Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

I discovered this ringed planet today, and it was quite unusual. It has 3 rings: a tiny metal-rich, then a broader icy, and then another very wispy icy with a huge gap between the second and third ring.

When I was trying to map the rings, it was very difficult to hit that outer ring because if I was far enough away to point at it, I was out of range for the probes. Eventually I figured out a way to shoot the probe across the planet at a very low angle, so that it would slingshot past the planet and hit that far away ring.

Of course, the ring had no hotspots, but hey. I hit the darn thing at least :)

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Yeah, I suck at hitting Jovian rings.

We've probably all been there - I know I have.
When I'm flying an all kinetic meat grinder, that may only become apparent after shredding the second or even third NPC.

I was completely confused after the dead man's click thing. How did you take down two NPC's with no pips?
 
Yeah, I suck at hitting Jovian rings.



I was completely confused after the dead man's click thing. How did you take down two NPC's with no pips?

By using a weapon that fires physical projectiles instead of directed energy, thus uses less energy?
EDIT: Personally, I favor using energy weapons due to them never really running out of ammo. But I'm thinking of going 50/50 since kinetic weapons do more damage to unshielded enemies. Use the energy weapons to strip shields, and the kinetic ones to inflict damage.
 
At the moment, no. But that's because I haven't gotten into a fight since I got more then 2 weapon slots. And since I prefer gimbled weapons, I've been using the G1 pulse lasers that are the only gimbled weapons I have access to right now. From running several tutorial/training battles, I'd say yes it does though. Kinetic weapons use far less capacitor charge then energy weapons do. Thus using those can extend how long you can fight with no pips in Weapons. Based on the training dogfights I've done, kinetic weapons should take out enemies faster once I have the shield stripped away.
 
And since I prefer gimbled weapons, I've been using the G1 pulse lasers that are the only gimbled weapons I have access to right now. From running several tutorial/training battles, I'd say yes it does though. Kinetic weapons use far less capacitor charge then energy weapons do.

Aaaw, gimbled weapons. How quaint.
 
I've tried using fixed mount weapons, and found that I dislike the extreme precision they require. Not to mention that they seemed useless if things get too close, and by too close I mean "close enough I can see and aim with my Mk I eyeball and not using target lock".

EDIT: I've never been that good at leading my shots, and in a space or aerial combat sim that's an important skill to have. Thus I have my targeting set to "lead", and prefer gimbled weapons that can adjust aim if I'm aiming in roughly the correct area. Still need to be accurate, but it's not quite as bad as if I was using fixed mount weapons.
 
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I decided to nip over to the Colonia area. I've been feeling a bit bloodthirsty and I wanted to seek out some interesting assassination missions or get into some other trouble.

This time I was smart though, and I parked my carrier in an uninhabited system so that no NPCs would be swarming around it all the time. It worked out fine.

So I got out the Corvette and off I went. The star I was parked by was very bright, it made my 'vette look almost white.

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The first station I stopped at didn't have even one assassination mission. I was amazed. They had absolutely no one that they wanted killed. Bummer.

But they did offer me about 2.6 million credits to take some liquor to the next system over. So, I loaded the 180T of alcoholic beverages and zipped over to the destination.

Now these guys, the ones who were receiving the liquor, they were more into offing people, and I picked up a sweet little target for a million credits or so. Low pay, but it looked easy. It turned out to be one of those fun missions where you have to first go talk to a contact, who then directs you to the actual target. In the end, though, as I was looking for him, he found me. I happily submitted to the interdiction.

He was very smug in his Anaconda. "What do you bring before the pirate lord?!" he said. I gave him a face full of lasers and multicannons. He didn't seem pleased. I guess he died unhappy.

After that, there was another quick delivery thing for more pay than it was worth, and I ended up at a planetary base. Now this one has lots of stuff...plenty of assassinations, some massacres, a bit of planetary shenanigans, even a couple skimmer missions.

I guess I'm in the mood for it at the moment, so I'll probably stay a bit.

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Yeah, I suck at hitting Jovian rings.
How come? They're really easy to hit. Missing them now, especially when approaching a station that orbits inside the rings, is the real trick.

I was completely confused after the dead man's click thing. How did you take down two NPC's with no pips?
You use a Krait Mk.II, four pips to shields, two pips to thrusters. Equipped with a fighter, three Pacifiers and a couple of (gimballed) Multicannon. Charge enhanced/super conduits 6A distributor holds 45.6 MJ fully charged. Each of the guns draws 1 MW average from the distributor, a total of 5 MW - which gives 45/5 = 9 seconds firing all five. The fighter doesn't need any power from the distributor at all. The guns dish out a total of 380 points of damage per second, so 9*380 = 3420 points before the cap is empty.
A stock Cobra has 153 points of shields against kinetics, and 180 points of hull, so 333 points from full to bang. The few occasions I got a random interdiction by a pirate in a Cobra, the fight was over before my FSD cooled down - those pirates have a tendency to try and scan you nose to nose, which is kind of not exactly a good idea against a ship equipped with Pacifiers (or frags) 😈.
A stock FAS will hold out a bit longer - 221 and 450 points respectively, 671 points in total.
A stock Anaconda is still a bit more challenging - but also easier to hit. Still, 603 and 788 points, 1391 points in total - again possible as long as I don't miss (and the keep the SLF in the hangar).
Now add that one of the MCs runs corrosive ammo, which reduces hull strength by IIRC 30%, and things look even more grim for the NPCs.
 
Dag nabbit, was going to dive into VR and do some trading for a few hours. Now I can't. The neighbor in the apartment above mine got evicted, and has likely left a final "F-U" in the form of leaving a faucet running in their bathroom. This means I now have water leaking through the roof and into my bathroom. Thankfully it's going into my bathtub rather then flooding my apartment. But it does mean I can't lose myself in a few hours of mercantile nirvana.
 
What works for me is not worrying about the ceiling in my bathroom collapsing and a bathtub filled with water falling into my apartment. Unfortunately, we can't always have nice things due to fish excrement being in a snit. So I have to worry about my bathroom ceiling collapsing and my apartment having a bathtub fall into it.
 
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