New Player Old Gamer

[ozA]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel. This event in which I was knocked out of warp, powered down, unable to do anything but essentially watch a cut scene with me dying happened over and over till I went from about 3 million Cr to about 500k. At which point I gave up. Now I know frontier wants to save a dying company. This is not the way to do it. No clue was even given other than a ship mail that said find a rescue ship..which I did, and arm up with anti Thargoid weaponry, which I did. But every time. the result was the same.
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. From a Astrophysicists point of view it is inaccurate, but close enough to be entertaining. I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

 

[Rochester]

It is by its nature not a game built for everyone. FD built a game ‘they wanted to play themselves’. It was built with far more limitations when it was first launched and probably was aimed at a certain specific demographic.

FD are a multi-title company and ED put them back on the map, but it is not their primary concern. It is not in development, it is a finished product which receives regular updates.

The game has changed over the years and it’s evident FD do want to make the game more accessible. But they sort of shot themselves in foot because this isn’t the game they actually set out to make nor promote pre-launch, the original title was to be far more interesting but some parts simply were never finished. Some elements are new and in my opinion built to encourage new players or to placate certain demographics, after the fact, that’s why they may not make sense or seem overly difficult.

I would recommend playing it as a basic sim, start off very small and try out each career one by one and just get a feel for the different ships. It’s not actually supposed to a race and tooling around just moving cargo can be enjoyable in itself.

Pick one system and get allied with the small factions and follow the missions. Soon they will throw credit at you and be a billionaire in days if not hours, credits are very easy to make in game (another compromise).

Thargoid bashing is only one element of the game, it is not intended to be the overall objective unlike some may present, everything in game is optional and interchangeable. Essentially it’s a role play game where you make the rules.

This is a slow game with no real objectives.

O7

 

[Brrokk]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel. This event in which I was knocked out of warp, powered down, unable to do anything but essentially watch a cut scene with me dying happened over and over till I went from about 3 million Cr to about 500k. At which point I gave up. Now I know frontier wants to save a dying company. This is not the way to do it. No clue was even given other than a ship mail that said find a rescue ship..which I did, and arm up with anti Thargoid weaponry, which I did. But every time. the result was the same.
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. From a Astrophysicists point of view it is inaccurate, but close enough to be entertaining. I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

With respect, you're coming new to the game and trying to dive straight in to an end-game "raid" which needs gear and skills you don't yet have. That won't really work in any game. You've noticed the steep learning cliff; I suggest you tackle that for a while first.

 

[Mrc_NorthEast]

Some of us warned Fdev about this. The Titan content is pretty much end game. FDev offer an ax starter ship in the Arx store. But they give you no info on how to use it appropriately.

I suggest watching a few YT vids or Twitch streams to see those who play the game alot, do those activities. Thargoid content is challenging enough, and I have been playing this game for years. Someone new, yeah I would not expect that to go well.

So since Fdev ignores the whole get up to speed, and learn how to use the ships and modules needed, do your 'research' via watching a few vids. It should help explain how things work.

 

[zeta]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel. This event in which I was knocked out of warp, powered down, unable to do anything but essentially watch a cut scene with me dying happened over and over till I went from about 3 million Cr to about 500k. At which point I gave up. Now I know frontier wants to save a dying company. This is not the way to do it. No clue was even given other than a ship mail that said find a rescue ship..which I did, and arm up with anti Thargoid weaponry, which I did. But every time. the result was the same.
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. From a Astrophysicists point of view it is inaccurate, but close enough to be entertaining. I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

You should learn how to fly first and get basic engineering done (thrusters, power plants, possibly power distributor, don't need grade 5, grade 3-4 is sufficient). This should only take a day or two. Then your chances are better.

However if you are set on an un engineered ship, watch cmdr Mechan's video, especially the section on unengineered section. You should also familiarize yourself on how interceptors work (so that you make it to the Titan to begin with):

An end-to-end guide to fighting Thargoid Titans (plus unengineered starter build)

An end-to-end guide to fighting Thargoid Titans.Builds used: https://youtu.be/DqhtpCg-uwQ?si=l6iHWDDFfgnd29F_Additional (not recommended!) no-engineering bui...

www.youtube.com

 

[Fnord Velkor]

.....
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. ...

As others have said Thargoid combat is not at all "new-player friendly". I have played this game for over 9 years (ignore the forum date) but the Thargoid combat is just not for me - to gain proficiency I believe involves many "rebuys". I can't live with the idea of rebuys so don't bother with it after my first expensive attempts (it costs a lot in time and credits to start afresh after destruction).

There is far FAR more to this game than Thargoid combat, just enjoy it for what it is.

 

[nemolomen]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel. This event in which I was knocked out of warp, powered down, unable to do anything but essentially watch a cut scene with me dying happened over and over till I went from about 3 million Cr to about 500k. At which point I gave up. Now I know frontier wants to save a dying company. This is not the way to do it. No clue was even given other than a ship mail that said find a rescue ship..which I did, and arm up with anti Thargoid weaponry, which I did. But every time. the result was the same.
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. From a Astrophysicists point of view it is inaccurate, but close enough to be entertaining. I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

Most , if not all, of getting to a Titan is avoiding damage by both running away and being invisible.

For running away, you need a fast ship (Boosts at 500m/s +): A rated thrusters and G3 Engineering (Dirty Drives w/Drag Drives) will help greatly here.

For invisibility, you need both use of Silent Running and Heatsink Launcher(s).

These two aspects make it possible form me to get to the Titan to be able to deal damage in the first place.

 

[GroG79]

Sounds like your thrusters shut down after you deployed weapons

 

[vanFace]

I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

Who do you address with "you" here? The community or FDev? If it is the former, well... thanks for shelling out some money and keeping our beloved game alive. As for your experience: learn the ropes and play the game. If it is FDev though, then I'm afraid you will not find them giving a damn.

 

[Mr Lindsay]

As others have said, while it is technically possible to engage in Thargoid gameplay with entry level ships, doing so effectively requires a great deal of knowledge and practise or skill. (I'm not very skilled so it took me years to get comfortable with Interceptor fights and Thargoid gameplay, and I've still only beaten the biggest of them as part of a group, but it's my favourite part of the game.) The 'cut-scene' scenarios you describe can generally be easily survived by building a fast enough ship and boosting away until you are able to jump out, it is possible to fight and win, but generally you're trying to get somewhere so it's quicker just to leg it and get on with what you're doing. The outcome is not pre-determined.

I would recommend leaving Thargoids alone for a while, and instead trying to build up your resources and game knowledge in time for the next Titan instead. YouTube is a good resource for seeing how to deal with these scenarios, and I'd recommend the AntiXenoInitiative DOT com website where you can find a lot of technical information about the Thargoids, about how they behave in each scenario they are encountered, and ship build suggestions that will give you a decent chance of surviving the encounters (not winning fights to start with, just surviving and getting away.)

Elite Dangerous is a really cool game but once you get going there are few guard rails, and it's perfectly possible to bankrupt yourself back down to square one. The Number 1 rule is "Don't fly without a rebuy," so if you are getting low on credits switch to a lower-risk task for a little while until you build your credits back up to a level several times higher than the amount you lose each time you die. (Most of us that have been playing a while have credits in the billions, and death is merely a bump in the road.)

Good luck!

 

[aRJay]

I have been playing ED for around 8 years and tried to get to attack a Guardian Titan for about the first time yesterday and was bounced hard, not as badly as you were OP but still hard enough to almost loose my ship. More studying for me required.

The learning cliff you mentioned is basically to get you to the state where you can hope to find your way around in the game and work out how to do stuff without having to think about it. The Thargoid invasion and the Titans are at the top of a whole different cliff, one which I am not far enough up to expect to do much.

To be honest the Titans etc are more things I feel I should get involved with for the sake of humanity in the bubble as well as all the development effort to add them rather than because I think they will be fun.

 

[metatheurgist]

Frontier's game design is butt. This is really not for people just jumping in. A good design would have the approach being various levels of difficult that would in no uncertain terms inform someone that they have reached their limit and turn back now, while still making enough credit to contribute and earn whatever bribe they are offering this week. But that's Frontier for you, it's all binary, you can do it or you can't. And if you can't there's no explanation why.

 

[the100thmonkey]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel. This event in which I was knocked out of warp, powered down, unable to do anything but essentially watch a cut scene with me dying happened over and over till I went from about 3 million Cr to about 500k. At which point I gave up. Now I know frontier wants to save a dying company. This is not the way to do it. No clue was even given other than a ship mail that said find a rescue ship..which I did, and arm up with anti Thargoid weaponry, which I did. But every time. the result was the same.
Now I know some may smirk and say "What a noob...lol" Consider carefully why I am even posting this. I like this game. I am interested in it. From a Astrophysicists point of view it is inaccurate, but close enough to be entertaining. I hope you take what my concerns are to heart.

You suggest that we should not say "what a noob" without giving us reason to consider you not a noob.

As said up-thread, Thargoid game-play is end-game PVE game-play.

Frankly, if you only had 3mcr after buying your ship in the first place, and multiple deaths took you down to 500kcr, then you are simply not in a position to be engaging in end-game content. You're not even close: Some short-range haulage missions will give you that for 20 minutes of game-play. The rebuy on a proper AX-capable ship is probably in the 5-20mcr range.

I'm not smirking, but I am suggesting that you are out of your depth here.

 

[SlickPBW]

Lots of old gamers play this game. Some are likely older than you. Many of us played the original Elite in ‘84.

ED does not do any hand holding and your description of the learning cliff is accurate.

But you love it and you know it. Watch some videos, outfit a krait II, and get back on the horse, soldier!

BTW, the Thargoid Pulse Neutralizer is the thing that you are looking for; it allows you to get through that blue blast that’s kicking your butt at the Titan. Carry on.

 

[Rubbernuke]

You don't run before you can walk.

Frontier's game design is butt. This is really not for people just jumping in. A good design would have the approach being various levels of difficult that would in no uncertain terms inform someone that they have reached their limit and turn back now, while still making enough credit to contribute and earn whatever bribe they are offering this week. But that's Frontier for you, it's all binary, you can do it or you can't. And if you can't there's no explanation why.

Sometimes luck is on your side, sometimes its not. I like the fact ED has few barriers.

 

[Kaocraft]

What I got from this is you took on what is currently the closest thing to a "last boss" in this game, died a bunch, and you didn't like it. Fair enough. There are a lot of problems with Elite's approach to design but I don't really think this is one of them. To fix it they'd have to make everything low-stakes and low-challenge and low-equipment enough to be plausibly doable by everyone no matter their ship, equipment, piloting skills, or knowledge of the game. Which is what Frontier have already done with like 90% of the activities in Elite and yet for some reason, that remaining 10% is what everyone is interested in. Can't imagine why.

Alternatively, the only other option I know of, the one most game designers use, is to lock people out of even trying more challenging activities until they've met some arbitrary threshold of experience and equipment. Like having permit locks on all Thargoid systems for low ranking players. This would annoy people, of course, but maybe it would be one of those "for your own good" forms of annoying whereby it prevents people from entering situations which will, on balance, sour them to the game more than the lockout in itself. I dunno.

Personally, I like having things in games that are out of my reach, and I like having the option of getting in over my head, especially in these types of open ended games which don't have real win states or meaningful progression other than "do things to get better at doing things so you can do things that you couldn't do before."

Modern game design is mostly about "unlocking" stuff so I supposed Frontier is behind the times in this regard. I hope they stay that way, but I can't really fault you for expecting something different.

 

[DjVortex]

Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

I am a fairly new player however, I understand it, and it has not reinvented the wheel.

Elite Dangerous is not an arcade game. While it has space shooter mechanics, it's not really a space shooter either. It's not the type of game where you just start playing and start fighting the bad guys, like you would do in a first-person shooter or similar.

The game is described by different sources as "a space trading and exploration simulator", as well as more succinctly as "a space flight simulation game". While its "space shooter" mechanics are absolutely superb and extremely polished (probably some of the best in existence, belonging very high up in the list of best space shooter mechanics), that's not really the "type" of game that ED is. That's more like a bonus feature. One of the several mechanics that the game has.

Thargoid combat is what could be described as so-called "endgame content", meaning that you can't just start the game and engage in it and expect to have a fair fight. It requires very high-level ship builds and quite some experience in ship building, flying and combat. And that can't be achieved without first earning a sizeable chunk of credits.

It would be similar to expecting to start playing an MMORPG and immediately go after the toughest monsters and bosses in the game. That's just not possible. You need to work your way up to that point first.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

Unless deploying the hardpoints draws too much power and you have not set module priorities, this sequence of events makes no sense! While Thargoid Interceptors¹ do have a shutdown field available, they use it only on two occasions:

• Arrival via Frame Shift Anomaly, if a human vessel remains within around ~10 km.
• Loss of all but one petal, if a nearby human vessel is warm enough to acquire as a target.

That is to say, not following in-system interdiction, and also not following hyperspace destabilisation² as far as the war is concerned!

---

If you have started recently (welcome!), I suggest not worrying about Titan Indra; we have three more yet to reach, and it is very unlikely that Titans as an event would simply never appear again after those. Credits, starship assets and engineering access are much more what you need at present—you need to be in a wealthy position to ask yourself which starship and modules you would like to buy and build for reaching and attacking a Titan, rather than whether there is any conceivable way to do it with what you have.

It is at least a bit more accessible than it once was, though—the necessary Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser and Caustic Sink Launcher are now available without unlocking them first, the latter from a Rescue megaship. Still you need some hull toughening, good Thrusters to get through the Maelstrom caustic shell quickly enough, a quiet Power plant to stay cold while flying past Caustic Generators and not be seen immediately by patrols, and either a good supply of Heat sink refill materials or a Beam Laser with Thermal Vent. Aside from lacking module space, small starships are also difficult to fly to a Titan because the Maelstrom turbulence affects them much more than it does a higher-mass vessel!

One option to reach Titan Indra before it explodes could be to buy the AX Combat Jumpstart; definitely be aware that it will have a heat problem, although also be aware that pre-built starships cost no credits to replace. Otherwise, some of the best Titan options for future consideration are:

• Krait 2, which has a very large power plant and can use Low Emissions engineering easily, and also has a heavy set of hardpoints.
• The new Python 2, which costs Arx to access at the moment (for another month), but has very heavy hardpoints and extra utilities without compromising speed. Noting the module priorities, I use this at the moment with the new anti-Guardian zone protection!
• Imperial Cutter, a heavy vessel which takes much time to unlock doing Empire faction missions, is very expensive and needs practice to fly it well, but otherwise I considered it the best Titan attacker prior to the Python 2.

1. Obviously not the Orthrus!
2. I have seen the pre-war stop-and-scan they would do at the time, but never in Live thus far.

 

[Kzak]

So I have been playing games for the better part of 4 decades. I have play-tested and Alpha/Beta-tested many game to which many of you are familiar. This game has many very strong points and is beautiful to look at especially if you have a powerful system. It has a very steep learning 'cliff' but that is OK as well. The recent event I was happy to try. Sounded like it would be fun and interesting. Time, after time I jumped into the system where the Titan was located. So I was slapped out of warp, then all power turned off, then I was killed by what I assumed to be Thargoid ships.

You need to spend some time building up your resource (money, materials, data etc) and more importantly skills before you can try to take on endgame content. What you are doing is like starting Dark Souls and then skipping straight to the endgame-boss without improving your gear and stats much at all.

 

[Flimley]

The best thing to do here is to wear an itchy jumper whilst playing the game. That will distract nicely from your issues.

Flimley