Hello fellow CMDR's - Been away from the game for nearly 2 years - Got a few questions.

juras

J
Hi

Been away for almost 2 years.

I missed basically everything since horizons (missed that also nearly complete) if i recall correctly.

Now that i may find a hour or so to play occasionally i wiped the dust from my HOTAS strapped the rift on and hopped into the cockpit of my cargo carrier only to noticed that a lot of things changed - so I've got a few questions.

- i have a trading route that was quite good in the old days netting me about 12mill an hour, although it still works i read that 50-100 mill (even up to several 100mill) is considered normal nowadays. what do i need to do to have this kind of earnings?
- Whats about with the engineers? i do have a nice selection of ships, an have some money on the bank but after reading a little bit i got the feeling that with my A kitted Ships I'm cannon fodder right now.
- The Targoids are back :) what can i do in this context?

As i don't feel the need to do boring trade runs for hours and hours i would be happy if someone can give me a roundup.

thanks in Advance
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
The big money is usually from the latest cash cow. Lol

Engineers just got an overhaul, so it's much less RNG-y than before.
They can help you quite a bit, but there is a bit of a grind wall to unlock some. I suggest you install a collection limpet controller on every ship, and just hoover up all materials you come across.

Thargoids are back, and lethal. But we also have the tools to kill them, you'll find the modules usually on high-tech planetary bases.
The Thargoids themselves can be found near Maia, but also around damaged stations (check map filter). Look for non human USSs. You NEED a strong hull to survive, because their damage can bleed through shields.
 

Lightspeed

Lightspeed
Two years! :eek:

You may need to practice a few things .....

landing at ports again, and keeping your speed legal to avoid fines etc.

landing on planets (have you done that at all?) .... it's a great experience, but you need to practice

ensure your ship is protected, at least with decent shields

Engineering will take you a while, but it's worth it to improve your jump range with the Frame Shift Drive .... you have to do a few things to unlock the engineers for that though.

Best suggestion would be to fly Solo until you feel comfortable in the game .... there's a lot of well armed kids out there that enjoy picking on inexperienced, less defended players.

Maybe participate in a hauling CG or two to build your confidence up and your cash reserves for that 'next' ship.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Since Horizons - let me assume you actually have Horizons, then.

If you have any combat rank at all, I'd suggest you ask support to reset you to Harmless. Random NPC encounters scale with your combat rank, and the higher level NPCs can be decidedly nasty, if you're not used to it. Especially apparently in the 3.0.3 black box retrieval missions.
I'd even go as far as suggesting that, if you don't have significant total assets, you would best do a clear save. Don't assume anything that was valid two years ago (apart from basic flight) is still valid now.

Making money: sure, if that is all you're after, you can make that kind of money. It's called "grind". The basic receipe is to get a decent ship, level up your reputation with several factions in an outlying system (i.e. most missions go to the same neighbouring system), and then stack high profit missions. About as much fun as poking your eyes out with a blunt screwdriver.

If all you want to do is a one-time boost after a clear save, do some local missions (be careful about criminal missions, btw.) to get up to ~3 MCr., equip one of the small ships with a good FSD, scoop, ADS and DSS and run the road to riches to the Pleiades (DSS scanning an earthlike or terraformable will net you between 300 k and 1 MCr. each - once). Collect Meta Alloy to unlock Felicity Farseer, and you're in the Engineering Game.

If you want to do PvP, engineering is essential - and you have to keep on top of it and follow the latest meta. If you just want to run around in Open, it's still advisable to retain some survivability, strategies will differ between ship types. Against NPCs, engineering is not neccessary, but very helpful.

Open vs Solo - the "discussion" is still ongoing. Outside of known hotspots, open is pretty much survivable. Unfortunately, Maia is one of those hotspots (got killed there yesterday, now I'll have to run a few missions to refill my rebuy fund again. But I'm getting better - I actually managed to launch my fighter. Next time, perhaps I'll remember to put away the Helm panel so I can actually target my weapons :mad:).
 
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juras

J
Hi

Thanks for the reply's so far.

I'm in since the beginning so i do own some decent A kitted ships (Python, Anaconda, Corvette, Clipper, T9, and some others) and I've got something like 500 mill in the bank.
Actually i think i can fly decently although i surly need some practice.
I'm caring about credits as far as i earn enough to afford whats needed and to be safe for potential re-buys.
My intention is to learn about the current best methods of earning money in order not to waste my very limited time with my old and - to current standards - weak trade-route.
Regarding the engineers - is there something to now about upfront or will i find all the info in the Game? (like how to unlock, which engineer is the best in what, what are the "to avoid" mistakes regarding the engineers,....)

When my engineered ship is destroyed will i get the engineered stuff back on re-buy?
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
You can find all the information you need about Engineers in-game. Right side HUD, bottom of the status tab, there's a row of five(?) icons. The pentangle with the circle inside is engineers. On the other hand, checking beforehand in e.g. Inara can save you from doing a few trips twice.

Ship destroyed: yes, you can buy all of your modules back. If you do, they will be engineered to the level they had when the ship was destroyed.

Money: trade routes change, the basic principle stays the same. 3.0 has a few more optimizations for trade in-game, I suggest you watch the corresponding Youtube videos where FD present the updates (sorry, no link at hand). Apart from that, a very nice earner are passenger missions (station services -> passenger lounge). Just be careful - some missions will take you 20,000 ly out and back again under a time constraint, others will have you transport wanted passengers, which means that once a station/security scans you successfully, they'll do their best to kill you.
 
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