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Topic: Elite: Dangerous (Read 667316 times)
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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CMDR Warlock
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I just made it to a Cobra Mk III for the first time since 1986, so I came here to post something. My path from 1000 to 400,000 credits was: - Own the game since 2015, but barely play it. Buy a better PC in 2017, and finally give it a real try. Quickly get hooked like I was on EverQuest 1 and the original Elite. - Follow a tip to install a fuel scoop and do a long series of jumps away from my starting system to a high-tech system before doing anything real (this made me realise I could travel a long way via short jumps and a scoop). - Find my own back-and-forth trading routes for my Sidewinder's 6 cargo slots. - Upgrade the Sidewinder to D-class equipment (lightweight = bigger jumps). - Follow a tip to do a community goal if possible, as the minimum rewards are big for a newbie - I did a 30-hop journey to qualify me for a 200,000 community goal reward that will arrive in a few days. - Start out trading again from the next system to the community goal system, and keep moving till I find a good back-and-forth route. - Accidentally discover a "buy this and deliver it" mission 7 jumps away to earn 150k (and avoid interdiction). - Accidentally discover a "buy this and deliver it" mission 1 jump away to earn $350k (and avoid interdiction - I was already landing inside the Coriolis station when they warned me that someone was being sent to hunt me). So basically the last two steps got me there, and I've got another 200k coming from the community goal that I don't actually need now. I'm happy I chose my own adventure rather than following any defined set of moves. It's how you learn the game. Then again, I've yet to try combat. What type of sun was it ? Bear in mind some of them, especially the new Neutron ones and shit, are just large flamey balls of death that you really, really need to stay away from.
Also, the Frame Shift Drive throws the heat up by huge amounts, so it's not an optimal escape plan. By the sounds of it, you found the shortcut key to silent running though. Which is kinda funny. I was basically just clueless.... flying too fast around a sun, not realising I could stop and still be scooping, spinning uncontrollably while trying to fly forward, and actually not moving away from the sun. It was a long time before I actually found a sun that I couldn't scoop (seen them all now).
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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The MK III is probably one of the best ships in the game. Great cargo capacity for its size and a good variety of internal compartments.
If only I liked flying it. This is a weird pet peeve but I don't like that the seating position is on the left. I've never driven a car in my life and it irritates me that everything feels off because the seating Position is left of center. That's why I fancy the Asp more.
If you are not me though the Cobra MK III is a great ship with lots of potential for cargo hauling, exploration or combat.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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I really, really, really wanted the other Cobra and it fucks me off that only special people get it. And you can't even get it for cash now.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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I really, really, really wanted the other Cobra and it fucks me off that only special people get it. And you can't even get it for cash now.
It's not actually that great apparently (I'm a special-person but haven't owned one yet) as it's more of a side-grade than an upgrade and slower than a III which is the main drawback/criticism, although I understand they hull tank very well. I also really wanted it and had meant to move to one after my III but the slower speed put me off. I'll probably go back and fit one to mess about in once I've stopped doing the important bits of my Cutter
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Surely if you have cutter money, it's a mere 1 trade to get the Cobra you want. This is something I found quite head hurting when I got both my Anaconda and my Python ; suddenly ships that took me ages before were literally walking into the shop and dropping the cash jobs.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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Surely if you have cutter money, it's a mere 1 trade to get the Cobra you want. This is something I found quite head hurting when I got both my Anaconda and my Python ; suddenly ships that took me ages before were literally walking into the shop and dropping the cash jobs.
Well I _had_ Cutter money until I bought it but I'm reluctant to fly it until I can afford to upgrade the shield and FSD on it so I'm grinding Quince for cash until the nerf hits in 2.3 - that said, yes I could afford one very quickly but until I'm done in Quince I just wouldn't get the opportunity to actually use it for anything
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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So I had a play with the Cobra III and IV in a Low CZ last night [with as identical a fit as the slots would allow]
The bad press the IV gets regarding it's [lack of] speed and agility is entirely justified and out of the 4 runs I did into the zone I only lost the IV (admitted only once) while not losing the III (although I left with a compromised canopy twice)
Where the IV beats the III hands down is hardpoint placement. I'd forgotten how much of a pain the underside small hardpoints on the III were to use (almost no point putting gimbals in there) and found it very hard to bring them to bear during a a turning battle. The IV on the other hand has all 5 hardpoints on the top making them very easy to bring to bear. Given the lack of agility I'm actually considering putting turrets on....
The IV can indeed fit a considerably larger hull tank than the III, while I didn't have any success running a pure hull tank fit (I keep forgetting to run silent) I did have success running HRP's alongside a 4A Prismatic on the III (but the hardpoints let me down) so I'm currently engineering a IV with a Prismatic/HRP fit to try out - hopefully I can get some more speed out of it by reducing weight after getting the power output up and the shield power drain/mass down.
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« Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 04:53:38 AM by 5150 »
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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hopefully I can get some more speed out of it by reducing weight after getting the power output up and the shield power drain/mass down.
I'm not quite there there yet as I only unlocked Selene Jean over the weekend and haven't had chance to take the IV to her yet: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=A084,EjH0EjH0Hdh0Hdh0Kp90,CzY0DBw0,9on0A72GC26n7i8rL-AMgGV56q008qEAEhhXGrBoKyJTAcIGf50uOb6qUk8riZGuPgKmdrAqq0B3_0BK40BWQ0,,7RBGo52w236xgTAwJPImceKk1215O015O015O013q013q012G012G0But, theorycrafting it, the IV is still not going to reach the speed of a stock III even if I lighten everything possible, strip off all the HRP's off and drop the hull back to a 1D (at which point ithe IV weighs less than a stock III). The question is then is it fast enough? -edit- Having looked at CMDR Na'Qan's IV fit's the solution to the IV's problems appears to be the Engineer Prof. Palin*...... and Dirty Drive tuning grade 5 *who requires you to have travelled 5Kly distance from your starting system and have got the pain-in-the-ass-to-unlock Engineer Qwent to grade 3
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« Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 04:58:22 AM by 5150 »
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I'm finally in an Asp Explorer.
I spent some time in my Cobra Mk III trading and fighting successfully, until I stumbled on a mining outpost in a state of Outbreak where basic medicine was going for something like 4000 and demand was vast. I could buy them for about 200 just 5LY away.
This made me buy a Type 6 and max out its cargo capacity. I shuttled back and forth in my space truck until I had to log off for life reasons. When I returned, the outbreak was over so I traded metals from the mining outpost to refinery systems until they ran out. I got sick of that so I upgraded the Type 6 to an A-grade FSD and a first-class passenger bay and took a few passenger missions, for between about 1-2 million each.
I had pretty much maxed out the Type 6 and it was actually pretty good to fly by the time I had about 14 million credits. But I got bored of trading again. For my sanity, I had to buy the Asp a bit early. I can only afford a mix of A and B class equipment at the moment, so it's just roughly equivalent to the maxed-out Type 6. But now I can earn more and max it out... And actually fight back if I get interdicted.
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« Last Edit: April 03, 2017, 05:37:33 AM by Tale »
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5150
Terracotta Army
Posts: 951
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Initially I disliked the Asp E on nostalgia grounds but once I owned one in E:D I warmed to it (I still don't like the huge bulge down it's spine).
If you haven't already gone so and you have Horizons you should take the time to unlock Farseer and get her to grade 5 for the FSD range increase.
It's a pretty good multi-role and an 'easy take' for anything long distance (although I've heard word of a Dimondback range buff in 2.3 which may upset the apple cart), I kept mine and still use it for distance work.
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I agree. The Asp Explorer is a bit ugly. I actually went and bought a paint kit for real $ to make it better to look at (imho). Even looking at the paint kits for the Cobra Mk III on the same page, they look waay better than anything for the Asp. But yeah, six hardpoints and cargo space and long range jumps... Sold.
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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This is from Reddit and it made me laugh. Brave commander, if you will aid our noble faction by killing our enemies, we will gladly reward you will one million galactic credits I accept this... ...and four tonnes of neofabric insulation! Oh, no thanks bro. you refuse our offer? No. No, I'll take the mission. I just don't need any neopets or whatever. *neofabric insulation * Yeah. I'm all set in the neo... *fabric. Neofabric. * Yeah. I don't need that. that is the mission reward. Okay. But I don't need it. I mean, I don't even have space for it. Four tonnes? Seriously? Isn't this basically a bunch of fancy rugs you're trying to give me? *gasp* what? Our neofabric insulation is made from the finest quality nanotechnology textile process* Uh huh. And what do people use it for? *it has many uses! It's ideal for use as a modular decorative protective cover for personal domicile flooring * Dude, that's a rug. many of our customers report that neofabric insulation is a central and fundamental component of their living quarters! So, "it really ties the room together" is that what you're saying? *how dare you mock our employment opportunity! * God. I don't have cargo racks on my ship. then just leave. I no longer wish to hire you.
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Anyone of you following development a little closer than me, are there rumors about the next expansion/season? Timelines and/or features? Or is it all completely unmentioned and secret?
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I don't think I'm following it closer than you, but I think it will be all about the Thargoids, given all the stuff that's been happening lately. There may also be a galactic civil war caused by Thargoid intervention. Some of the plot lines suggest the insectoid Thargoids have infiltrated the Empire, lizardman style (think "V").
In the original Elite, the Thargoids would interdict you within witchspace (inside the hyperspace "tunnel") and you'd fly around at stupidly fast speeds fighting them before being free to continue in witchspace. Their large main ships had little "Tharglets" (effectively ship-launched fighters) that would also come out and attack you. They were a challenge and quite scary at first until you had enough equipment and knowledge to survive.
I haven't played since the patch went live, but I'm thinking that I should downgrade to a Dolphin, fully spec it and fly luxury-class passenger missions. With such speed and jump range at relatively low cost for high payouts, that looks like easy money.
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Character creator is pretty cool (million times better than Mass Effect Andromeda *sigh*). Too bad there's no long hair, but still pretty cool.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Patched up the 10Gb last night and then when I logged in was too tired to actually check out changes.
I'll have a look tonight. The default pilot I had was some black guy who reminded me way too much of that dickhead from SWTOR, so that's going to need changed pronto.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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So long hair still difficult to model?
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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So long hair still difficult to model?
Not regulatory for ship commanders.
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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The lack of long hair is fucking annoying to me. The tool is not EVE or Black Desert, but it's nice even for 2017. Yet, no long hair is a disappointment.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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I've been trying to update to 2.3 for three days now. Even deleted all game files and uninstalled/reinstalled the launcher. Game is stuck either at download or at preparing/validating game files. Sometimes the multi threaded downloader gets confused and several threads try to download the same files..
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Sorry to hear that. I installed from scratch on Steam and it all worked without a glitch.
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Sir T
Terracotta Army
Posts: 14223
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Installed straight through first time for me. I haven't run it yet though.
Sounds like you have something corrupt on your install, Jeff.
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Hic sunt dracones.
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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And the PS4 wait continues....
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Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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Installed straight through first time for me. I haven't run it yet though.
Sounds like you have something corrupt on your install, Jeff.
Patch downloaded and installed fine for me too. I logged in and sat in a starport playing with Holo-Me, encountered a texture problem with faces, and then had to log out.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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Unsuccessfully tried to install for four days now. Have exhausted support as well. I'm converting my key to a steam key now.
Screw that stupid launcher
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Oh you were not passing through Steam yet? I can tell you that Steam will still open that launcher for you (sorry), but hey somehow maybe their integrity check works better.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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As long as it doesn't download the game through the launcher I'll be fine.
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Pennilenko
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3472
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This game is just fucking amazing in vr
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"See? All of you are unique. And special. Like fucking snowflakes." -- Signe
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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Linked my Frontier account to Steam. Added keys to steam. Currently downloading the game at 5 MB/s. Should have done this a long time ago.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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The Commander creator is pretty damn good. Took me less than half an hour to design something that resembles me and comes pretty close.
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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Thought I'd try one of the community goals. Loaded up my ASP with auto fabricators and headed for Maia. Took me 14 jumps and about half an hour to get from the last inhabited system to Maia. Made it into Obsidian Orbital and got rammed off the landing pad and insta-killed by a CMDR Harry Potter in an imperial cutter. Guy was clearly griefing players. Attempt cost me a million in insurance, 300,000 credits worth of cargo and about an hour of travel time. TL;DR: I'm not doing something like this ever again.
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Tale
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8560
sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sʞןɐʇ
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I reckon you should reserve that sort of activity for Solo Play.
You can switch between Solo and Open without penalty, because it's all done on the same servers. You get to use your same ship and same assets in both modes, so you can choose whether or not to have the presence of griefers with engineered railguns.
P.S. Why do so many people write Asp in upper case? It's a snake, just like a Sidewinder or an Anaconda, sorry I mean ANACONDA.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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I basically stopped doing anything in open play after two particularly annoying incidents. I'm too old and prone to fury to deal with that sort of shit from other people if I don't have to. Fuck them.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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My auto correct weirdly capitalized the Asp.
You can do community goals in single? Counterintuitive but welcome. Open is a cesspit and going by the ED communities the griefers have actually won. Reddit and the Frontier Forums read like the musings of people in abusive relationships.
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