Newcomer / Intro Time to get my murder wet!

[Quineloe]

With missions and market trading I finally broke through the 1,000,000 asset line. I have yet to shoot anyone down, but I've been interdicted at least 20 times at this point. I usually evaded it, but twice I just ran for it (Cobra MkIII permaboosting away at 400 seems pretty hard to shoot down)

So I wonder how to best get started. I thought about investing into my cobras weapons, I still fly the stock lasers, and just fighting back on interdictions. Does that sound like a solid plan? What else should I purchase? I mostly fly around LTT7453, LTT7548, Zargeras, Islastyara and Velingai if that's important

 

[Feldspar]

Make sure you've upgraded your power plant and power distribution as well as any weaponry, you might want to upgrade shields, as you will probably be taking more hits, thrusters should help, too. It could be worth getting a bit of practice in the training missions, just to get the gist of combat, but flying the cobra will feel different from the sidewinder.

Everyone has different opinions in weapons loadout, so I suggest to sample the difference between lasers and kinetic weapons. Gimballed weapons make things easier to hit, but do less damage (and maybe less range, not sure on that), but as a novice you might find them very useful.

 

[Quineloe]

There doesn't seem to be tiers for certain weapons, is that correct? All weapons seem to come in just 1 quality.

If the fight isn't going well enough, I can just easily escape in the Cobra, right?

 

[thorn-]

There doesn't seem to be tiers for certain weapons, is that correct? All weapons seem to come in just 1 quality.

This can be confusing at first, due to how ED chose to name things... for example, people will discuss a C1 Burst Laser. (IE: Is the "C" the quality or the size, or what? Because I keep seeing A-I designations...). Further, 1 is smaller than 4, but A is better than E. It's sort of backwards in a way, until you figure out the nomenclature.

But here's how it works. There are 2 aspects to weapons. Size and Quality. (There's also Weight, Heat, Power, etc - but i'm not including those to keep it simple.)

Numbers are the size of the mounting point. Bigger number = larger weapon.
Letters are like a report card grade: Closer to A = better quality weapon.

So. When you see "1" or "2" or whatever in the loadout option, that refers to how "large" of a weapon can go there. Think of it as pistol vs rifle vs howitzer. The larger the number, the bigger (basically) the gun than can be mounted.
On Letters: for a given type of weapon, "E" level weapons will have a low weight and cause lower damage. "A" level weapons will probably weigh more, but also hit harder. Also, you'll find heat/power/weight differences between the letter grades. However (speaking generally), remember than the WEIGHT of a weapon is a different aspect than the SIZE CLASS of a weapon.

This can become a balancing act. Use all "B" weapons, and you'll have to upgrade your power systems. You'll also lose Jump range (unless you upgrade that as well), because B's weigh more than E's.

If the fight isn't going well enough, I can just easily escape in the Cobra, right?

Perhaps. But a fellow Commander might also have a FSD interdictor and wake scanner, and decide you're worth following.

 

[Quineloe]

Ok thanks for the explanation. I'm now at a high tech star port, most weapons are just way too expensive for me, so I'm thinking about getting three E2 Pulse Lasers Fixed. That should be enough firepower to fight off regular pirates, right?

I went with two E2 Pulse and two F1 Pulse for the hardpoints now, ECM and KWS for the utility. My usage is now at 92% with a D power plant, I think that should do? I also got a C4 shield, which took most of the money.

How I use the ECM and the KWS exactly? I put ECM on fire group 2, but it's not showing up when I deploy hardpoints. I assigned KWS to 1, if I shoot at something I might as well scan it. Does it work like this?

 

[Feldspar]

Fire groups are basically the bindings for your triggers. There are only two triggers, but you can assign more than one binding and cycle between them.

The number in the circle on the line of the weapon is which trigger it is on, the numbers at the top are which binding it is.

For example, I have three bindings:

1) Beam lasers on trigger one, KWS on trigger two - for opening an engagement
2) Beam weapons on trigger one, multicannons on trigger two - for real action.
3) Discover scanner on trigger 2 - because I like the noise when cruising about

Default I think is 'n' to switch between groups.

 

[thorn-]

I'm thinking about getting three E2 Pulse Lasers Fixed. That should be enough firepower to fight off regular pirates, right?

I went with two E2 Pulse and two F1 Pulse for the hardpoints now

Consider going with some sort of cannon for the C1 mounts - cannons do quite well against the hull, once you have their shields down. Generally less power usage, as well.