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Author Topic: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?  (Read 7816 times)

Lorebot

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How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« on: April 15, 2021, 05:44:39 AM »

Does anyone have any tips for handling stealth missions? Every time I'm supposed to smuggle something or go do something without attracting attention (like deploy a spy satelite) I can never reach the location without being harassed by patrols. I've tried a bunch of things and no matter what I do the patrols are always just close enough to interfere and I end up having to fight them to clear the area before I can do the job. My fleet's sensor profile while dark is under 200 but they still spot me...a few times I've tried paying for storage and storing all my ships and going with only phase ships, got my profile down to 85 or so at one point but they still spotted me and got in the way.

It's infuriating that these 'stealth' missions seem impossible to do without just blunt forcing my way through them by clobbering all the patrols and wrecking my faction standing in the process...
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Sarissofoi

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2021, 05:58:27 AM »

Problem are sats that give whoever own them bonus sensor range like +700(if its domain) or +400(for makeshift).
You should use pen and paper for writing the areas that have high military activity and these sats in the system.
Some missions are hard to do because of that and some easy but nothing indicate that as payment for both is relatively the same.
That is one of the biggest annoyance with the new contact missions system - the reward have little common with the risk or force/cost needed to fulfil them.

Serenitis

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2021, 06:29:45 AM »

The 'forced' stealth mission where you have to mess with the relay in Aztlan, took me 6 attempts.

From doing this I learned:
  • Regardless of the game, I still don't like sneaking/stealth mechanics all that much
  • A single phase ship is less stealthy than a fleet of them
  • System geometry can, and will make this kind of gameplay utterly tedious
  • Re-loading a game multiple times because of one dumb thing is not very interesting
The final, successful attempt I had involved going and doing something else for a few in-game months so the relay, the jump point, and Coatl were not all on the same screen anymore.
It was literally impossible to complete this mission for a while just because the system was in a particular arrangment that put 2 heavy traffic generators right on top of the thing you have to sneak to.
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Lorebot

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2021, 06:41:19 AM »

The 'forced' stealth mission where you have to mess with the relay in Aztlan, took me 6 attempts.

From doing this I learned:
  • Regardless of the game, I still don't like sneaking/stealth mechanics all that much
  • A single phase ship is less stealthy than a fleet of them
  • System geometry can, and will make this kind of gameplay utterly tedious
  • Re-loading a game multiple times because of one dumb thing is not very interesting
The final, successful attempt I had involved going and doing something else for a few in-game months so the relay, the jump point, and Coatl were not all on the same screen anymore.
It was literally impossible to complete this mission for a while just because the system was in a particular arrangment that put 2 heavy traffic generators right on top of the thing you have to sneak to.

I couldn't figure out how to do it aside from just killing all the patrols in the area. Once the patrols were gone, or too weak to come near me, I was finally able to interact with the relay and complete the mission. I just had to make sure to engage them one at a time and be outside the range of the station so the engagement didn't involve the station and it's defense fleet. It was the exact opposite of a 'stealth' mission...and I've gotten a bunch of other stealth missions that required me to do the same thing because unless you can get your hands on a enough phase ships to push your sensor profile to zero there's no way to not be spotted, and since I haven't been able to build a fleet with enough phase ships to reach 0 (or negative) profile I'm not even sure if that would solve the issue or not...it's the dumbest thing ever...
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Qipchak

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2021, 06:48:40 AM »

I did the Aztlan mission in a different way. Formed a big scary fleet, turned of transponder, jumped into system. Patrol came, i refused to shut it off, then i fly straight to the array, the patrols run from me because of fleet size. Installed the thing and transverse jumped. I think i lost maybe some rep but no hostility. I tried stealth first and got frustrated.
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Lorebot

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2021, 06:51:25 AM »

I did the Aztlan mission in a different way. Formed a big scary fleet, turned of transponder, jumped into system. Patrol came, i refused to shut it off, then i fly straight to the array, the patrols run from me because of fleet size. Installed the thing and transverse jumped. I think i lost maybe some rep but no hostility. I tried stealth first and got frustrated.

Yeah, I'm only just barely lvl10 and don't have that scary of a fleet...swaggering over to the relay like a mob boss with his entourage and doing what I please while everyone scatters and pretends not to notice is beyond me atm...
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SafariJohn

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2021, 07:51:17 AM »

swaggering over to the relay like a mob boss with his entourage and doing what I please while everyone scatters and pretends not to notice

That's really funny :D - and it works!

I used one each of the phase support ships when the relay was near Coatl. It was tight, but I was able to just slip in at the edge of a patrol's sensor range.
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Amoebka

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2021, 09:05:33 AM »

When I did this mission I simply turned the transponder off, flew to the relay with my normal fleet (including civilian hulls) and clicked it first try. Apparently all the patrols went away to stop the pirate raiders who just arrived to the system on the same day as me. Never even realised it was this difficult normally.  :-[
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pedro1_1

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2021, 09:18:06 AM »

Everyone be like: Big scary phase fleet.
Me be like: Drum.
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Linnis

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2021, 11:28:57 AM »

No one can spot you when there is no one to spot you. *Taps head*
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ChaseBears

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2021, 11:54:46 AM »

i agree these missions are a little too hard - even with minimal signature a patrol sitting in orbit will make things impossible. Patience can be rewarded though - patrols will cycle around and a lot of the vanilla systems have great piles of helpful ring systems and such near targets that you can use to lurk nearby.

I expect the 'intended' way of doing these missions is to sabotage the comm relays etc and get the patrols to investigate while you sneak in..

Mostly though just don't take these missions against military bases >_>

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Satirical

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2021, 02:06:59 PM »

i put all my ships marines fuel and supplies in storage for 1 day nearby at the colony except for my little afflictor phase frigate and i basically had a sensor detection range of 0 and thats how i did it
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bob888w

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2021, 02:23:08 PM »

I think the easiest way to do it is baitswitching. Attract ever fleet in the area with a 20burn ship(hack the buoy in system) and get them to goose chase you, the moment they start turning around, transverse jump and beat them back to atzlan, no rep lost since your transponder should be off for this operation
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Hamakua

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2021, 05:18:20 PM »

single phase ship (lowest profile signature). 

"bait" the escort away from the satellite- as far as they will leash with shutting off transponder.

Let them inspect you, take either the rep hit or use a story point.

emergency burn back to satellite.

Worked for me.

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Chthonic One

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Re: How are you actually supposed to do 'Stealth' missions?
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2021, 05:20:13 PM »

I got really good at stealth missions, as I did the entire story quest line without doing a single fight. Here was my process:

In hyperspace, remember fuel is used by distance, not time. Keep your fleet smaller:
1. Stick to deep hyperspace/storms while moving slow, and go dark if you suspect someone is going to hunt you.
2. If someone does start to hunt you, burst away towards the deepest part of the storms till you are far away, then go dark again, and go wide around them.
3. Use Transverse jump to enter in as close to your destination as possible.

In system, you have a smaller fleet, so you want few D-mods that increase sensor profile:
1. Stick to dust clouds or asteroid belts if you can. Be ready to burst away if seen.
2. If someone does see you, burst away but turn 90 degrees once you leave sight of them.
3. Return to dust clouds or asteroid belts as soon as possible, but go dark as soon as possible. Use your discretion when. You might need the extra speed of full burn to continue to evade them.

If your target is being guarded, which it often is, you may have to bait them off. This usually means moving a ways off in the asteroids, and sending out a sensor ping. This will make them see something in the asteroids. Immediately burst away and come back from a different angle. Hopefully they will take the bait.

When leaving, use transverse jump. Often you might want to use transverse jump from far off the edge of the system, as this will give you a head start in hyperspace if enemies are chasing you. If possible have them chase you off to the boonies first as well before you jump.
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