An assassin tries to kill me and I return fire - but I get fined?

[Arioch]

I was returning to a mission giver’s Station when I was interdicted by an assassin (a mission warning text was received shortly beforehand) - it opened fire on me and hit my shields. I returned fire and immediately gained a fine for attacking them. After destroying the baddie that was trying to kill me I was notified that I now had a bounty on me for murder. Surely it was Self Defence With Extreme Prejudice, m’lud?

This happened on two separate missions today. Is this a bug or have I missed some Crime & Punishment change?

Also: after docking (anonymously) at the mission giver’s Station I saw there was an Interstellar Factors - but according to them I had no fine or bounty. Relogging didn’t help. Zero notoriety. I’ve found posts saying you cannot pay off a whoopsie at IF if the issuing faction has a presence there, but I thought that never used to be the case in Horizons. There’s this bug report that suggests FDev agree it shouldn’t be like that. Looking on the GalMap for another IF seemed to give me false positives - using the SysMap on filtered stars showed no Stations or surface ports with IF listed as a service.

Anyone else having similar problems?

 

[Ydiss]

Also: after docking (anonymously) at the mission giver’s Station I saw there was an Interstellar Factors - but according to them I had no fine or bounty. Relogging didn’t help. Zero notoriety. I’ve found posts saying you cannot pay off a whoopsie at IF if the issuing faction has a presence there, but I thought that never used to be the case in Horizons. There’s this bug report that suggests FDev agree it shouldn’t be like that. Looking on the GalMap for another IF seemed to give me false positives - using the SysMap on filtered stars showed no Stations or surface ports with IF listed as a service.

Anyone else having similar problems?

These days, paying off fines seems pretty easy as IF seems to be everywhere. I just jump around 20ly away and pay it at any random place.

Can't comment much on whether this is a bug (although I'd say getting the bounty in the first place seems weird but can't comment on it as I've never seen it happen before) because I've been so used to how IF works since EDO released that I just "do the thing you need to do" and that's that.

Maybe that's not the case but you can pay the penalty off by moving elsewhere so you could do that. It's not really a bug imo, it's just how EDO was designed and EDH wasn't. Imo the actual fix is to make EDH work the same way It makes no sense that you can just pay off any fine via IF at literally the same location as the guys that you need to pay the fine for, given IF is so prevalent in the world now.

They made IF easier to find when they released EDO from what I can see (t's nigh-everywhere). But you can't just pay off the fine at the same place you got it from. I think that's ok.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

If they opened fire on you first and you returned fire and got fined, they were not wanted - therefore you must have already had a bounty on you and were a legitimate target for any bounty hunter.

 

[Arioch]

If they opened fire on you first and you returned fire and got fined, they were not wanted - therefore you must have already had a bounty on you and were a legitimate target for any bounty hunter.

That would explain it - I picked up a bounty a few days back in a bugged Safeguard mission (guards at the settlement became a bit miffed at me for running around with my gun out trying to find the non-existent cargo to protect and started shooting), which then became another instance of Interstellar Factors not doing their job properly

I suppose it puzzled me because I’d destroyed a couple of would-be pirates on the way to today’s mission without getting fined - I guess that was because they were already wanted?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I suppose it puzzled me because I’d destroyed a couple of would-be pirates on the way to today’s mission without getting fined - I guess that was because they were already wanted?

Yes, wanted ships can fire at each other all day without getting any more wanted.

 

[Rubbernuke]

You can also turn this on its head- you can take any pirate, bounty hunter etc into a CZ, align with the opposition of the pursuer and kill them for the class of ship and any bounty on them- lawless zones are money makers.

 

[MickyG1982]

I was returning to a mission giver’s Station when I was interdicted by an assassin (a mission warning text was received shortly beforehand) - it opened fire on me and hit my shields. I returned fire and immediately gained a fine for attacking them. After destroying the baddie that was trying to kill me I was notified that I now had a bounty on me for murder. Surely it was Self Defence With Extreme Prejudice, m’lud?

This happened on two separate missions today. Is this a bug or have I missed some Crime & Punishment change?

Also: after docking (anonymously) at the mission giver’s Station I saw there was an Interstellar Factors - but according to them I had no fine or bounty. Relogging didn’t help. Zero notoriety. I’ve found posts saying you cannot pay off a whoopsie at IF if the issuing faction has a presence there, but I thought that never used to be the case in Horizons. There’s this bug report that suggests FDev agree it shouldn’t be like that. Looking on the GalMap for another IF seemed to give me false positives - using the SysMap on filtered stars showed no Stations or surface ports with IF listed as a service.

Anyone else having similar problems?

Report Crimes Against Me.

It does what it says on the tin & leaves you free to shoot back at any time after receiving damage.

Unless you turn it off

Then it does nothing, & if you haven't scanned your opponent to ensure that it's not a law abiding citizen you are about to shoot at prior to shooting, theirs will work perfectly well leaving you with a bounty.

That part isn't a bug & has never been a bug since ED was released.

 

[Arioch]

Report Crimes Against Me.

It does what it says on the tin & leaves you free to shoot back at any time after receiving damage.

Unless you turn it off

Then it does nothing, & if you haven't scanned your opponent to ensure that it's not a law abiding citizen you are about to shoot at prior to shooting, theirs will work perfectly well leaving you with a bounty.

That part isn't a bug & has never been a bug since ED was released.

I had RCAM activated - the correct reason for my fine was solved Ned Flandalorian above; I’d incurred a bounty a few days previously.

Today I managed to get the exact same mission to the same place - a settlement raid where I was warned the base was already alerted to me. On my way back to the mission-giver station I was interdicted by an assassin, and after being shot at I destroyed them without being fined. I noted that the assassin was in a wanted ship - so I’m guessing that in my OP problem I must’ve returned fire before my scan had completed of the attacking ship or that it was a Clean assassin.

 

[Northpin]

I was returning to a mission giver’s Station when I was interdicted by an assassin (a mission warning text was received shortly beforehand) - it opened fire on me and hit my shields. I returned fire and immediately gained a fine for attacking them. After destroying the baddie that was trying to kill me I was notified that I now had a bounty on me for murder. Surely it was Self Defence With Extreme Prejudice, m’lud?

Did you had any bounties when that happened?
Because what it may happened is you had a bounty hunter on your tail.
A clean one.
And if you attack clean ships in a non-lawless jurisdiction, you will get fines and bounties

IF not, some other thing may happen - but i have to admit it's quite some time since i last had it happened to me.
Your attacker was indeed wanted, but you attacked them back before scanning them and getting the Wanted status on them


So, yea, sometimes not-returning fire and pulling a brave Sir Richard is the way to go

 

[Screemonster]

I had a similar !!!FUN!!! one with a cmdr the other day. They showed as wanted in supercruise, I didn't get a fine for interdicting them, but when we dropped into realspace my second volley of missiles was already in the air when the first ones connected and gave me a bounty - and their ship wasn't exactly as tough as those I've come to expect from outlaw players so when the second volley hit I got a Bad Boy Point.

I suspect they were wanted in the jurisdiction of the planetary port they'd just left, but not in the jurisdiction of the main system. Oh well. I should probably fit a KWS for this kind of work.

 

[Arioch]

Did you had any bounties when that happened?

Yup

…reason for my fine was solved Ned Flandalorian above; I’d incurred a bounty a few days previously.

The assassin was spawned for the mission I was on (I received a message about them) so they weren’t a bounty hunter. Either I returned fire before completing my scan or they were Clean - but on the same mission today (same base/factions/mission wrinkle) the assassin was Wanted, so I suspect the former.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

Firing on someone before a scan is completed does not matter - they're already either clean or wanted and the scan will simply inform you which it is. Plenty of times I've been in a haz-res and just opened up on ships attacking clean miners without bothering for scans to finish.

 

[Arioch]

Firing on someone before a scan is completed does not matter - they're already either clean or wanted and the scan will simply inform you which it is. Plenty of times I've been in a haz-res and just opened up on ships attacking clean miners without bothering for scans to finish.

In that case the attacker must’ve been Clean or something was off - I’m going to try these missions again and see if I can get the assassin after me again

 

[Northpin]

Firing on someone before a scan is completed does not matter - they're already either clean or wanted and the scan will simply inform you which it is. Plenty of times I've been in a haz-res and just opened up on ships attacking clean miners without bothering for scans to finish.

In that case the attacker must’ve been Clean or something was off - I’m going to try these missions again and see if I can get the assassin after me again

I remember encountering this issue back in then (sometimes in 2019 IIRC), but admitedly not lately.
However, FDev regressing old bugs/behaviors back in game is not exactly unheard off

 

[Screemonster]

In that case the attacker must’ve been Clean or something was off - I’m going to try these missions again and see if I can get the assassin after me again

Yeah, if it's the assassins sent after you for doing surface missions (raids/takedowns in particular) then those guys always seem to be clean. I just let them shoot me first before I pull the trigger.

If you're too impatient for that then they are considered mission targets, so you don't get notoriety for blowing them away. 5000cr is a small price to pay to get rid of them because they're incredibly persistent if you still have more missions to do before you turn in the one that upset them.

 

[Arioch]

Yeah, if it's the assassins sent after you for doing surface missions (raids/takedowns in particular) then those guys always seem to be clean. I just let them shoot me first before I pull the trigger.

The one this morning was definitely Wanted, and I’ll keeping a close eye on it in future

 

[zikolach]

I had something similar to OP. The mission to kill a guy at settlement and not make any harm/kill anyone else as extra condition. Did all as described. On a way back to mission giver got a message that the faction sent a killer after me. Got interdicted, returned fire killing the attacker. After that mission just disappeared from the transactions and I got a bounty on my head.