Newcomer / Intro How do I complete this Naval Strike mission?

[Ananym]

Time to rank up.

But, where do I go to find these NPCs, and how do I tell which they are?
I killed everything on Wanted in Salimandali's compromised nav beacon and resource extraction sites and I've not added anything to that counter.

It'd be nice if we had to cargo scan random ships until we found illegal commodities to identify smugglers, but somehow, I doubt that's the trick..

 

[Chris Simon]

You can try to fish them out of the supercruise or look for them in the Nav Beacon area.

When you let the ship scan commence, you should see a "Mission Target" tag on them, aside from normal Ship, Name, Clean/Wanted,... tags.

 

[Ananym]

I've spent a lot of time in the nav beacon scanning everything that moves.
I've seen precisely zero mission targets.

 

[Chris Simon]

Well, then I'd suggest trying the RES and signal sources, like the mission description tells you.

 

[metatheurgist]

The mission generator pairs up factions with types of targets randomly. There are factions that produce little or no pirates or smugglers. You're more likely to get pirates and smugglers from the "Salimandali Crimson Crew", a known group of pirates and scoundrels (I just made that name up as an example btw, I don't really know what's in that system), than the "Salimandali Gold Universal PLC" which sounds like a respectable business organisation.

 

[Captain Willard]

Well, then I'd suggest trying the RES and signal sources, like the mission description tells you.

Ditto I've always found them in USS.

 

[Ozram]

I just did something very similar and found the fastest way was to supercruise about scanning ships at random. Every so often, one was a target. Says "mission target" in red at the bottom of the target info square on the bottom left.

- - - Updated - - -

Ditto I've always found them in USS.

Also this ^^

 

[d8veh]

Basically, nobody has figured out a de facto way to find the mission targets. We regularly get posts about how to do these and the similar kill pirate missions. Pirates and smugglers can always be found, but nobody seems to have figured out how to get ones from the right faction. Whenever anybody comes up with a technique or place to find them, somebody else tries it and finds none, so there's something missing from the magic formulae. Do these missions because you want to see if you can solve the puzzle, and then tell us the answer. If you want anything else, avoid them like the plague.

 

[metatheurgist]

Basically, nobody has figured out a de facto way to find the mission targets. We regularly get posts about how to do these and the similar kill pirate missions. Pirates and smugglers can always be found, but nobody seems to have figured out how to get ones from the right faction. Whenever anybody comes up with a technique or place to find them, somebody else tries it and finds none, so there's something missing from the magic formulae. Do these missions because you want to see if you can solve the puzzle, and then tell us the answer. If you want anything else, avoid them like the plague.

I supplied an answer. Some factions basically don't produce pirates or smugglers. The mission generator however doesn't appear to consider the "role" of a faction when it randomly picks a number and faction for the template. When I see these missions I only take one where the name is obvious (-crew, gang, mafia, etc) or if I know the system and I recognise the faction name as one that produces pirates or smugglers. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for a fruitless game session.

 

[Ananym]

I eventually got through it by sitting in supercruise and interdicting. It took me about 90 minutes. I'm guessing that ships generated in supercruise are done so with more regard to your current missions than ones generated in the normal space zones.
Still a mess though, as interdiction is the one thing that isn't mentioned in the mission text, even though it's the only thing that works. At very least, the mission text needs to be changed.

 

[peppi]

done that yesterday or the day before

forget about the res sites or the sources and beacons they are not there
get a interdictor and fly around scan the vessels and take them out

typical elite dangerous bug

 

[Commanderhumpster]

I have had that before in the end I abandoned the mission and another one appeared giving me offer to transport cargo.

 

[Richard]

I eventually got through it by sitting in supercruise and interdicting. It took me about 90 minutes. I'm guessing that ships generated in supercruise are done so with more regard to your current missions than ones generated in the normal space zones.
Still a mess though, as interdiction is the one thing that isn't mentioned in the mission text, even though it's the only thing that works. At very least, the mission text needs to be changed.

Agree that the mission text could be clearer sometimes. I just spent a fairly fruitless play session trying to complete a salvage mission by following the mission instructions and checking out USSs. Turns out the mission goes a lot better if you fire off your discovery scanner first, at which point you get pointed in the right direction and the whole thing is relatively painless. Unless I missed some blatant clue (not impossible), I don't think that scanning step was obvious from the instructions. It wasn't all bad though - picked up a bunch of chemical manipulators and other chemically widgets. Apparently they're quite rare, so they'll no doubt come in handy for Engineering something.

Planetary scan jobs also go a lot quicker after a quick toot on the disco horn but at least the clue is in the name for those missions. I'm not sure whether that makes up for the iffy mission instructions or not.

 

[d8veh]

Agree that the mission text could be clearer sometimes. I just spent a fairly fruitless play session trying to complete a salvage mission by following the mission instructions and checking out USSs. Turns out the mission goes a lot better if you fire off your discovery scanner first, at which point you get pointed in the right direction and the whole thing is relatively painless. Unless I missed some blatant clue (not impossible), I don't think that scanning step was obvious from the instructions. It wasn't all bad though - picked up a bunch of chemical manipulators and other chemically widgets. Apparently they're quite rare, so they'll no doubt come in handy for Engineering something.

Planetary scan jobs also go a lot quicker after a quick toot on the disco horn but at least the clue is in the name for those missions. I'm not sure whether that makes up for the iffy mission instructions or not.

That's another misleading one. You have to check out USSs, but not any ones. You just follow instructions untill a USS that's marked as the mission target appears. You don't need a discovery scanner. Instead, go to the nav beacon, drop out and scan it to get the instruction of which planet to go to. When you get to the planet, the blue USS will appear.