Since I cannot post a new thread in the guide section, I'll put this here in the hopes someone might see it and find it helpful.
Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but I couldn't find much help online for this, just complaints about them not spawning. After hours of frustration, I found this to be the quickest way to finish those missions
In short:
Every time you drop from and then go back into System Super-Cruise / FSD, NPC ships spawn anew, so just drop out and FSD again to make new NPCs spawn until some of your targets spawn, too (works with dropping into RES-sites and Nav-Beacons as well).
Seems to work better in Solo/Private Group than Open Play.
Recommended Loadout:
FSD Interdictor
Optional:
A few high-value goods in your Cargo Hold (if you don't have an FSDI - but this will also put you at risk of being interdicted/attacked by non-target pirates/wanted ships)
CMDR Cosmicspacehead adds: a warning about dropping-in to a Nav Beacon (especially a Compromised Nav Beacon!), or RES with cargo. You can quickly get dog piled by pirates.
To which I will add: Any cargo can make it difficult to perform these missions in any system in a conflict/piratey state, it seems. Last night I had to fight off too many high-level pirates that kept on interdicting me before I could interdict the mission targets - and since the NPC ships all spawn again when/if you survive and go back to Super-Cruise, it can get very annoying.
So the Cargo-Lure Method is something of a last resort, I'd say, unless you like "endless wave modes"
1. Enter the target system.
2. Super-Cruise around until NPC ships spawn (shouldn't take long, and they mostly appear from near the system entry points, planets, stations, or other locations of interest in the system, like Nav-Beacons or RES-sites). If you're having trouble getting any spawns, I found it best to aim at a planet or station and cruise towards it - that seems to trigger something of a "spawn wave" when you're reasonably close to said planet/station.
3. Scan the ships until you find one of your mission targets. Note the type of ship, as these missions seem to throw the same ship types at you; EDIT: note that the targets are NOT always one combat level below you as I previously stated, it seems to depend on the Mission Difficulty, as a Master Rank mission is giving me Expert enemies, right now, but it still seems to be true that the targets are mostly at the same level. This isn't a given, though. I've had one mission with mostly "Mostly Harmless" Eagles and Vipers and then came a long a "Competent" Imperial Clipper, but in general, this works.
4. If after 6-10 NPC ship spawns none of your targets have appeared, drop out of Super-Cruise / FSD - you can do so at a Nav Beacon or a RES-site for more chances of your mission targets spawning there, too, or just at a random point in the system (I found the latter much quicker, though) - then go back to Super-Cruise / FSD. New NPC ships will spawn quickly, and chances seem very, very high for some of them to be your targets.
5. If you've found a target, either get behind the target and interdict and destroy it, or, if they seem to be circling you, chances are they want to interdict you (more likely if you have some cargo), so throttle down, keep straight and let them (note, if you're being interdicted and set your throttle to zero, you quickly submit to the interdiction, resulting in you dropping from FSD, but without spinning out of control, giving you a few more seconds to set-up your power distribution and engage the target; also note that targets sometimes travel in wings, mostly with one or more smaller and one tougher enemy, so know that after you interdict one, the others will drop in on you shortly thereafter).
6. After destroying your target, scoop up materials if you want, then go back to Super-Cruise / FSD - which will cause new NPC ships to spawn again. (but see the Additional Tip below)
7. If none of your targets have spawned after 6-10 NPC spawns, see point 4.
8. Repeat.
Additional Tip:
Sometimes (corroborated by redditors - is that the correct phrase?) after interdicting a target or following it via its wake, a constant stream of mission targets will drop in at certain intervals on your location - in addition to, possibly, System Security Forces. So if you've destroyed your target quickly, it might be worth it to wait half a minute to see if that happens. On the other hand, be aware that more enemies can drop in on you (and don't announce themselves in the com-panel) - but I've actually had one target drop in and shoot the other target I was fighting once.
Nobody knows why that happens or what triggers it, though. But it does happen. I have video proof
Which is here:
[video=youtube_share;95bFyWtUZ28]https://youtu.be/95bFyWtUZ28[/video]
EDIT ADDITION:
I haven't done many of these missions, but after one more last night I can confirm that this actually works (yay!) and was not a fluke. 12 targets - with a few long fights - in about 45 mins.
/////
I've found that cruising around in Deep Space in a System, scanning and engaging (or slowing down, dropping out and back into Super-Cruise) was the quickest way to finish these missions, as Deep Space starts you with much higher speed when jumping into Super-Cruise, making for much easier and quicker intercept and interdict engagements.
I tried adding in Nav-Beacons and RES-sites (if there were any of the latter) - drop into Nav/RES, scan targets, kill if targets are there, jump back into SC if not, wait for NPC ships to spawn in the system, scan, interdict and kill if targets are there, then jump drop into Nav/RES again to trigger a new spawn there, and so on - but found it to take much longer with much less success. And if you jump into Super-Cruise from one of these drop points, you start out really slow, making it much more arduous to catch up and interdict target ships Super-Cruising around the system.
I also found that the target ship types are mostly the same (I've had mostly Cobra's in one, then only Eagles and Vipers in another), so I could after the first few just look for a specific type of ship in my contact list after the NPC spawn without having to scan all contact ships, and since they also mostly seem to be of the same skill level (depending on the mission difficulty rank, NOT your current combat level), I could tell if one was a target even before finishing the scan.
/////
I've been having a horribly hard time (at times) getting those pesky pirates to spawn, especially in rather low-populated systems and those without RES-zones. Wanted ships are easy to come by, but those that are mission targets... not so much.
I was super-cruising systems for hours, jumping into the Nav-Beacon and even USS, having barely any luck, and jumping away and back into the system quickly became tedious. And it speaks to my general lack of intelligence, that it took me hours to notice that every time I transition into or out of Super-Cruise, all NPCs are gone and then different ones spawn again. I tried that out and it worked.
It had taken me 5 hours to get my first 4 kills just searching and cruising, and about 30 min to get the remaining 8 doing it like the above.
Hope this helps someone.
Also, apologies if common knowledge - but I really did search and really did not find anything
Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but I couldn't find much help online for this, just complaints about them not spawning. After hours of frustration, I found this to be the quickest way to finish those missions
In short:
Every time you drop from and then go back into System Super-Cruise / FSD, NPC ships spawn anew, so just drop out and FSD again to make new NPCs spawn until some of your targets spawn, too (works with dropping into RES-sites and Nav-Beacons as well).
Seems to work better in Solo/Private Group than Open Play.
Recommended Loadout:
FSD Interdictor
Optional:
A few high-value goods in your Cargo Hold (if you don't have an FSDI - but this will also put you at risk of being interdicted/attacked by non-target pirates/wanted ships)
CMDR Cosmicspacehead adds: a warning about dropping-in to a Nav Beacon (especially a Compromised Nav Beacon!), or RES with cargo. You can quickly get dog piled by pirates.
To which I will add: Any cargo can make it difficult to perform these missions in any system in a conflict/piratey state, it seems. Last night I had to fight off too many high-level pirates that kept on interdicting me before I could interdict the mission targets - and since the NPC ships all spawn again when/if you survive and go back to Super-Cruise, it can get very annoying.
So the Cargo-Lure Method is something of a last resort, I'd say, unless you like "endless wave modes"
1. Enter the target system.
2. Super-Cruise around until NPC ships spawn (shouldn't take long, and they mostly appear from near the system entry points, planets, stations, or other locations of interest in the system, like Nav-Beacons or RES-sites). If you're having trouble getting any spawns, I found it best to aim at a planet or station and cruise towards it - that seems to trigger something of a "spawn wave" when you're reasonably close to said planet/station.
3. Scan the ships until you find one of your mission targets. Note the type of ship, as these missions seem to throw the same ship types at you; EDIT: note that the targets are NOT always one combat level below you as I previously stated, it seems to depend on the Mission Difficulty, as a Master Rank mission is giving me Expert enemies, right now, but it still seems to be true that the targets are mostly at the same level. This isn't a given, though. I've had one mission with mostly "Mostly Harmless" Eagles and Vipers and then came a long a "Competent" Imperial Clipper, but in general, this works.
4. If after 6-10 NPC ship spawns none of your targets have appeared, drop out of Super-Cruise / FSD - you can do so at a Nav Beacon or a RES-site for more chances of your mission targets spawning there, too, or just at a random point in the system (I found the latter much quicker, though) - then go back to Super-Cruise / FSD. New NPC ships will spawn quickly, and chances seem very, very high for some of them to be your targets.
5. If you've found a target, either get behind the target and interdict and destroy it, or, if they seem to be circling you, chances are they want to interdict you (more likely if you have some cargo), so throttle down, keep straight and let them (note, if you're being interdicted and set your throttle to zero, you quickly submit to the interdiction, resulting in you dropping from FSD, but without spinning out of control, giving you a few more seconds to set-up your power distribution and engage the target; also note that targets sometimes travel in wings, mostly with one or more smaller and one tougher enemy, so know that after you interdict one, the others will drop in on you shortly thereafter).
6. After destroying your target, scoop up materials if you want, then go back to Super-Cruise / FSD - which will cause new NPC ships to spawn again. (but see the Additional Tip below)
7. If none of your targets have spawned after 6-10 NPC spawns, see point 4.
8. Repeat.
Additional Tip:
Sometimes (corroborated by redditors - is that the correct phrase?) after interdicting a target or following it via its wake, a constant stream of mission targets will drop in at certain intervals on your location - in addition to, possibly, System Security Forces. So if you've destroyed your target quickly, it might be worth it to wait half a minute to see if that happens. On the other hand, be aware that more enemies can drop in on you (and don't announce themselves in the com-panel) - but I've actually had one target drop in and shoot the other target I was fighting once.
Nobody knows why that happens or what triggers it, though. But it does happen. I have video proof
Which is here:
[video=youtube_share;95bFyWtUZ28]https://youtu.be/95bFyWtUZ28[/video]
EDIT ADDITION:
I haven't done many of these missions, but after one more last night I can confirm that this actually works (yay!) and was not a fluke. 12 targets - with a few long fights - in about 45 mins.
/////
I've found that cruising around in Deep Space in a System, scanning and engaging (or slowing down, dropping out and back into Super-Cruise) was the quickest way to finish these missions, as Deep Space starts you with much higher speed when jumping into Super-Cruise, making for much easier and quicker intercept and interdict engagements.
I tried adding in Nav-Beacons and RES-sites (if there were any of the latter) - drop into Nav/RES, scan targets, kill if targets are there, jump back into SC if not, wait for NPC ships to spawn in the system, scan, interdict and kill if targets are there, then jump drop into Nav/RES again to trigger a new spawn there, and so on - but found it to take much longer with much less success. And if you jump into Super-Cruise from one of these drop points, you start out really slow, making it much more arduous to catch up and interdict target ships Super-Cruising around the system.
I also found that the target ship types are mostly the same (I've had mostly Cobra's in one, then only Eagles and Vipers in another), so I could after the first few just look for a specific type of ship in my contact list after the NPC spawn without having to scan all contact ships, and since they also mostly seem to be of the same skill level (depending on the mission difficulty rank, NOT your current combat level), I could tell if one was a target even before finishing the scan.
/////
I've been having a horribly hard time (at times) getting those pesky pirates to spawn, especially in rather low-populated systems and those without RES-zones. Wanted ships are easy to come by, but those that are mission targets... not so much.
I was super-cruising systems for hours, jumping into the Nav-Beacon and even USS, having barely any luck, and jumping away and back into the system quickly became tedious. And it speaks to my general lack of intelligence, that it took me hours to notice that every time I transition into or out of Super-Cruise, all NPCs are gone and then different ones spawn again. I tried that out and it worked.
It had taken me 5 hours to get my first 4 kills just searching and cruising, and about 30 min to get the remaining 8 doing it like the above.
Hope this helps someone.
Also, apologies if common knowledge - but I really did search and really did not find anything
Last edited:
