This game is freaking ridiculous - unless you play it a "certain way" (armored dogfighter), you are always going to be interdicted by pirates (and I play Solo only)... I want to love this game, but this has hit a point of being beyond "challenging" to just plain "stupid"!
This game, if it were honestly titled, would not be "Elite: Dangerous", it would be "Elite: We Hate the Honest Players".
I am not playing this to be a fighter pilot or hunt ships - I want a nice, relaxing life among the stars. This is the most beautiful, detailed, scientifically realistic space flight game I've ever played, without getting too much into hardcore realism. Before anyone posts the inane "Anyone with a properly-armed ship... blah blah blah", go back to your PvP. Yes, I am recently new to the game, but at this point, I've played a couple hundred hours or more, so I have some idea of what I'm complaining about...
I started out playing the game as a cargo hauler / courier. FOR EVERY SINGLE MISSION I ACCEPT, there is ALWAYS be a pirate on my ship, regardless of what I'm actually carrying! I have been attempted to be interdicted FOUR TIMES IN A ROW on multiple occasions, like the NPC pirates are waiting in a conga line (the next one stepping up after the last one failed) to interdict me from delivering my oh-so-valuable basic medicines and clothing. If one of them does succeed in interdicting me, THEY ALL SHOW UP, magically able to find me after I am dropped out of supercruise, gunning for me all at once! Sometimes, I get a warning about them AS SOON AS I ACCEPT THE MISSION, BEFORE I EVEN LEAVE THE STATION - how does something like that occur? IF I can actually reach hyperjump, AS SOON AS I ARRIVE IN ANY OTHER SYSTEM, before I can even start gaining speed to leave the star, I hear a ship in supercruise whizz past my ship, and within 10-30 seconds get the pre-interdiction message. They're apparently conveniently and accurately waiting at the freaking star, because that's where the game spawns them!
System police are damn near worthless, because unless they're actually already in the established area you are at (even though I see them cruising around the systems all the times in supercruise), if you get interdicted, the only time you'll even SEE a message about a crime reported (which is supposed to be the default setting for my ships - "report all crimes against me") is when you are down to 5% hull integrity and two shots away from being destroyed... even if you're within a few MM or Ls of the nearest outpost / station!
Also, EVERY SINGLE PIRATE is engineered to the max, in a larger, better-armed ship than yours that can pull game-breaking OP maneuvers a player could never attain, even with the best engineering (a 'Conda pulling a 90 degree right-angle turn in 2 seconds? I watched it do it out from my cockpit when I realized I was already dead and gave up trying) AND they have perfect aim - never missing a single shot! They're also stupid - supposedly wanting to get your cargo, but ALWAYS going for the kill, which (AFAIK) destroys the cargo! Furthermore, why should a player have to pay a fine for losing cargo when his ship gets blown up / through no fault of his own? Why isn't there insurance on cargo delivery missions? Also, why is cargo that is easily purchasable in pretty much any market or major space station, always "unique"? What is so "unique" about something you can buy right off the commodities market? All it does is force you to lose - money in fines, and reputation with the factions because of some OP over-engineered NPC pirate hellbent on destroying your ship with a hold containing base-level commodities - when you SHOULD be able to simply re-buy the commodities off the market, THEN deliver them as promised! They should not be labeled as "Unique" unless they are actually UNIQUE! Apparently, as soon as it gets pulled off the market and put together as a delivery package, it becomes "Unique"!
So I switched to mining, thinking that would allow me an easy, stress-free game time. NOPE! As soon as I had ANYTHING in my cargo hold, not only were pirates showing up in asteroid clusters, in much better, bigger ships than mine, going straight for the kill, even if they had not shown a SINGLE INDICATION of previously knowing that I existed and they were coming for me. Multiple times, I had 12 tons of Manzonite / Musgravite / Rhodplumsite I had mined from clusters while piloting my Anaconda, the first time I jumped into the next cluster, a pirate flying a Krait just conveniently warped in, the next cluster, it was a Federal Corvette, the NEXT time, it was a Type 10, and all of them were something along the lines of "I'm gonna boil you up" or "You're mine now" - no demands for cargo, just instant killing intent! The only other ships I had seen at any previous cluster were system patrol ships or a single mining-outfitted Asp! Hell, as I was on my way to the closest station to sell my mined goods, I was ONCE AGAIN attempted to be interdicted by some pirate who just magically knew I had valuable cargo in my hold... I outfitted this Anaconda as a large-capacity mining barge (you know, because its original purpose was a garbage scow hauling biowaste, according to in-game lore) with all 4 mining "weapons", leaving me with 4 weapon slots to fit 3x turreted level-3 beam lasers and a single huge ballistic weapon - I can handle small stuff, but not stand toe-to-toe with similar ships.
So getting tired of the constant pirate attacks, I decided to do the non-cargo, non-courier, non-mining "The Road to Riches" by getting an Asp Ex (long jump range, most slots, very nimble), outfitting it with a top-notch FSD and engineering the hell out of it for jump range. Put D-rated everything into it, and put a much smaller shield gen, all to save on weight. The only thing special I had is a collector limpet controller, 64 tons of cargo space, and 30 tons of Limpets. I am doing NOTHING ELSE except jumping to systems and scanning whatever's there - no cargo hauling, no mining, no couriering... I GOT ATTEMPTED TO BE INTERDICTED MULTIPLE TIMES in the same system! I literally have 30 tons of cargo valued at a whopping grand total of 3030 credits, and yet pirates are after me with their repetitive "You've got something I want" - really, you can't freaking buy limpets, the cheapest commodity in the game?! I stopped at the closest station and got rid of them - I'M STILL GETTING TARGETED FOR INTERDICTION WITH NOTHING IN MY CARGO HOLD OR COURIER INFORMATION TO BE DELIVERED TO SOMEBODY!
This is utterly moronic - pirates attacking me for LITERALLY NOTHING! "You've got something I want" - I HAVE NOTHING!
Obviously, Frontier hates players actually playing the game in any fashion other than "heavily armed dogfighters", so has programmed constant pirate attacks to set you back and artificially extend gameplay (by cheating)... in a game with over 400 BILLION star systems and SUPPOSED choice of gameplay styles / careers...
Why can't we hire help, in the form of other capable NPC pilots and ships, as escorts, and form a "wing" consisting of myself and the NPC escort ships? Apparently, we are being forced to play in Open mode if that's going to happen, and only then if you can find other real-life players... Thanks to getting ganked in my 'Conda by CMDR Delta when I was minding my own business in Deciat on the way to the starport, trying to obtain the stuff for the in-system engineer, I was interdicted (which I couldn't avoid - the enemy advantage rating just kept climbing until I lost, even though I was on the escape vector the whole time) and summarily killed in short order without a single demand of goods, or even a communication. There's a reason lots of people don't play "Open", and this is it - you want to handle the gankers, griefers, and PC pirates? Take a page from Rockstar and other game companies - put them on their own server where the only other players are jerkoffs like themselves, and let the gamers simply looking for a good, honest time do so! Also, make system police response ALMOST INSTANT so they get the tables turned, as well as putting some kind of in-game reporting of the activity so they can be reported by players, which then lands them on the "I'm a jerkoff" server permanently.
This game, if it were honestly titled, would not be "Elite: Dangerous", it would be "Elite: We Hate the Honest Players".
I am not playing this to be a fighter pilot or hunt ships - I want a nice, relaxing life among the stars. This is the most beautiful, detailed, scientifically realistic space flight game I've ever played, without getting too much into hardcore realism. Before anyone posts the inane "Anyone with a properly-armed ship... blah blah blah", go back to your PvP. Yes, I am recently new to the game, but at this point, I've played a couple hundred hours or more, so I have some idea of what I'm complaining about...
I started out playing the game as a cargo hauler / courier. FOR EVERY SINGLE MISSION I ACCEPT, there is ALWAYS be a pirate on my ship, regardless of what I'm actually carrying! I have been attempted to be interdicted FOUR TIMES IN A ROW on multiple occasions, like the NPC pirates are waiting in a conga line (the next one stepping up after the last one failed) to interdict me from delivering my oh-so-valuable basic medicines and clothing. If one of them does succeed in interdicting me, THEY ALL SHOW UP, magically able to find me after I am dropped out of supercruise, gunning for me all at once! Sometimes, I get a warning about them AS SOON AS I ACCEPT THE MISSION, BEFORE I EVEN LEAVE THE STATION - how does something like that occur? IF I can actually reach hyperjump, AS SOON AS I ARRIVE IN ANY OTHER SYSTEM, before I can even start gaining speed to leave the star, I hear a ship in supercruise whizz past my ship, and within 10-30 seconds get the pre-interdiction message. They're apparently conveniently and accurately waiting at the freaking star, because that's where the game spawns them!
System police are damn near worthless, because unless they're actually already in the established area you are at (even though I see them cruising around the systems all the times in supercruise), if you get interdicted, the only time you'll even SEE a message about a crime reported (which is supposed to be the default setting for my ships - "report all crimes against me") is when you are down to 5% hull integrity and two shots away from being destroyed... even if you're within a few MM or Ls of the nearest outpost / station!
Also, EVERY SINGLE PIRATE is engineered to the max, in a larger, better-armed ship than yours that can pull game-breaking OP maneuvers a player could never attain, even with the best engineering (a 'Conda pulling a 90 degree right-angle turn in 2 seconds? I watched it do it out from my cockpit when I realized I was already dead and gave up trying) AND they have perfect aim - never missing a single shot! They're also stupid - supposedly wanting to get your cargo, but ALWAYS going for the kill, which (AFAIK) destroys the cargo! Furthermore, why should a player have to pay a fine for losing cargo when his ship gets blown up / through no fault of his own? Why isn't there insurance on cargo delivery missions? Also, why is cargo that is easily purchasable in pretty much any market or major space station, always "unique"? What is so "unique" about something you can buy right off the commodities market? All it does is force you to lose - money in fines, and reputation with the factions because of some OP over-engineered NPC pirate hellbent on destroying your ship with a hold containing base-level commodities - when you SHOULD be able to simply re-buy the commodities off the market, THEN deliver them as promised! They should not be labeled as "Unique" unless they are actually UNIQUE! Apparently, as soon as it gets pulled off the market and put together as a delivery package, it becomes "Unique"!
So I switched to mining, thinking that would allow me an easy, stress-free game time. NOPE! As soon as I had ANYTHING in my cargo hold, not only were pirates showing up in asteroid clusters, in much better, bigger ships than mine, going straight for the kill, even if they had not shown a SINGLE INDICATION of previously knowing that I existed and they were coming for me. Multiple times, I had 12 tons of Manzonite / Musgravite / Rhodplumsite I had mined from clusters while piloting my Anaconda, the first time I jumped into the next cluster, a pirate flying a Krait just conveniently warped in, the next cluster, it was a Federal Corvette, the NEXT time, it was a Type 10, and all of them were something along the lines of "I'm gonna boil you up" or "You're mine now" - no demands for cargo, just instant killing intent! The only other ships I had seen at any previous cluster were system patrol ships or a single mining-outfitted Asp! Hell, as I was on my way to the closest station to sell my mined goods, I was ONCE AGAIN attempted to be interdicted by some pirate who just magically knew I had valuable cargo in my hold... I outfitted this Anaconda as a large-capacity mining barge (you know, because its original purpose was a garbage scow hauling biowaste, according to in-game lore) with all 4 mining "weapons", leaving me with 4 weapon slots to fit 3x turreted level-3 beam lasers and a single huge ballistic weapon - I can handle small stuff, but not stand toe-to-toe with similar ships.
So getting tired of the constant pirate attacks, I decided to do the non-cargo, non-courier, non-mining "The Road to Riches" by getting an Asp Ex (long jump range, most slots, very nimble), outfitting it with a top-notch FSD and engineering the hell out of it for jump range. Put D-rated everything into it, and put a much smaller shield gen, all to save on weight. The only thing special I had is a collector limpet controller, 64 tons of cargo space, and 30 tons of Limpets. I am doing NOTHING ELSE except jumping to systems and scanning whatever's there - no cargo hauling, no mining, no couriering... I GOT ATTEMPTED TO BE INTERDICTED MULTIPLE TIMES in the same system! I literally have 30 tons of cargo valued at a whopping grand total of 3030 credits, and yet pirates are after me with their repetitive "You've got something I want" - really, you can't freaking buy limpets, the cheapest commodity in the game?! I stopped at the closest station and got rid of them - I'M STILL GETTING TARGETED FOR INTERDICTION WITH NOTHING IN MY CARGO HOLD OR COURIER INFORMATION TO BE DELIVERED TO SOMEBODY!
This is utterly moronic - pirates attacking me for LITERALLY NOTHING! "You've got something I want" - I HAVE NOTHING!
Obviously, Frontier hates players actually playing the game in any fashion other than "heavily armed dogfighters", so has programmed constant pirate attacks to set you back and artificially extend gameplay (by cheating)... in a game with over 400 BILLION star systems and SUPPOSED choice of gameplay styles / careers...
Why can't we hire help, in the form of other capable NPC pilots and ships, as escorts, and form a "wing" consisting of myself and the NPC escort ships? Apparently, we are being forced to play in Open mode if that's going to happen, and only then if you can find other real-life players... Thanks to getting ganked in my 'Conda by CMDR Delta when I was minding my own business in Deciat on the way to the starport, trying to obtain the stuff for the in-system engineer, I was interdicted (which I couldn't avoid - the enemy advantage rating just kept climbing until I lost, even though I was on the escape vector the whole time) and summarily killed in short order without a single demand of goods, or even a communication. There's a reason lots of people don't play "Open", and this is it - you want to handle the gankers, griefers, and PC pirates? Take a page from Rockstar and other game companies - put them on their own server where the only other players are jerkoffs like themselves, and let the gamers simply looking for a good, honest time do so! Also, make system police response ALMOST INSTANT so they get the tables turned, as well as putting some kind of in-game reporting of the activity so they can be reported by players, which then lands them on the "I'm a jerkoff" server permanently.
Last edited:
