Horizons Genuine Problem, Genuine ADVICE appreciated....

[the100thmonkey]

It's possible to do both.

Try the game without the reset. If you keep getting your     handed to you, you can then consider having only your combat rank reset or wiping your save.

 

[Chrystoph]

I'm going to buck the trend and say wipe your save game.

Why? The NPCs are much tougher then they used to be. If you return to the game with a rank of "harmless" they'll be much more likely to leave you alone until you've had a chance to relearn your combat skills.

You can submit a ticket to Support and have them reset your Combat level.

 

[JetsonRING]

I have been away a while. A year in fact. I play offline, something about the security and alleged safety of only dealing with NPCs just does it for me. Yeah, I know, I am a wuss. But it's okay, a game is for fun and if I can control how my fun is delivered then great. Anyway, I digress.
Previously I was doing a Rares loop, spending a couple of hours every couple of days flying about trying to make as much money as quickly as possible. I wanted something better than my Asp, even though it had served me so well for trading and in combat. I was able to save up and buy a Python. I kitted it out with equipment a grade or two above stock level and proceeded to go about my Rares loop. Along the way for some absurd reason I spotted some crates floating about and decided to investigate. A couple of high value boxes looking to be collected so out came the scoop. You know where this is going.....A flock of Fer De Lances appeared, first 3, then another 2, then a further 3. 8 FDLs were locked on and would not be outrun. My Python was shredded, my bank balance was insufficient to pay the insurance and I was back in my Asp.......the inevitable rage quit ensued.
In the mean time someone decided it would be cool if the galaxy had factions. Then that we should actually visit the planets we had been passing by. Not to mention all the minutiae that has happened along the way, balance changes, nerfs and buffs, stuff that I have not been able to keep up with because I was not playing or keeping track of events.
I had an email, I bought Horizons, but have not played. So, my problem is this:
Should I delete my save and start all over in the universe because basically it is a new universe, or should I persevere (because that Asp has done so much for me and has been a significant investment) and try to adapt to the new environment? I don't get the opportunity to play very often at all but Elite is a special game to me from when I used to play Frontier Elite 2 on my Amiga CD32 (who didn't love the jettison to increase your cargo glitch?) and I play to indulge my youthful appetite. One day I would love to have the ultimate battle cruiser, the ultimate hyper-ranged explorer vessel, the short range ninja combat ship, but for now, I just want to have a little fun and work towards small goals and enjoy the graphics, the detail, the immersion, that this game can bring.
Genuine helpful advice related to this would be welcomed, please try not to flame or be insulting, you guys have been here forever and obviously you know so much more than me and it will be obvious in your responses. Thankyou.

You have already heard it:
First, You flew without the rebuy cost of your ship. Shame on you. Second, you flew trade in Open Mode. Seems like lately, Open mode is OK if you want to pick a fight with somebody (in/around the bubble) or if you want to go off into the black (way, way outside the bubble) and explore. Otherwise you get a bunch of mental 6-year olds with nothing better to do than ruin other gamers playing experience. Spam/Log/Fight in Open, Fly in Solo.

 

[Frank]

I had an... erm... Amiga CDTV. You may want to take that into consideration when I give you my take on things.

I'm now concentrating on my trading rank, so I got a bit of a bloody nose when my cargo ship was attacked by a particularly belligerent NPC. I didn't run because I'm used to shrugging them off. It's a bit of a different story when your ship isn't set up with combat in mind.

But there is good news on the horizon. Elite will soon have ship-launched fighters and they are a lot of fun as well as being handy at keeping those pirates at bay. Just make sure after every encounter you re-dock with your ship to get your hull back to 100%. And don't let you AI crew fly your fighters. They are useless. Also if your fighter blows up you don't lose that crew member as a result. (edit or maybe you don't *)

Basically what I'm saying is that there's going to be a big change after 2.2, and it might be best to wait see how you get on with those changes before you commit yourself to a reset.

...And I agree with everyone that tells you not to fly without insurance. If you can't afford the insurance after a spate of claims then you have to downgrade to a cheaper ship.










*There's a good chance I'm wrong about you losing your crew member when the ship-launched fighter blows up. I didn't want to edit away my mistake in case someone was wondering where they heard that they did lose their crew member.

But I still stick with what I said though. Why let your AI crew member fly your fighter when you can have all that fun yourself?

 

[EzeThieL]

You have already heard it:
First, You flew without the rebuy cost of your ship. Shame on you. Second, you flew trade in Open Mode. Seems like lately, Open mode is OK if you want to pick a fight with somebody (in/around the bubble) or if you want to go off into the black (way, way outside the bubble) and explore. Otherwise you get a bunch of mental 6-year olds with nothing better to do than ruin other gamers playing experience. Spam/Log/Fight in Open, Fly in Solo.

It's an online game man you expect everybody that is playing to be all friendly and hugging? Actually I wouldn't be so happy if this guys wouldn't exist, they really spice up the experience. And, not all of them are mental or 6-year old, you are a bit exaggerating, everybody enjoy an online game how the hell they want, not sure if that means their mental if they want to pop others players ships, jeez.....

 

[Spacecat]

You do not want to wipe your save, trust me, I wanted that "fresh" experience and wiped a save once, still regret it.

I still have no idea why people do this. You can buy a sidewinder anytime.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

You can submit a ticket to Support and have them reset your Combat level.

That seems rather drastic. Does the game really become unplayable, even at the elite level?

 

[Ddraig]

Do not delete your commander.

Instead pay attention to the info that the signal areas give. Usually you can find good materials and instanced situations like Distress Calls, Weapons Fire, Combat Aftermath, Degraded Emissions, Graded Emissions to name a few. Thing is, each have their level of threat ranging from 0 to 4. 0 being usually you alone digging the trash and 4 being several assault wings to fend off, and unless you are a top gun pilot is ill advised to go in those. You probably entered one of these areas with high threat rank and got blown to smithereens.

And well, the Ai now is a bit harder than before so is advised to always have enough money for a rebuy and don't bite more than you can chew.

If you have Horizons, the engineers are also a good chance to increase your survavility. The basic grade 1 mods are more than enough to help you in many areas without having to invest time beyond the basic planetary surface material gathering.

And well, fly safe.

 

[mr.k]

I came back to the game a few weeks ago after a long hiatus and decided to reset my save. I had no idea about any of the updates at the time but haven't regretted my decision fwiw. o7

 

[Awesome-Tendency]

Thank you all for your responses. A mixed bag there. I have been back in game for about a week now, maybe putting in 3 hours every other day. I have managed to take part in the Community Goal so far and am so far about to get a reasonable reward for the effort of travelling a couple of hundred light years. I have been able to track down the first two engineers available and I have upgraded two systems which also seemed to make a big difference in the 'winnable' fights I get in to.
It's the rest of the game that has gotten me at the point of quitting.

I just took out a mission for killing a local party's ships in combat zones in the system I was in. Plenty of time to accomplish 12 kills. Only, when I went to go and set a destination, there were no combat zones. Mission abandoned. Why did it exist in the first place?

I was targeted inside a spacestation's no fire zone by an Anaconda. In my Asp I escaped with 10% hull left in to the next system. I was then interdicted by a SIDEWINDER almost immediately on my way to the nearest dock for repairs. My shields were good, yet somehow that thing was able to outmanouevre me completely so that I could not get it on screen to land any hits and it melted my A6 shields, and then the remains of my hull once I had decided to leg it as soon as my shields were gone. I barely saw the corner of the ship as it clipped the top corner of my view yet it could still hit me unrelenting.

A Federal Dropship pulled me out of supercruise, it didn't open fire, instead it demanded my cargo and then proceeded to ram me 4 times. The first two neutralised my shields, the last two killed me in a double bump. IT NEVER FIRED but still killed me.

I have only managed to kill other ships when there is a legitimate reason for another NPC to be attacking the same ship except when I have been the one to initiate the fight.

I rejoined this game with about 6.5mill credits in a majority A grade Asp Explorer. I have Engineer upgraded multi-cannons x4, all including the experimental upgrades, I have 2 engineer upgraded beam lasers and an engineer upgraded power plant. I have been killed 3 times, twice unfairly (in my mind). I have lost 4 million credits despite running from anything comparable in size or encounters against more than one ship. I am losing around half a million credits evrey time I play and it is not sustainable. My Asp costs 1.5mill to rebuy. What am I doing wrong?

All I want is to have a decent boat that will hold it's own. I am a casual gamer, I can't give days a week to explore everything there is to explore. I play EXCLUSIVELY offline, in Solo mode. This is supposed to be a game. A game by definition is supposed to be FUN. Every now and again you get lucky and strike it big, once in a while you take a hit. You make progress. This? I a going backwards, FAST.

I will never have an Anaconda, NEVER. And it's not for want of trying. I will never see the best ships in the game unless they have their weapons trained on me. I will be lucky to see a Python again and that took MONTHS to acquire.

The options and opportunity are so vast in this game, it is truly remarkable, but in my experience, it isn't fun unless you were able to get rich impossibly quick before the universe got to this stage. I will now mothball my beloved Asp. Lol. That is the sum total of my playtime, an ASP. I will go back to something small and start over and hope for a better experience.


I guess I just wanted the fun that the old game used to bring. Thank you all for your input.

 

[Spacecat]

Good luck. Use your small ship to gather the materials to slap (at least) level 3 thrusters on your AspX. They help.

 

[EzeThieL]

Thank you all for your responses. A mixed bag there. I have been back in game for about a week now, maybe putting in 3 hours every other day. I have managed to take part in the Community Goal so far and am so far about to get a reasonable reward for the effort of travelling a couple of hundred light years. I have been able to track down the first two engineers available and I have upgraded two systems which also seemed to make a big difference in the 'winnable' fights I get in to.
It's the rest of the game that has gotten me at the point of quitting.

I just took out a mission for killing a local party's ships in combat zones in the system I was in. Plenty of time to accomplish 12 kills. Only, when I went to go and set a destination, there were no combat zones. Mission abandoned. Why did it exist in the first place?

I was targeted inside a spacestation's no fire zone by an Anaconda. In my Asp I escaped with 10% hull left in to the next system. I was then interdicted by a SIDEWINDER almost immediately on my way to the nearest dock for repairs. My shields were good, yet somehow that thing was able to outmanouevre me completely so that I could not get it on screen to land any hits and it melted my A6 shields, and then the remains of my hull once I had decided to leg it as soon as my shields were gone. I barely saw the corner of the ship as it clipped the top corner of my view yet it could still hit me unrelenting.

A Federal Dropship pulled me out of supercruise, it didn't open fire, instead it demanded my cargo and then proceeded to ram me 4 times. The first two neutralised my shields, the last two killed me in a double bump. IT NEVER FIRED but still killed me.

I have only managed to kill other ships when there is a legitimate reason for another NPC to be attacking the same ship except when I have been the one to initiate the fight.

I rejoined this game with about 6.5mill credits in a majority A grade Asp Explorer. I have Engineer upgraded multi-cannons x4, all including the experimental upgrades, I have 2 engineer upgraded beam lasers and an engineer upgraded power plant. I have been killed 3 times, twice unfairly (in my mind). I have lost 4 million credits despite running from anything comparable in size or encounters against more than one ship. I am losing around half a million credits evrey time I play and it is not sustainable. My Asp costs 1.5mill to rebuy. What am I doing wrong?

All I want is to have a decent boat that will hold it's own. I am a casual gamer, I can't give days a week to explore everything there is to explore. I play EXCLUSIVELY offline, in Solo mode. This is supposed to be a game. A game by definition is supposed to be FUN. Every now and again you get lucky and strike it big, once in a while you take a hit. You make progress. This? I a going backwards, FAST.

I will never have an Anaconda, NEVER. And it's not for want of trying. I will never see the best ships in the game unless they have their weapons trained on me. I will be lucky to see a Python again and that took MONTHS to acquire.

The options and opportunity are so vast in this game, it is truly remarkable, but in my experience, it isn't fun unless you were able to get rich impossibly quick before the universe got to this stage. I will now mothball my beloved Asp. Lol. That is the sum total of my playtime, an ASP. I will go back to something small and start over and hope for a better experience.


I guess I just wanted the fun that the old game used to bring. Thank you all for your input.

Sorry to say this but, you got it all a bit wrong imo. First of all, ASPX isn't a good ship to combat especially without dirty drives and maybe some other shield upgrades. There are many posts and I guess you read some of them what and when is best to use that ASPX but you still used it at combat so this is your mistake.
I heard of many bugs but the ones when a Anaconda start to shoot at you for no reason I didn't heard. You were wanted or some sort and he started to shoot at you. Or you were in the open play and real players were shooting at you. But to get shot out of sudden with no reason, I hardly think that. So again, it might be your mistake again
A game is supposed to be fun of course but to get the fun you need to get with the rules of the game right? I've and many others already said how you could make money with that ASP and you decided to fit it and engineer it for combat. At least, why you didn't sold it and engineer a Vulture?
Months to get an Python? As I said, there are waaay more simple ways to make credits as many told you, you chosen an different path. Hard on making credits? Again, you've been told how
Maybe read again or if you really want to do things differently and fail again, be more fun about it, don't worry so much and try a different approach. Fly safe CMDR

 

[QUASAR-M]

CMDR, don't scrap your ASP. Prepare it for cargo, keep some medium shielding, strip/ sell all your weapons, make it lightweight focused on speed and high FSD range. Then go to SOTHIS and CEOS systems and stack the missions you'll find there that require you to bounce between SOTHIS <-> CEOS (doing so you will build rep with the local factions, unlocking better paid missions). Start with missions between these 2 systems, bounce back and forth from one to another. After you build some rep with the factions, do the long hauling runs (taking only the missions that pay the best) until you are comfortable with your balance, and take it from there. Don't do it for too long... it will kill the fun, do it just enough to allow you to get up to date with the game (or do it as long as you are comfortable with it). During this time when you are building up your balance again, NEVER, NEVER stop to fight with anyone. If interdicted, throttle to 0 to submit interdiction and once in normal space boost, RUN and engage hyper-drive/ supercruse and do this routine for as many times is necessary. DO NOT STOP TO FIGHT ANYONE, and you will be fine. Good luck CMDR.

 

[EightRoundsRapid]

I rejoined this game with about 6.5mill credits in a majority A grade Asp Explorer. I have Engineer upgraded multi-cannons x4, all including the experimental upgrades, I have 2 engineer upgraded beam lasers and an engineer upgraded power plant. I have been killed 3 times, twice unfairly (in my mind). I have lost 4 million credits despite running from anything comparable in size or encounters against more than one ship. I am losing around half a million credits evrey time I play and it is not sustainable. My Asp costs 1.5mill to rebuy. What am I doing wrong?

The options and opportunity are so vast in this game, it is truly remarkable, but in my experience, it isn't fun unless you were able to get rich impossibly quick before the universe got to this stage. I will now mothball my beloved Asp. Lol. That is the sum total of my playtime, an ASP. I will go back to something small and start over and hope for a better experience.

Please don't give up CMDR!

I have 130 hours played and I also have an Asp. It's a great ship which can be used for almost anything, although combat is definitely it's weakest point. I know what you mean about credits. I am slowly, slowly getting closer to a Python or Clipper and it has taken ages to do so but I have had a blast doing it. Don't let some negative experiences put you off. There isn't so much a learning curve with Elite Dangerous as there is a learning wall. (Credit for that goes to someone on Reddit)

My Asp is A-rated with zero engineer upgrades and I manage to survive in Solo and even the much feared Open. I fly with 2x fixed beams and 4x class 1 Seeker Missile Launchers. 3A shields with 2x boosters, 1x heat sink and 1x chaff. I am awful at combat but I haven't lost my ship to anything less than an NPC Cutter for a while now, and maybe my own stupidity (don't boost inside stations). Missiles are great against NPC's, easy to use and devastating on anything smaller than a 'Conda.
Generally I drop their shields with my beams then spam missiles until they are immobilised or in pieces. I rarely have to reload and they rarely have a chance to fire back. Best thing is I can keep full pips in SYS for the whole time and keep my shields at max. You could swap these out for gimballed beams or pulse and I think it would work just as well. Or 2 more seeker racks, forget dropping their shields and just spam missiles constantly though chaff would render you defenseless.
Maybe try this method at a NAV beacon on a wanted NPC before you give up on your Asp? Or try it in a smaller, cheaper ship? Just be careful to scan each target first and watch out for splash damage on clean NPC's and System Security.

For example, I had a Dangerous NPC Fed Drop Ship interdict me and demand cargo. I boosted to get some distance, spun around, scanned him then let rip. With 4 launchers each with 6 rounds, I unloaded 16 of my 24 missiles in quick succession leaving nothing but scrap and giving me an 80,000CR bounty voucher. I don't remember if he even shot at me, probably did but I didn't notice.

I recommend a mixture of the excellent advice given in the posts above; go to Sothis and earn some credits, if interdicted then pips to SYS and ENG and run like the wind. I haven't done been to Sothis yet either, probably should but never seem to get round to it. If someone interdicts you then run. Don't shoot police, near police or if there is the slightest hint of police in the (non-existent) air. Oh and don't boost in stations.

Feel free to add me in-game. I am currently working on my Empire rank to get a Clipper but would happily give you some tips if you like.

 

[Awesome-Tendency]

So I travelled the 400ly to Sothis. I took some data to Ceos. Ceos gave me a 1.5mill mission carrying some hydrogen 450ly away. Did that, took ages with fuel scooping. Delivered just fine. Empty hold, heading back for Ceos. Get interdicted by an Eagle. 4 pips to my A5 shields (with 2 boosters btw) and 2 to weapons. 45 seconds later I am looking at the rebuy screen. am I doing wrong? I am supposed to be able to outrun almost anything in a straight line when I have 4 pips to engines and just hightail it? Then why when I start at a 2km distance does any ship close the distance????? Am I glitched/bugged? Does this have anything to do with the repeated server disconnects? (I have a very good broadband connection).

I didn't spend 6 hours to only come away with a 300k profit. What gives??

My Asp is designed to try to at least not lose a fight. It is not built for piracy, just self defence. It loses over and over again even with upgrades. I have 2 class 1 gimballed beams, 2 class 1 gimballed multi cannons and 2 class 2 gimballed multicannons. An A5 shield, 2 shield boosters, I should be able to take out a goddamned eagle!!!!!!

EDIT: I will add a link to my build on the Coriolis site when I have the patience tomorrow, It is just so so frustrating to spend so long and get so little reward when it is taken away in seconds.

 

[Mercury7]

I will add a link to my build on the Coriolis site when I have the patience tomorrow, It is just so so frustrating to spend so long and get so little reward when it is taken away in seconds.

The Asp will survive a fight long enough to run away, but unless you fit it with armor it is a pretty easy target. It also depends what was shooting at you.

Losses are a reality of the game, so it is better to try not to get too upset when it happens. I know how frustrating it is - I lost 2x Asp within 30 minutes in the same system. Moral of the story: avoid hot-spots (unless it is a random interdiction NPC). Both times it was an FdL.

I suggest the following weapons on the Asp:

* 2x size 1 fixed frag cannons (on the lower inboard pylons)
* 2x size 1 gimballed beam lasers (on the middle two pylons)
* 2x size 2 gimballed multi-cannons (on the upper pylons)

Against medium/small ships, it is pretty devastating. If you encounter larger ships, due to the medium/small weapon penalty it is not very good at all, so in that case your only option is escape and evade. You can fight NPCs for long enough to run, but don't stay in the fight hoping for a kill - it won't happen.

If you want to combat, you want a fast, maneuverable ship. The Asp demands you fly it, to get the best out of it.

 

[QUASAR-M]

So I travelled the 400ly to Sothis. I took some data to Ceos. Ceos gave me a 1.5mill mission carrying some hydrogen 450ly away. Did that, took ages with fuel scooping. Delivered just fine. Empty hold, heading back for Ceos. Get interdicted by an Eagle. 4 pips to my A5 shields (with 2 boosters btw) and 2 to weapons. 45 seconds later I am looking at the rebuy screen. am I doing wrong? I am supposed to be able to outrun almost anything in a straight line when I have 4 pips to engines and just hightail it? Then why when I start at a 2km distance does any ship close the distance????? Am I glitched/bugged? Does this have anything to do with the repeated server disconnects? (I have a very good broadband connection).

I didn't spend 6 hours to only come away with a 300k profit. What gives??

My Asp is designed to try to at least not lose a fight. It is not built for piracy, just self defense. It loses over and over again even with upgrades. I have 2 class 1 gimballed beams, 2 class 1 gimballed multi cannons and 2 class 2 gimballed multicannons. An A5 shield, 2 shield boosters, I should be able to take out a goddamned eagle!!!!!!

EDIT: I will add a link to my build on the Coriolis site when I have the patience tomorrow, It is just so so frustrating to spend so long and get so little reward when it is taken away in seconds.

Follow my previously posted advice AD LITERRAM, and you will be fine. Don't engage ANYTHING in combat and especially not small fighters with your ASP because nowadays they will shred you apart if you are not skilled in combat.
Again, follow my advice AD LITERRAM (the part with RUN RUN RUN, every time you are interdicted in your ASP; always have full pips to ENG and the rest to SYS, and BOOST-BOOST as soon as ENG is recharged ).

Once you have a comfortable credit balance buy a Viper MK 3 and start building your combat skill fighting Sidewinders, Eagles and Vipers. You'll probably see the rebuy screen several times, however this is part of the learning process, the only thing you need is a comfortable balance, and a ship that won't drill a hole in your budget when you get destroyed. This is a normal process especially after the combat AI post 2.1 buff, and more so for someone like you who took a long pause from the game.

When I put this game aside and stop playing for 2 or 3 months and then I get back... I am super cautions because I know I lost skill in the mean time, and I get out in my Courier to get back in shape, not in my Anaconda, not even in my FAS which is fully kitted for heavy combat. Nowadays even when I change the ships I give myself an accommodation period before I hit a High intensity Combat Zone or Haz site.

ED now is not the same game you knew when you left... You just need a bit of patience to do it the way I've described. Otherwise do it your way... but it will probably involve more frustration along the way.

 

[EzeThieL]

So I travelled the 400ly to Sothis. I took some data to Ceos. Ceos gave me a 1.5mill mission carrying some hydrogen 450ly away. Did that, took ages with fuel scooping. Delivered just fine. Empty hold, heading back for Ceos. Get interdicted by an Eagle. 4 pips to my A5 shields (with 2 boosters btw) and 2 to weapons. 45 seconds later I am looking at the rebuy screen. am I doing wrong? I am supposed to be able to outrun almost anything in a straight line when I have 4 pips to engines and just hightail it? Then why when I start at a 2km distance does any ship close the distance????? Am I glitched/bugged? Does this have anything to do with the repeated server disconnects? (I have a very good broadband connection).

I didn't spend 6 hours to only come away with a 300k profit. What gives??

My Asp is designed to try to at least not lose a fight. It is not built for piracy, just self defence. It loses over and over again even with upgrades. I have 2 class 1 gimballed beams, 2 class 1 gimballed multi cannons and 2 class 2 gimballed multicannons. An A5 shield, 2 shield boosters, I should be able to take out a goddamned eagle!!!!!!

EDIT: I will add a link to my build on the Coriolis site when I have the patience tomorrow, It is just so so frustrating to spend so long and get so little reward when it is taken away in seconds.

CMDR do you at least read the advice that so many pointed out here? The ASPX isn't a god damn fighting ship. Myself and so many others tried different setups on it and isn't good enough for fighting without at least some dirty drives upgrade...are you making fun or joking around? The ASP is designed imo to RUN RUN RUN and it's great for that, why do you insist doing fighting with it, especially against an more agile ship???? The self defense on that ship is, submit interdiction, boost boost boost warp away....why is so hard to understand? Yes you are supposed to run, you either outfit the ship full on shield and armor modules without any cargo, engineer the hell out of it, and maybe after that you could have some fun doing fighting.
And for Sothis/Ceos, you go there and do ONLY data transport until you build a better reputation and you will have access to much better payed smuggling missions, and you start doing those.
What gives?? Mostly the lack of reading posts THAT gives....I think you had so much info on the matter and whatever the help you received you did how you wanted, at least stop asking for explanations. Or maybe you are making fun, which is pretty funny Still, if you find an setup for the ASPX where you can do smuggling with good cargo, range and still having fun fighting interdiction please let us know, maybe I am missing something
So, start follow the advices, do how QUASAR-M said which gives some solid info there. Have fun CMDR