Running out of fuel finding pirates

[buksida]

Still 'Harmless' so to try and boost my combat rank and experience I've tried a couple of pirate hunting missions on the bulletin boards.

However some of the systems you're sent to (such as MEDB) you're so far away from anything (1.6 million Ls to the nearest station) that you run out of fuel before you get there or even get a sniff of a pirate ship. After ten minutes at max cruise had to drop it and jump out before the fuel ran out.

How are you supposed to complete these missions when there are no pirates? Do they count against you if you abandon them? And ... is there a way to move fuel for hyperspace jumps into the reservoir for supercruise when you're getting low?

Final question - is there an easier way to get early combat experience and kills under my belt than these often futile BB missions?

Cheers!

[Zadkiel]

You don't need to go near a staion. Near the jump-in point in any inhabited system there is a Nav Beacon, and you can find pirates there. Or you can just cruise at 0 throttle and look for signal sources, and you might find pirates in those.

[TorTorden]

The reservoir refills automatically from the main fuel tank as needed so don't worry about the reservoir
As for systems with such large distances between them, I would just relocate. They aren't worth dealing with.

As mentioned, the best places for hunting pirates are resource extraction sites, navigation beacons and unknown signal sources.
The latter is spawned by the game around you and their distance to you is a function of how fast you are going.
Inow if you throttle down in cruise, and wait 30-60 seconds one will spawn almost in front of you, close enough that you can lock on the signal and drop immediately.
They often contain a few pirate sidewinders or cobra's .

In res's and navigation beacons it might be slightly easier to start off, since you can pretty much piggy back on the local police, you can wait for the npc police to engage and once they are about to kill the pirate you can swoop in and kill off the last 50% and claim the bounty.
The cops does not mind this at all.

I wouldn't worry about the combat rank really, maxing it is an end game activity and many increase their trade rank before their combat rank since trade profits is an easy way to afford a good combat capable ship.

[UnmarkedBoxcar]

Final question - is there an easier way to get early combat experience and kills under my belt than these often futile BB missions?

Cheers!

I started in the Nav Beacons near stars. Just flying around and scanning ships until one showed up as WANTED, which then got blown up by my handy little eagle. After a while I discovered Resource Extractions Sites, in the metal rich rings of gas giants. They're like Nav Beacons only more intense (with asteroids! Don't crash! )

Then, when you're really comfortable and ready to start grinding out the combat ranks, High Intensity Conflict zones are generally populated by Dangerous to Elite ranked ships.

[buksida]

Thanks for the replies, will try the RES's, are they easy to find? I presume any system based on mining will have them. Don't think I'm ready for conflict zones yet ... still 'Harmless'!!

Does abandoning or failing the BB missions count against you?

[buksida]

Ok, so I've had some success in the RESs, it is a good way to get some kills under the belt for beginners ... before that wing of 3 Vipers opened on me forcing a rapid GTFO of there maneuver.

However, as usual, a couple more questions ...

I've been collecting floating cargo that larger ships jettison before they get toasted, some legal some not, but all market as "stolen" so invariably the police ships in the RES scan me then fine me for the cargo I just grabbed that was otherwise floating in space. When I get to the station I get fined again for illegal cargo ... and then I find I cant sell it so have to take off with it onboard and face more fines.

Would it be better just not to bother collecting floating canisters since you cant sell it and the fines are more than the value of the stuff you collect?

Second question, what is the purpose of the KWS? I bought one and tried it but it gave no more info than I already had on the target ship in the bottom left panel.

[Gorf]

You need a station with a black market before you can sell stolen cargo. Ideally an outpost - they are less likely to scan you there.

Picking up cargo at a RES is not advisable unless you were getting ready to leave anyway. The only way you can pick up "clean" cargo is if a fellow CMDR abandons it. As far as I'm aware, NPCs never do this.

Firing the KWS lets you do an extended search (among minor factions) for bounties and can sometimes increase your bounty prize on a single kill by 100%. Otherwise (without a KWS) keeping the target in sight for a few seconds only picks up the bounty for the three majot factions (All, Fed, Imp)

[TorTorden]

Yea, the KWS doesnt give any more info in the bottom left HUD, but if you open the contacs tab you can sometimes see that bounty increases after a KWS.

Sometimes by as much as 100%, sometimes not at all, worth having for RES hunting.

[Zadkiel]

Ok, so I've had some success in the RESs, it is a good way to get some kills under the belt for beginners ... before that wing of 3 Vipers opened on me forcing a rapid GTFO of there maneuver.

However, as usual, a couple more questions ...

I've been collecting floating cargo that larger ships jettison before they get toasted, some legal some not, but all market as "stolen" so invariably the police ships in the RES scan me then fine me for the cargo I just grabbed that was otherwise floating in space. When I get to the station I get fined again for illegal cargo ... and then I find I cant sell it so have to take off with it onboard and face more fines.

Would it be better just not to bother collecting floating canisters since you cant sell it and the fines are more than the value of the stuff you collect?

Second question, what is the purpose of the KWS? I bought one and tried it but it gave no more info than I already had on the target ship in the bottom left panel.

OK, let's go through those one at a time.

Illegal Cargo you have to sell via the Black Market, which is an option under the 'Contacts' station menu. Not all stations have a Black Market, and I believe outposts are more likely to have them than normal stations (and Outposts also have no police to scan you).

Smuggling cargo past the police is a whole gameplay element that this post is too small to explain, I suggest you google Elite smuggling to find out what you need to know.

The KWS scans find all bounties on a target - without the scanner all you know are their bounties in the local system to the local authorities. Sometimes a ship only has local bounties, in which case the KWS doesn't reveal anything new, but in other cases the total bounty will go up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The police do NOT have KWS and only care about local bounties. Thus, if you scan a ship that is not showing as wanted and with no bounty, and it uncovers a remote bounty, if you attack that ship, as far as the police are concerned you are attacking an innocent and you will be fined/bountied/attacked as a criminal.

[Zadkiel]

inor factions) for bounties and can sometimes increase your bounty prize on a single kill by 100%. Otherwise (without a KWS) keeping the target in sight for a few seconds only picks up the bounty for the three majot factions (All, Fed, Imp)

No, the bounties you 'see' without a KWS are entirely to do with whatever factions the local system has.

You will see:

bounties belonging to each of the minor factions native to that system.
bounties belonging to major factions of which those local factions are aligned with.