Please help me, Im really struggling here....

[z33r0x]

Hi there Commanders, I really need your guidance. I have a really hard time earning money and really struggling with the combat. Im trying my best in a conflict zone to earn some decent credits, but I die from time to time, when all the enemy ships decide to attack me at the same time, and then there is no chance to even get away. I noticed that, even if I spend a lof of money on my shields, with maximum shield boosters, my shields disappears just in a couple of seconds, and I myself have to fire a lot more to take their shields down, when I do, it takes forever to kill them, and their shields becomes recharge in the middle of the combat.

I have 34.000.000 Credits, please help me. I have tryed Vulture and spent hours of testing different weapons, but nothing seem to work really. Also tried the Federal Gunship, with 7 hardpoints, but died too fast, almost instantaneously. Lost too many credits already, so now im looking at the community, maybe someone out there have a good idea what to use.

I tryed cargo runs, get a 500k each run profit, in about 10 min, back and forth, but thats not how I want to play this game, im tired of going from A to B, and B to A over and over.

Is this game so unbalanced that you can't earn decent money without trading? Please help.

 

[EUS]

For credits, battle in resource extractions sites, the money is much better than conflict zones.
The vulture should perform well in those.
Conflict zones are more tricky, and are better for ranking purposes. Only advice I can offer is do not get separated from your team.

 

[Sugarat]

Find a Hi Res and bounty hunt.. rewards are higher and security will help you fight the bad guys.. will give you time to hone your combat skills too

Ninja'd ^

 

[Ozram]

For credits, battle in resource extractions sites, the money is much better than conflict zones.
The vulture should perform well in those.
Conflict zones are more tricky, and are better for ranking purposes. Only advice I can offer is do not get separated from your team.

This right here is good advice. You want to make some cash with combat, REZ sites are your best friend. Pick you targets and make sure they have a wanted tag visible before you start firing. Also look to see if they are winged up. Unless you know what you're doing and are well equipped for the task some wings will wreck you. There are lots of videos around on YouTube. Try and target the opponents powerplant if the ship is Vulture or larger. Use chaff when enemy fires at you with gimballed weapons. Learn to toggle fa on/off for a little added efficiency on your turns and have fun.

 

[z33r0x]

Thanks for quick response, I will look into this, cuz this drives me crazy. And thanks for your suggestions.

 

[DragoonKnight]

Ships in conflict zones seem to be running with military armor and hull reinforcements. Takes much longer per kill than the ships in a haz res. A conflict zone can be good when you have a wing.

 

[d8veh]

Take a fully equipped Vulture to a HI RES or has RES. It's much much easier than combat zones because you'll only be dealing with one ship at a time and they die much more quickly too.

You can kill a few ships in a combat zone with a Vulture and then escape when things get hot, but you'd be very lucky to stay there fore a long tome. For that, you need something like a fully tanked Python as a minimum. You can make good money in a RES with a basic Sidewinder.

 

[Broon]

I will also go along with the RES site suggestion. Though I have never been to a CZ all the reading I have done suggests they may not be the place for you to go quite yet if you are having difficulties.

I have great successes in RES sites with this build. Vulture - Executor II

Also letting the cops help you with larger ships is a bonus in a RES site. Be sure to keep your "crimes against me" toggle on and they will come.

I am currently in the Kaushpoos system bouncing from RES to RES to RES having a jolly time! 2 Low RES, 3 Regular RES and 3 Haz RES all around 1k Ls away from each other.

 

[Cmdr Scorpion]

I like Nav beacons, can't be bothered with dodging the boulders in res sites, and I did get in trouble when in a conflict zone I didn't know that I had to pick sides.
As Ozram said check what is in the wing I got caught out by going after two Sidewinders that were Elite and lost half my shields, they don,t usually bother me, (speedy little blightrs).

 

[Galafrey]

Asp or T6 rigged for smuggling, job done.

 

[fennster]

I like Nav beacons, can't be bothered with dodging the boulders in res sites

Really?

------

OP, what is the rest of your load out like, if you are flying a Vulture full of shield boosters, are you A grading the Distributor and Power supply? You can A grade a Vulture for around 21 Million.

 

[Vandaahl]

If your enemies run out of targets and you are the closest by, then they'll turn to you. Don't think any ship or configuration can stand a beating from multiple enemies for long, chosing position is key.

Move to the edges of the combat zone before picking a side. Find a close target and make sure he is the only one in range. Keep track of the other red triangles. If more than 2 start flashing, brake off the attack and start boosting towards empty space.

If you keep your attention on the situation around you, you'll live longer and prolly make it until your ammo runs out. Don't fly into a CZ head first thinking your shields will save you.

 

[Broon]

I like Nav beacons, can't be bothered with dodging the boulders in res sites, and I did get in trouble when in a conflict zone I didn't know that I had to pick sides.
As Ozram said check what is in the wing I got caught out by going after two Sidewinders that were Elite and lost half my shields, they don,t usually bother me, (speedy little blightrs).

I cruise just just above (or is it below?) the plane of the rings in a RES. Maybe 2-4km out at minimum. I still find plenty of targets but rarely spend time dodging rocks.

I have actually never tried a Nav Beacon. Maybe I should?

 

[Bacalao]

Conflict zones really are an art, don't use them to make money, use them to have fun in this awesome dance of lasers and positioning and threat management. Also make sure that when you are in a conflict zone and more than one enemy begins to attack you, put 4 pips to shields. The difference between 3 and 4 pips is phenomenal so for defense make sure you're at 4 full pips to systems and then bail out with chaff. I always run dual chaff in conflict zones on all my ships there and know it's time to go when I have one chaff left in each launcher.

 

[Slippery Jim DiGriz]

Looked at your Vulture loadout.

No KWS will reduce your earnings by quite a bit.
I ran a Vulture for a while and never bothered with armour or bulkheads but did pack a few SCBs also point defence is probably worth having. In my Vulture my coda was: "once the shields are down, run away" so the strength was not really all that important as I never hung around long enough to take a fatal amount of damage, minor damage is pretty cheap to fix on a Vulture - don't be tempted just to finish off the current attacker if you are taking damage in a Vulture, once the shields are down it's made from tissue paper and spit.

Sub-system targeting (power plants in particular) and using FA-Off to assist rapid manoeuvring as well as managing your own power are vital skills to get the best out of your Vulture.

 

[happyfunball]

I cruise just just above (or is it below?) the plane of the rings in a RES. Maybe 2-4km out at minimum. I still find plenty of targets but rarely spend time dodging rocks.

I have actually never tried a Nav Beacon. Maybe I should?

Not worthwhile, IMO, unless it's a Compromised Nav Beacon. Normal Nav Beacon is slooooow.

OP, as others have said, HazRES is your best bet for profit. if you do feel like going back to CZ for fun, here's an old write-up on CZ that may help you: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=176767

 

[Grumpy181155]

I support what everyone else has been saying. I'm running an Anaconda worth over 500,000,000 and even I'm careful in a CZ and there are times when I need to cut and run because my team has either all died or bugged out.
In the Res site get a KWS and make sure you have scanned the guys before you open fire. If it is High Res follow the cops around and kill steal from them. It is a safe way to make a good income. In a Haz Res there are no System Authority to assist you so you need to be a bit more careful and check to see if they are winged up and what they are winged up with. Sometimes that little Sidewinder will have some powerful friends

 

[Spacecat]

How the heck did you get a federal gunship if you're doing so badly?

 

[Ozram]

How the heck did you get a federal gunship if you're doing so badly?

I'd guess through trade or missions but I'm just guessing. Either way, I'd say there are more effective ships out there. Personally I'm a fan of the FAS but also enjoy the iCourier quite a bit for these tasks. At his price point of 30 odd million I'd say a good Viper build is the most effective (not nessessarily the most fun though).

 

[zxaber]

A lot of AI ships love their autoaim weapons (the vipers in some combat zones have turrets for some silly reason). Pack a chaff, and pop it if you're getting hit hard. It's best used with it's own key binding so you don't have to fiddle with fire groups. If you're fighting a large-pad ship, you might pop one just for good measure, since they are typically covered in turrets.