How did you get comfortable with combat? (If at all)

[Najinceil]

I'm fairly new to the game as a whole, I've got a good hand for the controls, flying, etc. I'm not an Arena type person (though have yet to try it), and I'm curious how people get to a comfortable state of not worrying about being caught in a fight, if at all.

I mostly explore, sell data, and just go to the safe areas, mainly in solo play. I have my sidewinder still, with its pulse lasers ofc. I'm curious.. Would there be a better ship, or suggestions for weapons that have me feeling safe? I mostly avoid the jobs that have possible combat in them, and immediately flee from conflict zones, as I know my ship would probably not stand a fight.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the explorer and getting money that way, but I feel like I should evolve as a commander some day.

 

[Mr. Stevens Catering]

Personally, I worked my way into it.

First I hit a few nav beacons to learn what targets and how long scanning a target took - helps with trigger discipline.

Then I hit a low RES and followed the cops around and targeted their targets. That got me familiar with speed, turning, a how different ships look and behave.

Then I went to a high RES area and started picking higher end targets and learned how to stalk them and how to bait them. Stalking obviously is just flying behind them for a bit until the cops woke up and started firing. Baiting is when I know where a cloud of cops are and pop a few shots and lead the target back to the cops - a little more risky if the cops go engaging someone else before I get back.

 

[stormyuk]

I am comfortable with stealing kills from cops or whacking smaller ships by shield tanking. My combat manoeuvres not so good. I struggle to stay out of the line of fire of highly ranked NPCs with higher class ships than my Vulture.

 

[Bond00789lol]

I spent a VERY long time in a high res stealing kills from security, do this and get a better feel for your ship, eventually you can get more aggressive and start opening engagements yourself. You'll learn the movements of enemy ships over time and their capabilities and how to out maneuver them. It takes a lot of practice and observation and trial and error.

 

[Bigmull]

I havent tried ANY combat yet,but i have been interdicted several times.So if combat is similar (flying wise) to escaping interdiction i should be ok!

 

[peteuplink]

I'm fairly new to the game as a whole, I've got a good hand for the controls, flying, etc. I'm not an Arena type person (though have yet to try it), and I'm curious how people get to a comfortable state of not worrying about being caught in a fight, if at all.

I mostly explore, sell data, and just go to the safe areas, mainly in solo play. I have my sidewinder still, with its pulse lasers ofc. I'm curious.. Would there be a better ship, or suggestions for weapons that have me feeling safe? I mostly avoid the jobs that have possible combat in them, and immediately flee from conflict zones, as I know my ship would probably not stand a fight.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the explorer and getting money that way, but I feel like I should evolve as a commander some day.

There are some pretty good combat tutorials here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hElXzArVdmM&list=PLST2VzDxDCrwvkU6wYfo-z4UhGbObjl_M

 

[Iskariot]

How did you get comfortable with combat? (If at all)
I'm fairly new to the game as a whole, I've got a good hand for the controls, flying, etc. I'm not an Arena type person (though have yet to try it), and I'm curious how people get to a comfortable state of not worrying about being caught in a fight, if at all.

I mostly explore, sell data, and just go to the safe areas, mainly in solo play. I have my sidewinder still, with its pulse lasers ofc. I'm curious.. Would there be a better ship, or suggestions for weapons that have me feeling safe? I mostly avoid the jobs that have possible combat in them, and immediately flee from conflict zones, as I know my ship would probably not stand a fight.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the explorer and getting money that way, but I feel like I should evolve as a commander some day.

When I started playing I did the opposite of what my nature wanted me to do. I concentrated on combat instead of trading or mining.
The reason for this was practical.
I bought a new HOTAS for Elite, which is quite overwhelming in the beginning, and I figured the best way to learn the ins and out of that HOTAS and to find the best setup would be doing combat.

I think that this paid of quite well. My decision had several advantages:
1. I indeed got to quickly learn how to use the HOTAS and find a good setup
2. I got to learn ED's flight and combat system very quickly, using FA off, lateral thrusters, power management etc.
3. I could use my cheap free sidewinder to make all the mistakes in the world without major repercussions.
4. It was very exciting to start fresh in a huge galaxy and in a tiny vulnerable Sidewinder with puny lasers, trying to survive in combat. My noob time in the Sidewinder was awesome. I stayed in it for a very long time and upgraded it completely before I finally decided to go for a Viper Mk3. I wish I could relive my noob time. Sadly that is not possible as I cannot undo the personal experience I have gained.

 

[Najinceil]

Hmm, all good points.

I guess I keep forgetting that my sidewinder is a free re-do. I feel like my one big issue is maneuvering around in combat, and just knowing what weapons are. Though, I guess with weapons comes credits, which I'm on the road for.

I think I'll keep my sidewinder for a while, give a few skirmishes/bounties a try.

 

[Tenshi]

Been interdicting npcs in my Sidewinder and taking them out as well. Largest one so far is the Asp Scout.

In the belts I will roam around and bait npc targets and then wait till the police show up and help me.

I am from the PC side of Elite Dangerous and not use to the PS4 controls yet I find them clunky compared to my HOTAS set up. So I am still in the Sidewinder until I am comfortable with them.

 

[Najinceil]

Been interdicting npcs in my Sidewinder and taking them out as well. Largest one so far is the Asp Scout.

In the belts I will roam around and bait npc targets and then wait till the police show up and help me.

I am from the PC side of Elite Dangerous and not use to the PS4 controls yet I find them clunky compared to my HOTAS set up. So I am still in the Sidewinder until I am comfortable with them.

Yeah, I guess I should toy with NPC on my free sidewinder for awhile, see if I ever get comfortable. I've not tried much open play, as I don't want to get into anything involving players, when I'm still clueless about other things. Guess bounty hunts it is!