JustSomeGuy wrote:I've hit the mailslot head-on only 2 or 3 times the entire time, and I know it is facing the planet it orbits. So I'm doing something wrong, maybe I'll some day get it. On the other hand, I'm not doing smuggling, partly because I can't line up the slot that well so I will most likely be scanned. I very often end up coming in somewhere between 60-90 degrees to the station when I try to line it up.
Even doing my best to aim from the planet, I am also 60-90 degrees off much of the time.
I'm using a HOTAS, which makes this very easy, but I think you could even do it on a controller: Running at full throttle, I will point the nose at the slot, and hold down on the downward thrust button, periodically pulling the stick down (pitch up) to even out the angle. The effect is that the ship is kind of rotating on its nose vertically. If I have 4 pips to engines, ain't no one in the 'verse who can scan me.
(I always fly flight-assist ON. If you can do FA-OFF, there may be an even better way.) You have to let off the downward thrust a little before you meet perfectly level with the slot, maybe two seconds, or you'll overshoot, costing time in re-adjusting your angle.
I usually only get scanned when I'm being lazy, in supercruise (interdicted and all), or LEAVING a station these days. The latter is easier to escape with 4 pips to engines, but it gets trickier when you are trying to jump somewhere behind a supercube, as patrols often circle around back there.
I hope you can apply some or all of that to start sneaking past the 5-0. Try it on some runs where you don't have anything illegal first.