Elite - for a newcomer

[albert]

We can join a wing tonight mate and see about upping that cargo limit a bit for you. I'd say 100T Type 6 would be a good target if trading is your thing. It would allow you to come to Light and get the 5 mill CR reward if you spend the time getting them weapons and get into the top 70%.

Offer open to froge and anyone else who is interested.

[froge]

We can join a wing tonight mate and see about upping that cargo limit a bit for you. I'd say 100T Type 6 would be a good target if trading is your thing. It would allow you to come to Light and get the 5 mill CR reward if you spend the time getting them weapons and get into the top 70%.

Offer open to froge and anyone else who is interested.

Hi folks! Good to say hello to you guys last night, I didn't join in the fun as I was just trying to get used to the basics of the game so I wouldn't be a major pain in the ass.

Nevertheless I like the sound of earning 5 million CR. What is this event thing? Got a link with details? I'll most probably be on tonight for some fun, unless some work comes up which I'm hoping it doesn't. =)

[Carr0t]

There's no real event that's handy to link to (though someone might have put it on the forums). Basically, there are periodic 'community goals' in the game, which are triggered when large fights off kick off between major factions and the like. The current community goals we're talking about are in a system called Lugh, where the Crimson State are fighting for independence and the Federation are trying to crush that. If you wanted to join in you'd need to be able to get to Lugh. Then there are 2 community goals you can pick up at a specific station in the system - 1 for trading, 1 for combat.

In each case there is a global tally of how much everyone has done towards the goal, and different 'tiers' that can be attained. Trading is measured in tons of cargo (they request cargo of a specific category, but it's up to you to find a source of it with reasonable profit). Combat is measured in combat bonds, which is vouchers given to you by a side for killing ships of the opposing side in a combat zone. Bigger harder ships net you a larger bond, and your death wipes out any bonds you haven't yet cashed in (you can cash them in for cold hard credits at any station the faction exists at, but they only count towards the goal if you cash them in at the station you picked up the goal from).

So everyone's working towards a shared tier, and trying to get it as high as possible. The higher the tier that is reached before the community goal ends, the larger end reward *everyone* gets. But on top of that your reward level is determined by how much you helped compared to everyone else. So, last time I checked, the combat goal was at tier 7 (with it requiring exponentially more effort to get to the next tier up each time). At tier 7, if you helped out *at all*, so you are in the 'top 100%' of people who contributed, you get 70k. If you are in the top 70% of people, 5 mil (big jump there). Top 40% is 10 mil, top 15% (or was it 20?) is 12.5 mil, top 5% is 17.5 mil. I got into the top 70% at around 300k of combat bonds, though of course as time goes on that number will go higher as more people contribute further. I'm currently at around 800k of bonds and haven't yet hit top 40%. The total value contributed by everyone was about 2.5 US billion (i.e. 1000 million) so far. So it looks like for your average person top 70% or top 40% is the place to aim for for best time/reward tradeoff. When you are killing ships any ship you register a hit on that is then destroyed by your wing you should get a bond for, which is split evenly between the wing members, not divided by damage done or similar. So pilots in smaller ships can go in with more experienced fliers in bigger better ships and rack up the kills and credits quite quickly. Just try not to die.

Compare this with the trading goal, which only opened up yesterday (the combat one's been going for a while now). When I looked it hadn't even reached tier 1, so it didn't matter where you were in the rankings, you got nothing (except the actual profit you sold the goods for of course). 9000-odd tons of goods had been delivered, of which about 300 tons was me (I spent a lot of my hard earned credits buying and outfitting a type 6 just for the purpose, then proceeded to ram it into the toast rack and blow it up with a full 100 ton cargo hold worth about 300'000 on my first trip...). That was enough to get me into the top 40%, but of course I would still get nothing because the goal was well off tier 1. It's also worth noting that it can be worth forming a wing even for trading in private groups. Supposedly when you are in a wing and trading whoever sells the goods gets a full 100% of the profit they would normally, but all their wingmates who are in the same [system|instance] (not sure which) receive 5% of the value of the profit* as bonds which they once again have to cash in. So 4 type 6s or an Annie and 2 types 6s and a Cobra or whatever can increase their profit quite reasonably by forming a wing to buy and sell.

*This doesn't really make sense 'in Universe'. Why would someone pay more for the same amount of goods just because there's more of you (100% to the trader as normal but also an additional 5% to each wing member)? But it encourages people to wing up to trade (for security, with a fighter escort for the larger less well armed cargo ships for example), while not penalising the actual trader by taking some of their profit away to give to the wing (which would encourage people to get a wing escort then drop wing just before selling the goods, or similar).

[ArithonUK]

Froge

Here's Frontier's trailer for the 1.1 update when community goals were added. It does a passable job of showing what's involved.

[video=youtube;4uozVtIe-5w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uozVtIe-5w[/video]

[Ranualf]

Wont be on tonight (raid night for WoW), yes some of us still play that ancient game :rockon:

Elite wise
However i`m upto 40k creds now- doing short haul runs in my sidewinder, i ditched the scanner, and got +2 cargo, so it makes a huge difference.
Running between the Eravate ports- quick easy money, but the return trip inst too profitable, only making about 2k on 6 tons, but the outbound is nearly 4k for 6 tons, which is ok, for my size of noob ship.

Albert, a type 6 would be great, i get the trading thing, and like you said last night, money makes more money- if you know who wants what (Thrudd is a money maker)

Probs catch you in the void from 10pm for a bit, as our raid finish early (several of the guild have a +2 hour time difference- living in SA)

[froge]

The more I learn about the game mechanics, the more I fall in love with ED. Something tells me I'll be playing this for a long time to come. Thanks for the detailed explanation and video. Judging by the size of the universe, are these community goals happening all over? Do they happen organically or are they created by the designers?

[froge]

Hi Amberleigh,

I started on Elite back in August during the BETA playing with my old 1999 Descent Freespace serial-to-USB Logitech Wingman joystick. You can buy the current equivalent six button joystick with hat for around £15.

After I did the EGX show in September I majorly lusted after an X52 and got one for my birthday in October (using a discount with CPC). My youngest son plays Elite on my old Wingman and my eldest has just started playing using a XBOX 360 controller.

Mouse and keyboard is okay, but any kind of stick or controller really makes the game.

Have a look on the videos/screen shots thread on this forum to see in-game footage from myself and others in dMw. This will give you an accurate impression of the game and an idea what it's about. I've also started a blog site www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk where I am posting bits and bobs about the game as well as promoting deadmen.

If you are coming to the LAN next month, I will be there and I'm bringing my Oculus Rift DK2 and X52 setup to give a anyone who wants, a try. If you are still on the fence then, that'll push you right off on the Elite side!!

Don't happen to remember the name of the basic logitech joystick for around £15?

[Ranualf]

there`s the thrust master joystick, thats just under £15
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ThrustMaster-2960623-Thrustmaster-USB-Joystick/dp/B0002EAA36/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1426685830&sr=8-14&keywords=logitech+joystick

But if you think your going to spend a fair amount of time on this game, HOTAS is the way forward, unless your on a budget.

[albert]

I'm a bit of a 8-10 gamer Amber, as cet nicks an hour with the UK gamers from me these days. But we can do a trade or war community goal evening tomorrow in Lugh and I'll come get you and we can trade up.

[froge]

I'm not really on a budget, but I've spent over £500 this month on parts and games and should probably chill out when I'm supposed to be saving for a ridiculous cycling adventure around the world I talked myself into for some reason.

Having said that, that one has no additional buttons by the looks of it and I was hoping to bind power changes to that as the arrow keys are a bit awkward to hit mid flight and I'm guessing voice attack won't be ideal for really fast changes mid fight. I don't think I want full HOTAS as I am happy with my left hand on a keyboard - if anything it seems to give me more options unless I',m dropping megabucks on a proper system - but maybe a healthy half way is the way to go here...

Thoughts?

[Chaosphere]

I play Elite with an Xbox 360 pad I have had for years for driving games etc, and it works pretty well. Still use the keyboard for minor things, but most functions are available on the pad.

[Ranualf]

I got my HOTAS today

Had a few hours getting used to it, and, its very intuitive and it was £35 from amazon

and to be honest, i`m loving it, makes docking great, until i get a bigger ship with a dock computer (maybe)

but if you have dropped £500 on you rig, i`d go for the HOTAS, over spending cash on a joystick

Side note it was really easy to set up, i have a link for the set up buttons, as the standard one wasnt 100% perfect for me.

all i can say, is that for the extra £20, i`d lump for the HOTAS


see you in the void

[froge]

I got my HOTAS today

Had a few hours getting used to it, and, its very intuitive and it was £35 from amazon

and to be honest, i`m loving it, makes docking great, until i get a bigger ship with a dock computer (maybe)

but if you have dropped £500 on you rig, i`d go for the HOTAS, over spending cash on a joystick

Side note it was really easy to set up, i have a link for the set up buttons, as the standard one wasnt 100% perfect for me.

all i can say, is that for the extra £20, i`d lump for the HOTAS


see you in the void

I think I heard you mention this on teamspeak tonight but I was lagging really hard so couldn't hear very well. Ehat's the name of the model you got? I might have to jump on the HOTAS train. Especially now I've got my phone-in-a-hat headtracking working (not very smooth but hilarious enough to stick with it).

Had good fun tonight, thanks everyone for helping me out - and albert for picking me up, giving me some freebies, and teaching me some more.

Three evenings in now and just about getting my bearings. Glad to have contributed to the community event. Now to get to top 70%...

[albert]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001EAWNKK/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?qid=1426750501&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&keywords=Thrustmaster&dpPl=1&dpID=41Qy15p1zqL&ref=plSrch this has a few users in our community. The hand rest rotates 180o so it's ambidextrous. Also the stick rotates to use as yaw.

[Ranualf]

Hi frorge

The HOTAS i ordered was this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Joystick-PS3/dp/B001CXYMFS/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t

Having a blast with it, as i said last night, most of the keybinds are on it (inc landing gear, boost, shift jump, etc), and yes it has twist yaw too- WIN

Also makes landing a doddle now /cheer

go on, you know you want to!