That 80K reward looked pretty good... so off I went, found the Nav Beacon, found the objective, deployed my cargo scoop and... wait for it BOOM in come a couple of ships who weren't interested in talking. I tried to toss a couple of mines at them and escape, but no luck... twice. Kind of expensive when the reward was 80K and I'm out over half a million now... ouch...
Every time I did that they re-appeared... Quicker! I tried multiple times to re-set the instance, only to have them pop right back in. Then I tried to scoop and run, just got even more banged up because I needed 4 and only had time to scoop 1. Then I decided to fight back, killed them all, had my hull down to 23% and couldn't find the mission cargo. Re-set the instance and they're baaaa-aaa--aaacccckkk!!! Got so mad I flew back, parked the Asp Scout, jumped in my FAS... Killed them all (now for the second time in this mission), kept the fight near the cargo so I scooped and went home.
In my experience, they will always reappear. So from now on, I do these missions with my FAS... Wait 30 seconds or so before I go for the cargo with weapons deployed. The instant they pop in, target the highest ranked, kill him with extreme prejudice... Target the next highest, usually the lowest ranks will run after you cap the big'uns.
Your mileage may vary...
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Oh my...not my experience, but I don't deny yours.
Could it have been an Elite mission, perhaps?
It might depend on the system and mission. I had a lot of trouble collecting the black box for one of these missions without it exploding. I went in and out of the system to try it about 20 times and only got jumped twice.
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Not sure... I usually only pay attention to the money they will be giving me 
and what type of system it will be in. I was ranked competent at the time.
I haven't done them since I made Expert until last night and I wasn't jumped at the site... Got interdicted 4 times over 2 missions by 3 different ones on the way back to the station though. One of them ran as soon as I clocked him good and immediately interdicted me once I re-entered super cruise. Didn't mind that, the FAS was eager and they chafed like noobs (they were all Elite in Vultures) but they went down and I was +200,000 richer. Them Vultures are hard to keep on target! The first one had point defense and chaff so he was particularly hard to kill. The other 2 had just chaff and didn't like my missiles very much at all!
and what type of system it will be in. I was ranked competent at the time.I haven't done them since I made Expert until last night and I wasn't jumped at the site... Got interdicted 4 times over 2 missions by 3 different ones on the way back to the station though. One of them ran as soon as I clocked him good and immediately interdicted me once I re-entered super cruise. Didn't mind that, the FAS was eager and they chafed like noobs (they were all Elite in Vultures) but they went down and I was +200,000 richer. Them Vultures are hard to keep on target! The first one had point defense and chaff so he was particularly hard to kill. The other 2 had just chaff and didn't like my missiles very much at all!
It might. But the way it went for me is I got pretty beat up in the a Viper and after the third time I dropped the mission. I then went a while and didn't get jumped. I finally got jumped, got beat up in the Viper again, sold that, jumped in the Scout, got beat up, tried resetting the instance several times but the same result. Then I went back and grabbed the FAS... I was mad when I got there and the 4 of them didn't stand a chance. The top 2 went down in a fight (Master and Competent), quick like, and then got the other one (Mostly Harmless) running away. The last one (Harmless) jumped out before I could drop him.
Deleted member 115407
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The other way to do these missions (the way I do them) is to be really fast with collector limpets.
Drop in... target, pop, target, pop, target, pop, target, pop... cargo hatch... stow... wake.
You're in and out before the ambushers knew what happened.
The 80k goes up considerably if you're allied with the mission giver.
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Even better with black box recovery, as there is only one item to recover... one limpet to pop.
Drop in... target, pop, target, pop, target, pop, target, pop... cargo hatch... stow... wake.
You're in and out before the ambushers knew what happened.
The 80k goes up considerably if you're allied with the mission giver.
*edit*
Even better with black box recovery, as there is only one item to recover... one limpet to pop.
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This usually depends on the difficulty rating of the mission itself. If it's a low or mid-level mission with only one object to retrieve it often goes by uneventfully. If it's a Deadly or Elite level mission with 3-4 objects those are often "ambushed". However you can jump in/out of the mission USS as many times as necessary and can pick up a single object each time to eventually get all the objects you need. I would often drop into the USS, deploy my scoop and use full pips to shields and still only be able to collect a single item before the NPCs ambushed me. If it was a single NPC I could usually keep collecting but if it was an entire wing I usually jumped away and repeated the process. If you try to get greedy or impatient and keep collecting when you are clearly outmatched then that can go badly for you but usually it is possible to collect at least one object before you need to jump out (although you need to be prepared and good at scooping to get it on the first pass).
Deleted member 38366
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Seems RNG - but some are benign and Clean (actual Threat 0), others are indicating Threat 0... but are actually Threat 5
Last one I dropped into had a Wing of 7 (!) drop in to say "Hello"
Last one I dropped into had a Wing of 7 (!) drop in to say "Hello"
I'm not always this lucky :
Last one I dropped into had a Wing of 7 (!) drop in to say "Hello"
That ain't right!
Got curious, dropped into a USS a while back, started nosing thru the debris only to see "I can't believe that worked!" light up my comms and several new blips on the scanner. Just got out fast.
I had similar with the black box mission....lost my ship twice and was down 5 million credits. I kept the mission though and managed to scoop the boxes in two attempts, first was scoop and run...second I was able to fight off the attackers with the help of the police ships. I now read the mission text (may send fighters after you)
I notice some of these missions are promising half a million credits in my system, but some are as low as 20 thousand credits.
I have not done any of those missions as high return probably means busted ship and data run mission for 40,000 or 60,000 is way better and safer.
Have to grind for a Python.
I have not done any of those missions as high return probably means busted ship and data run mission for 40,000 or 60,000 is way better and safer.
Have to grind for a Python.
Just don't forget to retract your cargp scoop like a dummy when making your escape (don't ask how I know this, lol).