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Newcomer / Intro Jumped by Elite Fer-De-Lance for a "Merchant" rated mission?
- Thread starter ArcherS
- Start date
Depends on the rank of the mission, but yes, you should expect them.
You can also expect more than a couple of high end Anacondas as well.
They are usually assassins from a rival faction attached to the same station as the issuing faction you got the mission from.
I've had to deal with a lot of them rank grinding over in Ceos/Sothis.
You can also expect more than a couple of high end Anacondas as well.
They are usually assassins from a rival faction attached to the same station as the issuing faction you got the mission from.
I've had to deal with a lot of them rank grinding over in Ceos/Sothis.
Most likely not a mission incoming enemy, just a random pirate that reflects your own rank (although of course we don't know what your rank is). Unless you got a mission critical update telling you there was a (named) pirate after you, then it would just be a random pirate attack.
That said, are you sure that the FDL was Elite ranked? Merchant is the equivalent to Expert combat rank, and usually missions around that rank will have one or two small / medium ships sent after you, so an FDL is not out of the question, but it would likely only be Competent or Expert ranked.
Combat - Novice
Trade - Entrepreneur
Exploration - Scout
Federal Navy - Recruit
I signed up with Zachary Hudson's galactic power yesterday: don't know if that has any effect. (Is it just me, or does Zach look like Robert Patrick?)
In the past 24 hours, I've been jumped & seriously outclassed 3 times, all in Hudson's HQ System, Nanomam. On one, I definitely was working on an Elite mission, but it was only 40 tons and two hops. Seemed easy enough. The other times, I'm not sure what triggered it. Maybe I'm still too green to try helping a galactic power. Where I was before (just outside of the newbie zone), it seemed like my only mission options were Harmless, Mostly Harmless, and Elite. Nothing in the middle to learn the intermediate stuff.
It was most definitely an Elite FDL, spewing dozens of something that showed up on radar, but I don't know if it was missiles. I did have a Point Defense, but I may have needed two.
Trade - Entrepreneur
Exploration - Scout
Federal Navy - Recruit
I signed up with Zachary Hudson's galactic power yesterday: don't know if that has any effect. (Is it just me, or does Zach look like Robert Patrick?)
In the past 24 hours, I've been jumped & seriously outclassed 3 times, all in Hudson's HQ System, Nanomam. On one, I definitely was working on an Elite mission, but it was only 40 tons and two hops. Seemed easy enough. The other times, I'm not sure what triggered it. Maybe I'm still too green to try helping a galactic power. Where I was before (just outside of the newbie zone), it seemed like my only mission options were Harmless, Mostly Harmless, and Elite. Nothing in the middle to learn the intermediate stuff.
It was most definitely an Elite FDL, spewing dozens of something that showed up on radar, but I don't know if it was missiles. I did have a Point Defense, but I may have needed two.
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Ok - It's not your rank then.
Elite ranked delivery missions will send four high ranking Anacondas after you. It's possible that an incoming enemy might be downgraded because of your own rank - I don't know since I've been Elite for a while - but that'd be a huge downgrade, and I don't think they do that. And incoming enemies for my delivery missions are always the same, depending on mission rank.
It certainly could be a Powerplay thing, again, I don't know having never bothered with that.
As I said above, you know it's a mission generated pirate / enemy because you get a mission critical update flash up in your HUD which you can look at in your inbox. It will tell you how many pirates are after you, and for each one will give you their name also. They will also be labeled as mission targets in the HUD when you target them.
In the event that it's not a mission generated pirate, just a random one, it would be a bit unusual, although not impossible for it to be Elite ranked, they normally match pretty well to your own rank. So maybe Powerplay...
It got me thinking about a related question: Are the NPC spawns based just on your rank or do they also take account of the value of your ship?
More likely the value of your cargo, if any. If you fancy a ruck, carry some gold for bait.
After reaching "Mostly Harmless" yesterday (I've only just got round to combat), it seems as though I meet tougher pirates etc when flying my Mamba than I do in my old Cobra neither carry cargo. It may be a coincidence or "confirmation bias" as I haven't done enough missions to test the theory yet.
He does look like Robert Patrick.
If they went in a straight line they're dumb fire missiles. PD is a big help.
Better luck next time Commander!
At those ranks the FdL should be mission or PowerPlay related the last is just a guess as I also haven’t bothered with that.
Could have been missiles or mines or limpets, ok mines is unlikely from an attacking FdL, when I have the utility slots available I like to have multiple Point Defence fitted to minimise blind spots.
In my experience, random NPC pirates will spawn based upon your rank and the type of ship you are flying. I only fly small or medium ships, and the random pirates, when they spawn are generally in a ship of the same size as the one I am flying and match my rank.
Mission spawned NPC pirates are based on the rank of the mission and are entirely predictable and will always be the same ship(s) dependent on the type of mission. So, as above, delivery mission incoming enemies for Elite ranked missions will always be four Anacondas, and Elite ranked pirate lords will always be a Federal Corvette, doesn't matter what ship I am flying.
I think they sniff out your cargo first (maybe they got spies in every system), as I never get interdicted without cargo or missions.
Then I have the impression it is rank & ship, as Faded Glory describes.
I (subjectively) got much fewer interdictions after I switched from a Type-9 Heavy to an Imperial Cutter with a very similar amount of valuable cargo in my hold.
The trading ships in general also have higher emissions, maybe visibility has something to do with it as well.
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Not to start a fight with you but twice now, on the way back from a trek into the black, in an unarmed Dolphin, no cargo, no missions, no bounty, I have faced interdiction. Escaped it easily enough but it does appear to be random if rare.
I also get interdicted when wanted.
Was probably winters. She looks a bit dodgy to me, and she's the shadow president
Yes, it's unusual, but not out of the question to be interdicted with no missions, cargo or bounties. If it's a pirate, it will scan you and then leave complaining that it's children will go hungry... It's also possible to be interdicted by system authority ships patrolling in systems with war / civil war state. Don't know if that still happens, they would interdict, tell you to submit for a scan and then... Do nothing. So that particular scenario may have been dumped.
In my experience / opinion, interdictions have become much less of a thing as the game had gone on. I can do a dozen Elite ranked delivery missions and not get one incoming enemy alert, occasionally a random pirate, and if I do get an incoming enemy alert it's often as I'm docking... Haven't had a system authority interdiction in as long as I can remember.
I guess that for newer players of the game it can be a bit of a jolt - especially if they take on activities much higher ranked than their own rank and abilities or experience, and I suspect for those players four high ranking Anacondas coming after their Elite delivery cargo can seem like an endless cycle of interdictions. Once you get used to them, understand what might trigger them and have the ability to evade (very easy as time goes on) or submit and shoot them, also usually pretty easy depending on your ship and combat experience, then honestly the lack of them can become quite irritating.
This stuff should never have been done as random as it is for missions, it removes player agency, having to think about a mission you are accepting, consider whether you are equipped to deal with it. Missions should either come with a combat challenge that it clearly stated, or should be a milk run, with perhaps a random pirate thrown in on occasion, letting players choose how much challenge they want, and have the reward reflect that challenge. One can dream...