Planetary Scan Missions still make you Wanted?

[DukeIronHand]

Or get a bounty or fine or whatever?
Used to like these missions back in the old days till they were “tweaked” by FDev (for whatever reason) to attach some criminality to them. For some it’d be cool but it was for all in my experience. Forget exactly what criminal result was but I stopped doing them.

Flash forward a year or two I am trying to rank up and, with the local factions for whatever BGS reason, about 75% of the missions offered are Planetary Scan and all with little red lettering with the words “may be illegal.” Is it still the case? Are they always illegal? And what is the punishment?

 

[kpmop]

I've not done one this side of 3.3, but typically you get trespass fines if you breach a security zone (if there is one) and a trespass fine if the beacon is "private", though not it's "public" (you can see what type it is when you taget it). Killing the skimmers was OK, but attacking the turrets got you and assault bounty. It's a few weeks since I did one, but it came to a 2 or 3 thousand Cr trespass fine and wanted by whichever faction it was against - so worth noting the location of an IF,

There didn't appear to be anyway of telling from the mission description whether it would be illegal or not till you got there - I did some "elite" ranked ones for 3 or 4 mil which involved landing near an unguarded public beacon trundling over, scanning it and flying back, and some lower rank ones which had me running away under heavy fire... good fun though!

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Yes. I don't know that they always are, but they often are, at least.

The punishment is death. A bounty is a bounty.

I don't know what the big deal is. Just do them, then go clear your bounty.

I don't get why people think committing acts of state and corporate espionage should be a legal activity.

 

[Vardaugas]

While the mission description may not make a statement regarding their legality, the mission board filter classifies them all as illegal. So just plan a stop at an unaffiliated IF to clean your ship before handing any missions in.

 

[DukeIronHand]

While the mission description may not make a statement regarding their legality, the mission board filter classifies them all as illegal. So just plan a stop at an unaffiliated IF to clean your ship before handing any missions in.

Thanks gentlemen. I’ll scratch those off my list.
And vindelanos the big deal is I don’t like to be wanted or a fugitive. A little quirk on my part.

 

[Faded Glory]

Most seem to be still, yes, at least the higher ranking ones.

I do get your preference for not being wanted, I am actually much the same myself, but I will do these planetary scan missions. They are quick, easy and if credits are your thing they often pay a lot (around 3 million a pop). They are also often good for faction rep.

When the new C&P system came out, I kitted out a Viper Mk III, thinking that if I did end up on the wrong side of the law the rebuy would be peanuts. It's my naughty ship. Haven't lost it once, haven't ever been bothered seriously by system security, even been scanned while wanted and they just flew off! Early on, I left the ship hot for a while to see when it might get noticed. I think my bounties totaled over 10,000 credits, and that included major faction bounties, and the game sent one bounty hunter after me. Since each bounty is usually 500 or 600 credits, that was a lot of scan jobs...

Now I just factor in a quick jump to my nearby Interstellar Factors after doing around five scans. Whole thing takes me about an hour total, bounties will be around 2,500 credits, you'll generally pick up around 6,000 credits of bounties to cash in for destroying wanted skimmers, and you stand to make upwards of 10 to 15 million in rewards.

As said, I do understand your quirk. I won't even shoot a clean skimmer if I can help it, but personally I'm willing to take the wanted status for planetary scan missions.

 

[Ethaidan]

Thanks gentlemen. I’ll scratch those off my list.
And vindelanos the big deal is I don’t like to be wanted or a fugitive. A little quirk on my part.

Go on, embrace your inner Solo!

Nah, I feel the same about wetwork contracts to murder civilians. Stealing data however... pay me enough and sure!

 

[dm0815]

Thanks gentlemen. I’ll scratch those off my list.
And vindelanos the big deal is I don’t like to be wanted or a fugitive. A little quirk on my part.

If by that you mean role playing then there is nothing that can be done about it. However since you are required to use a SRV you can use a cheap ship for... questionable activities since the bounty is tied to the used ship. No need to park your Cutter right next to the base. That's how I'm doing it.

 

[Ashnak]

...However since you are required to use a SRV you can use a cheap ship for... ...

What gave you the idea that you need a SRV for those scanning missions (or any planetary missions of dubious legality)?

For scanning, all you need to do is to get close enough to the beacon - your ship has a data scanner, too. A bit difficult in a Cutter or 'conda, but nothing to worry about in a Sidewinder.
For missions of a slightly more destructive nature, you may experience the problem that your actual target may not appear in your ship's scanner. But that's all. Eyeballing the target, or simply blanketing the area with explosives, are also viable tactics. Of course, the collateral damage may slightly increase your bounty and/or the aggravation of anybody seeing you in the act, but then again, my Sidey is faster and more agile than any NPC.

Yes, it's often easier to approach your target on the ground in a SRV. Especially since the air defense turrets won't shoot your SRV. So you'll have to devise some tactics, usually predicated around the fact that you can make as many recon passes as you like as long as each single pass doesn't exceed the trespassing grace period.

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

What gave you the idea that you need a SRV for those scanning missions (or any planetary missions of dubious legality)?

For scanning, all you need to do is to get close enough to the beacon - your ship has a data scanner, too. A bit difficult in a Cutter or 'conda, but nothing to worry about in a Sidewinder.
For missions of a slightly more destructive nature, you may experience the problem that your actual target may not appear in your ship's scanner. But that's all. Eyeballing the target, or simply blanketing the area with explosives, are also viable tactics. Of course, the collateral damage may slightly increase your bounty and/or the aggravation of anybody seeing you in the act, but then again, my Sidey is faster and more agile than any NPC.

Yes, it's often easier to approach your target on the ground in a SRV. Especially since the air defense turrets won't shoot your SRV. So you'll have to devise some tactics, usually predicated around the fact that you can make as many recon passes as you like as long as each single pass doesn't exceed the trespassing grace period.

Don't know how long ago you tried to scan using a ship, but I tried for hours less than a year ago and even posted about it, three members of this fourm tried it and had the same results, none of us could scan the beacon form are ships and we all utilized different ships. Thus unless it's been unnerfed, one has to utilize an SRV to scan beacons on planets. Tourist beacon on planets can be and always have been scannable using ships.

 

[Ashnak]

Looks like I have a busy weekend ahead of me. But the weather outside is meh, so I'll try.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Don't know how long ago you tried to scan using a ship, but I tried for hours less than a year ago and even posted about it, three members of this fourm tried it and had the same results, none of us could scan the beacon form are ships and we all utilized different ships. Thus unless it's been unnerfed, one has to utilize an SRV to scan beacons on planets. Tourist beacon on planets can be and always have been scannable using ships.

Totally can be done. I did like 5 of them yesterday in a Viper 4

 

[DukeIronHand]

Guess I would like to see some not always be a criminal act.
Scan for science or Recon or information confirmation. Check for crashed ship, strange signal, etc, etc.
Should be lots of opportunity for SRV mission work for all kinds of stuff.
Just don’t get why they took one of the more “original” missions and ruined it - IMHO.

 

[Vardaugas]

Guess I would like to see some not always be a criminal act.
Scan for science or Recon or information confirmation. Check for crashed ship, strange signal, etc, etc.
Should be lots of opportunity for SRV mission work for all kinds of stuff.
Just don’t get why they took one of the more “original” missions and ruined it - IMHO.

That would probably require a new mission template that is generated by different BGS conditions.