Honest question: Are the security vessels *really* flying in between your shots?

[Kicks]

Firstly, this is not an antagonistic post. I'm not going to presume that I've seen your game-play, nor experiences.

I hunt USS's a lot. And more often than not, there's the ne'er-do-wells intermixed with some feds. And a good, jolly, fight. Everyone is flying around and firing on the mark (as am I), and whenever I see a Federal or security vessel, I hold my fire. I have missed of course, cannons flew by just as the wanted-mark performed evasive manoeuvres, and PC Joe got one straight in his canopy. Whoops. Finished fight, find an outpost, and pay of the meagre 400cr bounty, and move on with my life.

I don't believe there so many feds deliberately flying between people's weapons. It just seems alien to me.

What I *think* is happening, is that the Feds are getting clipped, and then people get a bad experience because of it (e.g. not getting out of there, getting scanned, etc, etc).


There was a thread-suggestion where a 20 minute "Check your Fire" solution was proposed, and I am not adverse to this.

But on the other hand, it's really our fault - not the AI pilots. It's very rare, for me, to have the issue.


Check your fire.

 

[Argus Leadhead]

+1

Trigger discipline and situational awareness FTW.

They've worked so far for me, I don't get why it's so hard for others to understand.

 

[Ayerc]

Check your fire.

Yes, they certainly do. I doubt it's what they're intending, they just have really bad situational awareness apparently.

But such is life in combat zones. I'm fairly good at avoiding friendly fire, but have shot my fair share of system authorities and have paid the consequences.

Check your Fire.

 

[DJRenegade]

in before big debate again! Feels like these threads are made just to troll now :/

 

[hapklaar]

I have the same experience. I almost never hit a fed, just watch out where you shoot and keep an eye on the ships around you. When it does happen, the fed is usually behind my target attacking him from the other side.

 

[palang81984]

They do fly in front from time to Time. I farm pirates in resource extraction points, so often there is one cobra or sidewinder flying around, and about 4 feds buzzing about in the dog fight. I have to be VERY careful not to hit them (often very distant npc get hit by a stray bullet no matter how hard i try).

I am always conscious of tagging one by accident, so I pay attention. On quite a few occasions an annoying fed in an eagle or something will fly DIRECTLY through my line of fire as I'm tailing the pirate, sometimes trailing by only a few hundred meters. It's quite inconsiderate.

Fortunately I've learned to keep an eye on the radar as much as possible to avoid this. I only use cannons when I know i'm at the head of the wolf pack, and the background is open space AWAY from the miners.

This doesn't cause me any nerd rage or rage quitting, or whining to the devs. I just accept it as the nature of combat.

Also I have to say, everyone whining about getting bounties stolen by feds caused the devs to make it way too easy to gain a bounty. All i have to do is pop a couple shots on a pirate/wanted ship, and i get the bounty now even if i hardly touch him again.

 

[Yanaran]

I've played this game way too much, reached combat rank Master in beta and currently a few kills away (estimated) from Master again now in Live.

I've clipped the security vessels ONCE. After that one time, from which I escaped (I didn't turn around and kill the cops in "self-defense"), I hold my fire when I see ships crossing into my line of fire. This is a non-issue that can be solved by paying more attention to your surrondings and checking your fire.

 

[Kalchak]

It's obvious the AI doesn't pay much attention when they're trying to kill a bounty, I've lost count of the number of Eagles and vipers that fly in to me as I'm tailing a larger slow target... I'm in a Cobra, I'm not that hard to see, but they'll happy bumble in to me from above, or the side, and once a full on rear-end shunt that left me wondering if I shouldn't have been given flowers first.

They're a bit over-eager it seems.

 

[Wonne]

It happens but i agree its pretty rare, at least for me.

I think it depends on what kind of weapons are used. Beamlasers and Multicannons invite you to hold the trigger down. I will go out on a limp and say that these are responsible for most accidental hits.

I myself prefer Pulse or Burstlasers in single wellaimed bursts.

 

[GunnyHighway]

I have noticed that the AI for NPCs try their hardest to avoid collisions, this often means very drastic changes in direction and speed when they get into vicinity of another ship (regardless of visual contact). This compounds itself as more AI ships are added to a small area (500m around the tail end of a wanted ship for example).

I find it easy to stay out of that rear bubble move into more side/front positions for targeting thus negating any real possibility for friendly fire. I haven't accidentally fired on any police since gamma and I have 200+ bounties right now.

That said, they do need to fix the retaliation mechanic for a simple accidental fire and 200cr fine and all police force going ape-crazy on you the second it happens.

 

[Kicks]

It happens but i agree its pretty rare, at least for me.

I think it depends on what kind of weapons are used. Beamlasers and Multicannons invite you to hold the trigger down. I will go out on a limp and say that these are responible for most accidental hits.

I myself prefer Pulse or Burstlasers in single wellaimed bursts.

Yeah, I try and be careful with the beams... for starters you need to ensure you're on the target anyway (I play with Fixed beams/cannons). If an AI Pilot suddenly shows up then I need to be prepared. But in conflict-zones, this happens all the time with friendlies around particularly agro-targets.

On the whole, it's a non-issue, but accidents happen. And perhaps the AI will do something considerably inconsiderate... but that's when I take my finger off the button, reposition, and re-attack. And the majority of the encounters are nice, fat, bounties with no fines from killing PC Bob.

 

[Wonne]

Funny thing is, it happes to the AI a lot more than to us players. I like to go in on anacondas really close 100-200m and i get a lot of friendly fire on me from cops and npc bountyhunters. The latter will get 200 credit bounty an will soon after stop being a problem.

 

[JAD]

Here's a question....


When you're flying do you make sure you're not blocking the line of fire for any System Feds? I bet you don't.

Now, what would you be saying if they shot you accidently and made you lose a fight?


I like the situational awareness needed to fight.


The responsibility, just like in real life, always lays with the shooter to know what they're shooting at.



JAD.

 

[anikaiful]

I'm inclined to think the local security forces are so depressed about their job that they've become suicidal.

 

[Argus Leadhead]

Geeze where was this thread last night? People were getting SOOO MAD about this issue. I had to bite my tongue not to say something along the lines of "get gud skrub..."

All kidding aside, this is one of the things that make ED what it is. It's not supposed to be easy, and considering how much FDev emphasized how much they're making THEIR vision of what it should be during beta and earlier, the pandering to the L.C.D. has begun with the "AI kill stealing" which wasn't an issue at all if you were half decent at combat.

 

[bassman]

I don't believe there so many feds deliberately flying between people's weapons. It just seems alien to me.

I dont know how the concept of "deliberate" applies to AI but ... they seem to essentially ignore your presence in the fight and the fact that you have a beam laser tracking the target. Its not a everyday occurrence but I've had one who wasnt anywhere in my fov wiz past my nose so quick it barely registered with my brain (although he naturally registered the resulting 1 millisecond of laser on his shield obviously).

Its worth noting that I have several thousand hours of competitive team play in quake (various versions) under my belt which was generally with team damage on so my "avoid friendly fire" instinct is quite well developed.

All in all though it not a big issue for me, just a minor annoyance, but I sympathise with newbs who maybe dont have the skills/resources to recover from the situation.

 

[Tooks]

Here's a question....


When you're flying do you make sure you're not blocking the line of fire for any System Feds? I bet you don't.

Now, what would you be saying if they shot you accidently and made you lose a fight?


I like the situational awareness needed to fight.


The responsibility, just like in real life, always lays with the shooter to know what they're shooting at.



JAD.

In my most recent visit to a resource collection site I was shot in the ass repeatedly by a sys fed with a flak cannon. He didn't care, the law didn't care. It made me feel sad.

Edit: I feel I need to clarify I wasn't his target, he was shooting through me to get to the bounty hunter in front of me...

 

[CnlPepper]

Go and fight at a resource extraction point for a few hours and you'll see repeatedly what people are complaining about.

 

[Kicks]

I dont know how the concept of "deliberate" applies to AI but ... they seem to essentially ignore your presence in the fight and the fact that you have a beam laser tracking the target. Its not a everyday occurrence but I've had one who wasnt anywhere in my fov wiz past my nose so quick it barely registered with my brain (although he naturally registered the resulting 1 millisecond of laser on his shield obviously).

Its worth noting that I have several thousand hours of competitive team play in quake (various versions) under my belt which was generally with team damage on so my "avoid friendly fire" instinct is quite well developed.

All in all though it not a big issue for me, just a minor annoyance, but I sympathise with newbs who maybe dont have the skills/resources to recover from the situation.

And that's a fair point, but let's face it - whilst we're whizzing around in our space-ships we're probably getting in the face of the AI too (I know I've had a few shots in my rear).

And you're right, if you're attacking and the Feds jump straight in over you and in to your LOS, then you've got little choice in that split millisecond.

But to me, that comes with the territory. I guess I just feel this isn't a big problem, and we should be checking our fire.

There will always be exceptions, not ignoring that. And then comes the knowledge that you have to pay off that bounty, and an outpost is preferable (if possible). If not, time to silent-run in. Let's not get vaporised over the incident, eh?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Go and fight at a resource extraction point for a few hours and you'll see repeatedly what people are complaining about.

I'm in transit at the moment, but as soon as I find an extraction site, I'll go and do just this Thanks for the advice, commander!

 

[CmdrKull]

Yes it happens, but it seems to me that it is waaay more manageable than some on the forums claim. Even when it does happen, I've never had a problem getting away and paying off my fine. It does not seem to affect rep in a noticeable way, which is far more important to me.