Newcomer / Intro New Player - Intimidated

[aRJay]

I have a good shield generator but I figured the less keys while learning combat the better and seeing as how boosters have to be activated/managed, I went for the hull mods. Maybe a mistake?

Okay this game is hooking me now. After dying I spawned at prison and saw Wolf 359 was a jump away. I love Star Trek the Next Generation so I had to check it out!!! I didn't find any Borg but I did find Sol!!! HOME!!! I assumed Sol was really far from the starting zone? Wish I had the permit though, darn. But still, wow, what a ride. No clue how I got here really lol but I'm loving the journey.

Love the resource links and stuff though guys, so nice it's really appreciated.

Hull and module reinforcement are good, hull will get you more protection per tonne than armour. As @Jago Kain said Shield Boosters in your utility slots don't need you to pay attention, Shield Cell Banks in the module slots do which is why I don't use them.

The trip to prison can take you hundreds of light years away from where you were.

The Vipers weren't ships I used so this might be a bit of a dog but for an unengineered combat Viper IV I just came up with this.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

 

[Esteban]

I just died because my laser malfunctioned and shot a cop's ship accidentally. I wasn't even on the trigger, they just shoot on their own?

When a laser malfunctions, it often fires after you've stopped firing.* If possible, you can briefly retract your hardpoints (weapons) and then deploy them again. This works if you're still in battle and NEED them. Otherwise, just retract them. A trip to get repairs is what will restore them. I haven't had the pleasure of trying a Viper; I hear it's a great PvE ship (small ship), and lots of fun when equipped and in a good pilot's hands.
I expect that, being a small ship, there's limited space for a lot of armor and module protection, so a good portion of avoiding module malfunctions from combat damage is up to the pilot's ability to not get shot-up too much. Being a really nimble ship, this should be easier than other, less-so ships but that is definitely something that comes with skill and experience.

Your post almost sounds like you're trying to swallow a whole lot of this game quickly (perhaps my incorrect impression). Do take your time; the learning curve is giant. But definitely keep enjoying; we love to hear new CMDRs relate the reactions that you are sharing here, and this community's always willing to help.


* in case you haven't learned, if you happen to shoot a friendly (this happens to everyone!) and you see that you have become Wanted, don't go to a station in-system; you'll get sent to a penal ship far away. Instead, find the nearest station with an Interstellar Factor** where you can pay the (typically laughable) fine and clear the bounty on you. Then you can return to the system to finish any business you had- such as cashing those combat bounties you earned.

** Inara is your friend!

INARA

The community site for Elite: Dangerous, Starfield, Kingdom Come: Deliverance with the game databases, information, gaming news and other handy content...

inara.cz

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Your post almost sounds like you're trying to swallow a whole lot of this game quickly (perhaps my incorrect impression). Do take your time; the learning curve is giant. But definitely keep enjoying; we love to hear new CMDRs relate the reactions that you are sharing here, and this community's always willing to help.


* in case you haven't learned, if you happen to shoot a friendly (this happens to everyone!) and you see that you have become Wanted, don't go to a station in-system; you'll get sent to a penal ship far away. Instead, find the nearest station with an Interstellar Factor** where you can pay the (typically laughable) fine and clear the bounty on you. Then you can return to the system to finish any business you had- such as cashing those combat bounties you earned.

** Inara is your friend!

INARA

The community site for Elite: Dangerous, Starfield, Kingdom Come: Deliverance with the game databases, information, gaming news and other handy content...

inara.cz

Well I did fly to Hutton to get my "Mug" yesterday (Mug was stolen by Hatchbreaker limpet ) and check out Bernard's loop, things I've been seeing on videos for years now. But I kinda just stumbled into that because of that trip to prison taking me so close to those iconic systems. I actually wish I had been forced to make the journey to that area intentionally as part of a trek.

But yeah I'm not used to struggling in MMO's or feeling so overwhelmed so I'm hyper focused on "getting it" right now.

Today's struggle is the legal system, again. Because of the dumb conflict between weapons and scanners, I shot an NPC when I just needed to scan him. So because of a 200 credit fine, my ability to mod my ship has been hindered until I pay the fine. But I can't pay the fine, because if I try to dock, I'll be murdered.....

Not sure what to do with this situation but no matter what station I dock at in other systems, the Legal contact guy says I don't have a fine.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Hull and module reinforcement are good, hull will get you more protection per tonne than armour. As @Jago Kain said Shield Boosters in your utility slots don't need you to pay attention, Shield Cell Banks in the module slots do which is why I don't use them.

The trip to prison can take you hundreds of light years away from where you were.

The Vipers weren't ships I used so this might be a bit of a dog but for an unengineered combat Viper IV I just came up with this.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Thanks! That fit is pretty close to mine.

But I'm starting to see people's issues with the Viper Mk 4. It's defenses and firepower don't appear to make up for how sluggish it is. I'm constantly getting out-turned by NPC ships. And sure I have a huge hull tank, but the ease at which my weapons and modules malfunction makes that hull tank useless for dogfighting. It DOES help me jump away and escape though.

As a side-benefit though, I'm starting to see the benefits of Flight Assist being off. Because that's about the only way I can keep my weapons trained on these guys long enough to do some damage lol.

 

[MishaTX]

Today's struggle is the legal system, again. Because of the dumb conflict between weapons and scanners, I shot an NPC when I just needed to scan him. So because of a 200 credit fine, my ability to mod my ship has been hindered until I pay the fine. But I can't pay the fine, because if I try to dock, I'll be murdered.....

It's been mentioned before, but Interstellar Factors are your answer. They'll let you pay off your fines for a slight markup, and you'll be clean as a whistle again. Easiest way to find one is to go to Inara.cz, (which you should bookmark right away ), click Galaxy at the top, then Systems and Stations on the left, Nearest under that, then select Interstellar Factors at the top and Search.

Also, you don't have to use "fire" for a passive scan, just target them and point in their general direction.

 

[sinisalo]

But I can't pay the fine, because if I try to dock, I'll be murdered.....

Is it a fine or a bounty? If it's a fine, you should be, umm, fine?

Maybe it changed, but only a bounty should imperil you.

 

[Para Handy]

... because of a 200 credit fine, my ability to mod my ship has been hindered until I pay the fine. But I can't pay the fine, because if I try to dock, I'll be murdered.....
.........

Fines will not get you shot up at a station. You can dock OK and then you will see you are in a condition called "Anonymous Access" where you can't actually do anything in Starport Services except open Contacts and pay your fine in Authority Contact. You then have full access again.

Bounties on the other hand will get you squished if you get scanned by security on your way in (the station doesn't scan). So if you see "Wanted" above your fuel gauge best bet is to opt for finding an Interstellar Factor where you can pay off your bounty and avoid being sent to the naughty step.

 

[Maximillian Forrest]

You just uncovered the biggest hole in Elite, which is that a lot of players refuse to play ‘Open’ (including me) because Frontier don’t make it easy for those who want open play without PvP.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

It's been mentioned before, but Interstellar Factors are your answer. They'll let you pay off your fines for a slight markup, and you'll be clean as a whistle again. Easiest way to find one is to go to Inara.cz, (which you should bookmark right away ), click Galaxy at the top, then Systems and Stations on the left, Nearest under that, then select Interstellar Factors at the top and Search.

Also, you don't have to use "fire" for a passive scan, just target them and point in their general direction.

Okay I found out how to filter in the Galaxy Map for Interstellar Factors.....aaaand I still don't see where they are. I'll have to dig into this lol

Oh and I figured out my scanning issues, a second fire group just for scanners but the trick was the "switch groups" keybind I was previously unaware of. Now it actually makes sense that there's a combat and scanner HUD mode.

Thanks!

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Fines will not get you shot up at a station. You can dock OK and then you will see you are in a condition called "Anonymous Access" where you can't actually do anything in Starport Services except open Contacts and pay your fine in Authority Contact. You then have full access again.

Bounties on the other hand will get you squished if you get scanned by security on your way in (the station doesn't scan). So if you see "Wanted" above your fuel gauge best bet is to opt for finding an Interstellar Factor where you can pay off your bounty and avoid being sent to the naughty step.

Oh yeah we're way past Anonymous. I'm afraid the poor guy got a healthy dose of the Multi-cannon and I'm full on WANTED lol.

Okay I have a question...like where are the guilds/outfits/corporations in this game? Is there a chat channel or station contact for that? I've never played an online game that didn't have a built-in function like that.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

You just uncovered the biggest hole in Elite, which is that a lot of players refuse to play ‘Open’ (including me) because Frontier don’t make it easy for those who want open play without PvP.

I've seen one other real player since I left noobspace and he was quite nice. PVP is the last of my worries currently lol.

Buuut to your point, that's a constant problem with these games I agree. Actually I left Eve because it was bad enough they made it so any idiot could scan down your precise location from anywhere in the universe....but then they basically openly forced PVP onto the community like it or not.

 

[tolm]

I personally liked the MkIV ... Military Hull plus a 4C BiWeave (think that’s the biggest slot?) Shield Generator with the rest HRPs save 1 MRP and then a couple of shield boosters in the utilities. Shields will absorb damage for a bit meaning less malfunctions and then the hull should be enough to keep you a live to either finish them off or run!

Don’t have the MkIV any more but, based on the mostly G3 engineering I had access to, it was probably something like this:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Okay I found out how to filter in the Galaxy Map for Interstellar Factors.....aaaand I still don't see where they are. I'll have to dig into this lol

I think Interstellar Factors, like several other services, don't actually show up on the sysmap until you've already visited them, which makes the map kinda pointless for finding them in the first place. I have no idea why Frontier decided to make this the case. Black markets and Material Traders are the same.

But, knowing where to look you can find them in other ways. They typically appear in low security systems. You could also check Inara. I recommend bookmarking one close to wherever you usually hang for future reference.

 

[Para Handy]

............
Okay I have a question...like where are the guilds/outfits/corporations in this game? Is there a chat channel or station contact for that? I've never played an online game that didn't have a built-in function like that.

Chat in the game is a bit lacking, to put it mildly. Text chat in local or system chat is clumsy, voice chat requires you be winged-up or at least friends (I think).

We do have squadrons but again comms is rather naff - as is finding one you like in-game. I think most people use the website INARA to seek-out an appealing squadron or an in-game group that might not actually be a squadron (there is a squadron and groups sub forum on here too) and most reasonable-sized or established squadrons and groups have out-of-game comms for their members (like IRC, Discord, etc.).

So there is plenty of that type of stuff around, just the provided in-game aspect is lacking. (One of the annoying things is that you can only belong to one squadron at a time, I think that is why a lot of people have links to several groups to suit what they feel like doing.)

 

[aRJay]

I've seen one other real player since I left noobspace and he was quite nice. PVP is the last of my worries currently lol.

Buuut to your point, that's a constant problem with these games I agree. Actually I left Eve because it was bad enough they made it so any idiot could scan down your precise location from anywhere in the universe....but then they basically openly forced PVP onto the community like it or not.

The thing with Elite is the old Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy quote space is big, even if there were 100,000,000 players there would be 4,000 systems for each of them.
So your chances of meeting another player are quite remote, obviously they can be improved if you head to places that are likely to attract other players Community Goals locations and early Engineers systems are examples of such places unfortunately the sort of people you don't want to meet up with are aware of that and head there for more targets.
But away from such places you won't meet all that many people of any sort.

Myself I play in one of the Private Groups I have joined where antisocial behaviour isn't allowed, actually that is mostly because more than a few other players in the same location as me can cause me framerate issues.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Update:

I cannot thank you guys enough. So after reviewing the mining nerf (argh why didn't I play when that was booming!?) and seeing that combat was an uphill struggle for a poor un-enginered player - I stripped my Viper into a flying gas can and hit the neutron highway. Road to riches is the best! I'm scanning/mapping everything in sight.

A this rate I should have my Anaconda in time for Christmas easily!

Great game, great community.

 

[Craith]

Update:

I cannot thank you guys enough. So after reviewing the mining nerf (argh why didn't I play when that was booming!?) and seeing that combat was an uphill struggle for a poor un-enginered player - I stripped my Viper into a flying gas can and hit the neutron highway. Road to riches is the best! I'm scanning/mapping everything in sight.

A this rate I should have my Anaconda in time for Christmas easily!

Great game, great community.

Welcome to the game, and glad you enjoy it.

One bit of advice (after you got the financial stability that you like) is to branch out shipwise - if you found the viper IV sluggish, you won't be particularily happy with the anaconda. Turrets make up for that up to a point, but it does come with a hefty damage penalty. The viper is a good ship, and can survive even without engineering in conflict zones.

You might like the Vulture, it is quite nimble and can dish out respectable damage, even without engineering, and not to pricey. A bit power starved though. All ships improve their turning a lot when you boost into your turns, especially if you use flight assist off (for a short moment).

Personally I am a big fan of the Eagle but without engineering you'll struggle with big ships, it is not tanky, does not a lot of damage and without engineering and the enhanced thrusters you can buy at some engineers also not particularly fast.

What kind of weapons are you using currently? Thermal weapons (Lasers) are good against shields but bad against hull, Kinetic weapons (multicannons & cannons) are the other way around, explosives (mines, missiles) are really bad against shields but very effective against hull and especially external modules (like weapons, thrusters). Plasma does a part of its damage as "true" damage, which ignores all resistances - same as ramming.

Explosives might also be the reason why you get malfunctions on your weapons, NPCs use them when your shields are down - a point defense can take care of them. Silent running also gets rid of seeker missiles, when your shields drop there is no reason not to use it for a few seconds to break target locks and mess up turrets and gimballed weapons. Don't use it for long, since your shields will stay offline and your heat will increase and start to damage your internals (unless you built your ship for silent running, of course - but NPCs will still hit surprisingly good, they are great with fixed weapons).

Maybe try out to use a bit of engineering, it makes a huge difference, you don't need everything at the maximum level, and the grade 1 recipes are very cheap material wise.

Finally - take your time, don't rush it, do the activities you enjoy and don't grind - it is not necessary and will just sour your experience.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Welcome to the game, and glad you enjoy it.

One bit of advice (after you got the financial stability that you like) is to branch out shipwise - if you found the viper IV sluggish, you won't be particularily happy with the anaconda. Turrets make up for that up to a point, but it does come with a hefty damage penalty. The viper is a good ship, and can survive even without engineering in conflict zones.

You might like the Vulture, it is quite nimble and can dish out respectable damage, even without engineering, and not to pricey. A bit power starved though. All ships improve their turning a lot when you boost into your turns, especially if you use flight assist off (for a short moment).

Personally I am a big fan of the Eagle but without engineering you'll struggle with big ships, it is not tanky, does not a lot of damage and without engineering and the enhanced thrusters you can buy at some engineers also not particularly fast.

What kind of weapons are you using currently? Thermal weapons (Lasers) are good against shields but bad against hull, Kinetic weapons (multicannons & cannons) are the other way around, explosives (mines, missiles) are really bad against shields but very effective against hull and especially external modules (like weapons, thrusters). Plasma does a part of its damage as "true" damage, which ignores all resistances - same as ramming.

Explosives might also be the reason why you get malfunctions on your weapons, NPCs use them when your shields are down - a point defense can take care of them. Silent running also gets rid of seeker missiles, when your shields drop there is no reason not to use it for a few seconds to break target locks and mess up turrets and gimballed weapons. Don't use it for long, since your shields will stay offline and your heat will increase and start to damage your internals (unless you built your ship for silent running, of course - but NPCs will still hit surprisingly good, they are great with fixed weapons).

Maybe try out to use a bit of engineering, it makes a huge difference, you don't need everything at the maximum level, and the grade 1 recipes are very cheap material wise.

Finally - take your time, don't rush it, do the activities you enjoy and don't grind - it is not necessary and will just sour your experience.

I'm starting to realize just how much credits it would take to make an un-engineered Anaconda really viable. Although bone-stock and stripped, it would still be a way better explorer than my Viper. I can't believe I just did a 250 jump loop in this thing lol. My wife is so ed at me hehe.

So right now I'm eying the Krait MKII as it seems really strong in combat but still viable for exploration/mining/missions. Is mining even still viable though? Dunno. But there's this voice in my head that really wants to hold out for the 'Conda. I'm so torn lol.

Yeah I know it's a pig but to me it's not a fighter, it's more like the Battlestar Galactica. With turrets, point defense, and ship launched fighters I should be able to tear up some conflict zones and rez sites right?

I was using the standard lazors+multicannon setup. I did think about the Eagle but with my level of flying skill and awareness...maybe a bit risky lol.

Thanks for your thoughts and look forward to your reply!

 

[Para Handy]

I won't ever take an Anaconda out exploring ever again. I did the whole Distant Worlds 2 expedition in my exploraconda and I really regretted using it. Fine, you get a decent jump and can fit all the bits you might ever need but - wow, wallowing around in supercruise to map planets, investigate stellar phenomena, etc is sssssssssoooooooooo frustrating. There is also the issue of landing - some people had real trouble landing on some terrains - I was lucky any time I landed I was able to get a level-enough spot without too much trouble.

So I would suggest you consider the ramifications before venturing on a long exploration trip in an Anaconda. Phantom and Orca seem to be a decent choice according to others, I have not investigated those - I plump for the AspExplorer for longish trips now and the DbX for short trips like Guardians etc.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

I won't ever take an Anaconda out exploring ever again. I did the whole Distant Worlds 2 expedition in my exploraconda and I really regretted using it. Fine, you get a decent jump and can fit all the bits you might ever need but - wow, wallowing around in supercruise to map planets, investigate stellar phenomena, etc is sssssssssoooooooooo frustrating. There is also the issue of landing - some people had real trouble landing on some terrains - I was lucky any time I landed I was able to get a level-enough spot without too much trouble.

So I would suggest you consider the ramifications before venturing on a long exploration trip in an Anaconda. Phantom and Orca seem to be a decent choice according to others, I have not investigated those - I plump for the AspExplorer for longish trips now and the DbX for short trips like Guardians etc.

Yeah I'm starting to reconsider my obsession with the Anaconda. I WILL get one, but do I really need to rush into one right now? Probably not. I'm thinking I should get a Fur-De-Lance or Krait right now, and just grind credits/faction rep for the Corvette.

Also I see a lot of people talk about landing on planets. What's the benefit? I've detailed mapped over 150+ worlds now...is there some extra benefit to landing on them that I'm missing out on?

Thanks man!