Surprised with the Type 10 Defender

[jrlaudio]

I have been playing for about two months now. I have put in about 250 hours and have been grinding mostly in Trade (trading and mining). I got to the point where I could buy a Defender and outfit it as a combat ship. Now mind you, one of reasons I have played Elite (I'm from the original game in the 80's) is that I generally do not like combat. Not my thing. But now that mining is nurfed it takes a really long time to earn credits. Now matter how carefully you plan systems, routes, etc. Unlike many of you who earned billions mining in a short time, that's not an option anymore for newer players.

So I tried something I didn't think would work. Build out a Defender with lots of reinforcements, make it a shield and hull tank, over-power it, add a cargo bay for four units of gold, two point defense, and use all nine guns. Then ... go to a system and take on as many massacre missions as you can get for one system. In my case I went to Sol and got dozens of missions for pirates in Barnard Star. I went to a low res spot in a ring and just buzzed around and killed everything. The gold in the four space cargo bay is to attract pirates when they scan me. Between bounty credits in Barnard's, and the mission back in Sol, over the course of one session I made over a billion in credits. I was shocked it worked.

The real reason for this post is the Type-10 Defender outfit like this is a beast. I could have easily parked the thing and gone AFK and the thing would have just killed everything and not die. There is no engineering (yet) on this. So for mid-level players looking to make some credits, this would certainly be an option. Now mind you the thing moves like a beached whale, not quite as bad as an non-engineered Corvette, but with 7A thrusters it can turn well enough to keep NPC ships in view. Now mind you all nine guns are Beam and Burst lasers on turrets, so that makes it much easier for a lousy combat pilot like myself, not to mention the fighter bay.

I should point out that during the entire 10 hour session in the low-res zone, the shields only went away once, but recharged quickly. Obviously, I never got blown up either. I will slowly engineer this build, probably in power distribution and weapons. However, I am still just starting out engineering, so I have a ways to go. Didn't really need it so much where I am currently at. I only have a about 25% more to go to get to Elite in trade, so that's when I am going to make my newer ship purchases. (you know ... Jameson Base and all that). I went from a Sidewinder, to a Keelback, then a Type-7, to Python miner, which gave me enough credits to get the Defender and outfit it like this. I sold the Type-7 and the Sidewinder to help pay for it all. Now I have more credits then I have ever had ... In one session. It would have taken me a week (playing everyday) to make this amount of credits, mining and trading.

One thing to mention to newer and not so skilled pilots out there who may want this ship. Make sure you have the "Advanced" auto landing/docking module. This beast barely fits in the mailslot, and why bother losing the credits when your ship gets blowed up because you got stuck in the mailslot or rack. The auto-dock/land is not a shame thing, it's practical especially with a "wide-load" like this ship. You literally can forget about staying to the right in the mailslot, you have be in the center just to go in or out. Had an guy today try to slip past me in the mailslot because he wouldn't wait for my auto-lauch to fit me in the mailslot. He didn't make it, and got wedged into the rack on the station since he just bounced off my mass and went sideways. I just kept going like nothing happened, and fortunately didn't get stuck with him. He got blown to smithereens by the station. Ha! ... Dope.

I wouldn't recommend this build for PvP, or even high threat level areas, but for grinding stacked massacre-pirate missions (even for wings) in low-res zones ... it's a winner.

[RetroGrade]

I use this with an unengineered type 10 and works pretty well except i do not go full afk. You will not be making billions like the video suggests but the credits are comparable with the other professions. I use this build because I'm a piss poor pilot and am tired of grinding with trade...for now. It is kind of fun watching those turrets in action though.

[caaront]

Dolphin Bottlenose a écrit :

Keep in mind that the strength of your enemies scales with your own Combat rank. As you haven't been doing a lot of combat, your rank is probably not very high, and your T-10 deals with your relatively weak targets with ease.

It will struggle more as you progress with your Combat rank. Engineering will help to make it stronger, but your enemies will begin to have some engineered modules, too. It's going to be more fun as you progress. :)

I am trying to imagine being at a CNB against Deadly and Elite in a Type 10, an Elite Drop ship lasts much longer in a dight than an Anaconda with an expert pilot, talking against NPCs.

[caaront]

Dolphin Bottlenose a écrit :

Keep in mind that the strength of your enemies scales with your own Combat rank. As you haven't been doing a lot of combat, your rank is probably not very high, and your T-10 deals with your relatively weak targets with ease.

It will struggle more as you progress with your Combat rank. Engineering will help to make it stronger, but your enemies will begin to have some engineered modules, too. It's going to be more fun as you progress. :)

I cannot imagine fighting a wing of a dangerous, a deadly, and an elite NPC pilots all in more nimble ships we me being in a fat type 10.

[JL::Jose-Juan Kenobi]

Lei a écrit :

I just think, if fully AFK, the fighter would last, what, 40 mins? Before it gets shot down. Then you have a useless slot that could house a MRP or something.

Again, typically these "fully AFK builds" make little sense unless they are using third party tools. If you are manning the ship for a "semi AFK" experience, then the build needs adjusting anyway.

Depends entirely on the rank of the NPC fighter... even at HAZ RES, my NPC pilot tends to live for most of the gaming session (she's dangerous now)

For AFK build, if you are focusing on nothing but stacking MM, you want to head to RES LOW, or med at most. You won't be increasing much in combat rank though.

I like the T10 and have been wanting to build a full turret boat for a while but never got to it... as a "dog fighter" is hilarious to watch haha with the absurd number of hardpoints.
Once engineered with long range stuff, is game changer, no one can escape :-)

[Corrupt-nz]

Can I ask for your build. jrlaudio

[jrlaudio]

My build? ... That's a tall order to give. I'm sure I can do it on coriolis, but not sure how to share the build yet. I also need to change the one I currently have on there, since the current build is not on there. Stay tuned ... I'll try to get it up and post it here.

Well ... Now I have the T-10 engineered quite well. I have few more eng's I need to unlock to get everything I want, so that will take some time. Next onto the Guardian stuff once I get the engineering done and finished.

Engineered this thing is beastly, and have done some PvP recently and had great success, once I got some good controllers (Virpil) and finally taught myself how to fly with flight assist off. I also went with some voice assist to help manage ship systems while in combat. Turning with well engineered thrusters is not really a problem anymore (especially with flight assist off and good controllers).

I have a long way to go in Elite and I'm still relatively new, but this build is one I am certainly enjoying. While it is based on the AFK build, what fun is AFK?

BTW, I'm having a brain fart ... SCB?

[jrlaudio]

Corrupt-nz a écrit :

Can I ask for your build. jrlaudio

OK ... seems like inara had it. https://inara.cz/cmdr-fleet/337506/3059111/

I have a long way to go, and yes ... I know I have some of the experimentals wrong for the build. Gotta go out and get more materials and such to change the engineering. It's a work-in-progress.

Hope you can view it ... Let me know.

I was able to get it onto coriolis, this way you can see how it performs on paper at least. Not great, but it's got a long way to go yet. The potential is great! : https://s.orbis.zone/epzx

This build costs about 520K credits, so not too far out of reach for someone who been playing a bit, and hasn't spent all their money on building out a bunch of smaller less capable ships. This of course does not include engineering, which costs game time.

[Princess Pilfer]

IIRC mining is still currently the fastest way to make money, by a long, long ways. Litterally 10x per hour what you'd get from combat. (thats not an exaggeration.)
The problem isn't that mining isn't good, it's that everything that *isn't* mining is bad, and the only reason non-miners used to put up with it was because they could get enough money to buy a planet in like 2 hours and then never think about it again, which they can't do now.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

jrlaudio a écrit :

BTW, I'm having a brain fart ... SCB?

Shield Cell Banks?..

[jrlaudio]

Princess Pilfer a écrit :

IIRC mining is still currently the fastest way to make money, by a long, long ways. Litterally 10x per hour what you'd get from combat. (thats not an exaggeration.)
The problem isn't that mining isn't good, it's that everything that *isn't* mining is bad, and the only reason non-miners used to put up with it was because they could get enough money to buy a planet in like 2 hours and then never think about it again, which they can't do now.

Mining is what I do generally ... I just got bored with it and reached Elite in Trade rather quickly. So I decided to reach for Elite in Combat, something I generally do not do. Knowing I was going to have to do a lot of engineering and Guardian hauls for combat rank, I knew I could get my Explorer rank up as well in the process.

Dolphin Bottlenose a écrit :

Shield Cell Banks?..

Of course, LOL. Like I said ... brain fart. Not sure what the issue with those are. When people post things like that they never explain themselves. Maybe it's because you can't use them in AFK without a macro. Makes sense that was what they meant above.

[Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz]

Corrupt-nz a écrit :

Can I ask for your build. jrlaudio

+1; Yes, show us =)
---

Explorer and passenger transporter here, what's the max jump range
for a Defender thingy like this?

[C54M2]

Sighman a écrit :

(I believe the AFK thing is an exploit which will surely be nerfed. Stacking pirate missions, not so much.)

Why is it when a player/players find away to make credits it has to be a exploit and has to be nerfed ??

[Corrupt-nz]

Cool thx

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

C54M2 a écrit :

Why is it when a player/players find away to make credits it has to be a exploit and has to be nerfed ??

If players find a way to make credits not following a game design, then it is an exploit. Leaving a ship AFK to earn credits for you can be considered as an exploit, because it brings credits without playing the game.

[jrlaudio]

An "exploit" technically is using something not included in the game to earn whatever, such as a script or bot. Using the game itself without any other software to do certain things is not considered an exploit. Technically, using voice commands to control the ship is an exploit since it is external software that allows control of the game mechanics without input from a the UI or controller; however, as you see not even that is nerfed.