Stray illegal cargo messages

[Whatever0815]

Hi there.

I'm occasionally notified about some reputation drops because of illegal cargo found by sector security. But none of my ships deals in illegal cargo. I had only one pilot in the current save collect some drops, which I immediately collected from him, including checking the ships cargo hold.

This message does not appear in the logbook. I have to guess at which of my ships might have been the cause, since sometimes there doesn't even seem to be a police scan noted in the logbook from which to start looking.

I do have a load of illegal stuff in my personal inventory, though. But these stray messages even pop up, when I'm alone in space nowhere near anything else, not even in the sector I guess the notification originated from.

IIRC, the first of these messages popped up, after I deployed a scout somewhere in HOP space. The last one came from ZYA police, with me being in Silent Witness XI.

What's causing this ? Pilots don't pick stuff up without being told to do so, or do they now ?

PS: 4.10, no mods

[LameFox]

I believe if any of your ships is set to flee the police they will (whether by design or bug) assume illegal content when they try to scan it. Makes sense I guess. The rep loss should not be permanent AFAIK, only with the involved ships. I suppose if it lead to combat then it could cause lasting rep hits however. I only use this setting on scouts which can outrun them.

[Whatever0815]

My global order is "Comply", and I've configured no exceptions -- but that's good info, thanks.

FWIW, I only have handful of traders and other ships, which never move around without explicit command, but about 30 sector scouts who revisit known stations. Lockboxes are ignored, and the default response to found contraband is to destroy the crates, again, no exceptions.

[baerdesklopapies]

Like this?->viewtopic.php?f=180&t=442570&p=5084355& ... t#p5084355

also check your Ships for illegal Inventory Cargo. If you send them to "collect containers" they also collect Player Inventory items and they Stay on the Ship until the Player unloads it.
How to find Inventory Items?-> Get the Ship Information->under Information there is a Line "Inventory" with a small +.

o7

[dtpsprt]

The scouts that go around the stations can collect illegal cargo from traffic that was destroyed. Once they visit the station they taveldrive to the next. Then police might try to stop them when they enter traveldrive, so they will not stop to comply...

In general scouts revisiting stations can cause different trouble each time, not to mention that the stations might get out of date before they visit them. This is the reason I prefer to have scouts scouting a sector and then leave satellites in close to the stations that are of interest and then pick them up again once I have reached rep +20 so I can buy the license... That and the "extra" view on the sector which can come in handy...

[Whatever0815]

Like this?->viewtopic.php?f=180&t=442570&p=5084355& ... t#p5084355

also check your Ships for illegal Inventory Cargo. If you send them to "collect containers" they also collect Player Inventory items and they Stay on the Ship until the Player unloads it.
How to find Inventory Items?-> Get the Ship Information->under Information there is a Line "Inventory" with a small +.

o7

No not like this.

But thanks for the hints.

...
I had only one pilot in the current save collect some drops, which I immediately collected from him, including checking the ships cargo hold.
...
But these stray messages even pop up, when I'm alone in space nowhere near anything else, not even in the sector I guess the notification originated from.
...

As an example, the last notification I got was from a ZYA (!) police unit, while I was in Silent Witness. Is there actually something declared illegal in ZYA ?

...
Lockboxes are ignored, and the default response to found contraband is to destroy the crates, again, no exceptions.

I've checked all my pilots multiple times in the past, none of them had anything in their personal inventory or in their ship's cargo bay, but still the message pops up on ocassion.

But then, even if they would, they would be forced to drop it, if police checks on them (they're all set to Comply), so I wouldn't find it, if I checked after the fact, wouldn't I ?


I am fairly sure, that I missed something when checking my peeps. I can't imagine the game shuffling its feet, and dishing out tickets to unsuspecting pilots, when its the boss, who's doing the dirty business in some other sector.

[Whatever0815]

The scouts that go around the stations can collect illegal cargo from traffic that was destroyed. Once they visit the station they taveldrive to the next. Then police might try to stop them when they enter traveldrive, so they will not stop to comply...

In general scouts revisiting stations can cause different trouble each time, not to mention that the stations might get out of date before they visit them. This is the reason I prefer to have scouts scouting a sector and then leave satellites in close to the stations that are of interest and then pick them up again once I have reached rep +20 so I can buy the license... That and the "extra" view on the sector which can come in handy...

They're set do destroy contraband. Now, things that are legal in one sector can be illegal in another. But my scouts don't cross sector boundaries. And the last ticket I was notified of was from a ZYA police ship (what's illegal in ZYA, anyway ? ). The only undocked ship of mine in ZYA at the time was my scout, who went straight from the wharf over there, and never left it.

About the traveldrive, that's a valuable hint. I never thought of that, since I've never been called by police, when running under traveldrive. At least I can't remember.

I like to have scouts around for convenience. I agree, that satellites are much more useful for gaining information on prices and traffic. I think I just can't stand sectors splattered with an uneven pattern of satellites, so the old, rather disadvantageous habit stays until we get a 'Distribute Satellites in a beautiful, symmetrical pattern like in custom gamestarts"-order ... lol

Addenum: I've played 3.10 quite extensively, also with a load of scouts, and can't remember getting these seemingly stray messages.

[Imperial Good]

Having same issue. Originally was from TER. Now it is mostly ARG with sometimes from PAR. Small occasional rep loss for "illegal cargo". The message needs to be more descriptive as I cannot even track down where it is occurring and with what ships.

This is not due to inventory items. Since if you have illegal inventory items and you set the ships to comply then you do not get a penalty as far as I am aware (pilot drops them, police shoot the items, everyone happy).

The message kind of matches the one you get for illegal ware sales at a station, the 10% auto fail due to "customs check". However the only illegal ware I trade in is Stimulats and that is limited to PIO space where it is not illegal.

Could it be that SCA ships selling illegals to my stations fail the customs check causing me to lose rep?

[Whatever0815]

I only have a single station (in Family Zhin), and that station sells Energy Cells, but doesn't buy anything other than some building materials.

I didn't know that there's a chance of failure when selling illegal wares at stations. Thanks.

[baerdesklopapies]

They're set do destroy contraband. Now, things that are legal in one sector can be illegal in another. But my scouts don't cross sector boundaries. And the last ticket I was notified of was from a ZYA police ship (what's illegal in ZYA, anyway ? ). The only undocked ship of mine in ZYA at the time was my scout, who went straight from the wharf over there, and never left it.

I don't think it is this issue, but to be sure: Check your payment from your building Site of your ZYA Station.

Your´e right, ZYA has no illegal Wares, or if they have it is not listed in the encyclopedia.

o7

[grapedog]

If your pilots are set to collect containers, they can/will collect all the items, including illegal items. Sometimes pilots flying through space where battles took place can accidentally pick up cargo. Sometimes illegal cargo gets dropped around stations by other ships, and your own ships can pick it up purposefully or accidentally.

Set your ships globally to IGNORE contraband items and not pick them up when they see them, and to comply with police when they get searched and they'll drop any illegal wares they have. That will eliminate any rep penalties you could receive EXCEPT for if you have ships that sell illegal wares, like drugs. Those ones when caught I believe always get a -1 rep hit in a sector that those goods are illegal in, even if they drop cargo.

[grapedog]

They're set do destroy contraband. Now, things that are legal in one sector can be illegal in another. But my scouts don't cross sector boundaries. And the last ticket I was notified of was from a ZYA police ship (what's illegal in ZYA, anyway ? ). The only undocked ship of mine in ZYA at the time was my scout, who went straight from the wharf over there, and never left it.

I don't think it is this issue, but to be sure: Check your payment from your building Site of your ZYA Station.

Your´e right, ZYA has no illegal Wares, or if they have it is not listed in the encyclopedia.

o7

If it was a penalty for an overbuilt station, or station outside it's paid for boundaries, it will tell you exactly that in your logbook. It will say that the rep hit was for a plot size violation.

[Whatever0815]

If your pilots are set to collect containers, they can/will collect all the items, including illegal items. Sometimes pilots flying through space where battles took place can accidentally pick up cargo. Sometimes illegal cargo gets dropped around stations by other ships, and your own ships can pick it up purposefully or accidentally.

Set your ships globally to IGNORE contraband items and not pick them up when they see them, and to comply with police when they get searched and they'll drop any illegal wares they have. That will eliminate any rep penalties you could receive EXCEPT for if you have ships that sell illegal wares, like drugs. Those ones when caught I believe always get a -1 rep hit in a sector that those goods are illegal in, even if they drop cargo.

I have already elaborated on my settings in the third message of the tread.

...
Lockboxes are ignored, and the default response to found contraband is to destroy the crates, again, no exceptions.
...
My global order is "Comply", and I've configured no exceptions
....

And in the sixth again.

...
They're set do destroy contraband. Now, things that are legal in one sector can be illegal in another. But my scouts don't cross sector boundaries. And the last ticket I was notified of was from a ZYA police ship (what's illegal in ZYA, anyway ? ). The only undocked ship of mine in ZYA at the time was my scout, who went straight from the wharf over there, and never left it.
...

And now in this one again. And we're still on the first page of the thread ... lol

Thanks for your suggestions, nonetheless.

[Scoob]

This can occur due to a bug. I've had ship scans reported when I'm flying my one and only (and totally empty) ship early-game saying a ship detected illegal cargo when no ship actually scanned or is even near me.

I monitor my ship's inventories - both types - regularly, so I KNOW for a fact that they have no illegal cargo when they have absolutely nothing aboard and they've not had the opportunity to accidentally pick stuff up. Sure, ships can pick stuff up accidentally, often flying through it after a fight for example, so it can happen. It's just that numerous times now, without a shadow of a doubt, my ships have been empty - no cargo / inventory illegal or otherwise.

There seems to be a bit of buggy code that blames the Player / player asset for things they were NOT involved with. I've been sat, alone in my single ship - again, very early game - watching a flight between local security and an enemy faction's ship. Suddenly *I* get blamed for an unauthorised attack against the security ship, yet I'm sat there just watching. No other ships owned by me, no Drones, no mines, no agro'd laser towers and certainly no direct-fire from me. Bug.

I've never been able to set up a reproduction case for these false positives. Thought I had once as I'd literally just saved before it happened, but it didn't happen again upon reload.

[Imperial Good]

Might be related to the customs check on sale? I wonder if the player gets blamed for SCA trading illegals under some circumstances.

[grapedog]

I have already elaborated on my settings in the third message of the tread.

And like a lot of people that post here, you could be looking at things incorrectly.

At certain points it's just as likely that you're either looking at the wrong thing or looking at the right thing incorrectly.

Post a save and if people are really interested, they can load it themselves and check and make sure everything is kosher.

If you're sure all your settings are correct, then post it as a bug on the tech support forums. There are very few ways to get legitimate illegal cargo rep hits.

[truckie024]

im having this issue aswell, i thought it was my base as had stimulants and ice in terrin sector mars, i got rid of these and im still being attacked by terrin patrols....i got no idea how to stop it now as i have even dismantles the stimulants factories

[Nanook]

This thread is two years, and several updates, out of date. If you have a similar-sounding issue, please start a new thread and refrain from bringing back old threads. Thanks.