Engineers How dangerous is Open Play for a returning player?

[Mors Magne]

I'm returning to ED after a break of 2 years. How dangerous is Open Play these days? I imagine that people's engineered ships could be very dangerous.

I'm thinking of returning with my multi-purpose fitted Python. How easy/difficult would it be to escape another player's fully modded/engineered FDL, for example?

 

[-Denali-]

I've yet to die to a player. Been in open since 1.something. Just be smart, don't trust players you don't know to be just be friendly.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I'm returning to ED after a break of 2 years. How dangerous is Open Play these days? I imagine that people's engineered ships could be very dangerous.

I'm thinking of returning with my multi-purpose fitted Python. How easy/difficult would it be to escape another player's fully modded/engineered FDL, for example?

What's your loadout? Can you post a Coriolis build?
https://coriolis.edcd.io

 

[ChiefRedCloud]

I'm returning to ED after a break of 2 years. How dangerous is Open Play these days? I imagine that people's engineered ships could be very dangerous.

I'm thinking of returning with my multi-purpose fitted Python. How easy/difficult would it be to escape another player's fully modded/engineered FDL, for example?

Unless they stumble on you or you are in or around a CG ... you should be safe .... Some believe the Malcontents (not PvPers) are gone .... I would take that with a large grain of salt. The Malcontents can kill you with a normal ship as well as a supped up one if they spring on you unsuspecting.

Chief

 

[Riverside]

To add to the above, the AI may put up more of a challenge than you were familiar with before, and in some cases their aggressiveness is linked to your ranks (mostly combat) and ship.

Depends on how rusty you are of course, but consider testing in a ship you don't mind losing. For player activity it really depends on where you go but in a non-engineered ship you will be at a disadvantage in speed, defence and offence.

OTOH money is much easier to come by, so if you lose the hull it's not as big a deal to get back up to speed again

 

[racer1]

I'm returning to ED after a break of 2 years. How dangerous is Open Play these days? I imagine that people's engineered ships could be very dangerous.

I'm thinking of returning with my multi-purpose fitted Python. How easy/difficult would it be to escape another player's fully modded/engineered FDL, for example?

Against a fully modded ship you might struggle to escape in time, probably mostly ok if you had max class shields and boosters. I would concentrate on upgrading shields and boosters as a priority.

Personally the only change I have made to my play style is that if I am flying about in a fast travel ship e.g. shieldless hauler I fly in mobius for that journey.

 

[domaq]

As long as you avoid CGs, you should be fine. Expect to get shot at when visiting most of the basic Engineers (Felicity, Todd McQuinn). Since you're going to be a bit rusty, budget for 2 rebuys before going anywhere popular. Focus on Engines and shields as stated above and you'll be fine for most activities.

 

[Lightspeed]

I'm returning to ED after a break of 2 years. How dangerous is Open Play these days? I imagine that people's engineered ships could be very dangerous.

I'm thinking of returning with my multi-purpose fitted Python. How easy/difficult would it be to escape another player's fully modded/engineered FDL, for example?

You will be rusty and the AI have smartened up, so the whole experience will appear much sharper now. In order to "settle back in" to the game, I would recommend taking your ship to a RES site and using the local enforcement to support you in combat against NPCs so you can get a feel for how everything performs.

 

[Ackley 280]

If your on Xbox and playing in Australian time zones then the answer is not very. I don't play all the time, i tend to go in bursts of activity but over the past 18 months I have encountered a total of 2 other cmdr's. One is a friend who I had to fly across the bubble to wing up with and the other was a random that interdicted my friend then fled when I dropped in. I never even had time to say hello. I nearly got to wing up with another Xbox player from discussions on the forum here but en route I got drunk and crashed into a planet losing three weeks of exploration data. I took a break from elite for a while after that incident

 

[GoStu]

It should be fine provided you take some steps to improve your survivability. Make sure you're fitted with decent shields, back it up with a bit of armour for emergencies, use 4 pips to SYS, and high-wake away if you know you're outmatched.

Open is nowhere near as dangerous as some people say it is. Most PvP I see in Open takes place around:
- Starter systems where terrible pilots go to pick on noobwinders (just leave)
- Community Goals looking for defenseless dopes (don't go unprepared to defend yourself)
- Powerplay Headquarters systems (not an issue if you're not in Powerplay, otherwise, take some precautions to defend yourself)
- occasionally at Cash Grind systems like Quince (don't bother going)

So yeah, the common thread is "don't fly defenseless".

 

[Marshall...]

It should be fine provided you take some steps to improve your survivability. Make sure you're fitted with decent shields, back it up with a bit of armour for emergencies, use 4 pips to SYS, and high-wake away if you know you're outmatched.

Open is nowhere near as dangerous as some people say it is. Most PvP I see in Open takes place around:
- Starter systems where terrible pilots go to pick on noobwinders (just leave)
- Community Goals looking for defenseless dopes (don't go unprepared to defend yourself)
- Powerplay Headquarters systems (not an issue if you're not in Powerplay, otherwise, take some precautions to defend yourself)
- occasionally at Cash Grind systems like Quince (don't bother going)

So yeah, the common thread is "don't fly defenseless".

This ^

And also some of the more common engineer sites (wyrd etc). If you are up for the social side, join a playergroup where you'll be able to hook up with lots of friends. A huge list can be found on Inara.