Should I upgrade to the Vulture (trade), wait and buy it (keep my Viper Mkiv), or just stick to Viper

[XbigcheezX]

I am in bounty hunting mode these days, and I finally learned how to do it effectively, 1.5-2m per hour in my A rated Viper Mkiv in PvE fighting. I have current assets of about 12M credits, including my ship, about 6.6M in cash. Here is my current outfit, https://eddp.co/u/82ugRcKi

I have been building my rig and saving cash planning on jumping into a Vulture. I realize I may not have the cash to a rate it for a little bit, but when should I jump? Should I keep my viper or just trade up? I am enjoying the BH'ing a bit and probably would like to jump into a high conflict system to do some assasination missions so I can use my FSD and lean the ropes there.

Alternatively... I could use my cash to by a second rig, a cobra mkiii or something fun and different. Please share your thoughts and suggestions.

[Mike]

Most people will say wait until you can fully A-rate it at about 20mill or so... I say if you want to fly the vulture, jump into it and slowly work your way to it being A-rated. That is what I did and while it was more risky with me having to jump out and maybe die a couple times, I never have liked the idea that you have to have enough to A-rate your ship before even buying it. I liked the feeling of progressing and the excitement of getting an A-rated PowerPlant instead ONLY the excitement of a ship upgrade.

The vulture does a lot more DPS and is very fun to fly but until it is fully A-rated and engineered you will have to be very careful flying it and may need to jump in and out of fights a few times here and there.

Good luck!

[Hobo Misanthropus]

I'd upgrade to a vulture if you can afford to A-rate a few modules. Power subsystems and the Shield generator in particular. And always make sure you've got a rebuy.

[Blind Reverend]

With 12mil credits, i would buy a dolphin, fully upgrade it, get a10 seat business cabin and a first class cabin and do passenger vip tourist missions. You get millions in no time so you can buy a FDL after a week fully upgraded to A-rated.

[malorob]

having a second ship can come in handy

i know when i started out i made a few mistakes along the way as we do.
and having a fallback ship that made me credits was a help....
the type 6 was my fall back ship i would always be able to make 2 to 5 mil in that ship which helped me to build my empire you could say.

the type 6 got me a asp xplorer which once it was A graded which i could trade for 22mil

but my lifesyle in ED is trading and passengers " when i have about 100mil in the bank i go exploring"

then i buy another ship , make sum credits and do it all over again .

best of luck cmder

[Avalanche]

Originally posted by Blind Reverend:

With 12mil credits, i would buy a dolphin, fully upgrade it, get 10business cabins and a first class cabin and do passenger vip tourist missions. You get millions in no time so you can buy a FDL after a week fully upgraded to A-rated.

I actually tried that, but its just too time consuming and the passangers were WAY too annoying and was not worth the rewards to put up with it.

Its funny though, i have been looking through all the missions and it seems from day 1 (if you did a fresh CMDR) you can start trading instantly, all you need is the cargo space and off you go, but combat (which is infinitely more fun) costs alot more to even start doing it.

I can buy a Hauler or an Adder, put some cargo bays into it and do trade missions and make like 25k-150k per mission, which can take 5mins if that, if you are lucky with the RNG of the bulletin board, while Bounty Hunting profit is determined by the ship type, so if you are a A-Speced Sidewinder, you are still limited to Sidewinders and similar sized ships, which ultimately give between 500-3k per bounty.

If you are in a A-Spec Viper, you are limited to Vipers and Cobras and smaller ships and the highest i have gained from a single Viper or Cobra kill was roughly 20k and i nearly died. (they rammed into me before they blew up.

When i got into my Vulture, i made sure i could get it to A-Spec as best as possible and i was taking on Pythons and doing rather well against them and getting around 150k per kill, but finding that lone wanted python took around 2hrs, but doing trading in a Hauler would get me more profit, faster and alot more safer.

In the end, all video games like this game it makes sure that Trading is the first thing you got to do to get yourself off your feet.

[Blind Reverend]

Originally posted by Lithari:

Originally posted by Blind Reverend:

With 12mil credits, i would buy a dolphin, fully upgrade it, get 10business cabins and a first class cabin and do passenger vip tourist missions. You get millions in no time so you can buy a FDL after a week fully upgraded to A-rated.

I actually tried that, but its just too time consuming and the passangers were WAY too annoying and was not worth the rewards to put up with it.

Its funny though, i have been looking through all the missions and it seems from day 1 (if you did a fresh CMDR) you can start trading instantly, all you need is the cargo space and off you go, but combat (which is infinitely more fun) costs alot more to even start doing it.

I can buy a Hauler or an Adder, put some cargo bays into it and do trade missions and make like 25k-150k per mission, which can take 5mins if that, if you are lucky with the RNG of the bulletin board, while Bounty Hunting profit is determined by the ship type, so if you are a A-Speced Sidewinder, you are still limited to Sidewinders and similar sized ships, which ultimately give between 500-3k per bounty.

If you are in a A-Spec Viper, you are limited to Vipers and Cobras and smaller ships and the highest i have gained from a single Viper or Cobra kill was roughly 20k and i nearly died. (they rammed into me before they blew up.

When i got into my Vulture, i made sure i could get it to A-Spec as best as possible and i was taking on Pythons and doing rather well against them and getting around 150k per kill, but finding that lone wanted python took around 2hrs, but doing trading in a Hauler would get me more profit, faster and alot more safer.

In the end, all video games like this game it makes sure that Trading is the first thing you got to do to get yourself off your feet.

Only trading is more profitable on high level than vips. On low level vip passengers are best.

Easy way, never pick vips with more than 3 destinations. If you pick 2 vips (I just picked one at a time with 3 destinations and 5mil missionreward), always from the same station. Ignore all their wishes and don t do anything else (landing in other stations, fighting!), while they are on board. Just fly them to their sight and then back to their staion. This way you get 5-7 mil per hour in a dolphin very easy.

If they want to see something else or get some materials, just ignore them.

[Badhooverdog]

Cobra mk3 or Asp X are good all round ships. They can fit any role in the game - trade, mine, pax as well as some combat. Asp X is one of the best explorers also.

Not sure how much cargo you would get in a Vulture if your looking at trading.

[fivemilesmile]

Originally posted by Badhooverdog:

Cobra mk3 or Asp X are good all round ships. They can fit any role in the game - trade, mine, pax as well as some combat. Asp X is one of the best explorers also.

Not sure how much cargo you would get in a Vulture if your looking at trading.

Op was referring to sell (trade in) his existing ship to beef up cash, so he could A rate most things on the V he intends to buy. Or leave the ship he has now, and using it to earn more cash first.

@Rob: it is always a good idea to leave one or more ship in reserve, for to have a backup if everything goes pearshaped - just like malorob said. What I have done to buy the V was; I had some 6 million cash, a fully upgraded Cobra Mk3, a somewhat upgraded Diamondback Scout, some other lesser ships.

I sold a few modules off the Cobra and the Scout, so I had nearly 8 million cash. Went to buy a V discounted in Li Yong Rui space to save more cash, then C rated the V, bought fixed large pulse lasers and started to bounty hunt wih it. The V even only C rated was much more agile and fun to fly and hunt in it, than anything else I flew before, especially because I already knew how to use FA off and the lateral thrusters.

I used it to earn more cash, and as I earned I upgraded the V slowly - first the PD, then the power plant, then bought a fixed beam laser, then tried the multicannon, then the cannon, then bought an A shield, shield boosters.. slowly A rated the thing as cash flowed in. In a high res you rarely get into real trouble, and if you do, just jump out and back in (make sure you have a nearby system in your jump queue - high waking is not mass locked and you can be out of fight within six-seven seconds).

I think whichever you chose - trading your ship in and get a beefed up V, or keep earning more cash first with your viper mk4 - can be good, only I think you will enjoy the V more, even if it is with mostly D and C modules and pulse lasers. I certainly had a really good time - even with D thrusters the V is much more fun, than the fully upgraded Viper mk4 ever will be IMO.

[Aris]

Originally posted by Lithari:

Originally posted by Blind Reverend:

........

In the end, all video games like this game it makes sure that Trading is the first thing you got to do to get yourself off your feet.

not exactly true , you can still shoot annies in a sidey in a high res and steal the bounties from the police and with a kws is much more money , spawn rate is the limiter here

[Badhooverdog]

Originally posted by Badhooverdog:

Cobra mk3 or Asp X are good all round ships. They can fit any role in the game - trade, mine, pax as well as some combat. Asp X is one of the best explorers also.

Not sure how much cargo you would get in a Vulture if your looking at trading.

Sorry got that wrong. I should stick at me reading.

[Avalanche]

Originally posted by Aris:

Originally posted by Lithari:

not exactly true , you can still shoot annies in a sidey in a high res and steal the bounties from the police and with a kws is much more money , spawn rate is the limiter here

I tried that, the anaconda ignored the police and focused on me after a single shot that just so happend to take out its shields (the police did the 99.9% of the work, i just so happend to do the last .01% damage to the shields, bringing it down, which apparently does more threat to the target than the first 99.9% of it. lol

[Chevrolet Chevette]

If you wanna kill everyone stick to the vulture, it outguns,outarmors the viper, its simply the best small class ship in the game
But idk for trading, i think the vulture holds more cargo and has bigger jumprange but the viper is faster

Edit: i talked ♥♥♥♥, the viper is a bit more maneuverable

[neuroperson]

I love my Vulture, its a combo of A and D rated, most important is A power plant and distributor, for a while you can D everything else. But the most important thing is actually that it will still be crippled unless you engineer pretty much the whole thing

[Decends]

I'd just keep bounty hunting in the Viper for now and wait for the Krait. The Krait is a small fighter with a fighterbay. It should come out this year.

[Avalanche]

Well, so far, i have recently gone from a Cobra Mk III A-Spec to a Diamondback Scount A-Spec and i have made sure to give it as much hull plating and shield boosters possible to give it more durability and its doing rather well, it doesn't match a Vulture in firepower, but its a good option to get the 20mil to A-Spec the Vulture.

It cost me roughly 7.2mil to A-Spec the Diamondback Scout.

Though i have just checked out a A-Spec Viper kitted out the same way as i kitted out my Diamondback Scout, while i had to make some minor changes, it can effectively do just as well as my Diamondback Scout.

So, effectively, the Diamondback Scout is a long-range Viper Mk III. lol