Police in combat zones are too jumpy and aggressive towards players.

[ALLCAPS]

I spend a lot of time bounty hunting around resource extraction zones, and many times I end up having to jump out to pay off 250c/300c bounties that have been placed on me due to cops zipping through my line of fire. This isn't even the entire problem. Any time you get one of these accidental tiny bounties, every cop in the instance instantly breaks off of what they were doing and opens fire on you and only you. Even if there's ships right on top of us with massive bounties on them, they ignore them and gun for me and my 300c.

What makes it even worse is the stations and station police also open fire on you when you're trying to dock to pay it off. It's a huge hassle to have a nice base of operations next to an extraction point and then have to fly off and find a platform/outpost to dock at to pay off the puny bounty. If it was just a fine (reckless weapons fire, maybe?) it wouldn't be an issue, since I could just pay it off when I cash in my vouchers, but having it be an instant kill-on-sight bounty is a huge hassle.

The real slap in the face is that NPCs and police don't seem to be held to the same standard. If I'm shooting at a ship and catch pulse lasers from cops also shooting at it, nothing happens. If I get hit by flak coming from a bounty hunting Anaconda, they don't get a bounty. If I see a Sidewinder sitting still firing mining lasers, and I park in front of them and get hit they don't get a bounty. Why is there a double standard with this?

Right now if they just changed the instant bounty into an instant fine it would be okay, but really there should be some way to tell an accidental glancing shot from the beginning of a full on attack.

 

[Riepah]

I completely agree with you. Aside from the "huge hassle" part, it's also intensely unrealistic and immersion breaking. Get ready for a bunch of people telling you it's your fault and that you should watch your fire, though.

 

[Kitiara]

Get ready for a bunch of people telling you it's your fault and that you should watch your fire, though.

But he should

The real slap in the face is that NPCs and police don't seem to be held to the same standard. If I'm shooting at a ship and catch pulse lasers from cops also shooting at it, nothing happens. If I get hit by flak coming from a bounty hunting Anaconda, they don't get a bounty. If I see a Sidewinder sitting still firing mining lasers, and I park in front of them and get hit they don't get a bounty. Why is there a double standard with this?

Here I agree. NPC's that shoot you accidently should also get bounties

 

[ALLCAPS]

I do watch my fire, but there's no way for me to know that a cop in an Eagle is going to zip between me and my target less than 1km way while I'm firing pulse lasers. I'm very careful when firing cannons to make sure all my shots either connect with their target to fly harmlessly into the black, but I can't honestly be expected to mind every single laser and bullet when a swarm of ships are plugging away at a target.

 

[Yabba Addict]

Ugh...
(copy pasted from one of my other posts, not gonna type out yet another one for this)
The only bounties I've incurred for ages is preemptive firing on criminals before scanning them. It's all in the scanner. If you switch it over to linear and have it set 2 notches above minimum sensor strength it becomes alot easier to read exactly who is where. The main inner circle is about 1 km so it becomes a doddle avoiding friendly fire. I've setup my x52 so that as soon as I enter combat mode my sensors readjust automatically.

EDIT: It's also really handy in extraction zones, using the scanner like this i can fly backwards without hitting any rocks.

 

[nafeasonto]

Yeah it's a little ridiculous. I was in the middle of fighting a wanted guy, and the police guy, literally flew RIGHT BETWEEN ME AND THE SHIP and I incurred a bounty. It's ridiculous. Shouldn't get an immediate punishment for a stray fire, or for him flying between you out of no where, you don't h ave even a split second to react. You know, they hit you sometimes too. Oh and not to mention I got RAMMED by one chasing a wanted guy.

Got to be fixed. It's stupid.

 

[Kitiara]

Ugh...
(copy pasted from one of my other posts, not gonna type out yet another one for this)
The only bounties I've incurred for ages is preemptive firing on criminals before scanning them. It's all in the scanner. If you switch it over to linear and have it set 2 notches above minimum sensor strength it becomes alot easier to read exactly who is where. The main inner circle is about 1 km so it becomes a doddle avoiding friendly fire. I've setup my x52 so that as soon as I enter combat mode my sensors readjust automatically.

EDIT: It's also really handy in extraction zones, using the scanner like this i can fly backwards without hitting any rocks.

I'm with you here. I've not done quite as well as you. I do pick up bounties from time to time, then pay em off at an outpost and carry on. But for the most part, avoiding hitting clean ships (including the other player I group with a lot of the time) is not too much of a problem.

 

[ALLCAPS]

Ugh...
(copy pasted from one of my other posts, not gonna type out yet another one for this)
The only bounties I've incurred for ages is preemptive firing on criminals before scanning them. It's all in the scanner. If you switch it over to linear and have it set 2 notches above minimum sensor strength it becomes alot easier to read exactly who is where. The main inner circle is about 1 km so it becomes a doddle avoiding friendly fire. I've setup my x52 so that as soon as I enter combat mode my sensors readjust automatically.

EDIT: It's also really handy in extraction zones, using the scanner like this i can fly backwards without hitting any rocks.

This doesn't do anything to prevent getting a bounty on me for firing at a ship that a bunch of npcs/cops are swarming around. Am I just supposed to not attack that target? The ships fighting it are all hitting each other I'm sure, but if I open fire and clip one of them they will all turn on me and only me. It also doesn't protect against cops in fast Eagles/Vipers just zooming between me and my target. I'm not going to stare at the radar the entire time hoping none of the triangles decides to zoom directly across my line of fire. That's not good design.

 

[Lestat]

Attack a target draw them away from a crowded area. THEN attack.

 

[kamenjar]

I never understood what is it about these complaints and how are people actually hunting to keep hitting cops. A video may help me understand cause I simply don't get it. I have 1277 bounties claimed, and it probably happened to me ONCE!

 

[Yabba Addict]

This doesn't do anything to prevent getting a bounty on me for firing at a ship that a bunch of npcs/cops are swarming around. Am I just supposed to not attack that target? The ships fighting it are all hitting each other I'm sure, but if I open fire and clip one of them they will all turn on me and only me. It also doesn't protect against cops in fast Eagles/Vipers just zooming between me and my target. I'm not going to stare at the radar the entire time hoping none of the triangles decides to zoom directly across my line of fire. That's not good design.

Have you actually tried what I suggested?

 

[kamenjar]

Have you actually tried what I suggested?

Maybe I'm avoiding high security systems... Hunt in medium and low, or even better -anarchy? Mediium and low has lower density of cops and higher density of pirates.

Edit: or maybe it's my situational awareness on radar. I also use lateral thrusters a lot to avoid collisions and such.

 

[ALLCAPS]

Yes. I have been doing this since I've been doing combat. Just because I can see where they all are doesn't mean one of them won't decide it wants to fly/boost in front of me.

 

[Herewego]

Since I stopped using Multi canons I have had no cop problems and stranger still picking up dropped cargo after fighting the wanted guys I have been scanned and no fines on those stolen Goods?

 

[kamenjar]

Yes. I have been doing this since I've been doing combat. Just because I can see where they all are doesn't mean one of them won't decide it wants to fly/boost in front of me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to help and understand, rather than criticize. Try to make it a "reflex" to ease off on the trigger when you see a diamond nearing your target. Maybe it's also because I didn't hunt too much in smaller ships and cops tend to not be so liberal about flying in front of an Asp or a Python.. dunno. I do remember the federal ships and eagles doing that to me, but where I hunt, it's mostly vipers.

 

[Yabba Addict]

So maybe you're just really unlucky then, or you fixate too much. I think it might be the latter. Because I can see where they all are too, keep an eye on them and let off if they start straying too close. And as for boosting in front of you, that boost only adds another 100-150ms, so to boost in front from behind would give you quite a bit of reaction time. And if it's from the side, even a viper is gonna take a couple of seconds to breach the 1km bubble to where you are.

 

[ALLCAPS]

So maybe you're just really unlucky then, or you fixate too much. I think it might be the latter. Because I can see where they all are too, keep an eye on them and let off if they start straying too close. And as for boosting in front of you, that boost only adds another 100-150ms, so to boost in front from behind would give you quite a bit of reaction time. And if it's from the side, even a viper is gonna take a couple of seconds to breach the 1km bubble to where you are.

Even if it is my fault for accidentally/negligently hitting them, one stray shot shouldn't instantly put a death sentence on my head. Cops are allowed to accidentally shoot me without me being awarded some kind of restitution, or npcs given a bounty, so it shouldn't work that way for a player either. If the contact is so brief that they just fly in front of me for a moment I should get a warning, or a fine, or anything but every cop in the zone turning to kill me over 250 credits.

 

[Riepah]

All the tips to avoid accidental stray shots won't improve the immersion-breaking AI and their reactions, though. This ridiculously exaggerated response to friendly fire coming from the player has to be fixed from a realism standpoint, avoidable or not.

 

[Lestat]

Have you tried drawing a target away from the crowd? It work for me. I don't have a problem and I don't get fined. Try it. Weapons like mulicannon can be more trouble then they are worth.

 

[kamenjar]

I also think that time to kill is a factor too. Try not to shoot from miles away and use effective combos to kill them before even cops get to them.