Newcomer / Intro New player- frustrated

[Old Nippy]

Hi there, I've been playing this game for a few weeks now, and have built up around 100million CR. I seem to have hit a wall. I've tried a couple times to upgrade my mining from an AspX to a Krait Mk2. As soon as I show up at a painite site, NPC pirates show up, demand an amount of my cargo within 15 seconds. They don't wait the 15, they shoot almost immediately, and I'm dead pretty quick.

So, I sold the krait and got a viper to get the fundamentals of combat down at a nav marker in an anarchy system. I upgraded everything to A, and i still get smacked by smaller ships. I also have a chieftan, but then smaller ships fly like gnats, and whatya know, I'm dead again. I think I'm 'novice' ranked, so I don't go around aggroing 'elites' or wings, but come on.

Should I abandon credit farming and switch to engineering for the overpowered crap? Is a cheaper ship with higher (but smaller) quality modules better, or is a big ship with less expensive modules better? I'm sticking mostly with burst and multicannons.

I watched the videos and the advice is all the same- stay behind and shoot the bad guy. Well no $#!t.

 

[AngryAntz]

When you first enter a mining area, wait for the ships to scan you (they arn't interested in limpets) before mining. Once they scan you move away from them and they shouldn't bother you anymore. At least that is my experience, I could be wrong.

 

[McGyverCP]

Another tip for the beginning miner...NEVER carry any cargo into a mining area unless it is limpets. The pirates WILL hop into the same area within say 1 minute at the most. I can count on one hand the number of times I have hopped into a mining site and the pirates Did NOT show up...3 to be exact.

So, the steps to mine are as follows (at least in my experience, others may have differing steps)

1) Make sure your ship is kitted out for mining (which ever form of mining you want - Surface, Sub-surface, or Core)
2) Go to the "advanced maintenance" section. There you can find the number of limpets you want to buy. Note: you can only buy limpets if you have the limpet control modules outfitted to your ship. Also, you will need some empty cargo space or you won't be able to buy any.
3) Go to your favorite mining area.
4) Once you get there, stop and take in the scenery for a bit. The pirates will show up to admire the same and scan you for tasty cargo.
4a) If all you have is limpets, they will insult your ability to keep their kids fed and move on.
4b) If you have ANY other cargo besides limpets, they will ask you to share, or ask you to share and then start shooting.
5) After the pirates have drifted off, I give them a couple of minutes just to be sure, you can start mining your happy little backside off.
6) Once you have taken in ANY cargo materials, if you move (FSD type) to another section of the ring, a new mining area, etc., everything resets and the pirates will be back.
7) See Step 4 for what happens after you FSD to another area.
8) After you are full, or tired of mining, close up the ship, and head back to sell your stuff.
9) DO NOT log out in a mining area, or any other spot in space unless you are within the safety zone of a station and in SOLO, when you have cargo. Logging back in resets the instance, and the pirates will show back up to try and take your stuff.

So, yes it is not a long list...or a complicated one. But always remember, if you have cargo besides limpets, and you hop into ANY system with pirates, you have a greater chance of getting attacked. Once you get your hold full, head straight back to a station, don't stop to sightsee, do not pass Go, do not collect $200 credits. While you are in transit, you are a target.

Good luck on your next adventures Commander! o7

Michael Charlie Golf signing out...

 

[Para Handy]

^^^^ WOT @AngryAntz and @McGyverCP said ^^^^^

Plus - wait for the pirate's high-wake signal so you know they won't be back and never mine in a RES as there pirates keep turning up.

 

[SlickPBW]

And Crown Royal. It eliminates frustration. If it doesn’t seem to be working, you need more.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Alternaitively, find a mining hotspot out of the bubble. You don't need to travel that far and there won't be any pirates to contend with.

Additionally, painite isn't as good as it used to be as the markets for this commodity are quite volatile andyou may find yourself chasing the best price as demand levels are being met very quickly. Osmium and platinum are, at present, more stable.

 

[fishevi]

Drop in your mining area, shoot pirates(build ship that can), mine, sell.
That's my mining gameplay.
My mining ships:
Python - frags, beam, mining lasers(before, now armed trader role)
iClipper - frags, mining lasers
Corvette - beams, mc, mining lasers, subsurface missiles

 

[Frags]

If you really need to enter mining spot with some cargo you can do the following with your Krait MKII:
1. Install A rated thrusters, power distributor (try 6A instead of 7A - could be enough), shield (5A/6A, 5C/6C bi-wave) and three 0A shield boosters.
2. As soon as you see pirates entered the spot put your pips to 3-3-0 or 2-4-0 (depends on your ability to boost non-stop)
3. Boost non-stop away until the pirates disappear from the radar (usually at 7+kms).
4. Boost away 3-4 times more.
The pirates should be gone.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

...

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Drop in your mining area, shoot pirates(build ship that can), mine, sell.
That's my mining gameplay.
My mining ships:
Python - frags, beam, mining lasers(before, now armed trader role)
iClipper - frags, mining lasers
Corvette - beams, mc, mining lasers, subsurface missiles

For a newish player, even with 100mCR, building a combat capable miner may be a touch difficult.

 

[fishevi]

For a newish player, even with 100mCR, building a combat capable miner may be a touch difficult.

Agreed.
TBH, I didn't start mining till I had A rated, g3'd Python.
That makes me thinking(hopefully not for long...), cheap combat capable mining build, is it doable?

 

[Ashnak]

At 100 MCr., the Krait Mk.II/Python is overreaching a bit. The biggest/baddest ship you could reasonably equip and use would be a Federal Assault Ship.

As for combat training, though, I'd start of even cheaper in a Viper Mk.III - as you tried. Now, though, going to a Nav beacon in an Anarchy isn't exactly the easiest combat scenario - those are often compromised nav beacons, which usually are rated up there just below actual combat zones. If you want to start combat, go to some high (or medium) security system with a ring (or multiple) with an assortment of different RES, preferrably close to a station with decent outfitting and a shipyard. If you don't want to start with Engineering, you should stay out of Open, too - stick to solo or a friendly (non-PvP) private group like mobius https://elitepve.com/ .

Now, assuming you have your (non-engineered) Viper (suggestion below), go onto a Low RES. Either choose your target carefully (some WANTED low level ship), or start following the system security around. Let them make the first move. Once they start shooting up a bad guy, scan the victim and, once they show up as WANTED in your HUD (target info, left of the radar), join in on the fun. Don't shoot at the cops.

When you get bored by that, you can the progress through the various difficulty levels:

• low RES
• "friendly" nav beacons
• (medium) RES
• high RES
• hazardous RES (no more cops)
• compromised nav beacons
• combat zones
• high level pirate threats
• alien signal sources

But will find that, at the very least starting from combat zones, NPCs will bring along engineered and combat fitted ships, too.

Ok, a non-engineered Viper build:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

SInce you said pulse and MC, I gave you fixed pulses and gimballed MCs for starters. There's enough power to spare to play around with the loadout, though. There are also the two internal slots (size 3 and size 2) where I put cargo racks in (as generic massless damage buffers). The Viper is rather conscious about its weight, so I tried to avoid adding any more mass there.

As a comparison, this could be a highly engineered naughty Viper (mine):

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

I use this as my main ship for those highly paying and slightly illegal "destroy this, scan that" missions. Not really combat oriented - those packhounds have a hard time with dealing with anything larger than a Cobra.

If you run out of things to do with the Viper and/or need too much time to kill NPC Anacondas, you might want to upgrade to a Vulture - two large hardpoints on a large engine, and two coffee makers. For that, I'd definitely recommend engineering, though (it's rather hard to balance her power requirements otherwise), spending a few weeks to get some powerplay toys and make the trip to the ruins to unlock the Guardian goodies. But the result is worth it:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[Ashnak]

That makes me thinking(hopefully not for long...), cheap combat capable mining build, is it doable?

Smallest that might be able to pull it off could be a FAS - but you would be restricted to maybe 32 tons of cargo. If you drop the "combat" part, that's otherwise a DBX. The Alliance ships may be able to upgrade that to 64 tons - but then you're also not that far away (money wise) from a Python/Krait Mk.II.

 

[d8veh]

When you drop into any rings to mine, ships will drop in soon after. In most cases, it's pirates. sometimes they wait until you've gone right in and fired your first prospector limpet. Be patient. Don't start your lasers until it's clear. The pirate ships normally fly straight to you and scan you. After that, they retreat and make a complete lap of the radar at full range, then they depart, which takes about 5 minutes. The worst case is when you get pirates and miners dop in, because the pirates will go and start chasing and shooting the miners, which can take a long time. Either way, your best option is to boost away for a long distance. About 10 to 15 boosts should do it depending on how fast your ship is, then you can start mining. For the first 10 minutes, keep an eye on your radar ijust n case they reappear. If they do, then put your cargo hatch away and keep boosting until they're well off the radar and pray it's not a fast ship that's chasing you. They'll never catch you, but it takes ages to get away from some of them.

Occasionally, no ships come, and more occasionally, it's just other miners, who fly directly to the rocks and start mining. Either way, you're good to go if no pirates have come by the time you've fired your first limpet and waited say 20 seconds.

If forwhatever reason, you get logged out in the middle of a mining session and you want to carry on, the moment you get logged back in, keep boosting for 10 to 15 times to get clear of any ships that start dropping in until you're well clear of them. That doen't mean stop when they disappear from the radar, as they might have better sensors than you. Keep going for plenty of time to make sure that you're clear.

 

[Frags]

Additionally, even when pirates scanned your ship and left after you just dropped into a ring, they can appear again later.
It doesn't happen very often but may happen (could depend on your combat rank), so be able to successfully run away is a must for miners,
unless, of course, you're mining with Conda or Vette armed to the teeth.

 

[d8veh]

Additionally, even when pirates scanned your ship and left after you just dropped into a ring, they can appear again later.
It doesn't happen very often but may happen (could depend on your combat rank), so be able to successfully run away is a must for miners,
unless, of course, you're mining with Conda or Vette armed to the teeth.

That's very rare, but it does happen, It happens when other ships drop in and the pirate chases after them out of range, then, when it's finished with them, it comes back to investigate you. It was recorded in this video where I'm explaining about the pirates after I dropped in at 36.25. The pirate chased after a wing of two miners, who eventually jumped out, then the pirate re-appeared 6 minutes after I first saw it.

When a pirate jumps out of the rings, it leaves behind the white wake. If you don't see the white square of the wake, you should be suspicious.

If you use the boost away method, that I detailed above, you're safe from pirates whatever they do, and it's quicker than waiting for them to go away. I only wait where I drop in if no ships or if only miners come, though I didn't used to do that when I made the video below because one time I didn't run far enough, but now I know how far to go to be safe.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzgPT1P3vw&t=349s

 

[Chrystoph]

If you want to keep the AspX, here is a build for Laser Mining:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

The heat sink is useful to hang out on the star in refueling if it runs long or hot, and to jump out from inside the fueling zone if a pirate shows up when you are loaded.

Here is my current location for sell and hotspots for Platinum:

Hotspots

edtools.cc

I prefer the sites noted with OVR which stands for overlap. That means that 2 or more of the hotspots have overlapping sections. If you come down in the overlap, you are more likely to find the resource. You'll need to scan the ring with the DSS to see the hotspots.

Spoiler

Let the pirates sniff you, point the ship at whatever planet the ring surrounds, get the pirates off your radar, and scan rocks (target the prospector limpet to see the rock content); your prospector controller can handle 2 rocks at a time. I put my Prospector on Fire button 2, and the mining laser AND Collectors on Fire button 1. The game will auto-handle Collector limpets to the max, then only fire them as the earlier ones expire (or die).

I recommend shooting at the bottom of the rock, where the spin throws the fragments away from the rock; this is least likely to kill limpets. You need to remember that you are in a 3D environment and can change your orientation in relation to the rock; this is important because Collector limpets have no self preservation.

Spoiler

Always try to move toward the planet, so that you don't end up flying in circles.

You can filter what your limpets go after on the Contact tab of the Left hand (default 1) panel. That way, you don't spend most of your time getting rid of low end junk.

Spoiler

Don't forget to stock up on limpets! Most mining centric systems don't have them.

Most important, if you have more questions, ASK! The stupid question is the one you DON'T ask.

 

[Old Nippy]

Thanks for the replies everyone, there's good advice in here. The thing I'm still wondering is:

Should I abandon credit farming and switch to engineering for the overpowered crap?
Is a smaller ship with higher quality modules better, or is a big ship with less expensive modules better, like a loaded AspX vs a stock Python?

 

[Gully Foyle]

Hi there, I've been playing this game for a few weeks now, and have built up around 100million CR. I seem to have hit a wall. I've tried a couple times to upgrade my mining from an AspX to a Krait Mk2. As soon as I show up at a painite site, NPC pirates show up, demand an amount of my cargo within 15 seconds. They don't wait the 15, they shoot almost immediately, and I'm dead pretty quick.

So, I sold the krait and got a viper to get the fundamentals of combat down at a nav marker in an anarchy system. I upgraded everything to A, and i still get smacked by smaller ships. I also have a chieftan, but then smaller ships fly like gnats, and whatya know, I'm dead again. I think I'm 'novice' ranked, so I don't go around aggroing 'elites' or wings, but come on.

Should I abandon credit farming and switch to engineering for the overpowered crap? Is a cheaper ship with higher (but smaller) quality modules better, or is a big ship with less expensive modules better? I'm sticking mostly with burst and multicannons.

I watched the videos and the advice is all the same- stay behind and shoot the bad guy. Well no $#!t.

Try a vulture to learn combat, many of us love it. A gimbled beam and a nice multi cannon or PA is what I use. Get behind larger ships and eager thrusters or with small opponents you will keep better using the blue zone, boost turns and speed.
o7

 

[Ashnak]

Should I abandon credit farming and switch to engineering for the overpowered crap?

Not going to make that choice for you - like it says on the tin: "Blast your own way."

In my opinion (and no, even at my age, that's not "humble") - do it all. I don't like "farming" or "grinding", and either of the two paths you indicated above will lead to that.

Is a smaller ship with higher quality modules better, or is a big ship with less expensive modules better, like a loaded AspX vs a stock Python?

"Better" - for what? Each ship in ED has its niche. A T-9 isn't that good for canyon racing² and has some trouble with outposts or ground base scanning missions. A Sidewinder is a real pain if you want to deliver 500 tons of cargo. For combat, an AspX is basically a nice fat target for anyone with an even just slightly engineered ship - a Python can at least bring along enough armour/shields to ride the attack out, and enough firepower to make it a really bad idea to linger in front of it. For a combat ship, if you'd make me choose between an A-rated AspX and a stock Python, I'd take the AspX - and then sell it and get a Vulture instead.

²Terms and conditions apply. Like in this video:

Source: https://youtu.be/q_aCsH1YtDE
- but those cows were engineered.