USS's convoy dispersal patterns. Why.

[Quester91]

What's the point of having these random ships moving at subluminal speed which offer no gameplay and make zero sense? Why would anyone travel between planets like this anyways?

I'm at procyon grinding for the allied status with the sirius corp. I swear I've come across 7/10 convoys and the rest were degraded emissions and that kind of empty instances with some goodies floating around. I can't even do missions to rank up because the faction bulletin is empty, switched mode half a dozen times and still 0/0.

For the love of what's holy Frontier, stop putting stuff that doesn't add anything to the game because you think it looks cool. It's already painful to rely on a rng system to hope for a uss that contains the stuff we need to progress, amp up the possibility to find distress calls and lvl 3+ weapons detected.

 

[Darkphoenix]

I once found a convoy dispersal that has wanted cargo ships that were smugglers, that was amusing and I blew a few up hoping to get chemical manipulators but the rng gods were not with me and I got none. They are such a pain in the butt to get from wanted cargo ships in nav beacons and I never kill clean ships soooo yeah. Opportunities to get them are less than if I was playing a less scrupulous individual.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

So you can engage them

 

[Starwolfe]

If you need Transport Engineering materials they make good targets.

 

[h347h]

They often have important cargo like UAs and UPs.

They are actually the opposite of your first sentence.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I've always found then rather pointless, but then I'm not a pirate... yet.

It would be cool if they had a chance to randomly come under attack though, and you can either help and receive some kind of reward (money, rep, tip off, etc), or take advantage of the chaos, and do some piracy yourself.

 

[Hooplah]

You are looking for possibly a quick solution grinding for status with Sirius using these convoys. Try a Google search versus the limited Forum search engine. I easily met the requirements to quickly move on in the game. Your results may vary.

 

[Doolittle]

At first we thought all the hokey gameplay elements were placeholders for something better. Then we learned that is the gameplay. Since the USS mechanic going away is not possible due to the engine limitations we had hoped that they would find a way to make it work. There is the problem, it doesn't work well. In order for them to make it work FD would need a complete overhaul of the system then rebuild it from ground up.

Then you add on top of that poor mechanic the poor NPC mechanic, where you could find a USS in the middle of no where and have NPCs within a few secs arrive to hassle you while you investigate it. It's all arcade. No real immersion other than the graphical quality. You can hold off disbelief for a while, but eventually it just overwhelms the entire process.

Smugglers traveling in this manner.......huh? Doubt they would. More disbelief. Like an arcade game where the planetary system is a menu, and the USSs are little clickable gameplay elements.

 

[piy]

I've seen them and dropped out at a few. I know some had UA's in them...and maby UP's?....other than that I thought thay were for the pirates.

 

[Quester91]

They often have important cargo like UAs and UPs.

Yeah like, if you look for them in a certain area of 3 precise systems, and only very few of those carry alien stuff. You're not really saying much.

It would be cool if they had a chance to randomly come under attack though, and you can either help and receive some kind of reward (money, rep, tip off, etc), or take advantage of the chaos, and do some piracy yourself.

So, distress calls?

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

So, distress calls?

Not quite

The idea is it gives you an option to help, or take advantage, or neither.

Distress calls don't give you that option.
Instead you either help, or don't. Lol

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

I once found a convoy dispersal that has wanted cargo ships that were smugglers, that was amusing and I blew a few up hoping to get chemical manipulators but the rng gods were not with me and I got none. They are such a pain in the butt to get from wanted cargo ships in nav beacons and I never kill clean ships soooo yeah. Opportunities to get them are less than if I was playing a less scrupulous individual.

I sense your pain My Son, thy way is just...Go to an Archarchy, there everything will be forgiven, and you will not doubt
This is justified murder my Son, its ok, wrong peeps at he wrong time, no qualms, just press the trigger...
You want an absolution too ?
I have basic, Extended and Premium ?
Ok Basic is just for 1 - 2 murders.
Extended is for a small mayhem
Premium is for big time slaughter, there is also psychological help included and PSTD treatment, and of course guaranteed no time in Purgatory.

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Darkphoenix]

I sense your pain My Son, thy way is just...Go to an Archarchy, there everything will be forgiven, and you will not doubt
This is justified murder my Son, its ok, wrong peeps at he wrong time, no qualms, just press the trigger...
You want an absolution too ?
I have basic, Extended and Premium ?
Ok Basic is just for 1 - 2 murders.
Extended is for a small mayhem
Premium is for big time slaughter, there is also psychological help included and PSTD treatment, and of course guaranteed no time in Purgatory.

Cheers Cmdr's

Not really pain....just annoyance...I wish they would at least occasionally be offered as rewards for missions....I struggle through at nav beacons and pilfer the occasional one off of a wanted T7....currently have 8.

I dread trying to get Improvised Components as they only drop off of Authority ships.....I am guessing that a combat zone would be the best place to pick those up off of maybe Anaconda's

 

[FrogsFriend]

A couple of updates back, they used to have some fun variants like:

Trade convoy... and after a short while Pirates would arrive and attack them (or you). Security would then turn up and join in.
Military/Security convoy... and after a short while Pirates would arrive and attack them (or you) or sometimes just panic before trying to turn around and leave quickly.
Pirate convoy... and after a short while Security would arrive and attack them.
All of the above... Traders, Pirates and Security all at once. Quickly became a huge dogfight.

I miss those

(Edited for spelling)

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I sense your pain My Son, thy way is just...Go to an Archarchy, there everything will be forgiven, and you will not doubt
This is justified murder my Son, its ok, wrong peeps at he wrong time, no qualms, just press the trigger...
You want an absolution too ?
I have basic, Extended and Premium ?
Ok Basic is just for 1 - 2 murders.
Extended is for a small mayhem
Premium is for big time slaughter, there is also psychological help included and PSTD treatment, and of course guaranteed no time in Purgatory.

Cheers Cmdr's

He he he

If you want to make an omelet...

 

[Blackcompany]

At first we thought all the hokey gameplay elements were placeholders for something better. Then we learned that is the gameplay. Since the USS mechanic going away is not possible due to the engine limitations we had hoped that they would find a way to make it work. There is the problem, it doesn't work well. In order for them to make it work FD would need a complete overhaul of the system then rebuild it from ground up.

Then you add on top of that poor mechanic the poor NPC mechanic, where you could find a USS in the middle of no where and have NPCs within a few secs arrive to hassle you while you investigate it. It's all arcade. No real immersion other than the graphical quality. You can hold off disbelief for a while, but eventually it just overwhelms the entire process.

Smugglers traveling in this manner.......huh? Doubt they would. More disbelief. Like an arcade game where the planetary system is a menu, and the USSs are little clickable gameplay elements.

This pretty much nails it. And once you start to see it this way, jumps cease to be jumps. They just become loading screens between overworld maps.

The entire thing is hokey and flimsy and really badly put together.

 

[akaliel]

What's the point of having these random ships moving at subluminal speed which offer no gameplay and make zero sense? Why would anyone travel between planets like this anyways?

I'm at procyon grinding for the allied status with the sirius corp. I swear I've come across 7/10 convoys and the rest were degraded emissions and that kind of empty instances with some goodies floating around. I can't even do missions to rank up because the faction bulletin is empty, switched mode half a dozen times and still 0/0.

For the love of what's holy Frontier, stop putting stuff that doesn't add anything to the game because you think it looks cool. It's already painful to rely on a rng system to hope for a uss that contains the stuff we need to progress, amp up the possibility to find distress calls and lvl 3+ weapons detected.

Heh, ya these kinda bug me too. I remember seeing one heading towards a VERY far away station. Was kind of like, well good travels guys, I'll see you at the station in a few hundred years.

They should only spawn near planets, in orbit or something

- - - Updated - - -

This pretty much nails it. And once you start to see it this way, jumps cease to be jumps. They just become loading screens between overworld maps.

The entire thing is hokey and flimsy and really badly put together.

Remember when the reasoning was, "Oh don't worry, this is just a vertical slice. Once gamma is near done they'll release a 'content' patch." Oh the memories.

 

[Ouberos]

I stumbled across a medical convoy the other day and hadn't seen one for a while. I felt all warm inside.

It got me thinking about the Hafnium carrying military convoys though and I suddenly had the urge to find one again but so far no luck.

Any of you Sirius grinders seen one recently?

 

[Jmanis]

Hafnium military convoys are usually Threat 4.

Also, UP's get carried by Threat 4 convoys, UA's by Threat 3 convoys, the medical convoys are carried by Threat 2 convoys.

Bearing in mind these are military convoys, not traders, therefore don't necessarily need to be in supercruise; they may be doing something else out there (RV with other military forces or what-not).

 

[DNA-Decay]

Dunno whether this helps your grind, but Sirius Corporation is in a Civil War in Sirius.
With the faction having one state across all systems, mission types will be affected in Procyon.

The Civil War is with a Fed faction in Sirius. The Feds have been taking over Sirius for a while. I don't know how long they've been ruling, but they also own all the stations. If the Feds win this Civil War, Sirius Corporation will own nothing in Sirius. If the Feds lose, Sirius will gain a station.

Thu: 43% Sirius vs 40% Fed
Fri: 36% Sirius vs 43% Fed (Feds smashing it)
Sat: 35% Sirius vs 35% Fed (big comeback from Sirius)

I'm only interested because I got the Sirius permit on Thursday and noticed.
Sali Vader is running it from the Sirius side. That's uh Sirius Inc the player minor faction, but they're looking after Sirius Corp that does the permits. There's also Sirius Gov that does LYR PowerPlay, but I don't think they're providing boots on the ground for this one.

My understanding is that "The Mad Bomber" is persona non grata with both Sirius Inc and Sirius Gov but I wonder if the Fed takeover isn't some sort of payback for one of his shenanigans.

Who's pushing the Fed faction "Sirius Free"?
Dunno.
Maybe it's just random traffic - I would have thought Sirius Corp would float up because of CMDRs running Modular Terminal missions, but maybe the only faction handing them out as rewards is the Fed Sirius Free.

The Hudson Reddit publicised an arrangement they made with "The Mad Bomber" last year. Which was to let Sirius Corporation expand into surrounding systems so that CMDRs have more options to grind Sirius Rep. Maybe there was a trade off that the Feds would take Sirius from the inside in return.

I dunno - all this is speculation and pub talk.
I've been wrong before.