Combat really not paying enough (???), after I tried doing other things...

[WeavingBird1917]

TL;DR: Combat seems to not earn enough compared with other activities (listed below). Is there a way of making it more profitable?

Hi everyone,

Are combat missions, bounty hunting and combat bonds really underpaying right now? Around a week ago, my experience with ED was mostly combat oriented with a little trading being done. I had around 40-50 mil of assets, 20 mil were from bounty vouchers and roughly 5 mil were from trading. The rest must have been from missions or passenger hauling. I only had the Type 6, Vulture and Cobra MK III. The Type 6 was probably earning the most by trading, but the highest earnings I got was 465K per trip.

Then I got into passenger missions. Using the Type 6, a single trip could pay as much as 2 million (if you find systems where station is > 200K Ls from star). In about a day, I got enough money to buy a fully kitted out Type 7 with 10 mil left. I found a Fed tourist system with a neighbouring system where the station was about 340K Ls away. Using the Type 7, I was able to make 7 million credits per trip (that's about 14 minutes, I timed it).

Following the attack on the stations in the Pleiades Sector, I did some rescue missions between the rescue ship and the starport, which were only 5 Mm apart. I could make 1.5 mil per trip. It took longer clicking through the mission board than the trip itself. In repairing starports I could make around 3-5 mil where I just got gold and clicked through the mission board. I now had about 100 mil.

Then I found out about the Palin missions. You get a whopping 15 mil average per trip (8 mil to 23 mil usually). I chose my old Cobra Mk III to do them. Totaling my earnings, it seems that my Cobra Mk III made more than all my other ships combined, including my Type 6 and Type 7. In about a day, I went from 100 mil to 300 mil. This is when I decided to get the Fer-de-Lance as a specialised combat ship.

I found a Fed system which was at war with a compromised beacon system nearby. The missions were horrible. You only get 2.8 mil for killing 36 ships??? That's going to take more than 20 minutes. At comp. beacons, it would take more than 20 minutes to earn a million dollars.

So my question is: Is there any way of earning proper money via combat (ship vs ship)? The other activities in ED are making combat obsolete based on earnings. I don't regret getting the Fer-de-Lance, but what it earns in 30 minutes I can earn with 5 minutes of passenger missions, and that excludes stacking passengers.

 

[d8veh]

Who says bounty hunting doesn't pay. Sign up to Zachary Hudson, do his level 5 deliveries, go hunt in his systems (Brani, Aphra Freng, kremainn, LTT 15574, Aura Parjanya, and Liaedin), then get your free credits. Don't forget the KWS for the best pay-outs.:

 

[Conch]

Best way to earn combat credits, you need ALD or Hudsons rank 5.
To get there takes allot of work..

but altho they buffed bounties, i still dont think its enough when we are gonna compare it to differant activities.

i would like them to up the spawn rate in resource sites.. so if you can chew through more ships, you earn more credits.
at the moment its allot of waiting for them to jump in..

 

[Conch]

Who says bounty hunting doesn't pay. Sign up t lo Zachary Hudson, do his level 5 deliveries, go hunt in his systems (Brani, Aphra Freng, kremainn, LTT 15574, Aura Parjanya, and Liaedin), then get your free credits. Don't forget the KWS for the best pay-outs.:
https://i.imgur.com/ihVR3Jo.jpg

When you trow such numbers around, also add the time span with it.
turning in 1b credits in one go doesnt say anything.. could be sitting on that bounties for a year for that matter.

 

[EvE4evah]

Well actually…
Whilst combat doesn't pay nearly close enough to Pax missions, it certainly pays well… You can make some 35m Cr/h in a CZ with a Vette, counting Bonds and Mission Rewards.

Edit: find a system in War, get Allied with one of the warring Minor Factions, pick/stack Massacre missions, go to CZ, profit.

 

[AbsinthSvK]

lol 34Bilion in pocket. I guess you waiting for Capital ship.

 

[WeavingBird1917]

Who says bounty hunting doesn't pay. Sign up to Zachary Hudson, do his level 5 deliveries, go hunt in his systems (Brani, Aphra Freng, kremainn, LTT 15574, Aura Parjanya, and Liaedin), then get your free credits. Don't forget the KWS for the best pay-outs.:
https://i.imgur.com/ihVR3Jo.jpg

Whoa what the... So it's because of ZH that you get high bounty payouts? Right now I'm not using KWS right now, because the last time I tried it it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I might get it again then. How many credits do you make per hour?

 

[rrobes]

The massacre missions used to be much more lucrative when you could stack them AND ship kills would apply to all the stacked missions. You can still stack but the kills only apply to the mission you actively fly.

The thing is that ED trying to do is to have players become involved in more aspects of the game, I obtained a lot of CR from combat, still do but do take good payouts when they present themselves in whatever.

My ships are all combat-ready even when trading and I rely on bagging those pesky commerce raiders when they go for my cargo, extra CR for the mission. The three I use the most are Corvette, Anaconda and Python and have the modules stored to convert them for cargo/combat/passenger.

I have an FDL, but I rarely use it because multi-purpose ships are much better at making CR. FDL is a PvP tool for use in wings. In PvE, the FDL really isn't great but it is fun to fly.

 

[WeavingBird1917]

Well actually…
Whilst combat doesn't pay nearly close enough to Pax missions, it certainly pays well… You can make some 35m Cr/h in a CZ with a Vette, counting Bonds and Mission Rewards.

Edit: find a system in War, get Allied with one of the warring Minor Factions, pick/stack Massacre missions, go to CZ, profit.

I tried stacking massacre missions. To my knowledge if you accept two massacre missions, killing a target ship will only go to one right, not both (that's what happened when I tried it)? I'm able to stay in CZ for a long time, but seeing that you can make 35m Cr/h makes me think that perhaps I'm not killing off the ships fast enough.

I tried going to war systems, accepting combat missions and going to CZ, but only made about 5 mil in an hour. Feels like I'm doing something wrong here.

EDIT: Oh so they don't count towards both.

 

[EvE4evah]

I tried stacking massacre missions. To my knowledge if you accept two massacre missions, killing a target ship will only go to one right, not both (that's what happened when I tried it)? I'm able to stay in CZ for a long time, but seeing that you can make 35m Cr/h makes me think that perhaps I'm not killing off the ships fast enough.

EDIT: Oh so they don't count towards both.

They do not count towards both nowadays, still, if you have a Lazor Vette for example, you want to grab more than one mission each time, so you don't have to go back to station early. Also, many missions pay 14m for 50 kills, for example, so you want more missions before restocking in a Dakka/PA/Rail/Frag Vette (most fits allow you to kill 100+ before restocking)


Edit2: yeah you're not killing them fast enough… I used to use a full dakka Vette (only 2 LR lazors in the smalls) with G5 DDT so my time on target was high, NPCs went down fast

Edit3: also forget about the SLF, it eats away absurd amounts of money and works bull in a CZ.

 

[AbsinthSvK]

Whoa what the... So it's because of ZH that you get high bounty payouts? Right now I'm not using KWS right now, because the last time I tried it it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I might get it again then. How many credits do you make per hour?

mmm... pretty sure 300K conda turns to 600K with KWS and plus 100% bonus for ZH its 1,2M for one ship. He must kill tons of ships to get that money.

 

[EvE4evah]

mmm... pretty sure 300K conda turns to 600K with KWS and plus 100% bonus for ZH its 1,2M for one ship. He must kill tons of ships to get that money.

Yeah making 1b from Bounty Vouchers in one go is a very eyebleeding experience. Don't recommend.

Edit: don't even know if that's possible… 30 hours of gameplay?

 

[WeavingBird1917]

Seems like I'm gonna have to change the FDL's loadout to kill ships off faster then. Right now I'm using 4A plasma accelerator with the rest being gimballed pulse lasers. All the ships in the combat zone I'm at seems to have tons of shield cell banks.

 

[Chris Simon]

Hear hear. Big news. Being a soldier doesn't pay as much as being a slave trader.
World is not fair, is it?

Everyone believes their favourite job should pay the most. Well, I like selling tea. I demand to be paid the same as a president.

 

[EvE4evah]

Hear hear. Big news. Being a soldier doesn't pay as much as being a slave trader.
World is not fair, is it?

Everyone believes their favourite job should pay the most. Well, I like selling tea. I demand to be paid the same as a president.

While I see your point, sibling, in a game it's constructive to have balanced payments… bring everything else to Pax missions standards, I say. Not nerf them…
Well at least they're looking into Mining, OP would go bonkers if he checked it out

Seems like I'm gonna have to change the FDL's loadout to kill ships off faster then. Right now I'm using 4A plasma accelerator with the rest being gimballed pulse lasers. All the ships in the combat zone I'm at seems to have tons of shield cell banks.

FDL is good for NPC ratting, still it's not great, efficient-wise. Very fun though

 

[Chris Simon]

While I see your point, sibling, in a game it's constructive to have balanced payments… bring everything else to Pax missions standards, I say. Not nerf them…
Well at least they're looking into Mining, OP would go bonkers if he checked it out

Nah, balance is overrated. Do you also want all ships to be the same? It's unfair that some of them are slower and some have fewer weapons, don't you think?

 

[AbsinthSvK]

Nah, balance is overrated. Do you also want all ships to be the same? It's unfair that some of them are slower and some have fewer weapons, don't you think?

not same, but balanced. Or at least match purpose.

But forget normal money methods, there is still passenger missions they paid 200M per hour.

 

[obliterator]

Nah, balance is overrated. Do you also want all ships to be the same? It's unfair that some of them are slower and some have fewer weapons, don't you think?

You speak as if balance was opposed to variety. That assumption is incorrect, as balance doesn't mean making everything the same. Better ships are more expensive, and the most powerful ships are slower.

 

[EvE4evah]

not same, but balanced. Or at least match purpose.

But forget normal money methods, there is still passenger missions they paid 200M per hour.

As they should… well maybe not 200, but 100-150ish for the boredom of waiting the boards to refresh and those 40+ minute SuperCruises. Also those 200m are anything but consistent…

ED can be a painful grind during those moments when you're looking for money to buy and fit a T10 for example. People calling for immersion really believe you should work for weeks of honest moneymaking (no exploits, no board flips) in order to get one. Doesn't make too much sense to me… it's a game, not a second job.

Anyway… it's the paradox of applying "play your way" when people's ways are mutually exclusive.

You speak as if balance was opposed to variety. That assumption is incorrect, as balance doesn't mean making everything the same. Better ships are more expensive, and the most powerful ships are slower.

Yep and the T10 PD is a puny 6A. I agree

 

[Chris Simon]

You speak as if balance was opposed to variety. That assumption is incorrect, as balance doesn't mean making everything the same. Better ships are more expensive, and the most powerful ships are slower.

And what is the difference between variety in ships' capabilities and between payouts of different "jobs"?
If I have to choose between something that I enjoy and something that will earn me money quickly, I choose enjoyment. But I wouldn't demand change in payouts just based on what I enjoy. Balance is what makes life boring.
But apparently we have to have some, because we're MMO. It's not about enjoyment, any more, it's about time investment, now.
Sigh. Things would have been so much easier if Elite stayed singleplayer.