Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew

[Ravenseed]

I am the first to complain about hand holding in modern games, but I wish Elite would offer me some guidance. I have spent 3 or 4 days with Elite so far, and I have learned a lot but I do not seem to be able to make any progress what so ever. I have been through majority of the tutorials no problem.

I really do not know if I am playing the game the right way, I have watched quite a few Youtube vids and tried to do mimic a few missions or ideas from these.

In 3 or 4 days I have only earned 500 credits (don't laugh) and not successfully completed any missions from the bulletin boards. I haven't successfully killed a ship, but have been destroyed many times.

If I take a mission and start to make my way across to the relevant destination to drop off whatever it is I always get an interdiction and 75% of the time get totally out maneuvered and destroyed...if I try and attack my lasers have almost no effect. Sometimes I can escape.

The only way I made some money so far was by scanning a few planets and selling the info the cartographers. However even then I seemed to have received some fines which meant I still had no money and couldn't refuel.

A lot of the time when I try and take a mission from the bulletin board it says the faction doesn't trust me enough. (I am only really capable of courier missions right now I think).

I'm not going to give up, I am determined to play this game and hopefully become good at it... it's weird because I played the original Elite back in the 80's when I was something like 8 years old and from memory managed to progress in that, even though it was very difficult.

So if anyone could kindly give me a nudge in the right direction because I am getting nowhere fast right now, I would appreciate it loads.

 

[DRY411S]

Keep at it is all I can say. One of the first skills you need to learn (in my opinion) is how to maximise your ability to avoid interdictions, and then how to get away if you are interdicted. There is some good avice at https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64224&p=1078383&viewfull=1#post1078383

I also read that it's a good idea to avoid supercruising in a straight line. Apparently that reduces the possibility of being interdicted.

I'm guessing, but until you can consistently avoid or jump away from interdictions, it might be better to avoid missions. It's possible that because you fail missions and get destroyed, that your reputation suffers and the systems don't trust you anymore to give you missions.

 

[StuartGT]

What controls are you using?

 

[CmdrKull]

You need more practice escaping interdictions. I'm sure you know about aligning with the escape vector, so just keep practicing, never throttle down because that will drop you out with a long cool down.... If you do get pulled, boost away and "duck and move" so that you are harder to hit. When you're dogfighting you need to manage your throttle so that in turns you are I the blue zone. Couple that with thrust up or down to tighten your turns.

Do you have a joystick? It makes dogfighting much easier to control. I started winning much more often after sinking a whole $15 dollars into a used flightstick (ms sidewinder pro , usb version, if you find one you like ask on here if it will be supported and you can avoid wasting money on the wrong stick)

Stick to solo until you are really comfortable in the cmdr's seat, open is no place for learning to fly.


Good luck.

In case it wasn't clear, thrust up or down means with the separate thrusters, not throttling up or down.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I must admit I have found myself having a few 400 credit fines which I have no idea how I got them.

this has only happend since gamma.

I have not ticketed becasue I cant be sure its a bug, but I am wondering whether something is a little off somewhere in terms of fines.

as for difficulty... I can only say it must be practice.

Trust me I am not that good a pilot, but I get out of maybe 75% of interdictions and am currently 4 kills for 0 deaths from AI aggressors(I think it is) (and also 1 coward escaped with ~5% health), and that is without upgrades (ie 2 loan pulse lasers)

stick with it and good luck

I LOVE this game..... for me the fact that even a 1 vs 1 battle "feels" like a significant thing rather than fly swatting is something I love.


ps i play on a stick. no idea what it is like on mouse and KB
when in battle keep your engine boost in the blue. always be ready to move your energy distribution about.

getting outflanked put more to engines, if you have positioned yourself well then all energy to weapons.

and dont forget to use thrusters as well as your normal controls to get the bad guy in your sites.

i too have not been trusted for delivery missions (I am exploring, and now doing some low end bounty hunting to get my money) I also have an anarchy base close by to take back any dropped goodies i come accross to sell on the black market..

Have you noticed on the delivery missions somtimes you see voluntary ones, with no payment. I am guessing you should probably do a few of them to get your reputation up enough to get going.

 

[Tarman]

Greetings pilot! Glad you're going to fight the good fight.

For interdictions, are you losing the Escape Vector chase, or being immediately dropped out of SC? If you're dropping speed during the initial tether, it's an autosubmission. Good ways to help avoid them altogether are to fly out of the system plane and arc over to your destination, keeping out of the linear traffic lanes, and also watching your scannersix for potential interdictors.

Fines are everywhere; dumping in stationspace, docking violations, mission failures. If you're really having trouble in the region of space you're in finding missions, some simple hauling between a few stations where you can buy low, and sell high can eventually build you some cash. Takes forever sometimes in a Sidey with its limited capacity but it's still doable.

Alternately there's a full restart if your starting area is just giving you too much of a hard time, but a lot of people have mentioned this takes sometimes many tries to pull a new starting system. I got lucky and got the Aibiako start, there's a stupid amount of in-system stations available there.

 

[Cat_Astrophe]

Ok, I suggest you start by seeing if there is a "resource area" in the rings of a planet near you. That will give you some nice starter targets to practice combat on. If you lose your ship no biggie. If there is no resource area, find a low intensity combat zone or go to the unidentified signals.
>
Once you have some confidence in that and some cash you can retry the missions and try avoiding escaping or fighting your way out of interdictions.
>
Exploration is another possibility too. Jump into that new system target star & get data, supercruise away from the star looking for "stars that move"... those are planets. Target & get data, etc.
>
Mining is another possibility. Get the mining laser and refinery, and go looking for VALUABLE ores, like gold, palladium, silver, etc. This can be a nice moneymaker but you probably won't score big unless the asteroid belt (in the system map) shows as having common or major reserves and is "metal rich".
>
If you can do all those things with some competence, then you can go almost anywhere (if you have a fuel scoop to refuel in systems without stations far away) and see the universe with a continually rising bank balance.
>
Practice on each is a good(TM) thing.

 

[damientgerard]

For me, the one single thing that increased my enjoyment and skill at piloting was investing in a HOTAS system. My nous and keyboard are great but I found that I was infinitely better with a throttle and stick.

 

[Ravenseed]

Keep at it is all I can say. One of the first skills you need to learn (in my opinion) is how to maximise your ability to avoid interdictions, and then how to get away if you are interdicted. There is some good avice at https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64224&p=1078383&viewfull=1#post1078383

I also read that it's a good idea to avoid supercruising in a straight line. Apparently that reduces the possibility of being interdicted.

I'm guessing, but until you can consistently avoid or jump away from interdictions, it might be better to avoid missions. It's possible that because you fail missions and get destroyed, that your reputation suffers and the systems don't trust you anymore to give you missions.

OK thanks, that makes sense...I will try not going in a direct line and see if I get intercepted less.. I think you are right about the missions, I have taken around 20 and failed them all ha ha... yes my reputation is in the gutter

 

[DRY411S]

For me, the one single thing that increased my enjoyment and skill at piloting was investing in a HOTAS system. My nous and keyboard are great but I found that I was infinitely better with a throttle and stick.

This ^
I have just about got my X-55 Rhino configured the way I like it, and I very rarely have to put my hands on mouse or keyboard.
It is though easily the most extravagant purchase I've made to play a PC game.
http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x55.html
http://www.dabs.com/products/saitek-pro-flight-x-55-rhino-h-o-t-a-s--for-pc-9Q3X.html?src=15

 

[Ravenseed]

What controls are you using?

I have the Saitek X52 (not pro). This seems to be working fine, and actually controls lovely.... I think it is the users fault...me

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You need more practice escaping interdictions. I'm sure you know about aligning with the escape vector, so just keep practicing, never throttle down because that will drop you out with a long cool down.... If you do get pulled, boost away and "duck and move" so that you are harder to hit. When you're dogfighting you need to manage your throttle so that in turns you are I the blue zone. Couple that with thrust up or down to tighten your turns.

Do you have a joystick? It makes dogfighting much easier to control. I started winning much more often after sinking a whole $15 dollars into a used flightstick (ms sidewinder pro , usb version, if you find one you like ask on here if it will be supported and you can avoid wasting money on the wrong stick)

Stick to solo until you are really comfortable in the cmdr's seat, open is no place for learning to fly.


Good luck.

In case it wasn't clear, thrust up or down means with the separate thrusters, not throttling up or down.

thanks for the detail.

"I'm sure you know about aligning with the escape vector" - actually I didn't, so will try now and look out for it...is it easy to spot or how to recognize escape vector?

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I must admit I have found myself having a few 400 credit fines which I have no idea how I got them.

this has only happend since gamma.

I have not ticketed becasue I cant be sure its a bug, but I am wondering whether something is a little off somewhere in terms of fines.

as for difficulty... I can only say it must be practice.

Trust me I am not that good a pilot, but I get out of maybe 75% of interdictions and am currently 4 kills for 0 deaths from AI aggressors(I think it is) (and also 1 coward escaped with ~5% health), and that is without upgrades (ie 2 loan pulse lasers)

stick with it and good luck

I LOVE this game..... for me the fact that even a 1 vs 1 battle "feels" like a significant thing rather than fly swatting is something I love.


ps i play on a stick. no idea what it is like on mouse and KB
when in battle keep your engine boost in the blue. always be ready to move your energy distribution about.

getting outflanked put more to engines, if you have positioned yourself well then all energy to weapons.

and dont forget to use thrusters as well as your normal controls to get the bad guy in your sites.

i too have not been trusted for delivery missions (I am exploring, and now doing some low end bounty hunting to get my money) I also have an anarchy base close by to take back any dropped goodies i come accross to sell on the black market..

Have you noticed on the delivery missions somtimes you see voluntary ones, with no payment. I am guessing you should probably do a few of them to get your reputation up enough to get going.

thanks, also good info..... I didn't think about it really but I wasn't aware you could avoid interdictions, it seemed they were just part of the process as it happens everytime. I will try and see about avoiding now I know.

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Greetings pilot! Glad you're going to fight the good fight.

For interdictions, are you losing the Escape Vector chase, or being immediately dropped out of SC? If you're dropping speed during the initial tether, it's an autosubmission. Good ways to help avoid them altogether are to fly out of the system plane and arc over to your destination, keeping out of the linear traffic lanes, and also watching your scannersix for potential interdictors.

Fines are everywhere; dumping in stationspace, docking violations, mission failures. If you're really having trouble in the region of space you're in finding missions, some simple hauling between a few stations where you can buy low, and sell high can eventually build you some cash. Takes forever sometimes in a Sidey with its limited capacity but it's still doable.

Alternately there's a full restart if your starting area is just giving you too much of a hard time, but a lot of people have mentioned this takes sometimes many tries to pull a new starting system. I got lucky and got the Aibiako start, there's a stupid amount of in-system stations available there.

Thanks, good info here......I clearly need more practice, but now I know what to practice for it should help my direction.

 

[kmw]

OK thanks, that makes sense...I will try not going in a direct line and see if I get intercepted less.. I think you are right about the missions, I have taken around 20 and failed them all ha ha... yes my reputation is in the gutter

As DRY411S says, you have good controls with the X52, so you need to practice avoiding the interdiction. Then if you do get caught, don't stay and fight, it sounds like you are not ready for that yet. No offence meant there, as neither am I - I avoid 7 or 8 out of 10 interdictions and I have not killed anything yet, but when I am caught, I know how to get away -
.
Don't Panic - turn off flight assist, hit the thrust button and start making some distance, then lock in a new destination while you wait for the FSD to cool and charge. Use a bit of horizontal & vertical thrust as well to make yourself a moving target. You will take some damage but you will be able to SC out of there.
.
There'll be time for revenge when you get bigger guns and more experience

 

[Tarman]

Breakdown for an interdiction: as SOON as you hear the rararrrrarar of the tether, look for your escape vector, it's a blue swirly. You can follow where you need to track by the flow of stuff if the vector goes out of visual. You'll get a HUD display that has a left blue bar and a right red bar, with a target; left is your escape chances, right is your interdictor's chances to drop you.

The more you can keep your ship into the vector, the lower their chance to catch you becomes. This is also dependent on their kit, so a very superior tether could have much better chances to get you. But if you manage to chase the fishie (that's what it feels like to me) better than they can chase you, you'll escape. Note that if you fight the tether and lose, you'll take a small amount of damage. If you escape, your interdictor gets dropped to sublight and you won't take the damage.

 

[natte hond]

how different experiences can be.
I made 3M in tree sessions without one death.
for me the game has become easy but off course it is incomparable.
I played as from the Alpha so it has become second nature.
what I want to point out is cos the game has such a threshold it wont become too easy to fast.
and achievements are real.
which means your Elite status will truly mean something.

 

[adoredtv]

In most cases if you just don't panic you'll escape almost all interdictions if you just run after being brought out of Frame Shift. I've escaped stuff like Imperial Clippers in my sidewinder.

Some interdictions (the mini game with the blue and red circles) are just not escapable - they are basically instant and Frontier needs to work on that.

You're probably getting fined due to attacking pirates first -let them hit you first and make sure you have them targeted and scanned for "wanted" status before attacking back. Or better still, just run.

 

[Hamerstein]

Loads of excellent advice here, I'd just like to add that Ravenseed's posts should be used as advertisements on how to engage with the community when you're having problems. +1 Rep to you Sir (or Madam)

 

[DRY411S]

To try and encourage the OP, I'm very average at playing and have perhaps spent 5 hours in 3 sessions over the last 2 days. The first session was open play, the other two in Solo mode. I never fight, I always flee. I've kept a log in a wordpad document. It's still only 1 page long (so obviously I haven't done much), but I've gone from 100 credits to 45K mostly from missions and map data, only one trade with a profit of 776CR. I've bine fined 400CR when I accidentally tried to land on the wrong pad. I've not bought any upgrades, or changed the 'loaned' Sidewinder configuration at all. But I've been recording some good outfitters I need to go back to when I have enough cash.

One additional tip I could give is to add your discovery scanner to your secondary weapons fire button on your joystick. Every time you jump into a new system 'fire' your scanner to collect cartographic data. The scanner even works while you are in supercruise.

This data has value (in Cartographic data section of Station Services), and selling it increases your reputation and therefore the probability of getting missions.

 

[Tuckwit]

3 Quick Tips,

1. Get a good joystick with Throttle, essential, and it just feels so natural. For a reasonably cheap all-in-one stick there's the Logitech 3D Extreme Pro, or you can go for the more expensive Hotas setups which for me a bit overkill but seem very popular.
2. When you get interdicted and fall out, in the first attack pass, if they are a much higher elite rating OR in a much bigger ship OR they pretty much take down your shields in that first attack pass, it's probably best to just run and live to fight another day, which brings me to point 3.
3. How to get the hell outta dodge. Sooner or later they're gonna head straight for you all guns blazing. If you boost head on towards them while strafing with thrusters a bit and fly right past, keep on going, full speed, stow weapons, fire up FSD, set engines to max pips, boost and boost again. By the time they've turned around you will have enough of a gap to be able to make the jump without taking too many more hits. I even managed to outrun some missiles as I went into SC last night.

 

[Ravenseed]

Keep at it is all I can say. One of the first skills you need to learn (in my opinion) is how to maximise your ability to avoid interdictions, and then how to get away if you are interdicted. There is some good avice at https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64224&p=1078383&viewfull=1#post1078383

I also read that it's a good idea to avoid supercruising in a straight line. Apparently that reduces the possibility of being interdicted.

I'm guessing, but until you can consistently avoid or jump away from interdictions, it might be better to avoid missions. It's possible that because you fail missions and get destroyed, that your reputation suffers and the systems don't trust you anymore to give you missions.

"I also read that it's a good idea to avoid SC in a straight line. Apparently that reduces the possibility of being interdicted."

OK I tried this and I would say you are right. I just played for an hour or so and SC between several systems in a wobbly line rather than a straight line and I didn't receive a single interdiction....considering I had an interdiction every single time previous I would say it is good advice to not go in a straight line.

So thanks, I actually just delivered my first delivery and made a whole 800 credits, although again my fines seemed to wipe me out and I still have zero credits (at least I think it was fines.

 

[Ravenseed]

Loads of excellent advice here, I'd just like to add that Ravenseed's posts should be used as advertisements on how to engage with the community when you're having problems. +1 Rep to you Sir (or Madam)

Thanks for the comment

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3 Quick Tips,

1. Get a good joystick with Throttle, essential, and it just feels so natural. For a reasonably cheap all-in-one stick there's the Logitech 3D Extreme Pro, or you can go for the more expensive Hotas setups which for me a bit overkill but seem very popular.
2. When you get interdicted and fall out, in the first attack pass, if they are a much higher elite rating OR in a much bigger ship OR they pretty much take down your shields in that first attack pass, it's probably best to just run and live to fight another day, which brings me to point 3.
3. How to get the hell outta dodge. Sooner or later they're gonna head straight for you all guns blazing. If you boost head on towards them while strafing with thrusters a bit and fly right past, keep on going, full speed, stow weapons, fire up FSD, set engines to max pips, boost and boost again. By the time they've turned around you will have enough of a gap to be able to make the jump without taking too many more hits. I even managed to outrun some missiles as I went into SC last night.

Thanks for the tips....I'll let you know how that goes