Becoming a trader-slave?

There are some posts in the ED forum which discuss this issue; trading seems to be the way to go, thereby almost invalidating other playstyles because of the comparatively fast way to make money (and thus get to the ships with the stuff you want faster, get greater jump range for exploring, become a powerful fighter faster, etc.). Last night, I made exactly this experience.

I started in my trusty Eagle in I Bootis and checked the bulletin board. An unusual high payed job pops up; bring 1 unit of palladium and receive 12.000 Credits. This I can do. So I think. Only after I accepted the mission and looked up the galaxy map for the nearest extraction or refiniery system (not sure which one is the right to look for; probably refinery), I was confronted with a severely short jump range of my fighter ship. I couldn´t even jump to the neighbouring Eranin and was stuck with only Aulin as a viable route. At first I wondered if this can be right, but then I remembered how it was explained in the forum that weapon/equipment loadout has a mass, too, which shortens any jump range. So my three gimbals actually gimp me.

The mission has a duration of one hour. I decided to patrol some unidentified signals (US) and then to go back to the hauler and do this mission. I do not want to be a bird without (jump)wings.

Zipping around I Bootis and diving for any US, I encountered security vessels, security vessels, security vessels, security vessels, security vessels... aaaand; security vessels.

After about 20 Minutes of boredom, the Eagle spots a Cobra trailing slowly through the nightsky, and nosedives for it. Multicannons spit and spark and the Cobra hisses in pain and meets its demise, however, not after biting painfully back with a pair of railfangs, scraping away some skin from under the Eagle´s feathers. Here, pick a 650 Credit voucher. Not long after, another Cobra manages to slide away in time, but spills its entrails after being slashed by the Eagles claws. Great, sugar and mineral oil; I can probably mix it and sell it as Coffee on the black market!



 - I did not find a screenshot of en Eagle using triple multicannons; space is full of a swarm of angry sparks when you fire! This picture here is probably portraying rather a railgun-hit in pre-beta (the graphic effect has changed a little since then. I liked it better before, as shown here, looks more powerful an impact like this).



I am bored, besides, I still wanted to haul that well-payed mission, so I pick some units and head for Chango Dock´s black market. Chango stalls its docking clearance for quite a while so that I am tempted to go get a coffee. There, finally. Wanting to cash-in my bounty voucher of 650 Credits (feels like getting pocked money from grandad), the security office gratiously also offers me to pay off my fine of 2150 Credits. WTF! How come? ... I must have attacked one of the Sidewinder pirates while they were still yellow. From experience relayed from the ED forum, I can guess how it must have happened: It is confusing; some yellow ships you can attack because they already have the "wanted" status. However, a pirate, who is threatening you via communication ("NOW YOU DIE MUAHAHAHA!") must first shoot at me and hit me so that I am not fined when I shoot at him.
Selling my self-made coffee cargo at the black market, I get compensated with a plus of a grand 535 Credits. So much for founding a coffee business. Great. That´s it. Bye, Eagle, bye system patrols!

Enter the second phase of this night´s play session. I head for Aulin, swooping for two US on the route. A Sidewinder nets me a voucher for 750 Credits. Another Cobra, but the Eagle has competition in form of three security vessel Eagles. On the brink of dealing the final deathblow, the multicannons stutter and die off; no ammo. Jeez, I totally forgot about buying ammo. So this Cobra is some other Eagle´s spoils.

In Aulin, I sell all guns and exchange the Eagle back into a Hauler. Checking the bulletin board, there is a "long range haul" to Dahan for 5000 Credits. Fine, I wanted to check for Palladium there, anyways. And I can load the remaining cargo bay with some agri-medicines to drop them off on the way in Eranin.

With his notion, my brain for the next two hours somehow succumbs to a grind. I do a few times a Dahan - Aulin trip, because a combination of "long haul" mission and cargo makes it seem worthwhile. However, soon after this, I am back doing Asellus Prime (catalysators) - Dahan (Cobalt). I want that Lakon Type 6. I grind, do not have really fun, but I do not realize it until after some time has passed and my account is up to 182.000 Credits. I decide to call it a night and go in my next session for two or three more runs and then buy the Lakon Type 6. Yay, next session, Lakon Type 6! According to players´ feedback from the ED forum, this space cow must have a phenomenal jump range, and I would finally be able to reach every system.


- waiting the queue for docking permission became a bit too repetitive for my taste this night; sometimes, I had to request docking about a dozen times before I could get in






For this night, I cannot help but feel a bit dissatisfied. There was not really something new to discover, and while some of the combat was there, it felt very routine already and the rewards felt more like pocket money.

Already shutting down my PC, something nagging at the back of my mind blooms fully into my awareness. Cobra! I totally forgot that I could buy a Cobra Mk3; could have already done it at 150.000 Credits and thus saved myself a part of tonight´s mindless grinding!

This is one of the moments where impulse overrules rationality; it is already midnight and I really should conserve more energy for the day. But I want to fly the Cobra and reap this satisfaction of having achieved something, which I felt slightly missing today.

Off to I Bootis I fly, taking one new trade good along the way, of which Slopey´s tool tells me would bring 10.000 Credits profit. However, as I arrive, I actually can only sell it off with a loss. I re-check. Slopey´s tool still shows a profit, so the update seems to be very slow. I cannot imagine that I Bootis is checked so rarely by other players that its data would be outdated? Maybe there was just a moment ago a visit of a player in a Lakon Type 9 who reaped all the profit and smashed the price level? I don´t know and don´t care: It is Cobra-time!


 - Cobra, THE iconic Elite ship








And it is, for the next one and a half hours. First thing I do is the Aulin fish run, then agri-medicines to Eranin, then grain to Aulin. One Cobra-run equals two runs with my Hauler before (36 units instead of 16). Good, now I should have the cash to also buy weapons and have enough left for an insurance fee in case my snake get squished under some other ship´s boots.

Fitting weapons to the Cobra, I can draw from my earlier experience of fitting the Eagle: I try again a railgun approach and realize that even the Cobra can only fit two of its four hardpoints with C2-railguns before the power allowance hits its max. In this case, I might as well fit four C1-lasers and have the same damage output with less punishment on my ship system.
There are some interesting other weapon combinations (here is some outdated information, but it gives a good overview of what is available), but I do not have the cash and I do not want to gimp my jump range too much, so no C3- or C4-weapons please, which weight 9 tonnes. After some pondering, I want to fit the Cobra to play its strength, which is multi-purpose. I decide to fit four C1-gimballed-burst lasers, which I consider have a good weight-to-punch-ratio. Like this, I can hopefully fight well but still make use of a higher jump range than with what I now instinctively call the "starter ships" (Sidewinder, Eagle, Hauler).

Side-remark: I don't like the "level"-ship concept and think that no ship should be outdated by another type. Each needs to have its strength and viability also in a late game stage. The Sidewinder e.g. could be a cheap scout for risky approaches, or could be specifically good with a certain exotic weapon setup (railguns?). Etc.

Having 30.000 Credits cash left, which is hopefully enough to cover insurance, my Cobra starts to hunt for US-prey. The first few Sidewinders encountered pop very satisfyingly after only brief firing position, no more than three needed. However, the burst lasers do draw a lot of power. I guess it is ok for the Cobra. This ship is not very maneuverable compared to the other I have flown so far, but it has superior speed. Rush in, hit hard, get out of it, repeat. The gimballed C1-burst lasers support this tactic nicely.

I am getting bold; a US contains an Anaconda with "wanted"-status and three security vessels. I attack the Anaconda quickly, because I already saw them jump away rather quickly if not immediately enganged. The security vessels jopin the fight on my side, as I expected from earlier observations. This should help. Whew, the Anaconda it is a big bad ship, which turns suprisingly fast; I do not manage to stay at its six, respectively, the moment I believe I am at its six it somehow almost instantly manages to turn 180 degree and fire a full frontside laser barrage at me. Three times I get caught in the Anacondas mighty gunrange, I am at 66% hull even though I try to vertical strafe on its lateral axis (this is how successfully used to evade Cobra fire with my Eagle). Then it happens. My energy batteries have recovered and I swoop in for another salvo at the Anaconda. A security vessel strays exactly this moment into my fire. All three security vessels turn red and open fire on me. Damn, damn, damn. No dice, I won´t risk my new and expensive ship. Thanks to superior speed, I am quickly out of range and can warp away. One last look on my target shows it at 8% quickly whittled down to the end by the Eagles who apparently did not bother to follow me with an angry Anaconda on their six.


-  I really have to start making my own screenshots; dancing with three Eagles and an Anaconda feels a bit similar this screenshot, though

This was exciting, and a good point to finish this session, finally. It is 2 am, once again. I guess I will have to do a break from the game at some point this week and recover some sleep. For now, I am very satisfied, as buying the Cobra somehow turned this game session into the good experience I wanted to have. Engage shutdown!

Thoughts from in-between:
- It would be good to have access to the galaxy map while browsing the board. I could check jump ranges before accepting a job without having to exit and re-enter the whole station menu (with this slight every so annoying loading time).
- I totally ignored the Viper so far, even though I was totally wanting to have it before I entered beta. I guess this is because of my mediocre experience with the Eagle. The Viper seems to be as well a pure fighter, a bit faster than the Eagle. However, my playstyle is not very set, so I seem to fare better with a multi-purpose approach. But I will sure still try out the Viper at a later stage.
- I still forget to load and make use of NVidia´s shadowplay, so that I might support my blog with videos and screenshots; I guess I am still to caught up in the game itself, so no real focus on reporting from the game. This might change when I have seen it all and can shift my focus a bit more to the social experience.
- As the reader might have noted, I totally forgot to do that one mission from the start of my session; I totally did not find any Palladium in Dahan, Asellus Prime, Eranin or Aulin, and I did not bother to waste time flying around looking for it.
- Putting in pictures in this article somehow totally destroys its formatting. I guess this is where for-free-software reaches its limits.
- Placed a passage of this article in the Drabble-Thread here.

Interesting snippets from the ED forum

...here:
"I discovered something interesting last night. I had a borderline jump to make, in a Sidewinder and when I tried to select my destination it was NOT listed. Even though the galactic map showed it as possible.
I thought about dropping weapons, but then realised that the station I was at was a long way from the system's primary star.
So on a hunch I cruised the distance to the star, and THEn tried, a lo and behold I was now within jump range!
So it seems the jump distances are being calculated properly from your current location to the Nav beacon of the destination, which means you may be able to make a jump that was impossible from one side of a system simply by flying to the side closest to the destination, or to the center.
I'd be interested in knowing if this is capable of opening up any systems that show as too far in the map."

I am going to try this out; maybe this is the reason why the calculations appear bugged and you are sometimes stuck in a hauling mission like I was yesterday.

... here:
 "Information about where to buy ships.

Sidewinder: Nang Ti-Khian, H Draconis, Acihaut, LHS3262, Tilian, Bolg
Eagle: Aulin, Eranin, Asellus Primus, Nang Ti-Khian, Acihaut, LHS3262, Tilian
Hauler: Aulin, Asellus Primus, Nang Ti-Khian, LHS3262, Tilian, Bolg
Viper: Aulin, Asellus Primus, Nang Ti-Khian, H Draconis, Acihaut, Rakapila, LHS3262
Cobra MKIII: I Bootis, Aulin,
Type 6 Transporter: I Bootis, Aulin, H Draconis, Tilian Lakon Type 9 Heavy: I Bootis, Bolg Anaconda: LHS 3262, Pi-Fang"

... here:
"Cobra Factory-spec Jump Ranges, Empty/Full cargo = 9.81 / 7.39 LY
Viper Factory-spec Jump Ranges, Empty/Full cargo = 12.0 / 9.4 LY
Not sure how the Cobra fairs with more equipment, but the Viper drops off to about 5.5 to 6 LY empty with a combat loadout.
Given the Cobra can run at 7.39 with 36 tons of cargo and a single pulse laser, I suspect it'll do about 8 - 8.5 LY empty with a combat loadout."

I excpect once they add warp drive as equipment we will get a clearer picture on jump ranges. Right now it is rather intransparent.

Also:
I now remember from last session that I may have shot a pirate while he was still yellow-marked, i.e. neutral. This might have earned me the "wanted"-status, and would also explain why a system security vessel turned hostile without other apparent reason.

Also:
My two newest added commands for VoiceAttack do not work very well: "assist" and "boost" seem to be too close to and get confused with other (German) words. I better change them.

... here. Maybe for later reference once the Oculus Rift consumer version is out. This game is so made for VR!

Eagle overload

Is me ship fast enough? IS ME SHIP FAST ENOUGH? Aww, man, I can do the Aulin-Fish-Run in under 5 Minutes!

 - random screenshot from the internet (who does not know the Millenium Falcon!?)








To be honest, I did not stop time. But I can proudly say that I can now dock in under 1 minute, starting from requesting docking at 7km distance from the station and leave the station in under 20 seconds. Those repetitive trade runs are good exercise. Toggling the landing gear has become second nature, I don't land helicopter-style anymore but swoop low and fast onto the landing pad like a jet, I zip-by those fat NPC-Cobras and -Lakons, which are stuck vertically right in front of the docking entrance I can do at max speed!

Despite of my boasting and probably even true above statement, I had decided to not grind at least 10 times the Aulin-I Bottis run at 10.000 Credits each in oder to be able to afford the Lakon Type 6 freighter. Instead, I am itching for some action. I Bootis offers both the Eagle and the Viper, and I have 90.000 Credits. Hmmmm, juicy Viper, I want it... 75.000 Credits... but, just a moment, what about armaments? No good to have a Viper with one loaned class-1 pulse laser, and if I get destroyed, I need, according to what I read in the forum, to have around 5% for the insurance lest my asset is gone forever. Besides, I have "Falken" in my name, so might play by style and fly a bird and not a snake. Hmmm.... juicy Viper... but, hold, you can still buy and savour it later, you wanted to try out every ship in game anyways and the Eagle seems to be the more low-level ship, so let´s be polite and play the queue. But,... Viper...? No! Eagle. Hmm, ok...
 


 - No Viper for me, this time...








Already at the fitting screen I am confirmed to have done the right decision. One freaking weapon costs already 10.000 Credits upwards! I want railguns! All railguns! Hmm... no; I saw that one video where an Eagle with two railguns was overheating after two shots already... better stay with two. Ok done it, add a heatsink launcher, to get rid of heat if I need to fire more than those two shots, assign fire groups. Ready? Lets fly the Eagle, baby!


- Let´s fly the Eagle, baby! #
(looks nicer, but unfortunately it seems to be inferior technical specs to a Viper. So, what!)






The mission board offers some mercenary work; it says, go there, kill that, if you can find it. No, man, thanks. Sounds like my beloved "unidentified signals" (US) clearly pop up faster than any mission goal you offer to me, thanks.

Docking bay clear, flightassist off, boost at 350 cps, that´s how the runs are done like Chetaah-Fast-Paws! In Supercruise, I go for the first US. Aww, just a freighter with "clear" status. I decide to test out my guns into empty space, instead. Extend hardpoints! Hummmmmms... I can´t see the hardpoints/guns, they must be under my cockpit´s view because they read as extracted. Ksssh-shhhh...kssshhh-shhhh.... why do I sound like Darth Vader? Life systems are off`? Drives off? Toilet not flushing (cargo hatch off)? WTF is going on?

Some 30 minutes later. I am again the wiser. Seems like the power draw of those railguns is too much and the computer shuts down all systems except the railguns. I play with the power settings in the right menu, assign priority 1 and 2 to discern how much %tage a given system component acutally takes. According to calculation, everything including railguns should read exactly 100% power draw. However, it seems that in full combination with all other system components, the railguns actually take 13% and not 12%, which then makes the system exceed 100% and shut down. I am setting up my ship without life support, frameshift, cargo hatch, pwr distribution, and I can run everything else, for 10 minutes until my Darth-Vader-air-supply is out. This would be enough for a fight, but it sure feels worse than Han Solo in the Millenium Falcon!


- not a screenshot from my Eagle, just found it in the internet to show the menu with the power settings which I used for my tests (I have to find out how to do and then remember to do screenshots myself)






So, back to the docks, I guess railguns are the wrong choice anyways. The Eagle has three hardpoints, an I should damn well make use of it. From EVE online I learned that you should best fit the same weapon type and range ammo in order to have optimal dps in a given comat situation to strive for, everything else will gimp your overall damage output. I think this dogma fits also here. So, in order to have the Eagle make full use of its potential, I need three guns of the same type. After some pondering, I go for gimballed multicannons. This type of gun is probably best when being close to the target, as the bullets have, opposed to laser beams, a travel delay, and thanks to automatic aiming (the word "gimball" seems so cute, I don´t even know its translation), I can concentrate on maneuvering and staying close and out of gunsight.

Fitted like this, I go for patrol around Aulin and wait for US or interdictions. Security Vessel, Clear-status-freighter, there; a Sidewinder pirate. Fun it is! I effortlessly stick to his butt and my (g)-machineguns shred it apart in no time, and a 650 Credits bounty. Next! Again a sidewinder, yes. Same thing, however, suddenly my guns stop. Reload! The sidewinder is at 8% hull and before the guns are ready again, that sucker has warped away. Aww man, this is cheating! I was straight at his back and I would have been 10fold mass locked in this same situation!

Things start to go wrong again. Next interdiction is an Eagle security vessel. I am still annoyed and target and circle it while it scans me. WTF, suddenly it turns red and attacks me? I had nothing in my hold, nothing! I am confused, but do not dare attack, because I do not get a "wanted"-status. I read in the forum that they need to shoot at you first and then you can shoot back without penalty? Ok, here, I let him hit me. Can I shoot now? Uhm, I still hesitate. I certainly will not get any bounty, why should I then? I decide to boost away. Flight assist off, boost to 350 cps. Wait what is this, the Eagle grills me! Evasive maneuvers! Ai, ai, 90%, 60%, 50%, 48%... finally I seem to be out of range and mass lock and I am back in supercruise. What happened? Well, FA off and just moving the mouse/joystick actually does nothing when you fly a straight line, so the security-Eagle surely had a good line of fire the whole time I was blasting out of his range... how stupid, but lucky I was.

I am going for repairs to Aulin. Two more US tempt me on my way there, but it is again just security vessels. Arriving at Aulin, I have to realize to my dismay that my left menu does indeed show a hefty "wanted"-fee of 1200 Credits on me. No idea why this happened. Did I provoke the police officer? I hadn´t even deployed my weapons! Talk about police despotism! (However, if this should be true, I acutally like it as part of the Elite gameplay)

It is 1 am, and I have to come to a conclusion for this second half of the night. I actually like the Eagle, feels a bit like riding a motorbike instead of a van, but bugs stopped me from really enjoying it. I lost more money than I gained flying it: Repairs 900 Credits, paying off my fine 1200 Credits. On the plus side, one measly bounty of 650 Credits. I don´t like this kind of profit margin.

However, almost like a compensatory measure from Frontier, luck comes back online. Aulin does not accept my landing request, so I sit there and wait, right in front of the entrance, very tensly aware of my 1200 Credit-"wanted"-status. Suddenly, I hear a faint "ca-boom", and some white targets appear on my scanner. Freight from a destroyed ship; hail-thou you stupid AI ships (didn´t spot any player ships around, btw, payer ships seem to have become rarer these days)!
I have four free cargo slots, might as well scoop some of them up and sell them on the black market in I Bootis, since Aulin does not want to let me enter, anyways. Flipping through the targets, I realize there are four canisters with battle weapons! Bingo! Super profit to sell! However, they drift very close to the space station, like, few hundred meters, and the station´s turning fills up my view and really confuses my sense for my own speed and direction. So it comes that I indeed manage to destroy one of those valuable cannisters, damn!

Some minutes later I have FAoff-boosted out of mass lock and jumped safely to I Bootis. On its black market, selling each unit at 5000+ Credits. In the end, I have 52.000 Credits and an eagle with three (g)-multicannons, so I figure this is a bit more than the 90.000 Credits and the Hauler I started this second half of my night with. It is tempting to continue from here, since I did not really get the Eagle through his paces yet. But it is now 2 am and crazily late for having a working day pending. So I force my mouse-hand to set the shut-down. Engage! Good night!

Missions: Thumbs down.

I am back from a nice, a little stressful, but overall very nice weekend. Driving back, singing loud and false for my 2-year old daughter in the back (this usually keeps her patient, don´t ask me, it just works), I was already wondering at the back of my mind how to continue in Elite:Dangerous. I have 50.000 Credits and my strategy so far was to

1. get a feeling for PvE missions: so far, the mission board did not work but I did some unidentified signals instead, so: partly check.
2. get into trading and combine it with a bit of exploring: did the trading thing and got caught up in it ("just one more  run, just one more run, ooops, it is 2 a.m. ..."), so: partly check
3. trying out each available ship in order to know what to go for when the game is out: so far, I fly a hauler, but I could now switch to an Eagle or with a few more trade runs to a Viper. Also, I did not spot or research into the Lakon-type freighters.

It is probably most efficient if I continue trading (I also have still a lot of fun just flying around, so no danger of being bored). I should therefore continue trading and earn Credits to try out the other freight ships first. Once I have earned enough credit to be able to buy every ship, I can stop trading and start becoming a kind of soldier of fortune. So, all in all a slight adjustment of my playing strategy, I delay the exloration part in exchange for working to have more ship- and thus also playstyle-options available as early as possible.

This Viper is very tempting, though. However, I have read in the forum that heavy armaments (Viper has 2xC4, 2x C2 weapon mount points) severely gimp jump range. So it is probably not a good idea to try to explore in a heavy-duty Viper. Well, let`s see how the game is going to develop for me.

Before starting, I update to beta 1.03 and also Slopey`s trading tool in order to find the juicy trading routes a bit earlier. I already know what and where to analyse, because Fontier themselves hand out some hints in the latest newsletter by mentioning the most traded goods, the most traded stations and some stations which are supposed to have some not yet discovered "trading jewels".

And an interesting night I will have. Straight four hours of enlightenment.

Starting in Asellus Prime, I feel somehow bored with the prospect to restart my last profitable trade run of bringing catalysators right next door to Dahan. I study the mission board; it works, for starters. They list hauling contracts. A long range contract wants to send me to ... a complicated system name with a lot of numbers which I forget the moment I read it. Ah, screw it, I ll do it. This way I finally come to the exploration part of trading! I study the galaxy map to find out where to go; the left menu only allows to lock on one-jump waypoints. I get much more comfortable already with the map. So, Dahan, Morgor, Targetsystem, is the order. Which means that I add some catalysators to drop off on my way at Dahan. Off I go, and all goes as planned; until I arrive.

As I drop off the cargo in my target system, I do not get the reward. Where is the cash, baby? Most probably it is what I read in the forum:You have to go back to the system where you received the mission in order to get the money. Damn. So much for mixing mission transports with exploring. 
I don´t want to go back empty, what a waste! So I load up Cobalt because I know already that Asellus Prime pays good. I launch and want to lock Morgor, but it does not appear in the menu. Yep, another thing I read about in the forum: Too much cargo is too much mass, which reduces your jump range. Great. Dock again, sell off 7 units, check back with the galaxy map´s navigation panel and the cargo slider, ok, launch, lock, jump. I guess this is learning by doing.

It continues this way; I forgot to fuel up and have to dock in Morgor for doing so. Another waste of time, and time is money. For Slopey´s fans, I check the commodities so that his programm gets the data, and I discover that Cobalt was much cheaper here to buy. Why did I look it up?

Finally I arrive in Asellus Prime, check the mission board, click... did I get the cash? Hm seems so; some 7.000 Credits more; after 30 minutes of gameplay. I could have made much more just doing three Asellus-Dahan trade runs for 10.000 Credits. Maybe I give it another try. I check the mission board again. Ok, another long range haul, to another number-spelled target system, but not soo many numbers; LF 3006 (I think ?). 5 cargo units of computers. I accept. Fueled up? Yes. Launch. Have to go via Eranin. In Eranin, my left menu tells me there is no LF 3006. I check the galaxy map; indeed, no line goes there, even though Eranin seems to be closest. It seems I encountered the galaxy map bug which I read about in the forum; ain´t this scheme getting repetitive?

The galaxy map´s slider tells me that in order to actually have the range, I can carry exact and only one of the five units required for the mission... uhm, no; it would be too boring to do this 5 times in a row. I decide to check whether the bug consists only by showing wrong lines or if I am indeed below the required jump range. I eyeball that LF-something or Aulin seems also to be close to the target system. Travelling there to LF-something... no. Travelling to Aulin again makes me stop at I Bootis because of fuel issues. Time to fill up some fish, at least some costs to be covered! Arrival at Aurin, .. no, target system not in range.

I am annoyed with the mission system, it seems a waste of time if you want to make money and it is not useful for exploring or traveling somewhere else and making money on the road. I decide to do a few I Bootis -Aulin runs (agri-medine - fish). I suffer through some freezes when entering hyperspace and once, cannot land on my assigned landing pad; the guidance system displays my ship topside-down and the game apparently does not recognize that I am acutally positioned correctly (maybe I should not swoop in so fast and steep, next time).

After some runs back in I Bootis, I check for the next bigger freighter, the Lakon Type 6. Whew, 193.000 Credits they want from me for it, and I have right now 90.000 Credits. I decide that continuing trade runs have a too grindy feeling to it. It is time to change my playstyle.


- No Lakon type 6 for me, this night!









This evening is to be continued... in the next post!

Third night into the Elite:Dangerous beta

Executing the strategy as discussed in my last post. Worked well.

1. Get into combat with your easy to replace starter ship.
The bulleting board in the stations were a mess; permanent inacessible and kicking me from the server.

 - here used to be a nice picture, courtesy from the "wild west"-thread in the ED forum, but somehow it got erased; I noted it was also erased in the forum thread and wonder what the copy&paste of a graphic via the left click menu actually does with a given graphic file; well, it is not there anymore and I am too lazy to look for a substitute


So, I just launched and went for a patrol through the I Bootis system. I tried to get a feeling for the new communication interface, but it feels clumsy, and once I am ready to contact another player (target ship, open console, start typing chat), the other ship has already passed by in supercruise.

I went through about 10 unidentified signals. I learned that these are apparently pings on the supercruise radar where some ships or mass is spotted. I encountered various things, a nice random generator:

- Security vessels scanning another ship, sometimes initiating combat with it; I joined wherever possible and gained one or two cheap bounty vouchers this way (learned later that you have to exchange the vouchers in the station of the same system where you earned them).

- Haulers and Lakon-type freighters, who apparently just dropped out of their supercruise and wait to re-engage; some of them have wanted status, so I shot those but never managed to destroy them before they warp away again. However, if you whittle them down far enough, they jettison their cargo. The third time I was super lucky and a Lakon-6 hauler jettisoned a dozen untis of personal weapons. I was sad that my cargo hold could only hold 4 of them, but those 4 already earned me 15.000 credits on the black market, which fortunately happens to be in the same system at Chango Dock. I tried to got back to the location and could not find a way to do so; apparently, unidentified signals get erased once you "accept to enter" one of them; this was annoying because sometimes I saw three of them, but after I finished the first zone, the other two unidentidied signals were gone and I had to look someplace else.

- Pirates. I even managed to kill an overconfident Sidewinder, but not without loosing some chunks of armor myself; this pirate was probably equipped with railguns, because I was into 73% hull already after two shots. The other pirates always got away from me into warp; very apparently, my starter Sidewinder ship has not enough pew-pew power.

- Neutral civilst or mercenarys, sometimes with "wanted"-status. Once I became over-confident and engaged a Cobra Mk3. After all, I had bested those ships already in the offline-combat mission ("Incursion"). However, this particular Cobra sported extra punch in the form of guided missiles; while I manged to stay close, the Cobra nevertheless managed to turn around, get a lock on me and launch a volley of six missiles from very close range. After the first volley I was already down into hull, and the second volley ejected me out of my exploding ship. I "wake up" back in Eranin and chose the starter-Sidewinder for free (there was another Sidewinder to choose for 1600 credits, no idea why I should choose that one). Hence, my strategy was right to stick to the PvE part while using the starter Sidewinder. I concluded that it was now probably time to shift to another play style and go to phase 2 of my strategy, to ...


2. trading/exploring!

Thanks to my "personal weapons"-raid, I had a nice financial cushion, which I bolstered with one or two more trade runs on the trade route I know well by now; I Bootis (fish) - Aulin (agri-medicine) - Eranin (grain) - Aulin (agri-medicine) -  Eranin. Profits have dropped a bit since because more players find out about it. After some time, I had about 32.000 cr. It was time to buy a Hauler-class ship! 

The Hauler allows me to quadruple my profit on each route; instead of 4 cargo slots, I have now 16. I spend the rest of the evening doing one or two runs on one route and then finding another one. It works well to check the high supply goods and use a bit of imagination which type of system could use this type of product.

Trying to also bring in the exploring element, I studied the galaxy map, trying to make sense of the colour codes and dotted lines out there, which are not connected to where I am. However, it seems that most systems which are farther away from the the "starter center" where I am, are poor or not very well mixed; in one corner there are three agricultural systems and one industrial, in another only extraction systems with one refinery system. I conclude that those areas are better left for explorers and soldiers of fortune only, but not for traders.

After some time trading around I realized that I was starting to scribble down notes about all high demand and high supply goods, in order to check each system for the best profit routes. This is when I remembered this thread in the forum.

Now, there are discussions about in how far external tools are considered good for a healthy gameplay and when do they remove gameplay by just doing everything for you. I myself also started a thread a while ago (which apparently got merged into another because I do not find it anymore) about "trading like in the middle age", and this topic has been reflected in several other threads (this one being with some nice humor about it). But one argument I found fairly convincing; if the tool just helps you taking down notes, then it is mere convenience and leaves the gameplay with you.

With this in mind, I downloaded and installed the .exe from Slopey (link is in the thread mentioned above). Now I had access to a fairly accurate analysis of supply and demand on each station, downloaded from all players who use this tool and updated whenever sb docks and opens the commodity menu.



 - Hey, thanks, Slopey! Very much appreciated!












Currently docked in Asperus Prime, I immediately identified one of the probably maximum profit routes available, right going from here, saving me the travel time needed to Dahan just for writing down stuff and discovering it after comparing written notes; ah nice to live in the future and not the middle age! The trade route involves bringen catalysators to Dahan and  Cobalt back to Asperus Prime, netting overall about 10.000 Cr in a one-jump round-about. Nice! This is how I spent the rest of my game session, with a nice cushion of about 50.000 Credits at its end.

Observation in between: Comparing the tool's output with the galaxy map, there obviously are more profitable runs out at the fringe from the "starter center", but they are single-route runs. There was e.g. one from an extraction to a refinery system, in a corner where you had only those two types of systems. I think I can do more profit here in the "starter center", because the return travel yields here some profit, too, which is not the case out there.

Aaand, now I go for the weekend! Summer party and travels, so my Elite ventures are on a small pause now.