Smaller ships now better at smuggling?

Metalstardust · Mar 26, 2015

Wings Update 1.2.05

- Smaller ships now better at smuggling - Decrease chance for being scanned if you are in a low conspicuous rated ship – such as a Sidewinder

Anybody tested this?

CMDR i Tetsuo · Mar 26, 2015

Not tested but I did see Michael post about it, supposedly security ships will favour large ships over smaller craft when deciding who to scan first. Not sure how you'd test that properly though.

Arubeto · Mar 26, 2015

Haven't tested it yet, but I am very interested in this, too. Would be a much welcomed addition to the complexity of smuggling gameplay.

Funny enough, I have the impression that being "friendly" or even "allied" with a faction influences the probability of being scanned. When I entered a station of a Alliance aligned minor faction in my Clipper - not a small ship by any means - while still being neutral with the Alliance, I got scanned immediately. Once I hit "allied" I believe it took longer before the the security vessels scanned me, even though they were clearly in range all the time.
Can anyone confirm or rebut this?

Kiblams · Mar 26, 2015

I think the change I read/heard somewhere was that they have changed the priority of which ship is scanned first, so the bigger ships are top of that list, of course that only helps if there are bigger ships than you around the station

I was successfully smuggling in my Type 9 in Lugh last week, though my ship was getting pretty hot! I had a cargo hatch malfunction in the dock and got a fine for littering

Metalstardust · Mar 26, 2015

I think I will go purchase a StealthWinder and do some testing.

Arubeto · Mar 26, 2015

Metalstardust said:
I think I will go purchase a StealthWinder and do some testing.

Please report your findings here!

Rich Bramwell · Mar 26, 2015

Yes it is exactly like Arubeto says chap...........I am Allied with quite a lot of stations and when I am at them it is at least a 1 in 10 chance of the rozzers ever scanning me........I could have 260 chopped off heads on board and they do not care......Then when I am at a system that I am not friendly with(1 in 5 chance of scan), then that chance of a scan go's up to almost certain of a scan. I run a couple of pythons, an FDL and Vulture, I didn't notice any difference to ship type with regards to scanning but the Vulture is not exactly a small ship.
EDIT....just to clarify.....Allied with station...roughly 1 in 10 chance of a scan....Friendly with system...roughly 1 in 5 chance of scan....Not friendly with system....almost certain of scan.

TriumphANT · Mar 26, 2015

Arubeto said:
Haven't tested it yet, but I am very interested in this, too. Would be a much welcomed addition to the complexity of smuggling gameplay.

Funny enough, I have the impression that being "friendly" or even "allied" with a faction influences the probability of being scanned. When I entered a station of a Alliance aligned minor faction in my Clipper - not a small ship by any means - while still being neutral with the Alliance, I got scanned immediately. Once I hit "allied" I believe it took longer before the the security vessels scanned me, even though they were clearly in range all the time.
Can anyone confirm or rebut this?

I'm 99% sure you're right. I'm "Friendly" with a whole load of Alliance systems now, and never, ever get scanned there. I was Unfriendly with the Feds for a while, and am sure I got scanned around stations regularly. Oh, and if you're Unfriendly, you get pulled out of SC and they attempt to scan you. Although some of the time they just sit there looking at you, so probably don't have cargo scanners!

Metalstardust · Mar 26, 2015

Purchased a StealthWinder. Launched flew out to 11km. Did a U turn flew at full throttle back towards station. Requested docking and landed. No Scan.

Station was a new one for me. Independent and neutral to me.

Metalstardust · Mar 26, 2015

Now sitting outside the entrance surrounded by security vessels and no scans. Requested docking, granted, in no scan.

Falkrum · Mar 26, 2015

I tried it on a Hauler - was scanned several times when i am leaving the stations. Then i started to use Silent Running - has not been scanned even once.

Arubeto · Mar 26, 2015

Rich Bramwell said:
Yes it is exactly like Arubeto says chap...........I am Allied with quite a lot of stations and when I am at them it is at least a 1 in 10 chance of the rozzers ever scanning me........I could have 260 chopped off heads on board and they do not care......Then when I am at a system that I am not friendly with(1 in 5 chance of scan), then that chance of a scan go's up to almost certain of a scan. I run a couple of pythons, an FDL and Vulture, I didn't notice any difference to ship type with regards to scanning but the Vulture is not exactly a small ship.
EDIT....just to clarify.....Allied with station...roughly 1 in 10 chance of a scan....Friendly with system...roughly 1 in 5 chance of scan....Not friendly with system....almost certain of scan.

TriumphANT said:
I'm 99% sure you're right. I'm "Friendly" with a whole load of Alliance systems now, and never, ever get scanned there. I was Unfriendly with the Feds for a while, and am sure I got scanned around stations regularly. Oh, and if you're Unfriendly, you get pulled out of SC and they attempt to scan you. Although some of the time they just sit there looking at you, so probably don't have cargo scanners!

Yeah, that's how reputation influences the chance of being scanned or interdicted, apparently.

I really like that reputation has some more subtle effects like this and not just things like reputation-level-specific greetings from stations and missions on the bulletin board. It's nice to see that reputation is a little more complex than what is visible from the beginning.

Perhaps we'll even get the system described in the DDA where having a high reputation with a faction could sometimes (but not always!) prompt a faction to forgive you conducting a crime in their territory.

This Forum Sucks · Mar 26, 2015

I think it's been stated that flying a smaller ship just reduces the chance of a scan. Kind of pointless since that means you'll still get scanned some of the time, so you still have to sneak in every time just in case.

Arubeto · Mar 26, 2015

Pilchenstein said:
I think it's been stated that flying a smaller ship just reduces the chance of a scan. Kind of pointless since that means you'll still get scanned some of the time, so you still have to sneak in every time just in case.

Lol, it's exactly the opposite of being pointless. Otherwise just flying a sidewinder and therefore receiving a guarantee to never getting scanned would completely remove any thrill from smuggling. You can increase the odds of being successful with your smuggling by flying a small ship, but you can never be sure and still have to look out for nearby police vessels.

Adjusting probabilities for things to happen instead of just no-yes-decisions is exactly like a game should be designed, IMHO. Making it perfectly predictable would make it totally boring, wouldn't it?

Falkrum · Mar 26, 2015

Arubeto said:
Lol, it's exactly the opposite of being pointless. Otherwise just flying a sidewinder and therefore receiving a guarantee to never getting scanned would completely remove any thrill from smuggling. You can increase the odds of being successful with your smuggling by flying a small ship, but you can never be sure and still have to look out for nearby police vessels.

Adjusting probabilities for things to happen instead of just no-yes-decisions is exactly like a game should be designed, IMHO. Making it perfectly predictable would make it totally boring, wouldn't it?

No, because otherwise sidewinder and "friends" is boring... One scan can completely remove all your profit from smuggling for hour. So smuggling on a sidewinder still the same and still not profitable.

Arubeto · Mar 26, 2015

Falkrum said:
No, because otherwise sidewinder and "friends" is boring... One scan can completely remove all your profit from smuggling for hour.

Sorry, I don't get what "sidewinder and friends is boring" means.

Being able to lose your profit is exactly what transforms smuggling from being a grind into being an exciting experience.

I really wonder why many people don't want to be thrilled by a game that let's them fly spaceships and instead just want a risk-free grindfest to accumulate in-game credits...

Anopheles · Mar 26, 2015

I like this development, but I also like the idea of bigger ships having 'false walls' and what have you to look like honest traders for the most part.

I like the competitive module idea. Quality of the stations scanner (dependent on size and wealth of station) vs 'Cargo Cloaking' module quality. Muddle a little rng in the middle and away you go. Every smuggling trip an exciting adventure.

Falkrum · Mar 26, 2015

Arubeto said:
Sorry, I don't get what "sidewinder and friends is boring" means.

Being able to lose your profit is exactly what transforms smuggling from being a grind into being an exciting experience.

I really wonder why many people don't want to be thrilled by a game that let's them fly spaceships and instead just want a risk-free grindfest to accumulate in-game credits...

You dont get the point. FD try to make smuggling on smaller ships easier then on the big ships. Because sidewinder, hauler dont have any sense until you get some money to buy better ship.
So smuggling on sidewinder still doesn't make sense because it still not safe. It better to make some money other way and get a cobra - it will be far profitable for smuggling with pretty same level of risks.

This Forum Sucks · Mar 26, 2015

Arubeto said:
Lol, it's exactly the opposite of being pointless. Otherwise just flying a sidewinder and therefore receiving a guarantee to never getting scanned would completely remove any thrill from smuggling. You can increase the odds of being successful with your smuggling by flying a small ship, but you can never be sure and still have to look out for nearby police vessels.

Adjusting probabilities for things to happen instead of just no-yes-decisions is exactly like a game should be designed, IMHO. Making it perfectly predictable would make it totally boring, wouldn't it?

Way to completely miss the point there champ.

Consider these two scenarios:

You have a 100% chance to be scanned when entering a station.
You have a 1% chance to be scanned when entering a station.

How does the player react in either of these cases? Well in the first example, the player flies stealthily to avoid detection because they will get scanned. However in the second example, the player flies stealthily to avoid detection because they might get scanned. The gameplay hasn't changed at all.

Kiblams · Mar 26, 2015

It's not a random chance, it's a change in the priority of which ships are scanned first. The bigger your ship the higher priority you are.