Impossible Passenger Missions?

Greetings!

First and foremost, this update is perfect for players such as myself that like to travel long distances and poke around the different corners of the galaxy. Passenger Missions are great for getting me out there looking at things.

Unfortunately, in practice some of these missions have been impossible for me to complete. Specifically, missions where the passenger is demanding that he or she never be scanned are turning out to be major headaches and a HUGE waste of time IF enemy ships are sent after them. The last one I did before storming over to my computer to post this thread was exceptionally frustrating because I had already invested 400LY of travel and two scanned beacons before I failed the mission thanks to being scanned a mere second time.

Let me describe the logistics so that you can understand my frustration a bit better. I am flying an Anaconda with a modded FSD, some really good weapons, and some of those newfangled Taipan fighters. So jumping far isn't a huge downer but it obviously still takes a bit of time when you have to stop to scan beacons and such. This aspect of the mission was fun for me and I have no complaints. The headaches began when my Passenger called up front to tell me she was sought after by enemies. My first thought was to try and avoid them entirely so that we didn't risk a scan but because I had a beacon about 3,000LS away I had to fight off two interdiction attempts. When the third attempt happened in the next system I decided to submit and try to boost away as fast as possible and get back into FSD. Nope. I got scanned and the passenger was upset.

So I killed the guy chasing us but it was pointless. There were two other people chasing us. So after going another 200LY I reach where the third beacon is and sure enough the interdictions begin again. This time I am thinking that I can try and pounce on this guy quick as spit (without scanning him myself), eat the bounty, and hope he doesn't have time to scan me. As I am tearing a Viper up with my Anaconda he scans me. He doesn't fight back, try to fly away, or even dodge a little. He just scans me. My passenger informs me she wants off my ship immediately thereafter and I have suddenly wasted a huge amount of time getting 400LY away from my minor faction's home system for nothing.

I can think of no scenario where this could have ended better for me. I could MAYBE have just kept trying to fight the interdictions but that is not an easy thing to do in my Conda. Not at all. I fail more than I succeed and then I would be worse off since my FSD would be eons in recovering. So how does one complete these missions? I can see taking on one pursuer, sure, but THREE one after the other? I didn't even make it through the two without being scanned.

To summarize, missions that require your passenger to NEVER be scanned, long distance travel with multiple stops, and multiple enemies in pursuit do not seem balanced or even possible. Even a best case scenario of being able to defeat these interdictions and/or boost away after submitting without being scanned still result in a massive waste of time since you will be pulled from supercruise multiple times on your way to the beacon. Dealing with interdictions during a 20+ jump mission is just not worth the time. The missions don't pay you extra unless you kill the pursuers, so it isn't like taking the extra time to try and avoid encounters will make the mission payout worth it. Yet, if you do engage the pursuers you will lose your passenger. As I said before, headache.

The two quick fix alternatives I can think of are to make it so that only one person (or a wing that attacks together) pursues you on these types of missions or the number of times the person can be scanned is upped to at least 3 or 4.

Has anyone else been having issues?

Are there perhaps plans already to address these specific missions that I just haven't spotted online yet?
 
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Maybe you could shed some light on the details for me, so I can understand the circumstances better:

- Is this "don't scan me" type of passenger common for long range missions, or this was a rare occasion?
- Does the scan have to be finished for the passenger to be upset? If yes, then this could be handled as the new version of the Robigo runs of old with the fail on scan missions. Then these could be done in an Asp modded for speed. Anaconda is not the best choice for sneaky operations anyway.

What I'm concerned about, is that the NPCs have a tendency to just teleport on top of us when we drop to normal space. This could be a problem at tourist beacons.
 
The "don't scan me" quirk is outlined in the parameters of the mission.

For flying discreet passengers, you need at least modded drives or a faster ship. An unmodified (thruster-wise) Annie is too slow to avoid scans. Even my G5DD Annie would give me worry about being scanned. An Orca would be a good bet for shuttling around discreet passenger parties.

Edit: I think the missions are designed so that there is no one "best" passenger vessel. The missions have different parameters (time, distance, passenger quirks, etc...) so that different missions play to different strengths. For criminal transport, a fast boost speed is key for your success.
 
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Don't take criminals unless you are highly skilled in the dark arts of smuggling. I think they are great because they are hard.
 
can I just check a mechanic here.....you stated your headaches began when the "passenger called up front to say she was sought after by enemies" - does this mean that when you accepted the mission in the first place she was listed as "clean" and the status only changed once you were within the mission??
 
can I just check a mechanic here.....you stated your headaches began when the "passenger called up front to say she was sought after by enemies" - does this mean that when you accepted the mission in the first place she was listed as "clean" and the status only changed once you were within the mission??

Yes. It was "Unlikely" that my passenger was going to have ships sent after her. Otherwise, I would not have taken the mission. This was a point I should have clarified in my OP a bit better.

I totally get that some of the criminals are meant to be really difficult to run because they are probably going to have ships run after them but in this case there was no reason to expect trouble.

Additionally, I still feel the missions aren't worth it for the cost. This mission was for 5,600,000CR or so for about 400LY worth of jumps and 6,000LS worth of super cruise. If you have to add dodging THREE people coming after you, is it really worth it? I got this mission from my player-run minor faction (so, allied). I have seen some upwards of 9,000,000 or so, but they went even farther and looked to guarantee trouble. For those doing these missions, is it really worth the time?
 
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My passenger informs me she wants off my ship immediately thereafter and I have suddenly wasted a huge amount of time getting 400LY away from my minor faction's home system for nothing.

Hmmm...immediately?

I propose FD should add an airlock function to the cargo hatch.
 
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Don't take criminals unless you are highly skilled in the dark arts of smuggling. I think they are great because they are hard.

Yes!

You need to either outrun the scan or turn your guns on them immediately, which will break the scan. It's possible in an Anaconda, but not ideal.

When submitting to an interdiction, the hostile will appear behind you, usually a few seconds after you drop in. Deploy weapons and begin to pitch 180 degrees, targeting the hostile as it appears. Let off a volley and either jump or finish 'em off. Oh, and make sure "report crimes against me" is switched off. ;)
 
I made one of those, don't really see the problem. When attackers came after us I did destroy them, once you shoot at them they stop scanning. Turn off "Report Crimes against me" so no cops are coming and your good.
 
Sounds pretty fun actually, reminds me of good old shadow delivery days.

I will try one in a speed cobra with silent running and modded thrusters and see how that turns out.
 
I made one of those, don't really see the problem. When attackers came after us I did destroy them, once you shoot at them they stop scanning. Turn off "Report Crimes against me" so no cops are coming and your good.


OP says:

As I am tearing a Viper up with my Anaconda he scans me.

So which is it? Doesn't sound like firing at them always stops a scan.
 
Yes!

You need to either outrun the scan or turn your guns on them immediately, which will break the scan. It's possible in an Anaconda, but not ideal.

When submitting to an interdiction, the hostile will appear behind you, usually a few seconds after you drop in. Deploy weapons and begin to pitch 180 degrees, targeting the hostile as it appears. Let off a volley and either jump or finish 'em off. Oh, and make sure "report crimes against me" is switched off. ;)

You missed the part of my first post where I mentioned this strategy failed. I submitted to interdiction, turned around, deployed hard points, and immediately starting blasting the guy when he got in range. As I shot him he just kept scanning like nothing was wrong. He explored maybe 3 or 4 seconds after completing the scan.
 
Yes!

You need to either outrun the scan or turn your guns on them immediately, which will break the scan. It's possible in an Anaconda, but not ideal.

When submitting to an interdiction, the hostile will appear behind you, usually a few seconds after you drop in. Deploy weapons and begin to pitch 180 degrees, targeting the hostile as it appears. Let off a volley and either jump or finish 'em off. Oh, and make sure "report crimes against me" is switched off. ;)

Had a similar situation as OP, tried your solution, however the interdicting ship was Clean. Chasing after the Criminal Mastermind I was transporting. "Crimes against HIM" were not turned off. Police were called, scans were made, missions were failed. [sour]

Good fun though. Maybe next time lead him to an Anarchy system.
 
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