Elite: Dangerous. I broke down.

[mikeck]

Well the courier missions are sometimes hard to come by.
how do I attack bandits? Investigate unidentified signals?

Find a system (usually industrial extraction) that has a station near a ringed planet. Fly to the ringed planet and you will see icons popping up indicating "resource collection point". Fly there. After exiting supercruise, fly around for a few minutes and dozens slid ships will appear...many have bounties

In the alternative, you can do the Same near navigation beacons

[mikeck]

Is it realistic to split time 50/50 between trading and hunting?

It's realistic but you won't make near as much cash as you would if you picked one or the other

[Gusington]

OK so if I wanted to hunt only, is the game universe populated with enough small time targets that I won't feel totally overwhelmed at first? How long did it take you to go from being a newb to being at least a little bit seasoned?

[undercovergeek]

OK so if I wanted to hunt only, is the game universe populated with enough small time targets that I won't feel totally overwhelmed at first? How long did it take you to go from being a newb to being at least a little bit seasoned?

There's an infinite amount of NPC low level baddies

[republic]

Is it realistic to split time 50/50 between trading and hunting?

I trade in a Cobra and hunt in a Sidewinder currently.  Good gear is so expensive I think a mix of the two is the best way imo.

[Jarhead0331]

Is it realistic to split time 50/50 between trading and hunting?

I trade in a Cobra and hunt in a Sidewinder currently.  Good gear is so expensive I think a mix of the two is the best way imo.

I hunt in a Viper and trade in a Cobra. My cobra has a deadly bite, but I did not equip it to proactively hunt bandits. For instance, no FSD interdictor, no Kill warrant scanner, etc. The Cobra is outfitted to trade and make sure nobody tries to F*ck with it along the way. So far, so good.

[GDS_Starfury]

OK so if I wanted to hunt only, is the game universe populated with enough small time targets that I won't feel totally overwhelmed at first? How long did it take you to go from being a newb to being at least a little bit seasoned?

If you get this game you can be my R2-D2. 

[Jarhead0331]

I'm rapidly approaching a cross-roads. I've almost made it to the point where I have over a million in the bank. Once I'm there, I'm going to be tempted to buy a Lakon Type 6. My short term goal is to buy an Asp, with a long term goal of getting either a Python or an Anaconda. In my Cobra, I can make a steady income of $100,000 per 40 ton trade run. However, its just not enough. What is the maximum cargo hold of the Type 6? If it is close to or more than 100 Tons, I think I will get it. That means I can haul in at least $200,000 to $250,000 per run. That means $1,000,000 every 4 to 5 runs. That it reasonable profit.  Any of you guys use a Type 6 regularly? How do you feel about it?

Right now I have a Sidewinder, Eagle, Viper and Cobra. I'll consider selling the Eagle, but I know I want to hold on to the Viper and Cobra. If I had sold them, I would have been in a Type 6 awhile ago.

 

[JudgeDredd]

JH - so all your ships are presumably stored in different locations?

Is there anyway in game to have your other ship(s) transported to your current location?

[Jarhead0331]

JH - so all your ships are presumably stored in different locations?

Is there anyway in game to have your other ship(s) transported to your current location?

Yep. My sidewinder and viper are in LTT 15574 and my eagle is in LHS 3457. I'm currently piloting my cobra. No way to move them that I am aware of without physically pulling them from the garage and flying them to a new location. Even then, I'm not sure you can store a ship unless you actually buy another one at that location or already have one in storage there.

[JudgeDredd]

JH - so all your ships are presumably stored in different locations?

Is there anyway in game to have your other ship(s) transported to your current location?

Yep. My sidewinder and viper are in LTT 15574 and my eagle is in LHS 3457. I'm currently piloting my cobra. No way to move them that I am aware of without physically pulling them from the garage and flying them to a new location.

But then you'd obviously have left your other spaceship at the old location.

I think the game could do with that - transporting your ships. For example, if I wanted to leave the system I'm in and go live somewhere else, I've either lost my Sidey (it's many, many systems away) or I would have to go there to get in it.

So - essentially, once you have more than one ship, you can't "rebase". You can fly about and bugger off, but you're anchored to the system where you bought the additional ship...and so on (with buying other ships)

[Jarhead0331]

This is the most depressing week of the year for me. The holidays are over, the festive spirit is gone, everybody now expects results and no significant time off on the horizon. How the heck am I going to make it through a full day of work without playing this game?

[MikeGER]

So - essentially, once you have more than one ship, you can't "rebase". You can fly about and bugger off, but you're anchored to the system where you bought the additional ship...and so on (with buying other ships)

Well you can sell the ship(s) probably the ones with the not to exotic modules upgrades ... relocate to the new place with the ship with the hard-to-find modules build in... and 'reconstruct' your fleet at your new homebase with the money.

At the moment i have a lucrative route: on the up-leg i only have 32t of cheep items ...so i dare to bounty hunt on the way to that outpost, back i have 32 x 7k items ...and don't stop for anything.
One trip is about 30k + eventually bounties

My single workhorse Cobra got Military Armor, Interdicter, Cells, that bounty scanner, 2 midsize Multicannon 2 small beamlasers, 32 cargo ..and i still also haul a 4-bin refinery around too,  if i might want to mine one day again in a prestine belt i may find  (have to exchange a weapon back for a mininglaser then before) 
   

[Yskonyn]

If you pan out into the systems further away from the starting systems, how much 'coverage' do you still have from bases? In other words, is a base where you can outfit your ship always relatively close by?
If so, you could just config your ship for a 'pure' role until you come across that pristine astroid belt and just buy the stuff you need for that job, nearby.

How does the game work regarding starting areas anyway? Does everyone start in a few clusters or is this completely random? Because if its the first situation then the amount of explored systems will become very thick around those clusters soon. Meaning new players will keep having to travel further and further to start exploring.

[Staggerwing]

I'm rapidly approaching a cross-roads. I've almost made it to the point where I have over a million in the bank. Once I'm there, I'm going to be tempted to buy a Lakon Type 6. My short term goal is to buy an Asp, with a long term goal of getting either a Python or an Anaconda. In my Cobra, I can make a steady income of $100,000 per 40 ton trade run. However, its just not enough. What is the maximum cargo hold of the Type 6? If it is close to or more than 100 Tons, I think I will get it. That means I can haul in at least $200,000 to $250,000 per run. That means $1,000,000 every 4 to 5 runs. That it reasonable profit.  Any of you guys use a Type 6 regularly? How do you feel about it?

Right now I have a Sidewinder, Eagle, Viper and Cobra. I'll consider selling the Eagle, but I know I want to hold on to the Viper and Cobra. If I had sold them, I would have been in a Type 6 awhile ago.

How many hours of playing did it take you to get there?