Elite : Dangerous

[outwar6010]

Yes, I'm struggling with the curve a bit.

After seeing No Man's Sky bugs and quirks I decided to give it a miss for the time being and I tried Elite on the PC over the weekend.. and I've discovered what an absolutely horrendous pilot I am. I couldn't shoot down a practice drone after 20 twenty minutes of trying using a 360 gamepad. Glad it's working out for you more.

I really like the premise of Elite and would like to get into the trading side of the game in a big way, but I've got that feeling I'm going to a sitting duck for pirates, better pilots etc. Maybe I'll just go with better engines and shields and just try and avoid trouble!

TBH as someone whos put in a ton of hours I honestly think NMS has more pros than elite. Planets are full of life and not barren like in elite. You aren't charged 30 quid to land on them.

[kalniel]

TBH as someone whos put in a ton of hours I honestly think NMS has more pros than elite. Planets are full of life and not barren like in elite. You aren't charged 30 quid to land on them.

Not quite accurate. NMS is £40, Elite + Horizons is £40 in total, not including any discounts during sales which occur quite frequently now it's been out a while - look out for gamescom related offers coming up to the weekend.

Funny as it sounds, I'm more worried NMS is superficial. There's a lot of thought gone into Elite for supporting the freedom to create your own pilot's career path/motivations.

[Ttaskmaster]

Yup, never leave dock without insurance - I aim at x3 cover. You get killed, you rebuy again and get insta-killed doing the same thing, you rebuy and screw up your exit, still got the ability to leave without having to sell modules.

Thing is, I was trading in order to build up enough insurance to go out and start making big bucks again... I very nearly lost everything in that one hit, thanks to what seems like suped-up NPCs. Seriously, I didn't even get enough time to complete a scan on the guy. Forget spinning up the FSD...

Funny as it sounds, I'm more worried NMS is superficial.

"Wide as an ocean, but deep as a puddle"
They were saying that about Elite after a year of gameplay. They were saying that about NMS within 2 hours!!

[outwar6010]

Not quite accurate. NMS is £40, Elite + Horizons is £40 in total, not including any discounts during sales which occur quite frequently now it's been out a while - look out for gamescom related offers coming up to the weekend.

Funny as it sounds, I'm more worried NMS is superficial. There's a lot of thought gone into Elite for supporting the freedom to create your own pilot's career path/motivations.

I remember paying £40 for the game and then a further £30 for horizons....

[cptwhite_uk]

Yes, but that was at launch - today both Elite Dangerous + Horizons or No Man's Sky cost £40.

also...

[kalniel]

I remember paying £40 for the game and then a further £30 for horizons....

I paid £10 for Elite and a further £16? for Horizons.

[cptwhite_uk]

[kalniel]

Well, in 2.2 at least (Plus an in game event starting from 28th this month). I really need to get on with my ship upgrades! At this rate I'm going to have to put all my eggs into my AspX basket rather than going all out for exploration on this and kitting out the Cobra III for xeno-liasons

[cptwhite_uk]

One of my fellow group members flys combat Cobra Mk3 in PvP combat - he does pretty well too!

Great thing about it is the re-buy cost is trivial so you can go fight without thought to dying and have a really great fight. I've been kitting out a vulture myself. Just need to keep switching out the class 4 module for fuel scoop / shield cell bank depending on whether I'm travelling or fighting.

Got a bit sick of the grind / re-buy cost / slow manoeuvring of the larger ships so think I'm going to either stick with the Vulture or try an Imperial Courier

[kalniel]

I love the mk3. I have a Vulture too which I was using for combat CGs but I don't like it nearly as much, possibly it's too dedicated to its role and I just prefer flexibility. Plus it always took an age to get anywhere with the small jump range, which with current NPC interdiction behaviour just took even longer. I imagine an engineered Vulture would need me to switch to mouse control for combat!

[cptwhite_uk]

My current upgrades (grade 3 FSD Range increase) allows for 21Ly jump range and a full 360 deg turn (grade 2 dirty drive tuning) in around 6 seconds. It's so manoeuvrable it's verging on the ridiculous, also does 440m/s...should reach 480+m/s fully upgraded.

[Ttaskmaster]

Just need to keep switching out the class 4 module for fuel scoop / shield cell bank depending on whether I'm travelling or fighting.

Most of my combat builds focus on 'time on target', which means a combination of big guns that do lots of damage, combined with a ship that can keep them trained for longer.
The Asp was pretty good up to Python-sized ships, if you packed it with large Multicannon.

For the Vulture, I don't bother with SCBs. I just make use of the manoeuvrability and lay down the fire with a Pulse Laser and Multicannon. Get in nice and close, then pivot around the target so it can't shoot you much (hopefully not at all), so you take it down fast... Most of my targets seem to have wingmen these days, y'see.

[Dashers]

In game event on the 28th? Bugger. I'm 5000ly towards Sag A*. So that's about another 3 hours to get there. Then the 22 hours to get back to the bubble.

[Kanoe]

Man alive. Im trying to get back into this but havent played since Horizons came out. Finding the learning curve really really steep again.

Had my python decked out for combat from before and wasnt really looking for a fight but ended up in one and got completely smoked. 3 mil buy back! Ouch! So got rid of most of the combat stuff and went back to cargo but don't seem to be able to make any money!

Any tips?

Really want to get back into it as got the added dimension of playing in VR now.

[Dashers]

Do you have Horizons? If you don't (I don't), you'll find it hard to compete as Horizons gives you the ability to massively upgrade the ability of your ships - and yes, the AI utilise this too.

For quick cash, head out to Sothis and Ceos, it's a bit of a trek, so take a fuel scoop. It's farming, but it makes cash.

Combat is still possible, it's just harder, you have to be a bit more smart with the fights you pick and it's always a good idea to have an escape plan in place.

Don't fly without insurance.

[Kanoe]

No didnt get Horizons, if I end up paying regularly I may fork out for it.

What do you mean by 'Don't fly without insurance'? Is that something you have to buy now, thought it was automatic?