Why smugglers are getting ticked off.

I'm annoyed. Things that used to work well in 1.2 / 1.3 are now either maddeningly broken or so one-sided as to be frankly ridiculous. It isn't only bugs, this is by design.

Just picked up a Fed Dropship rigged out with 96 cargo. I accepted a mission to carry 17 tons of narcotics and wait for a contact to get in touch. Fine, I take off after accepting another couple of recovery missions (Ancient Artifacts and Personal Items) to keep me busy while I wait for this guy. I find a bunch of stuff in WSS and salvage zones. Every time I go back into supercruise I scan for my contact and see nothing for over an hour.

I'm interdicted five times by WANTED Eagles and Vipers spewing "I want it all". Great, you have 4T & 8T cargo and I have 56T. You want it all, do you?

I can't beat the interdictions anymore so I submit and either fight or run. Yes, I'm a crap pilot, but Isinona posted a video a few days ago and even he couldn't avoid one. Interdictions used to work fine. Few complained they were problematic, yet Frontier changed them for the worse. I defended Frontier at the time, but the mechanic has degraded since then. Earlier today, I submitted to an interdiction with zero throttle and no stick inputs and won! I stayed in supercruise and whoever interdicted fell into real space with me doing nothing. I've lost interdictions where my blue bar was full as well.

To carry on with my evening activities, I racked up 100K in bounties on WANTED pirates waiting for the guy who never showed up and was doing fine. Then I get interdicted by a security Viper. He catches me by surprise, the Escape Vector disappears quickly so I lower throttle to submit. It says on the screen "zero throttle, submitted." Then I crash into real space with a long cooldown "FSD failure, interdicted". Detecting a scan, I drop into silent running and boost away. Viper was a kilometer away, scan went through and I get fined for carrying illegal goods. Video below.

From now on, if I do accept a smuggling mission, I'm not even going to leave the pad. I'm going to abandon the mission immediately, sell the goods in the Black Market and go do my own thing instead. It's the only sane option left open to me until things are corrected.

I'm all for multi-crew, avatars, and the rest of the Horizons hit list. However, I think all of that should be placed on hold until these annoying bugs, inconsistent game mechanics and frankly dumb missions are fixed. Even if the bugs are fixed, the bad game design choices need to be sorted out. PC / NPC chaff/silent running should be consistent. It isn't, as the video shows, and that's a HUGE problem. Missions have also been nobbled. I'm not asking for 8 million credit smuggle missions, but something over 100K from an allied power to help pay for running a Clipper with 2.6 million rebuy might help. I'm allied with the Federation and the local Fed sub-faction. I only saw one mission today over 100K and that was the narcotics job that went wrong. I used to make 200-500K for a power sponsored pirate killing or fetch mission. I'd spend days getting into their good books for decent payouts. Those days are gone. I can make more by going with the lesser factions. Someone with 2% control can pay me more the the ruling faction. Yeah, that makes sense.

I'm off to play Fallout 4. It's buggy as well, but at least its consistent and I can live with that. I bought Elite when it was Dangerous, but the game I'm playing today is Elite: Illogical.

I used to champion this game and recommend it to friends. I can no longer do that in it's present state. This is correctable, easily so.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I love this game. If I didn't care, I'd just leave without saying a word.

Vid here: https://youtu.be/027hAfCOJYc
 
The interdiction mechanic is strange, it was too easy before, they had it right briefly during one of the updates, now it seems kinda broken.

Normally I just submit, every now and again I fight like my life depends on it and I win, that makes me think i'm just not trying hard enough when I lose. Another time i'll do everything right, I'm slap bang center of the vector and I still fail.. Back to submitting to every interdiction.

A small tip that you probably already know, shoot the security if they scan you, you don't have to kill them, one shot will stop the scan. Also I'm sure you already now chaff doesn't work against scans, neither does SR if they have already detected you.. I use SR and boost only when I emergency drop after the cops announce they are following me.

Either use raw speed to get out of range, or shoot and give the police something else to think about. I've stopped caring about the 400cr assault fine, I am a drug smuggling criminal after all.
 
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NecoMachina

N
I totally agree. I love this game, but some of the new changes have me scratching my head. The new interdiction mechanics are down-right infuriating. I hope the devs start focusing on fixing and polishing what we already have before adding more broken mechanics. I was incredibly excited for Horizons to come out, but if I'm being honest I've had more frustration than fun since then.
 
Good post, I agree with pretty well all of it.

Except, it's the Christmas holiday, the FD have spent most of q4 working hard on getting 2.0 out & many are probably on holiday right now.

I'm anticipating the fixes to come in the new year once the whole team is back at work.
 
Made 42 million from one run from Robigo last night - 13 missions with 11 separate drop-off points. To be honest I stopped reading OP's post in any kind of detail at 'Federal Dropship'. I mean Christ, that shows how easy they used to be. Try using a fast ship not that lumbering space bus.

I also like the way that the indicaton interdictions are 'broken' is that you sometimes actually get interdicted now.
 
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Stop crying. Contraband is hard and it should be that way. U guys made billions spawning missions at Robigo. No so easy now.

You're right, I did make a lot of money with the 1.4 long range missions, and I earned it through hard work & dogged persistance. My Cr/Hr were about the same as I could have achieved in my 448t TradeConda, but in a much more entertaining & engaging way.

In my TradeConda I can't bear to to more than an hour or so of A-B running before I get bored & distracted. On a long range run with multiple missions on board I am committed to completing the run, which may take several hours.

I'm not crying, I've now gone off exploring, and plan to be back sometime in January. Coincidental timing, but a fortunate one (for me).
 
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Stop crying. Contraband is hard and it should be that way. U guys made billions spawning missions at Robigo. No so easy now.

It should be pretty obvious to everyone now this isn't about people having to "GET GUD" at this point... These are broken game mechanics here. FD saw there was a weakness in gameplay, tried to rectify it, but overcompensated.

There will probably be another balancing past in the next patch. The only question is when that will show up.
 
Stop crying. Contraband is hard and it should be that way. U guys made billions spawning missions at Robigo. No so easy now.

The problem is not hard. The problem is stupid and broken. Why again are you being chased down by all idiots in the galaxy for your cargo while you're on a CLANDESTINE mission? Is this posted to the gossip section on GalNet? You can make it hard. The reason why it's hard however is completely illogical and broken.

On top of that simple game mechanics that USED to work don't work anymore. And that's good I guess because it's Elite:Dangerous right? Not Elite:Working.
 
It should be pretty obvious to everyone now this isn't about people having to "GET GUD" at this point... These are broken game mechanics here. FD saw there was a weakness in gameplay, tried to rectify it, but overcompensated.

There will probably be another balancing past in the next patch. The only question is when that will show up.


Do you think I'm lying in my earlier post, or what? Seriously?

Honestly I am so sick of people whining about something being made difficult enough to present a challenge instead of being the milk run it was previously. The first time I ever went to Robigo (before scan = fail) I was interdicted exactly once on the way back - that's once during a trip of over 350 ly including stopovers at Takurua and Te Kaha on the way back. I didn't go again until after these changes because it was so laughably easy that it would have broken the game for me being able to make countless millions that easily.

Now it is a challenge and that is all it is.

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The problem is not hard. The problem is stupid and broken. Why again are you being chased down by all idiots in the galaxy for your cargo while you're on a CLANDESTINE mission? Is this posted to the gossip section on GalNet? You can make it hard. The reason why it's hard however is completely illogical and broken.

You don't find it at all conceivable that the Elite criminal fraternity might just about be aware of a system from which virtually every departing ship carries valuable (and often illicit) commodities? Mkay.
 
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You don't find it at all conceivable that the Elite criminal fraternity might just about be aware of a system from which virtually every departing ship carries valuable (and often illicit) commodities? Mkay.

I do. But that's not what's happening. But you can roleplay that and just trade from Robigo to imagine this is the case. But then again...if it's not a secret in the first place. Why again does it have to be kept a secret? It's not...or is it?
 
I don't get it, I have zero issues with interdictions in 2.0, seems to work exactly how I imagine it should. But then again, I fly a DBS when smuggling, which should be good at interdictions...
 
I'm in complete and totally frustrated agreement here.

Interdictions are a flipping joke. In my Cobra I seem to be able to outrun them, in anything else they seem utterly unavoidable. Zeroing the throttle incurrs damage and FSD cooldown.

Chaff does nothing to stop scans.

I hate to say this, but FDev seem to be intent on ruining their own game with some very very v-e-r-y silly decisions re game mechanics, and for the moment I completely agree that my preferred profession of smuggler is pretty much ruined.

What's utterly rediculous to me is that it would have easier for FDev to leave this aspect alone, as I'm not aware that anyone was moaning about these game mechanics - excluding the usual forum dementers who will moan about any and every darn thing.

Similarly some of the new ships seem mired in pointless mediocrity.

For the first time I'm scratching my head and beginning to wonder if FDev have lost the plot a little.

All said, I am still flipping loving Horizons, and planetary landings have really given the game a feeling of.... uhhm... visceral reality, vs floting in a tin can meta play.
 
Then I get interdicted by a security Viper. He catches me by surprise, the Escape Vector disappears quickly so I lower throttle to submit. It says on the screen "zero throttle, submitted." Then I crash into real space with a long cooldown "FSD failure, interdicted". Detecting a scan, I drop into silent running and boost away. Viper was a kilometer away, scan went through and I get fined for carrying illegal goods. Video below.
Just on this and the video, submitting is not instant hasn't ever been if they are quick enough to get your 'health' down as with this case, because you are flying 90 degrees of the tunnel, then you can still fail. Keep facing the point to exit gracefully.

Though it sounds odd that silent running isn't working, that said I do believe someone tested it and it said that there's a certain threshold for silent running, will try to find it but basically within a certain range that seems related to enemy ship size and their sensors, silent running will be ineffective, could be what is going on here in your video? since you are in a relatively big ship compared to the viper?

Frontier really needs to reveal more details about the inner workings of these things.
 
Do you think I'm lying in my earlier post, or what? Seriously?

Honestly I am so sick of people whining about something being made difficult enough to present a challenge instead of being the milk run it was previously. The first time I ever went to Robigo (before scan = fail) I was interdicted exactly once on the way back - that's once during a trip of over 350 ly including stopovers at Takurua and Te Kaha on the way back. I didn't go again until after these changes because it was so laughably easy that it would have broken the game for me being able to make countless millions that easily.

Now it is a challenge and that is all it is.

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You don't find it at all conceivable that the Elite criminal fraternity might just about be aware of a system from which virtually every departing ship carries valuable (and often illicit) commodities? Mkay.

Frankly, what is even more sickening is seeing folks defend the bad changes that seem to never end. The change to smuggling is another example of simply sloppy or cheap work that fans try to justify with imaginary background elements which simply don't exist. The Devs wanted to shutdown the credit earnings so they hard-wired the few mechanics that exist in this game to try to give the illusion of a challenge. There's nothing challenging with highly repetitive scripted stunts like the constant interdictions, forced win/loss interdictions, the insta-scans, authorities spawn camping in sectors you jump in, NPC ships that break all rules with jump ranges, scanning abilities, etc. - it's becoming very arcadey feeling. It's certainly not dangerous or challenging though.
 
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A Federal Dropship is absolutely the wrong tool for smuggling. You need something that can haul out much faster to escape the post interdiction scan. I use an Asp. A Cobra Mk III or Imperial Clipper will do the job as well.

Today I made 9 million credits smuggling averaging 2 million credits per hour of gameplay.

Here's how the new mechanic works:

1. SUBMIT to the interdiction. Always submit. Never run. Yes... sometimes you'll still get a post interdiction FSD failure. That is random and rare. Submitting is still the best option.
2. As soon as you drop from supercruise start pulling back on the stick to pitch up to face the system authority. About halfway there hit your boost button. You'll fly past the authority. His scan only works when he's facing you and at this point you'll be behind him.
3. Keep flying as fast as you can! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! You'll put enough distance between yourself and the system authority that he won't be able to catch up and resume the scan. AGAIN: you have to be flying a ship with high thrust speed if you expect to be a successful smuggler.
4. On arrival at the station... don't start flying immediately toward it! That thing could be crawling with cops! Fly away and maneuver until you are lined up with the letterbox and about 10 to 13 kilometers out.
5. Start toward the letterbox at full speed. At 9 kilometers hit silent running. at 7 kilometers request docking. Boost again at 5 kilometers.
6. At 2 kilometers start slowing down and slip into the letterbox.
7. As soon as you've cleared the letterbox hit full reverse on the throttle and reverse thrusters until you come to a full stop. Locate you pad.

The new mechanic works great. No more easy smuggling. No more merely paying off the fine and delivering the cargo. Now you have think and behave like a smuggler to get the job done.
 
I'll agree that it's more of a challenge now but I've gotten to enjoy it (again for the reasons people have posted here). It's no longer a get rich quick but it still does pay quite well (those $8mil missions with less than 20 cargo, I love those).


I'm now using the following tactics to combat the new "rules":

1. I use a kitted out ASP for max cargo and max boost (A thrusters, A Dist, A Jump). Boost is 400 so I can beat pretty much any NPC. Small fuel scoop to keep range max and cargo max. I tried the extra fuel method but it was a waste of cargo space.
2. Try to get as much non-shadow cargo as possible (stuff that doesn't care if it gets scanned).
3. Always keep an eye on newer missions that might be better than what you have in your hold, if it pays more and is same or less cargo, dump the old mission and take the new one.
4. If I get interdicted by a "System Defense Force/Law" ship I fight the interdiction every time. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but better to risk it than screw up the battle and get scanned (if you have cargo that can't be scanned). Anything else I submit and kick their tails (unless it is a Conda or Python).
5. If I lose to a "System Defense Force/Law", voice attack is setup to "deploy hardpoints", "Max Engines", "Target Highest Threat". This is while I'm turning to face head on. By the time I am facing him he usually has the scan started so immediately put a few shots into him and boost right past. That breaks the scan. Continue to boost and chaff (it takes a while for him to turn 180 degrees after you blasted past him head on) until you are well out of range, wait for FSD and jet.
6. As soon as you appear in a system, turn to center next system in HUD and frameshift as soon as you can. Even if you get interdicted, the frameshift has already started and 8/10 the interdiction battle puts your hud right over your target system and you jump away breaking the interdiction. Very handy.
7. I never leave Sothis/Robigo unless I have a full cargo hold and at least $15-20 mil in missions to make it worth while.

Basically as others have explained in other threads, as soon as you drop to normal space, turn and face your attacker and BOOST like crazy and chaff once he is turned around (just to save being hit, does nothing against scan). You will shoot right past and be long gone before they turn.

Watch out for multiple interdictions... I've had a simple eagle get me and when we dropped into normal space a damn System Defense Force ship snuck in and started a scan... things got a little chaotic there.

---

Now I'm having a blast taking these missions, a run to there and back takes 2 to 3 hours but is pretty exciting with all the interdictions and trying to avoid "the cops".

Almost saved enough for my new Cutter with these missions.
 
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Though it sounds odd that silent running isn't working, that said I do believe someone tested it and it said that there's a certain threshold for silent running,

The magic distance is 1.5km. Closer than that & it won't break a scan in progress. Chaff /should/ delay it for 5secs, and of course getting out of range within the 5secs a scan takes would do it too. For Station Police the scan range seems to be only 1.5km, but ime in the new shadow mission mechanic it appears to be 3km & I've only managed that in a Cobra so far.
 
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