what not to do on a kill pirates mission

[eachann]

I accepted a mission to kill a number of pirates for a reward... i think it was just 2 pirates for around 7500 credits. So I go out looking and at a USS a ship there sends me a message "I know you're a scum mercenary sent to kill us... i'll give you the same deal I gave all the others.... credits for dead officers". paraphrased. So obviously this is one of the pirates I'm supposed to be hunting, right? Yet... he is clean. KWS, he's still clean.... but based on his communication he's obviously a pirate. So I shoot him... intantly get a bounty on me for assault. I kill him anyway.... ended up with nearly a 10k bounty for murder.

I ended up going to another USS after and found actual pirates.... killed them, got bounties, and turned in the mission for the 7-8k credits. I ended up overall maybe 1-2k in the black. So if you're doing one of these missions and you get a message that updates your mission , even though he talks like a pirate... he's not a pirate... don't kill him or you lose all your profits from the deal.

 

[CmdrClueless]

Why did you shoot on a clean NPC?
It doesn't matter what he says, the only thing that counts is his wanted status.
For all you know he might be a poor chap payed to deliver a message.

 

[Sete]

Same happened to me.
It was a crippling bounty on me at the time, but I managed to pay it. Sold the eagle ahahaha. Had to fix my mistake. Wipe is the easy way out.

 

[eachann]

yea i know.. i thought about that before I shot at him, but he was trying to pay me off to kill the officers so he deserved to die. To me it seemed like his message was calling out "hey I'm who you're supposed to kill". But ... now I know, and so does anybody else who reads this

 

[Ebannaw]

Yeah I did the same thing. However, in an anarchy system I don't think it would matter. Even pirates show up as clean, despite a k-warrant scanner in anarchy systems. You can kill them and not worry about it.

 

[eachann]

Yeah I did the same thing. However, in an anarchy system I don't think it would matter. Even pirates show up as clean, despite a k-warrant scanner in anarchy systems. You can kill them and not worry about it.

You are probably right that it wouldn't matter in an Anarchy system. My mission was in a Fed controlled system.

 

[palang81984]

In case anyone is looking for a better way to accomplish these hunt missions, the fastest and most efficient way I've found is going to resource extraction sites. Pirates simply spawn there, with rather high frequency, without you having to search around space for USS or interdictions.

I'm still kind of "low level" (novice), but using my eagle I have a few particular extraction sites I go to with dangerous - master ranked sidewinders that spawn (the occasional cobra), and I can blast them out of the sky like fish in a barrel, easily accumulating pirate kills for these missions, and collecting decent bounty along the way (1k-4k per kill, not too bad, considering how easy they are). I pull in 20-30k a run just on bounties before I inevitably accidentally shoot a fed and have to high tail i tout of there.

 

[Antenociti]

In case anyone is looking for a better way to accomplish these hunt missions, the fastest and most efficient way I've found is going to resource extraction sites. Pirates simply spawn there, with rather high frequency, without you having to search around space for USS or interdictions.

That doesnt necessarily work.

for some of the missions the ONLY pirates that count are the ones that spawn in a USS - any other pirates you kill "in system) dont count toward the mission.

that said, dont bother flying around as you will just spawn non-mission USSs.

Instead throttle down to 30kms and just sit there and the USS will spawn pretty much right in front of you.

 

[eachann]

That doesnt necessarily work.

for some of the missions the ONLY pirates that count are the ones that spawn in a USS - any other pirates you kill "in system) dont count toward the mission.

that said, dont bother flying around as you will just spawn non-mission USSs.

Instead throttle down to 30kms and just sit there and the USS will spawn pretty much right in front of you.

I haven't had any luck at resource extraction sites... only tried a couple of times. Hitting USS's has been the only thing that has worked for me, but take my experience with a grain of salt.. very small sample size. Could have had bad luck.

 

[Harland White]

Why did you shoot on a clean NPC?
It doesn't matter what he says, the only thing that counts is his wanted status.
For all you know he might be a poor chap payed to deliver a message.

Here's a question...why are you defending a broken game mechanic? If an NPC is saying something like what OP quoted, it's supposed to be one of your mission targets.

 

[Ebannaw]

Here's a question...why are you defending a broken game mechanic? If an NPC is saying something like what OP quoted, it's supposed to be one of your mission targets.

Broken is a little harsh, don't you think? Admiteddly, it is a bit confusing at first. You would think "hey, this guy MUST be a pirate, he MUST be wanted if he wants me to kill security/authority forces instead." However, his record is shown as CLEAN. He's just a messenger. There's no warrant for this guy, therefore cops don't want you carrying out vigilante justice. It makes sense in a way. Don't kill the messenger. That's the whole point of warrant system. Bottom line is this: If you don't want your own criminal record, don't down "clean" ships in a governed system. Period.

However, like I said above, you can kill him all day everyday in an anarchy system and not worry about breaking the law, which can be quite fun.

 

[lbm]

I'm also a bit confused about these missions.

No idea if it's a bug or not but once you've run into one of these clean NPC:s that want you to "change sides" (or something) you're handed a new mission in your transaction screen. The first time I tried one of these missions I just ignored the NPC, killed a few pirates and then when I abandoned the "counter mission" I was told to go back to the station and collect my reward. Now, the second time I did this I abandoned the second (?) mission that was served to me by the clean NPC, but before I had killed any pirates, and this resulted in an all out mission failure.

So, I don't really get what's going on here. If I'm interested in completing the original mission I shouldn't abandon the new mission, and is it really a new mission or just an extension of the old one?

 

[schurem]

My trick when hunting pirates is to carry at least one tonne of something valuable. They fire first, you get to fire back et voila. It aint that hard.

 

[jgm]

Here's a question...why are you defending a broken game mechanic? If an NPC is saying something like what OP quoted, it's supposed to be one of your mission targets.

Garbage. NPC is a messenger not a pirate. He's not wanted by the local police so you can't shoot him. It really is that simple.

 

[eachann]

I'm also a bit confused about these missions.

No idea if it's a bug or not but once you've run into one of these clean NPC:s that want you to "change sides" (or something) you're handed a new mission in your transaction screen. The first time I tried one of these missions I just ignored the NPC, killed a few pirates and then when I abandoned the "counter mission" I was told to go back to the station and collect my reward. Now, the second time I did this I abandoned the second (?) mission that was served to me by the clean NPC, but before I had killed any pirates, and this resulted in an all out mission failure.

So, I don't really get what's going on here. If I'm interested in completing the original mission I shouldn't abandon the new mission, and is it really a new mission or just an extension of the old one?

The second mission is actually just an update to the first one. If you go in and read the mission it says something like "Alternative Objective - kill authority vessels" and then below that shows the original mission text... so basically it becomes an "either/or" and you have the option. Dropping the mission at that point would just be a failure.

It is a little confusing at first but once you know it's not so bad..... it could be clearer, but it's not "broken" per se.

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My trick when hunting pirates is to carry at least one tonne of something valuable. They fire first, you get to fire back et voila. It aint that hard.

I've tried that too... but actually you don't have to carry anything. If you go into a USS and there are pirates there you'll see text in your Comm window like "I just want the cargo" .. or "Lets see what you're carrying"... or complaining about the fact that you don't have anyhing "man how do you guys make a living?" When you see stuff like that , you're dealing with pirates. At that point KWS if you've got it to get extra bounties on them from other factions.... if you don't have KWS then just fire. You're right though, carrying some cargo will encourage them to shoot first thus justifying your attack more firmly.

 

[lbm]

The second mission is actually just an update to the first one. If you go in and read the mission it says something like "Alternative Objective - kill authority vessels" and then below that shows the original mission text... so basically it becomes an "either/or" and you have the option. Dropping the mission at that point would just be a failure.

It is a little confusing at first but once you know it's not so bad..... it could be clearer, but it's not "broken" per se.

...

Aha! Thanks for the info. Did find it a bit confusing with the mission not resolving to finished once the pirates where killed but on the other hand I guess it stays open if one chooses to go for the side mission instead.

 

[Guyperson]

That doesnt necessarily work.

for some of the missions the ONLY pirates that count are the ones that spawn in a USS - any other pirates you kill "in system) dont count toward the mission.

that said, dont bother flying around as you will just spawn non-mission USSs.

Instead throttle down to 30kms and just sit there and the USS will spawn pretty much right in front of you.

I've found pirates count pretty much anywhere in a system. If they're wanted non-authority, have a FSD interdictor and cargo scanner, they usually count. Some pirates don't seem to count no matter where you are, not even in a USS, after they've sent creepy demands about your cargo before and after scanning you, and not even after they've opened fire on you.

I think I need to start noting the faction of pirates before and after kills and see if that matters. Maybe the missions are for specific factions even though they don't specify anything further than "Pirate."

 

[tresch]

I think this is probably a "bug" that has resulted from them massively increasing the bounty for murder. When these missions were written was probably when the bounty for murder was much lower, on the order of a few hundred credits. So, the loss of paying off your bounty was well worth the payout for the mission itself.

Since they cranked up the murder bounty, they need to up the payout on the mission to match, otherwise it's not worth it at all.

Also, in response to the OP, you said "1-2k in the black" but I think you mean "1-2k in the red." In the black means that you actually made profit, after all your expenses are paid, or that your account balance is positive. Red ink is used to represent negative values, thus the source of the colloquialism!