Elite Dangerous 3.1: It's gonna be krait!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Elite Dangerous 3.1: It's gonna be krait!

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

OP, don't worry I'll add onto it.

FAQ:
Should I buy this game?
Maybe. If you like the idea of open world space games it's probably the best on the market. Just be aware that it does have flaws and definitely play with goons.

Should I buy Horizons? (the first expansion)
I'm going to say yes since it adds a lot to the game and IIRC future updates are predicated on you owning it. See "Content Updates" below for more information.

What's with all the micro-transactions? Why can't I buy __________ in game?
Considering the rest of the industry I'm going to give Frontier a pass for selling cosmetic DLC for real money. Could they offer more in game? Sure but I don't see them changing the model up. Drop the $5 here or there on things that strike your fancy. Consider it as funding future updates.

Should I play with Goons?
Yes.

What's open/private group/solo about?
The game has three modes that all share the same universe and determine who can be in the game with you (in your instance). In open anyone can be in the same instance as you. In private group only the people who have been accepted into that group can be in the same instance as you. In solo only you can be in your instance. Play whichever one you feel most comfortable in. Some people get their undies in a twist over the fact that people in solo can still influence the game but those people are just in denial about their sociopath tendencies (/s).

What's that site tells me all the stuff that should be in game but isn't for some reason?
INARA
No the other one.
EDDB
No the one that let's me mess around with outfitting ships.
Coriolis
No the oth-
ED Shipyard

I hear the official forums are pretty bad.
We don't call them the brown sea for nothing. The subreddit isn't bad but be careful the mods there are petty tyrants.

What the best way to make money?
Just ask the thread, there's always a borderline exploit to make credits.

I hear there's novels?
There are. IIRC they were part of a kick-starter package. They're pretty meh but one of the authors had an in-game event to determine the outcome of one of his books and his Mary Sue was ganked by a player character named Harry Potter so that's cannon.

I dunno, this game seems about an inch deep and a mile wide.
:nallears:

-About-
Elite Dangerous is a modern reboot of the classic space sims you might remember from the 80's and 90's. It released in December of 2014 after a successful Kick-Starter (what's up Star Citizen? :rimshot:

). The first expansion (Frontier calls them seasons because reasons) was called Horizons and it was released in December of 2015. The second expansion called Beyond (season 3) was launched in February of 2018. See the content section below for a summary of what each patch/expansion added to the game. Please note: much of the season two content requires Horizons.

Elite Dangerous takes place in the early 34th century in a one-to-one recreation of the Milky Way galaxy. Dates in game advance along with our real world calendar just offset by 1,286 years. The galaxy simulation is fantastic. It's all there and faithfully recreated..All 200,000,000,000 stars, black holes, neutron stars, nebula, etc. Things we know about are recreated (you can go to places like Eta Carinae) and the rest is procedurally generated using current understandings of stellar and planetary development. Frontier is also good about adding newly discovered stellar phenomena. It isn't a perfect recreation and there are things that we all wish they would add (accretion disks) but it's probably the best out there.

You assume the role of a commander in the Pilot's Federation, an extra-governmental alliance of elite ( :haw:

) starship pilots. You start the game in a rinky-dink ship with very little money to your name and trade, fight and explore your way to glory. Completing tasks in each of these "careers" earns you rank in the pilots federation. (There's technically a fourth but see the CQC section below for the tea on that...) Along the way you can: ally yourself with a galactic superpower, discover new worlds, help a player faction grow and expand (seriously, play with the Diamond Frogs, it's the Goon faction), bounty hunt criminals, pirate, mine, PvP, do community goals, fight in wars, the ~~world~~ galaxy is your oyster. See the Jobs section below for more information.

-Content Updates-
1.x (Season 1)
1.1 Community Goals: Added hand-crafted custom missions that the whole community can complete. Community Goals typically run for a week and new ones are added weekly. They are typically combat goals or hauling goals but other types exist occasionally. They all give payouts based on participation level and are a pretty good way of making money. They occasionally offer special rewards like decals for your ship. One year, Goons saved Christmas by helping to complete a community goal that gave everyone in game a Viper Mk IV ship.

1.2 Wings: Added the ability to group up with 3 other players in a wing. Yes the game didn't launch with this functionality. Wings used to be pretty meh since any monetary rewards were split among all the wing members but this was recently changed. 3.0 also added missions intended to be completed by wings.

1.3 Powerplay: Added the ability to pledge allegiance to a number of galactic powers and help them expand and influence galactic events. It's... not great. Very grindy for not very great rewards and in general feels half-baked. It has it's fans but it seems like Frontier has moved on to other things. That said each faction offers a special ship component. Many of them are pretty meh but the shields and pack-hound missiles are considered desirable.

1.4 CQC: Added a PvP mode where you dogfight with small fighters in custom arenas. It was a lot of fun but it was unfortunately hamstrung but really pitiful payouts and I'm pretty sure Frontier has forgotten it even exists. Thankfully the fighters got a new lease on life in a 2.x patch.

1.5 Ships: Added a whole slew of ships to the game. Some of them were meh (Asp Scout) others are iconic (Imperial Cutter). See the Ships section below for a rundown of each ship in the game.

1.6 Mission System: Revamped the game's mission system -- the first of many.

1.7 QOL Patch: Module storage, ship transfers, graphical updates.

2.x Horizons (Season 2)
2.0 Planetary Landings: Added the ability to land on 1:1 scale rocky worlds and drive an SRV (space dune buggy basically).

2.1 Engineers: Added the ability to customize ship components using NPC's called engineers. Engineering is a huge part of the game and can be extremely grindy. That said, it did get massive QOL updates in 3.0. See the engineering section below.

2.2 Passengers and Ship-Launched Fighters: Added passenger missions, ships and ship-launched fighters for certain vessels. You or an NPC crewman can fly these fighters.

2.3 Holo-Me and Multicrew: Added the ability to create a player avatar and join other players on their ships. Currently restricted to combat roles (firing turrets, flying ship-launched fighters) but Frontier has indicated they may expand this in the future. Not heavily utilized because Frontier kneecapped payouts right before the patch dropped so it's typically more economical to just wing up with other players. Which is a shame because you can have a lot of fun with it :sigh:

2.4 Thargoids!: Added a mysterious alien faction to the game called the Thargoids. They fly around in scary starfish and are generally inscrutable. The content started off slow but has picked up pace as Thargoids have started attacking human space stations. It's very obviously building towards open war and is playing a huge part in 3.x content. Frontier obviously cares about this and general consensus is that they're doing a goodish job.

3.x Beyond (Season 3)
3.0 Engineer Changes and Crime and Punishment Changes: This most recent patch made massive changes to engineers, added the ability to swap around engineering materials (see below for info about engineeers), changes to player crime and punishment, and tons of quality of life improvements.

-Jobs-

-Advice for New Players-
- The Road to Riches is a fantastic way for new players to earn money with exploration. You grind or earn your way to outfitting a small exploration ship and use this website to plot destinations: http://edtools.ddns.net/expl.php
- Play with goons. Considering this the third time I've said this I'm hoping it sinks in. This game is better when you play with other people.

Drake_263 posted:

Oh, hey, new thread.

So there�s a lot of questions new people to Elite pop up with, and here�s a helpful little FAQ/guide to get you through most of them.

Should I get Horizons?

At this point, I want to say you probably should - Horizons unlocks a lot of useful stuff, including the newly-rebuilt engineering system, a couple of different ship hills, ship-launched fighters and other things. Having Horizons will also unlock whatever stuff is added in the current �Beyond' season, so, yeah.

I�m new, how do I make money?

When you�re just starting out, there are a couple of different ways:

Mission Running - Odd jobs from a station�s mission board. In particular, keep an eye out for data courier, light delivery, salvage and surface scan missions - those are all decently fast and simple and the two latter kind sometimes have extra goodies like useful materials near the objective.

Bounty Hunting - So-called �free range� bounty hunting is riskier than mission running, but is a great way to make a lot of money fast when you�re starting out - especially with a couple of friends. Basically you want to find a gas giant with rings, enter one of the resource extraction sites in the rings, and hunt down pirates. When you�re starting out you�ll want to more or less wait until people start shooting, then get a couple of shots in on the pirate before the cops get him. Once you have more skills and better gear, you can start being less of an opportunistic shithead. When you shoot a pirate down, you get a voucher which you turn into money at a station. Remember to turn your bounty vouchers in at regular intervals. If you get shot down while carrying unclaimed vouchers, those vouchers are destroyed.

Once you have a slightly better ship and some experience under your belt, the rest of the game more or less opens up for you. There�s a variety of activities you can earn money with, with varying risk-to-reward ratios - mining, exotics trading, bulk trading, smuggling, exploration, community goals.. You can even play at being an archaeologist at the Guardian ruins discovered recently. The question is what sounds interesting to you.

These lovely missions don�t pay at all!

Patience, grasshopper. When you�re starting out, most missions will have gently caress all for rewards - this is because missions and mission rewards scale based on a couple of different factors - including your appropriate Commander rank, your standing with the faction issuing the mission, and the size and economic status of the system, station and faction you�re dealing with. Try and pick a few different factions in the same place and stick to doing jobs for them - once they know you better, they�ll pay you better.

Where should I go?

You can pretty much pick any station for a �home base�, but in general, you�ll want to look at a few different things - the size, wealth and economy type of your station of choice. Size is easy enough to check from your system map, you�ll see the station�s population there. Wealth usually goes hand-in-hand with size - rich factions tend to grow in size, while small groups have a hard time getting rich. Poor factions have tiny little outposts and banged-up Coriolis �cube� starports. Rich factions have fresh shiny chromed-up stations, often in the newer Ocellus and Orbis patterns. Lastly, the economy type can also be seen on the system/galaxy map - it basically tells you what most people around there do for a living, which affects the kinds of goods and equipment the station sells, what kind of missions they�ll usually give out, and so on. Heavy industrial and high-tech stations tend to have better stuff available than sunkissed agriworlds best known for sheep and booze.

TL/DR, I usually recommend Haxel Port in LTT 15574. It�s a couple of jumps from the usual starter system, and it�s a decently wealthy, big industrial economy. They�ve got a good selection of ships and equipment available, especially many of the ships you�ll want to aim for when you�re starting out, and there are multiple gas giants in the system with RESes if bounty hunting is your thing. Eventually you'll want to make your way to the Goat-Xihe cluster, but it's a good place to start.

You said Commander rank, how do I boost that?

Your commander rank is a rough measure of your experience in four different categories of activity in Elite. Doing things related to a Commander rank - specifically, earning money by doing these activities - eventually increases your rank, which unlocks better-paying missions - among other things.

Your combat rank is increased by turning in bounty and combat vouchers and completing combat missions like assassination and pirate massacre missions.

Your trade rank is increased by making profit at the commodity market, along with completing delivery and commodity sourcing missions.

Your exploration rank is increased by turning in exploration data at Universal Cartographics, along with doing salvage missions.

Your CQC rank is increased by winning matches in the Close Quarter Combat PVP game mode, and can be safely ignored.

How do I increase my faction standing?

Your faction standing - with minor factions, like, say, LTT 15574 Ring, or Jotunheim Revolutionary Resistance, or whatever - goes up when you do missions for them and sell things at stations they own. It goes down when you shoot down their ships and fail their missions. Find a station they have a mission board at, do missions for them, and try and pick the Rep+++ mission reward when it�s reasonable. Try and not shoot their ships down or pick up missions from them that you won�t be able to finish.

What about superpowers?

Every time you do a mission for a minor faction aligned with a superpower - they have that power�s icon on their tab in the mission board interface - you get a little bit of reputation with that superpower. Eventually (there�s a progress bar in your status panel) they�ll offer you rankup missions.

I�ve got a little bit of money, what ship should I get now?

For the ships you'll initially want to start working towards, you have a few options:

Sidewinder: Free. No, really. The default little shitwinder can be a surprisingly annoying little gnat when it�s had some upgrades plugged into it - it�s actually one of the most nimble ships in the game, a tiny target to hit, and frequently underestimated. You don�t want to stick with it your whole career, but there�s nothing wrong with sticking with it until you can afford a new ship and upgrade it a little.

Eagle: 44,800 CR. The single cheapest ship in the game (barring the Sidewinder). An incredibly nimble light fighter, extremely fun to fly. Superior to the Sidewinder in nearly every way but price. If you think you'd enjoy bounty hunting, blowing things up, and generally being an infuriating little poo poo, try this one.

Hauler: 52,720 CR. The space breadvan. It's not particularly fast, but it's cheap, has an expansive cargo bay for something its size, and has the firepower of half a Sidewinder. If you like making money via trading or making those bigger delivery missions, the Hauler is a decent cheap first choice, but..

Adder: 87,810 CR. The Hauler's bigger brother. The Adder is more expensive than the Hauler, but makes up for the increased price tag in flexibility; not only does it have a slightly larger cargo potential and better jump range, but it's also surprisingly nimble for its looks and carries some pretty big guns. It's still a great beginner for trading and it can be configured to do a little bit of everything depending on your particular needs. It's basically what the Sidewinder tries to be.

Imperial Eagle: 110,830 CR. This one takes a little more work, seeing as it's only sold in Imperial stations - it's essentially an Eagle with upgraded weapons and power systems, along with the thruster array reconfigured towards more straightline speed and acceleration than agility. Still a fun and relatively cheap light fighter with a surprising bite for something its size, albeit pretty fragile.

After these 'entry-level� ships, the Viper-3, Cobra-3 and Diamondback Scout make for great ships to aim for - the Viper is a fast and fun heavy fighter, the Cobra more of a flexible multipurpose ship, and the Diamondback-S a more expensive, nimble, long-ranged heavy fighter that�s great for getting around while you fight. By the time you've saved enough money for them, you've probably got a decent handle on what you're looking for in a ship.

Note that unlike many games, you get the full price of a thing back when you sell it. Don't be afraid to experiment with ships and loadouts - nor to upgrade your current ride while you're working your way towards a new one.

What should I do when I upgrade my ship?

OK, so the actual outfitting system in Elite is a game in and of itself. Here�s a few pointers:

Your first priorities when tweaking your ship should probably be the power distributor (it tends to be the cheapest thing on your ship yet makes literally everything better) and FSD (for ease of travel), followed by your shields, weapons and thrusters, the precise order depending on your preferences. Upgrade your power generator to keep up with demand, and don't worry overmuch about your life support or sensors. Try aiming for D- or C-rated core equipment first - those are still reasonably cost-efficient, while B- and A-grade equipment, while powerful, is dramatically more expensive. Start saving up for those when you've settled on a ship you'll be using for longer.

Nostalgia4Infinity fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Mar 12, 2018

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:35

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 10, 2024 08:21

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

-Ships-

quote:

El Perkele wrote on Apr 5, 2018 4:09 AM:
You asked:

Eagle
Eagle is a cheap, manouverable and fun little ship. Since it carries mostly same internals as Sidewinder, you'll do well to simply swap your better modules from Siddey. Generally, the ship is an upgrade of Siddey in almost every aspect. With a bit of tinkering, it can carry more cargo. Even more, it packs more of a punch due to one additional (small) hardpoint. Depending on your choice, pick either class 3 shields for more combat-oriented build, or class 2 shields (you can then carry 8 tons of cargo in class 3 cargo slot). Unmodified, Eagle is a bit strapped for power, and requires power priority management.

Cost to buy: 44k.
Cost to A-grade: about 2M.
Budget generalist mission runner runs for about 240k.
Combat-focused, A-rated build runs for about 2M. This is a dumb ship, because a combat fit Viper III - a far more potent ship - costs practically the same.

Viper Mk. III
Viper Mk. III is one of the speediest ships in the entire game. It's also nimble. It was also the first combat ship I felt confident in. If you choose to pick Viper as one of your very first ships, know that it can also perform the same small-time data deliveries as your earlier ships. Viper goes heavy on class 3 internals, which is also good news for your future updates. Weaponswise, it has two small and two medium hardpoints, which really ramp up

Budget multicannon combat build costs about 1.1M credits.
A-rated combat vessel costs about 2.1M credits.
Medium hardpoints mean you can start to do stuff with plasma accelerators (PAs) as well, but prototype your build on an internet engineering site of your choice.

Vulture
Vulture is a pure combat ship. It has powerplant issues, jump range is super mehh and top speed is not too great. It has strong shields, great hull, two large hardpoints, is very nimble and handles superbly, and can maintain more than competitive for very, very long time. The fire arcs of the two large hardpoints are great. This is definitely a ship you should get if you like killing other ships.

The powerplant issues of this ship are serious, though. There are many builds that require engineering to make this a true beast it is. This means that something like double plasma accelerator requires quite significant sacrifices in other areas.
[url=[https://eddp.co/u/hJ3EeTT4]Beam laser + multicannon are a good basic combo - beam takes down shields, multis take down hull. Gimballed weapons are easier, but can be neutered by chaff or dispersal field ammo. This build probably works best as a general killer.[/url]
Two fixed pulses. Not the greatest damage output, but great staying power. This allows for stronger shields due to another shield booster.
Two gimballed multi-cannons and no interdictor, with a stronger (but slow-recharging) normal shields.
And once modified, you can get stuff like...
Starter-level engineer modified beam+multi with stronger shields and generally more oomph.
Low effort twin plasma, requires level 3 Power Plant modification from Marco Qwent. The immediate power output of this is OK. Definitely not a starter build due to engineering requirements.
More highly modified twin plasma build. Late game.

Cobra Mk. III
After Adder, Cobra III is a respected and widely loved multipurpose ship. It can do pretty much everything in at least some respects and is very fast - the boost speed can exceed 440m/s. OK, it costs four times as much as an Adder and combat-wise is perhaps not as strong as the cheaper Viper III, but it can easily carry 36 tons of cargo and outrun/outfight the less scary pirates. You can participate in community goals (CG), you can do rare commodity trading, you can do tourist missions, you can do smuggling and pretty much everything else too, at least to some extent. Get it. For pure combat, you probably still want the cheaper Viper III, and for pure cargo you'll probably want something like a Type-6, but you can do these all in Cobra III as well.

C-rated generalist build, which can do pretty much everything. Swap class 4 internals for whatever. Costs about 1.4M credits.
A-rated multipurpose runner. Costs about 7.5M credits. At this point you'll start to see that stock, C-rated and A-rated builds start to diverge significantly in costs.

Type-6
There will always be a point where a good freighter is what you need. You have that on Type-6. It's a very basic, barebone freighter which does one thing and one thing only: hauls stuff. The cockpit is great, it lands on small pads and it's quite cheap too.

Freighters have some little quirks in outfitting. You want to maximize your jump range, meaning an A-rated frame shift drive (FSD) is almost a must. A fuel scoop is definitely a plus. You're not going to fight anything, so you don't really need weapons. Your shields need pure strength, not recharge time, so pick the strongest shield you can afford and ditch the bi-weaves if possible - after all, once your shields go down you're in poo poo, the faster recharge won't help. To avoid death, you want to be as fast and hard to hit as possible, so pick A-rated thrusters if you can, chaff and maybe a heat sink launcher. Eventually, you'll get intercepted, and you just have to either run and high-wake to another system or surrender.

Though Type-6 may seem like a bad joke, it allowed me to successfully claw my way relatively high in just one community goal. This, in turn, gave me enough cash to get an almost entirely A-rated Asp Explorer. 92 tons of cargo for a 3M ship is not joke; Imperial Slaves or narcotics trading can net you profits in excess of 5k CR per ton, meaning you'll be netting almost 500k on single run. If you find some really great and fast route, you'll be making millions in an hour.

Basic Type-6 build without fuel scoop and skimping on costs wherever feasible. Costs about 3.2M credits and can haul 92 tons of cargo.

Imperial Courier Required Imperial rank
I'm not even getting to the problems of navy rank system, but it exists. If you get yourself comfortably seated in some nice Imperial system, then settle down. Start to build up faction reputation and take those Imperial Navy missions whenever you see them pop up. Eventually you'll find yourself in an ImpCour. And what a ship it is. It carrier 3x Medium Hardpoints, meaning it can actually pack a very significant punch. It has ridiculously large shields for it's size. It handles like a dream. The hull is made of tinfoil, so once your shields go down you either recharge or escape. You'll have to figure out how to use those hardpoints, too - they're quite far away from each other.

This is a really, really fun ship in very many ways.

[url=https://eddp.co/u/QjYv1Fjp]You can do a basic multipurpose Courier for 12 million.
Eventually, you can mod your Courier to become a 14M CR 630+ boost speed super-annoying piece of poo poo you'll love and use it to annoy everyone in open - also this thing kills large ships. Do not aim for this at the beginning, consider this a late-game curiosity. The monetary costs are faaaar outweighed by the number of hours you'll sink in the game to be able to even unlock these modifications. This is not even a fully min-maxed build, but you'll get the idea. I have heard of even faster builds.

Asp Explorer
AspX is like the big, weird brother of Cobra Mk. III. Although the ship shines in serious exploration, it can also haul cargo and tourists, perform general mission running and, if your combat is good enough, also do some bounty hunting. The ship does not come cheap, either, but most likely it will stay an important ship in your fleet for quite some time. I decided there are better ships for combat, and eventually you'll get better mission runners too. The ship is pretty sturdy. If exploration is your thing, you can also decide to go for the cheaper Diamondback Explorer, which has some other leverages over AspX too.

The ship is quite flexible when it comes to outfitting. Some general builds:
Unmodified basic explorer build, about 36M credits.
[url=https://eddp.co/u/xhPGN2yX]Another explorer build for 55M.
Generalist mission runner for 25M. I did not add weapons to this build. By now you'll have the idea anyways.

quote:

El Perkele wrote on Apr 5, 2018 7:50 AM:
More E:D ships effortposting

Imperial Clipper
If you get your navy rank grind on, this is a ship you should aim for. Actually, you should probably aim for this ship anyways, because it's just a drat good ship.

Clipper is a medium ship that requires a large landing pad. It's hardpoint placement makes it less than ideal for combat - but it can definitely be a scary thing if outfitted for murder business - and large landing pad requirement means it cannot land on outposts. Outfitting it to higher grade is also expensive, but those level 5 and 6 components can be used widely in other mid- and late-game medium ships, so you're not losing all that much. Besides, at the point you're starting to consider the Clipper, you'll already probably have a few dozen millions under your belt.

Clipper is fast and fabulous. It's pretty, nice to fly, drifts all over the place, can haul an impressive amount of cargo, and offers great flexibility for mission running and general fuckery. It's a popular pirate vessel and sometimes also used for combat. Its perhaps not as versatile as a Python, but it's definitely a more exciting ship.

Stock cost 22M. Some builds:
C-rated cargo build for 46M.
A-rated cargo build for 81M.
Basic A-rated pirate build for 94M. Has nice cargo space, hatch breaker and collector limpets, boost speed of 441m/s, relatively hard-hitting weapons, but shields are somewhat lacking. Use something like that to loot those precious low temperature diamonds from fat Type-7s. You can also swap the size 6 shield for size 7 shield if you have the money for that. This is a build that's always ridiculously fun to take out for spin, because it ends up with death, interdictions, piracy, diamonds and money.
A-rated generalist mission runner for 148M. This can do all sorts of things. Note that the class 7 shield generator is already 51M, and the thrusters and power plant are 16M each. You can use these components in several other ships too.

Federal Assault Ship
The Imperial rank grind gives you a shiny white generalist ship with form and class. Federal rank grind's second ship is almost the opposite. Federal Assault Ship (FAS) is the second Dropship-type brick in Fed line. While Federal Dropship get's a bad reputation, FAS does not. And it definitely shouldn't. Hidden underneath the dropship hull is a completely insane murder boat. The thing is like Vulture on amphematine - it's faster, maybe even bit more agile, more heavily armed hulltank butcherer. It sucks as all-arounder. It has terrible shields. It cannot jump. It shines as a thing you take out and murder everything. Although it carries the same 2x large + 2x medium hardpoints as Clipper, the hardpoint placement is superior. This thing doesn't even drift, it goes where you point it. It also has immense internal module protection and shrug off just outrageous amounts of damage. Modified, it can reach boost speed of 550m/s. Shields suck, so prioritize recharge rate.

If you like combat and navy ranks, get a FAS.

A typical CZ FAS farmer goes for about 64M. Shields go down anyways, so why not use bi-weaves? Without boosters, the shields recharge 14 seconds faster, so you may consider dropping them. This thing glues itself to the rear end of other things, then unleashes beam and multicannons. And if something is in front of you, just boost and ram it. I prefer the fast and easy beams+multis route because this thing exists only to maintain a stable rate of murder.
Bounty hunter type with plasmas. A bit weaker against very small targets than fully gimballed builds, but dispatches larges ships like Anacondas with ease. This one has some hull HP sacrificed for a cargo bay and an interdictor module.

Alliance Chieftain
Alliance Chieftain is pretty much the Federal Assault Ship with a bit weaker hull, no navy rank system, and different hardpoint selection. Instead of 2x large and 2x medium, Chief has 2x large, 1 medium and 3x small. The hardpoint placement is excellent, and Chief is almost comparable to FAS in most ways (it's less of a ramming wrecking ball, though). Module protection is OK. Chief is a great medium combat ship, and I heartily recommend a nice, A-rated one for all combat pilots.

Here's a basic Chief wikth 3x plasma and 3x rail. It can kill stuff pretty well.

quote:

El Perkele wrote on May 8, 2018 8:39 AM:
Python

Say hello to arguably the best, or at least one of the best, ships in the game. Python is a medium multirole ship, which can easily also perform combat and even exploration duties. It can easily haul over 200 tons of cargo while still being well shielded, and it can land on outposts. This is the biggest cargo capacity ship that can do that, and that alone makes Python a great trader and mission runner. On top of that, unmodified Python possesses more shield strength than an Imperial Clipper, has immense firepower with 3x large and 2x medium hardpoints with great convergence, and good power and distributor. This has lead to Python being a stable in mission running for many players. The downsides of Python are the high cost and weird and partially below average manouverability, which can be almost completely circumvented using FA-off tricks.

If you're thinking about getting a Python, do it. Luckily, Python shares many internals with larger ships. This means that money spent on your Python upgrades is money saved on larger ships and other mediums.

Basic C-rated generalist build without weapons runs at about 65 mil.
A-rating roughly same build brings the cost well above 200 million.

Federal Dropship
I recently got bored with my Python and wanted something along the same lines. So I bought the notorious Federal Dropship and built it into a combat-focused light trader. After a few evening with the ship, I am now firmly in the believer camp.

Dropship is sort of like a weird combination of Viper Mk. IV, Python and Vulture. It's very, very combat-oriented, with 4x medium and 1x large hardpoints closely lumped together. It has absolutely ridiculous hull strength and module protection. Hence, when the low shields inevitably fall, you just keep on truckin'. FDS can solo facetank very strong enemies without too much difficulty, and the repair costs are very reasonable. It's truly a blast to fly, because it simply kills stuff. I use mine in small-time mission running and opportunistic trade runs, while awaiting for any poor bastard to interdict me.

The ship is not without it's weaknesses. It handles... weirdly, is slow, has a short jump range, and is locked in Navy grind. However, it's among the easier Navy rank ships to unlock, and once you get the hang how to use this fat pig and FA-OFF you'll probably enjoy just pouring horrendous fire on everyone. Think of this as pirate bait murderboat.

Combat trader build. You can even skip on the other size 5 cargo rack and just fill the beast with HRPs. 75+ million, depending on your particular loadout.

Federal Gunship
Real name is Federal Funship. This is like a slower, less manouverable Dropship with two additional small hardpoints on top and a capability to fit a fighter bay. The damage this thing pours out is ridiculous. The famous build is all multicannons with a smattering of engineering effects and overcharging, and a beam fighter or two to add to the carnage. While this is perhaps not the most effective build, many who swear by the FGS consider it one of the most awesome and fun builds to use. This drat brick floats in the space and cannot outrun anything, but if you point it at something, it dies. This ship is absolutely horrible for jumping or trading or anything besides combat. Again, low shields and very strong hull. At the point you're flying this, you already know the drill. Works best when winged up. 90M+.

-Engineers-

3.0 Engineering Guide: http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/post/Engineering-30

Nostalgia4Infinity fucked around with this message at 03:35 on May 11, 2018

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:35

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

Reserved for stuff.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:35

a big fat bunny: Oct 4, 2002; woo look at 'em gonk

i'm the outdated Coriolis link. i know there's a lot of 3rd party sites, but at least link to the beta since that has the T9 updates and Chieftan. And since i'm here, people can also check out the EDShipyard which pains me greatly to look at but some frog grognards (frognards? shut up i have a 102F fever) prefer it. Seems to keep up to date a bit better too.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:42

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

a big fat bunny posted:

i'm the outdated Coriolis link. i know there's a lot of 3rd party sites, but at least link to the beta since that has the T9 updates and Chieftan. And since i'm here, people can also check out the EDShipyard which pains me greatly to look at but some frog grognards (frognards? shut up i have a 102F fever) prefer it. Seems to keep up to date a bit better too.

Good catch thanks, I haven't really had a need to use the site for awhile.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:48

Toxic Fart Syndrome: Jul 2, 2006; *hits A-THREAD-5*

Only 3.6 Roentgoons per hour ... not great, not terrible.

_{...the meter only goes to 3.6...}; Pork Pro

is this the place to talk about the quirkiest daytime talkshow host ever????

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:49

a big fat bunny: Oct 4, 2002; woo look at 'em gonk

Nostalgia4Infinity posted:

Good catch thanks, I haven't really had a need to use the site for awhile.

i wouldn't have bothered mentioning it, but people seem to be asking about ships a lot lately so why the gently caress not right?

Toxic Fart Syndrome posted:

is this the place to talk about the quirkiest daytime talkshow host ever????

Thankfully this is for super serious "internet" space ship game Elite: Dangerous: Horizons Expansion: Byeond. If you look hard enough, you will find what you want but be warned that people keep derailing the thread with talk about some lovely video game.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 01:52

Arcturas: Mar 30, 2011

What's the best place to grind fed rank before they nerf it tomorrow or Monday? Kamahu data delivery missions seem to be sending me to systems other than just Dakondunii.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 03:05

goatsestretchgoals: Jun 4, 2011

For the OP: http://edtools.ddns.net/expl.php (Road to Riches)

# ? Mar 10, 2018 03:08

a peck of pickled peckers: Aug 3, 2014; I am your Redeemer! It is by my hand that you arise from the ashes of this world!

Arcturas posted:

What's the best place to grind fed rank before they nerf it tomorrow or Monday? Kamahu data delivery missions seem to be sending me to systems other than just Dakondunii.

If you�ve got the Sol permit, I�d recommend getting your missions out of there. Lots-o-Fed Factions in and around there.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 03:15

hakimashou: Jul 15, 2002; Upset Trowel

OP you spelled dangermouse wrong

also put in the OP to buy a docking computer i got ED like 3 years ago and got my first docking computer today man I'm dumb

# ? Mar 10, 2018 03:21

Toxic Fart Syndrome: Jul 2, 2006; *hits A-THREAD-5*

Only 3.6 Roentgoons per hour ... not great, not terrible.

_{...the meter only goes to 3.6...}; Pork Pro

Arcturas posted:

What's the best place to grind fed rank before they nerf it tomorrow or Monday? Kamahu data delivery missions seem to be sending me to systems other than just Dakondunii.

Sothis-Ceos: they both have fed factions and if you take a small/medium ship you can go to the outposts too. They are one jump apart and the only populated systems within ~300ly so the missions always spawn for each other.

Get it while it's hot! :homebrew:

# ? Mar 10, 2018 04:05

Arcturas: Mar 30, 2011

a peck of pickled peckers posted:

If you�ve got the Sol permit, I�d recommend getting your missions out of there. Lots-o-Fed Factions in and around there.

Sadly I'm only a recruit. I probably have some banked rank from doing skimmer missions, but I'm looking for something akin to the Mainani/Ngalinn grinding spot.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 04:08

Ferrovanadium: Mar 22, 2013; APEX PREDATOR

-MOST AMMUNITION EXPENDED ON CIVILIANS 2015-PRESENT
-WORST KDR VS CIVILIANS 2015-PRESENT

SHOULD YOU GRIND RANK FOR THIS SHIP? YELLERBILL'S BIG GUIDE:

Federal Ships
The feds contracted Core Dynamics (manufacturers of the Eagle, Vulture) to reuse the same hull three times and then build an Anaconda with bigger guns but fewer of them.

Federal Dropship: No. This ship exists solely so the Assault Ship and Gunship can exist. It's basically the base model Gunship before Core Dynamics bolts on the upgrade kit that adds more guns and a fighter hangar.
Federal Assault Ship: Maybe. It's functionally identical to the Chieftain, but this is not a bad thing. Personally I think the Chieftain's better-looking but the FAS is plenty stylish. Get it if you want the authentic, original Chieftain or are married to the 2x large, 2x medium gun setup.
Federal Gunship: Maybe. It's a pocket bigship, packing lots of guns and awful mobility. Also has a fighter hangar for multicrew shenanigans. Pretty unique, but you'll end up investing a lot into it if you try to kit it for war. Worth picking up if you grind out a Corvette.
Federal Corvette: Yes. 2x huge hardpoints. Enough said.

Imperial Ships
The larger Imperial ships can be more costly to outfit than their Federal or Independent peers due to larger/more modules but are all unique ships straight from the Empire's exclusive shipyard, Gutamaya.

Imperial Eagle: Yes. There's not really a rank grind for the Iggle per se, you get it at Outsider rank so all you have to do is the bare minimum. It's more than worth it, however. Go fast all day every day! It also exchanges the Eagle's roof-mounted Small hardpoint for a Medium, which lets you squeeze a plasma accelerator in there.
Imperial Courier: Yes. This little hellion has way too many internal slots for its own good, way better shields than it ought to have, excellent flight characteristics, and 3x medium hardpoints. And at the low rank it becomes available, it's absolutely worth it.
Imperial Clipper: Hell yes. It's fast as a bat out of hell, handles like a driftier Chieftain/FAS, mounts the same guns as the FAS, carries loads of stuff. You can and should kit one of these beauties for piracy. Many CMDRs' first large-hull ship, so if you're one of those people do take note that Large ships can't dock at outposts.
Imperial Cutter: Yes. The shield-tankiest shield tank that ever shield tanked. Faster than it has any right to be, but if you boost in it you're committed to traveling that direction for about eight kilometers. One of the highest cargo capacities in the game in case you prefer to do extremely heavily armed trading or piracy. Ludicrously expensive to outfit.

Ferrovanadium fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Mar 10, 2018

# ? Mar 10, 2018 04:09

SpannerX: Apr 26, 2010; I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.; Fun Shoe

I'm playing it drunk! wait ignore that.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 04:20

Arcturas: Mar 30, 2011

Anyone have a good build for an imperial courier to go shoot stuff in RES�s and easier combat missions? Preferably a go super fast build?

# ? Mar 10, 2018 05:01

a peck of pickled peckers: Aug 3, 2014; I am your Redeemer! It is by my hand that you arise from the ashes of this world!

Arcturas posted:

Sadly I'm only a recruit. I probably have some banked rank from doing skimmer missions, but I'm looking for something akin to the Mainani/Ngalinn grinding spot.

Definitely recommend the Sothis-Ceos Route then. I only suggest the Sol thing because in my own silly way, I RP-ed as a Federation shuttle pilot after I obtained that permit. Allowed me to get rep and see a few different systems/stations as opposed to going back and forth between two. Got my Corvette doing that.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 05:01

Helianthus Annuus: Feb 21, 2006; can i touch your hand; Grimey Drawer

Arcturas posted:

Anyone have a good build for an imperial courier to go shoot stuff in RES�s and easier combat missions? Preferably a go super fast build?

gotta go fast

https://eddp.co/u/VxwjaRYE

The idea here is to use your speed to stay within 3km - 4km of your target, which should let you avoid taking damage. You should be able to fly backwards and still outrun slower NPCs. And at that range, fixed weapons out-perform gimbals or turrets. If you're taking fire from NPCs, you can avoid a lot of damage by chaffing while you get to a safe distance.

I'd start with something like that, and engineer it. The weapons should be engineered long range to help take advantage of your superior speed. The thrusters need g5 dirty drives to really shine. Other than that, you need to engineer your other modules to be light weight. If you add stuff to the build, and you need more power, you can juice the power plant too.

Something like this is good for kill-stealing from the cops in a High Intensity RES, or for bounty hunting in a wing. If you want to go solo in a Hazardous RES, I think a Vulture would suit your needs better.

Helianthus Annuus fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Mar 10, 2018

# ? Mar 10, 2018 05:50

Arcturas: Mar 30, 2011

Helianthus Annuus posted:

gotta go fast

https://eddp.co/u/VxwjaRYE

The idea here is to use your speed to stay within 3km - 4km of your target, which should let you avoid taking damage. You should be able to fly backwards and still outrun slower NPCs. And at that range, fixed weapons out-perform gimbals or turrets. If you're taking fire from NPCs, you can avoid a lot of damage by chaffing while you get to a safe distance.

I'd start with something like that, and engineer it. The weapons should be engineered long range to help take advantage of your superior speed. The thrusters need g5 dirty drives to really shine. Other than that, you need to engineer your other modules to be light weight. If you add stuff to the build, and you need more power, you can juice the power plant too.

Something like this is good for kill-stealing from the cops in a High Intensity RES, or for bounty hunting in a wing. If you want to go solo in a Hazardous RES, I think a Vulture would suit your needs better.

Is getting closer than 3-4 km a bad idea because they'll hit me? So far most of my fighting (in a viper 3 or cobra 3) has been in the 500m - 1.5km range or so (at least, it feels that way - we blow past each other a lot but I can often get right in someone's backside and slowly drill them down).

Also thanks! I love the way the courier looks so I was going to fly it regardless; having a good build will make this much more fun.

EDIT: drat that build is super minimalist. I didn't realize you could even fly if you turn off your power distributor.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 06:36

iospace: Jan 19, 2038

Arcturas posted:

EDIT: drat that build is super minimalist. I didn't realize you could even fly if you turn off your power distributor.

The best part is you can still boost. I've heard reports that max cap/cap regen is slightly lowered with it off but I've seen no difference either way (I normally fly with my distro off, and usually with shields and sensors off as well, especially on deep black journeys).

# ? Mar 10, 2018 06:42

coupedeville: Jan 1, 2012; MY ANACONDA DOM'T WANT NONE UNLESS U GOT CUM SON!

Tip for new players - never fly without a rebuy (or a few rebuys)

We all screw up occasionally and if you don't have the money to cough up for insurance you WILL lose your fancy spaceship

# ? Mar 10, 2018 15:05

Daztek: Jun 2, 2006

Here's a Elite Dangerous 2018 Roadmap that's regularly updated

# ? Mar 10, 2018 16:10

Atarask: Mar 8, 2008; Lord of Rigel Developer

Considering that FDev is going to reduce reputation payouts thread title change:

Elite Dangerous: Beyond (The Grind)- Grindr for Incels

# ? Mar 10, 2018 16:29

OB_Juan: Nov 24, 2004; Not every day is a good day.; Dinosaur Gum

Tip for new players: Play with friends.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 16:29

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

Offering up my own take on the exploration chart:

Some day, I might go through it again and add in other identifiers, like the target hologram, since that's another neat shortcut to figuring out what you're looking at before going through the trouble of actually getting into scan range.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 16:35

Conskill: May 7, 2007; I got an 'F' in Geometry.

After a six-ish month absence from the game the most surprising part of the OP is hearing that the Thargoid stuff is being handled goodishly. Anywhere I can read up more details about The Bug Story Thus Far?

# ? Mar 10, 2018 16:44

Zigmidge: May 12, 2002; Exsqueeze me, why the sour face? I'm here to lemon aid you. Let's juice it.

In celebration of the new thread I booted up E:D, undocked, manually docked and, satisfied I experienced all there is to capital d Do, uninstalled it again.

e: " :nallears:

" -n4i

Zigmidge fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Mar 10, 2018

# ? Mar 10, 2018 17:15

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Wow, I completely missed that Frontier changed the FSD-boost synthesis. I was utterly confused when I logged into my main account again for some exploration and found my level 3 boosts had multiplied from 3 up to 25!

Well, that's the kind of change I can get behind! :v:

# ? Mar 10, 2018 18:17

limaCAT: Dec 22, 2007; il pistone e male; Slippery Tilde

You should grind for a cobra mkiii. Then stop grinding and just play the game.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 18:59

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

SpannerX posted:

I'm playing it drunk! wait ignore that.

Wait, there's any other way to play?

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:06

One in the Bum: Apr 25, 2014; Hair Elf

Main Paineframe posted:

Wait, there's any other way to play?

Please don't drink and fly while inside the docking bay. Violations will be met with lethal force.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:09

A 50S RAYGUN: Aug 22, 2011

i killed a Python and an anaconda in an eagle and then I killed three eagles in an asteroid belt. it was cool but dogfighting with kb+m feels like the pits.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:19

Silver Alicorn: Mar 30, 2008; 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮

limaCAT posted:

You should grind for a cobra mkiii. Then stop grinding and just play the game.

it's a good ship but I'd also recommend viper IV as a nice gunboat for combat zones etc

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:21

Silver Alicorn: Mar 30, 2008; 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮

Main Paineframe posted:

Wait, there's any other way to play?

I got high ( :okpos:

) and tried to play once. loaded into my anaconda and stared down the hull at the landing pads for at least 10 minutes, then decided I was way too high to do anything lol

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:23

Helianthus Annuus: Feb 21, 2006; can i touch your hand; Grimey Drawer

Arcturas posted:

Is getting closer than 3-4 km a bad idea because they'll hit me? So far most of my fighting (in a viper 3 or cobra 3) has been in the 500m - 1.5km range or so (at least, it feels that way - we blow past each other a lot but I can often get right in someone's backside and slowly drill them down).

Also thanks! I love the way the courier looks so I was going to fly it regardless; having a good build will make this much more fun.

EDIT: drat that build is super minimalist. I didn't realize you could even fly if you turn off your power distributor.

Oh poo poo I goofed that part up! You wanna keep your distributor on at all times because thats what lets you boost. Now that I'm looking at that, I see that this might not have quite enough power as configured. I think you would have to get an engineer to overcharge your powerplant regardless. But if you don't want to do that, you can just fit one chaff and no kill warrant scanner and it should be OK if you keep your frame shift drive and cargo hatch turned off while you fight.

If you want to get into some different weapons, you probably need to install a 3a or 4a power plant to run them, but that extra mass will slow you down.

Anyway, you can go ahead and get closer than 3km. If you don't install long-range engineering mods on your weapons, you actually have to get very close for your weapons to do full damage. But if you're going 1v1 with a ship that outguns you, you can keep your distance to avoid damage.

If your style of fighting has you getting super close and staying out of your target's arc of fire, the Vulture is king with its fantastic translational thrusters. And at close range, I prefer using gimballed weapons to target subsystems. The smaller hardpoints on the Courier will means it will take longer to slay your enemies. But if you unlock and install some guardian weapons on your courier, you might be able to make up the difference in DPS.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:34

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

The only times I play this game are when I'm too tired or drunk to play anything that takes mental effort. I either pick a star and go exploring into the mostly-harmless void, or load up multicrew and go shoot mans in someone else's fighter.

That's the one nice thing I can say about multicrew - if I wanna go blow stuff up, I don't have to go through the trouble of buying a combat loadout and finding a good hunting zone because I can just join the session of someone else who did that already, and if I get blown up I don't have to deal with the cost of a rebuy or the inconvenience of having to fly back from a station. I can just hop in near-instantly, shoot dudes, there's essentially zero consequences for blowing up, and I can instantly teleport back to my Exploraconda 25kly away when I get bored. It's a very smooth experience when done right, with very little waiting for the joiner if the host is already all set up.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:38

the milk machine: Jul 23, 2002; lick my keys

Helianthus Annuus posted:

Oh poo poo I goofed that part up! You wanna keep your distributor on at all times because thats what lets you boost. Now that I'm looking at that, I see that this might not have quite enough power as configured. I think you would have to get an engineer to overcharge your powerplant regardless. But if you don't want to do that, you can just fit one chaff and no kill warrant scanner and it should be OK if you keep your frame shift drive and cargo hatch turned off while you fight.

You could just ditch the kill warrant scanner, it doesn't typically add very much in the way of bounties in my experience.

# ? Mar 10, 2018 19:38