5 Questions for Experienced Players

[droscoe]

1. Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.
2. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
3. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.
4. When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)
5. I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Thanks!
Dustin

 

[Bottom Hat]

5b.

Are you able to program a deadzone for your stick? Either with its software, or using the game.
Basically it puts the first part of the axis as doing nothing, so little wiggles don't move the ship.

 

[lordzaz]

3: I'm not experienced by any stretch but I have found that starting my turn early (while the npc is heading towards me) I can get behind them before they turn, then I dance on the down-thruster while balancing my throttle to stay behind them nice and close.

 

[Barlog M.]

1. ~10
2. no
3. maneuvering
4. 10 sec enough
5. Multi-cannons better

 

[alexzk]

I don't know how to change it's sensitivity,

In game there are "'dead zone" sliders for many situation. That is sensitivity. i.e. what angle u should to pull it prior it will be considered moved.

takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.

Last test I saw on utube - was 5 rolls for G5. They said normal should be at least 7.

 

[Jmanis]

Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.

Honestly? I never bother with more than whatever three rolls gets me, which is usually anywhere between 50-90%

Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?

Not last time I mined... it sounds like you might be getting confused with pirates spawning. If you drop into a mining location and fly, like, 20km, you won't see any pirates spawn, but if you relog, pirates will spawn in your location... same same if you enter supercruise, you'll get pirates start to (potentially) spawn

When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.

Reverski, still works a treat.

When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)

I'm always happy to drain my cap. Usually, I never have time on target longer than how long my WEP lasts, and so while I manouver, it recharges and I go again.

I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Honestly? There's so many fits that work against NPCs. I guess it depends what you're trying to do; quick kills, staying power (e.g ammoless builds) etc... so there's variations.

I'm a gimball bunny too, and on my Krait MK2 I fit a C3 Overcharged Beam w/Thermal Vent, 2 x C3 Guardian Shard Cannons[1] and 2 x MCs, both Overcharged, one autoloader, one corrosive shell. It's not a worlds-best fit, but will take down pretty much anything.

[1] A lot of people will recommend G5 modded frags instead, this is just a personal preference thing for <reasons>

 

[Clicker]

Last time I did any engineering it took average of 10 rolls for G5.
It can sometimes require 11 or even 12 to max out if RNG is not favourable.

 

[Clicker]

When you mine...it goes into your refinery.
It becomes "proper" cargo, after you mine enough ore.

Example; you capture raw ore and it might contain 10% painite.
If every piece was 10% painite, then you would need to refine 10 pieces before you got 1 T cargo.

 

[goemon]

1. currently engineering is more effective, see GalNet of 17 Dec 2020. at the moment you'd need 5-6 G5 rolls, usually you need ~10. Note: as an experienced engineering player i almost never go for full G5, as the gains are minor on the last rolls, i plan with 3 G5 rolls, so i'll bring materials for 1-2-3-5-3 rolls.

2. as long as the ore is in the refinery it isn't cargo, as soon as it is refined, it is cargo. theoretically you can unpower the refinery and power it back at station... but than you are really limited on total mined tonnage.

3. lateral thrusters (up - down - left - right, instead of roll, yaw and pitch only). pip management. boost. all small and most medium ships are toally able not to get into a jousting match against almost every npc ship. i really got into combat flying an eagle. it teaches you being a better pilot - because you can't facetank npcs.

4. i tend as you to make builds which can fire continously, or at least 2+ minutes with 4 pips to WEP. but there are other players who use the time of WEP recharge for new positioning. i'd think along those lines: what is your time on target, and what is your DPS in that time? and how much time do you need to get back on target? you gonna find your style with some time spent. for certain weapons the situation is very different - for exampel for frags. i'd suggest trying a build before engineering to get an idea, whether it works for you.

5. generally there are some "must have" special effects (corrosive), some "nice to have" (emissive). plus weapon choice for other reasons (beams for venting heat or to pop powerplants). pve is a nice playing field to have fun, as you can fly and fight disregarding the "meta". give frags a try. enjoy the soundeffect of cannons. there are currently i think 2 very typical builds - a full efficient beam build with small hardpoints applying special. a full overcharged MC build with incendiary special effects. but where is the fun in that? my FAS for exampel sports beam, pulse, seekers and MC. and my current high CZ project of a cutter has a huge beam, 3 frags, a seeker rack, and a pulse and a MC for applying specials. most effective? probably not - but good fun piloting! i'll have to note, that two of my hgh CZ builds are a bit of that meta - an eagle (full overcharged MCs with corrosive - emisive - incendiary) and a cobra (longrange g1 burst, focussed pulse, small ammo increased mc for applying corrosive, small ammo increased seekers to strip chaff) - those small ships need all meta help to win a high conflictzone.

 

[Clicker]

One method of fighting NPCs is to use reverse thrust (reverski), flying backwards whilst they are in front of you and still chasing you.

 

[GoldenSilver484]

1. Regularly I get between 5 and 11 rolls to max out a G5 mod. Under the current system I've gotten a maximum of 9.

2. Anything in your cargo hold, besides limpets, will trigger a pirate's attack. You don't get attacked when randomly ring mining because NPCs only spawn with instance updates, such as logging in, dropping from supercruise, and when another player joins the instance, be it a random or a wingmate, or within 20km of a RES.

3. When flying small ships I try to focus on positioning myself behind my target, maintaining a distance of less than 1km, until their hull or powerplant pops. (Whichever comes first.)
In large ships I tend to thrust either up or down on top of the normal forward and backwards. This results in a constant orbit with my weapons being able to fire on even SLFs consistently. I face tank other large ships if I can't maintain a good position.
Mediums I do a combination of the two, depending on what I'm fighting.

4. Depending on what weapons and ship I'm using, this varies from just a few seconds to never, but normally doesn't dip below 45 seconds.

5. I like using efficient thermal vent beams with either a corrosive multicannon or frag, with a feedback cascade railgun or two, if I'm getting annoyed by NPCs getting their SCBs off.

 

[Ouberos]

Question 3: Circle strafing is a useful skill to master. There are guides online i think but essentially you need a maneuverable ship (Chieftain should be fine) and practice thruster controls. Asteroids are useful targets to begin with as they don't shoot back.

The FA off boost turn will also improve your time on target versus being the target.

Question 4: I wouldn't get hung up on building for a specific outcome. Good PiP management is a useful skill and will give you more versatility. For instance full PiPs to shields during "jousting" gives you something like 250% more shield than full PiPs to Engines ( exact numbers may vary, it was a long time ago when I looked into that, no doubt someone will correct me very soon)

Some ships actually need good PiP & Power priority management just to get off the pad. The Vulture is the most maneuverable Fighter in the game but is starved of power in its unengineered form. Even when that problem is taken care of you are still going to want to hustle the PiPs if you are running dual plasma.

Question 5: Put fixed on a small ship and practice with that. Let the ship be your gimbal. Use the force. You can do it.

 

[Crank Larson]

I like the Chieftain best with rails and multicannons.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

1. Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.
2. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
3. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.
4. When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)
5. I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Thanks!
Dustin

My 2 cents :

1. My personal ROT (Rule of Thumb) is 1-2-3-4-9. You'll likely find that i.e. G2 can often be completed in 1 roll, G3 in 1 or 2 rolls; but it doesn't have to be that quick. My ROT is a worst-case planning on G1-G4 and then takes a common average from personal experience on the G5 amount of rolls. I always went fine with calculating that avg. of 9 to complete a G5 - while it can be finished in 7 but also easily take an annoying 12 rolls on occasion.

2. As soon as you refine Ores to go into your Cargo Hold in 1t charges - you have to expect to get demands from Pirate NPCs. If you must mine in a RES, you can deploy "mechanical chaff" by Jettisoning unwanted refined Ores. These will attract and bind alot of Pirate NPCs and keep them busy scooping - and eventually it'll also cause other Pirate NPCs to scan and engage that unfortunate Pirate NPC that i.e. scooped up some of the Gallite you dropped. It's not a 100% failsafe life insurance - but it can keep you out of alot of trouble.

3. This really depends on your Ship, Weapons, Opponents and Engineering state. If you mine in a heavily armed and engineered Cutter, chances are you can remain stationary and simply face the threat down head-on all the time. If you mine in a weak Mining Rig, things are very different and jousting can be very beneficial to keep yourself out of weapon fire. You i.e. don't want a Wing of GunShips to keep firing at you from close range all the time. When you gotta move - you gotta move.

4. IMHO it's more than sufficient to have the WPN Capacitor allow for enough energy to cover your expected offensive Time On Target, the phase where the enemy is ahead of you, inside effective engagement Range and you have a firing solution. When making frequent passes during maneuvering, the time spent where you turn around your own Ship again after a pass to point and get closure going again is the time when the capacitor can replenish - you don't have a firing solution during that phase anyway, so no need to cover it unless you frequently plan to have intense multi-bogey engagements where you switch to the next Target of Opportunity and continue firing within Seconds.

5. The only "meta" is a mere recommendation based on how the Weapons fundamentally work : use Energy (Thermal) Weapons to strip Shields, use Projectile Weapons on exposed Hulls after Shields are stripped (on top of Energy/Thermal Weapons). Engineering made that line somewhat fluid and a grey area, so there's quite a few builds to experiment with. But in general, one small Weapon with Corrosive Special Effect is recommended to have in the mix, i.e. a Class 1 MultiCannon, often G5 Overcharged w/ Corrosive. Having a 2nd Weapon with Emissive Munitions is reportedly helping to counter some of the jitter caused by the Target deploying Chaff.

I wouldn't waste much time with fixed Weapons, unless you plan to become really good with them. Being just "80% good" is already putting you way behind power curve vs. Gimbal Weapons. In Ships with a far-reaching firing arc (which can be surprisingly large in some Ships) the advantage of Gimbals is almost impossible to counter, as that'd require aimbot-like qualities.
It's notable that i.e. NPCs flying your Mothership while you fly the SLF can provide that "Aimbot" at very high Rank - nothing is more fearsome as a Cutter or Corvette firing fixed Weapons with grim accuracy over upto 6km Range
These NPCs can snipe a boosting SLF over these ranges and easily snipe a low-profile Viper Mk.III - which is impressive and can be a tactical consideration.

 

[Backelaer]

One method of fighting NPCs is to use reverse thrust (reverski), flying backwards whilst they are in front of you and still chasing you.

Which is really just reverse jousting. Nothing wrong with that, but there are more efficient ways of taking down an enemy.
Like someone else said here, use all you thrusters to get on their tail, or to get on their broadside.
Don't focus on your weapons never depleting. If you're not always on target (little secret here: no one ever is) your weapons can recharge in that time.
Make use of that time. However, some weapons recharge/reload faster than others of course, so try some load outs to get a feel for it.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

1. Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.
2. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
3. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.
4. When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)
5. I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Thanks!
Dustin

1. Too many.
2. Very much so. But with noone around who's gonna dispute it. Spawns happen of course once changing instance.
3. Reverski.
4. Not sure how you'll drain shields with never draining weapon sys, but that is domain of 1. which I refuse to have any further experience with. You can always ram. It is efficient albeit costly.
5. I'm throwing up just thinking about that amount of grind but damage falloff always annoyed me so there you have it.

 

[Tikanderoga]

1. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
2. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.

1. It becomes cargo as soon as it leaves the refinery. Pirates will only ignore limpets. Anything else is immediately cargo. As you log in, they will come and scan you, then fly away. If you log off and back in, there is a high chance another pirate will spawn and scan you. If you have mined anything, they will demand cargo or start shooting. If you only got limpets, they scan and fly away.
2. There are several ways. Boosting away if you are faster, or fly reverse and blast them as they follow you. Or if you are more agile, get behind them and see how much damage your weapons do. Works fine vs NPCs, they are not too bright that way.

 

[Backelaer]

1. Too many.
2. Very much so. But with noone around who's gonna dispute it. Spawns happen of course once changing instance.
3. Reverski.
4. Not sure how you'll drain shields with never draining weapon sys, but that is domain of 1. which I refuse to have any further experience with. You can always ram. It is efficient albeit costly.
5. I'm throwing up just thinking about that amount of grind but damage falloff always annoyed me so there you have it.

I think just trust trying to impose your own point (again and again) in answer to a post asking for help is just rude.
I don't even disagree with your view on engineering necessarily but there's a place and a time. And it's certainly not every-damn-time. Give it a rest already.

 

[Sensei Jacksama]

1. Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.
2. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
3. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.
4. When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)
5. I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Thanks!
Dustin

Hi there welcome to the game triple elite 3 years playing here.

1. Plan for 10. Sometimes it takes that much but mostly not. It's RNG based so it will sometimes tax you heavily.

2. Ore is collected inside your refinery and in that state is not cargo until you collect enough that it can be refined into 1T of the ore. After that it is cargo. Don't mine in a haz res. Those sites are for PvEers, pirates, and those with max engineered murder boats who are bored.

3. Mostly that's how fights go. Try targeting the power plant to kill them quicker. I also have horizontal thrusters keybound that I can use to orbit the target better. Or you can practice FA off to turn faster as well.

4. Noone can give you an answer for that tbh because it depends on your own preference and what your building. Also don't ever base that number on full pips to weapons because in the heat of battle it's very rare you will get a chance to do that. You'll always need some charge going to keep your shields up your engines going. As a general rule I usually tend to try for about 20 -30 seconds minimum for 2 pips to wep. You'll never have 100% time on target so you'll get a chance to recharge.

5. I love the chieftain. Great choice. It's my favorite ship in the game. If you'd like I can give you some advice on a build. If you could post your current build plan that would help.

 

[Stealthie]

1. Does anyone know how many rolls it takes to get G5 engineering? (during this time of reduced costs) I know so far it goes 1-2-3-3-?. I'd like to plan ahead but I don't know if it takes 4,5,6 or more rolls for that final G5.
2. Is it true that freshly mined ore is not considered "cargo"? From what I understand, once you jump to supercruise (or log off/log back in) it becomes "cargo" and pirates will see it when they scan you. I'd like to mine in a RES but I can't remember if freshly mined ore will trigger their attack?
3. When fighting NPCs, and the combat evolves into circling each other, facing each other, and driving towards each other while shooting (like a jousting match), what's your method of breaking that pattern? My fights with NPC's consistently go into this jousting match.
4. When building a ship in the Coriolis website, I tend to always build something that "NEVER" drains weapons systems. What's your suggestion, or your personal limit, for how low you'll go (time-wise) with regards to this stat? (draining WEP systems)
5. I just bought an Alliance Chieftain. WOW. Just...wow. Tactical Ice and Blue laser mod for it. I'm happy. I'm currently working on gathering materials to engineer 6 Efficient Burst Lasers (w/ Oversized), for efficiency's sake, to do PVE bounty hunting. Are there any "meta" PVE builds that I should know? (I'm very nervous about Fixed weapons. My joystick is incredibly sensitive and I don't know how to change it's sensitivity, and I struggle with any fixed weapons, so I use gimballed)

Thanks!
Dustin

1) Personally, I always assume 1,2,3,4,10. Sometimes it takes less but if you assume it'll take that many mat's you'll never be left short of mat's to complete a mod'.
2) No. If you start mining as soon as you arrive at a site, and get scanned by pirates, they'll want what you've already collected. Also, if this was correct, RES sites wouldn't work correctly cos pirates would never know you had any cargo.
3) Reverse, use FA off, use directional thrust and predict where the opponent is going to go and then turn to lead them. Most importantly, regulate your speed so you can turn with them.
4) Build what you need to get a job done. I have ships that will drain the capacitor in 7 seconds but they're for killing Belugas and I can take down a Beluga's shield in about 5 seconds so it works fine.
5) Probably. Again, just build what works for you. Personally, I try to divide the DPS fairly evenly between Thermal and Kinetic to take down shields and damage hulls similarly.