RP broken by constant interdictions.

[Hooplah]

No counties or fines. Cubeo, Aldeman station is my home station. Though I am thinking of moving to chelomy orbital, it's more secure if smaller but farther from the star. So I dunno yet. Most often I get a Fer-de Lance chasing me though I have seen stuff up to anaconda in size and often the named NPC has a rank of at least deadly. I have tried getting into combat in this game, really tried. I have a courier all kitted out for combat but I can't seem to find something to hit when I take it out. Even the combat missions confuse me. I have thought of putting a fighter on my cutter, I have one, flown it myself a couple times, but the reduction in cargo combined with the amount I'd need to pay the pilot i don't think would be worth it just to have the distraction. If I jump to low wake or out if system without docking with the fighter, what happens to it?

Waking out without recovering your fighter and the NPC pilot you hired I don't know. I never did this but suspect it is going to be bad. A player with limited combat experience and that NPC pilot will be destroyed long before recovering the fighter. It is another mini-game using them wisely. Using a hired NPC pilot in a fighter also takes away from your profits as well as dropping your ascension to combat Elite status taking twice the time. I often fire them to save profits unless they are cute females. I know it's a male human thing. Sue me.

Learning combat is a totally separate game starting with a Viper, then a Vulture, move on to a FAS or Gunship, Anaconda, then the Fer de Lance (great for PvP) and finally to the Corvette or Cutter. Some players even like the Beluga. But it all about experience.

Here is a Cutter combat/transport build that no NPC will ever defeat and will cause headaches with PvP players if you have the experience how to fly a Cutter and engage them with a few defensive modifications. Many go with class 6 shields which is no problem with NPCs for more cargo. But that does not answer the question why you are getting interdicted more than most. Let's work on that.

 

[FrogsFriend]

Waking out without recovering your fighter and the NPC pilot you hired I don't know

You lose the fighter... but that's it... and you have half a dozen more in storage. The NPC pilot is safe* in your ship flying it by remote control.

*Safe unless you get your actual ship destroyed that is, then they're permanently dead. No escape pods for them, which is why they get paid the big bucks

 

[Sapyx]

I wasn't sure, it doesn't say, maybe its 300 kps. Just says 300

The speed indicator in normal space is in metres per second.

When I started playing thus game all I did was missions and I was interdicted perhaps 1 in 5 times, but now its practically every mission at every star. I get swarmed with NPCs at jumps along my route as far as 3-4 jumps out and more when I drop into system to deliver. To go from 1 in 5 to 5 in 1 run is absurd to me.

You have three issues working against you here.

First, you're in a Cutter, so presumably you're trucking a large amount of high-value cargo. The higher value your cargo, the higher probability of a pirate attack.

Second, you're (presumably) doing a whole bunch of missions. Back when you started the game, you were probably only picking up one or two missions at a time. Now, in your Cutter, you can fill the hold with missions, half a dozen or more. Each mission has a chance to generate a pirate team to attack you, so the more missions you carry, the more likely the pirate teams are. The size and makeup of those teams is directly proportional to the size of your ship; the rating of the enemy ships is directly proportional to your highest PF rating. So if you're Elite in Trade, then your enemies are going to be Dangerous to Elite rated, even if your Combat rating is still Harmless.

Third, you're doing a whole bunch of missions from a "home system". The more you hang around a certain star system, the likelier the interdictions seem to be. I guess the theory is that the local pirate gangs learn that you're there. I've noticed that when I hung around my "home space" area, I'd often get interdicted. But when I decided to go a-wandering, taking missions as I found them and never revisiting the same system again, I'd rarely get interdicted, even though I was doing the exact same thing in terms of cargo and missions.

ED is a "space trading and combat game". Combat is designed to be an unavoidable and integral part of the game, and the ED universe has been carefully designed to allow maximum opportunities for combat. It's an open sandbox game, so there's nothing to stop you playing a total pacifist. It's just that it's much, much harder.

 

[Wardonis]

That build is way beyond me. I have only been able to engineer my FSD to tier 3, I haven't been able to do any other type of engineering, most of the materials needed are way too much of a pain to get without fighting and I just gave up a long time ago. I hit baron to get the cutter then stopped pounding rep, never did the leaflet thing so i don't have access to the prismatic shields, I'd have to figure that out. That build also looks like it'd cut my loaded jump range in 1/2.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

Put to google "dav's hope elite" and you get "secret knowledge" how to get most of manufactured mats. Raw materials are simply just about driving around planetary surfaces with SRV and collecting them.

 

[iwontsay]

I started out as a trader and explorer myself at first and I had not that many issues with interdictions, but still...

There are several variables to take in account when determining the probability of being held up when going from A to B, and that is...

1. Base probability. It derives from how populated/secure this system is, but it is never zero. Even far out there you may risk running into some lowlife trying to ply his trade.
2. Number and ratings of open missions. The more missions you have, the more hangers-on you get. And ferrying cargo for a high profile mission paints a big target on your ship. Even if it's Biowaste you have loaded.
3. Cargo value. The most obvious one. It draws them to you like bees to honey. Or flies to a pile of crap. Pick your favourite metaphor.
4. Consistency. You're plying the same route over and over again? Mission brokers place pictures of you on their nightstands? Station controls already reserve landing pads for you even ahead of time?(*) Well, it's nice to be famous. But, not so nice to be famous to the wrong sort of people.

So... it boils down to either keeping a lower profile or just learning to deal with it. And dealing with it could be done in three ways...

1. Evading. Get good thrusters, good FSD, reduce weight on your ship... Everything to make it more nimble. When an interdiction attempt starts, try to evade it. I myself got fairly good at evading NPCs interdicting me and by now only get caught if I actually want to pick a fight with them.
2. Outrunning. Again, good thrusters, light ship, good power plant and energy distribuion, and decent shields. The shields are to deal with the first onslaught. When you've been interdicted, the pirate usually appears behind you. Hit boost as soon as you find yourself in normal space and start running.
3. Fighting. You can try to fight until they retreat, but I usually go for the kill. Though, you can turn the odds a bit more in your favour....
   1. When the first message ("There's the ship!") comes in, prepare for the fight (switch firegroups and power distribution) and drop into normal space yourself. Then, back up a bit.
   2. Wait.
   3. The pirate drops in, having found your FSD wake. But, this time he drops in right in front of you, in the crosshairs of your weapons.

Then, there's the advanced usage of the Supercruise Assist.

Most interdictions happen at the start and the end of a longer space travel, when speeds are low and ships bunch up on each other. But there are some tips to ease up traveling (and reduce travel time) with the SC Assist:

1. Set speed to 100% when you're further away from your target than the seven seconds mark, and reduce speed to the "blue zone" once you hit it. That makes it more difficult for them to pursue you.
2. "Crash transition": When you approach your target station, and your speed dropped to around 3c or lower, give it a short speed boost. Without the SC Assist, it would be asking for the "loop of shame", but the SC Assist can drop you off at the station (well, most of the time) even if your speed is way higher than recommended.

Once you're in the station's no fire zone, you're safe. Not even the dumbest pirate picks a fight with the station's security forces by firing at you.

(*) = True story, both of them. Having read the first one in the mission broker's greeting was a little wierd.

 

[Cmdr Holly Wood]

Speaking for my alt. The most annoying thing is mission NPCs that get a sudden attack of self preservation. When the battle turns against them they sometimes bug out only to come back with full health and shields as soon as you get back into supercruise