Yeah I was able to get through the doorway okay. It was actually landing the ship that was giving me problems. I'm struggling with keeping the ship aligned I think on the controller it's the right thumb stick controls and specifically the left and right movements. It was making my brain momentarily lock up.
I think my brain was wanting to do all the alignment controls with the same stick that handles the pitch. It's just going to take a bit of practice.
It was also a little overwhelming how many individual controls each controller button has. The 4 mapped functions per button is going to take some getting used to.
Are the voice controls part of a paid DLC or is it a component of the base game I can have installed on a ship?
How much do they let you alter control bindings on the PS4? On the PC you can set up landing override controls that become active when your gear are deployed, so that a stick that normally controls your rotation could temporarily control your forward/back translation instead, etc.
I'm on PC, I just opted to play with a game pad instead of KB + M. I haven't looked too deeply into the customization of controls. I briefly went into the options and quickly became overwhelmed.
I think I'm probably going to have to just fiddle around with things and see what feels comfortable. I'm trying to remember if the default controls have things inverted, that's always been something my brain can't handle so it may be as simple as changing that.
EDIT: Just watched a quick youtube tutorial explaining how to get the pitch and yaw onto the the same stick which I think is going to be a big help for me.
One of the most important things you can bind is set throttle 75%, use that in super cruise as you approach your destination (hit it when you are at 7-8 sec to your destination) you will never blow by your target to do the loop of shame and instead steadily approach at destination lock speed.
Yeah I was able to get through the doorway okay. It was actually landing the ship that was giving me problems. I'm struggling with keeping the ship aligned I think on the controller it's the right thumb stick controls and specifically the left and right movements. It was making my brain momentarily lock up.
I think my brain was wanting to do all the alignment controls with the same stick that handles the pitch. It's just going to take a bit of practice.
It was also a little overwhelming how many individual controls each controller button has. The 4 mapped functions per button is going to take some getting used to.
Are the voice controls part of a paid DLC or is it a component of the base game I can have installed on a ship?
How much do they let you alter control bindings on the PS4? On the PC you can set up landing override controls that become active when your gear are deployed, so that a stick that normally controls your rotation could temporarily control your forward/back translation instead, etc.
I'm on PC, I just opted to play with a game pad instead of KB + M. I haven't looked too deeply into the customization of controls. I briefly went into the options and quickly became overwhelmed.
I think I'm probably going to have to just fiddle around with things and see what feels comfortable. I'm trying to remember if the default controls have things inverted, that's always been something my brain can't handle so it may be as simple as changing that.
EDIT: Just watched a quick youtube tutorial explaining how to get the pitch and yaw onto the the same stick which I think is going to be a big help for me.
One of the most important things you can bind is set throttle 75%, use that in super cruise as you approach your destination (hit it when you are at 7-8 sec to your destination) you will never blow by your target to do the loop of shame and instead steadily approach at destination lock speed.
Thanks for this tip!
Before my docking trials began I also spent at least 15 - 20 minutes trying to figure out the timing for coming out of supercruise. I took at least 10 loops of shame.
Deliberately going too fast and then corkscrewing into a properly executed gravity brake in my experience is faster than a loopless Zeno-glide docking approach in addition to repositioning your rear away from would-be interdictors, although sometimes the station is too far away from its host body to allow such super cruise drifting.
I've had instances where I've set the throttle on maybe the upper levels of the blue line. And then what often happens is I get the slow down warning, the yellow part of the meter will climb right up to full despite the numerical speed number continue to drop, then I'll blow past the target. I assume what's happening is:
-Deceleration is obviously not an instant phenomenon.
-The yellow meter is transitioning from light years to light seconds, hence why it suddenly looks like I have the throttle at full blast.
Keeping it dead center in the blue and keeping the ETA at a perpetual 0:07 seconds for like 5 minutes while we slowly and gently come in feels... well slow. Probably 100% realistic, but slow. Hence why I keep trying to bump the throttle up a tad in the hopes of shaving off some seconds.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Unless they nerfed them during this last weekend, the single station of each system should give you around 25-35 data delivery missions (most of them with Rank+++ reward) to be delivered always to the station of the other system.
Using an Imperial Eagle and the docking autopilot each delivery run took me around 6-7 minutes.
As I mentioned above, going from level 0 to king took me just 2 hours and a half. I'm sure it could have taken me even less since there were some runs where I wouldn't get a rank up mission.
This was great, I was at Baron (Clipper access) and had finished grind for Fed Corvette before 3.0 dropped (Rear Admiral) and that took me ~2 weeks of intermittant grinding. In the course of ~1.5 hours I went from Baron to ~50% through Prince doing these runs! (so went 1 rank PAST what I needed for Cutter) If anyone is dead set on getting Imperial or Fed rank locked ships I'd hop on one of these sooner then later in case the rank up bonuses get nerfed. You can do these runs in any S or M class ship, so even a hauler will get you the rank you need even if you don't ahve the funds to buy the big ships. (Always chose the 'Star' reward and your rank will climb very quickly)
Yeah, that's not sticking around, so get on it. I discovered some evidence that it's currently bugged (by a lot) in terms of how much reward you receive. They'll fix it sooner or later. I'm not going to bug report it though because I think the rank grind is BS and I'd rather they didn't just remove more mission types.
Steam and CFN: Enexemander
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Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
7) Vertical Cliff
Yes. Probably. I have bought the game for several of my friends and my only request is that I get to watch them try to dock the first time. The enjoyment of watching that moving disaster more than pays for my investment.
I docked for the first time! Although calling it a 'successful' dock would be generous... https://youtu.be/VzfhG_l_Rzs
It was setup with default keyboard bindings and has the following prerequisites for operation:
1: Your leftmost control panel was last left in the leftmost tab (the default option)
2: The station is the topmost entry in your contacts list (in the case of orbital stations, this will be true. In the case of surface outposts, this is not necessarily true)
Assuming that those prerequisites are met, then saying the trigger phrase will automatically open up the appropriate tab and request docking privileges from the nearby station.
General_Armchair on
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UnluckyThat's not meant to happenRegistered Userregular
7) Vertical Cliff
Yes. Probably. I have bought the game for several of my friends and my only request is that I get to watch them try to dock the first time. The enjoyment of watching that moving disaster more than pays for my investment.
I docked for the first time! Although calling it a 'successful' dock would be generous... https://youtu.be/VzfhG_l_Rzs
*1 minute in* Oh yeah, cool that's a pretty solid positioning, not sure what you're talking ab-*Video is 8 minutes* I feel your pain, brother.
I bought the autodocker as soon as I could. It even plays a little classical piece for you while you dock. It might take up a slot, but it's worth the space for people like me who are about equally skilled at docking.
7) Vertical Cliff
Yes. Probably. I have bought the game for several of my friends and my only request is that I get to watch them try to dock the first time. The enjoyment of watching that moving disaster more than pays for my investment.
I docked for the first time! Although calling it a 'successful' dock would be generous... https://youtu.be/VzfhG_l_Rzs
Loitering is punishable by death. Thank you for visiting Houston Orbital.
*Bing, dong, bing*
Basil on
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
edited March 2018
I finally went bounty hunting. Bought a Vulture, fitted it with lots of A-rates and large, gimballed guns (a Pulse Laser and Multi-Cannon) and started looking for Wanted ships in an RES.
It was setup with default keyboard bindings and has the following prerequisites for operation:
1: Your leftmost control panel was last left in the leftmost tab (the default option)
2: The station is the topmost entry in your contacts list (in the case of orbital stations, this will be true. In the case of surface outposts, this is not necessarily true)
Assuming that those prerequisites are met, then saying the trigger phrase will automatically open up the appropriate tab and request docking privileges from the nearby station.
Awesome, thanks for this! I think I'll probably try and set up some voice commands for the simple stuff. It's a bit cumbersome at the moment trying to remember all the button combinations.
I changed the controls for pitch and yaw to the right stick and it made the manual docking procedure trivial. I then moved on to the combat tutorials and did the first one no problem but the advanced combat tutorial was a no go. The ship they want you to destroy I just couldn't keep in front of me. I don't know if that was due to me or if the ships are just mismatched. I tried several times before giving up. I decided I'd probably try and avoid combat for now and jumped into the main game.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I was giggling watching that landing video. Too many memories.
Eventually you fly into the toaster rack at max speed, barely missing the cage (or other ships) and repeatedly smash down on the pad before you remember to deploy landing gear. And make it look good.
No no no. You're approaching too slow. Deliberately grinding against the cage is like a carrier's arresting cable. In a bigger ship, just rotate against the station once you've entered the cage. That's what it's there for. Trust me.
So this game is pretty damn compelling and all I've been doing so far is running Boom data deliveries and courier missions. I have an entry level HOTAS en route and I think once it arrives I'm going to set up voice attack. This game has it's hooks in me. I can't wait to get deep into this.
I'm sitting on about 400k credits currently. What is the better option upgrading to about a 100k ship or outfitting the sidewinder with some better stuff?
If I were you, I would have ditched the sidewinder ages ago. Generally the first upgrades that players consider from the sidewinder are the Eagle, the Hauler, or the Adder.
The Eagle is the pure combat ship, however at this point you're probably better buying a Viper if you want to do combat.
The Adder is sort of an early multi-role ship that I honestly never saw the appeal of. Some people are fond if it though.
If you're liking the courier missions, then the Hauler would be a good upgrade. It has significantly better jump capabilities and cargo capacity than the sidewinder. Furthermore, you may want to hang onto a hauler even after you can afford better ships simply because it is the most cost efficient hyperspace taxi in the game. It is one of the best ships for ferrying you as a player from one point in the galaxy to another in a short period of time. Fully kitted out with all of the luxury bells for a long-jumper build, a long jump hauler costs about 1.3 million IIRC and ~900k of that is the overkill size 3A fuel scoop. You do not see superior jump performance until your start looking at ships whose base hull cost are in excess of a million credits.
The ship that you REALLY want to set your eyes on is the Cobra MkIII. It's a multirole ship that IMO ridiculously outclasses everything in its weight class. The ship will be your workhorse until you start branching out into the more expensive and more specialized ships. Do not confuse it with the Cobra MkIV. The "upgraded" cobra is hot garbage.
Yeah I was able to get through the doorway okay. It was actually landing the ship that was giving me problems. I'm struggling with keeping the ship aligned I think on the controller it's the right thumb stick controls and specifically the left and right movements. It was making my brain momentarily lock up.
I think my brain was wanting to do all the alignment controls with the same stick that handles the pitch. It's just going to take a bit of practice.
It was also a little overwhelming how many individual controls each controller button has. The 4 mapped functions per button is going to take some getting used to.
Are the voice controls part of a paid DLC or is it a component of the base game I can have installed on a ship?
How much do they let you alter control bindings on the PS4? On the PC you can set up landing override controls that become active when your gear are deployed, so that a stick that normally controls your rotation could temporarily control your forward/back translation instead, etc.
They let you alter control bindings on the PS4 pretty much as much as you can on the PC(minus having keyboard input). It would be great if Frontier would allow PS4 users to use a keyboard in Elite for something other than just typing messages in the comms panel(as some PS4 games allow the use of keyboards. Admittedly not very many, but it can be done).
If I were you, I would have ditched the sidewinder ages ago. Generally the first upgrades that players consider from the sidewinder are the Eagle, the Hauler, or the Adder.
The Eagle is the pure combat ship, however at this point you're probably better buying a Viper if you want to do combat.
The Adder is sort of an early multi-role ship that I honestly never saw the appeal of. Some people are fond if it though.
If you're liking the courier missions, then the Hauler would be a good upgrade. It has significantly better jump capabilities and cargo capacity than the sidewinder. Furthermore, you may want to hang onto a hauler even after you can afford better ships simply because it is the most cost efficient hyperspace taxi in the game. It is one of the best ships for ferrying you as a player from one point in the galaxy to another in a short period of time. Fully kitted out with all of the luxury bells for a long-jumper build, a long jump hauler costs about 1.3 million IIRC and ~900k of that is the overkill size 3A fuel scoop. You do not see superior jump performance until your start looking at ships whose base hull cost are in excess of a million credits.
The ship that you REALLY want to set your eyes on is the Cobra MkIII. It's a multirole ship that IMO ridiculously outclasses everything in its weight class. The ship will be your workhorse until you start branching out into the more expensive and more specialized ships. Do not confuse it with the Cobra MkIV. The "upgraded" cobra is hot garbage.
Do I just go with the new ship as is or should I be tacking on some upgrades as well?
What makes the cobra MkIV so much worse? Is it simply the cost of the ship or does it have poorer stats? I'm still trying to figure out what I should be looking at in a ship
7) Vertical Cliff
Yes. Probably. I have bought the game for several of my friends and my only request is that I get to watch them try to dock the first time. The enjoyment of watching that moving disaster more than pays for my investment.
I docked for the first time! Although calling it a 'successful' dock would be generous... https://youtu.be/VzfhG_l_Rzs
It takes some practice but soon enough you'll be docking in seconds like a pro, even on KBAM (though I guess your on PS4 so even better).
However FAO docking on KBAM is more tricky lol. This was me in the beta doing a FA Off docking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8rveukNq34
I should give it another try, see how I do.
Also IMO the cobra mk4 isn't terrible if you hull tank it with 3x railguns and like missiles or something. It's always going to be slow so you may as well just go for tough with guns. I used it as a pirate vessel for awhile stealing NPC high temp diamonds, but uh don't tell anyone. :hydra:
DarkMecha on
Steam Profile | My Art | NID: DarkMecha (SW-4787-9571-8977) | PSN: DarkMecha
If I were you, I would have ditched the sidewinder ages ago. Generally the first upgrades that players consider from the sidewinder are the Eagle, the Hauler, or the Adder.
The Eagle is the pure combat ship, however at this point you're probably better buying a Viper if you want to do combat.
The Adder is sort of an early multi-role ship that I honestly never saw the appeal of. Some people are fond if it though.
If you're liking the courier missions, then the Hauler would be a good upgrade. It has significantly better jump capabilities and cargo capacity than the sidewinder. Furthermore, you may want to hang onto a hauler even after you can afford better ships simply because it is the most cost efficient hyperspace taxi in the game. It is one of the best ships for ferrying you as a player from one point in the galaxy to another in a short period of time. Fully kitted out with all of the luxury bells for a long-jumper build, a long jump hauler costs about 1.3 million IIRC and ~900k of that is the overkill size 3A fuel scoop. You do not see superior jump performance until your start looking at ships whose base hull cost are in excess of a million credits.
The ship that you REALLY want to set your eyes on is the Cobra MkIII. It's a multirole ship that IMO ridiculously outclasses everything in its weight class. The ship will be your workhorse until you start branching out into the more expensive and more specialized ships. Do not confuse it with the Cobra MkIV. The "upgraded" cobra is hot garbage.
Do I just go with the new ship as is or should I be tacking on some upgrades as well?
What makes the cobra MkIV so much worse? Is it simply the cost of the ship or does it have poorer stats? I'm still trying to figure out what I should be looking at in a ship
The most important upgrade is, imo, your FSD. Don't buy it until you can buy an upgraded jump drive or else you'll be puttering about in small hops. For combat you want good shields, thrusters, and weapons too. For noncombat you want a fuel scoop in one of your larger slots, but you can skimp on that if you're staying local.
The cobra excels with decent firepower, adequate shields, above average cargo capacity, superior jump range compared to dedicated combat ships, and a blistering top speed that generally lets you outrun everything that you can't out fight.
The mkiv mostly slaps a bunch of armor plating on it that slows you down to a lethargic sitting duck with bad jump range.
General_Armchair on
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Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
Can you even get the Cobra MkIV if you didn't preorder Horizons?
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg) Backlog Challenge List
I thought that the ability to purchase the mkiv was gated behind horizons and that a free one was gifted to people who pre-ordered?
Regardless, if you can't get it, then don't be too upset because it's not good. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on the MkIV, but I think that the majority would agree that the Cobra MKIII is far superior.
In order to have the option to buy the Cobra MKIV, you have to have pre-ordered or purchased Horizons before a certain date (which I don't remember, but is long past). But none were given out free in-game. Everyone who flies one had to buy it.
Edit: The Viper MKIV was given out free, though. I forget why. That may be what you're thinking of.
Well I guess that's a good thing. It's absence from purchase lists will prevent players from accidentally buying it while thinking that it's an upgrade.
I bought a hauler and tacked on a few minor upgrades. However, I'm beginning to regret the purchase. That thing is incredibly ifficult to fly compared with the sidewinder. I gave up trying to line up the ship while docking. Figured I'd give it a fresh shot after some sleep.
Am I crazy or is the hauler actually that much harder to fly?
I don't recall the hauler being hard to fly. She's kinda slow and isn't in the same class as the likes of the Sidewinder or the Eagle in terms of rotation speed, but overall I recall it being a very light and responsive ship for a noncombatant. She's extremely agile compared to every other cargo ship. I don't fly mine that often since I usually taxi myself about in my Diamondback Explorer, but every now and then I do a quick hop between systems in one of my Haulers. Mine are outfitted with high end thrusters though. You could try upgrading those.
If you're really dissatisfied, then trade her in. Her only real claims to fame are that she carries the most cargo prior to the Cobra MkIII, and that she's by far the cheapest ship that's "really good" at making very long FTL jumps. The A-Team van paint job is kinda neat.
It was the rotation that wasn't working for me. It seemed to be no existant. Whenever I'd try to rotate the ship to get her aligned for dockinf she'd thrust to the side.
I'm probably doing something wrong but I'm not sure what.
Remember, you can always hop back into a sidewinder in one of the training scenarios. Sounds like some kind of controls issue, and that would be a quick way to check.
But I do want to mention distributor pips. Don't ignore them. They make a huge difference. Pip management will make you an ace.
Are the distributor pips the things that allow you to divert power to engines, systems and weapons?
I did have everything into engines to make a long trip faster.
Yup! Learning how to balance all 6 in combat is the real learning curve of this game.
An important hidden mechanic with them is that the more you have in shields, the tougher your shields are. The first pip in shields adds around 5% damage resistance, second ~12%, third ~41%, fourth ~63% (yeah it's a big jump there).
Are the distributor pips the things that allow you to divert power to engines, systems and weapons?
I did have everything into engines to make a long trip faster.
Yup! Learning how to balance all 6 in combat is the real learning curve of this game.
An important hidden mechanic with them is that the more you have in shields, the tougher your shields are. The first pip in shields adds around 5% damage resistance, second ~12%, third ~41%, fourth ~63% (yeah it's a big jump there).
Would 4 pips in engines have given me the best possible manoeuvrability?
Are the distributor pips the things that allow you to divert power to engines, systems and weapons?
I did have everything into engines to make a long trip faster.
Yup! Learning how to balance all 6 in combat is the real learning curve of this game.
An important hidden mechanic with them is that the more you have in shields, the tougher your shields are. The first pip in shields adds around 5% damage resistance, second ~12%, third ~41%, fourth ~63% (yeah it's a big jump there).
Would 4 pips in engines have given me the best possible manoeuvrability?
Yes, but that is also affected by the thrusters you have equipped and your current weight.
Is there any ships you gents would recommend people to stay away from? Or some great ones to work towards?
Got myself an ASP explorer and the open cockpit with glass by your feet and sides is a really nice upgrade from the cobra!
And any tips on guns? So far I have been running 2x gimball beam lasers +2x 6 round seeker rocket racks. And now on the ASP explorer I added two fixed beam lasers.
I tested the rail guns, and while I do really want to love them I REALLY dislike the charge up. Any way to reduce it massivly or?
Grass Grows,
Birds Fly,
'til there's Fire in the Sky...
In non-combat situations, I pretty much fly around with 4 pips to engines, 2 to shields, and zero to weapons. Generally my non-combat ships aren't even armed. Sometimes they're not even shielded or only have token shields to protect against fender benders.
I have a voice attack macro that is tied to the phrase "cruising speed" that sets my distributor to 4 to engines and 2 to shields.
Are the distributor pips the things that allow you to divert power to engines, systems and weapons?
I did have everything into engines to make a long trip faster.
Yup! Learning how to balance all 6 in combat is the real learning curve of this game.
An important hidden mechanic with them is that the more you have in shields, the tougher your shields are. The first pip in shields adds around 5% damage resistance, second ~12%, third ~41%, fourth ~63% (yeah it's a big jump there).
Would 4 pips in engines have given me the best possible manoeuvrability?
Yes, but that is also affected by the thrusters you have equipped and your current weight.
The weight must be my problem. I tacked on two 8 space cargo holders and some other heavyish things but I didn't upgrade the thrusters.
In non-combat situations, I pretty much fly around with 4 pips to engines, 2 to shields, and zero to weapons. Generally my non-combat ships aren't even armed. Sometimes they're not even shielded or only have token shields to protect against fender benders.
I have a voice attack macro that is tied to the phrase "cruising speed" that sets my distributor to 4 to engines and 2 to shields.
I need to spend some time today getting voice attack configured.
Posts
One of the most important things you can bind is set throttle 75%, use that in super cruise as you approach your destination (hit it when you are at 7-8 sec to your destination) you will never blow by your target to do the loop of shame and instead steadily approach at destination lock speed.
Thanks for this tip!
Before my docking trials began I also spent at least 15 - 20 minutes trying to figure out the timing for coming out of supercruise. I took at least 10 loops of shame.
Origin: theRealElMucho
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
-Deceleration is obviously not an instant phenomenon.
-The yellow meter is transitioning from light years to light seconds, hence why it suddenly looks like I have the throttle at full blast.
Keeping it dead center in the blue and keeping the ETA at a perpetual 0:07 seconds for like 5 minutes while we slowly and gently come in feels... well slow. Probably 100% realistic, but slow. Hence why I keep trying to bump the throttle up a tad in the hopes of shaving off some seconds.
Fun fact: deselecting your destination will dramatically improve your braking power?
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Yeah, that's not sticking around, so get on it. I discovered some evidence that it's currently bugged (by a lot) in terms of how much reward you receive. They'll fix it sooner or later. I'm not going to bug report it though because I think the rank grind is BS and I'd rather they didn't just remove more mission types.
I docked for the first time! Although calling it a 'successful' dock would be generous...
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Here's the macro to request docking privileges.
It was setup with default keyboard bindings and has the following prerequisites for operation:
1: Your leftmost control panel was last left in the leftmost tab (the default option)
2: The station is the topmost entry in your contacts list (in the case of orbital stations, this will be true. In the case of surface outposts, this is not necessarily true)
Assuming that those prerequisites are met, then saying the trigger phrase will automatically open up the appropriate tab and request docking privileges from the nearby station.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I bought the autodocker as soon as I could. It even plays a little classical piece for you while you dock. It might take up a slot, but it's worth the space for people like me who are about equally skilled at docking.
relevant
Loitering is punishable by death. Thank you for visiting Houston Orbital.
*Bing, dong, bing*
Not the fastest million I've made but it was worth it for the experience.
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Awesome, thanks for this! I think I'll probably try and set up some voice commands for the simple stuff. It's a bit cumbersome at the moment trying to remember all the button combinations.
I changed the controls for pitch and yaw to the right stick and it made the manual docking procedure trivial. I then moved on to the combat tutorials and did the first one no problem but the advanced combat tutorial was a no go. The ship they want you to destroy I just couldn't keep in front of me. I don't know if that was due to me or if the ships are just mismatched. I tried several times before giving up. I decided I'd probably try and avoid combat for now and jumped into the main game.
Origin: theRealElMucho
Eventually you fly into the toaster rack at max speed, barely missing the cage (or other ships) and repeatedly smash down on the pad before you remember to deploy landing gear. And make it look good.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I'm sitting on about 400k credits currently. What is the better option upgrading to about a 100k ship or outfitting the sidewinder with some better stuff?
Origin: theRealElMucho
The Eagle is the pure combat ship, however at this point you're probably better buying a Viper if you want to do combat.
The Adder is sort of an early multi-role ship that I honestly never saw the appeal of. Some people are fond if it though.
If you're liking the courier missions, then the Hauler would be a good upgrade. It has significantly better jump capabilities and cargo capacity than the sidewinder. Furthermore, you may want to hang onto a hauler even after you can afford better ships simply because it is the most cost efficient hyperspace taxi in the game. It is one of the best ships for ferrying you as a player from one point in the galaxy to another in a short period of time. Fully kitted out with all of the luxury bells for a long-jumper build, a long jump hauler costs about 1.3 million IIRC and ~900k of that is the overkill size 3A fuel scoop. You do not see superior jump performance until your start looking at ships whose base hull cost are in excess of a million credits.
The ship that you REALLY want to set your eyes on is the Cobra MkIII. It's a multirole ship that IMO ridiculously outclasses everything in its weight class. The ship will be your workhorse until you start branching out into the more expensive and more specialized ships. Do not confuse it with the Cobra MkIV. The "upgraded" cobra is hot garbage.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
They let you alter control bindings on the PS4 pretty much as much as you can on the PC(minus having keyboard input). It would be great if Frontier would allow PS4 users to use a keyboard in Elite for something other than just typing messages in the comms panel(as some PS4 games allow the use of keyboards. Admittedly not very many, but it can be done).
Do I just go with the new ship as is or should I be tacking on some upgrades as well?
What makes the cobra MkIV so much worse? Is it simply the cost of the ship or does it have poorer stats? I'm still trying to figure out what I should be looking at in a ship
Origin: theRealElMucho
It takes some practice but soon enough you'll be docking in seconds like a pro, even on KBAM (though I guess your on PS4 so even better).
However FAO docking on KBAM is more tricky lol. This was me in the beta doing a FA Off docking:
I should give it another try, see how I do.
Also IMO the cobra mk4 isn't terrible if you hull tank it with 3x railguns and like missiles or something. It's always going to be slow so you may as well just go for tough with guns. I used it as a pirate vessel for awhile stealing NPC high temp diamonds, but uh don't tell anyone. :hydra:
The most important upgrade is, imo, your FSD. Don't buy it until you can buy an upgraded jump drive or else you'll be puttering about in small hops. For combat you want good shields, thrusters, and weapons too. For noncombat you want a fuel scoop in one of your larger slots, but you can skimp on that if you're staying local.
The cobra excels with decent firepower, adequate shields, above average cargo capacity, superior jump range compared to dedicated combat ships, and a blistering top speed that generally lets you outrun everything that you can't out fight.
The mkiv mostly slaps a bunch of armor plating on it that slows you down to a lethargic sitting duck with bad jump range.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
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Regardless, if you can't get it, then don't be too upset because it's not good. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on the MkIV, but I think that the majority would agree that the Cobra MKIII is far superior.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Edit: The Viper MKIV was given out free, though. I forget why. That may be what you're thinking of.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Am I crazy or is the hauler actually that much harder to fly?
Origin: theRealElMucho
If you're really dissatisfied, then trade her in. Her only real claims to fame are that she carries the most cargo prior to the Cobra MkIII, and that she's by far the cheapest ship that's "really good" at making very long FTL jumps. The A-Team van paint job is kinda neat.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I'm probably doing something wrong but I'm not sure what.
Origin: theRealElMucho
But I do want to mention distributor pips. Don't ignore them. They make a huge difference. Pip management will make you an ace.
I did have everything into engines to make a long trip faster.
Origin: theRealElMucho
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Yup! Learning how to balance all 6 in combat is the real learning curve of this game.
An important hidden mechanic with them is that the more you have in shields, the tougher your shields are. The first pip in shields adds around 5% damage resistance, second ~12%, third ~41%, fourth ~63% (yeah it's a big jump there).
Would 4 pips in engines have given me the best possible manoeuvrability?
Origin: theRealElMucho
Yes, but that is also affected by the thrusters you have equipped and your current weight.
Got myself an ASP explorer and the open cockpit with glass by your feet and sides is a really nice upgrade from the cobra!
And any tips on guns? So far I have been running 2x gimball beam lasers +2x 6 round seeker rocket racks. And now on the ASP explorer I added two fixed beam lasers.
I tested the rail guns, and while I do really want to love them I REALLY dislike the charge up. Any way to reduce it massivly or?
Birds Fly,
'til there's Fire in the Sky...
I have a voice attack macro that is tied to the phrase "cruising speed" that sets my distributor to 4 to engines and 2 to shields.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
The weight must be my problem. I tacked on two 8 space cargo holders and some other heavyish things but I didn't upgrade the thrusters.
I need to spend some time today getting voice attack configured.
Origin: theRealElMucho
Fuel scoops are also kind of weird in that they have no mass. How does that work?
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012