Odd, even before they doubled the bounty and exploration rewards I was in an asp within my first week of play. After that about 2 weeks to my anaconda. Progression is too fast.
I have to question how much time those people talking about rapid progression put into the game as well as how much of the same grind they do day in day out.
I can only afford to put a few hours a week in if that and I vary up what I do based on current preference. I bought the game hack in March and I'm only sitting on about 11 million in total assets.
I can only afford to put a few hours a week in if that and I vary up what I do based on current preference. I bought the game hack in March and I'm only sitting on about 11 million in total assets.
I got the game a little after release. Spend a couple hours a night usually. Sitting at around 700 million total assets at the moment. It was never really a grind though.
Seconded, the courier should have a long jump range.
Definitely a NO for for the Clipper. It's also 50% 'normal' / 75% 'SC'
Pretty much yes. I think the ship pricing is artificially scaled like everything else. It certainly doesn't reflect quality or performance. After the Asp, there's a massive gap in anything useful.
I've got up to the Vulture and Type 7 in earnings and tried those out. I rejected both but have kept the Eagle, Viper, Cobra and Asp. To me, they are the best ships in the game at the moment for variety and versatility.
The next ship up, the Clipper, I could afford, but don't have the rank. Still, even if I did, I could barely afford to upgrade it to a decent level. Beyond that, I am not seeing much incentive to aim at other ships at the 50 million entry mark.
Sounds about right. You have to play many hours a day, day in day out, trade grinding to get so far so quickly to be sitting on Python money or beyond. No way around that except to not play the game to "level up" your ship. Ultimately, I don't think you'll have anymore fun driving a Python than you will a lower ship once the novelty wears off.
Instead, just get up a collection of the key small ships as I mentioned above and swap between them to enjoy the different aspects of the game. In your position, with 11 million, I'd be in a maxed out Viper or Cobra busting caps in the 'roid fields and earning bounties. It's by far the best, most enjoyment per hour, part of the game for me.
Instead, just get up a collection of the key small ships as I mentioned above and swap between them to enjoy the different aspects of the game. In your position, with 11 million, I'd be in a maxed out Viper or Cobra busting caps in the 'roid fields and earning bounties. It's by far the best, most enjoyment per hour, part of the game for me.
I'm doing the same in my Clipper atm. Cruising around in RES killing NPCs and earning a good 1.5 - 2MCr./h in bounties, even though it is still fitted as Cargo Ship (216t, 4B Shield Gen. + A0 Shield Booster, 2x large pulse laser and 2x small railguns) you can quite swiftly kill Pythons, Clippers and Anacondas with it by sniping their PP.
It's really the most fun thing to do and I got my Expert Combat Rank fast.
The jump between Asp and T7 is quite a big one, the jump from T7 to Clipper is fast and the easyest decision ever (or you leave out T7 completely), if you have the Empire rank. The clipper is only 4M more than the T7 and does everything better, even has a bigger cargo capacity. It is incredibly fast and it can fight.
Edit:
Fitting the Clipper for Cargo runs is quite cheap (total of 25 MCr. maybe), which is also a big plus here. Fitting it for Combat can cost you many Million Cr. depending on what you want.
Edit2:
I too keep my Cobra, Viper and Asp and use them regularyly . The clipper makes it hard though to go 'back', becuase it's so much fun ^^
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Pretty much yes. I think the ship pricing is artificially scaled like everything else. It certainly doesn't reflect quality or performance. After the Asp, there's a massive gap in anything useful.
I've got up to the Vulture and Type 7 in earnings and tried those out. I rejected both but have kept the Eagle, Viper, Cobra and Asp. To me, they are the best ships in the game at the moment for variety and versatility.
The next ship up, the Clipper, I could afford, but don't have the rank. Still, even if I did, I could barely afford to upgrade it to a decent level. Beyond that, I am not seeing much incentive to aim at other ships at the 50 million entry mark.
Sounds about right. You have to play many hours a day, day in day out, trade grinding to get so far so quickly to be sitting on Python money or beyond. No way around that except to not play the game to "level up" your ship. Ultimately, I don't think you'll have anymore fun driving a Python than you will a lower ship once the novelty wears off.
Instead, just get up a collection of the key small ships as I mentioned above and swap between them to enjoy the different aspects of the game. In your position, with 11 million, I'd be in a maxed out Viper or Cobra busting caps in the 'roid fields and earning bounties. It's by far the best, most enjoyment per hour, part of the game for me.
That's precisely where I am. Keep switching between Viper and Cobra as I can't quote decide which I prefer. Though at the moment I'm floating around Imperial space doingbulletin board missions. Fortunately I don't measure my enjoyment in Cr/hr
That's interesting info, thanks. I sort of see it as a bigger Cobra, and hoped it can still maneouvre well for its size. The ones I've fought in the RES usually do move around well if the pilot rank is high enough. Knowing you can fight with one in cargo mode is quite appealing, although I'm used to changing loadouts between different modes of play.
Currently, I've taken my Asp, which was my long trader, and turned it into a gunship reinforced like a tank.
So far I'm extremely impressed with how it works in the 'roids. It's oddly nimble for its size and weight, and I have it pretty bulked up, so it could be a lot lighter still. The hitting power almost makes you sorry for the pirates and the all-round visibility from the cockpit is amazing compared to what I'm used to un the Viper, Cobra and even Eagle.I'm going to play with loudouts to get the balance to my liking, but I can see me keeping this as my go to heavy hitter now.
Once I got my Cobra, I thought I'd not want the Viper anymore. However, I ended up getting one again as the opposite hardpoint placement and maneouverability difference, as well as staying power, offers a variation in tactics that spices things up for me when experimenting with loadouts. Both are classic ships and I would say keep both!
It is! Maneuverability is almost equal to a Cobra imo. Idk where the 2 Points in Manveuverability for the Clipper in it's description come from, but it's definitely inaccurate. The only thing the Clipper is weak in, is lateral thrusters (up/down and left/right). Turn rates are great.
As I wrote. Changing the clippers loadout to a combat setup is quite expensive. You want higher tier PP and better power distributor, bigger shields and so on. Those cost millions for the clipper (If you want the best of the best, a 7A Shield, it costs 51MCr. (Shield only)
).Edit:
This is my setup atm. It's 27.5 MCr. (and 'only' 212t cargo, not 216t, because of the shield cell): http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=603,5TP5TP9pC9pC01Q01Q3we0_g,2-A0A0888SA08S6k,0Bk0AA4-E7RK05U05U03w7dg
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Good to know that, then, because I've got my heart set on getting one.
It's funny, but the description for the Federation Dropship also has it down as not very maneouverable, but actually they are in the right handsAs I wrote. Changing the clippers loadout to a combat setup is quite expensive. You want higher tier PP and better power distributor, bigger shields and so on. Those cost millions for the clipper (If you want the best of the best, a 7A Shield, it costs 51MCr. (Shield only)
Indeed, when I played around with the Shipyard I saw it going up to 100 million and over for a complete badass setup! I suppose one could work towards that once you have it since it seems a great all rounder.
That's not bad at all considering my maxed Vulture cost that much before I sold it, so quite affordable really.
Greetings Gentlemen.
My take on it? The COURIER is easily the fasted ship out there. Sacrifice weapons and jump range.
Take a brilliant shielding, making it the ultimate "runner" .
Or, else go combat.
There is no place for weak ships in Elite, so I trust, the Courier will not disappoint. If all things go !Well!, its about choices and consequences.
My take on it? The COURIER is easily the fasted ship out there. Sacrifice weapons and jump range.
Take a brilliant shielding, making it the ultimate "runner" .
Or, else go combat.
There is no place for weak ships in Elite, so I trust, the Courier will not disappoint. If all things go !Well!, its about choices and consequences.
The Courier was also the ship I was most eagerly anticipating and I have to admit to feeling some initial disappointment upon seeing the stats released so far; now that I've had more time to think about it however I'm still optimistic that it will be a fun ship to pilot, just not the dedicated space-superiority fighter or long-range explorer that I was hoping for.
I think the problem lies in looking at the game simply as an MMO progression grind. It really isn't, though it has shades of that style of game design.
Every ship has a role to play, even if that role is a stepping stone. There are CMDRs who are perfectly happy crossing the galaxy in a Sidewinder, and combat pilots who love their Eagles and Vipers. It's about choices, and not chasing a galactic carrot into ever higher tiers of ships until we're all piloting Death Stars.
Plus, there are still a number of ships left in the pipeline. All the gaps are sure to be filled in due time. Hell, maybe 1.4 well be a ship focused patch and do it all in one swoop.
Every ship has a role to play, even if that role is a stepping stone. There are CMDRs who are perfectly happy crossing the galaxy in a Sidewinder, and combat pilots who love their Eagles and Vipers. It's about choices, and not chasing a galactic carrot into ever higher tiers of ships until we're all piloting Death Stars.
Plus, there are still a number of ships left in the pipeline. All the gaps are sure to be filled in due time. Hell, maybe 1.4 well be a ship focused patch and do it all in one swoop.
The problem is other players in open. I don't want this to turn into another open vs solo thread, in open you either need a fast ship or a competitive combat ship when you run into another aggressive player.
If you are in a "stepping stone" ship there isn't much you can do, the game doesn't limit the players you see to ones with similar ships or money.
If the courier can't survive against a clipper or vulture it wont be used much in open.