Starting in Elite Dangerous with X BOX

There is a lot of confusion at first

Elite Dangerous takes place in a fictional future in 3307. The technology moved so far that everything needs an explanation for those starting.

The game has space travel. There are also two types of movement through hyperspace using Frame Shift Drives. They are confusing and not explained properly. The first one is when a ship moves between planets. This is called hyperspace, but ships move slower through it. It is called Supercruise Mode.

There is another type of hyperspace when you move between stars. This is the quick one. Let’s call it Hyperspace Mode.

Both hyperspaces are accessed with the same button Y on the controller. You can jump between them randomly if you want.

The Supercruise Mode has inertia. Ships accelerate through it and need to decelerate. There is a super cruise assist to make travel easier through space.

Hyperspace Mode does not have a supercruise and all the controls are locked when traveling through it. It has inertia but the ship’s speed is controlled automatically. Usually, ships do not spend much time in Hyperspace Mode.

In the Supercruize Mode, ships can spend as much time as necessary. Though, guns do not work in this mode. Strangely, Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) works only in this mode also Full Spectrum Scanner (FSS) works in Supercruise Mode only.

The Hyperspace Mode is safe to travel; there is no danger of anyone attacking you. The Supercruise Mode is not safe as anyone who has the right equipment can interdict the ship and pull it to real space to attack it.

There is widespread piracy in the game. Pirates usually attack ships in Resource Extraction Sites (RES) or can interdict ships in the Supercruize Mode. Though there are System Security ships, and they often destroy pirates in high-security sites.

The travel between stars

To travel long distances between stars a Frame Shift Drive (FSD) is used. The travel is executed using jumps through a Hyperspace and is fully controlled by the ship’s computer. Each ship will have a different jump range in Light Years. Usually, the jump range is about 20 LY for not engineered FSD.

Some engineers will improve a ship’s jump range in return for some money and valuable commodities. The engineers will invite you to visit them as you gain experience in the game. The available engineer list can be found in the right panel.

The longest jump range without engineering has Diamondback Explorer and ASP Explorer.

The longest jump range that can be achieved with all modifications has Anaconda a whopping 80 LY.

Elite Dangerous ships

Ships in Elite Dangerous differ by size, jump range and price. Note that the particularly good ships are a bit pricey for a novice. In the beginning, you have a Sidewinder, which costs nothing.

Fortunately, you can earn money simply flying around with it, collecting data and then selling it to Universal Cartographic that is in every starport. Just buy a fuel tank and a fuel scoop to fill your fuel tanks from a star.

If you want to earn money faster there is edtools.cc where Road to Riches will show better star systems where more data can be collected. But this method allows only to earn double money compared if you just go to undiscovered systems and scan them with FSS which is available now by pressing Y + Left Bumper. Remember, the ship collects data by itself automatically; just the FSS or Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS) can retrieve more data from the same system.

Some ships will require Imperial or Federation ranks. Those ranks are gained by completing a mission for factions that belong to the Empire of Federation. There is another major power out there which is Alliance. Though, there are only three ships that require Alliance rank.

Probably the best ship for someone experienced for easy combat wins would be Anaconda. It cost something around 140 million and fully equipped for combat can go about to 400 million. The better modules for those expensive ships also tend to cost a lot.

The best transport ship without needed ranks is the Type-9 transporter. It can also take a lot of punishment in combat allowing you to safely jump away. It also can accommodate a fighter and a crew member can be hired to fly it.

Collect everything

Almost every destroyed ship will leave some parts that can be collected. Those components are used for engineering, synthesis on board the ship of needed parts i.e. explosives or injected into FSD for longer jumps.

Please buy Collector Limped Controller and buy collection limpets separately. Collection limpets are in Advanced Maintenance and go to Restock.

Also, get a Wake Analyzer which will help collect data that will be needed when engineering modules.

Ships in Elite Dangerous can synthesize some parts, materials and components onboard. Just the necessary materials are needed.

Collector Limpets are smart enough and autonomous. They do not collect dangerous parts; i.e., mines.

There are special hatch braking limpets that pirates use to steal cargo from ships. These attacks are defended by Point Defense Turrets that are available as Utility Modules.

Fleet Carriers

These ships are a different league in the game. Fleet Carriers are invincible, they have a 500 LY jump range and can carry ships inside. Though, you can’t fly a carrier as you do the normal ship. Carriers are directed to the destination, a star or a planet and they fly or jump autonomously.

Fleet Carriers cost 5 billion credits minimum and have a weekly maintenance fee of 2 million.

There are a lot of them in the game and most of the time they sit there doing nothing or just trading commodities and selling ships.

I haven’t seen a Fleet Carrier movement in the game either. Why don’t they transport missions to help novices discover the galaxy?
I haven’t seen any event that will involve 20 or more carriers either.

Surely, there are military conflicts in the game, but Fleet Carriers seem not to participate in them. Also, all Fleet Carriers in the game are owned by players only, no Carriers are flying around as AI pilots (NPC).

Earning money

The simplest way to earn money is to simply travel from star system to star system and the ship will collect data automatically.

We would probably earn more money with DSS and scan every one planed one by one.

FSS is a much faster method and this module is installed in every ship for free.

DSS needs to be bought, costs around 200,000 credits and also eats power; actually, a lot of power. A lot more than a 3A beam laser.

Road to Riches on edtools.cc is another fast way to earn some cash.

Trading using specialized ships. This is by far the best method to discover and earn money at the same time. A better Frame Ship Drive will be needed as doing the same route a few times will become a bit boring.

The best way to start trading is to buy a Type-6 which costs 1 million credits and run cargo and courier missions. As I remember, it was not particularly good for passenger missions. Its tonnage is probably too small.

The next level will be to buy the Type-7. With this ship, you already can do profitable passenger missions.

And then comes the time to buy thy Type-9 and you are a member of a trading elite. Using this ship and inara.cz you can make 20 million per one mission. Just remember to engineer its FSD as it has an abysmal jump range.

Also, this ship has tough skin. I used to do cargo missions even without shields and it saved me from pirates countless times.

Fit this ship with three turreted beam lasers, set them to engage at will. Fit the two small hardpoints with seeker rockets modules. The turrets will destroy pirate ship shields and you will finish it with the rockets. It’s crazy fun as they will find the pirate ship, even when it’s just above you.

There are some tricks when in combat. My advice is not to allow others to attack you from top or bottom. Destroy shields with beam lasers and damage the ship construction with seeker rockets or torpedoes.

And the best part is that those suckers can be fitted on the Sidewinder also.

You can increase rocket damage by 30 percent just by synthesizing explosives on your ship. That’s why I mentioned earlier to collect everything with limpets from exploded ships as those materials will be used to make explosives also.

Mining is also one of the ways to earn an insane amount of money. The one condition is that a profitable mining site is discovered first.

Game hacks

Yes, that happens with this game. And anyone doing that must be reported to Frontier Support.

I have noticed that those hackers target other players and destroy ships instantly with guns that go through anything.

Another sign of a hack is when you unload an insane amount of beam laser power and shields are still on 100 percent. That is a sign of game manipulation and should be reported.

Also, they sometimes want to play smart ones. They hack their shields but make them lose a few percent in time. That’s nonsense. Every shield that gets 30 seconds of a 4A Beam Laser should go down by at least ten percent.

The game is not user-friendly here. I would like to have a simple button to block or report the player in the game. But unfortunately, on X Box you need to go there to do that or that. How can I do anything because the ship is destroyed and the only button that I see is OK and the commander’s name that destroyed my ship?

They need to work on this.

But overall, the game is okay. If you do not meet stupid cheating commanders in your way, it is playable and enjoyable.

I kept one surprise for the end. Sometimes there is a mass jump organized. There are videos about these jumps on YouTube. Probably up to one hundred ships participating and they jump at once to a hyperspace. The scene is just breathtaking. I just wish they did that more often as for now it’s like one per six months or so.