Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

[Codger]

Seems to be decent combat progress from winning a CZ even with just 1-2 kills. I've gained what looks like about 5-6% through Competent.

Interesting. I've never heard of this being the case. It certainly isn't explained that way in the Wiki that's been around for ages.

There's a whole table there that shows the exp points you get for each kill, depending on your rank vs their rank, etc etc. But it's all based on number of kills, period.

Combat

Combat is an archetypal pilot career recognized by the Pilots Federation. Combat encompasses multiple sub-roles, such as Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Mercenary, and Pirate. Increasing Combat rank requires destroying other ships, and defeating pilots with higher Combat ranks rewards a greater amount...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

If there's a bonus for doing CZs, maybe it's something new? Other stuff has changed for Odyssey. I get combat rank for on-foot kills now, I know for sure.

 

[Speedcuffs]

Not played for a few days as son has been making me play Diablo iii.
Which is unfortunate for Tanya as she had about 12 missions stacked. Oops!

 

[Nekozji]

Interesting. I've never heard of this being the case. It certainly isn't explained that way in the Wiki that's been around for ages.

There's a whole table there that shows the exp points you get for each kill, depending on your rank vs their rank, etc etc. But it's all based on number of kills, period.

Combat

Combat is an archetypal pilot career recognized by the Pilots Federation. Combat encompasses multiple sub-roles, such as Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Mercenary, and Pirate. Increasing Combat rank requires destroying other ships, and defeating pilots with higher Combat ranks rewards a greater amount...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

If there's a bonus for doing CZs, maybe it's something new? Other stuff has changed for Odyssey. I get combat rank for on-foot kills now, I know for sure.

I mean, I might be wrong... but only a few days ago I was happy to break Competent, and now I am this far in...

I've gone bounty hunting for maybe two dozen ships... and won a few CZs. Admittedly some bounties were half a million, but this feels like a lot of a bar for the limited non-CZ activity I've done.

I'll do a couple more tomorrow and screenshot again. I have of course managed to lose the previous one that showed where I was ~12 hours ago

 

[Nekozji]

You should try Cytoscramblers with Short range/Inertial.

Alas, I'm not in the bubble and I don't think these existed when I left it

 

[Speedcuffs]

Alas, I'm not in the bubble and I don't think these existed when I left it

When engineered like that, they are shocking at range.

On the Gunship, I ram the target while pumping the Cytos, once shields gone (seconds) empty the MCs into their Powerplant. Bang.
They're a Powerplay module from Archon Delaine.

 

[CMDR-NOBODY]

...Now running 2x long range burst lasers and 1x long range multi cannon.
...

Hmm, I would suggest swap that MC with another LR lazor or even rail gun (I know its difficult to use, I'm still practicing it, hit rate still <40% if not point blank... ), MC bullets won't hit anything > 2km, even with LR mod, MC still have falloff unlike lazors (full dmg or nothing).

 

[Ashnak]

Hmm, I would suggest swap that MC with another LR lazor or even rail gun (I know its difficult to use, I'm still practicing it, hit rate still <40% if not point blank... ), MC bullets won't hit anything > 2km, even with LR mod, MC still have falloff unlike lazors (full dmg or nothing).

Also very nice is the preengineered guardian plasma thingy you can get from Salvation's ship (needs a fistfull of Guardian goodies, though, on exchange). High shot speed, chargeable and controlled firing on trigger release.

 

[Nekozji]

Hmm, I would suggest swap that MC with another LR lazor or even rail gun (I know its difficult to use, I'm still practicing it, hit rate still <40% if not point blank... ), MC bullets won't hit anything > 2km, even with LR mod, MC still have falloff unlike lazors (full dmg or nothing).

Sadly my power plant is running about 99% capacity with current loadout. It's not as bad as a vulture, but it's still a bit tight in this lil iCourier.

Also very nice is the preengineered guardian plasma thingy you can get from Salvation's ship (needs a fistfull of Guardian goodies, though, on exchange). High shot speed, chargeable and controlled firing on trigger release.

Still in Colonia with no access to this alas. Maybe on return - which might be if I can hit expert combat rank and unlock the engineer here.

--

In other news, iCouriers are totally the most stylish taxi. You wouldn't be disappointed seeing that on the pad.

On the other hand, I forgot how easy it is to pick up illegal passengers. Don't have heatsinks on this bird and there weren't any available in the outfitter Nonetheless, did agree to a detour to take my passenger to a tourist beacon... did not agree to find him a ton of wine. Wasn't sure I could get away with one station visit, let alone two!

Turning off all modules except engines and life support got my heat down to 22%, which turned out to be enough to silent run my way to the pad. Phew. Guess I should be more wary of criminal masterminds in future

Edit: oh yeah, the whole point of all the CZs I've been doing was to see what happened with my adopted faction. They won! They're up 4% influence, and their opposition is down by the same, which now makes my guys twice as strong as them. No facilities gained however, not even a tiny settlement... I guess I would need to go support them in a system where the news lists their opponents as at risk of losing control of something? Nonetheless, I am happy that this little experiment bore fruit. I will take the news article and pick the next place to go

 

[aRJay]

….

On the other hand, I forgot how easy it is to pick up illegal passengers. Don't have heatsinks on this bird and there weren't any available in the outfitter Nonetheless, did agree to a detour to take my passenger to a tourist beacon... did not agree to find him a ton of wine. Wasn't sure I could get away with one station visit, let alone two!

Turning off all modules except engines and life support got my heat down to 22%, which turned out to be enough to silent run my way to the pad. Phew. Guess I should be more wary of criminal masterminds in future

…

There is of course the other way of avoiding scan problems which should work very well in an iCourier, simply use your speed to be out of range before the scan completes.

I have used this successfully in an Orca which is quite a bit slower though that was just hauling illegal goods not stooping to loading passengers.

If you go to full throttle and start spamming boost as you reach the slot when leaving the station you should be fine, entering the station can be more stressful as there isn’t a lot of stopping room before the back wall when you go through the slot at 300+.

Of course you will get in trouble if you collide with another ship at that speed.

 

[Ant hill]

There is of course the other way of avoiding scan problems which should work very well in an iCourier, simply use your speed

I always thought if you exceeded 100 m/s you couldn't be scanned. Popping out your hard points also breaks a scan. I particularly enjoy docking a speed but I never did any of this stuff professionally.

 

[Para Handy]

I mean, I might be wrong... but only a few days ago I was happy to break Competent, and now I am this far in...

View attachment 283886

I've gone bounty hunting for maybe two dozen ships... and won a few CZs. Admittedly some bounties were half a million, but this feels like a lot of a bar for the limited non-CZ activity I've done.

I'll do a couple more tomorrow and screenshot again. I have of course managed to lose the previous one that showed where I was ~12 hours ago

Remember it is the "rank" of the NPC you destroy that matters, not the bounty. So your competent pilot will gain 2.25 "points" for an Elite opponent and 2 for a Deadly one - since you are working in a CZ there will be a large proportion of Deadly and Elite opponents.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

And note the journey from "deadly" to "elite" can be... a long one.

 

[Nekozji]

Interesting. I've never heard of this being the case. It certainly isn't explained that way in the Wiki that's been around for ages.

Before a CZ on the left, after on the right.

Or am I imagining it? Bars move slowly in ED, they really need an exact %

3 total kills.

in a CZ there will be a large proportion of Deadly and Elite opponents.

Indeed, at least one of those guys was elite. He also didn't get the targetting triangles around him so he was practically invisible... not sure if bug or some sort of secret cloaking device!

Either way, he couldn't handle the sniper build, and while he was playing tag with me, he wasn't bothering the rest of my team

 

[Chris Simon]

Before a CZ on the left, after on the right.

View attachment 283912

Or am I imagining it? Bars move slowly in ED, they really need an exact %

3 total kills.



Indeed, at least one of those guys was elite. He also didn't get the targetting triangles around him so he was practically invisible... not sure if bug or some sort of secret cloaking device!

Either way, he couldn't handle the sniper build, and while he was playing tag with me, he wasn't bothering the rest of my team

Yeah, you may be able to notice the bar moving when you're at Harmless. Higher ranks grow increasingly slowly. At Competent I'd say it would be like one pixel per 50 kills.
You've got a looong road ahead of you mate.

 

[Zieman]

I got my combat rank up to deadly 58% almost by accident. Just did lots of missions for Feds & Imps to get access to the rank locked ships. Did all that hauling in a moderately engineered ship that could take on any "enemies may be sent after you" and most of the time just submitted to interdiction and took the bounties.

 

[Nekozji]

Yeah, you may be able to notice the bar moving when you're at Harmless. Higher ranks grow increasingly slowly. At Competent I'd say it would be like one pixel per 50 kills.
You've got a looong road ahead of you mate.

Honestly I just want expert combat for the engineer unlock There's a faction in Colonia that I'm sort of trying to boost, and another I'd like to see lose a bit, so I'm going to do a few CZs with my silly sniper build and see how that goes for me

I got my combat rank up to deadly 58% almost by accident. Just did lots of missions for Feds & Imps to get access to the rank locked ships. Did all that hauling in a moderately engineered ship that could take on any "enemies may be sent after you" and most of the time just submitted to interdiction and too the bounties.

I think most of my previous progress was earned while getting a clipper, yeah. When I get back to the bubble I might even go for a cutter...

 

[Yingnei Gasua]

In my defence, I've only been playing 4 weeks, and learning as I go.

I've installed the client (Really useful) and got it synching data.
I have also taken your advice and am heading (5 hours away!) for the start of the 29LY "Safe" route. I've manually plotted the last jumps to Beagle Point, and it looks easily doable now, Thank You

As for the original issue, you and others were correct that I was trying to travel through a "Banned?" area, that can't be jumped through.



o7

Huh hwat? Only 4 weeks play and you are headed to Beagle point??

 

[Speedcuffs]

Of course you will get in trouble if you collide with another ship at that speed.

It's okay, my T-9 has windscreen wipers.

 

[Thwarptide]

Huh hwat? Only 4 weeks play and you are headed to Beagle point?

His first suicide run.
Personally I’ve never done it. I don’t see the point. You don’t even get a mug or free anaconda.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I don't know why I do these things

I got the permit for Terra Mater. So what does it give me? Nothing unique or special as far as I can see. It's a shame as "work" is required to unlock these systems but very few seem to offer anything. I wonder if there's a sneaky plan waiting in the wings that FDev are hatching for such places... *

* No