Ok that's new - are there bad cops in Elite:D now?

[Aptarus]

Hi all,

Although new to the forum I've been flying for "some time" if my codex is to be believed (or my Letal 69% rank without having optimized/farmed for points).
I've been bounty hunting for some time with a clear rule: only shooting locally wanted ships. Of course there's been the occasional friendly fire (although I've noticed that the game's tolerance has been increased lately - thanks!), and I once hunted in a system so much that a pirate faction became overtly hostile towards me, attacking me relentlessly... but they were pirates, got "wanted" status and I could retaliate. So I make a rule of staying at 0 notoriety with no fine or bounty on my head anywhere in the galaxy.

But what I'm currently living is a new challenge. I'm currently getting used to my newest ship and trying different weapons loadouts. I "hunt" in resource extraction sites, going for dangerous (particularly when in group) or rich ones (particularly when solo). It's going pretty well - I'm getting used to my 'vette except for one thing: In the last days I've been facing HOSTILE authority ships.
Not authorities going hostile once I've shot at them / a clear civilian, authority ships that spontaneously appear "red" on my radar, and will attack me. I initially thought I had accidentally shot at them but last time was clear: I had no active bounty/fine on my head and it stayed so... at least until my ship launched fighter decided to defend its mothership, obviously. Then you know the drill: express extraction for the system, flying to the nearest interstellar factor agent... thanks to the Corvette being sturdy and hard to masslock I only lost my SLF and 200 Cr.

They are authority vessels thus I cannot retaliate without getting a fine/bounty, as they don't get wanted themselves. I must add that not all authority vessels attack me (until my SLF retaliates, at least) only some. And as far as I know I am not ennemy with any (minor) faction in the system (I'm even an ally for one due to my hunts).

Is there something I'm missing and I've missed for so long or is this a bug?
The situation doesn't sound logical to me (and quite impractical as the only option is to flee immediately).

What makes me think this could be a bug is that I've also seen (in the same system - Shinrarta) authority vessels fighting between themselves! All were not marked as "wanted" and in my case all registered as allies/green yet they started attacking some of their own without apparent reasons.
I haven't found mentions of such behavior here or in the bug tracker but thought better to asked before posting there, as I may be missing something.

 

[Quantis Trap]

You're probably in a hostile state with the controlling faction in the system. When that happens the cops can attack you.

Another less likely possibility is that it's an opposing PowerPlay authority. If you're not pledged to a power, that can't be the case.

As far as authority fighting authority, I haven't see that in a while. Thought that had been fixed. If It is a bug again, it wouldn't be the first time Frontier has seemingly accidentally brought a bug back. I suggest getting a video of that and posting it.

 

[Urbanski101]

I've also seen security ships from the same controlling faction fighting each other in a RES...I figured it was a bug.

Also noticed that occasionally after an engagement certain security ships continue to fire their weapons at nothing, mainly Eagles and Condas do it...again a bug?

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

Its a bug. I recently have seen both of what you describe and so have my wingmates on different occasions. Sometimes a few cops go rogue and try shooting you down and sometimes they just go insane and attack eachother. Last time i saw it, they had just finished helping me kill a pirate. As soon as the pirate died, 2 of 3 turned on me. It would be a bearable bug if the dirty cops became wanted and triggered a response like pirates do but instead their non hostile comrades turn a blind eye and leave you to rot.

 

[alexzk]

I often see that when trying to protect space installations against pirates. 2-3 mins later whole building starts to shoot me just for lulz.

 

[Screemonster]

Its a bug. I recently have seen both of what you describe and so have my wingmates on different occasions. Sometimes a few cops go rogue and try shooting you down and sometimes they just go insane and attack eachother. Last time i saw it, they had just finished helping me kill a pirate. As soon as the pirate died, 2 of 3 turned on me. It would be a bearable bug if the dirty cops became wanted and triggered a response like pirates do but instead their non hostile comrades turn a blind eye and leave you to rot.

Yeah, I was testing a new build in a high-res the other day. Specifically, a plasma slug build that I wanted to test out how long it'd last before I had to refuel.

My test session was ended because a couple of the cops just turned red for like, literally no reason. It's a good thing I didn't have anything set to fire at will or a fighter out because they were still clean.
It happens in CZs too, spec ops in particular are prone to just aggroing people at random and if you return fire the entire zone goes red.

 

[GroG79]

Are you using rockets in your attacks?

 

[metatheurgist]

Every once in a while my SLF will trigger the cops, not sure what the exact circumstances are but sometimes it'll just happen. Only thing do do is keep your head on a swivel and get out before it escalates. If you can leave before your SLF decides to tag one you don't get a bounty and you can just go back. You'll lose a SLF but who cares.

 

[Guyperson]

Never had sysauth go red at random, but I have witnessed a police Anaconda roll up to innocent miners for a scan and then just randomly murder them with a plasma accelerator before the scan even finished. It never engaged with its other weapons and the other cops didn't join in or react at all.
Turned out that the PA was just going off randomly for no reason so when it bore down on someone for a scan they received a complimentary negligent discharge.

 

[Quantis Trap]

In the past (two or three years ago) when I saw cops on cops in a res, I made a video of it and posted it in this forum. As I recall back then, it seemed that the cops would turn on each other after running out of bad guys. I also remember the bug was fixed back then.

If this bug was fix and came back it's very troubling. If so, it should be easier to fix this time by looking back at code version history, hint hint Frontier.

 

[VR Murgle]

Never had sysauth go red at random, but I have witnessed a police Anaconda roll up to innocent miners for a scan and then just randomly murder them with a plasma accelerator before the scan even finished. It never engaged with its other weapons and the other cops didn't join in or react at all.
Turned out that the PA was just going off randomly for no reason so when it bore down on someone for a scan they received a complimentary negligent discharge.

Wait that still hasn't been fixed? SysAuth condas have been doing that for ages, flying around blasting plasma into thin..er vacuum? They'd inevitably hit either some innocent bystander or other SysAuth ships and before you know it SysAuth is fighting SysAuth and if you made the mistake of ordering your SLF to: "Attack next hostile." all, the coppers would turn on you.

It's why I stopped bounty hunting, I mean CP is nice and all but with a bug like that it becomes a real pain in the Asp...

 

[metatheurgist]

Wait that still hasn't been fixed? SysAuth condas have been doing that for ages, flying around blasting plasma into thin..er vacuum?

I haven't seen that for ages, but at my last hunting sessions I heard a familiar noise. "Bomf"..."Bomf"..."Bomf". Had a look and my old friend plasmaconda had come back. I don't think it's as frequent as previous tho. I'll see if it happens again today.

 

[d8veh]

I'm pretty sure it's a bug. I get it from time to time. Only one or two cops turn red and attack. The first time, i shot back and got a bounty on me. Now I just jump out and back in again to solve it. If you were hostile or had done anythung wrong, all the cops would be red, so it must be a similar bug to the one that makes the cops shoot each other.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

This is an old bug that was introduced about 2 years ago.

It typically strikes under the following circumstances :

• operating in a RES/LowRES or HighRES for a prolonged time
• in rare occasions, it will strike in longer-running other instances with (non-Station) System Authority presence, such as long fights with Authority presence after an Interdiction

Symptom : one or more System Authority Vessels can spontaneously turn Hostile for no reason (no warning messages, no friendly fire, no fines/bounties issued)

When it happens, the only way is to reset the Instance (leave to SC or Relog), this clears the bug (for a short while)
It is particularly problematic when using an SLF, which will automatically defend against Hostiles and can quickly incur Weapon Fines resulting in a Bounty.

So when hugging a RES, it's best to carefully confirm actual Targets after a while (don't simply lock & shoot everything that's red on the Scanner) and look out for Hostile Authority Ships.

 

[d8veh]

Wait that still hasn't been fixed? SysAuth condas have been doing that for ages, flying around blasting plasma into thin..er vacuum? They'd inevitably hit either some innocent bystander or other SysAuth ships and before you know it SysAuth is fighting SysAuth and if you made the mistake of ordering your SLF to: "Attack next hostile." all, the coppers would turn on you.

It's why I stopped bounty hunting, I mean CP is nice and all but with a bug like that it becomes a real pain in the Asp...

That's not necessarily a bug. I've often seen cops randomly firing their weapons into thin air after a battle. The same will happen to you if your weapons take too much danage. In that case, you have to be careful about pointing at the cops.

The big Anacondas firing plasma continuously seems to have been fixed.I haven't seen that for ages.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

That's how much they respect player time. Grind your rear off and some bug like this can undo it in seconds and gets maybe fixed in two years.

 

[Screemonster]

• in rare occasions, it will strike in longer-running other instances with (non-Station) System Authority presence, such as long fights with Authority presence after an Interdiction

I've seen it happen at Chelomey Orbital in Cubeo - if you hang around in the instance long enough, eventually the cops/station and navy ships at the capital ship dock will aggro each other.
I've had it happen to me with a station too - not hostile or wanted, just cruising in to dock and it suddenly turned red and started firing. On that occasion I'm wondering if it was because I was hostile with the federation (despite it being an independent station)

 

[Y2K]

nothing new. ive had the odd one attack me while the others do nothing. Ive also seen authority ships fighting each other ? from same faction aswell. odd.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

Yeah, I was testing a new build in a high-res the other day. Specifically, a plasma slug build that I wanted to test out how long it'd last before I had to refuel.

My test session was ended because a couple of the cops just turned red for like, literally no reason. It's a good thing I didn't have anything set to fire at will or a fighter out because they were still clean.
It happens in CZs too, spec ops in particular are prone to just aggroing people at random and if you return fire the entire zone goes red.

I got once ganked by ATR. And no, I did not fire cops

 

[d8veh]

I got once ganked by ATR. And no, I did not fire cops

I had that once too. What's more interesting is that they did it while I was in the elevator transferring from the SRV. It was like the game hatched a plot to assassinate me. They one-shotted my engineered shields, then took out my thrusters before I had a chance to take off. I was completely clean.It must have been a case of mistaken identity.