Newcomer / Intro Feeling picked on

[Winecork]

Hi Fellow CMDRs.

I'm new to the game, been playing for a month or so now, maybe 2 at max. Started without a clue, and reading forums, etc soon picked up the basics. Initially doing bulletin board runs, then moved to an Adder and did some mining, made some good money and got a Cobra. Found that mining was a little tedious and started trading. Found a nice little run, wasn't high on the Credits/per/ton but it was easy and I soon moved to a Type 6. The Type 6 was good - lot more profit per run, but it felt like I was flying round without any pants on - rather exposed. Although, I only got interdicted every 6 to 10 runs and most i was able to evade and the others run away from I still felt exposed. I should mention that I was and still am playing solo.

So finally after a heaps of runs I was able to buy an ASP - loved it. Pretty much the same cargo space as a Type 6, but with "pants". I'm a defensive player, I don't initiate conflict, but I like to be able to handle myself should someone want a piece of me. And this is were my troubles started. Once i was in the ASP, the interdiction increased, again most I was able to evade, and the ones I didn't I was able to destroy. Then I got interdicted by what looked like a FDL - Izreal Lawmaker or similar name. Having dealt with fighters up to now - this was a big wake-up call. Not knowing what the attacker was, I turned and did my normal berserker attack. I had upgraded to what I thought was a good weapon loadout - 2 x c1 gimblalled beam, 2 x turret c1 cannon and 2 x turret c2 multi-cannon. All worked well, the beams cut through the shield and the turrets were scoring heaps of hits but he wouldn't die. I was down to 14% hull when 3 cops turned up and took some of the heat off me, Gave the shields a chance to recharge, and I just couldn't resist it - "Banzai" I was at him again. But I'd run out of multi cannon ammo and I was just using beams and the cannon at that stage. Finally he blew and I got 125K for the kill - biggest bounty ever.

My problem is since then I only seem to get interdicted by larger NPC nasties, the last one killed me off in less than 30 seconds. I've tried to find out through forums and the like if the NPC attacks are related to the perceived strength of your ship, or are they just random, and I'm really unlucky to get smashed by them so often.

If I can get some feed back I can work out whether to go back to a Type 6 and feel the breeze, go open play and see if the real interdictions are less or more frequent to the NPCs and if my ASP can take care of itself, or just flag the game, cause I'm not good enough as a fighter jock. Any comment would be appreciated. Cheers

 

[Bertrand Du Guesclin]

I don't think going in open will change anything related to your NPC interdiction problems.
If you are a defensive player like you said, don't try to engage in a fight with anything bigger than a Cobra.
In addition I understand you are a trader, so you probably don't have the biggest shield equiped. You can improve your ship strength by equipping Shield Boosters in your Utility slots.

When you start being interdicted, the interdictor appears as a red icon on your radar. Tap the "Target hostile" button, and assess the situation :
- If it is a small ship, you can submit to the interdiction and kill him, or try to evade it.
- If it is a big ship (Fed Dropship, FDL, Python, Anaconda,...), try to evade. Submitting is a bit more risky because the big ships will probably mass-lock you, preventing you from running away as fast as you could.

If you see you won't manage to evade the interdiction, submit to it. As soon as you come out of supercruise, point away from your ennemy, put 2 pips in Systems, 4 pips in Engines, and spam your boost until your FSD is ready to jump again.

 

[Universal Evil]

To op
I guess the NCP think a little like us... If you are a pirate in a sidey you proberly wont pick an ASP or anaconda a start demanding its cargo hence, since you upgraded your T6 to an ASP it's proberly why the NPC pirate's are now in bigger ships too...
I've notice when flying in my python or 'conda the pirates who interdicts me tence to be in ASP or bigger while if I'm in my adder(like now) the pirate NPC's are only sidey's,eagle's,cobra's or even ocasionel viper's...

I don't think you are getting more picked on than anyone else(to a point)

 

[jan]

you might have aggroed of a local faction just move to a diff Place , and you shud be fine. reputation towards a pirat faction can make em more aggresive.

 

[Winecork]

Great, thanks for the tips. didn't see any red icons, so I'll check next time it happens. It will make a big difference knowing the type of ship hassling me. Yep done the boost spam trick, but that was in the T6. Probably s/b doing it more often in the ASP. But I kinda like the feeling of beating the bully - probably more than than I should.

 

[Universal Evil]

Great, thanks for the tips. didn't see any red icons, so I'll check next time it happens. It will make a big difference knowing the type of ship hassling me. Yep done the boost spam trick, but that was in the T6. Probably s/b doing it more often in the ASP. But I kinda like the feeling of beating the bully - probably more than than I should.

Then get a python, a nice cargo ship with big teeth

 

[Winecork]

I didn't know you could get a bad rep with a NPC pirate faction, so thanks for that. But not sure if this is case, I was a 100 or so Lys away from the first kill and the subsequent drubbing I got.

- - - Updated - - -

Then get a python, a nice cargo ship with big teeth

Yeah, but the cost. Took me ages to get to the ASP. A fitted out Python makes an ASP look like a Cobra. I like the idea of the big teeth though.

 

[sasani]

Commander Du Guesclin's advice is very good.

A couple of point's I would like to ad - I apologise in advance if you know all this already and if this is a little patronising.

When you assess the situation also take the NPCs elite rating into account - if they are a big ship and deadly or elite running is a good strategy (if you only have class 3 shields)

4 pips to engines, boost and fsd out should work in 90% of situations, even if they are a big ship... However if you are mass locked and have weak shields a couple of barrel roles as you escape and some lateral thrusting will help too. 2 or 3 seconds left then 2 or 3 seconds to the right - this will make some of their hits miss until your FSD has charged up.

If you are A-B trading in an ASP then I assume you are set up with 120t and a class 3 shield - this is fine with all cobra and smaller NPCs. If you are rare trading you can comfortably fit a class 5 shield in the ASP and then you are able to take on any NPC - except maybe Deadly - Elite pythons and anacondas

If you ran out of multi cannon ammo fighting an NPC FDL there is something awry with your fighting style (unless you went into the fight without much ammo - or you only had 1 or 2 multi cannon). So I also suggest some more combat experience - go to a NAV point and practice some of the tips I list below.

Now what about your load out?

Weapons load out should be 2 C2 beams in the medium slot- fixed or gimballed (fixed is better and if you are not accurate enough practice a little and you will get it in no time) - the small slots should be all multi cannon. 2 Beams on one fire group 4 multi cannon on another fire group.
- Make sure you have the best possible power distributor, generally this is the best thing to upgrade as it gives you the biggest benefit per credit spent. Having some shield boosters is a good shout too.

As for combat tips:

- In a fight with a big opponent you should have 2.5 or 3 pips to systems 3 pips to weapons and 1 or 1.5 to engines. This should keep your beams firing well - only use your beams while their shileds are up. these are much better than cannon against shields and this way you conserve your ammo.
- Don't just keep your finger on the fire button with beams - less valid if you have gimballed - but even if gimballed ease off if you see your shots are not landing fire in semi automatic bursts to keep the capacitor charged.
- Once their shields are down forget about your beams and move to approximately 3 or 3.5 pips to systems, 2.5 or 3 to engines and just 1 or even 0.5 to weapons (multi cannons dont need much to operate)
- Now your shields will get some extra juice and you will have better maneuverability to stick close to your opponent <800m, ideally in their blind spot - or at least out of the way of their main weapons.
- For ships ASP or smaller you can just empty loads of multi cannon onto them, they will be done in no time. for shops larger than an asp target their powerplant, stick close and let your gimballed multi cannon wreak havoc.

A note on NPC Chaff - if your gimballed targets start flying around wildly it is because the npc has deployed a chaff, normally this only lasts a few seconds and they rarely follow up with another one immediately, (this is why I like fixed beams by the way, chaff is irrelevant) - if you are close enough you can deselect the target and your gimballed beams will fire like fixed weapons (as mentioned by other posters recently on another thread) once the chaff has subsided you can target them again. but more often than not you can just wait it out. If they chaff when you are on the "multi-cannon - sub system target" stage then you can either wait it out or move power back to weapons to used fixed beams again.

Hope this helps Commander

 

[Winecork]

Thanks for the tips. I kept the class 5 shield (C rating at the mo) and I have 4 x d grade shield boosters and an A class power distributor. Only have 92T available as I also like the docking computer (yep I know lazy - but I loath docking). The reason I went for the c1 beams is their position (lower middle - very limited range and only gimballed/fixed weapons are suitable). I like the idea of turreted weapons with their own targeting. So I'd have all turreted if I could. My thinking was that all weapons with their own targeting must be better than the need to fly like a WW2 fighter jock a thousand years or so into the future. Thought I'm starting to think that maybe the only way - even if you are flying a freighter. But I think you hit the nail on the head, I needed to target the power plant for a quicker kill on the bigger ships, and get the hell out of it if its deadly or elite status. Being able to target them during the interdiction will be a real bonus. As an aside, I would really like it if you could pay for modifications, like moving the hard-points or swapping class 1 and 2 hard-points. Then you could position them purely for defense.

 

[sasani]

Dont bother with turretted weapons on an Asp...
A) they are pretty poor
B) you'll never improve your combat
C) if you aren't going to turn and fight you don't need weapons at all (against NPCs) Submit- Boost- FSD ==== you will be fine...

For AB trading use the below loadout if you can afford it - it will add 25% to your profit.... shields will be adequate to get out of any NPC interdiction

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,0_g0_g0_g,2-6Q7_7_6u6Q8S8I,0AA08c05U05U7Pc03w03w

Notice, no weapons... you dont need e'm

If you are happy with your loadout... keep upgrading - Asp is a great ship and as you upgrade it (thrusters in particular) you will have a lot of fun... out of interest, are you trading normally or trading in rares?

 

[Winecork]

thanks again for the advice. Still just doesn't feel right not having weapons, but I get point regarding turrets, I just like the idea. Was AB trading, bout 240K profit per circuit, 30 mins. But just had a go at rares, took about 3 hours (first time round the curcuit) but Netted 1.9 mil profit - then got smashed by the NPC which cost me 760K insurance. I'd say rares are more profitable, but not by a huge amount. I think I prefer the AB trading or in my case the ABC run. I can do a run if I have a spare half hour, but with rares, I seem to need to hang round, especially if there is no stock and there is a lot of leaping about. Probably do a bit of both, when the normal trading gets a bit tedious.

 

[smiths121]

Hello,

I too am in an Asp, worth about 16MCr, happy to take it into low intensity conflict zones etc. I think they become useable as Multi-role at around 12-14Mcr mark with @ 96 tons of cargo.
If trading is your game, and you are not interested in the Multi-role, with the exception of the bigger fuel tank, you are probably not getting bang for buck out of the Asp.

I think the Asp attracts more attention than the Type 6, must be the paint jobs

I spent 5.5Mcr on a Type 6, slightly reduced the cargo to fit shield cells etc. I put a beam laser gimbled and a multi-cannon (could have gone with missiles as cost/protect cargo value makes it worth it). This was great for just about any NPC, although I had to tighten with FA off etc but the Type 6 held out well against the NPCs it met. This might be a better investment of 6MCr than an Asp if trading is your game.

Simon

 

[Tuub t Tute]

Asp is a great all rounder, with limitations. All 6 gun mounts are very forward facing. Putting in turrets doesn't help much as they can't clear the fuselage. Plus the turrets losing accuracy after 5 seconds bug still hasn't been addressed (1.3 hopefully).

You only have 2 med and 4 small guns, so going against anything with a large or huge hull will end badly unless you are a good combat pilot and learn the tricks of trade like pip management, boost / FA off turning / sub-system targetting etc.
If that is beyond your current interest / skills then turn and burn every time when the bogey is a big one. Asp is excellent for trading and faction grinding if you want to move up to a Clipper for example, as the massive jump range means any delivery / cargo pickup mission is a breeze

 

[the100thmonkey]

I almost never get interdicted in my Asp except when I'm running escort for my buddies in their T6s. When I'm on my own, it just hardly ever happens.

 

[Ancipital]

To op
I guess the NCP think a little like us... If you are a pirate in a sidey you proberly wont pick an ASP or anaconda a start demanding its cargo hence, since you upgraded your T6 to an ASP it's proberly why the NPC pirate's are now in bigger ships too...

I get interdicted by shieldless NPC Sidewinders and Eagles, both in my trading Clipper and my A-fit Vulture. It almost makes me sad to one-shot them.

 

[Detonator]

I've got an Asp but a different weapon mix; 2 x cl2 gimballed beams, 4 x cl1 turreted multi canons, upgraded the power plant, upgraded the armour and have shield boosters in the utlity slots. Remember that the turrets are on the underside of the ship and that you need to turn with your belly towards the enemy while your beams recover. I alter the pips in relation to the engines, systems and weapons depending on the opponent

 

[unite]

I bought my second asp last night to fit out for fighting and rare trading. The other ones fitted for exploration. Shes only got 60 odd hold (can't remember exact figure) but is as hard as the cobble stones of hell with 6b shields, military hull, 2 class A shield boosters and fights back with 2 medium gimbled pulses (until I find my preferred burst) and 4 small multicannons (I may change these to bursts to save reloading but need to test the power loadout first). I intend to buy the 6A shields and the higher class of hull but just can't afford it atm.

My previous run of the mill trading / combat asp was 5A shields, same weapons and 96 of cargo. With this you can make an easy 200-250k round trip trade profit and fend off all NPC pirates.

A good pointer for the larger NPCs is to target the power plant sub-system. I find this more effective with a purely energy weapon setup. Try to get in behind them and they will blow very quickly. Took a conda or python (can't remember what it was) out once and it still have 30-40% hull.

For your asp the first thing to look at upgrading is the power distributor. Its only a class 4 on the asp so the A rated one is around 400k and is really worth the money. Makes the pulse/burst/beam type weapons last longer and really helps with heat. The power plant is also worth the money to get your heavy load weapons and shield boosters running together. Don't bother so much with scanner upgrades as they just suck power for little benefit. I would upgrade the scanner and life support to D types purely just to save weight.