Chain interdiction

[Pumabear8]

That was a little bit of fun, now like many on here, I get irritated if interdicted too many times in a given time span, but this was different, I've taken to mixing up things, taking haulage, passenger and data missions all at the same time.

Of course this means you get several NPC's that want your tasty cargo, in the last run I got the usual warning, not a problem I thought, I'm adept at evading interdiction, so the chase begins, I got this.

This one seemed a bit more stubborn, but I kept evading, saw the blue suddenly rise, knew I was out, then the best bit, as I evaded successfully, I was instantly interdicted again, it was a smooth flow from one to the next, no pause, no hiccup.

For few fleeting moments, it was an interesting chase, moar!

 

[rrobes]

Hmm, I'll have to try that mix, I usually just do haulage and I do like to be interdicted (more CR, today I got one for 400k, one for 500k and two for 100k, for an extra mill added to the payouts).

Thanks for the tip, rep for you.

 

[Flin]

The fetch missions appear to attract higher probability of enemies.

Also if you have a long inbound flight. They can potentially all drop in your low wakes even though you didn't see them in SC at all.

My Max so far:
* 3 chained interdiction
* 4 mission enemies in one low wake (1 interdictor + 3 drop-ins.)

P.s. I used to play the interdiction mini-game, now I just armed up, submit, and fight.

 

[Schmack]

Try being extremely wanted, hauling cargo and doing missions at the same time. You cannot go anywhere without having a lot of fans wanting autographs.

I usually submit then just outrun them, wait for them to catch up and outrun them in the other direction.

You can get two or three of them dropping into the station area at the same time. 2.4 seems different, none have actually been engaged by the security since the update, but prior to that I could easily lure one into the open maw of the station then just watch as the security decimated the ship.

 

[Shiro Akai]

It was fun for the first time. After that it's plain annoying. Scripted, unimaginative, predictable to the exact spot (every interdiction evasive game I had was when I was at 75% throttle and 0:07s away from target). You can get high value cargo, cross the bubble without an interdiction (they can't keep up fast enough and get close before you jump away) and have mandatory interdiction exactly where you cannot avoid it - slowing down while approaching your destination.

 

[Taranis Dekker]

It was fun for the first time. After that it's plain annoying. Scripted, unimaginative, predictable to the exact spot (every interdiction evasive game I had was when I was at 75% throttle and 0:07s away from target). You can get high value cargo, cross the bubble without an interdiction (they can't keep up fast enough and get close before you jump away) and have mandatory interdiction exactly where you cannot avoid it - slowing down while approaching your destination.

If that happens, ignore the interdictor until he's about to win the interdiction, and submit at the last minute. Much of the time I find I'm far closer to the destination because the interdictor has caught right up, so I'm not pulled backwards across half the system to his position

 

[Jack Schitt]

It was fun for the first time. After that it's plain annoying. Scripted, unimaginative, predictable to the exact spot (every interdiction evasive game I had was when I was at 75% throttle and 0:07s away from target). You can get high value cargo, cross the bubble without an interdiction (they can't keep up fast enough and get close before you jump away) and have mandatory interdiction exactly where you cannot avoid it - slowing down while approaching your destination.

To be fair, while this is annoying, it's not that the game is choosing the most irritating time. It's because when you slow down, manually or as a result of getting near the gravity well, it's the first time any pursuing ship will be both in range and closing. It's the mechanics working as intended. If you want to get the interdiction over and done with you can slow down and let them catch up sooner (although you might get another one when you're on final approach anyway, thanks to RNG).

This is a consequence of all ships having more or less the same acceleration and deceleration performance in supercruise. Things would be more interesting if some ships were faster in SC than others, but that might break the way wings work (both player and NPC) and would be hugely irritating for pilots of slower haulers who would be continuously interdicted by fast interceptors.

One fun thing to try, if you're approaching your destination and can see an NPC behind you just waiting for his chance to interdict, is to look for a nearby landable moon and try to loop down into its orbital cruise zone without going too fast and crashing out. If you can get the pursuing ship to do the same they'll fly into the exclusion zone and disappear. Costs you a few tens of seconds in flight time but this can often be less than the time you'd have spent fighting the interdiction or doing a drop-and-run.

 

[Flin]

As Jack noted, it can be a game.

Playing cat-and-mouse to lose them or pull them to the station area.

Or in Medium or High Security with a fast ship, run around them until security arrives.

Engaging them near a station still works in 2.4.

Hang outside of the station exclusion zone and wait for your enemies to drop in. Scan them and start firing. Station security will join in shortly.

Even if you're in a T-9, get one or two long range turreted lasers to tag them and potentially get the bounty.

 

[Pumabear8]

It was fun for the first time. After that it's plain annoying. Scripted, unimaginative, predictable to the exact spot (every interdiction evasive game I had was when I was at 75% throttle and 0:07s away from target). You can get high value cargo, cross the bubble without an interdiction (they can't keep up fast enough and get close before you jump away) and have mandatory interdiction exactly where you cannot avoid it - slowing down while approaching your destination.

I agree as far as multiple interdiction's through a system goes, it can get irritable, I'm not a defender of this mini game mechanic, what helped here(for me) is that I'd not had many interdictions, it was mostly routine, I had the warnings appear, but nearly always dropped from super cruise to the destination before anything happened, this was just a little different, a little surprise, outmaneuvering one straight into another.

 

[sidereal6]

while this is annoying, it's not that the game is choosing the most irritating time.

I get what you're saying, but the game is programmed to resolve an interdiction in the most annoying way - by pulling you back to the interdictor instead of pulling him forward.

It really sucks to be all lined up and about to drop down, and then to get pulled several light seconds back. It's not that I was interdicted that es me off, it's that it makes me repeat an approach I just completed.

I'm curious if this has ever been brought to FDev's attention, and if they've ever said anything about it.

 

[daman]

I agree as far as multiple interdiction's through a system goes, it can get irritable, I'm not a defender of this mini game mechanic, what helped here(for me) is that I'd not had many interdictions, it was mostly routine, I had the warnings appear, but nearly always dropped from super cruise to the destination before anything happened, this was just a little different, a little surprise, outmaneuvering one straight into another.

i was once interdicted 3 times in a row. was quite mad. (i regularly run 10+ missions at a time).

 

[Mohrgan]

The cargo you carry attracts attention from random pirates. If you have more than one 'Fetch' missions going, each missions can attract attention from factions opposed to the mission giver. These are the risks you face when you run the mission. Missions even say: "Enemy ships may be sent against you" in the description before you take them.

I encourage these interdictions to pad the rewards from each mission. You will get a mission bonus, specified as an up-date to the mission, for each attacker you destroy, plus any bounty they may have in that system. This is the reflection of the cutthroat galaxy we play in. You can control the amount of exposure you face, by limiting the number of missions you complete at once.

The serial interdictions you faced were likely attackers from any of the missions you are running, not necessarily from the same NPC each time.

 

[Jack Schitt]

I get what you're saying, but the game is programmed to resolve an interdiction in the most annoying way - by pulling you back to the interdictor instead of pulling him forward.

Ah yes, that much is certainly true. I vaguely recall quite the discussion around that back in the day. This is the only post I can find with a cursory search, and it's from May 2015. ISTR FD did have an explanation for this, but I can't recall the details. I can't even remember whether it was a technical reason or a gameplay / lore reason but it made some sort of sense at the time.

I guess the thing to remember is that although the interdiction struggle feels like a close-quarters tug of war to both parties, the distances involved can be enormous. An interdiction at a range of 150ls is just shy of 45 million kilometres, or a little under a third of an AU. One or other ship has to be displaced, and I suppose it makes more sense for the victor to act as the anchor.

It is annoying though, I'll give you that. I suppose I've just become used to it after nearly three years.