Newcomer / Intro Greeting Commanders, I'm having a tough time.

[SpacedOut]

Hello All

I've been playing ED since launch on and (mostly) off but I find it really tough going and feel the game keeps trolling me xD

Every time I earn about a million in bounties or trade with an expensive cargo I get interdicted and blown up so easily yet my brother inlaw I play with has millions and doesn't seem to have a problem.

I have a Cobra with all A rated equipment where possible. I keep trying to earn enough credits for that next ship (Asp, then Anaconda) but always end up being blown to cosmic dust. I'm obviously doing something stupid but it's making me want to quit... again. I guess my ageing slow reactions don't help

Another thing is my Federation rank hardly moves even tho I do loads of missions (Boom data and donations etc that's quick to do) My current Federation rep is Friendly 77% and Rank None 100%. I've noticed that I get 1% for every 3 missions or so Is that working as intended?

Any advice for an (older) pilot would be appreciated.

Fly safe Commanders.

Mike

 

[Arnoldo]

Run when interdicted.... Submit, boost, boost, jump

Sounds a bit concise but, it works and is the best advice I can give..

 

[newman1702]

Every time your rank slider shows 100%, you are eligible for a promotion - but to get it you have to find a rank up mission. These will only be offered by federal (or imperial if ranking up with the imps) aligned minor factions so make sure you are in a system that has some fed factions. The missions themselves should mention federal (or imperial) navy in the title, such as cargo acquisition contract for the federal navy or some such.

As for the rest, if you're getting blown up in the Cobra all the time you're definitely doing it wrong as that is one fast boosting ship - while I definitely suggest learning how to fight well, also know when to run and you'll be fine; submit, boost, high wake works just fine. Remember, you can't get mass locked if high waking, only if you low wake.

 

[Pyrotiger]

Only upgraded my delivery Cobra to Dirty Drives Level 1, but that is a really quick process and it can boost up near 500 - great for being an intergalactic chicken. Nothing will catch me in that. Don't play the interdiction minigame, just submit and boost straight away, don't stop for anything.

 

[Chris Simon]

Pretty much all above.

But looking at your goals, I'd like to point out that there are many more ships between those you've "chosen" to aim for. Cobra is quick but fragile. If you have a hard time, you could try a different ship within the same price range (or slightly higher) Both Vipers, Mk.III and Mk.IV are much more capable fighters than Cobra, so if you'd rather fight than run, try those. Or Diamondback Scout.
Of try different guns. Or something.

You know what they say - It's madness to repeat the same mistake and expect the result will be different.

Also I'd recommend not hoarding the bounty vouchers and turning them in more frequently.

 

[SpacedOut]

Thanks all for the sound advice. Doing the 'submit, boost, boost, jump' worked a treat most of the time. Once I got interdicted by 3 ships at once, most likely a mission I had selected ...I didn't last long.

But now I have finally found a Fed Navy mission to kill 8 pirates, so I should gain a rank after killing another 4.

Thanks again o/

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

If you are taking on quite a bit of fire it can be better having 4 pips to SYS and 2 to ENG when running, even though it sounds counterintuitive, due to the fact that your shields can last up to 2.5 times longer. See:

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;RrSXvCEergY]https://youtu.be/RrSXvCEergY[/video]

Try one of the Cobra combat training missions to see the significance (with 4 pips to SYS when you are being fired upon) and you can see that you can stay in combat for significantly longer.
Although if you are running in a Cobra MK III (not the slower and less agile Mk IV) you should be able to outrun most ships.

Also it's a good idea to fit Point Defence as a countermeasure to NPC missiles/torpedos/mines, although the Mk III has only 2 utility mounts so would need to compromise by removing another useful utility.

 

[Codger]

I'm 65 and retired, with slow reflexes, and I do well in the game. But I know how to pick my battles and I've tailored my ships to help compensate for my piloting skills

If you're being blown up often, then you're definitely doing something wrong. The first thing I would do is learn how to escape. You need to burn the routine into your brain so you can do it every time, and do it quickly.

When interdicted, here's what I do:
*throttle to zero, to submit to the interdiction - reduces the cooldown on your fsd
*full throttle as soon as I drop out, followed by a boost
*4 pips to shields, 2 to engines (this is vital, don't listen if anyone tells you to put more pips in engines )
*select a nearby system to jump to - I usually have one pre-selected in my Nav panel in case I need it quickly. But with a little practice it doesn't take very long to open the nav panel and pick the closest system.
*keep boosting when you can until your fsd charges up
*jump to the new system

After that, you can jump back and continue. Repeat as needed.

If you learn that, and do it *every* time and never try to fight, you will almost never be destroyed.

After that, you can start figuring out which ships/rankings you can actually take on.

And here's my video on Federation Ranking. Probably not the fastest method (if there even IS a fastest method), but it worked for me.

[video=youtube;hS4AttJhcLI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS4AttJhcLI[/video]

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

You need to get a good routine (or SoP if you want to be fancy) down in your head so that when an interdiction happens you are quite clear about how to handle it.

Something like this:

Interdiction starts
1. Take your hands off the flight controls
2. Get you pips ready, 2 for SYS and 4 for ENG
3. Throttle down to zero
4. Prepare to drop out of super cruise and boost at the earliest oppourtunity
5. Drop chaff if you have any
6. Wait for your ENG energy to recover, then boost again
7. Bring your SYS pips up to full
8. Use lateral thrust to dodge/reduce fire
9. Keep an eye on your FSD recharge and prepare to jump back into super cruise asap

If you keep getting interdicted (chain interdiction) you might want to jump out of the system since you are being followed by a wake scanner

Other things you can do:
- Fit chaff and point defense to your utilities
- Play in Solo mode if human PvP is happening to you
- check your loadout for errors like weak shields, distributors etc if you can't afford them maybe you need to down select your ship
- Always have enough credits in the bank for 2 re-buys
- Don't try to fire weapons if you are fleeing
- Consider using mines
- check the power priority you've assigned to the FSD module, it can be higher than 1 if you know how to manage it
- check for Powerplay alignment
- check for outstanding bounties or fines on you
- check your cargo, are they trying to take it from you

Regarding ranks and reputation, because you are at 100% None you are basically waiting for your first Federal Navy mission to allow you to rank up as a reward. The Federal reputation gauge is actually quite slow to progress but don't panic because when you do rank up you'll see that your new rank won't start at 0% it will be higher because the game will still being giving you credit for your missions over and above the 100% at your current level, you just can't see it is all. It is actually quite possible to rank up and be 100% at the next level straight away if you've earned it thus allowing you to take a new Federal Navy mission straight away and rank up to the next level You can't stack the navy missions though so if you are offered two or more missions you won't go up 2-3 levels you have to take a new mission at each level.

That should sort you out

 

[AdamDZ]

I had very frustrating times with interdictions but learned how to avoid and survive them for the most part. I wrote a guide, see if it helps you. The link is in my signature below.

 

[Manticore]

Run when interdicted.... Submit, boost, boost, jump

Sounds a bit concise but, it works and is the best advice I can give..

What he said.

Also, never willingly submit to an interdiction (try and fly your way out of it; smugglers' rule).

And, as he said, if you get pulled down into normal space............... run like hell (or fight if you have the materiel and ordinance and like living on the ragged edge)!

 

[GJ51]

Only upgraded my delivery Cobra to Dirty Drives Level 1, but that is a really quick process and it can boost up near 500 - great for being an intergalactic chicken. Nothing will catch me in that. Don't play the interdiction minigame, just submit and boost straight away, don't stop for anything.

Except my iCourier that cruises faster then your boost speed...

 

[SpacedOut]

Excellent advice, thanks very much

It seems to be paying off as I've not been killed once today. I came close when I made a mistake but I managed to boost and FSD away. I'm now Federation Rep 100% and Rank Recruit 73% also making 3.5 million cr in the process.

Thanks again everyone

 

[Chris Simon]

That's wonderful to hear.
Right on, commander. o7

 

[Manticore]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

 

[SirDavros]

Some good guidance from the peeps above, particularly newman1702 - I didn't know that about the ranking up missions. Great tips.

As for what your doing wrong, I struggled with interdiction when I first flew my Cobra but I got to grips with it fairly quickly. Last time I was blown to bits, I was completely outnumbered by Alliance Enforcers. As a fairly noob player myself, I'd advise submitting if you're struggling to avoid and then just boost and jump your way out of there.

 

[Troy_McClure]

Except my iCourier that cruises faster then your boost speed...

Yeah & what are you going to do when you catch me with that build?

 

[D.G.Cerberus]

Yeah & what are you going to do when you catch me with that build?

Probably spear you with the pointy end......

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

Another thing to bear in mind is what you are actually doing at the time. For example - if on a mission and you have cargo/data then losing your ship will cost you dearly - the insurance rebuy, the loss of the cargo/data AND depending on the mission a fine as well as rep lost as well.

So my advice is to avoid combat - UNLESS, you know your ship is a beast and the interdictors isn't. I've had loads of fun doing various missions and being interdicted whilst in a Vulture with RA hull, and everything else maxed out... [haha]

When the interdiction hits, my advice is to forget trying to fight it - if you lose/make a dogs dinner of it, you'll end up with a massive wait for the FSD to cool down AND your hull will be damaged (not the best position to be in when faced with a pirate).

NPC interdictors almost always threaten you over comms - the moment that happens, check out the local contacts and see if you can ID what sort of ship the pirate is in as this is often a good indicator of your chances in a fight. If you know its no contest then weapons hot! - if it's a bit "risky" or a total no go, then after the submit, like others have said, boost away (but do this quickly).

I'm not entirely sold on the concept of dropping chaff right from the word go - this would give away your position. Depolying a heat sink as you boost away (but before the pirate appears on radar) should help drop your ships heat signature and allow you to increase the distance between you. I've found submitting, dropping HS, boost, boost and then FSD works every time and i've never suffered a hit to the ship doing this. You can of course also play around with silent running but in a post interdiction state I'm not entirely sure this will work out for the best anyway (or even be worth doing).

 

[Chris Simon]

^^ this

The advantage of "talking pirates" is that normally one has to look at the ship and let the scan commence, but once they sent the message, they are fully revealed and easily located from the contacts, of by just flicking through targets in SC, hence with a bit of practice easily avoided.

And in Elite the general rule (that most newbies don't excercise) is IF YOU DON'T HAVE A COMBAT SHIP, DON'T FIGHT.

Also, yes, chaff is useful once they start firing, not right after dropping.

My personal tactics in a trader ship is Submit -> deploy mine launchers -> create a minefield -> boost -> chaff if they didn't die to the mines and started the chase -> low wake out -> if they interdict again, repeat and high wake instead. Works 100% of the time, even against other commanders.

If you have at least 400-500MJ shields (or in general 500+ "hitpoints", shields and hull combined), which is easily achieved in anything except T6 and Cobra (But they are much faster, on the other hand) there is no way even a commander can kill you in those 15 seconds.

If your shields are easily dropped, equip B-rated thrusters and FSD instead of A-rated. They can take much more damage before starting to malfunction. Also play with power management. It is advisable to have Thrusters and FSD on priority 1 and everything else on lower priorities and equip such powerplant that the thrusters and FSD add up to less than 50% of the PP's output. destroyed powerplant still has 50% output, so that way, even with destroyed of malfunctioning powerplant, you can still run away.