sorry, just reading this thread for background info on these missions and i don't understand the terms USS and SC. Can somebody please fill me in
Thanks
Unidentified Signal Source
and
Super Cruise
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Newcomer / Intro Help me understand "kil pirate" and "kill trader" missions
- Thread starter Ted Striker
- Start date
Unidentified Signal Source
and
Super Cruise
ah! thanks
All you wrote sounds very similar to my yesterday experience
. I had a mission to find 5 pirates but after 2hours I had to give it up. (But as benefit I earned about 120k in bounty hunting)I'm curious why sometimes mission screen shows number of killed pirates and sometimes not. Yesterday I killed about 30 wanted ships in all types of locations but pirate counter screen didn't show up.
All you wrote sounds very similar to my yesterday experience
I'm curious why sometimes mission screen shows number of killed pirates and sometimes not. Yesterday I killed about 30 wanted ships in all types of locations but pirate counter screen didn't show up.
i probably killed about the same, but my mission screen said I had 3 out of 5. I just wish I knew what the "correct" targets were.
Also, it surely isn't meant to take that long to hunt 5 pirates? I'm one of those people that likes and defends the real time non-pausing mission timers, but when a mission says it'll expire in 3 hours I don't expect to be at kill 3 of 5 after two and half hours of constant hunting.
I absolutely love the game, but I gotta say last night was the first time I felt frustrated and disappointed shutting it off for the night.
Wow this is how 99% of my kill pirate/trader missions turn out.
Get mission- go to said system- kill countless of 'wanted' of which none count towards killing xx number of pirates- get fed up after 1 hour and log off.
I can honestly say I have never been able to complete a "kill" mission simply by killing people it never ever works for me not matter how many 'wanted' I kill in the system it asks me to go.
Frustrated player ? Yes.
Get mission- go to said system- kill countless of 'wanted' of which none count towards killing xx number of pirates- get fed up after 1 hour and log off.
I can honestly say I have never been able to complete a "kill" mission simply by killing people it never ever works for me not matter how many 'wanted' I kill in the system it asks me to go.
Frustrated player ? Yes.
To be honest, I'm still taking it as an experience and adventure, so I don't care ;-). You can always imagine some role-playing reason why this mission wasn't successful.
Thanks for this mission I had to travel to all three fractions (federeation, empire, alliance) to get my bounty reward, I purchased some new equipment and visit few new systems. So yes, I hope developers will fix it, but I'm definitely not frustrated ;-)
Thanks for this mission I had to travel to all three fractions (federeation, empire, alliance) to get my bounty reward, I purchased some new equipment and visit few new systems. So yes, I hope developers will fix it, but I'm definitely not frustrated ;-)
I completed a 6 pirate mission yesterday, so it can be done. some notes:
- hanging out at Nav Beacon works great.
- not all Wanted are pirates
- take note of comm chatter: it can be a pirate clue
- I sit near the beacon and visually scan the surroundings, looking for laser beams
- it is profitable to to use a K-scanner on them before killing them. You will often get larger bounties
I just spent about an hour and a half hunting for three pirates. I must say it is a bit frustrating and I do wish there was a bit more danger to it all. Investigating USS's, lots of spinning barrels, black boxes and funeral fleets, but very few pirates. And not an interdiction attempt at all.
Of course, there may be something else I may have done to improve my chances, but this was bordering a bit on the frustrating side.
Of course, there may be something else I may have done to improve my chances, but this was bordering a bit on the frustrating side.
So what I'm getting from this thread is that there is no set method to encounter these pirates? Do we just keep dropping into USS and hoping that what we kill is related to our mission?
I really want to get involved with a faction and build rep with them, but when they spawn these missions they are almost guaranteed fails. I must be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what :/
I really want to get involved with a faction and build rep with them, but when they spawn these missions they are almost guaranteed fails. I must be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what :/
Its strange that everyone's Pirate missions seems to be glitching in different ways. I accepted a Pirate Mission went to adjacent Anarchy system last night, killed two pirates, then had a messenger offer me a Branch mission as you say, and I killed him, I never thought to look at his faction or read his horoscope I just assumed he was a Pirate. And lo and behold his kill counted as a Pirate, but from there on the Pirates I killed didn't go towards my Pirate kill count, and the mission just seemed strange, bad verbiage, in the Transactions field. I think it's just not done yet, and a lot of this stuff is place holders for when they finish and while we want to protect and not talk bad about our beloved game it's OK that they released with a few glitches, and Mission Mechanics I think is just one of them not working properly just yet.
I went back to the station that had originally offered me the Pirate mission and the mission was back up on the BB.... I thought maybe I had to Abandon the branch mission the "mediator"/"messenger" had given me, but when I did that it failed the mission. And I lost reputation with the group I was trying to build it up with to begin with.
I think the best explanation is they just aren't finished ironing Out the wrinkles, I sell software, so I'm very used to this.
I went back to the station that had originally offered me the Pirate mission and the mission was back up on the BB.... I thought maybe I had to Abandon the branch mission the "mediator"/"messenger" had given me, but when I did that it failed the mission. And I lost reputation with the group I was trying to build it up with to begin with.
I think the best explanation is they just aren't finished ironing Out the wrinkles, I sell software, so I'm very used to this.
Here's your definite guide on how to do those missions. This is for pirate, I wouldn't touch the others because if you want to build reputation they do more harm than good. I've never done trader kill missions so no idea how to identify them.
If you accept a mission to kill bounty hunters, traders or authority vessels and the mission is in anything but an anarchy system, you will get a severe bounty on your head. The reason is simple, they require you to shoot clean vessels.
The following vessels are ALWAYS pirates:
These guys are never anything but pirates. You are safe to shoot them, I have NEVER seen one that was not wanted and did not count as mission relevant. Make sure you scan them to not get a bounty though.
Do not confuse those with the bounty hunters. They will also scan you but leave you alone (unless you have been very, very naughty).
Authority vessels are either Federal, Imperial or Alliance police OR "System Authority vessel"s in independent systems. If you want you can accept those missions and shoot them, and most likely suffer severe consequences.
It is VERY UNLIKELY to find pirates outside of USS. They exist, but if you are doing a mission, the guy who gave you the mission messages ALL of them and tells them to hide. At least that's what I think.
Mission branching is completely optional.
You do not need to refuse. You do not need to accept.
Just ignore the dude and carry on. Or do as he says. Your actions dictate the outcome. Yes, your transaction log gets updated, but it will still track the progress of your initial mission and you still can complete it.
If you accept a mission to kill bounty hunters, traders or authority vessels and the mission is in anything but an anarchy system, you will get a severe bounty on your head. The reason is simple, they require you to shoot clean vessels.
The following vessels are ALWAYS pirates:
- They hail you with the phrase a) "The scan won't hurt" or b) "what might you be carrying"/something similar.
- Depending on your cargo they will either
- ask for your cargo. They will start shooting if you don't.
- or say you are worthless.
These guys are never anything but pirates. You are safe to shoot them, I have NEVER seen one that was not wanted and did not count as mission relevant. Make sure you scan them to not get a bounty though.
Do not confuse those with the bounty hunters. They will also scan you but leave you alone (unless you have been very, very naughty).
Authority vessels are either Federal, Imperial or Alliance police OR "System Authority vessel"s in independent systems. If you want you can accept those missions and shoot them, and most likely suffer severe consequences.
It is VERY UNLIKELY to find pirates outside of USS. They exist, but if you are doing a mission, the guy who gave you the mission messages ALL of them and tells them to hide. At least that's what I think.
Mission branching is completely optional.
You do not need to refuse. You do not need to accept.
Just ignore the dude and carry on. Or do as he says. Your actions dictate the outcome. Yes, your transaction log gets updated, but it will still track the progress of your initial mission and you still can complete it.
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It's a relief to find this thread as I too have just spent 2hrs hunting for pirates to no avail and getting thoroughly confused by the wording and options associated with these so-called "branching" missions. I don't know if the dev's read these threads but, as a software dev' myself whose often baffled as to why my users are confused, I have to say that ultimately the customer is always right and if they aren't getting it (as we clearly aren't) then, even if it makes sense to you, you still need to change it somehow. One thing I'd suggest is that, when asked to go and meet a dude somewhere, if you make the effort to then fly out there and dock, there really needs to be some very clear indication that the dude is there and a mechanism for some kind of dialog to then take place.
This has been mentioned in other threads but not this one I think: to attract pirates,make sure you have something in your hold. I favour something like gold, 1T should do it. This is the main reason I keep a 2T cargo bay in my Viper. So when you go looking for them, they will scan you and say "your cargo is mine" etc then attack.
Just a quickie to say that I think I figured out the correct sequence for one of those forked "abandon killing pirates" missions. I flew to the station where he said to meet him (tip - you can search the galaxy map for station names as well as system names), then picked the Abandon option from the mission description in the left hand panel, and then went to the bulletin board where there was now an option to complete the new "not killing pirates" fork of the mission.
They exist in droves in resource extraction sites. I don't even bother with USS anymore. I pop in a RSE and the mission is complete in a matter of minutes. Nav beacons work too but it can take a lot longer.
I avoid USS because of the risk of bugged mission branching.
Your current mission being replaced by the branched version is mandatory though, and currently there's a bug with at least one of the branched versions where all progress is lost. It's the one where the contact asks you to kill authority ships instead. If you had a mission to kill 7 pirates, were doing it via USS, killed 6 out of 7, then in the next USS got the contact that asks you kill authority ships you lose those 6 kills you had. That's exactly what happened to me and why I no longer do it via USS. I had 5 of 6 pirates killed, then I got the contact guy. I should have had 1 more kill to go after getting the branched mission but after the next pirate kill it showed 1 out of 6 pirates killed again. It's been bug reported but no word on if it's been fixed.
Just do the mission via RSE.
That's one of the possible branched versions. I think it's random which one you get, but I avoid them entirely by doing the pirate missions via RSE now. Not only do you get the full reward, you avoid the chance you get the bugged branch and you get the bounties those RSE pirates had. Doing it via USS takes too long and might mess up your progress, unless you want the branched version. I think it can be worth it if you're messing with factions.
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Read all of this, but still don't get it... It seems to work if you take a kill pirate mission in a system with planets and stations, nav beacons and resource sight. At these places you can find pirates. But if you take onen in a unexplored system with no planets and not stations, then it is all but impossible to find pirates. I spent an hour flying dumbly around, did meet the dude who told me to abandon the mission, but ignored him as I want to kill pirates. Found a couple of USS but non with viable targets. After a hour I gave up.
The dev's should nullify these missions until they have it right. I am not happy wasting my valuable time flying around an empty system with no end result for over an hour.
The dev's should nullify these missions until they have it right. I am not happy wasting my valuable time flying around an empty system with no end result for over an hour.
Same experience as nomadroaming. Picked up a mission to kill three pirates that were plaguing two anarchy systems, okay seems simple enough. Jumped to the one of the systems in question to find it and then the other devoid of nav beacons let alone resource sites or stations. After a few jumps between the two systems I was eventually propositioned by a middle man. I ignored the alternative mission and initially ignored the MM, but out of desperation (and boredom) I finally attacked him thinking his pirate buddies might come to has aid. Nothing, not so much as "AVAST ME HEARTIES" was heard. I gave up in the end and terminated the mission. Trading my be tedious but at least it doesn't make my head hurt!
I don't think that I ever completed one either, despite a few attempts. They're a badly designed, badly implemented, buggy and confusing mess. It's best to ignore them entirely.
And the same goes for the salvage missions. I once spent 30 minutes drifting around an uninhabited anarchy system waiting for a black box to appear. It's hard to imagine designing a worse gaming experience than this, where none of your actions make any difference to finding what you're searching for.
If you want to shoot something, then you can either go to a resource extraction site or similar, or interdict ships in supercruise. Both are a more rewarding experience.
And the same goes for the salvage missions. I once spent 30 minutes drifting around an uninhabited anarchy system waiting for a black box to appear. It's hard to imagine designing a worse gaming experience than this, where none of your actions make any difference to finding what you're searching for.
If you want to shoot something, then you can either go to a resource extraction site or similar, or interdict ships in supercruise. Both are a more rewarding experience.
