Sarah, it may be time to tone it down a bit.

CMDR Hagglebeard

CMDR Hagglebeard
Sarah Jane Avory said:
I'm sorry, but compared to what I'm currently working on, the current combat AI is real easy. ;) I'm working on loads of upgrades for the higher ranks, have been testing various ships against an Elite Anaconda on my build. Well, I can't beat him. :D Not even close. :D Lots of balancing is needed before this all goes public. :)
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Oh boy :(

Then can you help PvE piracy a bit, make traders a bit less resistant, perhaps add in a function to NPCs, where they detect key words in local chat, such as "drop (amount) cargo"?

I want to make money through harsh, criminal activity. :D
 

n13L5

n13L5
Sarah Jane Avory said:
It's way too easy at the top end right now. But do not despair, people who want a challenge. Your prayers will be... er... answered. ;) I'm working hard on this, boosting AI combat ability. So far the results on my build at work are promising (gleefully frightening)... :)
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Why did you make it "way too easy" for half a year then? Was that a directive from management? A lot of people reached Elite combat rank already...

Huge, late changes coming long after release are always kind of ...annoying. Its like anybody who reached Elite Rank before now isn't really Elite at all suddenly, since it was just shooting fish in a barrel before?
 
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[HJ]-RedRaven

[HJ]-RedRaven
With SJA on the case, it's only a matter of time before the cargo containers start fighting back.

I appreciate the harder/smarter AI, but one effect it has is to further increase the attraction of trading, which has a far lower risk/reward profile. Increasing the AI further just increases that gulf, pushes more to exclusive trading careers and of course, pushes them in the direction of Solo mode rather than Open.

To wit, we MUST move towards cooperative AI (smart escorts for freighters), be able to hire them via missions/bulletin board and be actually at risk while trading in Solo or Open modes, dependent on cargo quality/quantity.

To fly amongst the stars should be a privilige, not a right.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
[HJ]-RedRaven said:
[snip]
I appreciate the harder/smarter AI, but one effect it has is to further increase the attraction of trading, which has a far lower risk/reward profile. Increasing the AI further just increases that gulf, pushes more to exclusive trading careers and of course, pushes them in the direction of Solo mode rather than Open.

To wit, we MUST move towards cooperative AI (smart escorts for freighters), be able to hire them via missions/bulletin board and be actually at risk while trading in Solo or Open modes, dependent on cargo quality/quantity.

To fly amongst the stars should be a privilige, not a right.
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NPCs are in Open and Solo, so the strength of them doesn't push towards any particular game mode. In fact, as it stands now, you might be better off in Open as you could potentially wing up for safety in numbers.

NPC wingmen are apparently in the pipeline.
 

n13L5

n13L5
[HJ]-RedRaven said:
With SJA on the case, it's only a matter of time before the cargo containers start fighting back.

I appreciate the harder/smarter AI, but one effect it has is to further increase the attraction of trading, which has a far lower risk/reward profile. Increasing the AI further just increases that gulf, pushes more to exclusive trading careers and of course, pushes them in the direction of Solo mode rather than Open.

To wit, we MUST move towards cooperative AI (smart escorts for freighters), be able to hire them via missions/bulletin board and be actually at risk while trading in Solo or Open modes, dependent on cargo quality/quantity.

To fly amongst the stars should be a privilige, not a right.
Click to expand...

Meh, I think the difficulty of flying in space should come from space phenomena, not a totally unrealistic "every inch of every light year is filled with aggressive barbarians" unlikely to have managed to achieve space flight before annihilating themselves - and coming from basically nowhere.
 
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Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Sarah Jane Avory said:
It's way too easy at the top end right now. But do not despair, people who want a challenge. Your prayers will be... er... answered. ;) I'm working hard on this, boosting AI combat ability. So far the results on my build at work are promising (gleefully frightening)... :)
Click to expand...

Sarah, a question about your AI improvements. I've been trying out some piracy, and getting shields down and using hatch breakers (and trying to not accidentally kill them) takes a little while, especially since even the best hatch breakers take 10 seconds to use.

Pirating against NPCs at the moment is ok, because they generally don't run. You get a chance to use hatch breakers against them. But are you changing anything in regards to this?
 

Broon

Broon
Something odd happened last evening while in the fray......

"Clean" NPC's began helping me take down a Dropship! Looking out the canopy I began seeing weapons fire from all directions but it was NOT directed at me so at first I thought the cops had shown up. But then I glance down and there was not a green blip to be seen anywhere on the radar. Hmmm, interesting

Also later on after the cops were hanging around I got the obligatory security scan and it was a "clean" NPC in a Viper that told me to go about my business, not a Security Vessel. So now we have regular Joe's doing ride alongs with the cops in Elite too? LOL
 

MarcusKross

MarcusKross
broondog said:
Something odd happened last evening while in the fray......

"Clean" NPC's began helping me take down a Dropship! Looking out the canopy I began seeing weapons fire from all directions but it was NOT directed at me so at first I thought the cops had shown up. But then I glance down and there was not a green blip to be seen anywhere on the radar. Hmmm, interesting

Also later on after the cops were hanging around I got the obligatory security scan and it was a "clean" NPC in a Viper that told me to go about my business, not a Security Vessel. So now we have regular Joe's doing ride alongs with the cops in Elite too? LOL
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Bounty Hunters maybe?
 

M00ka

M00ka
broondog said:
Something odd happened last evening while in the fray......

"Clean" NPC's began helping me take down a Dropship! Looking out the canopy I began seeing weapons fire from all directions but it was NOT directed at me so at first I thought the cops had shown up. But then I glance down and there was not a green blip to be seen anywhere on the radar. Hmmm, interesting

Also later on after the cops were hanging around I got the obligatory security scan and it was a "clean" NPC in a Viper that told me to go about my business, not a Security Vessel. So now we have regular Joe's doing ride alongs with the cops in Elite too? LOL
Click to expand...
.
I have seen that quite often in Solo, especially with an NPC wing. They are clean, very careful in which ship they attack and have very human like behaviour. For example I remember once I was in a battle with a Clipper, and a two wing NPC joined in. Once the clipper was debris, I saw laser flashes about 10km away and immediately boosted to get over there. Noticed the NPC wing joined me and even followed me to the same target. Very impressive actually.
 

yyy

Y
Finally combat is a bit of challenge. I still kill NPCs though, so yes SJA still has some work to do. I like the mix of big ships and small wings. I met a clipper with a wing of Vultures, that was good since Vultures take a lot of hits to destroy and they dodge pretty well with that tight turning circle. I'm happy with the difficult level being upped:)
 
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Sarah Jane Avory

Retro Queen
Sarah Jane Avory
Agony_Aunt said:
Sarah, a question about your AI improvements. I've been trying out some piracy, and getting shields down and using hatch breakers (and trying to not accidentally kill them) takes a little while, especially since even the best hatch breakers take 10 seconds to use.

Pirating against NPCs at the moment is ok, because they generally don't run. You get a chance to use hatch breakers against them. But are you changing anything in regards to this?
Click to expand...

I did add code that slows AI ships if their drives are badly damaged, but not sure if it's in the public build.
 

Jacob Marshall

Jacob Marshall
Very much like the analogy earlier of the Boss npc walking around while you're level 10.

The issue, as I see it, is less the actual skill of the npcs but rather their decision making process and some shady mechanics. In a CZ last night, saw a Conda with hull damage and no shields being attacked by a 2 Vipers and a Vulture. Of course I (in my DBS) run over to help my side, hit it twice and become its target focus; the Conda thinks one DBS that's hit it twice is more of a risk than 2 Vipers and a Vulture.

After that I'm happy bouncing around with a Master Python and having a whale of a time when a wing of 3 Vipers just so happen to spawn in the CZ on top of me; the winning combination of boost, heat sink, chaff, SR and swearing got me out in one piece.

Saw again and again 2 wings fighting each other, the moment I join in to help my side the enemy wing immediately ignores their own targets and focus on me.

The CZ when I first landed looked fun, and I thought 'ahh chaotic furball, this will be good'; but no, I saw the same thing happen here that I've seen in any other game I've ever played. We're told again and again that we're a nobody in this game* but this isn't the case. Combat A.I. is still predetermined to attack you on the basis you're the player, not because you're actually a threat.

Cranking out Large boats, top heavy with Rail Guns and Canon and calling it 'Elite' or 'Dangerous' is just not how I see it, that's just giving 1000000000 health to an npc and calling it a Boss. 'Elite' should be the pilot, not the boat. An Elite pilot in sidewinder should be enough to make you double-check your re-buy cost no matter what you're flying.

The first time I played Half-Life and came across the soldiers I immediately knew that something was different and awesome.

I'm sorry to rain-on-the-parade but I just don't see it here, I don't see anything I hadn't seen in X-Wing. I want to, I want that Half-Life 'omg their actually reacting to my actions!!1!' moment in ED, but for me it's not there yet.

tl;dr
Make npcs target the threat, not CMDR (we're nobodies) and base 'Elite' on the npc pilot not the ship.

*I love the idea, tired of being the orphan, king to be, master mage/warrior/assassin just waiting for a trigger-event.
 
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M00ka

M00ka
Sarah Jane Avory said:
Agreed... so I'll be bringing it... big time... next combat AI update. :) Way too easy at the moment, but now I have time to "evil-ise" it all. ;) So I'm going all out now on the high ranks (and lessening the lower ranks a little). :)
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Mistress Sarah (if I may be as bold to address you directly), I do like your idea of an Elite NPC being a 15 out of 10 in difficulty, it is about time that doing that initial scan and finding your intended target is good, very good, and you think twice, if not three times about engaging. But please, only one or two per instance, I would hate to jump into a RES or Nav Beacon and find all the NPCs are Elite lol
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Your humble servant (grovel grovel lol)
 
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