What happens to wounded NPC ships?

jacozilla

jacozilla
Are NPC ships persistent in open, like player ships are? Or do they "reset" after an encounter with a player?

What I mean is - haven't played enough hours in open to know for sure, but I split 50-50 time between open and private and that's decent # of hours now in open.

I haven't met a wounded NPC ship yet. Which begs the question - if I shoot up an NPC ship, and they manage to escape - which I've done plenty of times - are other players encountering my fleeing wounded NPC ship after I leave the area or leave the system?

And vice versa - why am I not encountering shot up NPC ships that other players fought but didn't finish off before the NPC escaped?

Maybe NPC ships escape relatively low % of time and that's why haven't run across one yet, or maybe they reset. I'd sure like to know.
 

AnnuverScotinExile

AnnuverScotinExile
Neither. Currently, they are invented by your client program, have a very transient existence, and then just vanish. So certainly not persistent, and no reset either.
 

shadragon

shadragon
If you pursue them they remain active. I've seen them go from 1% hull when they escape the area to 30% hull fifteen seconds later when I caught up to them again. AMFU?

The art of pursuit can net you some decent bounties.
 

CMDR Hagglebeard

CMDR Hagglebeard
Although the NPCs you are referring to aren't persistent, you may find wounded ships in supercruise.

Usually in agricultural systems, I tend to find Cobra MK III's flying around with 40-80% hull, the stock loadout and above-average cargo. They get real worried when you interdict them, moreso than average traders.
 

NoCarrier

NoCarrier
Last night some NPC flying a lowly Eagle dragged my Anaconda out of supercruise and tried to pirate me. (The cheek of it!) He managed to escape back into supercruise with 11% hull, but guess who dropped out of supercruise again behind me, right in front of the station? Lo and behold, the wanna-be pirate Eagle NPC. Still hostile, he even got a few shots off before he was promptly obliterated by the station.

So apparently, (some?) shot-up NPCs are actually persistent nowadays, and try to make it to the station too. I was tickled pink to find that out. Now, if only SJA would be so very kind to fix the other stupid AI tricks, such as NPC pirates in 11% hull Eagles engaging Anacondas inside a station's no-fire zone, I would be thrilled! :D

EDIT: Smiley face! I don't mean the above in a mean-spirited way.
 
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Rardain

Rardain
NoCarrier said:
Last night some NPC flying a lowly Eagle dragged my Anaconda out of supercruise and tried to pirate me. (The cheek of it!) He managed to escape back into supercruise with 11% hull, but guess who dropped out of supercruise again behind me, right in front of the station? Lo and behold, the wanna-be pirate Eagle NPC. Still hostile, he even got a few shots off before he was promptly obliterated by the station.

So apparently, (some?) shot-up NPCs are actually persistent nowadays, and try to make it to the station too. I was tickled pink to find that out. Now, if only SJA would be so very kind to fix the other stupid AI tricks, such as NPC pirates in 11% hull Eagles engaging Anacondas inside a station's no-fire zone, I would be thrilled! :D

EDIT: Smiley face! I don't mean the above in a mean-spirited way.
Click to expand...

Yes, the NPC's chasing you to stations is a fairly recent (and welcome) addition. However, the thing that I find irritating is that NPC's seem to be able to regenerate very quickly. I recently took a bounty mission, but as usual it turned out to be a pirate lord in an Anaconda (why are bounty contracts never in smaller ships?). Anyway, after a protracted battle I was pretty shot up and needed to retreat to repair and re-arm. I was pleased to see the Anaconda was down to 10% hull...I just didn't have the legs to finish him off.

'Never mind' I thought, I will track him down again and finish the job - not 5 seconds after I jumped into low FSD I saw the pirate NPC jump and his hull was back up to 100% - no way...what a damned cheat!!! NPC's like that should at least have to fly to a local station for repair, not just do it on the fly. :p
 

Trafalgar Law

Trafalgar Law
Cypher871 said:
I recently took a bounty mission, but as usual it turned out to be a pirate lord in an Anaconda (why are bounty contracts never in smaller ships?).
Click to expand...

Pirate lords are always in Anacondas (regardless of their Elite rating), Rebels/terrorists always seem to be in pythons, deserters in Eagles etc. Bit lazy really and takes a lot of the fun out of searching for the target.
 
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