Newcomer / Intro no tutorial?

[TE5LA]

You probably never played FSX, then. Elite, when compared to other simulators, is almost arcadishly easy.
I agree that the training missions don't really work, sometimes, and there's much better tutorial on the way, like I said. But in any case, you will have to spend an hour in controls menu, thinking, making notes and tweaking and re-tweaking. There's no way around it. Keys can be made more ergonomic, oversensitive axes can be tweaked. But you will have to do this yourself. Even if I gave you my bindings and told you what's what, it wouldn't do you any good.

I've played quite a bit of flight simulators and space combat sims. This game appears to have been purposely made to be as complicated as possible.

I went into solo mode and picked a mission, simply to find one ship to destroy. Spent around 2 hours trying to locate any ships. Finally found some and one was "mission objective: wanted", so I began to engage. I shot it until it said I'd destroyed it and then I'm attacked by some security forces and destroyed. So you're supposed to destroy a ship but then security attacks you for it? Very confused.

 

[SeaFireliv]

I've played quite a bit of flight simulators and space combat sims. This game appears to have been purposely made to be as complicated as possible.

I went into solo mode and picked a mission, simply to find one ship to destroy. Spent around 2 hours trying to locate any ships. Finally found some and one was "mission objective: wanted", so I began to engage. I shot it until it said I'd destroyed it and then I'm attacked by some security forces and destroyed. So you're supposed to destroy a ship but then security attacks you for it? Very confused.

Docking in Elite has always been notoriously hard: You could chart the history of computer graphics using nothing but clips of me smacking into a Coriolis. ("Oh, you've leaned how to hit the mail slot have you? Well now you have to hit the pad on on the far side as well. Trololol." - DB). So don't worry, we've all been there, but there's a couple of things that might help..

Firstly, spend a bit of time just flying around before starting to dock: Get the hang of pitching and rolling just just a few degrees, and likewise using the up/down/left/right thrusters to nudge your ship around. It's a lot easier to do when you don't have a clock ticking.

Secondly, don't worry about doing it all in one smooth go: Once you've got the landing grid up and roughly aligned, use to mouse to level off and leave it alone - go in with the keyboard. if you need to go down a bit, left a bit, right a bit 'cause you went too far, back a bit that's fine. Keep hitting x to stop, then do a bit more. you'll get better with practise (and don't forget the landing gear).

If this doesn't work, come back and ask for help - different people have different approaches, and one will work for you.

Oh, and try to enjoy watching your ship explode. It can get quite zen...

Good luck. o7

I remember docking in Elite was insanely tough in the original Elite. How can I forget those hours spent just to dock perfectly? Maybe it`s my time in flight sims, but I find docking in modern day Elite enjoyable and quite easy. That said, I`m still stuck on the Sidewinder, but that was the case in the old Elite too.

 

[Ashnak]

I've played quite a bit of flight simulators and space combat sims. This game appears to have been purposely made to be as complicated as possible.

I went into solo mode and picked a mission, simply to find one ship to destroy. Spent around 2 hours trying to locate any ships. Finally found some and one was "mission objective: wanted", so I began to engage. I shot it until it said I'd destroyed it and then I'm attacked by some security forces and destroyed. So you're supposed to destroy a ship but then security attacks you for it? Very confused.

Okay, you chose to choose one of the more difficult missions for a start....

First of all, in my experience, unless you have a interdictor and know how to use it, those "find and destroy" missions are nearly impossible. The only time you can find your target in normal space is when they're close to a station. Which means that:
- security is close by
- other ships are close by
- you are close to or inside the stations 'no fire' zone

As for security (or whatever) shooting you after you shot a "wanted" ship, you may have
- shot at your target before it scanned as "wanted" on your left HUD
- missed your target and shot any uninvolved or even security vessel
- shot while being inside the station's "no fire" zone
- shot at your target which was aligned/friendly with the station and/or security

There are usually multiple factions in a system, and just because one of them tells you to go out and shoot someone doesn't mean that the rest will just watch you.

If you want to go shooting other ships, drop into a nav beacon or a resource extraction site (RES), look at who the cops are shooting, target them, wait for your scanner to have completed and actually show that ship as "wanted", then go in. If you survive and don't hit e.g. the cops by mistake, collect the bounty at any station in the system.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

<snip>
I went into solo mode and picked a mission, simply to find one ship to destroy. Spent around 2 hours trying to locate any ships. Finally found some and one was "mission objective: wanted", so I began to engage. I shot it until it said I'd destroyed it and then I'm attacked by some security forces and destroyed. So you're supposed to destroy a ship but then security attacks you for it? Very confused.

To save 2 hours, read the mission description especially the (i) info messages before you accept it. Not in-game but here's an example I found:

Spoiler

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

I remember docking in Elite was insanely tough in the original Elite. How can I forget those hours spent just to dock perfectly? Maybe it`s my time in flight sims, but I find docking in modern day Elite enjoyable and quite easy. That said, I`m still stuck on the Sidewinder, but that was the case in the old Elite too.

Docking original style [where is it]:

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;X0czVxiEqNM]https://youtu.be/X0czVxiEqNM[/video]

'Risky' docking modern style (not me I hasten to add) :

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;N_47HgrF5AU]https://youtu.be/N_47HgrF5AU[/video]

Once you are near the landing pad using thrusters (NOT throttle) can make docking a little easier.

E: D is akin to learning on how to ride a bike [haha]:

Spoiler

 

[TE5LA]

To save 2 hours, read the mission description especially the (i) info messages before you accept it. Not in-game but here's an example I found:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/Njzl069.png

I read all the missions.

Finished a successful one finally, but docking was difficult. When trying to dock on the pad, my ship was constantly being pulled forward like I was using thrust, but I wasn't. It was like a strong magnetic field was pulling me toward the tower. This had not happened before. I had to keep reverse thrust on and drop very quickly. Finally locked.

Sometimes in space, my thrust doesn't work at all and I have to use throttle. Other times, thrust works fine. Maybe I don't understand it yet. What's the difference in thrust and throttle? Why does thrust work sometimes to engage superspace and other time not? Also, many times I can't reduce throttle at all. It tells me to reduce speed but they key doesn't do anything until I overshoot my mark by 30-40 LY.

Is it also normal to be flying around in solo trying to do missions and be attacked by other ships? They start attacking and I can't even get them in front of me, ship is too slow, and they kill me in seconds. This has not been enjoyable so far. Have already died about 3 times just trying to do newb missions in solo.

 

[TE5LA]

Okay, you chose to choose one of the more difficult missions for a start....

First of all, in my experience, unless you have a interdictor and know how to use it, those "find and destroy" missions are nearly impossible. The only time you can find your target in normal space is when they're close to a station. Which means that:
- security is close by
- other ships are close by
- you are close to or inside the stations 'no fire' zone

As for security (or whatever) shooting you after you shot a "wanted" ship, you may have
- shot at your target before it scanned as "wanted" on your left HUD
- missed your target and shot any uninvolved or even security vessel
- shot while being inside the station's "no fire" zone
- shot at your target which was aligned/friendly with the station and/or security

There are usually multiple factions in a system, and just because one of them tells you to go out and shoot someone doesn't mean that the rest will just watch you.

If you want to go shooting other ships, drop into a nav beacon or a resource extraction site (RES), look at who the cops are shooting, target them, wait for your scanner to have completed and actually show that ship as "wanted", then go in. If you survive and don't hit e.g. the cops by mistake, collect the bounty at any station in the system.

There doesn't appear a way to determine which missions are hard or easy. Every mission has red warnings, so I just choose the ones with lowest rewards, assuming they are easiest. It isn't set up very well. Many descriptions don't make sense due to spelling errors" "Try to bring the items to use as soon a possible".

 

[TE5LA]

Why are my posts being held for moderation now? They weren't originally.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Flying with keyboard/mouse is the most difficult way to control your ship, and it'll take a lot of practice to get it right. That being said, some of the best ED players use k/m exclusively, but they've worked at it, and tweaked their control settings, for a long time.

A suggestion - buy an inexpensive joystick, set it up in your controls, and try playing with that. If you like it and find you're really enjoying the game then, you can look for a better stick or even a HOTAS setup. I find the stick to be more "immersive" (God, how I hate using that word) as well.

Other folks have said that an XBox controller also works very well, though I haven't used one of those myself.

I have a joystick. It won't work in the game. Doesn't seem to be any calibration and the ship goes haywire without touching stick. I've checked Windows and it has no calibration either.

 

[TE5LA]

If you want to go shooting other ships, drop into a nav beacon or a resource extraction site (RES), look at who the cops are shooting, target them, wait for your scanner to have completed and actually show that ship as "wanted", then go in. If you survive and don't hit e.g. the cops by mistake, collect the bounty at any station in the system.

I did exactly that and as soon as I destroyed the wanted ship, security started attacking me and killed me.

 

[MickyG1982]

Why are my posts being held for moderation now? They weren't originally.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -



I have a joystick. It won't work in the game. Doesn't seem to be any calibration and the ship goes haywire without touching stick. I've checked Windows and it has no calibration either.

Well, that sounds like a hardware issue more than a problem with the game itself. That said, if you feel I'm wrong then you should raise a bug report and see what comes from that.

I would recommend getting yourself an Xbox one controller however, while not as good as a hotas setup it's cheap (if you pick up a 3rd party wired one) and a lot easier to use than a keyboard and mouse. It's also the simplest thing to set up in the world, for a wired one all you have to do is plug it in, and it works.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

If you have hardware issues you may want to search through the Hardware & Technical Forum to see if anyone had similar issues.

 

[aRJay]

The tutorials are great if you're already an experienced player. See the problem with that?

Aside from the fact the tutorials don't really help much (you have to figure things out by pressing every key), the docking procedure is needlessly over-complicated. I have yet to complete a docking sequence so I'll probably never get to play the game.

By eventually figuring out the menus and how to "request docking", I've spent tedious time trying to dock. Landing gear is down, I line up the dot perfectly in the center of the landing pad, grid turns blue, I try to descend and ship just slides off pad. Controls are ridiculously over-sensitive. I have sensitivity all the way down in game and as low as possible on my mouse, yet the slightest movement causes ship to tilt, making these maneuvers very difficult. I am almost at the point of giving up. A game should never be so difficult where just getting through a tutorial is this hard.

The thing with the tutorial missions is that apart from being limited in duration and what you need to do they are just the same as the game so when you have mastered take offs and landings in the tutorials the only thing different in the game will be the name of the station and the number of ships around.

When I first started I watched several different docking videos and then tried the training, I was at that time using keyboard and mouse and after a disastrous start finally managed get myself to figures of 8 from 10.

That decided me and I went on eBay for a hotas joystick and parked the game for a week till it arrived, plugged it in and using the default bindings straight away I had reversed my figures and now the 8 from 10 was successful dockings rather than failures. Going into the bindings to set up landing controls means I can use left, right, up, down, forward and back thrusters.

 

[TE5LA]

Well, that sounds like a hardware issue more than a problem with the game itself. That said, if you feel I'm wrong then you should raise a bug report and see what comes from that.

I would recommend getting yourself an Xbox one controller however, while not as good as a hotas setup it's cheap (if you pick up a 3rd party wired one) and a lot easier to use than a keyboard and mouse. It's also the simplest thing to set up in the world, for a wired one all you have to do is plug it in, and it works.

It's probably too old. There haven't been many games for awhile that needed a joystick (that I've played).

 

[BarbusMaximus]

As a noob who doesn't really play games and refuses to blow cash on joysticks here are my tips:

Swap the pitch and roll on your keyboard and mouse. Ta dah, it's now easy to fly instead of almost impossible.

Ignore the voices of experience and buy a docking computer. Sure it takes up space and you can make cash faster without one but the game should be fun and docking is a tedious chore.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

OK I've been playing for a while but I find docking fun. Take the opportunity to scan some ships for data, sometimes scan some high wakes, entering the station at odd angles, getting the speed just right. The challenge for me is part of the fun. Only time I used the DC was when I was doing a lot of PVE combat and wanted to relax on returning from the CZs so got a DC.