Malf on 8/4/2015 at 22:11
Huh, that one's still in there?
The only time I had that happen to me was in Beta, but to be honest, I don't really do the whole signal source thing these days unless I'm on an assassination mission.
By the way, the best way to "farm" Unidentified Signal Sources is to just reduce your throttle to minimum in Supercruise and wait for them to pop up.
Their distance from you is related to the speed you're going, so where finding one at speed means it could be quite a few light seconds away and take a while to get to, if you're at minimum throttle, you just target them, turn to face them and drop out of Supercruise, as they're inevitably within 1,000km, the minimum range for safe disengagement.
faetal on 8/4/2015 at 23:39
Good tip.
I took your advice and am now mucking about in a souped up Eagle.
Currently making short work of most things with 2 gimballed burst lasers and a fixed beam.
I've kept my sidey parked somewhere, minus the parts which I sold so I could trick out the eagle. Kind of trivial keeping it given how cheap it is, but I kind of like the idea of keeping one somewhere.
I think I'm going to bounty hunt until I can afford a hauler and then trade for a bit and hopefully before too long, I'll be able to afford a Cobra.
faetal on 11/4/2015 at 00:39
I'm having so much fun in the Eagle (with (
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60L,5Ae7sh7sh0-I,303S5K5K2C3I3m3c,7PwmpT2Uc) this loadout) - it's so tight to manoeuvre. I've been farming USS spots and killing Sidewinders and Cobras mainly - the latter can often net some very nice bounties.
Took a mission to reduce the head count of a conflict zone by 7 too, figured I might get killed, but it would be worth the 11k insurance to find out. Killed everything in there (low intensity zone) other than a python armed with cannons, which I figured is just too much for me to handle - I'm sure those pilots who know all of the Newtonian flight-assist switching tricks might manage, but not me.
Still, I took out 3 Vipers and 4 Asps (plus a bunch of eagles and some cobras) - the latter of which I took on 1 on 1 - it had full shields and hull when I started on it and not so much as an ashtray at the end - and all of this while the Python was flinging shells in my direction as all of the green guys had mysteriously faded away. I had to switch between aggressive and evasive tactics based on my shield health and the two of them got my hull down to 33%, but I felt pretty good getting that Asp before I went back to the station to collect my combat coupons for around €75k plus the €16.5 for completing the mission. Probably not as lucrative as trading, but so much more fun.
Damn this game is good. It's like they took everything from the original Elite and married it to contemporary technology. The sound design is fantastic too. Really immersive. Now I just need to sort out head-tracking so I can look around my cockpit a bit more.
Malf on 11/4/2015 at 21:47
While the amount of money you can potentially make is lower in combat zones, at least you don't have to worry about scanning your kills first or picking up a bounty for shooting the wrong ship.
Myself, I'm currently hunting Elite Anacondas in an effort to raise my standing with the Federation. I've been stuck at Warrant Officer for ages now and can't seem to get any further.
faetal on 16/4/2015 at 08:17
I've now upgraded to a viper, which I'm loving a lot. It's like a more muscular eagle and being able to do some appreciable damage now feels great. Particularly since I'm still quite manoeuvrable.
I've finally found out what the fuss is about resource extraction sites. Mucho wanted traffic means A LOT of bounty money. I made around €800k in 30 minutes! Now my Viper has a few more bells and whistles. Plus, with the system security forces putting in a lot of the groundwork, I can now kill Pythons and Anacondas with ease, which net THE BIG DOLLAR. I think I'll carry on doing this for a while and save up enough to spec up a Cobra for some rares runs. I'm hoping before then I can try to work on advanced combat techniques though, since my basic 'flight assist on' approach feels like it has hit the peak of its usefulness. I can murder anything up to an Asp, after which it gets a little dicey. Want to be one of those people who can take down an Anaconda with an Eagle, though I may just not be good enough. I can't even complete the Dogfighting training mission since I'm so bad with fixed weapons.
Malf on 16/4/2015 at 18:22
Well, I'm not convinced FA off is all that useful myself. I spend a lot of time compensating for over-thrusting in one angle when using it. And spinning. LOTS of spinning.
I suspect it may actually be better on a mouse and keyboard than a HOTAS.
What HAS made an enormous difference to me is changing my throttle to full-range, so that pulling back the throttle results in reverse thrust. Combined with lateral thrusters, I suspect this is closer to the idea of what FA off should be for most people.
Sure, FA off is good for vectored combat, where you accelerate in one direction and then rotate to keep facing your enemy while flying in that direction, but changing flight angle with FA off becomes incredibly complicated.
With FA on and full throttle range, I can fly close to a ship and maintain my attitude towards it. For example, I use this to stay under the bellies of Anacondas and Pythons.
faetal on 16/4/2015 at 19:20
I've had my throttle set like that for the off. Certainly for NPC combat, realising the right time to trust back (usually when they're jousting you) while hitting side tyhrust and using yaw to keep them in the reticle is usually enough to tip the battle in my favour - after that, it's just a case of not fucking up.
Getting kind of accustomed to bounty hunting with the Viper now - think I might be ready for something new - possibly the Cobra. Might even kit a hauler out as an explorer and see how far I can get from my starting area before gas giant ennui kicks in. Mining might even be fun for a while.
faetal on 28/4/2015 at 10:51
Well, I managed to get myself a Saitek X 52 pro from eBay for €89 (they are normally nearer €200) because the trigger is not working properly. I googled the problem and it's a common one which is easily fixed. So I'll repair that and if I get on with the controller, then that's a great bargain, if I don't, I can probably sell it on eBay for more than I paid for it if the fix is good. I also recently received my EDTracker, which works very well and now I have really nice, very responsive head-look for just £40 plus shipping. The very moment that VR tech hits maturity, I'm jumping on it for sure.
scumble on 21/5/2015 at 10:15
I only discovered Elite had finally been reborn after it turned up on steam in the store popup. I barely have energy to stay up to date and wait for games to be reduced to £2 in a sale before buying...
I was trying to explain to my son where the game came from and felt old. The BBC game was released 30 years ago. Ignorant YouTubers are commenting "I think this was some game from way back..."
This is the first time I have been sucked in to something since I played Skyrim. I think there is a fair amount of nostalgia creeping in. It may just be me, but there was a resurgence of the feeling that games were more technical in the past before gaming became as mainstream (almost) as TV. This is probably true. It could just be Elite. Also my son complaining about it being "too hard" made me realise that the fun in Elite was due to it being complicated.
So far we've had trouble due to lack of skill. We launched without checking the effect of weight on the FSD and realised we couldn't go anywhere with the 4 tonnes of copper we just bought. I keep missing stations because I can't slow down from 40 times the speed of light at the right time because the FSD seems to get a bit over-enthusiastic.
The game makes the X series look like a toy. I've probably missed a bunch of other Elite clones, but this is clearly what works for me.
Now I'm annoyed at myself for accidentally chucking my Saitek joystick away. I bought it to use with X but it went missing some time ago...
faetal on 21/5/2015 at 10:50
If you decide you like it enough, I can happily recommend the Thrustmaster T-FLight HOTAS X, which doesn't cost much but immediately makes the game a zillion times more fun and easy to play. I use (
http://postimg.org/image/3r62a58pf/) this setup, which uses 2 shift buttons to give you all kinds of controls without having to let go of the stick.
