OS Neutral Elite Dangerous Tips

[whooleytoo]

Did, do you play Eve? I've been talking a lot about this game, but I can't say how long I'll be playing.

No subscription in ED is great! Visuals are not as impressive as Eve. PVP is dogfighting in ED, but I believe combat in Eve is managing ships and weapon systems in fights. My understanding is that the game is relatively low demand, but you'll have to wait for reports on the Mac version. The X52 pro seems to be the preferred stick. Mining? Boring. Trading? Boring. Dog fighting? Thumbs up. Exploration? Unknown, but I imagine if its all the blackness of space, boring...

[images snipped]

Mostly ED is black/gray space. The above ED shot is from an asteroid field. Actually side by side, they look pretty similiar, other than the huge assembled Eve fleet.

Which one of those images is ED and which is Eve? Eve looks pretty amazing, I've watched some of the promo videos including snippets from 'real' battles and it looks and sounds great. But I'm guessing for every one where you have a team that works together in perfect unison, you have loads of battles with some guy screaming "Where's the Any key!?!!!". I'm kind of intrigued how it works, how are huge ships like those in the background piloted, by one player or a team?

No, I've never played Eve, I haven't played many space sims in a long time, only X3 Reunion (which is a very old game) and Galaxy on Fire 2! I much prefer game worlds/universes with a lot of variety, which rewards exploration; by the sounds of it ED doesn't. The problem is - the effort involved in crafting a massive, varied universe.

That's why I think the "ideal" scenario would be a dual-game approach where lots of the in-game content would be crowd-sourced. One game would be a world/technology/ship building game where you're crafting buildings, cities, vehicles, technology. Then everything you create can be visited/played/purchased in the second (exploration/combat) game. If the exploration game has a subscription model, the content developer can even get micro-payments for every player who visits their system/world/city.

That seems to be a win-win scenario. The game developers get a huge universe populated for free, plus a cut of add-on content revenue. The content developers get their creations played by thousands of people, plus make a tidy profit if their content is very good. And the gamer gets a massive, diverse universe to explore, without waiting for years or worrying the developer is going to fold trying to build it all.

Anyhow, I'm definitely going to grab a X52 pro if I can find someone shipping here. (I have to admit I'm geeky enough that I'm not really buying a HOTAS system to play ED, I'm buying ED to play with the HOTAS system. )

 

[Huntn]

Which one of those images is ED and which is Eve? Eve looks pretty amazing, I've watched some of the promo videos including snippets from 'real' battles and it looks and sounds great. But I'm guessing for every one where you have a team that works together in perfect unison, you have loads of battles with some guy screaming "Where's the Any key!?!!!". I'm kind of intrigued how it works, how are huge ships like those in the background piloted, by one player or a team?

No, I've never played Eve, I haven't played many space sims in a long time, only X3 Reunion (which is a very old game) and Galaxy on Fire 2! I much prefer game worlds/universes with a lot of variety, which rewards exploration; by the sounds of it ED doesn't. The problem is - the effort involved in crafting a massive, varied universe.

That's why I think the "ideal" scenario would be a dual-game approach where lots of the in-game content would be crowd-sourced. One game would be a world/technology/ship building game where you're crafting buildings, cities, vehicles, technology. Then everything you create can be visited/played/purchased in the second (exploration/combat) game. If the exploration game has a subscription model, the content developer can even get micro-payments for every player who visits their system/world/city.

That seems to be a win-win scenario. The game developers get a huge universe populated for free, plus a cut of add-on content revenue. The content developers get their creations played by thousands of people, plus make a tidy profit if their content is very good. And the gamer gets a massive, diverse universe to explore, without waiting for years or worrying the developer is going to fold trying to build it all.

Anyhow, I'm definitely going to grab a X52 pro if I can find someone shipping here. (I have to admit I'm geeky enough that I'm not really buying a HOTAS system to play ED, I'm buying ED to play with the HOTAS system. )

They are labeled, top one is Eve.

Here is the problem, I'm not looking for an alternate life. I want to get in and out of games on my schedule, not be drawn into hours long scenarios, the build up to a huge battle, although I am enamored with the idea of huge battles.

This is why World of Tanks is tops.- 15 minute battles, 30 players. I'm even enjoying World Of Warcraft for the time being. I can get in and out relatively easy. A quick run though a 5 player instance is about 30 minutes, with questing on any schedule.

Even for ED, I can transit to a known combat area, and just cruise around engaging pirates as they appear. Will I get bored with this eventually? Yes, but in the mean time, no subscription. The other stuff, trading and mining is just not enough to hold my attention...BORING, although if I could make $100k in 10 minutes as a means of facilitating acquisition a bigger ship. I would consider it.

 

[garnerx]

The other stuff, trading and mining is just not enough to hold my attention...BORING, although if I could make $100k in 10 minutes as a means of facilitating acquisition a bigger ship. I would consider it.

You could do that. Just tested it, three and a half minutes later:

 

[Huntn]

You could do that. Just tested it, three and a half minutes later:
[url=http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/martinkitts/Screenshot_0013.jpg]Image[/URL]

I need to know the ship you are using! Did you use the trading site? How many hyper jumps? How many cargo slots?? Ok I see 120 slots... What ship upgrade path did you follow? Thanks!

 

[garnerx]

I need to know the ship you are using! Did you use the trading site? How many hyper jumps? How many cargo slots?? Ok I see 120 slots...

It's one jump between LHS 3885 and Gliese 868. Sure, there's a lot of cargo space in the Asp, but a Cobra holds up to half that and is quite cheap. From there it's a very short upgrade path to a Type 6, which holds 112.

It's definitely boring but I'm only doing it to earn enough for a really powerful fighting / exploring ship. I might just spend it on upgrades for this Asp. Also, my docking skills are now great, thanks to doing very little else.

 

[Huntn]

It's one jump between LHS 3885 and Gliese 868. Sure, there's a lot of cargo space in the Asp, but a Cobra holds up to half that and is quite cheap. From there it's a very short upgrade path to a Type 6, which holds 112.

It's definitely boring but I'm only doing it to earn enough for a really powerful fighting / exploring ship. I might just spend it on upgrades for this Asp. Also, my docking skills are now great, thanks to doing very little else.

It sounds like the upgrade path shoud be Sidewinder, Cobra, Type 6.

Can a vanilla Cobra hold up dogfighting at resourse extraction points, I wonder? Even when I was tooling around in my vanilla Viper, mostly my bounty hunting experiences were positive.

 

[garnerx]

It sounds like the upgrade path shoud be Sidewinder, Cobra, Type 6.

Can a vanilla Cobra hold up dogfighting at resourse extraction points, I wonder? Even when I was tooling around in my vanilla Viper, mostly my bounty hunting experiences were positive.

Cobra seems pretty good for dogfighting. I used an Eagle before that, and the Cobra has a lot more firepower but is a bit less agile. The ability to hold so much cargo makes it the best all-rounder, I think.

Type 6 is purely for making enough money to get an Asp. The view is very nice though, as you're sat in a bubble at the front and can look down to see the docking pad under your feet. Makes the Cobra seem a bit confined.

 

[Huntn]

Cobra seems pretty good for dogfighting. I used an Eagle before that, and the Cobra has a lot more firepower but is a bit less agile. The ability to hold so much cargo makes it the best all-rounder, I think.

Type 6 is purely for making enough money to get an Asp. The view is very nice though, as you're sat in a bubble at the front and can look down to see the docking pad under your feet. Makes the Cobra seem a bit confined.

Do you ever fear attack while hauling? Have you,lost everything while hauling?

 

[garnerx]

Do you ever fear attack while hauling? Have you,lost everything while hauling?

No, never! The only time I ever lost anything was bounty vouchers while cruising around doing combat.

Compared to the amount of time I used to spend in open space when I was looking for wanted ships, I spend so little time supercruising from jump point to station that interdiction is very unlikely.

I don't even carry any weapons. I have the lightest possible shield - just enough to protect the hull if I crash into something while docking. Completely defenceless, but nobody's ever bothered me.

 

[Huntn]

Multiple Ship Ownership- Hanger Costs? Transportation Costs? Thanks. I'll research too.

If you own multiple ships my understanding the game forces you to rent a hanger? Is hanger rental based on 1 ship or how many places you have registered to store ships? I assume rent only applies if a ship is stored at a location?

Also, if you buy a ship and sell it, do you get 100% on your purchase? Could you buy a ship to move from point A to B and then sell it recouping your investment?



Did anyone use a Hauler on the climb up? Max 22 slots?

 

[Huntn]

Excess Mass- I've been jumping back and forth between LTT 18486 and LHS3447 in my Sidwinder, 7.15 LY. At some point I added military bulkheads which I believe increased my tonnage by 4. Now I'm getting an excess mass message when I look at it on my Nav destination list.

What to do? Revert to less heavy armor, or is there a way to extend range and keep current armor? Thanks!

Tonight was a bad night at the Resource Extraction Site- Died twice with canopy breach. Once accidentally shot Federal ship and could not get away before 3 or 4 of them killed me . I figure I lost about 250k credits in bounty vouchers.

O2 Depletion: From this RES, I'm 9LS away from Boswell station. I thought McKinney was real close, but tonight it was just as far away if not more. Just can't get there and land within 5 minutes. Can you extend your emergency O2 supply?

 

[antonis]

Do you guys play in Open mode or in Solo ? I always play the former.

I must be doing something wrong, I'm still unable to find where the action is. One ship here and there, flagged as "wanted" if I'm lucky, even on mining (extraction) areas. After that, nothing. Seems like nothing ever happens in this game, and the fact that some stations deny docking without any obvious reasons (forcing you to travel elsewhere) is starting to get irritating.

 

[Janichsan]

Multiple Ship Ownership- Hanger Costs? Transportation Costs? Thanks. I'll research too.

If you own multiple ships my understanding the game forces you to rent a hanger? Is hanger rental based on 1 ship or how many places you have registered to store ships? I assume rent only applies if a ship is stored at a location?

Storage for your other ships costs you nothing. So far, there is no way to get your stored ships transported to another station (unfortunately). It's announced for a future update, but neither details nor an exact date are known.

Excess Mass- I've been jumping back and forth between LTT 18486 and LHS3447 in my Sidwinder, 7.15 LY. At some point I added military bulkheads which I believe increased my tonnage by 4. Now I'm getting an excess mass message when I look at it on my Nav destination list.

What to do? Revert to less heavy armor, or is there a way to extend range and keep current armor? Thanks!

You can buy a better frameshift drive. If you still have the default FSD, you will probably have a class 2, rating E drive. A drive with rating A should allow for more mass and more than double your jump range. According to edshipyard.com, that A rated FSD should cost you about 160,000 cr.

O2 Depletion: From this RES, I'm 9LS away from Boswell station. I thought McKinney was real close, but tonight it was just as far away if not more. Just can't get there and land within 5 minutes. Can you extend your emergency O2 supply?

Yup, you can: a better life support system increases the oxygen supply. The best one should give you 20 minutes.

Do you guys play in Open mode or in Solo ? I always play the former.

I'm switching between open and solo. I'm currently in the Federation core systems and things can get quite crowded there (see below why that can be problem). And I'm sometimes just not in the mood to put up with idiots who interdict and try to kill me just for the lulz. (Yes - that happens.)

…the fact that some stations deny docking without any obvious reasons (forcing you to travel elsewhere) is starting to get irritating.

Assuming you are requesting the docking permission within the range limit (7.5 km) and unless you are wanted or on bad terms with the controlling faction (which you can check on the right-hand panel), the most likely reason for that is that all landing pads are full. Many players don't seem to enter the hangar after docking and thus block the landing pads. That's especially aggravating on outposts.

 

[Huntn]

Do you guys play in Open mode or in Solo ? I always play the former.

I must be doing something wrong, I'm still unable to find where the action is. One ship here and there, flagged as "wanted" if I'm lucky, even on mining (extraction) areas. After that, nothing. Seems like nothing ever happens in this game, and the fact that some stations deny docking without any obvious reasons (forcing you to travel elsewhere) is starting to get irritating.

I'm primarily playing in a private group, but I've played both open and solo.

I can't vouch for the entire game, for every resource extraction site (RES), but my experience with the RESs close (9ls) to Boswell Platform (LTT 18486), is that I super cruise to it from Boswell, punching out of cruise when less than a 1,000,000km (when the "safe to disengage" message appears) and after the transition, I end up about 10-15km from the RES nav point. When I first arrive, there is nothing, no traffic. But when I cruise towards the nav point, traffic starts appearing, miners, Federal Authority ships, regular ships labeled "clean", and ... wanted felons. This activity seems to continue as long as I am there.

I follow the scanner traffic and usually find a fight by spotting a laser light show in the distance. These are the best fights because it means you'll have at least one other ship distracting the bad guy. It makes for an easier and shorter fight, a faster payoff.

After every fight, wherever I end up, if there is a lot of traffic on my scanner, I turn towards it. If not much traffic, I turn back towards the nav point. The action is continuous. I imagine that if you wander off and just cruise around you will leave the area of activity.

 

[antonis]

Assuming you are requesting the docking permission within the range limit (7.5 km) and unless you are wanted or on bad terms with the controlling faction (which you can check on the right-hand panel), the most likely reason for that is that all landing pads are full. Many players don't seem to enter the hangar after docking and thus block the landing pads. That's especially aggravating on outposts.

Yes, I was wondering about that. What if the players do not enter the hangar and just stay there docked ? There's nothing - AFAIK - that will force you to free the docked platform after some time.

The irritating part, though, is that when you're in a distance greater than 7.5km, docking will be denied but the reason will be stated clearly to the denial message. In most cases, I'm denied (no criminal record - I wish) without any reason given. I guess this will be the platform availability issue.

I'm primarily playing in a private group, but I've played both open and solo.

I can't vouch for the entire game, for ever resource extraction site (RES), but my experience with the RESs close (9ls) to Boswell Platform (LTT 18486), is that I super cruise to it from Boswell, punching out of cruise when less than a 1,000,000km (when the "safe to disengage" message appears) and after the transition, I end up about 10-15km from the RES nav point. When I first arrive, there is nothing, no traffic. But when I cruise towards the nav point, traffic starts appearing, miners, Federal Authority ships, regular ships labeled "clean", and ... wanted felons. This activity seems to continue as long as I am there.

I follow the scanner traffic and usually find a fight by spotting a laser light show in the distance. These are the best fights because it means you'll have at least one other ship distracting the bad guy. It makes for an easier and shorter fight, a faster payoff.

After every fight, wherever I end up, if there is a lot of traffic on my scanner, I turn towards it. If not much traffic, I turn back towards the nav point. The action is continuous. I imagine that if you wander off and just cruise around you will leave the area of activity.

I'll follow that exact route today. I've been in that system before, but I guess important part is behind the details you mentioned. Thanks !

 

[Huntn]

Storage for your other ships costs you nothing. So far, there is no way to get your stored ships transported to another station (unfortunately). It's announced for a future update, but neither details nor an exact date are known.

I'm trying to figure the best way to manage this, because let's say you own a ship and it's in storage 20LY away, but you want to relocate to the new system you are operating in. You have to make a round trip, flying one ship for the first half and then leave it way back there? If accurate, they need to fix this. What if you want both ships at the new location? They need either an interstellar taxi to take you back minus the ship or have a hauling service for your ship. In another forum, someone mentioned buying a ship to fly back and then selling it once you get there. Can you sell your second ship? And do you get 100% back on your ship investment?

You can buy a better frameshift drive. If you still have the default FSD, you will probably have a class 2, rating E drive. A drive with rating A should allow for more mass and more than double your jump range. According to edshipyard.com, that A rated FSD should cost you about 160,000 cr.


Yup, you can: a better life support system increases the oxygen supply. The best one should give you 20 minutes.

More upgrades are in order! I figure I lost $200k in vouchers because I ran out of O2 before being able to reach the station a measely 9 light seconds away.

I'm switching between open and solo. I'm currently in the Federation core systems and things can get quite crowded there (see below why that can be problem). And I'm sometimes just not in the mood to put up with idiots who interdict and try to kill me just for the lulz. (Yes - that happens.)


Assuming you are requesting the docking permission within the range limit (7.5 km) and unless you are wanted or on bad terms with the controlling faction (which you can check on the right-hand panel), the most likely reason for that is that all landing pads are full. Many players don't seem to enter the hangar after docking and thus block the landing pads. That's especially aggravating on outposts.

Good to note! Thanks for the great info!

 

[Huntn]

I'll follow that exact route today. I've been in that system before, but I guess important part is behind the details you mentioned. Thanks !

Here's another tip. The extraction site is located in the ring around some planet (don't remember seeing a name) From Boswell, it's best to fly an elliptical route toward the site, not straight at it. You don't want to come in through the ring because you'll get impact warnings and be thrown out of SC (supercruise) early. Fly offset changing your approach so that you are coming in from a more perpendicular path, above or below the ring. In this way you'll approach within the 1Mkm you need to disengage from SC and arrive within 15km of the desired nav point.

This also comes into play from this location when trying to escape a fight gone bad or from Federal Authorities whom you've angered. You have to be pointed away from the planet and away from the plane of the ring or you'll get warnings and SC will fail to engage. The best escape method seems to be weaving in and out of asteroids while continually hitting boost. Once you have some distance, point yourself at a 45° angle from the planet (away from the plane of the ring) cross your fingers and hope to hell, SC engages.

I've all ready learned TWICE that with a busted forward screen, 5 min of O2 is not enough to make it back to Boswell (9ls away) so I'll be upgrading to a better O2 system along with a better FSD to get my jump range back up to where I can make it from Boswell to LHS 3447.

 

[Janichsan]

I'm trying to figure the best way to manage this, because let's say you own a ship and it's in storage 20LY away, but you want to relocate to the new system you are operating in. You have to make a round trip, flying one ship for the first half and then leave it way back there? If accurate, they need to fix this. What if you want both ships at the new location? They need either an interstellar taxi to take you back minus the ship or have a hauling service for your ship.

I completely agree. As mentioned, it is planned to implement some kind of taxi service, but at the moment, there's no really feasible relocate your other ships. The Eagle that I got for being a beta tester is about 200 ly from my current location. If I'd want to swap ships, I'd have to make a nice little weekend trip.

In another forum, someone mentioned buying a ship to fly back and then selling it once you get there. Can you sell your second ship? And do you get 100% back on your ship investment?

You can sell the other ships, but only at the location where they are stored. I have to admit that I'm not sure how much of your investment you get back when you sell a ship again. I think it's not 100%, but close. However, as said, I'm not really sure.

 

[garnerx]

What if the players do not enter the hangar and just stay there docked ? There's nothing - AFAIK - that will force you to free the docked platform after some time.

You'll just spawn into a new instance. Otherwise you could conceivably have a group of players locking down an entire station by parking on the landing pads.

The outpost I visit only has one pad big enough for my ship, so I sometimes get 'request denied'. But there's rarely another player - or any other kind of ship - on there. I just approach as usual, hammer the request button, and eventually I can land.

You can sell the other ships, but only at the location where they are stored. I have to admit that I'm not sure how much of your investment you get back when you sell a ship again. I think it's not 100%, but close. However, as said, I'm not really sure.

You lose 10%, I think.

 

[quagmire]

You'll just spawn into a new instance. Otherwise you could conceivably have a group of players locking down an entire station by parking on the landing pads.

The outpost I visit only has one pad big enough for my ship, so I sometimes get 'request denied'. But there's rarely another player - or any other kind of ship - on there. I just approach as usual, hammer the request button, and eventually I can land.



You lose 10%, I think.

Even if the player is in a hangar, not occupying the outside dock, the dock is still theirs and will deny you access to land. The player will have to takeoff before you get permission.

People at the outpost stations should be a bit more considerate. Don't dock there and leave for 20-30 minutes. Disconnect from the game or launch freeing up the dock and stay in the stations no fire zone.

 

[antonis]

They should do this change IMO: Platforms should be occupied only during the docking and launching process. Ships should then go into hangar automatically, which - in turn - should result in clearing the platform, so it becomes immediately available for another dock/launching process.

Of course, there are some stations that do not have hangars, but I'm sure something similar could be arranged as well


A weird thing happened today. Right outside a station there was a ship type "Orca" just standing there, close to the station's entrance. I've scanned it and it reported as "Wanted", but the authority ships flying around would not touch it. I've started to fire at it, and keep collecting fines as this was a "no-fire zone". After a while the authority ships joined me, and we brought it down. Final score: around -1000cr fines for firing just outside the station, but also +18k cr collect from the bounty.

 

[garnerx]

Even if the player is in a hangar, not occupying the outside dock, the dock is still theirs and will deny you access to land. The player will have to takeoff before you get permission.

People at the outpost stations should be a bit more considerate. Don't dock there and leave for 20-30 minutes. Disconnect from the game or launch freeing up the dock and stay in the stations no fire zone.

That's if you happen to be in the same instance as another player. It's not like there's only one of each station - as far as I'm aware, the game will spawn more of them as required.

I'm occupying a docking pad as I write this. If I have any angry messages when I alt-tab back in to the game, I stand corrected!

 

[quagmire]

Quickly getting annoyed with the game. Cost me $400K today. Killed several anaconda's said I got the credit but didn't give it to me. Then I got 132K bounty but right before he blows up he rams me into an asteroid causing me to blow up.

I love the game but the glitches are pissing me off.

 

[Janichsan]

That's if you happen to be in the same instance as another player. It's not like there's only one of each station - as far as I'm aware, the game will spawn more of them as required.

I'm occupying a docking pad as I write this. If I have any angry messages when I alt-tab back in to the game, I stand corrected!

You are right that player ships instantly vanish when they land (which is why you won't get any angry messages since no one can target and contact you), but the game still treats the landing pad as occupied. I'd guess that one of these things (the vanishing of the ship or the occupied landing pad) is a bug or glitch.

 

[garnerx]

You are right that player ships instantly vanish when they land (which is why you won't get any angry messages since no one can target and contact you), but the game still treats the landing pad as occupied. I'd guess that one of these things (the vanishing of the ship or the occupied landing pad) is a bug or glitch.

Hmm, maybe I'll just leave the computer on all day with me parked there to prevent other players driving down the profit in the palladium market. I didn't play for about a week, and when I came back it was 300 CR / ton less than before.

On the positive side, the return journey for consumer tech is now worth 300 CR more.