Random stranger on the road events counter-productive?

[zPhoenix]

The payout from those random stranger on the road events is quite minimal, and they often require that I remove the perfect carcass in the back of my horse plus take me way out of my route.  So I concluded that I am better off ignoring those events.

 

Am I correct?  Are these events counter-productive?  Or is there something that I am not taking into consideration?

[kcole4001]

Often they are not worth doing, unless you're not in the middle of something you had already planned.

Regarding removing a carcass, if it's relatively easy to replace later I'd consider it, but an LA or something you've travelled quite a way for to complete a daily, then no.

 

A few of them (Braithwaite message, rescue tied up strangers) do pay 0.08 gold, so if it's not too much of an interruption it helps a little.

[DentureDynamite]

I won't do them if they're out of my way or I have a $10 perfect buck on my horse. I usually just shoot and loot the NPC attackers, then ride off. lol

 

The game runs a hidden timer and max distance check, so if either is "tripped" it's all over.

 

I've had fun though picking up the stranger, then taking them way out of the way, with them asking, "What are you doing?" until the game just gives up and ends the mission (blaming it on 'your posse', even though I'm never in one). lol

Edited December 21, 2020 by DentureDynamite

[kcole4001]

I kinda like the Braithwaite messenger guy, seems nice, so I help him out, I'm usually not travelling there, but figure if I take him I might as well pick up whatever collectibles are nearby, there are always a few, and it pays 0.08G.

The rescue the tied up guy in StDenis cemetery pays a little gold as well and there are usually collectibles nearby, plus a chance to loot a treasure map off the enemies, so I'll usually do that one.

 

Besides, I'm inching up on resetting the awards for ambushes, helping strangers, etc. so it's worth doing if I have no urgent plans or a time limit before having to go do real world stuff.

Edited December 21, 2020 by kcole4001
spelling

[4eyedcoupe]

I always stop and check them out just in case it could be an ambush.  If it turns out to be a help mission, sometimes I do them and others I just ride off and wait for it to tell me I got too far away. 

[IamCourtney]

If you're in Maximum Efficiency Grind Mode then these missions are probably counterproductive by that metric. Personally, I swore off that playstyle long ago. 

 

FWIW, most of the events that involve bringing somebody from A to B have the same More Time Taken = Bigger Payout rules as other missions so I'll often spend some time hunting, fishing, herbing, crafting etc. while the NPC bitches about what's taking so long. If you really drag it out a 5 minute timer will eventually appear and you can get payouts approaching the .5g level if you finish late.

 

Plus you can just have them follow on foot if you don't want to give up your carcass spot, you can't gallop around of course but they can keep up with a decent paced trot no problem.

[DentureDynamite]

7 minutes ago, IamCourtney said:

FWIW, most of the events that involve bringing somebody from A to B have the same More Time Taken = Bigger Payout rules as other missions so I'll often spend some time hunting, fishing, herbing, crafting etc. while the NPC bitches about what's taking so long. If you really drag it out a 5 minute timer will eventually appear and you can get payouts approaching the .5g level if you finish late.

Good to know! I could (and should) have dragged out a stranger rescue yesterday, as I was already going to Thieves Landing for the NPC distance kill daily (plus picking pretty prairie poppies). lol

[4eyedcoupe]

17 minutes ago, IamCourtney said:

Plus you can just have them follow on foot if you don't want to give up your carcass spot, you can't gallop around of course but they can keep up with a decent paced trot no problem.

This.  I make those mofos walk all of the time.

[1898]

I like picking them up and continuing my travels to where ever I was going just to hear their comments when they get mad and leave.  One lady yelled "thanks for nothing!"

[DentureDynamite]

41 minutes ago, 1898 said:

I like picking them up and continuing my travels to where ever I was going just to hear their comments when they get mad and leave.  One lady yelled "thanks for nothing!"

 

lol I would have responded to her with a "shot in the arm" (or other strategic location).

[AmyStone]

Is it my imagination or have they removed the gold reward from them? There was a time when I helped out strangers in need and let them tag along with whatever I'm going until the timer ran down and then dropped them off. The gold was worth doing it for.

[StyxTx]

4 hours ago, kcole4001 said:

I kinda like the Braithwaite messenger guy, seems nice, so I help him out, I'm usually not travelling there, but figure if I take him I might as well pick up whatever collectibles are nearby, there are always a few, and it pays 0.08G.

 

Sometimes that's an ambush too if that's the guy by that diseased village outside of Lagras.

Edited December 21, 2020 by StyxTx

[netnow66]

This sort of reminds me of what happened this morning. The legendary question mark popped up when I was doing a bounty mission. Quick decision--how to carry the bounty and the legendary? If I kill the bounty, I can just drag them and put the legendary on the back. I got the legendary and the bounty issue was handled by my incompetent shooting--she felt nothing as I dragged her back to town because she was dead already.

 

And, yes, you have to decide if the side quest trip will be worth it to you. It's not even about the money with me, sometimes I just don't want to be bothered. I pass up many events during a session (but I am comfortable with the amount of money and gold that I have right now). I guess it's the role player in me that will have me waste my ammo to kill kidnappers--but then leave the victim to get back to town on their own. I don't even bother stopping to talk to that woman in lower Blackwater who tells you to go and save the kidnapped NPC anymore. I just go straight to the docks, kill the kidnappers, cut the kidnappee loose and ride away. It takes awhile for the "mission failed" to disappear from the bottom of my screen (which actually can prevent you from some game interactions [fast travel] because the game sees you in a mission) but it's worth it to me. The same when I choose to just ride thru a roadblock (which doesn't happen often because those count as moonshiner missions).

 

 

[kcole4001]

57 minutes ago, StyxTx said:

Sometimes that's an ambush too if that's the guy by that diseased village outside of Lagras.

Yep, same one, the abandoned village is Pleasance.

I almost always get the tied up stranger who requests to be taken to Rhodes Sheriff immediately after the Braithwaite imposter ambush.

[StyxTx]

55 minutes ago, netnow66 said:

This sort of reminds me of what happened this morning. The legendary question mark popped up when I was doing a bounty mission. Quick decision--how to carry the bounty and the legendary? If I kill the bounty, I can just drag them and put the legendary on the back. I got the legendary and the bounty issue was handled by my incompetent shooting--she felt nothing as I dragged her back to town because she was dead already.

 

And, yes, you have to decide if the side quest trip will be worth it to you. It's not even about the money with me, sometimes I just don't want to be bothered. I pass up many events during a session (but I am comfortable with the amount of money and gold that I have right now). I guess it's the role player in me that will have me waste my ammo to kill kidnappers--but then leave the victim to get back to town on their own. I don't even bother stopping to talk to that woman in lower Blackwater who tells you to go and save the kidnapped NPC anymore. I just go straight to the docks, kill the kidnappers, cut the kidnappee loose and ride away. It takes awhile for the "mission failed" to disappear from the bottom of my screen (which actually can prevent you from some game interactions [fast travel] because the game sees you in a mission) but it's worth it to me. The same when I choose to just ride thru a roadblock (which doesn't happen often because those count as moonshiner missions).

 

 

Sounds like how I played.

[Dark Spark]

All I know is that putting a Perfect Buck or Cougar on the back of my horse is a sure-fire way to cause a Trade Route invite to pop up on my screen...

[zPhoenix]

9 minutes ago, Dark Spark said:

All I know is that putting a Perfect Buck or Cougar on the back of my horse is a sure-fire way to cause a Trade Route invite to pop up on my screen...

 

Maybe the right time to ask... what kind of gameplay is Trade Route.  All of those invite popups fail to give a description of what they are, and since the majority are PvP I usually don't bother.

[IamCourtney]

1 minute ago, zPhoenix said:

 

Maybe the right time to ask... what kind of gameplay is Trade Route.  All of those invite popups fail to give a description of what they are, and since the majority are PvP I usually don't bother.

Ideally it's a pure PvE experience, the players ride a slow moving train along a route while defending it from waves of incoming NPCs who try to destroy the cargo onboard. If all goes well, you can add up to 18 finished goods to your trader business. Unfortunately you sometimes get bad apples who toss dynamite to try and damage the goods and/or knock people off the train. I've personally only had it happen twice, I used to run Trade Route at almost every opportunity but I haven't been in one in months as the schedule changes mean it only pops up at times when I'm at work or asleep, so I dunno if the situation has deteriorated with the influx of new players.

[Krommer]

16 hours ago, zPhoenix said:

Am I correct?  Are these events counter-productive?  Or is there something that I am not taking into consideration?

 

the only use of "random stranger"/helping events is if the daily is something like

 

"Helped someone in need." 

 

It also seems they are particularly RARE during those (because other players also doing?)

EVERY TIME I forget this, but I seem to recall someone mentioning to do something like a 
Legendary Bounty (forced solo session) that takes place in an area where you know some

"helped someone in need" locations? So I've never tried it myself.

Hmmm.... wonder if that would work for other things I have trouble with like ambushes?

 

Or, if you get lucky and the daily is skinning "two cougars" and you have the one

where the guy is in the "suspension trap under the tree" with two cougars below him 

I've had that happen once!

 

Once I figured out that the "Beggar" in St. Denis counts for "Helped someone in need" daily,

it was a million times easier; there are about 12 possible spawn points there so I just go east 

to west down the streets, then south and usually within about 5 seconds of trying I'm hearing

the beggar!!! 

 

 

Yeah, i kept getting "Trade Route" and "Railroad Baron" mixed up...

"Say, how am I going to get goods from THIS?"

"Railroad Baron" is FANTASTIC for "free roam revolver kills" and "free roam explosives kills",

though (or any of that type of stuff); although for some strange reason I got THREE "explosives" ones, with explosive ammo

in the revolver, but only one revolver one counted (so had to get two more kills with that

same revolver with explosive rounds, but lots of time in Railroad Baron, so much chaos!!!   ) 

Edited December 22, 2020 by Krommer

[AdamNortonUK]

I just knock them over on my horse to trigger the ambush part of them that may happen instead of them being friendly much quicker than talking to them and taking them places when it’s not an ambush as they just die and nothing happens so you can just continue with what your doing or just take a minute to take down 8-10 NPCs then carry on with what you’re doing!

Edited December 22, 2020 by AdamNortonUK

[BUT THE BENZ]

17 hours ago, zPhoenix said:

The payout from those random stranger on the road events is quite minimal

well that depends. you can make a few bucks and up to 0.4 bars?! that is, if you keep the stranger alive and run down the timer. you can collect away with your companion and deliver him when time has come. also, there is bodies to drop during rescues and ambushes and what not, and thus bodies to loot. never walk away from those!

[Krommer]

1 hour ago, AdamNortonUK said:

I just knock them over on my horse to trigger the ambush part of them that may happen instead of them being friendly

 

Hey, does that count for the daily "fended off an ambush?"

 

 

[roggek]

7 hours ago, BUT THE BENZ said:

and what not, and thus bodies to loot. never walk away from those!

 

That is what the majority does wrong, skipping looting. 

 

Back to topic:

I  escorted a stranded stranger (he with the dead horse at the graveyard) from Fort Riggs to Thieves Landing and got 0.82 in gold for just a escort with no ambushes involved.
So don't neglect the stranger missions, they can be profitable.

Edited December 22, 2020 by roggek

[kcole4001]

Jeez, they must all pay differently!

Braithwaite guy only ever pays 0.08 gold, same for the tied up cousin in the StDenis cemetery.

 

===============================================

 

4 hours ago, Krommer said:

 

Hey, does that count for the daily "fended off an ambush?"

 

 

It does indeed count when they turn out to be hostile.

Edited December 22, 2020 by kcole4001
formatting

[BUT THE BENZ]

1 hour ago, kcole4001 said:

Jeez, they must all pay differently!

Braithwaite guy only ever pays 0.08 gold, same for the tied up cousin in the StDenis cemetery.

well, not all stranger missions have the same length I think. mostly they have that 20 minutes span. I do recall that cemetery rescue aswell and sometimes the 5 minutes left timer pops up earlier, depends on the scripted mission I suppose.

[roggek]

I suspect that the distance to the drop off point,  has something to do with the gold payout, usually the 0.08 gold is standard, but some stranger missions pays out more in gold, and much less in RDO$

Edited December 22, 2020 by roggek

[StyxTx]

8 hours ago, BUT THE BENZ said:

well that depends. you can make a few bucks and up to 0.4 bars?! that is, if you keep the stranger alive and run down the timer. you can collect away with your companion and deliver him when time has come. also, there is bodies to drop during rescues and ambushes and what not, and thus bodies to loot. never walk away from those!

Is the pay out worth the time spent letting the clock run down though? That's what I look at. If I have to spend 15 minutes waiting for the clock to run down it isn't worth it to me.

[AmyStone]

41 minutes ago, roggek said:

I suspect that the distance to the drop off point,  has something to do with the gold payout, usually the 0.08 gold is standard, but some stranger missions pays out more in gold, and much less in RDO$

 

It has nothing at all to do with it. It's all about the clock.

[kcole4001]

43 minutes ago, StyxTx said:

Is the pay out worth the time spent letting the clock run down though? That's what I look at. If I have to spend 15 minutes waiting for the clock to run down it isn't worth it to me.

Probably not, unless you have nothing else to do, maybe when waiting on a shine batch or trader goods to finish up.

 

I feel it's the same with the distant trader sales, the extra amount of money isn't worth the 10 minutes or more that gets tacked onto the drive.

 

And really, once you get over $40,000-50,000 money isn't much of an issue.

Even bounty missions I prefer to keep them relatively short rather that sit around and wait out timers.

I want to enjoy the time, not play AFK simulator.

[StyxTx]

4 minutes ago, kcole4001 said:

Probably not, unless you have nothing else to do, maybe when waiting on a shine batch or trader goods to finish up.

 

I feel it's the same with the distant trader sales, the extra amount of money isn't worth the 10 minutes or more that gets tacked onto the drive.

 

And really, once you get over $40,000-50,000 money isn't much of an issue.

Even bounty missions I prefer to keep them relatively short rather that sit around and wait out timers.

I want to enjoy the time, not play AFK simulator.

Yeah. We discovered that just dropping a bounty off right away and moving on to another right away ends off paying out more than what we get from the dead time spent standing around waiting to drop them. You figure if you spend 5 minutes waiting to drop and do that 5 times you've had 25 minutes of dead time. Can run a number of other bounties in that time. But if you're only on for a short time or don't plan on doing just bounties waiting is probably better.

Edited December 22, 2020 by StyxTx