All fights against AI = afterburn + FA off turning

I agree we should be able to wing up with NPC's, that would be cool, you never know, could this be the big secret announced at Gamescon soon.

I would view SJA's improvements as a necessary prerequisite to AI wingmen, so I'm glad we don't have them yet. I've played more than a few games where the AI allies are more of a menace than the ones trying to kill you.
 
Sorry, they do not. The AI bots are not able, nor programmed to do manoeuvrings that a pilot can't. They, however, are probably much more efficient in managing their velocity/acceleration/sweet maneuverable spot/ vectors that the average player. And probably even a little better than an elite (as in skilled) pilot.

SJA can achieve balance from harmless to Elite by varying the degree / speed / tactics / loadouts that those AI can use.

But from there to considering improvements to as equivalent of turret is to seriously misunderstand the core ans spirit of the AI behavior. A properly skilled pilot will and can do every maneuver that the AI can.

I think you missed the point.


I believe majority of players complaining the AI is too hard are beginners.
And the majority of players complaining Elite is boring, because there is no challenge, are players who have played for a little while.
Keeping the AI to easy would not help, now we can make it easier for beginners and harder for ranked players by having low/high rank NPCs interdict low/high rank players.

Sounds reasonable but again you can't just look at one aspect. Making harmless easy and elite really hard doesn't solve the problems though it will help.

Most people do not play in wings so for example a newb running into wings with a couple mixed ship from harmless to elite ranking is still going to have the same problem which will be compounded by the fact he is solo and npc seem to hang out in wings now.

Add to that she plans on making running away more difficult, increased damage costs etc since 1.3.
 
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NPC ranks that have scaling difficulty makes perfect sense. Harmless should be easy, Elite should be painful. If Sarah Jane can achieve this then I think everyone would be happy :)

My understanding is that is the plan, and that part should be quite easy to achieve after a few balance passes. What will be much more changeling will be to distribute / balance loadouts by skill levels and encounter distribution versus (current skill) target.
 
If you can't kill a target within 1min then your tactics are not worked out. Before firing you should get behind and stay there!
 
I think you missed the point.




Sounds reasonable but again you can't just look at one aspect. Making harmless easy and elite really hard doesn't solve the problems though it will help.

Most people do no play in wings so for example a newb running into wings with a couple mixed ship from harmless to elite ranking is still going to have the same problem which will be compounded by the fact he is solo and npc seem to hang out in wings now.

Add to that she plans on making running away more difficult, increases damage costs etc

Maybe I've been lucky, but so far every AI I've run into has been something I could take on - large powerful ships with lower pilot ranks and small ships with high ranks. In RES and regular trading I've fought quite a few Deadly and even Elite vipers, eagles and even a sidey (AI surprisewinder?), but most Pythons and Condas range between mostly harmless and master.
 
If you can't kill a target within 1min then your tactics are not worked out. Before firing you should get behind and stay there!

This. Battles are usually won or lost before the first shot is fired. First thing I do is size up my target and only engage if I don't have a choice or if I'm confident it's something I can take on - otherwise I'll leave them alone or boost away. Then if I'm going to press the attack I'll prepare: line up behind them at an appropriate range, select the powerplant in the target menu, put all pips in WEP. Then finally throw the dice with an alpha strike. If all goes well by the time they realize what's going on their shields will be mostly gone, and then it's down to whether my initial assessment of relative combat capability was accurate or not. After that it's flying by the numbers, keeping in mind what he's flying vs what you're flying (eg don't get in a turning fight with an eagle if you're in an asp).
 
But lower ranks will be made easier. See, I can be nice... ;)

Will the lower ranks attempt to flee from higher ranked players? It seems like there is a lot of senseless bravado on the part of AI pilots, never backing down and making some very... suicidal decisions on what and who they decide to take on. While it might be interesting and amusing to occasionally see an AI personality like that, it'd also be amusing to see some lower ranked pilots panicking at the idea of getting into a fight with a higher ranked player.

Also, will the rewards be scaled to take the changes in difficulty into account?
 
This is all the AI does. It doesn't do anything but prolong the fights. Fly, afterburn, FA off turn, shoot, fly, afterubrn, FA off turn, shoot, fly, afterburn, FA off turn, shoot.

Thats all it does. Fights which should end in 30secs-1min turn into 10min snoozefests. Seriously, fly, afterburn, FA off turn, shoot. Is this really what you consider to be hard AI? Theres nothing to it, its just boring. Whats the point of playing if something which should last 30 seconds ends up taking 10 minutes? I'm going to blow up the other ships regardless of what happens, why have the AI drag the fight out?

Do you actually enjoy this/have fun with it? I don't even why I bother with this anymore. Its like the game purposely trying to be as boring as hell.
Why not just have them explode when you drop out of super cruise? BAM!... 25,000,000 Cr for killing laundry list of everyone and everything in the AO.
 
I personally think in some areas the combat AI is way too easy right now and a bit of a joke. There's some serious holes in its logic, but I'm addressing all those now. Players reversing was high on my list, and on my build that's sorted. So by the time I'm done (and until someone tells me to dial it back) high ranks (especially Elite) will be showing no mercy. :) But lower ranks will be made easier. See, I can be nice... ;)

Look forward to the challenge!

Just wondering with the increased difficulty coming through especially with Elite ranked NPCs, will there be any adjustment to the rewards scaling?

If it is a lot riskier & potentially more time consuming to take down an Elite pilot will the bounties etc match the challenge?

I could see a situation where players avoid Elites and the like if they are too hard, to get better returns from killing multiple lower ranks instead in a shorter amount of time.
 
This is correct, they have no need. Also I can add that AI combat is getting a big upgrade. It's what I'm working on right now, adding a load of new tactics to make things more... interesting. ;) Oh, and with the new tactics, flying in reverse won't work. :) You have been warned.

Finally a reason to return :D
 
Most people do not play in wings so for example a newb running into wings with a couple mixed ship from harmless to elite ranking is still going to have the same problem which will be compounded by the fact he is solo and npc seem to hang out in wings now.

That's a very important point. Not exactly a newbie here, and been running into wings of NPCs since they were introduced, but ran into a wing of 8 today while hunting pirates. I had to run, and it's the first time in quite a while I've had to run from NPCs. :)

Not complaining btw, and normally, a wing of 3 or 4 is manageable, but I shall from now on take more notice of the wing info in the scan data. It's very hard to defeat a wing on your own (depending on their skill and weapons load out) since you can only ever target one ship at a time.
 
AI are not capable of using flight assist off as far as I'm aware by the way.

Some people have asked me how I'm so good with FA off....I tell them I haven't really bothered with FA off, except occasionally to turn around without bleeding velocity, since Beta 1.

I'm not particularly good with FA off (I can move around and land fine, but I can't aim for anything), but that's ok becuase 99/9% of anything that can be done can be done just as well if not better with FA On.

A surprising number of people mistake basic thruster use for FA off...

This is correct, they have no need.

Almost no one does unless they haven't mapped vertical and lateral thrusters correctly.

Oh, and with the new tactics, flying in reverse won't work. :) You have been warned.

Even if I fly backwards faster than they can fly forwards?

If they are not using FA:Off, how come they can reverse at full speed then?
Players can only go half throttle backwards without FA:Off...

I can fly backwards at 2/3 of full speed with zero throttle and full speed reverse with full throttle.

Just need some vertical and lateral thrust.
 
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Nonya

Banned
This is correct, they have no need. Also I can add that AI combat is getting a big upgrade. It's what I'm working on right now, adding a load of new tactics to make things more... interesting. ;) Oh, and with the new tactics, flying in reverse won't work. :) You have been warned.
Why don't you work on fixing all the broken things in the game - like the currently-worthless faction weapons, namely the cytoscrambler?
 
Why don't you work on fixing all the broken things in the game - like the currently-worthless faction weapons, namely the cytoscrambler?

I'd argue that solid AI is more necessary than weapon variants, and even if it isn't, I don't think the cytoscrambler falls under the purview of an AI programmer.
 
Why don't you work on fixing all the broken things in the game - like the currently-worthless faction weapons, namely the cytoscrambler?

Here comes the clue train, last stop you. SJA is the AI programmer. AI has nothing to do with weapon design. You're poking the pitchfork at the wrong person. FD has more than one person on the dev team.
 
Okay! :D Next time it'll be 1v3... like 3 x the new improved AI Elite Vultures! :D How's that? ;)

Oh boy! You've done an absolutely amazing job, Sarah. Me and a bunch of other pirates have been whining about dung for a while now, and although I never see anything in the patch notes, things seem to be getting fixed. For example, we complained that transports carried cargoes that weren't proportionate to their ship's size, ex- a T7 carrying 40t of cargo. Lately, T9 after T9 has been carrying at least 300t of cargo, which is a great improvement purely for RP purposes!

Have you been behind this, and if so, thanks! :)
 
NPC ranks that have scaling difficulty makes perfect sense. Harmless should be easy, Elite should be painful. If Sarah Jane can achieve this then I think everyone would be happy :)

<snip> I also wish low rank NPCs would stop interdicting high rank players and take into account what ship players fly (sure, everybody love being interdicted by a shieldless Adder while you fly a combat python, right?)

This is my biggest issue. What interdicts me should scale. If I'm in a Clipper or above why is a shieldless Sidewinder/Eagle/Adder interdicting me? To be fair I've had bounty hunter npc's run (I think due to my combat rank) after pulling me out of SC but they can 'see' that in SC, right?

Maybe there should be a lower limit on what interdicts you, for example your Combat rank -3?
 
This is all the AI does. It doesn't do anything but prolong the fights. Fly, afterburn, FA off turn, shoot, fly, afterubrn, FA off turn, shoot, fly, afterburn, FA off turn, shoot.
This is mostly the standard tactic for Viper. Took me a moment to find the parade.

1) Use an adapted ship. Vulture is not the ultimate fighter and this is good cause it put Vulture back in what it is supposed to be : a heavy attack ship.
Imperial Scout are pretty good as fighter. Better in fact.

2) Target the right module. This kind of ship really hate when you target motor.

3) In real life, it's called "Hit and run". Was used by "Flying Tigers" against japanese aircraft.
Valid tactic when you have a faster ship against a more manoeuvrable ship.
 
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On paper I've no personal issue with an improved combat A.I (C.A.I), unless there's a swarm of them I've no issues with npcs, but it's not just the C.A.I that's been improved, npcs will also pursue you through low-wake.

Once the C.A.I has been further improved you will have a situation where a player fails to break the interdiction*, but manages to escape the fight into low-wake** only to be interdicted again. You will see a lot of complaints about npcs 'harassing' CMDRs.

Improving C.A.I. in isolation may seem a good thing, but C.A.I is only one aspect of NPC behaviour, and behaviour has to be managed in relation to its effect on game-play.

Elite Dangerous is one thing, Elite ohh come on! is another thing entirely.

* I currently have doubts that the CD for npc's FSD is working anyway.
**Or high wake, where this will likely happen in the next system with a different npc.
 
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Don't forget that gimbals make this process entirely too easy. They hardly chaff and if they do it doesn't last long at all and you can just aimbot them down.
 
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