A few newbie combat questions....

[CC Waterback]

Hi all!

Well, after settling in for about a week now, and having pretty much figured out the trading end of things I've decided to get a little combat time in. Being an old vet from the original c-64 days I decided to take my time, do some trading, learn my way around a little and above all, upgrade my ship so I could at least melt the NPC ships in solo mode. I'm currently flying a Cobra Mk 3 with what appears to be the best upgraded weapons I can find. But.....

I've read quite a few posts that say to get started just jump to one of the "hotspots" around Eranin and there would be lots of easy targets to practice on. Or that's what I interpreted reading. So I've headed out and found the "low density" area at Eraanin 2. I head in, select a faction, and before I can do diddly squat, my shields are down to nothing and i'm already taking hull damage!! I thought these were like wimpy ship areas to get started in??? Again, did I mis-interpret what I have read? So... manage to finally get away and get shields back up and head in to return some fire but end up getting owned by just about everything I try to encounter. I manage to jump out and get back to base to repair with like 20% hull left.

I guess my questions are... am I in the wrong area?
Or, am I in the right area to learn combat techniques and am just sucking really badly?
Or, I have seen reference to a "high density" conflct area that is supposed to be around Eranin 2 but I have yet to find it. Is THIS the area I should be in instead of the "Low Density" area around Eranin 2?

Any help here would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
CC

 

[AndersonDG]

You're probably making an easy Beta 3 mistake that I think we all made when the new update first dropped. If you're dropping into the combat zone and immediately choosing a side you'll most likely get atomized the moment all the NPCs spawn in as you're the first target they see.

To avoid this just give it about 30 seconds or so for all the ships in the area to spawn and fly around for a moment before choosing your faction, should solve the problem entirely. That isn't to say you'll be totally safe, the AI has been beefed up since previous updates but its nothing you shouldn't be able to handle if you're cautious.

 

[Vjornaxx]

Hi all!

Well, after settling in for about a week now, and having pretty much figured out the trading end of things I've decided to get a little combat time in. Being an old vet from the original c-64 days I decided to take my time, do some trading, learn my way around a little and above all, upgrade my ship so I could at least melt the NPC ships in solo mode. I'm currently flying a Cobra Mk 3 with what appears to be the best upgraded weapons I can find. But.....

I've read quite a few posts that say to get started just jump to one of the "hotspots" around Eranin and there would be lots of easy targets to practice on. Or that's what I interpreted reading. So I've headed out and found the "low density" area at Eraanin 2. I head in, select a faction, and before I can do diddly squat, my shields are down to nothing and i'm already taking hull damage!! I thought these were like wimpy ship areas to get started in??? Again, did I mis-interpret what I have read? So... manage to finally get away and get shields back up and head in to return some fire but end up getting owned by just about everything I try to encounter. I manage to jump out and get back to base to repair with like 20% hull left.

I guess my questions are... am I in the wrong area?
Or, am I in the right area to learn combat techniques and am just sucking really badly?
Or, I have seen reference to a "high density" conflct area that is supposed to be around Eranin 2 but I have yet to find it. Is THIS the area I should be in instead of the "Low Density" area around Eranin 2?

Any help here would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
CC

I believe that there is a Federal Distress Beacon near Eranin 2 or 4. There you will find Federal Fighters who are fast and maneuverable, but very weak. It's less intense than the "Combat Zones." If the distress beacon proves to be a bit intimidating, check out some of the combat tutorial missions.

The other zones you see are "High Intensity" and "Low Intensity." Both of these have a mix of Cobras, Vipers, and Anacondas. If you're not paying attention or not comfortable managing your ship's systems, these combat zones can get out of hand quickly.

Also, here's a little guide I put together to help out new combat pilots:

Spoiler

Like many skills, combat can be broken into components which I will organize by a mental hierarchy.

The Basics:

These are skills that should happen automatically - you should not have to think about them. If you find yourself paying attention to this stuff, practice until you no longer think about doing it.

A pilot should be able to:

• Control the pitch, roll, and yaw
• Control thrust in 3 axis (foreward/backwards, left/right, up/down)
• Understand how the relative motion of a targetted object is affected by your maneuvering
• Understand how thrust affects maneuverability/Use the blue region to maximize turn speed.
• Know how to deploy hardpoints, switch fire groups, and fire up to two weapons simultaneously
• Use all functions of the targeting computer.
• Know how to use the power distribution functions.

Here are some exercises to help you practice maneuvering:

Pitching & Vertical Thrusting

Objective: To understand how using pitching and vertical thrusters together affects targetting

Target a stationary object. Orient yourself so the object is directly above you about 500m away. Practice and observe the following maneuvers from this position:

1. Pitch up until target is centered on your HUD. How long did that take? How far are you from your target?
2. Pitch up and thrust up until target is centered on your HUD. How long did that take? How far are you from your target?
3. Pitch up and thrust down until target is centered on your HUD. How long did that take? How far are you from your target?

Keeping Your Target Centered

Objective: Developing the skills to keep a targeted object centered in the HUD while maintaining constant distance

Target a stationary object. Orient yourself so that your target is about 50m away and centered on your HUD. Use your lateral and vertical thrusters in conjuction with your pitch and roll to keep the object centered. Use your forward and backwards thrusters to maintain constant distance.

Mid-Level Functions

Mid-Level skills are all about awareness and basic responses. These skills are what make combat exciting. If all of the basic skills have become automatic, it's time to train your brain what to think about.

A pilot should be able to:

• Demonstrate target awareness
  • What weaponry is the target armed with?
  • Is the target boosting?
  • Are they using maneuvering thrusters?
  • How close am I to the target?
  • How is the target oriented to me?
• Demonstrate situational awareness
  • [Kinetic weapons only] How much ammo do I have left in my gun? On reserve?
  • What's my ship's temperature?
  • How much heat is generated with each volley I fire? Is it safe to fire again?
  • Is there an object behind my target that I might hit with stray fire?
  • How many ships are nearby?
  • Are there other hostiles nearby? Do they have hardpoints deployed? Are they actually shooting at me or ignoring me?
• Be able to judge what power is needed at any given moment.
  • Chasing a retreating target? Power to ENG
  • About to take fire? Power to SYS
  • Have an good shooting window? Power to WEP
• Anticipate target behavior and calculate response
  • Target is boosting? I should boost to maintain/close distance and divert power to ENG
  • Target turning to face? Probably going to shoot. I should evade to minimize the window of time he has an optimal shot at me and maneuver to make a run at him after we pass. Max SYS while he shoots at me, then reset after he passes me and divert a pip or two to ENG & WEP so I can more quickly line up a shot.

Higher-Level Functions

Where basic and mid-level functions cover tactics, higher level functions deal with strategic thinking. This is where you see great variation among humans. This level of thinking is harder to train since it deals with concepts and judgement. I will attempt to show some examples of this type of thinking in the following anecdote:

Target Anaconda is armed with railgun and cannons. He's moving fast away from the nav beacon and a basic targetting scan shows he's wanted. I want to close to within 2km so I can scan him with my KW to see if maybe he's got a fatter prize on him. I shunt full power to ENG and decide to put the remaining in WEP (since I'm behind him, saw he had no turrets, and he's not actively hostile, it's OK to leave nothing in SYS for the moment). I wait to start the scan until I'm within 1km since he's likely to boost as soon as he detects my scan and I want as much time for the scanner to work as possible.

I begin my scan at about 700m and I see & hear his engines flare as he boosts away. I'm in a Viper with full power to ENG so I decide not to boost because I don't want to overshoot him. Maybe in a Sidewinder or Eagle, I might have needed to boost to keep up with him, but a Viper is fast. I keep my throttle at max and although his distance slowly increases, I comfortably stay within 2km.

Scan comes back and this guy's initial 750cr prize just turned into 21,000cr prize. Sweet. I target his drives, get on his 6, close the distance, and begin to open fire. Immediately, I see him fire maneuvering thrusters and try to face me. He's got a truly terrifying array of guns that I don't want pointed at me, so I know I need to get behind him again and fast. I reset power and then set max SYS just in case he manages to get a shot off while I maneuver. I divert the remaining power to ENG.

As I try to get behind the Anaconda again, I notice two new contacts on the radar. They haven't resolved yet, so I decide to not worry about it right now. The target and I keep this dance going. I know I need to stay close to him because distance gives him a chance to maneuver and I don't want to give him the opportunity to level those guns at me. Those targets from before are closer now and I risk taking my eyes off of the Anaconda to see who's joining the fray. It's a pair of Federal Vipers with weapons deployed. My target is wanted in this system which means these Vipers are moving to engage my target.

On the one hand, more targets for the Anaconda to worry about means less chance he'll shoot at me. On the other hand, Feds aren't known for being disciplined with their stray fire and now there's a chance that one of them will get the kill shot and steal my hard-fought prize. There's even a chance I hit one of them with stray fire and end up in a world of pain. I have to decide what to do...

 

[Rocky-451]

The conflict zones are about as tough as it gets, combat-wise, in the whole game, so I don't think they're good for newbies. (The High Intensity ones are the toughest.) You did the right thing to upgrade your Cobra as much as possible before going to a Zone, but you should start practicing combat in other places where you're less likely to get attacked by multiple ships at once. Try bounty hunting at Nav beacons. Once you're comfortable killing NPCs in one-on-one fights, you can try the conflict zones as the next challenge.

 

[kilvenny]

The FDS is currently at Eranin 4, but its not the cakewalk it was as Federal Fighters have now gone. In a Cobra though it should be fun.

 

[CC Waterback]

Thanks to everyone for all the tips and info! I've kept up trading and think I've substantially upgraded my weapons now with beam lasers and multi-cannons. Will be trying out the FDS as soon as I finish this post to see how bad I get shredded

Cheers!
CC