Newcomer / Intro How to even begin with combat?

[King Drax I]

I'm having a lot of problems with the combat in this game. I have a Cobra III with beam lasers and autocannon or whatever they're called, and a decent shield setup.

The problem I'm having is that combat is quite rare, and so every time I get into a fight I get my handed to me on a gold platter. And this is all in solo play. You see, there appears to be no opportunity to practice properly, and to lose in combat with a decent ship like that is just too expensive at like 200k creds per time I get killed.

The mission I have just tried was a black box recovery, and the signal source reading gave a threat of '1'. Ok, I thought, I'm in for a bit of a fight. So there were two Eagle MkIIs, I think they were, and absolutely no way could I get them off my tail. There was just no way at all of getting my nose round on to those two jerks, and in the one instance I did manage to rake one of them with the beam lasers I then got a fine for firing on federal ships. They fired on me first?

I tried running my speed in the blue zone for maximum turning ability. No dice. I tried doing reverse running to try to pop them out in front. Fail. I tried evasive maneuvers, but still every. single. shot. of theirs hit me.

You can imagine I am feeling rather discouraged right now. Having fought my way right up to Elite back in 1987 on the Spectrum, and then done rather well on Frontier, I'd have thought I'd have had a bit more clue. But no.

The problems: How to practice - to find the fights - and then how to survive - how to get the nose round on the bad guys. It just seems impossible!

But there must be some way of doing it.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

[Hullreaver]

When doing a black box mission like this where the feds are involved, just get it and high tail it out of there to collect your money. For combat practice, go to a resource extraction site with high or medium security. You may have to search for a little while, but just look for ringed planets in secure systems and head there. You can then find all kinds of bad guys when you drop in and you can either engage them or wait for the cops to start shooting at them to take the attention away from you and start wearing down their shields. At least you will have some other ships taking the attention away from you to start.

 

[the100thmonkey]

go to a resource extraction site with high or medium security.

^This

Basically, learn to fight before you take on missions that will require fighting - the black box missions are well known for this. In other words, don't take black box missions until you know how to fight. They almost always spawn bad guys, and unlike other missions-that-spawn-bad-guys, you can't run away because you need to scoop!

Once you've got your head around the combat, the missions are a lot easier. It also helps to have a powerful ship. The Cobra is fast and versatile, but it has weak shields, which is an issue with these missions, as you might find yourself taking fire while scooping.

 

[Chris Simon]

I'm having a lot of problems with the combat in this game. I have a Cobra III with beam lasers and autocannon or whatever they're called, and a decent shield setup.

The problem I'm having is that combat is quite rare, and so every time I get into a fight I get my handed to me on a gold platter. And this is all in solo play. You see, there appears to be no opportunity to practice properly, and to lose in combat with a decent ship like that is just too expensive at like 200k creds per time I get killed.

The mission I have just tried was a black box recovery, and the signal source reading gave a threat of '1'. Ok, I thought, I'm in for a bit of a fight. So there were two Eagle MkIIs, I think they were, and absolutely no way could I get them off my tail. There was just no way at all of getting my nose round on to those two jerks, and in the one instance I did manage to rake one of them with the beam lasers I then got a fine for firing on federal ships. They fired on me first?

I tried running my speed in the blue zone for maximum turning ability. No dice. I tried doing reverse running to try to pop them out in front. Fail. I tried evasive maneuvers, but still every. single. shot. of theirs hit me.

You can imagine I am feeling rather discouraged right now. Having fought my way right up to Elite back in 1987 on the Spectrum, and then done rather well on Frontier, I'd have thought I'd have had a bit more clue. But no.

The problems: How to practice - to find the fights - and then how to survive - how to get the nose round on the bad guys. It just seems impossible!

But there must be some way of doing it.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

If you want to practice combat, first thing I would recommend would be changing the Cobra for Viper mk.III
Cobra is a great ship but not because it's great at everything, but because it can DO everything. Multipurpose ship means that it is by definition mediocre at all activities, instead of excelling at one.

Then I'd fire up Youtube and search for beginner's combat tutorials. Spend some time with them. They will teach you about the basics. Using the blue zone to turn quickly, how to use boost tactically, correct way of approaching and circling targets,...

Most of the success depends on how well you know your ship.

There are general rules like four pips to SYS, whenever you are under fire, using the correct type of weapon against shields and hulls, targetting specific modules (powerplant or thrusters) to gain an edge in a fight with stronger opponent, choosing your opponents wisely in the first place (Target solitary ships, not wings, target ships that are below your combat rank and/or in an inferior ship), checking your opponent's loadout before you engage to prevent a surprise railgun in the face situations, etc.

Really, "How do I get better at combat?" is a question that would require hours of composing an all-encompassing answer.

You could always join Frank's fight club here in Newcomers section and try some practice fights with them or ask a friend to go with you to RES and talk your through basics while doing the actual fighting. (I'm free every night after 11pm if you want, just say the word)

 

[Fenderbelly]

Try a few games of CQC too, don’t get annoyed if you are no good...it sharpens your reactions and ability in the main game. Take it as a laugh though, dont be serious! Get to know the other players, they’re a decent bunch who will help you get good at combat. Me? I am still terrible but it’s great after a few drinks and it helps in main game! Hull reaver is quite correct in his advice. That’s the best way for these missions, just here to point you towards something different which will help your combat confidence whilst having some no cost fun!

 

[the100thmonkey]

Really, "How do I get better at combat?" is a question that would require hours of composing an all-encompassing answer.

Of course, the other answer is "gimballed frag cannons at point blank range". Later, once your combat rank has moved up, the other other answer becomes "engineered gimballed frag cannons at point blank range".

You don't necessarily get better at combat, but you do get better at not dying all the time.

 

[Chris Simon]

Of course, the other answer is "gimballed frag cannons at point blank range". Later, once your combat rank has moved up, the other other answer becomes "engineered gimballed frag cannons at point blank range".

You don't necessarily get better at combat, but you do get better at not dying all the time.

LOL
Well... yeah.

 

[King Drax I]

I knew I could count on you guys. Lots of great ideas there, thank you all so much

 

[King Drax I]

When doing a black box mission like this where the feds are involved, just get it and high tail it out of there to collect your money. For combat practice, go to a resource extraction site with high or medium security. You may have to search for a little while, but just look for ringed planets in secure systems and head there. You can then find all kinds of bad guys when you drop in and you can either engage them or wait for the cops to start shooting at them to take the attention away from you and start wearing down their shields. At least you will have some other ships taking the attention away from you to start.

This sounds like great fun! In fact I have done some mining and been scanned by all manner of blackguards, none of whom attacked me because basically I was just carrying water or methanol clathrate (whatever that is!). And so I kept myself to myself, despite some rather nasty bot chat messages ('If you'd been carrying gold...'). My question would be how do I know which of the other ships in the area are valid targets? Obviously, the ones the Feds are shooting at, but what about others? It seems in this game you only need to put one toe wrong and you're in everyone's bad books!

 

[Mo Ronik]

If you want to practice combat, first thing I would recommend would be changing the Cobra for Viper mk.III
Cobra is a great ship but not because it's great at everything, but because it can DO everything. Multipurpose ship means that it is by definition mediocre at all activities, instead of excelling at one.

100% agree with this. I love my Cobra and it's my main ship but I'd never try and use it for a combat ship. It's fast and has weapons, shields etc but that's mainly for getting away from trouble in the quickest method possible. Run Forrest Run!!! My practice combat ship is my Eagle. Nimble, fun to fly and cheap rebuys... When/If I get better at combat I'll probably buy a Viper but right now I'm mostly cannon fodder for anything out there. Hence the need for cheap rebuys.

 

[King Drax I]

100% agree with this. I love my Cobra and it's my main ship but I'd never try and use it for a combat ship. It's fast and has weapons, shields etc but that's mainly for getting away from trouble in the quickest method possible. Run Forrest Run!!! My practice combat ship is my Eagle. Nimble, fun to fly and cheap rebuys... When/If I get better at combat I'll probably buy a Viper but right now I'm mostly cannon fodder for anything out there. Hence the need for cheap rebuys.

Of course!! Buy a cheap ship for combat practice...why didn't I think of that? Guess I'm more of a rookie than at first I though...

 

[Sylow]

If you want to practice combat, first thing I would recommend would be changing the Cobra for Viper mk.III
Cobra is a great ship but not because it's great at everything, but because it can DO everything. Multipurpose ship means that it is by definition mediocre at all activities, instead of excelling at one.

I very much agree on this. Grab a Viper or Eagle (any of them is fine), they're a better choice for learning combat. The Eagles may be a bit move vulnerable, but they come at a much lower price tag, so the rebuy also is less.

On where to learn, some people advise resource extraction sites. I even say, there's one step before that. Go to a nav beacon. Make sure it's not compromised, but a regular nav beacon. Plenty of ships come in and leave again from there. Just cruise around like 10 km of the nav beacon and scan ships. When a ship shows to be wanted, you can attack. Make sure it's not in a wing and start with small ships. Once you get a feeling for killing small ships, you can work your way up.

 

[King Drax I]

I very much agree on this. Grab a Viper or Eagle (any of them is fine), they're a better choice for learning combat. The Eagles may be a bit move vulnerable, but they come at a much lower price tag, so the rebuy also is less.

On where to learn, some people advise resource extraction sites. I even say, there's one step before that. Go to a nav beacon. Make sure it's not compromised, but a regular nav beacon. Plenty of ships come in and leave again from there. Just cruise around like 10 km of the nav beacon and scan ships. When a ship shows to be wanted, you can attack. Make sure it's not in a wing and start with small ships. Once you get a feeling for killing small ships, you can work your way up.

Excellent - thank you. Can I ask two sub-questions here: a) what do you mean by the nav beacon being compromised, and how can you tell; b) how do you scan ships to find out if they are wanted? Do you just target them? Cheers

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Learn to survive and escape first.

Only after you can dictate the engagement in that manner should you fight back.
See the latter part of this vid:

[video=youtube;WkmgrFet5ac]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmgrFet5ac[/video]



You can learn a lot by following the cops in a RES and helping them out.

Engineer your ships, especially the distributor (charge enhanced w/super capacitors generally), shields (reinforced or thermal resist) and thrusters (dirty drag drives).

Good beginner tutorial here:

[video=youtube;XjYeCs5MA18]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjYeCs5MA18[/video]

 

[mistohise]

Easiest NPC enemies can be found at nav beacons (not compromised, just regular). Plenty of police there, too, normally. Find or wait for a wanted ship, then take it out. Manage your pips and don't shoot the cops.
Most importantly, though, learn to recognise when you are losing and know when to start to get out. have a system mapped as your next destination, and before you get too damaged, switch your pips to sys and eng, engage hyperdrive and boost boost boost out of the situation whilst spamming chaff and twirling in circles until your drive charges up.

 

[Chris Simon]

Excellent - thank you. Can I ask two sub-questions here: a) what do you mean by the nav beacon being compromised, and how can you tell; b) how do you scan ships to find out if they are wanted? Do you just target them? Cheers

a) It will very plainly say "Compromised Nav Beacon" instead of just "Nav Beacon". Surprisingly enough, some things in Elite are easy and comprehensive.
What it means is that there is no security presence at the Beacon and more pirates than usual. Nice hunting grounds, but the fact that you can't rely on police "escort" means that it is quite dangerous for a small ship that isn't really all that tanky.

b) Yeah. Just target them and "look" at them for a couple of seconds (simply point your nose at them). The scan will complete itself and you can check the target info in the lower left portion of the HUD. It will tell you whether or not the target is wanted and (also an important information) if it's alone or in the wing. Don't engage ships that have friends around. Bad things tend to happen.

 

[King Drax I]

You can learn a lot by following the cops in a RES and helping them out.

Sorry - what's a RES?

 

[Siobhan]

Sorry - what's a RES?

Resource Extraction Site... usually found in rings round gas giants

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Sorry - what's a RES?

Resource extraction site.
Use the "high" version at first.

Watch your friendly fire, and be sure to fully scan targets and confirm their wanted status before you open fire.
You'll get wanted and the cops will all attack you otherwise.

 

[King Drax I]

Sorry to necro this thread (well I suppose it's only been a couple of weeks since the last post) but linked ith the combat, I would like to ask what controllers you guys use?

I have a Cyborg 3D Gold USB stick; it is a digital stick but it acts like an analog stick, so I add a certain amount of stick deflection and it does the full whack of control input; for example in the pitch axis it's either pitching as fast as it can or not at all.

I would prefer to use controls that have a smooth proportional input if possible, so, pull the stick back a little, and it pitches up a little. Pull it all the way back and it goes to maximum pitch input. The control inputs are one of the main reasons why I am finding it so hard to fight!

Any tips on controllers would therefore be appreciated!

Thanks as always.