Newcomer / Intro Possibly the worst ED player ever - need help!

[AVPMARINE]

Hi guys, so I purchased the game on Steam the day it came out and I've played the game for about 32 hours roughly according to Steam. However, I've been flying around in an Eagle ship I purchased in replacement for my Sidewinder, so once I had purchased some nice missile rack and auto turrets for my ship I followed a rookie friend out in a wing blindly into a large unidentified signal source. As I dropped from "hypercruise"(I think thats what it is called) automatically behind my friend he had already opened fire on whatever was inside this large signal source pretty much instantly killing my brand new ship.. so that sucked..

I was furious, and paid some insurance on my ship and was back at the station I started at! However I noticed my ship had NOTHING equipped like the turrets, shield generator and missile rack. I had just blown all of my 20+ hours worth of credits I had earned from doing delivery missions leaving me defenseless and unable to attack. So he pretty much quit the game or something and here I am still trying my heart out in attempt to get back to where I was.

So basically I've been reading all these different guides and stuff online and spent so many hours trying to figure things out for myself since I'm really getting sick of doing these lame delivery missions, I really want to try out different things and have a basic idea on how to do them but when I attempt these things I can just never figure it out! The guides online make it seem so easy but really for me I feel like the dumbest person alive when trying to play this game! Kinda depressing

In short, I don't know how to do anything in this game besides delivery missions that automatically put the cargo into my ship.

Here are a short list of things I've attempted and failed miserably at.

1. Searching for pirates for missions - death and completely lost never succesfully finished a pirate hunting mission.
2. Missions that require me to find something in space, for example Slaves, Cargo anything like that. if the mission tells me to find something I will never find it..
3. Nav beacon bounty hunting - last attempt I FINALLY found somebody who had "wanted" next to their name and all of a sudden got blasted by some other ships.
4. Trading! I attempted trading then realised I had no credits to even buy stuff .. so that was a no go.
5. Exploring - Not sure what do... I feel like I've been exploring everywhere but apparently you are supposed to get credits for it!

So I'm pretty much sitting here constantly feeling like a dummy, I really want to play this game and I love the idea of it. I just have NO idea what to do and I've come to the point where I just need some professional help.

Oh! I have also been playing in private mode this whole time, I wouldn't even dare enter online!

Thanks for reading... any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Derpster Frey]

1. Searching for pirates for missions - death and completely lost never succesfully finished a pirate hunting mission.
2. Missions that require me to find something in space, for example Slaves, Cargo anything like that. if the mission tells me to find something I will never find it..
3. Nav beacon bounty hunting - last attempt I FINALLY found somebody who had "wanted" next to their name and all of a sudden got blasted by some other ships.
4. Trading! I attempted trading then realised I had no credits to even buy stuff .. so that was a no go.
5. Exploring - Not sure what do... I feel like I've been exploring everywhere but apparently you are supposed to get credits for it!

So I'm pretty much sitting here constantly feeling like a dummy, I really want to play this game and I love the idea of it. I just have NO idea what to do and I've come to the point where I just need some professional help.

Oh! I have also been playing in private mode this whole time, I wouldn't even dare enter online!

Thanks for reading... any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

1. What's the problem? Finding them or beating them?
2. Look for USS (Unidentified Signal Source) in the designated system, one of them will contain what you are looking for.
3. Need more details, did you have cargo in the hold? If so, pirates tend to open fire. Don't shoot anything until the red WANTED badge is there, else it's against the law and you'll get hunted yourself.
4. Nothing to say there, earn some starting capital doing something else.
5. Exploring requires a few things. You can use the default discovery scanner that comes with your starter ship and just hit the nearest unexplored system. The scanner only have a range of 500 Ls mind you, so you have to get close to things to see them. This data you've gathered, can be sold at stations in the Cartography area. Though you have to move 20 Ly away from where you scanned it to sell it.
If you buy an Surface Scanner, you can earn a lot more by surface scanning stars, planets and other bodies. It works automatically if you have it equipped. Just point at a body and it starts scanning. The distance depends on the size of body you are scanning. Just target it and move towards it until it starts scanning.
It's a good way to earn some quick credits when starting out, just jump into a system, scan and move on.


There are lots of guides stickied on top of this forum, I recommend reading them
Hope this helps.

Good luck Commander.

 

[Trader38]

Hi, sorry to hear you're having problems but... welcome to ED

Kill pirate missions are easiest done at a RES (resource extraction point) or a NAV point. Make sure you are in faction controlled space though. You will get nothing and not even see a 'wanted' in an Anarchy system (unless you have a KWS scanner and scan them first).

Don't even consider dropping into a SSS (Strong Signal Source), i fly a Python and i think twice (had 8+ Anacondors jump me last time i tried it !).

USS's (Unidentified Signal Source) contain mostly counter offers and confuse things, you'll also see wedding/funeral processions there. Only useful thing is assasination targets but i don't recommend you do those yet.

WSS (Weak Signal Source) contain dropped cargo canisters and free stuff but... you have to sell on the black market. If you get scanned when docking the fine will likely be more than the value of the cargo. Try to find an outpost with a black market and no security.

Trading can be easy but you need some capital to get started. Take no notice of the trade data in the galaxy map (it's usually wrong). Use common sense, if you need 'food stuff' then an agricultural system will have it. Systems are 'Extraction' pulls minerals from the ground. 'Refinery' refines minerals into metals. 'Industrial' processes metals into goods. 'Agricultural' farming & fishing. 'High Tech' makes high end goods using combinations of all the others. There are others as well (such as 'Tourism') but no need yet.

Exploration is easy and pays well but you need at least a Discovery Scanner (make sure it's mapped to a fire button in your 'fire group' screen). Fly to a system where not even the star you crash into is shown on your radar. Press and hold you fire button for the scanner until you hear the fog horn. Now target and fly close'ish to all the 'Unexplored' items on your left UI panel navigation screen. Then fly to a system 20+ light years from your discovery, dock and sell your data in the 'Universal Cartography' screen.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[bamber]

Without trying to belittle what you are doing is the equivalent of buying a cessna and flying at an American carrier group and chucking a flour bomb at them with a message attached saying "come and have a go if you think you are hard enough" While they are engaged in bombing missions somewhere in the world!

Trade - you can always make money even with a 4T sidewinder and 100Cr I could probably take taht over 1000Cr inside an hour. Even Scrap can be sold at a profit
.
Fight at nav beacons to get your eye in - if you fight at Anarchy beacons you will never get a bounty against you, if at another nav beacon always look for "Wanted"
.
When you can buy a KWS and scan with that first, you gain all the bounties on that ship not just the bounty for that system
.
When you have improved slightly go to a RES
.
Pick your fights - big ship = big teeth elite rating = hard pilot
.
Players used to complain about kill stealing - kill stealing by you is easy - find a ship being attacked by NPCs wait until its about dead and join in - if you hit it within 10 secs of it dying you get the bounty

Enjoy

 

[the100thmonkey]

Hi guys, so I purchased the game on Steam the day it came out and I've played the game for about 32 hours roughly according to Steam. However, I've been flying around in an Eagle ship I purchased in replacement for my Sidewinder, so once I had purchased some nice missile rack and auto turrets for my ship I followed a rookie friend out in a wing blindly into a large unidentified signal source. As I dropped from "hypercruise"(I think thats what it is called) automatically behind my friend he had already opened fire on whatever was inside this large signal source pretty much instantly killing my brand new ship.. so that sucked..

Strong signal sources are usually a very large, very dangerous ship with an accompanying wing of fighters being take on by some bounty-hunters. Steer clear until you're in a ship that's not made of glass.

I was furious, and paid some insurance on my ship and was back at the station I started at! However I noticed my ship had NOTHING equipped like the turrets, shield generator and missile rack. I had just blown all of my 20+ hours worth of credits I had earned from doing delivery missions leaving me defenseless and unable to attack. So he pretty much quit the game or something and here I am still trying my heart out in attempt to get back to where I was.

Turreted weapons on an Eagle are rubbish anyway, so at least you don't have to find that out the hard way. One thing - turrets engage hostile ships automatically. I suspect that you only had enough insurance money to cover the cost of the hull, not the upgrades - you are given the option of choosing which upgrades you repurchase in the insurance screen.

What probably happened in the nav beacon was you clipped a police ship they responded by firing on you. If you had turrets on, it would have been worse, as the turrets are set to attack any hostile target by default, they retaliate when you are fired on, which basically makes you enemy #1 in the nav point. That happened to me, and it was hilarious how quickly I died.

So basically I've been reading all these different guides and stuff online and spent so many hours trying to figure things out for myself since I'm really getting sick of doing these lame delivery missions, I really want to try out different things and have a basic idea on how to do them but when I attempt these things I can just never figure it out! The guides online make it seem so easy but really for me I feel like the dumbest person alive when trying to play this game! Kinda depressing

In short, I don't know how to do anything in this game besides delivery missions that automatically put the cargo into my ship.

[video=youtube;6x2hnmbiXcU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x2hnmbiXcU[/video]

Here are a short list of things I've attempted and failed miserably at.

1. Searching for pirates for missions - death and completely lost never successfully finished a pirate hunting mission.
2. Missions that require me to find something in space, for example Slaves, Cargo anything like that. if the mission tells me to find something I will never find it..
3. Nav beacon bounty hunting - last attempt I FINALLY found somebody who had "wanted" next to their name and all of a sudden got blasted by some other ships.
4. Trading! I attempted trading then realised I had no credits to even buy stuff .. so that was a no go.
5. Exploring - Not sure what do... I feel like I've been exploring everywhere but apparently you are supposed to get credits for it!

So I'm pretty much sitting here constantly feeling like a dummy, I really want to play this game and I love the idea of it. I just have NO idea what to do and I've come to the point where I just need some professional help.

Oh! I have also been playing in private mode this whole time, I wouldn't even dare enter online!

Thanks for reading... any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

1. Pirates - go to the navigation beacon in the system, or better a RES (Resource Extraction Site) if there is one (you can only see these in the left-hand UI panel when you are space, not in the station). In a RES, all wanted targets should be pirates.
2. Collect stuff - go to the system you are given in the mission description. Stay in supercruise at the slowest possible speed (30KM/s). Look at the left UI panel (contacts) and wait for weak signal sources to spawn. Because you're travelling so slowly, they'll be very close to your ship. Select them in the UI panel and target them. Go back to the main flight screen and align yourself with the target (there's an indicator on the left of the main scanner in case you didn't know about it.) An indicator saying "safe disengage" will show in blue at the bottom of the HUD. Drop out of supercruise. Set throttle to zero, deploy cargo scoop and collect your stuff. SLOWLY. Be warned that the cargo is often (always?) illegal and that you'll get a fine equal to the black market value of the cargo if the authority ships patrolling the large starports scan you. Either learn to do hot landings (so the sysuth ships don't have time to complete their scans), or only take these missions from the much smaller outposts - they don't have patrols.
3. Nav beacons - I think you just got unlucky and clipped a sysauth ship. You were doing it right until you hit the police. If you give the scan time to show the person as wanted, you should be OK.
4. Trading - a waste of time in the small ships, especially the Eagle. Bounty-hunt until you can afford an Adder before attempting to trade.
5. Exploring - when you jump into a system, select the basic discovery scanner (it should be secondary fire on your default firegroup; you can set firegroups in the right UI panel "Firegroups" tab if it isn't). Get into the habit of doing it in every system you go into. You get more money if you scan planets and stars too. You have to travel 20LY from the system to sell its data.

 

[nazartp]

There are several good guides out there about surviving the first several days

First things to do and make some money in the process - take missions to deliver something. Usually pays about 1,000 cr (a bit more, a bit less). These missions usually require a single jump only, so in 10 minutes you just doubled your starting capital.

While doing those missions, take time to write down the prices at the stations you are visiting. AFter 3-4 runs you will be able to grab some cargo along to supplement the income from delivery missions. Knowing what's sold where will open "fetch" missions for you, i.e., get some stuff and bring it to this station.

While you are in your first couple of days, make liberal use of your discovery scanner - a single honk in an unexplored system gets you about 400 - 600 cr, if I remember correctly.

Once you spent a bit of time flying around and made some cash to make some upgrades to your ship, go to the Nav Beacon. Scan the ships and kill wanted pirates only. Will start netting yourself about 4,000 per killed Sidey. Once you are comfortable with these simple tasks, the sky is the limit!

 

[huwthomas]

On the nav point mugging, as well as accidentally firing on someone it's also possible you attacked a ship that was part of a wing. Always check the scan results so you know what you're about to get into.

One other thing, when you die the insurance screen lets you select the equipment you wish to re-buy, it sounds like you either didn't select your stuff or didn't have enough cash.

 

[Dark Skies]

Hi there is so much yo know. I agree can be very hard and abstract to know what to do.
I have only played a couple of weeks and you will soon be flying around like a pro
always check you have enough money to rebuy your ship in the right hand window first pane. If not sell something even a gun to get enough cover.
as said earlier fight at a Nav point near the star and only cohos battles you v
can win. Run run boost boost four pips in eng when you get in trouble then frame shift out
enjoy the risk it makes it real

 

[YoBuck]

Hi guys, so I purchased the game on Steam the day it came out and I've played the game for about 32 hours roughly according to Steam. However, I've been flying around in an Eagle ship I purchased in replacement for my Sidewinder, so once I had purchased some nice missile rack and auto turrets for my ship I followed a rookie friend out in a wing blindly into a large unidentified signal source. As I dropped from "hypercruise"(I think thats what it is called) automatically behind my friend he had already opened fire on whatever was inside this large signal source pretty much instantly killing my brand new ship.. so that sucked..

I was furious, and paid some insurance on my ship and was back at the station I started at! However I noticed my ship had NOTHING equipped like the turrets, shield generator and missile rack. I had just blown all of my 20+ hours worth of credits I had earned from doing delivery missions leaving me defenseless and unable to attack. So he pretty much quit the game or something and here I am still trying my heart out in attempt to get back to where I was.

So basically I've been reading all these different guides and stuff online and spent so many hours trying to figure things out for myself since I'm really getting sick of doing these lame delivery missions, I really want to try out different things and have a basic idea on how to do them but when I attempt these things I can just never figure it out! The guides online make it seem so easy but really for me I feel like the dumbest person alive when trying to play this game! Kinda depressing

In short, I don't know how to do anything in this game besides delivery missions that automatically put the cargo into my ship.

Here are a short list of things I've attempted and failed miserably at.

1. Searching for pirates for missions - death and completely lost never succesfully finished a pirate hunting mission.
2. Missions that require me to find something in space, for example Slaves, Cargo anything like that. if the mission tells me to find something I will never find it..
3. Nav beacon bounty hunting - last attempt I FINALLY found somebody who had "wanted" next to their name and all of a sudden got blasted by some other ships.
4. Trading! I attempted trading then realised I had no credits to even buy stuff .. so that was a no go.
5. Exploring - Not sure what do... I feel like I've been exploring everywhere but apparently you are supposed to get credits for it!

So I'm pretty much sitting here constantly feeling like a dummy, I really want to play this game and I love the idea of it. I just have NO idea what to do and I've come to the point where I just need some professional help.

Oh! I have also been playing in private mode this whole time, I wouldn't even dare enter online!

Thanks for reading... any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Come meet me I'll drop a few times of cargo and answer any questions you might have

 

[Conde]

Hi, everything said already is pretty good advice, I definitely agree you should forget about turrets on the Eagle. I found once I had some cash to upgrade the Eagle I even managed to blow up Anacondas! Well ok they were NPCs but apart from more powerful weapons, shields and a stronger hull, make sure you fit the best Power Plant (Class 2 A or B rated) and Power Distributor (Class 1 A or B rated) you can which will mean you can sustain fire for longer and recharge quicker. Tip: You'll always find the best choice of ships/upgrades in a Hi Tech system. Before you get back to the Eagle tho you need to get some hard cash. I found the Hauler was a cheap way to do that. It has decent range once you upgrade the Frame Shift Drive and is reasonably agile, forget about combat in it so you need a nice quiet area to do some business. You can upgrade 3 of the Hauler's compartments with 2x 8 ton cargo racks and another 2 ton to make 18 tons of cargo. For example often you will find Extraction systems close to Refinery systems, study the Galaxy Map or scan the forums for advice on some of the safest trade routes. So at first with my Hauler I managed eventually to trade Gold between the 2 with around 1100 profit per ton, so on 1 trip I made nearly 20K one way and 16K trading something else the other way, total 36K for a few minutes work. And being so cheap even if you do get shot down it's not a massive loss to replace. I took a break from the trade grind by doing some exploring in it and once I had some decent cash, bought an Eagle then a Viper for some combat and so on. One final thing, don't be afraid of open play! Unless you do stupid things and go to dangerous places you should find us humans are a reasonably friendly bunch! Yes as with any online game there are griefers and idiots out there but in my experience you'll be unlucky to meet them more than once or twice, being in the wrong place at the wrong time is not that easy lol it's a big Galaxy out there! Obviously being in a wing with some friends is a big help too. I hope the above gives you some ideas, good luck!