Newcomer / Intro 4 Ships Destroyed in 4 Sorties

[Kokovec]

What the Hell?
I've been playing this game for a few weeks now in both open and solo play modes.
I worked my way up to purchasing a Type-6 after running countless missions with my newbie ship.
Up until this point I've been able to either evade interdictions or escape soon after.
I think all this time I've lost two ships. Mostly because I wasn't on the ball.

However, the last four trips I've been interdicted and destroyed in like 10 seconds by solo mode AI pilots.
I was dead before my FSD drive came back online and my shields lasted for like 5 blasts.
I have top of the line shields and hull enforcement as well as shield boosters... you name it.
What's going on?

 

[Manticore]

Mostly because I wasn't on the ball.

Yes; that's generally the reason disasters happen.

Is your Type-6 fitted out with the biggest shields, power generator and thrusters etc.?

I have actually been finding the T6 great for out-flying attempted interdictions. (Never submit to an interdiction is rule one. It continually amazes me that people submit to interdiction and then complain about getting slammed).

Doing missions the other night I was chain interdicted in a system. Two I flew out of; the third I got pulled down and still managed to chaff, boost and escape back to supercruise although the shields took a hell of a hammering.

Have you been using countermeasures (point defense, chaff etc.)?

The T6 is a hauler and not built for combat but has quite reasonable defensive capabilities if you fit it out correctly.

 

[Kokovec]

Yes; that's generally the reason disasters happen.

Is your Type-6 fitted out with the biggest shields, power generator and thrusters etc.?

I have all of the shield options one can get for the T-6.
I don't have chaff or heatsink though. Can't seem to find it in Outfitting.
I also don't have the gadget that self-repairs the shield.
I'm usually pretty good with evading an interdiction but those 4 times there was absolutely no chance. It was just too wild a ride.
Then I was dead within 10 seconds of stopping. No chance to react at all.

I ended up abandoning my missions and rebooting the game.
I've had two successful interdiction evasions since then.
On eof those missions had them emailing me that someone was coming to get me. Maybe that AI bot was too powerful.

 

[Faded Glory]

If you are being interdicted due to missions, which it sounds like you are, pay attention to the rank of the mission. High ranking missions will spawn higher ranking NPC opposition, so if you take for example a Tycoon ranked delivery mission, you could very well be interdicted by a Deadly NPC in a well equipped combat ship.

That could explain why you are destroyed so quickly, as these NPCs can use railguns and plasma accelerators and are very accurate with them.

 

[Ozram]

I have all of the shield options one can get for the T-6.
I don't have chaff or heatsink though. Can't seem to find it in Outfitting.
I also don't have the gadget that self-repairs the shield.
I'm usually pretty good with evading an interdiction but those 4 times there was absolutely no chance. It was just too wild a ride.
Then I was dead within 10 seconds of stopping. No chance to react at all.

I ended up abandoning my missions and rebooting the game.
I've had two successful interdiction evasions since then.
On eof those missions had them emailing me that someone was coming to get me. Maybe that AI bot was too powerful.

Hey there. Looks like you could do with a few helpful hints and resources. I have a T6 as well (among others). This was my build before engineers:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/type_6_t...0404040332402f56.AwRj4yKA.IwBj4zTI?bn=Firefly
Feel free to use the coriolis to post us your build so we can look at it. If you are having trouble finding modules, I recommend going on http://inara.cz
It's a great resource and there are plenty of friendly people there to help out.
General tip for interdictions is to submit (throttle down) and when you are in instance, boost, boost again and wake out. If the pursuer is in a heavy ship and has you on mass lock, it's best to high wake (jump to a different system) as the mass lock has no effect on those jumps. Mines will be useful to slow down the pursuer but they don't guarantee an exit. Chaff is very useful here but also no guarantee. I tend to strafe and roll while boosting and dropping mines. As soon as the blue timer cycles and your fsd is ready to go, retract hard points and activate your drive. This will normally be enough to get you out of trouble.
This might also be helpful:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=woy8nmaVuVg

 

[Manticore]

I don't have chaff or heatsink though. Can't seem to find it in Outfitting.

You may need to find other starports, platforms or landfall bases where they are available. Not everything is available in Outfitting at every port of call.

I disagree that you should submit to interdiction. Learning to fly out of an attempted interdiction is just as much of a skill as combat piloting. Interdiction avoidance is just as much of a challenge as combat piloting.

In my opinion submitting to interdiction is paramount to saying "I give up"; in which case you can take your chances in normal space. Since 2.1 taking those chances have become extremely risky.

Use countermeasures; I know from experience that chaff is extremely effective.

 

[aRJay]

If you are being interdicted due to missions, which it sounds like you are, pay attention to the rank of the mission. High ranking missions will spawn higher ranking NPC opposition, so if you take for example a Tycoon ranked delivery mission, you could very well be interdicted by a Deadly NPC in a well equipped combat ship.

That could explain why you are destroyed so quickly, as these NPCs can use railguns and plasma accelerators and are very accurate with them.

Another factor is have you recently ranked up as that allows the NPCs that come after you to be higher ranked as well.

Also keep in mind that the Sidewinder (I presume that was your newbie ship) is way more manoeuvrable than your T6.

Yes if you get a message from your mission provider about an NPC after you he will be ranked 1 higher than the highest of your or the missions rank, and if it is your rank and one of your other ranks is higher than your combat then he can be 2 higher than you, he is also going to be persistent and will keep after you until the mission is complete or abandoned or you have killed him, cut off his head, buried the body upside down in salt in the middle of a crossroads with a stake through the heart, the head you drop into a black hole.

 

[Faded Glory]

[snip]
Another factor is have you recently ranked up as that allows the NPCs that come after you to be higher ranked as well.

Yes if you get a message from your mission provider about an NPC after you he will be ranked 1 higher than the highest of your or the missions rank, and if it is your rank and one of your other ranks is higher than your combat then he can be 2 higher than you

Mission spawned NPCs should not be affected by your own rank, that correlation is for randomly spawned NPC interdictions. What you are referring to (if I'm not mistaken) is the 'fix' that was put in to help prevent Elite ranked traders and Explorers from always generating Elite combat rank NPC opponents with random NPC interdictions.

I'm pretty sure this is the case, as otherwise mission ranks wouldn't mean anything (always possible), and a Harmless player could take Elite ranked missions and only get Harmless or Mostly Harmless opponents. Additionally, I am Deadly ranked, and if I take a low ranking mission, the targets are generally in the range of the mission rank, not mine.

That said, if the OP is getting random NPC interdictions, then yes, if they have ranked up recently that could account for more difficult encounters.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

It's probably been said here before but the T6's shields are paper thin as are the other T class.
What you really want is an Asp I think.

Personally I'd stick with a Cobra III or a Viper III or a Diamondback scout and do bounty hunting until you can get an imperial courier and then use that to get into an Asp Scout/Explorer for the trading game or a Vulture for combat.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

If you being shot at then you need to have 4 pips to SYS as that effectively increases shield strength by 2.5 times which can make a significant difference on surviving:

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;RrSXvCEergY]https://youtu.be/RrSXvCEergY[/video]

If the NPC has missiles then the utility Point Defence is a must item (passive weapon and fires on missiles, torpedoes automatically).
Also take care not to stack too many missions as each will (if stated on the mission) send a hostile ship after you.

 

[D.G.Cerberus]

You may need to find other starports, platforms or landfall bases where they are available. Not everything is available in Outfitting at every port of call.

I disagree that you should submit to interdiction. Learning to fly out of an attempted interdiction is just as much of a skill as combat piloting. Interdiction avoidance is just as much of a challenge as combat piloting.

In my opinion submitting to interdiction is paramount to saying "I give up"; in which case you can take your chances in normal space. Since 2.1 taking those chances have become extremely risky.

Use countermeasures; I know from experience that chaff is extremely effective.

However, if OP is losing every interdiction mini-game and being crashed out of SC spinning away and with the longer FSD cool down period then I would respectfully disagree with you. There are plenty of you tube vids out there of experienced CMDRs including some of the forum heavyweights being simply unable to win the interdiction game - I believe there was a period when it was bugged - not sure if that is fixed now.

Myself - if I am hauling cargo with stacked missions (and I don't bother looking at mission rank because for me at least it is an irrelevance), I always submit immediately, boost and go (Either High or low depending)
If I am not hauling then I always submit because I welcome the opportunity to kill the interdictor. But that is just my gameplay style and it works for me.

In other news OP - use Inara.cz to find your nearest station with the module you require.

As Manticore and other have said. Get Chaff and Point defence. With my T6's spread around in various places, none of them have shield boosters, mainly because the shields are crap anyway and boosting it by one booster hardly makes a difference. Fit 2 Point defence and one chaff is the way I fit them. Also I go for the Biweaves as this is useful for fast recharging between interdictions.
Thrusters and Power Distributor must always be A Rated. The T6 is relatively fast so use that whilst spamming boost. When you work out what is attacking you (or rather the weapon) this will inform whether you spam chaff or let the 2x PDs go to work. THis will also inform whether you put 4 pips into engines and 2 into shields or vice versa.

 

[JetsonRING]

Mines for destroying NPCs

What the Hell?
I've been playing this game for a few weeks now in both open and solo play modes.
I worked my way up to purchasing a Type-6 after running countless missions with my newbie ship.
Up until this point I've been able to either evade interdictions or escape soon after.
I think all this time I've lost two ships. Mostly because I wasn't on the ball.

However, the last four trips I've been interdicted and destroyed in like 10 seconds by solo mode AI pilots.
I was dead before my FSD drive came back online and my shields lasted for like 5 blasts.
I have top of the line shields and hull enforcement as well as shield boosters... you name it.
What's going on?

Mines. NPCs are predictable. They fly straight, they fly flat, they fly right into whatever you drop in front of them which in my case is . . . mines.

So fit one or two mine layers. Not that "shock-mines" trash, real mines. Then, when interdicted:
Submit immediately (submitting drastically reduces FSD cool-down time from 45 seconds to 12).
Pips to ENG, throttle to 100% and BOOST.
Designate your target and deploy hard-points.
Line up your opponent directly behind and on the same level with your own ship, then start dropping mines over the side as fast as you can. Not 2 or 4, more like 8 or 10. More for large ships. Just keep dropping mines as fast as you can until his shields go down.
Monitor your opponent as he flies into the mines and you see his shields drop.
DECISION TIME!
If he flies right past your mines, better to spool up the FSD and hi-wake, and then try to figure out what went wrong later. If the NPC flies into your mines and his shields drop you have the option to hi-wake (usually the better option) or, turn into and finish off the NPC. If that is your choice:
Set pips to WEPS/SYS, turn into your opponent and burn him/her down with laser and multi-cannon. Check their exploded wreckage for interesting or valuable cargo. Smile at growing list of bounties.

 

[Alex D]

Line up your opponent directly behind and on the same level with your own ship, then start dropping mines over the side as fast as you can. Not 2 or 4, more like 8 or 10. More for large ships. Just keep dropping mines as fast as you can until his shields go down.
[...]
Set pips to WEPS/SYS, turn into your opponent and burn him/her down with laser and multi-cannon.

That would be hard to do in Type-6, which OP mentioned in his post.
Also I don't see a point in turning back towards hostile ship, once your mines drop his shield.
Just keep spamming mines, which in most cases quickly finish him off (if not - he runs away anyway or is finished by police).

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

I have all of the shield options one can get for the T-6.
I don't have chaff or heatsink though. Can't seem to find it in Outfitting.
I also don't have the gadget that self-repairs the shield.<snip>

Chaff, Heatsink and Point Defence go into your Utility Mounts in Outfitting but not all stations sell them, but normally at least one or two of them are available at the bigger stations.

Not sure which gadget you mean but if your shields go down/offline you need to have pips/power in SYS for them to repair.
if they are not offline and you have just about 1 ring left then you can use Shield Cell Banks to power them back up, but as I wrote in my previous post it is better have 4 pips in SYS so the shields last much longer (up to 2.5 times).

 

[aRJay]

That would be hard to do in Type-6, which OP mentioned in his post.
Also I don't see a point in turning back towards hostile ship, once your mines drop his shield.
Just keep spamming mines, which in most cases quickly finish him off (if not - he runs away anyway or is finished by police).

In my experience if you are going for mine kills police intervention can be a very bad thing, they are at least as stupid as your attacker and therefore bound to fly through any mines he missed earning you a bounty. If I spot police ships, any other ships for that matter I tend to stop shooting mines until I am sure nobody else is going to hit them.

 

[xondk]

What the Hell?
I've been playing this game for a few weeks now in both open and solo play modes.
I worked my way up to purchasing a Type-6 after running countless missions with my newbie ship.
Up until this point I've been able to either evade interdictions or escape soon after.
I think all this time I've lost two ships. Mostly because I wasn't on the ball.

However, the last four trips I've been interdicted and destroyed in like 10 seconds by solo mode AI pilots.
I was dead before my FSD drive came back online and my shields lasted for like 5 blasts.
I have top of the line shields and hull enforcement as well as shield boosters... you name it.
What's going on?

1: What attacked you? this is a BIG factor.
2: did you submit? if not, doing so will shorten the cooldown.

 

[Macros Black]

I'd say submit, boost, chaff, and high wake. Not much can catch the T-6 Transporter. Ran a shield-less Asp Explorer (395 m/s) on Sothis runs. Survived all attacks. Mines were really just there for fun, if you're fast enough, you don't need them.

 

[Ozram]

Well, OP; lots of advice here. Tell us how you go and safe flying!

 

[Manticore]

It's probably been said here before but the T6's shields are paper thin as are the other T class.

I got pulled down into normal space the other night in my T6. The old girl took a hammering on the shields but, despite the extended cool-down, I still managed to jump back to supercruise.

Those shields may not be as effective as on some other ships but they seem to do o.k. by me......