First experience in Open

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

It was late last night (technically early this morning, around 02:00 EDT) and thought I would pop in to open just to see what wouls happen.

I charted for the nearest ringed planet in the system, and was nearly there when I was interdicted. I was flying my combat FDL which contains no cargo or cargo space, and since I didn't receive any idiotic threatening messages, I figured it wasn't an NPC. I really had no chance to evade, because right from the start only had a few bars left, and was jerked out of SC.

I spun around and came face to face with a Federal Corevette bearing down on me. I was hit with heavily modified beam lasers and who knows what else, and by the time I had started charging my FSD to high wake outa there, my shields were gone. My shields are not modified, but all of my utility slots contain modified shield boosters, so losing them after two passes is rare, in the "hasn't happened before" range.

I was able to get away without taking any damage, and without getting a name or receiving any comminication from my assailent at all.

Upon reqching the next system, I was interdicted again, though this time easily escabale. I dropped into a hi-res, waited 10 min for anyone to show up or anything to spawn. No one arrived and nothing spawned (except for a T6 that was mining), so I left and returned to solo. After an hour in the same res, I had collected $2mil in bounties, as I had every other trip to this res. Went back to open a few times in the same res, and never got more than $50k in bounties.

I'll try open again sometime, and am trying to avoid making judgement on this experience alone, but obviously there was nothing I could do againt the vette and will avoid open until I am capable of standing ground.

 

[Noctover]

It was late last night (technically early this morning, around 02:00 EDT) and thought I would pop in to open just to see what wouls happen.

I charted for the nearest ringed planet in the system, and was nearly there when I was interdicted. I was flying my combat FDL which contains no cargo or cargo space, and since I didn't receive any idiotic threatening messages, I figured it wasn't an NPC. I really had no chance to evade, because right from the start only had a few bars left, and was jerked out of SC.

I spun around and came face to face with a Federal Corevette bearing down on me. I was hit with heavily modified beam lasers and who knows what else, and by the time I had started charging my FSD to high wake outa there, my shields were gone. My shields are not modified, but all of my utility slots contain modified shield boosters, so losing them after two passes is rare, in the "hasn't happened before" range.

I was able to get away without taking any damage, and without getting a name or receiving any comminication from my assailent at all.

Upon reqching the next system, I was interdicted again, though this time easily escabale. I dropped into a hi-res, waited 10 min for anyone to show up or anything to spawn. No one arrived and nothing spawned (except for a T6 that was mining), so I left and returned to solo. After an hour in the same res, I had collected $2mil in bounties, as I had every other trip to this res. Went back to open a few times in the same res, and never got more than $50k in bounties.

I'll try open again sometime, and am trying to avoid making judgement on this experience alone, but obviously there was nothing I could do againt the vette and will avoid open until I am capable of standing ground.

Best defence against things like vettes and annies if you dont want to fight is circle strafe them with FA off until your FSD has charged then high wake. Up time on you will be minimal. High tailing it in a straight line can often be fatal.

Did the CG for 3 days in open, not so much of a sniff of interest :/.

 

[Marshall...]

I take it you were in a CG system as the chances of running into anyone outside a high traffic system is very low.

 

[Ian Skippy]

since I didn't receive any idiotic threatening messages, I figured it wasn't an NPC. I really had no chance to evade, because right from the start only had a few bars left, and was jerked out of SC.

1) human players are hollow on the radar. Keep an eye out for them.
2) You could easily have evaded by not having him start the interdiction at all. Your FdL is more agile than his corvette. You were interdicted because you didnt pay attention to your radar while in SC.
3) You are much faster and more agile than a corvette in normal space. You could have easily have escaped.

The main problem is your conclusion, which is the opposite of what the real conclusion is: you had ample opportunities to do something, but you didnt even realize you were making multiple mistakes.

 

[Lightspeed]

Best defence against things like vettes and annies if you dont want to fight is circle strafe them with FA off until your FSD has charged then high wake. Up time on you will be minimal. High tailing it in a straight line can often be fatal.

Did the CG for 3 days in open, not so much of a sniff of interest :/.

I was taken out in a Keelback in the CG .... not too much to lose and I was testing the water .... but then I did try escaping in a straight line

OP ... if you press the H key when you are interdicted, it will show up what ship is targeting you, name, type of ship etc.

 

[Herbrand]

You were unlucky - I play in Open all the time, and outside of CGs the times I was interdicted by players out for blood can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

But really, if a 'vette is after you just put 4 pips to ENG, boost opposite to the direction they are coming from, wait until speed reaches maximum, disable Flight Assist then switch 4 pips to shields. You should be able to get away under most circumstances.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

I've been playing in Open for quite a while now, and so far 100% of my contact with fellow CMDRs has been friendly. I'm currently operating out of Bluford Orbital in LHS 3447 (the starter system). I send out the odd o7 to Local, and quite often get some nice replies.

I may be moving on soon though, because although there's very good money to be made transporting booze to Ngaliba (and boy do the people in that system like a drink!) the two platforms there (Nordenskiold Landing and Kingsmill Settlement) can be an utter nightmare to dock at.

 

[Commander_Brucitor]

It was late last night (technically early this morning, around 02:00 EDT) and thought I would pop in to open just to see what wouls happen.

I charted for the nearest ringed planet in the system, and was nearly there when I was interdicted. I was flying my combat FDL which contains no cargo or cargo space, and since I didn't receive any idiotic threatening messages, I figured it wasn't an NPC. I really had no chance to evade, because right from the start only had a few bars left, and was jerked out of SC.

I spun around and came face to face with a Federal Corevette bearing down on me. I was hit with heavily modified beam lasers and who knows what else, and by the time I had started charging my FSD to high wake outa there, my shields were gone. My shields are not modified, but all of my utility slots contain modified shield boosters, so losing them after two passes is rare, in the "hasn't happened before" range.

I was able to get away without taking any damage, and without getting a name or receiving any comminication from my assailent at all.

Upon reqching the next system, I was interdicted again, though this time easily escabale. I dropped into a hi-res, waited 10 min for anyone to show up or anything to spawn. No one arrived and nothing spawned (except for a T6 that was mining), so I left and returned to solo. After an hour in the same res, I had collected $2mil in bounties, as I had every other trip to this res. Went back to open a few times in the same res, and never got more than $50k in bounties.

I'll try open again sometime, and am trying to avoid making judgement on this experience alone, but obviously there was nothing I could do againt the vette and will avoid open until I am capable of standing ground.

Yeah sounds pretty unlucky, I only play in open and I rarely see a soul, let alone get interdicted with the exception of Community Goals, pretty much guaranteed to get an interdiction there. I would definitely give it another​ shot.

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

I was interdicted within a minute of arriving, so no, there wasn't much chance to avoid that. Also, I never said that I didn't have any options. I knew my only option was to get away, which I was able to do without much difficulty. I may have been able to avoid losing some of my shields had I turned FA off and circles or whatever, but my choice to full pip to ENG and boost until FSD chagrd and HW was hardly me making "several" mistakes. In either scenario, I run away without taking any damage to hull or modules.

I avoided him for the most part, but if two passes were enough to take my shields, then I wouldn't be interested in taking that risk again. My main issue was that, sure I can get away, but constantly running away doesn't leave room for much else, and where is the fun in that?

I also don't get the apparent disparity in NPC spawns in the RES sites between open and solo. Is this typical, or also just a fluke?

 

[Stealthie]

For the sake of balance, I'll say that around 90% of my interactions with other players in Open are positive, ranging from brief chat to winging-up to go do stuff.

The other 10%, however, tend to be utterly catastrophic and often pointless; such as the run-in I had with a well-known wizard who saw fit to destroy my AspX for absolutely no reason after I'd high-waked and the FSD countdown was sitting at 0:00 but the game was obviously still deciding what to do next. [sad]

 

[Wasp0]

OP please re-arrange these words to form a well known saying... Mongering Scare!

Open is safe if you know what you are doing, as others have said you did not, so treat your escapade into open as a learning curve, and as long as you don't repeat said mistakes, then your foray into open was worth it as you now know what NOT TO DO!

As for saying Res sites in open produce a lot less activity is pure Mongering Scaringly not true.

 

[Darkphoenix]

You were unlucky - I play in Open all the time, and outside of CGs the times I was interdicted by players out for blood can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

But really, if a 'vette is after you just put 4 pips to ENG, boost opposite to the direction they are coming from, wait until speed reaches maximum, disable Flight Assist then switch 4 pips to shields. You should be able to get away under most circumstances.

That all depends.....he was unengineered and if the vette had class 5 dirty drives getting away would not be quite so simple......still doable of course but not quite as easy.


I usually get everything ready to bug out during interdiction if I don't want to be someone else's content then when you submit just do as you say right after doing the number one thing and charging the FSD for a high wake. Fifteen seconds is not a lot of time to strip someone's shields, then turn to make another pass at them as you go boosting past......

 

[Blasphemous One]

Open is great, sometimes hang around Eravate, lhs 3447 area assisting new players, pirating (demanding 1 ton cargo when they refuse just take out their shields and leave, didn't killed anyone nor i am planing to)

From what i know, many traders i met in open play there because they want some fun (getting / escaping interdiction etc shet )
Pirating (role playing) is fun as long as you dont kill any newbie and demand anything above 1 ton biowaste lul.

PS: for me Pirating is not PvP ;-)

 

[Threeofseven]

Flying an FDL is often seen as an invitation for combat as it's a pure combat ship. I can fly in my cobra all day at CGs and rarely attract anyone (even with a wanted tag) but if I'm in my Clipper I get pulled quite often. A fed vett really isn't a threat because they are so slow that if you don't want to fight you can get away. If you do want to fly your FDL in pvp, engineering it is an absolute must.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

I don't really see the massive issue here. You took on a more powerful ship (good on you) it's engineering meant it took your shields down way faster than you're used to - you got away (without a scratch).

You did well really, I wouldn't let that put me off Open. It's a shame about instancing not giving you any NPC's but that can happen anywhere unless you spot a trend (in which case log a bug report).

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

Again, not clear on the comments about my mistake and learning curve. I was interdicted, saw it was a vette w/ heavy mods and immediately pipped to ENG, boosted until FSD charge complete and HW without taking any damage.

I could have saved some shield had I started boosting away the second I was interdicted, but my FDL does have a Yuuge MC w/ class 5 Rapid Fire & Corrosive round mod, and two class 5 modded MC (turrets) with thermal shock mods, as well as 5 or 6 shield boosters and hull reinforcements on all optional internal slots, save the 5B Shield Generator and 4A module reinforcement, so I was at least going to take a second to see what had interdicted me before running away.

Again though, I only lost shields and got away unscathed. Sure, it would have been nicer had my assailant been pirating and after my cargo instead of just looking to attack and destroy without motive (in-game anyway), but I am not butt-hurt or otherwise outraged about it. Just simply communicating my first experience with Open play.

I was prepared for something like this, and when it became obvious that I wasn't going to escape the interdiction I went ahead and targeted the nearest system (I had already set filters to systems only in the nav window) so that I wouldn't have to fumble with that while trying to not die.

I would love to know exatcly what weapons and mods the attacker was using because it sure made a helluva display from where I sat, so if it was you, please fill me in. (Again, not interested in slamming or judging your choice of how you play the game, just info on your loadout so that I can close gaps in defenses accordingly)

 

[Wasp0]

Open is great, sometimes hang around Eravate, lhs 3447 area assisting new players, pirating (demanding 1 ton cargo when they refuse just take out their shields and leave, didn't killed anyone nor i am planing to)

From what i know, many traders i met in open play there because they want some fun (getting / escaping interdiction etc shet )
Pirating (role playing) is fun as long as you dont kill any newbie and demand anything above 1 ton biowaste lul.

PS: for me Pirating is not PvP ;-)

You have not obviously run into Adele's Armada yet then? They disapprove of ANY kind of pirating in the Eravate system and will hound you till you leave. This is one of my fav past-times lately hounding the hounders! They hate that!

 

[BaddMongo]

These first time in open horror stories really make me smile. Having played in Open exclusively since game release for over 2 years and outside of CG systems (where have gone to look for trouble) can count the number of times have been interdicted by other players on one hand and only one of those attacks was fatal the one time I was in a under-equipped Hauler taxi.

Open is really not that dangerous as long as you play smart and avoid the obvious honeypot systems where the nefarious types usually lie in wait. If you want to bounty hunt/trade/mine/whatever unmolested alone, simply find a nice quiet backwater to hangout in for those activities and your chances of being disturbed are exceedingly remote.

If you have to enter a honeypot system (ie CG / Engineer / Starter / famous / high profile ( Sol, Lave, Achenar, Maia etc) / rare goods systems) for whatever reason, then you need to be on your guard and ready for trouble. Outside of those sort of systems in my experience it is extremely rare to randomly stumble across anyone out to kill you, most encounters they will either be friendly or at least carry on about their business while ignoring you.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Again, not clear on the comments about my mistake and learning curve. I was interdicted, saw it was a vette w/ heavy mods and immediately pipped to ENG, boosted until FSD charge complete and HW without taking any damage.

The issue is that you saw it was a corvette (and assumed it was a player) after being interdicted. If you had noticed before, you could have prevented him establishing the tether in the first place.

As for the rest: you need to completely engineer and outfit for PvP. Anything else will have you have no chance whatsoever. I dont like it either, but it is what it is.

 

[jasonbarron]

OP, please don't fly a battle fit FdL and then play the victim card. The worst thing that happened was that you found out your build was inadequate and that your skills harvesting woefully underpowered NPC's had not prepared you for the real thing; instead of looking at things negatively, instead view the episode as a good learning experience.

A couple other thoughts; don't expect people to hail you with any comms as it's just not practical. From the time I get interdicted in my FdL I'm gun's hot and boosting sideways full FA Off unleashing a barrage of G5 PA's at point blank range, and if your dumb enough to be typing something out while I'm doing it you might look up to see your second ring of shields disappearing. Getting witty in comms gives the trader time to hi wake (or "magically" hi wake in the case of certain types if you know what I'm saying). Also, your poor luck finding spawns in Open was just that; bad luck.