Newcomer / Intro How are you going since release?

[sassman]

Recently wiped my save (after launch) - I have 2 Sidewinders, 2 Haulers and 2 Cobras, all with different load outs and bought with a lucrative little gold trading run I found near Opila - I say near as I'm not going to give out the exact location lol.

My pirate and kill everything everywhere phase has quietened somewhat and now I'll be bounty hunting. I dare say I'll wipe again before long and go off exploring somewhere

 

[dreadlord]

Recently wiped my save (after launch) - I have 2 Sidewinders, 2 Haulers and 2 Cobras, all with different load outs and bought with a lucrative little gold trading run I found near Opila - I say near as I'm not going to give out the exact location lol.

My pirate and kill everything everywhere phase has quietened somewhat and now I'll be bounty hunting. I dare say I'll wipe again before long and go off exploring somewhere

min pm'ing me the place, gettign real tired of the trading atm.... :/

 

[ReaperAlex]

i have an eagle for when i fancy dogfighting, i have a 1mill viper for when i fancy killing anything that moves and i have an adder i've called my battle bus (or battle badger) for ranking up with missions (think this may become a cobra in a while).

i'm steadily getting better at flying, i notice this the most while docking at silly speeds and also with how gently i can land on the spot after my crazy letterbox stunts.

i'm loving my free mobile phone based head tracking, but am also looking forward to playing with the EDTracker and Delan clip (got both on order).

i turn head tracking off when in station, then get a bit disorientated if i forget to turn it on again when i launch. it really is a lot more intuitive and immersive than i expected. i just wish my viper had the same vertical view range my eagle has!

 

[cpy]

I'm dirt poor and i don't care about ranks and achievements. I just like to trade here and there and hopefully start mining one day. I hope for mining update because from what i saw in video there aren't any tractor beams (Beta3) and higher tech mining tools and ships.

 

[Arch Raptor]

flew out to some COL-xx space, made about 100k creds and roughly been getting my butt kicked. I can't seem to make good creds, a few thousand at a time is just not cutting it and all the "pirates" are flying vipers that seem to one shot me at every engagement. I've also yet to find out how to get cargo from npc haulers. Also I have no idea what the point of the warrant scanner is for, I scan "wanted" ships and get no data. Other than that, I do enjoy the game but I can't see myself in an adder or cobra in short of a few months.

 

[bootsam]

I'm making a slow but steady progress as a trader. Sold my weapons and upped cargo in my SW. Found a 4k round trip and just building my funds to buy a hauler.

 

[Kalearne]

Had an adder on release due to beta. Missioned up to a Cobra. Kitted Freagle out for exploration, made a 260Ly loop. Found some cool sights, sold most of the data. Unfortunate accident with a Python cut that short (nearly had him though, he rammed me on 4% health). Kitted Cobra out for cargo/combat. Made my way down to Sorbago, wished I'd kept a discovery scanner, remembered it would have taken me days. Glad I packed good fuel scoop. Really glad. Doing missions, upgrading cobra, fighting in combat zones. I'm aiming to get my Imperial status up enough to get their ship then I'm gonna turn coat and get a Federal Dropship

 

[Jesters09]

Steady as she goes....

I traded from a Winder to a Hauler, went commando in that for a while then traded that for a Cobra.
Stacked it to the hilt with grade A's. Traded, yes, traded in it till I had enough funds for a T6.
Kept the Cobra, its my favourite hunter.
I've upgrade the T6s drive, power grid and power-plant to grade A.
Traded until trading was broke.
Missioned in both the Cobra and the T6 around Achenar, my favourite hangout from the original Elites.
I am now a count..... I said "COUNT", my wife calls me that other...name.

I have 18mil in assets (10mil in credits), which is nothing compared to some guys I've seen driving around in Anacondas and Pythons.

I'll wait until Christmas, see what/if these new ships are and then maybe buy the clipper. Go see the galaxy.

 

[MrsTrellis]

Still in my Sidewinder, upgraded it about midway so far. Enjoying bounty hunting and doing illegal missions . Found one Anarchy system regularly offering 40k+ for 2 slaves on the BB, and just happened to sell slaves at 10k a pop. Easy 20k profit on several occasions.

Had just enough for a Viper, got it, kitted it out, realised I didn't have the funds to run it or insure it so sold it and went back to the Sidewinder.

 

[shabbyj]

Not bad so far. I have a fully kitted out Cobra Mk III for exploring, a Type 6 for trading and a Viper for fighting.

I have done a lot more trading than anything else. But now I have what I want. Time for some fun.

 

[Eleazaros]

A bit rough but I'm managing.

Just picked up my first "other" ship. Sold that eagle for cash, sold my upgraded starter ship - now have a nice little exploration class ship that I need to fit out and exploration is my chosen profession.

I found the market to be unreliable and don't trust it so I'm not going that route. Starting ship, with starter weapons - not going to try bounty hunting. Exploration... lots and lots and lots of practice flying. I've been jumped ... 12 or so times so far - blew a few up, ran from a few, figured "No!" on 3 or so interdicts and avoided being pulled out at all. I'm actually very pleased with my piloting skills.

Cash wise - broke. like about 10k having only bought my first real ship (adder) - adding a fuel scoop, upgraded drive and power plant. I've gone maybe 500 ly or so total be-popping my way through system after system.

In otherwords, nothing to brag about, nothing for others to go "gee, I couldn't do that" nothing anyone should think "I can't earn that". Just flying around a lot checking out systems and nothing earned or done outside that starter ship so far.

EDIT: Oh and I did hit one funky jump in incident. It landed me .12ls from a white dwarf. Everything overheating, smoke filled the cabin in seconds - very hard to try and fly away from the gravity well... I got out but took over 20% damage to my ship just trying to get away from the heat. I'm glad I got a fuel scoop - if I hit that "warp failure" that tosses me half way across the galaxy, I at least can fill the tank in a pinch *snicker*

 

[GibMeister]

I'm surprised more people don't wanna talk about their achievements so far.

Because we are not braggards thats why. I've got an honours degree, I learned to be a ski instructor, I am a professional engineer, got the perfect wife, 2 great kids huge house, don't want for much, has that answered your question? I'm sure you are as pleased for me as I am for you!

 

[bootsam]

Got my hauler now and 16T. Kept the Sidey, but will convert it to combat/exploration trim. Once I've rebuilt the funds from trading.

 

[thorn-]

Having played back in '86, so far this game feels very familiar. I'm enjoying it.

Haven't spent much time at all in the sidey... not sure I flew it more than 2-3 runs. After earning a princely sum of 110CR trading algae, decided trading wasn't for me. Decided to looking for some combat cash and jumped into the free Eagle.

Loved that Eagle. Anyone that thinks it's not a threat in combat either a) never upgraded components or b) simply isn't cut out to be combat pilot. I made a ton of cash in that little ship, getting bounties and running "deliver this package" missions - and only died once, I think - enough to finally sell it and get a Viper. Right now spending most of my time looking for bounties, upgrading the ship a bit at a time as cash allows (don't leave a station without enough cash reserves for insurance. yes, i know about loans, but still.) I've got 8 cargo slots, so still do any occasional cargo mission, or a quick run to a black market to sell some goods you'll find floating around space.

Don't know that I'll ever earn enough cash this way to pick up an ASP (and certainly not a Python), but then again - this game is unique to me, in that it does NOT just hand you prizes and rewards just for showing up. You can't use your credit card to out-buy a fellow player, and you can't find the magic rocks of Lave and craft them into some random weapon than no one else can counter. In Elite, if you want it - you have to EARN it.

 

[cmdr lowest]

I've been dabbling slowly since launch, learning the ropes. I'm a merc pre-orderer, didn't take part in any beta as I didn't have a good enough PC but I built a new one on launch for this and pleased it copes exceedingly well on the graphics-front.

I took my free Eagle out for a spin and can see the appeal of the extra manoeuvrability but I went back to the Sidewinder, put some extra cargo room inside and upgraded the (loaned) fixed pulse lasers to my very own gimbled pulse lasers. It's quite effective now.

Did some bulletin board missions, stole a lot of cargo and sold it on the Black Market in a nice outdoor platform station with no nasty authority presence, been seeking USS nodes and popping in to see if there is any expensive cargo waiting to be scooped, or nasty criminals to kill (lot of funeral processions I've found) and today I've been having a go at shooting some wanted NPCs at a Nav Beacon and made a quick 40k doing that so that's been the most lucrative avenue so far.

My short term goal is to save up 500k (to cover insurance costs) and upgrade my Sidewinder to a Cobra MKIII. I'm about half-way there. Might sell the Eagle for extra cash at that stage too or keep it for fun, I'm not sure yet.

After that, who knows where the Galaxy will take me. I might try exploring a bit.

My favourite moment so far... I jumped into a USS and found some authority vessels fighting a wanted criminal. So I joined in (carefully). Once the criminal was dead and I got a reasonable bounty to pick up I noticed on the scanner that he'd dropped some cargo too. Off to the contacts screen and it said he'd dropped half a dozen slaves. Slaves are pretty expensive I thought but the authorities are still around. But I want the slaves too so I can sell them on... What to do. I waited for a bit to see if the authorities would leave. They didn't. They scanned me and said "all done here, be on your way". Grrrr, not until I have my slaves... So I shut down all my non-critical systems including engines and shields (bit risky I know, but that's what the game is about) and let my Sidewider cool right down until the cops couldn't see me on the scanner and would presume I left. It worked! Once I dropped off their radar they both jumped out and all I had left to do was turn all my systems back on and deploy the cargo scoop. Happy days.

Great game.

 

[dermax]

I just started playing Saturday night and I'm having a blast. Got about 50k from doing missions. I'm sort of playing a Jack of All Trades that does a bit of everything. I've done some hunting, exploring (haven't gone far enough to turn in), and a lot of transporting. Far and away my biggest rush - don't tell anyone - is smuggling. I saw a wanted transport get nailed by security, so I came in after it was over and picked up a cargo hold full of contraband and started running. I was almost at the Black Market station when I started to get scanned, so I hit over drive and shot through the docking slot at full speed. They couldn't finish their scan, I made a sweet 10k free and clear, and I never felt more alive!

 

[thorn-]

So I shut down all my non-critical systems including engines and shields (bit risky I know, but that's what the game is about) and let my Sidewider cool right down until the cops couldn't see me on the scanner and would presume I left. It worked! Once I dropped off their radar they both jumped out and all I had left to do was turn all my systems back on and deploy the cargo scoop. Happy days.

Excellent tip! Thanks for the share