xkjacob
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I know some newer players may want to know a good way to hop skip and acquire some great ships.
Here is a basic guide to progressing through ships.
RES = Resource extraction site
Usually found in systems with planets that have rings and they spawn randomly (sort of).
Tip for selling ships
- down grade/sell everything on your ship before selling.
1. Sidewinder - starting ships.
- bounty hunt RES or Nav
- get a kill warrant scanner
- I don't really suggest trading or missions.
- bit of a grind.
- don't outfit too much
2. Buy the Viper sell the side winder
- do bounty hunting (RES)
- pulse lasers are fine
- outfit to your hearts content
- make a million dollar nest egg. Do not touch it.
2a. Buy a Cobra and do rare trading from Lave system.
- you may get bored of bounty hunting
- I did and I did this.
3. Lakon type 6
- I didn't remove shield, but if you can use a type D in a smaller slot. I wasn't very good at mail slotting when I first started.
- do not sell your viper to buy this.
- upgrade cargo slots
- D class everything on it
- frame shift drive C or above
- lookup rares trade route (buy fuel scoop)
- download Slopey
- do round trip station to station trading with under 50Ly between them. 1k+ round trip profit per ton. (I average 2-4k per ton)
- this is a serious grind, but teaches you to dock and use a ship that is awful at flying.
4. ASP
- sell your type 6 to buy this ship.
- outfit for trading, should have over 100 cargo.
- repeat type 6 method
- congrats you now own the best adventuring and point to point ship in the game
5. Vulture
- save up 10 million (over your nest egg) then buy the vulture.
- you now own the best (at price) bounty hunting, Rank grinding and mission grinding ship.
- I sold my viper to buy it, but you don't have to. The Viper and vulture are pretty great.
- outfits vary but..
You dont need A thrusters
You dont need A shields
Pulse lasers work just fine.
Shield boosters are great.
Now you have the ASP and Vulture.
You have the mid range apex adventuring / dog fighting / trading / mission grinding ships. The game is your oyster.
FAQ:
Why fuel scoop?
Fuel scoops let you refuel at yellow, red and white stars (no dwarf stars) and this can extend your adventuring / travel range indefinitely.
I have no idea how to navigate?!
Two most important things for navigation.
1. There is a search option in the galaxy map under navigation .
Put the SYSTEM name in and it will find it.
2. When plotting the course it uses economical versus fastest. I usually choose fastest. Economical would be good for adventuring though.
Why D class everything?
D class are the lightest, increasing your frame shift jumping range and agility.
I have no idea how to bounty hunt.
Go to an RES site or nav way point.
Click next target ship.
Wait for scan to finish. If it says wanted kill them. If you scan with kill warrant scanner you can get out of system bounties. Then do not die, or you lose all your bounties,and go to a station. Under contacts choose local security and turn in your bounty.
Why low class/no shield on my trading vessel?
Because if you get interdicted by a pirate just turn throttle to 0 to submit to interdiction then once in non hyper space turn throttle to 100% and put all 'pips' (energy) into engines and boost until frame shift drive cool down is over. You shouldn't be getting attacked much if you stick to that, so you dont need a big shield.
What are rares?
Golden items in the commodity market. Generally google "elite dangerous rare trade route" and that should get you where you need to go.
Why do I want to go so quickly to mid range playing?
Because from that point you are 80 hours or so from your first very large ship and all the other ships are relatively cheap to your hourly income and you can experiment with them more liberally and not have to worry about cash.
Why Vulture and Asp?
They effectively replace every ship under their price range as a pair.
Why should I buy a hauler/eagle/cheaper ship?
Because cheaper insurance, cheaper outfitting, hones your play style and they are fun to fly. Hint- a hauler makes an amazing system to system taxi. An eagle makes a great interdictor practicing ship. A viper is g awesome for dive bomb style attacking.
Should I follow this guide to a T?
No. There are plenty of wonderful ships and activities to do. The environment in Elite Dangerous changes often as well, so this guide may become dated.
Current activities being improved (1.3)
- missions!
- mining! (probes and such)
- power play!
Current activities that are not shown and are fun.
- discovering new areas (make money in the cartography tab)
- trying different flight models in the ships
- pvping
- reputation gaining
- rank gaining
- join a "guild" or online group
- play with friends.
It is a sandbox go have fun.
Here is a basic guide to progressing through ships.
RES = Resource extraction site
Usually found in systems with planets that have rings and they spawn randomly (sort of).
Tip for selling ships
- down grade/sell everything on your ship before selling.
1. Sidewinder - starting ships.
- bounty hunt RES or Nav
- get a kill warrant scanner
- I don't really suggest trading or missions.
- bit of a grind.
- don't outfit too much
2. Buy the Viper sell the side winder
- do bounty hunting (RES)
- pulse lasers are fine
- outfit to your hearts content
- make a million dollar nest egg. Do not touch it.
2a. Buy a Cobra and do rare trading from Lave system.
- you may get bored of bounty hunting
- I did and I did this.
3. Lakon type 6
- I didn't remove shield, but if you can use a type D in a smaller slot. I wasn't very good at mail slotting when I first started.
- do not sell your viper to buy this.
- upgrade cargo slots
- D class everything on it
- frame shift drive C or above
- lookup rares trade route (buy fuel scoop)
- download Slopey
- do round trip station to station trading with under 50Ly between them. 1k+ round trip profit per ton. (I average 2-4k per ton)
- this is a serious grind, but teaches you to dock and use a ship that is awful at flying.
4. ASP
- sell your type 6 to buy this ship.
- outfit for trading, should have over 100 cargo.
- repeat type 6 method
- congrats you now own the best adventuring and point to point ship in the game
5. Vulture
- save up 10 million (over your nest egg) then buy the vulture.
- you now own the best (at price) bounty hunting, Rank grinding and mission grinding ship.
- I sold my viper to buy it, but you don't have to. The Viper and vulture are pretty great.
- outfits vary but..
You dont need A thrusters
You dont need A shields
Pulse lasers work just fine.
Shield boosters are great.
Now you have the ASP and Vulture.
You have the mid range apex adventuring / dog fighting / trading / mission grinding ships. The game is your oyster.
FAQ:
Why fuel scoop?
Fuel scoops let you refuel at yellow, red and white stars (no dwarf stars) and this can extend your adventuring / travel range indefinitely.
I have no idea how to navigate?!
Two most important things for navigation.
1. There is a search option in the galaxy map under navigation .
Put the SYSTEM name in and it will find it.
2. When plotting the course it uses economical versus fastest. I usually choose fastest. Economical would be good for adventuring though.
Why D class everything?
D class are the lightest, increasing your frame shift jumping range and agility.
I have no idea how to bounty hunt.
Go to an RES site or nav way point.
Click next target ship.
Wait for scan to finish. If it says wanted kill them. If you scan with kill warrant scanner you can get out of system bounties. Then do not die, or you lose all your bounties,and go to a station. Under contacts choose local security and turn in your bounty.
Why low class/no shield on my trading vessel?
Because if you get interdicted by a pirate just turn throttle to 0 to submit to interdiction then once in non hyper space turn throttle to 100% and put all 'pips' (energy) into engines and boost until frame shift drive cool down is over. You shouldn't be getting attacked much if you stick to that, so you dont need a big shield.
What are rares?
Golden items in the commodity market. Generally google "elite dangerous rare trade route" and that should get you where you need to go.
Why do I want to go so quickly to mid range playing?
Because from that point you are 80 hours or so from your first very large ship and all the other ships are relatively cheap to your hourly income and you can experiment with them more liberally and not have to worry about cash.
Why Vulture and Asp?
They effectively replace every ship under their price range as a pair.
Why should I buy a hauler/eagle/cheaper ship?
Because cheaper insurance, cheaper outfitting, hones your play style and they are fun to fly. Hint- a hauler makes an amazing system to system taxi. An eagle makes a great interdictor practicing ship. A viper is g awesome for dive bomb style attacking.
Should I follow this guide to a T?
No. There are plenty of wonderful ships and activities to do. The environment in Elite Dangerous changes often as well, so this guide may become dated.
Current activities being improved (1.3)
- missions!
- mining! (probes and such)
- power play!
Current activities that are not shown and are fun.
- discovering new areas (make money in the cartography tab)
- trying different flight models in the ships
- pvping
- reputation gaining
- rank gaining
- join a "guild" or online group
- play with friends.
It is a sandbox go have fun.
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