Thanks for ruining smuggling missions!

[safe4mx]

I appreciate the challenge of not getting scanned, but being interdicted in an uninhabited system by a randomly generated system authority NPC (that spawns directly behind you so it's guaranteed that it's going to interdict you), being unable to evade said interdiction because reasons (keeping my reticle in the blue circle; oops the red side shot up for no apparent reason), and then having no way to really avoid being scanned aside from boosting and going silent, having THAT fail and despite getting told by the NPC "you're clean, move along", fail the mission is kind of a crock of horse that kills my desire to do these missions.

Again, I appreciate the skill and tenseness of smuggling required with these changes when slipping into a station, but there really needs to be:
a.) changes to the interdiction minigame so that it relies on skill and not luck -- or at least some transparency as to how it works
b.) changes to the way NPC's spawn into the system so that you have a chance to evade their interdiction attempts
c.) some way to slow or reset scanners -- even a dedicated module (perhaps rework the EMP). You could even have interrupting a police scan impose a fine on the player.

 

[ratchet5000]

There are smuggling missions that don't auto fail when you're scanned, they just require a huge amount of cargo to be hauled. I actually like it better now, you get to choose having to haul a lot or flying with finesse (and a fast ship to boost away from scans). And smuggling missions spawn much more regularly now, with these balancing changes. I just hope the long range smuggling route plot bug is fixed soon.

 

[Karl Marx]

There are smuggling missions that don't auto fail when you're scanned, they just require a huge amount of cargo to be hauled. I actually like it better now, you get to choose having to haul a lot or flying with finesse (and a fast ship to boost away from scans). And smuggling missions spawn much more regularly now, with these balancing changes. I just hope the long range smuggling route plot bug is fixed soon.

I've run into quite a few situations where you literally cannot boost away. I had that happen to me last night when I was running from system authority going 410+m/s in my FDL and somehow their adorable little viper could keep right up with me and scan me. No, something here is seriously broken. I've also tried the silent running thing to no avail, still got scanned at range.

 

[Red Anders]

There are smuggling missions that don't auto fail when you're scanned, they just require a huge amount of cargo to be hauled. I actually like it better now, you get to choose having to haul a lot or flying with finesse (and a fast ship to boost away from scans). And smuggling missions spawn much more regularly now, with these balancing changes. I just hope the long range smuggling route plot bug is fixed soon.

I took a trip to Sothis earlier and got one which wasn't a fail on scan, only on ship destruction. It also wasn't high volume (20) and paid me 6.6m. I got interdicted a few times on the way back, didn't get scanned though because, well it's not easy to scan a Cobra that's built to do 450

Don't be too mad though - I took three missions there and Ceos to take small amounts of stuff back because I knew I was returning later. Despite the fact that none of them said anything about this in the mission briefing on the BB, or in the detals in my transactions screen during the 5 or so hours they were sat there, on returning to hand them in I get told that all three are multi-part missions. Like yeah, sure I'm doing multiple 900 light year round trips for 150k. Thankfully my rep in those systems is so high that it didn't take much of a hit when I abandonded all three of them.

 

[xCyA]

i have given up on Shadow Deliveries, so many times interdicted i cant even count and i havent been able to deliver a single one.
the scanning is so aggressive its not random anymore.
Now i take them and wont deliver them. i just do the other missions and sell the shadow delivery cargo.

 

[safe4mx]

There are smuggling missions that don't auto fail when you're scanned, they just require a huge amount of cargo to be hauled. I actually like it better now, you get to choose having to haul a lot or flying with finesse (and a fast ship to boost away from scans). And smuggling missions spawn much more regularly now, with these balancing changes. I just hope the long range smuggling route plot bug is fixed soon.

Yeah I like the changes as well, but I don't like the current implementation where if the RNG decides it's going to spawn one of those "got a hot tip" NPC's you're pretty much boned.

 

[safe4mx]

Oh and gods help you if you get one of those NPC's in a system where the delivery is. Assuming you evade them the first time, they instantly reappear and interdict you again almost instantly.

 

[Apina]

I too like the new shadow deliveries. Like Red Anders I went with a kitted-for-the-job Cobra and thought it was great. Profits seem roughly double to normal transport missions so challenge (or right ship ) sounds like a good thing. There are still other smuggling missions.

 

[veryinky]

I like the shadow deliveries, I don't like how buggy interdiction is especially with multiple interdiction at the same time. When I get interdicted by more than one ship at once one of 4 things will happen, instant FSD failure, instant submission with 0 recharge time, screen starts to shake wildly and interdiction lasts forever while the escape target flashes in random locations on the screen, computer does a system "beep" sound and elite dangerous.exe closes with no prompt saying what happened.

I don't think FDev ever gave thought to what would happen if two or more ships ever tried to interdict one ship at the same time.

 

[deathcoy]

These smuggling missions had their difficulty upped by a lot. Appreciate some tips & tricks.

I've recently done a couple of smuggling runs with 10+ missions per run with my Asp Explorer. Interdiction is crazy frequent now, failing mission when scanned is extremely crazy as it auto fails all missions on 1 scan, i've have a couple of runs where i failed entire mission stacks due to interdiction or when i reach my first station got unlucky by stray security who scanned me, essentially wasting hours. I can see how FD being against mission stacking. Furthermore i find the outpost and stations now have very attentive guard, the internal secruity at ports and pirate guards at outpost automatically home in on you when you drop into zone. I've used silent running but they still easily home on me, silent running doesn't work anymore. The only method i've deemed safe is to fly one big round to around 10km away from the station, position myself directly in front of the docking entrance then boost like mad into it. It usually works but wastes a lot of time.

Personally i've gone back to trade grinding. Smuggling missions are too high risk now even when you can stack them while delivery missions can no longer be stacked due to the increased cargo.

 

[xCyA]

i was just now doing a smuggling mission with a station at 30.000ls away, my anaconda without weapons was getting interdicted more then 10 times by a npc.
didn't win a single time in the mini game(i still think its a stupid mini game based on luck more then skill).
during this i managed to travel 1.000ls, i even tried to ram the ship but the npc wouldn't give up. a federal security shows up to help me and meanwhile i tried to ram it with no success i waited for like 5min and the shields didnt even go down when they were fighting.
i tried to run away while they were fighting and as soon as i frameshift i get interdicted by the same guy. i has 25min to deliver the quest within 30.000ls and then noticed i got 2min to travel 29.000ls. then he intercepted me again and i crtl+alt+delete and terminated elite dangerous.
it's frustrating.. i know.

i want the npc AI of the old elite dangerous back...

 

[deathcoy]

i was just now doing a smuggling mission with a station at 30.000ls away, my anaconda without weapons was getting interdicted more then 10 times by a npc.
didn't win a single time in the mini game(i still think its a stupid mini game based on luck more then skill).
during this i managed to travel 1.000ls, i even tried to ram the ship but the npc wouldn't give up. a federal security shows up to help me and meanwhile i tried to ram it with no success i waited for like 5min and the shields didnt even go down when they were fighting.
i tried to run away while they were fighting and as soon as i frameshift i get interdicted by the same guy. i has 25min to deliver the quest within 30.000ls and then noticed i got 2min to travel 29.000ls. then he intercepted me again and i crtl+alt+delete and terminated elite dangerous.
it's frustrating.. i know.

i want the npc AI of the old elite dangerous back...

I actually like the new AI, combat wise only though. I just find the stealth gameplay is too hard right now. The AI automatically knows where you are, what you're carrying and just boost and home in on you to scan your ship, even when you're in silent running. I've also tried popping some chaff launcher, i'm not sure if its supposed to work on cargo scanners like kill warrant scanners but i can confirm it doesn't. All these AI behaviours is just too fake.

That being said, i have to agree we were too comfortable with mission stacking in patch 1.4. Making 30-40m or more per hour via mission stacking with Tycoon/Elite rank is too OP.

 

[DidierDrbois]

Neither chaff nor silent running is any good as the NPCs are scripted and they cheat. Boost however works just fine. I am yet to get scanned by interdicting authority and I fly a lazy Python always with 180+ t of cargo.
_
That said, it shouldn't work this way. Chaff and silent running must have an effect just as they have on players, and authority Vipers should be able to catch a running Python blind-folded. The way it currently is, is backwards, stupid, and very very broken.

 

[Jaiotu]

I hadn't realized that the smuggling missions were all that hard.
When you are interdicted don't fight it. Throttle back and gently drop out of supercruise. This way the FSD cool down time is much shorter.
As soon as you drop out turn around and FACE the system authority vessel. Don't try to boost AWAY from the Sys Auth. Boost TOWARD and PAST him.
The Sys Auth scan only works if the Sys Auth is FACING you.
Once you've flown past the Sys Auth keep boosting. You should have plenty of time to escape his scan range before he can turn full circle and start pursuing.
Engage supercruise as soon as the cool down period ends and head back along your merry way.

 

[xCyA]

I hadn't realized that the smuggling missions were all that hard.
When you are interdicted don't fight it. Throttle back and gently drop out of supercruise. This way the FSD cool down time is much shorter.
As soon as you drop out turn around and FACE the system authority vessel. Don't try to boost AWAY from the Sys Auth. Boost TOWARD and PAST him.
The Sys Auth scan only works if the Sys Auth is FACING you.
Once you've flown past the Sys Auth keep boosting. You should have plenty of time to escape his scan range before he can turn full circle and start pursuing.
Engage supercruise as soon as the cool down period ends and head back along your merry way.

thats the thing, he will interdicted you again when you jump to supercruise. npc is so fast it doesnt use the same ammount of time we take to engage frameshift.

 

[colprice2002]

If you're having multiple interdictions from an npc, fsd to the nearest star system, then return.
I find that this seems to break the cycle.

Beware if you're interdicted by a system authority near the spaceport - they'll reappear when you drop to dock, then you will get scanned and fail!
Personally, I've always been able to boost away from a scan in the Asp/T6/Cobra, but not in a Python.

 

[Jaiotu]

thats the thing, he will interdicted you again when you jump to supercruise. npc is so fast it doesnt use the same ammount of time we take to engage frameshift.

You must be playing a different game than I am. By which I just mean "I haven't had that problem."
Yes... once a Sys Auth starts tailing you... they keep tailing you. I just haven't had any trouble outrunning them.

 

[smiths121]

Just a quick point,

Well if I got an NPC system authority Viper in an empty system and needed not to be scanned I think I would FA off turn guns out - they are not going to complete the scan before you turn. You can then shoot them, or pass over them based on their ranking. No downside to shooting cops with no jurisdiction as is the case in an empty system. Smugglers do not have to be goody, goodies.

Worst thing you can do is boost away in that situation a high ranking Viper (say Elite) has a very good top speed and boost.

Simon

 

[MottiKhan]

You must be playing a different game than I am. By which I just mean "I haven't had that problem."
Yes... once a Sys Auth starts tailing you... they keep tailing you. I just haven't had any trouble outrunning them.

Well, I must be playing the same game as xCyA.

Actually, the same NPC doesn't interdict you. A new one is spawned that has the same name as the old one and it appears that the NPC has a magic teleporter. Sure, the mechanics are understandable, but still immersion breaking. If an NPC named "Dave" interdicts you and you escape before his FSD can charge, his twin by the same name and flying an identical ship shouldn't suddenly appear ahead of you. The same happens near stations. You could outrun an NPC, leave him in the stardust and his evil twin, "Dave", could be waiting for you at the station.

Being that I don't trade or smuggle, I just kill the interdictor and he goes away forever (or 5 minutes, whichever comes first). That way, I see a different NPC popup ahead of me where Dave would have been.

 

[Bortas]

a.) changes to the interdiction minigame so that it relies on skill and not luck -- or at least some transparency as to how it works

It doesn't rely on luck at all. You need some skill and a ship with good SC maneuverability. With a Cobra, Asp or Clipper I can reliably evade virtually any NPC interdiction. It's also pretty transparent... the one who spends more time on the correct vector wins. You just need more practice and/or a more nimble ship.

b.) changes to the way NPC's spawn into the system so that you have a chance to evade their interdiction attempts

Just fight off their interdiction and they are usually gone for good.

c.) some way to slow or reset scanners -- even a dedicated module (perhaps rework the EMP). You could even have interrupting a police scan impose a fine on the player.

Silent running helps a bit. It reduces the required distance for NPC scans from 1km or so to around 500m or less. With a fast ship it's also pretty easy to just boost out of scanning range, that also interrupts the scan. If everything else fails, you can also shoot the police ship. It will then stop scanning you and attack, giving you time to jump away. Not advisable within station range, though