Silent Running prevents scans from security ships.

[Ashnak]

sit and wait inside the station

Inside? INSIDE?

No need to wait - line up with the slot, full throttle and boost. By the time they realize you were there, you're gone. Just don't hit anything on your way out, and you're golden.

P.S.: Yes, the .sig might be slightly relevant here. Not that we avoid scans on purpose - we just just don't have the time to hang around and wait for the cops to catch up

 

[varonica]

If the ships close enough for a visual why would a sensor not be able to scan it? Running cold is similar (as i see it) to silent running on a sub, it decreases the detection range but you can still scan the sub if you know what your looking for and within range of the sonar.
Add to that if your close to a station defense ship running cold, don't you think hes going to get a bit suspicious?

Cold running is a tool to help avoid scanning not prevent it.
There is one way though, just run missions from outposts with no security like Robigo mines.

O7

Yeah, I mean you're a security patrol, you see a ship but you can't scan it, it's obviously a crim avoiding detection to smuggle illegal goods into the station, let's just shoot it instead!

 

[GothSkunk]

You have your answer right there - you just need to accept it.

First - are you talking about stations or the larger ground bases with patrol ships? The latter are more complicated - you need to listen to the NPC patrol chatter and time your approach accordingly. This is where I usually don't bother - there are enough passenger missions that don't involve ground bases that I don't have to accept those.

Otherwise, space stations are a piece of cake. Line up with the slot at 7.5 km out, get docking permission, then keep your ship cool and your speed high - keep in mind that even if the fuzz manage to start a scan, they need to finish it, too - and that they can't do after you disappear inside the station. It's a bit more difficult with a large ship, especially if there's a Beluga coming the other way, it's laughably easy with a souped up Viper or iCourier. Those don't even need to run cold - at 600 m/s, they just don't have the time to scan you. It does take a bit of trial and error, though, to learn to slow down soon enough so the bounce (a.k.a. lithobreaking) off the station's back (or your pad's tower) doesn't completely strip your shields .

Racing approaches in small ships aside, this is what I use for passenger missions:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Loadout is for thargoid evac missions, regular PAX missions would get a slightly different loadout, mainly for the cabin allocation, and would also receive a scoop. Not as fast (by a large margin) as the Viper or iCourier, but still fast enough to evade scans. And running cool enough that I can line up with the slot, request docking permission, go silent, pop a heatsink, hit boost and still arrive in the station without getting even close to overheating. Strangely, the ATCs don't complain if you eject a used heatsink inside the station. Bouncing off any superstructure is not recommended in this case, though, as going silent will cancel the shields - so time the boost accordingly.

Leaving the station is even easier - line up with the slot inside the station, full throttle and boost. Boost again until you can charge the FSD, then turn just in time for the direction and vector to align when the countdown hits zero.

Or, in other terms - Git Gud

P.S. If you are using a (A)DC - dump that piece of junk. That space is better used by basically anything else. The only acceptable use may be for fuel barges, Belugas and Cutters. And even in the latter case, that's highly disputable, as the ADC is prone to running the Cutter into anything solid rather than squeezing it through the slot.

As I mentioned to Kzak earlier in the thread, That's insane.

"If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky."
Maxim 43, 70 Maxims for Maximally Effective Mercenaries.

 

[Ashnak]

As I mentioned to Kzak earlier in the thread, That's insane.

You should watch some of the Buckyball racing videos. There are a couple of players who run through the slot at that speed backwards. That's insane.

 

[Darrack]

I will not accept any other explanation. Make these missions doable.

Honestly mate your just ignoring folks advice, most don't have an issue with these missions, sure it gets squeeky bum sometimes but its not that hard to work out really.

O7

 

[yianniv]

That's insane.

Try "exhilarating"

 

[Rubbernuke]

This is passive engagement. If the game requires it from us in order to complete the mission, that's poor game design. I have better things to do than sit and wait inside the station.

The usual is to look at the sec ships flying around, see the timings of them passing and then fly out when they are away from you.

The other is paying attention to what they say. Some ground bases have cops radioing in when they are off duty

 

[Guyperson]

It helps if you don't just blunder straight into the patrol and put yourself at the head of the queue for inspection. The AI actually makes decisions about prioritizing targets based on factors like proximity, heat, reputation, ship type and condition, etc... even the condition of your paintjob has a small influence on how shady you look. You can often catch security out of position and buy yourself lots of time while they're busy trying to scan another ship or they have to travel several KM to reach you. They also can't see through the starport itself so a maneuverable ship may be able to drop in from an oblique angle security has no LOS from and sneak in along the hull.

If you see security headed your way, they've spotted you and it's already too late to hide. At that point it's premature and even detrimental to engage SR or sink to 0 heat. Not only does going cold while they're looking straight at you make them even more interested in you, they won't skip a beat and will just approach to within spitting distance right away in order to acquire a lock.

If you have a normal heat signature they can lock onto then when they first try to scan you they'll attempt to maintain a separation of 1KM. SR or going cold enough at this distance will break that lock entirely, which doesn't just delay but instead resets any scan that's in progress and forces them to move to a closer position to re-acquire lock before starting the scan over again. A scan takes about 10 seconds from start to finish, so If you time it right you can break the lock just before the first scan completes and between the other ship repositioning and starting a new scan you'll have bought yourself around 20 seconds on top of whatever time you bought on the initial approach by remembering that situational awareness is a thing.

Stealth works quite well once you understand that it's a skill and not just a switch you flip.

All that said though stealth is for chumps. My counter to security is called dirty drive tuning and shield boosters.

 

[Kzak]

That's insane.

If the insane solution consistently works, it's not an insane solution.

 

[shockbait]

You aren't flying fast enough buddy, and your weird "I'm right no matter how wrong I am" attitude isn't helping you.

If you want to avoid getting scanned, you have to use silent running AND fast agile piloting to avoid getting scanned entering and exiting stations.

That's literally like, a third of the games premise you're complaining about.

 

[angusmadmac1]

Get allied with the station they don't scan you as much ???

 

[varonica]

Get allied with the station they don't scan you as much ???

No, get alllied with all the factions, that will do the trick. I delivered something like 15k land mines to stations where they were illegal and didn't get scanned once, it's who you know, even in a galaxy far, far away!

 

[Chaparral]

Did they fix the chaff thing? I recall it was possible to at one time to chaff then silent run or heatsink with a cold ship and avoid the scans.

 

[GothSkunk]

The usual is to look at the sec ships flying around, see the timings of them passing and then fly out when they are away from you.

The other is paying attention to what they say. Some ground bases have cops radioing in when they are off duty

That's background chatter that doesn't actually have any effect in the game. It's flavour, nothing more.

It helps if you don't just blunder straight into the patrol and put yourself at the head of the queue for inspection. The AI actually makes decisions about prioritizing targets based on factors like proximity, heat, reputation, ship type and condition, etc... even the condition of your paintjob has a small influence on how shady you look. You can often catch security out of position and buy yourself lots of time while they're busy trying to scan another ship or they have to travel several KM to reach you. They also can't see through the starport itself so a maneuverable ship may be able to drop in from an oblique angle security has no LOS from and sneak in along the hull.

If you see security headed your way, they've spotted you and it's already too late to hide. At that point it's premature and even detrimental to engage SR or sink to 0 heat. Not only does going cold while they're looking straight at you make them even more interested in you, they won't skip a beat and will just approach to within spitting distance right away in order to acquire a lock.

If you have a normal heat signature they can lock onto then when they first try to scan you they'll attempt to maintain a separation of 1KM. SR or going cold enough at this distance will break that lock entirely, which doesn't just delay but instead resets any scan that's in progress and forces them to move to a closer position to re-acquire lock before starting the scan over again. A scan takes about 10 seconds from start to finish, so If you time it right you can break the lock just before the first scan completes and between the other ship repositioning and starting a new scan you'll have bought yourself around 20 seconds on top of whatever time you bought on the initial approach by remembering that situational awareness is a thing.

Stealth works quite well once you understand that it's a skill and not just a switch you flip.

All that said though stealth is for chumps. My counter to security is called dirty drive tuning and shield boosters.

If what you're saying is true about ai prioritizing scanning targets, why is that never explained in game? I find it very hard to believe that the game takes paintjob condition into consideration. Proximity, heat, ship size, sure. Paintjob and hull condition? Not a chance.

The VIP passenger I had got upset that a scan had even started. I got the "Scan Detected" warning from my COVAS, and then immediately after my VIP passenger got upset. Immediately. Not after ten seconds for the scan to complete, immediately. And that was both coming out of the station, and going in to the destination, both while running silent and flying manually.

 

[GothSkunk]

If the insane solution consistently works, it's not an insane solution.

Yes, it is. It's still insane, and you're just lucky.

Get allied with the station they don't scan you as much ???

No, get alllied with all the factions, that will do the trick. I delivered something like 15k land mines to stations where they were illegal and didn't get scanned once, it's who you know, even in a galaxy far, far away!

In this case, it didn't make a lick of difference.

You aren't flying fast enough buddy, and your weird "I'm right no matter how wrong I am" attitude isn't helping you.

If you want to avoid getting scanned, you have to use silent running AND fast agile piloting to avoid getting scanned entering and exiting stations.

That's literally like, a third of the games premise you're complaining about.

I'm not wrong. I used both silent running and fast, agile piloting, and I still got scanned.

 

[shockbait]

I'm not wrong. I used both silent running and fast, agile piloting, and I still got scanned.

My next questions are:
what ship are you flying?;
are your thrusters at least A-rated?(I would advise engineering as well for criminal activities);
and what type of station are you normally leaving/entering?(Coriolis, Outpost, Planetary?)

I can get a Python loaded with criminals in and out any port in the galaxy, but it's specifically modified to do so.(speed+low signature)
If I tried the same thing in a Beluga, I'd have a bad time. If I tried it with D-rated thrusters and no engineering, I'd have a bad time. If I tried to do it in the same Python, but scrubbed my approach and had to fly all the way around an Ocellus, I'd probably have a bad time.

It simply CAN be done in game, quite easily, once you have learned all very poorly, and sometimes not at all explained tricks in the game, which is not as easy.

 

[Guyperson]

That's background chatter that doesn't actually have any effect in the game. It's flavour, nothing more.

The chatter accompanies behavior changes in the authority ships, so that's not strictly true. eg: When a ship radios that they're leaving, they actually do and this causes a gap in the patrol until a new one shows up. That said exterior pads are the bane of any smuggler. Don't take VIPs to surface ports.

If what you're saying is true about ai prioritizing scanning targets, why is that never explained in game? I find it very hard to believe that the game takes paintjob condition into consideration. Proximity, heat, ship size, sure. Paintjob and hull condition? Not a chance.

Oh you sweet summer child. Not only is this game full of hidden mechanics, but just about every documented stat and number you take for granted today was also hidden at some point. We had to fight with Frontier just to get module stats, and before that all you could see what the module's grade. For example the 20% spread in damage between fixed and gimballed weapons was measured empirically long before we ever got to see it in outfitting. Bulkhead damage resistance was unknown until it was measured. EPS had to be measured by hand to figure out when beam lasers were worth using. Armour hardness was another unknown. All we knew at first was that larger ships tended to shrug off small caliber weapons better.

All Weapon Stats in Actual Values Test Results (Stage 1 – Shield DPS)

All Weapon Stats in Actual Values Test Results (Stage 1.5 – Shield DPS DPE) (Added Single Shot Damage) New (2015-04-27): Weapon Single Shot Shield Damage added. See below. ---- Greetings Commanders, Welcome to the SLBPN Laboratory! Here you will find everything you want to know about...

forums.frontier.co.uk

There was a dev post replying to another one a lot like yours years ago that I wish I could find now. They actually described the factors sysauth takes into account when deciding to scan somebody and your paint condition was one of them, albeit a small one.

The VIP passenger I had got upset that a scan had even started. I got the "Scan Detected" warning from my COVAS, and then immediately after my VIP passenger got upset. Immediately. Not after ten seconds for the scan to complete, immediately. And that was both coming out of the station, and going in to the destination, both while running silent and flying manually.

Either that's changed at some point or I'm misremembering when the VIP gets upset because I don't think I've ever seen it happen and tbf I haven't allowed a scan to even begin in years.

 

[GJ51]

Back in the day...

Witnessed a CMDR fly a T-6 FA off through the slot sideways

Took up the whole slot

Fly fast/Fly safe

 

[shockbait]

Back in the day...

Witnessed a CMDR fly a T-6 FA off through the slot sideways

Took up the whole slot

Fly fast/Fly safe

Some say that CMDR is still out there in the black somewhere, never been scanned to this very day.

The FA off T-6 Pilot will return....
in The Book Of Learning That Engaging In Criminal Actions May Require Learning And Employing Criminal Tactics...
Starring Pedro Pascal and Danny Trejo

 

[Screemonster]

I dock under silent running all the time without getting scanned. Being silent/cold reduces their sensor resolution range to 500m.

If you're allowing an authority ship to get within 500m of you while you're smuggling, that's very much a you problem.