Been playing ED for a couple of weeks now and still on the learning curve and experimenting. However I have not yet found a use for silent running. I thought I might try it in a RES to see what happened and I got splattered as the shields dropped exposing my hull to a very large asteroid !! So when is silent running an advantage to use and does it make your ship harder to detect?
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Newcomer / Intro Silent Running
- Thread starter ruger_shooter
- Start date
It's totally about making your ship harder to detect, like a "stealth" mode if you like. It does this by reducing your heat signature/emmissions - closing your heat vents (which causes internal heat to build up) and shutting down your shields. It's a nice idea, and the whole heat mechanic is something David and the team were very keen on but I have to say that in practice it really doesn't get used very much. If you're smuggling iliicit goods into a black market (i.e. trying to get into a station, unscanned by the local cops) you can either try to get in FAST or you can try to slide in on silent running. The latter is hard. In theory you can also use it as a last resort combat maneouvre (when your shields have already gone) since you will tend to drop off your opponents radar and confuse gimballed and other tracking weapons. Isinona illustrates it's use very nicely in some of his early "Flight Assist Off" Youtube videos.
I think the only real purpose is for sneaking into a starport to sell illegal goods. However it's best to blast your way in than sneak.
Hope they add more to this in future updates and make it more useful.
Hope they add more to this in future updates and make it more useful.
I would use it more if you could use it longer. Maybe force to use LS to keep it going longer. Would be nice to be silent at a RES or WZ.
Hah! My very first experience of E : D, in the first tutorial. Overheat -> Die. Retry, Overheat -> Die. Took me a few more attempts before I realised the silent running switch was on on my Hotas and it took me ages to figure out where "Joy 29" was to turn it off!
I'd love to see some kind of gameplay mechanic introduced to make it more useful. Perhaps introduce "module groups" (similar to weapons groups) to enable you to quickly switch to a low-power, low-heat generation setup so silent-running can be more easily and safely used. There might need to be some kind of delay in switching back - you probably don't want people switching modules on and off like that instantly.
And then introduce some missions that make use of silent running. A stealth mission, where you need to sneak into a station and rob cargo? Or sneak past a fighter escort and land some explosives onto an outpost or capital ship?
OMG this is soo true. I accidentally activated Stealth mode while bounty farming in a RES.....I got down to 29% before I found the keybind in the options and switched Silent Running off.
I find silent running crucial when trying to dock with stations with a bounty and avoiding getting killed when I've bitten off more than I chew.
Silent running as others have mentioned immediately reduces your external heat signature which makes you very hard to target. As a result, it is difficult to be scanned and difficult to get a gimble lock or any other lockon.
Where people screw up Silent Running is that they don't power down systems afterwards so that they can stay silent.
Combat avoidance:
If you are getting creamed and you can't immediately jump out, you can hit silent running to disappear momentarily from your enemies screens. Then turn off flight assist and boost away in a random direction. With flight assist off, you now can stay going indefinitely in that direction without further thrust. Immediately go to your right CRT and start shutting off all your systems, including thrusters except vitals (like life support). By the time you turn off all your systems, you should be getting close to 100% heat. Now turn off silent running. You will initially bloom on your enemies radar as you dissipate all that stored up heat, but then since you are generating nearly zero heat you will almost immediately disappear again. Yes, you are defenseless at this point, basically a small tumbling piece of metal, but most likely your enemy won't be able to target you and eventually will give up looking or will start looking the wrong way and you'll eventually drift out of his sensor range. After about 3 minutes to 5 minutes, turn on your sensors and see if he's still around...This will make you a little bit more detectable, but not much. If the coast is clear, turn on your systems and frame shift jump the heck out of there.
Busting into a space station.
You've got that cargo full of slaves, that you want to black market, or you just copped some stolen death star plans from some wreckage and you now need to enter the space station to get rid of them. If you go in the typical way, chances are station security will scan you, and either open fire, or jack you with a huge fine that makes those death star plans worthless. So how do you get in undetected. Simple strategy that works every time. Take a wide turn around the station and hover out of the front of the station at about 7.25 clicks. This is too far out for patrols to care about you and is a great place to start your run. Now power down all your systems. If you power enough of them down, you'll see the ice forming on your windshield. Keep life support on, after all, no need to evacuate the cabin for this. The idea is you want to start cold enough that you can get into the station with silent running activated and not do internal damage. Once you are nice and chilly, turn on your sensors and ask for clearance to land. Once you have clearance. enable silent running and turn thrusters on and make a bee line to the mail slot. You are going to raise heat fast so don't dilly dally. You should be able to get through the mailslot without being scanned. Once you are inside the station, turn off silent running and vent all your heat on that poor pedestrian and his poodle making a doodle beneath your ship. Now you can land normally and get rid of those contraband items through the black market. Be sure to turn on all your systems while on the pad.
Some heroes just go in at full speed and try to "beat the scan". However, that can get you killed if someone is coming out, or if you fail to stop before hitting the far wall. I prefer going in silent with full control of my ship. I can ususally vent my ship at 70% heat or less which is plenty of time and I have yet to get scanned.
So Silent Running definitely has it's uses, but it is temporary at best.
Silent running as others have mentioned immediately reduces your external heat signature which makes you very hard to target. As a result, it is difficult to be scanned and difficult to get a gimble lock or any other lockon.
Where people screw up Silent Running is that they don't power down systems afterwards so that they can stay silent.
Combat avoidance:
If you are getting creamed and you can't immediately jump out, you can hit silent running to disappear momentarily from your enemies screens. Then turn off flight assist and boost away in a random direction. With flight assist off, you now can stay going indefinitely in that direction without further thrust. Immediately go to your right CRT and start shutting off all your systems, including thrusters except vitals (like life support). By the time you turn off all your systems, you should be getting close to 100% heat. Now turn off silent running. You will initially bloom on your enemies radar as you dissipate all that stored up heat, but then since you are generating nearly zero heat you will almost immediately disappear again. Yes, you are defenseless at this point, basically a small tumbling piece of metal, but most likely your enemy won't be able to target you and eventually will give up looking or will start looking the wrong way and you'll eventually drift out of his sensor range. After about 3 minutes to 5 minutes, turn on your sensors and see if he's still around...This will make you a little bit more detectable, but not much. If the coast is clear, turn on your systems and frame shift jump the heck out of there.
Busting into a space station.
You've got that cargo full of slaves, that you want to black market, or you just copped some stolen death star plans from some wreckage and you now need to enter the space station to get rid of them. If you go in the typical way, chances are station security will scan you, and either open fire, or jack you with a huge fine that makes those death star plans worthless. So how do you get in undetected. Simple strategy that works every time. Take a wide turn around the station and hover out of the front of the station at about 7.25 clicks. This is too far out for patrols to care about you and is a great place to start your run. Now power down all your systems. If you power enough of them down, you'll see the ice forming on your windshield. Keep life support on, after all, no need to evacuate the cabin for this. The idea is you want to start cold enough that you can get into the station with silent running activated and not do internal damage. Once you are nice and chilly, turn on your sensors and ask for clearance to land. Once you have clearance. enable silent running and turn thrusters on and make a bee line to the mail slot. You are going to raise heat fast so don't dilly dally. You should be able to get through the mailslot without being scanned. Once you are inside the station, turn off silent running and vent all your heat on that poor pedestrian and his poodle making a doodle beneath your ship. Now you can land normally and get rid of those contraband items through the black market. Be sure to turn on all your systems while on the pad.
Some heroes just go in at full speed and try to "beat the scan". However, that can get you killed if someone is coming out, or if you fail to stop before hitting the far wall. I prefer going in silent with full control of my ship. I can ususally vent my ship at 70% heat or less which is plenty of time and I have yet to get scanned.
So Silent Running definitely has it's uses, but it is temporary at best.
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I'm sure you guys know this, but for anyone that doesn't....if you happen to accidentally pick up a bounty...dock at an Outpost to pay the fine..no scans.
Silent running is a cool concept.
Yes, if the outpost is the same as the affiliation as your bounty, you can at the outpost and pay your fine there.
However a lot of the "fetch the plans" missions require you to return them to the station of origin, so you'll need to be able to sneak in to the station to complete those missions.
You can use it longer if you pair it with a heat sink.
For those missions I just use the "full throttle approach" method -
Line yourself up with the slot from just outside the weapon exclusion zone (you won't get scanned before entering it).
Ask docking permission then hit full throttle for the entrance lowering landing gear just before getting to the slot to slow down a bit, dive through and pull up/down to break line of sight.
If any scans are started by authority vessels they won't have time to complete before you are through the slot and docking.
Can you use it for 7 minutes with a heat sink????
I've used it a few times when I have had a bounty on my head and i'm beat up bad, I mean really bad, turn off everything you don't need, weapons, shields even life support if you can, doing this will give you much longer to get inside stations or lay in for that unsuspecting guy to come into view 
Philip Coutts
Volunteer Moderator
Silent running used to be incredibly useful but then it was changed and altered and really it isn't that great anymore which is a real pity.