Becoming Wanted

[DBCloggy]

Before I start, this isn't a whinge, just an observation of some quirkiness.

Since the release of the latest update, I have spent much of my time in combat in RES. I have been 'teaming up' with security, effectively becoming part of their wing.

I have noticed that I can accidentally hit them with the occasional stray round and this has no effect on my status. This is good as when combat gets tight it can easily occur. However, if they attack a wanted ship and I then fly in to scan that ship, if I accidentally loose of a round into said ship before my scan completes and I see they are wanted (which they quite obviously are as security is attacking them), then I instantly become wanted and I have to immediately turn tail and run before the ship is destroyed and they start chasing me.

I can understand that you can't attack anything that is not know to you as wanted, but it's still weird when you can shoot security without any problem.

I think it would be a good idea that if you are allied to any ships fighting around you, their knowledge of wanted statuses should become your knowledge and vice versa.

It doesn't happen a lot to me, but once in every 5 visits I get a little trigger happy and am a little premature with the lasers.

 

[Arindor]

It's a tad pathetic IMO. I was in a hi-res when an Anaconda (with an 300k bounty) was being attacked by security. Then, after accidentally hitting a security ship, my 400Cr bounty became the most valuable asset the NPCs wanted. They all went red, and instantly turned on me.

 

[Toffa]

BDCloggy,

It's called trigger discipline CMDR. Be sure of your targets at all times. Wait for those scans to finish. It's unlikely that a couple extra seconds waiting for that scan to finish is going to cost you the bounty.

Arindor,

It's been that way forever. Trigger. Discipline.

Toffs
( '-')7

 

[DBCloggy]

It's a tad pathetic IMO. I was in a hi-res when an Anaconda (with an 300k bounty) was being attacked by security. Then, after accidentally hitting a security ship, my 400Cr bounty became the most valuable asset the NPCs wanted. They all went red, and instantly turned on me.

I remember when hitting a security ship with a single stray shot would land you in hot water. That seems to be fixed now, but it is a bit dumb that hitting a wanted criminal with a single shot is illegal because you had fully scanned them first. In many situations, scanning someone gives security time to kill them before you can even take a shot.

I now try to get there well in advance, scan, then wait for security to get close and start shooting. Then I join in and grab that bounty. It's an especially useful technique when the opponent is in a wing as security becomes your wing.

 

[Little Billy]

I do like the fact that you have to be worried about who you're shooting. Sometimes it goes bad and you have to get the hell out of dodge. I like the little quirks. Yesterday I was interdicted by a Python. When I climbed out of the washing machine effect, we looked at eachother, neither fired a shot, and I scooted off sharpish in my little pimped out Vulture. Unpredictable stuff makes it more real.

 

[RexKraemer]

Becoming wanted when hitting before scan finished was always like this. Has nothing to do with security around.
But good to hear that security is less sensitive now.

 

[Miko_Stargazer]

I was always bothered by the mechanic of needing to wait for a scan before you can legally attack a ship. It's a pretty     ling concern, small in the grand scheme, but still frustrating.

Sometimes when you scan a ship in SC, you have to scan them again in normal space. I had this system where if a pirate was ranting about how my empty cargo hold was all theirs in comms, I would drop into normal space before interdiction happened, open up my hardpoints, and wait. I could start unloading on them the instant they dropped in, but then I'd get an assault warrant because I had to scan them again.

You would think the law and justice system would be sophisticated enough to notice you are attacking someone with a bounty and wouldn't penalize you. You'd still be taking a risk by attacking someone you haven't fully scanned yet, but it would be a tactical choice.

You would also think pirates who have a price on their head in a system would think to turn off their 'report crimes against me' option because any security forces that show up will try to kill them too.

 

[DBCloggy]

Becoming wanted when hitting before scan finished was always like this. Has nothing to do with security around.
But good to hear that security is less sensitive now.

I know, but you would think that it wouldn't be a problem attacking a target that was already under attack from security, but like I say, it's not a whinge, just an observation. It would make sense to me to share scan information with allies in the same space.

 

[RexKraemer]

I know, but you would think that it wouldn't be a problem attacking a target that was already under attack from security, but like I say, it's not a whinge, just an observation. It would make sense to me to share scan information with allies in the same space.

I am not sure. For me the security is not allied just because we want the same ship down.
And, ok, if you see a ship attacked by security we know that this ship must be wanted. But this is only E: D logic. It could also be in general that security attacks not only wanted ships but also ships from other factions which they are in war with. It may change in future that security does not only attack wanted ships.

 

[DBCloggy]

I am not sure. For me the security is not allied just because we want the same ship down.
And, ok, if you see a ship attacked by security we know that this ship must be wanted. But this is only E: D logic. It could also be in general that security attacks not only wanted ships but also ships from other factions which they are in war with. It may change in future that security does not only attack wanted ships.

In this particular system I have a reputation which means the security is actually allied with me. They show green in the radar. I'm just thinking for sharing in these cases.

 

[Little Billy]

I am not sure. For me the security is not allied just because we want the same ship down.
And, ok, if you see a ship attacked by security we know that this ship must be wanted. But this is only E: D logic. It could also be in general that security attacks not only wanted ships but also ships from other factions which they are in war with. It may change in future that security does not only attack wanted ships.

I have definitely got into trouble by assuming a ship under fire from the security forces was fair game. Scan first is my advice. It's not the end of the world when the security dudes turn on you but it is boring to have to leave a system just when you'd got into the groove of it.

 

[DBCloggy]

Now I managed to pick up a 6000Cr bounty after I picked up a 400Cr one for hitting a security ship. I immediately fled, but the ship must have been destroyed before I could FSD. This bounty has 6 days before I presume it turns to a legacy fine that I can pay off. I can't bounty hunt until the bounty has gone, so time to play Witcher 3 until the weekend!

Frustrating, as I was so close to my target and he flew right between us, after managing to hit me a few times.

 

[Marra Morgan]

Now I managed to pick up a 6000Cr bounty after I picked up a 400Cr one for hitting a security ship. I immediately fled, but the ship must have been destroyed before I could FSD. This bounty has 6 days before I presume it turns to a legacy fine that I can pay off. I can't bounty hunt until the bounty has gone, so time to play Witcher 3 until the weekend!

Frustrating, as I was so close to my target and he flew right between us, after managing to hit me a few times.

I thought bounty hunters were made of sterner stuff, living on the razor-thin edge of law and criminality...

Oh well, maybe they are just RES welfare claimants, after all

 

[Mr_Blastman]

There are ways to farm in a RES without ever firing a shot, never getting shot back at and you can collect bounties with immunity...

I hope they fix it soon.

 

[kofeyh]

Yes because I should just be able to shoot people in the face before their guilt is identified, rather than having to go through that whole check before you blow people's heads off thing just in case, oh I don't know, they're a miner, or something.

Police your rounds, sir. Yes I understand time is money; but how much time do you lose when you keep gaining bounties, versus not blindly holding the trigger down 24/7?

 

[cmdr_Havalok]

Local Security Ships also belong to the controlling faction. If a Civil War or War states exists involving that faction they may fire on non-wanted ships. Its rare but it does happen. In that case you would also be firing on a non-wanted ship. Have you seen the take-home pay for a local defense force ship these days. That 400 CRs gets dinner out and a movie with the kids.

 

[srfrogg23]

Before I start, this isn't a whinge, just an observation of some quirkiness.

Since the release of the latest update, I have spent much of my time in combat in RES. I have been 'teaming up' with security, effectively becoming part of their wing.

I have noticed that I can accidentally hit them with the occasional stray round and this has no effect on my status. This is good as when combat gets tight it can easily occur. However, if they attack a wanted ship and I then fly in to scan that ship, if I accidentally loose of a round into said ship before my scan completes and I see they are wanted (which they quite obviously are as security is attacking them), then I instantly become wanted and I have to immediately turn tail and run before the ship is destroyed and they start chasing me.

I can understand that you can't attack anything that is not know to you as wanted, but it's still weird when you can shoot security without any problem.

I think it would be a good idea that if you are allied to any ships fighting around you, their knowledge of wanted statuses should become your knowledge and vice versa.

It doesn't happen a lot to me, but once in every 5 visits I get a little trigger happy and am a little premature with the lasers.

I wouldn't just call it "quirky", I think the words you are looking for are "clunky" and "counter-intuitive".

Scanning the NPC for Wanted status is only needed when you can't outright see how that NPC interacts with surrounding ships (players or other NPCs).

Any other time it's immediately obvious which ones are Wanted, so having to scan every ship before attacking makes the system very very clunky by throwing an unnecessary speed-bump into the game play.

It is the exact opposite of an intuitive and free-flowing experience. And it is that clunky and counter-intuitive system that makes the consequences for not adhering to the clunky and counter-intuitive speedbump gameplay so maddeningly immersion breaking.

In short OP: I agree with your sentiments.

 

[kofeyh]

I wouldn't just call it "quirky", I think the words you are looking for are "clunky" and "counter-intuitive".

Scanning the NPC for Wanted status is only needed when you can't outright see how that NPC interacts with surrounding ships (players or other NPCs).

Any other time it's immediately obvious which ones are Wanted, so having to scan every ship before attacking makes the system very very clunky by throwing an unnecessary speed-bump into the game play.

It is the exact opposite of an intuitive and free-flowing experience. And it is that clunky and counter-intuitive system that makes the consequences for not adhering to the clunky and counter-intuitive speedbump gameplay so maddeningly immersion breaking.

In short OP: I agree with your sentiments.

Security won't necessarily just attack wanted ships. So your logic is flawed. It takes a few seconds for the scan to complete. It's not immersion breaking, it's part of bounty hunting - does the target have a bounty - it's in fact an actual key part of the process.

All because people can't stop holding the trigger down for a few seconds to validate the target status. Remember how people endlessly complain about AI that instantly start firing without scanning and how is that fair or reasonable? My immersion!

Works both ways. Scan the ship, if it's a perp - blast it - it's not much to ask.

 

[akaliel]

I'm not sure exactly the logic the game uses for accidental hits. Since 2.1 I've accidentally hit a cop at a haz res in the last CG and got a small fine for it, it just lasted 6 minutes and I just had to leave the system, play on my phone for a few minutes and head back. I've had a limpet pick up illegal cargo in the previous CG, while I was trying to collect ship loot, and that one got me a $5000 fine and a 6 day wanted status. I had to bow out of the whole CG after that. And I've accidentally hit cops and had no effect at all. Maybe it's the number of consecutive hits that brings up the fine? I don't know.

It's all kinda risky trying to bounty hunt. I'm scared to switch my turrets to anything but forward fire.

The system still needs adjusting.

 

[cmdr_Havalok]

If the other ship crosses in front of you during a fire fight and they take a hit or two you are generally good. More than one or two hits or targeting and firing upon them (even accidentally) get's you in trouble.