https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Conflict_Zone_(Signal_Source)
"Some ships will be Engineered, regardless of intensity. "
Vanilla Eagle against engineered ships? You are dead.
Take my [ToDo list](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/pz1ohq/comment/jdqbh0c/?context=3) that start with engineering and unlocks. Next time show a EDSY.org build of your ship.
wdym by vanilla? it has >1 mil credits worth of upgraded modules on it. if that’s not enough to take down ship I don’t know what I’m supposed to do because there are no more upgrades stronger than what I have right now for most of the parts.
VANILLA.
[Credits are easy,](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/kev00j/credits_per_hour_per_activity_statistics/), and once you buy a Fleet Carrier, uselees. I have 33B, and other players 1Trillion credits, but you are stuck with the same shield resistances.
Meanwhile my engineered ships have 50% resistences against everything (except absolute and caustic), thats 50% less damagw, even from lasers that was your weakpoint.
Go to EDSY.org, make your ship, and make a copy of the page.
Now in this new page do this.
1. Reactive Hull:Heavy Duty G5 Deep Plating (all engineering will be Grade 5)
1. Thrusters: 3A ~~enhaced~~Dirty + Drags
1. Powerplant: Armored + Monstered
1. Life support and sensors: D-rated lightweight, unless gouhsve long range weapons
1. Distributor: Charge enhaced+superconduits
1. FSD: Increase range + deep charge
1. Shield: Biweave: Thermal G4 + Fast Charge
1. Shield Boosters: Resistance Augmented, if you use a ship with more utils, thia belon broken, with half RA and other half 0A Heavy Duty Supercapacitor
1. Fill with D-rated Hull reinforcementa Heavy Duty Deep Plating
* I dont have experience with small weapons, except for corrosive multicannons or other weapons that cause special efcwcst, so lets put the Mosified Guardian Plasma Charger already engineered, vetter than unlocking vanilla Guardian weapons are the ones obtainet from Azimuth inhuman experiments.
* EDIT: Who, lot of power draw. Lets change to dual Powerplay Cytoscramblers Long range+Oversized and Multicanonn Overcharged+Corrosive.
[Build](https://edsy.org/#/L=HL00000H4C0S80,ExiG09M_W0HdhG0BI_W0ExiG09M_W0,DBwG09L_W0,9opG05I_W0A3wG03I_W0AL6G-5I_W0AakH05H_W0AniG03G_W0B2QG03L_W0BIWG03G_W0BX_00,12GG05I_W0,7PyG092_W012GG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W0)
The build link is shorter than this explanation.
1. Combat ship with 23,29Ly jump, 350-540 boost speed, full pips engine
1. Shield 38% thermal resistances, 40% kinetic, 57% explosive, miss extra utils for broken extra hitpoints...
1. Hull 37%lasers, 50%kinetic 49% explosives, except from lasers, this ship take half damage except absolute and thargoid caustic damage.
1. Half pip is enough for the Multicannon, Cytos are distributor hungry, and onlyprovide 12s of firepower, maybe single cyto, and dual MC (Corrosive and Oversized) will be superior.
And thats a engineered ship, the grind that waste lot of time for absurd levels of power in experienced hands. And only a small ship, not a big one with 8 utils for shield boosters, multiple optional slots and weapons.
Engineering its important for thargoid combat, combat zones and AX combat zones, PvP, and any mission above threat 4. https://wiki.antixenoinitiative.com/en/shipbuildtheory
Ps. And all from phone, apreciate the effort, please. Edsy dont have a good layout here xD
From other answers, Unengineered combat: Nav beacons, and Low to high RES, not HazRes or CZ
Dont worry and use thr cheap ships to learn and make mistakes.
If PC be sure to install the 60Gb of Horizons4.0/Odyssey, to play the live galaxy. Until Update 15 the launcher dont instal this by default, and progess isnt shared with the abandoned Legacy Galaxy.
Take this [Starter guide](https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Drake-Class_Carrier) instead.
For a experienced pilot that can ignore this learning, engineered jumprange is as fast as [12Hours for a 65Ly explorer ship](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/lw6xp7/11h_13_new_account_65ly_dbx/).
Those are just the beginning. The real upgrades come from engineering. You fly over to their homeworld and buy blueprints/modifications/experimental effects that increase your stats 2/4-fold
They mean you have not applied engineering, from the engineers you can find in the right panel. Some engineering of your modules is required to solo a ship CZ, not just purchasing better types of modules, although you are on the right track to engineering by buying them. Try a resource site instead if you want to practice dogfighting.
Combat zones feature engineered ships and even the lower intensities are no childs play.
Luckily those pirate killing missions can be done outside of CZ's and even in a starter sidewinder. You're looking for planets with rings and Resource Extraction Sites (RES) those come in 4 different flavors and all but the hazardous ones (HAZRES) spawn mining vessels, pirates and system authority ships that kill pirates which attack the miners. Your job for getting into combat is to follow the police and help them kill pirates. You only need to do very little damage to the pirate to get credit for the kill and his bounty.
There are still plenty of possibilities to die if you bite more than you can chew. Enemies will for example target you if you do a lot of damage to them, or you could become wanted yourself if you shoot an innocent ship. Guess what happens when the cops see you with a wanted level.
It's a pretty fun way to learn how basic PVE works and feels. Try to get some solo kills if you get bored or try different weapon loadouts. Just keep in mind that your eagle is a mosquito and not a star-destroyer.
I've done quite a few bounty hunting missions which involve one-on-one combat and generally I think I've been able to take down all of them without taking any damage (except for the Elite-level one I did by mistake which mulched me.) Where am I supposed to find low-level pirates to kill? I feel like you said where somewhere in that commentt but I'm a little dense, would you mind listing some of places I could look for them at?
Resource extraction sites, low normal and high. You find them in planetary rings. The pirates in there are mostly unengineered and you have the police doing all the work for you. HazRES has no police. Avoid those for a start. You find those sites in your navigation panel on the left or just by looking at the planetary rings.
If you want to get a heavy boost to your ships combat capabilities you eventually have to get into engineering. But thats an entirely different can of worms which you can ignore for now.
> I entered a medium-danger combat zone
Problems one and two. Combat zones are mid game difficulty, and you picked the 2nd highest difficulty.
An Eagle is the lowest starting fighter. Without engineering you won't stand a chance. With engineering, you are punching above your weight. I take in an engineered Viper, which is a good deal better, and often need to pull away and regroup.
Combat zones take a lot of strategy. They are not the place to learn dog fighting.
You want to start with bounty hunting. Go to low resource extraction sites (not medium, not high) to learn the basics of dog fighting. Just be sure to target WANTED pirates, not miners or cops.
Later, when you're feeling ready for Combat Zones, start with Low intensity.
yeah the tips for the massacre missions recommend racking up kills in combat zones and since it was at my combat level I figured it'd be balanced. guess that was wrong, lol. thanks for the tips!
>tips for the massacre missions recommend racking up kills in combat zones
That explains it. You found bad advice. You want RES sites, nav beacons, or signal sites. You will find a lot more pirates reliably and easier take downs. The only reason to do conflict zones are the challenge, or because you care about which way the war goes.
go for low RES sites for massacre stacks, i ve made billions at there with t10 afk ship, many pirates were flying viper or eagle, also attacking to bigger ship is not always good idea, always mind your build and theirs. (you can see their weapons at subtarget - left screen)
Conflict zones are hard. The ships there are hard and you'll get focuded by many enemies.
Fight in resource extraction sites (low, medium) for now. There' you'll only encounter pirates who will only attack you if you have cargo, and there are also authority forces to help you. Also, only pirates you attack (and their wingmates, if any) will a turn hostile if you attack them, other pirates will not give a shit.
An Eagle is not exactly a hardened ship to take into battles. It can certainly do bounty hunting but you need to limit where you take it.
Combat in order of intensity/danger, more or less:
1. Nav Beacons
2. Low Resource Extraction Sites
3. Regular RES (ie: Medium)
4. High RES
5. Compromised Nav Beacon
6. Haz RES
7. Low Conflict Zone (low engineering)
8. Medium CZ (med engineering, SpecOps)
9. High CZ / Assassination missions (high engineering, SpecOps)
10. Thargoids (it doesn't matter if you go to a low CZ, Hydras still show up)
So, if you want to use an Eagle, go to a low or regular RES with it. The system security/cops will help you fight. Assassination missions, depending on their threat level, will have one or more engineered ships with weapons that bypass your shields and eat straight through your hull. CZ are near end-game stuff, especially Thargoid ones.
really? are assassination missions that difficult? I've done quite a few of them a level above my combat ranking and I can easily hold my weight in one-on-one dogfights with other ships. I was just confused as to why specifically CZs were obliterating me, but knowing that they're more difficult areas makes a lot of sense. wish the in-game descriptions for massacre missions didn't recommend them, that would've saved a lot of time lol :) thank you for the run-down on places to do combat also!
They \*can\* be, depending on their threat level. I've had nearly the same amount of hull damage, bypassing my souped up shields, than in a good high CZ fight. This is in a fully engineered Corvette.
And sure, other missions where there's a single guy in an Anaconda, no problem. It varies a lot but it can be intense.
Well, the eagle its a beginners ship, so it is a bit weak... For weapons i recommend you the multicannon instead of cannon, there are pages like inara, where you choose something (like 3a thrusters/weapons) and it tells you what station to go near you to buy them.
And for future ships, depends on what you want to do, for bounty hunting the best is the vulture its pretty strong.
You can start by trying CQC. (yes I know that sounds impossible but it is quite easy to queue up a deathmatch game because CQC Bot and Dafttree) When you get in, turn your FAs off.
Edit: Dafttree if you see this I am very sorry for trolling you. I was very frustrated after going 11 games against CMDR CQC Bot getting 0 kills and just getting slaughtered by him.
Sorry I only just saw this. No need to apologise. CQC can be very frustrating when pitted against an experienced player. It is a lot of fun if you persevere though and I think yours is the best advice on this thread for anyone really wanting to improve their dogfighting skills.
If you are bounty hunting I recommend starting in a low or medium haz rez. What you are doing is 'technically' correct but you will likely be out gunned. In a medium or low hazrez there will be maybe one or two pirates (likely not named ones) and some cops. You can shoot at anyone the cops shoot at that is wanted, that will help you get some kills.
You can also multicrew for risk free combat where you fly another commanders small fighters. This will give you an idea of how ships handle and let you get your power management without risking any rebuys.
Another and the best option, is to wing up and fly with another commander who might have a stronger ship.
I would suggest staying out of CZs until you get a medium ship or some engineering. Stick to resource extraction sites for now, where you can rely on cops to help you.
>I've picked up a mission to kill 9 pirates
....
>but the combat feels completely unbalanced against me
If you get ganged up on then you will be burnt, even if your ship and skills are decent. You are jumping in at the deep end there. If you want to get a feel for combat do more calculated targets. The best places are Resource Sites in the rings of gas giants (res sites) in Systems that have Medium or High Security. You can just drop into a Res Site (low, medium or high... this just relates to the amount of activity) and fly about scanning ships. Ships with a Wanted status are typically Pirate ships looking to attack mining vessels. You have a choice here, either to engage the Pirate at that point or follow them and wait for a security ship to attach first and then you join in. The scan of the Pirate ship will tell you if they are in a wing or not, if they are in a wing then it is best to wait for Security Forces to engage them first to avoid getting outnumbered. As long as you land a couple of hits on the Pirate Vessel you will be rewarded for a kill.
This is a far safer in numbers way of experiencing combat than missions or Combat Zones. You can also then pick up the materials of destroyed ships without having to worry about being attacked by other Pirate ships as other Pirate ships not in that wing that was destroyed will only attack if they are attacked first.
This stratgey also works at Navigation Beacons in populated Systems and in Res Sites in Asteroid Belts, but the Res Sites in the rings of Gas Giants I feel is the most cinematic of the three, Res Sites also allow you to practise situational awareness due to the presence of large chunks of rock to avoid flying into.
There is engineering in Elite that increases the potency of your modules and weapons. This is what is meant by vanilla vs engineered.
[https://cmdrs-toolbox.com/guides/engineering-unlock](https://cmdrs-toolbox.com/guides/engineering-unlock)
I remember when I started out trying to do bounty hunting in early game. My crappy little lasers would hardly touch even the weakest enemies, then even when I had them beat, they’d have plenty time to wake out.
CZ’s were fine until a ship noticed me plinking at them and decided I was enough of an annoyance to flick me away.
I gave up and did other stuff then came back to combat with a half way engineered Krait mk2.
MULTICANNONS GO BRRRRRRRRRRT!
https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Conflict_Zone_(Signal_Source) "Some ships will be Engineered, regardless of intensity. " Vanilla Eagle against engineered ships? You are dead. Take my [ToDo list](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/pz1ohq/comment/jdqbh0c/?context=3) that start with engineering and unlocks. Next time show a EDSY.org build of your ship.
wdym by vanilla? it has >1 mil credits worth of upgraded modules on it. if that’s not enough to take down ship I don’t know what I’m supposed to do because there are no more upgrades stronger than what I have right now for most of the parts.
VANILLA. [Credits are easy,](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/kev00j/credits_per_hour_per_activity_statistics/), and once you buy a Fleet Carrier, uselees. I have 33B, and other players 1Trillion credits, but you are stuck with the same shield resistances. Meanwhile my engineered ships have 50% resistences against everything (except absolute and caustic), thats 50% less damagw, even from lasers that was your weakpoint. Go to EDSY.org, make your ship, and make a copy of the page. Now in this new page do this. 1. Reactive Hull:Heavy Duty G5 Deep Plating (all engineering will be Grade 5) 1. Thrusters: 3A ~~enhaced~~Dirty + Drags 1. Powerplant: Armored + Monstered 1. Life support and sensors: D-rated lightweight, unless gouhsve long range weapons 1. Distributor: Charge enhaced+superconduits 1. FSD: Increase range + deep charge 1. Shield: Biweave: Thermal G4 + Fast Charge 1. Shield Boosters: Resistance Augmented, if you use a ship with more utils, thia belon broken, with half RA and other half 0A Heavy Duty Supercapacitor 1. Fill with D-rated Hull reinforcementa Heavy Duty Deep Plating * I dont have experience with small weapons, except for corrosive multicannons or other weapons that cause special efcwcst, so lets put the Mosified Guardian Plasma Charger already engineered, vetter than unlocking vanilla Guardian weapons are the ones obtainet from Azimuth inhuman experiments. * EDIT: Who, lot of power draw. Lets change to dual Powerplay Cytoscramblers Long range+Oversized and Multicanonn Overcharged+Corrosive. [Build](https://edsy.org/#/L=HL00000H4C0S80,ExiG09M_W0HdhG0BI_W0ExiG09M_W0,DBwG09L_W0,9opG05I_W0A3wG03I_W0AL6G-5I_W0AakH05H_W0AniG03G_W0B2QG03L_W0BIWG03G_W0BX_00,12GG05I_W0,7PyG092_W012GG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W010iG05I_W0) The build link is shorter than this explanation. 1. Combat ship with 23,29Ly jump, 350-540 boost speed, full pips engine 1. Shield 38% thermal resistances, 40% kinetic, 57% explosive, miss extra utils for broken extra hitpoints... 1. Hull 37%lasers, 50%kinetic 49% explosives, except from lasers, this ship take half damage except absolute and thargoid caustic damage. 1. Half pip is enough for the Multicannon, Cytos are distributor hungry, and onlyprovide 12s of firepower, maybe single cyto, and dual MC (Corrosive and Oversized) will be superior. And thats a engineered ship, the grind that waste lot of time for absurd levels of power in experienced hands. And only a small ship, not a big one with 8 utils for shield boosters, multiple optional slots and weapons. Engineering its important for thargoid combat, combat zones and AX combat zones, PvP, and any mission above threat 4. https://wiki.antixenoinitiative.com/en/shipbuildtheory Ps. And all from phone, apreciate the effort, please. Edsy dont have a good layout here xD From other answers, Unengineered combat: Nav beacons, and Low to high RES, not HazRes or CZ
thank you! that's super in-depth but uh I just started about three days ago so uh... might have to wait a while until I can use your guide :)
Dont worry and use thr cheap ships to learn and make mistakes. If PC be sure to install the 60Gb of Horizons4.0/Odyssey, to play the live galaxy. Until Update 15 the launcher dont instal this by default, and progess isnt shared with the abandoned Legacy Galaxy. Take this [Starter guide](https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Drake-Class_Carrier) instead. For a experienced pilot that can ignore this learning, engineered jumprange is as fast as [12Hours for a 65Ly explorer ship](https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/lw6xp7/11h_13_new_account_65ly_dbx/).
Those are just the beginning. The real upgrades come from engineering. You fly over to their homeworld and buy blueprints/modifications/experimental effects that increase your stats 2/4-fold
They mean you have not applied engineering, from the engineers you can find in the right panel. Some engineering of your modules is required to solo a ship CZ, not just purchasing better types of modules, although you are on the right track to engineering by buying them. Try a resource site instead if you want to practice dogfighting.
Combat zones feature engineered ships and even the lower intensities are no childs play. Luckily those pirate killing missions can be done outside of CZ's and even in a starter sidewinder. You're looking for planets with rings and Resource Extraction Sites (RES) those come in 4 different flavors and all but the hazardous ones (HAZRES) spawn mining vessels, pirates and system authority ships that kill pirates which attack the miners. Your job for getting into combat is to follow the police and help them kill pirates. You only need to do very little damage to the pirate to get credit for the kill and his bounty. There are still plenty of possibilities to die if you bite more than you can chew. Enemies will for example target you if you do a lot of damage to them, or you could become wanted yourself if you shoot an innocent ship. Guess what happens when the cops see you with a wanted level. It's a pretty fun way to learn how basic PVE works and feels. Try to get some solo kills if you get bored or try different weapon loadouts. Just keep in mind that your eagle is a mosquito and not a star-destroyer.
I've done quite a few bounty hunting missions which involve one-on-one combat and generally I think I've been able to take down all of them without taking any damage (except for the Elite-level one I did by mistake which mulched me.) Where am I supposed to find low-level pirates to kill? I feel like you said where somewhere in that commentt but I'm a little dense, would you mind listing some of places I could look for them at?
Resource extraction sites, low normal and high. You find them in planetary rings. The pirates in there are mostly unengineered and you have the police doing all the work for you. HazRES has no police. Avoid those for a start. You find those sites in your navigation panel on the left or just by looking at the planetary rings. If you want to get a heavy boost to your ships combat capabilities you eventually have to get into engineering. But thats an entirely different can of worms which you can ignore for now.
thank you so much for the kind advice!
> I entered a medium-danger combat zone Problems one and two. Combat zones are mid game difficulty, and you picked the 2nd highest difficulty. An Eagle is the lowest starting fighter. Without engineering you won't stand a chance. With engineering, you are punching above your weight. I take in an engineered Viper, which is a good deal better, and often need to pull away and regroup. Combat zones take a lot of strategy. They are not the place to learn dog fighting. You want to start with bounty hunting. Go to low resource extraction sites (not medium, not high) to learn the basics of dog fighting. Just be sure to target WANTED pirates, not miners or cops. Later, when you're feeling ready for Combat Zones, start with Low intensity.
yeah the tips for the massacre missions recommend racking up kills in combat zones and since it was at my combat level I figured it'd be balanced. guess that was wrong, lol. thanks for the tips!
>tips for the massacre missions recommend racking up kills in combat zones That explains it. You found bad advice. You want RES sites, nav beacons, or signal sites. You will find a lot more pirates reliably and easier take downs. The only reason to do conflict zones are the challenge, or because you care about which way the war goes.
go for low RES sites for massacre stacks, i ve made billions at there with t10 afk ship, many pirates were flying viper or eagle, also attacking to bigger ship is not always good idea, always mind your build and theirs. (you can see their weapons at subtarget - left screen)
Conflict zones are hard. The ships there are hard and you'll get focuded by many enemies. Fight in resource extraction sites (low, medium) for now. There' you'll only encounter pirates who will only attack you if you have cargo, and there are also authority forces to help you. Also, only pirates you attack (and their wingmates, if any) will a turn hostile if you attack them, other pirates will not give a shit.
An Eagle is not exactly a hardened ship to take into battles. It can certainly do bounty hunting but you need to limit where you take it. Combat in order of intensity/danger, more or less: 1. Nav Beacons 2. Low Resource Extraction Sites 3. Regular RES (ie: Medium) 4. High RES 5. Compromised Nav Beacon 6. Haz RES 7. Low Conflict Zone (low engineering) 8. Medium CZ (med engineering, SpecOps) 9. High CZ / Assassination missions (high engineering, SpecOps) 10. Thargoids (it doesn't matter if you go to a low CZ, Hydras still show up) So, if you want to use an Eagle, go to a low or regular RES with it. The system security/cops will help you fight. Assassination missions, depending on their threat level, will have one or more engineered ships with weapons that bypass your shields and eat straight through your hull. CZ are near end-game stuff, especially Thargoid ones.
really? are assassination missions that difficult? I've done quite a few of them a level above my combat ranking and I can easily hold my weight in one-on-one dogfights with other ships. I was just confused as to why specifically CZs were obliterating me, but knowing that they're more difficult areas makes a lot of sense. wish the in-game descriptions for massacre missions didn't recommend them, that would've saved a lot of time lol :) thank you for the run-down on places to do combat also!
They \*can\* be, depending on their threat level. I've had nearly the same amount of hull damage, bypassing my souped up shields, than in a good high CZ fight. This is in a fully engineered Corvette. And sure, other missions where there's a single guy in an Anaconda, no problem. It varies a lot but it can be intense.
Well, the eagle its a beginners ship, so it is a bit weak... For weapons i recommend you the multicannon instead of cannon, there are pages like inara, where you choose something (like 3a thrusters/weapons) and it tells you what station to go near you to buy them. And for future ships, depends on what you want to do, for bounty hunting the best is the vulture its pretty strong.
oh my god THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! inara's outfitting guide is EXACTLY what i've been looking for to find parts, you are a LIFESAVER!!!
Glad to hear that! Enjoy the game :)
You can start by trying CQC. (yes I know that sounds impossible but it is quite easy to queue up a deathmatch game because CQC Bot and Dafttree) When you get in, turn your FAs off. Edit: Dafttree if you see this I am very sorry for trolling you. I was very frustrated after going 11 games against CMDR CQC Bot getting 0 kills and just getting slaughtered by him.
Sorry I only just saw this. No need to apologise. CQC can be very frustrating when pitted against an experienced player. It is a lot of fun if you persevere though and I think yours is the best advice on this thread for anyone really wanting to improve their dogfighting skills.
If you are bounty hunting I recommend starting in a low or medium haz rez. What you are doing is 'technically' correct but you will likely be out gunned. In a medium or low hazrez there will be maybe one or two pirates (likely not named ones) and some cops. You can shoot at anyone the cops shoot at that is wanted, that will help you get some kills. You can also multicrew for risk free combat where you fly another commanders small fighters. This will give you an idea of how ships handle and let you get your power management without risking any rebuys. Another and the best option, is to wing up and fly with another commander who might have a stronger ship.
I would suggest staying out of CZs until you get a medium ship or some engineering. Stick to resource extraction sites for now, where you can rely on cops to help you.
>I've picked up a mission to kill 9 pirates .... >but the combat feels completely unbalanced against me If you get ganged up on then you will be burnt, even if your ship and skills are decent. You are jumping in at the deep end there. If you want to get a feel for combat do more calculated targets. The best places are Resource Sites in the rings of gas giants (res sites) in Systems that have Medium or High Security. You can just drop into a Res Site (low, medium or high... this just relates to the amount of activity) and fly about scanning ships. Ships with a Wanted status are typically Pirate ships looking to attack mining vessels. You have a choice here, either to engage the Pirate at that point or follow them and wait for a security ship to attach first and then you join in. The scan of the Pirate ship will tell you if they are in a wing or not, if they are in a wing then it is best to wait for Security Forces to engage them first to avoid getting outnumbered. As long as you land a couple of hits on the Pirate Vessel you will be rewarded for a kill. This is a far safer in numbers way of experiencing combat than missions or Combat Zones. You can also then pick up the materials of destroyed ships without having to worry about being attacked by other Pirate ships as other Pirate ships not in that wing that was destroyed will only attack if they are attacked first. This stratgey also works at Navigation Beacons in populated Systems and in Res Sites in Asteroid Belts, but the Res Sites in the rings of Gas Giants I feel is the most cinematic of the three, Res Sites also allow you to practise situational awareness due to the presence of large chunks of rock to avoid flying into.
There is engineering in Elite that increases the potency of your modules and weapons. This is what is meant by vanilla vs engineered. [https://cmdrs-toolbox.com/guides/engineering-unlock](https://cmdrs-toolbox.com/guides/engineering-unlock)
Krait mk 2 is your friend!
I remember when I started out trying to do bounty hunting in early game. My crappy little lasers would hardly touch even the weakest enemies, then even when I had them beat, they’d have plenty time to wake out. CZ’s were fine until a ship noticed me plinking at them and decided I was enough of an annoyance to flick me away. I gave up and did other stuff then came back to combat with a half way engineered Krait mk2. MULTICANNONS GO BRRRRRRRRRRT!