Mode switching for missions and Smeaton Orbital [200mill/hour]

[ErikCraven]

Is it just me or is it damn hard to stack passengers going to Smeaton Orbital? They seem to be pretty rare even switching modes.

They have always been rare, with Neutral there are basically none, Cordial and Friendly few, Allied some. Hence the need for board flipping to fill the passenger cabins of anything larger than an ASP.

When I was doing it I could often flip boards 3-4 times and see 1-2 total and that was with 2 Allied and everyone else Friendly.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

Is it just me or is it damn hard to stack passengers going to Smeaton Orbital? They seem to be pretty rare even switching modes.

The system is no longer either in Boom or Expansion state. Therefore the missions won't be as frequent, which is what FDev told everyone when Rhea left Boom state and everyone assumed it had been "nerfed."

 

[MarkAusten]

I would just like to add that the OP is over-reacting at 200/mil per hour.

I've spent the past 5 days doing these economy missions - 8 hours average per day - so to sum it up:

Time spent: 40 hours

Credits earned: 1,950,000,000cr

Average hourly earnings: 1,950,000,000 / 40 = 48,750,000cr p/h

In that time, I've only managed to get 3 factions Allied, 2 Friendly, and 1 Cordial.

Most of the time I still have some cabin space left because of time restraints, some of the time I get scanned and my missions fail (despite silent running / heat sinks), or time runs out and the mission reward is deducted by the passengers, and I have to put up with regular interdictions.

All in all, the credits per hour feels right for an end-game player like myself:

Combat: 47% Dangerous
Trade: Elite
Exploration: Elite

Yes, board hopping between Open/Solo/Private did or did not help - sometimes it's all down to RNG. I regularly found that I had no missions to accept for between 30-45 minutes despite board hopping. If I was lucky, both Open and Solo filled the majority of my cabins. A vast amount of systems fill the boards far more easily than the ones going to the other system to travel for ages.

These feel balanced for end-game and for my ranks, on a personal level. This allows me to buy all the low-mid range ships I haven't had the chance to try yet and will allow me to fully deck out a high-end ship - and afford rebuys.

I do not see a problem with these missions at all, and 40 hours is a considerable amount of time playing the game (doing nothing = boring). It isn't fantastic, it's a grind, but it is worth my time.

Ship used: Anaconda (all economy cabins except 1x 4 slot cargo rack for mission hand-ins to throw away reward cargo).

It seems that faction reputation makes a big difference then. I've just carried out 3 round trips in 203 minutes for a gain of 588,330,215Cr or 173,890,703Cr/Hr. I used a Cutter with 160 economy cabins and I'm allied with all factions at Allen Hub. I was interdicted at least once on each trip and the mission board was a bit slow at times, but this is the sort of return I've been getting recently. Well, I've been getting a bit more than this, around 190MCr/Hr but this is not far off.

I did use an AspX to carry out data missions from Allen Hub to rank up with the factions first, however, and didn't start taking passengers until I was allied with all.

 

[MarkAusten]

Is it just me or is it damn hard to stack passengers going to Smeaton Orbital? They seem to be pretty rare even switching modes.

I just carried out three trips and it took 20, 17 & 16 minutes each time to fill 155, 151 & 160 passengers out of 160 in my Cutter. For me this is business as usual. Your values may vary.

 

[Bryan K]

Damn, I need to get my Cutter out there ASAP. My Orca only carries 88 right now.

 

[GJ51]

Damn, I need to get my Cutter out there ASAP. My Orca only carries 88 right now.

Anaconda

 

[Bryan K]

Anaconda

She’s in the Pleiades right now and fitted for conventional NPC combat. My Cutter’s less than 100 LY away.

 

[MarkAusten]

Anaconda

Corvette will give you even more spaces. I think.

 

[GJ51]

Corvette will give you even more spaces. I think.

You can do 186 in Conda with a 4A shield

Looks like you could get 196 into a Vette with a 5A shield

 

[MarkAusten]

You can do 186 in Conda with a 4A shield

Can you fit a shield that small? I thought that a 5 was the smallest you could fit here in the which case the total would be 184 passengers.

 

[GJ51]

Can you fit a shield that small? I thought that a 5 was the smallest you could fit here in the which case the total would be 184 passengers.

You can put a Class 3 shield on an Anaconda if you want, as many exploration builds do.

I have capacity for 184 with a docking computer in a class 2 slot

https://coriolis.edcd.io/import?dat...Pl+kEFv9Bv/8H2kmbw/8hgAA&bn=Once you go Black


Here's a Vette

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fed...18ZlA=.Aw18ZlA=..EweloBhBmSQUwIYHMA28QgIwV0A=

As for profits, 184 usually brings in around 230 - 240 Mill. On average it can take an hour to load and 40 mins to deliver. So taking a total of 2 hours to make a round trip is pretty reasonable. Sometime you may get a faster load, sometimes slower, and then there's interdictions at delivery that can take a variable amount of time that's not very significant, but occasionally I don't get interdicted at all - So 2 hours is a good estimate.

So based on the above 115 - 120 Mil/hr. isn't crazy - 100 Mil/hr. is a good estimate.

Side note: Last few days I've been getting a lot of CTD and freezing when docked. Anybody else?

Another interesting anomaly I never see mentioned is the Mission Board times lose about 30 mins after you accept them. Take a posted mission showing 2 hours and then go to transactions screen and it only has 1 hour 30 mins left.

 

[MarkAusten]

You can put a Class 3 shield on an Anaconda if you want, as many exploration builds do.

Ah, it's the Cutter and Corvette that have the limitation, then.

 

[Suvi Anwar]

Corvette will give you even more spaces. I think.

I currently have 172 seats in my Corvette, and I have a 7A shield. If I left the shield at home I would have a capacity of 204 seats. I like having a real shield though, so 200-225m per trip is OK for me.

 

[MarkAusten]

I currently have 172 seats in my Corvette, and I have a 7A shield. If I left the shield at home I would have a capacity of 204 seats. I like having a real shield though, so 200-225m per trip is OK for me.

I've just fetched my corvette and filled it with 184 seats and with a 5A shield. Like you I don't like flying without shields especially in the corvette as I always bump the slot as I go through!

 

[Suvi Anwar]

I've just fetched my corvette and filled it with 184 seats and with a 5A shield. Like you I don't like flying without shields especially in the corvette as I always bump the slot as I go through!

I don't have any issues with bumping the slot or hard landings, once I learned where the cockpit was and just how massive the ship is, I have been able to fit in the slot with Belugas and land on any pad without a DC. I use a good shield because any hull damage gets passengers angry really quick and they bail out, making it a wasted run, and a huge loss of rep.

 

[MarkAusten]

I don't have any issues with bumping the slot or hard landings, once I learned where the cockpit was and just how massive the ship is, I have been able to fit in the slot with Belugas and land on any pad without a DC. I use a good shield because any hull damage gets passengers angry really quick and they bail out, making it a wasted run, and a huge loss of rep.

It's a blind spot I have. I just cannot get the Anaconda or the Corvette through the slot without bumping. Everything else, fine, but those two? Bump, bump, bump and occasionally smash.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I have a class 4 prismatic with G5 thermal in my passenger Anaconda.
With just two boosters it gives about 1k shields and still carries max 188 economy passengers.

 

[Raino]

It's a blind spot I have. I just cannot get the Anaconda or the Corvette through the slot without bumping. Everything else, fine, but those two? Bump, bump, bump and occasionally smash.

you are to low, try bump your head and it'll work

 

[Suvi Anwar]

It's a blind spot I have. I just cannot get the Anaconda or the Corvette through the slot without bumping. Everything else, fine, but those two? Bump, bump, bump and occasionally smash.

Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of grinding through the slot, getting stuck in the toaster grille, quite a few rebuys because of idiot NPC Belugas. The Corvette can fit slightly inside the thinner sides of the slot which was very beneficial to figure out.

 

[Suvi Anwar]

you are to low, try bump your head and it'll work http://cmdr-tenk.square7.ch/Smileys/kos.gif

Very much this! Put your head right at the top of the slot and you will clear every time!

Just don't try it with landing gear down, the Corvette with LG down is just inches clearance in the slot, that lesson costed me 3 rebuys right after I first got it, that was painful.