Identifying Illegal Passengers

Any ideas on how to identify illegal passengers?

I get that Criminal passengers are illegal, but I just took a Celebrity fare, just to discover, as I was leaving the station that the passenger was an illegal passenger. I checked and doubled checked, and checked a third time, but yeah, it was a celebrity passenger.

How can you identify them?
 
Last edited:
Any ideas on how to identify illegal passengers?

I get that Criminal passengers are illegal, but I just took a Celebrity fare, just to discover, as I was leaving the station that the passenger was an illegal passenger. I checked and doubled checked, and checked a third time, but yeah, it was a celebrity passenger.

How can you identify them?
Generally I look for 2 things.

  • person doesn't like to be scanned
  • Hostile ships may be sent after you.

I also look for the obvious signs like, zoot suit, dark glasses, black suits, scruffy. Evil eye, and of course subject may be wanted by someone.

Baring that. There isn't a way to tell for sure unless it clearly states as much.
 
On a side note, I have discovered that you can land on a planet, summon a shuttle, go to a station, then summon your ship there to offload the passenger without dealing with sneaking in...could likely use this to get around destinations, but I just don't want to deal with them.

Pretty sure this isn't intended, but it's better than being killed and having to fly back due to a bad celebrity.
 
Generally I look for 2 things.

  • person doesn't like to be scanned
  • Hostile ships may be sent after you.

I also look for the obvious signs like, zoot suit, dark glasses, black suits, scruffy. Evil eye, and of course subject may be wanted by someone.

Baring that. There isn't a way to tell for sure unless it clearly states as much.

"hostile ships may be sent after you" is a warning on all missions.

A lot of the time, if you read the full mission description before accepting, they will be called "criminal mastermind".
Refugees can also be illegal, celebrities can also be illegal in some but not all places. Political prisoners etc
Sometimes the mission just downright tells you in red that they are a criminal, in red, when you scroll down.
 
Thanks everyone for the hints...as far as the heatsinks are concerned, I figure that is just something I'll have to get comfortable with as I learn to play.
 
If you're heading for a station, one technique that works for me is as follows:-
Drop out of supercruise, and immediately fly >10k away.
Fly around the station until you can line up with the slot
Match rotation and use full throttle towards the slot.
Request docking (this is important & easy to forget!).
Optionally, drop a heatsink.
Adjust speed to enter the slot at about 200m/s
Hit "X" to stop - if you have a docking computer it'll do the work for you, otherwise land on the pad.
Obviously, there's a collision risk and if you do, there will be fined or worse. You need to enter the slot without getting caught in the toast racks!
It takes a lot of practice to do this with the Clipper, Cutter, Anaconda, Corvette, Beluga - it's easy to catch bits in the slot!
Works well for smuggling as well (which is how I got to Trade Elite).
 
Don't know about Odyssey but in the normal mission passenger board. There's a sentence written in small text that is the color red. I assuming you haven't altered the colors of your in game eliminating all or part of the color red. It was in the description of the mission you accepted.
 
It doesn't matter if the passengers are criminal or not, your gameplay should be the same. The only additional thing for the criminals is that you mustn't get scanned, but if you fly quickly and efficiently, you'll never get scanned. The only problem is when an NPC announces itself in supercruise and doesn't try to interdict you. You then know it will drop out at your location soon after you do. In that case as soon as you get "scan detected" drop a single heatsink, which will cover you until you land. Don't ever use the docking computer outside the station. Practice dropping out directly in front of the slot, then all you need is a single boost to fly straight into the station without getting scanned by the police.
 
Don't know about Odyssey but in the normal mission passenger board. There's a sentence written in small text that is the color red. I assuming you haven't altered the colors of your in game eliminating all or part of the color red. It was in the description of the mission you accepted.
I'm in Odyssey and have a full load of passengers. I have at least one illegal passenger and have no indication which it is. The usual "Passenger may be wanted" or "Passenger is a criminal" indicators are no longer present. I have range of Threat levels from 4-8 though.
 
Any ideas on how to identify illegal passengers?

I get that Criminal passengers are illegal, but I just took a Celebrity fare, just to discover, as I was leaving the station that the passenger was an illegal passenger. I checked and doubled checked, and checked a third time, but yeah, it was a celebrity passenger.

How can you identify them?
Found it. There's an Info icon on the Passenger detail screen. Clicking that gives us the previously expected details.

InkedKelish (20210620-211929)_LI.jpg
 
Any ideas on how to identify illegal passengers?

I get that Criminal passengers are illegal, but I just took a Celebrity fare, just to discover, as I was leaving the station that the passenger was an illegal passenger. I checked and doubled checked, and checked a third time, but yeah, it was a celebrity passenger.

How can you identify them?
Agreed, why the heck would my ship know I have an illegal passenger once they are on board but not when they are shaking your hand over the deal.
Makes me not want to play the game, passengers were the only un broken missions I found, now thats changed lol
 
Found it. There's an Info icon on the Passenger detail screen. Clicking that gives us the previously expected details.

View attachment 242575
Okay, that sort of detail should be more front-and-centre on the actual mission objectives.
Kinda like the details for a covert mission:

missionobjecive.png


See that? If you miss that then you have nobody to blame but yourself. It stands out, it's a different text colour, and it's right there at the top.
 
Agreed, why the heck would my ship know I have an illegal passenger once they are on board but not when they are shaking your hand over the deal.
Makes me not want to play the game, passengers were the only un broken missions I found, now thats changed lol
You're daft. It makes no difference whether the passengers are illegal or not. I never even look to see if they are. Just assume that during the mission NPCs will try to scan you, so carry heatsinks for interdictions and any attempts to scan you at the station. Only use a docking computer inside a station or directly over the landing pad in the case of outposts.
 
You're daft. It makes no difference whether the passengers are illegal or not. I never even look to see if they are. Just assume that during the mission NPCs will try to scan you, so carry heatsinks for interdictions and any attempts to scan you at the station. Only use a docking computer inside a station or directly over the landing pad in the case of outposts.
Thanks for the hints. Dont worry about me i get that way every time I lose a ship haha
 
Illegal passengers or celebrities not wanting to be scanned is part of the game. It is easier in past years stacking illegal cargo missions from the edge of the bubble making many millions but also many ships looking to scan you. Today transporting illegal or nervous passengers are pretty easy if you designed your ship to deal with this. Horizons you get to see everything about a mission and what you have to deal with on one page. In Odyssey you need more clicks to see what you are dealing with. Sneaky these evil Frontier Devs. Maybe Blofeld and Spectre are alive and well in the U.K...
 
Last edited:
I sucked it up and went rogue instead. Gonna just deal with illegal activity since all I do is get fines from everything anyway lol
 
I sucked it up and went rogue instead. Gonna just deal with illegal activity since all I do is get fines from everything anyway lol
That's the right attitude. There's no need to get fines when carrying passengers. It's got to be about the easiest thing to avoid in the game. Just don't become complacent. Always expect the unexpected and be ready to deal with it when it comes.
 
Necroing a three-year-old thread because this problem is STILL HAPPENING even today.

What does anyone at Frontier even do, nowadays?
 
Back
Top Bottom