Interdiction
Interdiction is a term for when a ship is intercepted by another vessel during supercruise mode. When a ship is interdicted, it automatically drops out of supercruise mode and into normal flight mode. Interdictions can be caused by System Authority Vessels, Bounty Hunters, Pirates, and other players.
System Authority Vessels will generally interdict only to scan for criminal status (Bounties) and activities (Illegal Goods/Stolen Goods. If either scan turns out positive then they will begin to open fire on your ship otherwise they will send you a message to continue on your way.
When Bounty Hunters interdict you they will generally scan your ship to determine your criminal status and if their scan reveals a bounty they will open fire.
Pirates currently act in one of three ways when they interdict you. Either they will open fire immediately in hopes that you will jettison cargo, they will send you a message instructing you to "Give up your cargo or die!", or they will scan your cargo before demanding you jettison it. The end goal for the pirates is to relieve you of your cargo and they do not generally care if you live or die in the process.
Notes
- Frame Shift Drive Interdictor introduced which allows players to interdict other ships. (Beta 3)
- Ships will take more damage when interdicting at higher speeds than lower speeds.[citation needed]