Destroyed by an NPC on the way home after 2 weeks exploring... did I do something wrong?

[Flyto]

On the one hand, that sucks. On the other it's good that NPCs are more of a threat now. Only bit of solace I can offer is that when you get to exploring in an asp, those NPCs are much less of a threat to you, and fewer of them will even try to interdict you.

Heh, true. OTOH, I think I shall be taking a break from the game now. And if I come back, I certainly won't be exploring again in a hurry.

 

[Starlanced]

Interdictions that close to a star are pretty , maybe the interdiction failure rate should increase the deeper you are in a grav well.

 

[Javert]

i haven't tried any long range exploration yet, but I thought you could buy repair units to repair your ship whilst out in the stick?

 

[OCD]

your point 1 shows the tweaks made to the NPCs yet again had not been thought fully through. It was always quiet outside the core systems and away from life
now they are everywhere
we are getting back to the days of the beta problem of arrive in anarchy system, wait 5 seconds, npc appears and interdicts you ... you could put money on it
far too mechanical

 

[Iskariot]

NPC tougher to fight...okay.
Spawn rate of NPC's interdicting... someone got their numbers mixed up.
Three trips and four interdiction is Way to much.. me thinks.

Weird. I hardly get interdicted at all; never by authority and rarely by pirates.
I wish pirate npc would interdict me more. It would be a nice little extra.

Does anyone know if npc pirates avoid somewhat larger ships?
I fly a combat ready Imperial Clipper.

I also wonder if police forces are more likely to ignore you if you are allied to a faction and have a high ranking.

 

[S'Rau]

I am coming back from a 2 weeks trip with 1K+ systems scanned (most totally scanned exept roids).
You are not the first one to report this and since i am not masochistic i am going to extend my trip in the unknown and explore few more clusters while they fix this madness.

 

[iain666]

Ouch, I feel your pain.

I'm way out having left prior to 1.1 (D-class shields, ditched the weapons - interdictions were relatively rare and easy to avoid on the fringes of civilisation) and I'm starting to get a bit scared about going home...

 

[Marikc0]

You explored far too long in an Adder. That's all I can say.

 

[Flyto]

You explored far too long in an Adder. That's all I can say.

Why is that too long to explore in an Adder?

 

[bassman]

I like the idea of exploring being dangerous and living on the edge yes loosing 2 or 3 weeks worth of data would be a bummer for anyone, but if the game was easy we would have the galaxy explored by tea time.

What if you had the option to drop a black box flight recorder when you were destroyed, if you could get back and retrieve it you would get your exploration data (but then so would someone else who found it).

 

[Celeste]

The main issue here is the meaningless murder. NPCs out that far should be looking to extort returning explorers, either for credits or a share of the data they acquired. That would justify them being there in the first place, and justify their actions towards players.

We can all make up fake excuses as to why they're killing players, but we're just deluding ourselves.

Really, until NPCs are put there for a specific reason that actually plays out, they shouldnt even bother interacting with players.

They should be extorting players. They could be pirates patrolling their turf, having a secret unsanctioned base nearby. They could even be hired killers there to specifically target explorers who are selling data to a rival faction. Either way the reasons should be clearly identifiable by the player - because non-interactive and nonsensical reasons (like drop your non-existant cargo) do not make for interesting gameplay, and just leave players frustrated, confused, and downhearted at the lazy gameplay 'feature'.

I completely agree. They just seem like added fluff to fill a void. If we were able to salvage ship components then it would make more sense. Then they could be after your weapons, power plant, etc. to sell on the market.

 

[ASC]

I feel for you. You're the victim of poor game design. Those NPCs have no right to be there and no reason to be there.

Erimus has made a good point about the lack of variation in NPCS which doesn't lead to interesting or enjoyable gameplay. There seem to be three kinds - police, traders and homicidal lunatics. Each can only do one thing and you can't interact with them in any way. In 1.1, FD have dialed up the number of homicidal lunatics in anarchy systems within about 500Ly of Sol as well as made them more formidable.

I took a short exploration trip over the weekend and I was interdicted every 3 or 4 systems on the way out. They didn't scan me or ask for cargo; they just told me to die and started shooting. It very quickly grew tiresome. I was grateful that I hadn't removed the weapons from my Asp.

 

[Anthony Jones]

It's a stupid kind of difficulty. NPC's have no way of getting out there, and they have no reason to fly around and murder stuff.
Explorers should IMO have to deal with a lot of problems, but being swarmed by psychopath murderer hordes while 100 Ly from civilization is not one of them.

Fill your ship up with fuel. Go to the Galaxy map and set it route to economical then set a course a long way away and you might be surprised just how far the solid line goes. My asp with three quarters a tank of fuel could make it 760ly without stopping for fuel.

 

[robbyp]

Yes. Only D-class, for obvious reasons.

Same as I do. You had bad luck. At least you took some. Lots of people don't.

 

[Flyto]

Fill your ship up with fuel. Go to the Galaxy map and set it route to economical then set a course a long way away and you might be surprised just how far the solid line goes. My asp with three quarters a tank of fuel could make it 760ly without stopping for fuel.

Eh, that's a fair point. Perhaps an Adder could make it to the Pleiades. (less so the Sidewinders that I'd been brushing off for a while before that!)

 

[Celeste]

What if you had the option to drop a black box flight recorder when you were destroyed, if you could get back and retrieve it you would get your exploration data (but then so would someone else who found it).

That's actually a really good idea. At least you would have some hope at recovering your data because I really doubt I would continue playing if I lost weeks worth of data. The data could even be encrypted so if someone else finds it and sells it, the pilot that lost it still gets 1st find claim on all systems, his money, and maybe the pilot that found and sold it gets a 15-20% finders fee.

 

[Surly_Badger]

They'll fix the NPCs. It's definitely ridiculous. I explore and whenever I see one appear I know I have an interdiction attempt inbound in 3... 2... 1...

I used to explore in a hauler. Barely made it back in my first trip post 1.1. Now I explore in a Cobra with full armament. Come at me NPC-bro, I'll take a break for some scalp hunting.

 

[PotatoOverdose]

It's a stupid kind of difficulty. NPC's have no way of getting out there, and they have no reason to fly around and murder stuff.
Explorers should IMO have to deal with a lot of problems, but being swarmed by psychopath murderer hordes while 100 Ly from civilization is not one of them.

You managed to get out there, why can't an npc? I believe NPCs only spawn up to 1000 LY away from habitable space, which is only an hours drive from civilized space. Keep in mind that in the future, there will probably be more dangers (e.g. thargoids) out in the deep, not less. And honestly, I welcome those dangers. It can get awfully dull 7,000 LY from Sol.

 

[Auditore]

The main issue here is the meaningless murder. NPCs out that far should be looking to extort returning explorers, either for credits or a share of the data they acquired. That would justify them being there in the first place, and justify their actions towards players.

We can all make up fake excuses as to why they're killing players, but we're just deluding ourselves.

Really, until NPCs are put there for a specific reason that actually plays out, they shouldnt even bother interacting with players.

They should be extorting players. They could be pirates patrolling their turf, having a secret unsanctioned base nearby. They could even be hired killers there to specifically target explorers who are selling data to a rival faction. Either way the reasons should be clearly identifiable by the player - because non-interactive and nonsensical reasons (like drop your non-existant cargo) do not make for interesting gameplay, and just leave players frustrated, confused, and downhearted at the lazy gameplay 'feature'.

^This.

The homicidal NPCs are just one of the many things that don't make sense in ED unfortunately, but that's another discussion.
I also find the black box idea great. In fact it could easily be part of a dynamic mission generation system which the game desperately needs IMO.

 

[hanks01]

I first started exploring in an Adder, after a few hair raising experiences against Vipers and the like (interdicting when scooping... not cool) I realised the Adder wasn't strong and quick enough for the inward and outward journey so went for a Cobra. Now I'm in an Asp and feel pretty safe. The OP has my sympathy, 1.1 update has made NPCs harder (and they should have fuel scoops) but for me the Adder was always highly vulnerable, especially when "D" kitted.

Edit: On a side note, interdictions have become unnecessarily frequent within the danger zone, I had 4 different ships interdict me in one unpopulated system 300ly from the nearest port. I wonder if it's part of the whole "we need more interdictions in anarchy space" thing but they didn't tweak it for the fringes for explorers.