Yes... stat building...

or in the case of Vendetta... earning licenses.

So... I'm 2/3/3/3/2 right now... and the going is slow.

The only thing that bothers me is that it takes so long, which is why I took a trip to Sedina and got a Centaur with Jackhammers from the Corvus station.

Does anyone have a better way to gain stats? Because it just takes a really really long time to do stuff now.

Forgive me if I sound whiny... but I'm just not that great at combat... so better equipment makes a big difference.

Does anyone have any better ideas as to how to level easier/faster?

Try hunting hive queens. You get 2000 points (light or heavy, depending on the kill shot) per kill. They're not easy to take down with energy weapons, so if you have a lot of money use missiles instead. Load a bomber (preferably Ragnarok) with missiles and spam those suckers to death. It takes about four or five trips total for a Ragnarok equipped with three gemini missile launchers and two locust swarm missile launchers. And each reload is costly, but well worth it considering the amount of time you'd normally spend botting.

Sadly, though, Hive Queens don't give any combat XP. That's something I've wanted to see for a long time, either by way of a Hive Queen hunting mission, or per kill.

Take a basic combat mission, and go after the toughest collector you can and with certainty that you won't die and if you come close to it you can escape. The more hive ships you destroy without dyeing or aborting a combat mission the more points you get, meaning killing 5 hive ships will yield more points after you killed 30 of them in a row.
Collectors in order of difficulty (easiest to hardest):
Orun
Kannik
Dentek
Artemis

Look for sectors that don't have guardians or assaults in them. Ideally you'll want a sector that has just the hive ship class you are hunting. Be sure when going into a sector with Dentek Collectors that they are Dentek Collectors, not the much harder Dentek Assault.

When fighting collectors, go directly for the ones that are mining, get within 600m and unleash a good amount of fire. This will either devastate them or destroy them, depending on how quickly the reacted, the strength of your weapon, and how many rounds you shot. Be sure when you are fighting that you use physics mode as it makes it easier to dodge, flight assist is good for just flying. The strafe keys are your friend (a, left, d, right, r, up, f, down) along with q and e to roll.

Also, hive queens are a 'bad idea' at your current levels as they are guarded by very high level hive ships and several of them. Including: Assaults, overseers, transports, observers, and guardians.

There are also plenty of people who would be happy to show you a few things in-game if you asked for some help. Just don't give out your location over 100 when those dirty, nOOb hunting pirates like O and Unknown Player Node are on, they'll come after you. :P

I find that one of the most important peices of equipment for travelling (and thus trading) is the fast charge battery available at 4/0/0/4/0.

The other batteries can be very usefull for using energy weapons while botting.

It seams to me that the combat pilot licences are the hardest to learn. while there are severial missions that give piloting experience, the beginner and advanced combat missions are often considered the most direct route.

For killing collectors I recommend a small fast fighter ship equiped with a high velocity energy weapon. jet up to the bot using turbo. if the bot is after you, right before, or just as the collector starts firing at you, hold down a strafe key (like "a"), use your forward and backwards keys (in physics mode) to move into the desired range of your weapon, and pump the bot full of lead. use the "x" key to target the next closest bot, and head its way for a repeat. if the bot is not after you, slow down or stop as you aproach to give your self time to pump enuf lead into it. keep in mind, if this bot isn't after you, there is probably one (or more) sneaking up behind you. Learn to jet from bot to bot, scrapping each one in short order, until collector bots are no longer an option on your kill list. you will then have to change tactics to hunt harder bots like the tycorps assault. but by then, you will have achieved reasonably high licence levels.

Thanks for the tips...

but I'm just plain tired of hunting the little collectors...

Hunting Artemis collectors is just so unfulfilling...

Taking out tycorps is much more fun... and guardians are really a waste of ammo... aren't they?

Yeah... and I did pick up a Fast-charge battery while I was down at Corvus.

Find Tycorp or Prosus assault bots and learn how to trash them.

Find me in-game and I'll show you how to trash the toughest of bots.

[IA] Lt. Apex Azimuth

The tycorps can be fun. Also, the mission sometimes offers you a bonus bot. The bonuses can add up, but the bonus bots may not be worth hunting full time. For this reason, I built seperate ships for the "bonus bot hit and run" tactic. Get in, get your bot, get out. This was very handy for those pesky dentek assaults, because the only ones I found handy, where escorting a transport bot, and the transport would try to evaid me. I would jump in and pick the target bot from the menu ("u" key), chase it down like a dog (they are fast), shoot it to get it to stop (the whole convoy stopped and ganked me), blast it quick (missles away!), and run like mad (I need more power scotty! More power!).

Have fun and good luck.

Two Words: Tycorp Assault

Here's a good tactic to use when you are starting out:

A) Find a sector with *only* Tycorp (not that hard), plot a course to and *away* from it. Never jump into a hot zone without having an escape route.

B) The first thing to do when you jump into the sector is *run* 3k out from all large objects. Don't even worry about the bots, 2 or 3 of them should be following you at this point, just run. Once you see your distance meter flash green, turn around and take care of the assaults.

C) Now you can take things at your own pace. After you dispatch one group of bots, fly in a little closer and get another group to follow you out to 3k. This way you never get swarmed by more bots than you can handle, and if at any point in time your armor gets low all you have to do is hit "enter" to warp to safety.

I recommend Tycorp because they don't hit too hard and they give decent xp awards. Use a light ship in physics mode (vulture or centurion) and circle strafe as close to them as you can (80-100m works well), they will have a tough time hitting you, and you can mow them down fairly quickly.

If you're ready for a tougher challenge, move on to prosus assaults. Prosus have less hp and give more xp, but they also hit much harder and seem a little better at dodging, so you'll have to watch your health and be ready to warp out at any second.

Always be aware of your distance meter. Never put yourself in a situation where you are low on health, surrounded by enemies, and with no escape route.

I'm not sure Tycorps or Prosus are in the bot list at level 2.

I would advise icbm1987 to make sure he's comfortable at botting without flight-assist with energy weapons (missiles or rockets will make you lose time) against Artemis and/or Dentek collectors (ie kill 30+ without repairing), and then move on to Tycorps/Prosus mass destruction.

Also, when helping players at level 2, I found it good to give it a try to Tycorps only for dodging practice, then go back to Denteks/Artemis to level up to 3.

@TRS
Try Edras for Dentek Assaults, found plenty there

Tycorps are more reliable and easier to kill while Prosus/Dentek are your best bet if you want to make xp fast. Of course they are much harder to destroy, just takes practice.

@Sun Tzu: well.. true.. I certianly wouldn't recommend tycorps for level 2 either, but he said he was bored with collectors. In my earlier post I recommended hunting collectors for as long as they are on your kill list. Collectors are not worth that much, and they do get boring, but once you get good at it, you can blast 'em left and right. I find it hard to go through tycorps anywhere near as fast. I would say at around level 4 or so you can at least get the right equipment (i.e. neutron II) for hunting tycorps. But it doesn't seam to take that long before you feel the same way about tycorps as you felt about collectors.

@johnhawl218: I hunted prosus for a while, mainly while they where the most common type of bonus bot, and then decided to go back to tycorps for the easy kills. Denteks fell off my kill list, and only came up once in a while as bonus bots. I can see where prosus could be a good option if you get good enough at it. I can't really comment on dentek, as I would just sneak in to snipe one for the bonus.

To gain combat XP fastest, it's best to do the Beginner Combat mission continuously (without dying or ending the mission) against Artemis Collectors, until you can't any more.

Thanks for the tips guys...

I'm at combat lvl 3 right now... dang... neuts make Tycorp hunting so much easier...

I found Valent A47s the best. They have some of the smallest armor of the Assaults, and while they have dangerous weaponry, they are very predictable. "And with my 8 week program, you will learn the arts of self-defense. Do you think I come home to this each night because people think I'm a failure?..." Sorry, I couldn't resist the quote. It's kinda off topic, but who else here loves that movie?

Anyway, about the three step program:

1) As soon as you can obtain a Ragnarok MKiii, (level 2 or 3 at Corvus stations) buy one.

2) From levels 2-4, use tri-Guass or Guass MKii in the rag.

3) When you can get gatlings, add double gatlings to your rag's weapon layout, and use them for the final shots against whatever bots you choose to hunt.

4) When you make it to 4 licenses, get your a** down to a Corvus station as quickly as humanly possible and purchase two Chaos Swarm Missile Launchers to replace the gatlings. Then add 3 Geminis. Now YOU are ready for the Valents.

5) Valent A47s: Assaults with (nuets?), bad armor and a VERY consistent battle plan. Fire a single swarm round, (8 missiles) as the Valent get's just within 400-500 meters, and when you see the (nuets?) coming from it, strafe up. Works EVERY time. I went from combat 6 to combat 8 in less than 90 min.

6) BEFORE you get to Valents, I find it easiest and most efficient, (but definitely not most interesting!) to hunt Artemi 'till they're off the list. By then, you should be able to see Valents

There are serious errors with your three step program there, Person. Well... I guess not if you go to Corvus all the time, but imho, it's not worth it to go that far.

The Ragnarok doesn't become available to the average player until 4/-/1/-/-, 5/1/4/-/-. and 5/1/5/-/-.

The Gauss cannon doesn't become available until 5/4/4/-/- and 6/6/5/-/-.

The Gatlings don't become available until 5/4/4/-/- and 5/-/5/-/-.

And then you tell people to bot valents with gems and swarms?... are you serious?

My suggestion is to fly a Centurion until you get neutron blasters (3/3/-/-/-, so by this point, the beginner combat finishes), switch to the Warthog (which'll already be available) or the Wraith, put neutrons and stingrays on them, using the stingrays for kill shots until you get the Plasma Devastator (-/-/3/-/-, -/-/4/-/-). As you improve, you'll be able to stay out longer without having to rearm and reload, if you're really good, you can kill dozens of assaults without ever having to return too base. Well okay, maybe a bit more than a dozen, but by that point, you'd have run out of ammo if you were using swarms and gems)

one point that i think is inportant regarding levels in vendetta is that at present no new equipment is available above level 13 (please correct me if that is in error). and may areas stop granting equipment at level 8 to 10.

also by level 5 you have acess to most of the equipment availabe within that catagory.

Some of the beter stuff can even be gained by level 4. For example 2 of the most used ships are centurans (i believe the lisences for them are around 3 give or take)

This is much lower than other MMORPGs i am fermiliar with.

so being 2/3/3/3/2 is much more respectable than you may think.

i've been playing for monts and have only recently come close to combat 7 (for a long time i was content with combat 5)

what can be more inportant than level is faction standing, and the best way to increase that is with the trade guild mission (you can experament from there)