Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

As being a casual player myself, I just would be interested to hear how you who have family, job, hobbies (or, since I wouldn't want suggest that the regulars wouldn't have such, lack more efficient tiome management ... ) and other stuff that gets into the way of serious play enjoy Elite: Dangerous. How do you play the Game?
Which way suits you best? How do you approach the funding challenge?

For myself, I must say that even though I can only play now and then at a week's night, the game still is unchallenged. I simply love the combat system that is much more about "real" flying skills than about only "I have bigger guns than you". I enjoy the rides, I enjoy the soudns, I enjoy the sizzling of my Eagle or Cobra when they come close to the corona of a star, and of course I enjoy the thrill of fighting and, sometimes, running away just in time. I can't wait to try the external camera on my Freagle.

There are some drawbacks, though.

Regular updates: If I forget to start the game in time before I want to ply, it might happen that some stability update simply redesigns my schedule for the evening. Sends me back to books, so to speak. If only they could be done while playing, even if restricted to solo ...

I really miss the offline mode. It is more of a feeling than a need, since I would play in the Group as often as possible anyway, but it feels quite odd to be chained to a working internet connection. Ah well, long discussions, no hope. So be it.

Money Grinding is painful. As long as I only gain small amounts of money through USS bounty hunting, with missions that are uninteresting in terms of money anyway, it is a loooong way to upgrade something like a Cobra to better working conditions; and remains a dream to once try a Vulture. On the other hand, once earned, the money stays, since ships and equipment seem to be sold for the same price they have been bought. the thrill when I parked my Freagle to hop into my brand new Cobnra was quite a thing. Nevertheless, no idea how long it will take in RL to get the Cobra kitted to a reasonable B-grade condition ...

Conflict Zones. They are really great fun. If only they would stay ... or was it just the usual bad luck: I enjoyed rocking around in Falisci when they disappeared after 3 or so sessions. Shame really. Now searching for hints of a nearby CF. Just hopping around all the time becomes a bit tiresome.

EDIT UUUPDAAATES!! There should be a more suitable way to implement small adjustment updates without letting a Casual download half an hour of files, depending on the web connection, when he or she wants to play ... almost EVERY time.

So, how is it going for you? Which approach is yours? Ah, and thanks for any hints about CFs close to Falisci ...

Hail and well met Uvelius!

I started out as a casual player from launch until about a week ago when I started trading (I have allot of free time ATM). When I played casual, a good friend Fah-Q here in the group got me started on RES Bounty Hunting in my Sidewinder, which I still do with a Viper to break away from trading, as it is super enjoyable for me, and a fun casual run when I don't have the time to plough through trading.

Choosing a good system with a ringed planet is important. The rings should have 3-5 Resource Extraction Sites available, a Federal/Empire/or Alliance station AND/OR an Independent Station nearby (as close as possible, optimally in orbit of the ringed planet your hunting in). Here's why I really enjoy this setup for RES Bounty Hunting:

Navigating around the asteroids is awesome! It is beautiful and challenging to fly combat in them, as well as when the star goes behind the nearby planet, you get to play "headlight" asteroids in the dark! In solo combat, not much else is more fun!

Bounty Hunting in the RES area offers up wanted Sidewinders, Cobras, and even Anacondas. Ensuring they are "Wanted" after the basic scan can make you up to 30-40K Credits for Cobras and 1200-15K for Sidewinders. Watching the Security Service ships, and jumping in on a fight with them and a wanted Anaconda can net you 100k+ bounties if you stay on the 'Conda and are careful to get in 40% or so of the damage, and the last shots. You can save up for a Kill Warrant Scanner to increase your payouts at the stations too!

It's a real challenge to keep your shots on the wanted, and not strafe a Security Service ship. If you do (and you will) you will have a blast (literally) on boosting up and out of the RES and frameshifting ASAP to an Independent Station to clear your warrant. The Security Service isn't going to be pleased, but you can escape! It's pretty exciting!

I really enjoy Bounty Hunting RES grounds, and it got me into a "A/D" kit Cobra pretty quickly playing solo. If you can get together with a Wing, it would go allot faster, and be fun, but regardless, for casual solo fun, I really enjoyed it (and STILL do!).

Hit me up in-game and I'd be happy to fly a wing with you!

You failed to mention any kind of trading activity. Elite's primary source of income for everyone is trading, and (perhaps regretfully?) that's "working as intended." You just won't make as much money as fast doing anything else. Which sucks, if you'd rather stick to pure combat oriented gameplay. Flooding my Cobra with cargo racks, up to and including ditching the shields, and using it for trade runs I found with Inara.cz is where I made the majority of my early money. Is it mind-numbing, trading? You bet. Even as a casual player myself, I have to 'talk myself into' doing a couple of round-trips to keep the cash flow healthy. Haha. Sheesh.

As for ships selling back at the same price, this is not true. Don't be fooled! They sell back at a 10% loss. A buddy of mine went on a ship buying and selling spree, checking them out and playing with them, and ended up robbing himself of seven million credits. Haha.

Thanks for the (first fast and extensive) feedback! And thanks for pointing to the 10% trap.

Whiteneck wrote:Hit me up in-game and I'd be happy to fly a wing with you!

Very good, I will gladly. Will first meddling with the new comm control though, to get going.

I also fall into the casual player, due to work. Working shifts I only get a few hours here and there, if I have a day off I generally have to do things away from the house etc. So just this morning I only got 2.5 hours of play time.

I find I am unable to grind for any serious cash, I was lucky to get a little bit of Seeking Luxuries while it was available. And with a bit of rare trading I have managed to get enough credits together for an ASP. But I don't think I will be able to go from here to anything bigger as the gap is just to big. I just potter about doing what ever I fancy, hunt here and there. Trade a couple of goods forwards and back or do the odd mission. I think it will take me a very long time to get any rank or any amount of credits.

I very much am missing out on being able to log into Team Speak for an evening, and getting to know other Commanders within the group and play alongside them. Seems I am left to a life of sort of solo play within the group, so I have packed my bags and tins of beans and am off to so see the sights of the galaxy and do a bit of exploring.

I just wish they would fix the Cobra hard points as I can see myself playing the rest of my time in this game in one.

Telengo wrote:I just wish they would fix the Cobra hard points as I can see myself playing the rest of my time in this game in one.

I just recently upgraded to a Cobra, so excuse my less than extensive knowledge of its workings, but, what exactly is wrong with its hard points?

Just for the record, my earlier post about combat not being as lucrative as trading is potentially null and void, thanks to the latest update. Haha.

Malphator wrote:Just for the record, my earlier post about combat not being as lucrative as trading is potentially null and void, thanks to the latest update. Haha.

Repair and refuel costs have gone down considerably, so right there, that makes BH not as tough economically as it was before the patch. However, you are spot on regarding trading...nothing else has scored me the credits like trading. My current run I started in a Cobra set up for trading, and worked into a T6 pretty quickly. After some grinding I have a nice Viper to use for missions/BH and am getting closer to the T7 or ASP (I'll probably go T7 to get to a Python and skip over the ASP...but we will see).

Jump in TS and get to know some other commanders if at all possible. I learned allot about what routes were good to start out on, and even got some financial assistance to get going! I would be happy to pass down what I have learned and drop you some cargo to help. I am available most PST timezones. Add me in your friends list and don't forget to jump in TS!

You know, I was just thinking about a conversation I had with CMDR Bulldog last night. The Cobra is pretty awesome for casual play. Not many other ships besides the ASP and Python can multi-role as well, and considering the cost, you can't beat it! I was trading in it for a while, and with the right loadout, it's pretty good for the occasional trade run when you have a couple hours free.

(I still regret selling mine for the T6 but my sights are on the ASP/Python)

Here is an example loadout for trade Cobra I used. I made sure the BH components were available at the station I used to set her up for a trader with, so I could return and reset the loadout as needed. With this setup, and a good trade route, you can net approx. 110 - 150K per roundtrip (that's every 10min if your fast about landing/navigating).

Trade Cobra: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=602,mpW01 ... o03w03w03w

Compare that with a Hauler or Adder's cargo capacity, and you'll quickly see the benefit of the trade Cobra.

Adder: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60f,mpV0m ... E03w03w02M
Hauler: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60V,mpT01 ... U05U7OW02M

Right now, I'm exploring and getting my "discovered by" props (somewhere near the Pleiades (prob spelled it wrong but oh well)). I've done some combat, but no trading yet. I was exploring in my super-combat Viper, but decided to strip it down and get bare-bones Cobra which was a much better choice for exploration. Working on finding a station on the edge of occupied space for a detailed surface scanner before heading back out.

I am extremely happy that I get to play this game how I want, with or without others. I'm pretty social, but sometimes I just don't like human beings and need to do my own thing.

I'll be looking up how to trade efficiently in a few hours as I really need some quick cash heh. I have exactly 250,001 credits, so just enough for that scanner. Looking forward to kitting my Cobra for combat now that Wings is up and running!