Newcomer / Intro Setting up Anaconda for missions hunting pirates

Droolingorc

D
Have been dropping in and out of the game for years now (so still consider myself fairly new to it) and used to generally just run trade routes, passenger and courier missions plus dabbled in mining for a few weeks a year or two ago.

Having my first try at hunting pirates (via massacre missions) at the moment and finding that my ship is struggling against any but the easiest NPC's or if there is more than 1 fighting me at a time.

This is the current loadout of my Anaconda https://s.orbis.zone/cetr

I don't have much spare credits at the moment (~100m) and am currently hanging around the Wally Bei system.
Suggestions on modifying the ship cheaply are welcome!
I've not learned about engineering things yet, never needed to, so ideally simple changes I can make buying standard modules please!

I also have a Federal Assault Ship I could use, but I don't have any other ships that I would really want to change to a combat role (I do have an Imperial Cutter, but its setup for mining and as I set that up so ago I don't want to change it lol)
Federal Assault Ship - https://s.orbis.zone/ceuy (I obviously last used it for some kind of travelling without a need for cargo or weapons lol)


Edit:
Also a few general related questions...
1. Is it worth the time/effort of using the Kill Warrant scanner on pirates I'm hunting for missions?
2. I'm stopping to collect materials after fights, is there a way to keep track of it if it goes off your scanner? And is it actually worth bothering to collect the materials from the destroyed ships?
3. Is there a way of having my fighter pilot always set to 'Engage at will' rather than manually setting it each time its launched?
4. I'm travelling between the mission tagged signal sources to get the pirates, would it be quicker going to the nav beacon or is that just likely to be suicide?

(I have been googling and looking through the forum but figured it worth asking too as things change!)
 
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Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
My two penneth and I'm no expert...

I would:
  1. Swap one of the large beams for a large MC.
  2. One point defence only.
  3. More reinforcement packages
  4. Bi weave shield generator
  5. Better armour, maybe reinforced alloys or "higher"

To your questions:

1) I couldn't be bothered with the KWS. Although it maximises your income, that income isn't all that and you'll find yourself handing it in to the IF instead of finding the right faction - thus incurring a 25% "charge"
2) If it goes off your scanner, it's gone. And yes, it is worth collecting - at least some of it. Sometimes you get a g5. Which is nice.
3) Needs someone with more experience than me!
4) The nav's I've been to so far have been safe but none have been compromised. I'd say YMMV.

As with everything I post though, please don't take this as gospel: I'm the eternal n00b but these are the things I'd do/say.

Good luck!

@@@07

EDIT - and it's a big one...

Do get engineeered. It really is worth it. Going gung ho into battle with vanilla modules could be a make or break. Mostly break.
 
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Droolingorc

D
Tyres O'Flaherty said:
My two penneth and I'm no expert...

I would:
  1. Swap one of the large beams for a large MC.
  2. One point defence only.
  3. More reinforcement packages
  4. Bi weave shield generator
  5. Better armour, maybe reinforced alloys

To your questions:

1) I couldn't be bothered with the KWS. ALthough it maximises your income, that income isn't all that and you'll find yourself handing it in to the IF instead of finding the right faction - thus incurring a 25% "charge"
2) If it goes off your scanner, it's gone. And yes, it is worth collecting - at least some of it. Sometimes you get a g5. Which is nice.
3) Needs someone with more experience than me!
4) The nacs I've been to so far have been safe but none have been compromised. I'd say YMMV.

As with everything I post though, don't take this as gospel: I'm the eternal n00b but these are the things I'd do/say.

Good luck!

@@@07

EDIT - and it's a big one...

Do get engineeered. It really is worth it. Going gung ho into battle with vanilla modules could be a make or break. Mostly break.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

Having just got wiped by attacking a 'competent' NPC flying an Anaconda (I nearly killed it, but a couple of eagles jumped in and stripped me down pretty quickly)
Will go look for some of that, decided I'll take a trip to Jameson Memorial as its only ~80ly away from me at the moment and has everything.
Wasn't sure if adding more reinforcement packages was worth it because of the weight.

Is there no benefit to having more than 1 point defence? I just assumed having more was better as it covers more angles (tried to keep the ones I have on different corners of the ship based on that assumption).


Yeah, will look into engineering at some point, just don't want to spare the time right now lol.
 

Boff

B
If you are new to combat against NPC's then also worth practicing in a High or Has Res instead of missions, get the hang of how the ship turns and flies...

And the KWS is worth the extra cash for that rebut when it goes wrong.. Even with a 25% cut it can bring a lot of extra cash since the changes just before xmas

As for collecting the mats, get i'd suggest getting the hang of beating the NPC's first..
 

Droolingorc

D
Boff said:
If you are new to combat against NPC's then also worth practicing in a High or Has Res instead of missions, get the hang of how the ship turns and flies...

And the KWS is worth the extra cash for that rebut when it goes wrong.. Even with a 25% cut it can bring a lot of extra cash since the changes just before xmas

As for collecting the mats, get i'd suggest getting the hang of beating the NPC's first..
Click to expand...

Pretty much new to fighting NPC's, had done a bit in the past, but they seem to have become a lot better recently! (or I've got way too out of practice etc)

I figured learning while doing missions would be better, but yeah thats probably not a bad idea, I seem to be rather rubbish at keeping them in my sights so far!

It always feels like I'm losing sight of too many other targets whilst waiting for the KWS to finish, does the KWS get faster when its higher quality?

I think I've lost my ship 4 times already in the last day or two, but am making a very small amount of profit on the missions and bounties after shelling out the rebuy costs.

Tbh I only stop to collect the mats once I've killed all the pirates in a location. Just feels like I miss a lot of them as they disappear before I've finished killing everything (due to going out of range of them).
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Ok,
1) drop the 'conda - until you get really good at handling 6DOF and get her fully engineered, she's a sitting duck
2) unlock and upgrade the Engineers. Probably, since you last played the game, NPCs got buffed. Special NPCs (and that definitely includes those in Combat Zones and high threat SS) will run low-level engineering.
3) One of the best starter combat ships is still the Vulture. Again, with engineering, the power problems that plagued her in the early years are history

KWS: higher grade gets more range (and uses much more power. If you want to make it faster, you'll need (you probably guessed it by now)... engineering ;). A Fast Scan KWS needs 2 seconds to complete the scan (while stock it takes 10).

Ok, with 100 M spare change, you could get a Vulture, FAS or perhaps an Alliance Chieftain (yes, there are a few new ships in the game, too). The higher end fighters and multi-roles (FdL, Mamba, Krait, Python) are out of your price range (yes, the bare hull is cheap enough, but you'll need quite a bit to outfit them properly).

For Engineers, see here for a very condensed version: https://inara.cz/galaxy-engineers/ (don't click if you want to explore this part of the game by yourself - you got the basic info also in your right hand HUD panel, Home tab, Engineers (right half, bottom row)).

Assuming you care to unlock and upgrade all of the relevant Engineers, make one or two trips to some Guardian sites to unlock a few more toys and join powerplay for four weeks, your Vulture could look like this: https://s.orbis.zone/ce-q
It will be only good for killing things - but it will be good at it :devilish: .
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Droolingorc said:
Playing about with modules at Jameson Memorial, so far have changed the ship to... https://s.orbis.zone/ce-j
Click to expand...
Ok - now go to Coriolis and pit that (which is what about a moderately levelled random or RES NPC could appear with) against the Vulture form my link...

--

Just did that myself - it's even worse than I thought. The Vulture could facetank that annie and take it down in 24 seconds. While annie would have taken 1:45 minutes to get through the Vulture's shields. And that's not accounting for the fact that the annie couldn't even boost as fast as the Vulture could run with no pips in engines.
 
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Droolingorc

D
Ashnak said:
Ok - now go to Coriolis and pit that (which is what about a moderately levelled random or RES NPC could appear with) against the Vulture form my link...

--

Just did that myself - it's even worse than I thought. The Vulture could facetank that annie and take it down in 24 seconds. While annie would have taken 1:45 minutes to get through the Vulture's shields. And that's not accounting for the fact that the annie couldn't even boost as fast as the Vulture could run with no pips in engines.
Click to expand...

Oooh didn't know you could set them against each other, thanks.
Thats pretty abysmal for my ship though lol.

Right, off to look at Vultures and Engineers! Thanks!


Edit:
Ok, doesn't seem too hard doing this engineering stuff, just had a go upgrading the cannons on the Anaconda as a test/feeler as that guy wasn't too far away.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
 
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aRJay

aRJay
Once you are more secure in what you want to do picking up any materials lying around is a good idea if there is nothing else going on. However the Anaconda would not be good at that as it is such a long ship and scooping is awkward, collector limpets get round that but that uses two internal slots one for a cargo rack one for the controller.
Somebody mentioned the Chieftain as an option when you have the funds and that is great at scooping, I suspect the Vulture would be as well but it isn't a ship I like so I have almost never used it.
 

tolm

tolm
Vulture will need engineering to be useful if you’re not experienced at combat, IMO. But will be much cheaper to loose than an Annie, of course,

Having been through trying the Viper MkIV, Vulture, FDL, FAS, Krait MkII, Mamba and Chieftain as my “main” Combat ship ... my vote would be with the Chieftain. Stick a 6C BiWeave on it, two boosters and then either chaff, KWS or more boosters depending on your preference. 6A Thrusters, Military hull, a couple of MRPs and the rest HRPs should mean you can at least get away from any fight you’re not winning, Anything you can engineer will be a bonus.

If you’d rather have more shields / bigger guns then the Krait MkII is a good (but more expensive) option.
 
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Red Anders

Red Anders
There are two truths you need to accept about a 'conda when you're a less than optimal pilot (not an insult).

1. Look at it. Does it look hard to hit? That's because it isn't - it's probably harder to miss an Anaconda in general use than it is to hit one.
2. It's not the fastest, or the most manoeverable ship, which means that there are much easier ships to point at your targets and therefore hit them.

The combination of those two factors make it a tough ask when you're still on the combat learning curve and especially against two or more enemies, as you discovered you'll be letting one of them get loads of free shots on you, which is in turn why you'll get mullered.

A Chieftan as suggested is a decent idea. Failing that, go cheap on the basis that you can eat a lot of rebuys whilst you get to know the weaknesses of your targets and generally increase your comfort level with combat. Condas are great against similarly sized targets and/or when you can keep most weapons on your targets, as you can bring all that theoretical damage to bear which mitigates the fact that you will be taking a pounding to a degree but honestly, you're target practice for more nimble ships.
 

jpjeffrey

jpjeffrey
Red Anders said:
Build the opponent ship and save it. Then build your intended build, scroll down to the 'opponent' section and if you click on the place where it currently (probably) says Eagle:Stock, you should find the pop-up has every stock build plus your saved customised target ship(s). Just pick it.
Click to expand...
Thanks! 😀
 

d8veh

d8veh
That Anaconda is a complete liability without engineering. It's too slow and not strong enough. You'd be much better off with a Vulture, which I reckon is the only ship that can take on most NPCs without engineering due to its agility. Even then, it needs practice and experience.

If it's just the number of kills you need sor your missions, go to a low resource extraction site, where the NPCs hardly fight back. If it's too quiet, relog or jump out and back to the RES until you get a spawn that you're comfortable with.

If you can't find a low RES, go to a high one and only shoot the ships that the police are already shooting. If no high RES, go to the nav beacon by the star.

Here's my Youtube video series on combat for beginners, which should help you with the basics. Parts 5 and 6 show how to fit out and use the Vulture.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq5_93dGDg0&t=399s

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq5_93dGDg0&t=399s
 
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Viscera

Viscera
Upgrade the thrusters.

Get some armour and hull protection.

Think about the weapons placements, fire arcs, and what you need them to do a little.

For unengineered, something like this will last longer

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io coriolis.io

But a better option could be to go back a step and start in something smaller and cheaper, and learn about hull protection and shields, and more evasive flying. Then revisit the annaconda with more knowledge.

You could do a lot worse than making a tanky cobra 3, and learning fixed weapons usage in its rather well positioned medium slots..
 

d8veh

d8veh
Droolingorc said:
Ok, doesn't seem too hard doing this engineering stuff, just had a go upgrading the cannons on the Anaconda as a test/feeler as that guy wasn't too far away.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
Click to expand...
Weapons are the last thing that you should upgrade on a combat ship. the most important things are thrusters, power distributor, shields, shield boosters and power plant in that sequence. When you have a strong and capable ship, you can think about what weapons to fit. For farming NPC bounties, all you need are long range pulse lasers.
 

Droolingorc

D
aRJay said:
Once you are more secure in what you want to do picking up any materials lying around is a good idea if there is nothing else going on. However the Anaconda would not be good at that as it is such a long ship and scooping is awkward, collector limpets get round that but that uses two internal slots one for a cargo rack one for the controller.
Somebody mentioned the Chieftain as an option when you have the funds and that is great at scooping, I suspect the Vulture would be as well but it isn't a ship I like so I have almost never used it.
Click to expand...

Yeah have been using a collector limpet, the limpets do like smashing themselves to death on my ship though lol.

tolm said:
Vulture will need engineering to be useful if you’re not experienced at combat, IMO. But will be much cheaper to loose than an Annie, of course,

Having been through trying the Viper MkIV, Vulture, FDL, FAS, Krait MkII, Mamba and Chieftain as my “main” Combat ship ... my vote would be with the Chieftain. Stick a 6C BiWeave on it, two boosters and then either chaff, KWS or more boosters depending on your preference. 6A Thrusters, Military hull, a couple of MRPs and the rest HRPs should mean you can at least get away from any fight you’re not winning, Anything you can engineer will be a bonus.

If you’d rather have more shields / bigger guns then the Krait MkII is a good (but more expensive) option.
Click to expand...

I like the look of the Krait MkII and the sound of the Chieftan so might have to give both a try, I need to go and mine some Painite to unlock the engineer Selene Jean so might spend a while mining to get extra funds towards the ship.

jpjeffrey said:
How do you do this in Coriolis...?
Click to expand...

Haha, I was going to ask, but figured I'd have a search myself first, I didn't find it though so thanks for asking and to the other person for replying how its done!

Red Anders said:
There are two truths you need to accept about a 'conda when you're a less than optimal pilot (not an insult).

1. Look at it. Does it look hard to hit? That's because it isn't - it's probably harder to miss an Anaconda in general use than it is to hit one.
2. It's not the fastest, or the most manoeverable ship, which means that there are much easier ships to point at your targets and therefore hit them.

The combination of those two factors make it a tough ask when you're still on the combat learning curve and especially against two or more enemies, as you discovered you'll be letting one of them get loads of free shots on you, which is in turn why you'll get mullered.

A Chieftan as suggested is a decent idea. Failing that, go cheap on the basis that you can eat a lot of rebuys whilst you get to know the weaknesses of your targets and generally increase your comfort level with combat. Condas are great against similarly sized targets and/or when you can keep most weapons on your targets, as you can bring all that theoretical damage to bear which mitigates the fact that you will be taking a pounding to a degree but honestly, you're target practice for more nimble ships.
Click to expand...

Hahah you make a good point!

d8veh said:
That Anaconda is a complete liability without engineering. It's too slow and not strong enough. You'd be much better off with a Vulture, which I reckon is the only ship that can take on most NPCs without engineering due to its agility. Even then, it needs practice and experience.

If it's just the number of kills you need sor your missions, go to a low resource extraction site, where the NPCs hardly fight back. If it's too quiet, relog or jump out and back to the RES until you get a spawn that you're comfortable with.

If you can't find a low RES, go to a high one and only shoot the ships that the police are already shooting. If no high RES, go to the nav beacon by the star.

Here's my Youtube video series on combat for beginners, which should help you with the basics. Parts 5 and 6 show how to fit out and use the Vulture.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq5_93dGDg0&t=399s

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq5_93dGDg0&t=399s
Click to expand...

Bit of both really at the moment, learn combat a bit better as I've mostly avoided it in the past and also rack up the kills for the missions.
Had assumed I needed to go to mission tagged areas, but will check out the RES sites too, I tried some nav points and they didn't seem worth the effort (apart from a compromised one where I got blasted to pieces almost instantly).

Thanks will take a look at the vids.

Viscera said:
Upgrade the thrusters.

Get some armour and hull protection.

Think about the weapons placements, fire arcs, and what you need them to do a little.

For unengineered, something like this will last longer

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io coriolis.io

But a better option could be to go back a step and start in something smaller and cheaper, and learn about hull protection and shields, and more evasive flying. Then revisit the annaconda with more knowledge.

You could do a lot worse than making a tanky cobra 3, and learning fixed weapons usage in its rather well positioned medium slots..
Click to expand...

Thought I had plenty of armour and hull protection, but I was proved wrong!
I just stuck the biggest guns on and didn't think of firing arcs, good point!

I'm gonna go with the step back and smaller/cheaper first I think. Just tried the Anaconda as thats what I was flying around in before and I like the look of it lol

d8veh said:
Weapons are the last thing that you should upgrade on a combat ship. the most important things are thrusters, power distributor, shields, shield boosters and power plant in that sequence. When you have a strong and capable ship, you can think about what weapons to fit. For farming NPC bounties, all you need are long range pulse lasers.
Click to expand...

The weapons upgrade engineer was nearby and needed to lvl up with him to unlock the next one which does hull upgrades (and then lvl up that one to get to the one that does shield upgrades).
 
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