Legal Planetary Scan Missions

[dreampage]

I really like the gameplay associated with planetary scan missions. I have to go the a designated planet, search for the mission objective (following the marker as I descend), land on the surface, deploy the SRV, scan the data point, go back to the station. This is the kind of mission I really like, which involves several mechanics.

What I don't like is that all of these missions are illegal. And so I don't want to do them just to get bounties all the time. Thus I am locked out of these great missions. Why not make legal scan missions I wonder? I actually liked the previous type, where they said "One of our facilities is malfunctioning and we need you to scan it" or something like that. Why can't they be converted into proper legal missions? It would be much fun to help different factions this way, scanning data points, maybe even several in succession, on different planets, to complete the objective. I'm really sorry to see all of these being illegal. Frontier, if you see this, please consider creating legal scan missions because they're really good. Just like there are legal hauling missions and illegal smuggling ones, these should be similar just with scanning. I know I'd love to do them.

 

[John Xenir]

This is the same thing that stops me from picking these up.
Surely there are enough in-RP reasons to do legal scans. Here's one: scan OUR OWN installations. Thank you.

 

[Stealthie]

Are you saying they are all illegal now? :O

 

[dreampage]

Are you saying they are all illegal now? :O

They have always been illegal unfortunately, as far as I remember. But with the new crime & punishment system I really don't want to do openly illegal missions anymore, I'm sick of always getting bounties. But I really like the scanning activity.

 

[Artemis257]

Are you saying they are all illegal now? :O

The last one I did got me a bounty with the mission giving faction for scanning one of their own stations in the system I took the mission from. I nope'd right out of there and spent a couple hours figuring out how to get to a low security sector to pay it off so I wouldn't get my tail shot off trying to turn the mission in.

I'd love to see them go legal as well.

 

[Faded Glory]

Unfortunately, the legal / illegal bit is down to RNG (although the lower the rank, the more likely you will be to get a public / non trespass one).

That said, like you, I like these missions and was also not sure I would want to do them with the hassle of going to IF every time I did one...

What I did in the end was set up a Viper MkIII with an SRV, and that is what I use for those missions. Since 3.0 dropped, I have done 14 of them in 12 different jurisdictions. All were 'illegal' so I have 14 bounties, totaling perhaps 8,000 credits. All the missions paid around 3 million credits each, so I have earned upwards of 40 million credits. I had no issues doing the two missions where I was already wanted in the systems, and haven't been interdicted for my bounties (by NPCs). I'm not paying the bounties off (I can't be bothered to trek to an IF after every mission), I'll keep going till I am finally brought to justice. The rebuy will be less than 200,000 credits, and bounties will be what they are, but credit wise I will be way ahead. Obviously I use other ships for my legitimate, legal gameplay.

 

[Stealthie]

They have always been illegal unfortunately, as far as I remember. But with the new crime & punishment system I really don't want to do openly illegal missions anymore, I'm sick of always getting bounties. But I really like the scanning activity.

Ah, okay.

In that case, no.
The ones that give you the "our stuff is malfunctioning and we need you to find out what's wrong" have often been perfectly legal in my experience.

I've often even rocked-up at a base which has an exclusion-zone around it and thought "Oh, this'll be good. I'll get into trouble for scanning something that the owners have asked me to scan" only to find that, even after I scan the data-point, the base doesn't turn hostile.

At a guess, as long as you're asked to do it by the faction that owns it and the data-point is public (which you'll only know when you arrive) you should be okay.

 

[dreampage]

Ah, okay.

In that case, no.
The ones that give you the "our stuff is malfunctioning and we need you to find out what's wrong" have often been perfectly legal in my experience.

I've often even rocked-up at a base which has an exclusion-zone around it and thought "Oh, this'll be good. I'll get into trouble for scanning something that the owners have asked me to scan" only to find that, even after I scan the data-point, the base doesn't turn hostile.

At a guess, as long as you're asked to do it by the faction that owns it and the data-point is public (which you'll only know when you arrive) you should be okay.

The problem is that in my experience even their own data points are private most of the time. That's why I was never sure if this "Our equipment is malfunctioning" text was a bug or not, since I got a bounty for scanning the mission giver's very data point. What I would like is clearly legal missions of this kind where I don't have to worry about scanning (even if the data point is private) because I would have the proper authorization to do so.

 

[Zenoe]

I have noticed a lot of times that "Wartime Surface Scan" missions are the illegal ones, since one faction is tasking you with stealing info from another faction. Also, an easy way to tell if it's legal or not (if any one didn't already know) is if there's a trespass zone (obviously) and/or if the data point is public (legal) or private (illegal). I've had instances of scan missions without the trespass zone but had a private data point, incurring a bounty

 

[CMDR _BigJay_]

I stopped doing planetary scan missions when they fixed the stacking issue.

I have no problem with the stacking getting fixed, but I don't want a bounty and there's no way to figure out ahead of time if you'll get a bounty or not.

Scan jobs are ALL listed as illegal on the mission board. So I stopped doing them completely.

 

[maehara]

When I first encountered the illegal variants of scan missions, I was as wary as you seem to be about taking them. But in my experience, the bounties that you get for these missions are trivial (200cr trespass, usually) and have never resulted in anyone attacking / interdicting me once I've left the outpost's instance. Just know where your nearest Interstellar Factors is (always good to know, anyway) & occasionally clean your ship. I've taken full loads of 20 missions and just run from site to site completing them with zero difficulty caused by the bounties...

 

[Deleted member 115407]

It's a teensy weensy little bounty.

Y'all are a bunch of goodie-two-shoes.

 

[Dommarraa]

The problem is that in my experience even their own data points are private most of the time. That's why I was never sure if this "Our equipment is malfunctioning" text was a bug or not, since I got a bounty for scanning the mission giver's very data point. What I would like is clearly legal missions of this kind where I don't have to worry about scanning (even if the data point is private) because I would have the proper authorization to do so.

The 3 or 4 I have taken since 3.0 have all been to my own faction, and had no exclusion zone with Public terminals. Easy money, well easy Inf actually.

 

[jonluv]

Did a mission yesterday got a 600 cr bounty but not wanted—- have FD changed their mind

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Did a mission yesterday got a 600 cr bounty but not wanted—- have FD changed their mind

Bounties in ED are heavily jurisdictional, i.e. if you get a Bounty in Manchester, and drive to London, you will not have an active wanted status. Drive back to Manchester and it's on.

Y'all need to pay attention to what jurisdictions you're operating in. What's shocking to me is to realize that people haven't been doing so all along.

 

[Stealthie]

The problem is that in my experience even their own data points are private most of the time. That's why I was never sure if this "Our equipment is malfunctioning" text was a bug or not, since I got a bounty for scanning the mission giver's very data point. What I would like is clearly legal missions of this kind where I don't have to worry about scanning (even if the data point is private) because I would have the proper authorization to do so.

Haven't tested this, but still...

You can filter the mission-board to only show legal missions.

If you told it to only display legal missions and it showed you a surface-scan mission which turned out to involve a private data-point (which gives you a bounty) that'd be kinda halfassed.
That being the case, perhaps filtering to only show legal missions will only give you the surface-scan missions which are completely legal?

Must admit, it's not something I've ever paid much attention to.
If the reward was decent, I've always just done them and then hung around for the 8 minutes afterward if necessary.
I guess the new C&P changes that a bit.

 

[ChiefRedCloud]

I really like the gameplay associated with planetary scan missions. I have to go the a designated planet, search for the mission objective (following the marker as I descend), land on the surface, deploy the SRV, scan the data point, go back to the station. This is the kind of mission I really like, which involves several mechanics.

What I don't like is that all of these missions are illegal. And so I don't want to do them just to get bounties all the time. Thus I am locked out of these great missions. Why not make legal scan missions I wonder? I actually liked the previous type, where they said "One of our facilities is malfunctioning and we need you to scan it" or something like that. Why can't they be converted into proper legal missions? It would be much fun to help different factions this way, scanning data points, maybe even several in succession, on different planets, to complete the objective. I'm really sorry to see all of these being illegal. Frontier, if you see this, please consider creating legal scan missions because they're really good. Just like there are legal hauling missions and illegal smuggling ones, these should be similar just with scanning. I know I'd love to do them.

I have done extensive missions out of Quince before 3.0 dropped so I've done none since. But my prior observation was was that it had no logic to it other than a role of the dice.

Let me explain ... there are or were two type missions ... Civil War type and check on my beacon (not exact wording) missions ... now you would expect Civil War scans to most likely be hostile. And the other not. But not so. I found, as I said above, most the time it was spitting in the wind or just a random roll of the dice. Either could be hostile. But once you hit the first hostile, most after we're hostile too. And with the NEW (which I'm not saying I'm against it, but I do wonder about it) C & C it looks kind of complicated or ugly if you stack too many bounties.

Anyway, I think they could be, is logical propper?

Chief

 

[Renown]

They have always been illegal unfortunately, as far as I remember. But with the new crime & punishment system I really don't want to do openly illegal missions anymore, I'm sick of always getting bounties. But I really like the scanning activity.

I did plenty of legal ones, scanning public data points. It's only the private ones surrounded by a red field that were illegal.

So have they all changed to illegal? Do you get the silly new C&P bounty linked to your ship with these now instead of the 200cr and 8 min cool down bounty period?

This was a public scan planetary mission, even had a faction NPC Clipper sitting on the ground, never took off to attack me because it was a legal mission.

 

[CMDR _BigJay_]

I did plenty of legal ones, scanning public data points. It's only the private ones surrounded by a red field that were illegal.

So have they all changed to illegal? Do you get the silly new C&P bounty linked to your ship with these now instead of the 200cr and 8 min cool down bounty period?

This was a public scan planetary mission, even had a faction NPC Clipper sitting on the ground, never took off to attack me because it was a legal mission.

You're saying they're legal because it was a public beacon and you didn't get a bounty. But the fact is if you go to the mission board and select "legal" missions from the drop down, ALL of the scan missions are gone. (At least the last time I checked)

Some of those missions will result in a bounty, some will not. But there's no way to tell which is which until after you take it and go to the settlement.

 

[GG7]

They use to be just the opposite with all the Beacons being PUBLIC instead of now with the bulk of them being Private and locked within a Trespass Zone.

Don't know when this flip happened, but it has definitely made these much more tedious. Especially now that you are forced to visit an Interstellar Broker to wipe the bounties all the time.

I reported this as a bug during the 3.0 Beta as well as pointing out that the bulk of the mission were not completing properly despite checking off all the various objectives. That part of them got fixed in 3.0, but the Private Beacon over Public Beacon issue is still a thing.

You can still rarely find one that sends you to a Public Beacon which incurs no bounty, but those come up maybe 1 out of 20 times on the mission board.

I continue to do them because they pay a boatload of $$ or Grade 5 Mats or Data, compared to most other mission types.