Assassination Mission ETA?

[sidereal6]

I had some time before work this morning so I fired up Elite and took an assassination mission. I had to scan a surface base in order to get the target's location. That part went fine (and was a lot of fun). The message I got afterwards said the target ETA was: 0:15 - 1:45

At first I thought that meant "fifteen minutes from now" but I waited in system, even jumped in and out a few times, for nearly an hour (until I had to leave for work) and the target never showed.

Before I logged out, I noticed that the time hadn't changed - it still said 0:15-1:45. If it meant fifteen minutes from now, then I would have expected that number to change to like, 0:00-0:30. So now I'm thinking maybe it means the target will be in the system at 12:15 AM (00:15 in military time).

Can someone clear this up for me? Is there any chance that I can still complete the mission tonight when I get home? Thanks.

 

[willowfan]

It's giving a time frame in UTC, so yes it meant target expected in system between 12:15 AM and 1:45 AM UTC.

You can sometimes get lucky and find them beforehand, and if you're really lucky they will interdict you, thus saving you the trouble of locating them.

 

[Dommarraa]

I had some time before work this morning so I fired up Elite and took an assassination mission. I had to scan a surface base in order to get the target's location. That part went fine (and was a lot of fun). The message I got afterwards said the target ETA was: 0:15 - 1:45

At first I thought that meant "fifteen minutes from now" but I waited in system, even jumped in and out a few times, for nearly an hour (until I had to leave for work) and the target never showed.

Before I logged out, I noticed that the time hadn't changed - it still said 0:15-1:45. If it meant fifteen minutes from now, then I would have expected that number to change to like, 0:00-0:30. So now I'm thinking maybe it means the target will be in the system at 12:15 AM (00:15 in military time).

Can someone clear this up for me? Is there any chance that I can still complete the mission tonight when I get home? Thanks.

Yes, it meant 00:15 (12:15am) game time
Until it says failed, you are OK, although you may need to Interdict him rather than finding a Mission Signal Source.

 

[Whiterose]

I have always come across them straight away, always ingored the timeframe as they have always been there as soon as I get there.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Did it give you a target location? Such as planet 4a or something similar? If it did fly to the planet and cruise around for a bit until the blue mission signal source appears. You can do this before the mission ETA.

 

[sidereal6]

Did it give you a target location?

Yes, and I think it might be slightly bugged. Here's a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/YwGvG

At the top, it says Hisaaka, but at the bottom it says Bunuson. The message in the comms panel says Bunuson.

The surface base I had to scan was in Hao Mayo.

 

[sidereal6]

It's giving a time frame in UTC, so yes it meant target expected in system between 12:15 AM and 1:45 AM UTC.

Thanks for the clarification. What's funny is that this is 10 hours from now (12 hours from when I scanned the surface base) and 8:00 PM local time. So basically, this game just made an appointment for me for tonight. Like, if someone wants to hang out, I have to tell them I have other plans because I tried to play a video game for 45 minutes this morning, and when I did that, the video game booked me for a date 12 hours later, and if I miss it, I lose millions of credits and rep.

Seriously, ?

 

[Dommarraa]

Thanks for the clarification. What's funny is that this is 10 hours from now (12 hours from when I scanned the surface base) and 8:00 PM local time. So basically, this game just made an appointment for me for tonight. Like, if someone wants to hang out, I have to tell them I have other plans because I tried to play a video game for 45 minutes this morning, and when I did that, the video game booked me for a date 12 hours later, and if I miss it, I lose millions of credits and rep.

Seriously, ?

You can always find them earlier than the ETA

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Yes, and I think it might be slightly bugged. Here's a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/YwGvG

At the top, it says Hisaaka, but at the bottom it says Bunuson. The message in the comms panel says Bunuson.

The surface base I had to scan was in Hao Mayo.

That's odd. Can you show a screenshot of any other messages you received in your comms tab about the mission.

 

[willowfan]

Sounds like this mission was bugged. The timeframes for assassination missions usually start about 15-20 minutes from being offered on the board and the target is usually findable straight away anyway.

 

[sidereal6]

That's odd. Can you show a screenshot of any other messages you received in your comms tab about the mission.

Here's the comms message: https://imgur.com/a/tClH0

 

[Faded Glory]

Since this was an inbox delivered message, this is where the confusion lies... (Note at the bottom that it says that the message will remain valid for 30 days, therefore the window of opportunity would have to be flexible.)

However, since you've accepted the mission, it's now triggered. I think the two differing systems in your transactions is a bug, and from what I can see the correct system is Bunuson. Since the mission is accepted and you have been given the target system, you will be able to find the target by going to that system, scanning the nav beacon or honking an ADS which will give you a location in system to go to, and once there a mission specific USS will spawn. The target should also be flying around in SC during the window of opportunity time given.

You must finish the mission by the end of the window of opportunity though. If you haven't destroyed the target by then the mission will fail.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Looks like it's just giving you the system for the target then. I would suggest cruising in the vicinity of the main Bunuson star for the mission signal source. I have had a star as the mission target location before.

Make sure you scan the nav beacon or honk a discovery scanner first in case it gives more information.

 

[Unknown Zombie]

I have always come across them straight away, always ingored the timeframe as they have always been there as soon as I get there.

Same here.. I have never actually taken the time period given into consideration. I've always just gone there and blasted the guy ASAP. I'm glad doesn't seem to matter, though, because assassination missions would be terrible and I'd never do one if I had to sit around waiting in real time for a digital spaceship to become available for me to explode.

In fact, when I first started playing, I would never pick these missions up because I thought it did matter and I wasn't about to sit around waiting. After months of playing I read on the forums that you could just ignore the time and go straight to the target area and the target would always be there. After learning that, I enjoy doing them.

After that, I just assumed that the time periods in the mission descriptions were maybe a holdover from previous versions of the game. Possibly the time did matter at some point and it was just never removed from the mission template after it became irrelevant.

 

[Faded Glory]

After that, I just assumed that the time periods in the mission descriptions were maybe a holdover from previous versions of the game. Possibly the time did matter at some point and it was just never removed from the mission template after it became irrelevant.

Nope, definitely not irrelevant. Miss the end of the window of opportunity then the mission fails. The 24 hour timer on these missions is how long you have to hand in the mission.

Accept mission. From this point until the end of the window, the target will spawn in a mission specific USS.

Window of opportunity. Target will / should also be flying in SC in the target system for you to interdict. Target may interdict you. USS will also spawn.

End of window of opportunity. Target will no longer spawn and mission will fail. You should get an inbox message shortly before this warning you that if you haven't destroyed the target, the mission giver is going to abandon the mission.

 

[Stealthie]

Can someone clear this up for me? Is there any chance that I can still complete the mission tonight when I get home? Thanks.

Probably not.

Details aside, you usually only get 2 or 3 hours to complete an assassination mission and then you get a message saying "hurry up" and then, a few minutes later, "mission failed". [sad]

 

[Unknown Zombie]

Nope, definitely not irrelevant. Miss the end of the window of opportunity then the mission fails. The 24 hour timer on these missions is how long you have to hand in the mission.

Accept mission. From this point until the end of the window, the target will spawn in a mission specific USS.

Window of opportunity. Target will / should also be flying in SC in the target system for you to interdict. Target may interdict you. USS will also spawn.

End of window of opportunity. Target will no longer spawn and mission will fail. You should get an inbox message shortly before this warning you that if you haven't destroyed the target, the mission giver is going to abandon the mission.

I see. Makes sense; I've always gone straight for the target and looked for the USS as soon as I pick up the mission so that's why I wasn't aware it would fail at the end of the window.

 

[Stealthie]

The 24 hour timer on these missions is how long you have to hand in the mission.

Not sure about that.

The 24 hour thing is a bit misleading with assassination missions because it's telling you that you have, say, 23 hours left to complete the mission even though, once you accept it, your window of opportunity is only a couple of hours.
Similar thing with passenger missions in that regard.
And then, once you've made the kill, the time-limit vanishes completely.
I've made kills and then left it a week or more before I hand in the mission and it hasn't been an issue.

 

[Faded Glory]

I've made kills and then left it a week or more before I hand in the mission and it hasn't been an issue.

If that's the case, then I stand corrected. Personally I have never had a situation where I haven't handed the mission in almost as soon as I completed the kill, but I have posted in other threads where people have said that they failed the mission by not handing it in in time.

Certainly though, if you don't destroy the target by the end of the window of opportunity, it will fail.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Nope, definitely not irrelevant. Miss the end of the window of opportunity then the mission fails. The 24 hour timer on these missions is how long you have to hand in the mission.

This part is incorrect. I've handed completed assassination missions in successfully well after the 24hr timer would have expired. The timer disappears after you've killed the target.

Edit: looks like Stealthie has already mentioned that.