Hey jacozilla, chaffs make it so that gimballed and turreted weapons don't lock onto the ship what fired it for a set duration.
We know this, but does it interrupt security scans, as far as I could tell they did. can you confirm?
Does chaff hinder NPC scans (for smuggling runs)
- Thread starter jacozilla
- Start date
We know this, but does it interrupt security scans, as far as I could tell they did. can you confirm?
Hey Du Guesclin, we are aware of this happening and it is under investigation.
Oh, it is a bug? Intiguing...
That is what I always thought.
It surprises me to hear from others it does not work, as I have used it at times and it seemed to work perfectly.
I have never been scanned against my will and have never been caught sneaking into a station ever. Not even once.
Now I am confused.
I don't think I've heard from any player it doesn't work. I am almost sure it does in fact work. We need an experiment.
Hey Du Guesclin, we are aware of this happening and it is under investigation.
Thank you!
Is the fact that NPCs can disrupt a player KWS and Cargo scan with chaff under investigation as well ?
dayrth
Volunteer Moderator
At this time chaff does not hinder NPC scans. It does hinder player KWS and cargo scans. (I have tested this).
Silent running will reduce the range at which you can be scanned allowing you to get out of range quicker, but if you are going to boost do that first then go silent or you will overheat.
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I totally get your explanation, and even agree it's completely logical and expect - as we know 21st century chaff to work.
But the problem is, this reasonable explanation which again I agree seems reasonable, doesn't fit with how chaff works for locking up gimbal weapons and turrets.
a) IF chaff is as you described, a launched substance that recedes behind us as our ship moves past the just launched chaff cloud (ala real life 21st century chaff or IR flares), then your explanation why this would work in combat but not so much from the many directional angles in front of a station.
But here's the inconsistency problem - that same chaff when launched would also recede behind our ship, yet your ship is protected for the entire duration of the chaff launch cycle against gimble / turret weapons - even when that attacking ship is coming at us from the front, and presumably our chaff cloud is now behind our ship, and way behind the attacking ship.
So while I agree you explanation seems and should make sense - it doesn't seem to apply to the way Elite universe/tech chaff works - it's some magic chaff that once launched, stays in effect for locking up gamble / turrets, and as for stations - well, I will go with what the QA replied to - that since he only specified gimble / turret, that it does not block police scans (although certainly it could be a bug Frontier doesn't know about -so there's that angle)
Like many have said, I rarely if ever get caught now smuggling into stations, so I'm not sure if its the chaff launch helping me or just the usual scoot and slide dash that I'm doing.
OK.
So can you explain why a KW-Scanner is disrupted by an NPC launching chaff? Because it happens.
This is under investigation as well.
Thanks Sir for confirming- there's been so much speculation about this topic that it's good to get a de-facto statement, even if it's confirming there's a bug.
Really, thank you. This is the type of feedback I personally very much appreciate (I don't want to say 'the community' or 'others' or 'my dog' because then there'll be a set of people focusing on someone talking for them instead of the subject at hand, hehe).
This is under investigation as well.
Noes, we should have kept that secret!
As with most of these game mechanics they are quite hard to quantify, we experiment with trial and error and see the results, but no battle/situation is ever the same of course.
I'd like to test this again myself, the inconsistency you mention, this launching chaff does indeed work against a hostile facing and ahead of you, and still with each of the chaff spreads launching behind you it still hinders gimbal mounted weapons. Through my experience I got the feeling it didn't quite honestly, but perhaps it still does just not as effectively as when the spread is between you and the hostile.
To be quite honest I'm not entirely sure, and this is not to demean your statement in the slightest, you clearly have experience with the game and so I believe what you've experienced.
What I do know is when trying to KW scan a hostile trying to escape and they happen to launch chaff the scan halts for a period and can't progress until the chaff disipates, so it clearly does have an effect on scanners and gimbals, and perhaps it has a varying effect depending on its proximity.
This is under investigation as well.
Please don't remove that mechanic, because I love it.
I think it adds to the richness of gameplay.
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Agreed. We need an anti scan module and rolling it in to chaff and / or ECM would be fine.
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Smuggler cargo bays, they hold half as much cargo but scans take 3x as long.
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Yup something like this or maybe hull density and making reflective armour more useful
I will just add something to what Yodafone has said.
Chaff has an area of effect.
During combat, if I am moving then the chaff sometimes fails, it is still active but I've moved position and the enemy guns start to hit again.
So it doesn't just block, it only blocks if we are in it's area of effect or it's between us and the scan/wpns, hence now the double chaff combat ships for a better spread.
So it makes sense what Yodafone has said, that chaff blocks LoS of scanners.
If we drop chaff, it doesn't follow us and we keep moving fwd out of it's area of effect.
That means any scans from our left or right will not be impeded by the chaff's area of effect when entering the letterbox
The scanner will scan without chaff in the way.
Then again a Dev says they are investigating NPC's KWS/Cargo/Chaff so without proper testing all the angles, I'm none the wiser really or if it's bugged or if npc's are allowed to cheat (wouldn't be the first time ).
Chaff has an area of effect.
During combat, if I am moving then the chaff sometimes fails, it is still active but I've moved position and the enemy guns start to hit again.
So it doesn't just block, it only blocks if we are in it's area of effect or it's between us and the scan/wpns, hence now the double chaff combat ships for a better spread.
So it makes sense what Yodafone has said, that chaff blocks LoS of scanners.
If we drop chaff, it doesn't follow us and we keep moving fwd out of it's area of effect.
That means any scans from our left or right will not be impeded by the chaff's area of effect when entering the letterbox
The scanner will scan without chaff in the way.
Then again a Dev says they are investigating NPC's KWS/Cargo/Chaff so without proper testing all the angles, I'm none the wiser really or if it's bugged or if npc's are allowed to cheat (wouldn't be the first time
).
I've stopped taking smuggling mission from the BB in stations.
Getting cargo in is not a problem, usually, but taking stuff out of a station is not good. Even boosting, drop heat sinks and chaff, when scan starts, I get fined. It still turns a profit but I am sure my rep must take a hit. Which of course increases the chance of being scanned next time. Outposts are easy, military ones a little more tricky but still doable.
Getting cargo in is not a problem, usually, but taking stuff out of a station is not good. Even boosting, drop heat sinks and chaff, when scan starts, I get fined. It still turns a profit but I am sure my rep must take a hit. Which of course increases the chance of being scanned next time. Outposts are easy, military ones a little more tricky but still doable.
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I've stopped taking smuggling mission from the BB in stations.
Getting cargo in is not a problem, usually, but taking stuff out of a station is not good. Even boosting, drop heat sinks and chaff, when scan starts, I get fined. It still turns a profit but I am sure my rep must take a hit. Which of course increases the chance of being scanned next time. Outposts are easy, military ones a little more tricky but still doable.
Never had trouble here, works fine for me. Being "allied" with the sub-faction helps here. I'm flying a Python and don't get scanned. Though I often use silent running to be sure.
Not sure about chaff mechanics here though. "Kills scanning" NPCs definatly gets delayed when they use chaff. The angle might play a role here.
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