Casual Players, how do you enjoy E : D?

[Telengo]

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?

The size 2 weapon mounts are right outside the view port. An excellent location! The two size 1 weapon mounts are right out on the wing tips...but underneath the wing. Giving two problems: The first is a very large wide cone of fire which is just poor. The Asp, Eagle, Viper etc all have their weapons close together giving a nice cone of fire. The second problem is because they are under the wing, you have to keep the nose of the ship above the target so that they are able to fire. If the target rises above the nose of your ship they can't hit the target anymore and you lose half your fire output.

It is just a poor layout.

[Corsaire31]

I don't agree, it is more interesting just because it brings some difficulty in the dogfight ( same reason why I have fixed cannons on the class 2 weapons mount ) If you have all gimballed weapons bearing all the time, where is the fun ? It is already so easy to kill the poorly fighting NPCs... In a one hour bounty hunting at nav beacon, I usually loose one ring of shields

Overall the game is too easy, in 35 days playing 2 hours at a time I used insurance once for my Eagle because I hit by mistake an Authority Vessel (at the time when it was very touchy) in a dogfight with an Anaconda and the three of them blew me out of the sky in 5 seconds...

Although it is called "Dangerous" it is (for me) in the category of "relaxing games".

[KleinerFisch]

I don't agree, it is more interesting just because it brings some difficulty in the dogfight ( same reason why I have fixed cannons on the class 2 weapons mount ) If you have all gimballed weapons bearing all the time, where is the fun ? It is already so easy to kill the poorly fighting NPCs... In a one hour bounty hunting at nav beacon, I usually loose one ring of shields

Overall the game is too easy, in 35 days playing 2 hours at a time I used insurance once for my Eagle because I hit by mistake an Authority Vessel (at the time when it was very touchy) in a dogfight with an Anaconda and the three of them blew me out of the sky in 5 seconds...

Although it is called "Dangerous" it is (for me) in the category of "relaxing games".

My Viper is loaded with 2 fixed Beams. I just like having to aim when bringing down shields as quick as possible and fixed do more damage. It has taught me much how to fly the ship while still keeping locked on target. And 2 gimballed Multicannons help me hit the sub-modules while circling around and staying out of the enemies aim, I can focus on steering.

Oh, and 1.2 seems to have increased NPC skills and they also come in wings now. So much fun when fighting a wing, to pick one target and avoid the other two. 1 Conda 2 Eagles ? Yay, lets dance

(note to self: switch off voice-over for FA on/off)

[Emanon]

The size 2 weapon mounts are right outside the view port. An excellent location! The two size 1 weapon mounts are right out on the wing tips...but underneath the wing. Giving two problems: The first is a very large wide cone of fire which is just poor.

While not perfect this multi-function ship can be kitted out to still be effective. For instance, I just used gimbled weapons on those outside hardpoints and it also make sense ship design wise to have a more saucer ship with weapons on the edges.

As far as how I play casual it all comes down to what I'm feeling like doing at the time because I probably won't go for more than a couple of hours at a time and maybe 3 - 4 times a week. I do have a couple of pretty nicely kitted ships thanks mainly to trading, but I don't find it as mind-numbing as others do. Call me crazy but at one point I started doing what I like to call the Endless Trading Run (creating my own game in the sandbox) where I would use an external tool to tell me what the best commodity was to sell to a nearby station and just go there with it. Then at the new spot after a decent sell I'd do the same, and let this continue for the whole session, having fun if the goods were considered illegal and I had to speed to beat the scans. I was surprised at how many credits I made that way just seeing where the trading would take me and not doing the same round-trip or triangle the whole time. Rarely did the run repeat to a previous location and often I was surprised at what else I saw in a new system (so take at least a basic discovery scanner with you in a trade ship because then you can discover all the star systems).

I have since started goofing off more with Bounty Hunting at Nav Points or Resource Sites and the profits have drastically increased, which is awesome. Still not as good as trading but worth the time now as you are having fun along with getting better creds. I imagine in Wings of 2 or more this would be even more efficient and fun to do with company (even if it cuts into your profit a bit).

Anyway, hope to see you guys/gals out there!

Later,
~E

[Corsaire31]

Oh, and 1.2 seems to have increased NPC skills and they also come in wings now. So much fun when fighting a wing, to pick one target and avoid the other two. 1 Conda 2 Eagles ? Yay, lets dance

(note to self: switch off voice-over for FA on/off)

Had my first encounter with a wing of 2 NPCs, it makes things more fun of course... (specially that one of them was wanted but the other one was clean) But as soon as I killed the first one, the second ran away and jumped in space !

[KleinerFisch]

Oh, and 1.2 seems to have increased NPC skills and they also come in wings now. So much fun when fighting a wing, to pick one target and avoid the other two. 1 Conda 2 Eagles ? Yay, lets dance

(note to self: switch off voice-over for FA on/off)

Had my first encounter with a wing of 2 NPCs, it makes things more fun of course... (specially that one of them was wanted but the other one was clean) But as soon as I killed the first one, the second ran away and jumped in space !

Yeah, you got to be quick to catch them all

[Manny72]

Myself, I've been trading to upgrade Cobra to Asp (just achieved). I usually do Rare runs, they take longer but the extra credits are worth it, usually watch a movie or tv show while doing it (that stops the mind numbing). Will probably do one more Rare run, to make sure have insurance costs covered, then I'll probably change loadouts and do a bit of RES hunting to see how the credits roll in there.

[uvelius]

YAY!
Did a bit of RES hunting yesterday, and my, it DID work well! First time I really made good progression in one session. Around 800 000 credits in some hours, and it was fun (as you can see, still nothing compared to the "proffs". Even so, it has been absolutely fine with me: It was fun and allows to equip your ship). Managed to crash slap-bang into an asteroid when dodging a pissed off Python that I might have tickled a bit too much.
I then checked a high-intensity conflict zone. That was more a waste of ammunition in comparison even when taking down condas and pythons, nothing near the RES hunting results. Still lot of fun, so that will be my Freagle dancing ground next time, let the cannons go BOOOM. I should be ready for some Wings action by then, and after figuring out how to handle the Comm controls.

EDIT I now even can play with the thought of saving up for a Vulture. Which would be awesome. While atb teh same time having a fully A-grade kitted Freagle at hand, which is an unbelievably affordable affair to do now ... love it.
Only if we could relocate our ships ...

EDIT II The hardpoint location discussion would muster for an own thread, but than it is fine with me to have some thought blended in here.

So yes, I can recommend RES hunting for casuals now as well! Thanks for the hint!

[Xebeth]

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?

IIRC the bottom hard points are set slightly back meaning they won't fire at anything above your mid line, if you are using gimballed weapons you need to keep your nose slightly up to use all four weapons

[Cmdr Kharma]

Yep Correct.....

Try to attack the top or bottom of a ship.....

Wider target and track it in the middle....That way both sets of weapons can engage......