It's definitely tougher to trade now since most systems are unfamiliar. They also changed the economy...to actually have one. I found a good route delivering progenitor cells but it has dried up. Guess time to move onto another area. I went the hauler route, but you basically have to give up any hope of combat until you buy another ship.

The missions are weird. I keep getting to stations and the missions now only offer $500 or something dumb to go really out of my way. I always check the list to see if the rare/easy $30k transport mission is there.

I just bought a Lakon Type 6, now I can start making some real money trading.

*Edit:
Now that the adder is out, you might look into that. Kind of like the hauler, with an extra gun.

This comment was edited on Dec 11, 2014, 13:40.

Creston wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 18:28:
Shame. Thanks for the info, guys.

This is definitely a "hands on" game. If it were to change, a thousand Cutter-like beings will cry out. Then cry out over and over again.

SpectralMeat wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 16:11:
Hmm interesting.
I will check that out tonight. I did search in the galaxy map found SOL but when I selected it the computer just told me it is too far not enough fuel and I wasn't sure what else to do.
I didn't notice that yellow route

On the galaxy map, you can select a system and learn info about it. But, if you choose "set destination" from the terrible pulldown menu that blocks out all the stars, you will get a gold line tracing the way to said system. Problem was, it didn't stick, unless you never change your destination target...which considering it's probably many jumps outside your range, you kind of need to. It's bad interface design that sounds like it's now fixed.

*edit
bad grammarz

Dacron wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 17:40:

Creston wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 16:25:
Out of curiosity, can you own multiple ships in E:D? And if you do, can you control the ones you're not flying remotely? (basically like in X, for those of you who've played it.)

You can own multiple, but any ship you're not flying is stored and stays 'parked' in the station you left it in. You can't control them aside from flying them.

*edit*

Sure Vall, beat me by a few seconds with a more detailed answer.

I like your answer better. It's press conference quality. Succinct.

Dacron wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 15:21:

Vall Forran wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 14:22:
ROUTE PLANNING!

I've had it since Gamma 1.0 ?

Click on destination, lock target, it shows your route. But you have to go to each one individually which breaks your path as it deselects the destination in switch for your next jump.... hopefully that's fixed (*edit from gamma 2 update link - Mark the next system on jump route in the navigation panel - yay fixed!). I have a paper with dozens of system names beside me from my last 100 light year route.

Yes, this was the problem. You could plan a path, but the path gets removed every time because you select the nearest system and warp there. Then, you have to reselect your destination and go again. I'm expecting the main path will still be there now instead of getting reset everytime you change your "target" jump.

I am not good with memory differentiating between systems named LHS-4535-C and whatever. I had to use a notepad, which in this day and age, I had to steal from work and bring home. Then write down my path.

Creston wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 16:25:
Out of curiosity, can you own multiple ships in E:D? And if you do, can you control the ones you're not flying remotely? (basically like in X, for those of you who've played it.)

You can now own multiple ships, but no remote control. We don't even have a fucking rear view camera, so yeah... no remote control. That would totally not work in this game frame. (I'm not meaning to sound flippant...there's been an argument to somehow see someone behind you, because, it's the year 3300 and rear view cameras are outside that tech. There's even an empty ipad sized monitor between your legs that some people suspect will turn into a rear-view camera.)

I'm pretty sure the game design's thesis is, You fly your own ship. No remote control bullshit.

You buy a ship and park the one you were using where you bought the new one.

Parias wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 14:21:
I've been having an amazing time with my Eagle actually - I love the engine acceleration sound effects and the three weapon hardpoints.

And yes, you can sell the Freagle and will get dollars for it (but won't get any dollars for your starting Sidewinder).

The free one I got has a crappy power plant though, which led to some funny issues when I added a third weapon to the mix; every time I deploy weapons, I run out of power and some systems turn off.

To work around this, I reset my power priorities and set life support down low, so any time I go into combat I have about three minutes to end the battle and cycle my weapons to restore power, or I suffocate. Heh, been too cheap to buy a better power system thus far - I feel this quirk adds personality to the ship.

Haha, that's awesome! You could upgrade your atmosphere to 10 minutes...I think that's cheaper than a power plant.

ROUTE PLANNING!

InBlack wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 04:21:

Vall Forran wrote on Dec 10, 2014, 01:26:
Agreed. Though it does sound like a bunch of "story" events will be released on launch day. Probably won't be as exciting as it sounds, but I'm curious if they have any tricks up their sleeves.

You seem to be quite knowledgeable about the game. Erm, I just bought in and Im waiting for the 16th. Apparently Im getting a free "Eagle" ship at launch in a secondary location. I was wondering where would this secondary location be located. Also is the Eagle any good? Can I do mercenary bounty hunting missions right from the start or is trading the only way to earn serious cash in the game?

Yes, you get a "freagle". It's kind of weird how they implemented this, but it will spawn in a station (sort of?) near you. There will be a sidewinder graphic over the system it's parked in on your map. It should be within 3 jumps or so. I don't think there's anyway to know specifically where it will be located until you search your galaxy map after you start the game.

The eagle is a fighter ship, but it's really fragile. Most people just skip the eagle and start saving for the cobra or viper. If you're an amazing pilot with some gun upgrades you can do ok...but I got flattened every time someone decent with cobra locked on to me. I actually haven't even been to the station it's stored at, so I don't know if you can outright sell it or not. Viper is what you want if you really want to focus on bounty hunting...it's the higher level of the eagle and not too expensive. Cobra is well rounded for everything.

And don't let people rag on the sidewinder too much. It's a pretty solid little ship.

Agreed. Though it does sound like a bunch of "story" events will be released on launch day. Probably won't be as exciting as it sounds, but I'm curious if they have any tricks up their sleeves.

If you're having trouble docking, deploy your landing gear before entering the station. It triggers a gentle "push" system in those outer wire things that centers you in the slot.

It's designed for the huge ships that barely fit through, like the anaconda and space cow...but worth knowing. If you're gear is retracted, it's all on you as far as flying.

83. Re: No Elite: Dangerous Launch Wipe Dec 9, 2014, 20:00 CJ_Parker

Thx for the info dude!

Welcome! I'm trying to walk the line. There's a lot of weird stuff flying around by guys who aren't even playing the game.

This game has no manual. Everyone who buys it fresh is gonna be fucking pissed off. Let me tell you this. This game is fucking ruthless. You will die. A lot. And not by other players. You will die by flying your bullshit ship into a space station.

But, it's ok! You get free ships. The rage quit mechanism comes when you load your entire money's worth of cargo, then someone kills you. (Rarely happens, but it does. And you rage.)

Or, the classic...you get *just enough money* to buy the next ship. THen you die. Boom...back to square one because you don't have the insurance money.

I've been waiting for a space sim game forever. This one is good. Don't let Cutter's dismissal fool you. (Fuck, trying to walk the line, but insulting Cutter is a bad move. Still. Worth it.)

From what I've read, the rare stocks are player independent. Running out of stock is based on you.

From the patch notes from 1.05:
Server updates
- Players should once again be eligible for their own stock allocation of rare goods instead of sharing one with everybody shopping at that Station

Sorry if I wasn't clear...there's no "horde" or "alliance" choice...you just start the game somewhere random. Your choice of faction requires you flying your ass there and doing the benevolent missions.

So with the gamma release, you start in a "random" area. I have no idea how random, except that I spawned in the Cosi system. Never been there before. Which made me want to explore the zone, since I have no idea of where to even begin to start trading. So the idea of being ganked immediately is kind of silly. Maybe ganked by fools not knowing what you're doing. And if you die? OMG, free ship, nothing lost! Like I said earlier, pirates will focus on higher profit targets.

The slopey trade tool has been broken. It worked great for the betas when there were less than 400 billion systems. Then Frontier told him to fuck off, because with that you can make insane amounts of money trading without even trying. It exists, but is a player controlled spreadsheet now. And we all hate spreadsheets...especially now after figuring out ourselves a decent trade route.

Basically, the game in Beta was on easy mode. It's hilarious, because this is probably the most complicated game (outside of Dwarf Fortress) I've ever played. And Dwarf Fortress has more documentation. I remember killing myself more than I'd like to admit by pressing "afterburn" instead of "reverse" on my throttle stick. And then Elite mocks you by sounding up the afterburn and then you blast into a control tower and explode. I still smile because everytime I dock, there's a 30% chance I hear some other ship exploding.

In beta, I was so happy! I grinded to an Anaconda for 4.5 million. Took a fair bit of time, but once you got the space cow with it's ~400 ton cargo hold, you could make millions on each trade pass.

Now, the space cow costs something around $145 million? Something crazy like that. And in beta, your newly bought ship had fully upgraded components. Now, you have to spend time finding a station to then make your ship better. Boom! I bought a pimp set of cannons. Boo! I can't fly anywhere now because my ship weighs several orcas. And the frameshift drive to warp farther costs 5 times the amount of my ship!

I've grinded out a cobra about 6 times now. I'm glad I don't have to do it again. And I'm a trader/explorer...pretty crap at combat, though I like shooting your windshields.

I would also advise new players not looking up the rare resource trade routes, unless it is to avoid. There is going to be some spectacular player pirate zones around there.

I don't think the exploration stuff works quite like that. The highly populated systems are filled in, you personally scan the unexplored stuff then sell it at various stations as you meander along. I don't think it's affected by anyone except you. I could be wrong...some things aren't explained very well in this game.

I'm glad there's no wipe. They really made starting the game difficult...$100 and a basic ship with no upgrades. Took me quite a few hours to get a cobra...and then you have to upgrade it to really use it for anything.

I'm also ass deep in Empire space. I was flying to Sol, but sort of just kept going "down". I haven't seen an actual player since the first day gamma released, so I'm not too worried about any unfair head start advantages.

Dragon Age is awesome. Glad to see it get props. It was under-rated by ign, etc. It is odd, though...I can only play it in 30 min increments. I don't understand why.

There are still tons of USS points. I made some money doing that. I bought the hauler when I could afford it...didn't realize trading was slowed down.

Probably due to just being in a completely unfamiliar section of space. It's like that penny arcade comic of Mass Effect where they explain it's like learning how to swim. "That's good, now...just drown less."

Not sure how to find combat zones. I've had this issue with this game for awhile. In the early beta it was easy because Eranin and Dahan both had them, but they were 2 of the 5 or so systems available. Now it's a needle in a haystack. I was thinking the gal news thing would give hints as to where to look, but so far I haven't seen anything useful.

And the "weird" missions taught me how to use the improved galaxy map and station commodities.