Whats up with high rank NPC always escaping combat

kiario · Dec 23, 2014

Fighting elite pythons, vipers etc...
They all escape like little cowards when thing are going bad for them.

I am flying a measly Sidewinder, surely nothing to be afraid of.

Really, something should be done about NPC using FSD to escape even when I am close to them and hitting their drive.

Its just boring and disappointing design

Vagabond · Dec 23, 2014

To be fair, if you were flying a Conda and a Sidewinder was having the better of you, but it didn't have the means to finish you off before you might escape, wouldn't you?

Poseidal · Dec 23, 2014

How do you suppose they got the high rank?

CMDRKNac · Dec 23, 2014

FSD Wake Scanner is your friend.

QuantumTron · Dec 23, 2014

kiario said:
Fighting elite pythons, vipers etc...
They all escape like little cowards when thing are going bad for them.

I am flying a measly Sidewinder, surely nothing to be afraid of.

Joke aside, something should be done about NPC using FSD to escape even when I am close to them and hitting their drive.

Its just boring and disappointing design

To be honest, I think that's the correct behaviour. Retreat is never a shameful tactic in battle - you live to fight another day and can learn from the experience and come up with new tactics.

Only the foolish bravely carry on fighting to the death, and in my opinion, an NPC Elite pilot is emulating a perfectly reasonable retreat tactic.

Rgds.

Lestat · Dec 23, 2014

kiario said:
Fighting elite pythons, vipers etc...
They all escape like little cowards when thing are going bad for them.

I am flying a measly Sidewinder, surely nothing to be afraid of.

Really, something should be done about NPC using FSD to escape even when I am close to them and hitting their drive.

Its just boring and disappointing design

I have noticed it also. But found if you can disable it they are still easy to kill.

The question we have to ask why are they elite? They only kill unskilled and run from better pilots?

Jagax · Dec 23, 2014

CMDRKNac said:
FSD Wake Scanner is your friend.

Doesn't work with NPC's. When you follow they're completely gone

Edit:
Well, the scanner works but jumping after them is pointless. You arrive in the new system just as if you had jumped there without following a wake. No NPC or SC wake in sight.

Matt · Dec 23, 2014

Yeah I agree it is frustrating - you have a long fight and whittle someone down and they somehow manage to outrun a cobra and escape when they only have 4% hull left

They need a FSD jammer module or something.

kiario · Dec 23, 2014

I think the problem is the game mechanics, if you hit the FSD, it should take a very long time to charge it. Now i am just a few hundreds meter away and banging thair fSD and poof they are gone

Stormprooter · Dec 23, 2014

Tip: Use gimballed weapons and the sub-targetting system to target their power plant, a good hit on the power plant and they will go bang well before their hull gets close to zero.

warbaby2 · Dec 23, 2014

Matt said:
Yeah I agree it is frustrating - you have a long fight and whittle someone down and they somehow manage to outrun a cobra and escape when they only have 4% hull left

They need a FSD jammer module or something.

Well, if you are going after the hull on ships like that, you are taking the longest route possible... target their engines/reactor. Also, while I agree there should be some form of EMP like FSD scrambler in the game, high ranking pilots are not high ranking for nothing... they realise when a battle goes poorly for them and choose to life and fight another day... can't really say that's bad AI behaviour.

CaptainKremmen · Dec 23, 2014

If a fight's going badly for me, I'll be eyeing the exits... that's for sure!

QuantumTron · Dec 23, 2014

CaptainKremmen said:
If a fight's going badly for me, I'll be eyeing the exits... that's for sure!

Indeed, as I said earlier. I've ran away with tail between legs a few times - no shame in that whatsoever as it's a perfectly valid tactic.

warbaby2 · Dec 23, 2014

QuantumTron said:
Indeed, as I said earlier. I've ran away with tail between legs a few times - no shame in that whatsoever as it's a perfectly valid tactic.

Especially if you look at it as an AI programmer... fighting always is a risk/reward equasion from the first shot fired. The weaker the AI, the more it will ignore that, fire missiles prematurely, ignore damage, refrain from retreat, etc. The higher ranking the AI, the more it will take into account all those factors. It's the far better way to make believable NPC behaviour then, say, just make them turn faster or hit better... you'll only end up with unbelievable/unfair NPC's like that.

Kyle Brennan · Dec 23, 2014

QuantumTron said:
To be honest, I think that's the correct behaviour. Retreat is never a shameful tactic in battle - you live to fight another day and can learn from the experience and come up with new tactics.

Only the foolish bravely carry on fighting to the death, and in my opinion, an NPC Elite pilot is emulating a perfectly reasonable retreat tactic.

Rgds.

Yes, yes. They learn just like the Cylon Raiders.......

Bikky · Dec 23, 2014

The one thing ALL Elite pilots have in common is.... They know how and when to run.

Jagax · Dec 23, 2014

For me it's not so much the running away as the suicidal ramming tactics then running away, leaving you with big repair costs and nothing to show for it.
As for power plant aiming, the hull rarely survives long enough for the powerplant to be destroyed.

teamkill · Dec 23, 2014

Jagax said:
Doesn't work with NPC's. When you follow they're completely gone

Edit:
Well, the scanner works but jumping after them is pointless. You arrive in the new system just as if you had jumped there without following a wake. No NPC or SC wake in sight.

Actually I have followed NPCs through multiple systems and interdictions, the trouble is they are not wanted everywhere and you have to make sure you rescan them every time, by the time you have done that they are jumping again

Poseidal · Dec 23, 2014

Jagax said:
For me it's not so much the running away as the suicidal ramming tactics then running away, leaving you with big repair costs and nothing to show for it.
As for power plant aiming, the hull rarely survives long enough for the powerplant to be destroyed.

Depends on the ship. I find Anacondas and Federal Dropships blow up far sooner if you target those systems. I wouldn't bother to target systems on anything smaller than an Asp though.

warbaby2 · Dec 23, 2014

Jagax said:
For me it's not so much the running away as the suicidal ramming tactics then running away, leaving you with big repair costs and nothing to show for it.
As for power plant aiming, the hull rarely survives long enough for the powerplant to be destroyed.

Also a valid tactic, considering that ramming a smaller ship generally results in more damage in the target, potentially hindering it from persuit.

Aiming at specific systems works best for big ships... you usually can slug away at the hull of a Type 9 for far longen then it reactor lasts, provided you use gimballed precision weapons, not spray and pray.