Been looking at planetary scan missions for a change. They require a SRV. I presume you drive that to the data point and scan it with the data link scanner. Ok so far. Do you normally have to fight your way in? If so what weapons do you need to take the stations defences down? Do you land on the station or land on the planet surface and drive there in the SRV? Thanks.
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Newcomer / Intro Planetary scan missions - how do they work?
- Thread starter F4fred
- Start date
There are some difference between different scan missions, Sometimes, you have to trespass to scan the beacon, other times not. Sometimes you get a bounty for scanning, other times you don't.
The second half of this video shows many different types and a few hints and tips on how to deal with them. This was done when you could stack missions, so ignore anything about that, and the other change is that many of the beacons are only private now, so you'll get a bounty. You have to therefore go direct to an interstellar factor in a station in a low security system to clean yourself on the way back. Start at 20:00.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5gSNutiH0M
The second half of this video shows many different types and a few hints and tips on how to deal with them. This was done when you could stack missions, so ignore anything about that, and the other change is that many of the beacons are only private now, so you'll get a bounty. You have to therefore go direct to an interstellar factor in a station in a low security system to clean yourself on the way back. Start at 20:00.
Be aware that you don't have to get out your ship - it has a datlink scanner too. You just have to get really close!
Learning google is useful for the basics
Great, then we can just shut down this board, after all, you can find an answer to anything on Google.
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Personally I only ever tried one scan mission and it didn't work -- maybe I didn't get close enough, but all that happened was that I got a bounty and the threat of inbound security vessels, without my scanner doing its job. I ended up abandoning the mission and have avoided PSMs since.
I have tried a few of these in the starter zone and every time the target terminal was public. You didn't have to enter the trespass zone to scan it either. No need to scan the periscope-tower red data points for security override either. Difficult to get a fine and a bounty needs actually shooting a skimmer or something. You have to land your ship over 2k away as you get a trespass warning otherwise - the SRV can drive in but the ship can't fly within 2k.
BTW - The SRV training mission involves a "scan the data terminal" - but I think you have to disable the defences by destroying the power gen of the base there either due to a trespass zone or the data terminal being private - can't remember.
You might want to filter the missions first to see whether the mission is legal (cruise up in your SRV, take your time looking around and scanning the data link) or illegal (haul buns into the area, scan as fast as you can, run out, hope you don’t get a bounty, or use your ship). At least you’ll know ahead of time what you’re in for once you hit the ground. Regards.
The basic mission would involve landing on the planet outside the trespass zone.
You'll get a warning when you enter the trespass zone so you'll have time to move away from the planetary base. Do this quickly. It'll tell you when you've left.
Try to land with the ship's nose facing the base. Make a note of the compass heading, because you probably won't be able to see the base from ground level.
Deploy the SRV and trundle off in the direction of the compass heading.
When you approach the base head towards the beacon.
If it's a public beacon you're OK.
If it's a private beacon then get in and out as soon as possible.
You don't have a choice of weapons on the SRV - it's just the standard pop-gun.
You're probably better off in the basic scenario just putting all power to the shields and making a run for it.
When you get to the more complicated missions you may well have to fight your way in, so take more than 1 SRV.
And don't forget that the SRV can fly (-ish)
You'll get a warning when you enter the trespass zone so you'll have time to move away from the planetary base. Do this quickly. It'll tell you when you've left.
Try to land with the ship's nose facing the base. Make a note of the compass heading, because you probably won't be able to see the base from ground level.
Deploy the SRV and trundle off in the direction of the compass heading.
When you approach the base head towards the beacon.
If it's a public beacon you're OK.
If it's a private beacon then get in and out as soon as possible.
You don't have a choice of weapons on the SRV - it's just the standard pop-gun.
You're probably better off in the basic scenario just putting all power to the shields and making a run for it.
When you get to the more complicated missions you may well have to fight your way in, so take more than 1 SRV.
And don't forget that the SRV can fly (-ish)
They don't require a SRV - but they're probably intended to be performed with one.
How I do them:
- get my Viper, which is specifically equipped for these missions. No shields, no guns, enhanced thrusters, lots of small hull reinforcements and sparklers (ok, chaff launcher). The point is to be able to get in fast and back out even faster. I don't want (or need) to shoot anything as long as I can get out fast enough and soak up any damage until I can. A beefed up Viper can outrun almost any other ship (and definitely an NPC), is hard to hit even in the best case and can be made rather resilient (>1000 hit points - something close to this). There are faster builds (or other ships), but the Viper combines speed and hardiness - and it's a small ship, which means I can actually get close enough to the beacon to scan it, which is a bit problematic e.g. in my Mamba.
- make a couple of passes over the station to check out the location of the beacon to be scanned, then approach so that I can boost out of there after the scan without running into a building or being caught up on a lamp post
- remember to deploy weapons before my final approach as the ship's datalink scanner is treated as a weapon and needs to be deployed, selected and trriggered as such
- approach and scan the beacon
- pull the nose level, aim between the buidings and boost, then boost again, full throttle and keep her low above the ground until I'm out of range of the ground defenses. Yes, I usually lose a few % of hull (remember, no shields) this way, but not enough to worry about
- if my target station doesn't have an IF, make a stop at an IF on the way to clear the bounty. Being fast and shieldless helps to get into any station unscanned.
- go back to the mission station, repair my ship and cash in
That doesn't make sense. Surely, it's better to land pointing away from the base so that the SRV comes out pointing towards it. That makes it quicker to to dock the SRV too.
I found that the ideal distance to land is about 300m from the base.
How I do them in my Prismatic Python:
Approach from orbit at an angle 45-50%
Hit 75% throttle, and coast in towards the base
At 2-3km, the target dot(s) will appear - Target something, its normally the thing you want with "MISSION" in the HUD Info box
At 0.5-1km (depending on gravity), hit 0% throttle. Keep the target dead center.
Deploy scanner (in scanner mode) - Press and hold the fire button
Crash into the target to come to a complete stop
Wait for bar to move across the scanner and messages to start rolling in.
Back out, turn to face 90% (up), Boost, Throttle to 100%, target appropriate IF station, Jump.
Hardly ever lose a whole ring of shields, even at High Security bases will Conda support.
Approach from orbit at an angle 45-50%
Hit 75% throttle, and coast in towards the base
At 2-3km, the target dot(s) will appear - Target something, its normally the thing you want with "MISSION" in the HUD Info box
At 0.5-1km (depending on gravity), hit 0% throttle. Keep the target dead center.
Deploy scanner (in scanner mode) - Press and hold the fire button
Crash into the target to come to a complete stop
Wait for bar to move across the scanner and messages to start rolling in.
Back out, turn to face 90% (up), Boost, Throttle to 100%, target appropriate IF station, Jump.
Hardly ever lose a whole ring of shields, even at High Security bases will Conda support.
Depends on the ship. Sometimes the SRV has to be reversed out because the belly of the ship gets i the way. Pointing at the base gives you an easy compass bearing.
If you're still in the bubble you might get away with 300m, in the real world you won't.
As other people have said above 2km seems the norm.
That still doesn't make sense. The SRV drops pointing backwards, so if you land pointing the ship away from the base, you just drop in the SRV and go straight forward to the base. There's no need to see which way the ship or the compass is pointing. Can you tell me a ship that doesn't allow the SRV to drive straight out like that? Look at my video above. Start at 24:00. Tell me how you can do that better, other than scanning with your ship. 2km is way too far. As you can see in my video above, I aim for 150M, not the 300M I said before.
The 2Km is to get outside the trespass warning in your ship - at least that is what I have found.
re direction to face - yes I face away, just 'cos that's the way I have come - it makes no odds, since you can easily navigate to the destination in the SRV.
That sort of makes sense if the fence extends that far, but I can't say that I've seen many like that. What I do is fly over the base to see if there's a trespass zone. At the same time, I'm looking for a direct route to the beacon so I can go straight in to it without having to turn or navigate around any objects , then straight back out in reverse. I keep flying until the warning disappears, go about another 100M, then land. When you drop down in the SRV, you're pointing at the base just outside the red zone, pointing also directly along the route in to the beacon. It's all documented in that video I posted above from 24:00 .Can you see a more efficient way of doing it?
You have to get your nose within centimetres of the datalink - I often bump the nose of my ship off it. I've yet to find a datalink that doesn't work this way.
When you're allied with the issuing faction, you can often collect two or more missions in the same system for 3mcr a shot, which is not to be sniffed at, especialy early-game. It's also helpful that the missions are a bit buggy, and you can sometimes complete two at a time by scanning one datalink.
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Yup - key to running these successfully (in a ship) is the ship selection. I use eagles as that avoids all problems with reaching the data point - stick on some weapons and add base assaults to the repertoire
I've done them quite happily in a Vette, so its true, size doesnt matter !Yup - key to running these successfully (in a ship) is the ship selection. I use eagles as that avoids all problems with reaching the data point - stick on some weapons and add base assaults to the repertoire