Elite Dangerous Catch-All

As a new old player I was disappointed to see all paint jobs locked behind real cash purchases. Seemed petty. I was also annoyed that my Beta purchase way back when seems to have resulted in no 'founder' type benefit, not even a decal for my ships.

Being able to at least earn some paint jobs by mining etc would make up for that a bit.

Doesn't being a beta purchaser give you a lower rebuy?

Does it? It doesnt say "hey your rebuy is cheaper because you bought beta!" Its something like 5 or 10%

I thought that Kickstarter backers had a 1% rebut and beta backers had a 3%, but I guess I was wrong.

It's something like beta backers ship insurance is 3.5%, and alpha is 2.5% instead of 5% normally.

On the one hand I'm happy cosmetics can be earned in game, but not sure about the implementation. Never been a fan of multiple game currencies with weird rules.

Yeah, that's a bit weird.

I guess they're moving the cosmetics (paint jobs/decals/ship kits) from the store and into the game itself. I guess they have to do that in order to let players earn a way to buy them in-game, which I know a number of people want, but I'm curious as to how they implement it.

For me, I already have way too many paint jobs...

The only camos I was interested in were the chrome and a few specific gold skins and those are limited edition one-christmas-only and then never for sale again, which I find somewhat irritating. I probably would have bought the majority of them because I really like the look, but I quickly realized that their attempt to impose artificial scarcity would make it impossible to collect the full set that I wanted, so I quickly gave up.

Arx are a new currency, replacing Frontier Points, being introduced to Elite Dangerous in the September Update

Wait, what were Frontier Points?

Orphu wrote:
Arx are a new currency, replacing Frontier Points, being introduced to Elite Dangerous in the September Update

Wait, what were Frontier Points?

Looks like they were a way of working around the fact that Microsoft and Sony wouldn't let console players buy cosmetics directly from Frontier.

Ohhh, of course. Thanks!

I'm curious what the fleet carriers are going to take to acquire.

I'm going to guess billions of credits and a bunch of community-scale resource collections. I'm also curious about what it will take to jump. They hint at needing a bunch of resources per jump.

For the folks playing in VR, what are you using for controls? I grabbed this during the sale, had too many issues trying to play with a controller in VR and I feel like K/M in VR is not a feasible option. So, I refunded.

Do I need to get a HOTAS controller to play this in VR?

You can play using a controller but you'll run out of button mappings pretty quickly. A HOTAS is pretty much required for VR.

I'm using HOTAS for VR without voice attack. I mostly core mine right now which doesn't need all that many buttons I think it could be done with a game pad.

My brother does VR with a joystick only

So, I just ordered a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X off of Amazon. For ~$60 it seemed like a good entry level option.

Now...to start the tutorials.

Any other tips for a newb besides doing all of the tutorials and watching the tutorial videos?

Definitely do those things, and if you dont like a control or are missing it, dont hesitate to change it, try it out for a bit, and change it again if you still aren't happy. That HOTAS looks like a somewhat limited button set. I think the main weakness is a lack of the 'hat' style controls, like mini 4-8 way thumb sticks. I have 3 total and I use all 3 for different things like lateral thrust, navigating menus and sub menus, etc.

There's a ton you can do right off the bat and not a ton of guidance so it can be pretty overwhelming, like needing to write or paint and staring at a blank surface to start with. A couple of simple easy options

1. Courier missions in the starting area pretty much have you just running back and forth through a few missions. You can take these for easy cash and practice with things like jumping, supercruise, navigating, and docking.
2. Combat against random pirates ('wanted' pilots) at the Nav beacon is pretty safe. Add a kill warrant scanner (hold down the button you assign it to while attacking until it finishes) for some extra cash.
3. Basic mining can be done once you have like 100-300k (the Adder is nice). To start just go to 'belt clusters' and shoot your mining laser(s) at rocks until you hear asteroid depleted. If getting deeper into that system seems interesting, look up Core mining on youtube for an explainer. I find it pretty enjoyable.

Also, learn to manually dock and supercruise so you can get back 2 utility slots!

The game is really overwhelming. I think its important to find one fun thing to do between trying to do things you haven't done before, so that you at least have a core enjoyable nugget to build on.

Edit, also, basically nothing is easy or intuitive. Be able to alt-tab to web searches Like just now I wanted to change my hud colors after seeing some videos with a nice cool blue/white interface. The option wasnt in any of the expected places so I had to quickly jump out and learn you do it by editing an f'ing config file that's buried on your PC and is best done by using this site to copy some settings you like, possibly with modifications https://forums.frontier.co.uk/thread...

PWAlessi wrote:

Any other tips for a newb besides doing all of the tutorials and watching the tutorial videos?

Unless they changed it a lot, the tutorials are in some ways actually harder than the actual game. The combat tutorials, for example, tend to put you on equal footing with an opposing ship. In actual combat, you are more likely to be in unequal ships and the trick is to exploit the strength of your ship versus the weakness of your opponent. (You'll also have more options to choose from.)

Basically, don't worry if the tutorials seem tough.

It looks like an upcoming update will be introducing a new sandbox, but until then, once you get the basics down I'd recommend jumping right in. While crashing your ship does cost you, it's hard to actually go negative. I've never reset my profile because there's never been a need.

General early-game tips:

- Take delivery missions for early funds, but make sure you can get to the destination
- Scan planets as you travel around for extra cash
- Learn how to dock, then make enough to buy an autopilot
- Learn how to throttle down on approach so you don't overshoot your target in Supercruise

There's a rough progression of the sweet spot for making cash, depending on your current ship/loadout. I imagine it's changed a bit, but the trading route I went was:
- Small delivery missions / information: short hops, didn't take much cargo space
- Short-range cargo runs (Sidewinder)
- Once I had better drives/bigger ship, some long range cargo runs with more expensive cargo (Hauler/Cobra)
- Rare commodity trading loop (Cobra / Asp)
- More long-range trades, but with more expensive cargo / event-based prices (Imperial Clipper)
- Bulk deliveries with massive cargo ships (Python / Anaconda)

There are other routes up the ladder, between exploration, all the different combat opportunities, mining, community events...

Thanks folks! I'm looking forward to jumping in. I have fond childhood memories of playing Elite on my C 64.

PWAlessi wrote:

Thanks folks! I'm looking forward to jumping in. I have fond childhood memories of playing Elite on my C 64.

Oh if you're an 84 Elite player, you'll love this

Oh, and always keep enough cash to pay for the rebuy.

(I never sell my old ships.)

ShynDarkly wrote:

Oh if you're an 84 Elite player, you'll love this :D

Can confirm. I really need to get back into Elite, I think my Asp is stuck on a station somewhere in Empire space since everyone went looking for Guardian ruins a year or two back.

@Sorbicol

I think the same thing whenever I see this thread on page 1. I don't think I've played since last summer. I burned myself out doing half of the Road-to-Riches. I should dust off my Hotas,

@PWAlessi

Gremlin's advice is spot on. Trading is is a good way to climb the economic cliff-face of Elite, and to become more familiar with navigation and flying. But you may also want to mix things up a bit. The kind of flying involved in trading is pretty boring (unless you're attacked by pirates, in which case it's terrifying), so you might find it helps keep the game stimulating if you try something else occasionally.

I uninstalled a while back when it became clear not much was going to happen before 2020. It will be nice to have Carriers in the game finally. Just think of all the Core Dynamics Composites you'll need for your Fleet Carrier

I just wish the Ice planet overhaul was coming as well.

I always liked that cosmetics were a straightforward real money transaction and not some kind of Disney bucks (sold in packs just slightly larger than your cosmetic costs so you have an annoying number left over). So for me that's a retrograde step.

babakotia wrote:

I always liked that cosmetics were a straightforward real money transaction and not some kind of Disney bucks (sold in packs just slightly larger than your cosmetic costs so you have an annoying number left over). So for me that's a retrograde step.

I’m with you on that.

On the other hand, if I get retroactive new-currency for years of play, then my spaceships are about to get extra-fancy.

I used the 2020 announcement the other way, and finally decided to wander off and do a circumnavigation of the galaxy; in the past there was always that nagging ... next week there will be motherships and I'll miss it ... now, not so much

PWAlessi wrote:

So, I just ordered a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X off of Amazon. For ~$60 it seemed like a good entry level option.

polypusher wrote:

I think the main weakness is a lack of the 'hat' style controls, like mini 4-8 way thumb sticks.

I have the Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas and it does indeed have hat style control for your thumb. It's 8 way, but I only ever use 4. This stick is truly your best bang-for-your-buck (because the buck is so low!). I've been using it with Elite for a few years now.
@PWAlessi let me know if you don't like the default in-game mapping and you want mine.

I picked this up during the Steam sale. I’ve aleays wanted to get into, but held off because it seemed like there were some potentially annoying aspects of the game. I think I’m glad I waited for all of the QoL improvements.

I’m always amused when I hear that my friendship drive is powering up (but maybe I’m the only person who hears that).

I’m sure playing with mouse and keyboard for now. I’m debating finally picking up a HOTAS, but I’m dithering between the cheapest viable option and going all out to do it ’right’. The latter is pretty expensive.

absurddoctor wrote:

I’m always amused when I hear that my friendship drive is powering up (but maybe I’m the only person who hears that).

I’m sure playing with mouse and keyboard for now. I’m debating finally picking up a HOTAS, but I’m dithering between the cheapest viable option and going all out to do it ’right’. The latter is pretty expensive.

Friendship Drive Engage

Honestly, if you don't want to go full HOTAS, a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro is what I use, it's decent enough, and only about $30. The throttle kind of sucks, but having 12 programmable buttons helps to limit how much I need the keyboard. If you pick one up, I can share a few of my bindings that have made using it a bit easier.

No time for one of my usual long winded posts today, but I remain super happy with my long running combo of a Thrustmaster T16000 stick and CH Pro Throttle. (I'm on my second T16k, but my first CH Throttle is still alive and kicking in great condition even after five years and thousands of hours of hard use.)

If the CH Throttle seems too pricey, though, Thrusmaster now sells the T16k paired with a pretty decent looking throttle that offers much of the functionality that I love so much about the CH Throttle. You can dig back in the history of this thread if you want to read me wax poetic about how great the CH Throttle is, but the short version is that it's pretty great.

You could spend a bit more money on fancier setups like the X56 or lot (A LOT) more on something like the Thustmaster Warthog to get things like a more useful stick layout or better build quality or something more useful and accurate for flight sims, but the layout and utility of the CH Throttle paired with any halfway decent stick still feels more useful to me for this game than just about every more expensive option.

(If you want to use pedals for yaw, CH also makes a flight stick that looks like a spectacular option. I don’t and thus I need an option with a twist stick for yaw, so I’ve continued to go with the T16k for all these years since no one else makes a decent twist stick standalone option in a reasonable price range that I’m aware of. If you know of one though, please let me know, since I’d love something with a bit better button layout and material feel.)

Here's my google doc detailing how I have it configured, if you’re curious. I mostly keep it updated in case I need to recreate my scheme in game, so apologies if there is some shorthand than doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...

My previous solution for scripting input using GlovePIE finally had to be deprecated thanks to Windows updates breaking underlying technology. Thankfully, this AutoHotKey script offers enough flexibility to do most of the things I was doing in my script.

https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/vi...

I don't have my full UCR config uploaded to my Google drive, but I could potentially do that if people are interested.