Newcomer / Intro Is there a choice?

[Winterwalker]

It's like in Skyrim, you can't get ebony armour without increasing your smithing skill. You can't do the dragonshouts without reading the word walls. etc etc. All games have things money cannot buy, in Elite it's naval ranks and engineers.

This.

As OP is into smuggling/trading and has (or at least had) an SRV I'd recommend going scavenging on a couple of rocky and icy planets for a couple of hours. You'll soon pick up some natural mats and likely pick up a few valuable cannisters and (depending what they are) can sneak them into port.

 

[goemon]

@OP you say you like doing missions.

all engineer materials can come as mission rewards.

it might take longer, if you don't like to to do anything beside smuggling, trading and missions, but it is totally possible to engineer ships without ever going down to a surface or scanning ships, if that is, what you don't like.

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

Its a tough one for FDev because they know players get stuck in a rut and want to show them what the game has to offer. Engineers has forced me (sometimes unwillingly) to do things that actually turned out to be ok. If you're not into PvP then you can skip engineers entirely but you'll run out of things to do imho, that is the choice you have.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

I'm on MacBook (so no Horizons) and have played around 850 hours since January and haven't hit a wall (yet).
My average earnings are over 100 mil credits/month and that's without engineers, grinding (well until recently to increase my Fed/Empire navy ranking), exploits, exploring (although may consider a trip to Colonia/Sag A* next year).

The only things I am missing out on is open PvP and exploring alien ruins/artefacts on planets.
Hence around busy community goal stations I tend to play in Mobius PvE, the rest of the time in open.

I'm interested in knowing how many hours the OP has played before he/she hit that wall.

 

[FrogsFriend]

I've found that almost everything I've needed for the few Engineer mods I've gone for, has come to me 'in passing' while doing other things.

Wake Scans for example. You can either sit outside a station for a long time doing nothing but trying to scan every wake, or just scan any wakes that are convenient as you're coming and going about your usual business.
Data from ship scans. Just target any ships that happen to be in front of you as you're flying in SC or around stations.
Natural materials can be picked up while doing an occasional bit of mining, usually for missions, or collected in passing while on surface missions.
Kill Skimmer missions which have you driving around POIs close to settlements are also a good incidental source of materials and scans (from crashed ships, rocks you're driving past, and the like), without taking you out of your way.
Dropping into convenient Unknown Signal Sources can net you materials, cargo, scans and/or easy bounties without undue effort.
Not to mention all the goodies you will naturally accumulate from mission rewards.

Doing this sort of casual scavenging while otherwise playing the game as you want will get you most, if not all, of what you need. Of course, if you feel a burning desire to have a specific mod and need it now, you'll probably have to do the occasional bit of focused searching for materials/commodities, but that just adds variety for me.

Incidentally, if you need to do the 'travel X distance to unlock' then combining it with a Passenger Transport mission can net you a very healthy profit at the same time

 

[Mikey2305]

I was going to reply in a positive and constructive manner to the first post and add some thoughts and advice of my own to the mix. But the second post indicates that we just have another 'game is broken because it doesnt fit what i want to do' kind of scenario. And 'because i have lots of credits why cant i buy whatever i need'. To which i have no intention of wasting any more of my time...

@OP... sorry, just realised this is the newcomers forum so you probably didnt deserve my snarky response!

 

[d8veh]

Engineers give you massive improvements to your ship whatever it is. Standard A-grade ships are pretty boring, and if you meet an NPC of the same rank in the same ship, he'll probably have his ship engineered, which makes life difficult for you. Engineers can make your ship virtually invincible as far as NPCs are concerned. 50% extra jump range from Felicity or Elvira is going to be useful for everyone.

You don't need to visit any engineers, but if you want a specially good ship, the activities to unlock them all and rank up to grade 5 will be interesing and varied as well as boring, frustrating and repetitive. You have the choice whether to do it or not, but I can tell you that when all the work is done, you will be pleased that you did it.

 

[Johnny Cyclops]

Engineers give you massive improvements to your ship whatever it is. Standard A-grade ships are pretty boring, and if you meet an NPC of the same rank in the same ship, he'll probably have his ship engineered, which makes life difficult for you. Engineers can make your ship virtually invincible as far as NPCs are concerned. 50% extra jump range from Felicity or Elvira is going to be useful for everyone.

You don't need to visit any engineers, but if you want a specially good ship, the activities to unlock them all and rank up to grade 5 will be interesing and varied as well as boring, frustrating and repetitive. You have the choice whether to do it or not, but I can tell you that when all the work is done, you will be pleased that you did it.

As I 'gave up' on Engineers after getting only two things modded (because my Cobra Mk III gimbal pulse lasers didn't have the same stamina/lasting power, but did supposedly have greater strength/damage), as a 'newbie' type question, is it really still worth it to perserve? Can I mod something and then just store it, if I don't like it on my ship (I had to delete the modded pulse lasers). Can I then mod stored items up to Level 5 (presume that's the max level?). Can I transfer/store modded items, or do I need to go through the eng/modding process for each ship? From my signature below you'll see I'm a bit of a collector - mostly A-graded ships by now over the last two years, but likely to add more ships as I go.

 

[Zieman]

As I 'gave up' on Engineers after getting only two things modded (because my Cobra Mk III gimbal pulse lasers didn't have the same stamina/lasting power, but did supposedly have greater strength/damage), as a 'newbie' type question, is it really still worth it to perserve? Can I mod something and then just store it, if I don't like it on my ship (I had to delete the modded pulse lasers). Can I then mod stored items up to Level 5 (presume that's the max level?). Can I transfer/store modded items, or do I need to go through the eng/modding process for each ship? From my signature below you'll see I'm a bit of a collector - mostly A-graded ships by now over the last two years, but likely to add more ships as I go.

You can store modded items.
You can transfer them elsewhere, by flying there & ordering them to be moved to the station you're at.
You can transfer the items to another ship (the ship has to be at the same location), via the item storage.

 

[Ism]

I understand the OP. I have been playing for 2 years.
I bought Horizons just because I understood that the NPC will have upgraded weapons and systems in the original game while I'm stuck with a huge disadvantage against them.

So if what I read in the forums were right about the NPC, we players who were content chugging along with an hour or 2 per day play time in the original game, were forced to buy
Horizons. Else we would be at a huge disadvantage as the game progresses. I could have completely misunderstood, but I've met some NPC that could shred my ship in seconds.

Enter Horizons....So now I have to do mining/planet landing/etc. (which I never did b4 and found that I dislike it just as I imagined). If I work on my upgrades, I must abandon or slow to a crawl my work on ranking up and system permit goals because I have to spend weeks looking for crap to satisfy the needs of a pasty skinned psychopath. I must also buy new modules for my ship while I complete the upgrade process in Horizons. That puts me at a further disadvantage against NPC that I have to deal with collecting things like CARBON, or IRON. The stuff you cannot buy at an outpost.

As far as reading and planning on how to rank up for a computer game( for those that did it in weeks). ED is not reality so my time invested in the GAME is minimal.
I haven't even ranked up (to the top) in any power and I play TOO MUCH in my opinion.

 

[d8veh]

As I 'gave up' on Engineers after getting only two things modded (because my Cobra Mk III gimbal pulse lasers didn't have the same stamina/lasting power, but did supposedly have greater strength/damage), as a 'newbie' type question, is it really still worth it to perserve? Can I mod something and then just store it, if I don't like it on my ship (I had to delete the modded pulse lasers). Can I then mod stored items up to Level 5 (presume that's the max level?). Can I transfer/store modded items, or do I need to go through the eng/modding process for each ship? From my signature below you'll see I'm a bit of a collector - mostly A-graded ships by now over the last two years, but likely to add more ships as I go.

It's not a good idea to pick and choose what you want modified. It's much better to take each engineer in sequence to build a strong ship. Stronger weapons, shields or longer FSD jump all need more power, so the first engineer to sort out should be Hera Tani, but you have to rank up Liz Ryder first. This sheet tells you what to do to get an invite and what you have to do to get them working.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/273552-Engineers-visual-printable-guide

Once you have an invite, go to any planet in the SRV, smash every rock that appears on the scanner and pick up every fragment. An hour should give you at least 50 of all the common ones. Go to the engineer and use those common materials to do 200 or more level one upgrades. Don't accept any of them unless you get something useful. That will rank the engineer up to half-way through level 3 to release the invite for any dependent engineers. You can do the same again to get them up to level 5. Only then, choose the upgrade you wan and be well-pleased with your efforts.t, find out how to get what you need for say six rolls, then go and get it. Try and work through in the sequence powerplant, FSD, PD, thrusters, shields, shield boosters. then anything else. You will then have an awesome ship and be well-pleased with your efforts.

 

[pipo zelvelder]

@OP you say you like doing missions.

all engineer materials can come as mission rewards.

it might take longer, if you don't like to to do anything beside smuggling, trading and missions, but it is totally possible to engineer ships without ever going down to a surface or scanning ships, if that is, what you don't like.

I do not think this is entirely true, or to put it more bluntly: According to me this is only true if you do all types of missions... and that is exactly OP's point...

 

[pipo zelvelder]

I've found that almost everything I've needed for the few Engineer mods I've gone for, has come to me 'in passing' while doing other things.

Wake Scans for example. You can either sit outside a station for a long time doing nothing but trying to scan every wake, or just scan any wakes that are convenient as you're coming and going about your usual business.
Data from ship scans. Just target any ships that happen to be in front of you as you're flying in SC or around stations.
Natural materials can be picked up while doing an occasional bit of mining, usually for missions, or collected in passing while on surface missions.
Kill Skimmer missions which have you driving around POIs close to settlements are also a good incidental source of materials and scans (from crashed ships, rocks you're driving past, and the like), without taking you out of your way.
Dropping into convenient Unknown Signal Sources can net you materials, cargo, scans and/or easy bounties without undue effort.
Not to mention all the goodies you will naturally accumulate from mission rewards.

Doing this sort of casual scavenging while otherwise playing the game as you want will get you most, if not all, of what you need. Of course, if you feel a burning desire to have a specific mod and need it now, you'll probably have to do the occasional bit of focused searching for materials/commodities, but that just adds variety for me.

Incidentally, if you need to do the 'travel X distance to unlock' then combining it with a Passenger Transport mission can net you a very healthy profit at the same time

I have some remarks on that:
The wake scan example is a great one; You never get these stuff, unless you equip the Wake scanner and use it...
Natural materials: I never was in a SRV (skipped that part apparently) and luckily I like mining, otherwise I would never get enough materials...
Kill Skimmer missions: Did i mention I was never in a SRV? Don 't even now how to... Well, it is on the internet in lots of video's... I know

but stating it like this, OP seems plausible??? I now understand that I can never use Engineers, unless I play with an SRV... OP learned me that and so i am wondering if he is right?? Can I only use engineers if i learn to drive an SRV? So OP is right and we are FORCED to play like DEV want? Or am i missing something?

 

[Chris Simon]

I do not think this is entirely true, or to put it more bluntly: According to me this is only true if you do all types of missions... and that is exactly OP's point...

The type of mission reward is dependent on mission's rank, not its type. Higher-ranked missions will have more rare materials and commodities.
The problem is randomness, you might (and will) say, but even if you stick with one mission type, you can get all the materials obtainable by missions, eventually.

There are two or three engineer commodities that can only be obtained as a mission reward. That's the whole wall. If you don't want to do missions, you won't get these three parts. But for every other material and commodity there is always more than one way to get them.

 

[goemon]

I do not think this is entirely true, or to put it more bluntly: According to me this is only true if you do all types of missions... and that is exactly OP's point...

do you have an exampel?

i'm not entirely sure about, for exampel, whether praseodymium, a minable ommodity, can be given as a commodity reward outside of mining missions.

but, for exampel "cracked industrial firmware", "pharmaceutical isolators" and "polonium" i have found through all types of missions.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I have some remarks on that:
i am wondering if he is right?? Can I only use engineers if i learn to drive an SRV? So OP is right and we are FORCED to play like DEV want? Or am i missing something?

I think pretty much yes. I believe that what FDEV have done with engineers is to try to get people to try out a lot of things that players may not have otherwise done. It does not force you to do them for long (possible exception being the randomness of obtaining some stuff)

 

[Chris Simon]

I think pretty much yes. I believe that what FDEV have done with engineers is to try to get people to try out a lot of things that players may not have otherwise done. It does not force you to do them for long (possible exception being the randomness of obtaining some stuff)

No, again, there are multiple ways - you can get engineering materials from mining, combat loot and missions, if you don't like SRV. FD isn't forcing you into anything. Unless you refuse to do SRV, missions, combat and mining, in which case I don't know why would you even play Elite.

 

[through the hole backwards]

I don't like the yellow smarties, so I don't eat them

 

[aRJay]

There are always choices, sometimes they are choices between bad and worse but they are choices.

Unless you are playing Elite in a hurry, currently, engineering upgrades are only essential if you want to attack other players either in defence of the weak or to show the weak how magnificent you are as you destroy them. For everything else you can get along quite adequately, just as you don't need to drive to work in a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari a Skoda or Vauxhall will do just fine.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

No, again, there are multiple ways - you can get engineering materials from mining, combat loot and missions, if you don't like SRV. FD isn't forcing you into anything. Unless you refuse to do SRV, missions, combat and mining, in which case I don't know why would you even play Elite.

I meant in respect to unlocking the engineers in particular, not so much obtaining materials but even in this case there are certain things you can not get if you decide you will not do something (e.g. buy a wake scanner). This does not force you to do anything though, with everything in Elite it is up to the player to decide what to do or not do.