The Problem With Mercenary Missions (Bugs)
I think I've narrowed down the issue with these missions after many frustrating hours of failing, abandons, etc. I hope that we can share experiences here and learn from each other on how to workaround these issues or get them fixed.
Basically, they seem to be quite faction based. I'm sure a lot of people have figured this out already. Said faction sends you out to kill ships of another faction causing issues within their enemy faction. The problem arises when they send you to kill ships of a faction that doesn't spawn ships of that type in the system the mission requires.
I'll give you an example. Working for the Sobek Boys, who is a Pirate Faction that is allied with the Alliance, they send me to Tiethay to kill Bounty Hunters, there was also a mission in the same system to kill System Authority. Tiethay is an Anarchy System controlled by the Tiethay Family with a very small Federation presence in the form of 1 faction with very little influence. The issue here is, the Sobek Boys aren't after the Tiethay Family, a Pirate Faction, they are after the Feds. The Federation did not spawn any Bounty Hunters, so none counted, and since they don't control the System, they cannot spawn System Authority (though Tiethay Family did, but did not count), therefore, these two missions cannot be completed. However, there is the alternate of these missions in where a trader or equivalent peaceful ship inside of a USS gives you a better offer. Of course this means, betraying the faction I have been working for and losing rep. Abandoning the missions also means losing rep, so of course I take the option for credits since I'm losing rep either way.
Another issue is being sent to a completely empty system with only a star within. I have waited for quite a long time in the system I am referring to so I know that no ships or Signal Sources spawn here, which is odd since they are supposed to generate but nothing shows up. The system in question is Faceze or Feceze, one of the two, and it is a common system for nearby kill missions and nearby smuggling missions. Have to abandon and lose rep simply because there is no other option, have to ignore being sent there or to similar in the future.
The same is true for alternate missions, which are the saving grace of the initially bugged mission, sometimes even the alternate will generate an undoable path. For example, a mission telling me to kill System Authority in Sobek. Sobek is an Anarchy System owned by the Alliance but run by the Sobek Boys, a Pirate Faction in which System Authority ships do not spawn at all. An alternate mission to kill Pirates in Sobek, of course, worked perfectly since there is plenty there being owned by a Pirate Faction and all.
The Kill Prisoner Missions, don't even bother with these until these so called "Prisoner Ships" are even in the game. Right now, they don't exist, I have amassed enough bounty on my head killing all manner of ships in the system that it tells you they are in and even going as far as to find a Prison Colony system to verify.
Right now, Warzone Mercenary Missions are the only type of it's kind that work consistently as the mission giver does not care about faction, they just want to create chaos in the Warzone. Also, the text could be more clear about factional information and maybe tell you exactly what to look for. If you are new to the game and don't know the gear these targets in the missions are supposed to carry, you just won't find them without blowing up everything you see.
Frontier, please, I'm begging you, make this a priority. Get these missions to work, there are plenty of posts on the forums of people having problems with these missions in particular. Being a Mercenary, a role that is supposed to be functioning in the game, is frustrating and at times impossible right now and it doesn't even pay much when it does work.
I think I've narrowed down the issue with these missions after many frustrating hours of failing, abandons, etc. I hope that we can share experiences here and learn from each other on how to workaround these issues or get them fixed.
Basically, they seem to be quite faction based. I'm sure a lot of people have figured this out already. Said faction sends you out to kill ships of another faction causing issues within their enemy faction. The problem arises when they send you to kill ships of a faction that doesn't spawn ships of that type in the system the mission requires.
I'll give you an example. Working for the Sobek Boys, who is a Pirate Faction that is allied with the Alliance, they send me to Tiethay to kill Bounty Hunters, there was also a mission in the same system to kill System Authority. Tiethay is an Anarchy System controlled by the Tiethay Family with a very small Federation presence in the form of 1 faction with very little influence. The issue here is, the Sobek Boys aren't after the Tiethay Family, a Pirate Faction, they are after the Feds. The Federation did not spawn any Bounty Hunters, so none counted, and since they don't control the System, they cannot spawn System Authority (though Tiethay Family did, but did not count), therefore, these two missions cannot be completed. However, there is the alternate of these missions in where a trader or equivalent peaceful ship inside of a USS gives you a better offer. Of course this means, betraying the faction I have been working for and losing rep. Abandoning the missions also means losing rep, so of course I take the option for credits since I'm losing rep either way.
Another issue is being sent to a completely empty system with only a star within. I have waited for quite a long time in the system I am referring to so I know that no ships or Signal Sources spawn here, which is odd since they are supposed to generate but nothing shows up. The system in question is Faceze or Feceze, one of the two, and it is a common system for nearby kill missions and nearby smuggling missions. Have to abandon and lose rep simply because there is no other option, have to ignore being sent there or to similar in the future.
The same is true for alternate missions, which are the saving grace of the initially bugged mission, sometimes even the alternate will generate an undoable path. For example, a mission telling me to kill System Authority in Sobek. Sobek is an Anarchy System owned by the Alliance but run by the Sobek Boys, a Pirate Faction in which System Authority ships do not spawn at all. An alternate mission to kill Pirates in Sobek, of course, worked perfectly since there is plenty there being owned by a Pirate Faction and all.
The Kill Prisoner Missions, don't even bother with these until these so called "Prisoner Ships" are even in the game. Right now, they don't exist, I have amassed enough bounty on my head killing all manner of ships in the system that it tells you they are in and even going as far as to find a Prison Colony system to verify.
Right now, Warzone Mercenary Missions are the only type of it's kind that work consistently as the mission giver does not care about faction, they just want to create chaos in the Warzone. Also, the text could be more clear about factional information and maybe tell you exactly what to look for. If you are new to the game and don't know the gear these targets in the missions are supposed to carry, you just won't find them without blowing up everything you see.
Frontier, please, I'm begging you, make this a priority. Get these missions to work, there are plenty of posts on the forums of people having problems with these missions in particular. Being a Mercenary, a role that is supposed to be functioning in the game, is frustrating and at times impossible right now and it doesn't even pay much when it does work.
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