Just started and blown up in a strange way

[Captain Kylan]

I just started about a week ago and have been doing courier missions exclusively to earn some money. This is an extremely slow process as there are rarely any with cargo that will fit in the Sidewinder.

After delivering my last round of cargo I was looking around in station services, browsing the market and checking the galaxy map for nearby systems with stations and their needs, when all of a sudden there was a laser light show and my ship went pop while inside the hanger. 10% of my money gone right off the top for fees and fines and I have no idea why. I have avoided illegal courier missions, haven't done any shoot em ups and only failed one courier mission because my internet failed for awhile.

Anyone have any idea what the hell happened?

 

[ev3slay3r]

Still new myself, but sounds like loitering in the station airspace or airlock - or, someone else was, since you said you were in station services. They could've had illegal cargo, and the ship debris may have smashed into you.... think I've read about that being a thing. Always go into the hangar, if you're sitting on the surface landing pad that kind of thing can happen I think...

 

[Raf von Thorn]

So, you got blown when sitting in station? Ive heard about that, but usually it was becaue someone was mounting turreted weapons and they have started firing inside the station.

Sidewinder can have 6 tons of cargo space. Sell you discovery scanner and buy a cargo rack.

Also, if you want to join a player group, they usually help new players to get a decent ship and share their knowledge of universe. For example ISS drops enough palladium for a recruit to get a Cobra and then we explain rare trading, this way your advancement is substantialy faster. Click my signature to check out the best of Imperial player groups.

Bask in his Greatness! BASK HARDER, damn it!

 

[Dark Skies]

If you picked up a fine then could the reason be you were asked to fetch some legal drugs from a system like tobacco to a system were it was prohibited?

 

[COOPER TTE]

I think if you're docked (you mentioned checking out station services) you're not meant to be shot at.

If it's worth it you could report it and get your losses back.

If you'd undocked when it happened, then the suggestions like those above might've caused the station or ship to attack you.

Or, you just got PKd!

Stick at it

 

[TriumphANT]

I just started about a week ago and have been doing courier missions exclusively to earn some money. This is an extremely slow process as there are rarely any with cargo that will fit in the Sidewinder.

After delivering my last round of cargo I was looking around in station services, browsing the market and checking the galaxy map for nearby systems with stations and their needs, when all of a sudden there was a laser light show and my ship went pop while inside the hanger. 10% of my money gone right off the top for fees and fines and I have no idea why. I have avoided illegal courier missions, haven't done any shoot em ups and only failed one courier mission because my internet failed for awhile.

Anyone have any idea what the hell happened?

Always "Enter Hangar". You can quickly access everything apart from Outfitting anyway. If you're outside the hangar, you can get hit by another ship, or hit by the station's fire if another ship is in breach of loitering or fires its weapons. In the hangar, you're cradle hug safe. And you can sing.

 

[Archvillain]

You've learned the hard way - enter the hanger. It's safe down there. No griefer players, no drama, and it doesn't cost time (your ship rotates into launch direction while you're browsing station services, instead of holding you up waiting for it after you select "launch", so you're not actually losing time on the return-to-surface sequence.

 

[CopperHamster]

Always go in hanger after landing. You have to go partway in to launch anyway so it doesn't take much longer. I've not been playing long but one of my two ship losses happened when I just plopped down long enough to turn in some bounties and didn't go in and a big NPC cargo ship went nuts (apparently carrying illegal cargo and got scanned after getting inside) and rammed me just as he was blowing up.

If you're getting confident in your not bumping things skills, you can get 10 cargo on a sidewinder: Replace the shields and discovery scanner with cargo holds. Strip off your guns and you can jump 7.3 ly on a full fuel tank.

Personally, I'd start out with some nav beacon hunting. Just hang around the nav beacon looking for ships with bounties. After a bit, move on to resource extraction sites (commonly found around ringed planets). I'd stay out of combat zones till you get a bigger ship.

First thing I'd upgrade on a sidewinder is switch to a single beam laser fixed, and a cannon or multicannon, fixed or gimbled. Get a chaff launcher in case something with turrets decides to kill you to give you time to run. Point defense for missiles. Save up for a Viper (if you love the thrill of battle) or a cobra (if you want a nice multirole ship). Split fire groups so you can laser down the shields then cannon their hull.