Will npcs be in hotspots outside the bubble?

[HazelrahFiver]

Aside from being out on an exploration run, the big reason I haven't even touched the all-lucrative mining update is because of my fear of being destroyed. I've dabbled in combat in the low-res sites and usually end up destroyed in any situation where security doesn't have my back. To think of being attacked in a non-comat ship... yikes.

If the NPCs dont wont spawn to murder me away from the bubble then I could give it a shot!

 

[Hanerib]

If you go far enough, they won't. Probably.

 

[Jmanis]

Rumor has it, yes. There was a thread about this recently.

 

[Leadfoot]

My last experiment found that even 500 ly outside the bubble produced NPC's at hotspots. I finally went all the way out to the Witch Head nebula - no NPC's spawned.

Now, there was a recent patch this last Thursday, so conditions might have changed. Suggestion: set a course for the Witch Head area since there are a number of pristine rings in that area. On your way there, at around 750+ ly out, try stopping at any ring location hot spot and see if they spawn or not. Worst case: just enjoy the peace at the Witch Head mining away.

Until other players get there as well.

 

[sidereal6]

Have FDev ever been asked about NPC probability at any Q&As or anything like that? It really bugs me that if my doorbell rings or whatever happens to interrupt my gameplay, I hit escape and go to the main menu. When I come back and reload the game there is a 100% probability that a pirate will spawn just for me, and make a b-line for my location.

Space is big. It should be possible to be alone inside a giant ring even if you're still inside the bubble.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

The thing that gets me is that when you get to where you want to mine and the pirate is already there, all you've got is a hold full of limpets. That's when you get scanned, not once you've started mining. So, for the OPs benefit, so long as you don't log out part way though mining, you're perfectly safe.

If you did have to log out part way through, potentially handing over some cargo would be cheaper than killing the pirate, given how quickly you could then get back to mining if you don't waste time in combat.

 

[Amargosa]

The thing that gets me is that when you get to where you want to mine and the pirate is already there, all you've got is a hold full of limpets. That's when you get scanned, not once you've started mining. So, for the OPs benefit, so long as you don't log out part way though mining, you're perfectly safe.

If you did have to log out part way through, potentially handing over some cargo would be cheaper than killing the pirate, given how quickly you could then get back to mining if you don't waste time in combat.

There's no valid reason to log out anyway. Just stay logged in while you're away.

 

[Branithar]

If the NPCs dont wont spawn to murder me away from the bubble then I could give it a shot!

If they spawn at all, it’s always when you first load up the game (if you’re already in the ring) or drop out of supercruise at the ring. If you see a Cobra or Viper, or anything approaching that’s clearly not a miner, press escape and quit and reload. And even if they do start to scan you, the 15 second danger countdown timer is plenty of time for you to safely quit and reload, even if you have a cargo hold full of mined materials. They don’t spawn 100% of the time, so you can reload until no NPC pirates spawn.

 

[Leadfoot]

There's no valid reason to log out anyway. Just stay logged in while you're away.

The only problem with that statement is:

Lost Connection
OK to continue

Happens a lot. Once you get back in, yup, there's that darned pirate again.
And NOW you got stuf if yr hold and he wants yr stuf.

 

[sollisb]

NPCs are procedurally generated.

Ever go to a station that hasn't seen any activity recently? All the NPCs generate as you land in. The same for Res Sites and Mining Sites.

 

[Para Handy]

Will npcs be in hotspots outside the bubble? !

I have made a couple of mining trips to two different systems out at the DW2 mining CG and no NPC pirates spawned in the rings at all, not in hotspots or even when I changed location (which I am loath to do normally). So there might have been something done about the reported occurrences.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I've dropped into a few in the 20-25k ly range, and seen nothing but rocks. Of course, I don't have a single piece of mining equipment onboard, so nothing to trigger the appearance of NPC's. Pretty sure they're linked to a Refinery.

bSpawnsPirates = true