ughh, I feel I hit the end

[Kambalo]

I am still in the starting system mining away and making some money, I have reached the best ship I can buy in the system, but now I am lost I dont know to where quadrant to go to find superior ships, everytime I have tried another system I land in hostile surrounded by red ships who outgun me by a long stretch, no way to approach the space station because they are surrounded by red ships, so what gives, I cannot buy better ships in the starting system and I cannot buy better ships in other quadrants because of the gankers awaiting for me to get there, it feels like EVE online but been ganked by NPCs.

Why in solo play we can't determine how many hostile systems are there? Right now it feels like every single quadrant is hostile.

[Edited on 11-14-2014 by Kambalo]

[SeeJay]

Not to worry!

Always keep your speed up and cruise in inertia mode.
Go to Atlas. Friendly place and you might find what you seek there.

In Sapphire, Right click the sector with the Gate to Olympus. Right click again on the Gate to set your way-point.
Heading and pitch at zero. Jump!
Same procedure but go to Onyx.
Same procedure but go to Cerulean.
Same procedure but go to Atlas. Your home!

The key is to always keep your speed up. That way you can open your map and set your way-point while drifting at a safe speed. (Over 1800)

Good luck.

Or, join me on a server and I'll keep you safe the whole way!

[Kambalo]

Cool thanks I will do that.

[Sinbad]

As Seejay said, as long as you stay above a speed of about 1800 missiles won't be able to hit you. That way you can cross through the hostile systems to reach the quieter systems.

If you hop into MP you'll certainly find some players who'll help defend you against reds. You can even "piggy back" on someone else's ship as the turret gunner until the two of you reach a safe area.

[Rubber Chicken]

1. The IDS system also affects the speed you exit a jump at as long as the value is equal to or greater than IDSx1 at 100% throttle. ie; If you set the IDS system to IDSx4 / 100% throttle and jump, you will exit the jump at whatever the set speed for your frame + engine combo will allow. You do not need the IDS system switched on to do this. Just set the IDS level and throttle even if Inertial mode is on. The SET speed indicator on the left-hand display will indicate the speed you will travel at when the jump completes.

This also applies to 'assisted' jumps such as traveling through gates, wormholes and black holes.

2. NPCs *rarely* have the ability to pursue your ship when you are traveling at speeds around 3500. Point #1 is a useful way to get much needed speed when entering a hostile sector. Set speed as close to 3500 as you can, jump to the sector with IDS-off, forward inertial thrust or afterburn up to the desired speed - and cruise.

(If I remember correctly) In atmosphere NPCs *rarely* top-out above 1300. 1470 seems to be the maximum safe in-atmo speed, so there is still a possibility of staying away from them.

3. NPC missiles cannot catch ships traveling faster than 1800 speed unless it's a head-on shot. Again, refer to point #1 for a method to effectively cruise past a missile spam barrage when entering an area that's crowded and hostile.

Side note: Missiles don't have variable speed guidance. They burn at 100% thrust until they time-out. Being that the missile can only turn as fast as its traveling at maximum speed allows, it is possible to defeat a missile's turn towards you and extend until you can get enough speed to run. Factoring in how tight you need to turn, and what direction to turn relative to the missile can be tricky. Spamming counter measures when the missile gets close helps too. This is useful to practice as it will allow you to evade/ignore missiles you would otherwise feel forced to turn towards to shoot - especially when you've got 10+ surrounding Reds to get away from. -- Don't get frustrated if this method doesn't work well at first. It will take practice.

4. You can hot-dock straight into a station at any speed. The docking beam will catch you before you become one with the center pylon. You can even jump into docks. Set your COMPASS to the heading of the gate you want, set your PITCH INDICATOR to ZERO, and jump. SeeJay's Evochron site has a compass mod that marks all of the dock headings for easy reference.

For quick knowledge: Compass heading 180 - Pitch 0 is the entryway to Dock #1. If you fly in inertial mode out of a gate at a high speed, you can take time to turn around and fly backwards while you line up the jump. You won't lose your initial speed or direction of travel until you activate the jump. *Make sure you 'clear out' any horizontal/vertical strafe you might have before you jump. A few seconds of IDS-on should do it.

5. When you dock at a station, and pay any fee requirements, the upper left button set on the inventory menu will offer the option to ENTER STATION. Entering the station will make you immune to attacks, and also has a good chance of causing dock-raiding NPCs to turn their attention elsewhere and leave the dock area. You might have to wait a minute or two, and the raiders might reacquire you as a target when you LAUNCH SHIP again, but they should at least have some more distance away from you when they do. (Enough time to get running up to safe speed, or plot a jump away.)

I don't know how much of this you may have already known, but I do hope you find most of it to be helpful.

[Marvin]

Additional info.

Every time you exit a jumpgate, your pitch and heading is set to quickly get you through the next gate (a fact which, someday, might change ... right now, all the gates are oriented in the same direction). So, upon exiting any gate: engage inertial, use afterburner to accelerate, open the navigation map (F1), right-click on the next gate, and jump ... then use afterburner to quickly enter the gate.

[Nigel_Strange]

Try to make it to Alpha Centari. They're friendly there, and they have a great tech level.