I heard there was a problem with Shadow Missions?

[Broon]

Funny, I didn't find any problems.

I purpose built an unarmed Cobra Mk III for speed and jump range and left Fehu with four Shadow missions, one Secret Cargo mission and a handful of well paying Courier missions.

During the 19 jumps from Fehu to my first stop I got interdicted once while scooping and only three more times during my dropoff circuit. And never once by a Security Vessel.

I pulled in 12.5mil Cr for an 1 1/2hr run (only had 19T of cargo), raised my Imperial Navy rank 9% and even my Explorer rank grew by 10%.

I was never shot at and never was a scan even initiated. I use the speed method of station entry so I never once engaged Silent Running and I don't even fit heat sinks to my ships. I only fit a Chaff launcher as a defensive measure and never fired it once on this run.

And I am sporting the American Flag paintjob on the Cobra so it's not like I am trying to be sneaky with camo or flat black paint. I am flying my flag high and proud!

Did I mention the ship was unarmed too?

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_...3324801012f.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==?bn=Shadow Cobra


I think folks are overstating any issues they are having with these missions. Either that or they are stacking them so high and deep in their ships that the entire galaxy is out looking for them and in that case they are attracting WAY too much attention and getting what they deserve in that respect.

 

[Mr_sukebe]

I did hear that some Alfas are really reliable too.

 

[Soothsayer]

I can usually stack upwards of 15 missions or so without running into too many problems, although things have gotten dicey on a few occasions. Overall, they're pretty easy once you learn the tricks of the trade.

 

[MrFuddyDuddy]

The problem is that the game cheats to make you fail the missions. I've had fed ships drop out of cruise on top of my ship mere seconds after I dropped out myself and where were the feds in cruise? Over 1000LS's away, on top of that they are basically impossible to outrun, my ASP's boost speed is almost 400ms and I can't ever loose them, they scan you though chaff and don't give a damn how cold your running. These missions at the moment are literally impossible if the feds show up which in my case is every single jump I make within 5 seconds of being in SC...

 

[AstirTII]

Agree with the OP - I am still smuggling with no probs. Just keep them in front of you & if you do need to submit then its easy enough to avoid/break a scan. its still easy to make 25mil+ in an hour with a well built ship.

Occasionally get scanned & lose it all but its the exception to the norm & it has made smuggling more interesting. The only thing that I am not keen on is that you are followed on every jump by various Vipers etc (as per pre Horizons) but how the hell are they keeping up with me in a 30LY+ Asp!? Not really an issue though as they don't interdict (I just want to be able to get the same range out of my fighters)!

Overall I think its been improved as it was too easy for anyone to make silly money. Now the payout on smuggling is still high but the skill level required to achieve the high payout is more appropriate. Way too much whining about this at the moment! Either learn to do it properly or go do something else IMHO. I think Frontier have done a good job of it (& I doubt they're too bothered by a few whining forum jockeys)

 

[Ydiss]

I've run about 15 of these so far and the experience has been consistent. Never been interdicted by authorities, never seen them at the destination (except the normal ones at stations).

Roughly one every 5-8 systems spawns a scripted pirate and that adds to the fun, rather than takes it away.

And that's it. It might be because I'm generally a really nice guy and the authorities all trust me (allied and friendly to all the three major factions) and I've been lucky in independent systems that don't get know how awesome I am.

These missions are really a step up. There might be bugs and I think having authorities spawn on you at the station sounds rubbish (but I bet you can avoid that by high waking before you drop at the station to shake the scripted authority ship, instead of stubbornly fighting interdiction repeatedly). But these missions have a perfect risk against reward. I think they could probably be made a bit harder, actually (particularly when I have 12-17m credits riding on the outcome).

I wish they did this with rares trading and then amped up the maximum spawn for rares. Make it so the heat (pirates) significantly increase their efforts in line with how much you choose to carry.

 

[redmantab]

I've been playing ed for over a year. Been planning on moving from combat and exploration roles into partaking in the fun of these shadow missions.

Where can I find a guide of sorts to get started?have about 30 mill to spend.

Also, I pledged to Hudson recently. Would that be ok with these missions?

Thanks guys!

 

[Rubellen]

The problem is that the game cheats to make you fail the missions. I've had fed ships drop out of cruise on top of my ship mere seconds after I dropped out myself and where were the feds in cruise? Over 1000LS's away, on top of that they are basically impossible to outrun, my ASP's boost speed is almost 400ms and I can't ever loose them, they scan you though chaff and don't give a damn how cold your running. These missions at the moment are literally impossible if the feds show up which in my case is every single jump I make within 5 seconds of being in SC...

I must admit that it often is a case of bad luck combined with - sometimes - a bug or latency. I ranted a while and indeed had the same problems as above with my Asp. Interdictions that went completely wrong (me throttling down, submitting and winning the interdiction) or failing the missions while being pulled out of SC. Been there - got interdicted and while I was still spinning got the message 'missions failed'. But now I must admit that my last 4 runs where all without any trouble - mind the old Eagle with 22ly jump range and a tank bigger than my 400ly Asp - but the rest went well. So if in trouble just submit and boost away. Line up in front of the letterbox and boost away. Get out of SC and be sure to be in front of the station and go in as fast as you can/ dare. Good luck to you smuggling Commanders, godspeed.

 

[Mikey2305]

I think there is something in that... The greedier you are, the more the risk increases. It also seems to me although i have no means of proving this that the more you do, the more you get 'known' and pursued. All sort of how it should be in my humble opinion and not worthy of all the negativity. Smuggling = illegal = high risk = possibility of failure = big profits

I do hope this stuff doesnt get dumbed down because of the incessant whining...

 

[Xsannz]

I've lost a few missions where I got scanned when a fed security dropped in after I was pirate interdicted but all in all the fairness / risk balance seems good

 

[Weps]

If you look at the first pages of this forum you will find at least half a dozen threads about smuggling. Long range smuggling is the new rave, it has such a high earning potential that everybody is doing it right now, regardless if they are familiar with scan mechanics, interdiction mechanics, smuggling setups etc.

It is normal that when so many people are engaged in one single activity, there will be a matching number of complaints, some valid, some not, some about bugs, some about nonsensical mechanics, some about things being too hard.... etc.

 

[babelfisch]

The problem is that the game cheats to make you fail the missions. I've had fed ships drop out of cruise on top of my ship mere seconds after I dropped out myself and where were the feds in cruise? Over 1000LS's away, on top of that they are basically impossible to outrun, my ASP's boost speed is almost 400ms and I can't ever loose them, they scan you though chaff and don't give a damn how cold your running. These missions at the moment are literally impossible if the feds show up which in my case is every single jump I make within 5 seconds of being in SC...

Chaff only helps against turrets and gimballs, since day one. Chaff was never intended to break scans. Silent running only works when the NPC has not seen you yet, once they started the scan there is no way to break it other than running away/killing him. Even if you engage silent running before the scan they can see you if they are close enough. This is also the case since day one and works the same for CMDRs, so no cheating involved here. NPCs following you from SC was implented in 1.3 or 1.4, AFAIK they didn't change this mechanic with 1.5/2.0 but I agree that it should take a few seconds before they drop in.

If you have trouble with smuggling you should adapt and hope that FDEV tweaks a few mechanics in the meantime.

1. Forget about the credits, don't stack missions.
2. Get a Cobra.
3. Fit lasers and guns.
4. If you notice that someone follows you jump until you are in an anarchy. Let him interdict you and kill him.
5. Before flying into the station make sure there are no security vessels.

 

[Ydiss]

I've been playing ed for over a year. Been planning on moving from combat and exploration roles into partaking in the fun of these shadow missions.

Where can I find a guide of sorts to get started?have about 30 mill to spend.

Also, I pledged to Hudson recently. Would that be ok with these missions?

Thanks guys!

Pledging doesn't help smuggling missions.

This is my Smuggler Asp:http://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/03A5A...12f.Iw18WQ==.AwiMIyudKA==?bn=Asp Smuggler III

You can remove the scanner for extra cargo but I like it to get exploration as you go (it's worth a fair few credits and is essential if you want to do planetary missions). That's 25m but you'll get that back quite quickly.

84t is enough to get 2-3 highly paid missions. Your only restriction is your trade rank. So you may not see highly paid missions if your trade rank is low. But you get trade ranks for completing them.

Sothis is a good system to start in. You'll need to switch between solo, open and group to refresh the missions until you have what you need.

 

[edgar]

For me the worst thing about these missions is that the game spawns Security NPCs in uninhabited systems marked as "No Faction" who try to scan you. Not got a problem with the fuzz chasing you through remote systems, but I think they should at least be spawned as belonging to the Faction that issued the mission to you! No Faction Authority ships in empty systems, really??

 

[fruitbat]

I tried this for the first time yesterday, mainly because of all the fuss on the forums, to see what it was actually all about.

Built an Asp for it. 1st run got scanned after submitting. 2nd run after I'd thought a bit more about it made 18 million. 3rd made 36 million after reconfiguring the asp slightly. Each run taking 1.5 hours ish.

They really are very simple once you decide to drop out yourself before being interdicted by the security, as soon as you see there tell tale comms message.

As for getting in an out of staions, its a lot easier in an asp than a cutter, and I don't have a problem in the cutter.

All in all I think its a lot of money for no consequence. Even if you do get scanned you loose the missions, thats it. Should be much more stringent consequences imo for that money.

 

[GunnerBill]

I did hear that some Alfas are really reliable too.

-
Really?
HAVE you EVER owned one.
The electrics are terrible

 

[Mr_sukebe]

-
Really?
HAVE you EVER owned one.
The electrics are terrible

Naw, but a friend of mine did run a 156 twin-spark for 2 years and that never broke down.
Me, wouldn't touch one with a bargepole...

Just trying to say that there's exceptions to all rules.

 

[Broon]

Chaff only helps against turrets and gimballs, since day one. Chaff was never intended to break scans. Silent running only works when the NPC has not seen you yet, once they started the scan there is no way to break it other than running away/killing him. Even if you engage silent running before the scan they can see you if they are close enough. This is also the case since day one and works the same for CMDRs, so no cheating involved here. NPCs following you from SC was implented in 1.3 or 1.4, AFAIK they didn't change this mechanic with 1.5/2.0 but I agree that it should take a few seconds before they drop in.

If you have trouble with smuggling you should adapt and hope that FDEV tweaks a few mechanics in the meantime.

1. Forget about the credits, don't stack missions.
2. Get a Cobra.
3. Fit lasers and guns.
4. If you notice that someone follows you jump until you are in an anarchy. Let him interdict you and kill him.
5. Before flying into the station make sure there are no security vessels.

Yeah I love it when folks spout the "chaff didn't work.....game is broken" nonsense. Chaff works just fine for its intended purpose, and breaking scans was not on the intended list. And someone spouts it in every smuggling thread. One would think that folks would eventually learn. As for silent running, I have never even switched it on (on purpose) so I wouldn't know but from what I have read it's not a "win" button.

I have made hundreds of millions of credits doing the average "skull faced" smuggling missions for quite some time and rarely ever got scanned. But lately if you read the threads about the new and improved shadow missions you would get the idea that you get scanned every 5 seconds and that the missions are just impossible to do. It is just not the case. I really did nothing different than I have been doing for these runs for months now.

I think I'll run my Asp out to Fehu this time and see if a higher number of missions on board makes a noticeable difference in the amount of attention that is attracted.

 

[Rhinerium]

...you would get the idea that you get scanned every 5 seconds and that the missions are just impossible to do. It is just not the case.

I had only one smuggling mission a few days ago. I was interdicted over and over with no pause about 10 times trying to fly 200ls. Try not to generalize your personal experience too much.

I read that jumping to another system will help, but when latency/game design ends up hammering you like that it's hard to not feel discouraged or like that game has it out for you. I've experienced it a few times. Not sure if its latency or not. My connection is typically good enough for most things, but I can see how a small amount of packet loss could end up being bad in terms of how it looks to me/my client.

 

[MrFuddyDuddy]

Chaff only helps against turrets and gimballs, since day one. Chaff was never intended to break scans.

I don't know if the cargo scanner functions just like the kill warrant scanner but if you ran one would would know that if Chaff is popped you lose the ability to scan your target. Its been that way as long as I can remember, playing on Xbox though so maybe Chaff didn't always do that.

The NPC's do in fact cheat, Feds/Pirates after you will often times drop out right on top of you no matter how far away they are or how fast they are going instantly, I even tried emergency dropping while being tailed by a fed 100LS's away while traveling at over 100LS's and in a matter of 5 seconds he had dropped right on top of me despite the fact that in that time he should have over shot my position and taken at least a minute or two to drop into my wake. Even if you manage to get a few KM's away from your point of drop they will spawn literally on top you and scan you through Chaff which like I said if the cargo scanner is anything like the kill warrant one the lock will break.

Point remaining if you get interdicted by feds while trying to do shadow run mission you will fail it 100% of the time. You have to either hope they spawn in systems you are just jumping through or log out when you see there chatter pop up in comms about wanting to scan you.