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[Elite: Dangerous] THARGOIDS INVADE BUBBLE! December 3308 Update!

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Posts

  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    You could way for the new Alliance ship, the Chieftain. Apparently it's going to be in the ballpark of a FAS.

    2L, 2M, 2S hardpoints. Nimble medium ship. Assuming better shields than a FAS.

  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    I am currently running in a Diamondback Scout that was my combat ship, and is now my exploration ship. I got a Vulture and took it out but did not enjoy it much. Everytime I got into a fight the canopy would shatter like rice-paper. So I have resold that ship.

    I have 24 million in the bank, and trying to figure out what I want to kit out for a combat/bounty vessel.

    think of the vulture as a heavy knife fighter. Don't ever joust with that ship. If your canopy is blowing out frequently you're probably jousting. The vulture is not the fastest but once engineered it can fuckin book it for the tonnage. It used to be the most maneuverable combat ship in the game I'm not sure if it still is. Lateral thrusters are the strongest on that ship and you have to utilize that. Whenever possible you want to be like wasp on a dogs neck. Getting to that unreachable spot behind ships and then using your maneuverability to stay there. If possible always try to start engagements from this point and avoid getting further than 800m away if you can help it. Get in close, stay right there, and lay on the hurt.

  • MortiousMortious The Nightmare Begins Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    Hmm, can you play this game with a steam controller? (and if you can, would you want to?)

    I got Horizens over the Winter sale and should re-install (and relearn) this.

    Move to New Zealand
    It’s not a very important country most of the time
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
  • BasilBasil Registered User regular
    I really like having a hat under my left index finger for thruster control. Good stuff.

    9KmX8eN.jpg
  • mojojoeomojojoeo A block off the park, living the dream.Registered User regular
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    Been doing the 'Road to Riches' thing over the weekend. I can make quite a bit of money pretty fast, and it's not nearly as monotonous as carting people 40min in FSD would be.

    having done both. i ll take space uber.

    better money (only a little), and i dont have to honk.... just duck interdiction.

    Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
  • DerrickDerrick Registered User regular
    Shogun wrote: »
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    I am currently running in a Diamondback Scout that was my combat ship, and is now my exploration ship. I got a Vulture and took it out but did not enjoy it much. Everytime I got into a fight the canopy would shatter like rice-paper. So I have resold that ship.

    I have 24 million in the bank, and trying to figure out what I want to kit out for a combat/bounty vessel.

    think of the vulture as a heavy knife fighter. Don't ever joust with that ship. If your canopy is blowing out frequently you're probably jousting. The vulture is not the fastest but once engineered it can fuckin book it for the tonnage. It used to be the most maneuverable combat ship in the game I'm not sure if it still is. Lateral thrusters are the strongest on that ship and you have to utilize that. Whenever possible you want to be like wasp on a dogs neck. Getting to that unreachable spot behind ships and then using your maneuverability to stay there. If possible always try to start engagements from this point and avoid getting further than 800m away if you can help it. Get in close, stay right there, and lay on the hurt.

    It's pretty close, and has a lot of advantages over the competition. It can be out maneuvered by say an eagle and probably a courier, but the firepower is better and the off-blue-zone turning rate for a Vulture is incredible, as well as having a good turning rate without max pips in Engines. Basically if you want to learn to dogfight - hit without being hit, you want to start with a Vulture. Once you've mastered what you want the ship to do versus your opponent, you can dogfight in heavier, less forgiving vehicles. FAS would be my personal upgrade choice from a Vulture, but if you haven't learned how to not get shot in the face, an FAS is not going to go well with the paper shields.

    Steam and CFN: Enexemander
  • MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    Upgraded my Diamondback Scout to a Diamondback Explorer for doing my planet scanning and exploration routes. It's not a dedicated combat ship, but having a 2 Med and 1 Large hard point means I can tag along with friends in bigger ships for bounties and feel like my guns do more than tickle.

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold CampaignAugust St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
    ShogunZeroczElvenshae
  • MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    So the X52 Pro is $10 more on Amazon than the X52 Regular. Is the Pro with the extra 10 dollars?

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold CampaignAugust St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
  • SyngyneSyngyne Registered User regular
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    So the X52 Pro is $10 more on Amazon than the X52 Regular. Is the Pro with the extra 10 dollars?

    I was going to recommend spending a bit more and getting an X56 instead, until I looked at the price... woof. Those things have gone up since the Logitech buyout. You'd also have to make sure you were getting a Logitech-made version and not just an old Saitek that was rebranded... the Saiteks had an awful QC record.

    From what I'm reading the X52 pro has more metal parts in it and better tension in the joystick. It's only $10, I'd say go for it.

    5gsowHm.png
    Basilmojojoeo
  • DerrickDerrick Registered User regular
    I've been listening to the last livestream. Not through it all yet, but I like what I'm hearing so far. The emphasis on hardpoint placement for fixed weapons on the Chieftain feels like they're selling it to me personally.

    Steam and CFN: Enexemander
  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    edited January 2018
    I'll be getting one, but the 3 smalls has me flummoxed. I guess 3 rails (2 feedback, 1 super pen), a medium burst maybe and either 2 APS or Pacifiers depending on what I'm shooting. (Or one small corrosive MC)

    Bigity on
  • MortiousMortious The Nightmare Begins Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    I think this game has moved from amusing into frustrating for me.

    Move to New Zealand
    It’s not a very important country most of the time
    http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
  • MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    The Arrowplane!

    vm06c7ei8oub.png

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold CampaignAugust St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
    BasilSyngyneDerrickBigityZeroczDrake ChambersSkeithcrimsoncoyoteDarkMechaSynthesisElvenshaeRchanenGenji-Gloves
  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    Points lost for Antal logo.

  • DerrickDerrick Registered User regular
    Bigity wrote: »
    Points lost for Antal logo.

    Ah, that reminds me. I need to pick up the Enforcers. I think I've been pledged long enough.

    That's a good solution for the smalls on the Chieftain, I think.

    Steam and CFN: Enexemander
    Bigity
  • MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    Bigity wrote: »
    Points lost for Antal logo.

    I have no idea what this means. :D

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold CampaignAugust St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    That's a cool looking ship.

    I'm still actively looking at this game, but I'm waiting for a sale. I don't really care if I get it on PS4 or Steam, so whichever goes on sale first will get a purchase from me most likely. Just really in a space game mood right now.

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    I patched up my game and settled in for some long range passenger hauls. I'm transporting people from Wolf 562 to Katzenstein Dock in the 36 Ophiuchi system. The supercruise trip is approximately 0.14 ly, and economy passenger missions go for a bit above 2 million a seat.

    However I am tempted to pick up shop and move elsewhere with lower profits per seat. It's obnoxious enough trying to find the appropriate missions when board hoping, and it's just terrible to see that 25-39 passenger mission that you can't accept because FDEV hardcoded a restriction to disallow you to accept missions with a payout in excess of 50 million credits. But on the topic of board hopping, FDEV needs to get their vision checked. The majority of passengers on planes and trains are people traveling coach, NOT as first class VIPs. At least the Anaconda has enough spare slots to afford to waste 32 passenger compartments on 2 "VIPS" paying ~10 mil and still manage to break 100 mil per trip despite being 90% empty.

    I don't know how much money will be necessary to bankroll my own wing carrier once it's available. A few billion should surely suffice.

    General_Armchair on
    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • MagicPrimeMagicPrime FiresideWizard Registered User regular
    Economy VIPs shouldn't even be a thing. Unless you're transporting a rugby team or something that takes up 20+ seats.

    BNet • magicprime#1430 | PSN/Steam • MagicPrime | Origin • FireSideWizard
    Critical Failures - Havenhold CampaignAugust St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
  • crimsoncoyotecrimsoncoyote Registered User regular
    Hello, space friends!

    I'm thinking about getting back into this after almost a year? Something long like that. Any quick primers on what I've missed?
    Specifically looking for money-making schemes, any major weaponry overhauls, that sort of thing.

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    Aliens are here but they're litterally invulnerable unless you have the special anti-alien guns. Then you need to do some song and dance where you lower their shields to expose the heart, then you attack the heart, then you avoid the shutdown attack, then you put your right foot in and take your right foot out, do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around...

    The money making hotness is stocking up on economy passenger missions and then transporting them to destinations that are ~1 hour away via super cruise. An anaconda can potentially stock up on upwards of 200+ million credits worth of rewards per trip. Theoretically I think that I might be able to stock up on near 300 million in my anaconda, but in practice missions are going to start expiring before rngesus delivers enough high value contracts to fill all of my cabins. Realistically about 100 million per trip is more sane if you settle for wasting cabins on good for nothing economy class "VIPs. "

    General_Armchair on
    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
    crimsoncoyote
  • crimsoncoyotecrimsoncoyote Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    I have a Viper MkIV and a Cobra MkIII. Would it be possible to make a decent buck with one of those, or would it be more beneficial to get something else and kit it out (possibly selling one or the other). Not sure how much money I have these days, but I think it was under 100m. (Edit: thinking about it, I probably have closer to 60-70m or less?)

    crimsoncoyote on
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    The cobra MkIII is enough to do step 1 and then get your foot in the door to comfortably afford a more lucrative ship.

    Assuming that you want to operate out of the system where I'm located, step 1 is travel to Wolf 562 in your cobra mkIII and start spamming data courier missions to build up your local rep with all of the local factions. Ideally you want to be allied with the majority if not all of the local factions. Consider only accepting data courier missions to one or two destinations in order to cut down on travel time. If you're not already familiar with board hoping, board hoping is the practice of swapping between open and solo modes while docked at a station in order to reset the bulletin board. Keep board hoping to fill up your mission list as much as possible and then complete the courier missions to build up rep. If you feel like parting with some money, then monetary donation missions are also a very time efficient way to build local rep. If you have a sufficient nest egg, then it may be worth parting with a dozen or so million credits of donations to grease the wheels to get the groundwork setup for the passenger missions.

    Once you've gotten friendly with the locals, step 2 is outfitting your ship with the following:
    *A small cargo bay to handle the worthless cargo rewards that they insist that you be able to accept. I think a class 2's 4 tons of cargo capacity is sufficient as a bare minimum
    *A small shield generator to defend against fender benders when docking. You don't really NEED this but it sucks for all of your passengers to freak out and refuse to pay because you scratched your paint job.
    *A ton of economy passenger cabins.

    Then accept passenger missions to Katzenstein Dock in the 36 Ophiuchi system. The FTL jump between wolf 562 and 36 Ophiuchi is about a dozen or so ly. The supercruise journey between the primary star and Katzenstein dock is 0.14 ly, which takes a little over an hour. Point yourself in the right direction and alt-tab to do something else for awhile. The payout is about 2+ million per seat for bulk economy missions, and about 6-15 million per VIP economy mission. The VIP missions eat up an entire cabin. In practice I've seen the passenger VIP missions require 2-10 seats.

    A few hostiles will try to interdict you. If you're fast with your final approach, it's possible to dock before they interdict you.


    This might not be the most lucrative system, because the highest capacity economy missions that utilize 20+ seats will exceed the 50 million hardcap on what you're allowed to accept. It just throws an error if you try to accept anything over 50 mil. You can check out a few youtube vids or search for an alternative distant station yourself on https://eddb.io/



    Once you've amassed enough funds, you probably want either a Python or Annaconda to carry more passengers. The Cobra can equip three class 4 passenger cabins, for a total of 24 seats. That should get you ~50 mil if you manage to fill it up entirely with bulk passenger missions, or 18-30 mil if you dedicate each cabin to a VIP mission depending on how much the VIP mission goes for.


    edit:
    Yesterdays working as intended is today's exploit.

    General_Armchair on
    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
    crimsoncoyoteBigity
  • crimsoncoyotecrimsoncoyote Registered User regular
    Cool, thanks! Lots of good info in there.
    Thought they might have killed board hopping, but that's good they haven't.

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    I think they nerfed it. IIRC, board hopping used to always give you new boards. But now it's like you have given set of boards for each mode. You'll get a new board for a given session if you accept enough missions from its board or wait long enough, but occasionally you need to fly on over to another nearby station if all of the session's boards are duds.

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    @crimsoncoyote
    abort abort abort

    Apparently long range passenger missions are killed as of today. I'm sorry. Everything I typed out was accurate yesterday...

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • crimsoncoyotecrimsoncoyote Registered User regular
    Oh noooo

    Not a *huge* deal since I wouldn't be able to get to anything before next week, but that's still kinda lame. Last time I was playing they hit massacre missions hard.

  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    @crimsoncoyote
    abort abort abort

    Apparently long range passenger missions are killed as of today. I'm sorry. Everything I typed out was accurate yesterday...

    FUN DETECTED

    General_ArmchaircrimsoncoyoteBasilSyngyneDerrickEnclaveofGnomesShogunHadesElvenshaeRchanen
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    3clipse wrote: »
    @crimsoncoyote
    abort abort abort

    Apparently long range passenger missions are killed as of today. I'm sorry. Everything I typed out was accurate yesterday...

    FUN DETECTED

    bb0b0iyqkpee.png

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
    3cl1ps3crimsoncoyoteAnon the FelonSkeithAxenBasilDerrickSynthesisEnclaveofGnomesDrake ChambersSyngyneShogunInvectivusHadesElvenshaeRchanenGenji-Gloves
  • SyngyneSyngyne Registered User regular
    3clipse wrote: »
    @crimsoncoyote
    abort abort abort

    Apparently long range passenger missions are killed as of today. I'm sorry. Everything I typed out was accurate yesterday...

    FUN DETECTED

    HARDSHIP DRIVE CHARGING

    5gsowHm.png
    BasilBigity3cl1ps3ElvenshaeGenji-Gloves
  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    Bigity wrote: »
    Points lost for Antal logo.

    I have no idea what this means. :D

    The big decal in the middle there is the power play logo for Antal. As a staunch Delaine supporter, we hates it.

  • BigityBigity Lubbock, TXRegistered User regular
    I think they nerfed it. IIRC, board hopping used to always give you new boards. But now it's like you have given set of boards for each mode. You'll get a new board for a given session if you accept enough missions from its board or wait long enough, but occasionally you need to fly on over to another nearby station if all of the session's boards are duds.

    It's random - if you get logged into a different server = different set of missions.

  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    Syngyne wrote: »
    MagicPrime wrote: »
    So the X52 Pro is $10 more on Amazon than the X52 Regular. Is the Pro with the extra 10 dollars?

    I was going to recommend spending a bit more and getting an X56 instead, until I looked at the price... woof. Those things have gone up since the Logitech buyout. You'd also have to make sure you were getting a Logitech-made version and not just an old Saitek that was rebranded... the Saiteks had an awful QC record.

    From what I'm reading the X52 pro has more metal parts in it and better tension in the joystick. It's only $10, I'd say go for it.

    I'm out of ED for...let's say the foreseeable future...but as an X56 owner it's excellent for ED, practically tailor-made. I've also had a very good QC record with both my X55 and X56 (in the sense that the crack in the joystick collar ring of my X55 was my dumbass fault, and I acknowledge that fact), though I did cough up the extra cash for the multiple-year extended warranty. Plus they're good for other games, as I've discovered.

    That being said, mine were cheaper than they are now. An X52 is genuinely more limited, but it's probably more than adequate for ED nonetheless at a more reasonable price point.

    Synthesis on
  • EnclaveofGnomesEnclaveofGnomes Registered User regular
    @crimsoncoyote
    abort abort abort

    Apparently long range passenger missions are killed as of today. I'm sorry. Everything I typed out was accurate yesterday...

    I haven't played since getting my anaconda because nothing feels worth the risk of it's insane rebuy...except those missions. Oh well.

  • Anon the FelonAnon the Felon In bat country.Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    Man, I installed this last night in the excited hope that I'd go find a pirate station and start a career in smuggling with the Keelback.

    After 30 minutes of bored starting at witchspace/super cruise I logged out. This game just does not respect my time in the slightest. I really want to love it, but I can't give up hours to accomplish very few things in a video game.

    (Never mind the fact that I couldn't find a single smuggling mission I could actually do.)
    It feels like the mission system is an afterthought. Like, in my fake sci-fi universe, a pirate coalition that managed to take a huge space station would have a list of smuggling jobs as long as my arm. Even for the initiate, there should be a bunch of "take these guns we stole from the cops to our pirate bros two systems over." and "Yo, those federal wageslaves love them some drugs, take this small package, once you've proven yourself we'll give you bigger packages."

    Anon the Felon on
    3cl1ps3BigitySynthesisBasilRchanen
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    I really miss the high profit long range smuggling into the bubble from ceos/sothis. It was exciting evading scans in an anaconda. But those profits were deemed beyond the scope of the vision and thus an exploit.

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • Anon the FelonAnon the Felon In bat country.Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    They should really focus on creating something to do with that money. Let me buy a "house" in a station to store parts and cargo I'm hanging on to for market reasons. Create a faux stock market and let me invest in various factions to increase their influence. Let me hire a manufacturing facility at a station to build me 1000 widgets for a reduced cost.

    What about hiring an NPC fleet I can escort? Like, $X to hire a mining fleet to go to an RES. My buddies and I can protect them for Y time, and then they'll head back to the station. Once all the ships have landed, I get a payout based on the ore that survived. What about hiring a wing of pirates after I'm friendly to them to fly with me to the RES to harass NPC miners. When we return, I get a payout based on what loot we collected.

    I can buy 1000 small arms, then pay my black market contact for a window of low security at my destination station where there's only 1-2 cops outside. If I time it right, I can sneak in during that window. So I've reduced my profit, but almost guaranteed it.

    I don't feel like these things are too difficult or far fetched.

    Anon the Felon on
    General_ArmchaircrimsoncoyoteRchanen
  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    I really miss the high profit long range smuggling into the bubble from ceos/sothis. It was exciting evading scans in an anaconda. But those profits were deemed beyond the scope of the vision and thus an exploit.

    Honestly the takeaway from three years of this game is that The Vision is to endlessly and slowly grind money with no broader story or significant events.

    Anon the FelonEnclaveofGnomesBigityGeneral_ArmchairBasil
  • Anon the FelonAnon the Felon In bat country.Registered User regular
    edited January 2018
    3clipse wrote: »
    I really miss the high profit long range smuggling into the bubble from ceos/sothis. It was exciting evading scans in an anaconda. But those profits were deemed beyond the scope of the vision and thus an exploit.

    Honestly the takeaway from three years of this game is that The Vision is to endlessly and slowly grind money with no broader story or significant events.

    And a very slow ship release schedule, only to lock them behind incredible grind walls.

    I get that I need 100k to buy a Bently, but that's it. I don't need to schmooze the Bently people and befriend them. Ship hulls should be unrestricted, and each faction should have unique equipment gated behind their rankings.

    Where's my pirate faction ships? Oh, right, they never do anything with the Anarchy factions.
    Where's my varied ship equipment? Chaff launchers are cool. What about a Decoy Launcher, where you fire a probe that shoots off in another direction while mirroring your ship signal, and goes to super cruise to lure away your pursuer? What about being able to drop my shield generator for triple thick hull plating and an auxiliary power battery? Maybe I can slot in an advanced targeting computer in one of my smaller bays to improve turret speed? Defensive flak launchers that do the Battlestar effect to nullify limpets and solid munitions. I just... We have these customization ships about 6 viable options.

    Anon the Felon on
    3cl1ps3
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    To be honest, at times I feel like the entire game makes more sense if you assume that all balance decisions and QA testing are based around the player piloting the cobra mk3 and then never progressing. I don't think that I've ever seen a bulletin board mission that couldn't be done by a cobra. The simplest and most straightforward example of direct ship progression is trading. I'll see trade missions requesting at most 50ish tons of goods, which a purpose built cobra can do. Where are the cargo missions to source 200-300 tons of supplies? They're completely absent from the game and you're forced to board hope endlessly if you want to leverage the capacity of your ship.

    The same for combat. Hunting a pirate lord's anaconda is very much doable in a well equipped cobra with a good pilot. Where are the lucrative missions to hunt and kill more dangerous targets where you may need a FDL or perhaps one of the big three themselves to comfortably engage? We've got an alien invasion now. The local governments should be offering significant incentives to attract mercenaries to supplement their defenses.

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
    Anon the Felon3cl1ps3Basil
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