Azaleach Exploration CG -- Single Explorers be careful

[Voyager_NL]

Hi Explorers,

If you're coming in single or not very armed... be careful to enter the Azaleach system for the Exploration CG.
The station is over 19.000 Lsecs out so it is a longer flight than usual which gives room for Cmdrs with ulterior motives.

Here's a visual warning if you didn't get the message just yet. It is what happened to me this afternoon:
<Video link removed>

I'd like to specifically ask Frontier Development: PLEASE do something about this kind of behaviour the GANKING has to stop. It is killing your game. A lot of people are loosing their pleasure in the game because one person is being completely anti social.
Thanks!

Yours,
Cmdr Voyager_NL, Founder.

 

[Mengy]

This is why when exploring I always return in solo or private. Us explorers, the victims, take all of the risk in open, while the gankers risk nothing but also gain nothing except spreading grief just to be an @#$!!&#@$. Until FDev fixes the victim/playerkiller risk vs reward in open I simply won't play in that mode while exploring.

Honestly I don't mind PvP and I wouldn't mind being ganked by griefers if we only had some way of combating this. Like explorer's insurance for example, or data recorders that we could recover afterwards, just something. I don't mind losing the ship or paying the buyback insurance, no big deal, but losing weeks or months worth of play time to a bully who just wants to be an internet bully because there are no risks nor repercussions for doing it? Yeah, no thanks.

 

[Greyhawk]

They still haven't addressed the lack of any punishment for players who just kill for fun. Until they do, its Mobius for me. Just got back myself from a few months in the black. Landed ok thankfully.

 

[Jackie Silver]

They won't do anything, although you will probably get told off for linking to the name of the griefer in question.

 

[Greyhawk]

If you see this guy, immediately hiwake out and drop to solo. He kills everyone regardless. I believe he's even KOS to the pirates.

 

[Voyager_NL]

If you see this guy, immediately hiwake out and drop to solo. He kills everyone regardless. I believe he's even KOS to the pirates.

Indeed he is. In both SDC and CODE as far as I've heard.

 

[mls]

That is why i always return in solo or private group when coming from an exploration with lots of data.
Also exactly because of that, my exploration ship is always armed to the teeth with guns, strong shields, shield boosters, point defence and the lot.
i can't see the purpose of having very long range to go places no one else can if i can't cache in the reward. The aspx still has a range of 27-29ly when fully armed and A-decked.

it also helps to have your foot on the power switch just in case. even in solo there can be a group of pirates taking you on together where your chances of survival are close to zero. I can find no shame in combat quitting in that kind of situation.

Still, i feel for you.

o7

 

[Mengy]

Also exactly because of that, my exploration ship is always armed to the teeth with guns, strong shields, shield boosters, point defence and the lot.
i can't see the purpose of having very long range to go places no one else can if i can't cache in the reward. The aspx still has a range of 27-29ly when fully armed and A-decked.

There will come a time in the not so distant future where all of us explorers will have to go into the black fully armed. Braben and crew seem adamant that even deep space will be dangerous soon, most likely due to either Thargoids or angry missing humans gone native. That may be one of the biggest reasons for them to give us an engineer that boosts the FSD modules, it will compensate for the jump range we lose arming up. If we don't get improved FSD drives then exploring in deep space will likely get more difficult, frustrating, and time consuming than it is now.

Right now just might be the glory days of deep space exploration in Elite. Maybe we don't know how good we have it? :S

 

[Greyhawk]

I've always gone into the black fully armed. Despite not even playing in open.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Always swap to a combat fit ship as soon as possible within the bubble or as above fly solo/group (Caution Mobius got attacked by idiots again recently). Condolences to the CMDR but an Asp in any CG system exploration or otherwise is kinda asking for trouble.

Personal favourite is Clipper. Fill it with shield banks and boosters with a few HSL's and you can out-run/tank anything and anyone. Don't even need weapons.

 

[Mitch Brewer]

I was delivering some data to Procyon a couple of days ago in my DBX with no weapons and no cargo racks. I was interdicted and killed by an NPC pirate in solo mode. I'm not going to complain about being killed because it was a mistake that I hit jump instead of boost just before my FSD was charged and it restarted my FSD charge. However, if you think ED is going to do something about CMDR's so called "griefing" in open but they won't do anything about NPC's doing the same thing, you are sadly mistaken.

 

[newman1702]

I'd like to specifically ask Frontier Development: PLEASE do something about this kind of behaviour the GANKING has to stop. It is killing your game. A lot of people are loosing their pleasure in the game because one person is being completely anti social.
Thanks!

What that commander did may not be popular with some, but it's PvP in open and not against game rules. If you're flying a lightly shielded explorer ship, you should really use solo or private modes to get to wherever you intend to sell the data.

And also, you probably could have survived that interdiction had you submitted and high waked instead. It was quite obvious from the first few seconds that you were going to lose the interdiction minigame, but you made the wrong call to keep fighting a losing battle. So, after making two wrong decisions you paid for it with your ship and data. Sucks but the moment you logged into open you pretty much agreed to the possibility of this happening, whether you were aware of it or not. And I don't even like this kind of behavior and think that people who prey on easy kills, such as lightly shielded, unarmed explorers are a bit sad. However, they're not in violation of the rules so I doubt FD are going to go ban a paying customer under these circumstances. You can always talk about making in-game consequences more dire, such as a more aggressive security response, higher fines, etc, but in truth I doubt any of that will stop ganking. You just need to either get good at running away and accept the risk or switch to solo / private. I honestly don't see the point in risking my exploration data in a ship that can't fight back anyway so I just return in solo. Seems like common sense to me.

 

[Zenith]

Thing is that the player in question is coward.

They were seen around Merope for a while ganking people looking for Barnacles. The usual combat build against light exploration builds.
Then someone turns up with another combat ship and interdicts THEM, they fight for a short time, then they combat log.
Typical bully always picks on those weaker than themselves, and kills the connection when faced with effective competition.

 

[EUS]

Fully loaded cutter blasting exploration Asp. Yup, a d-bag.
it's too bad you didn't suffer a connection problem.

 

[CMDR Argent Steel]

Sad that this guy is blatantly hiding behind "name and shame". I don't understand why he should. Why isn't he proud of his gameplay? Not willing to stand behind his choices?

I mean either this is valid emergent gameplay, or it is meant and known by the player in question to be shameful behavior.

 

[Macros Black]

It is sad to see the work of hours, days, weeks, perhaps even months vanish in a blink of an eye. As many have said before, this mechanic will only make the galaxy an even more desolate place than it already is. The playing field is not as even as it should be.

Yesterday I took my Federal Corvette to Cleve Hub and Trevitchik Dock to issue Harmless missions (I gathered rares to drop for Harmless CMDR's to pickup and sell). Not a single Harmless Sidewinder of the few I saw, would approach me or even respond to comms. Only an Asp Explorer (Novice) interacted, fun as that was, the CMDR wanted to see how strong my A7 Shield with boosters really is, asked permission and I gave it, no foul, spreading trust and good deeds now seems like more work than getting to the rank of Duke and the Imperial Cutter...

 

[crushdepth]

I won't be carrying guns on my exploration ship anytime soon. A few basic precautions is all you need on your return:

1. Switch to solo as you approach the bubble.
2. Stop at an outlying station to refit your ship and add guns.

Done.

 

[Jaiotu]

I won't be carrying guns on my exploration ship anytime soon. A few basic precautions is all you need on your return:

1. Switch to solo as you approach the bubble.
2. Stop at an outlying station to refit your ship and add guns.

Done.

1. I refuse to be scared out of Open.
2. THIS! As soon as I get to a decent system with a high enough tech level I refit my ship for survival.

Honestly though ... this is a Community Goal. The whole purpose of a CG is to draw a large number of players together into a specific region to inspire 'emergent gameplay'. The increased risk of being interdicted and killed is the trade off for the potential reward.

'Exploration Community Goal' is a huge advertisement that says, 'Easy Prey Found Here!'

 

[Ian Doncaster]

And also, you probably could have survived that interdiction had you submitted and high waked instead.

Eh, there's knowing that in theory and there's been able to do it in practice versus your first hostile interdiction for weeks/months. I deployed my landing gear twice and tried to jump at least four times before noticing I hadn't pressed "next system on route" yet. A combat vulture can survive (just) that sort of missing instinct; an Asp - even a heavily shielded one - cannot.

Maybe there's a need for explorers to run interdiction drills for each other so we get good instincts. As Mengy says at #8, we may have more need for them in future even when out there.

 

[The Tick]

Thanks for the warning CMDR, but while I can understand your feelings, I have to disagree with your conclusions.
It's not against the rules or the spirit of the game, so don't expect FDev to do something about this.
Rather learn your lesson, and prepare better next time you fly into an obviously dangerous system. And rather than switching to Solo, you could do one of the following:
- Switch to a more defensive ship before dumping your data (I used my Cobra MkIII for exactly this purpose yesterday, so I could outfly anybody)
- Prepare your ship with better modules. You obviously stuck to your explorer build with weak shields, thrusters and power distributor (I saw you boosting at 350 m/s max. The Asp can do 400 m/s).
- Don't ever try to outfight a significantly lighter ship in the interdiction minigame. Your chances are very slim. Rather, submit, turn, boost into the interdictor's direction, then high wake out. And: if you expect to be interdicted, pick a high wake target right after you enter the system.
- Don't let it come to an interdiction at all. When entering a dangerous system, turn directly away from the main start with full SC acceleration. As long as you don't slow down, no one can interdict you. And then never take the direct route between the main star and your target. If you want to play it safe, approach the station from the other side while maintaining full speed. Those PvPers rarely take the effort following you all around, especially if this takes several minutes.

I'm sure that if you prepare this way, this won't happen again.

Hi Explorers,

If you're coming in single or not very armed... be careful to enter the Azaleach system for the Exploration CG.
The station is over 19.000 Lsecs out so it is a longer flight than usual which gives room for Cmdrs with ulterior motives.

I'd like to specifically ask Frontier Development: PLEASE do something about this kind of behaviour the GANKING has to stop. It is killing your game. A lot of people are loosing their pleasure in the game because one person is being completely anti social.
Thanks!

Yours,
Cmdr Voyager_NL, Founder.