I finally made it out to Colonia a few days ago so I could unlock the two engineers in that area and engineer my fuel scoop. I'm now currently en route to the center of Sagittarius A!

*shudders* The thought of a trip like that....
Don’t know how you guys do it.

Panzer,
What ship did you use for th Colonia run?

A Type 9 Heavy with a max jump range of 30 ly.


I like it hardcore.

Not to hijack, but y'all should try Star Citizen this week--free fly event! If interested, let me know and I'll hook you up with how, plus a 5000 credit starting bonus.

I would have jettisoned myself before I even got out of the bubble in a T-9. That's it boys, I'm outta here! I cain't stands it no mo!

As for Star Citizen..... it's tempting, but I don't want my first exposure to be while it's so half-assed. There may be fun to be had, awes to be had, but there's a lot of frustration baked in as well, and I'll pass once more. I've been interested in it for years, and I'm critical of CIG. But I plan to wait until it's ready, if that ever comes to be.

There is much to be impressed by with Star Citizen,but you are right Mr Bond,sometimes it's hard work in its current state.

A T-9 Panzer???? Yeah,why not

I like reading your posts Chucky as I mentioned in another thread. It's a window in to the state of the game. Comments from folks like you, who I feel I 'know' in some sense, are more valuable than any from random dudes on the net. So keep posting, I'm reading

For example I learned of the existence of Area 18 from your post, then googled it to see what it's all about. Looks really cool and I want to experience that! But I feel compelled to wait as I've said.

Enjoy the trip, Panzer. It was fantastic when I finally arrived at Sagittarius A*. The view is awesome, but the sense of scale even more so, for me.

Thanks adlabs! I'll be continuing the journey today. Yesterday was all about auto racing and Borderlands!

Congratulations on getting there! A T-9 at 30ly? Well, that tells me your a man of infinite patience. Best wishes on your travels.

Hahah! I remember back when I made my trip, before engineers even existed. My 30LY Asp Explorer had very long legs!

I'm less than 90 jumps away from Sag A. I should get there later today or by tomorrow at the latest.

Congrats PM. It's a pretty awe inspiring sight...just wish there were some accretion rings

Long trip, bon voyage.
I did the Colonia- Sag A dogleg recently, but I cone boosted in an 80ly jumpaconda,. which gets to Colonia in approx. 95 jumps. It's easy to forget fuel stops doing that so I carry a class 7 aux. fuel tank which means I only need to scoop 4 times coming back from Sag A, about 110 jumps at 250 ly per. A 3A afmu will just provide the 5 fsd repairs required.

My next trip will be to Beagle Point but not for a while. I'm still enjoying doing lots of combat in my Federal Corvette.

So tomorrow is the big day for me. I'll be leaving the Sirius system in my Asp Explorer and starting my journey to Beagle Point which is just a mere 65,285 LY away.


Wish me luck!

Happy trails, PM!

Whew. Better bring a sandwich!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 65,285 oh my God the patience of this man! :dizzy :duh :exitstageleft
: :

Good luck out in the black.

Thanks guys! I'll be stopping first in Colonia to visit some engineers and to take a break from all the FSD jumping before I continue on to Beagle Point.

I should dust off my Asp Explorer which sits in the hangar since last early autumn. I'm just shying away from learning the new scanner....

KS,
The FSS and DSS are quite simple and easy to use. Makes explo more immersive, imho.

I put all of the FSS and DSS commands on the X Box controller and I must say it works splendidly for me.

Like Bo says, there isn't much to it and you ought to give it a go and see how you get on. After an hour of mapping and some trial and error you'll be all set. Exploration pays way more now and the new mechanics are an improvement in my view.

Hm,

this sounds quite interesting, I`ve bought a Bluetooth XBox controller a few weeks ago (I tried the Steamlink App on my Samsung Smart TV, works, but my WLAN is too slow, need to get the TV into the LAN, I think), must buy a BT adapter for the PC.

Does ED support multiple controllers, I already have throttle and stick from my HOTAS?

Greets

Karsten

Yes it does. The controller just lays on my desk until I need to use the suites and I pick it up, scan away, then set it back down and return to the Cougar for normal flight operations. The mini-sticks are perfect for panning the camera and the triggers work well for zooming in and out.

I avoided the FSS and DSS for a long time. It doesn't take long to be proficient with them... as long as you are ok with the mind numbing repetition

If you can Engineer the DSS it makes the Surface Scans so much quicker. Again, I avoided this for a long time but shouldn't have...

Exploration brings in a lot of credits... see note above on mind numbing repetition.

The thing that I'd suggest for you trip to BP is an alt account. On my trip back from BP, I stopped for a while and started playing my alt account in the bubble to break up the monotony. I think they're still on sale now too, so if you don't have one...

How long are you anticipating the trip out and back to take? I'm asking because we have fleet carriers coming up...

I spent a couple of days in the Colonia region to meet up with some of the engineers and I'll be leaving for BP today when I get home from work! I can usually do pretty long sessions so I should be in BP by the end of this week. I plotted the course already and it's about 46,000 LY from Colonia to BP.

Finally arrived in Beagle Point on Saturday. I'm just over 65,000 LY away from the SOL system right now.


Now the fun of heading back home......

Congrats, that's an accomplishment.

Enjoy the flight home.

Thanks! I can't wait to see how much money I'll make from selling all of my cartographic data!

Nice work Panzer!

Maybe as a ballpark number, with my scenic trip to Colonia via the Formidine Rift 5th April- 30th May last year, I travelled >114kly and visited >2500 systems mostly fully FSS scanned (>32k scanned), plenty valuable planets also by DSS (>1900 mapped) - the data collected earned me >3 billion. But I am not sure whether they somewhat adjusted the exploration income; I heard they did something to mining, but exploration, idk...

Grats PM! Don’t know how you xplo guys do it. I hate to think of a trip that long. I’ve been doing the Wingy Loop Method (tm) the last month or so in order to get my rank up. Hit Elite in xplo last week which was a huge surprise since I mistakenly thought I still had another whole rank to go after I finished the one I was grinding. A nice pleasant surprise, indeed! Now I just have to grind they the last %42 in combat to be triple E.

Thanks! I'm heading back to Colonia now. I'm about 16,000 LY away (250+ jumps). Once I get there I'll sell all my cartographic data before finally returning to the bubble.

When you get back, gives us a shout if you feel like some co op action. Combat , mining, whatever. We’re always ready to assist.

Thanks for the invite! I'll let you know when I'm back "home".

Do you guys play on Fridays or Saturdays? I should be able to show up those evenings.

Friday and Saturday there is usually at least 3-6 of the group logged in. Wingnuts or The Nephilim will have to add your Cmdr name to the PG as I don’t have that admin ability. Next time your logged in, send a friend request to anyone of us and we’ll get you sorted out. Post your Cmdr tag here so we know who to look for regarding the friend request.

Actually, I think I’m getting my Squadron and PG privileges confused. AFAIK, only the PG owner can add members. Either way, friend request one of us and we’ll get Neph to add you.

Will do! Thanks again.

Yeah it's more of an any day sort of thing. Folks are on any and all times. It's a good group PM, you should join up.

Speaking of squadrons and stuff, I think I noticed Bo and Wingy were both pledged to the same power is it? I've never paid a whiff of attention to the BGS. What's the deal there? What are you guys doing and what's the goal?

Did you ever make it back from the black PM? What was the final tally on explo data?

The PP stuff is, for me , just so we can get access to some unique modules. We were pledged to Archon Delaine for the Cytoscramblers. I’ve been pledged to others for Prismatic Shields and Imperial Hammers. Currently not pledged to any power as there is nothing they offer that tickles my fancy. The BGS stuff doesn’t really interest me. In fact, the only time I worried about it was when Wingy’s home system was threatened by another minor faction attempting a takeover. I did help out repulsing them a little.

I see, thanks. I've not gone for any of that stuff.

The PP stuff is wicked easy. Usually it’s run x amount of y so that you have a high enuff rating. Then, at the end off 4 weeks you can purchase the PP specific module. Once you leave that Power, the modules are NO longer available to you. I just buy a number that I think I would need in the future. For example, I must have purchased around a dozen Prismatic Shields and stored ‘em.

Yes, I got back to the bubble last week and I ended up making about 250 million from my cartographic data. I think I now have about 3.3 billion in my treasury but I won't be spending it for now since we have no clue how much those carriers will cost when they are finally released.

Nice haul.

I won't be buying a carrier, but maybe I can park on yours?

Thanks Bohemond, I could get my groove on with Prismatics no doubt. Maybe I'll look in to doing one of these.

Should I be embarrassed to admit that I pledged myself to the Aisling Duval mostly because I think the princess in charge of that faction is smoking hot?

No. Cause she is

Yea, the pledges were for modules only. After qualification I buy a group of that module and leave the power. I use the type 10 for storage at Jameson.

DBond I can say that for a dedicated Medium Ship guy, the Vette performs very much like the Python (after engineering that is). PVP there is nothing that can harm you. I was using it to haul cargo for a while.

Lately I'm at a loss for what to do. I think I've got the bank for a Carrier, and when I get it it'll be for everyone to base out of. We'll see when it comes out.

This has been my experience as well. I have a better FSD jump range with the Python but I have more firepower and more armor and shields with the Vette. I still have my fully engineered Anaconda but it handles like a pig compared to the Vette.

Very generous Wingy. Maybe they've announced a price tag, but I'm thinking 20 to 30 billion. Even you don't have that much

I'm sure the Vette is a fine ship and thanks to both of you for the info, but she ain't on my list at the mo. I have no desire to engineer a ship from scratch any time soon. Maybe some of my Conda modules would fit it. That's sold and they're collecting dust in storage. And I'm Ensign rank and not getting a promotion in the forseeable future.

Maybe a Mamba. It's a looker.

I think you’d like the Mamba, D. Nice aesthetics, fantastic view from the seat, and fast. Not nearly as nimble as the the Krait, mebe a lil better than the Python. For me, what let’s her down is lack of internals and utility slots for a pure combat build. In order to hit my minimum jump range of 30 ly, I’ve only mounted 2 shield boosters neither of which are heavy duty. Also, some of my engineering choices had to go with stripped down to shed mass. All this leaves me shy on shield mj.

Given what I know of your preference for speed demons, I think the Mamba would suit you well nigh perfectly.

Ya know what? I haven't done any PP myself but if I were, I would probably be doing the exact same thing!

Speed is life

Yeah, I like me some fast whips. I reckon my Courier is the fastest ship at SimHQ, but I haven no idea really. I'll claim it until someone proves me wrong lol.

If FDev removed engineering tomorrow I'd probably double my fleet.

Yeah... lately me too. For the last few nights now I crank up STEAM, EDMC, calibrate my stick, but never quite start ED. Then when I DO, I tool around doing some cargo missions and a few Assassinations and call it a night.

Maybe I will do the PP for the Cytos as another goal. Funny. During the whole Engineering grind for the Corvette I thought "PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER SO I CAN HAVE SOME FUN". Then it was over, and I felt like there was nothing much to do

COMBAT ELITE is the last big milestone, but I can't seem to muster the patience for long stints at CNB's...

I'm currently combat rank "Dangerous" and 14% towards the next rank. Yeah, it's a grind for sure!

I'm 78% Deadly....been stuck in the 70's for probably a year.... Ironic considering COMBAT was pretty much ALL I DID for the first years of ELITE. I was excited to get a Federal Gunship with a Fighter Bay and nursed my Fighter Pilot to ELITE....then found out that half my Combat XP was going to her. Didn't matter much until getting up in DEADLY rank when the XP were much fewer and farther between. Started leaving her home when I got the Anaconda and now the Vette. She still collects 10% of my Credits, but at least I can gain a percent of Combat rank if I dedicate a night to a CNB with a lot of ELITE ships to kill...

I think most of us are in the same boat. The VO rush gave us all the cash we could need and Elite in Trade. Getting the ‘Vette kinda made combat passé with little risk. The biggest hole right now in Elite is the lack of the good old CG’s, imho. They were always a good excuse to log in and tear it up with the crew.

Recluse & Bo glad i'm not the only one feeling that way. Bo, I agree the lack of CG's is disappointing and combined with where most of us are gives us nothing to do. I look fwd to the CG.

Recluse, dump that leach! He's taking points away from you every kill you make. I don't remember how many bounties it took to make that final jump to Elite, but it was a lot.

No worries, she sits at the bar in the Crew Lounge. I don't even have a Fighter Bay in the 'Vette any more. They don't take XP unless they are out in the fighter during combat, but to be extra safe she stays in the bar. She still takes 10% off the top in credits, but at this point it isn't really hurting much. Maybe I will find a good CNB tonight and spend some quality PEW PEW time..

So I just jumped into Elite. Noticed that I had a "HOT" Cobra Mk III parked at Shinrarta Dezhra. Went over there, got the Cobra out of storage and took her to an Interstellar Factor to pay off the fines. Back to Shinrarta, where I noticed I had crappy Thrusters and Shields, so I A-rated them (barely cost anything) and did some remote Engineering on the Power Plant and FSD. Blast from the past. Cobra Mk. III...you never forget your first love

I agree! Awhile back I put the Vulture and Cobra mkIII back together. I've got the Cryptos on the Cobra with kick a$$ Multis that do wonders. Vulture is fun as well. We should have a gathering where we all use our small ships at an CNB

I'm all for that Wingy. Cobras and Couriers. Vultures and Vipers. Eagles and err, iEagles. Small-ship combat is fun. Bo and I did a little dual-Courier bounty hunting back in the spring. I've been flying my Courier the past couple of days, taking on Condas and the like. This assymetrical warfare is a blast. It takes a while to kill a ship lol, but it's fun when ACM is actually a thing. When firepower invalidates maneuvering it's effective, but not quite so much fun.

The Courier is so fast that I black out quite often, locking my controls for a few seconds. But literally doing circles around the furball, slashing through it for attacks like I'm a 109 attacking the bomber stream, is good stuff. Add to it the fact that I AM vulnerable for a change, and it all adds up to the most compelling non-PvP combat Elite offers.You won't rack them up at the same rate, but for me at least it's a lot more rewarding and fun. If we do something like this count me in. Zoom zoom.

Not much enthusiasm for a small-ship event it seems

Velocity is fueled up, ammo belts loaded in case this changes.

I think it would be good fun....it could happen..

Define SMALL SHIP... I was looking at my FAS in DRY DOCK and was thinking of doing some Engineering on it. Or would that be cheating?

Also have Cobras and Vultures, again, not Engineered beyond some Grade 2 legacy PP and Shield mods

I'll leave it to the majority, but I would define it as small-pad. Any ship that can land on a small pad would qualify like those I listed above. Of course there are more, but I doubt anyone would be bringing a Hauler

These are the small-pad ships

Adder
Cobra (both)
Courier
Diamondback (both)
Dolphin
Eagle (both)
Hauler
Sidewinder
Viper (both)
Vulture

Cobra or Vulture would work for me. We might want to have Regeneration Sequence Engineered beams because Shields will probably be falling all over the place

...or is that cheating?

Yeah, the Vulture's the meta here I think, but I'll bring my Courier should the event get off the ground. I sold my Vulture anyway, but still have the modules. I've sold the Sidewinder, both Eagles, the Viper 3 and the Cobra too. Only other small ship I still have is the DBX.

Healing beams are fine as far as I am concerned.

I be down for some mini pew pew.

Tonight when I go into ED I'll make sure to send out the friend requests.

I got rid of all of my small ships a long time ago and the only medium sized ships I have are the Asp Explorer and the Krait Phantom. Both of those are my dedicated exploration ships.

Sinisalo is the name. Feel free to add me PM.

I kinda wish I had not already built my Courier. Then I'd have a reason to engineer a new ship. Having a purpose in Elite is gold.

Will do! Thanks.

CMDR Adam Carlo


Yup, all of the handles I wanted to use were already taken.

CMDR ED_Recluse

Sounds like you need to build a small fighter then

Wingy and I jumped into the High Res in I Carinae with our Vultures. Ripped through everything we came across. Those little ships sure are ZIPPY and no slouches at Combat.