Elite: Dangerous

[Samprimary]

Holy Shit Sam.  That's all I have to say about that.

when i said i didn't want to live on this planet anymore, i meant it

[Samprimary]

I am drawing a really involved comic in which I devolve into Retrowave delusions to escape reality, and as part of it I will be depicting myself playing my favorite 1984 game, Elite, which I am depicting with complete historical accuracy

[Ironwood]

You're an odd one.

Edited :  Also, speaking of strange, I'm in a bit of an odd place now.  I've completely 'finished' the Trade Grind as I have a nice Anaconda that I'm slowly building up (Currently, docking computer, all Cargo bays and a wee shield, A rated Drive and Distro, but the rest of the ship is gash.  Multicannons and Beams and Pulsies, but I wouldn't take it into combat if I can help it).

However, I started the Imperial grind and got up to Master and got myself 'Allied' with everyone at the old Wu system - at which point I noticed that the money I was being offered for ferrying increased by orders of magnitude.  So, while I CAN technically make a couple of mill running trades in my big warehouse, I'd be daft to because I'm also being offered 10 million to run around about 10 hops.  That's just too good to do anything else.

I am not sure what I'm really saying here, except ferrying seems to be... a bit overpowered at the moment and I'm kinda liking it.

So, upshot is - some advice.  When you can, get a nice ship that can take a couple of passenger bays.  Max (or improve) rep at a station as much as you can.  Then, grab people and shove them in your hold.  Be aware that you can't share missions - so even if you have a 12 person bay, you can't take two 6 man missions.  You would need ANOTHER passenger bay, which is a pain in the arse, frankly, but you can see the point.  Then, profit.  It's probably better than grinding trade monies or shooting bandits.

[rattran]

I've been doing the empire grind at Wu/Hip 10716 myself, just running data missions and grabbing any 2mil+ trade stuff, which is all about 100ly/3to4 hops away. Up to baron and 60mil so far. Had to give up on planetary stuff, as my 570 goes into slideshow mode even worse after the last patch when approaching a planet.

[satael]

So, upshot is - some advice.  When you can, get a nice ship that can take a couple of passenger bays.  Max (or improve) rep at a station as much as you can.  Then, grab people and shove them in your hold.  Be aware that you can't share missions - so even if you have a 12 person bay, you can't take two 6 man missions.  You would need ANOTHER passenger bay, which is a pain in the arse, frankly, but you can see the point.  Then, profit.  It's probably better than grinding trade monies or shooting bandits.

I'm sure you can fit passengers into the same cabin from different missions (or am I not understanding what you are saying)?

[Ironwood]

Didn't work for me at all.  I even had two missions where 1 was 2 people and the other was 8 and they wouldn't both go in my 12 bay.

If it's just me being bugged, let me know.

I'd cram those fuckers in like sardines if I could.

[satael]

Didn't work for me at all.  I even had two missions where 1 was 2 people and the other was 8 and they wouldn't both go in my 12 bay.

If it's just me being bugged, let me know.

I'd cram those fuckers in like sardines if I could.

image spam spoilered (a lot of spam that is):

[01101010]

If I was a betting man, I'd conclude that the passengers had to be all of the same type, so no econo with the other types?

[Ironwood]

SARDINES HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Ironwood]

Confirmed.  You can't mix and match.  Goddammit.

But thanks for correcting me on the stacking. 

[01101010]

FFS this game needs to hit the PS4 already.

[WayAbvPar]

My first passenger trip is out to the Nebula Ring. Interesting trying to pick my way out there. Already took some hull damage when my Elite screen lost focus (which happens all the time...I have to click on it, which takes me to desktop, and then choose the Elite app running in the taskbar again. Any thoughts?) and I scorched myself during fuel scooping, so I probably won't even get the full fee. Scenery is cool though.

[WayAbvPar]

And then I log in, get jumped by a pirate in 10+ systems away from any inhabited space, get more hull damage, and my bitchy passenger wants to get dropped off at the nearest station. Head back into the bubble, and miss dropping them off by about 30 seconds. Mission failed. FUCK.

[Sir T]

Ah Elite, you hurt me becasue you love me, don't you?

So I take my first actual passenger sightseeing mission, and I go out to the planet indicated. I drop at the planet, nothing happens, so I take a screenshot for the ungrateful bastard and do 100 LY to the second location.. and there is no mission marker there. I go wtf and I peruse some websites. After a lot of searching (because apparently this is so obvious to everyone else they haven't actually mentioned this in any websites) I find that you are supposed to scan a beacon before the mission updates. OOOOOOkay. So I fly back to Point I. finally find this beacon after scanning everything in sight around the fucking planet trying to find it, drop out of cruise, and promptly crash into the fucking beacon. I fly ships gud.

So anyway, after this mission is over I look at the other missions. I see a wonderful mission where I have to fly 18,888 LY for some guy to scan a fucking Neutron star, all for 21 mill. Fuck. That. (Until I buy another Asp at least) But I saw another transport mission, see the guy is "demanding" but I say "what the heck." This mission is for 2 mill, what could go wrong.

Well I fly to the first Waypoint, no problem, then fly to the second waypoint 120 LY away, and see its on a planets surface, and I go "Oh fuck" as I have gone into planets a total of once. But I do the entry ok, and I am just about to scan the beacon when the guy goes "I say old chap, would you be a dear and get me 2 units of clothing, what what?" I say Ok, and scan the beacon, become confused when nothing happens. I decide the mission is over, and fly back to base, stop off at an outpost to refuel and pick up some clothing there. And the guy goes "Cheers old chap, tally Ho and Tea and Crumpets to the destination!" and I become confused because the mission map still points at the same place as the planet. I slowly realise that I have to scan the fucking beacon AGAIN! And then when I do The fucker decides, becasue he is so warm and snug in his 2 tons of clothing, he would like a THIRD destination my good man, only 150 fucking LY away, chop chop!

I seem to be saying fucking a lot.

Anyway, slightly less than 4 million for several hours work. Meh. Learned a lot though. Documentation in this game sucks.

[WayAbvPar]

And THEN I flew all the way back to visit an engineer with my computer banks full of exploration data. And fucking CRASHED because of the goofy planetary gravity. Lost all my data, and went into hock to get my ship back. Basically set fire to the past 2 days of play time. Quite unamused at the moment.

[5150]

Are the passenger missions like other mission types where, if you ignore the updates, you can just deliver them to the original destination and still get paid?

I never look at updates when grinding in Wu/HIP because it will take me out of the mission loop.

[Ironwood]

Couple of things that should be clear from the horror stories :

1 - Read the Mission.  Ensure always you know who you're taking and where.  It's all in the Mission brief.  Pay special attention to the guy's legal status and if ships are going to come after you, as they do on some missions.  On some missions you shouldn't take damage and, yes, being burned by the sun counts.  On some missions you WILL have to silently smuggle into a station to avoid scans because they're trying to avoid the paparazzi.  All of this is in the reading - what ELSE is in there is the destinations and distances.  Pay CLOSE attention to them.  Make sure you pick the mission that has a shorter distance, the least amount of stops and the least hassle for your cash.

2 - I'm only gonna say this once, despite my hatred of 'em ;  Get a fucking docking computer.  If the client wants landed, or a swift mission, it saves you so much hassle.  I think DC should be a utility mount, but that's a fight for another day, but either way, get one stuck on.  Why the fuck should you crash on a high gravity planet when one of these cunts can do the landing for you flawlessly.

3 - For missions, it's NEVER to go to a 'planet' or a 'system' ;  there's always a waypoint that you need to scan before they update.  It can be on the planet, or beside the planet or, in one memorable case, a broken bunch of parts that represent the wreck of a famous star ship.  Scan them and make sure you get the 'next waypoint' mail before you leave.  Even if they offer you other inducements, inducements can WAIT.  If they want beer or clothes, you can do this right at the end before you dock for the last time.  Fuck them.   Also, these waypoints will almost always have esoteric names.  You'll get to learn them and they won't show up until you're close to the planet in question.

4 - Multiple cabins of the same type stack.  Different types of passengers, like economy, business and first class (or luxury) don't.  We've proved that one now.

5  Get your rep up.  It's the difference between a 200,000 mission and a ten million mission.

6 - Skip anything further than 300ly.  Fuck that.

I can't think of anything else right now.  Though there's tons and tons of head learned stuff.  Like, don't ever take a mission to see a Black Hole or a Neutron Star.  Well, Neutron ain't that bad, but the thing about Black Holes is they're black.  And the thing about space is....

[Ironwood]

Are the passenger missions like other mission types where, if you ignore the updates, you can just deliver them to the original destination and still get paid?

I never look at updates when grinding in Wu/HIP because it will take me out of the mission loop.

Yes.  But again, read them.  One guy was going to pay 100k for 2 beers.  I shit you not.


Edited to Add ;  This reminds me of a further point - Get some Cargo space.  At least 8 tons.  If the passengers want beer or clothes, you need to store 'em.  If they give material rewards, ditto.

[WayAbvPar]

There have been times in my life where 100kl for a beer or two would have been a reasonable price.

[Ironwood]

True.   Like when my Anaconda blew up and I had to pay out 9 million.

Sad.

[Ironwood]

And one I just found out about :  be very careful accepting missions to Alpha Centauri.

14 million to ferry some guy and he wants to go there.  It will take OVER AN HOUR to Supercruise to where he wants to go, real time.

Fuck.  That.

First mission I've ever abandoned, methinks.

[Mandella]

And one I just found out about :  be very careful accepting missions to Alpha Centauri.

14 million to ferry some guy and he wants to go there.  It will take OVER AN HOUR to Supercruise to where he wants to go, real time.

Fuck.  That.

First mission I've ever abandoned, methinks.

But, but, the souvenir mugs!

Seriously, there are souvenir mugs for that run. And a dedicated radio station.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, I just didn't have time to do it.  Old Dad Requires Rest.

Also, let's be brutal ;  in that time I could have done 8 other passenger runs at at least a couple of mill each.

[5150]

I've been reading good things about grinding Imp doing scan missions in Fehu.

Does any one know if this info is still currently and how it compares to rep grinding in Wu/HIP?

[Sir T]

If you have a first class cabin can you slum it with economy passengers? They all seem to be red to me for some reason.

[Ironwood]

Yes, you can.  Are you trying to stuff differing classes in there ?

[Sir T]

I probably was. I may not have the rank for the mission either.

[01101010]

If you have a first class cabin can you slum it with economy passengers? They all seem to be red to me for some reason.

If it's red, I'd assume you are either mixing the classes (BAD!) or perhaps not enough cabin space?

[Sir T]

Yeah. I need a bigger ship too. There's only 3 cabin space on the thing ata moment. Time to grind.

[Ironwood]

3 Cabin space is going to be less than useless, I would think.

What you driving right now ?

[Sir T]

I was playing around with A diamondback explorer to learn the ropes. I suppose I could try it with my type 7. But I'm going to submit to the collective and buy an Asp now :D

By the way, if a transport mission says to go to a planet, do you need to be able to deploy an SRV to complete it or to you just land close to the outpost and it completes?

[Ironwood]

You'll never have to actually land.  What you usually do is fly until you're close enough to see the beacon, cut speed, scan it and then promptly turn around and fly off.

I thought the Diamondback had bigger mounts than a 4, but I see I was wrong. 

[Sir T]

To be honest, so did I. it may have been hit with the nerfbat.

[WayAbvPar]

Crashed at Martuuk's place with a hold full of Soontil Relics. AGAIN. The gravity on that planet is really fucking powerful, and I am really fucking stupid.

[Sir T]

Maybe try it with a lighter ship? <-- clueless

Anyway, I got a 6 mill tourist mission right after buying my Asp. Of course, i promptly crashed into the station wall and failed the mission. \O/ Who knew that you should buy better thrusters for your ship??

I found out what happens when you take a passenger to a planet. I didn't know you could land on planetary bases. Thank you docking computer.

So, took an illegal passenger for 2 mill. I drop next to the station, ask for docking, Engage silent running them find I am the wrong side of the station. So I come out of silent and am immediately scanned. I Yelp, drop chaff and bolt out of the no fire zone.

Ok I hear people say "hat the hell is silent running. Basically it slams your heat vents shut, drops your shield and puts your thrusters into a low power setting, so you cant be picked up on sensors as easily, and if they do it takes a long time to scan you. The downside is that you don't vent any heat, so your heat builds up, and it can damage your ship and even blow you up if you let it get too high.

So I remember some old tricks, and since my docking timer was running I coast around to the front at 11 kms. then line up with the airlock, Hit full thrust and boost, then hit silent running. I coast into the door manoeuvring, and then realise the brakes weren't working when I tried to slow down at the door    but I go in, drop silent running when I'm inside and safe with the heat alarms blaring in my ear. At least I didn't pancake into the wall this time. 

So, far this passenger stuff is fun.