Elite: Game talk
01 May 2024, 7:49pm
Would you have any advice for a new CMDR for defending against Thargoid attacks when running passenger evacuation missions?
I am still new to the game, playing regularly for a little over a month now.
I read that running passenger evacuation missions from stations under Thargoid attack could make some good credits. So yesterday I decided to give it a go in my new Krait. I must say in find the pay out to be very good, certainly for a new CMDR. I think I easily make 40-50 million credits each run and sometimes even more than that.
However, downside are of course the Thargoid interdictions. My current strategy is to use heat sinks and keep boosting away until my FSD is back online and enter supercruise / hyperspace again. This strategy has worked thus far in that I have not lost my ship. Unfortunatley, the same does not always hold for the passengers, which on some runs do not all make it to the station occasionally.
My main question are:
1) Do I have any chance of fighting off an attack with an unengineered ship? And if so which weapons best to use for that?
2) Any advice for my defensive strategy and gear?
My current build is an unengineered Krait with military grade composite, 6A Shield generator and 6A Thrusters. In the utility mounts I currently have 1 shield booster, 2 heat sinks and 1 shutdown field neutralizer. However I am not sure whether or not I use the latter correctly and whether it is all that useful at all in my case, since my hardpoints get deployed when I use it which I then I need to retract quickly again to go into supercruise / hyperspace.
Engineering wise I prioritized on getting a pre-engineered FSD and Guardian FSD booster which I both have now. But I have yet to unlock all engineers.
Any advice would be very welcome!
01 May 2024, 8:43pm
01 May 2024, 8:56pm
I've upgraded mine to 5 along with doing missions, it was 3-4 most of the time and felt totally alright.
01 May 2024, 9:02pm
Nemii Ziyal
However, downside are of course the Thargoid interdictions. My current strategy is to use heat sinks and keep boosting away until my FSD is back online and enter supercruise / hyperspace again. This strategy has worked thus far in that I have not lost my ship. Unfortunatley, the same does not always hold for the passengers, which on some runs do not all make it to the station occasionally.
That is pretty much my strategy, but I use engineered dirty thrusters with power allocated to engines and systems (none to weapons). With max power allocated to engines I can pretty much be under constant boost which for me is somewhere around 430. That is enough to keep me away from the bugs until I can get into supercruise and then jump to the next system. I guess maybe 80-90% of the time they don't even touch me.
Are you submitting to the interdiction? That significantly reduces your FSD cooldown.
So, in essence I...
- Submit to the interdiction.
- Turn my ass to the bugs.
- Constant boost until the FSD resets.
- Enter supercruise since you do not need to align to the target destination
- Jump to target system or get back on course if the target is in system.
I don't fight them, so I cannot offer any advice on that.
01 May 2024, 9:09pm
MeowersDepends on your, to say, overall first-person-shooter gaming skill. AI bots are facepalmingly stupid, and if you don't plan on soloing a whole CZ, or getting locked in a building with two high-level commando squads only to open the door two minutes later and ask for a housecleaning service to scrape them off the walls, grade 3 should be more than enough and you can find it on sale, skipping the materials stage.
I've upgraded mine to 5 along with doing missions, it was 3-4 most of the time and felt totally alright.
sorry, i missed some words in my post. my maverick suit is lvl 5. i just dont know if theres much difference between a lvl 5 maverick and a lvl 5 dominator in terms of surviveability, like will it be a huge quality of life improvement with the same engineering upgrades
01 May 2024, 9:10pm
Faizaso i've been slowly working to upgrade my gear, and i have a lvl maverick suit now. i feel like im surviving well enough on foot - do i really need a lvl 5 dominator as well, assuming im not engaging in any pvp?
Pre-upgraded Lvl 3 stuff you can buy from the Pioneer shop is generally good enough for ground CZs. Check the Great Pre-Upgraded Gear Sharing is Caring Thread on FDev's forums and keep an eye out for Lvl 3 Dominators being mentioned. Most of these suits and weapons will get picked up within 20-30 min, so it is generally safe to ignore posts older than that.
You really only need the Lvl 5 gear if you want to be a) slightly more efficient or b) able to PvP other commanders on foot.
01 May 2024, 9:25pm
MeowersDepends on your, to say, overall first-person-shooter gaming skill. AI bots are facepalmingly stupid, and if you don't plan on soloing a whole CZ, or getting locked in a building with two high-level commando squads only to open the door two minutes later and ask for a housecleaning service to scrape them off the walls, grade 3 should be more than enough and you can find it on sale, skipping the materials stage.
I've upgraded mine to 5 along with doing missions, it was 3-4 most of the time and felt totally alright.
Yeah, you can get by in PvE very well with a three. I like my Lvl5 dominator, though. Went with extra battery power, night vision, extra ammo and shield regen. In PvE I pretty much pull a Tony Montana: Find a high place and shoot down at them, not caring if I get hit because the bots apparently have no idea how to jump up to a place they cannot reach via stairs. And they don't bother turning to face you until their shields are down.
01 May 2024, 9:34pm
Glen van RossFaizaso i've been slowly working to upgrade my gear, and i have a lvl maverick suit now. i feel like im surviving well enough on foot - do i really need a lvl 5 dominator as well, assuming im not engaging in any pvp?
Pre-upgraded Lvl 3 stuff you can buy from the Pioneer shop is generally good enough for ground CZs. Check the Great Pre-Upgraded Gear Sharing is Caring Thread on FDev's forums and keep an eye out for Lvl 3 Dominators being mentioned. Most of these suits and weapons will get picked up within 20-30 min, so it is generally safe to ignore posts older than that.
You really only need the Lvl 5 gear if you want to be a) slightly more efficient or b) able to PvP other commanders on foot.
i think my question got kind of confused - i already have a lvl 5 suit, a maverick. i was wondering how big of a difference the lvl 5 dominator was vs the lvl 5 maverick
01 May 2024, 9:39pm
01 May 2024, 11:22pm
01 May 2024, 11:31pm
Nemii Ziyal[...] My current strategy is to use heat sinks and keep boosting away until my FSD is back online and enter supercruise / hyperspace again. This strategy has worked thus far in that I have not lost my ship. Unfortunatley, the same does not always hold for the passengers, which on some runs do not all make it to the station occasionally.
[...]
My current build is an unengineered Krait with military grade composite, 6A Shield generator and 6A Thrusters. In the utility mounts I currently have 1 shield booster, 2 heat sinks and 1 shutdown field neutralizer.
Replace the shutdown field neutraliser with ECM, and use it when Scythes hyperdict you and try to extract passengers from your ship. ECM destroys all limpets, including Thargoid ones, within its pulse range.
(If you have never used an ECM, be aware that you have to hold down the button for a full range pulse. However, even a brief tap will destroy any limpets already attached to your hull.)
Nemii ZiyalHowever I am not sure whether or not I use the latter correctly and whether it is all that useful at all in my case, since my hardpoints get deployed when I use it which I then I need to retract quickly again to go into supercruise / hyperspace.
For evac missions a shutdown field neutraliser is unlikely to be useful. That said, if your hardpoints get deployed when you use it, there must be something wrong with your bindings.
02 May 2024, 9:03am
Looks like I'm goina need to do a load of "long range mass manager" FSD engineering as I think, now that they come in class A and can be engineered, I'll be wanting one for every ship.
He said they come into high tech stations next week.
02 May 2024, 3:09pm
… but those preliminary stats don’t really make me think “This is something I want and would pay money/ARX to get early access for”. Some of them make me think “FDL but with more internal module space” or something. Which is maybe what they were going for but why would I want that when I already have a ship that does combat(PvE or otherwise) like almost no other?
(And it’s also still a Python variant. I have only used a Python once in at least four months, and that’s likely to only go down from here.)
02 May 2024, 4:35pm
Vasil VasilescuNemii Ziyal
However, downside are of course the Thargoid interdictions. My current strategy is to use heat sinks and keep boosting away until my FSD is back online and enter supercruise / hyperspace again. This strategy has worked thus far in that I have not lost my ship. Unfortunatley, the same does not always hold for the passengers, which on some runs do not all make it to the station occasionally.
That is pretty much my strategy, but I use engineered dirty thrusters with power allocated to engines and systems (none to weapons). With max power allocated to engines I can pretty much be under constant boost which for me is somewhere around 430. That is enough to keep me away from the bugs until I can get into supercruise and then jump to the next system. I guess maybe 80-90% of the time they don't even touch me.
Are you submitting to the interdiction? That significantly reduces your FSD cooldown.
So, in essence I...
- Submit to the interdiction.
- Turn my ass to the bugs.
- Constant boost until the FSD resets.
- Enter supercruise since you do not need to align to the target destination
- Jump to target system or get back on course if the target is in system.
I don't fight them, so I cannot offer any advice on that.
Thanks for your response. Sounds like we are basically using the same strategy. Good to know I am not overlooking something obvious there. My current boost speed is a bit lower (I think it is around 370, not exactly sure) but I seem to be able to maintain enough distance with that to escape relatively unscathed.
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