No, Shadow Delivery smuggling missions are not to difficult!

I'm not worried about maneuverability for general-purpose use. It's tricky business to boost into a mail slot when your deceleration and turning prevents you from aborting due to a mistake, though. I'm debating whether to just fit a Cobra for Shadow Delivery missions, since it's much harder to screw up horribly (not to mention the extra speed). I like the Asp's carrying capacity, but I don't realistically ever approach my maximum cargo capacity, since I don't stack upwards of 20+ SD missions. ~8 is the most I'm willing to stack.

Problem with python / cobra / clipper is their jump range. ASP is not perfect but its jump range makes life a lot easier, especially for the way back.
But also, when you have stack 10+ missions, it is better to do onl 10 jumps to your destination instead of 18 for instance....
 
Thanks for your research, noldunar - appreciated. Long suspected chaff was usless for scans, but its nice to hear it stated with conviction. Heat sinks are a smugglers best friend...

BTW - has anyone experienced "ninja scans"? That is no warning of the initial scan - just a sudden fine out of the blue! Happened to me a few times leaving a station. Unsure if its a bug or whether its related to the rating of what sensors module you have currently equipped. i.e. If I've got a D-rated sensors...and the cops got A-rated scanner...is it possible to get 'stealth' scanned? (It's probably a bug ;))
Yes. If you lose a significant amount, ticket it and see if they can give it back.
 
Generally good advice except for the silent running & heat sinks..a waste of time and module slot!

I was detected from 5-6km in a RES while stalking an FAS behind an asteroid using silent running and o% from heatsinks in my stealth DBS. The FAS did a u turn and headed straight for me...works well against cmdrs but against NPC, it's worse than useless! Just use speed! My bread and butter is smuggling and assassinations so I'm wanted everywhere too, but this doesn't affect my gameplay one bit - I have no heatsinks & never use silent running when docking,,just use speed!..I've been caught just once and that was my own fault - I cocked up my docking at an outpost!

Show us your technique with a vid pls - 'getting real fed up with all the misinformation & plain (not you..generally speaking!) on these forums - if you have shadowplay it will take 10 mins (not inc upload to YT)

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concerning silent running you'll maybe want to read a devs (sandros) post on silent running and cold running: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=68069&p=1158586&viewfull=1#post1158586

silent running doesn't make you invisible, it only makes you a "fuzzy" unresolved contact. so your exampel reads to me like: i was an unresolved "fuzzy" cube, and the FAS pirat, whitch is programmed to resolve and scan contacts, directly went for me - sure he did (as a bhing player would do in a res, too...).

also in that post there are some things on auto-resolve-distance --- after a lock, only distance (e.g. speed) helps!

that said, i do know that there are many bugs with silent running. but most times it meets the devs description. and it is far from useless. try smuggling on a military outpost without running silent.
 
Did you get scanned on your way in?

I've noticed that the security can't scan you once you're inside the starport and if they tried to scan you on entry and failed to finish on time they'll resume it once you get out and it gives you no warning. Not sure if this is entirely correct though.


It's close to correct. station cops have a scan range of 1000m, and don't approach within a certain distance of the mailslot. 99% of the time, being inside the mailslot will put you 1000m from the cops, but there are exceptions. Passing through the mailslot doesn't guarantee your safety
 
Hi,

I would like to thank you. I'm pretty noob regarding the smuggling and your tips are very usefull. I enjoyed very much this approach to Robigo smuggling. I used your outfit except for upgrading the Fuel Scoop to A.

I also realized that if you choose to accept also surface missions then it's better consider one additional stop to outfit the Advanced Discovery Scanner.

Have a nice day!
 
i don't think so... a maxed out python or clipper do maneuver much better than an Asp. the yawrate and deceleration is terrible. anyway, the Asp is a great tool!

Clipper I agree with you: it's a pleisure flying that ship.

Python err... I love that ship but I have flown it with an A trust and still prefer as the Asp handle
 
Smuggling nooblet question: would a stealth DBS not help avoid scans? Or is this another instance where NPCs suddenly become highly proficient?
 
Avoid the interdictions completely. When you jump in head toward the star and put your butt to the wall (you may need to wiggle it to make sure the star stays in the way), sit for a few seconds as your pursuers all drop out of SC and you can be on your merry way.

If you can get this maneuver right it works every time, as an added bonus while you literally wait and watch the NPCs burn themselves up your quite often topping up that fuel tank.

Personally I use an ASP, jump range i suppose, dont seem to struggle with the speed game if it comes down to it.
 
Smuggling isn't too hard, if anything it's not hard enough but the NPC behaviours aren't in place to actually make it a really rewarding activity in terms of gameplay.

If it required specific strategies and loadout to get the job done and if countermeasures could actually work against scans there'd be a lot more depth to the actual act of smuggling. If you had to go cold and silent and drift in with thrusters off because it actually made a difference rather than some imaginary roleplay in your head it would make for a much richer gameplay experience and distinguish it more from basic trading.

As it is it's not really any different to trading, except you get interdicted a bit more and you might dock a bit faster.

It's another facet of the game that has a lot of potential but hasn't been developed beyond a basic framework.
 
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Good advice I learned the hard way in the last few days. Made a killing doing these missions and really fun once you get past the initial frustration. Learn the tricks and profit. My fave is turning my back to the star and watching cops/pirates fall into it whilst trying to get behind me. Good stuff, Noldunar. Rep comin at ya

Please explain how you do this. I keep either getting emergency stop for being too close or they still manage to get behind me even if I'm pointing away from the star
 
Fly close to star and decrease your speed to minimum. Once you are at minimum FSD speed, turn your ship away from star so that your back is facing it. Any ship that want to interdict you needs to be behind, so when they try to do that they will crash into star.
 
All this getting tricky with silent running, heat sinks, speed needing to be above 350, is rubbish.

No it isn't... you teach the new guys to shoot the cops in the face?
I could afford almost any other ship, but I'm still using the Cobra. Silent running, heat sinks and speed... the OP got it just right!

Oh and the large scoop is needed... remember?? It's long range smuggling! :D
You don't need a lot of cargo space: I'm happy with my 20 t setup, 8M/round.
 
No it isn't... you teach the new guys to shoot the cops in the face?
I could afford almost any other ship, but I'm still using the Cobra. Silent running, heat sinks and speed... the OP got it just right!

Oh and the large scoop is needed... remember?? It's long range smuggling! :D
You don't need a lot of cargo space: I'm happy with my 20 t setup, 8M/round.

Your runs should make a lot more money than that, the average Broker ranked player can earn 30 million a run, I can get in about 55 on an average run.
 
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Good advice, but I'm going to point out there is no 100% guarantee of success. I've completed dozens of these runs, stacked with 7+ missions each time, made a billion in profit (just hit that bench mark this weekend).


I average about a 70% success rate. Some fails were my fault for making silly mistakes, a select few were unavoidable.




There is no guarantee of success, you can fail these at any given point from either a minor mistake, or a heavy handed NPC cheat (unavoidable). It's just a matter of time, you're just playing the odds.
 
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See, for new players smuggling can get a bit frustrating..you can't expect to perfect at smuggling right off the bat..that being said generally you can just boost away as fast as possible to not get scanned..
 
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Thanks for your research, noldunar - appreciated. Long suspected chaff was usless for scans, but its nice to hear it stated with conviction. Heat sinks are a smugglers best friend...

BTW - has anyone experienced "ninja scans"? That is no warning of the initial scan - just a sudden fine out of the blue! Happened to me a few times leaving a station. Unsure if its a bug or whether its related to the rating of what sensors module you have currently equipped. i.e. If I've got a D-rated sensors...and the cops got A-rated scanner...is it possible to get 'stealth' scanned? (It's probably a bug ;))


Ninja scans happen sometimes when I'm undocking. No scan warning at all, just a message informing me my ship is clean. Slightly creepy o.o
 
Ninja scans happen sometimes when I'm undocking. No scan warning at all, just a message informing me my ship is clean. Slightly creepy o.o
IIRC, and I could be wrong, but if a scan starts on your way in, and you evade it, the scanning ship will pick you up when you leave if you are in the same instance and you might not get a message for the new scan.
 
Your runs should make a lot more money than that, the average Broker ranked player can earn 30 million a run, I can get in about 55 on an average run.

With 20 t cargo space?! As long re-logging doesn't work, I could pick up 3 missions worth 8 millions. Fairly enough for me! =)
 
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