I never played the new classes and was wondering out of all classes what is the best solo combat/explorer or best class period for solo play?

Welcome back,

 

It all depends on your playstyle and what you like. Personally I love the Terran Scout (largest cargo and NullFactor with Afterburners- fastest ship in the game), The Jen Seeker has its place- I like it to haul ammo/loot and punt the mobs when mining with the TS so I do not have to fight. The Progen Trader again is a cut back PW with a TT's cargo space.

Solo play isn't really fun. The mobs at all levels are tuned with the assumption that you have 200% quality of the best equipment. Even at CL5. That said, a JD or TE are going to be the best choices for combat. PWs tend to get overwhelmed, even with low-sig engines. JDs become fun once you get combat cloak, which shouldn't be too hard if you get someone to give you a tour of the galaxy or two, which should get you above EL25. TEs are very slow, but their ability to kite means you don't have to worry about being overwhelmed, you can just fly away.

 

For exploration, the problem with doing it solo is the ore field sizes. Someone is hosting the map tool I made at https://enb2.barfieldmv.eu/

(poke poke @Barfield, get the updated version that has zooming from the thread)

 

Outside of a few specific gas fields, they have 2-5x as many mineral types as you have cargo slots. So you'll either be cherry picking, or constantly going back and forth to dock and offload without a set of mules to carry around. 

 

Map Usage

On that map I linked, click on a sector, then click on "display ore list" and you'll see how many cargo slots are needed to mine out the sector. ABA, for example, takes 102 slots. Sure, if you focus on level 7 you can get away with 26 slots (since tech 5/6/7 all spawn in the same field, maybe even some 4, which would push it past 26).

 

Also, if you click on a specific ore, it will blink the asteroids in that sector which have that mineral, letting you know what field(s) to focus on. You can also search ('Find Ore') for a specific ore, get a list of what sectors have that ore and in what quantity, clicking on a sector from that list will highlight what field(s) have that ore in that sector.

 

Back to solo exploration

Most field guardians are immune to fear, so PS menace is basically useless. Power Down tends to work, but the mobs regen faster than you, so it's not super helpful. JEs are good at 'ambush mining' where they configure for instant warp and bounce from rock to rock faster than most mobs can pursue. They also (due to ship design?) tend to land much closer to rocks than PS/TS, so they can warp-mine faster. Cloak can help you escape a fight you don't want. JEs can't really kill anything with 3 weapons though. They can, but it takes FOREVER. TS is super helpful in groups thanks to Nullfactor Field. It lets you mine a few fields that are inside gravity wells or shears. Missiles let you kite away, negotiate lets you get a bit more trade XP from your minerals / refine with better profit margins.

 

But because the TS is limited to level 8 reactors it is going to be seriously power limited when trying to mine level 8/9 ores. Even with the best reactor/boosts/buffs, it's going to be far behind what a JE can do. Martyr's Heart is extremely helpful / borderline required on a TS. It converts shield energy to reactor power, enough to instantly refill your reactor. It's even better on a JE though.

 

So...long story short, almost everyone multiboxes because playing solo is annoying. Even if it is just parking a TT at the gate, or having them fly with you as a shield recharge button.

 

That said, a group of 5-6 TTs is actually fairly combat effective, purely because that many missiles tend to 1-3 volley burn down enemies.

Edited September 18, 20251 yr by Doctor

11 hours ago, Talzar said:

I never played the new classes and was wondering out of all classes what is the best solo combat/explorer or best class period for solo play?

 

Hi Talzar,

 

Of the three new classes, the one I think that needs some enhancing is the JS... I find it a bit underwhelming. Admittedly, it's the class I've played least, so maybe I should apply some attention to my Seeker alt and give him some more flight time!

 

I like the other two better. The PP has a trader's roomy cargo hold, and shares the PW's shield-inversion skill. And because of its thick Progen hull being combined with the shield-recharge skill, it's a hard little nut for mobs to crack. The TE, as Yeti mentioned, is the fastest ship in the game and, with its  Nullfactor Field skill maxxed, you can warp though gravity wells without flight interruption and dealing with well-pirates. A TS with maxxed Nullfactor Field together with a JE with maxxed Group Cloak skill are two highly desirable ships to have in any group that's doing a galaxy tour..

12 hours ago, Winlander said:

A TS with maxxed Nullfactor Field together with a JE with maxxed Group Cloak skill are two highly desirable ships to have in any group that's doing a galaxy tou

I have to agree with this, having done it,  tour went faster than normal.