Boron Mine Dislikes Me. Makes me sad.

[bonalste]

Just a quick question - something strange happened this afternoon and it doesn't seem to have fixed itself at all in the intervening hours. I became, after a brief spell of distrust and hiding each others toothbrushes, quite friendly with the Boron. I'm now a queen's guard, despite having never met the fishy wench. I have been scouring the universe high and low for Paranid missions, which seem few and far between, so that I can get to the point where the Paranids stop pointing te nasty ends of their guns at me. So I landed on a mine to save, commed the only Paranid that I have met offering me a combat mission, accepted and undocked.

No sooner had I left than the mine behind the mine I'd just undocked from (there are 3 so near each other that, were you to swing a particularly large cat, it would have a very sore head) turned hostile towards me. It is very bizarre. Mine was the only of my ships in the area - there were no transports and even if there were they wouldn't have fired on anybody, I'm fairly certain. My ship definately did not shoot and comming the mine does not provide the option to apologise for accidental shooting/knifing/badhaircuts. Also, it has nothing to do with my own threat setting. For one thing, it's the only thing that' red in the sector, and also they don' want me to dock, which is both rude and a sign that it is their issue, not mine. So it's strange - in this sector everybody is friendly towards me - all ships, all stations, all HAL-9000s except a single, angry little mine.

So my quesition is, how can I make them want to have my babies again? Threatening them's out of the question, firstly because that kind of thing is looked down upon when talking about makng babies with others, and secondly because destroying the mine will damage my relationship with the Boron (they're a touchy lot). Is there a way to send them a bouquet of flowers and a box of Quality Streets to cheer them up, or am I going to have to put up with them giving me the silent treatment from now on?

[jlehtone]

Pirate fellows supposedly offer occasionally a service that involves your credits, their hacking skillz, and mysterious clearance of your record in the target stations database.

[mrbadger]

There's always the option of popping back to the sector from time to time in case a 'defend station' mission turns up for that mine.

If you accept it and stroll off the mine will die and all you will get is a small mission faliure rep hit.

[bonalste]

Is it possible to get station defend missions from stations that are hostile towards me?

Re. pirate hacking, how can I do this? I've not seen this option available anywhere so far, so I'm probably missing something fairly obvious. An example: right now there is a single laser tower that is hostile towards me in Empire's Edge. Now I can destroy it, then apologise to the local A-Team, but the trading station is then hostile towards me and, unfortunatly, I can't apologise to it. Trust this to happen in the most proftable ST training sector!

So I can either leave it, which I don't want as it will shoot at my traders, who will then likely launch drones at it/punch it in the face and then I'll be called into a completely red sector. Or, I can destroy it and then find some way of hacking the Trading Station. Of course, being friendly with the trading station is also part of the ST training requirements! Could you advise me where to go, what to do and the number for ghostbusters so they can help?

[Alan Phipps]

Check any Pirate or Teladi station with a 'think' lightbulb mission within less than 3-5 jumps of the station you want hacked. Keep looking, one will turn up sooner or later at such stations if in range (X3TC).

[Nanook]

As of 2.7, "Station Hack mission now also appear on race stations", not just Teladi and Pirate anymore.

[kurush]

If you accept it and stroll off the mine will die and all you will get is a small mission faliure rep hit.

You can actually complete the mission because the station status is reset when you do. But I'm not sure that such mission would be offered. You can go on patrol, lure enemy ships to that station and make sure they destroy it. A fast agile ship such as SB is highly recommended. Or, look for a hacker.

[Alan Phipps]

Thanks Nanook, nice to know about the proliferating hack missions. The 2.7 changelog just says 'Station hack missions available at more locations'. I took that to mean that they appeared more often at Pirate or Teladi stations. My mistake obviously.

[bonalste]

Hmm can't find one. Are these extremely rare or am I just not looking hard enough? I'm looking for a station within 3 or 5 sectors with a above it?

[Nanook]

Thanks Nanook, nice to know about the proliferating hack missions. The 2.7 changelog just says 'Station hack missions available at more locations'. I took that to mean that they appeared more often at Pirate or Teladi stations. My mistake obviously.

My wording came from the 2.7 RC3. They must've wanted it a bit more vague, so they changed the wording in the release notes. Devious devs.

Hmm can't find one. Are these extremely rare or am I just not looking hard enough? I'm looking for a station within 3 or 5 sectors with a above it?

They don't always appear when you need them. Try again later. If there's a 'red' station that needs hacking, that 'mission' will eventually pop up.

[bonalste]

Aha, found one, given by a Paranid, no less. And at only 157,000 credits, an absolue bargain! Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.