Newcomer / Intro Scanner, nav beacons and stuff....

[Touchwood]

Still very much on the learning curve...

I thought I'd have my first attempt at a combat mission, so accepted a mission to kill a pirate lord. First question, was this wise? Or can you suggest what type of combat mission is best for an inexperienced player with paltry combat skills?

The mission instructions were to go to a particular system, and scan the nav beacon, which would tell me where he was lurking. I equipped an interdictor as instructed, and off I went. First problem, the only nav beacon was compromised - I've seen some stuff on here about them, so was reluctant, but decided what the hell, cargo bay was empty so only insurance loss to risk. I found the beacon, and got scanned a lot, but not attacked.

Unfortunately, I'd neglected to read up on how to use my scanner, didn't realise the key had to be held down, so failed to scan the beacon, and gave up.

Realising that this game isn't always intuitive as to what to do I thought I'd better ask for future reference;

Had I succeeded in scanning the beacon, how would the information as to where the pirate lord was have come across? In my nav panel? And how would I interdict him? Fly to him, target him, and interdict?

Anything else I need to know about my first stab at combat? I've done a few missions where a bonus was offered for destroying ships sent against me - is this a good thing to do? How tough are they?

Many thanks for assistance

 

[markkuk]

I thought I'd have my first attempt at a combat mission, so accepted a mission to kill a pirate lord. First question, was this wise?

Maybe, if you like very hard challenges.

Or can you suggest what type of combat mission is best for an inexperienced player with paltry combat skills?

Kill Pirates missions, if you can still find them and the target system has a non-compromised Nav Beacon or non-Hazardous RES sites.

Unfortunately, I'd neglected to read up on how to use my scanner, didn't realise the key had to be held down, so failed to scan the beacon, and gave up.

You don't use the Discovery Scanner to scan the beacon, so it's not necessary to hold any buttons. Just target the actual beacon, not the yellow place marker, point your ship towards it and it will get scanned like any other target. The information appears as a message on the comms panel (top left on your screen) and the mission data may also be updated.

 

[Touchwood]

Many thanks, Markkuk, spot on!

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

If you have any problems targeting the beacon.....

To make sure you are selecting the physical beacon (and not the beacon signal) once you are in normal space go to the Contacts (not Navigation) panel and select NAVIGATION BEACON (not NAV BEACON as is on Navigation panel). Then fly up close and personal and the scan should initiate. The beacon should also have the symbols < and > in white around it as you have when you target cargo canisters in space.

Alternative to scanning the Navigation Beacon is to use the (optional internal) Discovery Scanner in supercruise. But the 'Mission Updated' message will only appear if the mission target/USS is in range of the scanner (Basic: 500ls; Intermediate: 1000ls; Advanced: System-wide)

 

[Ashnak]

Still very much on the learning curve...

I thought I'd have my first attempt at a combat mission, so accepted a mission to kill a pirate lord. First question, was this wise? Or can you suggest what type of combat mission is best for an inexperienced player with paltry combat skills?

Well, for those type of missions, the payout usually reflects the difficulty. And since 2.something, you will also be offered missions far above your league. So it might well be that you find yourself in your Sidey (or whatever you're flying at the moment), opposing a couple of Anacondas with Viper/Vulture fighter support...

If you want to hone your NPC combat skills, find a nice RES site (or set of RES sites) in a non-anarchy system (better payout) and loook for "wanted" ships. Make sure the ship shows as "wanted" in the targeting panel (left side), then go for it. This way, you can select your opponents before attacking them.

If you want, you can equip a kill warrant scanner. That is of the "map to fire group, hold until complete" type and can increase the bounty payout by some percentage, as long as you can bother to go to whoever issued that bounty.

The mission instructions were to go to a particular system, and scan the nav beacon, which would tell me where he was lurking. I equipped an interdictor as instructed, and off I went. First problem, the only nav beacon was compromised - I've seen some stuff on here about them, so was reluctant, but decided what the hell, cargo bay was empty so only insurance loss to risk. I found the beacon, and got scanned a lot, but not attacked.

Unfortunately, I'd neglected to read up on how to use my scanner, didn't realise the key had to be held down, so failed to scan the beacon, and gave up.

No, you just target the beacon, get sufficiently close and point right at it (front center), then wait for the scanning process (left panel) to complete.

....
Anything else I need to know about my first stab at combat? I've done a few missions where a bonus was offered for destroying ships sent against me - is this a good thing to do? How tough are they?

Many thanks for assistance

Don't know whether these scale with the mission or your own ship/skills - the ones I got since 2.1 usually were of the "one is ok, the second one after that is a problem" type, i.e. I can handle a single FGS, but it will take down enough armour that I prefer not to tangle with the second one.

No idea about the assassination missions themselves, though - never completed one of those. I just don't like interdictions, at either end. Shooting NPCs in RES sites was enough for me so far. Apparently also for the NPCs - last time I went there, FDLs usually apologized for accidentally scanning me .

And avoid tangling with wings, for the start.

 

[aRJay]

Still very much on the learning curve...

I thought I'd have my first attempt at a combat mission, so accepted a mission to kill a pirate lord. First question, was this wise? Or can you suggest what type of combat mission is best for an inexperienced player with paltry combat skills?



Anything else I need to know about my first stab at combat? I've done a few missions where a bonus was offered for destroying ships sent against me - is this a good thing to do? How tough are they?

Many thanks for assistance

The best combat missions to go for are those that are ranked below your current rank, have a time window that does not put you under pressure (some missions have a specific time slot) and don't need equipment you don't have e.g. Interdictor.

The toughness of the bonus interdictors should be about the same or just slightly higher than any other mission specific NPCs that is the level of your combat ranking +/- or the level of the mission's rank +/- whichever is the higher, not destroying them just means no bonus, being destroyed by them means mission failure and potential fine (depends on mission Ts & Cs) as well the rebuy screen.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

If you need some tips on combat have a look through some of Vindicator Jones videos (although a few are quite advanced):
Combat Tutorials playlist

If you are an absolute beginner to combat then I would start with combat against wanted ships first at a Nav Beacon followed by Low-RES --> RES --> High-RES

RES: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Resource_Extraction_Site

 

[Touchwood]

Thanks to all for your invaluable advice. I just bit the bullet and took on a ship sent against me on a delivery mission, for extra credits - and lo and behold I won! (OK, a couple of authority ships turned up and helped - but I had 'im anyway!)

 

[aRJay]

Thanks to all for your invaluable advice. I just bit the bullet and took on a ship sent against me on a delivery mission, for extra credits - and lo and behold I won! (OK, a couple of authority ships turned up and helped - but I had 'im anyway!)

Congratulations, I always let the staff clean up after I have done all the hard work as well.