how the do you gain money in this game?

[Jim Era]

trying to do missions or combat zones and just completely get annihilated, today I'm already -3m credits
I warp to zone and before I even deploy hardpoints my shields are gone so I try to warp away yet my thrusters and fsd continually get knocked offline. so I bring them backonline, before it gets a chance its broken again.
how is this even possible? is there some form of paytowin I'm missing? because this vulture is complete and its taken me forever just to get it.

 

[ThunderSqueak]

Nope, no pay to win. How long have you been playing? A vulture is a pretty capable ship, tho it takes some finesse to fly. You are probably just biting off more than you can chew. If you are playing in open, you are free to send me an in game message and I can show you the ropes if you want and talk about loadout. Same name there as here.

 

[Darth Ender]

I bounty hunted over 1.3 billion credits. Just haz res farming.

it also helped that i was level 5 in utopia for about half of that ..which doubles bounty rewards.

That's what I would do anyway. or you could always space truck. either way you should easily make a million an hour ..give or take.

 

[Xious]

Conflict Zones are the hardest way to go.

Just do Missions. There's plenty of credits to be made.

 

[Gunnet]

Combat zones can be quite dangerous. If you want to earn money from fighting, try going to a resource extraction site (any grade other than hazardous). There will be NPC security ships fighting pirates there, you can follow them around and help them kill pirates for bounties. Just be careful not to shoot the cops or fire on pirates until you've scanned them and seen that they're wanted, and don't bring any cargo or the pirates will gang up on you.

If you do want to continue with combat zones, one important thing to remember is that when you first drop into the zone the NPCs aren't yet targetting each other. Wait for 30 seconds or so before you pick a side so that they have a chance to begin fighting each other and won't all immediately target you.

There's definitely no pay to win going on. Frontier only sell purely cosmetic items.

 

[Andovar]

don't immediately pick a side in a CZ, wait until you get your bearings. Move out away from the action, and then select a side. This way you can see if it's lopsided either way (if you happened to pick the losing side, just zone out and back in, and pick the other).
If the numbers look about even, then move into the location where the majority of the green blips are, so you have plenty of support.

 

[Whiplash 1983]

Find a "Home" system to park at. Should have good busy local branches. Get to know the local factions and build rep with all of them by running every BB-mission in the area. This gets you better and more frequent job offers. Know the Power in the area and know you will be building rep with The Feds, Empire, or Alliance depending. I worked the THUNDERBIRD (FED) area and made "Admiral" before I knew what that honor meant.

 

[Valethar]

Run missions, and do bounties in a RES. Be wary of the HazRes if you're not completely comfortable in your ship, as there's no system authority presence to lend you a hand if you're getting beat on.

Lots of missions pay fairly well, though in a Vulture you're going to be limited on cargo capacity. If you have access to a larger ship (Python comes to mind) you can make some decent cash running missions and hauling high end goods back and forth.

Yes, it can be boring, but it pays well, if you're in the right location.

 

[Jim Era]

I see, so combat zones are offlimits for now. I'll try to put a few cargo racks or passenger cabins? in the vulture to get some revenue to upgrade the modules.
also I'm currently using gimballed pulse lasers, but I've been thinking about multicannons, having only 2 hardpoints makes it hard to choose :s

python sounds lovely, but about 50m above my paygrade

 

[Quantis Trap]

trying to do missions or combat zones and just completely get annihilated, today I'm already -3m credits
I warp to zone and before I even deploy hardpoints my shields are gone so I try to warp away yet my thrusters and fsd continually get knocked offline. so I bring them backonline, before it gets a chance its broken again.
how is this even possible? is there some form of paytowin I'm missing? because this vulture is complete and its taken me forever just to get it.

So many easy ways to make credits in this game. As others said, you're probably biting off more than you can crew without learning first.

If you think the game is hard now, you should have tried it when it first came out. I was much harder then because the payouts were not nearly as big all around and there weren't nearly as many help resources as there are now.

 

[Xious]

I see, so combat zones are offlimits for now. I'll try to put a few cargo racks or passenger cabins? in the vulture to get some revenue to upgrade the modules.
also I'm currently using gimballed pulse lasers, but I've been thinking about multicannons, having only 2 hardpoints makes it hard to choose :s

python sounds lovely, but about 50m above my paygrade

It would be better to move to a Cobra MKIII and run missions in that.

You don't really need to worry about weapons unless you want to try and fight off the pirates instead of just escape.

Anyway, dat's how you make dee ma nee.

 

[Andovar]

It would be better to move to a Cobra MKIII and run missions in that.

What he said.

The vulture really is a pure combat ship. You'd be making things more difficult on yourself trying to setup your vulture to run cargo or passengers.
Plus the cobra is much easier on the wallet.

 

[Whiplash 1983]

Cobra = Cargo+Combat. Very good multi-purpose ship. Some stay with it well into the rankings.

Vulture = Combat up-close, personal in-your-face. Pulse Lasers for no reload and a good balance for the Vulture's power distributor. Bi-Weave shields as cheap and fast on the recovery. Get in, hit, duck, weave, bug out for distance to recover shields and get back in till the opponent is worn down.

Python = The grail for Day-To-Day. Mine has bought and paid for every ship I have including the biggest ones.

 

[Jim Era]

bi weave shields ok, i'll swap those out right now currently just using regular shield generator.
the amount of info is great
I have some shield boosters in utility, should i also use shield banks? instead of hull reinforcements?

EDIT:also in response to thundersqueak, I am now playing in solo as I got blown up a few times by players in open :F

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Find a "Home" system to park at. Should have good busy local branches. Get to know the local factions and build rep with all of them by running every BB-mission in the area. This gets you better and more frequent job offers. Know the Power in the area and know you will be building rep with The Feds, Empire, or Alliance depending. I worked the THUNDERBIRD (FED) area and made "Admiral" before I knew what that honor meant.

Run missions, and do bounties in a RES. Be wary of the HazRes if you're not completely comfortable in your ship, as there's no system authority presence to lend you a hand if you're getting beat on.

Lots of missions pay fairly well, though in a Vulture you're going to be limited on cargo capacity. If you have access to a larger ship (Python comes to mind) you can make some decent cash running missions and hauling high end goods back and forth.

Yes, it can be boring, but it pays well, if you're in the right location.

To expand on this, OP. Having a home or two really makes things easy money-wise. My advice is always to slect a powerplay control system (the orange dots in the PP display), and to work that system and all of its exploit systems (should be systems within 15-20 Ly). For your best bet, try to select one that has a good mix of economies (one ag, one high tech, one industrial, etc.). Since the mission board in System A tends to send missions to systems B,C,D,E on a regular basis, it should be easy to get into a groove with complementing mission boards. During this time, you'll be repping up with factions, which will grant you access to higher paying jobs, and since factions often span multiple neighboring systems, you work yourself up a good little network of lucrative mission boards. When you get tired of running missions, you can bounty hunt and run CZs for factions in your little bubble. If there are good rings nearby you can mine and trade for massive rep and profit, and if any go into bad states (outbreak, famine, etc.) well it just gives you a great oipportunity to milk their misfortune for the benfit of your pocketbook (basic meds to outbreak systems generally net you about 3k Cr per ton).

Oh, and yeah - for starters, a Cobra III or T-6 is what you're going to want for this kind of work. Both, even, if you have the cash to have them.

 

[Whiplash 1983]

May want to store your "Standard" shields for the time and try the Bi-Weaves. Lately I have been using Bi-Weaves in a lot more combat fittings. My FDS, FGS both run them now, even setting aside my Prismatics (formerly on both of them). The Prismatics are great, but when they go down they stay down and you have to duck out to reboot and that is usually a forfeit of the combat effort. Shield boosters Yes. Resistance Augmented are much lighter than Heavy Duty for mods and work better for ships that have limited size/weight/power. Try to use all the power your equipment provides, and prioritize your module power settings on passive equipment as needed. The Vulture is an interesting puzzle-box to build.

 

[Mohrgan]

Me magic lamp 'll get me all the golds I needs.

 

[PhantomWolf]

bi weave shields ok, i'll swap those out right now currently just using regular shield generator.
the amount of info is great
I have some shield boosters in utility, should i also use shield banks? instead of hull reinforcements?

EDIT:also in response to thundersqueak, I am now playing in solo as I got blown up a few times by players in open :F

Check your power management, you might be over your limit so as soon as you deploy hardpoints, everything shuts down

 

[Valethar]

The Python was my workhorse, once I got her. Jumped from the Cobra to an Asp, then to the Python. I could RES hunt, run missions, haul cargo and scan systems with one ship. She's a well rounded multi-role ship. She paid for everything up to my Cutter.

One thing I tend to do, that some people don't, is that I keep every ship I buy. I tend not to run without insurance, but if disaster ever strikes, I'll never end up in a Freewinder, because I'll have something parked at the station to fall back on.

It takes longer to get the better ships that way, but I like having options when something comes up. If I'm in the mood to do some scanning, I can always grab the DBX and jump around with her 30 odd LY range. If I want to RES hunt, I can either grab the Python, or something a bit more nimble, and blow stuff up. If I want to run big credit trade routes, I pull the Cutter out. If I want to run missions to help my naval rank, etc.., it's back to the Python for outposts, or the Cutter for stations, depending on the locale.

Try not to shoehorn yourself into just one ship. The 'verse isn't going anywhere, so take your time, find what you like to do, and have fun with it.

 

[Jim Era]

Check your power management, you might be over your limit so as soon as you deploy hardpoints, everything shuts down

14.85 / 15.60 MW

also if I could get a python I don't think I would have this problem lol but thats like 50m