Interdiction Mechanics

[Cyrgon]

Does anyone know of a comprehensive tested guide explaining the mechanics of the current implementation? I've read a lot of topics over the last year talking about it, but never anything definitively proven through testing. I still feel like I don't know enough about it to maximize my effectiveness, proven just now when I interdicted a Dangerous T7 with my Python, 4A (frikkin 18mil) module and 95% in the circle, and it failed. No planetary bodies or significant speed changes during the interdiction either, no server latency spazzing of the vectors. I know some have said there are IWIN and INSTAFAIL values that influence success rates, but this one was too back and forth on the blue vs. red meters to be a critical failure dice roll kinda thing.

Specifically, the things that I've seen discussed but never seen testing results for are the following:

• Ship mass/size of interdicted and interdicting ship affecting difficulty (ED confirmed this is a thing, but I've never seen anyone testing the relative difficulties in a topic)

• How Module size and rating affects maximum interdiction engage range

• How Module size and rating affects mini-game difficulty

• How Module size and rating affects speed that bars fill/empty while pointing at and away from the vector - this seems really random, as even interdicting low-ranked npc ships that wouldn't stay on the escape vector all the time while spinning in hard turns, I sometimes see little to no progress in the blue bar filling up for several seconds at a time. Is this just a server latency issue or something else?

• How Module size and rating translates to effectiveness in interdicting smaller targets

-Higher ratings and module sizes both seem to affect range and difficulty by some value, as well as how strong the 'atmo flight model / FA-off'-esque feel is while turning into the vector
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• How much difficulty remains consistent with same npc rank, ship and module size/class versus random dice rolls increasing/decreasing success rates

• Whether relative speeds and ship distance affect difficulty and success rates

• How much is server latency accounted for in interdiction computations - i.e. is it worth doing at all when the servers are in bad shape and hi-waking takes 10+ seconds

 

[Fendalton]

Class and size affects interdiction range and power draw, that's it.

The mini game itself is unchanged, all that's changed is getting TO the minigame.

 

[Cyrgon]

Class and size affects interdiction range and power draw, that's it.

The mini game itself is unchanged, all that's changed is getting TO the minigame.

The consistency of difficulty experienced with different class sizes vs ship size suggests there's a lot more to it. An A1 is consistently more difficult to interdict with on a large ship than an A4. The jittery feel of the controls (I compared it to an atmo flight model or FA-off -esque feel in my post) also smooths out with larger module class.

 

[_Fissure]

I was undermining a system yesterday and interdicted a smaller ship in my Anaconda. I held the NPC in front of me for about 8 sec, and then they insta-pivoted 180° and got behind me. I never got them in my crosshairs again, yet I still ended up winning the interdiction after about 15 sec.....


Yea, the interdiction minigame needs to be explained a bit more because, as far as I know, I should have lost that interdiction.

Also, if all that's impacted is the range, then why am I shelling out 20m+ for an A4 Interdictor? I'll downgrade that to an A2 tonight if that's the case.

Edit: just saw the post above. I'll keep tabs in this thread to see what others have to say about it.

 

[Mighty Dangerous]

Cyrgon,
It's not enough to fit modules and win.
There is always a target that is better specced so will win or get lucky.

There is some advanced manoeuvre's you can pull off for the tricky one's but even on the easy ones you should do the same thing.
Reason is, you can pull a target to normal space and recieve no damage and also facing your target. You can drop straight onto your target, guns facing them.

I might try look if I got some footage cos its hard to put in words.

Edit: Sorry no footage. It was on twitch but it's deleted now.

 

[Cyrgon]

Cyrgon,
It's not enough to fit modules and win.
There is always a target that is better specced so will win or get lucky.

There is some advanced manoeuvre's you can pull off for the tricky one's but even on the easy ones you should do the same thing.
Reason is, you can pull a target to normal space and recieve no damage and also facing your target. You can drop straight onto your target, guns facing them.

I might try look if I got some footage cos its hard to put in words.

Edit: Sorry no footage. It was on twitch but it's deleted now.

I've heard mention of a technique that controlled ship position in the instance and prevented damage, but never an explanation of how it worked.

 

[Mighty Dangerous]

I've heard mention of a technique that controlled ship position in the instance and prevented damage, but never an explanation of how it worked.

I try explain.

1. Get behind target and when in range try match their speed before interdict. I think this helps give an advantage, not sure. Test it though.

2. During the interdiction roll with your target. Try keep yourself level with them. Keep their solid triangle straight ahead of you.
Gradually decrease the throttle only when your target is straight aligned. If you keep this up they will start to struggle.

3. Next they usually veer off and become side on with you. At this point, as long as you are on target, bring that throttle down to almost zero if you can.
This will usually win and if you get the throttle right, you will end up facing them, about 500m - 1km.

Now that's if it all goes according to plan and it usually does. You just got to practice with the throttle to find that sweet spot.

Sometimes you get a fight. I find rolling is working great here. Use it to roll with your target as it twists and turns, soon it will give up.
Sometimes you have to go wide with the roll and do like a full barrel roll and you'll be off target. Don't panic or give up. Keep rolling. With a little practice, you will see your bar go down but then all of a sudden the npc will lose interdiction.

 

[Drink!]

A Dev commented about this a while ago. I'll look for it, but I'm sure I wont find it.

 

[Cyrgon]

I try explain.

1. Get behind target and when in range try match their speed before interdict. I think this helps give an advantage, not sure. Test it though.

2. During the interdiction roll with your target. Try keep yourself level with them. Keep their solid triangle straight ahead of you.
Gradually decrease the throttle only when your target is straight aligned. If you keep this up they will start to struggle.

3. Next they usually veer off and become side on with you. At this point, as long as you are on target, bring that throttle down to almost zero if you can.
This will usually win and if you get the throttle right, you will end up facing them, about 500m - 1km.

Now that's if it all goes according to plan and it usually does. You just got to practice with the throttle to find that sweet spot.

Sometimes you get a fight. I find rolling is working great here. Use it to roll with your target as it twists and turns, soon it will give up.
Sometimes you have to go wide with the roll and do like a full barrel roll and you'll be off target. Don't panic or give up. Keep rolling. With a little practice, you will see your bar go down but then all of a sudden the npc will lose interdiction.

I don't think I'm really grasping the concept, as my interpretation seems like a sure way to lose an interdiction.

However. It did make me pay more attention to ship orientations during interdictions, and I think I see a correlation between whether I'm directly behind their ship or approaching it from it's side, and how quickly the blue bar fills. If you arc wide when they try to roll away into their escape vector, you can often realign with their ship facing it's side, instead of the rear. When I tragged out three interdictions, and whenever I realigned with them in the circle from the side of their ship, suddenly the blue bar fills very quickly. Can anyone expand on this, or explain if this is happening for another reason I'm missing? It could just be me seeing something that isn't there, and the result of me hitting my vector while aiming from the side while they're missing theirs. On second though though, I assume their vector is based on mine, and if I'm coming from the side their vector should be adjusted based on that. So maybe that approach shifts their vector far to the side, and thus they spend more time turning into it while I'm already on target? I dunno.

I was always so fixated on centering the vector I never considered orientation as a factor.

 

[Mighty Dangerous]

Yeah I think you got it right there. That's what I'm talking about.

If he rolls, you do too. Always keep your ship the same orientation. That way, when he has to pitch up, or make a sharp turn he will end up sideways to you.

 

[Mighty Dangerous]

Here's a link to a video demonstration I made last night. Just 2 random targets to get an idea.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=241956

 

[Julio Montega]

Did any of you guys tried interdicting players lately?
I constantly have a light collision with them at entering normal space,
whether they submit or not.