Planetary scan missions - dealing with authority ships.

[ThatSmileyGuy]

Greetings!

Straight to the point: I've been doin'g some planetary scan jobs and once again I have encountered a planetary base with a landing pad upon which an Asp Explorer lay docked. So I knew what was coming. I approached the subject of my contract and start scanning. Upon the scan completion i do what i always do in these situations. I got a special safety get-out-of-there protocol i follow in these situations.
Here goes:
1. Hear Authority ship disengaging
2. Full power to shields
3.

Spoiler

I press quit to menu and pray shields last. Then re-log.

4. Approach safe distance
5. Recall ship
6. Politely, yet promptly remove my presence from the premises.

So is there any other way of dealing with these ships apart from having horrendously strong shields on Your ship that would last until the srv slowly ascends to the bay?

Thank You for Your input!

o7

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

I've found that doing a scan of the docked ship before finding a place to park shows that it's generally wanted. Thus because I'm going to get a bounty and or wanted status from the mission anyway, I take out the ship at the dock, while it's docked. Find a place to park, scan all the necessary beacon's, and unless I've stacked more than one, go to closest interstellar and make every thing right before going back to collect my reward.

 

[Riverside]

Horrendously strong shields works for me

As you approach your ship the NPC fires on it, creating lots of sparks & a sense of urgency, but the NPCs will wait as you board (note that attacking players do not wait) then start firing again.

Generally speaking I don't fire on any ships wanted or otherwise while doing a base scan or disable the power grid mission. As soon as the mission is complete I just get the flock out of there.


ETA if you don't want to log out (and you shouldn't ) bear in mind that once you have received the mission complete message generally it doesn't matter to the mission if the SRV is destroyed.

 

[Drelthar]

I've found that doing a scan of the docked ship before finding a place to park shows that it's generally wanted. Thus because I'm going to get a bounty and or wanted status from the mission anyway, I take out the ship at the dock, while it's docked. Find a place to park, scan all the necessary beacon's, and unless I've stacked more than one, go to closest interstellar and make every thing right before going back to collect my reward.

They aren't wanted most of the missions I do, so I guess mine are mostly illegal.

I normally dismiss my ship, and then try to flee with the SRV, and normally die and end up back in the ship. If I try to destroy the ship(s) before I do the scanning, firstly, the base will open fire with it's crazy OP lasers on my ship, if I survive that, by the time I get out of range, and land to drop the SRV out - reinforcements have arrived.

It's kind of weird, and I would love to watch the guys who made this run some of these missions.

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

ETA if you don't want to log out (and you shouldn't ) bear in mind that once you have received the mission complete message generally it doesn't matter to the mission if the SRV is destroyed.

I know i shouldn't and am ashamed of my protocol. However seeing how high odds are stacked against my poor srv I can't think of it otherwise than a poor design.
Furthermore, while having my SRV destroyed is not the end of the world having stacked multiple scan missions it's more time efficient NOT having it destroyed

 

[Riverside]

I have some issues with the way those missions are implemented but they are all do-able in the SRV (without losing it) They are challenging and fun, I do a lot of them.

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

I have some issues with the way those missions are implemented but they are all do-able in the SRV (without losing it) They are challenging and fun, I do a lot of them.

Same here. Not all of the time an enemy ship appears. However once it does, well.
But i guess, i'd better follow Your advice and get myself horrendously strong shields
This might not be easy on my credit balance but eventually ease my conscience.

 

[Riverside]

Think of it like a puzzle. The fun doesn't come from looking at a completed puzzle, it come from figuring out how to complete it

You'll get there

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

You'll get there

I'll get there alright.
Just that it did really seem as if somebody didn't think this through and bringing ship with loads of shields seemed a bit like powering it through. Not that my method is better come to think of it

 

[Stealthie]

You could always land, dismiss your ship, complete the scan and then accept that your SRV will be exploded, thus respawning you in your ship, ready to head home.

Does that still work?
It used to work.

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

You could always land, dismiss your ship, complete the scan and then accept that your SRV will be exploded, thus respawning you in your ship, ready to head home.

Reply:

while having my SRV destroyed is not the end of the world having stacked multiple scan missions it's more time efficient NOT having it destroyed

 

[Factabulous]

If you're stacking them then surely just doing them from the ship makes more sense? Saves carrying the SRV around as well...

When I used to use the SRV just ordinary shields were fine on the ship - only if I used a paper build did I have issues

 

[Stealthie]

If you're stacking them then surely just doing them from the ship makes more sense? Saves carrying the SRV around as well...

Was just about to post the same thing.

TBH, I haven't done many surface-scan missions since the shipboard scanner arrived so it'd slipped my mind but something like a Vulture makes the ideal ship for these missions... and it can also rain down death and destruction on any surface installation that you think might deserve it.

 

[Bryan K]

I just fly up to the scan target, usually booping it with the nose of my ship, use the datalink scanner, then full reverse, pitch up, and boost away before the ship(s) and defenses know what’s happening.

 

[Arioch]

I did one just the other morning, dark side of a moon and 3x Vultures popping away at me. Drove straight over the edge of a nearby canyon before managing to recall my ship, which then decided to land on a plateau half-way up the side of the canyon. The circling Vultures dropped my shields three times and boiled away half of my SRV’s hull, but I got back to the Cobra (the Vultures were very gentlemanly and ceased fire while I boarded) and boosted away under heavy fire.

Always have a SRV hull repair synthesis ready to go and be quick with your pips between engines and shields. The attacking ships make strafing runs at you, so you can sometimes benefit from turning into them and causing them to overshoot.

Driving like my hair’s on fire seems to work for me.

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

just doing them from the ship makes more sense?

Tried that and i swear for me the data-link did not activate no matter how close to them in a ship i was. Only when i approached in an SRV did the terminal activate

 

[Riverside]

I think doing these missions (and the guardian stuff) in the SRV is probably my favourite part of the game atm, and I think that's because the SRV loadout os a known quantity so they can really focus on setting an atmosphere with an appropriate challenge.

+++ [medium security] disable the power grid missions are the 'bugged' ones where no white marker is provided from the ship.

 

[Riverside]

Sure?

Try it yourself. All the 'disable' ones show a white target except at +++med bases. I'm not sure it can be accurately predicted what type the mission will be at the mission board but I do several base assaults (scan or disable) every day.

As I stated earlier the fun is in figuring out the puzzle rather than just telling people how to shortcut one of the best parts of the current game (imo).

 

[Stealthie]

Agreed, and I'd be happy they'll find a way to enforce the use of the SRV (as I'm sure it initially was meant to be done). Unfortunately it's not. Far more easy, quick and safe is doing it with your ship scanner. If you don't linger it's easily doable with a Cobra (but even big ships will do) of which I never lose more than the outer ring of my shields (full pips to shields of course). This way you can bypass all potential danger, including any existing authority ship. Sadly...

I guess it's one of those "familiarity breeds contempt" things.

When I was first getting into Horizons, I recall having some pretty wild times at surface outposts - trundling up and down ramps, disabling generators and forcefields, sneaking past turrets, opening doors, driving through different areas etc.
Alas, that was mostly because I didn't realise it was possible to avoid doing most of that stuff.

Seems like it might be worth spending a bit of time re-thinking the designs of the surface outposts to create a wider variety of challenges.
I mean, it'd be pretty easy to take the generic "large building" often found at outposts and create a tunnel through the bottom of it.
Put a recessed area somewhere in the middle of the tunnel and you've got a place where you can put a generator or access panel (or even a data-point) where a ship can't interact with it.
By the same token, it'd be pretty easy to modify various bits of superstructure to create places where a data-point could be placed where a ship couldn't access it.

One thing I've always found slightly disappointing is the lack of cover for an SRV.
Seems like creating structures with more tunnels and overhangs would provide a bit of cover for an SRV being attacked by a ship and provide more challenging locations for interactive doodads.

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

Here's an older one from one year ago that I recorded (starts at 30:0):

Thank You for such extensive answer. I might have to either wipe my eyes or change ship and try again.