Where to go for first combat experience?

Aguila · Post by **Aguila** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:18 pm

Warning -- possible spoilers in the thread replies, for anyone who wants to explore and find things completely on their own.

I'm very early in the game, still puttering around in Sapphire system. I've visited all the planets, done some planet and asteroid mining, completed a few contracts. I'm flying a shiny new Pulsar frame with a few upgrades, and I think the 2nd level laser and 3rd level particle cannon.

I'm getting antsy to try a little beginner-level combat. The Renegade strategy guide says that the neighboring Fauston system "borders on being a hostile system, but most ships generally leave each other alone" And also, "Many new mercenaries visit this system first once they leave Sapphire and try some of their first combat contracts here. The level of technology is very similar to Sapphire, so most ships have limited capabilities and don't pose much of a threat to rookie mercenaries with entry level ships."

Well, I tried it, and jumped right into a swarm of hostiles at the Fauston side of the gate, near the station. I can do fine against single ships and can get a kill or two, but I don't last long being targeted by multiple bogies in a swarm like that. Is there a system I can reach easily from Sapphire to learn the ropes against just a single enemy or two, or should I just learn to deal with it?

Blackthorne · Post by **Blackthorne** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:34 pm

Go to Olympus, young pilot - you shall find manageable sorties and better equipment there. Contracts still require you to deal with groups of four, though. It doesn't get easier than that, I'm afraid.

You can jump into MP and ask for some tips and a sparring partner, though, if you should find yourself unable to handle the reds in Olympus.

-Blackthorne

Steel Wraith · Post by **Steel Wraith** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:48 pm

you can try burning out of range then going to inertial and letting the reds follow you. flip about to coast backwards and keep an eye on what the reds are doing. with the z and x keys you can alter your speed and let them get into missile range. its easy to shoot the missiles down like that and they do in theory run out of missiles. then close to gun range and have at em!

personally i never got the hang of bleeding their missile bays dry. my answer came from getting an excaliber missile pack. that is one expensive missile but it re-generates a full rack of 8 missiles every 30 seconds! so you can lob missiles back at them instead of waiting for them to run out first. its massive overkill in olympus, but works a treat in the war zones where they have a chance not to get killed by 2 missiles each.

to get an excaliber missile pack head out to a system with a very good economy, green on the quadrant map worked for me. you also need a bigger hull, one with 8 hard points. while your in hostile space like that you need to click fast in station as the reds can shoot at you. the nice thing is your safe in the ship yard when it comes to agonising over which ship to choose. oh and to cover the docking fees grab some expensive gear from saffire, it will sell for a lot more in the high economy systems, they have more cash you see

and go multiplayer, when people arnt busy getting shot at they are very friendly and helpful.

fly fun

Post by **Vice** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:26 pm

Olympus is what I'd recommend as well.

tk7223 · Post by **tk7223** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:15 am

I also like Lambda, I mine in Saph..then sell in either Lambda or Olympus depending on who has the best prices. Then I'll pick and choose my battles against the Rebels while I'm making merchant runs. I also usually pick up a contract on my way back to Saph..usually a locate object or deliver to waypoint. I don't have a lot of actual game hours. But I have managed to get a Phoenix loaded with a Maxim-R and Metal Vapor Laser, shield booster5, Cannon Relay, FD5, Tractor/Mining beam, and some other stuff I'm not remembering. I've even flown to the warfront and started fighting there, altho the missions are too tough for me solo at the moment. I'd say it took around 6-8 hours of actual game time to get that far.

Tpol · Post by **Tpol** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:31 pm

One good way I found to ease into combat is to hire another ship into your fleet, if you have enough money to spare. An easy way to do this is to dock at a port and wait for a ship to give you a trade request. Buy whatever they have to sell and then click the "hire into fleet" button right there in the trade console.

Then accept a contract to eliminate hostiles. After you jump to the contract location, hit F6 to tell your fleet member to attack the hostiles. Your fleet ship will immediately start attacking the hostiles and their focus won't be all on attacking you, giving you more time to think during combat and hone your skills.

Plus, any kills your fleet member gets counts towards your contract.

Keep your fleet ship as long as you want to, but keep in mind that it will get paid every now and then. When you don't want it anymore, open a trade console window and dismiss it from your fleet.

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:09 pm

how many ships can you recruit for your fleet?

tk7223 · Post by **tk7223** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:54 pm

Nice info Tpol....that's something I haven't done!

Tpol · Post by **Tpol** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:21 am

Originally posted by berighteous
how many ships can you recruit for your fleet?

Don't know, but so far just one has been sufficient for me. Also, you've got to remember that these guys get paid as often as your crew members, and they are not cheap (47,000 to 74,000 each paycheck).

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:05 am

Cheap for me

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:32 pm

Olympus is good for the 1st time combatant going alone.....Online in MP it helps to fly some co-op contracts with others....two or more can go to Thuban for a step up challenge. Once you have some good experience and want a better challenge then a trip to Aries would really give you a challenge.

"Good Flying"

Aguila · Post by **Aguila** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:30 am

Thanks for the help, everyone. I have another question related to combat, after trying the Olympus system:

I started in defensive mode, taking non-combat contracts and mining to get a feel for the system. My very first kill was a red-flagged ship that jumped me while I was in transit to a station. The display said it was a "Navy" ship. Why am I being attacked by a Navy ship? My rep with the Navy is yellow - 56%. I'm trying to get a handle on reputation and how that works, and this isn't making sense. Random pirate attacks I could understand, but it's a little early in the game for the Navy to be after me.

Steel Wraith · Post by **Steel Wraith** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:24 pm

dont worry about it, its not like there is a coherent policing force that will chase you over the galaxy. each system has its own internal politics and care nothing of what happens in the other systems.

it takes significant work to alter a systems perception of you. the factions in a system are well aware of mercs coming in, earning a few credits then flying off again without a care for who they worked for. so to get a faction to like you they need to see some real dedication. popping the odd navy ship who thinks you fly in the wrong way wont have a large impact. hunting the navy down and repeatedly killing them may.

and the navy are no worse an enemy than the rebels are, so just get used to blowing ships up when you see a red on scanner. after all, your there for the practice

Aguila · Post by **Aguila** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:04 pm

Originally posted by EclipseThe reputation percentage is just that, 56% of the navy likes you. You were attacked by one of the other 44% that does not like you.

Ah ha... I didn't realize it worked that way. The game manual implies that your reputation rating applies to all members of a faction equally, or at least that's the way I read it. Maybe this could be clarified in a future update to the manual, because it's a little confusing when a newbie is first attacked by a faction member with a "yelllow" overall rating.

Also, I'd expect a member of the rebel, miner, and maybe guild factions to have a percentage that might make their own decisions about who they want to attack. But it does seem odd for a military or corporate faction to work that way. "Navy" implies discipline and top-down command. I was expecting that I had done something to anger the entire political/military machinery of a system, to be attacked by a Navy ship.

BTW, I'm not complaining really, because combat is more fun this way. I'm mentioning things that might seem odd to someone new to the game series.

Originally posted by Steel Wraithpopping the odd navy ship who thinks you fly in the wrong way wont have a large impact. hunting the navy down and repeatedly killing them may.

Okay, but does that sound like any "navy" you've ever heard of? I don't think I could take a boat out and sink a U.S. naval vessel without the rest of the fleet having something to say about it. It does sound like how a disorganized pirate faction would act. I guess we should just assume that this is a very loosely organized, rabble-like navy, and that's okay. It just wasn't what I was first expecting.

and the navy are no worse an enemy than the rebels are, so just get used to blowing ships up when you see a red on scanner. after all, your there for the practice

Yup, and I'm getting LOTS of practice.

PingBosun · Post by **PingBosun** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:29 pm

"Okay, but does that sound like any "navy" you've ever heard of? I don't think I could take a boat out and sink a U.S. naval vessel without the rest of the fleet having something to say about it. It does sound like how a disorganized pirate faction would act. I guess we should just assume that this is a very loosely organized, rabble-like navy, and that's okay. It just wasn't what I was first expecting."

Thats what I would expect from the US navy.

The Royal Navy, of course, is a far more proffessional organisation!

Knight Rider · Post by **Knight Rider** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:36 pm

That's up for debate.

PingBosun · Post by **PingBosun** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:29 pm

No debate whatsoever!!!

I feel a simple poll coming on!!!

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:45 am

Originally posted by PingBosun
"Okay, but does that sound like any "navy" you've ever heard of? I don't think I could take a boat out and sink a U.S. naval vessel without the rest of the fleet having something to say about it. It does sound like how a disorganized pirate faction would act. I guess we should just assume that this is a very loosely organized, rabble-like navy, and that's okay. It just wasn't what I was first expecting."

Thats what I would expect from the US navy.

The Royal Navy, of course, is a far more proffessional organisation!

Haven't you Heard PingBosun?..... The ER and EL Navy has been affectionally nick-named: "Ping's Navy"

PingBosun · Post by **PingBosun** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:17 pm

By whom, may I ask?

You see, the difference between the US ("pirate") bunch and the professional armed forces that are the Royal Navy is that the pirates need a wall of lead to take out one airoplane, while the Professionals only need one shot!!

OK so you have the cash to waste on such armaments, but far greater skill is required to do the same job with less hardware!!!

And its the same at the movies, empty a complete magazine into somebody just to make sure they have go the message. Indeed your own signature boasts the same concept "Rain Hell Fire on all of our enemies". Why rain when one drop will do the trick!!!

Aguila · Post by **Aguila** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:28 pm

Originally posted by PingBosun

You see, the difference between the US ("pirate") bunch and the professional armed forces that are the Royal Navy is that the pirates need a wall of lead to take out one airoplane, while the Professionals only need one shot!!

OK so you have the cash to waste on such armaments, but far greater skill is required to do the same job with less hardware!!!

Hey, it's not just having the cash. In these difficult times, think of all the extra employment involved in pumping a wall of lead in the air. Or taking out a grass hut with a sub-launched cruise missile. It's about the jobs, man, the jobs! One Royal Navy sailor with a pop gun isn't putting much food on other folks' tables!

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:05 pm

Originally posted by Aguila
Originally posted by Steel Wraithpopping the odd navy ship who thinks you fly in the wrong way wont have a large impact. hunting the navy down and repeatedly killing them may.
Okay, but does that sound like any "navy" you've ever heard of? I don't think I could take a boat out and sink a U.S. naval vessel without the rest of the fleet having something to say about it. It does sound like how a disorganized pirate faction would act. I guess we should just assume that this is a very loosely organized, rabble-like navy, and that's okay. It just wasn't what I was first expecting.

Most of the navies are made up of mercenary ships out 'on contract' just like you are when you take a contract for the navy, even those that are permenantly employed do stuff 'on the side' ( we all know how expensive it is to run a ship, and you get paid less being employed by them than you do as a freelance contractor).

While the Alliance doea have a true navy in the shape of its fleet, they are more preoccupied with our wolf-like neibours, and conflicts with the federation to bother with intra-system policing

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:16 pm

so if each of us recruits one ship for his personal fleet, 6 of us can go on joint missions and outnumber the bogies...

as for first combat...any system is good for that. Just go into formation with a green or yellow and when you get close enough...blast them into oblivion.

I like to clear out a system and then toast anybody who enters...BTW is there a time limit on proximity mines? Can I clear the area around a station and then shoot PM's in all directions and wait indefinately for someone to find them?

[Edited on 2-25-2009 by berighteous]

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:19 pm

Originally posted by berighteous
so if each of us recruits one ship for his personal fleet, 6 of us can go on joint missions and outnumber the bogies...

I'm afraid 'fleet' is only in SP, in MP you have other reall pilots to help you out.

There is no limit to the number of ships you can hire, but I think around 12 is the largest effective size.

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:22 pm

That's bogus. we should be able to recruit npc's in multiplayer. Sometimes there aren't enough players online...

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:28 pm

The possibility of multiple players having unlimited fleets could overwhelm a computer due to the graphics alone I would think. Then again the new players would be at a big disadvantage to players with big bucks.

:(:P