In my In to the Void thread I posted my exploration stats, which happens to show how long I've played. It says 2 weeks, 19 hours, or 355 hours in all. Now it should be stated that a good portion of that is idle while I walk the dog or watch the Liverpool match, and all the while Elite is running. Be that as it may, it's still time recorded as play time.

If you take your current assets and divide by number of hours played, what's you profit per hour?

My assets are 230m. Divided by 355 hours and I've made a paltry 647,877 credits per hour playing Elite.

What's yours?

I don't think I can calculate that. The game doesn't keep time played does it? I know the Steam version does. Either way,I'm pretty sure I haven't done that well.

While it surely isn't much I have to say it feels like -400 quid an hour

I don't think the enjoyment of the game for me comes down to how much I can earn an hour. I'm currently working towards 200 million spare credits in the kitty (about 170 now) and I've been playing since 2015,although I have taken large breaks from it in that time. I'm not sure what I'm going to spend it on though but I'll keep amassing it. When I see certain players on YT that have billions of credits I often wonder how they did that.

It's just for fun.

Game time is shown on exploration stats in right panel.

Ok,I'll check it next time I'm in game

Like I said just for fun, I suspect that many will be more than double what I've managed to produce. But of course it's not all about money, and if you've spent much time exploring, then it's REALLY not about the money. Personally, I'm not concerned with what I am making per hour or whatever, just as long as I'm making some. I just thought it would be fun to see what everyone's answers were.

This forum has lots of good mechanical discussion. Best trade routes, good build advice, favorite ships. But little about how commanders actually spent their time. What they are doing. What they find fun, stories about their experiences. So this thread is a little window in to how other commanders are faring. Maybe.

I've managed a combat rating of 'competent' but now all my ships are unarmed. I fly with mouse and keyboard only though. To be honest I didn't enjoy the combat much,or mining, but scanning systems seemed a little therapeutic somehow.

My trade rank is 'Entrepreneur' and explorer rank is 'Pathfinder'. My CQC rank is 'helpless' 0%.

My Federation rank is 'Rear Admiral' Empire is 'Squire' and I have no rank with Alliance.

I have 251 million in assets and 528 hours of play so that's 475,378 credits per hour (if my maths are correct). I was exploring for a long time though

*Edited* Fed rank incorrect,not Vice Admiral.

Thanks Chucky. OK, let's expand the scope a bit

Assets: 230m
Hours Played: 355
Credits per hour: 647.887


I'm pretty close to you

Combat: Master
Trade: Broker
Exploration: Pathfinder (but not for long!)
CQC: Beyond Helpless

Feds: Petty Officer
Empire: Knight

Balance - 320,833,869
Assets - 882,593,354
Time Played - 3W 6D 13H 43M

Combat - Expert 33%
Trade - Elite 100%
Explorer - Pathfinder 11%
CQY - Helpless

Imperial Navy - Duke
Federal Navy - Read Admiral

INARA Rank - 6678

Works out to 665 hours and 1,840,943.021 credits per hour but I suspect I've earned more than that. I wonder if the game calculates everything earned or if I've "lost" funds through the donation missions I've done to rank up in Fed/Imp Navy ranks?

That's a fine return on your time investment Ice. Congrats on hitting Elite level, that's impressive. I just checked what it would take for me to hit Elite exploration and it's 307 million! I might be at around 60 million even after this trip. So that's still a really long way to go.

You mentioned Inara and I registered there when I began playing Elite. Isn't there a way to import all your stuff from Elite in to Inara so it displays all of you ships, and assets and all? I haven't worked that out.

When I am done with my exploration expedition I want to see how many first discoveries I may have gotten. I've seen players say things like 'I have 24,221 first discoveries' and I doubt they recorded them all by hand. So I assumed they were pulling this data from a place like Inara. I need to work out how to use it correctly.

Nice stats Ice! But then you've put the time in.

Does anyone have an end-game? I suspect not because of the nature of the game.

I'll keep plinking along.Maybe once I can afford a beast combat ship I'll start fighting again to work on the rank.

Well, I try not to think about that. There's no real end game, but I fear if and when I have every ship I want that the motivation may wane. But that's a long way off yet.

Personally I'd like to reach triple Elite. I'm level 6 out of 9 in each discipline. But it costs way more to gain the last three levels than it did for the first six. Whether I will play long enough for that to happen remains to be seen.

In the mean time I am having a blast. I try to mix it up, always shift in to a different gear. Trading, some sightseeing, then go gather some mats, make a SRV run, then a little bounty hunting. By always doing something different I can help stave off the grind. The fact that I am level 6 in all three I think shows that I'm spreading it around a bit.

So I have the Corvette and Cutter on my wishlist, and those are out of reach enough to keep me going.

Use EDMC, go to File - Settings - Inara and tick the box. On the INARA webpage, login, go to Settings (top), then INARA API (left side), and generate new key. Copy that key into the EDMC API Key window. Done.

It will update INARA depending on how you've set up EDMC to throw out the updates. I've set mine to delay updates until I dock.




Thanks Chucky! I would say 98% of my Elite time has been spent in the accumulation of credits, so that's a big factor I think I only went as far as a Cobra then switched to trading for most of my game time. I'd do some pew-pew and mining and missions, but again, mostly just to try them out then return to trading.



Mine was and is getting the ship(s) that I want. Right now, I can grind some more to get more ships in my hangar but now I'm thinking to what end? They'll just sit there. If my end-game is to have ships that are actually useful, then I've hit that as well as I've got a Cutter for mining/trading, Python for pew-pew- DBE for travel, and an Asp for exploring if I ever want to do that. I can grind some more materials to Engineer my ships, but at the moment I'm feeling end-game again so will most likely give this a rest. 500 miles wide, 1 inch deep.... or 1.5 inches deep if you include the Engineer grind.



For combat rank? You can work on it for as low as a Cobra. A Vulture is a very respectable combat ship as well. If you enjoy pew-pew, you don't need the expensive ships for it. If you like your tight turns and no drifting, you do not want the expensive (bigger) ships for it.

Ok Ice,I understand. I think that is a way off yet,I want moar ranks first!

I will ask again when I need a combat ship,especially a build guide,as it's not my strong point. I'm also a keyboard/mouse guy so I expect gimballed weapons is the way to go?

Some of the best PvP players I've seen fly and aim with the mouse and often run fixed weapons. It's actually easier than a joystick.

Start a thread with your desired ship or ships Chucky. You will get plenty of build advice I reckon. I will throw my two credits in.

I use gimballed weapons on all of my ships and not just because I am a poor shot. I like gimballed because it allows you to keep weapons on target while in lead or lag pursuit. Gimballed do less damage, but maybe they spend more time on target.

I have too much time on my hands!
Assets 1,849,745,889
Time 1,526
Cr per hour = 1,212,153

Combat: Elite 100%
Trade: Entrepreneur 10%
Explorer: Pathfinder 5%
CQC: Harmless 0%

Assets: ~ 1,300,000,000
Time: ~ 1,500
Cr per hour: ~ 860,000

I can't recall my rank numbers, but they are:

Novice
Tycoon
Pioneer

Systems visited is right at 10,000
Total distance jumped: 306,000LY

Not the best return per hour, so far as credits go. But I often spend loads of play doing things that don't pay any credits at all, but are (IMO) quite rewarding otherwise. And I've spent an easy 100,000,000 credits along the way, things like donation missions, ship transfers, and whatnot, all of which only consume credits.

Ranks for what?



What adlabs said. Also no need to wait, a cheap Cobra can be fitted nicely for not very much and will serve you well in pew-pew.



I'm impressed gaining that mostly through combat!

Thanks, that's really helpful, and I will get this done after returning from my exploration expedition.

Plus, I can use this to import my builds in to Coriolis. I stopped using that as soon as I began engineering, but if I can simply import my builds that would be great.

Haha, I just passed 1,000



You're making more than me! It doesn't matter one bit if you're making a lot or making a little, as long as you are enjoying what you're doing. I know you already know this

I've spent hours scanning wakes, or driving the SRV around and that makes not a bit!

Wow Wingy, nice! Elite combat rating must be the hardest to get? How many bounty claims have you turned in if I may ask?

Yep, I drive the SRV for hours, too. Part of why I enjoy the Keelback for exploration lately, is that I can take a fighter along for this same role. They are so fast and maneuverable, it's a joy to zip along an interesting landscape, right down close to the surface, while my ship awaits safely above.

Yep, having fun is good enough. If what you're in to is paying space ducats, all the better. If not, so what, there will always be money to be made down the line.

Has anyone here reached Elite exploration rank?

ED Shipyard is what you want. You'll find out about Coriolis' shortcomings once you start plugging in Engineer and Experimental mods.

Thanks for the tip.

Just made it to Vice Admiral One rank to go...

Whoohoo!!

Congrats Chucky. You'll be running the Federation before too long.

I'm now @ 62% towards top dog.Hopefully by the day's end I'll be there.

I thought it would be more of a slog to be honest. I'm running all the Rep +++ missions I can find,no planetary landings,they take too long.

Not sure if I will go for Empire or Alliance next. So many 'goals' in this game to achieve as long as you don't mind a bit of grinding. I see there is no rank for Alliance,is that just a case of achieving 100% and that's it?

Empire all the way, right? I mean, look at those ships!

Nothing to do with alliance aside from reputation. Maybe down the line there will be Alliance ranks.

Do you have a Corvette?

And done!

I don't have a Corvette just my trusty T-9 and Asp Explorer. I'll be looking into new ships soon!

Congrats Commander GG, and yes, let's get some of those space ducats spent! New ship time!

Chasing ranks doesn't appear to be very profitable (I don't do combat) unless someone knows different? I also don't carry an SRV so surface missions are out too. I guess I'll just have to continue the rank grind and then have a massive trading session to get the credits built up.

I can afford a Corvette (just) but no leeway for making changes to it and I don't want to sell either of my ships.

So which ship will you buy? The Orca is a fine beast, I'd say

There's no money in ranks, no. But at least you can walk around saying you're an admiral, and that's cool. I bet the chicks dig it. When you're down the pub in your admiral's uniform you must have to fight them off

I started this thread 10 days ago, and since then I've made an additional 110 million, almost exactly half of what I had made in all my Elite time previously. So that changes my profit a touch, but I don't want to say by how much or it would reveal how many hours I've played in those 10 days.

No rank progress, but have gotten exploration to 70% Ranger, so just two and a bit explo ranks to hit Elite now. But that is like another couple hundred million just to go through those last two levels. It won't come quickly, but I am making progress. Gotta get that permit.

I just had a look on Coriolis and a decent Corvette will set you back about 700 million! 700 MILLION!!!!

That was so scary I had to quickly close the browser lest I be scarred for life

That's more than twice as much as I've made the entire time I've played the game.

I'm going to rank up the Empire as fast as possible. And yes,some of those ship builds are staggering.

I've moved my base to Empire territory for the ranking grind and requested my T-9 be delivered to my home station. That cost 750,000 cr!

I'm really happy atm because over the last 2-3 years I've been in a gaming wilderness,unable to commit to anything. Now I'm fully committed to E:D and loving it

Awesome and it's nice to have someone else fighting the good Imperial fight! Or the Imperial trading as the case may be....

Where did you choose to put down your stakes? I've been in Dvorsi for the past couple of weeks.

Is there by-chance an Imperial ship you're looking to get? I'd like to get a Clipper at some point to try it out, and of course a Cutter some day.

Dvorsi? I'm about 34LY away in Inupiates

No ship list for a while until I get the rank done.

I was doing donate missions for ranks so not only was it not profitable, it was draining my bank balance!!


Buying that thing is just the tip of the iceberg! I'd like to get a Corvette now but don't want to sell any of my existing fleet.

Why we're neighbors. 34 light years is 'just 'round the corner' in galactic terms eh?

For the moment I've transferred my transportation company to a tourist economy, in Yaque, chosen for it's economy and high pop. Players are always saying these systems are best for sightseeing and transportation. It seems sensible, though I wonder if these systems are more destination than departure hubs. I'll hang around a bit and see.

Not much progress to report, though I've been making good money. Made about 200 million over the past couple of weeks mostly doing sightseeing and boom time deliveries, with some bounty hunting and bubble exploration thrown in.

Exploration rank is now at 92% Ranger. It's slow going, but almost to Pioneer, then one level to Elite! Umm yeah

Promoted to CPO for the Feds and to Lord for the Empire.

The Lord promotion came about quickly. I had found some really good stackable boom time deliveries at a station 8 light years from my home station. Enough to fill the 188t of cargo hold on the Python. At the delivery station, 4 light years from home, I could grab as many biowaste deliveries as I could carry right back to the previous station. So I ran the one-jump loop several times and got a lot of rep out of it, even if the lingering scent means no passengers want to fly on the Python, but that's why I have an Orca Went from like 50% Knight to 50% Lord in about 2 hours, plus plenty of profit. The fact that I have stayed around here for a while (Dvorsi) is really paying off with high rep with many local factions and the missions are paying a lot better.

Despite stating earlier that I was burned out chasing ranks,that is what I've been doing. After topping out in the Federation I'm now an Earl in the Empire. Another rank to go and I can have that Cutter I've been drooling over. Hopefully by tonight's end I'll be a Marquis. All I need now is more credits! Much,much more.

Nice. Congrats on the promotions.

The Cutter eh? Yeah, I also have this ship as a goal, but am further from one than you are. It's almost always the most-flown ship at every CG, so there's gotta be something to it. So I just ran a quick trader build on Coriolis, basically A-rated and cargo racks and shield boosters. Pretty impressive at 544t cargo (and obviously can get more), but I'd be pleased with that.

Total cost 616 million. That's a lotta space ducats! And you could easily put another hundred million in to it with different outfitting. So yeah, I know what you mean when you say you need more credits. If you're a trader, it would sure open it up for you.

This is what I threw together, no engineering and pretty basic.

Basic Trading Cutter

Re-buy's 30 mil haha.

I see I left the class 1 lasers on it. Oh well, seven freaking hardpoints anyway.

When you complete the level below Elite, are you Elite? Or do you need to complete the Elite level too?

If I go from say 99% Pioneer to Elite is that it? Or do I have to go 100% of the Elite level as well?

Oh yeah, I went to Pioneer Explo rank last night.

Once you finish the last level and are promoted, you are Elite.

And the last level is Pioneer...? (not Elite)

Thanks

For Explorer, yes.

Apparently my game time is 6 weeks, that is a full 1000 hours.

Of course a large amount (probably 3/4) of that was not active play time, but wow! I alt-tab a lot when playing and have left the game unattended when I've been called into work at least twice.

Current assest - 425.8 million (+Chieftain and Python)

Spent on ships - 1.23 billion
Outfitting - 544.9 million
Repairs - 1.7 million
Fuel - 640,000
Munitions - 752,000
Insurance claims - 30
Claim costs - 20.3 million

Hey SDE, how's things?

Where did your money go? Shouldn't your assets reflect the value of your ships plus the cash on hand, minus repair/ammo/fuel/claims?

I mean I would expect your assets to be over a billion, if you've spent that much on ships.

Have you done any Elite lately, or still Paradoxing it?

I've only just restarted with Elite, was looking for something 'new' I'm in a place called Teorge, checking out 'Listening Posts' whatever the hell they are they.

I made a point of purchasing and testing every ship (at least until they started to release rank-locked billion credit monsters like the Cutter) but most ships I fly are things like the Cobra and DBX. So that might explain the credits.

Well, happy to see you giving it another go. I really enjoyed your Elite Beautiful thread when I was thinking of getting the game.

I really need to get back into taking screens now that we have proper camera controls. I had about 40-50 still in a folder somewhere, think I deleted them at some point.

Yes, please do

Quick test of camera controls, what a #%&*$# to set up.

I am really liking the new Chieftain!

At last! That Empire rank-up to King really dragged on. I think I'll get that Explorer rank up next,then the Trade rank.
What benefits do you get by getting friendly with the Alliance?

None that I know of. I am Friendly with the Alliance, 75%. Got that when I bought the Chieftain and hung around for a while bounty hunting. I've noticed no benefits whatsoever, and I don't think there are any.

Congrats on King, that's a nice achievement.

Nice ship SDE. I had one of those, ended up selling it to finance another ship, the FDL I think. But I will buy another, and engineer it and see how she flies with some extra whizbangs. Engineered thrusters and weapons could make that ship quite deadly (not that it isn't already). And lord knows it could use some shield love.

As for myself.... no rank progression of any kind since the last update. Combat rank is just so slow to advance. I go out, shoot down 20 ships, and maybe I've gone up 1%. No problem with this, as an achievement should feel like an achievement. But it is slow going. Trade rank should go up soon, as I've been taking a lot of boom time deliveries lately.

Exploration rank is at 8% Pioneer. Since hitting the new rank I've done mostly other stuff, but this is the one that's going to get me in to Founder's World. My short term goal is hitting Elite. My long term goal is a Corvette I have decided. The description of the Cutter says something about how it performs the same sort of role as the Corvette, but surely that's incorrect. And since I am not much of a trader, as I find it a bit boring, the Cutter can wait until I reach such a point that I have to do something with my mountains of cash, and may as well pick up a Cutter

But the Corvette seems more my style, more combat centric. I have yet to buy any Fed ship actually, I can afford any but the Corvette. Maybe I'll pick up a Gunship. I've messed around with the fighter in my Keelback, but it's not something I want to take in to a RES site. But the Gunship would be fun to use with the fighter in actual combat. To facilitate all of this I've moored at Daedalus in Sol and working on Fed rep once more. I chose this system and station because every faction is Fed-aligned, unlike most stations that have more or less a split of superpower-aligned and independent, which means some missions gain no superpower rep. Plus I already made lots of friends here, so not starting from scratch. Currently 50% CPO.

I find the Fed ships unappealing visually, but I know they are quite capable combat craft.

It's more than a nice achievement, getting both superpower ranks maxxed out is fantastic actually, congrats Chucky

I hope to do that eventually too.

Now how about a new ship?

Wow congrats Chucky, that must have been one hell of a grind!

I do have to laugh at the ranks though, the thought of some random spacefarer being given control of an entire planet just cause he hauled enough bio-waste. Unless titles have undergone severe inflation over the centuries. Perhaps local fast food managers are referred to as Dukes and the IT department have their own princedom...

Thanks guys. I have to have my laptop open next to me so I can watch Youtube etc.It helps a lot.

DBond,yes I really must put something else in the garage but what? I have a good trading ship (T-9) and my Asp does me proud but something I have noticed recently with it (I think I upgraded the shields a while ago) is that the shields don't seem very durable. They drop to nothing even if I hit the docking port and not that hard. Although I avoid a fight by evading every interdiction, when I did get caught scooping up some boxes recently they went down so quickly I had to get out quick. I'll pop up the build shortly and maybe someone can point out my folly.

I'm looking for ideas for a ship mainly because whilst ranking up I noticed I missed out on some juicy missions because my Asp only has 68 cargo.

Here's my requirements...

Has to be able to land on Outposts.
Cargo needs to be 150-200.
Needs good shields and has to be manoeuvrable.
No weapons or defence required.
Reasonable jump range.
Docking computer is a must.
No SRV module required.

If anyone is screaming 'T-6'! I know,that would do it but I had one for ages,I just want something else. No multi-billion credit builds though,I'm just a poor space traveller,trying to scrape a living etc etc

*Here's my Asp build,be gentle,I struggle with ship configuration.

CORE INTERNAL

1A Military grade composite
3A Power plant
5A Thrusters
5A FSD
4E Life support
4B Power distributor
5D Sensor suite
5C Fuel tank (32)

OPTIONAL INTERNAL

6E Cargo (64)
3C Bi-weave shield generator
3B Fuel scoop
1C Discovery scanner
1C Advanced discovery scanner
2E Cargo (4)
1E Docking computer
Planetary approach suite

I might suggest a Python as your next ship. It can do it all. I call it a merchant cruiser. Mine is pretty highly engineered and it is awesome. Last night i was interdicted with a hell of a lot of gold on board, and even that heavy I killed the Deadly FDL that interdicted me pretty easily. With a class 5 scoop and 6A shields I can still carry 184t in it. If you are willing to go with smaller scoop/shields you can pack even more cargo on board. And as a medium pad ship you can take any mission. Jump range will not be all that great unless you engineer the FSD. My Python in trader trim (mostly cargo racks installed and with G5 FSD with Mass Manager) gets 32 jump range.

I must add that it may not qualify for your maneuverability requirement with un-engineered thrusters.

As to the Asp, I like your build, and if it were mine I might make just a couple changes.I run a 5C Bi-Weave on mine. This is always a matter of opportunity cost. Do you want more cargo, or better protection? But I don't use my Asp for haulage, so it's easy for me to put a class 6 scoop and class 5 shields on it. I don't need the cargo space. Of course engineering would gain your class 3 shield some additional strength and resistances. Shield/cargo dilemma aside, I would definitely swap the life support for 4D and the distributor to either 4D (if it's enough) or 4A. B-modules are the heaviest. You'll be better off making a change there in my opinion.

I'd also drop the armor, but that's just me. I don't have armor on any of my ships.

You might consider some shield boosters too, but if you are running so small a power plant you probably won't have the headroom for those. I try to have 200mj as absolute minimum for portside bumps, and 300's even better. You won't get that out of a class 3 shield though.

A follow-on note to my moving to Sol. It appears that no missions actually go TO Sol. I usually try to pick up some missions to take back home as I run around the nearby systems. Some data deliveries or small cargo runs. But I guess since it's a permit-locked system, no missions are generated to go there. Kinda sucks.

To make up for it though, every time I return to home a High Grade Emission USS pops during the short supercruise from star to station. That's awesome.

When I first logged in last night I checked the mission board and saw a boom time delivery. 120 tons of gold, 11 light years with a 10 ls arrival. For over 5 million! Sweet. Those I like

I'm not stalking you DBond,but I just rocked up to Sol myself

Cool Chucky, the more the merrier, stop down the pub and I'll buy you a pint Which station?

Do you engineer? If you do, or if you even think you may want to down the line, be sure to scoop up the goods in any High Grade Emissions USS that pops as you travel around the system. These mats are quite valuable (for mat trading that is)

It's a wonderful system of course, as it should be.

Can't remember the name,but the nearest station to the jump-in point at Sol.

I have resisted engineering so far but I have it on my very long 'to do' list.

The explorer rank-up looks very tedious,I'm about to click over to Ranger and I don't fancy the 40,000,000 credit grind to Pioneer at all,let alone almost double that to rank out at Elite. The problem is I just can't 'explore' for extended periods like I did when grinding Fed and Empire ranks. It's just too boring. I just had a session as I made my way from Inupiates to Sol (around 15 jumps) and that only netted 1.2 million. I don't scan asteroid belts and I don't scan anything that is 'stupid Ls' away unless there is a large amount of bodies there. Is there a way to tell what is worth scanning in a system before starting?

At times,I'm surprised I've got as far as I have with next to no clue what I'm doing half the time

I've since swapped those shields out on the Asp,I'll test them later by running into something solid.

That's gotta be Daedalus, same station, we should start a PG.

Don't forget that sightseeing missions also contribute to exploration rank.

How averse are you to using third party sites? I ask because here I talk about one easy method to get quality systems to scan.

Run a few sightseeing missions, then run a bubble exploration, another sightseeing, and your rank will increase in short order

That's the one.

Third party sites? I love them. I used Thrudds for trading until it was discontinued. I now have http://www.elitedangeroustrading.com and https://eddb.io bookmarked for when I start trading again. I really struggled to use the info you get in game to work out a good route. Most of the galaxy map features are a mystery to me. I just plot a route with it and that's about it. I do need to find Alliance space so I can work towards getting all the permits sometime.

PG? Private group? I'm really a bit of a lone wolf I'm sorry to say.

Haha, yes, that's fine.

OK, you're in Sol, at Daedalus. So, using that site in the post I linked to, I suggest you plot a path to here

Scorpii Sector GR-W c1-13

That single system will be worth more than the whole trip you mentioned. Gonna have to pay it a visit myself!

Sorry, I'm making sh!t up as I go apparently. I long ago swapped the Bi-weaves in the Asp for a 5D. I did it strictly for the jump range. This is G3 reinforced with fast charge. Even engineered it's still only 200 mj, which I think is absolute minimum I want out of my shields.

I also think I put the wrong mod on it. I should go with enhanced low power I think like I have on the Orca. Eventually I'll make that change. I have four empty utilities and could run some boosters, but I'm just going for range. Here, I just removed the SRV (hence an empty slot) to get back to 50 JR to head to the system I linked to in the last post. I'll let you know how it turns out. Maybe you beat me there already

I haven't even figured out where it is yet. What sort of range is it from where we are?

It's about 130 light years. For my Asp it was three jumps. You can paste the system name in to the galaxy map search box with Cntl-V. If you use the Road to Riches site I linked to you can click the planet next to the name to save it to clipboard, or just copy it from my post a little further up.

It was worth the trip. This system was worth 3m, and I then went to a second, and honked several other systems and netted about 6 m in all. Took about an hour and a half all together. Now at 12% Pioneer, getting there slowly but surely.

I see here is it exactly 137.54 light years

This is one fast Asp

As mentioned in the exploration thread it was certainly worth the few jumps to get there

Wow,that Asp is damn quick! I guess it must be engineered?

Haha, yes indeed.

Actually, it's a shot I took when I needed to run the FDL's thrusters out to Palin (400 light years) to add the Drag Drives experimental. With the Asp X getting double the range and then some, I just took the FDLs thrusters and stuck 'em in the Asp to make the trip, then returned and mounted them in the FDL.

My Asp is normally a little slower (and much cooler!)

Finally, some tangible progress to report.

Promoted to Warrant Officer in the Federation, and to Entrepreneur trade rank.

Combat rank still coming along slowly, a little at a time.

Good news CMDR! I don't think I'll ever reach Elite combat rank though. I'll have to make do with Trader and Explorer as my targets to complete.

Yes, it's slow going. I read that only ships that are of a higher level than you count toward rank. If that;s true, then once you are going for Elite, only Elite ships count. That would slow it down even more. I'm at 80% Master. I've turned in over 1,500 bounties and I'm still a long way away.

One of the guys here is Elite combat rank and I asked how many bounties he had turned in to get there but got no reply. It must be a hell of a lot.

I'm a mouse and keyboard player so I'm not sure if I'm at an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to combat. I always used gimballed weapons.

My first reaction is that mouse and keyboard has to be harder, but I have no idea.

About the weapons.... I have a Evenstrain Cougar and I too use gimbals. I don't use them to make hitting the target easier, but to be able to hit the target when in other than pure pursuit. Fixed weapons get more raw damage for sure, but I think gimbals spend more time on target.

Last night I hopped on late, around 10 PM and decided to bounty hunt at the CG for an hour. Got such a great spawn that I ended up staying for 3 hours. Turned in another 6 million for the CG, but more importantly perhaps, advanced combat rank to 89% Master. Hitting Dangerous level is a goal since it will open up the Engineer Lori Jameson once I also hit Elite Exploration rank and get in to Shinatra Dezhra. So that's 3 hours of near constant combat, probably over 60 ships destroyed and only 9% rank advancement. And that's only at Master. Sheesh.

Yeah,that's not something I want to do tbh. Early on I figured out that combat isn't my thing.

I have 3 goals now. Reach Elite in Explorer and Trading and rank up with the Alliance. Oh wait,4. I want to make a billion credits.

I really enjoy the combat. The rank is just arbitrary anyway, but it gives me a goal. I'd still be flying combat even if there were no combat rank at all. It's fun. I enjoy outfitting ships and engineering them too, and combat gives me that whole thing to consider as well when doing the builds. If you're not in to it that's cool, and one of Elite's strengths is allowing the player to go about things however he sees fit.

As for my goals.... I want to hit triple elite and own every ship in the game 'Bout time I bought a new one anyway lol. I'm on eight, so yeah, gotta spend some space ducats.

Got to alliance with, err, the Alliance yesterday. Nothing comes of it as far as I can tell. Now up to 30% Pioneer. I still can't get over how Chucky made such short work of this one

I may have an advantage over you. I'm single and retired. I put in 3-4 days of nothing but scanning planets using the Route to Riches tool.

I did notice that although the tool may only list a certain number of bodies to scan,there were others that were worth scanning as long as it didn't drag me too far from the listed ones. Plus,because of my jump range I often had 3-4 jumps to get to the next system the tool listed so I scanned those on the way. Also,I got really good at it so there was no wasted time. Thanks once again for putting me on to the tool DB

Exploring is also really profitable! There are no expenses involved.When I decided to grind the Fed and Empire ranks I started with about 175 mill credits. After I finished I was at only around 200 mill thanks to all the free Rep+++ missions and the hand-outs. Pushing through Ranger and Pioneer added around 300 mill credits.

Yes, don't think I didn't notice that bank balance.

I won't take this opportunity to suggest a new ship lol.

You may have more free time, but it's more that you dedicated yourself to the pursuit, beyond what I am capable of. Hats off to you Chucky sir.

Man, all that money and so few ships....

Considering that my gaming time has waned recently,I also surprised myself that I was able to do it. I blame you of course

Blame accepted, of course. And happy to have done so. Without you, I'd be basically talking to myself 'round here.

Well damn,I'm back in E:D right now. I can't leave it alone. I'm working on getting access to Sirius so it's off to Avik to rep up with the Sirius Corporation. That's pretty close to Sol btw assuming you're still there so if you need the permit that's where to go. You'll need a ship that can land at an Outpost.

Already got that one mate

Here's what I did.....

You need the Sirius permit to gain access to the engineer Marco Qwent (power plant and distributors). Marco will also tell you about the engineer Professor Palin (FSD and Thrusters), once you hit grade 3.5 rep with him.

Palin requires that you have flown 5000 light years from your starting system before he will talk to you. I did this first. I then used the explo data and sold it at Sothis, which is controlled by the Sirius Corporation. Got allied with them there, and then to Davy Dock in Procyon where I got the Sirius system permit mission.

I then needed to run a few missions that had Modular Terminals as the reward '(to unlock Marco), but this isn't needed for the permit.

So bottom line is, if you have any explo data left, find a station controlled by the Sirius Corp and get rep up that way. Then find the permit mission and it's done.

Yeah,I should have kept some explo data for just such an occasion but all I had was a couple of hundred thousand left. I may go explore for a while to get it because atm the Sirius Corp have me running around looking for commercial samples out in the middle of nowhere.

I'll be honest I didn't know why I was unlocking Sirius,I just saw it was blocked in my contact list and thought 'this looks like a challenge'.

Most of the permit-locked systems are nothing special, in my view. But if it's there....

I unlocked it for the engineer really.

And yes, the route I took was so I did not need to run missions for the rep. Short-tracked.

As I mentioned elsewhere I think it takes roughly 6m to go from neutral to ally. 6m is peanuts for you.

Promoted to Dangerous combat rank.

I'm slowly making my way up the rungs

Not far now then! What ship do you use for combat?

It depends, I use several.

Lately it's been the FDL. But I sometimes use the Courier or the Python.

The FDL is the only ship I currently have fitted as a pure combat vessel. I have two configurations

One for CG bounty hunting and Combat Zones, and one for assassinations.

This is my FDL in assassination trim

Takao

In RES and CZ hunting I swap the FSDI and scoop for 4D HRP and MRP. And I probably have nudged the weapons further down the engineering path since posting the build on Corilolis. But it's still mostly the same. Fast, agile and hits pretty hard. But as with the Python, no armor. With Bi-Weave shields over 1000 mj it's going to be really difficult for the NPCs to collapse it. And once I get around to further engineering the shield boosters it will be even better protected.

I think I'll be buying an Anaconda in the next few days, so will give that a go as well.

I completely forgot about my Vulture. Oh man, poor thing. Gotta get it out of storage and give it a whirl. I need to experiment with some different weapons on that ship. That one is also pure combat of course.

I was going to post a link to my Inara ship hangar in case anyone might want to check out any of my stuff. It appears you need to be logged in to see other commanders though. However while searching my Commander's name I came across this

https://inara.cz/search/?location=search&searchglobal=sinisalo

Looks like I have some checking out to do, and maybe a new home!

I used a Vulture for a while,it's probably the ship I did most of my combat in. After that I stuck to mostly multi-role ships.

Yeah, makes sense.

As my fleet grows I have essentially designated specific roles for all of my ships. This keeps them used, and useful. And cuts down on the re-purposing.

Keelback -- Planetary Lander. Outfitted with SRV and ship launched fighter. Used for raw material gathering and canyon joyrides in the Taipan

Asp X -- Deep Exploration and part-time module shuttle

Courier -- Mat gatherer. Used to investigate USSs and scan wakes

Vulture -- Bounty hunting

Python -- Multi-role. Used mainly for boom time deliveries, and other trading missions. But is sometimes reconfigured for assassinations and bounty hunting

Fer de Lance -- Combat, all types, bounties, assassination, combat zones,

Orca -- Passenger missions. Mostly sightseeing, some transport

Diamondback Explorer -- Bubble-runner, exploration, taxi. 60 jump range is sweet

That's a lot of ships! I have 2. But then again I only do at most 2-3 of those things you listed.

Now, what am I going to use an Anaconda for?

All of that? lol

The answer to the above questions is, yeah pretty much.

Earned Baron rank in the Empire, and can now buy a Clipper, but I spent all my money

I can also gain entry to Summerland now, wherever that might be. Sounds pleasant anyway.

As far as individual missions go I think I had my most profitable one to date today. Deliver 3 consumer tech just 3,600Ls for 4,095,868 credits with a time bonus adding a further 450,000 credits. I could do those all day

Wow, I've never gotten a bonus like that. Well, maybe that's not true. I think since all the ones I paid attention to were so small that I stopped paying attention and just ignored them.

Last night I took two boom time deliveries, each for about 180 tons, one short jump (less than 11 light years) with short arrivals to planetary bases, and each were for 5m+. The highest paying boom timer I can recall was for 9m. The highest paying mission I did of any kind that I can recall was 13m for a sightseeing trip.

4m for just 3 tons is fantastic, since you can pack so much more on board along with it.

Ranking up the Alliance wasn't as big a job as I thought. It's that Elite trade rating that has me worried. 1 billion credits? Anyone got there yet?

Awesome stuff there Chucky.. Triple Allies! The galaxy loves you.

I know you said one of your goals was to have a billion credits. I suggest however that you scrap that idea and just go for 1 billion in assets which will free you to buy lots of ships

I'm toying with working on the trade rank but repeated runs can get very very boring. Plus,did I mention,it's a BILLION credits?

It may finally be time to explore other things the game has to offer. Engineers. Tea with the Thargoids. Maybe a little combat. I want to see a black hole (is that possible?)

I'm worried I may have burned out on the game a little. I may even have to go outside!

Yes, this is and I know where to find one if you want spoilers. It also happens to be in the same place you'll need to go to kickstart the whole engineer thing. Two birds with one stone.

Promoted to Ensign in the Federation. Can buy a Gunship now. And I might just do that once I decide it's time to hire a minion. That's one part of the game I have yet to try.

It will be a while before I attain any further promotions, as nothing's beyond 50% and getting more costly to raise all the time.

I'm sticking with the new save and enjoying it quite a lot.

I got into a Cobra quickly and raised the cash for the scanners. A quick exploration run gave me 26 mill to pimp the Cobra to the max (I think I have anyway) and rep me up at Sol.

That's the thing when you know the ropes,you can make money pretty fast as a 'noobie'. It probably took me months to make 26 mill when I first started.

I also have to report that last night I destroyed my first ship for about 2 years,could be longer than that. Submitted to interdiction and thought 'not this time' you ruffian.

Can someone run their eyes over this build please? Particularly the weapons and utility mounts. Don't forget,I'm not engineered.

2F Burst Lasers x 2 (turreted)
1G Multi-Cannon x 2 (turreted)

1C Shield Booster
Point Defense

Speed 304/434

Jump Range 19.06/20.09/21.07

Congrats on your victory

Personally I'm not a fan of turrets, especially so on smaller, maneuverable ships. They do less damage, and depending on which mode you run them in, your chance of hitting a clean ship is much higher with turrets. But my reasons aren't your reasons, and they are perfectly viable if you're willing to accept the drawbacks. Maybe with mouse and keyboard they may even be best, I dunno.

Shield booster. Why a C? If limited on power yes. But if you have the power to spare I'd swap for an A. Point defense is situationally useful, but I'd swap it for another booster personally. Extra mj is always useful, point defense only when missiles are inbound.

I do however like the burst laser/ MC combo.

Speed looks good. Jump range too, but I recall at the time I sold my Cobra it was getting 23 unengineered, so I think you can still increase that a bit if so inclined.

The shield booster was pushing the power limits,this was before I got an A power plant. I'll rectify that and see if I can get 2 boosters.

*edit* Just one A booster puts me up to 15.61 (available 15.60). 2 takes it to 15.81.

I'm running a 4A power plant and 3A power distribution. This looks like a fine balancing act which I've not mastered just yet.

Yeah, I can dig it and that's a good reason. But......

I haven't seen your build, do you use Coriolis? You may be able to reduce draw by swapping in a D-rated life support and D-rated sensors.

And do you use module priority? You can go over the power limit, usually up to about 10% with the proper priorities.

(written before your edit)

As you know I like building ships, so I couldn't resist.....

Cobra Mark Three

This build is well under max power, with two boosters, bi-weaves and gimballed weapons. I guess you are running a 4A shield generator? That's fine yes, but draws a lot more power. I was going to indicate the module priority but when I saw it was well under max power I didn't bother. However, what you want to do is put non-essential modules on lower priority. Like the FSD, fuel scoop and doodads. Make sure to fly out of the station and deploy hardpoints to make sure the ship doesn't shut down when you do so. better here than in combat

Edit: Forgot a fuel scoop

I did prioritise certain modules but I didn't know about the 10% thing. That's good to know.

I will look to swapping to D life support and sensors and yes,I'm running 4A shields. I'll also look over that build and see what you cooked up. Thanks for the guidance,always appreciated.

Ok,that worked! I can now have 2 x A shield boosters,power draw is 103% although I don't have the Bi-Weave shield generator,just the std 4A one.

I also did a black-box mission and I've got it sorted. It was the ship,not me.Scooping in the Cobra is so much easier. I dodged in and out 4 times to get the cargo and never lost a single % of hull integrity. I'm almost a pro

I say 10% but that's approximate. If you add the percentages of the stuff you're shuffling to lower priority than your combat modules it usually adds up to around 10%. It will be different with each build.

Great news on the black boxes. Glad you got it sorted.

When I activate hardpoints I lose the docking computer and the fuel scoop.I can live with that This is probably the best equipped ship I've owned and it only took me 3 years. I'm looking to be proficient in engineering by 2020.

That's awesome, feeling connected to your ship makes for good gameplay I think. Did you give it a name? The Cobra is a fantastic ship, I've always thought of it as the Python's little brother. Of all the early ships it's the one I hung on to the longest. I'll pick up another at some point, just to engineer the crap out of it and see what it can do.

So I whipped this up. A Cobra with some engineering. Pretty good. Speed is 441/631. This ship would be the fourth fastest in my fleet for top speed after the iEagle, Courier and the Orca (just 4 m/s slower) and the third fastest boost speed after the iEagle and Courier. 35 jump. Poor shields though. And not happy with thermal resist, a bit low. But that's a really good ship for 6 million.

Cobra Mark Three with Whizbangs

I think I may stick with the Cobra to see how far I can get. At the moment I'm working towards another 'Elite' status in exploring. I must be mad.

I called my ship 'Flounder'

No reason not to stick with it if you feel connected to it. I sort of envy that actually, as I am constantly switching ships. In any given night I'll have flown 3 or 5 of them. And a second point is that ships remain my goal most of the time. I find it difficult to formulate other goals aside from ranks. I know myself, and I know that once/if I reach triple Elite and have all the ships I want I will probably move on as I will lose my motivation to progress.

It's the same in RPGs. I find that if I play one and happen to reach max level before the game is over then I usually don't finish it. It's the progression that appeals I suppose. I don't grind and I don't focus on any one thing which helps keep it fresh to me, but I doubt I'd play much if I reach that point. And frankly I pretty much have the ships I want already, which leaves ranks as my main motivator at this point.

Reached a bit of burn out, which is expected with the amount of time I've put in to it. Haven't played Elite in two weeks. But we are to get the second installment of Beyond later in the month with a new ship! The Alliance Challenger is a heavier Chieftain from what I can gather so any new ship is worth a look. Plus the other new stuff that comes with the update, which frankly I don't give two hoots about, unless some of it has yet to be revealed.

I was just thinking the same,very quiet.

I'm still beavering away in my Cobra,trying to make Elite. I did feel a little burnt out myself last week. Then last Friday I had a little incident getting out of the bath and went over on my a$$,twisted my right knee and bruised all up my left side. Not content with just the one fall,3 days later I went down again in the bedroom. No further damage but it didn't make things better that's for sure. So,more or less confined to the house, I ended up playing E:D. I think I can explore with my eyes shut

Haha yeah, not so long ago you made a comment about how we really woke this forum up, which was true at that instant, but within days it was dead again. I guess most folks can only take Elite in small doses

I'll be back, just a short break to recharge. I still have to hit Elite somewhere along the line so I can see how the rich people live.

I'm happy to do 3 hour shifts as long as I have my laptop open next to me. Then I have something to watch during the boring bits. I would say that exploring is at least 75% boring

I am just coming back after a ~3 years hiatus from E:D; when I left, there were no engineers, surface landings, Thargoids, ... Ranks Expert/Ranger/Dealer.
So here I am now two days back, with ~15mio cash, my old Cobra Mk3 (and somewhere also a Lakon T-6), and try to get a grips of the latests do's and don'ts...
Consider unlocking some of the engineers, stocking up credits, doing missions, ...

And the game already bites me again: took two massacre missions to kill Tjindjin Gold Hand Gang members, an easier one, 33 harmless or some such, and a more challenging ~85 expert to kill, both 7 days to complete, iirc. After ~3h patroling the Tjindjin system (Nav beacon, USS, Resource sites, ...), I have killed a grand total of two of them (at least counting for both missions...) - theTjindjin Gold Hand Gang faction is at 0% system control and lockdown... And as I have just learned on the FD forums, apparently not all of the very few ships of them around actually count for those missions, only those tagged as mission target do.....
So I guess I might still try for the easier mission, and just skip the other.

Oh, and in case someone wonders, I also accepted a ~3 years old friend request - I think it was Ice, iirc :

Yeah those missions are too difficult to complete, it takes too much time to find the qualifying ships in my opinion. I took one of these in my early days and haven't done so since. All of my bounty hunting is done is RES sites now.

Welcome back to Elite!

Indeed, played all evening and I am now at 10 targets destroyed, all by interdicting their supercruise - I guess I must consider myself lucky that I have two missions with the same target faction active... I will complete the 33 this weekend and afterwards terminate the other. Well, at least all the ship scanning in supercruise gives me a lot of data.

I never computed my Elite time in terms of money, but instead fun. Alas, the days of great robberies has passed and I had to move on. Still pop in now and then but it isn't the same.

Well,the Chuckster has burnt-out on E:D for the moment

I did briefly consider starting another new game and go Elite in a Sidewinder but... no. Now I need to find something else to play but what?

Subnautica

I am afraid i am a sad Bastage.

Assets :6.998.371.365. :confused

Credits pr. hour: : 1.551.401

You do the math on time used.

Bear in mind that ED often is running with me absent.

Edit: I forgot

Combat rank : Elite
Trade rank : Elite
Explorer rank: Ranger
CQC : Helpless

Federation : Post Comander
Empire : King

Dayum. That's about 4600 hours? You must enjoy Elite

What's your favorite ship?

Like I said, ED is often running when I am doing other things so the hours are probably less. I hope.

Most of the time I fly the Imperial Cutter. Slow to handle, but large cargo hold.
With a fighter hangar, I`m pretty happy with the ship.

I think it's the same for most of us. I've let my ship sitting at the dock for hours while I watch a footie game or cut the grass

I've not owned a Cutter as I don't have the rank. Someday. My brief break has now extended almost a month. I will probably give it another go when the new update drops next week.

I'm in the same boat as you DB,I think I overdid it a little. Can anyone summarise what's in the new update? They have a livestream just started but I can't be bothered to sit through the whole thing.

There are three things I am aware of off the top of my head. New Alliance ship, heavy duty Chieftain essentially. Hull tank. Wing mission changes, who cares. And the Thargoids have the ability to repair each other or something like that. I guess I haven't been paying close enough attention. Not sure there is much more to it, but I recall a 'redacted' feature or change that could be anything.

Or, here ya go

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/429972-Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Chapter-Two-Release-Date

Thanks DB. Nothing to get me excited unfortunately.

I am going to have another go at No Man's Sky to see if it's improved since last year.

After spending the past few days mining cores, and reaping the generous rewards, I thought it was a good time to dig out this thread and see how things look now

When I posted on April 9, 2018 these were my stats

Assets: 230m
Hours Played: 355
Credits per hour: 647.887

Combat: Master
Trade: Broker
Exploration: Pathfinder (but not for long!)
CQC: Beyond Helpless

Feds: Petty Officer
Empire: Knight


A week short of one year later (including an eight-month break from Elite)

Assets: 1,789,730,030
Hours Played: 823
Credits per hour: 2,173,754

Combat: Dangerous 27%
Trade: Elite
Exploration: Elite
CQC: Still Helpless

Feds: Ensign
Empire: Viscount

Core mining is a game changer of course. So much so I'm shocked this is FDev we are talking about