Late game, anaconda or equivalent, what makes me cash?

[SoulTechnology]

one good question. lets just say you've traded your ass off to acquire yourself the mighty anaconda and many upgrades for it (or a ship costing nearly as much your equally happy with) what do you do next other then blasting through systems being a total badass?

if you do some math.. the best-of-the-best can cost hundreds of millions. this means your insurance if you were to die for any 1 of the MANY ways you can in elite would be over several doesn millions. not only does it take a decent amount of trade runs to make that cash, but you want to use your multi-million credit ship.

so I ASK YOU players of elite.. what can you do with your 500mil credit ship (25mil insurance) that would pay off running costs, insurance, and still be fun without having to go back to your type 9?
OR is this state of badassery the point in which you play to KEEP the thing running, and blasting your way around the galaxy and hoping you can keep flying your ridiculous spacecraft is the main point that late into playing the game?

 

[puca]

Arguably, tradeconda is a better trader than a type 9 for certain types of routes. If you don't die a lot exploration and combat both pay for maintenance.

 

[Rykzon]

sadly, right now the "late game" is kinda lacking, as in the only thing making you any kind of money is trading. Missions and bounty hunting does not scale at all so a conda is totally overkill for those activities. Lets hope 1.3 changes this.

Insurance overall scales really bad right now aswell compared to income which really makes big ships unfavorable for me.

A Viper can earn its insurance in a few minutes of bounty hunting. A conda would have to bounty hunt for a day and trade for a several hours to earn the insurance.


They really need to create activities for big ships or wings only which pay you good money even compared to trading. Sadly this is gonna be hard with the way they currently balance ships.


Right now I downgraded my combat conda to a trade conda and went back to a python for my everyday activities. An hour of trading pays its insurance which is not too bad.

 

[deathmagnet]

To OP:

In the trade Anaconda on the right route I can make 5-10mil and hour. I know 10 mil an hour seems high but it is possible, i promise. Trade secret though so i won't reveal it. The reason i bring that up is because that means it only take an 1-2 hrs for me to have my rebuy on the conda trading.

@Puca:

The Anaconda is a better trader. Higher jump range means faster turn around which translates to higher profits. The Conda is about 50%-75% faster in turning and burning trade runs. And its just not jump range. Faster boost gets you out of mass lock faster. Smaller ship gets in and out of the mailbox faster. It's just a better ship that allows you to trade faster.

@Rykzon:

Insurance rebuys are fine. This is coming from someone with 35 insurance claims for a total of 41 mil cost (dangers of open play trade). I here other sims you actually have to physically buy the insurance with real money. At least in this game its and automatic built in mechanic. It's just your job to make sure you can afford your fancy new ship. Having restraint and saving up an extra few thousand/mil for rebuy is hard, i know, but that is how it is and probably better for you in the long run. As stated earlier. It doesn't really take that much extra time to earn your rebuy no matter the size ship.

 

[Rykzon]

Im not saying insurance in general is bad, im saying the way it scales for the bigger ships is bad in relation to income.

For a combat fit conda I have about 20m insurance. There is no way for me to get that money in a reasonable time without falling back to trading and even then it takes a few hours.

 

[deathmagnet]

Im not saying insurance in general is bad, im saying the way it scales for the bigger ships is bad in relation to income.

For a combat fit conda I have about 20m insurance. There is no way for me to get that money in a reasonable time without falling back to trading and even then it takes a few hours.

I am not a very good fighter pilot so i fight in cheap ships. If i was going to take my conda to a fight i would only do so in a wing. It's not really meant to be a stand alone fighter. Also, if you had say 500mil dumped into it I think you would be very very hard to kill.

 

[Rankaze]

one good question. lets just say you've traded your ass off to acquire yourself the mighty anaconda and many upgrades for it (or a ship costing nearly as much your equally happy with) what do you do next other then blasting through systems being a total badass?

if you do some math.. the best-of-the-best can cost hundreds of millions. this means your insurance if you were to die for any 1 of the MANY ways you can in elite would be over several doesn millions. not only does it take a decent amount of trade runs to make that cash, but you want to use your multi-million credit ship.

so I ASK YOU players of elite.. what can you do with your 500mil credit ship (25mil insurance) that would pay off running costs, insurance, and still be fun without having to go back to your type 9?
OR is this state of badassery the point in which you play to KEEP the thing running, and blasting your way around the galaxy and hoping you can keep flying your ridiculous spacecraft is the main point that late into playing the game?

I strongly suspect that Powerplay is going to deal with faction mechanics, and that we are going to see an outbreak of war between the Federation and the Empire fairly soon. This should create lots of opportunities for CMDR's to help shape the way that conflict plays out. I do hope that the Alliance steps up and takes a role on the galactic stage so that those of us whose loyalties incline that way can play our own parts, but I have a second CMDR who is an Imperial, so I can occupy myself quite well even if not. I do think that the Alliance will eventually become a faction in earnest. I feel like FD is waiting to really kick things off with the upcoming war first, however.

 

[Scimiter]

I have just traded my T9 in for an Anaconda, although the Anaconda doesnt carry as much, 326 compared 464 for my T9, the Anaconda as other posts have stated is a much faster ship and more manouverable, so its not so far behind the T9 as a credit maker, plus the T9 is a sitting target in "open," where as a lot of pirates would think twice before tackling a fully armed Anaconda.
There are new ships soon to appear in ED, so we will need the credits to buy them, that is why you need a big credit making trading ship.

 

[deathmagnet]

I have just traded my T9 in for an Anaconda, although the Anaconda doesnt carry as much, 326 compared 464 for my T9, the Anaconda as other posts have stated is a much faster ship and more manouverable, so its not so far behind the T9 as a credit maker, plus the T9 is a sitting target in "open," where as a lot of pirates would think twice before tackling a fully armed Anaconda.
There are new ships soon to appear in ED, so we will need the credits to buy them, that is why you need a big credit making trading ship.

Try this build if you can afford it.

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=606,7...a9Y8SD8D88I,0Bk0AA0AA0AA08c08c7Sk07207207203w

Can haul a lot of cargo and has some teeth for your occasional NPC and might be able to chase off some CMDR's if you have some fight skills or wing mates.

It's what i run and you will make MORE than you do in the T9.

 

[IceFire122]

The current purpose of the Anaconda is to trade yourself up to Elite in it to get the Founder's World permit.

Then/There, you can buy everything 10% off. This will also lower your insurance cost by 10%.

I also use it for financing my more risky adventures in the other ships. Or, right now, for the community goal in Nu.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Try this build if you can afford it.

Try another large laser in the huge slot. I found this to be more effective. Two gimballed cannons in the side slots seem to be better for subsystem sniping.

 

[KillingTime]

I have just traded my T9 in for an Anaconda, although the Anaconda doesnt carry as much, 326 compared 464 for my T9, the Anaconda as other posts have stated is a much faster ship and more manouverable, so its not so far behind the T9 as a credit maker, plus the T9 is a sitting target in "open," where as a lot of pirates would think twice before tackling a fully armed Anaconda.
There are new ships soon to appear in ED, so we will need the credits to buy them, that is why you need a big credit making trading ship.

Try 452t with A4 shields... That's what I run on my conda and it's all you need for trading as you can get out of any situation fast enough for it to not be an issue

 

[Brimstone]

The T9 is only good if you find a decent trade route that doesn't have jumps higher than 11 or 12 LY. An Anaconda with 452 tons still gets around 20 LY depending on your internal modules like the power plant, distributor, fuel tank... So on and so forth. That's only about 100 tons less than the T9 but more versatile.

Also your ship computer's voice has a nice reverb on the bridge

 

[c64orinoco]

Late game? Late game?

You mean that's it? You've finished Elite? 100% completion? With all the bonus pickups, Easter eggs, tin cups, brass razoos, me old China, and the Perstigious Golden Nodule found on only 1 single asteroid?

And scans of all 400 million stars?

 

[Rykzon]

Late game? Late game?

You mean that's it? You've finished Elite? 100% completion? With all the bonus pickups, Easter eggs, tin cups, brass razoos, me old China, and the Perstigious Golden Nodule found on only 1 single asteroid?

And scans of all 400 million stars?

There is a slight difference between "late game" and finishing a game. Try again.

 

[Yank31]

Insurance rebuys are fine. This is coming from someone with 35 insurance claims for a total of 41 mil cost (dangers of open play trade).

I'm sorry but there is a HUGE difference between dying 35 times for 41M cost, and dying 1 time for the same price. You had 35 "exciting/stupid moments" for 41M.

Now imagine the same thing with big ship insurance cost. Say 25M, for a semi-decent Conda. Those 35 "funny/exciting/stupid moments" would have cost you 875M.

The OP is perfectly clear about that. Small ships can secure their rebuy cost in a matter of minutes, while it will take 4+ hours for a battleconda to secure his 25M+ rebuy cost. This is anything but linear.

This is also why the vulture is so good for pvp.

 

[LordKee]

Anaconda a perfectly fine ship to use. With the fuel price and repair cost nerfs doesn't really cost anything to operate. Of course there is a risk to loose a lot of credits if you die but chances of that happening are pretty slim, especially against NPC. I use my conda to bounty hunt at res with no issues. Works just as fine when I'm alone or in a wing. (all A modules. 5 turret beams and 3 fixed pulse lasers. Original armour). In pvp, no idea. I haven't instigated any nor have I been targetted, one day I'll find out I'm sure.

 

[Troa Barton]

You don't die in an anaconda, I've been jumped by 5 commanders in a war zone and easily made it back home. They were targeting the powerplant. The only thing you have to worry about is another anaconda.
refit it and it becomes the best trader, the furthest jumper, the ultimate tank, or a doom cannon.
exceedingly expensive yes, worth it? Very much so.
they aren't for everyone though, they are slow and have a lot of tricks to getting it to maneuver and that's a good thing because otherwise everyone will be in one.
you're just going to have to fly one to find out.

 

[Rykzon]

I'm sorry but there is a HUGE difference between dying 35 times for 41M cost, and dying 1 time for the same price. You had 35 "exciting/stupid moments" for 41M.

Now imagine the same thing with big ship insurance cost. Say 25M, for a semi-decent Conda. Those 35 "funny/exciting/stupid moments" would have cost you 875M.

The OP is perfectly clear about that. Small ships can secure their rebuy cost in a matter of minutes, while it will take 4+ hours for a battleconda to secure his 25M+ rebuy cost. This is anything but linear.

This is also why the vulture is so good for pvp.

Pretty much this, I don't want insurance to be nerfed like repair costs, but there is some balancing work to be done to bring the big ships in line. Even with the argument "You don't die as much in conda" it has to be toned down a bit or we need better scaling ways to make money in big ships.

 

[deathmagnet]

I'm sorry but there is a HUGE difference between dying 35 times for 41M cost, and dying 1 time for the same price. You had 35 "exciting/stupid moments" for 41M.

Now imagine the same thing with big ship insurance cost. Say 25M, for a semi-decent Conda. Those 35 "funny/exciting/stupid moments" would have cost you 875M.

The OP is perfectly clear about that. Small ships can secure their rebuy cost in a matter of minutes, while it will take 4+ hours for a battleconda to secure his 25M+ rebuy cost. This is anything but linear.

This is also why the vulture is so good for pvp.

Well if you take the average...just over 1 mil it doesn't sound bad... but lets look further into it.. 1 anaconda 11.5mil. 2 type 9's 6.5 mil each. 2 pythons 4 mil each, and 3 type 7's 2 mil each. That is not even accounting for the lost cargo which is usually in the millions itself. I have probably lost a total of close to 100 mil. So yes call it what you want, bad luck, bad piloting (for sure on a few occasions) doesn't matter. I am still sitting in my Conda with plenty of credits to my name. Rebuys are fine the way they are.

p.s. i double checked..it was at 44mil in insurance cost. just shows when your as inept as me you still have ways to make plenty of money

 

[Ydiss]

I made over 40 in a single night in a vulture on the lugh goal. I think that more than covered the rebuy cost...

The Anaconda wasn't end game for me. I own one and still use it, but I have four other ships I use. But if I choose to invest 500m in a ship then I'd be covering the rebuy every few nights so it's going to be risky for now. A single combat goal would be worth while, though.

1.3 should hopefully give us more scalable content with the mission overhaul. But this question had more poignancy before 1.2, when owning a high end ship had little purpose. Things are much better now.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for more content.