Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

[Codger]

First time I've been killed and lost a ship
The end of my 3 month no fatality streak!

Am currently doing the CG CZ thingy at Gliese 868

I've signed up correctly and got 30+ kills, but my score is still zero?
I'm handing in the combat bonds under contacts - Should I be doing something different? (Apart from keeping out of High CZ )

The CG text says "Bounty vouchers can be redeemed at Bacon Port in Gliese 868. The campaign is expected to run until the 24th of March 3308."

That means bounties, not combat bonds. So don't do CZs at all. Hit up the RES sites and hunt wanted ships.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Geologicals ain't what they used to be. This planet was just full of piceous cobbles.

Reach out and touch...

Time to recall the boat and head back into the big black

 

[Codger]

Time to recall the boat and head back into the big black

You look cute in that red mini-skirt, I must say.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

You look cute in that red mini-skirt, I must say.

Yes, I thought it looked rather fetching too Especially with the fur topped boots.

 

[Kram Nehpets Strebor]

The CG text says "Bounty vouchers can be redeemed at Bacon Port in Gliese 868. The campaign is expected to run until the 24th of March 3308."

That means bounties, not combat bonds. So don't do CZs at all. Hit up the RES sites and hunt wanted ships.

Thank You
...And DOH! Still a N00b

 

[Codger]

They're even better when the planet's soil is green! It's uncommon, but when I get one, it's a gem!

This one is kinda green soil, and a blue sky, but the atmo was really thin, so not very much blue. Still kinda cool looking.

I think this is the flattest, whitest planet I've found so far.

It had a very few scattered fumaroles. I found one crystalline structure which contained Zinc. Nothing more.

 

[HRDiagram]

I think this is the flattest, whitest planet I've found so far.
View attachment 297121

Please, tell me you dismissed your ship and, when you recalled it, it landed on the only rock of the planet!

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Please, tell me you dismissed your ship and, when you recalled it, it landed on the only rock of the planet!

With only one leg while the rest of them floated in mid air

 

[Codger]

Please, tell me you dismissed your ship and, when you recalled it, it landed on the only rock of the planet!

Hahaha! No I didn't try that. I should have.

 

[HRDiagram]

With only one leg while the rest of them floated in mid air

A slightly related incident happened to me last week.

I had an EDO mission that required me to go to a Distress Beacon and pick up an item from a landed Sidewinder.
For some reson, only one leg was on the ground, the other two where in mid air, and the whole ship was placed at a wonky angle.
The contacts on my ship showed that in one of the panels there was a functioning Power Regulator and, you guessed it right, the panel was inaccessible because of the ship's position.

I felt insulted!

Note: if I had an SRV, perhaps I could have made it, but I was in my combat ship, so no SRV. It was all fortuitous.

 

[Anaya]

Oh, dear. That did not go well.

I made two attempts at doing a combat mission on foot against what to me, seemed like a lightly defended settlement, threat level three. I had a dominator suit, manticore sniper, shotgun, and pistol. Plenty of consumables.

Both times ended in disaster, however. The first time, I went in on foot, and succesfully sniped a couple, using stealth and range to my advantage, but once the settlement alarms went off, NPC's came from every direction and I was very swiftly downed. Attempts to keep up with consumables resulted in nothing. It is not clear to me what I could have done better.

The second time, I thought all right, maybe Elite needs more planning then that, so I will strafe it in my ship and then attack.

The ship was blown up within 3 seconds, before I even had time to respond at all.

On day 4 of the game, the complaints about Elite begin to make sense. This feels, if not unfair, then at the very least, highly confusing.
I feel that I prepeared as adequately as I possibly could, but combat missions now feel intimidatingly undoable, and assurances from veteran players to the opposite don't have much effect when weighed against what I experience with my own two eyes going in to such a task.

It is not clear to me how the game expects the player to tackle these challenges.
My first gut feeling is that combat missions are not supposed to be done solo, but with other players, but I can't seem to find any players interested in running these together.

This is demotivating. I do not want to spend Elite purely grinding out monotonous tasks. I want to at least have the option to mix it up with combat when I am in the mood. The thought that combat might not be an option is..Not pleasant, to put it mildly.

I would like to learn how to do ground combat, but at least right now, I cannot think of a way I could have handled this situation in a way that would not have resulted in my immidiate demise.

I'l have to let this rest for now, maybe more ideas will come in time.

 

[Para Handy]

Oh, dear. That did not go well.

I made two attempts at doing a combat mission on foot against what to me, seemed like a lightly defended settlement, threat level three. I had a dominator suit, manticore sniper, shotgun, and pistol. Plenty of consumables.

Both times ended in disaster, however. The first time, I went in on foot, and succesfully sniped a couple, using stealth and range to my advantage, but once the settlement alarms went off, NPC's came from every direction and I was very swiftly downed. Attempts to keep up with consumables resulted in nothing. It is not clear to me what I could have done better.

The second time, I thought all right, maybe Elite needs more planning then that, so I will strafe it in my ship and then attack.

The ship was blown up within 3 seconds, before I even had time to respond at all.

On day 4 of the game, the complaints about Elite begin to make sense. This feels, if not unfair, then at the very least, highly confusing.
I feel that I prepeared as adequately as I possibly could, but combat missions now feel intimidatingly undoable, and assurances from veteran players to the opposite don't have much effect when weighed against what I experience with my own two eyes going in to such a task.

It is not clear to me how the game expects the player to tackle these challenges.
My first gut feeling is that combat missions are not supposed to be done solo, but with other players, but I can't seem to find any players interested in running these together.

This is demotivating. I do not want to spend Elite purely grinding out monotonous tasks. I want to at least have the option to mix it up with combat when I am in the mood. The thought that combat might not be an option is..Not pleasant, to put it mildly.

I would like to learn how to do ground combat, but at least right now, I cannot think of a way I could have handled this situation in a way that would not have resulted in my immidiate demise.

I'l have to let this rest for now, maybe more ideas will come in time.

I did mention that on-foot mission threat levels were a joke. I don't "do" FPS and just refuse to even try them in Oddity - I can't even complete the combat bit of the on-foot tutorial.

 

[Codger]

It is not clear to me what I could have done better.

This is demotivating. I do not want to spend Elite purely grinding out monotonous tasks.

I will point you to the best guide out there, right here -->https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-definitive-stealth-guide.579192/

You have to understand how to approach these missions. Letting the alarms go off is a bad idea, so you need to understand how to prevent it. It requires thought, and stealth, rather than raw combat skills.

These missions are involved and exciting and never go the same way twice. I really enjoy them (although I died a LOT at the beginning -- they are not obvious at first how to do them).

 

[Codger]

I did mention that on-foot mission threat levels were a joke. I don't "do" FPS and just refuse to even try them in Oddity - I can't even complete the combat bit of the on-foot tutorial.

Ah, the secret to that one is to be a bit sneaky (actually that applies to many Odyssey missions). When all those enemies drop in I don't go out to meet them head on. Instead, I go out the back way, sneak around behind the buildings. They lose track of me, and then I start taking them out one by one, ducking behind buildings and disappearing as needed. It becomes fairly easy once you use some sneaky tactics

 

[Anaya]

So would it be accurate to say that combat missions don't exist, but only stealth missions?
Because to me, there is a huge difference between combat, and stealth. The two are not one and the same.

Either way, what I am missing is, well, experience and knowledge, really, and online guides arn't very clear on how to succeed. They do say dont let the alarms go off, dont stay still, keep moving, use stealth, use your ship...

In reality, the ship gets shot down, moving means I can't hit anything either, killing every NPC before they trigger the alarm seems as impossible as reaching the console to shut it down, and once the base is on alert, staying unseen seems no option either.

I use words like "seems" because I am sure it's possible. Heavens knows enough of you manage it. But there's no clear way how to do that.

By now I've also been interdicted twice and engaged in combat once against a foe that should have been easy pickings, and discovered that space combat, too, is far from the straightforward activity it is meant to be.

Not going to lie, I feel hit by a wave of demotivation, so I'l finish this mission and probably let the game rest for a night or two.

 

[Para Handy]

Ah, the secret to that one is to be a bit sneaky (actually that applies to many Odyssey missions). When all those enemies drop in I don't go out to meet them head on. Instead, I go out the back way, sneak around behind the buildings. They lose track of me, and then I start taking them out one by one, ducking behind buildings and disappearing as needed. It becomes fairly easy once you use some sneaky tactics

Yep indeed that is what I tried to do but in the end I always got cornered and end up with that dead guy view. Not fun for me to even see the corpses in the game, much less actually creating any. That is not what I want in Elite. I don't play video games to kill people, just goes against the grain for me - I have to even convince myself that destroying a ship in the game doesn't mean killing the occupant(s)*.

* BTW - Just about 7 years playing and never near Elite combat - not my bag.

 

[Codger]

But there's no clear way how to do that.

There's no big secret, it takes time and practice, that's all. You might consider trying an on-foot Combat Zone or two. Choose a Low zone, and take the Frontline Solutions there. It'll drop you right off at the place. You can practice using your weapons and learn what they do, figure out how many hits you can take (hardly any), and how to exit stage left to let your shields recharge. You'll even start to remember to turn your shields on in the first place! (yes, I still forget sometimes to my dismay). You can replay the CZ by logging to main menu, and back on, no need to travel until you're done. Then call an Apex to take you back to your station.

If you die there, it just drops you back in, and you continue. There's no real penalty for dying. Losing the CZ doesn't matter much. Winning means you get a bit more money.

A lot of the missions are easier with stealth. However, once you've got your weapons and armor upgraded, and you have some experience under your belt, it is quite possible to just go in and wipe out everyone. I usually prefer stealth, but it's not the only option.

Anyway, yeah, take a break if you need to. It'll come to you if you persevere. I'm 70 years old and not a good FPS player, not by a long shot. My reflexes are slow. But I've still learned to win these missions.

My 2 main combat tips

• Never be out in the open, always be behind something
• Never take on more than 2 others, and preferably just 1. If there's more, then don't engage, run away until you can separate them. If they lose line of sight on you for a couple minutes, they reset and forget where you are, then you can circle around and take out one at a time.

Have fun, whatever you decide to do

 

[Codger]

BTW - Just about 7 years playing and never near Elite combat - not my bag.

There's certainly nothing wrong with that. Not everyone enjoys combat. I enjoy some types of combat, so I do those.

There is zero reason to do something in a game that you don't find fun. Kinda the whole point of playing a game is to enjoy yourself

 

[Anaya]

Well, I went ahead and gave it a final try. Truly no dice.

This one was a salvage mission, so I thought I would roll up and get the cargo. It was the dark side of the planet, so I tried to go in stealthy and perhaps take the NPC's one by one.

No dice. They instadetected me for one, and for another, were all bunched in close, so I took another shot at direct combat. I managed to down a good number, but still got swarmed and deleted, seemingly without any option to do things differently.

I attempted to fire at them with my ship instead, only to be driven off myself as it seems my laser beams just wern't accurate enough.

I've decided to put the game down for now, but I need to have a hard think whether I should proceed with it. For me, the appeal of Elite is very much the freedom to play the game in the way you want - To pursue the activity you want to do.

However, certain activities seemingly have been made impossible to do, and those happen to include the ones I REALLY want to do. And that just takes away the entire appeal of a sandbox game. Jokes about "Elite isnt an FPS" aside, it's the sheer variety that pulled me in.

Tracking down wrecks, combing through salvage, sneaking into settlements to disable power or take out individuals. That all seems like a wonderful change of pace from ship flying. I simply couldnt play Elite ship only.

But right now, I am stuck. Every attempt to engage in combat leads to a game over screen, regardless of whatever tips I recieve from experienced players.

 

[Codger]

Every attempt to engage in combat leads to a game over screen, regardless of whatever tips I recieve from experienced players.

Well you'll have to decide for yourself if the learning curve is worth it. I died over and over at first, so I think that's normal

PS. You can hit ground targets with dumbfire missiles. Not so much with lasers
Also, the SRV is deadly at those scavenger sites. You can take them all out from a distance.