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Elite Dangerous: Horizons |OT| Just scratching the surface
- Thread starter Anton Sugar
- Start date
Mamont1537
Member
I was curious about this game for a while, and now it's on PS4 I did a little bit of research and found out about multi-crew stuff.
So I have a question.
Is that way of playing with a friend worth it? Or is it just a fun little thing to do for one evening?
Also how long will it take to get access to that since I presume it requires you to buy a big ship first?
So I have a question.
Is that way of playing with a friend worth it? Or is it just a fun little thing to do for one evening?
Also how long will it take to get access to that since I presume it requires you to buy a big ship first?
RadioactiveLobster
Member
Did some bounty hunting for the CG and decided to transfer my ASP to do some traveling.
Decided to try out a combat zone. Haven't been in a combat zone since pre 2.0 because I'm not a big combat fan but I was sick of the super immersive awesome ship transfer gameplay (aka sitting around doing nothing because immersion > fun) so I figured why not.
Picked a low intensity combat zone, picked a side and went after a Viper.
Holy fucking shit my vulture got obliterated like I was flying a wet paper towel. Instantly all enemy ships seemed to focus fire on me and not the NPCs they had been fighting against. I lasted about 45 seconds.
Decided to try out a combat zone. Haven't been in a combat zone since pre 2.0 because I'm not a big combat fan but I was sick of the super immersive awesome ship transfer gameplay (aka sitting around doing nothing because immersion > fun) so I figured why not.
Picked a low intensity combat zone, picked a side and went after a Viper.
Holy fucking shit my vulture got obliterated like I was flying a wet paper towel. Instantly all enemy ships seemed to focus fire on me and not the NPCs they had been fighting against. I lasted about 45 seconds.
Moose Biscuits
It would be extreamly painful...
I don't quite understand what's that difficult about docking. Fly out so you're in front of the station, slow down/stop and turn to face it, slowly (SLOWLY, like 50 or so) fly towards the slot while rotating in time with the station. Fly through slot (on side indicated by green lights). Head towards bay, slow down more, use lateral thrusters until red dot is on bullseye, lower landing gear, thrust down until you get caught.
Something that could trip people up is that Yaw On Roll option, that makes you turn a bit when you roll; disable it, it's pointless.
Somewhat counterintuitively, I found docking easier once I started turning the Flight Assist off; since you don't have to hold on the stick to roll, all you have to do is match the rotation of the station once, then not worry about it.
Something that could trip people up is that Yaw On Roll option, that makes you turn a bit when you roll; disable it, it's pointless.
Somewhat counterintuitively, I found docking easier once I started turning the Flight Assist off; since you don't have to hold on the stick to roll, all you have to do is match the rotation of the station once, then not worry about it.
You can leave FA on. Just aim at the slot, and just as you get to the bars/guardrails adjust your yaw so that you are aligned with the slot. Your ship will automatically match rotation as soon as you get to the bars just outside the slot.
Or, get a small ship, use Enhhanced Thrusters, and go through the slot at whatever angle you want doing 300m/s while some stuck up flight controller with a clip-on space tie spills his coffee.
The "I Don't Want To Live On This Planet Anymore" Guide to Launches
Some tips:
- take off and point up. Like straight up. As up as you can possibly point. The digital hirizon on your HUD should read 90 or close to it.
- keep an eye on the Mass Locked light in the bottom wight on your console. once that light turns off its time for some serious shit - and by serious shit I mean slowly proceeding to orbit
- once you clear mass lock:
- if you are heading to another system and that system is not blocked by the planet you are on, engage the frame shift drive and boop, away you go
- if you are staying in system (or you need to go around the planet to get line of site o your next jump, engage supercruise.
- Keep the horizon at 90 degrees. You may be tempted to turn off in the direction of your next destination as soon as you no longer see the horizon indicator - don't. Instead, keep going straight away from the planet until you clear the gravity well. Remember the thing that made Coop cry in Interstellar? Well it's real and while you are in it you will be considerably slowed and your children back on earth will grow up and have babies and eat corn without you.
- The gravity well is sort of marked with a blue circle around the planet, and a red tint on your radar, but its obvious when you've cleared it as your speed will start to pick up very quickly. Congratulations! You have slipped the surly bonds of whatever that moon was called and touched the face of Rod.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
Forgot which patch but they upped the difficulty in CZs by getting more exotic loadouts for NPCs. You really have to play odds and stick with friendly ships so you don't get outnumbered.
For anyone having trouble with docking, here's a fun station to practice at:
As you can see, my Cobra is right on target.
Now, you might find it awkward at first, you might even fly into the wall and miss the port completely. But if you keep at it and learn to stick the landing you will find it a rewarding and fun experience. Be sure to play in an Open instance, as it's usually more fun if other people are involved, too.
As you can see, my Cobra is right on target.
Now, you might find it awkward at first, you might even fly into the wall and miss the port completely. But if you keep at it and learn to stick the landing you will find it a rewarding and fun experience. Be sure to play in an Open instance, as it's usually more fun if other people are involved, too.
I am so, so sorry 
I just travelled into a system for a basic 15,000 credit data delivery, only to realise once I got there that I never actually accepted the mission before I left... I am the worst space courier.
On the plus side, I made it into one of those rotating space stations without incident.
On the plus side, I made it into one of those rotating space stations without incident.
Moose Biscuits
It would be extreamly painful...
For anyone having trouble with docking, here's a fun station to practice at:
As you can see, my Cobra is right on target.
Now, you might find it awkward at first, you might even fly into the wall and miss the port completely. But if you keep at it and learn to stick the landing you will find it a rewarding and fun experience. Be sure to play in an Open instance, as it's usually more fun if other people are involved, too.
I am so, so sorry
WHERE IS WIENER DOCK
Fangdangle
Neo Member
I've only been playing the base game, is horizon any good? I know about the planet landing as I've tried to land and was told no haha
I think it's in HIP 116213, but eddb.io doesn't seem to list it anymore. Truly, Weiner Dock can be an elusive destination...
Godspeed, Moose Biscuits.
o7
Retro Edge
Member
Anyone?
Oh and I have a question about the game world. It seems like, if you zoom out on the Galaxy map that everything is so unbelievable big but is still only happening in the same little corner with all the big bases.
Now I know that you can find new stars and name them but is the rest of the universe evolving too?
If you try to fly to the other quarter of the Galaxy, are there bases with missions and docking stations and NPC characters too? Or how is this getting added to the game? Who chooses that? And if there is nothing, doesn't that make the real size of the map rather small than big?
How long can you fly until you find no life anymore?
Cobra Weapons:
You can't go wrong with half Autocannons and Half Lasers. Go with Pulse Lasers until you get the hang of combat, then maybe try out Burst or Beam if your ship has enough power. Use lasers to get shields down, and auto-cannons to shoot exposed hull.
Go gimballed for all weapons until you feel more comfortable with combat.
I like use medium autocannons on the cobra, mostly because you can see the weapons spinning up outside the windscreen and feel like Blaine from Predator.
There are other fun builds - I use mines on my smuggling Cobra for example - and if you are going to focus on combat for profit, I would try a Viper too.
Other parts of the the galaxy:
Civilization is centered in one part of the galaxy, commonly referred to as the "bubble". Explorers travel far outside the bubble to scan planets and stars, but there are no stations or outposts out there to refuel and repair. Unless you are exploring the far reaches, you are generally going to stick to the bubble.
That said, the bubble is pretty big. Like a few thousand light years across big, with different factions and stations and missions all over the place.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
1st of all weapons all have pluses and minuses, so it really is down to power usage and play style.
2nd the human bubble exists ~300 ly around Sol (our system) and the rest is uninhabited save for some outposts. There is also universe expansion happing in a region called "colonia". Closer to the galactic core it's relatively small but FDev have been expanding it by allowing player factions to create outposts by completing CGs in that region.
Good way to see the total human bubble is to look on the galaxy map and sort by powerplay. You get a good estimation on just how big human space is.
Just cashed in my 29mil as well. Was tempted to stick with my viper3 and pile up some more credits for a combat ship upgrade but decided to kit out a diamondback explorer and go see the sights instead. Now that I figured out how to work RESs I can go back to that afterwards and get credits for a FDL or something along those lines in future community events.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
No, except for a few exceptions:
- Colonia - There is a small "bubble" about 22,000 lys out from Sol and closer to the galactic core, with a dozen or so populated systems. Still a civilization in it's infancy though.
- Colonial Highway - There are five or so planetary surface bases spread out along a linear path on the way to Colonia from Sol.
- Asteroid Bases - There are about two dozen or so bases out in various nebulas, built right into floating asteroids. Little oasis of a bit of civilization out amongst the stars.
Other than these the rest of space is empty and uninhabited. When you go into deep space you are mostly on your own.
If you look at the weapons in outfitting or the store, there should be a detail tab that says all that stuff. Different hull upgrades will affect your resistances, also engineer mods. From my experience it is worth having kinetic and energy weapons in PVE, and worth the time to set up firing groups. Back when I was in my Viper, I had two small pulse lasers and two medium multi-cannons, and I would only shoot the multi-cannons at shields if I was desperate.
You only run into weird hull tank or shield tank builds when going against other players, although NPC ships can have engineered modules, they aren't going to be as extreme.
At first I can see how it might be difficult. To us veterans it is like riding a bike. I know when I first started over two years ago, it took me a couple of tries to get it down. I know one time I got myself killed because I assumed the only landing pad that would be lit up would be mine, so I tried to land on another, didn't realize what was happening and got blown up.
Did they ever fix the problem with smuggling missions when you could literally get scanned before it releases you from the platform where you got the stuff to smuggle? It was complete and total bullshit because the only way to avoid it was to log out.
Retro Edge
Member
Mhhhh, this and the other postings about the size sounds pretty small and a little bit disappointing to be honest.
400 billion star systems? Great marketing. :/
Why is it so big if 98% of the world is almost useless? Would be cool if this universe would evolve a bit faster with community created outpost/bases so that everyone could really spread around the whole universe. Why aren't they using their universe more?
By default, unmodified shields have the following resistances:
Explosive: 50%
Kinetic: 40%
Thermal: -20%
So using a Kinetic weapon on a ship's shields will do 40% less damage than the weapon is capable of. Using a Thermal weapon will do 20% MORE damage to shields (so a laser that does 10 dps would do 12 dps to shields).
Rule of thumb is usually just use Thermal weapons to get shields down, then use kinetic, explosive, or even thermal on hull.
The Vulture only has a couple hardpoints so it can feel limiting. You don't necessarily have to use thermal on shields and kinetic on hull, that is just the most efficient. If you are attaching a small ship with the 2 large lasers on a Vulture, you will find most ships explode pretty quickly anyway
If you wanna get super sciency, you can find resistances when selecting your shields in the Outfitting screen on a station, or by playing with builds at https://coriolis.edcd.io/
IIRC there are about 19,000 inhabited systems in the bubble. Now, I won't go into the fact that one system can be pretty much like the next (rings, combat zones, stations, missions, moons, etc), but that is more an issue with the variety of the gameplay loop than the number of systems. It's more about enjoying the mechanics of the game than the scope, I think.
Unless you are an explorer, those guys are nuts.
More community created or influenced content would be interesting though, you're right there.
Retro Edge
Member
Ah ok.
Yeah like more community goals but for creating Outpost.
Person X found a cool star system, now let's create something there.
Teasing_Pink
Member
Hmm, I'll take another look, must have missed it, thanks.
I've been doing the same, my cobra had medium multi cannons and small burst lasers, and my vulture had one of each as well. But I like to see the numbers!
Edit: replied too soon
Thank you for the info!
Community created outposts would be pretty cool, even if it was just something like ferrying supplies to a single locale until npcs have enough to set up shop.
But, I also like that so much is probably empty (barring aliens or whatever devs may put in). Really emphasizes how small and insignificant we are in the totality of the vast universe.
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
Alright, so I've got four ships now. An "all-purpose" Cobra Mk. III, a Viper Mk. III for bounties, a Dolphin for passengers, and a Type-6 Transporter for trading. Currently basing myself out of Li Yong Rui's territory (51 Arietis right now), since ship upgrades are cheap there, but I'm wondering if there's a better spot just as far as convenience goes. Is there a generally accepted "preferred area" I could hang around in and do missions, or should I just go from where I'm at and see what happens?
Retro Edge
Member
Community goals bounty hunting in Rakapila is pretty boring at the moment and a waste of time.
I'm at the nav beacon together with a bunch of people but nothing is spawning for 10 minutes now everyone seems to leave.
Where to go now?
Oh and if there is a ship and help to destroy it, I get nothing, no normal bounty, no community goals bounty, nothing for the last 4 ships. Does anyone​ know why? Do I have to make the biggest part of the damage?
I'm at the nav beacon together with a bunch of people but nothing is spawning for 10 minutes now everyone seems to leave.
Where to go now?
Oh and if there is a ship and help to destroy it, I get nothing, no normal bounty, no community goals bounty, nothing for the last 4 ships. Does anyone​ know why? Do I have to make the biggest part of the damage?
JackAubrey
Member
It's not useless. There's a sense of awe about the size of the galaxy and the ability to get out there and explore, see sights no other person has seen.
Bought in VR. Failed second training mission because I couldn't dock. Think I might be falling for this game anyway. Before I go off the deep end...
1) The character creator (Holo-Me) is behind the expansion. How is my character different if I start the campaign with or without it?
2) The one thing that wasn't working properly in VR was my lefthand display. It kept flickering in and out; I had to keep my head unnaturally still to keep keep it up long enough for commands. I don't want to turn off this function. How do I make it consistent?
1) The character creator (Holo-Me) is behind the expansion. How is my character different if I start the campaign with or without it?
2) The one thing that wasn't working properly in VR was my lefthand display. It kept flickering in and out; I had to keep my head unnaturally still to keep keep it up long enough for commands. I don't want to turn off this function. How do I make it consistent?
1. The Holo Me thing wasn't added until a few months ago, and it is something you can actually change any time in a station. So it doesn't matter if you don't get to create one now.
2. As for the left display, try adjusting where you are looking more. You might need to recenter your head tracking and try again. I don't use VR, but I do use TrackIR so I have the head tracking aspect of it. Sometimes I have to look further to actually get the displays, but I am used to it where I instinctively look at the right spot.
Hazardous RES is where the action is at.
1) Sweet. I want to play in the sandbox before I go crazy with expansion/HOTAS (although time is ticking on the discount).
2) Ah, probably this. I didn't bother binding reset HMD for training mode; just tried to scoot my chair. Thanks.
Teasing_Pink
Member
Sitting at the nav is going to be slow, try hunting in a resource extraction area. Of course, you might want friends.
Which brings us to your second question... Pretty sure that's how it works if multiple players are involved, yeah. You don't need majority damage when only AI are I'm the fight. Wing up with the people there, the wing shares kill credit that way.
Prophaniti
Banned
Doing a 27,000 light year passenger trip. I've fallen asleep twice. From a sitting position. Dear god...at least I'm getting 28 million for this.
Veritigo_X
Member
What I do for this is have dedicated buttons to activate the 4 displays so I don't have to actually be looking right at the display for it to activate. Plus I love looking around different windows in VR and I hated when those displays would pop up all the time when I didn't want it to. I know you said you want to keep that head look function, but maybe give it some thought.
Yeah I hear you. When I go fully insane and have an HOTAS plus keyboard mounted to my office chair, I'll be there. But in my first moments holding a WiiU controller, those pop-up panels were pretty great.
Retro Edge
Member
Weird bug here, tried to land on Stone Enterprise, got permission but someone was already at my spot. Flew out again, canceled, got a new number, another person sat on it.
It worked with the third try. Irritating.
It worked with the third try. Irritating.
Huh. AI or Player ships?
If you are playing in Open, you have to get the last hit to be counted as getting the kill if any players hit it. AIs, you get credit as long as you do some damage.
Unless you feel like competing directly with other players for it, I would just do it in solo.
Prophaniti
Banned
So what if I need to eat it sleep during these long hauls? I did the math and this is going to take like 7 hours. Can I just turn it off? Stations don't exist where I'm at currently.
Yeah, you're fine to log off wherever, but your mission times are realtime and don't pause.
Prophaniti
Banned
Ok awesome thanks! I have 3 weeks to finish lol. Do you know if I can get attacked if I log off in the middle of nowhere?
Nah, you disappear after a few seconds.
Went to a Hazardous Res Site, and my Vulture got obliterated by a Dangerous rank Federal Dropship. Jesus. I felt like my pulse lasers weren't even doing any sort of damage to him. Was only able to get him down to 70%.
I had three shield boosters and a shield cell bank with 4 ammo and damn I still got owned. We were both firing at each other and he was able to get my shields down faster than I could even though we were both constantly hitting each other..
Hmm.. I wonder if I should switch from the bi-weave to just standard shields.
I had three shield boosters and a shield cell bank with 4 ammo and damn I still got owned. We were both firing at each other and he was able to get my shields down faster than I could even though we were both constantly hitting each other..
Hmm.. I wonder if I should switch from the bi-weave to just standard shields.
Anton Sugar
Member
Don't sleep on the Fed Dropship family. Those things are like the space tank big brothers of the Vulture. Even Dropships can be deadly. They're really fun.
Peroroncino
Member
I don't think it's possible. Unless you perform a criminial action, reactivating it and dying, not sure though.
btw. it was fancy meeting you randomly, that first bounty hunt was pretty profitable. Wing of 3 Vultuers and FDL = OP
Yeah it was a good coincidental meeting and we cleaned up that run. Sadly this Wanted/Bounty shit slowed me down today. It used to be much simpler when I played on PC.