Newcomer / Intro New player, what should I do next, passenger or mining?

w_johnson07

W
Hi,
I am a new player to elite dangerous and I have the Viper Mk.III and around 4mC, I want to get into mining but I also want to do passenger missions. I am stationed at LHS 20, Ohm City, if that means anything. I have been doing bounty hunting at a RES but I dont enjoy it that much. I was wondering if any one knows what I should do next.
Thanks
 

Ananym

A
For passenger missions to be meaningful you need some highly ranked factions at a station. They won't trust you with the well-paying missions otherwise.
If you pick up a diamondback explorer and optimise its jump range as much as you can, you'll make some (relatively) ridiculous income if you have enough faction rank to take the sightseeing tourist missions.

I personally don't see the point in mining before at least an AspX, anything you make before then is going to pale in comparison to the free handouts of highres.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Ananym said:
If you pick up a diamondback explorer Dolphin and optimise its jump range and heat signature as much as you can, you'll make some (relatively) ridiculous income if you have enough faction rank to take the sightseeing tourist missions.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you :p

Seriously though, for the OP, I'd recommend (if you have Horizons) to start tackling the Engineers. If you don't have Horizons, get it (currently 12 pounds in the Summer Sale). Going through the Engineers, will have you try out basically all of ED's occupations.
 

Ananym

A
Ashnak said:
Fixed that for you :p
Click to expand...
Shrug, DbX gets an extra 10 LY or so and that makes a big difference to the tourist missions. I was never really able to find use for the first-class cabin on a dolphin, the missions it lets you take pay worse than regular tourist missions. ​
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Ananym said:
Shrug, DbX gets an extra 10 LY or so and that makes a big difference to the tourist missions. I was never really able to find use for the first-class cabin on a dolphin, the missions it lets you take pay worse than regular tourist missions.
​
Click to expand...

Only an advantage if you don't have to scoop. That size 5 FSD in the DBX is a gas guzzler.

DBX: https://s.orbis.zone/UhfG9CgL
Dolphin: https://s.orbis.zone/S_ktSJmE

I tried to make them similar otherwise. Still, the Dolphin can take 18 passengers in two cabins (Business and Economy) while the DBX can take 8 in two cabins (economy only), squeezable to 12 (economy only) if you go for a size 3 shield. The DBX is simply missing the one size 5 slot for the passenger cabin (or cargo rack).

With the Guardian FSD booster from 3.1, you could even use one of the size 4 slots on the Dolphin for the FSD booster and still run a size 5 passenger cabin: https://s.orbis.zone/zXhSzXYH

But that would be silly :D.
 

Nero Tacitus

Nero Tacitus
Cargo running can be a nice break from combat. I'd reccomend checking out Tun, most of its missions go to Jansoon Station 1 jump away, plus Tun is a good spot to pickup assassination & CZ missions, if you decide cargo running isn't for you.

Ship wise, I suspect the type 6 would be best suited to your current situation.

Can't help with passenger mission sorry, never done them.
 

Rob_the_Sparky

R
I started mining in an Adder but I did it for fun, not for making money. You can mine in small ships but the income is pretty poor, you have to get good at using the cargo scoop to collect stuff a skill I still use to collect combat leftovers.
.
I would look at what is out there and just try something, I am pretty bad at concentrating on anyone thing for very long so just keep switching it up.
 

HurstLlama

H
@Ashnak, my dolphin was set up similarly but not identically to your suggested set up and cost pretty much the same, i.e. seven million quid. I found it very unsatisfactory. I tried my best with it and my biggest gripe, aside from its lack of space for pax and kit, was it horrendous fuel consumption. The damn thing just drinks petrol and I was forever having to refuel. The last straw was that after travelling a jolly long way I could not get it to recognise the last of the tourist beacons I had to visit. I was definitely at the right place, I could clearly see the beacon (at ranges down to 55m) but the wretched ship refused to scan it, goodness knows why. All in all I relegated my Dolphin to the junk pool and will probably sell it when I can be bothered to do so, the T6 strikes me as a better machine for bus driving.

@Nero Tacitus, I agree that cargo running can be a nice break from combat and a very profitable activity. However, I would suggest that the OP tries to move away from missions. Finding and exploiting trade routes for oneself (ignoring the third party tools) can be a lot of fun.
 

Greybeard_LXI

G
With your budget (4 million) I would recommend mining.

For under 3 million you can get a T-6 with a 4B refinery, 3A collector Limpet Controller, 1A Prospector Limpet Controller, 2 fixed Mining Lasers and 2 5E Cargo Racks for 64 tons cargo. You will also need to upgrade the power plant to 3D to get enough power. There are other improvements you can make, but this will get you started and leave enough for a few re-buys.

You won't have much in the way of legs, but pick a good station near a pristine metallic ring and you won't need them.

The Dolphin and DBX recommended above come in at 7 or 11 million, a bit beyond your current price range. The upgrades listed are pretty much needed to get a good jump range, without which you could become frustrated (I know I would).
 

Simon Templar

Simon Templar
Personally, from that point I ran passenger missions in a Keelback, and still kept some cargo space. Once I was allied with local factions I was able to take 'transport' passenger missions which needed only a few jumps and netted seven figures. Spent a while on that and now I'm in a T-7 and making more money than I know what to do with. We use piles of credits to prop up wobbly tables, over here at Templar Transport.
 

Limoncello Lizard

Limoncello Lizard
If you want to give mining a go for a few days, there is a mining CG just started.

The CG is just for gold (has to be mined), which takes away some of the advantages of the larger mining ships.
 
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