The crazy thing is all that stuff should be IN THE GAME! not in some third party external app. The amount of information the game does not give you is simply staggering. I’d never design a game like that, and it mostly enforces the strong feeling the game was rushed out.
Elite: Dangerous is the often game of Why? (and If Only?) = Frustrating. I’m hoping for some serious additions/fixes with the expansions.
It is in the game, Zak. It’s one of the first GalNet bulletins available to read. I saw it and made a note of it. If you’re talking optimal builds for certain roles, E:D isn’t doing anything different to any other MMO out there.
I am back to exploring. I think of it as fishing for planets. Did a nice 20 system there and back again run last night. The Cobra’s 18+ly jump range makes it pretty capable.
How much time and credits? I know it’s not the most efficient thing but I’m curious.
I’ve moved on for a couple months but I’m really itching to try this.
I think I made maybe 200K or so over an evening? It felt like maybe ~20% what I could make if I was trading or 50% what I would make mining.
KevinC
3766
What kind of scanning equipment are you running, Rod?
Intermediate system scanner (couldn’t afford the advanced but I think I can now)
Surface Scanner
I also gutted the ship of weapons but made sure I had some heatsinks onboard which came in handy when I wandered too close to a star one time :)
Intermediate really is pretty poor tbh.
conVurt
3768
The advanced discovery scanner really takes the fun out of exploring, IMHO. It reveals absolutely everything in system, at which point exploring just becomes a process of pointing your ship at something and getting close enough–boring busywork, essentially. In some ways it’s even a liability, especially if you have a personality prone to trying to be complete about things. You’ll find busy systems of objects to scan that take you 20min just to reach, that you might never have known about otherwise.
I tried it out for a bit and then went back to the intermediate scanner. It’s more fun when you can be surprised, or have to figure things out, or even just explore an area for a bit, instead of just charging up the “find everything” button.
By all means, you should play around with the advanced scanner to see what I’m talking about, just know that you can always go back.
Thanks conVurt , interesting. I will bear that in mind. yeah it WAS kind of fun as I left one system looking at a chain of ‘stars’ thinking " hey they look like moons orbiting a very distant gas giant." 3 mins of frameshift drive later there it was :)
What’s the range on the intermediate scanner? I must admit, I love the thrill of spotting that single star that appears to be moving slightly against the background.
conVurt
3772
Basic is 500 ls, and intermediate is 1000 ls. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s 8x more volume, even if most of the stuff you find will lie on a plane. The intermediate scanner is worth the upgrade, as lots of systems will have planets orbiting 2000-4000 ls or farther out from their parent star, and even with a 1000 ls range, finding them isn’t a gimme.
I upgraded to an Asp last night, selling my Type 6 and Cobra, and downgraded to the basic discovery scanner – honestly I am not sure the difference between the basic and intermediate in range is worth the quarter million credit difference; if it’s outside your range you’re still going to have to use parallax to spot the thing, and once you’ve done that you can just fly towards it (and at that point, an extra 500 Ls doesn’t really matter because it’s slightly more flight time that you’re going to have anyway if you want to scan the things). I agree that the advanced scanner takes the fun out of exploring, but I will probably end up getting one (once my Asp is tricked out with everything else, which looks like it will be a while, seeing as how A-class equipment looks like it runs 5M CR for that ship).
My biggest problem with exploring is that the asteroid belts evidently get you nothing, but having “unexplored” things on my navigation screen bugs the crap out of me. :P
I finally pulled the trigger on this! My Thrustmaster T-16000M won’t be in my hands until Monday due to (I assume) weather related delays earlier in the week, but I’ll use my 360 controller to learn the basics and get acclimated over the weekend, and that might help me set up the stick itself a little easier, maybe. Watching the tutorial videos from the main page now!
I put about an hour in! It’s really fun, even using the 360 controller seems fine (though I don’t really have any baseline, so when the Thrustmaster arrives it will be interesting to note the differences after a weekend using the controller) and I managed to complete the first four combat missions without any difficulty (once I got a handle on what button does what) and the docking, launch, and systems training missions. I then went out in my own ship for real, and after just jumping to a few systems and wandering around I managed to deliver some aluminum and make 4k CR, which was an incredible feeling, absurdly.
E:D is so incredibly pretty, and immersive - just the act of piloting around is pure joy. I can’t wait to get back in.
My god… maybe I’m just terrible at this game. Nine hours in and I’m up to a whopping 13k credits. I’m hopeless at combat, mining is clearly not for me (after 2 1/2 hours, I finally scraped together enough bits to sell one piece of urannite for 1,200c–no thanks), and now I’ve been trying to find some sort of decent trade route, but so far almost the only thing I’ve ever come across in high supply is hydrogen fuel, and with four cargo spaces (eight if I ditch my shield generator), that’s not exactly going to do much good.
It’s frustrating because I find myself thinking about this game so much when I’m away from my computer and am excited to get back and start playing, but then I feel like I just bounce right off it and it seems to be doing everything it can to sap my enthusiasm.
schurem
3778
Try doing fed-ex missions for your first 50k credits. You get to see something of the galaxy and you get a toehold in the game. Also learn combat in the 2nd and 3rd training scenario. You really need to be able to do that in order to enjoy the game imo. Perhaps watch some of the vids they put out to explain the radar and stuff?
Two things.
1.) Try literally sitting still in space until an unidentified signal shows up. Investigate it. Repeat until you get a bounty for helping kill a pirate or an illegal cargo scooped up. Then go sell or cash in your bounty (stolen goods sell at platforms, never stations you have to go in).
2.) For trade routes use the galaxy map. Raise the population settings and find a refinery or mining colony. When you go there something will almost certainly be in high supply. Then find an industrial or high tech to go and sell it at (the metal or mineral will list which is best).
That should net you some decent money for the leg up you need.
I’ve done the first three combat tutorials, and while I can eventually kill the targets, I just feel so clumsy with aiming that it ends up taking me 10+ minutes to take down a target that isn’t even firing back. In the actual game, I don’t even bother fighting back anymore as I can barely get a shot off at them and just try and flee instead.
I’ll see about giving it a try at some more fedex missions. The last five or so stations I’ve visited either had nothing I could accept or combat missions, with maybe one sub-2k credit courier mission. Maybe I’m just in the wrong part of the galaxy?
EDIT: To clarify, I’ve done the first three tutorials inside the main game. I’ve gotten errors each time I’ve tried to download and install the Single Player Combat Training through the launcher so I haven’t gone through that yet.
