Really, really, really bored...

[MikeB]

Before all you jump on me for saying this, let me get this out of the way:

I love Elite Dangerous, have already got more enjoyment out of it than any other game since Frontier First Encounters, am absolutely delighted with my purchase, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the game to anybody with enough grey-matter to get what is an absolutely exquisite balance between high octane action and intelligent management... Moreover, given the incoming updates, I'm sure my predicament won't persist for very long. So, to make it clear, this isn't a whine thread, simply a plea for advice...

So here we go... I get that some of you love trading, but for me it's really, really boring, yeah I know, that's a completely subjective thing, I believe that many of you find it a lot of fun, I wish I was like you... I can't help not being that sort of player however. So what's my thing? Well, I love bounty hunting, but it's really never going to get me the Imperial Clipper I so dearly covet, even though I'm probably soon to have a combat rating of Master and already have an Imperial rank of Baron. Combat zones meanwhile are great fun but very few and far apart, and at 3000 credits a kill, well I'd have to play for a very long time indeed to get my Clipper. Worse, by the time I manage to jump there from however many light years away I am, those combat zones are almost always over. So with standard bounty hunting, it would take too long to get my clipper, as I have a job and a family... And I'm definitely not a trader in any shape or form. Now, here's where some of you suggest multi-player, great, that would work, certainly, but the problem is that while I play in open, I very seldom meet another player... I don't know whether this is to do with time zones or server issues... Or perhaps just a bug? I even flew to the home system of Emperor's Grace, with the hope of joining that faction, but it's ghostly quiet...

I'm confident wings will sort this out, I can then apply my combat skills to high-paying player merchants eager for some hard-nosed bounty hunters to protect their trade routes, can't wait!

But chaps and chapesses, please, until then, any advice to get more out of this already great game in the really very short-term?

 

[EddyRockSteady]

Sacrifice.

Bite the bullet and become the best trader that you can be, albeit for a short time. Hit trading fast and hit it hard, keeping only the end-game in sight, ie the Imperial Clipper. Trust me now, as the owner of an A-spec Clipper you DEFINITELY want one, you want it bad enough to suck it up and become a trader RIGHT NOW!

Hit those rares, that will spice up your life to no end, trading while running the ganking-gauntlet that Lave and surrounds can get you. The Lave cluster has 6 or more systems in close proximity that sell rares so you'll be making more money than you can count in no time and the Clipper will be yours.

Best of both worlds - enough Pirates to satisfy your combat lust laced with trading - those rares attract pirates like flies to poop

 

[MikeB]

Sacrifice.

Bite the bullet and become the best trader that you can be, albeit for a short time. Hit trading fast and hit it hard, keeping only the end-game in sight, ie the Imperial Clipper. Trust me now, as the owner of an A-spec Clipper you DEFINITELY want one, you want it bad enough to suck it up and become a trader RIGHT NOW!

Hit those rares, that will spice up your life to no end, trading while running the ganking-gauntlet that Lave and surrounds can get you. The Lave cluster has 6 or more systems in close proximity that sell rares so you'll be making more money than you can count in no time and the Clipper will be yours.

Best of both worlds - enough Pirates to satisfy your combat lust laced with trading - those rares attract pirates like flies to poop

Sadly, that would seem to be my only option, maybe I'll give it a go, but it's going to take me a while to rack up the credits to buy a Type-6 space cow... I really don't want to sell my maxed-out Viper and half-kitted-out Cobra... Which are the sorts of ships I love to fly...

 

[EddyRockSteady]

Sadly, that would seem to be my only option, maybe I'll give it a go, but it's going to take me a while to rack up the credits to buy a Type-6 space cow... I really don't want to sell my maxed-out Viper and half-kitted-out Cobra... Which are the sorts of ships I love to fly...

Use your Cobra - just max out the cargo capacity. Again, with rares you'll be able to get a Type-6 and keep the Cobra. Then you can trade the Type-6 in on the Clipper.

Problem solved.

 

[Retorrent]

I can't speak for other traders but playing as one in open play is pretty damn thrilling, can't tell you how many times I have escaped some costly pirate intradictions at the last second. Its like a big cat and mouse game. They try to catch me with my hold full of goodies I try to avoid getting caught. So far they have caught me with a empty hold several times and got nothing, sometimes they let me go other times they blew me up just for the hell of it. I laugh either way because I roll in enough creds to cover the insurance deductible in no time flat.

 

[Beondred]

Sacrifice.

Bite the bullet and become the best trader that you can be, albeit for a short time. Hit trading fast and hit it hard, keeping only the end-game in sight, ie the Imperial Clipper. Trust me now, as the owner of an A-spec Clipper you DEFINITELY want one, you want it bad enough to suck it up and become a trader RIGHT NOW!

Hit those rares, that will spice up your life to no end, trading while running the ganking-gauntlet that Lave and surrounds can get you. The Lave cluster has 6 or more systems in close proximity that sell rares so you'll be making more money than you can count in no time and the Clipper will be yours.

Best of both worlds - enough Pirates to satisfy your combat lust laced with trading - those rares attract pirates like flies to poop

Blaze your own trail (tm)

Or maybe, just trade.

 

[MikeB]

Use your Cobra - just max out the cargo capacity. Again, with rares you'll be able to get a Type-6 and keep the Cobra. Then you can trade the Type-6 in on the Clipper.

Problem solved.

Been in the game since beta, but am a combat focussed player, so know nothing about trading because I find it intensely boring... Please, I beg you, add me in ingame, my commander name is Mike Burke, let's run a few trade routes together...

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I can't speak for other traders but playing as one in open play is pretty damn thrilling, can't tell you how many times I have escaped some costly pirate intradictions at the last second. Its like a big cat and mouse game. They try to catch me with my hold full of goodies I try to avoid getting caught. So far they have caught me with a empty hold several times and got nothing, sometimes they let me go other times they blew me up just for the hell of it. I laugh either way because I roll in enough creds to cover the insurance deductible in no time flat.

That sounds great, but again, something about me living in Tokyo seems to make such experiences very, very rare indeed...

 

[Hamerstein]

A valid argument Mike, but not the first time (or the second, third etc.) it's been raised.

I quite agree that a different mechanism (over having to amass a large fortune via trading) would be a great addition, perhaps making those military ranks mean something - enabling you to fly those bigger ships in military service (even if you don't own them). But it's up to FD if whether their current formula is by design or if things are just awaiting change.

For now, your only option is to trade. I wouldn't hold your breath over wings being the solution either. Because if you asked the question of whether a trader would want to give up some of their profit margin for protection by PCs against other PCs or simply shift to solo play, At least a significant proportion would just switch modes.

The caveat is if 1.1 or 1.2 also made NPC encounters significantly harder, if players in large ships, hauling high value cargo suddenly had to contend with a squadron of foes and the current FSD Cooldown or mass lock mechanics were re-visited to make interdiction avoidance non-trivial, then we might see traders looking to Open mode for protection by their peers, just from PvE content.

 

[777Driver]

I can understand your pain dude. See for me, I actually enjoy the flying, even on a trade route. I could never get bored doing this, mastering FA-OFF is an absolute joy, and each ship brings a new challenge. Have spent the past few day's landing a Type-9 with no help from flight assist, I'll take it to an outpost, and learn to precisely maneuver around the station, gear down, landing and taking off from a platform (Not dock).

When I first got my Clipper I took it to Azaban orbital and practiced parking it perfectly on the side of the station without flight assist, got some funny messages from other cmdr's at the station.

Spoiler

I honestly feel bad for those that don't get much joy out of flying these ships. Trading would bore me to tears if those FA OFF docking's and departures didn't happen.

I guess it's not what you want to hear, but set yourself challenges and goals, do rares, the Clipper is actually not that expensive.

 

[Snowdog]

I am with the original poster. Trading is ok, but a bit boring. They took the fun out of it by not allowing common sense tools to track and scrape data for trades.

 

[MikeB]

A valid argument Mike, but not the first time (or the second, third etc.) it's been raised.

I quite agree that a different mechanism (over having to amass a large fortune via trading) would be a great addition, perhaps making those military ranks mean something - enabling you to fly those bigger ships in military service (even if you don't own them). But it's up to FD if whether their current formula is by design or if things are just awaiting change.

For now, your only option is to trade. I wouldn't hold your breath over wings being the solution either. Because if you asked the question of whether a trader would want to give up some of their profit margin for protection by PCs against other PCs or simply shift to solo play, At least a significant proportion would just switch modes.

The caveat is if 1.1 or 1.2 also made NPC encounters significantly harder, if players in large ships, hauling high value cargo suddenly had to contend with a squadron of foes and the current FSD Cooldown or mass lock mechanics were re-visited to make interdiction avoidance non-trivial, then we might see traders looking to Open mode for protection by their peers, just from PvE content.

Yeah apologies for mentioning something that has probably been brought up a few times, I always do a quick search to see if my posts have been repeated, but honestly these forums move far too fast for me to follow them with my current work load, and more than once I've posted something I thought was original but was in fact anything but... I honestly believe that the game will progress in the way you hope it will, it's just what to do until then...

 

[matunaga]

Been in the game since beta, but am a combat focussed player, so know nothing about trading because I find it intensely boring... Please, I beg you, add me in ingame my commander name is Mike Burke, let's run a few trade routes together...

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That sounds great, but again, something about me living in Tokyo seems to make such experiences very, very rare indeed...

Hm, this Clipper is a shiny toy for shure, but... I doubt it will be easy for you to cope with it's maintenance costs by bounty hunting alone. Diversification might help.

 

[DYSEQTA]

Sadly, that would seem to be my only option, maybe I'll give it a go, but it's going to take me a while to rack up the credits to buy a Type-6 space cow... I really don't want to sell my maxed-out Viper and half-kitted-out Cobra... Which are the sorts of ships I love to fly...

Grab yourself a Type-6 and kit it up for 100 tons of cargo with shield and defenses (no need for guns of any kind). Pop on an A grade power plant, down grade your fuel tank, and go D modules everywhere you can spare and an A2 fuel scoop (the overspecced power plant plus a grade fuel scoop will ensure scooping is very efficient, pretty much no worry with heat at all and scoops will be over in a handfull of seconds). Then do some hunting around a try to find yourself a nice little milk run. When you jump on do a couple of rounds of your milk run then swap out to your fighter and shoot stuff for kicks.

It might take longer to get your Clipper using this method but it will be faster than just bounties alone and it shouldn't tarnish your experience much. You might even find that in small doses trying to make the perfect run and shave seconds of your record can be enjoyable in it's own way.

I finally have a nice little round trip run that with a 100t Type-6 nets me 100K profit every 7 minutes. It took a couple of days hunting around and taking notes to find it but obviously it's was worth the effort. Thanks to this run and the 10% sale going on in Dalton Gateway I shall have my Asp much sooner than I had originally thought.

 

[MikeB]

Hm, this Clipper is a shiny toy for shure, but... I doubt it will be easy for you to cope with it's maintenance costs by bounty hunting alone. Diversification might help.

Yeah I get that, and going by what the devs have said in the past, this is an issue which will be sorted out... The Clipper is a military vessel after all...

 

[Perjoss]

Nothing wrong with getting burnt out on a game you love, I don't think there is any game that is immune from this happening eventually, and ED is a bit thin in places so its perfectly understandable. Best thing you can do is take a break and play something else for a while, Elite will always be there for you when you start to miss it again or when they add some new content that sounds interesting to you. Check out websites like Space Sim Central or Space Game Junkie if you're stuck for ideas on space games you may have never played. Occasionally on my day off I will explore the web looking for space games that are either in development or stuff that simply flew under my radar, it's so easy to spend a whole day just reading about all the cool stuff that is out there.

A few games that have recently caught my attention:

Wings of Saint Nazaire
http://www.wingsofstnazaire.com/

Enemy Starfighter
http://enemystarfighter.com/

also check out Limit Theory, I think we are due another dev update anytime soon: https://www.youtube.com/user/LimitTheory/videos

I'll add a few more if anything else springs to mind.

 

[MikeB]

Nothing wrong with getting burnt out on a game you love, I don't think there is any game that is immune from this happening eventually, and ED is a bit thin in places so its perfectly understandable. Best thing you can do is take a break and play something else for a while, Elite will always be there for you when you start to miss it again or when they add some new content that sounds interesting to you. Check out websites like Space Sim Central or Space Game Junkie if you're stuck for ideas on space games you may have never played. Occasionally on my day off I will explore the web looking for space games that are either in development or stuff that simply flew under my radar, it's so easy to spend a whole day just reading about all the cool stuff that is out there.

A few games that have recently caught my attention:

Wings of Saint Nazaire
http://www.wingsofstnazaire.com/

Enemy Starfighter
http://enemystarfighter.com/

also check out Limit Theory, I think we are due another dev update anytime soon: https://www.youtube.com/user/LimitTheory/videos

I'll add a few more if anything else springs to mind.

Space sim central has been a regular stop for me since I have been waiting for a new Elite, but no games have sated my thirst for a new FFE, until Elite Dangerous that is...

 

[crushdepth]

Try resource extraction sites, continuous stream of targets without endless supercruise interdiction and better bounties. Just watch out for the rocks.

 

[MikeB]

Try resource extraction sites, continuous stream of targets without endless supercruise interdiction and better bounties. Just watch out for the rocks.

Done that too, killed a few Elite Anacondas too, great fun! It isn't too long however until I clip a security service vessel and have to run away with my tail between my legs, limping to the nearest outpost in order to restore my legality.

 

[Commander Dave]

Having a long term goal helps.
I have a long term goal. I'm working towards achieving it. So really my game hasn't even started yet until I start on the road to that goal.
All the trading I'm doing, the millions of credits to buy more ships etc... it's all just building things up to I can start working on what I really want to do.
I reckon it'll take me another year to get where I want to be so I can start doing the thing that I really want to do.
Long term goal.

 

[EddyRockSteady]

Been in the game since beta, but am a combat focussed player, so know nothing about trading because I find it intensely boring... Please, I beg you, add me in ingame, my commander name is Mike Burke, let's run a few trade routes together...
...

Tell you what - I'll sponsor you a Type-6. If you are interested, let me know where you are and I'll come over and get it sorted.