Smuggling Missions - Objective Breakdown
Having tried to look at both sides of the smuggling/shadow deliveries row I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s very little hard evidence, most of it is anecdotal and the numbers thrown around are pretty varied.
I had thought I’d give it a go since smuggling is one of the few things I’ve not actually tried in this game but I thought I’d get some stats.
First off I’d like to say I’m not a ‘expert’ player, I’ve done lots of stuff, I was one of the first to report the only way to make gold at exploration (neutron star bonging near the core), I’ve created a huge (normal not rare) trade run and run a competition to complete it. I’m currently Expert/Entrepreneur/Explorer with around 390mil in assets.
Ok so first off we have to figure out how long a smuggling run takes.
1). Getting to your chosen long range hub : 20 Minutes (average time assuming coming from around 340 ly in a smuggling ASP.
http://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/05A5A5A4D4A5D5C1818181818180000020205f5B4f3f324-.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==
2). Getting the missions stacked up :
Below i’ve listed the two different ways of getting missions and tried 30+ times to get missions and came up with averages.
3). Getting back to the drop off area : 25 minutes (6 missions stacked) 30 minutes (12 missions stacked)
On the way back you ARE going to be chased, interdicted and will have to evade this, additionally some of the NPC’s cheat so you cant evade Interdiction and run and/or on multiple occasions I’ve jumpted into a system and been insta-interdicted and pulled into the sun and had to sit out a long FSD cooldown. Additionally shorter jumps due to load increased.
4). Dropping off the missions, the time spent on this can vary depending on how far you have to go, number of jumps between, LS to the station, number of times you are chain interdicted by pirates and/or authorities.
These times are based on my experience :
(Including time in station and picking the next destination)
Minimum Time (No interdictions, short jump, low ls) : 5 minutes station to station
Maximum Time (2-3 jumps, interdicted multiple times by larger ship you cant evade/kill 5k+ Ls) : 14.5 minutes
On average over 2 runs the time per drop off for me was 10 minutes. Your milage may vary but I think this is probably quite fair. Increasing the number of missions seems to increase the amount of interdictions, additionally as you drop missions you also seem to get less. Therefore I’d say that the following would be quite fair :
10mins/drop for 6 missions stacked.
12.5mins/drop for 12 missions stacked.
Note that this is for the average to above average player. It *may* be possible to exceed these figures by pulling every trick in the book (including pulling the plug to avoid scans etc) but I’d consider that top 1% the exception.
Mission Stacking (logon/logoff)
After a sample of approx 30 logon/logoff I came to the conclusion that :
Entrepreneur and below : Many of the missions are larger cargos, for less reward and it takes much longer to get the ‘good’ missions for 5 tons or less for 4mil reward.
Tycoon : Not much of an improvement but occasional 5mil / 5 ton missions improve matters a little.
Elite : Many many more missions for 5tons or less for 5-6mil reward, often going to outposts and occasionally going to the same station multiple times.
This gives the following times :
(To Station) + (Picking up Missions) + (From Station) + (Delivering Cargo) in minutes
6 Missions Stacked :
Entrepreneur :
20 + 20 + 25 + 60 = 125 for 21mil Credits Reward = 10.08mil/hour
Tycoon:
20 + 15 + 25 + 60 = 120mins for 24mil Credits Reward = 12mil/hour
Elite:
20 + 8 + 25 + 60 = 113mins for 32mil Credits Reward = 16.9mil/Hour
12 Missions Stacked :
Entrepreneur: (takes longer as you have to cherrypick the smaller loads with higher payouts)
20 + 60 + 30 + 150 = 260 mins for 46mil Credits Reward = 10.6mil/hour
Tycoon: (same slight improvement due to a few tycoon only missions)
20 + 45 + 30 + 150 = 245 mins for 52mil Credits Reward = 12.7mil/hour
Elite:
20 + 22 + 30 + 150 = 222 mins for 66mil Credits Reward = 17.8mil/hour
Stacking multiple missions to the same stations could (possibly) further increase profits however the time taken to find the missions may negate the benefits.
Non-Logoff/Logon Mission stacking:
For those that don't like the logon/logoff stacking method i’ve determined the following :
BB Refresh is 5 minutes and it’s reasonable for a person to sit around waiting for some missions for 15 minutes. In that time they will get a number of sub-optimal missions + they can also take other mission types.
Example (taken from some random samples)
4 : Shadow Deliveries (1x4mil 1x2mil 2x1mil)
2: Secret Delivery missions (1.25mil)
1: Standard delivery mission (2mil)
Total of 11.25mil
With such a low number of missions interdictions are much lower, hence times are quicker.
Time:
20+15+20 + 60 = 11.25 mil in 115 minutes = 5.86mil / Hour (much higher variance due to randomness of missions being picked).
Conclusions:
The payout for these missions is high, but not ridiculously high. If you consider that with the cheating NPC’s scanning you or just bad luck then you could lose an entire load (approx 50-60mins work easily) if you only ever got caught 1 in 6 times then the 6 mission stacks would be reduced to 9.3mil/hour etc. Arguing minor points about my numbers wont massively increase or decrease the income.
Counter Offer NPC’s
The constant repetitive messages from npc’s to get you to switch to ridiculous counter offers needs looking at. If nothing else but to make it less immersion breaking.
Suggestion: Make them give up if you keep going a few times, or spread them out over the route. Also improve the counter offers so we might actually want to take them.
Police Scans:
Impossible to submit Interdictions from police NPC’s actually make sense. They should have superior interdictors that can do this sometimes.
Gaining Missions
Logon/Logoff to get the missions from the bulletin boards is also immersion breaking but the only way to get a decent amount of missions in a reasonable amount of time. To get a stack of 6 missions would take 1.5hours plus if waiting on the station for them to refresh. x
Suggestion : Fix the logon/logoff for missions so you cant do that.. but add a refresh button with a 1 minute cooldown.
Other Suggestions:
Add half size scan slowing cargo racks that double the time to finish a scan, but can't carry as much.
eg. 6E Titanium Weave Cargo Hold (32ton)
Finally
This is one of the most fun things you can do in elite, it actually makes you feel like han solo running illegal cargo. Frontier please don't Nerf it into the ground and remove something that actually works and is cool.
Having tried to look at both sides of the smuggling/shadow deliveries row I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s very little hard evidence, most of it is anecdotal and the numbers thrown around are pretty varied.
I had thought I’d give it a go since smuggling is one of the few things I’ve not actually tried in this game but I thought I’d get some stats.
First off I’d like to say I’m not a ‘expert’ player, I’ve done lots of stuff, I was one of the first to report the only way to make gold at exploration (neutron star bonging near the core), I’ve created a huge (normal not rare) trade run and run a competition to complete it. I’m currently Expert/Entrepreneur/Explorer with around 390mil in assets.
Ok so first off we have to figure out how long a smuggling run takes.
1). Getting to your chosen long range hub : 20 Minutes (average time assuming coming from around 340 ly in a smuggling ASP.
http://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/05A5A5A4D4A5D5C1818181818180000020205f5B4f3f324-.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==
2). Getting the missions stacked up :
Below i’ve listed the two different ways of getting missions and tried 30+ times to get missions and came up with averages.
3). Getting back to the drop off area : 25 minutes (6 missions stacked) 30 minutes (12 missions stacked)
On the way back you ARE going to be chased, interdicted and will have to evade this, additionally some of the NPC’s cheat so you cant evade Interdiction and run and/or on multiple occasions I’ve jumpted into a system and been insta-interdicted and pulled into the sun and had to sit out a long FSD cooldown. Additionally shorter jumps due to load increased.
4). Dropping off the missions, the time spent on this can vary depending on how far you have to go, number of jumps between, LS to the station, number of times you are chain interdicted by pirates and/or authorities.
These times are based on my experience :
(Including time in station and picking the next destination)
Minimum Time (No interdictions, short jump, low ls) : 5 minutes station to station
Maximum Time (2-3 jumps, interdicted multiple times by larger ship you cant evade/kill 5k+ Ls) : 14.5 minutes
On average over 2 runs the time per drop off for me was 10 minutes. Your milage may vary but I think this is probably quite fair. Increasing the number of missions seems to increase the amount of interdictions, additionally as you drop missions you also seem to get less. Therefore I’d say that the following would be quite fair :
10mins/drop for 6 missions stacked.
12.5mins/drop for 12 missions stacked.
Note that this is for the average to above average player. It *may* be possible to exceed these figures by pulling every trick in the book (including pulling the plug to avoid scans etc) but I’d consider that top 1% the exception.
Mission Stacking (logon/logoff)
After a sample of approx 30 logon/logoff I came to the conclusion that :
Entrepreneur and below : Many of the missions are larger cargos, for less reward and it takes much longer to get the ‘good’ missions for 5 tons or less for 4mil reward.
Tycoon : Not much of an improvement but occasional 5mil / 5 ton missions improve matters a little.
Elite : Many many more missions for 5tons or less for 5-6mil reward, often going to outposts and occasionally going to the same station multiple times.
This gives the following times :
(To Station) + (Picking up Missions) + (From Station) + (Delivering Cargo) in minutes
6 Missions Stacked :
Entrepreneur :
20 + 20 + 25 + 60 = 125 for 21mil Credits Reward = 10.08mil/hour
Tycoon:
20 + 15 + 25 + 60 = 120mins for 24mil Credits Reward = 12mil/hour
Elite:
20 + 8 + 25 + 60 = 113mins for 32mil Credits Reward = 16.9mil/Hour
12 Missions Stacked :
Entrepreneur: (takes longer as you have to cherrypick the smaller loads with higher payouts)
20 + 60 + 30 + 150 = 260 mins for 46mil Credits Reward = 10.6mil/hour
Tycoon: (same slight improvement due to a few tycoon only missions)
20 + 45 + 30 + 150 = 245 mins for 52mil Credits Reward = 12.7mil/hour
Elite:
20 + 22 + 30 + 150 = 222 mins for 66mil Credits Reward = 17.8mil/hour
Stacking multiple missions to the same stations could (possibly) further increase profits however the time taken to find the missions may negate the benefits.
Non-Logoff/Logon Mission stacking:
For those that don't like the logon/logoff stacking method i’ve determined the following :
BB Refresh is 5 minutes and it’s reasonable for a person to sit around waiting for some missions for 15 minutes. In that time they will get a number of sub-optimal missions + they can also take other mission types.
Example (taken from some random samples)
4 : Shadow Deliveries (1x4mil 1x2mil 2x1mil)
2: Secret Delivery missions (1.25mil)
1: Standard delivery mission (2mil)
Total of 11.25mil
With such a low number of missions interdictions are much lower, hence times are quicker.
Time:
20+15+20 + 60 = 11.25 mil in 115 minutes = 5.86mil / Hour (much higher variance due to randomness of missions being picked).
Conclusions:
The payout for these missions is high, but not ridiculously high. If you consider that with the cheating NPC’s scanning you or just bad luck then you could lose an entire load (approx 50-60mins work easily) if you only ever got caught 1 in 6 times then the 6 mission stacks would be reduced to 9.3mil/hour etc. Arguing minor points about my numbers wont massively increase or decrease the income.
Counter Offer NPC’s
The constant repetitive messages from npc’s to get you to switch to ridiculous counter offers needs looking at. If nothing else but to make it less immersion breaking.
Suggestion: Make them give up if you keep going a few times, or spread them out over the route. Also improve the counter offers so we might actually want to take them.
Police Scans:
Impossible to submit Interdictions from police NPC’s actually make sense. They should have superior interdictors that can do this sometimes.
Gaining Missions
Logon/Logoff to get the missions from the bulletin boards is also immersion breaking but the only way to get a decent amount of missions in a reasonable amount of time. To get a stack of 6 missions would take 1.5hours plus if waiting on the station for them to refresh. x
Suggestion : Fix the logon/logoff for missions so you cant do that.. but add a refresh button with a 1 minute cooldown.
Other Suggestions:
Add half size scan slowing cargo racks that double the time to finish a scan, but can't carry as much.
eg. 6E Titanium Weave Cargo Hold (32ton)
Finally
This is one of the most fun things you can do in elite, it actually makes you feel like han solo running illegal cargo. Frontier please don't Nerf it into the ground and remove something that actually works and is cool.
Last edited:
Done!
