Rescue and other assistance

[BRIMESTONE]

Ok, I've read a lot on this form before asking this question .

Right in the middle, and almost always in the middle of mining, a request for some type of assistance will pop up, like deliver 25 medical units to a planet, or answer a distress call.

So, hears's my problem, every time I try to do one of those missions I can't get the stuff I need. Like 25 medical units, I stop at the space stations but there isn't anything there or there isn't enough to buy, and time is running out, not enough time to stop at another station. Ill waiste time docking, can't seem to ever jump in close enough and if I try for a planet I crash right into it.

Once I did have the stuff but ran out of time. I've been mining like mad, upgraded my ship to a Saber frame , added 5 cargo bays and better engine. But mining is staking too long and those missions have got some big cash if I can get them. I've killed two Striker class ships as I gated into Olympus Delta, and killed a Raven when I was trying to leave the station. I didn't know they could attack you while you were at the station, buggers!:mad:

I digress, how do you find all the stuff you need to complete the missions, and how do you do it before the time runs out??:o

I'm gating back to the Sapphire system, a little safer, I wasn't read for a fight just yet, but I seemed to manage it ok.

Any help would be great,

Thanks

[Flying Brick]

Hi Brimestone, and welcome!
The distress calls timings are intended to be challenging
A lot of the time, the easiest thing to do is just carry around stuff in your cargo because just like you said, you may not find it for sale when you need it.

You should face little to no combat in Sapphire.
Otherwise, unless your mission is to specifically kill reds, you can just ignore them and fly past them. Of course, if you're mining and they harass you, you'll have to either kill them or run around a bit...

Being attacked while docked: you can "enter station" in the dock/inventory console, and you'll be ok. You can still do all your trading and everything, but your ship will be safe.
You can also buy a license, although you don't have to (and they may be expensive). But stations you build yourself will automatically give you a license, so you'll be safe while docked.

Since you've already got the 5 cargo slots, the best way would be to carry some of the more common stuff in a few of them - not all, so you can also do mining.
Alternatively, you can store some stuff (like meds, food, etc) in the hangar of the station closest to your mining spot. However, I'm not sure it's a good tradeoff, because using the hangar costs a periodic fee, and it'll probably not be worth it in the long run.

Also, a few more tips about mining:
- strafe the beam, don't keep it in one spot - it will increase the mining speed
- there are specialized mining beams that let you mine only that type of material (e.g., platinum)
- later on you can use mining drones, once you get a deploy constructor.

So for the distress calls, just keep the stuff with you when you do find it for sale (or mine it, like water/oxygen), and go straight to the DC spot when it comes.

About planet crashing: you cannot jump into a planet or into its atmosphere, you need to manually modify the jump coordinates to be close to it, not "in" it. Also, you cannot use speeds greater than 1500 in the atmosphere, because you burn up - gradually, though.

Olympus is hostile, so it may be a bit ugly in the beginning. Try systems where you have a better reputation, where things will be easier and you'll be able to mine in peace. I suggest Atlas, for instance; as for dodging enemies on the way - don't bother engaging, just go fast enough so they can't catch you (1500 or so should suffice). You might make a little more money there, too

Good job on killing the reds, there's a neverending supply of them!

Welcome again, and have fun, and if you have problems or questions, ask away!

[Viper]

I digress, how do you find all the stuff you need to complete the missions, and how do you do it before the time runs out??:o

I can't help you out with the Distress Calls themselves because I never bother with them ("I hope they have good insurance"), but I could give you a little tip in regards to planet descend. There are a couple of things you can do to speed up your arrival at the planet.

Like Flying Brick said, you shouldn't right-click on the planet and hit F2, like you do with stations. If you do this, you will arrive at the dead center of the planet - and the end of your existence.
When plotting a course to a planet on your nav map, right click on the planet to zoom in. You will now see one or even several green crosses alongside the planet's edges. These represent docking locations (cities). Set a waypoit right next to the planet as close as possible to the green cross you wanna dock at. Then click 'Rear View' and verify that your waypoint is set at the same level as the green cross. If not, move it up or down a bit to get it spot on.
You have now set a waypoint as close to the planet as you possibly can without it burns you up in the atmosphere upon exiting warp. If all goes well, when you exit the warp tunnel, you should find yourself extremely close to the planet, already inside the gravitational field, inside the green 'docking guidance boxes' and very close to the moment where your ship switches controls from space to atmospheric flight.
To get it just right requires some practice though.

Now, what Flying Brick said:

Also, you cannot use speeds greater than 1500 in the atmosphere, because you burn up - gradually, though.

This is true. Depending on your shield and armor it can be even lower though, so be careful. It is wise to add power to your shields (5S/-5W) before descending into the atmo. Keep an eye on your shield gauge. As soon as you see your shields going down, quickly reduce speed to reduce the atmospheric friction. If you're too late your shields will give way and your hull will burn away.

However, there is a neat little trick you can perform, but it takes some practice.
Like the real life Space Shuttle, you can use the friction of the atmo to your advantage. If you enter the atmosphere with your nose pitched up about 20 degrees, you will present a much larger surface of exposure to the atmosphere thus creating more friction. This will act as a brake.
To do this, set your flight mode to 'Inertial' and increase your speed up to however high you dare it to be, then shortly before you think you're going to hit the top layers of the atmosphere, pitch your nose up to about 20 degrees (more or less aligned with the planet horizon).
As soon as you hit the atmo, you will see a bright red glow coming from under your ship, and your speed going down really quickly until it reaches normal values. Your shields will hold!
If you time this right, you will find yourself able to approach a planet at speeds in excess of 6000 (!) without damaging your ship.

This too takes some practice and you will probably burn up a few times before you get it right, but it can save you a lot of time when descending into a planet. It can also be helpful if you want to escape some baddies and find safety on a planet surface.

Try practicing this. If you want I could shoot a video of me showing how it's done.


Good luck! (and sorry for the wall of text lol)

[Edited on 1-22-2012 by Viper]

[Marvin]

I find that the "stranded pilot" distress calls are the easiest ... you don't need to bring along anything except your ship. Usually you can make it in time if the stranded pilot is only one or two star systems away. Once you find him, get close, target him, and press F4 (the "hail" signal for communicating with AIs).

[Maarschalk]

Hi Brimestone, welcome to the game and forum...Hope to see you out there some time!....

[BRIMESTONE]

Thanks for the great tips and help!

Strafe mining tip was a great bonus, with a tech I can mine way faster, thanks. It takes a bit of skill to keep close enough to the rocks, lol, but it work great!

I'm in Orion, in search of better hardware for my ship, I just blast through the gates at top speed and turn IOS off so my speed doesn't drop below 1000, that gives me some time to figure out my next move.

Fighting one on one I'm good at but 4 at a time... Unless I run I'm dead.

And I save before every jump.

Thanks again for your help, good hunting.

[Professor Paul1290]

Distress call mission are meant to be quite difficult but they do pay very well when you can take them.

Unless you get lucky and see one that you just so happen to be very good position to do (which does happen sometimes), you usually have to have some idea of where to get stuff and where you need to go to do them effectively.

[Flying Brick]

Great explanation about the atmosphere descent, Viper - thank you!
I was vaguely aware of it, but hadn't seen it explained in detail before.

Brimestone: a tip for faster docking is to point your ship facing direction 0 (on the compass at the top of the screen) (so hav a heading and pitch of 0) and jump, usually this will mean you'll end up coming straight into the destination (station, jump gate, whatever).
Also, if you find it easier, use IDS for entering jumpgates, no reason not to; you want to be as fast as you can, and if that means IDS on, that's fine. You will usually be fast enough to ignore whatever reds may be around the jumpgate - if not, throw a few CMs, as always...

Welcome again, good luck with the mining (hint: more "developed" systems - check the quadrant map, economic map in the nav console (F1) tend to have better (and more expensive) equipment...) .

[Jaga]

I completely disable rescue missions when in the game for two reasons:

1) I intensely dislike being told *I* failed a mission, when it was never something I offered to help with in the first place.

2) The timings are *way* too short on distress calls. 2-3 minutes total to try and get supplies, then hop across who knows how many sectors and hope you arrive before a phantom timer runs out? No thanks.


This is one thing about the game I hope is changed in the future. Right now, it is merely an annoyance I have to deal with every time I start up the game (disable DCs). Good luck if you decide to attempt them, they are an exercise in frustration.

[SeeJay]

I completely disable rescue missions when in the game for two reasons:

1) I intensely dislike being told *I* failed a mission, when it was never something I offered to help with in the first place.

2) The timings are *way* too short on distress calls. 2-3 minutes total to try and get supplies, then hop across who knows how many sectors and hope you arrive before a phantom timer runs out? No thanks.


This is one thing about the game I hope is changed in the future. Right now, it is merely an annoyance I have to deal with every time I start up the game (disable DCs). Good luck if you decide to attempt them, they are an exercise in frustration.

They are challenging, yes, but some pilots in their civ frames
stock up all cargo bays with items (5 different) and do the distress calls
that they have the items for. "Planet falls" can be done very quickly to if
you need to descend with a time preassure.

I think they are a great addition and they inspire pilots to race since only
1 will be paid for it. I even raced Vice on some of them way back. Great fun.
I was so stressed that I delivered to the wrong planet LOL. I was watching Vice
to much if he was going to engage me in a fight approaching destination.