Newcomer / Intro How to speed up supercruising? How to travel faster in general? How to enjoy the game more?

Tannhäuser1

Tannhäuser1
Greetings!

Having played for 35 hours now I've reached the point where I put some gameplay-elements into question. Flying around with my Cobra MKIII now with an upgraded power plant. Most of the time I grab the opportunities for the quick money, e.g. transporting slaves or tobacco for 50.000 to 150.000 Cr. Mining is REALLY boring for me, so I skip that (that was something I broke with EVE Online years ago). I rarely engage in space combat, because I first want to upgrade the ship.

Now it's the same routines in the game and sadly it bores me sometimes. Accepting a mission, set the loc on the map, launching, hyperjumping, supercruising (following the 7-second-rule), waitingwaitingwaiting, docking, grabbing the cash. That's all.

First question: How to shorten the times for supercruising? It's kinda boring because it's not challenging but still it takes most of the playtime. :rolleyes: Yes, I know that the speed is relevant to the position of the ship, concerning the mass of greater objects in space. But so often you get out of the Jump and have to waste 5-7 minutes just for leaning back and watching the target station to come closer slowly. At most possible speed.

Of course I still don't know any details about some of the other game elements. I even don't understand the factions and the reputation-system. ;) Space combat is "okay". Well, it's okay if you know more about all the items and weapons. Before that a combat maybe is a suicide run... I can't imagine to have fun with the Trade-Part of the game, buying cargo at station A, selling the cargo at Station B - for just a few 1.000 bucks each run. Tell me if I'm wrong here. Am I missing something? What makes trading fascinating?
What should I try to have some more variety in the game in general? Exploring?

Tannhäuser II
 

Sapient6

S
If you've already discovered that you can push that throttle up to 100% then you aren't going to discover any great tricks to reduce a 5-7 minute SC time. Well, there is one more: find good trade stations that are closer to the main star.

To reduce shorter SC times by a small margin you could play around with alternates to the "75% throttle @ 7 seconds" technique. There are ways to use the max throttle overrun to close that last bit of distance more quickly, and in some cases gravity braking can also work well. Such alternate techniques take practice, though, so don't expect them to beat 75% throttle on your first attempt.

But really, if you don't like trading then why spend time doing it? You can afford a Cobra so you can afford a Viper. The Viper is an excellent ship to fly when acquainting yourself with combat. Once you've got the basics down you can turn a tidy profit, and whether you spend your time bounty hunting or spend it in Conflict Zones, you should be able to match the Cobra's trade potential without too much trouble.
 

Tannhäuser1

Tannhäuser1
Sapient6 said:
You can afford a Cobra so you can afford a Viper. The Viper is an excellent ship to fly when acquainting yourself with combat. Once you've got the basics down you can turn a tidy profit, and whether you spend your time bounty hunting or spend it in Conflict Zones, you should be able to match the Cobra's trade potential without too much trouble.
Click to expand...

I just checked the Viper out in a shipyard. Why should I buy that ship when I own a Cobra MKIII already, which seems to be superior in nearly every aspect (most arrows are red, pointing down)? Any good ship for exploring AND combat available? At the moment I've 1,7m Cr I could spend.
 
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InMemoriamSirocco

Banned
InMemoriamSirocco
Tannhäuser said:
I just checked the Viper out in a shipyard. Why should I buy that ship when I own a Cobra MKIII already, which seems to be superior in nearly every aspect (most arrows are red, pointing down)? Any good ship for exploring AND combat available? At the moment I've 1,7m Cr I could spend.
Click to expand...

The Viper is more maneuverable than the Cobra and has tighter hardpoint placement, much stronger shields and a sleek silhouette that is not as easy to hit. It is simply the better ship for combat.

Combat / Exploration would be the Diamondback Scout, which costs roughly double as much as a Cobra MK III, has the same kind and number of hardpoints, but with better placement, four utility slots, but less and smaller internals, while being able to reach a similar jump range.
 

goemon

goemon
viper because shields ;-)

exploration and combat - check out the diamondback scout.

concerning trading: different aspects, but most of them require ships with more cargo... like scouting and running your circle... using trade to change influence in a system... smuggling... but yes, trading in elite can mean space-trucking, some like it, some don't.

basically: have fun, try everything :) no need to wait when you are sitting in a cobra.
 

Toffa

T
OP.

Keep me in the loop regarding your routes. I have a sure fire way to make your time in SC more 'interesting'...

Toffs
( '-')7
 

goemon

goemon
ps: your forum name - you should visit "tannhauser gate" in the Aztlan system, a white palmtree station deep in empire space.
 

lufia22

lufia22
Don't forget to research systems as well. System map will show you how far away something is from the jump-in point.
 
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Hell Razor5543

H
Something I do is to fly out of the orbital plane. OK, this means that I am now flying an arced route, as opposed to a straight line, but this seems (to me, at least) to speed things up slightly, plus (if you have judged it right) you can see the full orbital rings (if you have enabled) so you can fly straight to the station, instead of dodging moons and possibly having to fly around a planet to find the station on the other side from yourself.
 

Rob_the_Sparky

R
Tannhäuser said:
I just checked the Viper out in a shipyard. Why should I buy that ship when I own a Cobra MKIII already, which seems to be superior in nearly every aspect (most arrows are red, pointing down)? Any good ship for exploring AND combat available? At the moment I've 1,7m Cr I could spend.
Click to expand...

The arrows are all red because it is comparing a basic Viper with your upgraded Cobra.

From what you have posted it seems that you have restricted yourself to only a few of the available play options then are complaining that it is getting dull doing the same things all the time! I would recommend removing your self imposed limit on play style and take a risk. Maybe even buy an Eagle to play with as the loss if you get it wrong will be that much smaller.

Once I had a Cobra I went rare trading, built up my cash reserves for the first time and then started to build a fleet of ships for different roles. Up to then I just treated the ships as a linear progression. I still use my Cobra but have 8 ships currently, including a Python and Clipper. Yes I'm working my way up to getting an Anaconda but this is not an end game goal. Personally I think that owning multiple ships for multiple roles is an important part of the game. There is no one ship that is best at everything and similarly no one best load out.
 

Araviel

Araviel
the hardest part is not how to "go as fast as possible", the hardest part is how to "slow down as fast as possible".

let me explain why-
at the start of your journey all you have to do really is to jank the throttle to 100% and fly in a way so that you avoid getting slowed down by the mass of stellar objects and avoid interdictions.

slowing down takes a whole lot longer than accelerating however.
and to do it in the fastest way possible you still want to keep the throttle at max as much as you can.
how effectively you can do it depends on the system geography and you should plan ahead -
check system map and use the orbit lines - maybe you can plan out your route so that you can make smaller dips near stellar's just to bleed a little speed at the ends for example., or maybe there is a gas giant that you can make a close drive by off so that you just exactly get on your target.


personally i consider planetary breaking somewhat of an artform, and is something that im still practicing and getting better at even though i have played all the time since Beta.
 
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Slack

Slack
Tannhäuser said:
Greetings!

*snip* "I rarely engage in space combat, because I first want to upgrade the ship."

Tannhäuser II
Click to expand...

Thats where the most fun is and where you can make the most credits early game. If you dont have a good combat ship yet go to low/high intensity extraction sites until you can upgrade your ship/equipment so you can go to hazardous extraction sites or buy a large trade ship. Make sure you get a warrant scanner to increase profits from kills and if you are allied with the right galactic power you can get up to a 50% increase on bounties handed in.
 

CMDR pollycough

CMDR pollycough
Tannhäuser said:
Greetings!

Having played for 35 hours now I've reached the point where I put some gameplay-elements into question. Flying around with my Cobra MKIII now with an upgraded power plant. Most of the time I grab the opportunities for the quick money, e.g. transporting slaves or tobacco for 50.000 to 150.000 Cr. Mining is REALLY boring for me, so I skip that (that was something I broke with EVE Online years ago). I rarely engage in space combat, because I first want to upgrade the ship.

Now it's the same routines in the game and sadly it bores me sometimes. Accepting a mission, set the loc on the map, launching, hyperjumping, supercruising (following the 7-second-rule), waitingwaitingwaiting, docking, grabbing the cash. That's all.

First question: How to shorten the times for supercruising? It's kinda boring because it's not challenging but still it takes most of the playtime. :rolleyes: Yes, I know that the speed is relevant to the position of the ship, concerning the mass of greater objects in space. But so often you get out of the Jump and have to waste 5-7 minutes just for leaning back and watching the target station to come closer slowly. At most possible speed.

Of course I still don't know any details about some of the other game elements. I even don't understand the factions and the reputation-system. ;) Space combat is "okay". Well, it's okay if you know more about all the items and weapons. Before that a combat maybe is a suicide run... I can't imagine to have fun with the Trade-Part of the game, buying cargo at station A, selling the cargo at Station B - for just a few 1.000 bucks each run. Tell me if I'm wrong here. Am I missing something? What makes trading fascinating?
What should I try to have some more variety in the game in general? Exploring?

Tannhäuser II
Click to expand...
Its the journey, it not all about speed, etc you will get a lot of.
I have been playing since the beginning and am still finding ways to use the game mechanics to do something "different". unfortunately to have fun in this game, first you have to put in the hours, and I would advise doing something that is fun to get the credits. Once you are "there" you will find that the game isn't all about grinding credits, but necessary to be able to have the fun. In game organised Community goals https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=187372&p=2885417 can be a good way of grinding and you get to meet loads of other CMDR's (as with real life) not all are friendly. Also there are LOADS of player organised events, just because they can but its a rich man/womans sport https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=185247 is one that I do.
I have looked at this game as, you need 3 thing to have fun, FD has built a very nice playground for us to play in and provided some lovely toys to play with, we now play the game limited only by OUR ability.

Tannhäuser said:
I just checked the Viper out in a shipyard. Why should I buy that ship when I own a Cobra MKIII already, which seems to be superior in nearly every aspect (most arrows are red, pointing down)? Any good ship for exploring AND combat available? At the moment I've 1,7m Cr I could spend.
Click to expand...
.
Don't waste money "collecting" ships as you will be able to buy and kit out any ship you want later.
Now for the RP
Check out https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=189788&p=2918865#post2918865. we could maybe use a pilot like you CMDR.
 
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