Q: Is there no gameplay counter for detecting courier contracts to stations that will change docking privileges after a contract is accepted?
Q: Is there at least a reputational record of forcing courier failures by switching docking privileges after contract acceptance? (So that a judgement can be made by a courier before acceptance.)
Background: I have made the skill and ISK investments to start hauling on a large scale; Ark, multiple Impels, multiple Prorators, multiple emergency cyno alts. I know to check for Docking services before accepting a contract. Today I was burned multiple times with hangers being off-lined after accepting contracts. Yes, the contract acceptance work flow warns this can happen. So I deserved what I got and should return to asteroid mining in high security I guess.
Browse the issuing characterās prior contracts to see if there were any failures. If itās fresh, and seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do some location-based searching to see if the station has a history of failed contracts in general.
Nope. But if they disallow only the accepting character from docking and allow all others (such as if they have multiple scam contracts up, or are trying to generate revenues from usage fees), you can use an alt to bring in the package, and then turn it in on the character that accepted the contract. I donāt remember if that original character needs to be docked in order to complete the contract, but if so, you can set up a jump clone in the station before accepting the contract, then jump to the station once they deny you docking rights.
If they disallow all docking, then youāre screwed. Not sure what other mechanics can prevent contract completion, but I imagine that if the package actually makes it to the station, nothing can stop you at that point.
Theyāre probably really good at telling at a glance whether something is a scam or not.
You can deliver goods to a station you canāt dock at from the outside of said station, there is literally a button to do it, and it exists because people whined
In general, if a structure is in hull (either because still online due to missing core or due to reinforced state), cargo deposit is offline. And even if you manage to get the package into the structure, you still cannot deliver it because the contract service is offline (as CCP has confirmed).
Since the scam structure is now much more vulnerable to attacks, the use of this scam is not nearly as bad as in the early days of structures where you just needed to remove docking access. But there are a few regular tryhards that keep doing it and they are successful with it.
Thanks. Well they made 3.2 billion ISK off of me yesterday. If every courier contract is a crap shoot for losing my collateral, that takes the interest completely out of haulingā¦or I limit my acceptances to NPC stations only. I usually canāt fly out to the destination station to see what their core status is.
I encourage all scammers to double down and inflict as much ISK damage as they can. Your only risk is that you will have to pay the reward if you missed your window to change docking permissions.
Technically, every courier contract is a crapshoot for losing your collateral ā even the legit ones between NPC stations. Third party gankers can just blow you up on the way to the destination. You need to be careful and mindful of your surroundings, pay attention and check things often.
When it comes to structures, you should not take any contract to any structure that is not TTT, Mogul, IchooseYou or structures that have no active special services (industry, cloning, research, market etc) listed in the Services tab. Ignore these contracts and you will be mostly fine. You can also ask in the Haulers Channel if a particular destination is suspicious.
Thanks, I didnāt think about the special services check. As far as the Haulers channel; I tried but there were only two online and they were mute. āHaulersā is what I joined unless it is a slightly different string I should have entered.
LOL is this seriously still a thing? I havenāt played in years and people were doing this exploit back then too. Has CCP even done anything while I was gone aside from add ship skins?
How exactly will scouting allow him to see the future?
But even if it is confirmed, itās irrelevant to the issue. A support ticket filed by a Haulers Channel mod told us that you are not supposed to be able to complete contracts in a structure that is in Structure reinforcement. They even managed to get the courier package into the structure but could not deliver it because the contract service is offline due to the structure being in Structure timer. The support ticket said this is intentional.
Cool. But that still wonāt make you able to complete the contract because contracts cannot be completed in structures in hull timer, whether due to reinforced state or uncored state. That problem can only be fixed by CCP completely disallowing the creation to not-online structures.
By the way: This is another of those cases that I have reported a long time ago when CCP introduced cores and this type of scam became the new norm. Go figure how well CCP looks at feedback topics.
