Newcomer / Intro Problems with Assassination missions

[King Drax I]

Just wondering if anyone else has had these problems...

I am playing the PC version.

I like the new play mechanic where, for some assassination missions, you need to scan a data point to find your quarry.

But I've found there's some problems with it, sometimes including the target not existing.

Most of the time, the data point is at a settlement called something like 'Baranov Station +', with that 'plus' always being there. I sometimes try to find that place on the Elite Dangerous Database (EDDB) but it doesn't exist. Do I assume, then, that the station only exists for the purposes of this scenario? If so, fair enough...

Next, I fly out to the planet (which always seems to be one of those bases that's like 47,000Ls from the jump point!) with the settlement on it, and approach the settlement, to find that it's hostile as F and I get shot at for tresspass. Plus a fine. So I decided to land a few klicks away and make the approach in the SRV. Success - except that a) I got fined for tresspass and b) I got shot at again by defence turrets.

Is this normal?

Then, once I recalled my ship and flew away from the planet (resisting the temptation to go and blat the out of those damned defence turrets), I looked at the data I had collected. In my galaxy map, the target system was shown as one system (Epsilon Eridani) and that in the Transactions panel was another entirely different system. So I went with the galaxy map version and sure enough the Nav beacon there gave me the target's location. So I went there - and no target. I searched the area for ages and - no target.

I then decided to try the system named in the Transactions panel. No sign of him whatsoever, so I think that was a glitch. No blue marker from the nav beacon, nothing.

And in another instance, I had to find my target by contacting an NPC in my target system. Contacted him, followed him with some difficulty and he just said like 'your target is in this area'. Waited for ages, cruised around a bit, and no target at all. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Has anyone else had these problems? It's great in principle but there are a few glitches by the looks of things. I like the data point idea but it seems that it's not possible to do it without a fine. Have others found this to be the case too?

TIA

 

[Dommarraa]

Taking those Assassination missions that require you to land are just too much grief for me. There are plenty that do NOT require you to deal with a base, you can tell by the Icon on the Mission board, and probably other ways too.

Yes, its normal to get a Trespass fine for approaching the bases. If there is no Ship Security, then you can (in theory/so the man says) sneak about in your SRV and scan the stuff, or blow the bejeebus out of the base with your Ship. If there is Ship Security, then you are in trouble.

IMHO just dont bother, stick to the normal Space Based Assassinations.

 

[King Drax I]

Brilliant, thanks for the advice. Can I also please ask, what does the 'correct' icon look like?

 

[Chris Simon]

Yes, I've also kind of stopped doing those as they sometimes go wrong.

But I'd like to add two things
1) the assassination missions also have a time window. So maybe your problem is that you are in the right place but not at the right time
2) The "+" behind the name of the base means it's a non-landable base (basically a planetary base that isn't a space port. And the number of "+" signs signifies the difficulty (size, defences, etc.)

Edit: What Dommarraa meant by the "correct icon" is the mission that doesn't have the Horizons logo. The Horizons logo looks like a planet with a sunset next to the mission title.

Spoiler

And it means it requires landing on a planet (requires the Horizons expansion)

If you choose mission without that logo, you won't have to deal with planetary stuff

 

[Morbad]

Taking those Assassination missions that require you to land are just too much grief for me.

Almost none of them require you to actually land.

In general, any terminals or datapoints can be scanned from the ship; you can often be in and out in under a minute.

And the number of "+" signs signifies the difficulty (size, defences, etc.)

The "+" are size, but security level is usually a more relevant factor when it comes to difficulty.

 

[Codger]

Good replies here.

Yes, the missions are sometimes bugged. Yes, it's normal to get a trespass bounty for hanging out inside the security perimeter for more than a minute. I think it might even be scripted that you get one. I once avoided the trespass bounty by being fast enough, then recalled my ship (5km away from the site), and got a trespass bounty some minutes later while sitting in the ship, not inside any security perimeter at all

If a place doesn't show up in EDDB that just means it's not been submitted by anyone (EDDB relies on players to submit the data -- it does not read directly from the game, that's not allowed). There ARE some types of temporary POIs that are set up just for some types of missions (salvage, for example), but those don't have names or size indicators.

I've only once had the target not appear at all. I've often had them attack me while I was looking for them, though (they interdict you sometimes).

For the most part I avoid the ones that require you to scan a datapoint to get your target. It's a lot of bother, and doesn't pay extra for the extra work

 

[Factabulous]

Almost none of them require you to actually land.

In general, any terminals or datapoints can be scanned from the ship; you can often be in and out in under a minute.

Thanks for that - I have a somewhat burly Eagle, must go and try some of those.

For the OP: In terms of avoiding them - read the text, it tells you if you need to scan something. Anything you need to scan will most likely be ready for you. Mostly it's Terrorists who are on land, Pirate Lords in the sky - plus a few others. Watch out for Politicians, then tend to not be wanted, so you will become an outlaw if you take them out (they're also pretty tough sometimes, though not as bad as the land-based ones).

 

[King Drax I]

Great, thanks for al lthe answers, everyone, they are really helpful!