I just tested this after an account reset to see how it compares with other methods of getting a fast start. Here's the steps:
From start, sell your shields and lasers to lighten your ship for greater jump range, then go straight to Chambo and scan all the planets in the system, refuel at the outpost there, then carry on to Dromi to complete the starter mission and cash in the planet data, which gives you around 90k cr.
Use the 90K to upgrade the SW to all D modules, then fit a 2E fuel scoop.
Plot a course to Vadimui, scan all the planets there, then plot a course to Jemede, then Col 285 sector, then HB-O C6-5 and scan all the planets in those systems. Honk all the other systems with the discovery scanner.
Finally head to HIP 11192 Kawasoto Port, sell your astronimical data there, which gets you about 2 mil, then upgrade all the Sidewinder's main modules to A-class and everything else like this:
coriolis.io
Plot a course to Ngalinn and load up with pirate massacre missions. You want the quantity of missions to kill about 30 to 40 pirates from each faction.
The first run will get you enough money for a Vulture, so as soon as you cash in go and get one like this, whish should be obtainable from the stations below, though there wasn't one today at the first station in the list. I'd try HR 943 first:
coriolis.io
That's basically it. Return to Ngalinn and do all the massacre missions. You can kill around 30 mission targets per hr, so adjust the number of missions from each faction to match your playtime.
Here's how I got on. I don't know whether the some of the missions have been nerfed or whether rank has something to do with it, but the missions didn't seem to pay as well as normal. also, the BGS has caused one of the factions to stop offering the missions and some of the others are a bit sparse. That means 4 factions offering the missions and 3 not, but that can change any time.
The second problem I encountered was that the stations where I went to get my Vulture didn't have it, so I wasted about 2 hours finding one and outfitting it. The table above isn't guaranteed. I think I just had bad luck.
The third thing I did wrong was that as soon as I had 100 mil, I wasted about an hour getting an FDL and outfitting it; however, after trying it out for this, I think the Vulture is a lot better. It's much easier to stay behind the ships and keep your guns on the target with the Vulture, which ultimately kills them quicker. I was trying not to use more advanced combat techniques with these ships, but you need them to get the best out of the FDL.
Trip 1 in the Sidewinder netted 15.5 mil
Trip 2 in the Vulture netted 35 mil
Trip 3 in the Vulture netted 94 mil
Trip 4 in the FDL netted 126 mil
Trip 5 in the FDL netted 106 mil
I now have 294 mil in the bank after 10.5 hrs of play from the start plus an FDL worth 100mil. I think 100 mil per hour would be possible for 3 or 4 hr play sessions from now on. I was only doing 40 to 60 pirates each time, which isn't so efficient because I couldn't take the high paying wing missions.
If you do this with a friend, you can share each other's wing missions, which improves your earnings rate a fair amount, but if you share with more than one player, the logistics of handing in the missions becomes complicated and time consuming. You need to choreograph and practice it otherwise you become less efficient than doing it on your own.
Conclusion: I think this beats other methods to get a fast start for say the first 10 hours. I'm not sure whether passenger missions beats it thereafter. I'm going to do another complete runthrough without using the FDL to see whether the results are consistent.
From start, sell your shields and lasers to lighten your ship for greater jump range, then go straight to Chambo and scan all the planets in the system, refuel at the outpost there, then carry on to Dromi to complete the starter mission and cash in the planet data, which gives you around 90k cr.
Use the 90K to upgrade the SW to all D modules, then fit a 2E fuel scoop.
Plot a course to Vadimui, scan all the planets there, then plot a course to Jemede, then Col 285 sector, then HB-O C6-5 and scan all the planets in those systems. Honk all the other systems with the discovery scanner.
Finally head to HIP 11192 Kawasoto Port, sell your astronimical data there, which gets you about 2 mil, then upgrade all the Sidewinder's main modules to A-class and everything else like this:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
The first run will get you enough money for a Vulture, so as soon as you cash in go and get one like this, whish should be obtainable from the stations below, though there wasn't one today at the first station in the list. I'd try HR 943 first:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
| Station | System | Allegiance | Pad | Arrival Distance | Prices Update | Distance ly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esposito Dock | HIP 1732 | Independent | L | 210 ls | 7 days | 82.40 ly |
| Hildebrandt Terminal | HR 943 | Empire | L | 734 ls | 1 days | 84.80 ly |
| Ilyushin Vision | HIP 1745 | Independent | L | 5,910 ls | 12 days | 88.96 ly |
| Thome Gateway | HIP 16607 | Independent | L | 2,562 ls | 2 days | 106.61 ly |
| Guth Station | HIP 3603 | Independent | L | 1,419 ls | 2 hours | 106.98 ly |
| Koolhaas Vision | CD-44 224 | Independent | L | 3,152 ls | 11 hours | 110.48 ly |
That's basically it. Return to Ngalinn and do all the massacre missions. You can kill around 30 mission targets per hr, so adjust the number of missions from each faction to match your playtime.
Here's how I got on. I don't know whether the some of the missions have been nerfed or whether rank has something to do with it, but the missions didn't seem to pay as well as normal. also, the BGS has caused one of the factions to stop offering the missions and some of the others are a bit sparse. That means 4 factions offering the missions and 3 not, but that can change any time.
The second problem I encountered was that the stations where I went to get my Vulture didn't have it, so I wasted about 2 hours finding one and outfitting it. The table above isn't guaranteed. I think I just had bad luck.
The third thing I did wrong was that as soon as I had 100 mil, I wasted about an hour getting an FDL and outfitting it; however, after trying it out for this, I think the Vulture is a lot better. It's much easier to stay behind the ships and keep your guns on the target with the Vulture, which ultimately kills them quicker. I was trying not to use more advanced combat techniques with these ships, but you need them to get the best out of the FDL.
Trip 1 in the Sidewinder netted 15.5 mil
Trip 2 in the Vulture netted 35 mil
Trip 3 in the Vulture netted 94 mil
Trip 4 in the FDL netted 126 mil
Trip 5 in the FDL netted 106 mil
I now have 294 mil in the bank after 10.5 hrs of play from the start plus an FDL worth 100mil. I think 100 mil per hour would be possible for 3 or 4 hr play sessions from now on. I was only doing 40 to 60 pirates each time, which isn't so efficient because I couldn't take the high paying wing missions.
If you do this with a friend, you can share each other's wing missions, which improves your earnings rate a fair amount, but if you share with more than one player, the logistics of handing in the missions becomes complicated and time consuming. You need to choreograph and practice it otherwise you become less efficient than doing it on your own.
Conclusion: I think this beats other methods to get a fast start for say the first 10 hours. I'm not sure whether passenger missions beats it thereafter. I'm going to do another complete runthrough without using the FDL to see whether the results are consistent.
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