How the hell do you tell who is a valid 'Hunt Pirates' mission target?

[Carr0t]

Took 2 missions last night, both to kill 'Pirates' in two different specific sets of systems. One was to kill 5 pirates, the other to kill 3. That was it, just generic pirates. But how do I tell who is counted as a pirate for the purposes of the mission?

For the 3 pirate mission, I initially assumed that anyone in those systems and listed as 'wanted' would be counted as a pirate, but after taking on 8 people matching that description across a number of USSes and only getting 1 kill towards my target I realised that must not be the case. I don't even know which of the guys I took out was the one who counted.

Then I wondered if, as the mission specifically stated 'prowling the supercruise lanes' I should be interdicting wanted targets in supercruise (which I had only done once so far) instead of dropping out at USSes. Another 5 kills later with no additions to the mission counter I figured that was also wrong.

I happened to also have a different mission for an Elite target in an Anaconda (which my skills and my Viper were sadly not good enough to take down). He was supposed to be in the same system (I actually came across him numerous times in USSes) and was 'a member of the notorious pirate group The Ross 154 Boys', so I specifically started hunting for wanted people who had that as their faction. Still didn't get any more kills on my count.

Eventually, after about 3 hours prowling the systems and racking up almost 200k credits in bounties from taking out wanted criminals, at anything from 1.5k to 20k per crim (Plus one that was worth over 40k), I got my 3 'pirate' kills and was able to hand the mission in for my measly 18k reward. I still have no idea what was so special about the 3 guys who eventually gave me my mission kills. The last one I actually had got to the point where I was checking target stats each time. They were wanted, but they weren't listed specifically as faction 'pirate' or anything, that had standard factions for the system. I'd taken a number of guys from that faction out previously without it giving me a mission target notification.

Likewise, with the 5 pirate mission. I went to the relevant system. Dropped out in the first USS I saw. Turned out to be someone who scanned (even after a kill warrant scan) as 'clean', but was clearly working for/with the pirates, as he offered me an alternative - kill 6 authority vessels in the originating system instead of 5 pirates here and they'd give me 23k instead of the 22k for pirate hunting. No dice, says I, so I gunned him down. Instant 5k fine, I get listed as wanted for murder, and he didn't even count towards my pirate target count. Spent a further 45 minutes hunting and killing random wanted people in the systems in question without a single addition to my kill count for the mission, by which point the mission timer had expired and I gave up in disgust and went to bed.

I don't have a problem with hunter killer missions where not every target I find will be valid, but there really needs to be some sort of clear indication as to who counts as a valid mission target. I don't want to waste my limited time chasing down, interdicting, and taking out puny targets who are only worth 1-2k bounty over and over without any idea until they die as to whether they'll count towards a mission. I want to be able to drop out of supercruise, scan the available targets, and then jump straight back to supercruise if none of them count. Likewise it might take me 10-15 minutes of dogfighting to take out an Asp or a Python, and if it's going to take me that long I want to know that it's going to be worth my while, especially if their bounty isn't that high.

 

[Veldryn]

Hi,

Be careful about guys giving you alternate missions: don't shoot them

To find pirates, two ways:

- Shoot everyone wanted; you'll find a pirate eventually
- Wait for them to scan you and/or ask for your cargo. They are definitely pirates!

Another option seems to work as well: bounty hunters, when they scan you, find a bounty in another system, and start attacking (although you're clean). They may be considered pirates (Not always, but I've got this case twice, and the second one has been validated as a pirate)

Usually, USS and well-known populated areas (Nav. Beacon, Extraction Sites) are good ways to find pirates. Interdictions, not so much.

If you ever have a mission to shoot authorities, you may have the same kind of trouble: not all authority vessels in a System will be validated (With a much worse drawback: you still get a bounty on your head for each of them you kill )

 

[Fizman]

yup, had the same problem, shot everything I could find, especially those that shot at me first, and none of them counted towards my kill count for mission.
frustrating.
missions actually slow down the revenue, as its faster to simply hunt everything that moves for bounties.
so I ignore missions.
I ignore USS.
look for resource points and interdict wanted targets instead.
if bounties alone get faction reputation increased, then currently, missions are pointless.
especially considering since the much needed bounty revenue increase, the mission rewards are left feeling like a pittance.

 

[Altissimus]

I gather it helps to be carrying some (any) cargo. Then the pirates are more interested in you. If your bays are empty, they are less likely to attack (and thus become pirates).

 

[Starbuckz]

For me every single wanted target that flew an eagle, a viper or cobra was a pirat. I always search at nav points or resource extraction sites and I'm done with those missions quite quickly.

 

[Naturalist]

I was having the same issue. Just not worth the time since it take so long to find pirates.

 

[Llewelyn]

Fly with a couple tons of valuable commodities - the pirates are the ones who scan you and tell you that everything you have is now theirs, or words to that effect, they then shoot you, then they get blown up when you shoot back. Life is very simple like that.

 

[AngerManagement]

If the system your are hunting in has a resource extraction site...go there...nearly all the wanted ships there are pirates.
If you fly in to a USS and there are wanted ships near a hauler/transporter...they will be pirates
Otherwise just kill everything that is wanted....and just think of all those bounties you will clock up

 

[Veldryn]

This kind of mission is especially interesting if you have more than one: If you have 2 missions to kill 3 + 5 Pirates, then you only need to kill 5 pirates to complete both. Very efficient

 

[NinjaTrek2891]

I let them scan me first in Anarchy space. Even without Cargo they will tell ur dum or something.. As soon they scan you and say something like "Lets see what ur haulin"... Time to place the kill.

Another way is to use the Kill Warant Scanner and shoot everything with a warant. Count's the same for Warants in non anarchy space. Local warant = Shoot to kill 8 out of 10 are pirates anyway.

Only do USS for Pirate hunting. You get some others like salvages.. but skip them.. jump into supercruise and wait for the next USS ... (You can even sit and go 30.0KM/H and wait for the next one to pop up. )

 

[bitstorm]

Have you seen the encounters where there's a bunch of ships, they then scan you and either ask you to hand over your cargo or complain that you#re not carrying any.

Those folks are pirates.

 

[Bnethor]

I had an extra annoyance to this.. I got the alternative mission from USS after having already killed two pirates and it reset the kill counter so I ended up having to kill 6 pirates instead of the original 4 (big deal, I know) but a bug is a bug.

And they're pretty hard to come by in some systems.

 

[Ghostlight]

Skip those missions. You'll make more cash just shooting a few Wanted then cashing in than waiting till you kill x pirates. Unless x is 2 or something, but then the reward will be paltry.

 

[dogdog]

I don't think there's much of a bug with finding pirates, at least in my experience. On the contrary, I've found that if a mission asks me to go to "system B" to kill pirates, they typically end up counting any pirates I kill in whatever system I damn well choose.

As far as finding them, find a system with ringed planets with extraction zones or mining belts around a star. In my current system I can pop into a belt and, no joke, pirates will file in one by one for me to pop at my leisure. USS's are a crap shoot, and interdicting wanted ships isn't a guaranteed pirate kill either, usually smugglers.

 

[Veldryn]

Skip those missions. You'll make more cash just shooting a few Wanted then cashing in than waiting till you kill x pirates. Unless x is 2 or something, but then the reward will be paltry.

If you're a bounty hunter, you'll shoot these pirates anyway. Why not take a mission? That's only an additional reward to what you would do anyway. And of course, you still get the bounty itself, from killing some wanted pirates (Unless you kill them in an Anarchy System without a KW scanner).

 

[Raven]

Currently there is a bit of an issue concerning the 'Pirate' and 'Bounty Hunter' missions in that really it ends up a massive pot luck if you actually come across them, this is not helped by the fact that the Sensor has a nasty habit of making half the instance Red the second you chose to attack someone regardless if they are actually a valid target.

In order to complete many of these, I've ended up having to take the "Shoot them all and let God sort them out" approach; which has wracked me up a pretty nasty collection of fines that sometimes can exceed the return; but usual pirate patrolling can help with that, especially in the Permit Systems.

Now in terms of the targets themselves they are always associated with one of the 'Independent' groups in that system (check you're Rep Menu) which is great but there isn't actually any way to see who is "working" for whom at a quick glance, in-fact this seems to be one of the key issues with Combat Right now.

Don't get me wrong, the idea of almost everything being held in "Instance Signature" Bubbles; is not exactly something I think is great.
Those who are going to offer you "Extra" or "Alternative" objectives SHOULD as in Frontier and First Encounters be on the Bulletin Board, as it stands this aspect of the game is merely a 'Mission Hub' rather than something that feels like you're going to it for News, Information, etc... the same is easily said of the information available, while sure having a quick bulletin points of the objectives is good for your Transactions Screen; it should be clickable to find out a far more in-depth explanation, along with again a return to the ability to haggle prices up (with good rep), find out if something is dangerous (which should activate an Interdiction to occur randomly on your root that you can't 'escape').

When it comes to the actual Missions themselves, well it should shift so Pirates are common at the 'Nav Beacon' (Hyperspace Entry Point), Asteroid Belts, and Interdict throughout the System. They currently show 'Wanted' when Scanned but their Icon should change to a Skull to indicate they are a 'Pirate'

Bounty Hunters instead should be either in the Unknown Signatures, or near the Nav Beacon; yet only Interdict if you are "Wanted" yourself. They should be easily recognisable with an 'Elite' logo next to them (as after all they should be members of the EFD)

Police / Security should only interdict on the Approach to Stations rather than Roaming, with them active in the system ONLY in response to a Distress Beacon. Meaning if you want to 'Find' Pirates then following them would be the best idea.

As far as the combat itself is concerned, really targets that go Red should be 100% valid (i.e. do not incur a bounty) this might be a bug but right now this aspect is personally causing a lot of annoyances. If someone shoots you first, then 'Red' no bounty for 'defending yourself', if they shoot second, then bounty but if they defend themselves then no additional (it should only be a small fraction say 10% the fine), if they don't then you get the full 'murdered' bounty ... this is of course merely a suggestive solution until a proper communication system is put in the game.

One aspect that does irk me is given communication (even with NPC) is important for reputation, so why this is not only unmapped but hidden with 5s response time has to be a terrible joke; as it should be available via Coms AND the Contacts menus with a longer response time. Being able to 'Bribe' authorities (especially in systems you're Allied+ with) would greatly help a number of situations.

The same should be true with Cargo you 'pick up', as while I'm fine with the 'Stolen' aspect it should be a case if a someone is "Wanted" it should be automatically abandoned (claimless) where-as goods that are 'Stolen' should still be sellable on the market with a percentage chance that the Authorities will find out and fine you; again leading to being able to pay, bribe, etc... with Blackmarket ONLY being something you use for expressly Illegal Goods in a Station (which there should be a Black Market, and Bulletin Board variants)

I'd get into how I think Assassinations are a pale shadow compared to what they were in Frontier, but really the things above are a bit more paramount for the moment not necessarily to "fix" as they're not broken as such; merely that they do need to be better defined, as all of this does bleed into the invisible reputation and result in how NPCs and Authorities treat you. Not to mention for a game about the immersion it is almost completely jarring for most of the mechanics to revolve around randomised RPG-like instances, over some core mechanics that make each of these aspects feel well unique rather than the same thing with a slightly different flavour.