Another "NPC OP plz nerf" thread (Supervision of NPCs)

[Crimson Kaim]

I have stated it over and over again that I will repeat myself until this got fixed.


Due to a recent happening I see myself forced to release yet another quick and friendly reminder that NPCs still do not follow the rules and are just a tool to control the player's success or failure.

The happening: Basic smuggling run. Approaching a station and going silent running immediatly after dropout. 1 second later a Viper MK III police vessel spawns directly in front of me and I had to turn quickly to avoid a ram (as it spawned like 200m in front of me).
Chances that this MK III was spawned to scan me, and just me so I fail my shadow delivery missions: 100% (I like to say 9000%)

Still silent running tho, instantly "scan detected" I boost away and try to hide inside the station but even with the speed of a Clipper and the agility of an eagle this wouldn't have been possible.

Well, just two missions failed but I will keep repeating myself until this got fixed. A "We are working on it." doesn't equal a "We have fixed that.".

Thank you for your attention.

 

[Alexander the Grape]

I'll repeat what I've said in other threads: if a cops tailing you, don't pull over somewhere you can't kill them

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

I feel cheated... (Supervision of NPC's) had me thinking you wanted them to have a responsible adult with them at all times or at least be put on reigns so they could be kept under control.

Oh well, maybe next thread.

 

[Noddie]

Are you saying the viper wasn't there when you dropped?

 

[Bill Clement]

NPCs don't play fair. Sorry mate, that's the way it is and most of us are just fine with that. The IA is incredibly weak compared to human players in combat. Hopefully that will change, but right now even an average player like me can take down Anacondas with a light fighter. To post a significant challenge the AI has to take some liberties. Try and adapt to the situation- boost and/or lateral thrust as soon as you drop out of supercruise to minimise the chance of collisions with any interdictors you defeated in supercruise, for example. Each time the AI 'cheats', come up with a counter move. You'll have a lot more fun than dripping on the forum or raising endless support tickets. I'm not saying don't flag the problem up, just that a single ticket is plenty.

Don't think that I'm fanbhoying, btw. I have a number of issues with the AI myself, over and above it being a pushover 1v1. I'd rather the AI chose a new name in each new system for the ships chasing me on a smuggling run- it's obvious that an Eagle couldn't keep up with my smuggling Cobra/Asp over dozens of jumps, it's jarring and immersion breaking to imply that it did. There are a lot of others, but you've covered them in other threads. Good luck getting them addressed, consider this post a 'bump' , but I think you're onto plumbs spamming the forum.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I cant believe anyone but the greenest of cmdrs are still getting surprised by NPCs dropping out after the player at a station. But to make it even better you dont understand silent running, cannot think of anything better than 'boost away!' and still blame the AI. Thats just being a very mediocre smuggler.

By god man, I so hope the AI will properly boost and get decent scanners at 2.1. The AI is gimped in so many ways, there is an endless pile of free money practically without challenge and still you complain. I suggest you do as many as you can while its still easy.

 

[AveMe]

silent running is useless against any npcs. same for chaff and low heat.
They have unlimited ammo and fuel, they can fly with engines at 0% and see you even if you're out of scanner range. They don't have cooldown and masslock never works for them.
If you're 1.5km> from station just kill this cop, station weapons are strong only when you're close.
if you're <1.5km just boost. If you can't avoid scan and can't shot... fly in his direction and pray that he will not turn in time to finish scanning you before end of frameshift charging.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Anti-smuggling Ninja Cops.
Be afraid.

 

[xondk]

By now people should be aware that 2.1 is in route, so.....yeah.....why not instead just ask for advise to handle it until then other then crying nerfs?

Multiple threads on the same subjects, multiple statements does nothing they ARE working on it..

 

[d8veh]

Why can't you just accept the game the way it is and adjust your strategy so that you win? The only thing you need to do with cops is run away from them. No need for hiding and silent running.

 

[Crimson Kaim]

Are you saying the viper wasn't there when you dropped?

Yes. It spawned 1-2 seconds after that in front of me.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Why can't you just accept the game the way it is and adjust your strategy so that you win? The only thing you need to do with cops is run away from them. No need for hiding and silent running.

Captain obvious of the day. Please read again. I did run away with full boost and silent running. There is simply no possibility to outboos ta Viper MK III with super vision that scans you when spawned within 200 meters.

How about that. Every time you undock you gain a DoT effect that kills you after 60 seconds. Just accept it.

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

Heat sinks are your friend. It'll force them to lose lock. With other ships in the area, it might even get them to move to someone else. It works like that in CZs as well.

Note: It won't prevent them from scanning you if they're really close, but with some distance it will force them to lose lock. With enough launchers, you can chain fire them and prevent any scans while you lazily dock your Anaconda (or even Type 9) full of smuggled goods. Military Outpost tested and approved.

You're welcome.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Yes. It spawned 1-2 seconds after that in front of me.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -






Captain obvious of the day. Please read again. I did run away with full boost and silent running. There is simply no possibility to outboos ta Viper MK III with super vision that scans you when spawned within 200 meters.

How about that. Every time you undock you gain a DoT effect that kills you after 60 seconds. Just accept it.

Did you have a lot of missions on the go when this happened?

 

[babelfisch]

Silent running isn't supposed to work below 500m.

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

Silent running isn't supposed to work below 500m.

Sometimes NPC's care about this rule, sometimes they don't. Also if they start a scan while you are within 500m but leave that range it doesn't interrupt their scan, you've got to get out of the maximum range of the scanner entirely before you can break it.

 

[Cmdr Mackara]

My self-imposed rules for smuggling:
Rule 1; Always wait 5-10 seconds after dropping at a station before moving towards it while on a smuggling mission - if something drops during this time then 90% of the time it will be mision related...high-tail it out
Rule 2: If you get a warning from system security in your chat that they have identified a potential smuggler and intecepting then a system security will appear the next time you drop out of warp. Either jump to the next system and back or slow right down, drop to normal space and then re-jump to the station when the security vessle drop into space wth you
Rule 3: If you are not sure you can esacape the scanning range within the scanning timer (about 8-10 seconds) shoot the security vessle once. This automatically breaks the scan and nets you a small fine which I can guarantee will be lower than the pay-out on the mission. Once the scan in broken, high-tail it out

PS I'm another of the commanders on the side of being happy AI don't follow human rules - they wouldn't be a challenge if they did at the moment.

 

[d8veh]

Captain obvious of the day. Please read again. I did run away with full boost and silent running. There is simply no possibility to outboos ta Viper MK III with super vision that scans you when spawned within 200 meters.

How about that. Every time you undock you gain a DoT effect that kills you after 60 seconds. Just accept it.

I can understand exactly what happened. It's happened to me loads of times. The first time, it took me by surprise and I got scanned before I realised what was happening. The problem was that there were the station Feds in front of me and the one that jumped in now behind me, so nowhere to go.

First thing: They always give warning that they're coming. If you see a red message on your comms panel, do not drop out at the station. Instead, let him interdict you and play the mini game. if you win you're free and can go to the station. If you lose, keep boosting, and get back into super-cruise. Repeat until you win the mini- game, then you'll be free. Silent running doesn't work in these circumstances because the red message showed that the Fed is already onto you. You can't hide.

Second thing: I've never failed to outrun a Viper when in a T6, which is much slower than a Clipper. It seems that the Feds don't boost, so you can just wave bye bye as you continue to boost., though they'll be straight back onto you when you're in super-cruise. I've run in normal space so far and for so long after one disappeared off my radar that I thought I was free, but unfortunately not.

A couple of other times in an Asp (slower than a Clipper) and in the T6, I missed the red message;however, since the first time it happened, I'm always anticipating pirates or Feds dropping in during the run into the station. Pirates are no problem because they don't like to come into the no-fire zone, but if it's a Fed, you have to get away quick, so, always ready for them to spawn. As soon as I see one, I turn immediately to the left and boost. I always get away now.

As I said before, you should learn from your experience and change something because the same will happen again. No point in complaining about it.

 

[lysan]

I feel cheated... (Supervision of NPC's) had me thinking you wanted them to have a responsible adult with them at all times or at least be put on reigns so they could be kept under control.

Oh well, maybe next thread.

Oh but they are supervised now, new shiny minions will soon be released upon us, and we will all cover ourselves in ashes and cry, Oh why, Oh why did I ask for better Minions.

 

[Ian Skippy]

My self-imposed rules for smuggling:
Rule 1; Always wait 5-10 seconds after dropping at a station before moving towards it while on a smuggling mission - if something drops during this time then 90% of the time it will be mision related...high-tail it out
Rule 2: If you get a warning from system security in your chat that they have identified a potential smuggler and intecepting then a system security will appear the next time you drop out of warp. Either jump to the next system and back or slow right down, drop to normal space and then re-jump to the station when the security vessle drop into space wth you
Rule 3: If you are not sure you can esacape the scanning range within the scanning timer (about 8-10 seconds) shoot the security vessle once. This automatically breaks the scan and nets you a small fine which I can guarantee will be lower than the pay-out on the mission. Once the scan in broken, high-tail it out

There you go: a smuggler who actually figured out reliably methods to deal with the few minor challenges of smuggling. Have some rep for focussing on more skills rather than more whining.

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

There you go: a smuggler who actually figured out reliably methods to deal with the few minor challenges of smuggling. Have some rep for focussing on more skills rather than more whining.

Great, now what about the rest of the game?

Smuggling isn't the only thing impacted by cheating NPC's.

Say I'm a pirate and I'm having a load of fun running around in a RES site robbing the poor little NPC miners. Not profitable, but it's fun as hell, and that's what we're all playing the game for right?

I notice some police pop in so I go silent running and slip behind an asteroid to hide until they move on. Except they don't. Instead they spot me dead on from 5km away with no LoS and no radar detection and fly in a straight line to me to start scanning.

Lovely, now my night of fun shenanigans just turned into pure annoyance. What a mood killer.