5001

grumble I figured out way too late to look at my star types :)

Thanks for the knowledge on the Open/Solo.

Didn’t lose much, really, so carry on!

5002

Yes, you can stop in deep space, go to the main menu and switch modes anytime. T’is a thing of beauty.

5003

I finally got my joystick set up and the game all installed and patched up on my new machine and took my Viper out for a spin again. Well, I actually was already logged out in deep space near a nav beacon, so I buzzed over there to have a look.

Right away I noticed quite a few changes. It was telling me people were part of a wing, which I don’t believe they had last time I played. So I figure I would approach some random novice pilot and do a Kill Warrant scan on them and I was struggling to get my fire groups right. I could have swore that I had the proper scanner up and squeezed the joystick only to find my beam lasers start tearing up this poor sidewinder. 400 credit warrant! Ugh! I remember this, heh.

So I have to jump out and head to the nearest station that didn’t appear to hate me at the time and did manage to land the first time without scraping any paint :). I did have to take a good 10 minutes to scour the key bindings before doing anything, though, and make sure my joystick was set as close to the way I had it before as I could remember. That and I had to find the directional thrust keys and X for zero speed to assist in landing :). For some reason, though, I couldn’t pay and wipe my warrant out at the station I was at even though it was in the same system as the faction that put the warrant on me. Perhaps I have to go to their station to pay it.

Now I need to figure out what I should do to make a little money and ease back into combat. Before, I could go into just about any USS and fight what was inside, but it sounds like now that it may be a bit more of a challenge. Maybe I should just hit a nav beacon at first or an asteroid belt fighting area and get warmed up a bit. I would like to make some cash and try out one of the Viper upgrades at some point so any tips on making cash while fighting would be great. I remember reading you all talk about some big cash payouts for participating in the combat zones, and I used to do those a lot before I left, but never had any huge rewards for them. Back then it was still the 3k per kill bond thing going on or something like that.

5004

Fines and bounties have changed, as you noticed, and I don’t remember all the ins and outs. Check your ships transactions tab (where you see what missions you’ve taken, etc.) as your charges will be listed there too. Friendly-fire incidents now give you a 10-minute bounty that turns into a fine after that time is up and you jump out of the system. When you jump back in you should be able to pay it. Larger infractions like an unsanctioned kill might extend that 10-minutes to a week!

Now I need to figure out what I should do to make a little money and ease back into combat. Before, I could go into just about any USS and fight what was inside, but it sounds like now that it may be a bit more of a challenge. Maybe I should just hit a nav beacon at first or an asteroid belt fighting area and get warmed up a bit. I would like to make some cash and try out one of the Viper upgrades at some point so any tips on making cash while fighting would be great. I remember reading you all talk about some big cash payouts for participating in the combat zones, and I used to do those a lot before I left, but never had any huge rewards for them. Back then it was still the 3k per kill bond thing going on or something like that.

There are no combat community goals I’m aware of active at the moment, although you missed one this past weekend. Your best bet is, as you say, to hop into a Nav beacon or a High Intensity Resource site and to choose your targets carefully. You can also try a Hazardous Resource Site, but there is no police authority there and most ships travel in wings, so you will almost always find yourself outnumbered. The combat zones can be good because, while the payout is generally much less than what you’d get on a bounty in a RES for the same ship, you don’t need to use a scanner on anything and usually you are at most 10 seconds away from something else to shoot at when you splash one.

5005

Interested in one of those sexy imperial ships but weren’t able to snag one the month where imperial rank requirements were greatly lowered? Then this community goal might just be for you.

Emphasis mine.

5006

Thank you for the update, conVurt!

Is there an easy way to tell now where the current active combat zones are?

5007

There’s no easy way to find conflict zones close to where you are. However, in game there’s usually galnet postings listing conflict zones every week or so (but there’s no guarantee they haven’t finished.) But you still have to figure out which if any of these systems are close enough to you to be worth the trip.

Alternatively, take some missions which give you an excuse to fly through a bunch of systems (like a long-range hauling mission) and as you pass through each system, hit 4 to bring up the right side panel and cycle through to find info on the local faction influence. If you see listings of War or Civil War, then the system should have active conflict zones you can join.

Finally, and this might have been a total coincidence, but I just finished a smuggling mission to deliver battle weapons to a system that just happened to have active conflict zones. So possibly check the bulletin board for smuggling missions and make a note of the destination systems for missions asking you to smuggle weapons.

5008

Good deal. Thanks conVurt. It sounds like it is still the same way as when I last played. I will keep my eyes open!

5009

Turns out you may be in a spot of luck. A community goal just popped up to splash ships associated with Emperor’s Dawn in combat zones in any of these systems: Namarii, Tabaldak, or LTT 874. Before you do, grab the community goal mission at one of the following stations:

Hughes Hub in Namarii
Rogers Dock in Tabaldak
Parkinson Orbital in LTT 874

The mission should be good for 2 weeks unless it finishes early (which is very likely for combat community goals in general).

5010

Awesome!

Hmm, now I need to figure out the Galaxy map again and do some long distance travel. I never was real good at that, but will figure it out :). I just need to make sure I brought my fuel scoop!

5011

Thanks for the tips again, conVurt!

I was 134.80 LY from Tabaldak and made my way down there this morning. I docked up at Rogers Dock, joined the community goal, and headed to the nearest low conflict zone.

I helped take down an Asp, a few imperial ships, and a python and already am at 70%. Nice. I also like that the ships there give way better bounties than the 3k for everything back in the day. It was really satisfying to get 50k+, I believe it was, for taking down a Python :).

EDIT: Ok, Vultures are mean! First time fighting those and they chased me out. I managed to get their shields down, but they really turned fast and I couldn’t get a line on em. Those photon things they shoot really eat my shield up!

5012

Yeah I also joined the Tabaldak goal last night but my experience was significantly different. I found a low intensity conflict zone right outside Rogers Dock popped in there and it was nothing but Vultures. I tried to take one on in my DBS, spent 20 mins taking down his shields only to be destroyed by his friends. Went right back after getting my ship back, still nothing but Vultures, tried to take one that was taking fire from multiple Imperials, same story got his shields down and spent a good while plinking away at his hull to no effect until his buddies took me out. Gave up after that, might try again tonight but thinking this might be out of my league. Kelan what are you flying? Should I be looking for conflict zones that aren’t just full of Vipers? This is my first community goal and first time in conflict zones so I don’t really know what I’m doing.

5013

I am flying a Viper that is pretty much loaded up with A gear, point defense, shield cells, beam lasers, gimballed Multicannons, I believe.

I think it depends on the conflict zone and the timing what ships you will see. I went into all 3 zones and they all had a mix of python, imperial ships, asp, vulture and Cobras. I would pop over to another zone at the same planet there if there were only Vultures in there.

Even though I am managing to get some bounties/bonds, they are chasing me out quite frequently and I am having to use my boost liberally to get away at times.

5014

As it happens, I’m also in Tabaldak. I won’t be around my computer over the weekend, but maybe sometime next week we can all wing up.

In my experience, CZs can be feast or famine. I’ve found one of the best things I can do when entering one is to not immediately pick a side, but to fly away and wait until I’m far enough away from the main group so that once I do I’m not immediately swarmed and chased back out. Also, try and start off on someone dueling away from any large clumps. Your tactical goal is to grow green clumps, so that when they dogpile on the nearest enemy ship, you can join in without being the focus of attention.

Agapepilot, I think you were just having bad luck with vultures there. As you’ve quickly discovered, they have ludicrously tough shields for their size.

5015

Yeah that was my first experience facing off against a vulture and they’re no joke. I’ll give it another go tonight and follow your advice. Thanks for the tips!

5016

I’m new to community goals. Do they have to be joined actively by accepting a mission somewhere? For instance, take the pirate bounty hunting in Carnoeck. Do I take a mission at Bacon City first, then go hunt pirates, or just kill some pirates and turn in bounties as usual? (“Effin CG’s, how do they work?”)

5017

A community goal is a mission you need to accept on a bulletin board somewhere. It’ll be available from one station in a particular system. So in the example of bounty hunting in Carnoeck, which is finished and done and no longer available, yes you would have gone to Bacon City, checked the bulletin board there, and accepted the mission from it. If you had done that, then specific bounties turned in at that station would have counted towards the community progress for that goal. There’s no hard and fast rule for what applies to bounty hunting CGs, some will accept Federation bounties, for example, and you could have had millions you hadn’t yet turned in that could have counted. Others might have you hunting pirates in a system where most of the pirates are from a specific faction, so naturally that faction won’t honour bounties turned in on them. If the goal has reached at least its first tier and then finishes (either by hitting its final tier or by timing out) then you can turn in that mission at the same station you received it for some kind of cash bonus. If the community goal fails to reach even its first tier, then everyone’s work will be for nothing as there will be no additional payout.

That’s bounty hunting. Trading CGs work differently in that after you accept the mission, specific items that you sell on the commodities market at that station will count for the CG. Combat zones CGs have you fighting in low and high intensity combat zone areas in the system, pick a side, and kills generate combat bonds instead of bounties that you can turn in. Exploration CGs have you turning in system scans.

Occasionally the goal will be for some global reward that anyone can benefit from. There is a current CG to deliver slaves to Achenar, with a reward schedule featuring discounts and rank requirement reductions on specific imperial ships. If that one finishes, you won’t need a rank of Baron to purchase an imperial clipper anymore, and if history is any indication, you’ll have about a month afterward to take advantage of that.

5018

Another Horizons sneak peek from David Braben … this time some SRV action.

Looks like so much fun. Check out the airtime that lead SRV gets, and the rotational jets in the wheels.

5019

I plan to hang around until the CZ is up. I would be up for it if I can get on during the week after work.

5020

Gods that looks great! I loved my Mako time, so I’ll be all over this! Has there been any word when the beta will start?