FASTEST WAY TO COMBAT ELITE | ELITE DANGEROUS

Help support the channel by becoming a Patreon:
/ downtoearthastronomy
Or make a one time donation youtube.stream...
I also have a discord server for my viewers / discord
Follow me on Twitter: / d2eastronomy
and Instagram: / downtoearthastronomy
and facebook: / downtoearthastronomy
Want to get in contact with me? leave a comment or sent me a mail at
[e-mail]

[@CGPT76]

finally someone explains how that stuff works!!! I'm stuck at 99% Deadly for a few months, and now I know it's only worth killing above (or equal) my rank!! Thank you!!

[@Cactusjugglertm]

Go get that last 1%, trooper! Good job!

[@CGPT76]

Thanks for the support kind stranger!!

[@tomriley5790]

Good luck the wiki explains it too!

[@Hyokkuda]

This is not the video I was looking for, but since I'm here I'll help a bit too. Destroying ships in conflict zones is fastest way to rank up to Elite. I went from Master to Dangerous in 2 days and I'm already at 15% away from Elite rank. It's much better because first, you can choose your faction so you will know instantly who's friendly and who isn't and you don't have to scan any ships at all. Pretty much all ships are super high ranked, either same rank as you or one rank higher every time. And as you destroy them, you get combat bonds around 60,000 CR per kills. If you do massacre missions, it can give you between 2,000,000 CR to 50,000,000 CR depending on how many you bring back and forth. Seriously, there's no better way to rank up in combat than doing combats in the conflict zones.

[@sabrejack69]

Yes I'm Combat Elite and can confirm the fastest way to do it is by completing Massacre Missions. Sounds obvious but having an inexhaustible supply of ships to kill means there are plenty of Deadly and Elite ships among them and you can make good money too so it's a win win if you ask me.

[@Phoenix-zi4kp]

Yeah but when they shoot at me they destroyed me so fast .

[@harrisonchauhan3875]

Jeans Louissaint either use a fast ship with good shields like a vulture to shoot at some targets and when one shoots back run to about 2 km from the fight and take them on in a 1 v 1 take a large ship with a lot of hit points and a fighter such as a type 10 put turrets onto fire at hostile sand sit in the middle of the field (or man your fighter) as you wreck a bunch of ships quite easily

[@danmoss1685]

Well shoot, I had no idea. Thanks

[@MrTimjm009]

@@Phoenix-zi4kp That is the down side. If you choose the same side each time , it seems the enemy gets to know who you are and target you more. So you take on a ship ; you might have 2 other enemies on your tail at the same time . You might lose a few ships . Dont go in with a ship that is too expensive. That way , you dont spend so much each time you rebuy. I lost more that I accounted for one time when I went in and lost my ship a few times. HAd to break off from combat to go and earn some more money mining

[@gtwannabe2]

Checkpoints in anarchy systems are a good source of Elite Eagles and Vipers

[@micklane7306]

Another thing to note for the credit farm part is about a month ago my buddies and i found a system with a compromised nav beacon and another system right next to it which would give engage and destroy pirates missions for the pirates found at the nav beacon. By the time i was allied and had combat rank of master i was regularly getting missions that payed anywhere from 5 mil to 10 mil a mission. After the most recent patch the only difference i noticed was a slight decline in missions and that the missions dont complete at the same time. Ie. one kill is for one mission. On top of that it would also give me fed rank since the missions came from fed mission boards. Ive noticed the same thing for other comp nav beacons so im not sure if it is purposely set up that way or slightly random. If anyone wants to check out the systems. The nav beacon was in Kashigaut and the missions came from COL 285 SECTOR SO-P c6-11 from Kippax base. If anyone happens to find an empire type one of this or any new info let me know.

[@752reaper]

Mick Lane i check that system every couple days since the patch, haven't been getting the massacres anymore

[@robertboswell6830]

Very informative. Thanks so much for posting. I've been stuck at dangerous for a while and didn't want to be forced into thargoid hunting to be honest. I was looking for an alternative. This was very helpful.

[@cjnolan4028]

Not sure how much it will help people, but when there were CApital ships in Maia, I went there and went from deadly to elite in a single day. If you can find a conflict zone with a capital ship in it, just join its side and help it snipe the elite ships that show up. This was a few months ago that I got elite but it seemed to be working with my roommate in our home system just a few weeks ago.

[@Mario-uw2uw]

this video needs to be updated! no cnb in anarchy systems anymore. at hozbase we also cant find what we want. so whats now the fastest way to combat elite? killing skimmers? also it would be great, if someone can transfer the sheet to each rank in percentage. so we still dont know whats the rank up goal is... how´s about that thargoid scout thing, does it still gives 4 elite points, when got killed? so if this is still present, im gonna do this..

[@carlrichie4085]

Just what I needed to improve my combat skill and enjoy the game a lot more. Thank you, sir!

[@mickbohannon1104]

D2ea you are the MAN! hats off... I mean helmets off

[@danny1229c]

so basically wing up to get the same instance then at you destination unwing but still kill ships together WIN/WIN

[@antwan1357]

Remember kids don't do drugs , and you can save 15 % discount on ANY modules or ships. Save credits , beat dead horse better , Li Yong-Rui.

[@anakinjovanus1135]

Firstly what ship is he using and secondly what weapons has the outfitted

[@BoardGameClub]

Dude, not to get weird or anything but your voice and demeanor are calming and smooth AF

[@edmac1090]

Dude. Thank you. Subbed. I couldn't get my combat rank to budge much after I hit Deadly, and was wondering why.

[@johnbent62]

Thanks for this! I was looking for a better way to rank up in combat. I will put this to good use tonight :)

[@preferredimage]

Great video. I found using an NPC fighter pilot also spreads the rank gain between you both.

[@brianmolony]

I've heard that using a NPC crew cuts you XP. But don't know for sure. I've been using one but will stop until I hear for sure.

[@tris637]

Yeah, it divides the XP gains by two, so it takes twice as many kills with a fighter to progress 1%

[@RetirededKat]

Step 1: Put guns on your ship. Step 2: Destroy other ships. Step 3: Rank up. Congratulations!

[@ctbram0627]

A common problem I have when fighting outside a CZ is system security vehicles. I have had several instances where I am doing great but then a system security vessel will fly in front of a cannon shot. It's almost like they have it built into the AI to aim for your projectiles. I scratch the paint then instantly I have 2 system security anacondas mass locking me and there is no escape. You try to run and you burn up, you try and fight and you get chewed up. May as well just get up and go watch tv for a couple minutes come back to all your bonds being gone and having to spend 22 million to buy your corvette back. Two or three of those back to back and your ready to uninstall the game and play rainbow unicorn island!

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

that's why i recommend doing this in a anarchy system where there is no security ships

[@antoniomora1906]

You can have a jump to another system ready so no mass lock, just make sure is not obscured

[@ctbram0627]

Generally they are already in mass lock range so there is no speed you can initiate a jump. You are mass locked before your projectile hits the system security vessel.

[@antoniomora1906]

Hyperjump is not affected by mass lock at all.

[@davidentz7440]

Best to avoid areas with system security. Haz res doesn't have any system security. But you might also hit a friendly, especially if you use slow projectile weapons like plasmas. Usually just hitting them will only get you a small bounty ( a few hundred credits), as long as they aren't killed. If you have an NPC crew member, recall them immediately otherwise they might kill the friendly you accidently shot. All you need to do is high wake to a nearby system and wait for the 8-10 minutes for the bounty to clear. If I haven't been to that system before, I usually do a few planetary scans to get some extra credits while I wait. Its a pain, but it happens to us all at some time or another. I think if you low wake first they can't mass lock you, then high wake to another system once your in super cruise......or use a Cutter and only another cutter can mass lock you :)

[@carstenhansen5757]

It's the one who get's the kill that get's the rank? If I do 99% of the damage, but my NPC pilot get's the kill, I do rank?

[@oppressorb7196]

Thank you so much for this Information. I found some useful stuff on your channel earlier.. I subbed now :)

[@MR.MACH1NE]

Thanks, I’m defo going to check this out

[@gmangsan]

Skimmers are the way to go, fill up with missiles and just keep logging for respawns, no hunting required, quick, though boring in its repitition.

[@williamgunter4268]

Great video but just one question. On the stream you said a npc fighter pilot will take half of your xp. Is that only if they are active or just by having one does that happen.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

If they are in the ship they will take 50% both if they are active or just sitting in you ship doing nothing.

[@williamgunter4268]

Down to Earth Astronomy thank you and sorry if this was on your sheet you showed. I'm at work and just listen to the audio and comment when I'm free.

[@markrohan9751]

Is there any reference for the fighter hangar pilots taking 50% of your XP or is it based on your testing? I have taken mine to elite and use him extensively BUT if he is taking my xp he can damn well sit in the space station for next few months. Steals xp as well as taking 120m in wages to date. Might even fire him.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

Only what i have been able to find on the forum and reddit. Havn't seen anything from Fdev on the topic

[@CGPT76]

LOL!! Don't fire him you'll have to pay workers compensation!! Just TERMINATE him! Hack the nav console on the fighter and send him head first to nearest star!! ;)

[@sirteddanson]

State: Outbreak Government: Anarchy Checkpoints in system This is the fastest way to gain combat rank, it is faster than compromised nav beacons. Only Eagles and Vipers spawn in and almost all are Dangerous or above.

[@waynefry77]

Thanks d2ea, good work. Do you know how to find missions for exquisite focus crystals? I found loads when i first started but i didnt take note of system state etc..havent seen any for over a month now

[@Cactusjugglertm]

You'll get the exquisite focus crystals in missions!

[@turriffterror3881]

They are bugged. There's a 16 page thread on the forum about it. Apparently a fix is in the pipeline soon ™

[@DNH17]

Gotto say good video (i am a newbie with an eagle so).. well done and thanks.

[@DJ70906]

Compromised Nav Beacons. Kill Deadly+ Simples

[@andersonaarp]

I have a Cobra III and 40 million in cash. What do you recommend to make more money and get better ships?? Transport of passengers? Bounty?? And which ship should I buy now, with this amount of cash I have?

[@Innosos]

All I remember from my Cobra days is that the better ship, more money and rank you have, the more money you get. As for my method of grinding money: I just do passenger missions in my Orca. Maximized Jumprange to about 36ly. Only 1 Luxury cabin because higher desired comfort usually translates to more money. I'm not certain if the Dolphin is worth it just for making money. It can get a 5B Luxury cabin at best and I wouldn't set my bets on finding good paying passenger missions with only 4 passengers. Economy class stuff might be good. But I'd recommend you ask people that have more experience in grinding money. As for what ship you "should" get I can't say for certain. When I was at your point, the upgrade line was pretty straight forward: Sidewinder -> Adder -> Cobra/Viper -> Asp -> Python -> Anaconda. Generally I'd recommend you choose a ship that best suits your prefered way of playing elite. I'm assuming you lack the reputation to buy any federation or imperial exclusives at that price range. So I would say you're basically left with these choices: *Dolphin*(Passenger and Exploration) - If you'd want to go the save passenger mission route. They pay probably the best for a single mission. If you'd do them do yourself a favor and opt for Max Jumprange and an advanced Discovery Scanner. But be warned, it can get boring if you have no other things to distract you with. With my Orca at Founder's world I make about ~10 to ~20 Mil per hour. *Vulture*(Nimble Combat) - Best small fighter there is. Period. I'd even recommend it over the Fer-de-Lance mostly because I don't like the heavier feel of the larger ships and because I'm a noob in non Dogfights. Earning bounties in ResSites only earns you a few million per hour. But it's much more fun than most stuff. With a well equipped vulture(Shield Bank etc.) even Combat zones are easy pickings and might(those damn AI Bulkhead upgrades make taking their hulls down take forever) earn you 5 to 10 mil per hour. *Asp Explorer*(Exploration; Flexibility) - It was kinda the gateway for a long time to the Python and it mostly excels at Jumprange. You can do anything else with it should you ever get bored of doing one thing to long. Though besides exploration there are better alternatives if you want to specialize. *Type-7*(Trading) - I'm just listing it to list it. I'd highly urge you not to invest in Type-6s 7s, Keelbacks or 9s. They're supposed to be trading ships but for a few millions more there are always better options(Python is best for outpost trading; Ana- or if ranking alllows Cutter is best for Large Trading); but I'm not that keen on trading anyways. I personally find trading even more boring and less rewarding than passenger missions but maybe planning trade routes(EDDB is your friend) and tediously jumping and docking at 200 m/s is your thing. TL;DR Passenger missions work for me(Orca 36 Ly range 6B Luxury 10 to 20 Mil per hour) On ships: What you find enjoyable. *Dolphin* => Passenger and Exploration *Vulture* => Combat(ResourceSites, CombatZones) *Asp Explorer* => Exploration and average for anything you'd want else *Type-7* => Trading(And the boredom that comes with it)

[@Innosos]

Almost forgot: coriolis.io/ A website that let's you view, build and compare all ships in Elite. It might help you plan ahead on what and how much to spend and to find a ship to your liking.

[@antoniomora1906]

I'm relatively new to ED and I hope this isn't a dumb question but how Combat ranks help you other than getting access to engineers and stuff. I mean do becoming Master for example, makes me stronger or what?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

No there is no bonus from getting combat Elite. It's just for show. The only thing it is used for the unlocking some engineers. And of cause getting access to shinrarta dezhra, but you can do that with any of the 3 ranks.

[@rickyrusso6947]

Would the process in this video be the fastest way to get the shinrarta dezhra permit?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

No that would be to get exploration rank to elite. I have a guide on that here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bICUZohuq7FnmtE

[@Jaevwyn]

antonio mora better combat rank allows for a larger loan if you can't afford your rebut I believe... it also allows for higher profit combat missions also I think

[@grisgrame15]

not sure about the loan (never needed and hopefully will never need it.) but yeah you are more likely to get better killing missions from the board. Resulting in higher payouts.

[@mrmalcolm]

I'm at Deadly, 85% of the way to Elite.

[@ItzAllMine360]

Did you know Roguey covered your Palin Cred scheme? That was pretty cool.

[@themudstar4999]

is there a search engine way in game or out for compromised nav beacons?

[@jeffappleton926]

Yep! Have a look at edtools.ddns.net/res.php You can get it to show you whatever kind of resource extraction sites or compromised nav beacons you are looking for. It will also give you an idea of what kind of outposts and stations are available to you for repairing and reloading.

[@owl448]

eddb.io

[@bullshark1152]

Do you still use your Rift when playing ED?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

+Olijke Poffer yeah. But not when recording or steaming.

[@antoniomora1906]

Is the best way to play.

[@paintslinger2009]

If he has helped you more than once subscribe to show appreciation for his hard work

[@TANKNOWPLX]

1 2 3 and FD nerf!

[@johnmackey2452]

Just go to a High Intensity conflict zone with a loadout that requires no reloads. Kill stuff for many, many hours. After roughly 9-10k kills you will be Elite. Nav Beacons are too slow at spawning enemies.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

Not true. If you go to a compromised nav beacon ship will spawn faster then you can kill them. Even when in a wing of 3 engineered combat ship. I did a 2.5 hour stream with this method without running out of ships to kill (kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2G9iZyLbLKNpdE)

[@Cactusjugglertm]

This is tested extensively. Do NOT use conflict zones, as they empty out quicker, and contain lots of ships far under your rank (as you try to grind to Elite)

[@dans6461]

Honest question: Does your home country allow you to operate motor vehicles?

[@Yewbzee]

It’s a meaningless rank anyway. It has no reflection on skill level whatsoever.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

+Jason Hewitt non of the racks do.

[@Yewbzee]

Down to Earth Astronomy - very true, they are just a quantitative badge.

[@antoniomora1906]

Jason Hewitt. Tell that to the NPC's

[@ZaphkieI]

It reflects your grinding skills.

[@Idlepit2]

Jason Hewitt combat of dangerous is needed to unlock Lori Jameson so not entirely meaningless

[@carlharrison3637]

Not good really when you think of it. So, a noob goes in, sees your video, ranks up to Elite by blasting lots and lots of small ships. Once you're at elite - you cant go shooting anything bigger than the small ships as you're a bag-o-shite at combat. Viewers - you need to do it properly, fight something bigger than yourself - you'll gain LOADS of experience, get your rankings up and when it comes to fighting something that is a "challenge" - you wont get blasted to space dust before you know it. Good luck commanders O7

[@PudgeFree]

Considering you need 416 elite kills if you’re harmless all the way up to 5,000 kills if you’re taking on the easiest ranks I don’t see how you’re going to have people putting that kind of time into combat to go from nothing to elite without learning anything. If you only took on the easiest ships that’s 45,000 kills. And only taking on the hardest ships is still 3,744 ships. The point of stuff like this is to help people not waste their time. If you didn’t know these values you might blast every ship you come across out of the sky and not know it’s not helping you because they’re not high enough rank. And intentionally taking on challenging opponents means you’re going to get blown up plenty of times too which means paying the insurance cost repeatedly. And considering every hardcore player rallies against decent payouts, it means everything you do becomes a grind to accomplish something you actually want to do. Everyone has different play styles. Sometimes it just helps to know what you actually need to do and know you’re making progress rather than sometimes making progress and sometimes not and having no idea why. I really don’t understand why hardcore players want things to be as difficult as possible for everyone. This isn’t a game that holds your hand or pays you a billion credits for wiping your butt to begin with. I’ve seen people (before the training videos) that have completely given up within the first hour because they didn’t know how to enter/exit a station or how to find stuff they needed for a mission. This game is immensely complex and has lots of interdependent pieces that new players just aren’t going to grasp for a while. And the game definitely doesn’t do much to help. I could leave a challenge in this comment for people to go out and find 5 of any material that you can’t just buy from a station and most people will have to google how to do it. Why can’t we just let people play the way they want to instead of forcing them to act like this is real life and every difficult thing is character building. “Ah yeah go take on a capital ship when you have no idea how to, it’ll put hair on your chest!” (That’s exaggeration, I’m not saying that’s what you said)

[@DavidUtau]

Mfw found the elitard

[@TheMedivalWolf]

0:25 - Are you sure about that? YOU made that? Nope. Try being honest.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

+TheMedivalWolf I did not find the information the chat no. But the graph I did do my self.

[@SBBSBBZ]

Well, once i was in a four wo/man squad doing bounties for a CG. I got 1% -deadly- dangerous rank increase in 2 hours. I knew it was about the NPC rank, but not about the splitted up rank progression. So good to know, or was this mentioned in the manual?

[@esatacargungor3417]

Hi , first off all I like to say sorry for level of my english , I have problem . I am a new player ( 4 weeks) and I made my credits by boom deluveey missions . From begining my biggest problem was the enemy who pull me from süper cruise and kill my ship. So I made my self a mission to get me a anaconda ( becouse so strong and so much cargo space ) and upgrade it with time . For a while every think was as I dream , there wasn't enemys killing me out from super cruise or if they do it was a novice viper ör cobra which I was able to kill . Until one day I v benn stop by mother anaconda . Killer me so fast ,lost över 6mill. Credit on insurance . And all the missions I had . My question is, I am not looking for trouble but I like to be able to kill the enemy anaconda npc if I need to would you show me a build for that . Ps . I Like to keep my fsd range min. 15 ly. Thank you for your time.

[@stnicholas678]

Lovedu is an anarchy system and also has a compromised nav beacon

[@TheStainlessSteelCat42]

Don't use an NPC fighter while doing this they take half of your XP!

[@furrball]

Compromised napkin, compromised napkin... *blows nose* Instructions unclear...

[@nevering7346]

Fastest way is afk Cutter

[@HrRueben]

Love your background, CMDR. Fly safe.

[@cptjfk]

just found this one. Very useful!

[@preferredimage]

Any suggestions on ship and loadout for fastest kills? Now off to try and find a CNB in an anarchy system near founders world.

[@HillslamsMirror]

FRiend and I wing'd up last night and combatted NPCs for over 2 hours. Earned 2.4Million in bounties. But when we were done we earned ZERO experience. Neither of us moved even 1%. He was Master and I was Novice. So I am guessing if there is a big gap between wing members you will get no experience.

[@pookiipower435]

Been playing Elite for 5 years and always thought combat rank was money from bounties and combat bonds.... lmao... no wonder i've been stuck at Dangerous for so dang long!!!

[@avatharbehemoth]

HOW MUCH POINTS DO YOU NEED PER RANK??????? so its around 1200 points? not a grind... no sure isnt....

[@jaysonjota]

Great video still today!! Btw theres a cnb at kagundi near lembava full of elite kraits and chiefs = easy flat and fat targets for plasmas and rails very funny. Williams dock is near and has insterstellar factors

[@bpkdasbaum]

Cheers, very useful :)

[@cmdrcorvuscoraxnevermore3354]

Great video! Thank you and Cactus for getting into the analysis of the data. Your videos are greatly appreciated.

[@andersonaarp]

Which Ship are you fighting with?

[@brianmolony]

Thank you. Your best video hands down.

[@ethzero]

At 1:00 you mention that a Dangerous Player vs. Deadly NPC will get "2.5 experience points" but the table cell is showing "1.25", was this misspoken?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

Yeah. my bad. should have said 1.25 and not 2.5. Sorry

[@OcTainXS]

What is the benefit of a higher combat rank? What is the best control set-up for SRV? ( joystick, mouse or keyboard)

[@micbnd]

me too

[@ctbram0627]

Is this an update to your green cucumber? I notice 4xmulticannon where you had 2x huge cannon, and 2x multicannon in your engineered corvette video. Is it better to replace the cannon? I have a real hard time hitting anything with the cannon.

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

I have made several changes to the load out and i'm still changing it. you do use gimbaled cannons right?

[@ctbram0627]

Yes but the projectiles fly some slow that unless I am right on top of the ship they always miss

[@thekingofbeez3192]

ctbram0627 engineer for long range to increase projectile speed

[@stevelawrie9115]

Good info

[@footsteps398]

First 07

[@riotx4202]

Has anyone found an anarchy system with a compromised nav beacon?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

+RIOTx 420 I use Choth

[@william9262]

Do thargoid cyclops kills increase combat rank?

[@AyaReikoTripleElite]

All Thargoid ships count as Elite rank. Including Scouts. In other words, if you want to reach Elite via Thargoid hunting, go after the scouts, not the interceptors.

[@shanemcdermott7128]

What ship are you flying, and do you have a build list?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

It's my corvette PVE build. Video link here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJOokpJ7ps6dr9k

[@Simesnz]

Awesome tutorial- thanks!

[@rdandeweg99]

Went to a compromised beacon, shot one, whole map turned on me.... There goes a whopping 20mill conda rebuy :p

[@ShinigamiAnger]

Still doable today? I've heard that CNB are not good anymore, is that true?

[@DowntoEarthAstronomy]

As far as I know this should still work I havnt used it in some time so can't confirm it.

[@lunamaria1048]

Omg i hate how you manage to dragggggg on sentences without even actually saying anything useful.. I like your channel, but that drives me nuts... Do you write a script?... You should, if you don't and learn to be efficent when you speak.. You are a good channel but sometimes i end up leaving your vid and finding another.. Like the one you were explaining fed rank with rescue missions, you were like "You don't need shields for this, but you might want them.. But you wont need them, but you are going to need them, but you wont take damage so unless a explosion goes off which does not do much damage, so you wont need them, but you will probably need them, but you wont need them".. I am paraphrasing here"... So shields or not?.. Like seriously, my goodness lol

[@CMDR_Rrah]

Find a system with a Fed/Alliance high intensity CZ with capital ships. Ghetto Alliance use imperial interdictors and their SLF are little weak Elite cobras. Attack both sides and farm the elite condors and cobras that are constantly reapawned in pairs. U will get 10-20 elite slf in a row, when it dries up, relog, rinse-repeat = deadly to elite in a sitting.