Question on AFK play

[Northpin]

Hey, I'm asking if the stacking of pirate massacre missions, flying to a low rez site, and just letting your turrets and npc pilot kill pirates while you do other stuff is illegal. Mods on the Elite Dangerous FB group seem to have the opinion that its against the code of conduct. Just trying to get some clarity from Fdev themselves.

I would guess it's not forbidden as long as you dont use macros to perform actions. If you just leave the ship there, with a slf on defense and turrets on fire at will... then why not?
It's like having the ship logged in the game for 20h to shed off 10 points of notoriety

However, in like 2003 when i was playing Dark Age of Camelot, that game had a very strong policy against macroing and afk play. But that game was running on a montly subscription system and they had 24/7 CSR in game. So if one of your actions would have been raising suspicion - like macro afk crafting, there were solid chances you'd get a CSR sending you a message. If you failed to reply to that message, it would mean you're afk while your toon was performing some actions and you're bound to get a ban (temporary or permanent, depending on scenario)

This is not the case for ED, different times, different game, different policies.

 

[Athlon-uk]

I dabbled with a semi engineered T10 build to see if this was worthwhile. 630 million outlay for the ship, weapons and modules etc. Partial engineering and an NPC pilot. Parked at a Low Rez site and deployed the SLF. All works well until you loose the SLF then it it all turns a little pear-shaped. The NPC pirates also seem to learn your weak spots and exploit them. An interesting experiment but ultimately not really worth doing. You can make more money quicker by actually playing and enjoying the game.

 

[Frop]

I'm more concerned about the Facebook group than AFKing.

 

[Northpin]

I dabbled with a semi engineered T10 build to see if this was worthwhile

This might be the issue.
An afk build has to be really well designed and you really need max engineering and a setup that can allow shield regen and long enough firing capabilities for the lasers.
The T-10 having only a size 7 PD does not help either.

I've actually got 2 builds for T-10 and Anaconda (Annie is better) - but i have yet to actually test them

 

[Athlon-uk]

This might be the issue.
An afk build has to be really well designed and you really need max engineering and a setup that can allow shield regen and long enough firing capabilities for the lasers.
The T-10 having only a size 7 PD does not help either.

I've actually got 2 builds for T-10 and Anaconda (Annie is better) - but i have yet to actually test them

I found once the SLF has gone you'll get wings with FDL's or Pythons that start to whittle down your Hull by a few % each time. Although your AFK build can deal with them overtime they will get you.

 

[Tikanderoga]

I would guess it's not forbidden as long as you dont use macros to perform actions. If you just leave the ship there, with a slf on defense and turrets on fire at will... then why not?
It's like having the ship logged in the game for 20h to shed off 10 points of notoriety

Very much this!

This game has the waiting part coined big time. Wait 2h per point of notoriety. How is that even gameplay?
Fly to Hutton? Gameplay?
So really, I see nothing wrong with going AFK for the sake of "gameplay".

If I had 10 points of notoriety to shed, I'd park my behind somewhere and go do something else too while leaving the game logged in.

 

[Jack Winter]

My testing T-9 was close to a billion.. It's now fully equipped with multi cannons which also is a hoot, but not for leaving AFK..

 

[Brrokk]

My testing T-9 was close to a billion.. It's now fully equipped with multi cannons which also is a hoot, but not for leaving AFK..

I'm generally moving to multicannons. My Cutter now has multicannon turrets engineered for short range. The nice effect is that they have no damage falloff out to their fixed range and they don't waste ammo outside that range. Making some incendiary seems to give more efficient damage/energy than using lasers. I've just fitted a huge gimbal cannon for a fun finish; not tried it yet.

 

[Red Rocket]

Not finding missions to do like “ Pirate Massacre “ missions I have to just walk away and wait for the board to refresh.
Never used to be like this but now it could take hours to find a couple.

 

[Screemonster]

For rank grinding, the fastest is anarchy + outbreak.

Oh, is that why inara has a dedicated button to find the nearest one? And why, when the local backwater anarchy went into outbreak, suddenly four carriers showed up and started kicking the hell out of their influence?

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Oh, is that why inara has a dedicated button to find the nearest one? And why, when the local backwater anarchy went into outbreak, suddenly four carriers showed up and started kicking the hell out of their influence?

Probably. I stopped bothering advancing ranks at some garden officer rank. It was just too painful. Since then I've mostly gone over to take rate of progress into my own hands, I can't be bothered with some outlandish ideas on how quickly I should or shouldn't progress through a game that I paid for with my money. I trust devs make the right call but something I can mod has become much more valuable to me.

 

[Mark Zero]

Oh, is that why inara has a dedicated button to find the nearest one? And why, when the local backwater anarchy went into outbreak, suddenly four carriers showed up and started kicking the hell out of their influence?

Yup. Hell hath no fury like a set of conditions that create the Most Efficient Way Possible™ to progress something.

 

[Mark Zero]

With 30-90 minutes of Supercruise times, walking off and doing something else is justified.

30-90 minutes? What are you doing, exclusively running missions from Hutton Orbital? Longest I've ever traveled in a system was maybe like 10 minutes and that's relatively uncommon.

 

[ubermick]

30-90 minutes? What are you doing, exclusively running missions from Hutton Orbital? Longest I've ever traveled in a system was maybe like 10 minutes and that's relatively uncommon.

Attention spans nowadays. When I was a lad and all this was fields, it took 10 minutes just to load a game off the tape.

goes off to shout at kids on lawn

 

[Mark Zero]

Attention spans nowadays. When I was a lad and all this was fields, it took 10 minutes just to load a game off the tape.

goes off to shout at kids on lawn

You darn kids with yer FSS and yer DSS and yer PBS! Back in my day, ya had'ta fly to the planet if ya wanted t'see it! And we didn't have them fancy "planetary landing suite"s! You wanted to map a planet, ya had'ta fly all the way 'round it, up hill, both ways, through space-snow!

And we couldn't afford shoes back then! Y'had ta check yer Remlok socks fer holes and darn 'em fore ya got into the pilot's seat! I swear, you ungrateful kids with yer hip hop music and yer baggy pants! No respect!

(It's me, I'm ungrateful kids.)

 

[Christian-117]

Not my cup of tea, but it's not against the rules.

I'm sure someone made a thread ages ago though about leaving it overnight, and coming back to the rebuy screen, and wanted to complain - that was a funny thread, so don't do that unless you want a ribbing!

Oh nah, happened to me once and I was like welp, risks of easy money lol

 

[Christian-117]

Don't you have to re-enter the instance every ~10 mins to get new enemies to spawn??
(Also - watch out for Spec-Ops!)

Nope, I left that overnight and got all 160 kills by the time I got up for classes

 

[Christian-117]

Also, if you worded it like the way you wordedv this post title on FB,i can understand why people assumed what you're doing might be a breach of game rules... "AFK play" suggests using macros or other automation software.

Some might also argue it's taking advantage of a "known exploit", but those opinions don't matter unless FD say its against the rules[1]

[1] not the only consideration, just in this instance.

No, I specified collecting missions, parking T10 with slf and turrets, putting ED on my second monitor and just leaving it. Its been expressly stated by me and others in said group there are absolutely no third part software or macros use. I don't even use the third party apps like EDMC, just the inara website. The admins remove absolutely anything that talks about sitting with your turrets and pilot doing all the work while you do something else outside of the game.

 

[Christian-117]

To each his own
Even though I have flown the slf whilst my pilots take my direction in my cutter or my vette, which is more about simply doing things differently..
I have to agree more with the way Jmanis put it than anyone.

The title makes it very clear, so does the fact you think to ask, that you know it is an exploit and you know it is wrong, yet you seek approval.

I see no reason to ask anyone what their thoughts on me flying my slf and my pilots doing the killing, because I am actually playing the game.


You intentionally expect your pilot to kill for you while you go do something else.
Something else that is an afk thing.

Seems very clearly a cheat , partly because you know it can be done, that your slf can make you money while you sleep.

It would be cool if fdev allowed this in open only and then published TOS breakers like you, system location, so others could pay you a visit.
Gankers might look for you.
Most people would not waste their time.
TBH, very few care what you do.

That you broadcast your IQ like this is embarrassing.
Bet you did not even read one word of the T.O.S.

Credits are sooooo easy to get in the game. The skills gained from actually playing allow you to maybe keep it.
And all the exploits and all the cheats make no difference in your skill or experience.

The forums are filled with the wine of the hard grind condas and carriers that get lost and how sad.

Do what you want, or what you think you should.
The ability to hang on to what you get can't be gained by exploit or by cheat.

I read the ToS and code of conduct. Having my turreted ship and paid npc pilot kill pirates while I do other stuff breaks no rules. I suggest you get your condescending behind off your high horse and probably remove the stick as well. You must be fun at parties.

 

[TrollhunterX]

I dabbled with a semi engineered T10 build to see if this was worthwhile. 630 million outlay for the ship, weapons and modules etc. Partial engineering and an NPC pilot. Parked at a Low Rez site and deployed the SLF. All works well until you loose the SLF then it it all turns a little pear-shaped. The NPC pirates also seem to learn your weak spots and exploit them. An interesting experiment but ultimately not really worth doing. You can make more money quicker by actually playing and enjoying the game.

The get-around for the 'weak spots' is to turn off Flight Assist, and let your craft turn on its axis,so the NPcs can't catch up with those spots.


This is why my T10 is called 'Rolling Thunder'. I won't quite trust it to be entirely AFK, but we can watch TV while it and the fighter do their stuff. I've finally put FA on the gamepad so I do't have to lean forward when things get hairy, shield-wise.

Weird thing is, I pick six missions with 30 or so targets, for the factions Wargrannys, Patrons of Law, Jet, Society, [Aivas?], and one other, and the other day, ended up with about 12 missions, some of which were for 72 targets, one of which was for Wargrannys, who had at least two other missions. I'm going to have to watch out for that, but at least I'm one session away from hitting 14 Billion.