Newcomer / Intro Conflict Zones are Hard (Lol)

[Craith]

You did great for your first encounter with semi-serious NPCs, you learned from your mistakes, you survived and you have a story to tell ... sounds like a good evening, even if you were not able to finish the mission (there will be more)

As a random mercenary, you don't actually care who wins the conflict zone - don't overextend. Things change when you have an interest in who wins the war (usually, but not always due to being involved with a player group)

You already realised you need a combat ship, not a multirole one. Engineering can help here, making a multirole ship capable (still, a dedicated combat ship will be easier of course). You don't need everything maxed though, grade 3 is cheap to get and you already have a huge improvement, special effects work on grade 1 the same as on grade 5.

Especially with smaller, faster ships you can avoid getting focused by going to the medium and high CZs, if you get enemy captain + spec Ops against you it can get hairy though. Remember, as a mercenary you don't have to kill them, avoid them (they don't count for missions anyhow), and when they kill to many on your side - leave.

Avoid conflict zones where you have a capital ship on the side you support, since it is a killstealer, for normal NPCs it is enough to have hit the target within the last 10 seconds (may be more). You can look for wounded ships and finish them off while they are distracted by others - dropships and chieftains are quite sturdy though, and might turn on you before you can finish them off.

 

[CMDR SleepyDelegate]

Great story! Reminds me of my first CZ...

Then I built a shield tank FDL and never had to worry again... If you watch your back, you can stay in CZ for hours without ever hitting your last shield circle...

 

[Esteban]

This is a great story. Try stuff to learn. My first "serious" combat experience was to pester a faction involved in a combat CG while I was still in my stock Cobra Mk III.
It was dangerous (for me), but I had a lot of fun and learned a great deal about maneuvering my ship and how NPCs behave.
Later I outfitted and engineered a Chieftain. It's ridiculous. If I get in trouble, I can get away quite easily, let things regen and re-engage. It has plenty of hitpoints in both shields and hull. I can easily out-maneuver the gimbals on my weapons because it's so maneuverable. Great fun. There are a number of ways to build a great combat ship, so I won't pile-on. If you are interested, I can post a build.

Mostly I use my multi-purpose armed-trader Python in CZ combat because I'm too lazy to "go and get" my combat ship - I know: sheesh! I pick my opponents carefully and have little trouble. Advice given in this thread is very good; sometimes "things" just don't work out for you in a CZ, you get ganged-up on, whatever. It's valuable knowledge to know when to run and either repair or re-engage.

Tables can turn in your favor nicely however, when that overzealous attacking NPC follows you away from the crowd all alone and you turn around and engage it. Often they (rather than you) have bitten off more than they can chew and end up paying for it. That's fun.

That first time when we all experience trying to make it to a port before our O2 runs out without the benefit of the heads-up display on our canopy is a great learning experience!

Have fun out there. CMDRs!

 

[fishevi]

Combat in Elite is about engineering.
Had similar start like you, build A-rated Vulture, killed few npc's in low res, even Conda, regular OG.
I'm like ok, lets check low CZ.
Few min after dropping in one, I'm limping out with broken canopy to closest station with face, what just happened?!

Started opening engineers, and g3 combat build (weapons, boosters, hrp's and mrp's) made a difference.

So as posted above, do some engineering. G3 is easy enough to grind mats for, but really changes the experience,PvE wise.

After I went engineering crazy, did some ltd's for credits(Borann), build G5 PvE Vette, destroyed every npc that crossed path with me... Found it boring...
That ship was later used only for bgs stuff, when you grind cz's.
Now I'm downsizing. I still go g5 with my ships(because I can), but fly small or medium ships. Viper mk4 is curently my favorite small combat ship, with rails and frags. Not ammo friendly but fun for me.
And "Ride of the Valkyries" all OC mc's Chieftain is my favorite medium build.

So enjoy exciting moments when you dive in not knowing what will happen, I miss that sometimes