TL:DR New Guy Rant

[CMDR Ace Starlord]

Sorry about this, folks, but I have to vent somewhere.

I bought the game for Oculus Rift on 9 July 16. I have 116 hrs in play. I consider myself to still be new to the game, but I have played for a while and done some things.

I just don't understand how players are supposed to make money. I took missions, delivered data and worked my way to an eagle, then got three of them shot out from under me in two hours and had to take the basic sidewinder again rather than take a loan. I doggedly fought my way up to a cobra 3 and had decent cargo space, but the pay wasn't much better than data runs. Inara.cz showed that profits were at best 100cr a unit, most of the time less, and that's if I took 30 minutes at each port of call to scour the commodities on hand through Inara. Astronomical Discovery brings in chump change inside the bubble, and only a little more outside unless you are somewhere NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN BEFORE. My Cobra was outfitted with a Intermediate D-scanner and I spent 6 hours scanning on my trip from Wolf 397 (Trophy Camp) to Maia. My total was about 100,000cr. Bounty hunting is hit or miss, most of the bounties are 20k or less, and I can count on 1 every 10 minutes or so, 6-10 an hour, so 120-200k cr/hr MAYBE, if I don't target someone by mistake and get my butt shot off by the cops like I just did 10 minutes ago.

I will admit that I have used an interdictor once, on a wanted ship (Type 6 freighter) that showed it was wanted because I thought I could take it. I did, 15k cr bounty. I am leery of taking 100k kill missions because I fear my cobra (2 m Multi G, 2 sm Beam G) would not be able to destroy the enemy ships. What am I doing wrong? Where is the money? Do I just have to face an endless, boring grind?

Thanks for reading,

Yr correspondent,

Ace Starlord

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hello CMDR Ace Starlord!

116 hours is quite a long time in ED, it's about 1/5th of my total hours (I think).
But anyway, welcome to ED!

First off, missions are generally poorly paid until you hit the higher ranks, and allied status. Then you're talking millions per mission. But they can be hard.
(Some are incredibly easy too)

But, for general "easy" money, take a combat equipped ship, which looks like a Viper, or your Cobra in your case, to a Low RES(Resource Extraction Site), in a high security system.

But, DO NOT TAKE CARGO. That. Is. Suicide.
(Or extremely fun, depending how you look at it. Lol)

Anyhoo, drop in and fly around scanning ships, look for a single ship with WANTED status. Avoid wings, for now.
DO NOT ENGAGE.
Instead, keep and eye on them, and wait until they attack someone else.
Security should then turn up to deal with them, follow the security around and wait until the WANTED ship is at around 30% hull, and under heavy fire, and then open fire, with all you have. Between you and security, the pirate should be toast in no time. And you get the money for it!
You can use this method to easily "farm" for bounty vouchers.
Remember to cash them in at the nearest base regularly. You lose then on death otherwise.
To begin with, aim for the smaller, low ranked ships. Once you have a feel for it, cash in all you have, then come back, and go for the bigger fish.
You may die occasionally, but this will teach you what you can and can't handle in your current ship. It's a learning process. Ideally, you just want to run away from anything you can't handle.

As a starter, I would avoid anything bigger than a Federal Drop Ship. Unless they are taking a massive beating from security, then nip in at the last few seconds. You can score even Elite Anacondas this way, though I don't recommend it until you are very confident.

Most importantly, always make sure you finish scanning your target, BEFORE opening fire, and always, always check they are WANTED. It's illegal to randomly shoot someone you haven't scanned, even if they are clearly a criminal.
Mistakes will happen though, so be prepared to run like a little girl. Even the best of us still make mistakes. And security will inform you of your mistake with fiery death, given the chance.

Because you will be in an asteroid belt, you will be mass locked by the ring.
If it all goes to hell and you need to escape, put 4 pips to SYS, and 2 to ENG and boost out of the ring at a 90° angle, and if ships aren't mass locking you, low wake (jump to supercruise), otherwise, high wake out (jump to hyperspace).

I hope that helps!

If you need any help, add me in game.
I love winging up, and I can cover you, just like security, only better.


CMDR CosmicSpacehead

Fly safe!

 

[Lestat]

Almost the same idea as CMDR_Cosmicspacehead but I tend to hit the high Res sites. Watch for police that attack large ships Fer-de-Lance or anaconda and help finish it off. You can collect 80k to 200k on bounty.

But don't start the battle or your dead. Just help finish them off.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

Buy yourself something with decent jump range and cargo space. ASP X or even the ever lovely Type 6.
Make a trip to Sothis/Ceos.
Haul poop across the galaxy for millions of credits.

It has yet to pay more than combat for me, but I'm sure that will change as I gain reputation with the factions here. It's a bit dull, but there is little risk, and the money is good.

Or if you wanted some action still, you could always take your Cobra and use it to slaughter NPCs in CZs. Stack a few 'massacre enemy ships' missions, and go to town. Let the friendly NPCs soften 'em up a bit, then finish them off. You get a big reputation boost from combat, and with more rep, comes higher paying missions. 7,000,000 to destroy 50-60 ships isn't bad, especially if you consider the combat bonds you'll be receiving as you do so. NPC friendlies are a big help as well. Those missions generate frequently after awhile, so you may have three of four of them active at once. One kill counts for each mission, too.

CZs are plenty survivable, but you've got to be careful, and accept the fact that you can't win every single fight. Bail out if you need to. Three ships focusing you? High wake if you gotta. At 75% hull? Maybe you should head back and repair? Pick up some more massacre missions while you're at it. I've done quite a bit of fighting in an Imperial Eagle, so I have faith that you and your Cobra's four hardpoints can get the job done.

Or...

There's always exploration! It's kinda repetitive, but most definitely peaceful. Took my Type 6 to Sagittarius A*, came back with 17,000,000 credits! That's more than enough to get yourself on your feet.

 

[Lestat]

There's always exploration! It's kinda repetitive, but most definitely peaceful. Took my Type 6 to Sagittarius A*, came back with 17,000,000 credits! That's more than enough to get yourself on your feet.

How long did it take to get to Sag A.

Also a trick for Exploration is instead of going directly to Sag A. Go 1,000 LY outside the bubble to offset your course. So you can pick 50% exploration Bonus.

 

[SirDavros]

That sounds like a rough deal. I'm currently flying an Eagle myself but I'm operating solely in solo play until I feel more confident. I'm sure I'll get shot down many times, just hope it doesn't discourage me too much. I hope you stick with it!

 

[Lestat]

That sounds like a rough deal. I'm currently flying an Eagle myself but I'm operating solely in solo play until I feel more confident. I'm sure I'll get shot down many times, just hope it doesn't discourage me too much. I hope you stick with it!

You can also join Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius Which give you the benefits of playing Open with out people killing you and you can make friends.

Once in a great while there a bad apple.