Is it me or passenger missions are flawed?

[xnts]

I am doing passenger missions and I think some basic things with them are wrong.

Example:
- I am spending 2 hours flying with passengers around the galaxy
- We hit all their locations, so now it's time to get back to the station where the mission was picked up
- While docking I am scanned by my friendly federation ships, which results in them becoming unhappy, asking me to bring them to the nearest station (and giving me 11 minutes to do so) and then sending a note that they are unhappy and ... they are gone

All of those messages at the same time (while docking). Is it me or this simply doesn't make sense? ;-)

 

[krylite]

Some of the passengers are very finicky with being scanned. Usually one scan is not enough to drag their satisfaction down to unhappy. I assumed when they ask to be dropped off at the nearest station, the mission is cancelled but not failed, where a fail would incur negative influence points with the faction the passenger mission was based. Perhaps you were scanned an extra time earlier, or had a fine for a small mishap with a station for those passengers whose satisfaction are also decreased with infractions.

 

[Lightspeed]

In the text describing the passengers, it would have said they don't like being scanned. That is a signal to you that when you return, you need to be very quick about entering the slot ! I usually throw out a heat sink for good measure, also, when I return with these passengers.

But it's working as intended, and makes for a much more interesting passenger mission, so long as you haven't gone thousands of lyrs first.

 

[Kaybe]

Unfortunately, I have personally seen Secretive VIPs fail the mission from being scanned once. Rare, but it happens.

And also unfortunately, most if not all Famous Explorers are Secretive. Which is kinda messed up since you could fly all the way to the core and back and then just lose everything from a single scan.

Not sure why they did that.

 

[GG7]

A Few things that may help in future:

1) Any passengers that do not want to be scanned need to be treated like smuggled cargo. Meaning, you boost on departure and jump into SC as fast as possible to avoid scans. You enter any new station as fast a possible and if you are running with a Docking Computer, you do not hand off until safely inside the docking bay.

2) Try to avoid passenger missions that involve a planetary base as the final destination if the passenger is scan averse. (almost impossible to dock at a planetary base without being scanned, but you can get away with (1) scan and still complete the mission. But when dealing with a Criminal Passenger, 1 scan is too many! Not worth the risk of getting blown up by station security unless the mission is paying double digit millions on completion, and you are good at super fast manual docking under the radar).

3) IGNORE the demands of entitled passengers! -- Unless you get re-routed to a CZ or something which will show up as a MISSION UPDATE, it is currently safe to ignore any demands made by passengers for special cargo items or diversions from your original flight plan. I NEVER even bother to check the comms section when doing passenger missions. If you do check, what ever you do, DO NOT CLICK ON THE CHECK BOX! That will commit you to having to procure whatever cargo is being demanded by said passenger.

4) Focus on VIP Passenger TRANSPORT Missions. -- Screw the sightseeing and other types. VIP Transport Missions pay out the most $$ on average with between 3 and 12 million per mission. These are basically A to B drops, and can be easily stacked. Most are under 90LY from your mission giver location, and any additional ones will be less than 50 Ly from the first.

If you follow all of the above, you should have smooth sailing, and much quicker completion times.

 

[Spacecat]

Just go really fast and you usually don't get scanned. If you have DD mods, you don't even need to boost.

 

[Lightspeed]

A heat sink and silent running deals with (2) above, if you are quick about your landing. But I believe GG7 likes to rely on his docking computer so he isn't quite so well practiced

 

[SMcA]

A Few things that may help in future:

Spoiler

1) Any passengers that do not want to be scanned need to be treated like smuggled cargo. Meaning, you boost on departure and jump into SC as fast as possible to avoid scans. You enter any new station as fast a possible and if you are running with a Docking Computer, you do not hand off until safely inside the docking bay.

2) Avoid passenger missions that involve a planetary base as the final destination if the passenger is scan averse. (almost impossible to dock at a planetary base without being scanned. This is even more vital regarding a Criminal Passenger. Not worth the risk of getting blown up by station security unless the mission is paying double digit millions on completion).

3) IGNORE the demands of entitled passengers! -- Unless you get re-routed to a CZ or something which will show up as a MISSION UPDATE, it is currently safe to ignore any demands made by passengers for special cargo items or diversions from your original flight plan. I NEVER even bother to check the comms section when doing passenger missions. If you do check, what ever you do, DO NOT CLICK ON THE CHECK BOX! That will commit you to having to procure whatever cargo is being demanded by said passenger.

4) Focus on VIP Passenger TRANSPORT Missions. -- Screw the sightseeing and other types. VIP Transport Missions pay out the most $$ on average with between 3 and 12 million per mission. These are basically A to B drops, and can be easily stacked. Most are under 90LY from your mission giver location, and any additional ones will be less than 50 Ly from the first.

If you follow all of the above, you should have smooth sailing, and much quicker completion times.

Very much the bible for scan adverse passengers.

 

[GG7]

A heat sink and silent running deals with (2) above, if you are quick about your landing. But I believe GG7 likes to rely on his docking computer so he isn't quite so well practiced

I'm afraid. If you want to have a manual docking competition I am open to that anytime. Be prepared to loose though, and lets make sure it is captured for all of YouTube to see.

I don't use the DC for those types of missions. At least not when a planetary base is involved. For Starports, once you have flown the slot manually, you can let the DC complete the landing as per normal.

Silent Running isn't really something you need to bother with. Just use a fast ship like an Orca, and make your "manual" approach up to the slot at full throttle (350 to 450), pull back as you enter the slot, hand off to the DC when clear and you should be fine.

Also a good idea to make sure you are lined up with the front of the station before you drop out of SC. That way you can just bulldoze towards the slot and not waste time flying into alignment first.

I've never failed a passenger mission over being scanned. If you use the above method, the scan will never happen.

 

[Lightspeed]

I don't use the DC for those types of missions. At least not when a planetary base is involved. For Starports, once you have flown the slot manually, you can let the DC complete the landing as per normal.

Silent Running isn't really something you need to bother with. Just use a fast ship like an Orca, and make your approach at full throttle (350 to 450) and you should be fine.

I was referring to your (2) ..... you can't land on a planetary pad that fast !

 

[GG7]

Very much the bible for scan adverse passengers.

Thanks!

Yeah... I use the VIP Transports as my bread and butter these days. Since I am active with Aisling Duval/PowerPlay, you need a good source of high paying missions to recoup the costs of FastTracks when maintaining a Rank 5. The 50 Million per week only covers a portion of those costs if you are actively engaged in Fortification work in coordination with your fellow AD Commanders.

 

[Lightspeed]

Another tip worth bearing in mind is to ensure you are doing the "sensitive" missions, be they piracy or quirky passengers, with a ship that produces a decent burst speed when needed, say above 350.

That way, if you are outside the station and you get "scan detected" give the ship a quick burst to disrupt the scan (just make sure you aren't facing a wall !) - and then realign and try again. Not easy to achieve a quick burst of speed near a planetary base, which is why I would advocate the heat sink backed up by silent running and a nippy landing.

 

[GG7]

I was referring to your (2) ..... you can't land on a planetary pad that fast !

Actually, you can... But it isn't for the faint of heart.

You need a fast and maneuverable ship you can count on and know like the back of your hand. A well engineered Orca with a respectable Dirty Drive tuning can get this job done. But as I said previously... There is still risk involved, so unless the mission pays some unusually high reward, it generally isn't worth the effort. Not when you can usually find a higher paying VIP that doesn't involve a Criminal Mastermind.

As I pointed out before... Law Abiding but Scan Averse passengers will tolerate ONE scan during the trip, so as long as you get into SC/Hyperspace without being scanned by the issuing station, you don't have to worry too much. Provided you don't run into one of those bases that scans you two or three times in a row.

 

[GG7]

Another tip worth bearing in mind is to ensure you are doing the "sensitive" missions, be they piracy or quirky passengers, with a ship that produces a decent burst speed when needed, say above 350.

That way, if you are outside the station and you get "scan detected" give the ship a quick burst to disrupt the scan (just make sure you aren't facing a wall !) - and then realign and try again. Not easy to achieve a quick burst of speed near a planetary base, which is why I would advocate the heat sink backed up by silent running and a nippy landing.

I would agree that the planetary bases is the one place where going through the additional effort of rigging for Silent Running makes sense. Provided that the rewards are worth the effort and you are not comfortable with using a high speed approach and landing.

I would also agree with your tips on boosting. Since FD buffed the Orca in the 2.3 update, this ship is hands down the Queen of high risk passenger missions!

My fully engineered Orca can hit 495 Boost and cruises at 410. Plenty of speed to evade all but the most lucky of NPCs and base scanners. Couple that with a jump range into the upper 50s unlaiden, and 47 with four passenger cabins loaded, and you have yourself one heck of a passenger mission platform! [up][up]

HEY! What do you know! We actually agree on something! [haha]

 

[Lightspeed]

I've had a fail on a single scan, as Kaybe said above, so it depends. They are not all tolerant enough to last beyond that.

 

[GG7]

I've had a fail on a single scan, as Kaybe said above, so it depends. They are not all tolerant enough to last beyond that.

Really? Hmmmm... I guess I have been lucky then. You sure this wasn't two scans back to back in rapid succession?

I always try to get there with zero scans if at all possible, but I will take your experiences under advisement.

Getting back to the ORCA for a sec... Yamiks posted a rather entertaining review of the ship yesterday on his channel. He had GhostGiraffe and Mars on as guests.

Mars puts the Orca through its paces towards the end of the video, and clearly demonstrates the virtues of the ship I was referring to. Seeing its maneuverability in action speaks volumes! All in all, damned impressive for what has always been one of the most underrated and under appreciated ships in the game.

Check it out!

https://youtu.be/t8FgYSFi-DM

 

[Lurker]

It is possible to change your gameplay completly because of all that nasty secretive things to start only at "non guarded" big stations. (better get allied with most/all factions there -> more/better missions)
Try out Faraday Ring @Bunda. They are often in boom. I prefer the middle long (1000-3000Ly) missions to see all the tourist spots around the bubble over the time.
Optional: Easy buy Passenger cabins @Founders or Meredith City @LFT 926 and store them at Faraday (only one time 6-10 min transfer).
Reason: no passenger cabins @Faraday but you can fit stored ones ...
Now you can enjoy all missions also with your 60Ly Explorer Anaconda if you like and put only the one or two cabins in you really need.
There are a lot of such unguarded (no scans) big stations in game. (Have marked XIHE for me while the current Lave CG runs as other example...)

Lots of other helpfull tips are given in the other replies.
Blaze your own trail CMDR!

 

[Boff'in]

I was cautious I didn't pick up Criminal Masterminds, but i had one CEO (or it could have been a criminal mastermind I was getting pretty brash about such things) who was scan averse and I hadn't realised. (it wasn't it big red text for my fried brain to understand).

So I set down at one of the tourist sites with vents and was about to whip out my srv for some fun, and a ship popped up. So incase it's was some nut job NPC I thought it was best to boost away.

But it took a little while to boot up and get moving. The scan kicked in.
PLING one off passenger complains.

The NPC *was* a crazy bounty hunter, and of course it's now turned hostile and starts hammering away.
pling pling pling come the complaints.
Boost boost Boost, trying to break away from the masslock of the planet

Now the fsd is charging, and my shields go, my hull starts taking a hammering and then all the other passengers start complaining wanting to be dropped off.
I had to sit down at the nearest station, of course being an orca mean I couldn't set down "wherever" and I only had outposts nearby.
So I was struggling for a place to set down. But of course I had a few stragglers (low payers) who where unhappy but hadn't left. So I had to get back on the road and follow through for a lousy pay-out.

These events took the shine off my happy passenger phase


I'm currently in a smuggling/engineering phase right now to compensate

 

[Darkfyre99]

I am doing passenger missions and I think some basic things with them are wrong.

Example:
- I am spending 2 hours flying with passengers around the galaxy
- We hit all their locations, so now it's time to get back to the station where the mission was picked up
- While docking I am scanned by my friendly federation ships, which results in them becoming unhappy, asking me to bring them to the nearest station (and giving me 11 minutes to do so) and then sending a note that they are unhappy and ... they are gone

All of those messages at the same time (while docking). Is it me or this simply doesn't make sense? ;-)

It makes a lot of sense. They paid quite a bit extra for a service, and you failed to follow through on that contract.

You need to treat those kind of passengers like they're wanted. You're basically smuggling them. Whether they are a politician having an illicit affair, an actor avoiding the paparazzi, or just someone a bit paranoid, avoiding being scanned should be your first priority.

 

[xnts]

All really good tips game-wise (thank you for them ), but think about it from the real-life pov.

If you'd be a VIP, would you like your pilot to fly at crazy speed, faster than what station believes is safe (and at 300-400, that's faster than anyone sane thinks is safe ), just to make sure you are not scanned? If you aren't wanted, then why would you care (again - we are talking about sightseeing, visiting couple of visitor beacons).