Challenging (skill based) things to do in Elite

Bomba Luigi · Feb 27, 2016

I did land on Achenar 3, with quite a few ship actualy. Smuggling in a slow Ship I did too, did once some robigo stuff with the Python. And Canyon Racing I did plenty, some without exploding some with

Currently I try the Eagle combat challenge, in my first try I got a bit more then half Million and while could have stay longer with the hull down to 65% and no more chaff I got out and will try again. I did spam that chaff too much,someone shoots and "Chaff, Chaff!" two seconds later I'm behind the ship and out of the Fire

Also thanks to the OP, I had no Idea how great and fun the Eagle can be!

DaveB · Feb 27, 2016

Viking84 said:
I was considering this, but given the current state of the hyperjump mechanic it isn't really all that skill based. Jump, turn, jump, turn, jump, turn, scoop, turn, jump. I'm sure it is fun in its own way but not really in the spirit of the OP.

I have to disagree here. Every Buckyball run has come down to seconds, cmdrs frantically pushing their ships and their piloting skills to squeeze that little bit of advantage. You may as well call 21st century F1 racing just a matter of accelerate, brake, turn, accelerate, brake, turn... It's even more fun if you stick to the policy of "run what ya brung" and always do the race in whatever you happen to be flying at the time it happens, without race-optimizing your ship in any way.

ETA: and if you still doubt it's skill-based, just try and catch an experienced buckyballer when he's trying to get away from you. He can run faster than you can chase, often in a ship you didn't believe could possibly run fast enough to get that far ahead of you.

Viking84 · Feb 27, 2016

DaveB said:
I have to disagree here. Every Buckyball run has come down to seconds, cmdrs frantically pushing their ships and their piloting skills to squeeze that little bit of advantage. You may as well call 21st century F1 racing just a matter of accelerate, brake, turn, accelerate, brake, turn...

I stand correcting on the Bucky Ball races not requiring any skill. Did my due diligence and I see that there is a fair bit of station landing under boost, slingshotting around planets and various other mechanics that are skill based and pretty tough! I still maintain that jumping from star to star is really just a matter of pointing in the right direction and hitting your chosen FSD button

Will add it to the first post.

Alec Turner · Feb 27, 2016

Viking84 said:
I stand correcting on the Bucky Ball races not requiring any skill. Did my due diligence and I see that there is a fair bit of station landing under boost, slingshotting around planets and various other mechanics that are skill based and pretty tough! I still maintain that jumping from star to star is really just a matter of pointing in the right direction and hitting your chosen FSD button Will add it to the first post.

At the risk of preaching to the (now) converted, further evidence of the skill (or lack thereof - I'll let you be the judge, I certainly didn't win) is this video of the recent Buckyball Turbo hour race which involved flying as many laps as possible within an hour of a fixed set of 5 stations. Attempting to land/take off perfectly this many times in a row, under pressure, with no shields and no surprises, very nearly broke me

[video=youtube_share;_4u5H1_Ylxg]http://youtu.be/_4u5H1_Ylxg[/video]

DaveB · Feb 27, 2016

Viking84 said:
...I still maintain that jumping from star to star is really just a matter of pointing in the right direction and hitting your chosen FSD button ...

Fair enough, but honestly.. strategically planning your route and being millisecond-accurate on timing your cooldown, reorientation and (possibly) time "on the scoop" with managing your ships heat so you don't explode before you get to the next checkpoint... Try it sometime. It doesn't have to be in an "official" race, just pick your favorite route and see how many seconds you can shave off it. Three days later and pounding your head on your keyboard in frustration you'll still be wanting those one or two seconds that you KNOW you can make.

Alec Turner · Feb 27, 2016

DaveB said:
Fair enough, but honestly.. strategically planning your route and being millisecond-accurate on timing your cooldown, reorientation and (possibly) time "on the scoop" with managing your ships heat so you don't explode before you get to the next checkpoint... Try it sometime. It doesn't have to be in an "official" race, just pick your favorite route and see how many seconds you can shave off it. Three days later and pounding your head on your keyboard in frustration you'll still be wanting those one or two seconds that you KNOW you can make.

Hey DaveB ... loving your pro-Buckyball posts but I don't recognise the forum name. Am I being stupid or have you just not had a chance to compete with us yet?

Pazmino · Feb 27, 2016

FurtivePygmy said:
-Taking a smaller, cheaper ship (eagle, viper, even sidey) and trying to outfight Cmdrs in much larger, better outfitted ships? (Cillit Bang does it here, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqZaJ_LnbOU)

-Trying to land on a planet *without shields* and without taking *any* hull damage.... (Oh wait, that might still be impossible)

-Racing a friend (best with same ship/loadout) through an asteroid field? (Can drop a limpet or some cheap container to act as the start/finish line/countdown timer) For example, one good way to do it, is each fly to max sensor range in the asteroid field (or even further) from each other (could have a specified distance for brackets or tourney), each drop a cargo there, ReadySetGo! and first to reach/scoop the other's cargo drop wins.

-I think a SRV demo derby would be good fun as well, but perhaps difficult to organize w/ people. (Could be on a 10g or 0.05g planet)

-Finding people outside of CG's to PVP pirate... (Oh wait, that one is mainly time/luck based...)

Tldr; some serious answers, some not so much

Textbook power management! Will get myself a DB scout and try this

Shooting bigger ships

Winterwalker · Feb 27, 2016

Viking84 said:
I find it a little concerning that there have been so few things to add to this list. And especially concerning that all but one of them are completely without in-game reward - Shadow Deliveries in big slow ships being the notable exception.

Really hope the 2.1 update adds some much needed variety and challenge to the things we can do in this game!

You're forgetting ..

make a living by piracy alone
flip a system
play open exclusive + CG exclusive
fly FA off at all times
explore in detail all systems in 100Ly radius
visit and screenie all star and planet types
fly escort to a newbie/trader
kill one of every ship type
disable one of every ship type without killing it
gain a 10,000,000 credit bounty on yourself
bag 10 high bounty players
jump a canyon in SRV
play ironman mode (ship death = clear save)

Wotthe Dickens · Mar 7, 2016

Ignition said:
..

lol! Maybe you should check this out ..

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=236520

@OP, good thread!

Viking84 · Mar 7, 2016

Winterwalker said:
You're forgetting ..

make a living by piracy alone
flip a system
play open exclusive + CG exclusive
fly FA off at all times
explore in detail all systems in 100Ly radius
visit and screenie all star and planet types
fly escort to a newbie/trader
kill one of every ship type
disable one of every ship type without killing it
gain a 10,000,000 credit bounty on yourself
bag 10 high bounty players
jump a canyon in SRV
play ironman mode (ship death = clear save)

Maybe I am being unnecessarily negative here - but these all fall into one of two categories: Easy but time consuming (exploration, BGS stuff, killing NPC ships, raising your bounty), or just daft and with no in-game justification (FA-Off all the time, jumping canyons).

Notable exception is the PvP related stuff of course - but PvP is rather all or nothing in Elite at the moment, either you are open to it and you have kitted your ship out accordingly, or you are trying to do something else in game (PvE) in which case you will never win a single PvP encounter because you are not loaded full of SCB's, hull reinforcements and fixed PA's...

Here's hoping 2.1 gives us more challenging stuff to do. Either some complex combat missions, some time critical delivery missions, some long distance exploration missions with the odd dangerous element thrown in... or whatever else the devs can think of

Rikk · Mar 7, 2016

Viking84 said:
Canyon Racing
Requires: Horizons, small fast ships
Location: Planetoids smaller than 500km. INOVIK A 2 A is a good example.
Activity: Find a network of canyons, then fly down them at lowest possible elevation at maximum possible speed.
Goal: Don't destroy your ship by slamming into walls/floors/other racers
Difficult because: Blasting down canyons is a tense thrill ride, and its completely up to your piloting skills to do it. Ideally, either race down the same canyon with friends, or do time-trials to see who can clear the canyon the fastest.

Let me offer a variation on this.

Requires: Horizons, big fast ships

Difficult because: Blasting down canyons is already a tense thrill ride which requires good piloting skills. So doing it in a ship that has only slightly less mass than an outpost, which requires you to plan turns in excess of two kilometers before you need to change direction is the next level. Plus, that rebuy...

Alec Turner · Mar 7, 2016

Viking84 said:
Maybe I am being unnecessarily negative here - but these all fall into one of two categories: Easy but time consuming (exploration, BGS stuff, killing NPC ships, raising your bounty), or just daft and with no in-game justification (FA-Off all the time, jumping canyons).

The same could be said of mountain climbing, snowboarding, kite surfing or blindfold two-finger beer mat flipping!

Because it's there man, because it's there

Viking84 · Mar 7, 2016

Alec Turner said:
The same could be said of mountain climbing, snowboarding, kite surfing or blindfold two-finger beer mat flipping!

Because it's there man, because it's there

Fair point

But they do belong in their own category of "daft daredevil sh*t to do", and it is a bit disappointing that there are so few challenges in the game that we have to resort to jumping off cliffs

Spaceburger · Mar 7, 2016

Cool list

how about flying the trench run around the outside of a coriolis station? Brilliant way to learn and practise FA off and it's great fun when you start getting the hang of it. Also it's really easy to try out, just go into the training section from the main menu and choose the landing in a station scenario.

There isn't really a defined route to take but I like that because you can choose your own path.

The reward is to be a better pilot using flight assist off

BanzaiZAP · Mar 7, 2016

Rikk said:
Let me offer a variation on this.
Requires: Horizons, big fast ships
Difficult because: Blasting down canyons is already a tense thrill ride which requires good piloting skills. So doing it in a ship that has only slightly less mass than an outpost, which requires you to plan turns in excess of two kilometers before you need to change direction is the next level. Plus, that rebuy...

Heh. Just took my Orca for one of these. It is a bit more tense when you've got a 4 million rebuy! Sweeping majestically down a canyon is fantastic, then a moment of terror trying to pull up in time...

Rikk · Mar 7, 2016

BanzaiZAP said:
Heh. Just took my Orca for one of these. It is a bit more tense when you've got a 4 million rebuy! Sweeping majestically down a canyon is fantastic, then a moment of terror trying to pull up in time...

Every time I took my Conda down canyons on Distant Worlds (Before I returned it for something more fun) I could not help but think of this classic scene from The Hunt for Red October

'Full ahead flank'
'Brace for Impact'

[video=youtube;4unk6siO-tI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4unk6siO-tI[/video]

Ian Doncaster · Mar 7, 2016

SRV Volleyball:
1) Find a low-G landable planet (0.03G moons of gas giant moons seem to work well, but higher gravity can be used for a tougher challenge)
2) Locate a mineral deposit of some form, and shoot it to get the minerals to fly up in the air.
3) Keeping your scoop closed, leap yourself to intercept the mineral in mid-air, and knock it higher. Land, turn round, hit it again.
Once it hits the ground, the game ends and you find a new rock. Can be played solo or with friends.

So far - I'm terrible at this - I've managed a massive "one" successful interception.

Alec Turner · Mar 7, 2016

Viking84 said:
I stand correcting on the Bucky Ball races not requiring any skill. Did my due diligence and I see that there is a fair bit of station landing under boost, slingshotting around planets and various other mechanics that are skill based and pretty tough! I still maintain that jumping from star to star is really just a matter of pointing in the right direction and hitting your chosen FSD button Will add it to the first post.

New mid-week Buckyball Race starting tonight!

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=236840

tafkabb · Mar 7, 2016

Coriolis surfing without HOTAS

Hepp · Mar 8, 2016

Here is a challenge for you, I hope you like it [noob].
Bullion (Gold) Challenge!!
Requires: Any ship with 8 or more cargo slots, member of any faction
Location: Any edge of occupied space
Activity: Fill cargo hold with GOLD!! (Or the most expensive cargo you can find, extra bonus for 'Rare' goods.) Then plot a course all the way across occupied space, make sure it is at least 800LY, and it should span multiple if not all Factions along the way.
Goal: Make it across occupied space with the Original Cargo Intact, Spending at least 5min in each populated system
Difficult because: You will be stopped and forced to defend your cargo by every Agent, Pirate, Merc, Enemy, and even a few cops along the way. To complete this challenge you need to have the Original Cargo Intact, So no Dying, or dumping of cargo or the challenge fails. The challenge nets a profit (Esp with Rare goods) and will challenge most pilots on many levels.
I did this in a ASP Explorer with 32 cargo slots of Gold and traveled just over 1500LY, mostly in hostile space. I netted a modest profit on the gold, but made huge $$ on all the bounties I collected. Ranked up my exploration too....but the whole time I wanted to ditch the gold, it was a magnet for Pirates. Just to get to a space port, I would be interdicted 2-3 times. Plus the extra weight means I couldn't jump as far. I would imagine that 64 slots of gold would be that much more of a challenge as then I would have to remove another needed module to accommodate the additional 32 slots.