Elite: Dangerous

[souljacker]

I've decided I want to try changing up the kind of games I play, and I realised that I've hardly played space flight games. I just bought this joystick and throttle combo since it was going cheap on my wishlist, and I see that Elite: Dangerous is only twenty quid now.

So my first question, is this the kind of space flight game where you're likely to get ganked by other players? Because I'm not yet ready to devote Eve Online levels of attention to making sure I don't get roflstomped by some 15-year old foetus in their battlecruiser, the Dong Destroyer.

You can avoid the busiest areas and not get ganked quite easily but when you are in open play, there is always the chance some nob will have a go at you. You can play in closed though and if I'm honest, I rarely play in open. Also remember that you start in a free ship and you can have as many as them as you want so if you want to go to busy spots, do it in your free sidewinder and don't worry about the consequences. Then when you can upgrade, make sure you've got money to rebuy if you do get blown up.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Even if you DID get ganked the onky thing you'd actually lose is a few credits - when your ship is destroyed you pay 5% of its value to replace everything bar cargo and exploration data. Obviously if you've been out exploring for two months that would be awful but again returning to occupied space in Solo is what you do there, NPCs won't attack you unless you have cargo

 

[Steel Icarus]

 

[NoXion]

Solo and PvE sound good. I assume the latter is against these Thargoid beasties I've heard about?

I'm not worried about NPCs at all. At least whatever dickishness they possess is predictable.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Solo and PvE sound good. I assume the latter is against these Thargoid beasties I've heard about?

I'm not worried about NPCs at all. At least whatever dickishness they possess is predictable.

Thargoids you have to visit to fight lol. And yeah, with a speedy ship with decent shields NPCs aren't a problem.
The biggest difficulty for new starters traditionally has been that the game gives you a ship and that's it, you're on your own. Good luck figuring everything out.
In that regard if you do get the game feel free to ask anything you like.

 

[souljacker]

Thargoids you have to visit to fight lol. And yeah, with a speedy ship with decent shields NPCs aren't a problem.
The biggest difficulty for new starters traditionally has been that the game gives you a ship and that's it, you're on your own. Good luck figuring everything out.
In that regard if you do get the game feel free to ask anything you like.

Can confirm that Steel Icarus is a good source of info for the game. Helped me out hugely a few years back.

 

[NoXion]

After some faffing around in which it took me almost an entire evening to work out how to get my HOTAS working properly, I am now a fledgeling pilot.

One of my earliest mistakes was deploying my weapons in a no fire zone. What's the point in having a fancy fire button with a flip-up safety cover if it can be negated by just pulling the stick trigger? This is why trigger discipline is important, kids.

Another mistake I think I've made is accepting a delivery mission without picking up the cargo. I was supposed to deliver six units of something to somewhere, but my ship could only carry four units. So I thought that I would load up 3 units and do the mission in two trips. Only when I reach my destination, it turns out I have 0 units on board?! I've headed back to the port where I originally got the mission, and I have no idea if I can still pick up the cargo I was supposed to deliver. Am I missing something, or did I somehow make a mission impossible to complete by mistake?

 

[Steel Icarus]

Depends if it was specific cargo or if you had to source the items yourself.
Good missions to do early on are data delivery ones - no cargo space required!

 

[NoXion]

Depends if it was specific cargo or if you had to source the items yourself.
Good missions to do early on are data delivery ones - no cargo space required!

I don't remember how, but during my lunch break I managed to actually load up the cargo. When I finish work I'll be able to make the delivery in one go since I bought some additional cargo modules.

I also think I've been offered a mission that will send me permanently packing from the pilot training sector, and out into the rest of the galaxy. Although I want to build up some more capital before doing that.

 

[souljacker]

Are you still in your sidewinder NoXion? If so, I enjoyed doing bounty missions at the start. Mainly because I knew I had nothing to lose with the starter ship. Then when you have the money, get a cobra MK3 and start doing the road to riches exploring grind

 

[NoXion]

Are you still in your sidewinder NoXion? If so, I enjoyed doing bounty missions at the start. Mainly because I knew I had nothing to lose with the starter ship. Then when you have the money, get a cobra MK3 and start doing the road to riches exploring grind

Yeah, I'm still in the starter ship. Fancied running errands on my way to the fringes of explored space, and wanted to leave combat until I've developed more confidence in my piloting skills and have more money to burn.

 

[NoXion]

For fuck's sake. I had four courier missions and a delivery mission of 7 units of mineral oil. I somehow failed them all. No reason given, which is the real frustrating part because I have no idea how to prevent it happening again.

 

[NoXion]

So I read my messages and it turns out that they revoked my permit, making me auto-fail my missions. I got some money, and Hallatja Station now has seven tons of mineral oil dumped in it.

Basically because I didn't jump, they pushed me.

 

[NoXion]

Is it normal to quickly find yourself in the arse end of nowhere after leaving the training area? I've already had a scare where I nearly ran out of fuel in an empty star system devoid of civilisation.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Is it normal to quickly find yourself in the arse end of nowhere after leaving the training area? I've already had a scare where I nearly ran out of fuel in an empty star system devoid of civilisation.

You can filter which stars you jump to in the Galaxy Map, so set it to human civilization and always use the route plotter. Oh, and get yourself a fuel scoop ASAP - even the cheapest one will save your life. When you get one you can again filter systems by which stars you can scoop from (not all stars are scoopable). O, B, A, F, G, K, & M stars are scoopable, and the mnemonic for that is Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me

 

[souljacker]

And if all else fails, call the fuel rats...

 

[Steel Icarus]

Upgrade your Frame Shift Drive when you can, too. That will increase your jump range but uses a bit more power

 

[NoXion]

You can filter which stars you jump to in the Galaxy Map, so set it to human civilization and always use the route plotter. Oh, and get yourself a fuel scoop ASAP - even the cheapest one will save your life. When you get one you can again filter systems by which stars you can scoop from (not all stars are scoopable). O, B, A, F, G, K, & M stars are scoopable, and the mnemonic for that is Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me

What do dotted vs solid lines mean when plotting routes?

 

[Steel Icarus]

What do dotted vs solid lines mean when plotting routes?

Dotted - not enough fuel for this part of the route

 

[NoXion]

Question about buying a new ship/upgrading: what happens to the extra modules I've put in my old ship? Do I need to remove them before selling if I want to keep them?

 

[Steel Icarus]

Question about buying a new ship/upgrading: what happens to the extra modules I've put in my old ship? Do I need to remove them before selling if I want to keep them?

Edit: didn't read properly, see below

 

[Steel Icarus]

Remove them first.
They will be stored at whatever station you remove them, but you can transfer modules between stations at the cost of credits and time depending on value of module and distance it has to go

 

[Steel Icarus]

Worth noting that D grade modules are lightest so for things like sensors and life support D grade will do you fine.
Worth also noting that a 1A power plant is lighter and produces more power than a 2D, a 2A is better than a 3D, etc. Just a lot more expensive!
I might fly back to the bubble if you like, meet up (in my private group so there'll be no other players)

 

[NoXion]

Worth noting that D grade modules are lightest so for things like sensors and life support D grade will do you fine.
Worth also noting that a 1A power plant is lighter and produces more power than a 2D, a 2A is better than a 3D, etc. Just a lot more expensive!
I might fly back to the bubble if you like, meet up (in my private group so there'll be no other players)

What is the bubble? I have no idea where I am really. At the moment I'm heading towards a system (Diaguandri) mentioned in a Reddit post as having good equipment for sale.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Sorry!
The bubble = unofficial, colloquial name for the main area of human-occupied space.
Diaguandri is indeed very good for buying most things, and for that reason should not be visited in open play
Hundreds of systems will have what you want though, Diaguandri is mostly good as it has nearly everything and it's in an area where the prices are cheaper (most places are standard for modules with a few exceptions).
Inara is a must-visit website for ED info Nearest outfitting [INARA]
Also

Elite: Dangerous Database - EDDB

A site about systems, bodies, stations, commodities, materials and trade routes in Elite: Dangerous

eddb.io

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

 

[NoXion]

Yes, the person in the Reddit post mentioned that they got ganked in that system. Funnily enough though I've been playing Open since leaving the Pilots' Federation zone, and it's been eerily quiet. The closest I've come to combat is successfully evading two Supercruise Interdictions very early on in my starter ship, and I have no idea if they were other players or NPCs trying to catch me. Maybe I'm being lulled into a false sense of security, but right now I feel it's worth the risk to at least give it a go. Plus it feels better to have a system in the distance to aim for on the galactic map.

I've seen plenty of contacts (mainly other ships in space travelling to and from space stations) along the way however; what proportion of those are likely to be other players?

Those sites look very useful, I probably could have used them last night when upgrading my ship and modules. I've now moved on my first, the Delta-Vee-Me, and am now the proud owner of The Black Adder, an Adder (duh) that I've outfitted with the best gear I could find along my way. One thing I have had trouble sourcing are any cargo modules better than the bottom tier, which seems like a weirdly mundane and everyday item for being so rare.

So yeah, I think I'm getting into this game.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Yes, the person in the Reddit post mentioned that they got ganked in that system. Funnily enough though I've been playing Open since leaving the Pilots' Federation zone, and it's been eerily quiet. The closest I've come to combat is successfully evading two Supercruise Interdictions very early on in my starter ship, and I have no idea if they were other players or NPCs trying to catch me. Maybe I'm being lulled into a false sense of security, but right now I feel it's worth the risk to at least give it a go. Plus it feels better to have a system in the distance to aim for on the galactic map.

I've seen plenty of contacts (mainly other ships in space travelling to and from space stations) along the way however; what proportion of those are likely to be other players?

Those sites look very useful, I probably could have used them last night when upgrading my ship and modules. I've now moved on my first, the Delta-Vee-Me, and am now the proud owner of The Black Adder, an Adder (duh) that I've outfitted with the best gear I could find along my way. One thing I have had trouble sourcing are any cargo modules better than the bottom tier, which seems like a weirdly mundane and everyday item for being so rare.

So yeah, I think I'm getting into this game.

On the scanner, human players have hollow icons. Also if you're on PC Ctrl-B brings up your bandwidth - in the same system as a human player that will shoot up (also does this often when jumping system so don't worry). Players also have CMDR in front of their name.

Space is big, even in what I consider the tiny bit of it with human pilots. 20,000 inhabited (i.e. with stations) in the bubble. Player activity will be hugely focused around a tiny percentage of those - systems with engineers, Diaguandri, systems with current community goals, systems requiring permits like Sol and Shinrarta Dezhra (the latter which you need to have at least one Elite ranking to access). Running into players is rare most of the time.

 

[NoXion]

What are the chances of being attacked by NPCs? Assuming I don't have any outstanding bounties or wanted levels or similar.

 

[NoXion]

Space does really feel big in Elite. I don't think I'm even that far from Sol, and I already feel like I'm traversing some vast hinterland of space. Uninhabited systems feel so desolate. How do you get your ship repaired and your supplies restocked as an Explorer beyond the Bubble? I know you can scoop fuel, but it seems like you wouldn't be able to venture too far out even so.

 

[Steel Icarus]

What are the chances of being attacked by NPCs? Assuming I don't have any outstanding bounties or wanted levels or similar.

If you're not carrying cargo you may be interdicted by NPCs but they'll scan you and leave, disappointed. Carrying high value goods it's quite likely.