Newcomer / Intro Beginners way to make money fast

[d8veh]

After giving some advice on this forum, I thought I'd put it to the test. I parked my FDL and bought a basic Sidewinder with no upgrades. I flew out to the low intensity RES (Aphra, Beckman terminal) and one hour later, I had 600,000. I didn't take any risks. I just followed the Feds round waiting for them to attack the bad guys, then I gave a few shots when they were nearly finished. I only got shot once, but not enough to take my shields down.

I went back to the terminal and used the 600,000 to buy an Eagle. I had enough money to upgrade the power plant, thrusters and lasers. I also bought a A0 shield booster (300k), then I went back. After another two hours, I had another 2,400,000, which makes a total of 3,056,000 in three hours. I get a 40% added bonus, so anybody new would have to adjust those figures downwards a bit. In the Eagle I got shot twice or three times, but my shields didn't go below two rings. I even made many preemptive strikes on the smaller ships when the Feds didn't seem interested and the stupid Pythons (and anything else) that crash in to the rocks, which takes their shields down.

I didn't use any fancy flying techniques - just throttle and normal flight control with the joystick - apart from occasional downthrust to stop Pythons from turning towards me and occasional upthrust to stay broadside on to them.

To summarise, it should be possible to go from start to a Vulture in two evenings of play. With a Vulture, you can them go to the high intensity RES to make money at four times the rate. Once you have a decent stash of cash, you can then do what you want because you can buy and equip whichever ship you need in the way that you need it.

 

[diggeddy]

nice advice.
OF course true beginners may not have your skill or experience so may require a little more patience.

 

[d8veh]

The only skill you need is in getting to the site and back again. As soon as I arrived, the Feds were beating up a Python. I just sat there and watched until it was down to 25% hull, then pew pew boom! 50,000 thank you very much!

OK, you have a point. The more experience you have, the easier it is because there's not so many unknowns to catch you out. The main thing is to be careful that the guy you shoot isn't in a wing of three. You can still go for them if the other two are definitely engaged by the Feds. Other pieces of advice I can think of: Be careful not to fly into rocks, and look out for the Feds bumping in to you after the kill. The big Anacondas all spread out afterwards. The rocks are sometimes light if the sun is shining on them, but if they're in the shadow of the planet, they're difficult to see, in which case switch on your headlights to see them when you get close.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Nope, I start afresh in horizons and have been taking out NPC Vipers with my 100% stock sidy with only one ring lost to the shields. This is not what a noob could do as they have to learn how to just fly the ship, anything else is a bit advanced.

Still good advice but just have to remember just how steep that learning curve was at the start...

 

[Studge]

Would this work in any systems low intensity RES?

Cheers

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Yep, it will also work in a NAV point. Basically anywhere there is a police/NPC bounty hunter presence. With NPC versus player then the player gets the bounty if they deal damage close to the death of the ship (how close I'm not sure but more than 10s of seconds for certain). If there are other players involved then I think it is the kill shot that wins the bounty unless you wing-up, in which case you share the bounty.

 

[Studge]

I've been going to Nav points for the last 5-6 hours of game play, only got about 180k and that's with kill warrant scanner..... :-(

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Yeah nav points vary, at some there will be very little activity, at others a lot. RES sites are generally more lucrative but some Nav points can be as well (particularly Compromised Nav but don't go there just yet as you WILL die!). Not sure but the variation may be linked to system security levels.

 

[Studge]

Cheers for the info Rob, I'll try a different system and see if that Nav point as more baddies in it

 

[sorbert]

Im new just started yesterday. I cant tell who the feds are attacking since everything i target is a fed even in the contact information on the left. But they still are firing like crazy is this typical and mean nothing around?? But at least i found out how to land and take off pretty good.

 

[Kitty]

Something, I have just discovered with regards to Salvageable Missions. Lets say you have managed to stack 3 missions up, maybe in different areas, and they all need 1 x Rare Artwork or 1x Black box. After flying into one of these areas, there are usually 4 or more of these items that are legal salvage. Pick up as many as possible. You can use these for all of missions you had, so just go around and deliver them. The mission logic doesn't seem to tag the items with a specific area, so they will work for all missions as long as they all need the same type. Easy...

Also, you can sell the extra that you have an increase your trading rank. Although the sale is not huge 3k - 5k, it is a bonus.

OK, slight off topic from bounty hunting, but when raising standings and getting paid from missions that stack, it is all useful knowledge.

Bounty hunting missions that stack and that are in the same location are great! Sometimes you can kill 4 birds with one stone, so to speak...


Kitty.

 

[d8veh]

Im new just started yesterday. I cant tell who the feds are attacking since everything i target is a fed even in the contact information on the left. But they still are firing like crazy is this typical and mean nothing around?? But at least i found out how to land and take off pretty good.

Good point. I forgot about that. The first time you go, every ship is yellow, so you have to scan them all, and then watch what happens to the "wanted" guys. They will most likely be attacked by the Feds sooner or later. You should look for shooting, then scan them to see who's shooting who. If you see shooting and the guy you target is not wanted, then the other guy is. Follow the line of his fire.

After a couple of outings and you've shot 20 or 30 bad guys, you become allied to the Feds, so they turn green, which makes it much easier to see who to scan, and to see what the Feds are up to.

 

[CMDR Rasputin]

I made just enough money to buy the Cobra with a little left over by smuggling slaves and weed from Bulletin board in about 2 hours. I guess I got lucky. One time an NPC tried to kill me but I was close enough to a station that he left me alone. One time I got scanned, but I was already in the entry tunnel, so the popo left me alone too.

I'm really curious though how people make REAL money. I mean, an Anaconda is about 200M all said and done. Even running the "rares route", which is allegedly the fastest way to get money once you are somewhat established, you only make 2-3M an hour (and that is if you are optimized for it). That's around 100 hours. Let's say for someone who plays 2 hours a day... 50 days of the same dang thing... owch... that's MMORPG-leve grind and time investment...

I really wish you could own factories or at least have automated trader ships like you do in X3...

 

[BumbleB]

I'm also and the BBC Micro version back in the day and never really played it much as I never could get a handle on the trading bit to make money so I "HACKED" it.

but after reading your posting I'd thought I'd have another go

I was just about ready to "throw in the towel"about this game when I stumbled across this thread and a video basically saying the same thing.


I had taken a couple of transport/data missions and got killed for my cargo of 1 ton of TEA. Yes I got TEABAGGED for TEA


Then I went travelling abit to find myself a nice system with a couple of RES sites to try out before I'd call it a day and probably not get a refund on ED: Horizons but atleast on my ThrustMaster flight stick.


Luckily I found a system with 3 different RES sites, "Low, High & Hazards" Tried the low, no much happening was very bored so went to the High RES. Within 30mins I'd pocketed my first 1,000,000 credits, came back to port (I couldn't believe it but wanted to make sure I pocketed the creds) Another 30 mins same site another 1,000,000 creds >


Only stopped cause I accidentally hit a "Clean" pilot and the security was on my tail. Still got the fined but I think it only lasts for 5 mins then record its "Cleaned" I hope (someone fill me in on this)

Alittle tip: Once you enter a RES site make sure you already got your supercruise target set for a quick get away if you get into trouble.
As soon as you see "WANTED" pop up on your panel, GET YOUR SHINNY METAL BUTT OUTTA THERE!!!!! and hit supercruise !

Save my metal butt for sure


Now I'm seriously thinking about refunding my Thrustmaster but getting the X52 that I've heard about as I'm finding the buttons on the Thrustmaster abit limiting now

I only got Elite Dangerous cause of the HUGE discount to £9.99 (worth a punt) & ThrustMaster HOTAS X (30 day refund) then I thought why not punt for Horizons 2.0Beta while it was still a good price then a surprise £10 discount to boot.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

The fastest ways of making money vary with budget and are not always the most interesting things to do out there so don't get too obsessed with it. Rare running is no good until you have a long jump Cobra as you have to go long distances and carry several tonnes of cargo (also player pirates used to hang about on the popular rares spots but not sure that is the case now). It seems that community goals can be good earners early on as well.

I think trading in general is pretty poor below ~200 tonnes cargo space but then it becomes the fastest and most boring way to make cash. I flew a T9 for a bit recently and god it is dull, although flying something like it is an experience, it puts other ships in context (not breaking the 100 speed limit at max throttle with 2 pips to engine!).

My recommendation is to mix it up, it keeps things interesting...

 

[happyfunball]

Money comes faster the bigger/better your ship is. For example, I can bring in 5 million cr/hr easy doing bulk trading with a Python while watching TV. On combat side, when you get into a bigger ship, you can farm Hazardous RES and rake in 5-10 million cr/hr, maybe even more depending on your PP pledge. There are reports that people can still get 10-20 million cr/hr doing long haul missions out of Robigo and Fehu. Rare runs are good for intermediate players in the Cobra to Asp range, but once you get a bigger ship, rare runs aren't all that profitable.

Honestly, I stopped rushing to Anaconda once I bought a few ships and started playing different things based on my mood. Right now I can buy an Anaconda if I sold everything I own, but I'd prefer to have a bunch of ships to fly based on my whim. It's more fun that way than grinding credits.

 

[d8veh]

I'm also and the BBC Micro version back in the day and never really played it much as I never could get a handle on the trading bit to make money so I "HACKED" it.

but after reading your posting I'd thought I'd have another go

I was just about ready to "throw in the towel"about this game when I stumbled across this thread and a video basically saying the same thing.


I had taken a couple of transport/data missions and got killed for my cargo of 1 ton of TEA. Yes I got TEABAGGED for TEA


Then I went travelling abit to find myself a nice system with a couple of RES sites to try out before I'd call it a day and probably not get a refund on ED: Horizons but atleast on my ThrustMaster flight stick.


Luckily I found a system with 3 different RES sites, "Low, High & Hazards" Tried the low, no much happening was very bored so went to the High RES. Within 30mins I'd pocketed my first 1,000,000 credits, came back to port (I couldn't believe it but wanted to make sure I pocketed the creds) Another 30 mins same site another 1,000,000 creds >


Only stopped cause I accidentally hit a "Clean" pilot and the security was on my tail. Still got the fined but I think it only lasts for 5 mins then record its "Cleaned" I hope (someone fill me in on this)

Alittle tip: Once you enter a RES site make sure you already got your supercruise target set for a quick get away if you get into trouble.
As soon as you see "WANTED" pop up on your panel, GET YOUR SHINNY METAL BUTT OUTTA THERE!!!!! and hit supercruise !

Save my metal butt for sure


Now I'm seriously thinking about refunding my Thrustmaster but getting the X52 that I've heard about as I'm finding the buttons on the Thrustmaster abit limiting now

I only got Elite Dangerous cause of the HUGE discount to £9.99 (worth a punt) & ThrustMaster HOTAS X (30 day refund) then I thought why not punt for Horizons 2.0Beta while it was still a good price then a surprise £10 discount to boot.

Thanks for all that. Great story. I think a lot of people are worried that bounty hunting is dangerous, but I think that it's a lot safer than trading. It doesn't matter if you get blown up as a noob because you don't lose anything. Just try again. Cash in the bounty vouchers and leave the money in the bank until you have enough to buy a decent ship because, you don't lose banked money when you're killed.

I too started on the Beeb. That's my badge on the left. I must have been one of the first to get one because I got the game on the day it came out and played it every minute I had until I was Elite. They gave me a certificate too. I think it was the first 100 that got those, but I'm not sure. I know they gave other badges later.

The duration of your bounty depends on whether you killed an innocent person. Shooting gets you about 8 minutes, but killing gets you 6 days, in which case you can't go back there until that's expired.

I have the X52. I think that it's just the job for this game if you're not a regular keyboard game player. X52 has buttons for everything. I've just changed my throttle to full range, so it has the zero point in the middle. Like that I think it gives much better control for dogfighting, though landing on a pad is not so easy.

 

[BumbleB]

Thanks for all that. .....

The duration of your bounty depends on whether you killed an innocent person. Shooting gets you about 8 minutes, but killing gets you 6 days, in which case you can't go back there until that's expired.

I have the X52. I think that it's just the job for this game if you're not a regular keyboard game player. X52 has buttons for everything. I've just changed my throttle to full range, so it has the zero point in the middle. Like that I think it gives much better control for dogfighting, though landing on a pad is not so easy.

I didn't kill the innocent just fired on him as he wondered into my line of fire and got a 400cr fine which I paid of soon as I got back to the local station.

I've full range on my ThrustMaster and seriously considering the X52 I just wish my ED (32bit) edition would work as its still crashing when undocking or docking and this is with a new CMDR but ED: H (Beta) runs fine no problems but I've heard you don't keep the creds you've earned in beta when it finally switches over

 

[CMDR Crustatious Cornelius Pig]

Community goals is a good way to make some cash. In the XIHE companions campaign I made two runs in my MK3 and managed to make 5 million from the goal and a 2-300 k from the actual sale of the companions. Not bad for 1.5 hours work.

I did this at the end of the very end of the campaign. Just waited to get paid

You do have to watch out for pirates who want your rares though...

 

[AnthonyHJ]

One point I'd make to newbies is to go Solo for a while. It's all the same world, so progress carries over, and it lets you get used to the game before you have to deal with human players who will murder you just for your Sidewinder's 4T of cargo. That said, everyone should play the tutorials when they first start out, so they should have at least picked up basic combat and docking skills by the time they launch their Sidewinder into the black for real.