Why are massacre pirate missions so stupidly far away?

[ithinkiam]

Recently the massacre pirate missions only result in special USSs spawning hundreds of thousands of ls away from anywhere. There are no pirates in the nav beacons nor floating around in supercruise. The option to complete the mission is to trek around between USSs 15 minutes at a time for about 5 minutes of fun.

This is pants game play.

Where did all the "normal" pirates go?

 

[Jaggedmallard]

Its a general issue with the new persistant signal sources, theres the exact same problem for fighting Thargoid Infestations where you get a single signal source 40kls away. And its absolutely awful.

 

[ithinkiam]

It wouldn't so bad if it was a bit more random. Sometimes it's 100kls away sometimes it's only 10kls. however, it's always 150-250kls away. Booorrring

 

[rrobes]

It's better to do the individual pirate assassinations, just grab a few and stack them. The targets often seek you out and interdict you, saving having to look for them.

One annoying feature is where you have to chase down an "informant" for the target's updated location. I only do the 2 mill+ value ones.

 

[Jmanis]

I think it depends on the system, and the furthest object from the primary star.

If the furthest planet is =~ 1,000 Ls away, they'll spawn =~ up to 4,000 Ls away.
If the furthest planet is =~ 200,000 Ls away, they can spawn anywhere up to 250,000 Ls away.

 

[VR Golgot]

Yeah they're pretty pants. The ones I've seen have only been 14k or so away, but still annoying. (Luckily once I'd done one I was far enough out of the system that it was only like 3mins or so to get to the next one, as could just drop well below the solar plane)

100k away sounds horrendous though. I wonder if they're designed to spawn off the beaten track or something? Sounds like they need another pass for sure...

Also daft that they're just a bowl full of 14 meandering pirates. Who all scan you en masse, then ignore it as you pick them off one at a time. I mean what? Would much prefer if massacre missions led to:

• A bump in the numbers of that crew in RES sites and around Navs
• " for those cruising in SC
• Mission USSes with pirates attacking a target

All of these kinda used to happen in different ways. Guess they had issues with them and tried to simplify ¯\(ツ)/¯

---

Just another system that doesn't allow you to gauge your transit time 'risk' ultimately :/

If you find that issue annoying more generally, and would like a game mechanic that could at least make it fun, come discuss my attempt at a 'skilled inter-sun jump' solution


^^click for suggestion thread^^

 

[ithinkiam]

It's better to do the individual pirate assassinations, just grab a few and stack them. The targets often seek you out and interdict you, saving having to look for them.

One annoying feature is where you have to chase down an "informant" for the target's updated location. I only do the 2 mill+ value ones.

That's a good tip. I'll try that. I like the massacre n pirates as they often have a 6 day time scale meaning I can dip in and out as time allows.

I think it depends on the system, and the furthest object from the primary star.

If the furthest planet is =~ 1,000 Ls away, they'll spawn =~ up to 4,000 Ls away.
If the furthest planet is =~ 200,000 Ls away, they can spawn anywhere up to 250,000 Ls away.

You could be right. This system has a secondary star at 160kls. I'll try another system.

 

[Viajero]

The blue dedicated signal sources are not the only way, just the most obvious one. I have found several generic “weapons fire” signal sources where you can see 2-3 mission target ships chasing an “innocent” and where you can naturally intervene. These signal sources are at much closer ranges.

 

[Krash]

That's a good tip. I'll try that. I like the massacre n pirates as they often have a 6 day time scale meaning I can dip in and out as time allows.



You could be right. This system has a secondary star at 160kls. I'll try another system.

Once you reach the first mission POI, you can relog and farm that site for as long as you want. Note: relog before you leave the instance.

 

[ithinkiam]

Just a quick update. I can confirm that with a smaller system the mission USS spawns much nearer.

Once you reach the first mission POI, you can relog and farm that site for as long as you want. Note: relog before you leave the instance.

Thanks, but that kind of thing spoils the fun for me

 

[Jmanis]

Just a quick update. I can confirm that with a smaller system the mission USS spawns much nearer.

Thanks for verifying that. I suspected as much, but never put the effort in to positively validate... just anecdotal observations that if the mission POI was a few hundred thousand Ls away, there was usually some entity a similar amount away.

 

[ithinkiam]

Thanks for verifying that. I suspected as much, but never put the effort in to positively validate...

A pleasure O7