Newcomer / Intro Getting interdicted every single flight, several times

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This game is just unplayable.


I'm a new player, been working hard to make a progress for the last few days, currently flying a 1 million worth ship. Then, yesterday, it started - being interdicted at EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT by THE SAME NPC PIRATE again and again. Most ridiculous thing of all, the same pirate can interdict me SEVERAL TIMES during SINGLE FLIGHT, no matter the system, and I'm sure that's not supposed to happen. Trust me, I've been trying every tactic possible, but in the last two days I went from owning over 0.5 million in cash to being in debt. I CAN'T DO A SINGLE MISSION and I'm not even in some dangerous territory. If I manage somehow to off one pirate, I get a few flights in peace then another one comes along and this one is tougher. The same NPC guy can kill me up to 5 times in the row easily.


I gave up when the same pirate attacked me twice in the SAME SYSTEM - first I was fighting him off, the cavalry arrived, we got him beaten down to like 25% when my canopy disintegrated, so I made a run to the nearest port leaving him to the security guys to finish. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. The SAME GUY interdicted me just as I was approaching the port.


I'm pretty sure this is not supposed to happen. I have no bounties on me, I sometimes have no cargo at all and still the NPCs attack me. I've just bought a joystick to enjoy this game - worst investment ever.


I expect a working solution or a refund.
 

Arimus

Volunteer Moderator
You are probably hauling commodities gotten from doing missions. Check your ship's cargo. These commodities you get from missions are for the engineers (assuming you have Horizons). If you run with an empty hold, you are much less likely to get interdicted.

Best defense against an interdiction is to submit (throttle to zero as soon as the interdiction starts) and boost boost boost until you can jump. This is the tactic I use all the time and it seems to work great. I will admit that I sometimes get interdicted again but generally it works.

There are also a lot of changes/balancing on the way with regards to these commodities, so we will have to see how it goes with the next update.
 
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There is a suggestions and feedback sub-forum fyi

For what its worth I started playing end of May this year, even with the v2.1 upping the ante I still earn good money at a sensible rate mostly because it took that long to figure stuff out and learn from experiments and mistakes. Don't worry about losing your ship or money in the early stages, if I'm not earning 25 - 30M cr per hour atm I'm not interested and that could be you in a few weeks after you've the knowledge under your belt.

Interdictions aren't that hard, I agree the frequency can be annoying and yes I also agree that low ranked players should have more slack. Look at it this way you'll need to understand the fight or flee thing sooner or later just roll with it and ask questions until you're defeating or escaping those trolly NPCs
 
It sounds more like you have become wanted in the system you are working in. If you have no credits left and it is just frustrating you it may be easier to to reset and start over. Try not to become wanted in the system you are working, make sure any ship you fire on is wanted and has a bounty, you can check this by targeting them and checking on their status first. Also if an npc is harrassing you jump to another close system then jump back, that should get rid ofthem.

Frankly, the way 2.1 has been delivered is doing no favours for new players and FD need to realise this. It is a great game but if you cant keep new players on board it is going nowhere fast. Just saying...
 
Submit and high wake, need I say more.

Actually, yes I do.

If you don't intend to fight,

Set pips to sys and engine

Submit

Boost boost boost

While charging up for a high wake,

High wake out to another system and jump back if necessary.
 
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I expect a working solution or a refund.
If you raise a support ticket explain this, you will probably get a refund.
.
Last night I was interdicted 4 times by the same FDL while I was looking for a mission USS. 3 times he escaped me with about 25% hull, yet each time he returned on full hull and shields. The cops turned up twice, ignored the FDL but fined me for my cargo.
 
This game is just unplayable.

........................ I've just bought a joystick to enjoy this game - worst investment ever.

............................

I played this game every day for over a year and totally loved it - then they broke it....

Some people don't get interdicted much it seems however with me it is just about every third hyperjump and about every two or three supercruise initiations from normal space.

I have not played for weeks now and won't do so until the next patch to see if it is better, if not then it is wait for the next etc.

The attitude that seems to persist in a certain F D department is that the game should be a contest between the player and their AI pirates and that the underlying mechanism should seek to kill the player's ship and they use overpowered opponents and incessant interdictions to try to achieve this.

To me the game is supposed to be a GAME and they have just sucked the fun out of it for me (BTW they have not managed to kill me off since that update but I have only just survived at times).


[alien]
 
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HOT TIPS: Surviving Interdictions in the new era (1.6/2.1) aka 'Avoiding the Rebuy Screen'

Copy & paste of an older post I made when the AI was much harder just after the release of 2.1. Now we are on 2.1.04 after several tweaks so the AI is much easier.

Interdictions are so easy to escape from as long as you have the correct tools in your toolbox. With the new patch I've been interdicted many times but survived each time apart from when I thought I would try to engage in combat with a wing of 3 ships. (That's after only 5+ months of piloting experience on KB&M - no joystick.)

Find the light at the end of the tunnel or wormhole by watching, listening and reading the following:

  • Captain Kremmen in a Type-9 'Space Cow' transporting Imperial Slaves and being interdicted by an ELITE Python (jousting technique). Video was also featured in the Elite Newsletter #128:
    [video=youtube_share;ReZ0kd4Sq98]https://youtu.be/ReZ0kd4Sq98[/video]
  • 


In a Type-6 trading ship with D-rated shields from Vindicator Jones (boost, boost away):
    [video=youtube_share;woy8nmaVuVg]https://youtu.be/woy8nmaVuVg[/video]
    



  • Another video but worst case scenarios in a D-rated Type-9 with max boost speed of 205m/s being interdicted by ELITE ranked ships and destroying them with mines:
    [video=youtube_share;ZzRLt0Zm8Nk]https://youtu.be/ZzRLt0Zm8Nk[/video]
  • Courtesy of Chris Simon who cleared his save and started from scratch:
    Thread: Harmless Sidey survival tips and tricks


Other tips/observations mentioned in podcast and/or in some other discussions:
  • Fit a Point Defence Turret as many NPCs have missiles/torpedoes now.
  • With 4 pips to SYS your shields can take significantly more damage (see the plasma hit in Captain Kremmen's video). Even though it sounds counterintuitive when you have been interdicted and are planning to run it is better to have 4 PIPs to SYS and 2 to ENG.
    You should have enough energy in your ENG capacitor to boost once while taking significant damage. Generally speaking 4 PIPs to SYS effectively increases your shield strength by 2.5 times.
Take a look at the charts at: SYS PIP Shield Damage Resistance Tested
Here's a short video c/o Kornelius Briedis highlighting that perfectly:
[video=youtube_share;RrSXvCEergY]https://youtu.be/RrSXvCEergY[/video]

  • NPCs with fixed railguns and/or plasmas can do significant damage to your shields and even remove them completely with a few hits (if you don't have enough pips to SYS). Rails can also penetrate the shields and do damage directly to your hull/subsystem. Old but still relevant study: All Weapon Stats in Actual Values Test Results (Stage 1 – Shield DPS)
  • Avoid shipping lanes if possible (indicated on your main HUD bottom-left), so take a parabolic route rather than the straight route as NPCs will be waiting along these shipping lanes.
  • If you do manage to remain a safe distance from the NPC who interdicted you, and have limited damage, then eventually the local security will drop in and start attacking the NPC (not in anarchy sytems). Then you can join in on the fight and rejoice on your kill. Probably will also break the persistent interdiction - well the NPC is dead (but not the walking dead).

  • Another (but a little tricky) is to not let the NPC be in the position/angle to let it interdict you in the first place. You (so also applies to NPCs) can only interdict another ship if you are behind the target and the front of your ship is facing the back of the target.
For example, you're about to approach the station and are in the process of slowing down but see the NPC is behind you, so you know interdiction is imminent, it maybe better to speed past the station (keeping away from any gravity wells) and loop back to the station so the NPC is in front of you. As I said it's tricky and you have to weigh up whether performing such an evasive manoeuvre is worth the time and effort, especially as the stubborn NPC will counteract your move.

  • Mission stacking will also attract the attention of NPCs. For some missions you may get mission specific NPCs chasing after you. But this was also true before the 1.6/2.1 patch especially for long-range smuggling missions.

P.S. REP, YouTube 'like' the other CMDRs if you feel like the weight of the world/solar system/Milky Way has been lifted from your shoulders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would add that some missions specifically state in red "Hostile ships may be sent against you".
 
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The overly aggressive, repetitive interdictions in this game totally break imersion and the fun in this game.
Whichever numbnut in the dev team thinks this a cool mechanism clearly have no understanding on good gameplay.
 
Old post from me....when 2.1 was first released

Breaking chain interdictions (based on a few cases)
In a MEDIUM security system I was able to break the chain interdiction by:
  • Submit by throttling to zero.
  • Allowing the NPC to shoot me a few times causing minimal damage because of 4 pips to SYS.
  • Boosting continuously with throttle at 100% with the NPC still on radar but out of range of it's weapons.
  • Local security drops-in and engages with NPC and keeps it pre-occupied.
  • Low-waking to SC.
  • Travel to the station/outpost in peace. The last one was to complete a mission to an outpost 22,000ls from the star in an AspX.
Edit: On the Functions tab on right-HUD 'Report Crimes Against Me' is ON.

Next time it happens just play this video clip:;)
[video=youtube_share;BFOTqi_VDEs]https://youtu.be/BFOTqi_VDEs[/video]

Posted this on another thread but will add here:

Here's a study of interdictions from early 2015. Captain Kremmen writes it is the security level of the system that determines how many times you are interdicted:
Thread: NPC Interdictions - Hard facts and Statistics!

I have been flying my AspX the last couple of weeks and have noticed that I do get interdicted a little more in MEDIUM security systems, and more in LOW compared to HIGH.

I can't comment on how the interdiction rates are now since 2015 as only started playing earlier this year. But maybe there is a false perception that interdiction rates have increased - what has actually happened is that they are more aggressive.

I'm a relative newcomer to E: D (6 months now) who played the original BBC '84 Elite and find interdictions fun and dangerous (fight or flight?), but 'horses for courses' I guess.
 
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The ships that follow you from system to system are attached to missions, so if it's too hard, don't do that type of mission.

The ones that keep interdicting you between the star and the station are normally pirates after your cargo. You can lose them by jumping to the next system and then back again; you can dive (crash) into a planet, which seems to make them disappear; you can kill them; or you can drop-out at the nav beacon or any station to get help from the feds.
 

The Replicated Man

T
If you like cmdr space pug I can give you some credits to get you on your feet. I also might be able to provide assistance if you like. Im currently smuggling and making lots of credits so I have some time. If you would like help I'm here! Just message me thru the forums or reply to the thread. Im always willing to lend a hand to the new guys and Im kinda new myself. Cheers
 
This game is just unplayable.


I'm a new player, been working hard to make a progress for the last few days, currently flying a 1 million worth ship. Then, yesterday, it started - being interdicted at EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT by THE SAME NPC PIRATE again and again. Most ridiculous thing of all, the same pirate can interdict me SEVERAL TIMES during SINGLE FLIGHT, no matter the system, and I'm sure that's not supposed to happen. Trust me, I've been trying every tactic possible, but in the last two days I went from owning over 0.5 million in cash to being in debt. I CAN'T DO A SINGLE MISSION and I'm not even in some dangerous territory. If I manage somehow to off one pirate, I get a few flights in peace then another one comes along and this one is tougher. The same NPC guy can kill me up to 5 times in the row easily.


I gave up when the same pirate attacked me twice in the SAME SYSTEM - first I was fighting him off, the cavalry arrived, we got him beaten down to like 25% when my canopy disintegrated, so I made a run to the nearest port leaving him to the security guys to finish. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. The SAME GUY interdicted me just as I was approaching the port.


I'm pretty sure this is not supposed to happen. I have no bounties on me, I sometimes have no cargo at all and still the NPCs attack me. I've just bought a joystick to enjoy this game - worst investment ever.


I expect a working solution or a refund.


Currently interdictions are spawned when you have stuff in your hold. No matter what it is.
Pirates seem to have supernatural knowledge of the content of your hold.
And they even consider fruit and vegetables as extremely valuable. Must be a severe lack of vitamine C that is the problem.
Engineer commodities also attract them, which is a terrible mechanic as we cannot store them and are forced to carry them around.

Also bounty hunters have supernatural knowledge of bounties.
Even in hyperspace they can see bounties you have in other systems, something we can not. So they also attack you in systems where you are not wanted.
This in itself is not a problem, but it is unfair that they know your outer system bounties even when in SC.
Also they consider even small bounties to be a big prize and will risk their life for it.

If you are pledged to one of the PowerPlay powers you might get interdicted a lot by npc who belong to enemy powers.
To avoid this just remove your pledge.

If your hold is empty and there is no bounty on your head, and you are not pledged to a Power then there is something weird going on.

You mentioned getting attacked twice by the same pirate.
This is normal. If you do not kill the attacker and you flee in supercruise, then the same pirate will be spawned to pursue you.
The new span has no knowledge of the pirate being under attack by security in your previous encounter.
The only way to get rid of a attacker for good is:
a. killing him
b. docking at a station
c. highwaking

I expect a working solution or a refund.

This is a game in the midst of development. Bugs will happen.
 
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Thank you for many replies and good advice. The problem, however, persists.

I have put easily 20 more hours into the game since the first post, I'm now flying Asp Explorer with roughly 75% of max upgrades and the game remains UNPLAYABLE. Allow me to explain:

I am not wanted in any system whatsoever. I do trading only and supply mission, nothing more. No smuggling, no pirate hunting, nothing of the sort. I have embraced the "submit & boost away" technique and it worked fine for a day or two. Not anymore. I'm not sure if the pirates have levels scaled up to your ship's worth or something, or are just generated completely randomly, but I've spent half of the day playing today and this is how it looked: I get interdicted EVERY flight. I can have up to THREE individual NPC pirates chasing me within the same system at a time. Some I can destroy within seconds (I've got a nice array of lasers to take shields down and rockets to kill), others can somehow keep up with me at speeds up to 350, shoot me with lasers from light years away and fire unlimited amounts of missiles. Hell, they even dodge my mines at that speed.

But that's not the actual problem. I can handle having it tough from time to time. the actual problem is, even if i escape a pirate and continue flying within the same system, he will interdict me again within 10 or so seconds. This isn't challenging. This is and unrealistic, especially since he's always at 100% and armed up to the teeth, no matter how much I've damaged him before. This renders the game a literal MASOCHISTIC TORMENT. I can escape by jumping to another system, sure, but what does it mean for me? That any station that isn't within 5 seconds of the arrival point is unreachable? That I will never fly to 90% destinations because a 5 minutes flight easily turns into a hell of 20 or more interdictions? WHO INVENTED THIS?

Seriously, I appreciate games that are challenging, require skill, tactics and whatnot. This game does none of that. It just keeps bashing your head with an undefeatable enemy again and again. I would gladly pay money to see Elite: Dangerous devs enjoying being interdicted every 10-15 seconds by the same NPC. Show me how that's fun. Not to mention that when I somehow make it to a station, the same NPC can follow me sometimes all the way to the landing pad while firing all the time. HOW DOES TRADE EVEN EXIST IN AN UNIVERSE LIKE THAT?
 
How many missions are you stacking and do you have any bounties on your head?
And are you travelling along or avoiding shipping lanes?
What's the security level of the systems you are getting interdicted in?

When I was in my AspX recently while Empire ranking, I wasn't get interdicted so much even while carrying half-a-dozen missions.
Although I didn't use the mode switching exploit to mission stack.

If you were to post a video, maybe we can help to see if there is anything that can be improved. Or find out why you are getting interdicted much more than others.
 
The ships that follow you from system to system are attached to missions, so if it's too hard, don't do that type of mission.

The ones that keep interdicting you between the star and the station are normally pirates after your cargo. You can lose them by jumping to the next system and then back again; you can dive (crash) into a planet, which seems to make them disappear; you can kill them; or you can drop-out at the nav beacon or any station to get help from the feds.


I had an unusual encounter a couple of days back. I'd picked up one of those persistent pirates and so I did my usual trick of heading for the nearest station.

Now what I usually do is turn around and fight the pirate before I get to the no fire zone. It's amazing how brave I am when I've got a muckle great space station backing me up... But it refused to come near me. The NPC pirate said a few expletives and then flew off.
 
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Thank you for trying to help.

How many missions are you stacking and do you have any bounties on your head?
And are you travelling along or avoiding shipping lanes?
What's the security level of the systems you are getting interdicted in?

- I have zero bounties on me, I've triple-checked, besides why should I have any if I'm just trading peacefully?
- I'm usually stacking up to 10 simple missions of the "source and supply" type, sometimes boom time deliveries. Many of these missions don't even exceed my current rank. I understand some pirates are mission-related, the problem is when they seem to stack up just like missions (and I'm not sure they go away when the mission is done, either). Oh, and they also attack me when I have no cargo whatsoever.
- I'm travelling along shipping lanes. I honestly don't feel like trying some fancy fly-around stuff. I've got a fast ship and put a lot of cash into upgrading my thrusters, I should at least be able to outrun most pirates.
- that's the funny thing because I'm sticking to high end medium security systems inside Federation space, having cordial relation with the Feds. I have several "cordial" stations I'm using as home bases of a sort, e.g. the Moore Gateway in Korovii System (high security). The pirates still can chase me to the very station AND apparently even if station security blows them to pieces, they are spawned again when I leave the station.

I can make the video if it will help, sure. To sum it up, my experience with ED after a week - and I'm a seasoned player with 25 years of gaming behind me (although no earlier experience with Elite games) - it's like having a beautifully deep and flexible game world, with lots of fascinating complexities to explore, except every time you play it there's this mentally challenged guy sitting next to you, bashing you repeatedly over head while screaming WE MADE PIRATES! FIGHT THEM! FIGHT THEM!
 
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