Engineers Lost my 1 unit meta-alloys on the way to Deciat

[Rickk Deckard]

I thought it would be fun to explore my way to Merope while carrying my full 24 tons of mission cargo on my hard earned DBX and then going to nearby Maia, get the meta-alloys and head to Deciat to the engineer. It was actually going pretty well. I had great fun exploring and sold my cartographic data for around 2 Mil in Merope. The problem was getting the meta-alloys to the engineer. As soon as I left Maia with just 1 ton of cargo I got hunted down by a pirate. I managed to flee and evade interdictions for about 10 jumps until I was forced to stop for fuel scooping. I still managed to fuel scoop enough for a couple more jumps and get out of there but got hit hard by the pirate and apparently there was damage to the cargo hull. When I finally docked safely at space station somewhere on the way, I realised my precious 1 ton of meta-alloys was gone...

Now I either get back all the way to Maia (I'm already close to Deciat) and risk the trip again or forget about this and do something else. I also have an invitation for Martuuk so I'm wondering if it's a better choice to just do the Martuuk mission or go back to Maia to risk doing the Farseer mission again.

What do you think is my best option?

 

[-Ictinike-]

Had the same thing happen 3 times to me, the same route. I just finally got one back to Farseer to init the engineer there and was luckily not interdicted this last time.

I feel your pain brother.

 

[WingNuts]

You may know this, but;
Always sip fuel as your aligning for the next jump
If interdicted submit, boost, boost, boost
Have a button or key assigned to next system in route
Patience and perseverance Commander

Wingy

 

[Winterwalker]

Cash in your mission I would, a lighter load means any return trip to Merope is closer.

I think Farseer's a very worthwhile engineer to get in with personally. Maybe take more than one ton of metas with you though because hatch shots can definitely do that to you. Bring a full load, you can always sell the rest.

Whether you can find another excuse to visit Merope not sure. Can always take a different route and gain some more cartographic cash on the way.

Patience and perseverance Commander

o7 and good luck.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Martuuk is in general probably the more useful of the two FSD engineers - the only things Farseer leads to that you can't get from other engineers are the G5 Mine Launcher (Ishmaak), the G4 Interdictor (Dekker) and the G5 Cannon (Sarge). But, Farseer does have a bunch of useful blueprints at G3 which you otherwise wouldn't get at all until much later.

Probably while you're back in the bubble, unlock Martuuk, and then you can use the FSD engineering to get back out to the Pleiades quicker next time.

 

[Mugur]

Felicity is the best engineer period. Grade 5 FSD, Grade 3 Dirty Drive Tuning, grade 1 Power Plant... and there's more. So get back to Maia, collect your meta-alloy and go to Deciat. Put some weapons on your DBX and kill the pirate or scoop with your back against the star at minimum distance and minimum speed. This way you won't be interdicted and your attacker will crash into normal space while trying to position behind you.

 

[Rickk Deckard]

This is great advice, thank you all so much!

After reading your comments I decided to go back to Maia and do a sightseeing/cartographic data gathering trip. It should be fun to do it slowly and discovering stuff on the way. Once I get to Maia I'll get some more meta-alloys, more than just one ton this time. I'll then attempt to get to the engineer and this time I'll be armed to the teeth as much as possible and I'll be scooping stars at every opportunity.

Having a button assigned to the next system en route is definitely a great idea. Thanks for that!

I've never scooped with my back to the star, I need to have a go at that. It sounds a bit difficult to do without falling out of supercruise myself, though...

After Farseer I'll also do the first Martuuk mission. I'm finding these missions great fun in terms of exploring along the way and doing them at a slow pace (while having cargo hull empty), getting to know each system a little bit.

 

[wAsh67]

Just completed this in my A rated vulture teetering on the brink of electrical overload all the way. Picked up one unit and on the long plod back evaded a few interdictions before one caught me scooping. Haven't done much combat ( only uprated to Novice this evening) but managed to turn on it and take it out with a pair of pulse lasers. Managed to deliver ok. Now I have to learn how to surface prospect for Sulphur etc for advancement with Farseer.

Scariest thing ( apart from all those Thargoid level 8+ USS signals I had to bravely avoid exploring) was when getting interdicted while scooping. Got thrown out of supercruise for going too close to the star (like hell was I going to submit with that meta-alloy on board). Expecting a bitter fight with ages until the drive cooled down I deployed hardpoints and looked for a target, but the pirate ship had disappeared and the scanner was empty?

I like how ED forces you out of your comfort zone for these quests. After plodding away avoiding combat in my Cobra3 until I got the Vulture (up to Broker without firing a shot) I had a few turns on a haz-res to get comfortable with it in preparation for the trip to Maia. That in turn made me comfortable tackling the 100k bounty demand for one of the other engineers. Now the surface prospecting hunt for Sulphur which I have never done will set me up to explore mining, which I would never have considered without the engineer demands. And all the exploring on the engineer trips brought me up to Pathfinder. Anyway, I'm digressing...

As far as fuel scooping goes on the way to Maia I developed a habit of scooping by diving under the arrival star and steering into line with the departure vector of the next star while slowly looping around under the star, keeping the star surface at a point halfway up the upper window pane and when aligned with the departure vector I come to a full stop. When the bar looks about 95% full I hit the gas and by the time the scoop is finished the tank is full, hitting the hyperdrive when the heat drops below 60%. Not had a slip up yet.

I know as a newbie I may be leading you astray here but I thoroughly recommend the Vulture as a beginners cheap combat ship. I love the thing and plan on upgrading to a Challenger once finances permit. Every time I tried to stand and fight in the Cobra 3 it ended up bad, but so far my Vulture has been brilliant. I've had to turn and run once or twice in a haz-res that got too hot because I bit off more than I could chew, but other than that it's been a blast, if you can forgive the pun....

 

[Rickk Deckard]

Actually I've already tried this trip again. This time I had my DBX armed as much as possible and I was expecting to put up a fight when I got interdicted again. What I did was everytime I jumped into a scoopable star I quickly refilled my fuel, even if just one unit was spent and then quickly jumped to the next star. No exploring other than the honk and just headed straight to Deciat. Doing this I wasn't interdicted and managed to deliver the meta-alloys safely.

I'm now also learning how to gather the other materials and data necessary for further advances with the engineer. I also like the fact that these missions take you out of your confort zone, making you learn things you otherwise might not bother to or not even know about.

I'm currently enjoying my DBX quite a lot. I also have a Cobra Mk. III but after getting the DBX I haven't used the Cobra yet. I find the DBX a wonderful ship for these longer trips and to take the first steps in exploration. The Cobra is more for when I want to settle down in my "home" systems for a while in order to build up reputation and/or do a bit of mining to increase the bank account The Vulture also sounds great, though.

 

[JetsonRING]

"I thought it would be fun to" whatever "while trying to complete this task/mission."

That will teach you not to around when you have a mission to complete. Do not get side-tracked when completing missions. Stay on mission! When you are hauling that "tasty" biowaste in your cargo fitted ship and get interdicted you do not turn and fight, you RUN and complete the mission!

It should have been obvious carrying a meta-alloy you would be a target for pirates. It was your ing around and not getting the job done that got you killed. o7

 

[Caleb2307]

I finished this mission at the beginning of this year...

When you get interdicted step on the break... and then boost one or two times. The pirates should not be able to get you down.

As an alternative you can try to lock the next star on your route, as soon as you reach a new System. The pirates are not able to stop you reaching the next System with a fsd jump... no mass locking is possible in this case. Your shields should be strong enough to resist a short period of time. Do you come along with the energie management? In case of running away, you don't need energy for you weapon systems.

I did this mission with a cobra and i didn't have serious problems. A lot of jumps, a lot of interdictions... but the weren't able to harm me serious.

 

[Flin]

DBX or even the Hauler is a great ship with decent jump range without engineering.

Quick tips:
1. Lighten your ship by D rating sensors and life support; you don't need heavier ones in most cases.
2. Complete your missions asap as the longer you have it outstanding, the more chances for enemies and pirates to come after you
3. If you get interdixted, try to fight it by staying within the exit cone.
4. If you are close to losing (red bars nearing max), submit by throttling to zero. Put pips to shields and engines. Then boost away while charging your FSD for your next jump (binding a key for next jump is useful here).

Farseer is a great engineer to have at the beginning, but search this forum for guides on how to unlock engineers for ideas

You will get to try lots of different stuff along the way. And good for you for not going for a money route via mining.

 

[Rickk Deckard]

Yes, I've learned I should focus on the mission and that's how I managed to complete this first one ;-)

I seldom fail to avoid interdictions but in this case I was scooping and fell out of supercruise for coming too close to the star. That's how the pirate got to me. I still managed to run away but was shot hard and lost my cargo from the shots to my cargo hull. That's why I had to go back and do the mission again. I was never killed in this mission. Which is great because the death/rebuy mechanics in this game are a bit immersion breaking for me. But I try to ignore those details to feel more into the role ;-)

I like the DBX but I think I'll soon change to an Asp Explorer. It seems to be a wonderful ship.

I'm not very concerned about money. My focus is on enjoying the game by role playing it a bit. Getting millions of credits easily is an immersion breaker for me. So I just ignore that part and earn money naturally, not really looking for it. When I have enough to upgrade or change ships I do it and it tastes more like an achievement I sometimes do some mining but only for a short time. I get bored easily doing that, anyway.

I still suck at combat but I'll try to slowly develop that skill. My plan for now is to trade in the DBX for the Asp and later get another ship more for combat prone missions. I'm thinking about a Vulture or maybe an Imperial Courier to start with, when I have enough credits of course...

 

[Ashnak]

Money?

If you should decide to go again from Deciat to Maia, and this time take the pretty way, you should be able to collect between 20 and 150 MCr. from scanning and mapping the valuable (i.e. terraformable HMC, ELW, WW and AW) planets on the route.
One example for such a route would be here: https://www.spansh.co.uk/riches/res...0&min_value=281633&radius=50&range=35&to=Maia
(hope the link works).

The 150 MCr. could let you jump right over the Asp and into a Krait Phantom (or Mk.II).

 

[Rickk Deckard]

That's great information, thanks!

For now I'll still try to play without "easy money" tricks because, like I said, I prefer to role play this game and not play it specifically to get quick millions but rather do what my commander would naturally do and earn credits a bit more naturally. It also makes each upgrade or new ship feel like a true achievement and it feels more immersive because it's more coherent. I also don't mind going through the smaller ships before getting to the bigger ones. It's part of exploring ED's world and enjoying the path.

Having said that, I already sold my DBX and started flying the Asp Explorer. I find it a much better ship in every way except for the looks I also found out that when trading in the few slightly engineered modules I already had I lose the engineered bit. So, because modules have different sizes in the new ship, I could only keep one that is the same size and already had a few modifications. Everything else will have to be done again. Living and learning in this game

 

[TopCat160]

It was your ing around and not getting the job done that got you killed. o7

Thing is, at times it's ing around on the way to getting the job done that makes the game a lot more fun, interesting, and less grindy.

Just be aware that excrement will often occur!

 

[Ashnak]

I would suggest you keep any engineered (or otherwise hard to get) modules in storage (I do) - you can store up to 150 (IIRC) modules. Some time in the future, you might want to set up again a smaller ship, just for fun.

 

[Rickk Deckard]

Yes, I'll keep my engineered modules from now on!

Some ing around sometimes leads you to places you'd never go otherwise. But now I generally only do that with empty cargo hold. Last night my ing around made me see a thargoid for the first time:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/479073-Thargoid-attacking-Aquarius-Class-Tanker-FBY-8839-in-Deciat

 

[ECLIP5E]

I took this advice on my first run from Maia to Deicat yesterday. Loaded up with 15 meta-alloy and sure enough got interdicted on the way. Lost 2, but made it there w more than enough regardless. Always to travel w more than needed, sell what you don’t use.