Horizons Distress Signals

Darth-Simba · Dec 20, 2015

Wow, these are epic. Thought I would drop in on one for the first time, I was heading to a planet to collect materials. Anyway, there is a lone DBE being hit on by a wing of 7 pirates of various ships, Eagles, sideys etc. Nothing remotely challenging for my ferdy, however, they all turned on me. I managed to get them all and win the day. Or so I thought, another wing of 6 dropped in, a vulture and same ships as before. For some reason they all didn't turn on me, managed to pick them off 1 by 1.

Again I thought I had won the day when a wing of 8 dropped in, sideys, cobras etc. You can see where I am going with this. Killed them all and then the actual final wing of pirates dropped in. 3 yes 3 vultures all dangerous, was just starting my attack run when a conda went by, scanned him - dangerous and part of the pirates. Naturally I had to eliminate him first. Was a battle to say the least, I won but he managed to strip me of my shields and 20% worth of hull. Lucky for me, the vultures were preying on the now disabled DBE, so I could allow my bi-weave shield to recharge. Picked them all off and got myself a nice payout of 700k. Not bad for 12 minutes.

FD you have excelled yourselves on the new encounters. Was very fun and hairy at times, almost had to bug out and call it even.

Fire Dragon · Dec 20, 2015

I'm glad they have added a payout on the end, I did loads of these in Beta 5 and 6 and you got to the end of killing all 3 waves and a search and rescue ship appeared saying all was clear, then buggered off leaving the guy in distress. Even if I transferred fuel to him he just kept giving out the distress message.
I did report this as a bug and it seems from what you say it has been looked into. I have not been into one recently, but thanks for you post I will look forward to going into one soon in my Battle Conda.....

Darth-Simba · Dec 20, 2015

Fire Dragon said:
I'm glad they have added a payout on the end, I did loads of these in Beta 5 and 6 and you got to the end of killing all 3 waves and a search and rescue ship appeared saying all was clear, then buggered off leaving the guy in distress. Even if I transferred fuel to him he just kept giving out the distress message.
I did report this as a bug and it seems from what you say it has been looked into. I have not been into one recently, but thanks for you post I will look forward to going into one soon in my Battle Conda.....

The payout was from kill warrant scanner and system bounties, the conda had a 250k bounty.

ZygoUgo · Dec 20, 2015

Went into one of these and had a guy floating there out of fuel, couldn't seem to find any way to transfer fuel to him, is this mechanic removed?

Billexista · Dec 20, 2015

I thought i find stranded npc that is in desperate need of fuel and assistance, boy i was wrong, i was there in my DBE, boost and don't look back.

Fire Dragon · Dec 21, 2015

Darth-Simba said:
The payout was from kill warrant scanner and system bounties, the conda had a 250k bounty.

oh, ok so nothing much has changed. It is more like a mini Haz Res then as there seems to be no way to actually repair/save the guy in distress apart from killing the ones shooting him and then leaving him stranded...bit weird. I thought a payout or at least a thank you from the distressed ship for your efforts would be nice.

Sometimes when you drop into a distress signal it is just a ship needing fuel, no pirates. I had fuel and limpits and gave fuel and he just flys away. So what is the point? you spend credits on Fuel and limpits to help and for nothing, I won't be sending fuel to an ungrateful NPC again lol

bigredforester · Dec 21, 2015

yep my first and only time dropping into one of these sure got the sleepy-dirt out of my eyes...... got out of there with my explorer asp with no shields and like 57% health left. will wait till I am in my vulture till I try one again.

Ralph Vargr · Dec 21, 2015

Having learned my lesson, I now avoid distress signals.

[VR] Deggial · Dec 21, 2015

If not for instant credits (in addition to whatever you earn when handing-in the bounties), what about the introduction of a "reputation voucher"?
A game mechanic like this already exists for scanned data points (though for credits). Why not expand the idea?

Helping ships in distress (by refueling them or defending waves of pirates) could create a voucher that can be turned-in and convert into a reputation increase with the related minor faction. The reputation gain could of course be direct, too. But a voucher might be more visual and remarkable than just an easy-to-oversee line in the communication display.

ithinkiam · Dec 21, 2015

bigredforester said:
yep my first and only time dropping into one of these sure got the sleepy-dirt out of my eyes...... got out of there with my explorer asp with no shields and like 57% health left. will wait till I am in my vulture till I try one again.

Exactly the same as me. Went in one out of curiosity with 60t of precious metals in my cargo. Got out alive, just!

Will be back when I also retrieve my vulture. Looking forward to it

shunulu · Dec 21, 2015

in BETA, at least Fuel guys thanked me. Better than nothing

FD must take care of those mechanics. Gain reputation is a good idea...