Elite : Dangerous

[Gerrard]

The Type-6 is probably the tipping point from making more money on trade runs then rares. The Cobra on the other hand is pretty well suited to trading rares (reasonable cargo hold plus good range).

Managed to get my Clipper. Took a while getting the ranks and a couple of goes taking down a Clipper in my Viper (bloody rammed me the first time...) for one of the ranks. The size of it has meant a couple of problems; can't dock at outposts and I now have to wait for NPC traffic when undocking. Unless it was large ship, I was always able to squeeze the T-6 through!

I guess I'll start trading in Fed space to start working on their ranks.

[kalniel]

Nope - You have to factor in mass, gravity and all sorts!
Elite has always been the thinking man's space sim, without taking it to über-nerd levels like certain others did!

I assume you've played the tutorials and read the manual?

Lack of pause doesn't really have much to do with that though - some people like to think but would also like to be able to get/rescue/feed the phone/cat/baby

[Lowe]

Escape, Quit to Menu.

[Ttaskmaster]

Lack of pause doesn't really have much to do with that though - some people like to think but would also like to be able to get/rescue/feed the phone/cat/baby

I thought he was talking about finding trade routes and using in-flight menus...

couldn't see normal trade on the docked menu

It's in the left UI panel, under Galaxy Map - There's a tab where you can show/hide trade routes by commodity type or even individual commodity.

Used the jump system, very odd that I ended up flying around at super-speed rather than just putting in a destination and getting there (maybe I did something wrong?).

Nope, nothing wrong - Planetary bodies are forever moving, as well as the systems themselves, so the easiest way to navigate is with the Nav beacons centred on each system's primary star. This also adds the challenge of different distances to each station...
Hint: Don't ship anything to stations in Alpha Centauri - Everything is bloody miles away!! Seriously, last time I fell for that trick it took over an hour to reach the station, going almost 2000c

Pulled up next to a space station and had to google to find out how to use the in-flight menus.

Most of that is covered by the manual (link in the Launcher), but I find playing around with them (early on when it doesn't matter) also helps!

As mentioned, best pause is Esc to Main Menu.

[Gerrard]

It's in the left UI panel, under Galaxy Map - There's a tab where you can show/hide trade routes by commodity type or even individual commodity.

You can also look in the system map (via the Galaxy map) to look at what each station imports and exports. Also, when you buy and sell stuff in the Commodities Market, the info pane to the right shows systems you can buy/sell from. However, you may need to have visited the system/station first to build up that trade information. I think that's what the option in the galaxy map does for 100cr as well.

Hint: Don't ship anything to stations in Alpha Centauri - Everything is bloody miles away!! Seriously, last time I fell for that trick it took over an hour to reach the station, going almost 2000c

This is the one thing I remember from Frontier Elite II; it took ages to get anywhere in Alpha Centauri. In fact, it seemed to be the rule for any systems with more than one star. For this game, be weary of any station not orbitting the top star as it will probably have a similiarly large distance.

Final bit of advice; research what to do when interdicted. I wasn't even aware of it when it first happened to me, so had no idea what to do.

[DanceswithUnix]

Final bit of advice; research what to do when interdicted. I wasn't even aware of it when it first happened to me, so had no idea what to do.

My first ever FSD flight to a nearby station in the same system got interdicted. Wasn't impressed. Seems that I naturally did what you are supposed to in order to fight the interdiction, but in a starter Sidewinder with a noob at the controls I was there for ages. It was late, I wanted to go to bed, so mid interdiction I just rage quit.

[outwar6010]

This is supposed to be a very good money maker

http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteTraders...ris_right_now/

[Gerrard]

I did that run for one evening in my T-6 last week and made 3mil. I know it was that much because it goes on your statistics as Smuggling and I haven't done any proper smuggling. As someone pointed out, the risk/reward for proper smuggling isn't worth it.

[Lowe]

Finally got my A rated a viper thrusters. Should have done this a long time ago, such a huge difference. Need to shift a bit more lard and then look at some beam lasers to wreck shields

[Kanoe]

Need to shift a bit more lard and then look at some beam lasers to wreck shields

They sure do, combine them with plasma accelerator cannons if you can.

Beam for shields then cannon to chew through the hull. Works a treat and some of the smaller ships with no hull upgrades can be taken down in 1 double cannon hit once the shield is down.

[Lowe]

I'm only poor haha! Don't have hours to spend trading so make all my cash bounty hunting.

I'm currently running medium pulses underneath and gimballed cannons in the smalls for hull. It's working well but beams look cooler

[herulach]

Couple of gameplay questions if I may as I got suckered into watching a Scott manley video on this and though I might like it.

How does flight control work? Is it 'proper' space (side strafing direction independent of velocity ala tachyon) or more flight simmy (banked turns etc.

Interdictions - are these QuickTime type events to stop an ai ship spawning or are they there before players can attack too? If its the latter are they always escapable even if you're in some craptastic cargo ship and they're in a tricked out fighter?

Controls - I've a ps3 eye and ir headset clip already, but will I need the millions of controls on a stick people seem to be suggesting? I have a thrustmaster t-flight already)

Progression/levelling. I don't expect to be able to climb straight into the best ship, but I equally don't want to spend 5 hours ferrying sausages so I can get my +2 furry dice of leaving the start sector.

I'd check reviews, but they seem to be pretty evenly divided between it being the best game since pong and David braben being the spawn of Satan come to steal offline gameplay forever.

[GreenPiggy]

For progression, you can be into a decent combat ship and bounty hunting very quickly - sidewinder is a decent combat ship then eagle then viper. Cash grinding via trading is really only for the purposes of getting monster ships like an Anaconda

[Lowe]

OK - one by one...

Flight - both. It's known as Flight Assist - when it's on, it's banked turns, WW2 style dogfights. When it's off, you have semi Newtonian flight. I say 'semi' because you can bank turn etc with no damping/inertia. However you can't go beyond your ship's maximum speed regardless of flight mode.

Interdiction - it's a mini game. Interdictor has to keep the enemy ship in the centre of the screen for a certain amount of time. Interdictee has to fly towards an escape vector. Whoever does the best within the time allocated to the process wins and either escapes or is brought out of super cruise with a bump.

Controls - head tracking is hugely helpful. I have 12 buttons on my stick and probably only use 10. POV hats are super helpful (for vertical/horizontal thrust).

Progression - depends on your career choice. Trading is the most lucrative but yawn... Bigger trading ships cost more to run though. Bounty hunting is doable (it's all I do really) but there's obvious risk of losing your ship and ammo for certain weaponry isn't cheap. That said it's possible to upgrade - I'm running around in a half decent ship and as said haven't done a single thing other than blow up 'baddies'.

[Ttaskmaster]

I'm only poor haha! Don't have hours to spend trading so make all my cash bounty hunting.

I make far more money running a decent trade route, far faster, than I ever did bumming around looking for wanted targets... I keep going back to it because blowing them up is fun, but it will be even more funnerererer when I can aford something with BIGGER guns!

How does flight control work? Is it 'proper' space (side strafing direction independent of velocity ala tachyon) or more flight simmy (banked turns etc.

Mostly proper. No banked turns unless you enable that in the settings, but even then it's very much 2-axis with strafe independent and yaw as an afterthought. Add in Flight-Assist-Off mode and you can star doing faster spins and things with a bit of perpetual motion/BSG kinda thing. Things like speed, mass and inertia do affect your flight as well.

Interdictions - are these QuickTime type events to stop an ai ship spawning or are they there before players can attack too?

Sort-of... It might feel like it, but that's just because you're instanced between normal spaceflight and Cruise flight.
However, if you're watching your radar you often see the interdictor zoom up behind you before they drag you out of Cruise mode, at which point they will be there ready to fight. I've notied several AIs interdict me, whose names I'd seen Cruising past me a few minutes earlier. They obviously fancied their chances...!

If its the latter are they always escapable even if you're in some craptastic cargo ship and they're in a tricked out fighter?

No, they are not always escapable.
The success of an interdiction depends on the piloting skills of both ships, as well as the mass of each. A massive ship will usually rip a tiny one out of Cruise with little trouble. The converse will also work, but only if the interdictor can keep the target in sights.

Once you're pulled out of Cruise, it's then down to combat skills - If you're in a 1-laser Hauler and they have a 6-gun Asp, put your head between your legs and kiss your tail goodbye... then run like billio - You'd better be a good evader!!

Controls - I've a ps3 eye and ir headset clip already, but will I need the millions of controls on a stick people seem to be suggesting?

Naw...
You can play with keyboard and mouse if you like... or even a console-type controller, if you're one of 'those'!

I have a £45 Saitek Fly5 which has 8 buttons, a mini-throttle and a single hat POV control. I map many commands to the keyboard and just use those 8 buttons for things I need quickly, such as guns and afterburner.

However, you may still find yourself *wanting* a CH Products HOTAS or a Thrustmaster Warthog, 'just because'!

Progression/levelling.

Don't think of it like that. The game is the fun part.
You can probably reach Elite within a couple of months quite easily. Just get a decent Eagle and kill a load of easy targets. However, there's much more than just levelling up.
Your ship is restricted to whatever you can afford and it's not always the biggest most expensive one that will win. You can do a LOT with just a little Eagle.

Focus on the gameplay and you'll progress quick enough. There is a bit of a learning curve to begin with, as there are a lot of features incorporated, but once you see how things work you'll get going up the ladder quicker than you'd think.

I'd check reviews, but they seem to be pretty evenly divided between it being the best game since pong and David braben being the spawn of Satan come to steal offline gameplay forever.

Certainly it's not a game for everyone.
The original Elite took ages to reach the top and even then, there were always more things you could do. This one I expect to be playing for years!

[herulach]

Thanks guys particularly the flight worried me a bit, most of the videos I've seen of dogfighting appear to be the WWII dogfighting style of combat which doesn't really fit what I'd expect. Possibly thats the best way to do it.

With regards to progression I was thinking more of mving ships and stuff rather than ranks. If the starting one isn't bad that allays some issues. Just was expecting to be in something that will get you one shotted as soon as you leave the start area.