Newcomer / Intro Tips for new CMDR - What do you wish you had known?

[A C Ender]

Thank you all for your help. Rest assured I'm still here and learning! Still in federation (?) Space but now have a mission to leave it. I don't feel ready for that yet however. Some questions that have come up playing, may be answered in the big thread linked, will look at that łater too:

I got the message that my insurance is no longer covered by the federation. Does this have any effect for me as I still fly my first sidewinder? Won't I still get a new free one when I die?

Been getting the hang of flying, can actually operate without flight assist on for longer times before I lose control (but I look somewhat drunk). Managed to orbit an asteroid: approached straight aimed beside it with FA on, turn off FA when perpendicular and turn towards asteroid, full thrust forward and keep aiming at it, continued for a few minutes before I stopped.

I still haven't dared to take any combat missions. Didn't feel very good when I tried the training missions. Are they hard in the starting zone and outside it? Where do I actually see the enemy shield and hull? Watched some videos yesterday but even though the guy mentioned hull integrity of someone I couldn't spot where this was displayed.

Can I explore the federation system in the starting zone? I know I can't return once I leave, so I would like to discover them all if possible. I'm still not sure how to scan things though - do I need a module?


Thank you all for your patience and helpfulness O7

CMDR A. C. Ender, over.

 

[aRJay]

When you buy and fit new modules on your ship you will have to pay the 5% rebuy cost.

You can explore and map any system once but you need to be at least 20 light years from it to sell the data and earn exploration points, you could explore systems outside the Pilots Federation area as long as you didn’t dock outside it.

Some of the combat training is harder than real combat. All missions have a suggested rank, Elite Dangerous Mostly Harmless etc, and the difficulty is based on that rank whereas if you just go to a Nav Beacon or a RES and shoot wanted ships the ones you find will be based more on your rank.

Despite my rank and time playing I have hardly ever bothered with switching the flight assist off but that’s just me.

 

[Krieger]

FA-off isn't as important for (PvE) combat as you seem to think. When your combat rank is low (expert or lower) it is irrelevant. And above that it is only relevant under certain conditions like: fighting an agile ship in a ship with low pitch rate (Python with 200t cargo against a Fer de Lance or FAS) or to make the most of the lateral/vertical acceleration of your ship.

OTOH FA-off flying is fun, it increases immersion and gives a feeling of truely having mastered your ship.

Hull integrity is displayed below the target hologram (left of the sensor disk) in the same way it is displayed for your own ship's hologram (right of sensor disk).

I don't know how hard combat training is compared to the in-game combat. I never did the training missions

 

[Para Handy]

@A C Ender : I have read dreadful horror-stories about the combat training missions in the newbie-zone - apparently being faced with NPCs which have much better equipment than is available to the player in the zone's stations' outfitting. I didn't bother trying them out when I did a clear-save (I am not "into" combat) so can't speak from experience.

 

[Voracity_T]

Not a mistake I made myself thankfully, but don't rush to get in a big vessel as most new cmdrs do.

They teach all kinds of bad habits and allow you so much wiggle room that you learn flight manuvers at a glacial pace by comparison to what you learn in the smaller ones.

This extends to ship building also, large vessels generally allow you to have more or less whatever you want with zero comprimise as do most of the mediums. Learn to build effectively with small ships and everything slots into place in a much more sensible way when you do get to the endgame ships.

 

[KRU BARANKI]

From my perspective as a newbie, the starting systems were really challenging... but once I got Cobra Mk3 (first real goal) I could start earning credits on mining and started getting combat reputation and first kills. Two lasers for stripping shields, two multi cannons for the hull... Quickly realised the combat with NPCs is not hard because it's all about sticking to enemy tail while shooting untill they die . And learn the minigame how to avoid interdiction by NPCs which is also easy.

Once I got a Cobra the real credits started to flow from mining and then I got Asp Explorer, my actual ship (already painted it for $).
Then I mined 93 pcs of Painite in HIP 21991 and took them to Lawrence Holdings in Wong Sher system (~55 LY away) to sell the whole cargo for 71 milion credits.
With that amount of money I'm probably no longer a newbie .

To any newbie in this game I would recommend to set a goal for mining - the moment you can earn enough for Cobra Mk3. Then you go with ordinary mining lasers to HIP 21991 and mine-mine-mine untill you are filthy rich .

 

[znôrt]

What do you wish you had known when you started?

nothing.

What advice can you give for a new CMDR to enjoy the game to the fullest?

the less you know, the better. just play! and welcome!

oh, i see you're the persistent type ... ok.

What advice can you give for a new CMDR to enjoy the game to the fullest?

blaze your own trail, as stated on the box. really, that's a deep truth about this game. takes a while to sink in, though.

What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of playing with more than one joystick? I can see how one is beneficial as you get yaw + extra buttons on the "mouse" but a second stick seems unintuitive (which movement do you use for vertical or lateral thrusters, seems you have to pick one vector sideways which feels wrong to me).

i've mapped vertical and lateral thrusters to a left-hand joystick. the advantages are a much more straightforward and intuitive use of these thrusters which are pretty important. disadvantage is throttle which i have mapped to an analog spring lever on the left stick, sort of a giant trigger. to go forward (or backward) i have to keep that trigger pulled all the time, even in supercruise. forward/backward is handled via a button mapped to 'reverse thrust' on my right stick. still seemed a better alternative to me than mapping froward/backward thrust to pedal brakes or such.

dual joystick is indeed cool, but just not for everyone. i prefer it to hotas right now, but ymmv.

good quality joysticks don't have twist for yaw (virpil has recently released one such stick but can't report on it), so yaw i have on pedals. the main advantage of pedals is immersion, and you do more exercise. disadvantages are that you have to learn to use them, they take up space and yet another usb connection and ... make you look like a hopeless nerd.

What is high/low wake?

low: in system, subject to mass lock.
high: to another system, immune to mass lock.

I intend to move to open once I can avoid dying too bad - how long would you suggest I wait for this?

if you avoid hot spots you'll hardly see anyone. also, you'll be in the starter bubble until your first rank up, i'm told it's safe there.

other than that, yes of course, go to open as soon as you feel to! starting with small ships is a sensible recommendation, as rebuys are really cheap and there is a lot to learn (and explode). also, be warned, open is not what you might intuitively expect. it's not the world, there isn't such thing. open is just yet another shard of it where you are instanced with random people.

for best game performance, play in solo.

 

[A C Ender]

First of, thank you all for your continued support. Didn't have enough time to play tonight (but still got some things I thought about...).

1) I have bought a second sidewinder (no real reason then I don't want to lose my first ship by being actively suicidal). This one got a higher rebuy than my first free one which is in storage right now. What happens when I lose the second one and choose not to rebuy? Will I get another free one with (less) insurance, or will I be put into my first one?

2) What is the effect of having more pip into systems? Does your thrusters get stronger? Would you change these on the fly in combat?

3) I can already feel myself very intrigued by both HOTAS/HOSAS and VR... I didn't find any sub forum discussing hardware setups here, where would be a good idea to start? I think initially I will get a single stick (with twist yaw) as I don't have room for pedals. Right now I have thrust up/down on mouse wheel, centre mouse and FA on mouse 4/5, horizontal thrust on WASD, yaw on QE and vertical on ctrl/space and feel happy with it.

4) Other then immersion, do you feel your flying is more controlled with a stick?


Thank you CMDRs O7

 

[A C Ender]

This is A. C. Ender,

Aspiring CMDRs, don't be discouraged from asking the veterans. While I established the contact, do use the link personally.

A. C. Ender, out.

 

[Ashnak]

1) Provided you have the money for the rebuy (= Insurance), you can choose between being incorporated in the last ship you piloted or the free Sidewinder. If you choose your last ship, you'll respawn either in your current system, if a suitable station is available there, or the last system you docked. Otherwise, you're back in Eravate (IIRC - one of the core systems anyways).

2) SYS goes to shield, ENG to engines, WEP to weapons. And yes, you would usually adjust those in battle.

3) For HOTAS, try the PC subforum, for VR the VR subforum.

4) As compared to what? I started off with a gamepad, then moved to Thrustmaster 16000 HOTAS. Never tried m&k, but I like the stick much better than the gamepad.

 

[Para Handy]

.........
1) ......... What happens when I lose the second one and choose not to rebuy? Will I get another free one with (less) insurance, or will I be put into my first one?

2) What is the effect of having more pip into systems? Does your thrusters get stronger? Would you change these on the fly in combat?

3) ............., horizontal thrust on WASD, yaw on QE and vertical on ctrl/space and feel happy with it.

4) Other then immersion, do you feel your flying is more controlled with a stick?
.........

1. If you have any ship in storage when you can't cover the insurance then you will be offered the chance to use a stored one (I think) or you can sell the stored one or any modules to make up the rebuy cost or you can have a free starter sidewinder.

2. Pips to system is energy available to shields so how well you can take fire or recharge the shields, pips to engines is just that - more pips, more power to your engines, pips to weapons is power to the cooling system for your weapons - so more pips means you can fire for longer before they thermally overload and stop firing until the reservoir builds uo enough capacity to recharge the cooling.

3. I use HOTAS but I do have controls on the keyboard too, same as yours but I use R for up (raise) and F for down (fall).

4. There are many people that play the game very sucessfully without using a stick - I prefer the stick to mouse and keyboard.

 

[CMDR Exorcist]

Targeting a ship's power plant can cause the ship to explode before its hull reaches 0% integrity. I've been playing the game for over two years and only found out about this a few weeks ago. It has totally changed my success rate in Combat Zones!

I’m coming up on 2 years playing and just learned this as well. It completely changes the approach to combat.

 

[Para Handy]

Targeting a ship's power plant can cause the ship to explode before its hull reaches 0% integrity. I've been playing the game for over two years and only found out about this a few weeks ago. It has totally changed my success rate in Combat Zones!

There was a thread on the old forums where a Dev had posted a graphic showing the "hit-boxes" of modules on at least one ship. I did just try a quick search to find it to no avail, maybe someone can pitch in with a link if they have it.

EDIT: Well I found the thread but the image attachment has not survived the forum migration, however, the text is worth a read and the image is shown below (I found it at last):

News - Discussion with Mark Allen on damage and defenses

Greetings Commanders, Recently and over time, we've seen a fair amount of discussions regarding game mechanics, such as damage and defenses. Mark Allen joins us today to discuss such! There's been a fair bit of discussion and several questions/issues raised about the damage mechanics in Elite...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Quote from that thread:

"4) Every ship has a Hit Layout of internal and external modules:
[An Imperial Courier with its layout being debug rendered: blue spheres indicate external objects, yellow are internal - some modules have both an internal and external sphere. Note that all the directional thrusters used to be hittable objects and are shown in this overlay, but are currently turned off as they were causing confusion when a shot at the nose of the ship hit a thruster and damaged the engines unexpectedly.]"

 

[JetsonRING]

The Elite Dangerous universe runs in real-time. Don't accept a mission you cannot complete right now, the game clock/calendar does not stop when you exit the game.
The first time the game starts, immediately switch out the half-size cargo racks that come with the starter Sidewinder by default for full-size cargo racks.
And remove the weapons (and upgrade the FSD).
Try not to fixate too exclusively on any single goal or you will likely get frustrated. Break it up occasionally and do something completely different in the game for a while.
Very steep initial learning curve. It is not too difficult, you just need practice.
Get fast. Speed gets you past security ship scans, past NPC pirates who want your tasty cargo of biowaste..

 

[A C Ender]

Interesting read about the hit boxes, certainly something that's good to know.

How do I know where the powerplant is? Is this always the same spot for the same ship type? Do you turn your ship when attacked to protect your powerplant while sheilds are down?

What happens if you accept a mission and you can't complete it in time? Do you get penalised?

Halfed sized cargo racks? Do I have some racks which are smaller for the slot then they could be? Same about selling weapons, are they also less good than they should be?

i have questions about upgrading but that may be something I will find out during regular play (how to etc) that's fun to discover? I know there's engineering out there, but I know of no other way to upgrade.

Clarification on two previous question:

2) Sorry I meant pip in engines, for some reason thought they were called system. When you get more power to system, does it improve thrust or help them run cooler? Do you usually run 2-4 pips until you encounter any hostile?

4) I meant compared to mouse and keyboard I currently use. I think it would feel nice to use a stick, and I would get more buttons to use on my right hand, but I was wondering if you feel like you have more control (stay easier on target in combat, keep control better in FA off etc). I will look on different setups on the PC section, but I felt that usually they were discussing the best hardware (important for buying) but not the merits of using one control over the other (beyond immersion).


Thank you for your continued support! O7

 

[Iskariot]

Greetings Commanders!
This is A. C. Ender,

I've been looking for a game I can play casually while listening to music etc, but which also have a lot of depth and skill. I just recently found the game (someone saying they wish NMS had your flight model), read the stories about the fuel rats saving a commander from the deep void and seemed like I found my match. The more I read on the forums the more I think this is the game I have been looking for. With the steam sale ongoing I bought it and have just started playing.

I'm only just into the start, as my time to play is infrequent. Been through the training missions twice (can now manage to fly FA off) using mouse and keyboard. Been reading about the VR and HOTAS (which I've never done either) but it sounds appealing...

I have some general questions;

What do you wish you had known when you started?

What advice can you give for a new CMDR to enjoy the game to the fullest?

What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of playing with more than one joystick? I can see how one is beneficial as you get yaw + extra buttons on the "mouse" but a second stick seems unintuitive (which movement do you use for vertical or lateral thrusters, seems you have to pick one vector sideways which feels wrong to me).

What is high/low wake?

I intend to move to open once I can avoid dying too bad - how long would you suggest I wait for this?


A. C. Ender, over

I can't remember any bottlenecks myself. I had watched a lot of early streamers on youtube, and when I finally took the plunge I felt like a fish in the water.
For me getting my new HOSTAS in order was the most time consuming.

The best general advise I can give: Take your time and enjoy your noob days in the free Sidewinder. Make all the mistakes you can, because the Sidewinder is free. Use that ship to practice. For me that was the best time, because everything was new and exciting. Sometimes I wish I could erase all my experience and be a noob again.

Oh... I think this is important:
Try to do as many things as you can manually. Learn to love doing the taking off and docking yourself. Learn to approach planets and stations manually. This will make you feel much more like an actual pilot and it will enhance your enjoyment of the game. In the end this is a game about flying spaceships and the automation of core mechanics takes away from that. Avoid it like the plague!

When you can do this stuff like a pro yourself, then you might decide to sometimes use some of the automation under certain circumstances, but make sure to first become a real Elite spacepilot yourself.

Another thing: Never fly without enough credits for insurance ! Don't do it !

 

[Ashnak]

2) Sorry I meant pip in engines, for some reason thought they were called system. When you get more power to system, does it improve thrust or help them run cooler? Do you usually run 2-4 pips until you encounter any hostile?

Supposing you still mean engines , you get more top speed and faster boost recharging. As for the numbers - it depends on the situation and all over build. What is your current priority on your situation?
When I'm core mining in my DBX, I usually go 4-1-1 - maximum power to shields and a little bit for the engines and weapons (abrasion blaster, mostly).
On a Buckyball race, it's usually 2-4-0. No guns on a racing ship, and I want all the speed I can get.
In combat, it depends on the situation - and my ship's loadout. When under fire, 4 pips to shields. When shooting myself, 4 pips to weapons (depending on the weapons - I have a couple of loadouts where I occasionally notice I didn't put any pips to weapons after blowing an NPC out of the sky). When cahsing an enemy with "surge detected), full power to engines and all that's left to weapons.

4) I meant compared to mouse and keyboard I currently use. I think it would feel nice to use a stick, and I would get more buttons to use on my right hand, but I was wondering if you feel like you have more control (stay easier on target in combat, keep control better in FA off etc). I will look on different setups on the PC section, but I felt that usually they were discussing the best hardware (important for buying) but not the merits of using one control over the other (beyond immersion).

Can't really comment on that from personal experience, but some of the better PvP players indeed run mouse & keyboard for the control. On the other hand, you can also find a few dual stick wielders in these ranks.

 

[Alec Turner]

Interesting read about the hit boxes, certainly something that's good to know.

How do I know where the powerplant is? Is this always the same spot for the same ship type? Do you turn your ship when attacked to protect your powerplant while sheilds are down?

In the left hand panel, once the basic scan of your target is complete, you'll be able to see a list of modules where you can then target the power plant (or there's a keybinding for "target next/prev module"). Once targetted the targetting reticle highlights the targetted module on the ship.

What happens if you accept a mission and you can't complete it in time? Do you get penalised?

Yeah, I think you lose a small amount of reputation with the faction offering the mission. I wouldn't worry about it too much tho.

Halfed sized cargo racks? Do I have some racks which are smaller for the slot then they could be? Same about selling weapons, are they also less good than they should be?

By default, when you buy a ship things like a size 4 slot will have a size 3 cargo rack in it. Assuming you have the funds you can just sell that and buy the bigger on.

2) Sorry I meant pip in engines, for some reason thought they were called system. When you get more power to system, does it improve thrust or help them run cooler? Do you usually run 2-4 pips until you encounter any hostile?

More power to SYStem makes the shields stronger and makes them recharge faster. More power to ENGines improves thrust.

4) I meant compared to mouse and keyboard I currently use. I think it would feel nice to use a stick, and I would get more buttons to use on my right hand, but I was wondering if you feel like you have more control (stay easier on target in combat, keep control better in FA off etc). I will look on different setups on the PC section, but I felt that usually they were discussing the best hardware (important for buying) but not the merits of using one control over the other (beyond immersion).

I think it's slightly personal preference. Using a full HOTAS is way better for immersion but many people would claim that a mouse provides finer control.

 

[aRJay]

You can upgrade your core modules by replacing the current ones using outfitting, don’t replace a module with a smaller one until you know what you are doing (smaller equals lower number), the letters equate to the grade of the module
A are the best but very expensive
B are the toughest but very heavy
C are average
D are the lightest especially good for racing and exploring
E are the cheapest and should only be there when buying or selling the ship.

I went from barely being able to fly through the slot in a station to barely having to think about flying the ship when I switched from keyboard and mouse to a HOTAS setup.

I toggle PIP settings depending on situation but have different default settings based on ship and roll.

 

[Rooster Podunk]

Welcome, Commander!

My 'wish I knew' was never ever ever take a swig of your beer just as you jump into a system.

Cooked the ship, cooked the beer, and cooked me. Cheers! Fly far, be safe, but most of all have fun.