I have 10 BILLION Credits but can't buy a ship to fight thargoids

[Naaman Aram]

Every big/expensive ship in the game just get's murdered no matter how you build it

youtubers sit there going "OH HOW EZ" circling and aiming perfectly in a cold medium ship
this makes me want to break my keyboard

no matter how hard I try I just can't succeed at AX combat i'm really depressed

please help me

 

[Rat Catcher]

I don't have 10 BILLION credits and bought a Chieftain and all the modules, guns, etc. from Jameson and other places...

Have no idea how to cold orbit either...

But I did learn to shoot and not worry about being blown up.

ETA: Oh, and I never tried to kill off the bigger Interceptors solo, they are more possible with a team playing together...

 

[Naaman Aram]

what do I do when the hunter shows up to help

i was in my corvette one time, and actually killed the hunter but I had 5x AX multicannons to shred it with gimbals
whenever I have fixed guns I can't even hit it... and if its a fat ship I'm just dead because there is no escape

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Is the AX Chieftain still up for sale in the store?

 

[Naaman Aram]

I was using my krait mk2 also and doing OK in a fight until again the hunter came, and he couldn't kill me but he just broke all my guns and laughed at me

I'm going back to shinrarta to build a new ship how do I go ultra pleb mode

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Link your loadoout so we see your build and advise *

* Caveat: it won't be me who advises because my AX skillz are pathetic

 

[Rat Catcher]

what do I do when the hunter shows up to help

Fight or run, I guess

i was in my corvette one time, and actually killed the hunter but I had 5x AX multicannons to shred it with gimbals
whenever I have fixed guns I can't even hit it... and if its a fat ship I'm just dead because there is no escape

The youtube etc. players have been doing AX combat for a long time, but they, like everyone else, had to learn how.
All the videos in the world won't give you the skill, just pointers, playing, and dying, lots, gets you there...

 

[Aleks Zuno]

please help me

For getting started with as little equipment and learning as possible, I made a Cyclops tutorial which uses a simple Python with no necessary engineering¹, distributor fiddling or actual flying. The original intention was to find them at Conflict zones as with this video (full scenario), and since then I made an open space video, which is more dangerous but not insurmountable.

This uses Silent Running because it was made prior to Caustic Sinks being openly available; a much better plan now is to replace the Heat sinks with Caustic Sinks and make a fire group for those rather than taking Caustic damage and heating the starship. If you are engineering your modules, definitely improve the Armour and Hull reinforcement!

Destroying something bigger will need a more fancy approach, of course.

1. It has FSD and Thrusters just for travel and interdictions; the actual fight is a more stationary scenario.

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

Every big/expensive ship in the game just get's murdered no matter how you build it

youtubers sit there going "OH HOW EZ" circling and aiming perfectly in a cold medium ship
this makes me want to break my keyboard

no matter how hard I try I just can't succeed at AX combat i'm really depressed

please help me

That takes a lot of practice and it can be difficult to master. The AXI do ship builds which would give you the best chance against the bugs. I've only managed to solo a thargoid inteceptor a couple of times (old man reflexes and I don't know how to use the Flack cannon properly). @Rat Catcher is right, best thing to do is team up with a few friends and go bug hunting.

The best place to do it is when planetary bases come under attack in a thargoid invasion ( as they interceptors don't deploy their thargons) and you can repair yourself without the thargoids running away. For a bit more difficulty, then it's defending space stations, and then look at the Thargoid CZs once you've got more practice.

Don't give up on it, although it's very frustrating to begin with. Once you've got a squad to pop bugs, it's good fun. (Mind you I don't think there's an activity in elite that's not improved either by Flying in a wing or Multi-crew).

 

[BDelacroix]

Every big/expensive ship in the game just get's murdered no matter how you build it

youtubers sit there going "OH HOW EZ" circling and aiming perfectly in a cold medium ship
this makes me want to break my keyboard

no matter how hard I try I just can't succeed at AX combat i'm really depressed

please help me

The cold method is just one way to do it. You'll have to build up the skill.
Are you doing Combat zones or one on one?
One on one is the old joisting dual process. I'm going to go with you are trying AXCZs.

The big killer there is the swarm. So you'll need a flak gun or something that can just tank it. Even then, you don't want to tank anything too big. It is literally a death by 32-128 cuts.

If not, then running away is perfectly ok if things are getting bad. Hull points are king, so get lots of hull reinforcements. I'm assuming you know the process of punch the flower until a heart glows, then punch the heart until it falls off.

If you are doing ground port combat, you don't have to deal with the swarm but you do have to avoid the planet sized thing. Repairs are available nearly at will. However, since there are no invasions, this isn't likely what you've been trying to do.

If you are doing the one-on-one joisting dual, then it works its way into a zen kind of thing. Let it get close. Scan each other. It moves away and you start hitting it. Knock off a flower and run while its shields are up. Keep it between 5 and 3k. When the shield falls. Turn around and do it again.
If you are proficient with the flak gun, this run away time is also when you might deal with the swarm.
Repeat until the next to last heart is left. Be ready to use the shutdown field disruptor. Use it a few seconds after your ship tells you the target is doing a shutdown field.
Then finish the thing off.

 

[HaLfY]

And there's a vast number of pilots in Elite with many times more credits, ships and engineering materials that simply cannot play in Open while doing BGS, or in CGs because they simply don't know how to evade (let alone counter-attack) a player CMDR with murderous intentions.
And that's because they've chosen to stick to the easiest gameplay mechanics relying on "as long as you build an enough powerful ship, you're unstoppable"

But that can be fixed. It took me a long time, and i'm still learning, and i'll be still learning for some more time, but i can now take on stuff that it was unthinkable i could take on before.
It's the same with thargoids (and maybe even easier)
Don't know how old you are, but two decades ago (and backwards) most video games were build on the rule of "defeat this boss or you won't get past here". And whoever wanted to get past there had no choice but to experiment, fail, get better, learn, fall, get up again... until they, solely by their own merits and all the experience they got from their mistakes, were able to defeat the boss. AND IT WAS REAL SATISFYING.

Contact the best mentors you can, listen to their advice, and go confront those caustic cauliflowers. No matter how many rebuys it takes, you'll get to where you want to be eventually.

Good luck.

 

[BDelacroix]

what do I do when the hunter shows up to help

i was in my corvette one time, and actually killed the hunter but I had 5x AX multicannons to shred it with gimbals
whenever I have fixed guns I can't even hit it... and if its a fat ship I'm just dead because there is no escape

Now that is a different story. The gimbaled ax guns are about all you can do. If you are super lucky an ax rocket will do a lot of damage, but they are fast and you'll miss more than hit with a rocket.
ECM will make their drive shutdown missile lose lock on you.
The lightning only takes your shield and give it to them.
Cold seems to make them take a slightly longer time to find you (heatsinks). All giving you time to get away if you need to.

 

[Naaman Aram]

Nice so I guess the python is pretty beastly to sit there and face tank all the damage for a 1v1.

 

[Naaman Aram]

And there's a vast number of pilots in Elite with many times more credits, ships and engineering materials that simply cannot play in Open while doing BGS, or in CGs because they simply don't know how to evade (let alone counter-attack) a player CMDR with murderous intentions.
And that's because they've chosen to stick to the easiest gameplay mechanics relying on "as long as you build an enough powerful ship, you're unstoppable"

But that can be fixed. It took me a long time, and i'm still learning, and i'll be still learning for some more time, but i can now take on stuff that it was unthinkable i could take on before.
It's the same with thargoids (and maybe even easier)
Don't know how old you are, but two decades ago (and backwards) most video games were build on the rule of "defeat this boss or you won't get past here". And whoever wanted to get past there had no choice but to experiment, fail, get better, learn, fall, get up again... until they, solely by their own merits and all the experience they got from their mistakes, were able to defeat the boss. AND IT WAS REAL SATISFYING.

Contact the best mentors you can, listen to their advice, and go confront those caustic cauliflowers. No matter how many rebuys it takes, you'll get to where you want to be eventually.

Good luck.

best reply to my thread thank you i feel it

i'm 30 btw
grew up on megaman ps1 i know the true meaning of anger

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

And there's a vast number of pilots in Elite with many times more credits, ships and engineering materials that simply cannot play in Open while doing BGS, or in CGs because they simply don't know how to evade (let alone counter-attack) a player CMDR with murderous intentions.
And that's because they've chosen to stick to the easiest gameplay mechanics relying on "as long as you build an enough powerful ship, you're unstoppable"

But that can be fixed. It took me a long time, and i'm still learning, and i'll be still learning for some more time, but i can now take on stuff that it was unthinkable i could take on before.
It's the same with thargoids (and maybe even easier)
Don't know how old you are, but two decades ago (and backwards) most video games were build on the rule of "defeat this boss or you won't get past here". And whoever wanted to get past there had no choice but to experiment, fail, get better, learn, fall, get up again... until they, solely by their own merits and all the experience they got from their mistakes, were able to defeat the boss. AND IT WAS REAL SATISFYING.

Contact the best mentors you can, listen to their advice, and go confront those caustic cauliflowers. No matter how many rebuys it takes, you'll get to where you want to be eventually.

Good luck.

You can count on that the "vast number of pilots" that allegedly don't know how to play actually do know, but a vast number of pilots simply cannot be bothered to play gameloops they don't want to play.

 

[BL1P]

You can count on that the "vast number of pilots" that allegedly don't know how to play actually do know, but a vast number of pilots simply cannot be bothered to play gameloops they don't want to play.

I got very fed up with the game loop of people interdicting me over and over, but them not actually killing me before I escaped.
Interdicte - escape - interdicted - escape (over and over)
So I started a system where I block them if I escape and they keep interdicting me, and dont block them if they kill me or only interdict me once.

It really anoys some peeps when I mention this, which is an added bonus

 

[Brrokk]

Every big/expensive ship in the game just get's murdered no matter how you build it

youtubers sit there going "OH HOW EZ" circling and aiming perfectly in a cold medium ship
this makes me want to break my keyboard

no matter how hard I try I just can't succeed at AX combat i'm really depressed

please help me

My suggestions:

Stick to a medium ship to keep costs down.

Have some gimbal multicannons to make aiming easier. They're great against Scouts and useful on hearts.

Modified shards are probably the easiest things to hit Interceptors with.

To hit with fixed weapons, try using "leading sights"; you just have to put the dots on the big target.

Avoid yellow lightning; takes practice.

Against Interceptors shields are not very useful; consider going shieldless and prioritising hull strength instead.

Have one or two small Guardian hull reinforcements for the corrosive resistance they provide.

Have one or two module reinforcements.

Get the shutdown field neutraliser and the caustic sink launcher for much better survivability.

 

[Northpin]

Every big/expensive ship in the game just get's murdered no matter how you build it

youtubers sit there going "OH HOW EZ" circling and aiming perfectly in a cold medium ship
this makes me want to break my keyboard

no matter how hard I try I just can't succeed at AX combat i'm really depressed

please help me

It may sound harsh, but you cant buy skills, no amount of billions of credits will do.

I'd recommend you to try small steps in a ship with an acceptable rebuy value
You can start with a Cold chieftain with 2 large gimbaled enhanced AX-MC and 3 gausses or rails - and practice your aim with the fixed delayed-hit-scans on Scouts
When your aim is good enough, you can try moving on Cyclops even if you cant FA OFF cold orbit, you can still try to alternate FA On with FA OFF (but you still need to be comfortable enough with FA Off during the shield fading. in between the hearts)

I started with a Crusader on scouts, but when i moved to Cyclops i used a cold Krait mk2 with 4 gausses and a Flak
I can comfortably solo a Basilisk, but i still need a lot of practice for soloing Medusas - well, i used to since i kinda stopped AX combat like one year ago, but i was getting there.

So not much of an AXI pilot myself since it takes a lot of dedication to learn and i kinda lost some of that dedication when the antiguardian field was introduced

 

[Alec Turner]

First (and sorry about this but) - excellent, an actual quotable source that pay2win doesn't (and can't) exist in Elite: Dangerous because winning takes skill which money can't buy.

That said, yup, I can't fight interceptors either, basically because I just haven't put in the hours of practice. Scouts are good fun tho' and easily kill-able with some AX multi-cannons if you fancy giving that a go for starters.

Otherwise, if you want to master interceptor combat then I don't think there's much alternative except to follow a guide and put the hours in.

This one seemed reasonable at a glance.

Basic Combat Guide

The fundamental concepts of AX combat and how to fight an Interceptor.

wiki.antixenoinitiative.com

Actually, I guess the other possibility is to join a friendly group who will happily take you along on a Thargoid combat night. If it was me I'd probably avoid the AXI (rightly or wrongly they just seem like quite serious people) and instead hook up with someone like the Loose Screws who are never serious but who also seem to spend most of their spare in-game time fighting Thargoids of one form or another.

 

[Naaman Aram]

For getting started with as little equipment and learning as possible, I made a Cyclops tutorial which uses a simple Python with no necessary engineering¹, distributor fiddling or actual flying. The original intention was to find them at Conflict zones as with this video (full scenario), and since then I made an open space video, which is more dangerous but not insurmountable.

This uses Silent Running because it was made prior to Caustic Sinks being openly available; a much better plan now is to replace the Heat sinks with Caustic Sinks and make a fire group for those rather than taking Caustic damage and heating the starship. If you are engineering your modules, definitely improve the Armour and Hull reinforcement!

Destroying something bigger will need a more fancy approach, of course.

1. It has FSD and Thrusters just for travel and interdictions; the actual fight is a more stationary scenario.

i like the brute force python here, and also the guide
i built a pleb machine omw 2 get some thargoid I'll let you know how it goes