AFK credit farm; does it depend on security level?

[IstvaanDCIV]

I've not seen the point in AFK bounty harvesting personally. I've made more than enough money by actually sitting in front of the PC and playing the game, and I'd want my combat rank to scale better with my actual experience in dealing with hostile NPCs, since if I'm not mistaken your combat rank is taken into account when the game decides what level of NPCs it wants to send against you.

But if someone else wants to do it, then it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. So long as they're aware of the risks involved and the potential pitfalls, that's their bag.

 

[CMDR X]

...
But if someone else wants to do it, then it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. So long as they're aware of the risks involved and the potential pitfalls, that's their bag.

These are meme novelty ships, requiring a pretty decent amount of credits and mats/engineering to work properly. I doubt many people would invest the time in it. I only built one because I'm a madman. I played with it at most 3 times, each time with beer and youtube streaming next to it.

AFK ships won't put a dent into anyones collective gameplay efforts.

 

[exLatius]

It's too boring. You need to construct ship, spend mats, park your ship in special AFK suitable zones and so on. I suppose people won't fritter away their time.
But it's possible to get a little pleasure in finish watching the result with beer.

 

[Jack Winter]

One could of course also fly the SLF oneself and watch the light show around the T-10, or possibly spam limpets to fill up on some manufactured mats.

 

[HRDiagram]

I have built an AFK T10: being open to trying as many things as possible in ED, I decided months ago to do it. Having enough funds to support my FC for decades, and topped up engineering materials, it didn't really impact me to set it up in a short amount of time.
The ship is fully engineered (I mean, up to useless G5) and tested it on the field.
Here are my findings:
-it only works in low RES (anything above will eat through its Prismatics within an hour or so).
-the amount of bounties achievable, considering that it's a low RES, is in the region of 10-20mil over several hours: if one wants to earn credits, they need to stack massacre missions,, and there is no way one can have any significant impact in a CG (perhaps top 75%)
-it's not guaranteed to work. Depending on the instance, it might be destroyed anyway or, if enough NPCs spam hatchbreakers to beat or drain the point defense, the cargo eventually drops, and from then on pirates will ignore it.

Is it worth it? Keeping a computer on for hours to earn 500mil overnight (provided that one has to find systems to stack up enough missions) could prove interesting to some.

I have now converted it slightly, added collector limpets to it and use it when I want to pilot the SLF in a RES, leaving the mothership defend itself.
It's not a moneymaker, but it's fun when I want to do some chilled fights.

 

[Tividar]

I have built an AFK T10: being open to trying as many things as possible in ED, I decided months ago to do it. Having enough funds to support my FC for decades, and topped up engineering materials, it didn't really impact me to set it up in a short amount of time.
The ship is fully engineered (I mean, up to useless G5) and tested it on the field.
Here are my findings:
-it only works in low RES (anything above will eat through its Prismatics within an hour or so).
-the amount of bounties achievable, considering that it's a low RES, is in the region of 10-20mil over several hours: if one wants to earn credits, they need to stack massacre missions,, and there is no way one can have any significant impact in a CG (perhaps top 75%)
-it's not guaranteed to work. Depending on the instance, it might be destroyed anyway or, if enough NPCs spam hatchbreakers to beat or drain the point defense, the cargo eventually drops, and from then on pirates will ignore it.

Is it worth it? Keeping a computer on for hours to earn 500mil overnight (provided that one has to find systems to stack up enough missions) could prove interesting to some.

I have now converted it slightly, added collector limpets to it and use it when I want to pilot the SLF in a RES, leaving the mothership defend itself.
It's not a moneymaker, but it's fun when I want to do some chilled fights.

IF you have the resources and a certain OCD mindset, you can overcome the limitations of Prismatic with a second (or third or fourth) computer/account and some healie-beams. My family occasionally plays together and were willing to humor me. A wing of AFK Cutters/Defenders rolling slowly through the night is amusing in a funny-once sort of way. Designing the ships and coming up with the right protocols for keeping everyone alive and shooting was definitely enjoyable. As a real source of credits? You've got to be kidding. Without prepping a system and stacking missions, the credit rewards are underwhelming. Ignore the time spent AFK and just match the time spend mission stacking and there are several ways to make far more Credits than "AFK" farming can achieve.

 

[Shadowsnog]

IF you have the resources and a certain OCD mindset, you can overcome the limitations of Prismatic with a second (or third or fourth) computer/account and some healie-beams. My family occasionally plays together and were willing to humor me. A wing of AFK Cutters/Defenders rolling slowly through the night is amusing in a funny-once sort of way. Designing the ships and coming up with the right protocols for keeping everyone alive and shooting was definitely enjoyable. As a real source of credits? You've got to be kidding. Without prepping a system and stacking missions, the credit rewards are underwhelming. Ignore the time spent AFK and just match the time spend mission stacking and there are several ways to make far more Credits than "AFK" farming can achieve.

i dont think making "more" or "less" is the issue here
no matter how elaborate methods, no matter how expertly used
is your method giving you unfair advantage?
emphasis on "fair"
which is decided exclusively by fdev

 

[Tividar]

i dont think making "more" or "less" is the issue here
no matter how elaborate methods, no matter how expertly used
is your method giving you unfair advantage?
emphasis on "fair"
which is decided exclusively by fdev

If Fdev thought this gave an unfair advantage, I'd question their understanding of the words "unfair" and "advantage." Or more charitably, their reading comprehension.

 

[DeeJayMMM]

I have built an AFK T10: being open to trying as many things as possible in ED, I decided months ago to do it. Having enough funds to support my FC for decades, and topped up engineering materials, it didn't really impact me to set it up in a short amount of time.
The ship is fully engineered (I mean, up to useless G5) and tested it on the field.
Here are my findings:
-it only works in low RES (anything above will eat through its Prismatics within an hour or so).
-the amount of bounties achievable, considering that it's a low RES, is in the region of 10-20mil over several hours: if one wants to earn credits, they need to stack massacre missions,, and there is no way one can have any significant impact in a CG (perhaps top 75%)
-it's not guaranteed to work. Depending on the instance, it might be destroyed anyway or, if enough NPCs spam hatchbreakers to beat or drain the point defense, the cargo eventually drops, and from then on pirates will ignore it.

Is it worth it? Keeping a computer on for hours to earn 500mil overnight (provided that one has to find systems to stack up enough missions) could prove interesting to some.

I have now converted it slightly, added collector limpets to it and use it when I want to pilot the SLF in a RES, leaving the mothership defend itself.
It's not a moneymaker, but it's fun when I want to do some chilled fights.

i think i read somewhere that npcs cant steal mission cargo items ,but they will still try to . items would be from delivery cargo missions.

 

[CMDR X]

If Fdev thought this gave an unfair advantage, I'd question their understanding of the words "unfair" and "advantage." Or more charitably, their reading comprehension.

Right on. They should have thought of this when they implemented fire-at-will turrets.
What were they thinking? "Naaa, they'll never try something like this".

 

[exLatius]

I reckon that Fdevs have been aware about all possible AFK ways in the game. They don't bother because AFK can't disrupt playing process or jostle players away the game . On the other hand AFK brings to CMDRs new goals.

 

[St0rmFury]

My squadron leader no longer plays, but he does AFK farm once in a while to keep his FC financed.

 

[yianniv]

My squadron leader no longer plays, but he does AFK farm once in a while to keep his FC financed.

Irrelevant, but he should assign a new squadron leader.

 

[Rebel Yell]

I reckon that Fdevs have been aware about all possible AFK ways in the game. They don't bother because AFK can't disrupt playing process or jostle players away the game . On the other hand AFK brings to CMDRs new goals cringe.

^redacted... that sentence says a lot about the current state of the fair play in the game (well... another piece of the puzzle).

Reality is the contrary: it can disrupt substantially any PMFs' BGS as stacking missions and bounties does have an effect.

[and I can still remember the day we've found three T10s in semi-AFK mode grinding merits in powerplay CZs]

Go figure...

 

[Northpin]

Reality is the contrary: it can disrupt substantially any PMFs' BGS as stacking missions and bounties does have an effect.

yes, this

AFK farming can have serious disruptive effects - in bgs or in other competitive activities like CG, but also generally in the game.
The AFK farmer getting "free" credits overnight that can be used during the normal gaming sessions to fund lots of rebuys - which is a serious advantage over someone that plays fair

 

[Purged]

I don't care about AFK. Players that use it are really cheating themselves out of experience. Eg. The higher your combat rank the Harder your opponents are. I'm Merc Elite V. It takes like 7 to 10 tormentor shots to kill an NPC. I run Two Rocket Launchers with Stowed reloading and extra ammo, Sometimes 6 hits isn't enough for a Kill.
Ship combat almost at Elite 3. Yesterday I was Killed by a DBX NPC. One would think it would get easier the higher the Rank, GG and o7

 

[Northpin]

Players that use it are really cheating themselves out of experience.

That would be valid in a pure solo game.
But everything a CMDR does in solo, is affecting the Galaxy for everyone else

 

[exLatius]

[and I can still remember the day we've found three T10s in semi-AFK mode grinding merits in powerplay CZs]

Semi?

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

I'm Merc Elite V. It takes like 7 to 10 tormentor shots to kill an NPC. I run Two Rocket Launchers with Stowed reloading and extra ammo, Sometimes 6 hits isn't enough for a Kill.

The enemy difficulty on foot seems to be determined by settlement security / CZ difficulty and the amount of shots to kill with rocket launchers can depend on how well you hit the AOE (and some janky randomness with geometry in the way).

The spaceships that spawn to interdict you and maybe goid interdictions do depend on your combat rank. I'm deliberatley staying low combat rank on my alt account.

 

[St0rmFury]

Semi?

Probably check on it every once in a while and restoring shields when needed.