At least, that's what it is when MPCs pilot it in my experience. The only ship I've used that the MPC Anacondas havn't been able to out turn is the Vulture. Just got back from a RES with my FDL. Took on an Anaconda, everything going well, and suddenly it can turn on a dime. Easily out turns my FDL (4 pips to engines, throttle in blue, FA off, Boost turning). I escaped with 33% hull. I don't mind losing if my skill isn't up to the job, but I'm starting to really get tired of the sudden "impossible mode" the MPCs seem to shift into. Am I missing something?
Anaconda: the 2nd most maneuverable ship in the game!
- Thread starter DanaM
- Start date
Devs upgraded NPC combat AI. They can now use FA off.
You need to get in close. At long range even a sluggish ship will be able to track a more manoeuvrable one, because you (on the outside of the turning circle) have to cover a lot more distance than they do to out-turn them.
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Apparently the Devs have not upgraded the NPC ships to play by the rules yet.......
Thanks for the reminder, but I'm having trouble getting in close because the Anaconda's nose is pointing at me no matter what I do. I'm glad to see some other people noticed that the playing field doesn't seem quite level. I'd be happy to hear any other suggestions, because if I can't solve this soon, I'll go back to the Vulture until I can get a Federal Corvette and win the nose-to-nose slugfest.
Put him 15 to 30 deg above or below your centerline, boost in and pop chaff, and strafe a little while you're at it.
As you close in, pull back to blue and pull up to keep your nose at him while strafing downwards (or do vice-versa if your pushing your nose down) and keep under/over him. Or you can rotate about to stay on his six.
A good tactic but unfortunately all turrets on NPCs ignore chaff since Horizons came out so you'll loose shields pretty quicly. Chaff does still work against gimballed weapons on NPCs though.
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Even after the buff the FdL is much less manoeuvrable than an Anaconda. In fact it is less manoeuvrable than all other combat ships and most multi-purpose and trade ships. Having to use use all the manoeuvrability enhancing tricks in the book every time to defeat even moderate opponents makes the FdL a very tiring and frustrating ship to fly IMHO.
Achilles7
Banned
I agree that the larger ships are far too manoeuvrable..but this is FD's balancing decision! Also NPCs one on one are rubbish, so the cheating is kind of necessary atm. Where this really annoys me is in PvP where the pilots are sometimes really good. I have taken on three Corvettes in my DBS and although I managed to stay out of the line of fire for all of the fights, on one occasion I was head to head and the damage it did to me was unbelievable in one pass - full shields to 88% hull! On all 3 occasions I got the hull down to approx. 90% before I made my escape..the object of the exercise..I had no intention of giving someone a 50mil re-buy..just wanted to worry them a little 
I'm not going to try to describe what you should do..LOL..talk about pointless advice! - it means nothing to someone else, apart from the obvious stuff, which I assume the OP already knows ie throttle in the blue, use thrusters..stuff like FAOFF and boosting is only the right thing to do in some situations - both will put distance between you and your target in some instances and that is baaaad, when fighting a Conda or Corvette (or Clipper for that matter) because of their ridiculous pitch rates..so it is vitally important to stay close.
The only NPC ship that is hard to outmanoeuvre once you get head on to it is the FAS and I can only get on it's six with total concentration, cos it's so good..mind you I start my one on one fights head on, to keep the fight fair..it is stupid to get behind it before engaging, that just gives you a huge head start and a hollow victory!
Sorry to say this OP, but the new FDL is capable of out-turning every NPC, except an FAS..in the right hands! Can someone post a vid to show OP it can be done in an FDL (get head on to it first and fire, then reposition on it's six for a proper demonstration!)..I don't have my FDL anymore, since I clear saved! This is the only way to show him - not a wall of indecipherable, ambiguous text!
I'm not going to try to describe what you should do..LOL..talk about pointless advice! - it means nothing to someone else, apart from the obvious stuff, which I assume the OP already knows ie throttle in the blue, use thrusters..stuff like FAOFF and boosting is only the right thing to do in some situations - both will put distance between you and your target in some instances and that is baaaad, when fighting a Conda or Corvette (or Clipper for that matter) because of their ridiculous pitch rates..so it is vitally important to stay close.
The only NPC ship that is hard to outmanoeuvre once you get head on to it is the FAS and I can only get on it's six with total concentration, cos it's so good..mind you I start my one on one fights head on, to keep the fight fair..it is stupid to get behind it before engaging, that just gives you a huge head start and a hollow victory!
Sorry to say this OP, but the new FDL is capable of out-turning every NPC, except an FAS..in the right hands! Can someone post a vid to show OP it can be done in an FDL (get head on to it first and fire, then reposition on it's six for a proper demonstration!)..I don't have my FDL anymore, since I clear saved! This is the only way to show him - not a wall of indecipherable, ambiguous text!
Nobody walks out of a fight with an Anaconda unscathed. You're still gonna take a few shots on the way in, which is a given. That's why you have to quickly boost past him and rotate to his six before you lose too much of your shields.
Oh, and SCB.
Install a E4 shield on your 'conda and take off all those shield boosters and see how fast you shield regens. That's how they "cheat".
Again with this tired old chestnut?
Yes there are places where NPCs play a little fast and loose with the rules that players do. They don't track projectile ammo usage, but that's reasonable, because NPCs only last for a single engagement against a player (either they die/flee and they poof out of existence when they are no longer in the instance or the player does, with the same result) and who runs out their entire magazine in a single engagement? There's some iffy behavior around scanning and how they apparently have much better eyesight than any human to pick up a cold drifting ship visually far beyond where we'd even be a single pixel on another players screen..
But one place we know that they do not cheat is on the fight model. We have that directly from MoM herself. The Mistress of Minions wrote that code and she assured us that she wrote it such that the AI code pilots its ships by providing control inputs to the same flight model that applies to every other ship in the game, ours included. They may be insanely precise with those control inputs, which will make them a real handful if they are using FA-off as they do at the higher ranks, but a skilled human pilot could at least potentially match their flight behavior in a ship of identical loadout.
I know and accept that. It's just that I dislike the obvious cheating (or bug?) that is going on with NPC turrets and chaff since Horizons.
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Not from what I see. When I'm behind and under a frickin' Eagle, and he's firing lasers and cannon at me from that angle.
Unless you're telling me that he's packing 3 x turreted weapons.....
Well, who knows? I've ran into some ASPs that were seemingly packing turreted rail guns.
I see buses every day but I'm yet to see one out turn a small car, but that's pretty much what the NPCs can do
I do kind of agree with DaveB and his thoughts that they play by the (flight model) rules but because they are NPCs they can be mega precise with everything and have a lot more going on (ie simultaeneously adjusting power management while controlling FA-off/on and six axes of movement, a scanner, weapons while keeping an eye on those noodles in the microwave).
I do kind of agree with DaveB and his thoughts that they play by the (flight model) rules but because they are NPCs they can be mega precise with everything and have a lot more going on (ie simultaeneously adjusting power management while controlling FA-off/on and six axes of movement, a scanner, weapons while keeping an eye on those noodles in the microwave).
No offense, but I'll take the word of the person who wrote the code and can give a definitive answer. If you have solid evidence which demonstrates that NPCs are not using the same flight model as we are, I would suggest you report it as a bug. However, we do know that some cmdrs can consistently outfly even the highest ranked NPCs. Isinona springs to mind for one.. If they had a tweaked flight model he wouldn't be able to do that, and if anyone was qualified to judge whether their FA-off flight included better performance than our ships are capable of he would definitely be the one. He's never even hinted at thinking so.
True MoM said that and I believe her, but in my experience things have deteriorated since Horizons. Probably caused by bugs but still annoying. I already mentioned NPC turrets becoming immune to chaff but I also see NPC Pythons that fly backwards as fast as my FdL flies forwards (4 pips in ENG). I can only catch them by boosting and when I finally catch them and turn behind them they start flying forwards again and seem to revert to normal Python flight characteristics (maybe other NPCs do it too). Also if an NPC boosts while using lateral thrusters the lateral thruster also gets a boost. AFAIK players can't do that. If I side-slip using lateral thrusters and then boost my speed increases in longitudinal direction only.
I don't know what your top speed is, but your reverse speed is the same as as forward as long as you're FA-Off. If the Python has 4 pips to engines and is reversing with FA-Off, they will be significantly faster than FA-On reverse speeds.
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Hmmm... I find taking down Anaconda's one of the easiest of the larger ships.
And that's in my FDL.
They're very easy to out manoeuvre. Even with 4 pips to weapons, which is how I usually fly cos my 4 pulse setup is alittle draining. Lol
Target the power plant, keep above or below them, using lateral thrust is essential. Strip the shields, kill the power, job done.
Pretty simple kill.
Gunships on the other hand are nightmares, especially in a wing.
NPC FDLs on the other end of the scale, are insanely easy. And pay the most. Lol
And that's in my FDL.
They're very easy to out manoeuvre. Even with 4 pips to weapons, which is how I usually fly cos my 4 pulse setup is alittle draining. Lol
Target the power plant, keep above or below them, using lateral thrust is essential. Strip the shields, kill the power, job done.
Pretty simple kill.
Gunships on the other hand are nightmares, especially in a wing.
NPC FDLs on the other end of the scale, are insanely easy. And pay the most. Lol