I love it! Let's hope it continues. I hope interdicting pirates and system security is next.
Banged up by NPCs. Wow.
- Thread starter digitalscream
- Start date
I love it! Let's hope it continues. I hope interdicting pirates and system security is next.
I love the idea of the challenge of AI pilots from a programmer perspective.
Those sound like some real juicy problems to find solutions to. Definitely non-trivial.
I was thinking to myself the other night, "If I was coding this AI how would I deal with the whole AFK turret mining thing".
Fun problems to think about. Judging by Sarah's posts, also fun to work on for real!
Those sound like some real juicy problems to find solutions to. Definitely non-trivial.
I was thinking to myself the other night, "If I was coding this AI how would I deal with the whole AFK turret mining thing".
Fun problems to think about. Judging by Sarah's posts, also fun to work on for real!
exactly this,1 wave dead,next wave want to kill me so leggit
I'm the same situation with a couple of local pirate factions. They come in packs, shoot first and don't even ask questions!
InMemoriamSirocco
Banned
Dear Sarah... I don't know whether you are also responsible for the spawn rate of security ships in Resource Extraction Sites, but I have noticed that the longer I stay in one, the more those security ships seem to multiply... to the point that there is literally a sizeable fighter fleet swarming the asteroid belt, outnumbering miners and pirates alike 10 to 1 at least.
I wouldn't mind two to four wings of authority vessels patrolling an RES, but currently the numbers are ridiculous. The scanner is full of green contacts and you have to switch through dozens of targets until you even find a vessel that's not part of the police force, let alone wanted.
I wouldn't mind two to four wings of authority vessels patrolling an RES, but currently the numbers are ridiculous. The scanner is full of green contacts and you have to switch through dozens of targets until you even find a vessel that's not part of the police force, let alone wanted.
The security forces issue is in the bug reports and a dev commented on it.
I was surprised it wasn't in last weeks patch, but I assume it was more complicated than first assumed.
Anarchy RES are full of security forces.
TBH I'd implement a /AFK thing, where by if you're afk for say 10 minutes you get logged to the main menu. That would get rid of turret mining and people parking at stations while afk letting their friends use them as beacons in a wing
i think i may have read somewhere, than npc ai cranked to the max, would always outplay a player, so they lowered the AI. i'm sure when their are more ships and more people with larger ships, they make elite AI their fully cranked power. and the bounty would be huge.
Just disable that check in SC, else people will never get to Hutton!
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You still have to wait for the "WANTED" tag to show.
If they shoot you from behind before you've scanned them, you'll have to wait for your scanner before you can return fire when you turn around.
This also makes me remember that Hostile and "having attacked you" are the same colour on the HUD.
If you cycle hostile targets, it will target NPC's in a hostile faction even though they haven't fired at you.
So if you open fire before a scan, you'll get wanted yourself.
Which is kind of weird. They aren't a threat until they fire, why are they red on the radar?
They're in a hostile faction, but they haven't done anything hostile yet.
Need a new colour for hostile factions.
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(grinning mercilessly) Hehehehehe...
I think you mean "mu-hahahahaha." Oh, you need an all white cat to stroke while saying it.
Jon474
Banned
Yep. +1 for this type of encounter. Took on a Dropship in my "nothing scares me" Cobra last night. Slunk quietly back to dock nursing a very, very poorly Cobra. Lots of wounded pride, too. It was a bit of a shock.
I have written out 100 times, "NPCs will now kill you. They have no feelings and show no mercy. Be careful".
Flying happy (but afraid)
Jon
I have written out 100 times, "NPCs will now kill you. They have no feelings and show no mercy. Be careful".
Flying happy (but afraid)
Jon
I guess I'm in the vast minority, but I have yet to really encounter a group of NPCs I have really had trouble with. I hunt at USS, RES, NAVs, Conlict Zones, the works. The only time I have found one I didn't even want to start, was a large signal source. I dropped in and found a pair of condas in a wing. I just boosted right back out of there. In general though, I have no problems and have yet to be chased away. For example, I interdicted a wanted anaconda last night. A few seconds after we dropped in, his cobra wingman dropped in. The cobra was I think a deadly pilot, and the conda was an elite pilot. I went straigt for the cobra, and killed him in just 9 or 10 seconds. I broke off and went right after the power plant of the conda. We went round and round for a few minutes until his power plant finally went boom. He left a 300k bounty! (my biggest yet). He took my shields down and my hull to 88%. It all still felt very easy. I have also encountered wing groups of 5 and 6 too, of smaller ships, like cobras and vipers.. but as soon as I kill the first couple, the rest just run away? They scatter like roaches.
Naturally if you're not careful in a conflict zone, you can inadvertently attract more attention than you want, but I always succeed by flipping a 180 and taking out the smaller ships first, then mediums, while staying out of range of the conda. Once the smaller threats are down, I stay at distance to let my shields repair, or go in against the remaining big guy. The ONLY npc encounters I still can't pull off in my vulture, are the elite anaconda high profile assassination missions. I consider them totally broken. They are VASTLY more difficult, and they only pay out 150k. The "normal" elite anaconda I killed last night, while challenging still didn't make me nervous, payed out 300k.
Naturally if you're not careful in a conflict zone, you can inadvertently attract more attention than you want, but I always succeed by flipping a 180 and taking out the smaller ships first, then mediums, while staying out of range of the conda. Once the smaller threats are down, I stay at distance to let my shields repair, or go in against the remaining big guy. The ONLY npc encounters I still can't pull off in my vulture, are the elite anaconda high profile assassination missions. I consider them totally broken. They are VASTLY more difficult, and they only pay out 150k. The "normal" elite anaconda I killed last night, while challenging still didn't make me nervous, payed out 300k.
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I can say for sure that encounters are at least way more interesting than previously. I can't measure difficulty, because I played almost none of combat for first two months. But now they really make me work for a kill. Keep up good work Sarah!
You're not alone
I also find that the NPC's a rarely a threat, the only times I got in serious troubles where in SSS with friend vs vultures and other small craft, and in combat zone
with bunch of eagle/viper (6-7 total) banging on my vulture. (Got my a** out of there fast).
I think the small craft NPC's really do a great job handling their ships, just lacking firing arc avoidance. Kudos to Sarah for that.
Big ships however are quite the pushovers : while they handle their ships well in terms of piloting them, they suck at using
shield cells / shield boosters (imaging conda, 3-4 A boosters + 2*A5 banks + 2*A6 banks (putting power to only one pair of A5+A6 at a time),
and using the banks perfectly => now that would be hard to take down).
Besides, they are dead once shield fails due to powerplant silliness, but that is an other issue.
Also, am I alone in that when I get in signal sources with a 'wanted' wing only one or two get hostile when I start shooting one ?
Because that makes things crazy easy :/
I also find that the NPC's a rarely a threat, the only times I got in serious troubles where in SSS with friend vs vultures and other small craft, and in combat zone
with bunch of eagle/viper (6-7 total) banging on my vulture. (Got my a** out of there fast).
I think the small craft NPC's really do a great job handling their ships, just lacking firing arc avoidance. Kudos to Sarah for that.
Big ships however are quite the pushovers : while they handle their ships well in terms of piloting them, they suck at using
shield cells / shield boosters (imaging conda, 3-4 A boosters + 2*A5 banks + 2*A6 banks (putting power to only one pair of A5+A6 at a time),
and using the banks perfectly => now that would be hard to take down).
Besides, they are dead once shield fails due to powerplant silliness, but that is an other issue.
Also, am I alone in that when I get in signal sources with a 'wanted' wing only one or two get hostile when I start shooting one ?
Because that makes things crazy easy :/
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This. Every night I invariably make the mistake of returning fire without scanning first, then running away to pay a fine, like I was the bad guy.
I should not have to scan if someone fires on me.
I've been thoroughly enjoying getting outflown in something as maneuverable as the vulture. I remembered downgrading to a Max Eagle from a cobra and a viper for more challenge while bounty hunting.
Lots of hard turns, lots of Flight Assist maneuvers. Lots of drifts. Lots of drifting into large clusters of hostile pirate faction guys that immediately start shooting at me regardless of the bait in my cargo hold.
Lots of hard turns, lots of Flight Assist maneuvers. Lots of drifts. Lots of drifting into large clusters of hostile pirate faction guys that immediately start shooting at me regardless of the bait in my cargo hold.
Happened to me the other day - surrounded by green hunting the last reds down when suddenly all the greens have gone and the whole radar return looks like I've sneezed with a nose bleed - and no, I didn't hit a friendly.
Suspect it's the way that new vessels are generated by the game - it's why I stick to RES's
Sneezed with a nose bleed! Good one. Repped for making me laugh.
Only just picked this thread up - not read the full thread so forgive me......
I've been picked on in a CZ by multiple contacts all of a sudden and they're definitely more tricky than before. How I've got round is to when I'm becoming outnumbered, instantly flicking to 4 pips to engines and continually boosting away in my Vulture (great ship but vulnerable to multiple fast ships). Otherwise, you can be caught out quite quickly.