Anaconda destroyed in seconds by npc's

[DeathFish]

Don’t let it put you off!

St

Thx for the replies guys i understand i'm only playing 2 weeks but its been a hard 2 weeks lol still man its just insane to be wiped out so fast by such a small ship,if the conda isnt a fighting ship or at least capable of fighting then whats the point of grinding for bigger ships with their massive weapons and mounts.........the cobra i had before was wiped out super fast too,not quite this fast tho at least i had time to deploy and fight but i put that down to it being a mid range ship more for trading and exp...but the conda ???? whats the point of all that armour an IMPROVED shield generator and hull reinforcement if your gonna get shot to pieces in seconds......i get the engineering and all that but no small ship should be able to that much damage to a behmoth like the conda so fast......another conda or another big ship yea ok...............i pumped all power into the shields and tried to pop off chaff and shield boosters then boooooom hull breach......14 mill gone............its a great game but this has left me really unhappy had a blast this last 2 weeks only for this to ruin my day lol....

Rule one - don’t forget it is just a game.

From reading some of the replies here, you would imagine that what happened calls your entire personal credibility into question, but some folk spend so much time playing Elite that they kind of lose perspective a it.

The only rule about mistakes and stuff that goes wrong, is - make sure you learn from it. Ignore the dismissive L2P stuff that these threads always bring up, just learn to filter the poor sods out.

The best advice has already been given - make your mistakes in the smaller ships, learn how to ‘fly’ them against the bigger ships, and that way you will understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Anaconda when the roles are reversed. Someone suggested speccing up an A rated Vulture and that is good advice too - take it out to a high REZ and learn to fight against ships that have already been engaged by security - that way you can start taking on big stuff without too much risk of being turned to virtual toast. Once you get good at that, do a bit of bounty hunting against lower level ships until you crack it.

Learn about engineers and unlock as many as you can, then go out and collect resources so you can upgrade your ships. Only when they are fully engineered and you are good at combat will you be sure to be able to use an Anaconda to its full potential, but you will still need to know about its vulnerabilities, and how to cope with them. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there to learn from.

Don’t go out without at least 3 x the insurance rebuy of the ship you are piloting-or failing that, develop a liking for sidewinders (-:

Learn about power management, and most of all, learn to spot the point where cutting your losses is the best way out. The greatest generals are the ones who know when to stage a tactical retreat.

I spent part of my life in aviation. Like these forums, it had a proportion of sad gits who took an absolute delight in telling other pilots where they had gone wrong, but who were never of any help otherwise. For example, there was always someone around to sound off about why you shouldn’t have gone around when you decided not to chance it. In Elite, you can’t get killed if you take a gamble, becuase it is just a computer game, but the loss of pride can be a problem! Just follow the advice above and learn to laugh when it screw up. Which it will every now and again, that’s half the fun of playing it.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

ED could really use an "after-action" report detailing what destroyed your ship, either in the journal or in an optional screen right after the rebuy screen. It would be very helpful to know what you were hit with and how much damage each attack did.

Agreed, I find those after-action reports to be really helpful.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

I remember my frustration losing my mostly D-rated PAX Anaconda to NPCs twice in a row in Rhea in the beginning.
Most of us were there, yes.
And guess what? I upgraded my build after switching back to my A-rated Python to get a bit more leeway on rebuys.

And this is Dangerous Discussions. Not limited to those of Dangerous rank

I started around beta.
Got my Python.
Was so chuffed.
Died.
With no rebuy.
Didn't play for a month out of anger and misery and tears.
Came onto the forums and started looking around for hints/tips.

 

[zimms]

Nothing "game breaking" going on here. It was you inexperience that got you killed.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

BULKHEADS-1C LIGHTWEIGHT ALLOY
SHIELD-6B
[4x] OA SHIELD BOOSTERS

Okay, this gives, assuming no engineering:
841MJ shields (700 versus thermal), 1335 hull (assuming the hull reinforcement was a 5D).


So, step 1: ignore the people saying that's too low to even consider survival. It's way less than an Anaconda can have, but it's more than enough to survive versus a single NPC if you approach the encounter correctly. A-rated everything and military hull will make it easier, but is not actually necessary versus NPCs unless you're specifically looking for trouble. The lightweight armour is only a problem in the first place if your shields go down ... and you should have enough to escape any NPC before that happens if you do the right thing. (Conversely, if you do the wrong thing, the military armour will double your rebuy payout without really helping you)

(Versus players, yes, that's too little strength to survive a top-end attacker. You need to be avoiding the hostile players rather than trying to fight them until your ship is much tougher - either by playing Solo/PG, or simply by not going to the systems they're likely to be in)


Step 2: as others have said, an Anaconda is not the right ship to learn how to approach encounters correctly in, because your mistakes are incredibly expensive.

A Vulture is designed specifically around taking out much larger ships. It's basically two big weapons stuck to some big engines. They're tough to fight in a big ship because, sure, it'll die fairly quickly if it sits in front of your guns, but it's way faster and more agile than you so you won't get it to do that. An NPC Vulture has enough firepower to get through your defences above in about 40 seconds if it never misses (the Anaconda is big enough that it won't miss much)

So if it got you in ten seconds, one of the following applies:
- it was actually a player Vulture. They certainly could get through that hull and shield in ten seconds if set up specifically to take on big slow targets.
- your shields and hull were already weakened considerably from previous fights
- the fight lasted quite a bit longer than ten seconds, it just didn't seem like that at the time.
If you're on PC, then your Journal files will let you look back at what happened and see how long the fight actually took, what your opponent actually was, etc. There are programs like EDDiscovery which will make this much easier to read than just opening it in Notepad.


Step 3: basic survival options.
- as others have said, 4 pips to systems when under fire will get you about double the shield strength of not doing that. That buys you a lot of time.
- an Anaconda can re-enter supercruise very quickly versus a Vulture. You can be back in supercruise in about 10 seconds. And until you've got better outfitting on it and know how to fly better, you should.
- you don't mention what weapons you have on the Anaconda, if any, but realistically you're going to need a lot more practice before you can hit the Vulture with any of them anyway ... or you can go for turrets which have a massive damage penalty. The fighter will be more effective but isn't enough on its own to really concern a Vulture over the length of a fight, so isn't great as a distraction either.
- and consider flying something cheaper while you learn. A Krait Mk II is much cheaper than the Anaconda (you can get a maxed-out one for less that the Anaconda costs you), still carries plenty of cargo, but has the speed and agility to give you more options in a fight. (For example, you can reduce incoming damage by dodging it)


Step 4: engineering
- C-rated components are much cheaper than A-rated, but aren't as good
- C-rated components with, say, grade 3 engineering on them are still much cheaper than A-rated, but significantly outperform an unengineered A-rated module
- you can get grade 3 engineering on a lot of modules very easily. People complain about the engineering grind a lot, because grade 5 engineering an entire ship does take quite a while ... but grade 3 engineering gets you 60-75% of the benefit with under 5% of the effort.
So definitely look into that, as you go along.

 

[Auronio]

OP

First of all – my congratulations to your Anaconda.

One of the big 3 and certainly – still – one of the best ships in the game. A true multi-purpose ship which (maybe aside of jump range where it really excels) might not do everything at best but most things very, very good.

I would like to keep my feedback and comments constructive.

Personally I would agree that two weeks playing time in order to get an Anaconda might be a little bit short, however regardless of total playing time required I still very much like Frontier Development’s (FDev) decision to place an endgame ship into the reach of every player and not locking it behind a rank or special requirements wall like for the Federal Corvette or Imperial Cutter.
Not everybody can afford or wants to invest hundreds or thousands of hours of playing time to get all and from all the best.
Anaconda is the top ship for the man in the street. Imho.

A few general comments.
Be careful when you read older posts cause FDev are constantly re-balancing the game so statements about a ship or weapons, about NPC strength and behavior and so on might not be fully applicable anymore.
Also please bear in mind that many comments are given by players who are real veterans, having played the game for thousands! of hours, who simply can’t remember anymore (or pushed aside the memory) how challenging the game can be in the beginning. On top some (or many) of these players really had it way more difficult in the older times hence not always appreciate seeing that currently players can acquire big ships in weeks or days which themselves took months or even a year.

Examples (balancing):
Before the big Beyond update in last December (3.3.0x) NPC ships in many cases were too weak. At least for experienced players in fully engineered ships. Not really a challenge in many cases.
Even though FDev are by purpose not sharing all details with us the players it looks like that NPC ships have gotten a significant buff making them more of a threat now (post 3.3). NPC ships now can attack you in engineered ship, with SCBs (shield cell banks), are often more durable/tankier and can not only take more of a punch but also give more of a punch.
Combat zones (CZs) come into my mind where you see that NPCs have become stronger for instance.

It’s a good advice to exercise the main capabilities of your ships – flying and fighting – in more than one ship.
My path to Anaconda back in 3303 (2017) was Sidewinder --> Cobra MK III --> Viper MK IV --> Diamondback Scout --> Asp Explorer --> Orca --> Anaconda. Ships really fly different and also you fight with them differently and that’s probably one of the best jobs FDev have accomplished. Commanding and successfully fighting a small ship doesn’t necessarily make you a good big ship pilot and vice versa. Hence exercise and training is key.

Next advice, with current meta it’s highly recommended to fully engineer your ships, for combat purposes armour, shields, shield boosters, weapons, power plant, power distributor and thrusters are absolutely required and if you asked me minimum G3 engineered but G5 of course always being the end goal. And you will see – that will take a considerable amount of time.

Anaconda is an excellent combat ship, not the best among big 3 - Corvette is even better - but it’s still the DPS King of all ships, so more damage than a Corvette but less manoeuvrability.
However a combat Anaconda does imho shine under two conditions. First – fully engineered, best case G5, then it’s a monster in PvE. Second – run it with fixed weapons. You have read about turrets and gimballed weapons but let me tell why I recommend fixed weapons (almost always).

The damage compromise on gimballed and particularly turreted weapons is immense compared to fixed weapons. And here is why this is particular important for a ship like the Anaconda.

As it’s less manoeuvrable than small or medium size ships you won’t be always at your target. But if you get your target in line with your weapons that’s when time to kill counts and fixed weapons are better than anything. If you can’t put out enough damage it will take you too long to get their shields down and only then you start damaging their hull and killing them. During that time an engineered NPC can take your shields down instead and maybe – your case – even destroy you. Maximum damage output you ensure with fixed weapons.

Personally I recommend to start with lasers, particularly laser beams, and multi-cannons, engineer them for efficient (ensuring you can fire for a longer time) and/or long range.
(Beams and multi-cannons cause you hit immediately resp. almost immediately what you are firing at.)

Mastering fixed weapons is a little bit difficult in the beginning but one or two weeks of practice should give you an idea. Believe me, if you mastered fixed ones, you never will come back to gimballed ones or turrets. (I even run my Cutter with 50% fixed ones – huge + large hardpoints.)

Don’t let yourself be frustrated with this first and significant loss. Most if not all players have gone through this. Learning curve in Elite: Dangerous is steep and sometimes painful but it’s worth, you can have so much fun in this game.

Also – many fellow CMDRs in the forums are very experienced (not me) and very helpful as well. Learn to filter out the waste.

o7 CMDR
Fly safe and always with a rebuy and enjoy the game!

 

[Rebel Yell]

Blimey! Dear boy, me got da big cutlass aftar two years! Sad fer yar scuttling, but dat happens to landlubbers...

 

[Moe Melek]

Combat in Elite is challenging and there’s really no way around the fact that you need skills to build and fly every ship. Also it’s important to know the ships advantages and disadvantages.

If you had spent your first two weeks in elite learning how to fight (instead of grinding for credits) you would perhaps be killing anacondas in a vulture, instead having your anaconda blown to bits by a vulture.

There are commanders who kill anacondas with sidewinders. Develop your skill and you will be rewarded

 

[Mxpower76]

Meh.....typically players that skip the game's natural progression don't last long. See it often in our squadron. My guess it's opals this time. OP may not be playing this time next month I think.

 

[Auronio]

Sometimes I ask myself why on earth it seems to be easier or more en vogue to be sarcastic, cynical, destructive, negative and unkind instead of being just...
... nice!

 

[Stealthie]

The only rule about mistakes and stuff that goes wrong, is - make sure you learn from it.

key issue, right there.

It's not the OP's fault that he(?) can obtain a big, shiny, spaceship in a couple of weeks.
If something's possible, and desirable, it's just human-nature to try and achieve it.

The problem is, most of us learned these lessons in Sideys, Eagles or Cobras.
When the progression is slower, you get more chance to gain an understanding of verious aspects of the game without quite the same level of risk.

Personally, I'd suggest all the same things that people have been suggesting since ED was released should still apply, even if a player can go and earn squillions of credits.
- Go and do some combat in the starter ship, which has zero rebuy cost.
- Take on a variety of different missions to find out what they all involve.
- Use delivery missions as an opportunity to look around the galaxy and learn about the different factions, states and BGS-related stuff.
- While doing the above stuff, also start to unlock engineers and take naval rank missions.
- Buy a small combat ship (a Viper 4 or Vulture is fine) and use it to learn about engineering, take it into combat and learn how engineering provides benefits.

Even with Cr100m in the bank (or whatever), I'd suggest the OP picks themselves a smaller ship (the AspX is still one of the best for the job, IMO) and takes the time to learn more about the game before jumping back into the Annie.
let's face it, too, if you've got a heap of credits in the bank, you can afford to take more risks when you're flying something like an AspX - and that's where the fun is. [up]

 

[Auronio]

key issue, right there.

It's not the OP's fault that he(?) can obtain a big, shiny, spaceship in a couple of weeks.
If something's possible, and desirable, it's just human-nature to try and achieve it.

The problem is, most of us learned these lessons in Sideys, Eagles or Cobras.
When the progression is slower, you get more chance to gain an understanding of verious aspects of the game without quite the same level of risk.

Personally, I'd suggest all the same things that people have been suggesting since ED was released should still apply, even if a player can go and earn squillions of credits.
- Go and do some combat in the starter ship, which has zero rebuy cost.
- Take on a variety of different missions to find out what they all involve.
- Use delivery missions as an opportunity to look around the galaxy and learn about the different factions, states and BGS-related stuff.
- While doing the above stuff, also start to unlock engineers and take naval rank missions.
- Buy a small combat ship (a Viper 4 or Vulture is fine) and use it to learn about engineering, take it into combat and learn how engineering provides benefits.

Even with Cr100m in the bank (or whatever), I'd suggest the OP picks themselves a smaller ship (the AspX is still one of the best for the job, IMO) and takes the time to learn more about the game before jumping back into the Annie.
let's face it, too, if you've got a heap of credits in the bank, you can afford to take more risks when you're flying something like an AspX - and that's where the fun is. [up]

THIS I consider a constructive advice!
Thank you!

 

[Screemonster]

Pretty weak fitting, and if you've only been playing two weeks, you probably didn't have any pips in SYS either.

Lightweight alloys? Pure suicide.

Even when I plug his build into coriolis, I still can't come up with a vulture that takes it out in 10 seconds. Best I can get is 29 seconds with doubleshot incendiary frags.

 

[Goose4291]

Thx for the replies guys indeed I'm a noob to this game for sure but not to flying been mill simming for decades so have pretty good stick and rudder skills and reactions, and i've learnt quite a lot in 2 weeks 12 hours a day solid lol,but this wasn't about experience or skill or game knowledge or even butt hurt at losing my ship thankfully had enoug creds to rebuy, were kinda missing the point here guys no small 4 million cr ship A rated or not should be able to destroy a 146 million credit crusier in seconds its absurd......the conda is supposed to have massive hull armour and decent shields even stock which mine isn't, no amount of skilled piloting is gonna make a difference or be able to react in 10 seconds ,fs it takes that long to turn the damm beast let alone deploy weapons,the fighter,boost shields,etc......something not quite right here man i've watched videos on youtube of the conda taking a hell of a beating and still in fighting form help me out guys i'm terrified to take the conda out now fs lol looks like its back to my cobra and robigo pax missions till i figure this out...

My spec is as follows
BULKHEADS-1C LIGHTWEIGHT ALLOY
FSD-6A
SHIELD-6B
PWR DIST-8C
PWR PLANT-8C
LIFE SUPPORT-5D
THRUSTERS-7A
SENSORS-5D
LIFESUP-5D
MILCOM-HULL REINFORCEMENT

OP INTERNALS

CARGO
CARGO
6B SHIELD GEN
FIGHTER BAY PLUS 2 FIGHTERS
COMPART REINFORCEMENT
SHIELD BOOSTERS

HARDPOINTS
2+HEASTSINK
2 +POINT DEFENCE
THE REST OA SHIELD BOOSTERS

Im just going to say suggest something a little crazy.

Perhaps you should use your cobra to learn the game rather than just as a grind tool for an anaconda?

 

[Jmanis]

Even when I plug his build into coriolis, I still can't come up with a vulture that takes it out in 10 seconds. Best I can get is 29 seconds with doubleshot incendiary frags.

Given the nature of the post, 10 seconds frankly seems like hyperbole.

 

[Nadreck]

In addition to what has alreay been said, you need to decide if combat is really your thing. If it is, then by all means try out a cheaper and more agile ship that you can practise with. But there are many ways to play, and after more than a year in the pilot's chair (haven't counted the hours, that would be scary) I am still ranked Novice in Combat: but I'm double-Elite in Exploration and Trade. So I took a very different approach: apart from a couple of early naval strike missions in a Beluga(!), I've been learning the ropes in an almost indestructible heavily-engineered T10 (lost it twice due to my own negligence, but I was heavily outnumbered both times: I'm a billionaire, rebuys aren't an issue). But the ship's lack of agility is becoming frustrating, so if I'm going to get serious about ranking up in combat, I'll probably be downsizing.

 

[Brrokk]

It happened to me, just after I bought the Anaconda after 1 year's play. It was still in stock condition; I was actually on my way to buy a better FSD.

I learned from this that the Anaconda isn't the awesome master of combat I had expected (I'd been used to a Python), and upgrades were essential.

The Anaconda is a multi-role ship. Good for combat if outfitted for it. Good as a lightweight long-range trader if outfitted for that. But don't try to do both with the same build!

BTW don't make the mistake of thinking combat is all there is to do in the game.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Even when I plug his build into coriolis, I still can't come up with a vulture that takes it out in 10 seconds. Best I can get is 29 seconds with doubleshot incendiary frags.

Try G5 Rapid-fire + screening shell on the frags instead. Much more effective.

 

[sollisb]

Where are those engineered NPCs roaming outside of pirate USS and assassination missions?

Res Sites, System, hazRez, basically anywhere an NPC can be. Once it's 'master' level or above, it can have (I assume randomly) engineering. And add to that, the actual engineering seems to also be random.

 

[Bigmaec]

Res Sites, System, hazRez, basically anywhere an NPC can be. Once it's 'master' level or above, it can have (I assume randomly) engineering. And add to that, the actual engineering seems to also be random.

Citation? Because people keep telling that, but I never seem to encounter them?
The only thing I find after a quick Google is a post by Truesilver who says Deadly or Elite NPCs can have engineering without experimentals?

People get confused a lot by Plasma and Rail attacks which have a similar warning to special effects...