Good evening fellow Commanders,
I came across a comment on a recent thread I'd started about interdictions. A few people lamented the fact that nobody tries to fight interdictions anymore, and I can understand that sentiment. As a player, I'm more into the exploring/trading aspect of Elite: Dangerous, and I'm definitely a coward when it comes to PVP, but when it comes to interdictions, I think I've found a simple rule of thumb: "Small ship - big ship, submit. Big ship - small ship make a run for it."
It's hardly precise, and I'd love to hear your opinions if you disagree. The way I see it, winning the interdiction mini-game depends largely on two things: The interdictor and the interdictee. If you're in an Clipper and you get interdicted by, say, a Cobra, you're going to have a tough time evading the interdiction simply because you won't be as agile in chasing the blue circle.
On the other hand, if you're in a Cobra or Vulture and you're interdicted by an Anaconda. You probably have a better chance of evading it rather than wasting your time submitting. This is especially handy when you're under a deadline, or within a few Mm of your destination. By submitting, you're going to drop out several light seconds *further* from where you'd end up after a successful interdiction.
The conventional wisdom amongst the meeker players such as myself has usually been to submit to the interdiction, then quickly throttle up and high-wake to safety as soon as the drive charges. That usually works, but when it doesn't, you're in a world of pain. So how can you tell when to try and evade the interdiction?
The answer lies in testing the water a little when it begins. You might not have much time to see what size ship your pursuer has, but you can see how sluggish/responsive their movement is as you try to align with the blue circle. Are you able to match up to it much quicker than they can react? If the answer is yes, you're probably going to be able to evade. Don't worry, there's plenty of time to test this out before deciding whether to submit to it or not. One of the things I discovered quickly is that panicking at an interdiction doesn't help, like many things in this game. Keeping a cool head and making strategic choices like this can help save a lot of time, frustration, and credits for the beginner Commander.
So, am I right or wrong? I'd love to learn from other Commander's experiences and hear what they have to say on this subject. Seems to me we're lacking a clear "SOP" here.
Thank you for reading and fly safe, Commanders.
I came across a comment on a recent thread I'd started about interdictions. A few people lamented the fact that nobody tries to fight interdictions anymore, and I can understand that sentiment. As a player, I'm more into the exploring/trading aspect of Elite: Dangerous, and I'm definitely a coward when it comes to PVP, but when it comes to interdictions, I think I've found a simple rule of thumb: "Small ship - big ship, submit. Big ship - small ship make a run for it."
It's hardly precise, and I'd love to hear your opinions if you disagree. The way I see it, winning the interdiction mini-game depends largely on two things: The interdictor and the interdictee. If you're in an Clipper and you get interdicted by, say, a Cobra, you're going to have a tough time evading the interdiction simply because you won't be as agile in chasing the blue circle.
On the other hand, if you're in a Cobra or Vulture and you're interdicted by an Anaconda. You probably have a better chance of evading it rather than wasting your time submitting. This is especially handy when you're under a deadline, or within a few Mm of your destination. By submitting, you're going to drop out several light seconds *further* from where you'd end up after a successful interdiction.
The conventional wisdom amongst the meeker players such as myself has usually been to submit to the interdiction, then quickly throttle up and high-wake to safety as soon as the drive charges. That usually works, but when it doesn't, you're in a world of pain. So how can you tell when to try and evade the interdiction?
The answer lies in testing the water a little when it begins. You might not have much time to see what size ship your pursuer has, but you can see how sluggish/responsive their movement is as you try to align with the blue circle. Are you able to match up to it much quicker than they can react? If the answer is yes, you're probably going to be able to evade. Don't worry, there's plenty of time to test this out before deciding whether to submit to it or not. One of the things I discovered quickly is that panicking at an interdiction doesn't help, like many things in this game. Keeping a cool head and making strategic choices like this can help save a lot of time, frustration, and credits for the beginner Commander.
So, am I right or wrong? I'd love to learn from other Commander's experiences and hear what they have to say on this subject. Seems to me we're lacking a clear "SOP" here.
Thank you for reading and fly safe, Commanders.
