Exploration: Dangerous ...very, Very Dangerous.

[S'Rau]

You know what was really ridiculous? NPCs used to be EVERYWHERE. Literally. First guy who managed to reach Sagittarius A* reported interdictions all along the way, and when he finally jumped into the galactic center, he saw... yeah, you may guess... NPC pirate chilling near the supermassive black hole. Roughly 27.000 LYs away from the nearest outpost.

Only real enemies we explorers are now facing in deep space are... this:

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... and, of course, this:

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lol ! so true !
This is just like sailing, 95% of your time you are half asleep of boredom and/or watching scenery and during the last 5% you are on red alert because you are either staring at something interesting or avoiding danger.
All of this for a nametag and a handfull of credits, if for the sake of "going where no one has gone before" i'd say this is a masochistic job lol.

 

[John_Stargazer]

Agree on the part that space suddenly get very Dangerous
I am a explorer flying on An adder

After 1.1 i only played 3 hours and i got over 10 interdictions and got kill twice
the second death i even did not make out of the system i revival in

If there is one more death i am going to get bankrupt

 

[Loskene]

Has the danger of interdiction in the outer fringes increased since 1.1? When I made the trip to VYCM in a defenceless hauler I only got interdicted twice, and that was on the way home. No damage either time, escaped one and submit-boosted to the second when I wasn't going to win the minigame.

 

[Susimetsa]

Posted a similar thread this morning after losing a week's worth of exploration data to these super-intense interdictions. Psychopaths (pirates attacking ships carrying no cargo) should not really be this common when you go outside the inhabited space. What on earth are they doing 200+ ly from civilization?

 

[Loskene]

Meant to edit my other post.

For those getting damage even when submitting, you can be interdicted before you finish throttling down to a safe knockout speed, so call it quits before that red bar fills.

 

[William J Smith]

the diameter of the milky way ingame is roughly 20.000k ly... the diameter of colonized space is roughly 700 ly (estimated, never measured it) ... around that there is a ~500 ly belt without population but npc, which seems realistic. behind this begins the real deep space, which is 99,9 % of all systems... and you can play there forever without meeting any npc. deep space is fundamentally empty, but obviously you weren't there...

Empty, apart from the lethal alien civilization FD have waiting in the wings to come out and exterminate humanity when the right explorer finds their home system.......

Bill

<<Is due to start his first exploring mission next week and had a night of bad dreams.....

 

[Flavourless]

To those saying submit and run, try doing that in an Adder (my exploration ride). You get mass locked by a stray alpha particle.

 

[pwnieb0y]

I just returned from a decent trip yesterday. And found the NPC's a welcome sight, it meant I was getting close to home. I didn't have a problem with interdictions though. I saw maybe 4 or 5 of them in the 500LY bubble before I got back to civilized space. And I would just scramble off to the next system before they could grab me. Do you think playing in open or solo could have anything to do with the amount of NPC's out there? I'm in open btw.

 

[J'Zargo]

The other thing I've noticed is that the interdiction itself seem to be inconsistent. At times I've got the blue bar nearly all the way up and red bar less, being nearly always on the escape vector, then I'm dropped out. Other times the blue bar is nearly at the bottom and the red is just about 100% and I escape. Strange! Anyone else found this?

I noticed the same on several occasions. Twice I got interdicted and before I could even react the interdiction was over, without any mention that I evaded interdiction. It just ended.

I am now ~400Ly away from populated space and my impression is that since 1.1 the frequency and the agression of NPC interdictions increased. My Hull is at 91% and my power plant at 95%. All other systems are handled by my auto repair kits, but they are already down to 2/3. Lets hope I can leave the 500Ly zone soon and in enough health to venture further. I still have another 19500Ly to go ...

 

[MarcusReed]

Have a safe trip home CMDR. We will remember your bravery. And foolishness

 

[Jackie Silver]

I don't take any damage from interdictions.

My Asp's jump range has been steadily dropping since I first got it, and is now down to only just over 27 light years, but that's still very good.

 

[Sim Maker]

Interdictions are certainly up in the system I call home. But their logic fails me some times.........I am in a A rated War Viper.....and got pulled out of super cruise by a Hauler..........er..............bzzzz bzzzz - rat a tat tat.......pooof.....thanks for the cash Amigo, s'ya.............

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Its really bizarre why interdictions have gone like this. Its like someone meant to increase interdictions by 20% but their finger got stuck and it became 2000%.

Luckily im 5000ly out at the moment. Ill definitely wait for it to be patched back down before returning.

 

[Egan]

If the NPC population were only a few (like one in 20 or 50 systems) explorers or miners, I'd agree. But several psychos in every system is beyond ridiculous.

I agree. There doesn't seem to be any logic to them being there. What is even worse are the amont of times I've been out on the edge of that NPC bubble and found sidewinders, eagles and Vipers loaded down with KWS scanners, guns galore and no fuel scoop. We're talking about 400-500 hundred light years from the nearest station or outpost and they apparently don't have to refuel.

I'm all for running into ships out there occasionally - even way, way, way out - as long as they actually seem to have a logical reason for being there (mining, exploring etc) and are properly kitted out as such. I'm just a bit bored of running into space-es who are carrying the same gear they would be for an afternoon' trouble making around Freeport.

 

[Ionized]

I have a similar story. Just got a Cobra after patch 1.1 and decided to do some exploring and head out to one of the brightest stars in our night sky, Rigel.


While I was nearing the Hyades sector, I was interdicted by loitering NPCs in almost every system I dropped out to do a system scan. Armed with only my pair of stock pulse lasers, I figured my best option was to run.


After some point, these constant mindless interdictions made me so agitated that I just snapped and turned my ship around. Lucky me, the offending ship was a wanted Sidewinder. I lined up the reticle and violently squeezed my primary weapon trigger and depleted its shield. The Sidewinder didn't even budge and continued flying straight at me. I grabbed my triggers harder but there was no pew pew this time. I looked down my HUD and realised I had no pips in my WEP. Before I could react, my ship's orientation suddenly went haywire. Then I realised I bumped straight into the Sidewinder. I panickingly pulled my stick to recover visual of my target. Instead, I was greeted with a bold message, "900CR BOUNTY CLAIM AWARDED."

I literally LOL'd. But damn, are NPCs getting more aggressive as well? If it was a bigger ship, the one exploding into space dust would be me.

 

[Eli Jack]

I agree. There doesn't seem to be any logic to them being there. What is even worse are the amont of times I've been out on the edge of that NPC bubble and found sidewinders, eagles and Vipers loaded down with KWS scanners, guns galore and no fuel scoop. We're talking about 400-500 hundred light years from the nearest station or outpost and they apparently don't have to refuel.

I'm all for running into ships out there occasionally - even way, way, way out - as long as they actually seem to have a logical reason for being there (mining, exploring etc) and are properly kitted out as such. I'm just a bit bored of running into space-es who are carrying the same gear they would be for an afternoon' trouble making around Freeport.

Yep, the bit I highlighted is the one that got me. C'mon FD there should be NO NPCs further out than their max tank range without fuel scoops. ALL ships should be subject to the same laws.

When I was outfitting my Asp for exploration I weighed up the pros and cons of going weaponless to get further range but decided that a 28/30ly jump range was sufficient for my needs so added 4 Burst Lasers and two C2 Pulses. I'm glad I did. I've submitted to every interdiction and destroyed them all without losing a hull percentage. I also have twin PDTs and a CL as well as 6D shields for added defence.

Being interdicted by ships with no fuel scoop and far beyond their fuel tank range is a fail, any way you look at it.

 

[Ulysses_W]

Its really bizarre why interdictions have gone like this. Its like someone meant to increase interdictions by 20% but their finger got stuck and it became 2000%.

Luckily im 5000ly out at the moment. Ill definitely wait for it to be patched back down before returning.

I'm with you on this, I'm also about 6000LY out on a return journey and unarmed. I might just take a detour for a while.

 

[Chris M Fortune]

I was planning on outfitting another Asp for exploring but having read this I think I will try a little experiment instead.

Gonna use my Python. With repair module and fuel scoop weighing in at 0 I think I can probably get a 22 or 23 ly range and still be shielded and armed.

Any suggestions on load-out would be welcome, I have done a short python explore before but had not optimized for the task but it did seem to go fairly well

 

[OldAl]

The cause is Brabenitic instability in the NPC population. Mad Sidewinders with no shield getting in the way of a peaceful, empty, but well armed, well shielded Cobra just heading home with some survey data. Ah well.

 

[Jackie Silver]

Do you also take your time and surface scan the bigger anarchy systems?

I surface scan anything I think will be worth the detour. My point's that the big lasers indicate a fighting ship not a lightweight explorer; NPC interdictions are money in my pocket.