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.

[Jankules]

Its famous AFK build, one with a laser show disco lights?

[Sighman]

I think everyone's been coming to the same conclusion recently. I've always liked having a few turrets on my Corvette plus a ship launched fighter. And I stack massacre missions from different factions (different system) and dispose of the targets in a low rez zone too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEv7K8ml3YY

[Sighman]

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

[jrlaudio]

I don't see this as an exploit, it's simply a build and missions. Now if you park it and go to work for eight hours, that's a whole different thing. So they could nerf when a player makes no input on his computer for hours, and that's a totally different thing. Not making any inputs for a given length of time would put the game in an idle mode, where nothing happens or it goes back to the last station visited. The exploit would be "not playing the game" and walking away; not the build or the stacked missions ... that's part of the game mechanics.

[jrlaudio]

The real problem now is the grind is way too slow, and there are few ways to make credits without putting in hundreds and hundreds of hours into it. Like I said, I have put in over 250 hours of play and was just able to grind (and sell off ships) to get enough credits for this build. That kind of deep grinding will make many newer players leave. I've played most of versions of Elite over the decades, starting on an Apple IIe. So I know the game and the point of it. And now we have a pretty game, with millions of systems. Exploration was never really a thing in the early versions, but now it is. However, the game now is so much more difficult and complex and the grind is so severe since the cost of things you need to play and enjoy the game is so high. So you end up grinding and grinding and not doing the fun things like exploring the vast galaxy. The exception being the guys who were here early on when the mining bonanza was going on. Grind a bunch of Void Opals for a couple of days and buy an fully outfitted Anaconda and off into the galaxy you went. Not that way any more. Now it's grind for months and barely be able to leave the bubble.

[Sighman]

I'm laser mining platinum from a double hotspot and I can't empty the hold quick enough. I keep having to dump limpets to make space.

Maybe locate a carrier buying platinum for a fair price, which is parked in a ring near a platinum hotspot. You won't get as much per ton, but you can get rid of it much quicker and get back to mining. (I've only just parked my carrier near a double hotspot and can set up a buy price if that helps.)

I know platinum doesn't have the eye-catching price of LTDs, Void Opals and other core mining materials, but if you can mine it 3x faster it's worth 3x as much as the sticker price.

[Sighman]

I'm also happy to wing up in a private group session and mine with others.

[jrlaudio]

Yeah ... see ... that's my problem. I'm anti-social. (Kidding). I haven't even run into any actual players yet in game!

I first took the Defender outfitted for mining and I have a pair of systems where I can mine Monazite, and jump once into a high-security system where I can sell it for 750K. Near Sol no less!! So I can make a bit of cash that way. I just haven't found that nice "egg" of hotspots yet for commodities that actually trade for a good price (after the nerf), so it takes a while to find those "cores". I missed the Void Opal gluttony period.

[Sighman]

I'm anti-social too (I've always played in solo mode)

I've been using an AspX to seek out new systems with pristine rings & multiple hotspots. I did a round trip last night and found a couple, one of them previously undiscovered. I'll try my current one first and then shift to the other if it's not really showing much platinum.

I've been playing for 6+ years and I never mined void opals. In fact, I rarely did any mining at all. Mostly rank missions to max out Imperial and Fed levels so I could buy their top ships.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

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. :)

[AJ24]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Sighman:

I'm laser mining platinum from a double hotspot and I can't empty the hold quick enough. I keep having to dump limpets to make space.

Maybe locate a carrier buying platinum for a fair price, which is parked in a ring near a platinum hotspot. You won't get as much per ton, but you can get rid of it much quicker and get back to mining. (I've only just parked my carrier near a double hotspot and can set up a buy price if that helps.)

I know platinum doesn't have the eye-catching price of LTDs, Void Opals and other core mining materials, but if you can mine it 3x faster it's worth 3x as much as the sticker price.

I'm a lousy miner and even I can make good money fairly quickly platinum mining in my Anaconda :D

[Sighman]

I'm at the platinum hotspot now but the only platinum I've found is in cores. I actually wanted to laser mine instead!

[Leigh]

Please note I only PVE.

Type 10 was designed to be the Anti-Xeno bruiser, right?

I love mine, I got mine rigged to emulate the Defiant Class from Star Trek Deep Space Nine: two beams, lots of bursts, some missiles for torps, and a hell of a lot of power. It is just SO fun to fly.

I have very much followed the feeling of "strong enough to rip itself apart" and I think it works great in PVE. I would hate to think of it as the "AFK ship", it is far too fun to relegate it to such cheesiness.

I take long breaks from the game and have just started playing again the other day. As part of my refamiliarizing myself with the game I look up builds and things on YT, to see whats changed (if anything). Some of these "AFK builds" popped up and they look weird.

Fighter bay and SCBS for when you are fully AFK? Semi AFK sure, but not "at work or sleeping" like they advertise. Plus, they always put in the biggest shield, when a size down and bigger SCB would work better. Again, just very odd builds that wouldn't really work unless they are using a third party app to pop SCBs and things as needed, which is against TOS.

Just a odd situation, really.

[Sighman]

Yes, I wondered about the SCB as well.

The fighter makes sense. I have an Elite NPC pilot and he makes a huge difference in combat. I tend to send him out with beam or pulse weapons, in the fastest fighter available. (I don't mean I'm doing this AFK thing. I play ED to enjoy myself, not to leave it running to make pointless money.)

[Leigh]

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.