Kill quests: Where are the targets hiding?

[meriton]

I just spent 1 hour scouring a system for two ships the races had asked me to kill. I reset fog of war, swept the entire system, and found none of the two.

Is it possible they were lurking outside the system? (where the game tells me there is nothing of interest, even though I sometimes see ships there?) Or are they simply moving about, somehow avoiding the 4 frequently travelled shipping lines and 5 populated and guarded planets in the system?

Suspecting a bug, I restarted the game, and was greeted with:

Sentinel is attacking Dos (Dryad) in the Sadun system
Sentinel is attacking Plethesia (Dryad) in the Sadum system

How can it be in two places at once??

I then made haste for Dos, only to see it killed by the defenders. The other ship is still at large. I think I'll ignore that quest now.

[ShaggyMoose]

I am having the same issue frequently. I find that if I leave the system, then come back, it often helps. I used to use the same strategy in DC when mobs wouldn't spawn. This shouldn't really be necessary though.

Sometimes when searching for a particular ship, it feels like the damn thing is actively avoiding me. I would have to be very unlucky to miss it in a couple of sector wide sweeps, assuming it was within sector bounds. I often do the same as you and wait for it to attack a planet so I can intercept.

At the moment, both of these mission types can be frustrating.

[ShaggyMoose]

Originally Posted by meriton

Sentinel is attacking Dos (Dryad) in the Sadun system
Sentinel is attacking Plethesia (Dryad) in the Sadum system

Were the planets right next to each other? Sometimes they are practically touching...

[meriton]

Now that you mention it: Yes, they are very close. That explains the message.