Elite: Dangerous
Discussion
I just couldn't get on with the A4 Plasma Accelerator. It's fixed for a start and the projectiles fly so slowly so scoring hits on smaller ships involves a lot of luck. I tried the cannon too but I don't think that does nearly enough damage to outweigh the drawbacks.
On top of that, the ship is so unwieldy in combat I ended up feeling very vulnerable in Haz RES sites. In my Vulture I'd comfortably take on a wing of, say, 1x Python/Anaconda/FdL plus 2x Vultures or Asp Explorers - I'd quite possibly take some damage but come out alive and financially better off. I'd be very uncomfortable trying the same thing in a FdL, I did it a couple of times and ended up dead.
If you really and truly only ever get into fights with other FdLs or bigger ships then fine but it's a hell of a lot of money for a ship with such limited application IMHO.
On top of that, the ship is so unwieldy in combat I ended up feeling very vulnerable in Haz RES sites. In my Vulture I'd comfortably take on a wing of, say, 1x Python/Anaconda/FdL plus 2x Vultures or Asp Explorers - I'd quite possibly take some damage but come out alive and financially better off. I'd be very uncomfortable trying the same thing in a FdL, I did it a couple of times and ended up dead.
If you really and truly only ever get into fights with other FdLs or bigger ships then fine but it's a hell of a lot of money for a ship with such limited application IMHO.
272BHP said:
My son asked me to get him this but he is finding it very frustrating.
He has mastered the basics of docking, combat, travelling between systems etc but he cannot complete a single mission. The usual sequence of events is that he accepts a mission (e.g. go destroy a spaceship in another system) goes to the system and just ends up travelling to every part of it never finding his target, in fact he rarely ever sees any other space craft at all.
Is there any other way of moving ahead without doing the missions?
Elite Dangerous is a fantastic game, but it’s a fairly frequent criticism that it really doesn’t offer you any guidance on how to start out. I found the way it chucked you the keys to your first ship and let you get on with it quite refreshing, but I can also appreciate that this can be frustrating.He has mastered the basics of docking, combat, travelling between systems etc but he cannot complete a single mission. The usual sequence of events is that he accepts a mission (e.g. go destroy a spaceship in another system) goes to the system and just ends up travelling to every part of it never finding his target, in fact he rarely ever sees any other space craft at all.
Is there any other way of moving ahead without doing the missions?
In answer to your question, the game is so open that your lad won’t need to take missions to progress. He can take whatever course he chooses. I started out with the couriering missions to build up a bit of capital or making small trades until I had enough to buy and outfit a larger ship.
The main thing to remember is that your ship needs to be outfitted for whatever role you’re planning on taking. He’ll find the assassination missions impossible if he doesn’t have an interdictor fitted to pull the target out of supercruise to engage them.
He should be able to find the target by flying around the system he’s been directed to in the mission text and checking the contacts tab in the left hand panel. It’s important to remember the target’s name! If they don’t spawn, they may be hiding in one of the signal sources in the system or will spawn shortly after you return back to supercruise.
If he's looking to have a bit of combat action in the starting systems and with a fairly modest ship build, he should be able to hang out at a nav beacon and check any contacts to see if they're wanted. Killing them will pay out a bounty voucher which he'll need to cash in at the station under the security contacts.
Here's a good guide to bounty hunting for beginners: Linky
It’s an incredibly rewarding experience to play, but you have to set your own goals. It won’t do it for you!
Thanks that is a big help. He had another frustrating time of it yesterday when I suggested he did some trading instead as a first mission. He bought a cargo hold for 1000 credits and then had no money to put anything in it! Chicken and egg situation again and another session ended in switching off in frustration.
272BHP said:
Thanks that is a big help. He had another frustrating time of it yesterday when I suggested he did some trading instead as a first mission. He bought a cargo hold for 1000 credits and then had no money to put anything in it! Chicken and egg situation again and another session ended in switching off in frustration.
No problem. There is one golden rule I suggest that you both pay attention to once he's out of the starting ship - and that is to make sure he has enough of a financial cushion to pay his insurance excess.This stops you from being kicked back to the starting ship. The excess is usually 5% of the ship's value and can be found in the right hand cockpit screen under rebuy cost. Making sure you have this much in the bank saves a lot of trouble!
272BHP said:
Thanks that is a big help. He had another frustrating time of it yesterday when I suggested he did some trading instead as a first mission. He bought a cargo hold for 1000 credits and then had no money to put anything in it! Chicken and egg situation again and another session ended in switching off in frustration.
Sidewinders come with 4 tonnes of cargo space to begin with, he can sell the basic discovery scanner for 1000 credits and buy extra 2T cargo space if he wants to, discovery scanners aren't really worth using early on as he will be doing some local system flying over short ranges and any new things discovered won't be worth much, less than the cargo carried. He can also downgrade the default gimballed 1G pulse lasers to 1F fixed pulse lasers, that will get him another 6700 credits in the bank.Alias218 said:
I started out transporting slaves (don't judge me!) as they gave a good return early on. Just make sure you go into silent running mode when docking at your destination unless you can do it quickly. The fine may well cost more than the payout of the mission!
I have a one jump (10.55ly) trade route for imperial slaves that nets me 3,069 p/t which when I'm carrying 92t gets me a profit of 282,348 cr. It's fast and many trades can be done in an hour. No need for silent running as slaves are legal in both systems. 51,704cr profit for the return trip so 334,052cr for the round trip which only takes a few minutes. The stations are close to the jump point too. You can probably get higher returns but you have to fly further, spending more time in supercruise, or avoiding detection. I prefer the faster turnaround. 
Rod200SX said:
Probably been asked a thousand times but friend informed me this is on Xbox for £15, worth a go?
Yes, it can be a slow burner to start with trying to get enough credits to upgrade the ship you start off with, then upgrade to a newer bigger ship and so on but there is a moment when you pass that point where suddenly trading (with huge cargo loads) or bounty hunting is netting big rewards and you really feel as if you can go anywhere and do anything.This guy does some very nice videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtiq6FTXiFKQm-wqM...
The Engineers videos are for the Beta unreleased Engineers upgrade that is available soon and part of the Horizons season pass. So look at non-engineers ones for current play and those for a feel of what's coming.
I'm just about to give this a go again as I have just bought a HOTUS joystick. I played it quite a lot for a couple of months straight after it released, so I haven't played for over a year.
I'm re-downloading it now and I can't even remember what ship I've got!
I think it was either a well decked out Viper or a more basic Cobra.
As I am effectively a noob again, I am a bit worried that I am going to mess up or bust my ship that I worked so hard for as it's not like you can just re-load if you mess up!
Has much changed in the meantime? I see I can download Arena now. That could be fun as long as it has a section for the not so decent pilots. Is Horizons worth buying?
I'm re-downloading it now and I can't even remember what ship I've got!
I think it was either a well decked out Viper or a more basic Cobra.As I am effectively a noob again, I am a bit worried that I am going to mess up or bust my ship that I worked so hard for as it's not like you can just re-load if you mess up!
Has much changed in the meantime? I see I can download Arena now. That could be fun as long as it has a section for the not so decent pilots. Is Horizons worth buying?
I've got a Cobra Mk III with mainly C and D upgrades. It looks like I was doing a "rares" run. Got about 13T of rares and I am quite near Lave. Do people still do that? I just googled it to try to get an idea of the route I must have been doing, but most of the posts are from early 2015.
Worryingly I only have £85K in the bank, but my insurance costs £45K
I'm going to do all the training again before I venture out. It's scary how easy it is to lose all your progress in this game and I think that is one of the reasons I have not been back to it for so long.
Worryingly I only have £85K in the bank, but my insurance costs £45K
I'm going to do all the training again before I venture out. It's scary how easy it is to lose all your progress in this game and I think that is one of the reasons I have not been back to it for so long.Useful sites if you are starting or coming back.
Trade routes - http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/
Navigation and others under tools menu - http://ed-td.space/en/24/Route+planner
ship load out testing - http://coriolis.io/
Trade routes - http://www.elitetradingtool.co.uk/
Navigation and others under tools menu - http://ed-td.space/en/24/Route+planner
ship load out testing - http://coriolis.io/
Thanks, that trade routes site is great! I picked up a few more rares from nearby systems and plotted a route to another rares cluster 160LY away. 25 jumps later I made about £550K 
I want more cargo space as I could only carry 32T in my Cobra Mk III. I don't fancy flying without shields.
I forgot how dramatic this game can be. Halfway through I jumped in and flew too close to a white dwarf. Almost crapped myself when the warning went off and sparks started flying! This game must be brilliant with a VR headset.
Now I have plenty of cash to cover a few insurance payouts I want to get some combat practice in.
I want more cargo space as I could only carry 32T in my Cobra Mk III. I don't fancy flying without shields.I forgot how dramatic this game can be. Halfway through I jumped in and flew too close to a white dwarf. Almost crapped myself when the warning went off and sparks started flying! This game must be brilliant with a VR headset.
Now I have plenty of cash to cover a few insurance payouts I want to get some combat practice in.
This guy has played the beta - https://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianAnt/videos
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