal space velocities. to go back to the car analogy again its like slamming the anchors on at 50 mph and scrubbing flat spots on all four tires.

 

[Kernel Kwatz!]

You should also make sure to pay attention to the blue speed and distance indicators to the bottom left of your HUD. Your speed should ideally just be below that of distance to avoid overshooting.

On the approach to my destination I generally carry massive speed and overshoot on purpose as I think it's quicker then playing by the book. I'll do a loop or two around the target to scrub off some speed while still staying within close proximity to it (the compass and head tracking help with this). It's then that I'll pay closer attention to the speed and distance indicators. This may not be for everyone though. The important take-away is the first sentence.

If you nail it once then you will be fine there after. It's a matter of learning the technique rather then acquiring a super special new skill.

 

[forger]

the key you start Hyperspace/super cruise is same key you exit it

 

[ToadMan]

Did you alt-tab or play in window-mode.

If a dialog pops up in the background, my keyboard input goes there while my controller is still controlling the game. So I still seem to be in control until I try and exit from SC and nothing happens.

I had to alt tab and use the mouse to click focus back to the game.

EDIT : I don't think you're allowed to name and shame on this forum. Calling anyone a pathetic commander, especially yourself is almost certainly frowned upon!!

Toad.

 

[WiseDuck]

There is a sweet spot on the throttle that always keeps you at the right speed for the approach, so no matter what you will ALWAYS be at the right speed when your in exit SC range of your target.

It's easy to do, but difficult to explain. I'm no ED expert or very technically minded when it comes to explaining things such as this, so bear with me. (a video would do the trick)

If you keep your throttle 2-3 notch's into the blue zone (so the lower end of the blue zone) your speed will always be 1/10th of the distance, so technically your always 10 seconds away from your target. If you keep your throttle at that "sweet" spot your ship will slow by itself, (don't know why, it just does) so when you reach 20,000km from your target you should be doing about 2000km/s. This way can take a wee bit longer than any other way but it's 100% safe way to approach the jump exit and I have yet to miss a target using this technique.

But I'm sure you all already knew this anyway.

 

[DarkMere]

Thank you friends, I will go back with renewed confidence. I did see the 'J' key map but thought that only worked with the hyper-drive. I have been engaging the SD from the panel, glad I can just press 'J'. Also one of the occasions I was killed, I was being attacked and was fumbling around trying to find the menu to activate the SD, by which time I was near enough toast.

Just trying to remember things from my Spectrum Elite days and trying to apply them to this game. I guess I should wipe my memory clean and start afresh, and yes, it would help if I would read things first. In Elite Mk1 your maximum light space jump was 5 ly, having looked at the fuel gauge having jumped 4.8, I still have lots left, so I guess I have a bigger range.

As regards safe systems, is it still Corporate State (safest), going down to Democracy, Communist, and so on?

 

[Shigawire]

Thanks for your welcomes and tips in the introductions thread.

Have to confess to still finding this a steep learning curve, and having moments of frustration were I throw my joystick (Black Widow) into the corner and vow not to play it again, only to pick it up 30 minutes later and try again.

I zoom around race tracks in rFactor, land boeing 747's in MFS X, drive across Europe in UTS 2, but I can't even get started in Elite.

I have no problem in docking at all, its dead easy. I have no problem getting from A to B, but the problems I am having are this.

I have twice tried to deliver to the closest democracy, figured out how to use the super drive, figured out that it does not become mass locked as you near the station as the old Elite would and will fly right past. Okay I go slow as I near my target, how do I come out of the drive? I can't find any key map that says disengage the drive. Somehow I have managed to dropped out into normal space (but don't know how) after many frustrating fly bys, only to hear the twice in two attempts. Don't panic, just give my your cargo, to be followed by a rapid death. Which brings me to my second problem I cannot get the hang of the combat at the moment, and my instincts to just trade for a while before I get better equipped result in my rapped death even in a democracy area.

Maybe this game is just not for me, but I can see the massive fun penitential within the game, but frustrated is not the word.

Welcome aboard commander! Hopefully all you need is a few general tips to get you pointed in the general direction. Other people have already clarified how to exit super cruise. Both hyperspace and super cruise utilize the same "Frame Shift Drive" (FSD), hence why both use the same FSD button. It used to be two different keys before beta 1, but now they are both the same. What this means in practice is that when you push the FSD button, the button is context sensitive. This means that, if you have targeted a distant sun, the FSD understands that you want a hyperspace jump. While if you target a local position in your current solar system, it understands that you mean to enter Super Cruise.

As for combat, there is really only a few good tips people can give, but mostly it's practice practice practice. The singleplayer scenarios are quite difficult. I admit that I died a lot of times before I even started making a dent in the enemy in most missions.

The tips I would give you before starting, however.. is to have mastered the following. And it's a good place to practice in the empty asteroid belt in the first mission.

1.Flying in a forward vector, just fly around asteroids
2.Lateral and vertical thrusters, try to challenge yourself when flying around asteroids.
3.Power management combined with throttle management - when in a turning match, keep the throttle in the blue range for optimal turn rate. To further aid your turn rate, have all power to Eng. When directly behind a ship, all power to Wep. When fired upon until you lose shields, put some power to Sys until it reaches max capacity, then put all power to Eng and/or Wep again.
4.Practice with Flight Assist Off in the empty asteroid belt. I fly with it all the time now, even when docking.

In Elite Mk1 your maximum light space jump was 5 ly, having looked at the fuel gauge having jumped 4.8, I still have lots left, so I guess I have a bigger range.

As regards safe systems, is it still Corporate State (safest), going down to Democracy, Communist, and so on?

Well, fuel usage is not 1:1 related to jump range. For example, with my Viper, I can't jump more than 8-10 LY at the most (I don't remember 100%), but for each jump I only use a little fuel. Different ships have different fuel efficiencies. The Viper probably has the very best fuel efficiency. As for jump range, the Lakon Type 6 or 9 have enormous jump ranges.

Also, not sure if hi-tech Communist state is less secure than hi-tech Democracy. I suppose there will be gradients of how much security a system has, but I'm not sure it's going to be related to political system. Perhaps someone else knows this better. But yeah, Anarchy is always the least safe.

 

[DarkMere]

In Elite Mk 1, when you leveled up you would hear a ping and get a message on your com saying, "Right On Commander". I don't know if you get the same on this version, but I feel like someone has just pinged my brain and said Right on Commander.

When we talk about learning curves, often there is a little vertical curb stone to get over before we get onto the learning curve properly. Thanks to everyone's help and an afternoon off work playing the game, I am now over the curb stone and making progress.

So, watch out everyone, I'm getting in the grove and have an itchy trigger finger.

 

[Thomas Jefferson Jones]

In Elite Mk 1, when you leveled up you would hear a ping and get a message on your com saying, "Right On Commander". I don't know if you get the same on this version, but I feel like someone has just pinged my brain and said Right on Commander.

Holy Mackerel, - yeah in-game ranks have yet to be implemented, currently only your forum profile levels with your exploits.