Newcomer / Intro First Ship Purchase - seeking advice and guidance

TenXero

T
Hello everyone...

**Disclaimer**
I spent a lot of time googling "ED first ship purchase" - "ED what ship to buy first" - Etc. Etc. and didn't find much assistance.
I also spent time searching the forum and looking through the Noob section but I didn't find what I was looking for there either.
So I apologize if it's out there and I just flat out couldn't find it.

I have only run a handful of missions and a few trade runs. I'm enjoying doing a little bit of everything and probably won't lock myself down on "I'm a trader," "I'm an explorer," etc.

So my question is what's a good ship to set your sights on for that first purchase, what cash reserves do you want to set aside for outfitting the new ship, and where should you look to purchase it (IE do the costs for ships vary from system to system).

I realize the answer will vary based on "what do you want to do?"

I'm looking for insights from folks who focus on different aspects of the game.
IE - I focus on trading this is the progression that I found worked for me... I'm a jack of all trades this is the progression that I found worked for me... I'm a BH this is the... you get the idea.

Did many of you just hoard the creds and go straight for the Cobra?
Were some of you just dying to get that first ship and bought the first thing you could?

Thanks in advance for kind and helpful responses!
 

69thBuLLeT

69thBuLLeT
There are so many threads with questions and suggestions on what to do first that I almost didn't reply to this.

That said, at least you're asking a specific question.

My ship progression has been:
Sidewinder (Courier missions) - Abandoned
Freagle (Bounty Hunting) - SOLD
Viper (Bounty Hunting) - KEPT (NEVER EVER SELLING)
Cobra (Trading) - Current

Like you said yourself, your progression depends on what your goals are.
For exploration I would recommend the Adder instead of the Viper.
For trading, grab a Hauler.

Decide on a goal and buy the appropriate ship. You can't really go wrong, seeing as you don't lose any money when reselling your ships/equipment.
 
Last edited:

Hilight

Hilight
I'm a trader and explorer in the game, and I followed a ship progression based on those needs. I also have played solo exclusively. I really like trying out new ships and trading up the outfitting piecemeal as I go. I went Sidewinder>>Hauler>>Adder>>Cobra>>Type 6>>Asp --- each set up with no weapons, all the cargo area I could fit into the ship, sometimes with a shield, sometimes with none-- and always with the finest scanner and FSD I could afford
 

TenXero

T
Thanks Bullet.

I honestly did look!
It seemed like the posts I found were from folks who were asking about what next when they already had an Adder or whatnot.
Either that or how to make creds fast.

I'm focused on what's the first shiny new car you bought and why.
 

Kalara

Kalara
Hello there !

As you have said, the progression is based on what you would like to do.
I completely skipped the Cobra.
I went from the Sidewinder (sold immediately) to my Freagle.
Used the freagle to bounty hunt and sold it then bought the Viper. Upgraded the Viper while doing more bounty hunting and combat missions.
Sometimes I switched out some modules on the Viper for it to hold a bit of cargo space, to do those really easy 'bring my 2 or 3 of X commodity'.

Then I went to the Type 6 (and kitted it out a bit for 19ly jump & 104 cargo). This was a hard decision as I hate trading (hehe), but it really is the fastest way to make some more credits.
I still have my kitted Viper for combat and am not selling it.

I probably have less credits then most players playing fot he amount of time I have, just because I completely avoided trading in the beginning.

But then again, I wanted to focus more on combat anyway.

Hope this helped.
Now I'm almost at the point I can buy the Asp, but not sure if I will do it.
 

Ommasaur

Ommasaur
I went straight from my sidewinder to the cobra. Made my money doing missions and hunting bounties until I had the credits to skip straight to the ship I wanted.
 

gooddoc

gooddoc
I mainly focus on trading & exploring...my ship purchase went like this

Sidewinder - still parked up somewhere, can't remember where
Hauler - great for trading - stripped & part ex'd
Adder - great for the exploring & trading - part ex'd but forgot to strip
Cobra - a little exploring but mainly trading - upgraded & stored to be used later if needed
Lakon Type 6 - good for trading/missions to get me my Asp - stripped out the modules then part ex'd
Asp - current ship, only had it a few days, i'm currently doing one of the large 'rare commodities' loops, just got myself an Advanced Discovery Scanner, so i'm exploring & selling the data & trading the rares.

might do another 'rare' loop then go off & find the centre of the milky way!
 
Last edited:

Haileene

Haileene
69thBuLLeT said:
Decide on a goal and buy the appropriate ship. You can't really go wrong, seeing as you don't lose any money when reselling your ships/equipment.
Click to expand...

Well at least from what I understand, you first sell your equippements/upgrades you bought for your new ship (from that then you get all Credits back) and then only you sell the ship you don't want to keep anymore (but on that sell actually you will loose a bit of money, not sure on % as I have seen various numbers... so consider any ship on your path as some kind of rent)

As for anything 69thBuLLeT said I can agree, always keep one ship you can fall back on for whatever reason...

For myself I have been the :

Sindwinder (sold, not abandonned lol)
HAULER for a bit of mining and trading, as where I was I could not find an ADDER quickly, but definitely the Adder is a better step on path for many reasons (at least I still believe that, unless for mining as it's hitbox for cargo scooping is not very friendly)
VIPER (bounty hunting as well and keeping as well)
LAKON T6 (that I may keep for trades as it can land anywhere)
And next I still dunno as I will see what I really want/need... not decided yet

Just remember that for now at least there is no way to transfer a ship other than going some place with one ship of yours, go back to second ship with a new sidewinder, sell it back, bring the second ship to desired location... so keeping multiple ships is not something always.... convenient (and I may keep 2, so not saying you should keep only one here... just saying it's not convenient...)

You will soon know what you need from the second ship you buy... you will quickly know if you need more cargo for trading, or more slots for equipement (like a fuel scoop, an advanced discovery scanner, or whatever else your needs will be from the path you desire to do...)

but for sure at any point an ADDER will help you go anywhere as it is relatively cheap... and quite multirole none the less...

For me setteling in a nice system with a pristine planetary metallic ring and mining platinium, palladium, gold and silver was the thing that got me quick into the VIPER without the EAGLE step in between.

Hope you will find your path Cmdr
Fly safe out there
 

purf

purf
Disclosure: I've taken my sweet, sweet time with the game, pretty much aimlessly doing whatever caught my interest in a particular moment, thus my "progression" is none to speak of.
That said:

Sidewinder - Exploring, Bounty Hunting. Kept it for quite a long time and kitted it out as I went along. Sold it eventually for the:
Adder - Bought for its jack-of-all-trades qualities, did some mining and random stuff with it, but it has now become a quite dedicated Pirate/allThingsIllegalCargo Vessel. Lovin' it.
Sidewinder - a quick Taxi ;) - to finally fetch the:
Eagle - the free one from pre-ordering. It's... nice, fun to fly for combat, obviously. But when I was out and about I always missed what the Adder has to offer. (some cargo space, 2 utility mounts). Sold it eventually to finance upgrades for the:
Viper - a recent purchase to shoot stuff more quickly. I'd also like to cram some cargo space into it to give it the same role like the Adder - not sure how this'll work out.

In between there have been two Haulers and eventually I will have one again but trading is just not quite my thing..

conclusion: buy an Adder.
 
Last edited:

mistohise

mistohise
Many people trade in T6 or whatnot, and ideally I suppose that's what you should do, but I think I'll find it hard to say goodbye to the Cobra, even though I mostly trade.

If you are jack-of-all-trades in nature, the Cobra is a good ship for that, as it can fit most roles. Equally you could say that about the bigger ships like the Python or Anaconda, but there's a whole chasm of difference in price.

Asking how much is a bit of a piece of string question, because you can spend millions or you can spend nothing. Even the stock cobra is a neat ship, but once you upgrade it it's even nicer, and you can get good range out of it.
 

Derpster Frey

D
mistohise said:
Many people trade in T6 or whatnot, and ideally I suppose that's what you should do, but I think I'll find it hard to say goodbye to the Cobra, even though I mostly trade.
Click to expand...

Have different ships for different purposes.
I use my Cobra for bounty hunting and missions, and got a T6 stashed for trading.
 

Derpster Frey

D
mistohise said:
Sure, I just need enough game time to be able to rack the millions of credits.
Click to expand...

Took me less than 5 days to be able to afford a mostly B fitted Cobra and a stripped down T6 with 104T cargo and B FSD.

Sorry, that came of as showboating, what I meant was "I got no life and played for 5 days almost continuously."
 

Zylark

Zylark
I went for the Hauler as my first ship after the Sidewinder. Did some rare-trades until I had about half a million to spend ( = ~750k total including insurance and a little bit for buying cargo), and then bought the Cobra. Since then done a bit of everything. Thing with the Cobra is that it is a proper multi-role boat. It grows with you as you gain experience and reputation. And it is very cheap to run, unlike later multi-role barges.

My Cobra is now all A grade apart from the thrusters that are B grade. I'll never sell it. Its' gone from a little immature baby to a grown-up beast. I however is the ever childish little boy with an attention span that can be measured in seconds - despite my advanced age :D
 
Last edited:

Ferris

Ferris
As Zylark said, the Cobra is a great all-rounder, If you want to maintain your 'a bit of everything' philosophy towards the game it is a great ship. I also stepped up to the Hauler from the Sidey, did some trade runs and hauling missions until I could budget for the Cobra.
I had the cobra kitted out for trades for while, then re-outfitted it for bounty hunting and now I have an advanced d-scanner and detailed surface scanner fitted and trying my hand at a bit of exploration.
I will never sell my Cobra, I love it too much...
 
Last edited:

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Sold the freagle and did small missions in the slightly upgraded startwinder until i got my hauler.

Did missions in the hauler until i could kit it out with a good fsd then made a few rares runs.

Once i had max jump on the hauler used it for exploring.

Changed to a viper for a week or so of pew-pew builing up cash for a kitted cobra.

Didnt have quite the cash i needed for a max jump config for the cobra so ran missions for the empire building up my rank.

Then went off exploring. Just returning from a 10k ly trip and hoping that will give me enough for a max range asp. If so i might head off into the black again. If not problably will do some bounty hunting and missions until i have enough.
 

Sts

S
+1 on the Adder (bypassed the Hauler). If you like mainly trading and exploring then it's quite good for this when you compare to the price paid. Upgrade to a better FSD and get a 14lr+ range. It is a bit of a boat to steer so also upgraded thrusters are needed if you want to stand any chance in a dogfight.

S.
 

Xexexh

X
Another vote for the Adder, at least as a first step. Would say Cobra as second step but you'll need a million to buy it and put some decent upgrades on it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom