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#4327739 - 01/10/17 10:13 PM Getting back in...  
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- Ice Offline
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Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, I'd like to play this game again. Now.

I've been out of the loop for so long I feel like a n00b. A n00b with an Imperial Cutter and Duke/Read Admiral ranking (humblebrag! biggrin ).... hehehe... tooting the horn out of the way, can anyone give me a crash course of what's changed over the past 1-1.5 years?? God, typing it out, it feels like such a long time ago! I'm a little bit aware of Engineers, having ship-launched fighters, and being able to mod/upgrade modules now, but I don't know anything more or how to actually work with those new stuff.

Let's start out gentle... let's talk about two things I was most familiar with: 1) making money through trading/mining and 2) pew-pew for bounties on RES. What's new?


- Ice
#4327841 - 01/11/17 11:19 AM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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I'm in the same boat, Ice. There are a ton of little changes and big and I am totally clueless about them.

I know there are passenger missions now, I think you can store modules, there are alien artifacts and mysterious ships out in deep space.

I'd love if someone could give us a crash course though!

#4327863 - 01/11/17 01:39 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Or just do what I do,go around with your eyes closed and ignore the new additions. Engineers? On ignore. Factions? On ignore. Aliens? That may be hard to ignore,we'll see how that goes.

I'm old and grumpy,I hate change old_simmer


EV's are the Devils matchbox.
#4327896 - 01/11/17 03:45 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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I need prismatic shields so I'm screwing around with PP to get just enough merits. Clippers are far to weak these days. frown

The new patch is great. But I don't understand any of the implications beyond more ammo for my railguns, less heat for them, and these military slots for many ships that I don't have that can be crammed full of armor.

#4327901 - 01/11/17 03:57 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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What I've been doing with the new little changes:

Engineers: These are like car mechanics, they have a base on a planet where they make upgrades to various modules they specialize in. Grade 1 are the lowest performance upgrades, Grade 5 the highest. Often there are some small tradeoffs (heat or power use), but not terrible.

I have been enjoying a few of the lower end engineer upgrades best. They are fairly easy to get (once you have access to an Engineer that provides them) and give a decent performance bump. My favorites are FSD range increases, and shield generator improvements. The drive enhancements are also good for a speed boost. I just put Grade 2 shield improvements on a couple of my ships.

Ship-Launched Fighters: Pretty cool, if you have a ship that supports them. I use the Keelback (a personal favorite ship for many reasons). Not being much of a combat CMDR, I have used my SLF along with an SRV in my Keelback as a surface exploration setup. The SLF are super speedy and maneuverable, so zipping around on the surface is fun, while the Keelback simply follows along. I don't even hire an NPC crew to fly the SLF, I just let the Keelback autopilot follow me. When I find something interesting on the surface, I dock the SLF, land the Keelback, and head out in the SRV for a closer inspection.

Passengers! This is great stuff IMO. Fit a cabin, and find a mission. I enjoy them most due to them taking me place I've not been before. Seeing things like geysers or volcanic areas on planets, or historic sites in Elite history. Good money to be made, too. Just make sure your VIP passenger is not Wanted!

Plus, you can fit a cabin in any ship.

As to your specific questions Ice:

Making money: I just do what I like and make some cash. Trade is as ever. For the best rates on legal trade, find a system in "Famine" or "Outbreak" state, and supply the food or medicine for ample profits.

Mining is about the same, only Icy rings and asteroids are new (and beautiful to visit). Unfortunately, not much of value there, however.

On combat/RES... I'm not much into combat, so I dunno. I have built a fully combat fitted Fer de Lance and Federal Assault Ship to support my local minor factions during War states, but have yet to fire a gun in anger. Not sure whether I prefer the FdL or FAS, of course, without some combat experience. But I built one of each to compare them and report later.

Something that's an OLD feature but I've been enjoying more lately is the minor faction and Background Simulation (BGS). I've been supporting my "chosen" local factions for a while, helping them during elections (and if necessary some War Bonds) to gain control of stations and such. It's a slower, longer term type play, but good fun for me.


WARNING: This post contains opinions produced in a facility which also occasionally processes fact products.
#4327986 - 01/11/17 10:53 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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There was an exploit of stacking massacre missions for vast sums ie I have seen people claim 800m to 1.5 billion in a day but that was nerfed in the latest patch. I am sure there will be another money printing exploit discovered soon as I believe FD put them in on purpose to satisfy players who want quicker gameplay.

I haven't done basic trading since they introduced 2.2 that seemed to reduce the islave trading profits significantly.

Combat has probably got a lot more challenging since you last played. The NPC AI was made much tougher in a previous patch and NPCs use engineer mods now at higher levels. Also as FD constantly tweak the weapons and ships the weapon selection and tactics change. If you gained a high combat rank previously then you may be in for a shock as the NPCs are generated according to your level. I would start in a cheap ship again until you get used to how the game plays now.

As adlabs said passenger missions can be good if you enjoy the exploration side as they can send you to interesting sites and make 'exploration' a bit more profitable.

#4328004 - 01/12/17 12:41 AM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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I'm looking up passenger missions now, but they seem to require a good rep in the station you're at... which means doing stuff for that station...

Can someone confirm that "slave-running" out of Robigo is no longer viable? That was quick money with a good dose of risk and excitement.


- Ice
#4328177 - 01/12/17 08:14 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Okay, starting to get a handle on things now. Ironically, it was the VR experience that got me interested in Elite again but now that I'm back, I'm playing using my monitors again. Just can't beat multiple monitors for multi-tasking. I guess I'll be back in VR once I do those passenger missions and combat, but for trading and research, non-VR for me.

I've outfitted my Imperial Cutter for trading, 720T with a 14LY loaded jump range seems about decent. My Anaconda trade ship could jump further but it can only do 400T so for almost double the cargo capacity....


- Ice
#4328290 - 01/13/17 10:17 AM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Devon
Add a couple of HRPs in the military restricted slots for an easy boost to your armour. Even just 2 2Ds will add 380 armour for a cost of 60k and only 4t extra weight.

TBH you are probably better unlocking some engineers rather than grinding credits and then you can gradually get access to higher mods and collect materials and data. A reasonable grade 5 FSD range mod on your Cutter would give you almost 30ly unladen and just over 20ly laden.

Lower grade mods can give a useful boost to modules, build up your rank with the engineer and are very cheap in materials and hence easy to do. Especially with big ships like the Cutter where upgrading the modules by buying a higher class is very expensive lower grade engineer mods are a great way to get a boost to modules like power plant and thrusters cheaply.

#4328401 - 01/13/17 10:32 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: bailout]  
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Originally Posted By: bailout
Especially with big ships like the Cutter where upgrading the modules by buying a higher class is very expensive lower grade engineer mods are a great way to get a boost to modules like power plant and thrusters cheaply.

Expensive?? Surely you jest! I just purchased an A-rated engine for the lolz, I couldn't be bothered to transfer the change in my pockets to my bank account.... biggrin

On a more serious note, that 14LY range is bugging me with my current route; one of the jumps was about 16LY so the Trade Conda can do it but a fully-laden Cutter can't. I may experiment with engineers later on; I have a few [!] messages on my comms menu which I suspect are Engineers available to me. I did a few tourist missions last night and going back to my Asp, well, a 26-30LY jump range does make short work of the long distances needed for some missions plus the maneuverability is just plain awesome.... I guess it should be compared to the big-and-heavy Cutter.

I'm not too bothered with any more reinforcements on the Cutter as well. Current fit has a 6A shield gen with 5 OA shield boosters for a total of 1,007MJ (503MJ default). I've not yet come across an AI ship that has gotten through the first ring. I just submit to interdiction, boost away, and re-engage FSD. Not sure how this will fare against human CMDRs though...


- Ice
#4328413 - 01/14/17 12:32 AM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Originally Posted By: - Ice
going back to my Asp, well, a 26-30LY jump range


I am sorry to hear that, mine does 45ly wink

#4328421 - 01/14/17 01:13 AM Re: Getting back in... [Re: bailout]  
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Originally Posted By: bailout
I am sorry to hear that, mine does 45ly wink

You TEASE!!! pitchafit

How? Engineers?


- Ice
#4328464 - 01/14/17 12:26 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Yep, it has a grade 5 modded fsd that gives 45% extra range. Most of my ships now have something similar. My new Anaconda in trade fit will do 50ly unladen and 30ly with 400t of cargo. Even my Dropship will do almost 24ly.

The increased range fsd mods are well worth getting asap. Engineers can be a 'grind' if you start from scratch and work towards a particular mod, as I did when they launched for the fsd mod. However, if you start and do a bit now and then and collect materials as you go around doing other things it isn't too bad. After getting the fsd mods I did nothing with engineers for a while. Recently I have been gradually unlocking more of them and building rank inbetween doing other things like CGs, passenger runs, exploration etc.

It can also force you to do some activities that you wouldn't otherwise try. I have just been doing some combat as I needed combat bonds to first gain rank with a faction and then to unlock an engineer. I haven't combatted for ages as I am rubbish at it but I enjoyed it and it has given me a prod to get some tips and practise more in the future. I now have to provide gold to one engineer and mine 500t to get access to another. I have done virtually no mining in the game so far but keep meaning to. This will prompt me to equip my Clipper or maybe buy a python and go mining.

#4328465 - 01/14/17 12:39 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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I meant to add that it is worth collecting materials as you go around doing other stuff. Many of the materials or data you need for mods are created by rng so if you are looking for one that you need it can be frustrating. The forums will have threads giving details of the most likely way to find certain materials/data if you need to search.

However, if you investigate USSs as you fly around and check mission boards to see if any missions are offering rare items as rewards then you can build up a stock in a more gradual way and it won't be such a grind when you need them.

#4328511 - 01/14/17 04:52 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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See, but that's the thing about Engineers... you can get access to one that does FSD, get the materials, then the RNG messes with you and you end up with a crappy module anyway... at least that's how I understand them. I don't even have a clue about "grade"...


- Ice
#4328553 - 01/14/17 08:48 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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I've done a lot of Engineer mods, most all of them lower end (but yes a few Grade 5). And I've never got a module that performed worse than stock. Always an improvement.

Where it can get tiresome is like if you have say, an Engineering outcome that gives between 40% and 55% improvement, and your result is 51%. Trying to get that last 4% by repeatedly re-buying the upgrade can result in something less than your starting 51% (anywhere between the 40% to 55% range), but still better than stock.

Now after 20 re-buys on that same Engineer mod you got 53% improvement... But those last 2%! Keep rebuying and rebuying the mod shooting for it. Some enjoy this process, other wind up pulling out more and more hair.

I tend to take what I get the 1st shot, and play with it, so there have been zero headaches for me.

Last edited by adlabs6; 01/14/17 08:49 PM.

WARNING: This post contains opinions produced in a facility which also occasionally processes fact products.
#4328556 - 01/14/17 09:09 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Engineers may very well be the reason I am going to quit again.

Just made the long trip to one Engineer, but of course she wants an initial donation of meta-alloys, which can only be acquired in the Maia system, which of course is 29 jumps away (my FTL drive has a range of around 16 ly). Sigh.

Apparently in the E:D universe there is no such thing as a homepage, where she could have listed the initial requirement for her services, thereby saving me the labor of a 60 jump roundtrip. At least I could have flown to Maia to get those stupid meta-alloys before flying to her station. banghead

I have absolutely no desire to fly all the way to Maia and back!


Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
#4328565 - 01/14/17 10:03 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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16LY is a pain. Get yourself an Asp for almost double that range, makes jumping to far-off places all the easier.

I just might try out Engineers tonight. Is it worth having an AI co-pilot if I don't have fighters? adlabs, I can deal with the 51%, but I'll probably keep that module but buy another one to see if I can get better buffs. biggrin


- Ice
#4328567 - 01/14/17 10:13 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Jayhawk - here you go http://inara.cz/galaxy-engineer/1

Why not buy yourself a cheap mission ship with a better jump range ie Cobra, T6, Adder or even a hauler. What are you flying atm? FDL or FAS or similar?

#4328575 - 01/14/17 10:37 PM Re: Getting back in... [Re: - Ice]  
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Originally Posted By: - Ice
adlabs, I can deal with the 51%, but I'll probably keep that module but buy another one to see if I can get better buffs. biggrin


There is no need to buy another module. When you generate a mod 'roll' you then choose whether to apply it or discard it. Once you have applied a mod to your module you can roll again for the same module. If the second roll is worse than the one you already have you just discard it and keep the one you already applied. You need data/materials for each roll though.

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