Too bloody much combat.

[Mohenjo]

SO, logged in to do a bit of mining. I'm flying a T7, so you can imagine it's not a combat oriented ship. It has one mine launcher on top to deter pirates. I had logged off in an asteroid ring.

Logged in and stepped away from the PC for a moment to bio, I hear "Scan detected." Looking back at the screen, I see about 20 pirate ships all around me. I log off immediately, then go finish my bio break.

I log back in, and imagine that, there's an armada of pirates there AGAIN. And AGAIN. And AGAIN. EVERY time I log on, I have pirates all around me.
I'm not playing to do combat. I'm flying a MINING SHIP, why is combat being FORCED on me, no matter what I do?

So, finally, I drop into the ring and only ONE enemy ship is there. I boost away, but it's a Cobra III, and it follows me FOREVER. Finally, I've been screwing around doing something OTHER than what I logged on to do, so I figure I can discourage him with a barrage of mines. I transfer power to Aux, and deploy. He comes into scan, issues the usual threats, so I drop mines and chaff.

He takes damage, and falls to 1%. He then becomes impervious to all damage and mines, and starts blasting me with some strange purple thing, I know not what. My shields evaporate, and I'm now getting slagged. He magically evades or ignores almost 300 mines, eventually getting me to 7% hull when he accidentally runs into me.

So, now I have to leave the area. I was unable to do ANY mining. Forced to do combat, and prevented from doing what I enjoy in the game, I'm frustrated.

I get back to base, and being so badly damaged, I carefully line up my ship with the mailslot before engaging my docking computer (it's had a bad habit of missing the slot lately). The computer immediately engages the boost and jinks to the right, slamming the ship into the side of the station at full speed. Shields evaporate, but there's no further damage. I back up manually, and realign to let the computer try again. It goes through the slot and dives maniacally at the landing pad, slamming into the platform for a bit more damage before I'm secured and safe.

This experience was NOT FUN. I wanted to relax with a little mining, but not only was the combat forced on me, not only was it with an enemy that was magically able to remain at 1% hull for 90% of the fight, but it all prevented me from either relaxing or doing what I play the game to do.

Gentlemen, this needs to stop. It happens ALL THE TIME. Not everyone is an adrenaline junkie combat fiend. Some of us like to relax, do some mining, some trading. Let us do it, I implore you.

 

[Zylark]

There is a trick to mining in peace and quiet:

Position yourself between planet and RES whilst in SC - just as you do when approaching a big station. Then head for RES. When in the RES, turn around so that you get the planet right ahead of you (this just to have a reference point later on so that you do not go around in circles when bouncing from rock to rock prospecting). Boost and boost and boost some more until you are roughly 30-40km from the RES beacon. Make sure your radar is clean even when fully zoomed out. Then start mining.

Absolutely nothing will bother you. All the pirates will spawn near the RES beacon, not on top of you.

(edit: and ditch the docking computer. Learn to do it manually. It soon enough becomes second nature, something you do almost half asleep - and still be faster and safer than letting the docking computer do it. As an extra bonus, you can use that module-slot for something actually useful...)

 

[Vingtetun]

Just drop at a random location in the ring instead of a res. Proper sleepy!

 

[Zylark]

Just drop at a random location in the ring instead of a res. Proper sleepy!

That won't stop pirate attacks. They'll still drop onto you at random intervals. Unlike my method, where they all drop onto the RES beacon.

 

[S~P]

As mentioned by Zylark you never mine at the RES, just move around 30-50kms away from the RES and you should be fine. I sometimes don't even bother dropping into the RES at all, just pick a spot further away and drop down.

 

[Mohenjo]

I wasn't in a ring with any specific sites, it's just a pristine ring. No matter where I drop in, there's immediately pirates, usually plenty. Most of the time I can outrun them, but if they've got a couple of faster ships, I have no alternative but to jump out again, since it's not really feasible to fight back in a mining ship.

And, I've dropped into rings with beacon points, but far from the beacons, and STILL been ganked by pirates (npcs, that is, I only play solo).

However you slice it, it's too much.

 

[Wyaston Hypatia]

If you are up for the trip - Jaques has tonnes of pristine rings and pirate free mining (at least for the moment) in the surrounding systems.

 

[Vingtetun]

I wasn't in a ring with any specific sites, it's just a pristine ring. No matter where I drop in, there's immediately pirates, usually plenty. Most of the time I can outrun them, but if they've got a couple of faster ships, I have no alternative but to jump out again, since it's not really feasible to fight back in a mining ship.

And, I've dropped into rings with beacon points, but far from the beacons, and STILL been ganked by pirates (npcs, that is, I only play solo).

However you slice it, it's too much.

You must be wanted, or powerplay aligned, or maybe hostile with a local faction.... or carrying loads of valuables.

Also. Have you checked the system security status?

 

[sndle9]

I wasn't in a ring with any specific sites, it's just a pristine ring. No matter where I drop in, there's immediately pirates, usually plenty. Most of the time I can outrun them, but if they've got a couple of faster ships, I have no alternative but to jump out again, since it's not really feasible to fight back in a mining ship.

And, I've dropped into rings with beacon points, but far from the beacons, and STILL been ganked by pirates (npcs, that is, I only play solo).

However you slice it, it's too much.

I don't think its possible to avoid a pirate magically arriving to scan you regardless of where you drop into the ring.
However, if you have nothing of interest in your cargo they will scan, complain and fly away.
When I mine, I ONLY carry limpets and nothing else (weightless resources don't count). This way I can be guaranteed to mine in peace.

BTW, I agree with you, the forced combat absolutely sucks. I occasionally like a fight and when I do I can go to a rez site, or combat zone. If I log in for a quiet evenings relaxation Trading, Mining or Exploring I want to be allowed to do so and the constant interdictions ruin this.

Don't know what your ranks are, but if you find the NPC's too difficult to kill/escape and its really ruining your game, you can ask support to reset your combat rank back down to Harmless. I did that. The interdictions are just as frequent, but they are now Novice rank and I can run away every time now.

Edit. I see you say lots of pirates arrive. I only see between 1 and 3, even before I got my rank reset so Vingtetun may have a point about your current status attracting bounty hunters. If you are pledged to a power, this attracts interdictors like flies too.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

It's just how the Spawn Init works for NPCs.
Depending on the location, entering or re-logging has the exact same effect : Spawns are started from scratch. Every single time.

So in a T7 Miner, logging off inside any Mining Resource location is not the best idea, because a brand new NPC scenario will spawn within seconds.
That's how the Game works everywhere when it comes to NPC spawns in any place that triggers them.

If a log-off is needed and time permitting, flying the T7 out of mass-lock is probably a good idea. If an ugly Wing of Pirate NPCs is spawned after relogging, that allows for a very swift departure.

 

[Kayweg]

If you are up for the trip - Jaques has tonnes of pristine rings and pirate free mining (at least for the moment) in the surrounding systems.

No need for long trips, outside of the bubble everything is pristine resources.

 

[Malkevin]

Since 2.1 dropped the game will always roll an NPC spawn in certain conditions.

The two most annoying ones are whenever you enter a mining zone instance (both dropping in and reconnecting)
And on planets when you enter certain POIs, I was investigating a ship crash and one thing I noticed about ship crashes is that if you follow the ditch backwards there's a pretty high likelihood of finding a cargo drop.

On one of these crashes which was in a populated system, every time I entered the trespass zone I would see a flight of NPCs spawn in.


Nice to know FDev decided to throw immersion away in favour of the "universe revolves around me" types.

 

[sndle9]

I was investigating a ship crash and one thing I noticed about ship crashes is that if you follow the ditch backwards there's a pretty high likelihood of finding a cargo drop.

Nice tip. Thanks.

 

[d8veh]

Firstly, don't mine in a RES. The mining is just as good anywhere in the same ring.

Secondly, pirates will always come for you wherever you mine. To get peaceful mining, you drop-out anywhere you want, then you must boost, boost, boost about 10 times in any straight line. Now you can mine in peace. As you boost away, you can sometimes see the pirates dropping in where you first arrived, but you keep boosting until they're no longer on your radar..

Thirdly, when using the docking computer, line up with the slot with the green light on the right otherwise you will get the problem you experienced, where the computer attempts to re-orientate the ship the correct way.

Hopefully, now you'll have trouble free mining like those that know how.

 

[eza]

Combat in a space combat game...whatever next?!

 

[Codger]

The insta-spawning of pirates any time you enter a ring is ridiculous. You can be in an unpopulated system, way off in the ring of some planet somewhere, not near any stations, not in a RES site, a place that's as out-of-the-way as possible to get and still be in the bubble, and there will miraculously be pirates there, waiting to scan you for tasty cargo.

Talk about destroying the illusion of space. It's terrible.

OP, I can confirm that if you drop in and then fly a good distance off after letting the first pirates scan you, you will be left alone. Of course that means you can't carry cargo when you drop in, because if they scan you and see cargo they will attack.

It also means that once you've started mining, if you then need to disconnect for any reason and you log off while in the ring instance, the pirates will re-spawn near you when you log in again. And this time you'll have cargo.

So if you really need to disconnect, get out of the ring instance first, at the least. Even better, go sell your stuff and then log out.

 

[Goose4291]

You must be wanted, or powerplay aligned, or maybe hostile with a local faction.... or carrying loads of valuables.

Also. Have you checked the system security status?

All questions that should be asked and answered first in my mind.

9/10 times these issues are caused by not understanding the mechanics.

Even then you've got to expect some risk. There should be nothing that is risk free in the ED verse for players. To do so would turn this into a very dull game.

 

[JetJaguar]

The insta-spawning of pirates any time you enter a ring is ridiculous. You can be in an unpopulated system, way off in the ring of some planet somewhere, not near any stations, not in a RES site, a place that's as out-of-the-way as possible to get and still be in the bubble, and there will miraculously be pirates there, waiting to scan you for tasty cargo.

Talk about destroying the illusion of space. It's terrible.

OP, I can confirm that if you drop in and then fly a good distance off after letting the first pirates scan you, you will be left alone. Of course that means you can't carry cargo when you drop in, because if they scan you and see cargo they will attack.

It also means that once you've started mining, if you then need to disconnect for any reason and you log off while in the ring instance, the pirates will re-spawn near you when you log in again. And this time you'll have cargo.

So if you really need to disconnect, get out of the ring instance first, at the least. Even better, go sell your stuff and then log out.

Yep, this is one really annoying aspect of trying to mine in peace...the silly pirates that spawn pretty much every time you are at a random ring location, even in unpopulated systems where you will never even see another Ai flying around until you drop into a ring.. Its not fun game play, is just irritating. Once in a while would be fine..but every time..please no FD! Other than irritation it is very immersion breaking. It's like a big flag being waved saying, "your playing a computer game with scripted events!"

 

[Mohenjo]

Wasn't wanted. Don't do Powerplay. There WAS no faction in the system, it's unpopulated, and I'm friendly with everyone in nearby systems.

It's not that I'm against there being combat AT ALL, it's that it's ubiquitous. There should be a CHANCE of pirates, it shouldn't be guaranteed.

Also, it's not JUST a "space combat game." It's a space game that includes combat. It's also a space trading game, a space exploration game, a space mining game.

 

[Foxiol Eagle]

Also, it's not JUST a "space combat game." It's a space game that includes combat. It's also a space trading game, a space exploration game, a space mining game.

This here ladies and gentlemen. +1 googolplex.