Initial contracts: delivery, bounties or other

[Starooqi]

Hello,

Noob is back with more questions. I have done some delivery missions. Looking for some progression advice. I am thinking bounties next. I want to build up a bank to target a larger ship. What are your suggestions to focus on? I have not done anything related to mining or trading. Don't understand them yet. I will watch some videos to get an idea. Bounty seemed pretty straightforward but requires good flying skills that I currently lack. However, that is a key skill I want to practice and improve upon obviously.

 

[Radegast74]

I haven't played much at all this patch, but I think that bounties are still the way to go. Interestingly enough, the higher up the chain delivery missions get pretty interesting!

I was enjoying doing the bunker missions, and collecting weapons from the dead, but depending on your fps skills, it can be a bit tortuous. I suck, but I was eventually able to get halfway decent at the bunker missions. Getting killed now means you have to re-spawn and re-group, but, you can always loot your corpse (usually).

Trading now is much better with the 30k protection making lost cargo pretty much a thing of the past. It can be tough starting out, but over time you can really build up. Mining can be fun too, but it is totally an RNG exercise. I don't like Prospector mining, but kind of like ROC mining. You should check out the Rock Raiders, either here or on Discord if you are interested in trying mining!

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Personally I grind the "Clear The Satellites" missions to get enough credits to then go do my own thing, which is mainly bumming about the 'Verse just to see what is out there, visiting and exploring the main landing zones and other places of note...

That said, some of the places of note have been found because a Mission takes you there, I think mainly the courier missions lead you to places off the map which turn out to be big earners - Jump Town 1 which in an earlier parch became a huge moneymaker for illegal cargo, for example, was found this way...

 

[Talonsbane]

Personally, I suggest trying the low end activities of all that you can so that you figure out what makes you happy in the game. Then focus more on that.

 

[Deroth]

The ships you have influences which activities you can do.

However, if you're thinking of stepping foot into PvE combat, bounty hunting isn't that much of a hurdle to get into. Even a stock Aurora or Mustang can handle VLRT Bounty missions, which you can make enough running to start upgrading your ship, with a fully upgraded Aurora or Mustang being able to handle MRT missions without having to be highly skilled (though you'll be developing skills along the way.)
It is when you start getting into HRT missions where you'll either need to be skilled, have a more combat focused ship, or both (or join with others) to keep progressing through the ranks to the higher paying missions.
With the payout vs difficulty and time ratios of running bounty hunting at the current state of the game, it has made the clear satellite missions more popular as once you've figured out the flow of them they can be a bit more consistent and reliable (especially since you don't have to worry about long travel times in-atmosphere or crashing into the ground due to it being pitch black like you do with certain bounty hunting missions.)

 

[vahadar]

The ships you have influences which activities you can do.

However, if you're thinking of stepping foot into PvE combat, bounty hunting isn't that much of a hurdle to get into. Even a stock Aurora or Mustang can handle VLRT Bounty missions, which you can make enough running to start upgrading your ship, with a fully upgraded Aurora or Mustang being able to handle MRT missions without having to be highly skilled (though you'll be developing skills along the way.)
It is when you start getting into HRT missions where you'll either need to be skilled, have a more combat focused ship, or both (or join with others) to keep progressing through the ranks to the higher paying missions.
With the payout vs difficulty and time ratios of running bounty hunting at the current state of the game, it has made the clear satellite missions more popular as once you've figured out the flow of them they can be a bit more consistent and reliable (especially since you don't have to worry about long travel times in-atmosphere or crashing into the ground due to it being pitch black like you do with certain bounty hunting missions.)

Those are very well said tips about PVE. The first sentence is key. With a starter ship you can do pretty much everything (even hand mining), but you will soon be limited.

@Starooqi ship combat missions probably pay the best per hour in game to this day.

If you are a good pilot and want to try bounty hunting specifically, you can do them in ships like the Avenger up to VHRT. For ERT you would need more punch. Honestly VHRT pays better per hour than doing ERT because of the time it takes to kill a HH in a small/medium ship.

In general, if you are an average pilot I would suggest to save for a ship that has both decent DPS and tank.

To kill a Hammerhead (ERT) you have a large choice of ships. But, l would recommend just one, not because it's better or anything, but just that it has DPS and tank and is somewhat still agile enough, and which will also be useful for any other combat task : the Vanguard series. It has a bed, long range for moving around in Stanton, and decent tank that you will need if not a good pilot. Add a teammate and it's a real fun ship, and a great goal to start saving money for.

If you want to do more versatile jobs, then something like the Cutlass Black is a good goal for combat missions, cargo runs, hand mining...

 

[Starooqi]

Those are very well said tips about PVE. The first sentence is key. With a starter ship you can do pretty much everything (even hand mining), but you will soon be limited.

@Starooqi ship combat missions probably pay the best per hour in game to this day.

If you are a good pilot and want to try bounty hunting specifically, you can do them in ships like the Avenger up to VHRT. For ERT you would need more punch. Honestly VHRT pays better per hour than doing ERT because of the time it takes to kill a HH in a small/medium ship.

In general, if you are an average pilot I would suggest to save for a ship that has both decent DPS and tank.

To kill a Hammerhead (ERT) you have a large choice of ships. But, l would recommend just one, not because it's better or anything, but just that it has DPS and tank and is somewhat still agile enough, and which will also be useful for any other combat task : the Vanguard series. It has a bed, long range for moving around in Stanton, and decent tank that you will need if not a good pilot. Add a teammate and it's a real fun ship, and a great goal to start saving money for.

If you want to do more versatile jobs, then something like the Cutlass Black is a good goal for combat missions, cargo runs, hand mining...

I think I am going to start doing bounty missions and keep practicing. Save and target to get Cutlass Black eventually. I will research Vanguard series ships also. I am thinking to plan for a combat ship, cargo and a miner to build out a fleet down the line.