So, You Guys Think The NPC AI's Are Pushovers...

[Riedquat]

I keep asking the question "Will we ever see interdictions by multiple AI ships" but it never gets answered.

I'm desperate to know the answer to this because it will make a big change to the difficulty.

instead of always being one ship, it could be three vipers, two eagles, or five sidewinders, if they work in a team it should be hard to escape from them too.

 

[Slippery Jim DiGriz]

Just tootling into Zaonce in a Python when I was jumped by General Zoff (or something like that) in a strong Anaconda who's shields I smashed through long before he broke mine. I got him down to 50% and I was still on about 80% so I thought, "this is going to cost but I should have him", then I got destroyed in an instant. Don't know if he hit me dead on with a big weapon or if he rammed me, all I know for sure is that I am now 4 million insurance and about 1 million in cargo down.

Ran into Colossus a lot earlier who just vaporised my ship (A Cobra I think) with a single volley.

The NPCs are not all weak.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Why could you not run? 4 pips in engines, a few boosts, and you're away. Cobra is much faster than the Python.

Ahem. You missed the part where my FSD was *dead*. How that happened, I had no idea. I did try to run. Within the first 5 seconds, my thrusters were already too degraded from heavy fire. Full shields were lost in about 2 seconds. My lasers and cannons just bounced off him as he passed.

No, Pythons are not overpowered. Really. My ship had nothing lower than C, and A power distribution. There simply was not much left to power.

I'm not calling for a nerf. I'm simply noting that it's going to get a lot rougher, and you are going to need the insurance.

Ironically, this may drive players into smaller ships, with multiple stored ships in reserve. I can afford two maxed Adders, for the cost of my current ship. The opportunity costs of the lost cargo's, bounties, contracts, and cartographic date are smaller, as are the rebuy and running costs. I always cash out my data and bounties as frequently as I can. The cargo is another matter. Fortunately, I was carrying scrap, to avoid carrying empty space. Tripling the money on the scrap pays for the trip.

Also, this makes long-range exploration a better option. Just remember that the best life support only runs for 25 hours...

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

I keep asking the question "Will we ever see interdictions by multiple AI ships" but it never gets answered.

I'm desperate to know the answer to this because it will make a big change to the difficulty.

instead of always being one ship, it could be three vipers, two eagles, or five sidewinders, if they work in a team it should be hard to escape from them too.

I think you will see them when Wings comes out. The really weird question is if multiple ships can *combine* their interdictors on a single target. If not, then multiple passes from large groups of ships will occur.

 

[tagos]

Ahem. You missed the part where my FSD was *dead*. How that happened, I had no idea. I did try to run. Within the first 5 seconds, my thrusters were already too degraded from heavy fire. Full shields were lost in about 2 seconds.

I had that in my Asp when jumped by a player Python. Shields and a fifth of my hull gone just like that. Thrusters heavily damaged. Tried to fight as i couldn't run but to no avail.

It was a perfectly good kill, got no complaints. But I'm now trying to get good with rail guns and cannons and manage my power more efficiently.

 

[Jon474]

Yes, definitely agree that NPCs are becoming tougher. Their flight paths are not always as predictable and they are increasingly bringing the fight to me more often.

Loving it.

Flying happy

Jon

 

[Tony Spaniels]

They used to be much better opponents but we were in crappy ships and didn't know what we know now back then. I can't understand hy we see so many shieldless pirates. no pirate should be in an unshielded ship.

Yeah I remember them being much more slippery and hard to track, and really accurate firing their weapons also. True we were in bog standard sideys with shields that melted like butter but still, its like they are the opposite of this now.

Agreed, no self respecting pirate would take someone on shieldless. I have no doubt this will be fixed in the next big update.

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

I think that's deliberate. You do not want to kill off your new customers, who aren't yet ready for that level of Elite.

Yes thats understandable. However I hope NPC AI levels are more accurate to their combat ratings in the next build. Newbies and more seasoned players alike should both be thinking twice before they take on an NPC with a high combat rating.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I had that in my Asp when jumped by a player Python. Shields and a fifth of my hull gone just like that. Thrusters heavily damaged. Tried to fight as i couldn't run but to no avail.

It was a perfectly good kill, got no complaints. But I'm now trying to get good with rail guns and cannons and manage my power more efficiently.

Good idea, but skill only goes so far, and luck always runs out.

Losing a smaller ship still hurts, but it hurts less. But, the scar tissue remains.

The big-earning trading ships will drastically be reduced in numbers. Pure combat ships will increase in number. That locks out traders, miners, and explorers. Won't be worth the pain, in either open or solo.

 

[ermtony]

Another thing that happened last night also got me thinking that the AI has been beefed up. Still in the Adder, on two occasions I got jumped by Vipers. Both I managed to take down to around 50% hull, at which point they bugged out. I had taken no hull damage. Having no wake scanner I couldn't follow. It certainly looked to me like they were behaving somewhat more rationally than usual.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

They used to be much better opponents but we were in crappy ships and didn't know what we know now back then. I can't understand hy we see so many shieldless pirates. no pirate should be in an unshielded ship.

The AI is still good in the Combat Tutorials, and a fair bit harder. Ships have gotten better that is for sure. But maybe now they are a bit "too good".

 

[Roadblock]

The Pythons capabilities are going to be reduced quite a lot in a coming update (much to the chagrin of those of us that are currently flying one), but I expect it will make surviving NPC Python attacks a lot easier.

For those interested, check out the post I started when I found an issue with Class C thruster modules, there's developer numbers in there that outline exactly how things will be changed (in a nutshell, reduced speed, maneuverability and shields).

 

[Ralph Vargr]

The AI is still good in the Combat Tutorials, and a fair bit harder. Ships have gotten better that is for sure. But maybe now they are a bit "too good".

Excellent!

Then, have the server match the names with the loudest mouths on the forum, and barrage them with uber-AI's, until they only have their starting Sidewinders left.

 

[ZappaBappa]

i actually had a very similar encounter with a Python near SOL last night. I had this mission to blow up some smugglers in a near system, and did that, killing about 4 of them and getting a reward, but rank is what i was doing it for. So after finishing it and flying back to the station i got the mission from, i suddenly got interdicted from insane distance. I didn't realize what it was, nor did i care since i'm a Bounty Hunter, interdicting me only saves me time from finding wanted peeps.

I gracefully accept the interdiction and tumble around a bit while i set my fire group for the KWS, and instantly i'm fired upon by tons of lasers, and some text saying something along the lines of "you're dead", only then i actually realized what had just interdicted me.. Only had 3 SCB's left from previous encounters, and about 30% ammo for my multicannon's since i had just come from a hunt, and was only expecting a small ship. This was the first time i got interdicted by something this vicious. Luckily after about 9 minutes of tense fighting i managed to destroy his powerplant and finish him off with my fully kitted viper, but still had massive damage, with about 31% hull integrity remaining, and my canopy full of cracks.

Solo's starting to get a bit dangerous at last.

 

[xtridence]

> I think the AI may be tuned-up in an upcoming patch.

I - hope - so.

 

[Lobstris]

I actually got a good fight in my Cobra, against an AI Master Asp who interdicted me last night. The git had bloomin' turreted burst lasers everywhere and manage to whittle me down to 75% hull, before he FSD'd away. First good fight with an NPC I'd had in a long time.

 

[parazaine]

If any of you had played the original '80's games, you would know that (at least in those games) the A.I. scaled in difficulty and numbers as your combat rating increased.

I suspect the same is true now.

 

[dioogio]

Certainly would agree that they are not all pushovers (unless you are ace rimmer!).

But I was surprised that with a maxed out viper I could kill anything NPC.
When I started playing, my assumption was that I would be able to kill small - medium ships on my own but stand no chance against a large ship.

For real immersion for me, taking out a conda should take a squad of skilled pilots with a strategy 20mins to defeat at least.

The net result of the current balance is that now I have my viper maxed, I only want to meet asps and above.

Perhaps it would have been better if the skills of the NPCs improved more drastically with rank, so that I would still be struggling against an equally ranked/equipped NPC viper.

 

[JimmySav]

A Sir Robin makes sense when running from a Python!

 

[Roger Bucks]

AI is too easy. Need a serious buff.
"Police" npc's need to be removed out of "controlled" space USS
Kill contracts in "controlled" space aren't a challenge because of the endless flow of "police" npc's that jump in.
Pirates in Anarchy systems are nothing more then a bunch of hippies waiting to get slaughtered.
Every Pirate NPC in anarchy should be hostile but they aren't, they dont care that a stranger comes on their turf, even when you kill one of them they still do nothing.
ATM there is no "Dangerous" in Elite. It's like playing a game on "easy" mode wirh no option to turn up difficulty.
I'm flying a Eagle 90% of the time, only use my Viper for kill contracts.

 

[magillag]

I'm not looking forward to that interdiction....

 

[Tony Spaniels]

If any of you had played the original '80's games, you would know that (at least in those games) the A.I. scaled in difficulty and numbers as your combat rating increased.

I suspect the same is true now.

I had forgotten about that! But yeah true.

One thing though, Im not sure how that would work in a multiplayer environment. For example, if me and a friend go bounty hunting at a Nav point, and I have a high combat status and my friend is harmless say, how would the game decide what level of AI is spawned in?