Newcomer / Intro Help for an old player, hoping to help a new player...

[Crumb]

Greetings Commanders!

I played Elite for a while, but have not played for a long time. My nephew has just started the game this evening, and I'm hoping that I can team up with him and be his security while we make him some hard-earned credits.

...but I'm going to need some help from you guys, I don't want to ask too many questions at once so I'll start with just two.

1) I added him as a friend before we logged in, and then I jumped to a system as close as I could to his starting system. He jumped one to me. I'd been trying to invite him to a wing the whole time but the invites did not seem to be showing up. I also could not see him in the system that we were both in. I could see him as a friend in the galaxy map however.

Eventually I got him to meet me outside a station, and when we got pretty close, we were finally able to form a wing.

My understanding of wings was that you could form a wing from anywhere. Has something changed, or is this just a glitch?


2) I'm as rusty as an old nav beacon at this game, and my nephew is literally just starting out. Would we be better to choose wing specific missions, or would it be better for me to just accompany him on his missions? I'm thinking that trading would be best to start with.


I appreciate any advice... thanks!

Commander Crum

 

[Crumb]

Oh, one other quick question. When he goes to dock at a station, it's auto docking for him. I thought you had to buy that kind of privilege... Does it now come as standard for new Commanders?

 

[Ethaidan]

1) Glitch

2) Wing missions can often be a bit harder. I started a new Cmdr on PC recently (main is on PS4), and with the new exploration mechanics and payouts, I would recommend you select a system a ways from where you are and start heading towards it. He'll get practive jumping, SC, landing at ports along the way, and if you scan every system along the way you'll have enough credits to get him into a decent little ship.

Edit: Autodock should be in his ship. You can check for that on the modules panel, or in outfitting when docked.

 

[Para Handy]

1. I hear people say they are having trouble wining-up - never had an issue with it myself.

2. Wing missions can be OK but if you both are tyros then wing pirate kills might be a bit much if one of you is a good combat pilot then that's OK. Wing trading is good when for example you are bopping about in a trade Cutter and the new guy is still building-up their balance.

3. All small ships caome with an ADC and SCA as standard, larger ships only SCA is standard issue.

 

[Crumb]

Ok, thanks for the advice guys.

1) My internet connection is currently quite weak so maybe that assisted a glitch with Winging up.

Now, clearly I can jump further in my Python than he can in his Sidewinder. When working as a wing, should I lock to him so that he controls the jump distances?


2) My combat skills were never great... Starting with some exploration sounds like a great idea for exactly the reasons Ethaidan mentioned. Then we can start trading.

Para, how do you split the funds when trading as a wing? I've seen "wing missions" but I didn't know you could trade as a wing.

 

[Para Handy]

.........
Para, how do you split the funds when trading as a wing? I've seen "wing missions" but I didn't know you could trade as a wing.

When winged the non-selling commander gets a cut of the profits (5%) of that sale (Trade Dividend) - on completion of a wing trading mission all of the wind members get the same mission reward payout. That is why some wing mission payouts seem a bit low for the effort it would take one person - but when you consider that each of the wing members gets that reward value - it is more lucrative in total.

Trade Dividend

Trade Dividends are received when in a wing with someone who makes a profitable trade, so long as you are in or outside to the station where goods are being sold. They are vouchers for a payment of credits, awarded by starports to encourage traders to group up in the system. They may be handed...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

Team Missions

Team missions can be shared with up to four teammates. A solo player can do it as well, but a Team is recommended due to the high requirements. There are various types of team missions:[1] Assassination Delivery Massacre Source and Return Mission progress and assigned CMDRs are displayed in...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

 

[Crumb]

Whats the best way to find high-tech stations for outfitting? I thought there was a way to filter the map but I'm getting nowhere... Should I be looking on the realistic tab, or the map tab?

 

[Ethaidan]

Many of us use the Inara website, it has a great System search feature where you can search for the nearest whatever.

Or, you can go into GalMap and set your filters to show systems by economy and look for the nearest High Tech.

Edit: the filters are on the map tab, and are probably set to Star type by default.

 

[Crumb]

Well, we had a session earlier and it didn't go too badly, but I've got some questions.

We formed a wing ok this time. I nav-locked to him (which i presume is correct as he has the shorter jump distance) and when he jumped, I jumped, but I got interdicted just prior to jumping on one occasion and after I evaded that, I lost the automation part of following the wing and had to plot a route manually. Is that correct, or should I be locking on to something? I found his wake but couldn't get anything from it.

Another question on the wing thing... If he's sitting in space somewhere, perhaps fighting pirates, whats the procedure for me getting to him as swiftly as possible?

Lastly for now, we're going to go exploring as soon as we can upgrade him to a Cobra (or similar). I wanted to check what kit we need for collecting data? Is it basically just the surface scanner? Obviously a fuel scoop and stuff but I'm more concerned about data collection.

Thanks o7

 

[Esteban]

What you're asking about for exploration is definitely the DSS (detailed surface scanner). It allows you to scan bodies and their rings for exploration and mining. Tip: if you find bodies with geologically active sites it's really worth taking a peek for a couple of reasons:
a) they can be quite pretty!
b) really a nice way to harvest Mats rather than just looking for random geological-blobs on a planet's surface
c) lots of SRV fun to be had on geo-vents!

You can do these things in the Bubble to get some practice; no need to go far out and risk losing goodies until you're a little more confident.

Edit:
I'm not highly experienced in wing-play, however one method of getting to your wingmate more easily is via use of their wing beacon. Be sure that you both enable the wing beacon:
In the right panel, navigate to the SHIP tab & FUNCTIONS page and select the beacon to be ON for wings.
You'll be able to target this beacon when separated (it will be shown in the contacts panel) and navigate to their location within the system more easily.

Frontier's WING video is nicely done and has a lot of useful info...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl6hdeRHdOk&feature=emb_logo



Have fun!

 

[Crumb]

Thanks Esteban o7

I have watched that video before but I've probably been trying to take too much in over the last couple of days. I knew about nav-lock and turning your beacon on. Watching it again I see that once your beacons are on, you can find the signal in the Nav panel, which makes sense. We got in a a fire-fight this evening and I thought he had managed to run away, so I jumped out. He might have been mass locked or something and sadly got blasted. In the heat of things I had no clue how to find him in time...

..practise makes perfect though!


Thanks for the tips on exploring, I've written it all down. Looking forward to it!

 

[Crumb]

Another question;

Should we be settling on a home system and station....? I keep reading that it's worthwhile being aligned with a faction as well.

What are people's thoughts on this?

 

[Ashnak]

Another question;

Should we be settling on a home system and station....? I keep reading that it's worthwhile being aligned with a faction as well.

What are people's thoughts on this?

Depends on what you want to do. For a start, if you want to focus on missions, that's not a bad idea. Find a nice system somewhere and do missions with a high REP payout for the local factions. This will increase your local status, getting you access to higher paying missions. If I do this and achieved "allied" status, I usually don't get out of the hangar bay for less than a million credits per mission. Half a mil on a bad day.
Doing this for a whole area will take longer, but will also let you pick up lucrative return missions much easier.
Another advantage of this is that you can set up a whole fleet of specialized ships - transport, combat, passengers, NPC piracy, surface espionage - and just switch to a suitable ship, depending on which missions are available right now. Moving that fleet around through ship transfer is going to eat into your profits pretty fast, though, so that's another reason for staying put.
Also, you'll get to know where the interesting people hang out - material traders, interstellar factors - in your area.

On the other hand, getting a true multi purpose ship (Phantom, Krait) and setting it up e.g. for armed trading with a side order of passenger transport and then live like "home is wherever I hang my hat park my ship" also has its charm. Take a mission or two for another system. If you like it there, stay for a couple more missions, otherwise move on - the Bubble is big, the Galaxy is huge. You'll never need to land at the same port twice.

Or become independent and go full profiteer. Learn which system states trigger a high demand for specific goods, and which states generate a cheap supply, then go and milk them for all that's worth. Of course, nowadays, that's often the domain of fleet carriers - but these again may offer business opportunities for the small trader. A shrewd FC operator knows that he can't fill (or empty) his hold on his own, so might offer to buy stuff above system sell price, or sell stuff below system buy price. Check the carrier names, they're sometimes used for advertising.

Just make sure you get off the carrier before it jumps (unless you got direct communications from the owner, or it jumps where you want to go next).

 

[Para Handy]

Another question;

Should we be settling on a home system and station....? I keep reading that it's worthwhile being aligned with a faction as well.

What are people's thoughts on this?

Whilst your nephew is still building up credits, it could be worth while to base yourselves in a Li Yong Rui system as there is a 15% discount on ships and equipment in those (I seem to remember reading that discount is only 5% in LYR exploited systems but I cannot find that referred to anywhere). You do not have to pledge to get the discount, it is a general thing - just like the fact that high-tech goods there have 100% higher production and consumption and those pay 10% more too.

 

[Crumb]

Thanks for everyones tips and advice in this thread, it's been a massive help. We took some missions and blasted a few pirates in extraction zones and got him enough money to buy a Cobra Mkiii, which was his choice.

I've got one question that's been puzzling me. One of the missions that we took was to bring them 950 units of tobacco. The reward was 3 million credits each. I had it in my head that they would refund us the purchase costs, but that wasn't the case. He could only carry 12 units a trip so obviously I purchased the majority, which meant I spent more than I earned. This doesn't matter becuase it was more about getting him some money but I want to know... it was a wing mission, so is it designed so that divided between a wing of four, the profits are worth it?


I spent hours getting my head around the FSS and DSS last night and I've come up with the following plan to keep us busy for a while now...

Plot a route to Maia. Scan the systems and planets as we go. Gain money and exploration ranking.
Get some Meta Alloy from Darnielle's Progress.
Head to Felicity Farsser and see about getting some blueprints.
Hopefully the young lad will have a better idea now of where to set up a home base (I'm in favour of Li Yong system as I'll have enough money to buy another ship by now).
Do some runs from Rodigo Mines to Sothis. Bathe in credits. Buy a massive ship.
Blast off to the edge of the glaxy with a large notepad.

Once again, thanks for all the help!

o7

 

[Para Handy]

........
I've got one question that's been puzzling me. One of the missions that we took was to bring them 950 units of tobacco. The reward was 3 million credits each. I had it in my head that they would refund us the purchase costs, but that wasn't the case. ... it was a wing mission, so is it designed so that divided between a wing of four, the profits are worth it?
......

Yes you have to watch the purchase price of the goods for those "fetch" missions. Palladium is the usual trip-up - looks like a grear reward, then you find you have to shell-out a fortune for the goods.

BTW - Yes the fact that it was a wing mission meant the rewards should be worthwhile for a wing but often (always?) not worth the bother for an individual. (I can't remember the last time I bothered with a wing mission on my own.)

 

[the100thmonkey]

Head to Felicity Farsser and see about getting some blueprints.

Do this in private group.

 

[Crumb]

Do this in private group.

....why?

 

[aRJay]

....why?

There are players in the game that like to attack those that have no realistic chance of fighting back, such as new players, Felicity is often the first engineer that is visited when starting which means the system is a better hunting ground for that sort of attacker in Open.

 

[Crumb]

There are players in the game that like to attack those that have no realistic chance of fighting back, such as new players, Felicity is often the first engineer that is visited when starting which means the system is a better hunting ground for that sort of attacker in Open.

Ok, that makes sense. A bit of a shame though... I like the idea of the open play. Maybe we'll call for an escort...