Combat Deadly to Elite with NPCs?

[Hooplah]

My combat rank is only Expert. I've been hitting up a CNB that I found. I sometimes see Expert or Master, but I only kill Deadly, or Elite. Still, the progress seems agonizingly slow.

I don't have the rank (or the money) for a vette or a cutter. I have an engineered anaconda and a chieftan that I switch between. Either ship is sufficient to kill the NPCs I encounter, but it's still so, so slow. I'm just trying to unlock Jamison so that I could get lightweight sensors for an exploration build, but it's taking forever!

They why do I keep getting warnings about "thermal attack" and "trajectory disruption"

At Expert Level you gain more points taking out master, dangerous, deadly and elite. You gain less points with harmless, novice, competent below your rank. Getting to Elite is all about the points. As you move up in the combat ranks the NPCs will also improve their weapons. They do not have access to engineered weapons but some pretty good ones you probably missed if engineering your ship was your focus. Google, "Elite Dangerous Thermal Attack" and you will know what is going on.

With any serious combat ship light weight sensors are an afterthought. Go for D-rated and work on the important issues per building a combat ship to survive. The pros, "We don't need no stinkin' sensors". Sorry...I miss the actor Eli Wallach (died in 2014) replacing sensors with badges. Your flight skills and efficiently using your weapons is a thousand times more important.

Regards

 

[aardappelianen]

The wing assassination missions do feature engineered ships, the kill pirate lord wing missions always feature engineered fdls with a wing of 2 or 3 vultures
The vultures almost always have a phasing sequence laser and a corrosive multi.
Its quite obvious when with the different colors the engineerd weapons have and the fact that your hull is going down witb shields up

I'm sad though pirate lords pilot fdls exclusively would be nice to see some variation

 

[Aashenfox]

At Expert Level you gain more points taking out master, dangerous, deadly and elite. You gain less points with harmless, novice, competent below your rank. As you move up in the combat ranks the NPCs will also improve their weapons. They do not have access to engineered weapons but some pretty good ones you probably missed if engineering your ship was your focus. Google, "Elite Dangerous Thermal Attack" and you will know what is going on.

With any serious combat ship light weight sensors are an afterthought. Go for D-rated and work on the important issues per building a combat ship to survive. Your flight skills and efficiently using your weapons is a thousand times more important.

Regards

Some NPCs do have engineering these days, including weapons. Not many, but some.

The wing assassination missions do feature engineered ships, the kill pirate lord wing missions always feature engineered fdls with a wing of 2 or 3 vultures
The vultures almost always have a phasing sequence laser and a corrosive multi.
Its quite obvious when with the different colors the engineerd weapons have and the fact that your hull is going down witb shields up

I'm sad though pirate lords pilot fdls exclusively would be nice to see some variation

For me pirate Lords only fly corvettes. Depends on your rank and your rank with the faction giving the mission.

 

[wrmiller]

For me pirate Lords only fly corvettes. Depends on your rank and your rank with the faction giving the mission.

Same here (Corvettes only). I flew a few of those missions, but they are short-lived and get a bit boring.

 

[aardappelianen]

Glad to hear its my fault I've been stacking missions and doing runs but always end up with a bunch of unfinished mission when i go to bed and then not play the next day because life and failing whole bunches, taking massive hits to my rep

I'll be more careful now, i need more corvettes to shoot, theres too many anacondas out there

 

[Hooplah]

Some NPCs do have engineering these days, including weapons. Not many, but some...

Nope. I also thought this one time myself but they don't have engineering access. I looked up everything they were firing at me and found that they are all available in the standard weapons.

Now when Elite NPCs seem to have unlimited SCBs and chaff without overheating and never dropping heat sinks I can see in my scanner then maybe they have an advantage. Then again humans are smarter than NPCs so maybe it all works out.

 

[Aashenfox]

Nope. I also thought this one time myself but they don't have engineering access. I looked up everything they were firing at me and found that they are all available in the standard weapons.

Now when Elite NPCs seem to have unlimited SCBs and chaff without overheating and never dropping heat sinks I can see in my scanner then maybe they have an advantage. Then again humans are smarter than NPCs so maybe it all works out.

I absolutely assure you that Wing Assassination and Priate Activity detected NPCs have engineering both modules and weapons, including special effects. Also, NPCs don't have unlimited SCBs or chaff, and they do use heatsinks which are ejected (though I must admit I haven't seen one lately, that may be a new bug).

 

[Hooplah]

I absolutely assure you that Wing Assassination and Priate Activity detected NPCs have engineering both modules and weapons, including special effects...

Thermal attack and other effects from an NPC is not an engineered effect. Per my Ghost Legion Squadron we know everything an NPC can do and how to deal with them. But if you have seen better I would appreciate the info to pass it on to others. Who knows what Frontier is up to and never tells us. They are sneaky!

Meanwhile I'm at combat Deadly 12% and continuing. It is a turkey shoot if I don't get bored. Oops just made 13%. Everything showing up is Deadly or better. Only takes seconds to take them out.

 

[ArchAngelofDeath]

I'm at 65% towards Elite and have found the best progress at Compromised Nav beacons due to plentiful deadly and Elite targets spawning. Maybe its my bad luck but haz and high res seldom offer higher ranked targets like this for me anyway. They are seldom if ever engineered and fighting in a Vette with biweaves, lasers and PAs with plasma slug I can camp there as long as my fuel holds out. I prefer elite targets but deadly will do.
On the SLF - lose the crew member. As stated previously it eats up half your progress per kill.

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Combat

 

[Aashenfox]

Thermal attack and other effects from an NPC is not an engineered effect. Per my Ghost Legion Squadron we know everything an NPC can do and how to deal with them. But if you have seen better I would appreciate the info to pass it on to others. Who knows what Frontier is up to and never tells us. They are sneaky!

Meanwhile I'm at combat Deadly 12% and continuing. It is a turkey shoot if I don't get bored.

They sure are sneaky, many times changes are undocumented, such as the changes to wing assassinations in 3.0, which included the introduction of engineered FDLs and no more corvettes. It was a sad day. Aside from them, the new pirate activity detected usses contain NPCs that frequently use corrosive multicannons.

Thing is, it's only from the special effect warning that we can understand, but the special effect isn't the strongest effect of engineering, the main recipe is (long range, focused whatever), so how would we know if they were engineered or not? For the longest time people said that all elite and deadly NPCs had g1 module engineering. I don't know if that's still a popularly held opinion, or even if it's true, but whether it is or not, how would anyone prove it? I'm also well aware that railguns and PAs apply impulse attack and thermal shock in vanilla form and that is not the evidence of engineering that many believe. I have theorycrafting duties in this regard in our squadron too, by the way.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

I was able to move about 3% per hour Deadly to Elite in Anarchy high res sites. Lots of Deadly and Elite mining ships that in a non Anarchy system would have been clean. Definitely want an Anarchy system so that you can blow up anything without any real consideration.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Though FDEV have supposedly programmed NPC's not to have engineered weapon's. I can't help but think that though FDEV is not giving the directly. They get them from the retuns of ship of individuals whom don't bother to disasemble them when selling the ships and or mods back to outfiting. What happens to an engineered mod, if one doesn't disasemble it prior to sellling it. NPC's apparently go through the pile of returns, pick and choose from the engineered mods and install them themselves. They don't need FDEV to do it for them, they do it themselves. I mean when is the last time you saw an NPC at Dav's Hope gathering mats?

 

[Hooplah]

Aashenfox,

No one can prove anything in this silly game. Interdict a player and they suddenly disappear. Did they log out per the rules? Did they pull the Internet cable? Was it an instance failure so often prevalent and Frontier still hasn't figured that out per getting wings to work right? When multiple players agree to meet and the instance fails? It is all perception with little facts to figure it out nor does it seem that Frontier is working the issues.

I've got a button on my computer where I can instantly disconnect from the Internet. I use it daily when I am not using my computer. Makes me feel safer. I could use it in ED saving a 55 million rebuy with a Cutter but never have and probably never will. That is not me. But then I know the game and would never get into that situation.

But I know techs who once get your IP address, run a program and connect with your computer they can delete your C: drive files just for fun. They are sick. I also know how they did it. Thus a button is worth a small investment.

Frontier doesn't give us a lot of info. It is up to us players to figure it out and work together.

One of my dogs is whimpering and wants to be petted now...There are real life priorities versus playing a game.

Regards

 

[DNA-Decay]

As I understand even Scouts are rated Elite. But I haven't been there and done that or how long it takes to kill them. When the latest Beta goes live with more intrusion into the bubble I may have to setup three ships to deal with whatever Thargoid ships shows up. Reading a lot it seems like one ship won't get the job done. But that is another thread of many.

It’s not hard.
I hosted a thread called “Killing scouts without the Guardians grind” that has everything you need to know including a link to an excellent tutorial by Factabulous in the “Guides and Tutorials” sub.

But if you really like NPCs just hit that Elite Sidewinder in Lave at the “Civillian Broadcast Detected”.
You’l get a bunch of System Security to kill as well, and if you’re really tough enough you can stay and fight ATR.

 

[Hooplah]

I was able to move about 3% per hour Deadly to Elite in Anarchy high res sites. Lots of Deadly and Elite mining ships that in a non Anarchy system would have been clean. Definitely want an Anarchy system so that you can blow up anything without any real consideration.

I'm in a Federation Civil War system and every encounter is Deadly or Elite. I don't even see a lot of Dangerous. Maybe the RNG is working for the moment. Now at 14%.

 

[Tassier]

It’s not hard.
I hosted a thread called “Killing scouts without the Guardians grind” that has everything you need to know including a link to an excellent tutorial by Factabulous in the “Guides and Tutorials” sub.

But if you really like NPCs just hit that Elite Sidewinder in Lave at the “Civillian Broadcast Detected”.
You’l get a bunch of System Security to kill as well, and if you’re really tough enough you can stay and fight ATR.

I definitely recommend using scouts to gain combat rank, they actually count as elite +10% (you only need to kill 16.3 scouts to gain 1% as opposed to 17.8 elite NPCs) and the fact that every scout is guaranteed to be this rank means you don't have to worry about getting your progress diluted by lower ranked deadly/dangerous ships. When I figured this out I went on a Thargoid killing spree all the way from somewhere under deadly+50% to elite, and kept track of my kills to be sure on this.

 

[Krash]

Aashenfox,

No one can prove anything in this silly game. Interdict a player and they suddenly disappear. Did they log out per the rules? Did they pull the Internet cable? Was it an instance failure so often prevalent and Frontier still hasn't figured that out per getting wings to work right? When multiple players agree to meet and the instance fails? It is all perception with little facts to figure it out nor does it seem that Frontier is working the issues.

I've got a button on my computer where I can instantly disconnect from the Internet. I use it daily when I am not using my computer. Makes me feel safer. I could use it in ED saving a 55 million rebuy with a Cutter but never have and probably never will. That is not me. But then I know the game and would never get into that situation.

But I know techs who once get your IP address, run a program and connect with your computer they can delete your C: drive files just for fun. They are sick. I also know how they did it. Thus a button is worth a small investment.

Frontier doesn't give us a lot of info. It is up to us players to figure it out and work together.

One of my dogs is whimpering and wants to be petted now...There are real life priorities versus playing a game.

Regards

This man has correct priorities. [smile]

 

[Hooplah]

OK, I guess that I'm going to have to deal with the Thargoids especially when the Beta goes live they are going to increase the conflict. From what I have read and watched on YouTube one ship cannot take them all out. Might need three separate builds and some friends to help out.

Darn and they were my friends in Frontier: First Encounters. Even gave me a warship. Still there are those I love Thargoid nameplates in the store. I wonder if they remember me...Playing this game for 34+ years can drive one crazy.

Meanwhile up to 15%.

 

[Aashenfox]

Aashenfox,

No one can prove anything in this silly game. Interdict a player and they suddenly disappear. Did they log out per the rules? Did they pull the Internet cable? Was it an instance failure so often prevalent and Frontier still hasn't figured that out per getting wings to work right? When multiple players agree to meet and the instance fails? It is all perception with little facts to figure it out nor does it seem that Frontier is working the issues.

I've got a button on my computer where I can instantly disconnect from the Internet. I use it daily when I am not using my computer. Makes me feel safer. I could use it in ED saving a 55 million rebuy with a Cutter but never have and probably never will. That is not me. But then I know the game and would never get into that situation.

But I know techs who once get your IP address, run a program and connect with your computer they can delete your C: drive files just for fun. They are sick. I also know how they did it. Thus a button is worth a small investment.

Frontier doesn't give us a lot of info. It is up to us players to figure it out and work together.

One of my dogs is whimpering and wants to be petted now...There are real life priorities versus playing a game.

Regards

I am one of those techs (actually, that's not accurate, 10 years ago I could have done almost anything to your pc, but times change, I can't hack windows 10 without you installing something to help me, and I don't know anyone that could, I digress...), and believe me I have no interest in formatting your C: drive, nor does anyone I know. Now, encyrpting it and demanding bitcoin, that I can see happening, and your internet button won't save you. Pet your dog and be happy that they're only going to be after you if you have something they want. Do you have something I they want?

 

[DNA-Decay]

From what I have read and watched on YouTube one ship cannot take them all out. Might need three separate builds and some friends to help out.

Darn and they were my friends in Frontier: First Encounters. Even gave me a warship. Still there are those I love Thargoid nameplates in the store. I wonder if they remember me...Playing this game for 34+ years can drive one crazy.

Dude!
Trust me -

You don't need anything special to kill Thargoid scouts.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/459162-Killing-Scouts-without-the-Guardians-Grind

Or better yet.
DOn't trust me - trust Factabulous, here's his excellent guide: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/459187-Scouting-for-Beginners-Thargoid-Scout-combat