Newcomer / Intro New Player Progression (Activities, ships)

[Avengeruk]

hi all,

I had my first successful small play session last night after finally grasping use of my X52 (joystick noob) and the games systems.

In my stock sidewinder, I did a few bulletin board missions (courier type and the kill pirates) - as well as collecting a few bounties, now sitting around 40k.

Essentially, My question is this - I read that trading is a big money maker, however, I love combat. These two are usually a bit at odds, and on the upgrade path, sits a combat focused viper and a more trading orientated cobra? (I think!)

Also, are the activities I'm doing now good for now so to speak? I mean, if I got a viper how would this income increase.

Not sure if it matters but been on solo for learning purposes so far.

Thanks,
A newbie pilot spinning in space

 

[Philip Coutts]

You are doing fine at the moment and making some good choices. For me the Cobra is the way to go, it's a very handy combat ship with decent space. The other thing to consider is getting an Adder which has some decent cargo space and 3 hardpoints so isn't too shabby in a fight. The viper has a really poor jump range and is a complete combat ship, you aren't going to do much trading in it.
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The other option is to keep the free eagle and upgrade it. Use that as your fighter and go the trading route via a hauler or Adder.
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Overall my advice would be to trade first, build up a pile of cash and then go back to the viper and upgrade it into an awesome fighting beast!

 

[C Wusher]

The cobra has one essential point:
The class 2 slots for weapons are on the upper side while the Viper has the on the lower front.
Enemies are way more often above the center, gimballed guns work better on cobras.

For me at least,

 

[v01i0]

hi all,


Also, are the activities I'm doing now good for now so to speak? I mean, if I got a viper how would this income increase.

hi,

eventually you will get combat mission worth easily 100.000+ credits per mission provided you can finish your targets and not to blow yourself up. Bounties can also be collected quite easily at the nav beacons of various systems. Then, if you selectively pick up the most valuable cargo your targets may sometimes drop, you can make a nice addition to your income by selling valuables on the black market (just try to avoid authority scans, for they can really ruin your profit).

-v

Edit to add:
If you're looking decent ship with combat as well as trading capability, go for cobra and later upgrade it to asp. Eventually Pyhton or something.

 

[capt_carl]

Others may disagree but I found the Viper to be a reasonable all rounder with a couple of upgrades, I had 12 Cargo slots an upgraded FSD (still only got me about 9LY) and reasonable weapons. I wouldn't write it off its certainly a decent stepping stone to the Cobra.

 

[HexEdge]

Others may disagree but I found the Viper to be a reasonable all rounder with a couple of upgrades, I had 12 Cargo slots an upgraded FSD (still only got me about 9LY) and reasonable weapons. I wouldn't write it off its certainly a decent stepping stone to the Cobra.

I too was surprised surprised with how good a Viper can be as a small courier/trader, fitted mine out with 12ton cargo when I started running missions for the Free Lugh efforts getting 11/12Ly out of my FSD and load out.

I would say the Cobra if you plan trade over combat, but a Viper isn't a bad choice if its combat over trade..

 

[HipToss]

Just save up for the Lakon 9. Its amazing!!!

When I started, I was rather impressed with the stock Eagle. I upgraded it rather nicely, combat was nice in it. Then I sold it because I changed professions.

 

[Jarek Storm]

The Cobra is the best midrange ship for doing everything all at the same time. It's expensive to upgrade for a new player, but it also earns you the money for those upgrades.

In a slightly upgraded Cobra, you can Trade with 32 tons cargo, bounty hunt or fight in war zones with 2 medium 2 small hardpoints, explore with an impressive FSD range, mine with a mining laser and refinery... I mean it's just incredible how versatile it can be.

You can set it up for multi purpose or set it up as a dedicated specialist. Until we get more ships, which are coming, the Cobra is by far the best midrange boat available. Not cheap, but not ridiculously expensive either. It's a worthy goal to attain.

 

[Teflondom]

Essentially, My question is this - I read that trading is a big money maker, however, I love combat. These two are usually a bit at odds, and on the upgrade path, sits a combat focused viper and a more trading orientated cobra? (I think!)

Hi and welcome to Elite mate, Trading is a solid way of getting some coin up, though for example I was doing some rare trade runs and like most decided to have a bit of fun and let my hair down in an Eagle,

About an hour of rare runs landed me 208k
Around 15/20 Minutes of bounty hunting and USS (unidentified Signal Source) I got over 40k.

So FD have tried and to a certain degree succeeded in making all aspects of the game Trade / combat / exploration as profitable as each other when you get into it.

Get stuck into bounty hunting and bring some pirates to justice, but if you see me (Teflondom) about give me a break

 

[Avengeruk]

Get stuck into bounty hunting and bring some pirates to justice, but if you see me (Teflondom) about give me a break

I may let you slip by

Thanks for the advice all - I'll continue flying around in my sidewinder until credits allow an upgrade.

Still not 100% sure my path but it seems like Cobra would be worth saving for with the sidewinder, always nice to have the option of swapping your role while still being fairly decent at it.

Note to self: must, not, spend, credits! - Cobra's about 300k isn't it? - better get hunting. I was suprised how fun the starting stock sidewinder is. 300k doesen't seem that bad with it

 

[Whiterose]

You can own mutliple ships. Own a Lakon to get money trading, and a Viper/Cobra for bounty hunting, thats the beauty of the game, do what you want when you want.

 

[Avengeruk]

You can own mutliple ships. Own a Lakon to get money trading, and a Viper/Cobra for bounty hunting, thats the beauty of the game, do what you want when you want.

Oh, I was under the impression you had one ship and that multiple hadn't been added yet?

This changes things a bit...

Now I'm tempted by the viper followed by the cobra, and have both... Damn you sir!

 

[Zing Freelancer]

Trading used to be good, but developers ruined it with economy simulation, the AI is now doing all the trading. You can still make good money with it, by my calculations profit margins are decreased by about 40% since they last fiddled with economy simulation.

Is trading still worth it? Sure, but its boring as hell. Considering that you now have to do 40% more trading runs compared to before, its your choice.

 

[Avengeruk]

Is trading still worth it? Sure, but its boring as hell. Considering that you now have to do 40% more trading runs compared to before, its your choice.

True. I'm used to boring trade runs from Archeage - It's all I did - so I'm open to it for sure.

I'll just have to see how things go. Cobra would be nice but it's a "bigger step" than the viper. We'll see I guess - definitely don't want to loose my combat ability tho. Nothing beats blowing up some pirates...possibly.

 

[Epicurean Dream]

The cobra is a beast. It's the only mid range ship I've flown that doesn't feel like you'd have to buy another ship to do something else. You really do feel the freedom a cobras versitility brings. It just requires so little logistics compared to other ships/routes. Sure a viper is great for combat and a type 6 is great for mining or trading, but a cobra can do both. Meaning youcan pick up combat AND high volume courier missions at the same time. Get a cargo mission, pick up some commodities off the market, pick up a salvage mission and merc mission while you're at it, get to your target system, kill a few targets at the nav beacon, jump to the station, drop cargo, sell commodities taking up extra space. Pick up half a cargo of some commodity, set back to the home system, drop into a few USSs on the way, pick up the salvage, meet a few pirates, scan them with your K warrant then roflestomp them with your massive arsenal. Head back home, sell your wares, drop your mission in, claim your bounties, decide to go to another system and do some dedicated commodity trading for a bit..... so on and so forth.

No other mid range ship in the game has any where near this much versatility. It also translates into a faster income as you're doing multiple things at once rather than being restricted to a certain type of mission or situation.

My advice: get a cobra, you won't be disappointed.

A good way of looking at it is flying a Viper is like flying a scalpel, flying a lakon is like flying a, er, spoon (lol ?), flying a Cobra is like flying a swiss army knife. I really feel like Samus Aran in one, a proper old school self sufficient bounty hunter vigilanty type. It simply has the scope and breadth to handle that multifacetedness.

 

[Razorwire]

I have a fully combat fitted viper, complete with tiny cargo and no jump range, stashed at a good bounty hunting spot.
I have a general purpose armed trader cobra at a good mission/trade spot.
I have a stripped down, jump-range-focussed sidewinder to taxi between the two.

Currently saving for a dedicated cargo ship.

Multiple ships ftw.

 

[Zing Freelancer]

True. I'm used to boring trade runs from Archeage - It's all I did - so I'm open to it for sure.

I'll just have to see how things go. Cobra would be nice but it's a "bigger step" than the viper. We'll see I guess - definitely don't want to loose my combat ability tho. Nothing beats blowing up some pirates...possibly.

I would go for a mix of combat and mission running until you can afford a bigger ship. Trading profitability increase in proportion to your cargo hold. Find a station you want to work for, preferably a high population industrial or high tech and start running missions.
Commanders log book: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=74171&highlight=archv1 is very useful as it helps you keep track of what commodities a station sells, very useful when running missions.
Slopeys BPC is a crowd source tool: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76081&highlight=slopey
It helps you find best trade routes, you have to enter data manually but I read he is working on an automated version for future release.


Final note, watch out who you engage during combat, higher rank AI will become impossible to outmanoeuvre or out gun, no matter what you do.
Final final note, at some point you will want to upgrade your ship. Look for high tech/industrial systems with large population. They are the places which have highest chances of finding upgrades.

 

[Avengeruk]

Final note, watch out who you engage during combat, higher rank AI will become impossible to outmanoeuvre or out gun, no matter what you do.
Final final note, at some point you will want to upgrade your ship. Look for high tech/industrial systems with large population. They are the places which have highest chances of finding upgrades.

Nice - Yes, I've had a fair few "I shouldn't of shot that ship" moments so far, but managed to escape (just) - It's an on-going learning experience

Thanks for the info all - Cobra looks like it has my vote. Until then, I'll have fun in the sidewinder!

Happy piloting!

 

[Zing Freelancer]

Thanks for the info all - Cobra looks like it has my vote. Until then, I'll have fun in the sidewinder!

Feel free to upgrade to a better ship and upgrade it, once you have made more money you can trade in your old ship for a new one at 100% the price you bought everything for, no credits lost.

One of my favourite mechanics in elite, once you have 1 million credits, you can swap between multiple ships without loosing money (unless you die).