Is it possible to not die or lose your ship?

[Rangoon]

Since the ship destruction/death mechanic is not nearly as fleshed out as much of the game overall, and since these mechanics really don't help immersion, I've been trying to avoid it more so than simply due to the inconvenience of logistical consequences. Is it possible to not "die" without living in a bubble? I get along pretty well just bounty hunting the nav beacons to build credits and improve my ships, but then it happens...I hit the wrong signal, I join the wrong fight (usually random, not mission) and can't escape.

Do I need to be even more cautious and wait much longer before taking on random encounters? Or do I need to get better at escaping? Or kit my ships out better for fleeing vs. fighting? If I want to self-impose an Ironman mode, what should I be focusing on?

 

[nosleepdemon]

I spent quite a while not dying in my FDL, even took it halfway to the galactic core and back in one piece. Then FD mucked about with the AI and an Anaconda rammed me to death. Be aware that right now, the AI appears to be quite broken and will smash right into you if you happen to enter any sort of jousting maneuver, this includes a kill warrant scan where both parties are moving, or the NPC is moving at full speed. Suicide ramming aside, use a ship with huge shields and then all you have to worry about is smacking into stuff and police scans. Landing only at outposts should solve the scanning issue, and obviously avoiding planets at all costs is a good idea especially ones with gravity close to or greater than 1G.

 

[Riverside]

I PvE in open in less populated space, and manage what you describe by keeping an eye on local commander activity.

My main ship for tooling around is a weaponless Cobra, which allows me the luxury of occasionally wandering into a hostile commanders path & surviving to tell the tale. If it's safe to do so I'll bring out a more vulnerable ship.

An excellent piece of advice given by Nonya: Friend everyone you meet. They will know where you are, but you will know where they are too.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I've managed to not die (touch wood), for weeks.
It's totally possible, however while learning I did die a few times. And did the sidewinder-suicide to clear an accidental murder bounty I got, a few times.
Before buying a new ship, or parts, is your Priority Power Management setup on your modules panel?
You should always be able to escape any fight as long as your FSD doesn't power down. So keeping that, and your thrusters at priority 1, shields and life support at 2, weapons at 3, and defensive bits (chaff, PD, at 4 and finally cargo hatch and non combat items at 5.
That'll help you keep power on to escape an unwinnable situation.
After that it's more or less knowing when to run. Timing is important. Too early and you could have actually won, unless it's obvious(59 condas vs you), too late and your hull pops before your FSD charges.
Personally in my FDL I start thinking about running at 0% shields. I'll keep fighting and to try to get myself out of a RES mass lock. At 75% hull I start getting some distance. 75-50% I charge the FSD for a low wake. I like to be gone by 30% hull. At that point I'll drop in to normal space, jiggle my shields about (turn off boosters and put all pips to shields), once my shields are up, boosters are back on, and I SC to a station for repairs.

 

[Macy]

I find the game much more fun since I stopped worrying about getting killed. I take on harder targets at the RES. I usually profit but sometimes I lose. i got killed this afternoon because I got too cocky. I attacked a wing. Never mind I paid the insurance and I'll try again later.

 

[Ydiss]

I've not died since around gamma time and died 4 times. 3 of those were due to the old, very harsh collision damage model, where you would die with 99% of collisions.

So yes, it's totally possible with care.

 

[FiddenUK]

Sometimes AI will just ram into you when you are standing still with engines at 0, looking at another panel... Not an issue with my shields, but could cause others significant pain.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I find the game much more fun since I stopped worrying about getting killed. I take on harder targets at the RES. I usually profit but sometimes I lose. i got killed this afternoon because I got too cocky. I attacked a wing. Never mind I paid the insurance and I'll try again later.

I'm quite the opposite! Pre-FDL life, in my DBS and vulture, losing either didn't really dent my bank balance (i had 80mil CR). So dying wasn't really a problem. Just an annoyance. I just thought, no biggie, off I go again.
Now in my FDL with a 5mil CR rebuy, I have to really fight to stay alive (only 35mil in the bank now). I still challenge my skills against ever harder opponents. But that feeling of desperation trying to escape a bad situation is more rewarding for me. I still go right back and try and repeat the scenario, with a better outcome though.

 

[mossfoot]

Make sure you have a ship you can escape in, like a Cobra or Clipper. Work on drills for what to do when you need to escape but might be mass locked (lock onto another system and high wake, chaff, don't just try to outrun unless you're in a very fast ship, etc...)

 

[CMDR-AD]

Very possible. Before I did my CMDR reset, I had $250 million in cash, Python, Anaconda, more... Never died. A good deal of it was indeed, carefully picking situations that were best avoided.

 

[mossfoot]

I'm quite the opposite! Pre-FDL life, in my DBS and vulture, losing either didn't really dent my bank balance (i had 80mil CR). So dying wasn't really a problem. Just an annoyance. I just thought, no biggie, off I go again.
Now in my FDL with a 5mil CR rebuy, I have to really fight to stay alive (only 35mil in the bank now). I still challenge my skills against ever harder opponents. But that feeling of desperation trying to escape a bad situation is more rewarding for me. I still go right back and try and repeat the scenario, with a better outcome though.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my pilot ejection table in case you want some extra challenge

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=107694

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I don't do loads of combat but I don't completely avoid it.

1 insurance claim since the very beginning - an entirely avoidable incident of docking with silent running on, when I undocked - 1400% heat and unavoidable badoom.

 

[Kayin]

I've have over 2 weeks of in game play time. I've only ever died once in my T7 to a crazy face NPC Python.

When you're blowing up you do hear the computer tell you it's ejecting you. I think that makes up for the immersion break. It'd be cool if they added an animation of a rescue ship coming to scoop you up.

-K

 

[tiger61378]

Took me over 4 months to have my first death, and a few more since (mostly from mucking about in CZs and HazRes, and being incautious with my Dropship when my shields drop due to its armor). Not hard to not die...just be careful as hell while fighting, pay close attention to your shields and hull, and run when there's the slightest chance of an issue.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my pilot ejection table in case you want some extra challenge

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=107694

Interesting read! However, I used to play Warhammer with friends and I was the king of rolling double 1's. Lol
Also With a game like this (somewhat grindy) , I don't like the idea of ironman mode. If the game didn't feel grindy at all in any way, I would. I played xcom on ironman mode and that was fun.
It's no where near as bad as if you played Eve online as ironman mode. That game is just pure grind. Lol and you have to pay for it monthly.
For me, time is my currency, I don't get alot, so starting over is too harsh, but losing 5mil or whatever, plus whatever I'd earned in bounties, is plenty enough punishment for death. As that is a few hours work gone.

 

[ChubbyBunneh]

I got Elite in trading and combat with only 1 insurance claim. That was from a kamikaze NPC Cobra head-on collision that instantly destroyed my Asp.

Don't hesitate to be Brave Sir Robin if the odds are against you and you'll lose very few ships.

 

[Macy]

I'm quite the opposite! Pre-FDL life, in my DBS and vulture, losing either didn't really dent my bank balance (i had 80mil CR). So dying wasn't really a problem. Just an annoyance. I just thought, no biggie, off I go again.
Now in my FDL with a 5mil CR rebuy, I have to really fight to stay alive (only 35mil in the bank now). I still challenge my skills against ever harder opponents. But that feeling of desperation trying to escape a bad situation is more rewarding for me. I still go right back and try and repeat the scenario, with a better outcome though.

my Vulture rebuy is about 1million. I can earn that much easily so I don't worry about it. If I had a Conda I might think differently.

 

[Rangoon]

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my pilot ejection table in case you want some extra challenge

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=107694

Thanks for all the replies with suggestions/anecdotes. And mossfoot, very intrigued by your Pilot Ejection Table, nice work!

Some of the replies missed the point, of course, since the loss of credits/cargo/bounties is not the issue. It's about immersion, and presently I just hate dying because it feels so game-y (whether you should have died, i.e. black holes etc., or whether you actually ejected and were rescued...). I'm not expecting 100% immersion/simulation by any means, as Elite isn't purporting that. But when it gets so many things right, something like this stands out. It's fine for now, and maybe they'll improve it later on or maybe they won't (lots of good ideas floating around out there...no pun intended). But for now, I'm just trying not to die and wondering a) how to recognize when to flee and how to go about that, and b) how to recognize what to do/avoid so I don't wind up in over my head to begin with. So I was curious whether that was even possible. Glad to hear it is possible for some, and I will put a little more thought into my ship builds, module power management, and types of encounters/missions/locations I attempt.

I appreciate the wisdom.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Dying gets you a shiny new ship (if you're insured) ...
Oh. Hold on ...
It still has a scuffed interior.
OK ...
Dying gets you a dodgy second hand ship.
Nice.

 

[mossfoot]

Thanks for all the replies with suggestions/anecdotes. And mossfoot, very intrigued by your Pilot Ejection Table, nice work! .

Hope you decide to use it