Horizons Adder as a punk hunter??

[D.D.Hariman]

Ok, My Adder now has a full top of the line set of optional and core modules, including an ADS and a DSS. >>> https://coriolis.io/outfit/adder/0p5t5F5l4d5saf3-1717--02402o2i2f.Iw1+kA==.Aw1+kA== <<< As I suspected, the ADS makes exploration a grinding barrel shoot so I need a bit more excitement.

Getting tired of just beating the random no reason no warning interdiction's and considering adding some weapons so I can beat it (so the interdictor takes damage) immediately drop out and hunt down and take out the NPC that tried to do the interdiction.
So some questions??
1. Is there any reason to have a kill warrant scanner to look at the NPC that attacked me?
OR
2. Can I simply take it out without worrying about any later consequences??
3. How much is a run of the mill NPC Pirate worth on the open market??
4. What would be a good weapons load? I am considering 2 gimbaled beam lasers (but I have read a couple places that most NPC Pirates don't carry shields so the lasers might be a waste) and a gimbaled multi cannon. Plan on the best I can put on the Adder if I decide to do this.

------------------------------5/28/17------------------------
After discovering that the KWS continuously (stupidly I might add) draws the full name plate power, it is probably next to impossible to fit out an Adder to hunt punks and make any money from it.
It is even tough to set up a Cobra MK III to do it but that is what I am going to use.

 

[Marcus Machiavelli]

Greetings Commander. There are many schools of thought on this. My own is Fight or Flight. That is to say work out before it happens which you want to do. Fighting in a Adder will be hard, some times it will be the no shielded pirates you are taking about, other times not.
I only fight in combat ships and flight (run) in others.
Be warned that as you rank up so will your enemy.

 

[Hooplah]

Not knowing your abilities here are some basics per the more in-depth replies you may receive...or may not with an Adder. When it comes to combat it is about the Viper, Vulture, Imp Courier then onto the FAS and Fer de Lance with more to follow eventually getting into the top three.

1. A wanted ship pays a bounty in the current system. The KWS checks for bounties in other systems adding to the total. Depending upon the faction issuing the bounty you may have to go to other systems to get them. Not a big deal actually. It can seriously increase the payout but may use power you don't have to run it. They like power!

2. ALWAYS lock onto any target and verify it is wanted THEN you are OK to fire (unless you are a Pirate but that is another game play mode). Fire before that and you will become wanted with a bounty even if they are wanted. If you are wanted any ship can legally fire on you. System authority ships in outbreak/war systems will often interdict just to check your status then move on if you are clean.

3. Wanted ships vary from ship type and Elite rating. 4k - 250k credits. If system authority ships are firing at an Elite Anaconda you can come in at the last moment AFTER verifying they are wanted hitting the target with some solid hits and get the bounty. Cool! I'll be doing this a lot for a second account when the PlayStation 4 version is released!

4. It's all about your pilot skills and ability to effectively use the weapons.

5. I added this one. The skills and weapons of the NPCs increases as you advance in your Elite combat rating.

Learning attack/evade maneuvers, using thrusters and flight assist correctly, managing pips, chaff, heat sinks and shield cell banks all at the same time is the PRIMARY goal. THEN you will have the skills to use any weapon you desire and can intelligently compare the different results as well as increasing your ability to use them. Cannons or rail guns can inflict massive damage but are useless if you cannot get them on target. Many players miss this thinking bigger weapons will always win the day. Without the pilot skills they won't. What good is a .44 Magnum in unskilled hands when a .22 hits every time?

Fixed weapons can do the most damage but are difficult to aim at first. Gimbaled does less damage but can lock on except when chaff is released. When that occurs deselect the target and you can continue firing gimbaled in fixed mode. Chaff is over reselect the target. Turret does the least damage but has Target Only (fire at your targeted ship), Fire at Will (fire at any ship that fires at you), and Forward Fire (fixed mode). They are useful for larger ships with slower maneuverability getting on target still making hits on the target when you cannot line them up. Dumfire missiles are essentially slower fixed weapons but with much better damage. Seeker missiles have less damage and can lock on but can lose that lock with Pointe Defence etc.

Designing your ship is also important as the power distributor may not be able to power beams sufficiently and also generate heat fast. Installed modules can require more power than the power supply can provide. Setting the priorities on the Modules menu to turn off items not needed when the hard points are deployed allows you to install more modules. Per your post there might be some great load outs that resolve your initial design training. They will be a great start.

Thus all one has to do is master all the above...simple!

...And ALWAYS have multiple rebuys especially with combat! Any ship is going to cost when a player adds all the gear. There are tons of info on the subject both on the Forum and other sites so Google "Elite Dangerous whatever" and read for hours. Hopefully some of this this info will be helpful to you as well as others considering a similar approach to the game. Fly Safe!

Regards

 

[d8veh]

Use a combat ship for combat and a hauling ship for hauling. There's no point in putting any weapons on your adder as it is because you can't fight anything with two class 1 pulse lasers, so it would be better to take them off; however, there is still something you can do with it, even as it is, for a bit of excitement. Go to a high resource extraction site in a high security, well populated system. Wait for the feds to shoot the bad guys and then tag them before they die to get the bounties. In one visit, you'll get enough credits to fit it out like this:

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/adder?code=A0p5t5F7l3d5saf3270p0p0400m540272724.AwRj4yyA.Aw1+kA==.

Another few visits and you can get a much better ship.

This video explains everything that happens in a high RES and how to survive. You can skip the first 15 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQJZMW33KCQ

 

[D.D.Hariman]

Re: My piloting skills. I have now successfully evaded something over 60 interdictions in a row. If I can stay on the evasion target, I think I should be able to stay on an enemy.

Next, I have NO DESIRE to deliberately go into HI-RES areas just to collect bounties. All I am looking at doing is taking out the punks that bother me when I am doing nothing but minding my own business exploring.

Not sure why I keep getting told that the adder cannot fight. I am playing SOLO, so I will ONLY be facing NPC's. I posted the link to my current build so you can see my equipment.

The Eagle is cheap and can maneuver better but is made out of paper mache' and only carries light weapons.
The Sidewinder is cheap and equal maneuverability but the Adder out guns it and has 50% more armor and shields.


The Vulture is the only ship with both better maneuverability and weapons. The Asp Scout and Diamond Back Scout are the only ships with equal maneuverability that can outgun the Adder. But they are all EXPENSIVE. How many NPC's punks will have one of these??

Looking back at my journals I have NEVER been interdicted by the "local" authorities. Scanned yes,, interdicted, no. So, all the attacks I have evaded so far have been punk pirates. Unless there is something I don't understand here, it would seem to me that I should be able to take them out with extreme prejudice with no repercussions.

 

[Faded Glory]

Getting tired of just beating the random no reason no warning interdiction's and considering adding some weapons so I can beat it (so the interdictor takes damage) immediately drop out and hunt down and take out the NPC that tried to do the interdiction.
So some questions??
1. Is there any reason to have a kill warrant scanner to look at the NPC that attacked me?
OR
2. Can I simply take it out without worrying about any later consequences??
3. How much is a run of the mill NPC Pirate worth on the open market??
4. What would be a good weapons load? I am considering 2 gimbaled beam lasers (but I have read a couple places that most NPC Pirates don't carry shields so the lasers might be a waste) and a gimbaled multi cannon. Plan on the best I can put on the Adder if I decide to do this.

The KWS simply gives you bounties that a ship has in other jurisdictions, so it's useful for maximizing bounties, but otherwise unnecessary. You do however need to make sure that you scan any ship you are planning to shoot at with your ship's scanner to make sure it's wanted, otherwise you will become wanted yourself.

Bounties vary a lot, dependent on type of ship and rank. In my experience anything from a few thousand credits up to a couple of hundred thousand. If the ship is only wanted for shooting at you, it will be as little as 400 credits.

The problem with the Adder is that it's weapons are not that powerful, one medium and two small. You will be fine against ships of a similar size, but against the medium and larger ships you may struggle as the smaller weapons have a performance drop off against medium and large hulls. As to NPCs not having shields, I have to say that I haven't come across that many that don't. They were common earlier on in the game, but less so now.

Perhaps a laser in the medium hard point, and a pair of MC in the smalls...

If you do decide to start fighting your interdictors, be sure to look at the ship and rank that is attacking you and base your decision whether to fight or not on that.

 

[Hooplah]

Well, I gave you some advice as to how the game works. Use it or not. Maybe you were looking for answers that I didn't provide and feel offended. Sorry about that. There is a really big difference evading an interdiction versus taking on the interdictor. Meanwhile your load out has so many issues starting with having shield cell banks but no shields. They won't help a lot with no shields to recharge. Maybe that was a typo. I and many others on the Forum are here to help as we love the game. We offer solutions and info to help other players. Take what you want and ignore the rest.

Regards

 

[D.D.Hariman]

NO, you provided some useful info. Opps. Goofed the load out. Shield banks were supposed to be 3A shields.

Next,, I am 67 years old. I started playing space games and flying combat on a vic 20 serial number 00567. I have literally thousands of hours of combat time in an old game Wing Commander Privateer that EDH reminds me a lot of. My Adder with all "A" level stuff reminds me a whole lot of my old fully loaded Galaxy except the Galaxy had top and bottom turrets so I could shoot backwards while running. NEVER before had a gimbaled/tracking weapon. Always direct fire. Did a lot of bounty hunting. I know how to fly combat.

Just trying to understand if I need the kill scanner to stay out of trouble if I kill someone that first attacked me. Must admit I am trying to avoid getting one since they look to be power hogs.

I think Faded Glory hit on a better weapons combo than I originally considered. 2D/G beam laser in the medium and 1G/G Multi Cannon in each small mount.

Keeps me well within the limits of my PP/PD.

 

[Hooplah]

I am age 66 starting with a Vic 20 to help paraplegics use the things. But that is another story. I have a website with the Elite games I keep active more per sentimental reasons versus being useful. Faded Glory may have a weapons setup you like but we will see after you take on your first interdiction in an Adder.

 

[D.D.Hariman]

Just trying to understand if I need the kill scanner to stay out of trouble if I kill someone that first attacked me.

 

[Faded Glory]

Just trying to understand if I need the kill scanner to stay out of trouble if I kill someone that first attacked me.

No, you do not.

As we've said, the Kill Warrant Scanner isn't used to determine wanted status at all. That's done by your standard ship's scanner. All the KWS will do is let you claim bounties that a ship you are attacking may have in other jurisdictions / systems, than the one you are currently in.

Even if a ship shows as having a bounty after a KWS scan, if it is clean where you are, then you would become wanted for attacking it. Bounties are very localized.

So, only ever shoot at a ship that you have identified as being wanted by scanning with your standard ship's scanner, unless you don't mind becoming wanted yourself.

 

[D.D.Hariman]

Faded Glory may have a weapons setup you like but we will see after you take on your first interdiction in an Adder.

Well, still don't know if I can kill something that attacks me without getting in trouble. I am playing neutral. Seems reasonable to me that I should be able to defend myself if I am attacked by anyone other than something that is "law enforcement".

It will be a while, but when I decide to do it, I will get video. In the mean time I am going to try and get a scan of the next few punks that try to interdict me and see what they are flying. Probably a skill I need to develop since what I find will determine if I decide to drop out and go for the kill.

I am expecting Eagles, Sidewinders, Cobra MK III and maybe both Vipers. Everything else is too expensive or not intended to be a fighter so I doubt the DEVS put punk NPC's in them programmed to harass explorers that wander too close to something labeled "rich".

If the old Taurus from Privateer could take on the run of the mill NPC pirates, I don't see why an Adder should not be able to do it in EDH.
I am playing for fun and figure I have 33 years to have a lot of fun in.

 

[d8veh]

You need to practice your combat in the RES or at a Nav beacon before trying to take on a ship that interdicts you. My money is on you being killed the first time you stop to scan one. Nearly all of them open fire before you even get a chance to face them. As I said before, carrying weapons on an explorer ship will only slow you down. The interdicting ships are fitted out for combat. You need an equal ship to have an equal chance. Try what you suggested and then come back and let us know how you got on.

Having said all that, explorer ships don't normally get interdicted. You have to be carrying something or on a mission for the bad guys to take an interest in you.

 

[D.D.Hariman]

You need to practice your combat in the RES or at a Nav beacon before trying to take on a ship that interdicts you. My money is on you being killed the first time you stop to scan one. Nearly all of them open fire before you even get a chance to face them. As I said before, carrying weapons on an explorer ship will only slow you down. The interdicting ships are fitted out for combat. You need an equal ship to have an equal chance. Try what you suggested and then come back and let us know how you got on.

Having said all that, explorer ships don't normally get interdicted. You have to be carrying something or on a mission for the bad guys to take an interest in you.

Been through this on another thread. I have nothing on board. No cargo, no materials, and I am not on any missions.

The interdictions always happen when I am scanning something that turns out to have some value. Metal rich clusters or landable high metal content planets/moons or planets/moons with metal rich rings.

NO, I do NOT go around targeting/scanning stuff other than objects that are unexplored so I am not ticking anyone off.

As for scanning the interdicting ship. Why would I NOT be able to scan it if I have beaten the interdiction and forced it into normal space? That is what happens RIGHT?? It will still be visible on my scanner, not sure if it will be alternating red/white or not. I would still be in super cruise so it would not be able to attack me and I should have 35-40 seconds to get stopped, target it and scan. If I understand the way the interdictor works, they have to get back into supercruise to use it. As I said, I have now beaten something over 60 interdictions in a row. I have NEVER done the submit and let them shoot at me while the FSD cools down and I am trying to run. I have ALWAYS fought the interdiction and I am now VERY good at it. It got easy once I had "C" level thrusters and with "A" level it is a piece of cake. I can do it at 5% speed so getting stopped and lined up to do the scan should not be a problem.

 

[D.D.Hariman]

So, only ever shoot at a ship that you have identified as being wanted by scanning with your standard ship's scanner, unless you don't mind becoming wanted yourself.

Humnn,, What about un-occupied/un-exploited systems where there isn't anyone that would put a bouty on them in that system??

 

[Faded Glory]

Humnn,, What about un-occupied/un-exploited systems where there isn't anyone that would put a bouty on them in that system??

In that case, all ships will show up as Lawless once you scan them, and they are fair game, although you will not get a bounty reward (unless you use a kill warrant scanner to collect bounties from other systems).

Edit: For clarity, always scan a ship (with your ship's scanner) that you are going to fire on before you open fire, as the ship's scan will reveal that ship's status, whether it is clean, wanted or lawless, and you will avoid mistakes and assault (or even murder) bounties. If their status shows in red, then you can open fire and will not get a bounty.

 

[Marcus Machiavelli]

Humnn,, What about un-occupied/un-exploited systems where there isn't anyone that would put a bouty on them in that system??

If they interdict you then they will be wanted. Unless you are in a lawless system where anything goes, so just go crazy there!
If you have a high bounty in a normal system then you may also get bounty hunters going after you.
Hope this helps

 

[d8veh]

B
The interdictions always happen when I am scanning something that turns out to have some value. Metal rich clusters or landable high metal content planets/moons or planets/moons with metal rich rings.

NO, I do NOT go around targeting/scanning stuff other than objects that are unexplored so I am not ticking anyone off.

So, you're being interdicted when you don't have anything that the bad guys can take from you. IIUC, that will stop next month with 2.3. I guess it's like the mining pirates. If you drop out at some rings to do some mining, the pirates always appear. I've never hung around to see what they want, but according to others, they just scan you and go on their way.

What I said still stands. It would be suicide for you to attempt to shoot one because you have no combat experience and a non-optimised ship. Fitting it out for combat would be a good start, but then it would be less suitable to do your non-combat activities. If you already had some combat experience, you could probably hold your own against a single interdicting ship, and you'd know how and when to escape; however you don't want to practice on easy ships in the RES, so you need to wait until you can get an Asp with grade 5 engineered shields, boosters and other stuff to have an equal chance.

Anyway. All this is theory. The way to learn is to try it. You'll soon figure out what works and what doesn't. It's a game. You don't actually get hurt. Better still, buy the beta version, where you can try everything without any penalty or loss of progress.

 

[D.D.Hariman]

There is no bounty on me..

 

[D.D.Hariman]

What I said still stands. It would be suicide for you to attempt to shoot one because you have no combat experience and a non-optimised ship. Fitting it out for combat would be a good start, but then it would be less suitable to do your non-combat activities. If you already had some combat experience, you could probably hold your own against a single interdicting ship, and you'd know how and when to escape; however you don't want to practice on easy ships in the RES, so you need to wait until you can get an Asp with grade 5 engineered shields, boosters and other stuff to have an equal chance.

Anyway. All this is theory. The way to learn is to try it. You'll soon figure out what works and what doesn't. It's a game. You don't actually get hurt. Better still, buy the beta version, where you can try everything without any penalty or loss of progress.

And I keep telling you I have thousands of hours of combat experience. Space combat is space combat is space combat. Right up till I got a computer running that would play EDH, I was still playing Privateer Gemini Gold: Wing Commander. I am using as close as I can get it, the same keyboard and stick controls I have in my current bindings for EDH. The ships flight characteristics, and the basic weapons controls and based on the descriptions, the weapons characteristics are essentially identical . The last version even required power management.

Known differences I see at this point:
1. I can target specific systems on the enemy ship.
2. The whole "KW" operation. (Which BTW was what I asked about when I started the thread.)
3. The complex "political" constellation. (Already got caught by that when I picked up two data runs in the same system and one of the factions canceled the contract because i took the other one. I also had several times early when I was successfully interdicted by someone from a rival faction who didn't want the data delivered. The faction I was working for offered me a bounty to take out the other guy and I refused and simply ran. One of them was still shooting at me as I went in the slot at a station. None of them managed to kill me. I do know how to "duck and run".)
4. Gimballed and turreted automatic tracking weapons. All I have ever had in any game were direct fire and sometimes there wasn't even a targeting system that provided automatic lead indications.

I am playing SOLO!!!!!!!!!! I should not meet anything that would make me need "level 5 Engineered components" unless I decide to stop playing just for fun.. If I decide to do mining or bounty hunting I will need a purpose built ship.