True but sad ~ The story... is TRUE

[Morgan Bateson]

Hi there CMDR's,

Was flying in an ASP Explorer, no offensive weapons. Had limpets. Trying out my navigational skills and flying to a distant place in the bubble however.

Without any warning; interdiction. Hey; that happens all the time right? So no worries. Just submit to interdiction, full thrust, fire some chaffs boost boost boost high wake. Right ?

NPC was Elite flying in a DBS. He was wanted of course. But that made me realize I was not in anarchy space. Flying in HIP 106335. My jump to the next system was already almost done, but decided to submit anyway. Keep it safe; let the FSD cool down sooner.

As soon as we got out of SC, I did my usual thing. Chaffed, thrusters full you know the drill. Almost instantly he shot down my shields. They were made out of paper in my ASPx so yeah. Figured.

This lost of shields was followed immediately by "Thruster malfunction". Oops... So much for that. Now what.

While I prepared to High Wake, he decided he didn't had enough of me yet. And continued. By that moment, my ship became unresponsive, many (and I mean many) warnings were flying around my ears.

Power Limit Exceeded, modules disabled ! Drives Offline: Zero Thrust Capability! Oxygen Depleted in 7:27

Oh well... Long story short. A few seconds that seemed forever later I was blown to pieces.

Just doesn't seem right. Interdicted without comms. Elite npc? Why! No cargo just limpets... Couldn't even escape the way I escaped the last 200 times. I think this was the first interdiction I actually didn't survive.

So yeah... It's true what they say. The rumors are right. There are some pretty darn nasty npc's out there. Heads up commanders!

[TorTorden]

Yeah, above dangerous rating they start targeting modules and now after the patch they are just bat shit crazy.

[Morgan Bateson]

Yeah, above dangerous rating they start targeting modules and now after the patch they are just bat shit crazy.

Seems like when you ran into those kind of npc ... You just have to accept your lost unless you get a break and able to make use of that. I sure can't. All these warnings flying around, I even start throwing limpets at them. Or accidently trigger landing gear or cargo scoop. Sigh.

Best to calculate for some loss of money nowadays. But 1 mil on a 50mil asset budget is not funny. Not funny.

[TorTorden]

Yeah, above dangerous rating they start targeting modules and now after the patch they are just bat shit crazy.

Seems like when you ran into those kind of npc ... You just have to accept your lost unless you get a break and able to make use of that. I sure can't. All these warnings flying around, I even start throwing limpets at them. Or accidently trigger landing gear or cargo scoop. Sigh.

Best to calculate for some loss of money nowadays. But 1 mil on a 50mil asset budget is not funny. Not funny.

I got over my head in my first poorly outfitted Python and fumbled into triggering self destruct instead of reboot, repair.

[Morgan Bateson]

I got over my head in my first poorly outfitted Python and fumbled into triggering self destruct instead of reboot, repair.

I was kinda looking for the eject switch. Isn't that the handle with the red sticker on it saying "Warranty void if removed" ?

Nah; my brain goes flatline when this happens. I'm more like Uhm.. Uhmmmm.... Uhhh...

[TorTorden]

Yeah same here, I'm pretty much using my Corvette as a multi-purpose ship at this point, it barely has enough to handle an elite class interdiction which is honestly just ridiculous.
Haven't really flown the asp x yet but I even considered it a tad squishy BEFORE the new AI...

I too (like many others) get a little flustered when my seat is on fire, so I at least now try to prepare.
The way I do that is to set power groups on modules so that IF my power plant gets shot and reduced to 50% I still have my essentials for getting the hell out.

Here is my thinking.
Group 5:
All mods that I can do without in combat goes into here, that's:
Fuel scoops, cargo hatch's, interdictors, Field maintance units, Vehicle hangar etc, If I have to, my FSD as well, but I try not to need to, you really want this in group 1 (but I tend to overload my plant with 10%)
Group 4:
All guns, KW scanners etc.
Group 3:
Shields generator, boosters.
Group 2:
Power distributor, sensors etc.
Group 1 (must be under 50% total capacity) :
Thrusters, Life support, and preferably FSD (if it's not you have to manually pop it into group 1 and boot it)

Group 2 is fairly superfluous, and often that is as well inside the 50% margin.
My thinking is that if my powerplant get's all shot to hell, I still have all the mods needed to get out, I can then drop and do a reboot-repair before docking.

Lucy best demonstrates it, since she's got a lot of gear on.
https://coriolis.io/outfit/federal_corv ... ==?bn=Lucy

[Rimsplitter]

I have been working on a recovery Asp X lately and have pretty much perfected the build. It has no offensive weapons but six mine launchers and four point defense. Factions that you are allied with will pay a fortune for recovered cannisters - ~800K in prosperous systems. But you nearly always get attacked by a whole wing of pirates while collecting the targets. So when they open fire I shut the hatch, boost, max throttle, four pips to shields, fly straight and spam mines. Grit teeth, hold nerve, stay straight, keep spamming. Then slow down, turn, open hatch and gather materials from the dead pirates as well as the cannisters that I came for. Exciting and profitable.

[Morgan Bateson]

I have been working on a recovery Asp X lately and have pretty much perfected the build. It has no offensive weapons but six mine launchers and four point defense. Factions that you are allied with will pay a fortune for recovered cannisters - ~800K in prosperous systems. But you nearly always get attacked by a whole wing of pirates while collecting the targets. So when they open fire I shut the hatch, boost, max throttle, four pips to shields, fly straight and spam mines. Grit teeth, hold nerve, stay straight, keep spamming. Then slow down, turn, open hatch and gather materials from the dead pirates as well as the cannisters that I came for. Exciting and profitable.

You have a coriolis link for that?

[JohnLuke]

I have been working on a recovery Asp X lately and have pretty much perfected the build. It has no offensive weapons but six mine launchers and four point defense. Factions that you are allied with will pay a fortune for recovered cannisters - ~800K in prosperous systems. But you nearly always get attacked by a whole wing of pirates while collecting the targets. So when they open fire I shut the hatch, boost, max throttle, four pips to shields, fly straight and spam mines. Grit teeth, hold nerve, stay straight, keep spamming. Then slow down, turn, open hatch and gather materials from the dead pirates as well as the cannisters that I came for. Exciting and profitable.

If you drop into the USS and **DON'T SELECT ANYTHING**, drop some collector limpets, pick up everything in the area (discard the trash later) and SC out, the NPC's never come to attack you. Selecting the black box, or other item, is the trigger to send in the NPC's.

[Loriath]

Just a PSA for some of the new people here that are having issues surviving.

Submit unless you have a ship than can move well and have a chance to win the Interdiction. And if you fight the interdiction and begin to lose, submit anyways. You get a Faster FSD Cooldown than if you lose the interdiction.

When you are running after submitting, do NOT put 4 pips in Engines. You will not Outrun most ships that are going to be a menace anyways (Unless you are running in a ship than can do better than 400 in Boost and can keep it up all day. That's limited to Courier, Cobra Mk3, DBS or Clipper). You want 4 pips in Shields!

With 4 pips in shields, your shields will take 2.5 times the damage than if you have 2 pips. You're on a fast FSD cooldown, the objective is to survive.

High Wake. If you are just trying to enter Super Cruise, you can be mass locked. You cannot be mass locked on High Wake. Jump out and come back. Always keep a High Wake Target to jump to on the Nav Panel just in case.

If you can (you may not be able to because of skill or your ship is not manoeuvrable enough), do a Boost Turn/ FAOff turn and run at your attacker. Boost like mad and go past them so they have to turn around. You might take a few shots, but now they have to turn to shoot again. If they were behind you the whole time, you would be taking MORE shots. Your Buying Time.

Zig zag, roll, FAOff float and wiggle, slide sideways with thrusters, and keep moving. Make it hard to hit you. Make the ship dance like a drunken monkey (even a T9 can wiggle it, just a little Bit, c'mon and wiggle it... Sorry, I digress...) Chaff does not affect Fixed weapons (and NPC's use them, like Rail Guns, and are a Much better shot than you are). Don't rely on it alone. Make yourself hard to hit. A point Defence can save your Bacon, because missiles now are VERY dangerous. They may not do much to your shields, but the splash damage across your hull, including modules and utility mounts does happen.

As soon as your FSD is back online charge it. Don't worry if you are facing the wrong direction or if your heat is going to high. Get it charged. Damaged modules is better than a Rebuy Screen any Day. Then spin. boost, turn, FAOff or whatever you need to line up and start the countdown. If you do use FAOff to turn to face your target, remember that it will take a second or two for your ship to stabilise on course before the countdown will start. Stop the Wiggling now

If you are travelling in system from the sun to a Planet/station and on your HUD it says "Shipping Lanes" you are an easy target. Get out of the shipping lane aim above or below, left or right and take a less direct approach. If you think a ship is moving to Interdict, target them, and turn away from your destination, if they are moving to follow it will be obvious. Then you have a chance to turn on them and target a system out for a High Wake.

If you are being followed and you are heading for a planet base, change to a space station if one is in range. Faster to get to and less time when you drop into normal space to get to the station where they have BIG guns. Even an Outpost can take out or force away everything but a Battle Cruiser (Although never seen one take on a station/outpost. That would be VERY cool.)


Sometimes, the best we can do is to survive. I have a few very capable ships, and have decided to run instead of fight. Getting out alive is a Victory. Damaged or not, it is not a Rebuy screen.

(Oh and my secret tip: Travel in a wing with someone in a slower ship. You don't have to outrun the attacker, you just have to outrun your wingmate. )