I spent many hours over the weekend playing with hunting at a Nav Beacon in Popongo & Nearby systems. One was Feudal, so ideal for a little tete a tete with the pirate faction.
Whilst there, I had the opportunity to observe the NPC groupings/behaviour and variation and had a few questions for everyone else to see if they can corroborate some of it, show me videos if you have it and maybe, possibly, if we're lucky, get Sarah from the dev team to tell us a little about it.
NPC type
Pirate (of all ranks). Pirates scan you and either say something offensive if you're carrying nothing, or attack you if you're carrying anything.
Often they will attack other NPC's if they see they're carrying something. When they do, and destroy other NPC's, their bounty increases. TOP TIP - if there's an Anaconda or Python, shadow them as they take down Eagles, Sidewinders and Cobras - their bounty will skyrocket whilst their hull and shield gets eroded.
POTENTIAL BUG (ticketed): When they assault the cops, they don't get fined for assault as I would.
QUESTIONS/OBSERVATIONS FOR SARAH: Watching pirates when they're swarmed by enemies, typically a few Eagles or police Vipers, they flit between targets, allowing the enemies to escape and recharge. There's no "kill-lust" in them and the lack of attention doesn't seem to do them any good. 1v1 or 1v2 they excel at destroying smaller ships. Similarly, they have a habit of chasing after ships that are evading them randomly and then getting their backside handed to them by tougher ships that they could easily take down. For instance - Pirate Anaconda, Police Anaconda, two Eagles. Pirate chases after Eagles, swapping target regularly so neither die, in the mean-time, the police Anaconda has handed it a whupping. Does the AI apply combat priorities (or "personality") depending on how many targets are attacking it/how tough they are and use a strategy, or is it purely reactive to who is nearest/shooting at it? As it stands, with wings coming in, I suspect that group takedowns of Pirate Lord (etc) will mean the NPC's need to fight a little smarter.
Do pirates have friends? If a pirate is attacked for being a pirate, do other ships from the same faction help? Do they call for help from their buddies and more pirates swarm a target ship?
Also - I notice that pirates haven't yet worked out that killing their targets doesn't release cargo - yet to find one that tries to knock out my cargo hatch and rob me blind. Also, not noticed one yet scooping cannisters and scarpering.
Why are pirates always wanted? Surely there would be some that don't have bounties on them as they would have paid them off before hunting again?
Pirate kill missions (as in Popongo) seem to have a few glitches. I was given a choice of 3 systems that were "rife" with pirates, went to them and two of them didn't have planets or extraction zones, just a sun. No ships in supercruise and very very rare USS locations. USS always had the alternative mission giver who zeroed out your kill list - if in an Anarchy, I just blast him to bits before he can talk to me, that stops him - pity he's never from the faction that he's talking abut representing. USS were probably 70% floating goodies which for a pirate hunter were useless. Tried pinging my disco scanner to generate heat and attract pirates, made sure I had a small cargo on board. Interestingly, when interdicted in one of those areas, scanned by a pirate and then attacked for my cargo, I didn't receive kill bonus. Only from the USS kills. Ticketed.
Bounty hunters ignore you if you have no bounty on you and go off and scan other NPC's - they're handy for helping out with tougher ships. Useful tactic is to draw them towards an heavily armoured target, get scanned and then invariably they move to the next nearest, which is the pirate.
As with cops, they repeatedly scan you, chase after far contacts and seem not to notice combat going on nearby. Any bounty hunter worth his salt would prioritise anyone engaged in combat as a likely target over a floating observer. Similarly, they would prioritise likely high value ships over small ones with lower bounties.
Smugglers I'm yet to find - I've tried cargo scanning other ships and even if they're carrying illegal goods, it doesn't seem to allocate heavy bounties on them as it would do on you. I suspect this may be a case of the police having to scan them for illegal goods. I'd love to find one and see the CLEAN change to WANTED and then cash in on it whilst they try and run.
Ships Flying in wings. Always 1 central ship, flanked by a pair of escort ships. They're always clean - I suspect "honest trader" and contain valuable cargo. If you attack the central ship with a view to pirating it, the escorts attack you in return. Often found guarding mining vessels. This bodes well for the 1.2 update and I'm hoping that the hiring of NPC escorts will go hand in hand with increased danger.
Police
Dumber than a brick. Scan priorities are all out of whack. At a Nav Beacon, if two ships are fighting, they have a habit of scanning non-combatants rather than trying to pacify evildoers.
They're very handy when helping take down pirate Anacondas
They auto-target far contacts on the radar and fly to them when there are no immediate targets to scan
They have been known to repeatedly scan the same ship when bored rather than new ships in the vicinity
There is currently no obvious distinction between a standard "ID and local warrant" quick scan, a K warrant scan and a cargo scan from the cops - pot luck as to which kind it is
Tourist
Orca turns up. Orca looks around. Orca goes home again. No cargo, never wanted, never a bounty hunter. Only there for the sights. May be co-incidence, but I've noticed them turning up around earth like planets (near stations) then leaving again - as well as near the prettier sights in the universe.
General combat comments:
The AI is dumb at firing dumbfires - they fire from long range, always miss and use up their ammo with no effect. Unless you're parked in front of them. Think they might need some lessons in use of dumbfires in close quarters combat and not wasting them
Ships with weapons that are good against armour, but not shields, squander their ammo against shields when they've got a mixed loadout.
Lots of ships, clearly rigged for combat, are flying around without shields. Silly sausages.
Difficulty varies nicely by Elite ranking - both in terms of equipment and flight style
Supercruise
When I'm interdicted by a wanted ship and there's a police presence nearby, one would expect the police to drop out. I know it happens after a while as a result of "report crimes against me", but can anyone confirm the usual police turn-up timing and whether nearby police presence in supercruise has a bearing on the time taken?
Before answering or adding your own observations here, polite request - please keep the moaning/it's broken comments for somewhere else - this is a thread designed to work out how the NPC's fly and comment on how it might improve! Constructive criticism please.
Last night was 500k in Popongo, with a further 300k in Empire/Alliance/Fed factions due to K Warrant scanner - 2 hours flying.
Post up your own NPC combat behaviours and observations/tips.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Whilst I'm at it - combat zones, choosing preferences as to your side - they should be time-persistent for a period rather than switch on/offable! Support the rebellion, takes a while to live down the act in the eyes of the Federation
A Baron shooting Imperial ships should be demoted if caught, too.
Whilst there, I had the opportunity to observe the NPC groupings/behaviour and variation and had a few questions for everyone else to see if they can corroborate some of it, show me videos if you have it and maybe, possibly, if we're lucky, get Sarah from the dev team to tell us a little about it.
NPC type
Pirate (of all ranks). Pirates scan you and either say something offensive if you're carrying nothing, or attack you if you're carrying anything.
Often they will attack other NPC's if they see they're carrying something. When they do, and destroy other NPC's, their bounty increases. TOP TIP - if there's an Anaconda or Python, shadow them as they take down Eagles, Sidewinders and Cobras - their bounty will skyrocket whilst their hull and shield gets eroded.
POTENTIAL BUG (ticketed): When they assault the cops, they don't get fined for assault as I would.
QUESTIONS/OBSERVATIONS FOR SARAH: Watching pirates when they're swarmed by enemies, typically a few Eagles or police Vipers, they flit between targets, allowing the enemies to escape and recharge. There's no "kill-lust" in them and the lack of attention doesn't seem to do them any good. 1v1 or 1v2 they excel at destroying smaller ships. Similarly, they have a habit of chasing after ships that are evading them randomly and then getting their backside handed to them by tougher ships that they could easily take down. For instance - Pirate Anaconda, Police Anaconda, two Eagles. Pirate chases after Eagles, swapping target regularly so neither die, in the mean-time, the police Anaconda has handed it a whupping. Does the AI apply combat priorities (or "personality") depending on how many targets are attacking it/how tough they are and use a strategy, or is it purely reactive to who is nearest/shooting at it? As it stands, with wings coming in, I suspect that group takedowns of Pirate Lord (etc) will mean the NPC's need to fight a little smarter.
Do pirates have friends? If a pirate is attacked for being a pirate, do other ships from the same faction help? Do they call for help from their buddies and more pirates swarm a target ship?
Also - I notice that pirates haven't yet worked out that killing their targets doesn't release cargo - yet to find one that tries to knock out my cargo hatch and rob me blind. Also, not noticed one yet scooping cannisters and scarpering.
Why are pirates always wanted? Surely there would be some that don't have bounties on them as they would have paid them off before hunting again?
Pirate kill missions (as in Popongo) seem to have a few glitches. I was given a choice of 3 systems that were "rife" with pirates, went to them and two of them didn't have planets or extraction zones, just a sun. No ships in supercruise and very very rare USS locations. USS always had the alternative mission giver who zeroed out your kill list - if in an Anarchy, I just blast him to bits before he can talk to me, that stops him - pity he's never from the faction that he's talking abut representing. USS were probably 70% floating goodies which for a pirate hunter were useless. Tried pinging my disco scanner to generate heat and attract pirates, made sure I had a small cargo on board. Interestingly, when interdicted in one of those areas, scanned by a pirate and then attacked for my cargo, I didn't receive kill bonus. Only from the USS kills. Ticketed.
Bounty hunters ignore you if you have no bounty on you and go off and scan other NPC's - they're handy for helping out with tougher ships. Useful tactic is to draw them towards an heavily armoured target, get scanned and then invariably they move to the next nearest, which is the pirate.
As with cops, they repeatedly scan you, chase after far contacts and seem not to notice combat going on nearby. Any bounty hunter worth his salt would prioritise anyone engaged in combat as a likely target over a floating observer. Similarly, they would prioritise likely high value ships over small ones with lower bounties.
Smugglers I'm yet to find - I've tried cargo scanning other ships and even if they're carrying illegal goods, it doesn't seem to allocate heavy bounties on them as it would do on you. I suspect this may be a case of the police having to scan them for illegal goods. I'd love to find one and see the CLEAN change to WANTED and then cash in on it whilst they try and run.
Ships Flying in wings. Always 1 central ship, flanked by a pair of escort ships. They're always clean - I suspect "honest trader" and contain valuable cargo. If you attack the central ship with a view to pirating it, the escorts attack you in return. Often found guarding mining vessels. This bodes well for the 1.2 update and I'm hoping that the hiring of NPC escorts will go hand in hand with increased danger.
Police
Dumber than a brick. Scan priorities are all out of whack. At a Nav Beacon, if two ships are fighting, they have a habit of scanning non-combatants rather than trying to pacify evildoers.
They're very handy when helping take down pirate Anacondas
They auto-target far contacts on the radar and fly to them when there are no immediate targets to scan
They have been known to repeatedly scan the same ship when bored rather than new ships in the vicinity
There is currently no obvious distinction between a standard "ID and local warrant" quick scan, a K warrant scan and a cargo scan from the cops - pot luck as to which kind it is
Tourist
Orca turns up. Orca looks around. Orca goes home again. No cargo, never wanted, never a bounty hunter. Only there for the sights. May be co-incidence, but I've noticed them turning up around earth like planets (near stations) then leaving again - as well as near the prettier sights in the universe.
General combat comments:
The AI is dumb at firing dumbfires - they fire from long range, always miss and use up their ammo with no effect. Unless you're parked in front of them. Think they might need some lessons in use of dumbfires in close quarters combat and not wasting them
Ships with weapons that are good against armour, but not shields, squander their ammo against shields when they've got a mixed loadout.
Lots of ships, clearly rigged for combat, are flying around without shields. Silly sausages.
Difficulty varies nicely by Elite ranking - both in terms of equipment and flight style
Supercruise
When I'm interdicted by a wanted ship and there's a police presence nearby, one would expect the police to drop out. I know it happens after a while as a result of "report crimes against me", but can anyone confirm the usual police turn-up timing and whether nearby police presence in supercruise has a bearing on the time taken?
Before answering or adding your own observations here, polite request - please keep the moaning/it's broken comments for somewhere else - this is a thread designed to work out how the NPC's fly and comment on how it might improve! Constructive criticism please.
Last night was 500k in Popongo, with a further 300k in Empire/Alliance/Fed factions due to K Warrant scanner - 2 hours flying.
Post up your own NPC combat behaviours and observations/tips.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Whilst I'm at it - combat zones, choosing preferences as to your side - they should be time-persistent for a period rather than switch on/offable! Support the rebellion, takes a while to live down the act in the eyes of the Federation
A Baron shooting Imperial ships should be demoted if caught, too.
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