AI Assasination...

[tetra]

Ok this is getting kind of old kind of quickly. Granted I am by no means the most competent combat pilot around but I have no problem holding my own, get interdicted by a wing or 3 or 4 and can deal with it without issue. But assassination missions are all out of whack in terms of AI competency scaling to the point of frustration. Yet another target to kill for a federal rank, not even a rank up mission just a simple faction mission.



I find the target, or rather he actually finds me, he interdicts me, I submit. I open fire on him...and gain an instant bounty. He is then joined by a Master Vulture and a competent viper. The target himself is a novice python.

I kid you not, it took them less than 20 seconds to reduce me to this...even with 4 pips in shields and chaffing as often as humanly possible



Instantly took out my thrusters and blew out my canopy, leaving me spinning in space waiting to die. I get the AI needed to be more of a challenge and yes, from everything I have experienced so far they still could use a boost for some aspects of the game, but this is now the 2nd assassination mission at quite a low level I have had that I have literally been obliterated with zero chance. I actually went back again and pretty much the exact same outcome in the same timespan. The assassination wingmen AI seem to have absolutely ungodly ability in most cases while the target themselves are usually quite a pushover.

 

[DreamlnCode]

Bump, Harmless rated mission.

1x Orca, 2x sidewinders.

I shoot gain 500 bounty for each vessel fired upon, and 10k bounty on my head per kill. to say the mission was only for 40,000c reward.

i get the Orca down to around 80% and the local law enforcement arrives and tears me a new one while im flying an A Class viper.

Difficulty scaling please.

 

[tetra]

Just an update on this, have had no issues at all after upgrading my ship further. However the issue still does stand that the scaling of the AI are kinda off for the mission requirements.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

I see they still haven't fixed the overly good targets for low ranked missions yet. I've flagged this up a number of times during the 1.3 beta and since 1.3 went live. Have you come across the mostly harmless Python escorted by two high ranked Vultures, for a mission rated as competent, yet?

 

[Coyote]

Been there, done that. Totally silly. I'd love to see that fixed as well.

 

[Shaamaan]

Difficulty is one thing. I'm surprised no one's screaming at FD for the credit rewards for these missions. I mean, if you're going to get bounties on your head as a requirement to kill the targets, then should the bloody mission give you enough money to cover said bounties AND then some? COME ON!

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Difficulty is one thing. I'm surprised no one's screaming at FD for the credit rewards for these missions. I mean, if you're going to get bounties on your head as a requirement to kill the targets, then should the bloody mission give you enough money to cover said bounties AND then some? COME ON!

I just ignore the ones with less than 6 figure rewards. You'll also notice that the rewards and rank requirements are often completely out of sync, e.g. I've seen Elite ranked missions with 1million+ rewards and then the next day I'll see practically the same mission with just 80k or so as it's reward. I think it's just completely random.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

But, The AI's Are Pushovers!

You Wouldn't Want To Get Bored, Would You?

 

[Dbrn47]

Yes, Assassinations often send you to kill clean targets. You should probably read the mission text and pay attention to the security status of the target. Yes, they also involve an escort now, which is why you need to fit to assassinate your target, not have a good dog fight. You do not need to kill the escort. Kill the target, jump out. I can do these in a Vulture, some can do them in a Courier, I see no reason you can't do them in a Python. The amount of credits you get is up for debate, but they do scale depending on rank requirement.

Point A: Wingmen have free reign on shooting you while you are focusing the Assasination target.
Point B: The wingmen likely are not using weapons that chaff affects since they are smaller ships with good hardpoints.
Point C: You are a bigger target that isn't hard to miss.
Point D: You aren't fitted to kill a target as fast as possible.
Point E: You aren't focusing on the target.
Point F: Try not to let them interdict you, if you interdict them you have a few seconds to get a headstart on the target.
Point G: If you are fighting long enough for security to show up, you don't have enough firepower or aren't on target enough and should leave immediately.

 

[DreamlnCode]

Classic must be OP fault excuse.

an Orca + 2 wingmen is not an acceptable target for a harmless assassin mission. I don't care how you try to justify it.

There are many problems with the current mission system, and anyone who says otherwise is in denial.

 

[Ozmodion]

at least they fixed the bug where no matter where you looked there is no target to find. now the mission is near impossible to complete unless you have an A Class Vulture or FDL to complete it on.

 

[Dbrn47]

Classic must be OP fault excuse.

an Orca + 2 wingmen is not an acceptable target for a harmless assassin mission. I don't care how you try to justify it.

There are many problems with the current mission system, and anyone who says otherwise is in denial.

Well, these are also subject to RNG. I've had a target that was originally a Python with 2 wingmen turn into an Eagle with 1 other Eagle. The rank requirements are just that, not a suggestion. You don't have to do them. IMO, Assassinations SHOULD be hard, requiring both pilot skill and proper loadaout. An Orca isn't exactly a hard target to kill either. No one said there are no problems with them. There has been and still is, but it has become better. I mean, we can always go back to the Not-So-Elite Anaconda duels, if you prefer.

Adapt and overcome, they know there are problems, they are still going to be adjusting, in the meantime there are ways to complete them as is. You'll never become a better CMDR if you don't at least try.

 

[DreamlnCode]

IMO, Assassinations SHOULD be hard,

not for 40k creds they shouldn't.

FYI Since Gamma i've wiped my save twice. 1st time Traded my way to boredom and unlimited creds, 2nd time i bounty hunted in anarchy systems to the same destination.

Look at this as a new player.

If its this difficult to complete in a viper with millions in upgrades, the mechanics need to be adjusted. And people who claim it's "working as intended" are the main reason problems like these never get resolved.

 

[Dbrn47]

not for 40k creds they shouldn't.

FYI i've wiped my save twice. 1st time Traded my way to boredom and unlimited creds, 2nd time i bounty hunted in anarchy systems to the same destination.

Look at this as a new player.

If its this difficult to complete in a viper with millions in upgrades, the mechanics need to be adjusted. And people who claim it's "working as intended" are the main reason problems like these never get resolved.

I mean, you're right in the sense that they probably aren't working as intended, there is that feeling, at the very least in the reward department. I just have a feeling they know. I actually don't think people saying it's working as intended stops resolution. They seem to have a backlog of things and different priorities than we do. I said the amount of credits you get is up for debate, I do think they should be difficult either way. Perhaps to the point where you can't even pick one up until you are at least of Competent rank, with rewards scaling to reflect that. Since they don't really tell us what's intended, how can we really know until we see it on a change log?

They do remain completable though and I will always be against those who throw in the towel when an average player like me has the tenacity to figure out how to complete them. If it's not intended great, I sure had a lot of fun getting past the difficulty though and in doing so it has really changed how and where I switch loadouts. It's even made me discover the power of modules that are undervalued by our community.