Could use some advice on how not to die

Alteph Four

A
I haven't played long so far, even though I started in Beta. Got about 2 weeks playing time. I haven't played in about 6 months or so, recently bought the Thrustmaster t16000m Hotas setup, and am loving it! I decided to try to rep up empire faction tonight, spent about 6 hours playing, and I found that each and every single mission or passenger mission sends hostile ships against you, I couldn't get 1 single mission (I only take trade, boom data or transport missions) and I ended up losing a mil or so (for me, a million is very difficult to make, and here is 6 hours down the drain) because these missions would spawn ships that would basically instantly kill me.

I dont have the materials to engineer my ship any further (got some FSD mods and a shield mod, grade 3 is the highest i've unlocked) so thats not really an option for me and I have to admit im pretty PO'ed. having lost everytihng I made the entire night due to buy back costs it really took the wind out of my desire to play this game.

I know people will say I suck, perhaps I do, and others will say how easy this game is, but I find it nearly impossible to progress. The rate at which i'm dying shows that its not a matter of my ship build, my Asp Explorer could be fully A rated (however without engineer mods) and it wouldn't matter, the ships that spawn and kill me are shooting plasma weapons and missiles and pretty much two shot me. I have no chance at progressing due to this.

What can I do?

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the missions I took were rated higher than my rank, but I figured if the game lets me take them then my rank ( combat, trader, explorer rank, not my faction rank) must not matter. The ships that spawn must be elite or something. The problem I have here is that none of the missions I can find are within my rank.

So how does someone who is fairly new to the game progress when the missions are too high, and the tiny little bit of forward progress I make in an entire night of playing is completely lost with 1 bad spawn.

I don't want the game to be easy and handed to me, however I also don't want to have my entire time wasted by losing everything I make and then some. Seems to me that FD has really failed at striking a good balance.

Thank you for any tips or advice!
 

IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
finitematter said:
I haven't played long so far, even though I started in Beta. Got about 2 weeks playing time. I haven't played in about 6 months or so, recently bought the Thrustmaster t16000m Hotas setup, and am loving it! I decided to try to rep up empire faction tonight, spent about 6 hours playing, and I found that each and every single mission or passenger mission sends hostile ships against you, I couldn't get 1 single mission (I only take trade, boom data or transport missions) and I ended up losing a mil or so (for me, a million is very difficult to make, and here is 6 hours down the drain) because these missions would spawn ships that would basically instantly kill me.

I dont have the materials to engineer my ship any further (got some FSD mods and a shield mod, grade 3 is the highest i've unlocked) so thats not really an option for me and I have to admit im pretty PO'ed. having lost everytihng I made the entire night due to buy back costs it really took the wind out of my desire to play this game.

I know people will say I suck, perhaps I do, and others will say how easy this game is, but I find it nearly impossible to progress. The rate at which i'm dying shows that its not a matter of my ship build, my Asp Explorer could be fully A rated (however without engineer mods) and it wouldn't matter, the ships that spawn and kill me are shooting plasma weapons and missiles and pretty much two shot me. I have no chance at progressing due to this.

What can I do?

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the missions I took were rated higher than my rank, but I figured if the game lets me take them then my rank ( combat, trader, explorer rank, not my faction rank) must not matter. The ships that spawn must be elite or something. The problem I have here is that none of the missions I can find are within my rank.

So how does someone who is fairly new to the game progress when the missions are too high, and the tiny little bit of forward progress I make in an entire night of playing is completely lost with 1 bad spawn.

I don't want the game to be easy and handed to me, however I also don't want to have my entire time wasted by losing everything I make and then some. Seems to me that FD has really failed at striking a good balance.

Thank you for any tips or advice!
Click to expand...

1. Find someone you can trust and get along with and fly in a wing.

2. Combat Practice - Nav Beacons are good for this - not Compromised, just standard Nav Beacons. Use a small, inexpensive ship, like a Viper IV, or Cobra III and just practice picking fights.

Between these two things, you'll get there.

If you play in Mobius, just look for me, I'm usually around somewhere.
 

nosleepdemon

nosleepdemon
Hmm well the AspX isn't super optimal for fighting, it's slightly slow, has only moderate defences and crucially, is absolutely huge. You will have a hard time dodging plasma rounds in an AspX. Your best bet might be learning to avoid the ships sent after you instead of fighting them.
 

rhiz

rhiz
finitematter said:
I haven't played long so far, even though I started in Beta. Got about 2 weeks playing time. I haven't played in about 6 months or so, recently bought the Thrustmaster t16000m Hotas setup, and am loving it! I decided to try to rep up empire faction tonight, spent about 6 hours playing, and I found that each and every single mission or passenger mission sends hostile ships against you, I couldn't get 1 single mission (I only take trade, boom data or transport missions) and I ended up losing a mil or so (for me, a million is very difficult to make, and here is 6 hours down the drain) because these missions would spawn ships that would basically instantly kill me.

I dont have the materials to engineer my ship any further (got some FSD mods and a shield mod, grade 3 is the highest i've unlocked) so thats not really an option for me and I have to admit im pretty PO'ed. having lost everytihng I made the entire night due to buy back costs it really took the wind out of my desire to play this game.

I know people will say I suck, perhaps I do, and others will say how easy this game is, but I find it nearly impossible to progress. The rate at which i'm dying shows that its not a matter of my ship build, my Asp Explorer could be fully A rated (however without engineer mods) and it wouldn't matter, the ships that spawn and kill me are shooting plasma weapons and missiles and pretty much two shot me. I have no chance at progressing due to this.

What can I do?

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the missions I took were rated higher than my rank, but I figured if the game lets me take them then my rank ( combat, trader, explorer rank, not my faction rank) must not matter. The ships that spawn must be elite or something. The problem I have here is that none of the missions I can find are within my rank.

So how does someone who is fairly new to the game progress when the missions are too high, and the tiny little bit of forward progress I make in an entire night of playing is completely lost with 1 bad spawn.

I don't want the game to be easy and handed to me, however I also don't want to have my entire time wasted by losing everything I make and then some. Seems to me that FD has really failed at striking a good balance.

Thank you for any tips or advice!
Click to expand...

As IndigoWyrd says, the best advice is to brush up on your combat skills – but you can avoid combat altogether if you want.


Do you find it difficult to evade interdiction? That is probably the short-term answer. Apart from my first couple of plays when I didn’t know what the hell was going on, I don’t think that I’ve ever been successfully interdicted by an NPC, even when flying more sluggish ships like the Beluga or Cutter. I basically spent my first 6 months as an explorer/trader and only entered into combat when I chose to, gradually building up my experience. I’m around 700 hours in (playing in Solo), and I think I’ve been destroyed 2 or 3 times.
 

Ananym

A
The AspX can't take anything in a straight fight except the occasional novice cobra. It doesn't have the shield strength, firepower, or maneuverability.
Hold out for a vulture or grab a viper mk4.

Also, why ARE you fighting in an asp? You shouldn't be submitting to interdictions if you know you'll lose the fight.

Running sightseeing passenger missions with a high range ship is probably your fastest source of income. I dedicated a dolphin to this, but the Asp will still do it just fine if you don't mind juggling modules. I've been able to find 4-5m payout sightseeing missions that I can finish in half an hour.
 
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SamSlade

SamSlade
have you set up your curves for the joystick? having the right sensitivity will make a big difference when evading interdiction. My runabout ship is an AspX and I pretty much never get interdicted successfully... prior to joystick curves was a different story
 

Deleted member 115407

D
Ananym said:
The AspX can't take anything in a straight fight except the occasional novice cobra. It doesn't have the shield strength, firepower, or maneuverability.
Hold out for a vulture or grab a viper mk4.
Click to expand...

What?! The AspX is plenty capable.
 

Seizewell Warrior

Seizewell Warrior
My experience early game was that the Empire BBS missions sent significantly tougher opponents against you than in Federal or Alliance space. Made worse by the fact I was flying in an unarmed T6 with paper shields and rubbish engines. After getting ganked by two NPC's in quick succession to the rebuy screen, I beat a hasty retreat until I had a better ship and/or more experience to take on that level of opposition.

Like the OP I vented my frustration a bit, because the rebuy system (which I still hate) can quickly take its toll on beginner level spare funds. The suggestion was that I might have been taking missions from warring factions more likely to attract an aggressive interdiction. The other suggestion was to avoid "Hostile ships..." missions but 95% of those on the BBS carry that warning.

The only suggestion is to do as I've done, use another area and mechanic of the game to build up enough money and rep to buy a tank of a ship then when ready return for some righteous vengeance...
 

RevLogos

RevLogos
Well we all sucked in the beginning. I remember when interdictions were a huge fear.

Simple answer is to do one of 2 things.

Submit immediately, Then boost, boost, boost and jump. Some chaff might help just in case but I rarely loose even 1 ring of shields. I used to use mines also while boosting. Then the AI got smarter and learned to avoid them. Not sure how useful they are now.

Alternatively, learn to escape the interdiction. Takes a little practice, but isn't difficult. Avoiding player interdictions is harder than NPC interdictions. If you avoid the interdiction, the NPC will not normally interdict you again.

The rank of the mission does make a difference. And the game allows you to take any rank mission you want, even if well above your rank.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
My suggestion would be to consider the rank of the mission, as this will determine (to an extent) the level of the hostile ships sent against you.

The Asp is an Ok ship (actually, it's great, but it's strength isn't combat), but it's not particularly fast and has relatively weak shields. It's also a large target for an enemy to hit.

So take lower ranking missions. Yes, they will pay less, but complete two or three of them and you are way ahead of taking one high paying mission and failing it and needing to rebuy your ship. If you are interdicted, look at the ship and rank of the NPC that is attacking you and decide if it's a fight you can win. If you think it is, have a bash, and your combat skills will grow with the practice, but if it's not, then knowing how to escape is a very valid tactic.
 

znôrt

znôrt
Ananym said:
It doesn't have the shield strength, firepower, or maneuverability.
Hold out for a vulture or grab a viper mk4.
Click to expand...

true for everyth¡ng else, but with 6 hardpoints it has actually more firepower than the vulture (disregarding weapon size penalties). a well kitted asp in the hands of an experienced cmdr can indeed put up a fight, i've encountered many of them.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
You don't need engineers if you are doing missions that don't involve combat (you don't acutally need engineers for combat missions, but best to be in a combat ship for those, not an Asp).

Speed is king, and the Asp is ok, but not the best.

But you should be able to beat interdictions most of the time unless its a player. If you can't beat the interdiction, submit, 4 pips to shields, and boost boost boost until you can jump. If you are mass locked, high wake to another system, don't try for the low wake.
 

znôrt

znôrt
finitematter said:
What can I do?
Click to expand...

as said, shoot wanteds in nav beacons to practice combat and survival. it's very light combat and will get you started and learn the ropes, and some cash from bounties. experiment with different weapons and ships, and targets. pick them wisely, and learn how to escape.

don't get obsessed with missions, they are only a must for some specific materials. you could make it to elite without doing a single one of them.
 

Goblin949

G
If NPC give you trouble, stick to high-sec and maybe med-sec systems. Look at system state, avoid wars and such things (also, check different factions if any in a bad state, too). When taking a mission, check in the description that the target station is not too far away. Or maybe even take only stations less than 500 ls away, they are really fast to get to. Also, don't fly straight to your target, get off the orbital plane and fly in an arc or a parabola if you will, this allows for a higher super-cruise speed avoiding the gravity wells and whatnot (although, this is not much useful with near stations).

Interdictions. Firstly, keep an eye on your radar and comms. Hostiles can be identified there even before you get an interdiction (someone's getting on your six? a combat ship? etc.). Now you can drop from super-cruise, either normally with lowering the speed or emergency drop with a slight damage to your ship. Second option is too drastic in my opinion, so it makes sense only to avoid a player interdiction. Now that you've dropped return to super-cruise again. The intent here is that you have a low cool down, NPC usually do not drop into your instance, and you have enough time to low-wake anyway. When you return to super-cruise NPC will not spawn for some period, so you have bought more time to get to the station.

If you get interdicted, fight it, NPC are easy enough with that. Maybe consider training this in a cheap Sidey, but various ships have different characteristics. Now, the first thing to do is to use the target nearest hostile key, look who is interdicting you and what options you have with that. If you are unsure you will win the mini-game, submit to interdiction for a lower cool down time. Interdicted? Put full 4 pips into shields (or if your ship is really faster than your opponent's, 4 pips into engines). Now, if you are in a faster ship and not mass-locked, you have a chance to low-wake, otherwise and the safest option is to high-wake (you have to set the target system for that beforehand, for example using Gal Map route feature and the target next system in route key). What you do is simply boost away and chaff while FSD is charging. Or maneuver and chaff again like you are fighting, but the point here is to avoid the weapons arc not actually fighting, do not deploy hardpoints. That is either stay away from their weapons range, or stay away from their weapons arc and wake out as fast as possible.
 

Mohrgan

Mohrgan
In between when you last played, and now the NPC's got something of a buff. It went up and down for a while, but the net result is that the NPC's got a bit tougher. At the time, when the buff was released, many people opted to have their Combat Rank reduced. This brought the threat level of those attacking you randomly in line with what those players thought they could handle. Have a look into that by contacting FD support. I have heard they were pretty sympathetic to a one time change. So, what is your current Combat Rank?

Go to this site: https://coriolis.edcd.io/

That will let you recreate your ship's load out so we can see what you have, and let us make suggestions on that front. Talking about combat strategies is going to be tougher. A fellow Commander, Truesilver, has created a number of very informative YouTube vidoes that could be of service to you. Check them out, he knows his stuffs.
 
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NW3

NW3
OP, there have been many good suggestions, which I won't repeat.

My primary ship is an AspX, which is fitted with A and D (lightweight) modules, since I'm primarily an explorer. I do not fit any weapons (only defenses), so that I won't be tempted to fight.

I almost never get successfully interdicted, so you should practice avoiding interdictions. Consider getting a cheap nimble ship, like an Eagle or a Cobra, take missions, and practice evading interdictions. I can avoid them even in my Type-9 "space cow", so this is mostly a matter of skill, not expensive modules.

Point your joystick towards the blue circle as far as the joystick will go; if you're not getting closer, try quickly aiming at 45 degrees to either side of the direction of the circle and rapidly switching back and forth +/- 45 degrees, until the circle comes in range. When the blue circle nears the center, reduce the amount of joystick angle, so that you don't overshoot the mark. You want to finesse the blue circle so that it stays very close to the center.

Since you have an AspX, consider outfitting and Advanced Discovery Scanner, a Detailed Surface Scanner, and a Fuel Scoop and go exploring for a few weeks (or months). I made the majority of my credits from selling exploration data, not missions. If you go at least 5000+ lys from the start, you can meet Professor Palin (an engineer). Selling exploration data will increase your reputation at stations or with engineers, so you might not want to sell it all at once, but remember that if your ship is destroyed, you will lose that data. Increasing your rep will get you better missions too, so that will help you earn even more credits.

Another good way to make money is to participate in trade Community Goals (CGs). Even small deliveries can earn you millions (for a popular CG). Do them in Solo, at least until you get very good at avoiding interdictions.

Consider getting a fuel scoop, so that you don't have to spend your hard-earned credits on fuel.

Good luck! o7
 
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Valorin

Valorin
Apart from fighting you can always run.
As soon as you are about to lose the interdiction game, throttle down to zero and by that submit to interdiction.
The benefit to being pulled out forcefully is, that your FSD needs significiantly less time to be up and running again.

Once in normal space, all pips on engines, boost, boost some more, if you are taking hits and you visibly lose shield, all pips on sys, do some dodge maneuvering. As soon as the FSD is back up, activate.

If you're going back to supercruise you are sometimes restricted by the mass of the enemy ship, which leads to slower FSD charging. You get around that by high waking, aka hyperjumping to another system. Just pick one on the system panel and activate.

So far I never met an npc who had enough time to even damage my ship. Players are a different matter entirely though.
 
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