Newcomer / Intro New Player Needs Information

[aRJay]

Could I have some advice on whether I should upgrade my 'Sidewinder' or keep my credits for a new ship ?

If you like the Sidewinder upgrading it is fine, but buying a new ship if you have enough credits to cover the cost 3-5 times over also works.

If I decide to buy a new ship does anyone have suggestions on what ship I should buy ?

I bought a Viper next, sold it to get the Sidewinder almost immediately then bought a Cobra III but it is all down to what you like.

Also how does the modules system work ? Can I transfer modules I have on my 'Sidewinder' to new ship or do I have to buy new modules ?

You can transfer any module apart from the Core Internal armour which is ship specific, however swapping could lead to undersized modules which isn't always a good thing.
You can sell existing modules for what you paid for them.
You have to have a module in each Core internal slot which makes swapping those slightly less straightforward.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

...
If I decide to buy a new ship does anyone have suggestions on what ship I should buy ?
...

That all depends on what you want to do...

if you want to be a combat pilot then ViperIII is a good step, it is fun to fly and can earn you money by following the security ships and joining in their attacks on pirates

if you want to get out into the black and do some exploring then the Hauler is a neat ship - can get a decent jump distance and credits are easy to obtain that way

on the other hand if you want to have just a general purpose ship which you can use for any (non Thargoid) activity then the first ship sensibly suited to that is the CobraIII but that costs a good deal more than either of the above.

However, credits are easy to come by in either of the first two and then you will be spoiled for choice.

Good luck.

 

[Ashnak]

Just see that nobody seems to have mentioned Coriolis and EDSY yet. These two sites will let you play around with ships, their loadouts and engineering. Depending on what you want to do, they might help you decide whether and for how long to stick with the Sidey or go for a bigger ship.
As for my opinion of the Sidey: unengineered, it's adequate for getting your feet wet with any gameplay style you want to try out, and the rebuy is small enough not to bother about losing it once or ten times. After that, the air is a bit thin for the Sidey (mainly due to its limited size) until you can fully engineer it. A fully engineered Sidey, with some Powerplay weapons if you want to go for combat, can again become a real beast for everything except cargo transport.

 

[Lachie]

I've been doing quite a few missions with my Sidewinder from my starting base (Chamberlin's Rest) but i think I should try to move on.
Any thought on where I should try to get to for a new friendly home base that has a lot more to offer ?

 

[Lachie]

I'm thinking of moving on from using my Sidewinder and getting a Cobra MKIII.
Does it come with modules already installed on the ship or do I have to start from scratch and buy all the modules that I need and want ?

 

[rootsrat]

Any system will do tbh, so it's up to you really. What I can suggest:

- Large population systems are more stable, so easier to predict.
- More stations and bases means more missions on offer.
- Hi Tech systems tend to have better equipment in stations.

 

[Arrowroot 66]

When you buy a new ship it comes with bare-bones modules installed. The core modules are all E-rated, so not very good, and the optional modules usually include a couple of cargo racks and a shield generator. In other words, it will get you out of the station you buy it to another one, but that's about it. You need to budget for upgrading at least the FSD and thrusters, and whatever optional modules would be necessary for the role you want the ship to carry out.

See @Ashnak's post above for links to Coriolis and Edsy, and use one of these sites to plan your build before you go and buy it. And remember that A-rated modules can cost more than the ship itself!

 

[Jack Winter]

You can save a few credits (and also get a cheaper rebuy) by taking advantage of some stations giving discounts. https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Discounts

Also you can search for stations with discounts selling the ship and modules you want by using: https://inara.cz/elite/nearest-outfitting/

 

[aRJay]

I'm thinking of moving on from using my Sidewinder and getting a Cobra MKIII.
Does it come with modules already installed on the ship

Yes, all ships come with all core modules fitted and some of the others but.

or do I have to start from scratch and buy all the modules that I need and want ?

Not from scratch but you will need to buy some additional modules and upgrade others, it will come fitted out like this.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Note how the core modules are E rated which means the only good thing about them is they are cheap so some upgrading there.
The fitted cargo racks are undersized for the slots which is normal for new ships but ought to be corrected by either moving them to the right sided slots or replacing them.

All of that along with adding missing modules costs so for a 350,000 credit Cobra III you should even in these times of easy credits have 1,000,000 - 1,700,000 credits available.

Actually the Cobra isn’t too bad with lower rated modules but some of the later ships used to be considered a quick way back to the free starter ship without fitting top grade core modules.

 

[Lachie]

What I'm looking for is somewhere that I can get higher grade modules and more missions than where I am at the moment, which is (HIP 97950 - Chamberlin's Rest).
And if any of your suggestions are way out there beyond my jump range,. How do I get to these places ?
I'm a bit confused as to how its done if my ship only has smallish jump range. (likely it'll be a Cobra MKIII that I will buy)
I've never attempted this before and would not have a clue as to what was doing.
So I would be obliged for any guidance.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

What I'm looking for is somewhere that I can get higher grade modules and more missions than where I am at the moment, which is (HIP 97950 - Chamberlin's Rest).
And if any of your suggestions are way out there beyond my jump range,. How do I get to these places ?
I'm a bit confused as to how its done if my ship only has smallish jump range. (likely it'll be a Cobra MKIII that I will buy)
I've never attempted this before and would not have a clue as to what was doing.
So I would be obliged for any guidance.

A stock Cobra MkIII jumps over 10ly so you have little chance of not reaching anywhere from HIP 97950, a few jumps will take you to a good range of systems.

Without knowing how much credits you have, people can't really give a definitive answer. So if one were to assume that you just had enough to "C" rate things (to give you a mission runner for about 1MCr - not a combat ship) then the following places will have all you need. (If you have lots of credits - over 7MCr- and want to "A" rate things, just change the search parameters on that page.)

Nearest outfitting | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

P.S. Remember to keep enough in the bank to cover a few rebuys (insurance claims).

 

[Arrowroot 66]

The way to get somewhere a long way away is to fit a fuel scoop, and do repeated jumps, scooping fuel from stars as you go. (Apologies if you already know this) In the Galaxy map: set star types to OBAFGKM only, ensure that Apply settings to Route is checked, and select your destination system to plot a route. The solid orange line shows how far you'll go, you'll need to scoop fuel to get to stars on the dotted orange line.

Inara says Chamberlain's Rest has only size 1, 5 and 6 fuel scoops, so you're probably better jumping your Sidewinder than a brand new Cobra. Use Coriolis to plan out the Cobra you want/can afford, then the $ button in the top right will take you to an Inara search for stations that sell everything you need - you will probably need to change the Search criteria to make the "Near Star System" HIP 97950

I've just done it for a stock Cobra with C-rated thrusters and Frame Shift drive, and the closest stations are 30-40 light years from HIP 97950. When you get there you may well find it satisfies your requirements for more missions/modules as well.

Edit: actually less than 20 light years. Depending on your Sidewinder build, you might not need a fuel scoop to get there.

 

[0threeleven]

Watch out for gankers if you jump around in open mode.

 

[Ashnak]

Maybe to add to Arrowroot - you don't need a fuel scoop when travelling within the core systems. You can dock and refuel at (almost) any station in any settled system, and at a lot of fleet carriers. Refuelling is a basic service that's offered nearly everywhere. It could just make route plotting a bit more complicated.
If you go in the Galaxy map, select your target system and then "plot route", the map should show you a (yellow-orange) line connecting your current location with the target system. As long as the line is solid, you can get there (with your current loadout and loading) with the fuel you currently have in your tank. When the line turns dotted/dashed, you'll need to refuel.
If you don't want to fit a scoop, you'll need to make it so that the solid line ends in a settled system - and, once you get a bigger ship, also check that that system offers a sufficiently large landing pad. If that doesn't work out, you'll need to plot a route to a settled system that is near the system where your tank runs dry, refuel there and plot a new route segment. Yes, using a scoop can be more convenient - but for me, I usually don't carry a scoop in my bubble ships. I need the large compartments for more important stuff, and I can't be arxed to wait until my tank is refilled from a small scoop. Then again, e.g. my Thargoid evac runner (Krait Phantom) has a fuel range of ~240 ly....

 

[Lachie]

A stock Cobra MkIII jumps over 10ly so you have little chance of not reaching anywhere from HIP 97950, a few jumps will take you to a good range of systems.

Without knowing how much credits you have, people can't really give a definitive answer. So if one were to assume that you just had enough to "C" rate things (to give you a mission runner for about 1MCr - not a combat ship) then the following places will have all you need. (If you have lots of credits - over 7MCr- and want to "A" rate things, just change the search parameters on that page.)

Nearest outfitting | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

P.S. Remember to keep enough in the bank to cover a few rebuys (insurance claims).

I have just over 11million Credits at the moment and would like "A" Rated modules.
I tried changing search criteria ok, but no small landing pads showing.

 

[K Olley]

Beginner's mistake

If a station is shown as medium it will have small and medium landing pads.

If a station is shown as large it will have small, medium and large landing pads.

 

[Ashnak]

Or, to formulate it differently - your Sidey (Hauler, CMIII,...) will fit on any pad - small, medium or large. It requires as a minimum a small pad. If a station/base has no small pad available (temporarily or permanently, for whatever reason), they will reroute you to any other pad that can hold your ship. Like you can park your car on a bus parking space. It just gets a bit difficult if you want to park a bus on a regular car parking space...

 

[Jack Winter]

Also beware that there are 2 ways to plot a route, economical and fastest routes (can be found in the route settings on the galmap). Economical will make short jumps for low fuel consumption at the cost of increasing the number of jumps, and fastest will try to plot as few jumps as possible at the cost of higher fuel consumption.

If you need more cash for your new ship a good way is to fit a kill warrant scanner and then go to a high res and follow the system ships around. Once they are close to killing a ship, kwarrant scan it and then join in the fun. Most likely the targeted ship will not shoot back at you as it will concentrate it's fire at the other ships having done much more damage than you.

 

[Lachie]

If I use stock Sidewinder without using a fuel scoop to travel to where I need to go to get a Cobra MKIII and all A Rated Modules is that possible ?
I have enough credits (12,000,000) for what I want to buy (ship and Modules) but I would like advice as to where to go. And if so how to do I plot a route ?
I used INARA and used the search for my 'Outfitting' criteria from HIP 97950 and the long list it generated shows anything from 18.11LY to 81.78LY distance. It's quite overwhelming so I'm reaching out to you CMDRs again to keep me right.
Thanks in advance.

 

[aRJay]

If I use stock Sidewinder without using a fuel scoop to travel to where I need to go to get a Cobra MKIII and all A Rated Modules is that possible ?

Probably you just need to visit a station every couple of jumps to refuel, or add a 2C fuel tank in an optional slot to be more secure.
Or switch to economical and do it easily.

I have enough credits (12,000,000) for what I want to buy (ship and Modules) but I would like advice as to where to go. And if so how to do I plot a route ?

I used INARA and used the search for my 'Outfitting' criteria from HIP 97950 and the long list it generated shows anything from 18.11LY to 81.78LY distance. It's quite overwhelming so I'm reaching out to you CMDRs again to keep me right.
Thanks in advance.

Assuming you have fitted an A rated FSD in your Sidewinder that is 1 jump to 5 jumps in fastest mode or perhaps 3 jumps to 12 jumps in economical.

Note a jump takes a minute on average.