Bonus Missiles? Why?

[Bill Huntington]

I'm in AP and tried Nostalgic Argon and barely got enough salvage to get Fight 1 and more IREs. Then I got lucky at the two hour mark and got a Goner on the first try in Farnham's. I didn't have Trade Extension so I had to be there to sell it in Cloud SE.

When I entered Cloud SE for the first time there were some Rapid Response ships and some missile salvage, one RR with 78% hull, behind the North Gate. The RR jumped out. Then I found 8 other missile clumps throughout the sector including 5 Hammerheads, 3 Remotes, 2 Banshees. It was like a grid with each clump 15 to 20 km apart from the Small Shield station to well beyond the SY.

This was a huge payday when I certainly could use one. I've never seen anything like it. Why? I'd like to get it again anytime. How?

Have other pilots seen the like?

[fireanddream]

Ur, maybe there was a fight there and some ships blew up.

Once in a war sector I got 9 hammerheads in a single crate, plus like 30 others just flying around. If you scan RRF ships you'd find them carrying a ridiculous amount of missiles, like 1000 silkworm and 49 hammerhead, on a regular basis.

[Timsup2nothin]

I've seen stuff like that in TC a lot. If you ever have some freighter programming or whatnot to do and feel like just sitting still and getting it done, park out of the way in Elena's Fortune.

If it takes you any significant stretch of time, when you fly around after you will probably find all kinds of stuff dumped in the string of fights that have occurred.

In the case you reported it is possible that you entered the sector while a giant furball was in progress. When the collision detection turns on it instantly scatters things that are too close together, which may have split the one big furball into a bunch of smaller ones.

[Bill Huntington]

I just got to the sector and noticed the RR ships and missiles within ten seconds. Battle debris only occurs when you're in sector.

It is barely possible that a big one blew up as I entered the sector. But the debris missiles are in the bottom of the sector. It's barely possible that they were flung near a station, then flung some more.

Any other possibilities?

[Timsup2nothin]

I wasn't thinking of a big one blowing up. I was thinking of a battle in progress. You pop in and the battle, which involves a lot of ships in close proximity to each other, gets split up, scattering little battles all over the sector.

One piece of the battle lands right there behind the gate, and you see some destruction and a battered ship jumping out. Maybe, if you had for some unfathomable reason chosen to scan around you would have seen some distant laser fire, or even distant explosions. But I'd have been looking at the nearby action and loot myself.

So you do NOT see other pieces of the battle that have been flung to other corners of the sector. While you are watching the RR ship jump out, and gathering up the nearby goodies, those battling pieces of the fleet are resolving their differences, and leaving additional loot for you to find.

Plausible?

[hisazul]

What Tim said. Often race squabbles get split up when one ship moves, someone chases and next thing you know something that was once a big fight gets split, then it splits more and more and so on. Engine way limit ship/projectile rendering... it does it more noticeably with drones, so you may not even notice the fight that isn't close by.

Things like that get even more hilarious when stars align and even more "hostiles" enter the fray. Migrated xenon fleet+pirates+yaki from mission+argon+paranid... all duking it out at the same time. Then I came in my Kyoto and blew everyone up. The end.

Always wondered why engine has ship rendering limitations but not... noodle complex limitations >_> always felt a bit silly to me but what ever.

[Bill Huntington]

Yes, plausible. I got the minor loot in the North before looking to the South. But there were no surviving ships from eight visible missile clumps. If the big ships were flung to the North when I entered it's at least plausible.

Thanks.

[Timsup2nothin]

Yes, plausible. I got the minor loot in the North before looking to the South. But there were no surviving ships from eight visible missile clumps. If the big ships were flung to the North when I entered it's at least plausible.

Thanks.

If they were widely scattered they would just leave when their immediate opponents were destroyed, I think. Not sure how rapid response works in AP, but that could even be by jumping out of existence like mission spawned ships do when they time out.

[Bill Huntington]

Thanks, TimsupTonothin.


I think you've got it. If it was RR ships they could have left when they finished their mission, maybe when the ones I saw left. Yea, could be.

I got lucky. It would be nice to be that lucky again!

[Timsup2nothin]

Well, you could drop some sats and scan for giant furballs, then jump to the sector. I'm sure that there are plenty of ships being blown up pretty much all the time, and the only thing preventing widespread loot piles is that they don't drop unless you are in sector.

[Triaxx2]

Early on before the large amounts of destruction occur, most capital fleets are owned by military outposts. I stalk those, looking for ships in sectors distant enough that they have to come back encountering enemies. IE Split ships that have to go through or near to Boron sectors. Trail them, and harvest the spoils.