Trade and Exploration Elite. On to Combat Rank. Need Help.

roastincoffee

roastincoffee
I have read a ton of threads about fast leveling Combat Rank. I have read threads on how the Combat Rank system works. Many of the threads are "How to fast level CR when you're Dangerous or Deadly".

I am Harmless. After 600 Hours in the game I have not fired weapons anywhere but in the tutorial missions. (No Joke). Now its time.

I need help building a ship that to camp High Conflict Resource Extraction zones, Combat Zones, and Compromised Nav Beacons. All in PvE. I don't plan to do much jumping around with the ship. Its purely a kill till I am elite.

I am also not to worried about turning in bounties for $$$. I am near 1 Billion credits so $$$ isn't really something I am after. I just want to camp kill thru the ranks.

This means 1: I don't need to build a ship to bounty collect (I don't need a wake scanner) and 2: Money is no object when building the ship.

I realize that there are so many options out there and so many opinions on what a good ship is. It really ends up a matter of personal pref. So to perhaps help with this, I can say, I am not the most adept at maneuvering or dog-fighting. This means nimble ships like perhaps an Eagle would not be too helpful. I feel like I would need more of a "tanky" type ship that can sustain damage while I am lumbering into position to unleash the guns.

I am also not opposed to building a couple ships to just see what I like. Again, even after 600 hours, I am totally new to this combat thing.

Thanks!
 
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Dsign

Dsign
If you're really not feeling confident enough to fight like a decent pilot, I would suggest not flying the best combat ships right away... Even if you have lots of money, you'll notice that any good combat ship will have a very painfully big rebuy cost.
So if you don't know how to fight, you'll die a lot... you have to accept that, at least for a couple hours of training.

So here's my advice : even if you don't feel like you need money, buy a small bounty hunting ship. Even a Cobra will do, and go fire at some harmless wanted ships !

When you're doing well enough, you can go for something a bit more expensive -> FDL, Vulture, ... as you wish. You'll get better and better, there's no magic to it... simply practice. THEN, and only then, get yourself a nice big ship.

Best of luck and enjoy the slow grind !
Fly safe (not really). o7
 
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Lightspeed

Lightspeed
Dsign said:
If you're really not feeling confident enough to fight like a decent pilot, I would suggest not flying the best combat ships right away... Even if you have lots of money, you'll notice that any good combat ship will have a very painfully big rebuy cost.
So if you don't know how to fight, you'll die a lot... you have to accept that, at least for a couple hours of training.

So here's my advice : even if you don't feel like you need money, buy a small bounty hunting ship. Even a Cobra will do, and go fire at some harmless wanted ships !

When you're doing well enough, you can go for something a bit more expansive -> FDL, Vulture, ... as you wish. You'll get better and better, there's no magic to it... simply practice. THEN, and only then, get yourself a nice big ship.

Best of luck and enjoy the slow grind !
Fly safe (not really). o7
Click to expand...

....

tastyhotschmoes said:
I have read a ton of threads about fast leveling Combat Rank. I have read threads on how the Combat Rank system works. Many of the threads are "How to fast level CR when you're Dangerous or Deadly".

I am Harmless. After 600 Hours in the game I have not fired weapons anywhere but in the tutorial missions. (No Joke). Now its time.

I need help building a ship that to camp High Conflict Resource Extraction zones, Combat Zones, and Compromised Nav Beacons. All in PvE. I don't plan to do much jumping around with the ship. Its purely a kill till I am elite.

I am also not to worried about turning in bounties for $$$. I am near 1 Billion credits so $$$ isn't really something I am after. I just want to camp kill thru the ranks.

This means 1: I don't need to build a ship to bounty collect (I don't need a wake scanner) and 2: Money is no object when building the ship.

I realize that there are so many options out there and so many opinions on what a good ship is. It really ends up a matter of personal pref. So to perhaps help with this, I can say, I am not the most adept at maneuvering or dog-fighting. This means nimble ships like perhaps an Eagle would not be too helpful. I feel like I would need more of a "tanky" type ship that can sustain damage while I am lumbering into position to unleash the guns.

I am also not opposed to building a couple ships to just see what I like. Again, even after 600 hours, I am totally new to this combat thing.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Buy yourself a fully equipped Corvette .... high beam lasers, plasma weapons .... and engineer it.

Although they are usually rank locked, it is reported they are available this week at Hutton Orbital, rank free and for a special price.
 

Dsign

Dsign
Lightspeed said:
....



Buy yourself a fully equipped Corvette .... high beam lasers, plasma weapons .... and engineer it.

Although they are usually rank locked, it is reported they are available this week at Hutton Orbital, rank free and for a special price.
Click to expand...

That's one way to do it, but like I said, this CMDR never tried any combat. Big ships are good, but learning the basics is something you have to do in stages.
You don't buy a damn tank when you want to start experiencing firearms, you start with a small pistol and work your way up the more advanced stuff.

Then again you do whatever you want, that's the whole point of ED.
 

d8veh

d8veh
I just did it for the third time, so I'm triple Elite in combat. Last time I did it in an unengineered Anaconda with all pulse lasers. Don't use an SLF, otherwise it will take you literally twice as long. I did it all in the high RES where there's loads of cops to help you, which speeds it up immensely - much quicker than haz-RES or CNB. The time before, I did it in a Sidewinder, which didn't take much longer than the Anaconda.
 

roastincoffee

roastincoffee
Dsign said:
That's one way to do it, but like I said, this CMDR never tried any combat. Big ships are good, but learning the basics is something you have to do in stages.
You don't buy a damn tank when you want to start experiencing firearms, you start with a small pistol and work your way up the more advanced stuff.

Then again you do whatever you want, that's the whole point of ED.
Click to expand...

I like this idea. Should be ok to spend a frew hours learning the process. Can you suggest a good loadout for a small bounty hunting ship (Cobra iii or iv?) Coriolis link would be helpful if you have one. Also - feel free to suggest more than one ship. Cobra, Vulture, Viper, etc.

After I feel comfortable, I will upgrade to something bigger.
 
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pnellesen

pnellesen
Dsign said:
If you're really not feeling confident enough to fight like a decent pilot, I would suggest not flying the best combat ships right away... Even if you have lots of money, you'll notice that any good combat ship will have a very painfully big rebuy cost.
So if you don't know how to fight, you'll die a lot... you have to accept that, at least for a couple hours of training.

So here's my advice : even if you don't feel like you need money, buy a small bounty hunting ship. Even a Cobra will do, and go fire at some harmless wanted ships !

When you're doing well enough, you can go for something a bit more expensive -> FDL, Vulture, ... as you wish. You'll get better and better, there's no magic to it... simply practice. THEN, and only then, get yourself a nice big ship.

Best of luck and enjoy the slow grind !
Fly safe (not really). o7
Click to expand...

This! Hell, just start with a Sidewinder (or maybe a Viper), A-rate it, and go hang out at High/Med/Low Res sites until you get familiar with how combat works. Then maybe get beefier ships and move on to Haz Res, Combat Zones until you can handle it without friendlies nearby.

One thing to remember - DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY SHOOT FRIENDLIES! I've learned this the hard way, lol. I've learned to actually let go of the trigger when I see a friendly moving in, or when I can't tell for sure if there's a friendly near or not.

Good luck, CMDR! o7
 

Bill Clement

Bill Clement
OP, is it just the rank you want, or do you want to be good at combat?

The rank is fairly easy to grind, just pummel smaller/weaker ships and opponents. Start with a fighter- Viper or Diamondback is good- and spank inexperienced Haulers and Adders in low res's. Once you start moving up the ranks, start to progress through combat orientated ships- Vulture, then FAS, then Corvette, for example. Eventually you'll be meeting Elite NPCs in smaller, weaker ships that you can dispatch fairly easily. Go to any high res in open and you can see people doing this almost every day.

But that's just grinding for a shiny thing. Not to mention bordering on seal clubbing!

If you want to be good at combat then use the same ships, but go after bigger, better ships one rank higher than your combat ranking. It's painful at first, so buy a cheap fighter! But after a while you'll find yourself confidently taking on the toughest things the AI can throw at you.

And to put the icing on your cake, when you're feeling practised/comfortable enough, maybe try and hook up with a PvP group? There are plenty around, most of them are pretty sound people. You'll have a real laugh and pick up an awful lot just hanging with your new pals.

It's not really about the ship or build, it's about practice and finding out what you're comfortable using.

Good luck! :)

Signed Bill, the game's worst combat flier! [haha]
 

olaide.philipe

O
One answer for this... PYTHON.
fly like a cobra but whit bigger guns.
Just fit a 6A shild generator
And go to engeneers whit that beast.

I did not lost 1 python in a dogfight.
Way better handeling then the big 3.

07
 
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SAB380

SAB380
Lightspeed said:
....
Buy yourself a fully equipped Corvette .... high beam lasers, plasma weapons .... and engineer it.

Although they are usually rank locked, it is reported they are available this week at Hutton Orbital, rank free and for a special price.
Click to expand...

Seriously? They aren't rank locked right now ?
 

Shackram

Shackram
tastyhotschmoes said:
I like this idea. Should be ok to spend a frew hours learning the process. Can you suggest a good loadout for a small bounty hunting ship (Cobra iii or iv?) Coriolis link would be helpful if you have one. Also - feel free to suggest more than one ship. Cobra, Vulture, Viper, etc.

After I feel comfortable, I will upgrade to something bigger.
Click to expand...

I'd suggest a Vulture since it's very dependable and punches above it's weight with the large hardpoints. I don't have a coriolis link on hand, but class 5 Bi-weaves and pulse lasers to start out, maybe 1 pulse laser and 1 multi-cannon, a 5B SCB if the reactor allows.

If you're willing to spend time engineering you can be more creative and fit fun weapons like fixed efficient burst lasers or efficient PAs.
 
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jacozilla

jacozilla
Seems many answers are more along the lines of OP ought to learn, OP should/can start with X, ....I will just take him literally and answer his how to rank up with his caveats - money no object, just want the rank.

1. Buy an Anaconda - I see response above re Corvette and respect it, but imo given OPs statement re never fired guns until now after 600 hours, Anaconda is the best all around turret ship to fly for his goal

2. Equip Anaconda with all turrets in all Class 1/2/3 slots with Pulse lasers - engineered for long range G5 if you have eng unlocked

Why - again, taking OP literally he doesnt care about PVP, just PVE - and specifically to camp and grind to combat Elite. So all ammo/kinetic weapons are out. And for his self described situation, an Anaconda with all LR pulse turrets will murder anything and everything in PVE.

For the (1) C4 slot, equip a C4 Gimble beam laser, optimally engineered for efficient.

With reasonably engineered distributor, you will fire all day while you camp all day and kill everything around you to the max range of LR enhanced pulse lasers.

Equip rest of Anaconda with A grade everything and G5 it all. Even a bad G5 roll will make OP a murder machine for PVE, so just 1 roll it and be done, no need for RNG grind rolling.

3. Opinions will vary what is best camping spot, I dont pretend to have definitive answer. Try what works best for you. Options are CZ - just don't charge into the center willy nilly and again, against current gen of AI, a fully engineered Anaconda with even all turrets + 1 main gimble will be massive overkill.

Or hirez mining zone. Personally I prefer CZ but I think both are fine to camp for long periods in a build you dont need to replenish ammo.

4. Again personal opinions vary, but for PVE long camping, I don't find much use for internal hull mods - if your shields go down it is a sign things are already over your head anyways, so prefer fitting 4-5 shield cell banks. That's pretty much only replenishment trip back before re-camping.

That's my .02 cents to OP.

TLDR - G5 everything Anaconda, even a 'bad' G5 roll + all turrets Long Range pulse lasers + 1 main C4 energy gun of OP's choice

We can debate in another thread whether this state of AI is a good or bad thing. The on topic point of OP's thread question was what would be a good way to camp and grind combat elite when having done literally nada by his own words - at the moment, mindless turret slaughter is just fine for PVE purposes.

The only flying decision and piloting skill, if it can be called that, is where and when to point the ship TO pack of enemies, or AWAY from pack of enemies. Turrets will do the rest for you. If your shields are getting beat down a bit, fly away to outer edge of CZ, if not - stay with whatever pack you are killing.

It's not really my place to tell OP what is fun, what ought to be learned, or how he should spend his play time. My only opinion is if he really wants to just camp and murder grind till he hits elite and has literally never fired a weapon after 600+ hours, I just don't see a better option than the above.
 
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TWitko

Banned
TWitko
if it isn't about rank _asap_ only .. I mean if you want some fun too ... then Vulture ...
I'm not dedicated fighter (actually I was trying to avoid combats at all recently), but with Vulture I really enjoy PvE .. It's agile ship, easy to fit, great to fly .. fun ..
Gimbaled beam laser and Canon are easy to handle, 750 MJ shields and 461m/s boost speed (some engineering needed) tolerate some my/pilot's mistake ... rebuy cost 1.6M is more then acceptable. Even I have enough money for bigger (more powerful) ship now, gonna stick with my Vulture for a while ...

TW
 

Saltyseadog

Saltyseadog
Like the OP I kept away from combat as I didn't think my reflexes were good enough but it always bugged me. It bugged me more when I got elite in trading and exploration and had a shedload of credits as well. Several times over the last 2yrs I had tried building combat ships, I built a combat orientated Cobra MkIII, an Eagle, Imperial Eagle, a Viper, a Vulture and probably more but had no luck whatsoever until I built an FDL and engineered it for combat. Just the best combat ship in the game in my opinion with the boost speed to get away from almost any ship if things start going wrong. The second biggest thing I found that gave me confidence in combat was the reverse thruster. Probably my biggest drawback in combat situations was keeping an attacker in front of me and that reverse thruster showed me one of the ways to do it and this gave me time to get a cool head and stop panicking. After a while I got good at it in interdiction situations and decide to try out combat scenes like haz rez, compromised beacons war zones etc until I was no longer afraid in any situation and this gave me even more time to reflect on a strategy for the situation at hand.
When I bought my Corvette I used the same type of tactic I had successfully used in the FDL but it seemed to take longer to destroy attackers. This is partly because as you rank up the opposition becomes harder but I also realised that it was also because attackers would come in and then gain some distance and I would chase after them in a ship not built for speed, so I decided if they want me so much then let them so now I drop my throttle to neutral as soon as I am interdicted and only use the thrusters and as the Corvette handles exceptionally well it is easy to keep a foe in your sites and just pick them off at will.
 

StonedThoughts

StonedThoughts
Hey there,
first i have to say that i personally wouldnt suggest this "just kill till elite" at all because i can most likely guarantee you it will become very boring very fast and Combat can be a great fun, exspecially if youre new to it.

If you want to do so anyway its quite simple: Take a Conda/Cutter/Corvett, prismatics, boosters, banks, mil grade hull, hrps, G5 mod and tada you are close to unkillable by anything AI might throw at you (ecxept maybe some bigger Wings of Condas/Vultures ect and Thargoids of course)

But if you have the time/patience and like to fly/try out different ships i would highly suggest you to gather a small fleet and see what suits you the most.
Sure, there are some jack-of-all-trades but personally i still love it to take my ICourier out for some bounty hunting here and there or just put borderline stupid loadouts in my FGS for some "for tha lulz"

My point is that you will have some alternation while (you learn) flying different ships with different loadouts/flight charasterictis and fitting them out (engineering is a bit of a downer though) instead off get in some Meta-Monster, park it at the next Haz-Res/CZ and watch Netflix on your second screen because you would fall asleep otherwise (ok this is a bit overdramatic ^^)

Like i said before, this is not exactly what you asked for and more of a "the way is the goal" approach, that will take you quite longer to get to Elite (im just close to "Deadly" myself since Combat is more a spare-time activity for me) but imho its a quite enjoyable and diverse way to do so and also bypass the pure grindmill a bit.

However,
I wish you good luck and a great time accomplish your goal CMDR
o7
 
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