Currently just bounty hunting: Is there anything fun and profitable that will allow me to explore more of this game?

[jamesp111]

Currently just bounty hunting: Is there anything fun and profitable that will allow me to explore more of this game?

I'm a fairly new player and so far I've just been bounty hunting in the Malloc system.
This has got me to a fairly well spec'ed Vulture and comfortable with combat.

I'd like to explore more of the content in this game though, whilst continuing to focus on combat.
So far my plans are limited to traveling to Gende to bounty hunt there as it has High and Haz Res sites near a station with the Li Yong Rui discounts.

What else is there to do in this game for a combat orientated player?

I've been browsing the forum and some things I've looked at are:
-Getting a Clipper (currently have no imperial or federal ranks)
-Getting a Federal Assault Ship: Can I have federal and imperial ranks at the same time?
-Traveling to Sol. Drive around on the moon maybe
-Engineer mods
-Travelling to a planets surface (never done it. I admit I'm not sure of the point of doing this)
-Assasination missions: Will try them. Possibly I can get the fed and imperial ranks with them? (are these currently paying the correct amount of money? I know many missions are paying too little)
-Combat Zones: Will try these.
-Power play/joining a faction: Doesn't seem worthwhile for a very casual player?

Everything I look at, excepting combat zones and assasination missions, seems like it is just wasting time: Travelling or grinding missions for the sake of it and I'd have more fun and profit just continuing bounty hunting.
Especially as most systems and stations appear the same to my newbie eyes.

This game has obviously lots and lots of systems but I can't see any reason to travel. It has had a lot of content added yet I can't see any of it that appears worth doing over just playing the same pve arena mode.

So, I was going to ask what is fun and profitable for a combat player that will allow me to explore more of this game?
Actually my question seems to be IS there anything fun and profitable for a combat player that will allow me to explore more of this game?

Thank you for reading and I appreciate your advice!

 

[Deleted member 38366]

- fly your Combat Ship into a Hotspot System (basic Engineers or CG location) during rush-hour on a weekend... and see how long you can survive

- tried Compromised NAV Beacons yet?

- Weapons Fire Detected - Threat 4 Signal Sources can be quite interesting, especially in Anarchy or LowSec Systems

- Planetary Assault/Massacre Missions (there's you Combat Reason to go to a Planet)

- have a look at the Groups Forum and maybe you find a Combat-oriented Group that fits your need. Operating in big Wings is a different thing than being a lone Ranger

- High Intensity Conflict Zones of Federation/Empire Factions at War occasionally have Capital Ships, trying to fight alone against one should be a good challenge

--------

Federation Ranks don't exclude Imperial Ranks (Ship unlocking), so you can do/have both at the same time.

PS.
Don't be hell-bent on doing everything Combat or maximize your Profit. You'll suffer from burnout pretty fast.
Rather find something beyond combat and have your Combat skills feed in as a secondary while you work towards a bigger/more distant goal. You'll just need to identify and pick one.

 

[GodBlock]

I don't always get involved in combat but when I do...

I get in my Anaconda, which since 2.2 is now kitted out with a fighter hanger

I buy some rares from lave station (in lave system) maybe 5 tonnes (any rares from anywhere will do)

I fly about waiting for interdictions / scans / pirates / buttholes

I massacre!

 

[d8veh]

Like in real life, if there's something nice in the game that you want, you have to work for it. Sometimes there's shortcuts. Some people get luck. Whether work is fun or not depends on you. Everything in life can be interesting if you're interested in it or boring if you're not. After working hard to get something, it's very satisfying to achieve your goal.

 

[K-Rose]

To be honest apart from conflict zones you've stretched the mechanics of combat in this game.

If your "fun" comes from roleplaying, rather than getting the most cash, you can actually become a proper bounty hunter.

It's not profitable, but it can sometimes work. You fit a Frameshift Wake Scanner, a FSD Interdictor and follow pirates from system to system.

Only issue is when you do this you realise you could be doing more good, killing more bad guys, by killing pirates in a resource extraction.


If you're looking for a purely combat focus it's kinda hard, because you're limiting how much of the game you're willing to play.


The best suggestion I can make is to get involved in a player group, there are plenty of combat focussed ones around. Playing with people keeps the game fresh, and gives you objectives that aren't provided by the game itself.


To go through your list:

-Getting a Clipper (currently have no imperial or federal ranks)
A grind, you need to run missions really to do this.

-Getting a Federal Assault Ship: Can I have federal and imperial ranks at the same time?
You can have both ranks, but the military ranking at the moment is a grind if you're focussing on it. FD have stated that military ranks are a placeholder at the moment and will be getting revamped.

-Traveling to Sol. Drive around on the moon maybe
For Sol you need the Federal Military Rank (Rank 4 - http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Federation/Ranks). You can't drive on the moon yet

-Engineer mods
You can do this as you play, use INARA to see if there's one you'd like to get to use: http://inara.cz/galaxy-engineers

-Travelling to a planets surface (never done it. I admit I'm not sure of the point of doing this)
This is for a certain type of person. I personally love it, the base assaults I find really fun. Best is for you to try it to be honest. I'm the kind of guy that enjoys setting down on the top of a mountain and working my way down.

-Assasination missions: Will try them. Possibly I can get the fed and imperial ranks with them? (are these currently paying the correct amount of money? I know many missions are paying too little)
These can be used for rank yes, they don't pay much. There are much more profitable ways to make money in this game.

-Combat Zones: Will try these.
Do try these, especially ones with Capital Ships.

-Power play/joining a faction: Doesn't seem worthwhile for a very casual player?
Powerplay at the moment is not worth it for a Casual player, but I have the impression that Powerplay will be updated in 2.3 or 2.4 based on the attention Sandro has given one of the threads in the PP Forum. A faction is worth joining as it gives you player interaction, and socialising generally helps people enjoy a game more.

 

[jamesp111]

Thanks gents.

Fed/imperial ranks:
Yeah, the more I look into these the worse they seem to get! It seems as though they rely simply on the number of missions done and I think someone said it took them 462 to get to the Clipper/FAS requirement.
I had thought it might be possible to get them via assassination missions, but it does look like this would take a very long time.
Someone said it took 20 hours but it's been increased far beyond that now, but then other people said this is a bug...

It's difficult to verify the exact state of the game as so much of the information is old and *might be* out of date.


I'll try the planetary base assaults, and look around for conflict zones with capital ships and go from there.