Returning burnt out player saying YAY!!

Galdatron

Galdatron
Hello :)

I used to play ED a few years back. Ran an RP community hub, Elite & Real and sank, like many, a LOOOT of hours into the game. I was mainly a vulture / T6 pilot, and worked hard to pimp them out. I was a vulture pilot simply because as a guy with a job, family, kids yada yada, bigger ships just seemed out of reach. Making money often felt like 2 steps forward, 3 steps back and very slow, but I kept dreaming, flipping boards to get decent slave runs and a lot of time sitting in the station. Trading never really made me the big bucks as much as I enjoyed it, it was a measly 100K here, 100K there and slow! Then I had a the fabulous idea of grinding navy rank for that cheap(ish) shinny clipper.... Well I did the grind. Endless board flipping and data runs, donations etc and finally hit Baron after gawd knows how long! Weeks damn it!

Purchasing that clipper should have been a joyous moment, but alas, I didn't really have enough money to do it justice and when I realised how ghaaaaaaaastly under powered she was with my budget, I ended up selling it back and re-purchasing my vulture and T6. Talk about an anticlimax. The idea was to work for more credits until I could finally pimp out the clipper. Well sadly, as a casual player I just simply burnt out and eventually drifted off to other games.

ED kept popping up on my YouTube feed and I occasionally stuck my head into a few of them and got that little pang to play again. I did download the game and log in about 6 months ago, but as I sat staring at station menu, I realised I was still really in the same predicament, had forgotten everything, and would have to re-familiarise myself with it all as well as the new changes. Engineers.... mind boggling! Needless to say I logged out and uninstalled the game when I needed SSD space for something else.

Anyhoo.... A video popped up on my feed last week from a guy who you all probably know. TheYamiks. After picking myself up of the floor and wiping away my tears of laughter, I started watching some more of his videos, not for ED, but because the boy is a scream, and I just p***sed my self at his style. One in particular was his Money Making META : NEW MINING 60-130 Mil. After watching this, I then went on to watch other tutorial videos on deep core mining and I realised maybe making money is easier now, MAYBE I can fulfil my dreams of flying bigger ships, MAYBE I can be riiiiiiich!

Well I reinstalled the game, sold all my assets, bought a Krait MKII, pimped it for mining and headed off to a closest ice belt. After some trial and error and thanks to the detailed tutorials on YouTube, I was soon filling my cargo hold with opals and grandidierite and flying them off to a 'best buy' station, jaw on the floor as the credits (like i've never seen) started to flood in. After a few mining sessions I upgraded to a Python, and continue to mine, getting more skilled and faster at spotting them rocks.

I finally feel like the opportunities in ED have opened up. I've enough money to pimp out that clipper but instead, I'm thinking of going for a budget Anaconda as shown in Down to Earth Astronomy's YouTube Guide. With this, I can do Robigo passenger missions whilst at the same time increasing my Navy rank to Duke in order to eventually get a Cutter whilst at the same time, slowly upgrading the Anaconda. Having some more opportunities and not having to focus on making credits means I can essentially start focusing on doing fun things and exploring other aspects of ED.

So anyway, I can see the rate in which players can earn money now is a controversial topic, especially for old school players who've done things the hard way. I can understand it. With that said, slow progress is in games like ED push casual players like me away as we slog away in small ships making low profit. Whilst there is plenty to do in ED even in a small ship, everything requires credits, and the temptation to focus solely on that aspect funnels us away from actually doing things that are FUN.

So for a burnt out returning player, this is a god send, and I say YAY!!!
 

zipline

zipline
Welcome back cmdr. I also remember the money struggles before the release that brought in deep core mining and the void opal boom. I was fortunate that my struggles were only for a few months though so didn't put me off. As you say, it is nice to have the credits now to just A-rate a ship without a thought. However, unlocking engineers and gathering all the materials they consume can become a grind if you try and take that all on in a short space of time!
o7
 

Galdatron

Galdatron
zipline said:
Welcome back cmdr. I also remember the money struggles before the release that brought in deep core mining and the void opal boom. I was fortunate that my struggles were only for a few months though so didn't put me off. As you say, it is nice to have the credits now to just A-rate a ship without a thought. However, unlocking engineers and gathering all the materials they consume can become a grind if you try and take that all on in a short space of time!
o7
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Aye, I've looked into Engineers. It's certainly not looking very 'casual player' friendly, but with that said, now I'm not so focused on credits and have a renewed enthusiasm for the game, I'll perhaps venture down that route, albeit slowly.
 

znôrt

znôrt
Galdatron said:
Aye, I've looked into Engineers. It's certainly not looking very 'casual player' friendly, but with that said, now I'm not so focused on credits and have a renewed enthusiasm for the game, I'll perhaps venture down that route, albeit slowly.
Click to expand...

good attitude but he is right. engineering mats are essentially just another "currency" of the game, just much more convoluted than credits. if you ever had the slightest issue with credits being a grind you will not believe this whole new level of nightmare. :D on the upside, it's all "optional" unless you want to pvp or solo a few high end pve instances. fly safe, cmdr!
 

WeComeInPeace

WeComeInPeace
In some cases, mostly combat and long range jumping, engineering is necessary, but honestly, in many other cases I don't think it matters that much. You can build mighty fine ships without the engineers. The most useful upgrade is the Guardian FSD booster. It's a bit of a task to get it, but once you have the blueprint, you can fit (buy) it to any ship you want, whereas any engineering takes material grinding.

Recently I was grinding rank, until it occurred to me, why are you doing this? I could also just enjoy the game without the Corvette, and eventually get it from doing fun stuff instead of Sothis-Ceos on repeat. So now I'm fooling around with a Hauler, having great times.

Edit: D2EA's videos are excellent. He taught me most of what I know about ED, since I'm not good at manuals. Yamiks didn't teach me that much, but he sure brings a smile to your face. Also some of the engineers don't take that much material grinding, unless you aim for maxed out G5.
 
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Jakester13

Jakester13
Although I hadn't quite uninstalled and still played at least a couple of times a month, from Premium Beta I basically had a Clipper and an AspX, and a few smaller ships of no particular value or purpose. I had accrued a lot of miscellaneous materials through regular "pottering about" gameplay, making the engineering of the two main ships a breeze, (unlocking the engineers, well, some are fine, others, not so much!)

But new-age mining? Yeah, it has really broadened my opportunities and I am happy about that. Every few weeks, I fit out for mining and replenish my cash reserves. Then all the rebuys, new ships and gear, higher risk behaviour and flying in open, becomes more fun and completely (financially speaking) manageable.

Good luck o7
 

Schmack

Schmack
Cknarf said:
Vulture and T6 are arguably the best ships in the game tbh
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When I was slamfest grinding a new account to Elite in 24 hours, I went through the T6. I'd never flown one before but I quickly discovered that was my favorite ship in the game. I really missed it once I moved past it, it was so much fun to fly.

It's like the Kia Soul of space if I could ever bring myself to drive a Kia Soul which I don't think I could ever do.
 

mpfj

mpfj
Schmack said:
... I went through the T6. I'd never flown one before but I quickly discovered that was my favorite ship in the game. I really missed it once I moved past it, it was so much fun to fly.
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T9 for me ... spent many an hour cargo hauling in that thing.

When I return from my current exploration trip (currently looking to earn about 4Bn Cr from it) I'm going to kit out a T9 miner and give Opal mining a try.
 

GraXXoR

GraXXoR
Cknarf said:
Vulture and T6 are arguably the best ships in the game tbh
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My current commander, Rick Sanchez 3L-17E, only flies small ships in principle, plus the T6, Keelback SLF wrapper and the mighty T7.

He agrees heartily. He used to fly the T6 on missions out to Bernards Loop and other exotic locations... Super versatile ship.

His current favorites are Vulture for Fighting, Cobra MK4 for deep core mining and surface missions, T6 for exploration, iCourier for general purpose use. Can't ever see me needing any ships besides these four.
 

Bill Clement

Bill Clement
zipline said:
Welcome back cmdr. I also remember the money struggles before the release that brought in deep core mining and the void opal boom. I was fortunate that my struggles were only for a few months though so didn't put me off. As you say, it is nice to have the credits now to just A-rate a ship without a thought. However, unlocking engineers and gathering all the materials they consume can become a grind if you try and take that all on in a short space of time!
o7
Click to expand...

Or a fairly long time, if you're pants at material grinding and trading... 😒

I didn't need credits- I prefer small ships and a long trip out in the black earned me more than enough to fit a whole squadron out exactly the way I like them. I was having a blast, tooling around in my go fasts, playing Smokey and the Bandit with sys authority and the occasional salt miner.

Then the game started to balance itself around engineered ships and my small ships weren't fast or agile any more, at least compared to the AI slaughterwagons that rock up every time I take a mission. Throw in the magic weapon effects the PvP crowd are casting these days and it all went South for me and my vanilla fleet.

Deep core mining has been the best and brightest moment of the year so far for me. I was close to uninstalling when I bought a Phantom and took out some of my frustration on the nearest innocent rock. It's an absolute hoot! Don't get me wrong, the credits were nice too, but for me the whole finding the right boulder, getting the charges set up right and that oh so satisfying crump-boom at the end just doesn't get old.

My grandfather was a quarryman- maybe dynamiting rocks is a family trait? 😁


Galdatron said:
Aye, I've looked into Engineers. It's certainly not looking very 'casual player' friendly, but with that said, now I'm not so focused on credits and have a renewed enthusiasm for the game, I'll perhaps venture down that route, albeit slowly.
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Yeah, take it easy on that road. I'm a bit obsessed now, wanting to G5 everything on my entire fleet. It feels like it'll take years...

Some top tips.
  • Don't fixate on it (like I do), break it up with fun stuff when the grind gets to you.
  • Remember that G3 is enough to give you a significant advantage over anything computer generated, there's no need to max out unless you absolutely need, want or have to.
  • Some mods, like sensors, have significant drawbacks to consider.
  • Some, like shields and weapons, are more or less straight upgrades.
  • You won't need as many mats for second and subsequent upgrades. E.g. unlock a pulse laser once and you can upgrade every other laser you own for a fraction of the material cost per weapon.
  • There are grind sites you can visit where you can collect a bunch of decent quality mats each time you log in. Dav's Hope, various crash sites; youtube, this forum and reddit will point the way, if that's your bag.
  • Check what you need for an upgrade with third party tools (INARA is good) before you take a long trip out to see an engineer.
  • If you've got any questions, just ask. The guys on the forum are a bit abrasive sometimes, but they always come up with the goods! ;)
 

zipline

zipline
Galdatron said:
Aye, I've looked into Engineers. It's certainly not looking very 'casual player' friendly, but with that said, now I'm not so focused on credits and have a renewed enthusiasm for the game, I'll perhaps venture down that route, albeit slowly.
Click to expand...
And that is the best approach to take. With plentiful credits you can now run missions that offer material rewards, and if you scan every system you visit the new FSS makes it easy to find high grade USS's you can scoop as you go. In many case, just bumbling along like this and enjoying the game can build up your engineer mats without you even noticing, and as others have said, if you can avoid the min-max ocd to g5 every module, then you'll have avoided the mat grind. Hmmm, wish I could follow my own advice!
 

WeComeInPeace

WeComeInPeace
Cknarf said:
Vulture and T6 are arguably the best ships in the game tbh
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I have a shield and hull tanked Anaconda with efficient beam lasers I use in Haz Res. Generally I can just sit in one place and wait for small or medium ships, and when they arrive, lock, aim and squeeze the trigger until they blow up, with limpets fizzing around to pick uo the pieces. Not very sophisticated. It's the closest I've come to D2EA's one shot kill. Those Vultures though, they are all over the place and really hard nuts to crack. Very good combat ship it seems. I have one, but I'm not good enough to manage it.

@Galdatron

If you want to make a quantum leap forward, i would suggest building a core mining ship. Find an icy ring and do the core mining. Then get enough CR to get an Anaconda. That ship is awesome. It's the only ship I've had that is good at anything. You can core mine Grand-Void-Alex cores enough for a Conda in a few of hours, and the same if you want the fancy thingies. Core mining is quite fun. Especially the first trips.

Edit: My first couple of core trips weren't very prosperous, but then you figure it out. I wen't in an ASPx and thats an excellent cheap core miner.
 
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