Newcomer / Intro New player questions/double checking my understanding of things

[DanielKT]

Hi there.

So I'm new to the game. Been playing maybe a month or so? Steam says 191 hours.

I've done a decent amount of reading and I think I understand most of the game in at least a general sense but I figured I would ask some questions here to make sure.

General Info: I have a Basic Tech Anaconda that I've worked my way up to. Not quite sure how the engineering stuff works. I have a Asp Explorer for test mining that will eventually be replaced.

1) It took me two weeks to figure out the FSS could be used to scan the entire system for explorer credit. I was going to each one manually before that.
Are there any other "not so obvious" game mechanics of that sort that I should be aware of?

2) I'm still kind of confused about the hotspot system. I read it is supposed to increase the % chance that any given rock in a location within it is made out of said material.
Is that correct? I have a 2x Low Temp Diamond, 1x Alexanderite hotspot location that i found while exploring that overlap. So using that as an example;
The normal rocks have something like a 50% chance to be LTDs and the Core ones have a 50% to be LTD and 25% to be Alex.
Is that correct?

3) Is it normal to not have seen anyone else in the game......ever? I'm still in populated space and I don't think I've seen another soul.

4) The crew system has profit sharing. I hired the top rank one and they have gone up several levels. Not sure I should have?
Don't get me wrong; she solo's the small/medium ships frequently before I can bring around the main cannons. But they have made $52,686,719 off me
I read somewhere about training up a lower tier one. Does that work? Do they take less of the profits still even after level up?
Do they take the same amount of time to level up that my current crew person took or will they level up faster because they are lower level vs the mostly
Master-Dangerous grade enemies?

5) any other major oddities I should know about that I haven't thought of?

 

[Ethaidan]

1. Yes, too many to simply list.

2. Sure, but without any firm %s attached. Nobody really knows the formula.

3. Space is big. There are 10s of 1000s of systems in 'populated' space, three different play modes (Open, Pg, Solo), three different platforms, and 24 timezones.

4. Yes, hire the lowest, they earn the least at Elite.

5. Yes, too many to list.

 

[DanielKT]

1) I think I should have asked for the biggest scanner related oddities. What would you consider the most important few that aren't strictly obvious?
2) Okay, so my basic understanding of it is correct then, even if the %s aren't strictly accurate?
3) I realized it was big. Just thought I may have seen someone after a month I guess.
4) ty, I will try that.
5) What are some of the biggest items in your view then if there are too many to list?

 

[Ethaidan]

Please don't hate me, but I wouldn't want to rob of the joys of self-discovery when it come to ED oddities.

 

[d8veh]

An Anaconda is not a very good ship today unless you can do lots of engineering to it. It's just too slow and it makes a very big target. Basically, it's a sitting duck. If you want to go bounty hunting or do coflict zones, an FDL would be better without engineering, as it's much faster and more manoeverable.

It would probably be better to put that Anaconda away and get a Python or something like that to sort out all the engineers, and a Diamondback Explorer to do the Guardian unlocks, then you can build a ship that can do and stand up to whatever you want.

 

[DanielKT]

So the Anaconda isn't a good ship? I'm puzzled about the maneuverability comment. I'm using fixed cannons on mine vs up to elites (though usually less) without an issue. Am I simply not facing that scary of targets or something?
I'm probably doing something weird.....

 

[Para Handy]

.......

1) It took me two weeks to figure out the FSS could be used to scan the entire system for explorer credit. I was going to each one manually before that.
Are there any other "not so obvious" game mechanics of that sort that I should be aware of?
....

Have you worked out that mapping planets with a Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) gives much larger rewards? Particularly for Earth-likes, water-words, ammonia worlds and anything that is a candidate for terraforming.

 

[DanielKT]

Have you worked out that mapping planets with a Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) gives much larger rewards? Particularly for Earth-likes, water-words, ammonia worlds and anything that is a candidate for terraforming.

Yes, within the last week to week and a half or so. Also happens to be how I found my mining site.
Actually didn't know about the terraforming bit. Simply that the reward for the planet goes up quite a bit.

 

[Sapyx]

1. You are apparently "exploring" systems that others have already explored before. If you want to go way out into the black and find truly "unexplored" systems, the FSS is the only way to explore them, because in Undiscovered systems, planets won't show up in the system map, nav panel or on the main cockpit view unless you FSS them first - or you happen to stumble within 32 Ls of them, in which case your ship's "passive scanner" will auto-scan them.

2. I've never been able to figure out the whole hotspot mining thing, and seen way too many people complaining along the lines of "I spent hours in a triple painite hotspot and found no painite". I've also seen lots of screenshots of obscenely humongous payouts from successful hotspot miners, so it seems to be one of those situatiions with a steep learning curve with large rewards for the perseverant.

3. We assume you're actually in Open mode, rather than Solo or Private Group. Yes, as others have said, it's a big universe, and a (relatively) small cohort of players. To give an idea of how "busy" a star system is, check the traffic reports when docked at a station. This reported "traffic" is human players only (not NPCs). So if it says "4 ships visited in the past 24 hours", that's a pretty quiet system. Several hundred ships is busy, and the number only hits the thousands if there's a major player event (like a Community Goal) happening in that system. If you want a high chance of seeing other players, go where the other players are going: CG systems, Powerplay capitals, Superpower capitals, and Engineering bases.

4. An SLF pilot will take half as much money off you if you've trained them all the way up from Harmless to Elite, compared to one that you hired at Expert. It's more value for money in the long run, especially now that your crew doesn't die when your ship explodes so there's no "wasting money on dead bodies". Just be aware, your crew takes their cut of your cash, whether they are active or not, and also that an active pilot takes half of your combat XP, even if you don't actually launch them or they don't land a shot on your target. So it takes you twice as long to get to Combat Elite when you have active crew. Of course it works both ways: you get captain's share of the credits and half of any XP from ships that your pilot blows up, even if you don't personally help. So for crew to be "worthwhile" in the long term, having an SLF needs to more than double your kill rate. For most skilled players in Engineered warships who are still trying to reach that Elite milestone, even an Elite NPC simply isn't good enough.

 

[DanielKT]

1. You are apparently "exploring" systems that others have already explored before. If you want to go way out into the black and find truly "unexplored" systems, the FSS is the only way to explore them, because in Undiscovered systems, planets won't show up in the system map, nav panel or on the main cockpit view unless you FSS them first - or you happen to stumble within 32 Ls of them, in which case your ship's "passive scanner" will auto-scan them.

2. I've never been able to figure out the whole hotspot mining thing, and seen way too many people complaining along the lines of "I spent hours in a triple painite hotspot and found no painite". I've also seen lots of screenshots of obscenely humongous payouts from successful hotspot miners, so it seems to be one of those situatiions with a steep learning curve with large rewards for the perseverant.

3. We assume you're actually in Open mode, rather than Solo or Private Group. Yes, as others have said, it's a big universe, and a (relatively) small cohort of players. To give an idea of how "busy" a star system is, check the traffic reports when docked at a station. This reported "traffic" is human players only (not NPCs). So if it says "4 ships visited in the past 24 hours", that's a pretty quiet system. Several hundred ships is busy, and the number only hits the thousands if there's a major player event (like a Community Goal) happening in that system. If you want a high chance of seeing other players, go where the other players are going: CG systems, Powerplay capitals, Superpower capitals, and Engineering bases.

4. An SLF pilot will take half as much money off you if you've trained them all the way up from Harmless to Elite, compared to one that you hired at Expert. It's more value for money in the long run, especially now that your crew doesn't die when your ship explodes so there's no "wasting money on dead bodies". Just be aware, your crew takes their cut of your cash, whether they are active or not, and also that an active pilot takes half of your combat XP, even if you don't actually launch them or they don't land a shot on your target. So it takes you twice as long to get to Combat Elite when you have active crew. Of course it works both ways: you get captain's share of the credits and half of any XP from ships that your pilot blows up, even if you don't personally help. So for crew to be "worthwhile" in the long term, having an SLF needs to more than double your kill rate. For most skilled players in Engineered warships who are still trying to reach that Elite milestone, even an Elite NPC simply isn't good enough.

1) I wasn't trying to get "first to explore" credit. Just learning the system and looking for mining sites.
2) I feel a bit better that even people playing awhile haven't figured it out exactly
3) Yes, I'm in Open mode.
4) I'm not sure if they quite fit that criteria, but they are blowing up Vultures and below, solo, while I shoot the bigger ships, so I suppose thats something?
Also, I hired another crew member but they appear to have vanished..... are they restricted to a specific station if they aren't set to active?

 

[Sapyx]

I hired another crew member but they appear to have vanished..... are they restricted to a specific station if they aren't set to active?

I've had recently-hired crew vanish on me, too. It seems to be a bug.

 

[d8veh]

So the Anaconda isn't a good ship? I'm puzzled about the maneuverability comment. I'm using fixed cannons on mine vs up to elites (though usually less) without an issue. Am I simply not facing that scary of targets or something?
I'm probably doing something weird.....

It depends where you go and what your rank is. In a High/Haz RES, CNB or CZ, you'll struggle against Deadly Dropships, Pythons and Assault ships. You can make things a bit safer by setting a fighter on them before you open fire. They're programmed to attack whoever shoots them first. While they're chasing the fighter, you can do a lot of damage to them

 

[DanielKT]

It depends where you go and what your rank is. In a High/Haz RES, CNB or CZ, you'll struggle against Deadly Dropships, Pythons and Assault ships. You can make things a bit safer by setting a fighter on them before you open fire. They're programmed to attack whoever shoots them first. While they're chasing the fighter, you can do a lot of damage to them

I've been doing Haz Res sites. Granted it's usually 1v1 since their buddies just fly around and watch me blow up their buddy. Which is a little odd honestly....

Anything from about chiefton/gunship size and up dies much faster than the smaller fighters do. They have more surface area for my fixed cannons to make contact with and the fighters beam lasers chew them up.

 

[d8veh]

I've been doing Haz Res sites. Granted it's usually 1v1 since their buddies just fly around and watch me blow up their buddy. Which is a little odd honestly....

Anything from about chiefton/gunship size and up dies much faster than the smaller fighters do. They have more surface area for my fixed cannons to make contact with and the fighters beam lasers chew them up.

If you're happy, that's all that matters. I have around 150,000 bounties. At around 60 kills per hour average, that would be 2500 hours doing exactly what you're doing. I'm still continuously trying to find better ways to do it. I give advice where I can, but not everything works for everyone because people are different. Maybe I can steal some of your ideas in the future.

 

[d8veh]

I've had recently-hired crew vanish on me, too. It seems to be a bug.

Maybe word got around that you cheat them out of their earnings by always sacking them before cashing in.

 

[DanielKT]

If you're happy, that's all that matters. I have around 150,000 bounties. At around 60 kills per hour average, that would be 2500 hours doing exactly what you're doing. I'm still continuously trying to find better ways to do it. I give advice where I can, but not everything works for everyone because people are different. Maybe I can steal some of your ideas in the future.

not sure what ideas I have to use.

I'm using a fixed beam SLF with an anaconda with almost all fixed cannons and 2 beam lasers. I don't have any engineered stuff.
I've been stacking missions and getting paid 3x-4x times for the exact same job.
I've been doing the Haz Res sites too if I want to round out the bounties for a given system.

I've done up to I think Deadly so far? Is it that weird to use fixed guns on the Anaconda or something? There is no way I'm anything approaching a decent pilot, but it doesn't seem to have much trouble getting the guns to face the target. I'm confused by the apparent bad rep it has on maneuvering?

 

[Para Handy]

There are certain things on the internetwebthingie that sort of trigger me ...

Someone using fixed cannons - deadly - anaconda isn't wallowing like a whale* - "no way approaching a decent pilot" - playing a month, 191 hours, so, what, over 6 hours a day? - hmmm ...

* - EDSY link given shows manoeuvrability of 1 out of 10.

Better pilot than I'll ever be.

 

[DanielKT]

There are certain things on the internetwebthingie that sort of trigger me ...

Someone using fixed cannons - deadly - anaconda isn't wallowing like a whale* - "no way approaching a decent pilot" - playing a month, 191 hours, so, what, over 6 hours a day? - hmmm ...

* - EDSY link given shows manoeuvrability of 1 out of 10.

Better pilot than I'll ever be.

Month-sih. Checked; April 3rd.

I apologize if that triggers you. I can go into why I have time to play, but it likely isn't necessarily beyond having medical issues that give me a lot of time.

And no; I don't think i'm a very good pilot. I haven't been able to figure out how some people in various videos managed to slide the ship like they are. I understand the directional thrusters but I haven't been able to figure out the combo of them that I've seen.

"Better pilot than I'll ever be"

I doubt that All I'm doing that I know of is keeping the throttle within the blue range on the throttle bar.

 

[Chris Simon]

All I'm doing that I know of is keeping the throttle within the blue range on the throttle bar.

If you can do that, you're already in the top 40%

 

[DanielKT]

If you can do that, you're already in the top 40%

Well, the flying instructor said to keep it around there I thought?