Should assassination targets pay more?

Colonel North · May 28, 2015

Not to reflect the difficulty but to reflect the time to find them!

Last night I took a contract reported in 3 different systems and went searching in those. I soon had the ‘counter offer’ to whack someone else but ignoring that pressed on.
I didn’t keep count but investigated USS’s across all three systems for over two hours until it was way past my bedtime.

This morning I’m back on the hunt and keeping count…
So far 9 USS’s checked (across the 3 systems) and no luck.

As I type this I’m currently reloading after a:
Can’t connect to edServer: unknown error

valleydweller · May 28, 2015

If you were given the counter offer before being directed to a system to get your target then the mission is broken, you'll never find it sorry

Colonel North · May 28, 2015

valleydweller said:
If you were given the counter offer before being directed to a system to get your target then the mission is broken, you'll never find it sorry

Hmm. It feels 'broken' but statistical probability means I could just be unlucky! As usual a bit more in game info and clarity would be helpful.

The epic tour of USS’s has left me with over half a million in bounties, over three times the target bounty. The money’s not really the issue, I was doing it for the faction rep which will now take a hit if I quit.

I'm going to take the check count up to to a nice round 10 (plus however many last night) at that point whether it's 'broken' or not, this is not for me.

I certainly won’t be doing another one!

Stigbob · May 28, 2015

Power play assassination last night 250,000 for the mission plus 300,000 bounty on the target and its escorts. That's over half a million in less than twenty minutes.

You need a high combat rank to be offered the big payouts though, they start around 80,000 from what I've seen so far.

Mithos09 · May 28, 2015

Colonel North said:
Hmm. It feels 'broken' but statistical probability means I could just be unlucky! ...

No, it's a known bug, it's broken. Don't do those missions until they fixed them or you won't be able to complete a lot of them.

The question is: Will this be fixed in 1.3?

valleydweller · May 28, 2015

It seems to be as you are directed to one system only, that said there are more instances of clean pilots being the targets

I did have one where I was spammed by my target as soon as I left the outpost (he was wanted), killed him in the parent system then went to the target system and killed him there to complete the mission

punt1971 · May 28, 2015

Well I wish I'd known this last night! I too took on an assassination mission, spent several hours jumping into USSs in three different systems. Must have tried thirty at least! At the first USS I was offered a counter mission before being directed to a system.

In the end I went back to my current 'home' station and abandoned the mission, most likely harming my rep in the process.

LeetNoob · May 28, 2015

Yeah these missions are bugged. It also really annoys me they left it to a big 'mission overhaul' in 1.3 instead of just fixing this small bug in a minor patch. It feels like really lazy support.

Steve72 · May 29, 2015

Once you know they are bugged just abandon I havent seen any rep hit. When they work nearly 200k for mission and 300k bounty. 20 min work. Did 2 this morning. I did some assignation of general last month and he turned up clean in a dropship. Got the award but had to pay bounty off. This will be interesting in 1.3.

Trafalgar Law · May 29, 2015

This has been improved in Beta 1.3, they pay more, are easier to find (currently too easy, hopefully that'll be tweaked), there's also more variety as your not just hunting Elite Anacondas anymore.

lovely lovely · Jun 1, 2015

when you drop into USS, get weapons ready, target whatever ship is there - if a dialogue comes up about a conter offer just shoot him/her - they soon shut up and your contract doesn't update. stow weapons, and leave - oh they'll be firing at you by now and you'll have an assault fine unless you're in an anarchy system, in which case blast em for wasting your time

nothing else required - drop into next USS - repeat if necessary.

Important - don't shoot the ones that start of with something like 'just made it out alive', or 'have you heard about x in y system'

just shoot the ones that look to offer a counter - you need to be quick in turning your ship around and deploying weapons and working out what the script says.

fixed in 1.3 by all accounts.