I'm not blaming the AI for all my troubles. I'm blaming specific decisions about AI spawn, loadout and behaviour for making light combat in a supposedly multipurpose ship too risky and unenjoyable to be worth doing. All I've ever done is picked off a few NPC bounties at nav points and wrestled with whatever interdicted me.
Discuss the AI here!
- Thread starter Agony_Aunt
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I'm not blaming the AI for all my troubles. I'm blaming specific decisions about AI spawn, loadout and behaviour for making light combat in a supposedly multipurpose ship too risky and unenjoyable to be worth doing. All I've ever done is picked off a few NPC bounties at nav points and wrestled with whatever interdicted me.
i dont know. some people say they dont have any issues as new players. others seem to keep encountering npcs that pretty much one shot them over and over. without knowing what systems you are trying to play in and what kind of things you are doing (trading, trying to bounty hunt, entering hazres or attacking stations) its hard to say atm what to advise. maybe stay in the starter system in solo and try build up some money for better equipment by trading between stations without jumping - if you play open. unless they changed it, new players in open dont encounter ohter commanders until they make their first system jump. dont trade in anything massively expensive like gold, until you have better power distributor and powerplant and weapons. i would upgrade thrusters and powerplant and shields then distributor before thinking about FSD and weapons. but im not all that good at combat apparently. im only competent by fighting ships that interdicted me.
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Pip management , boost when being fired up into the direction of the enemy ; if you can take the hits. (in order to get behind)
Allways look at the odds , remeber cons of fire of every ship and expect the worst (turrets and upgraded weapons)
If you dont think you can take the first , BOOST ! just boost out there. in fact during interdictions when they dont go your way subit ! it actualy makes the FPS spin up faster.
Understanding when to flee is very important.
I don't think the AI it too tough. It pretty much just right. That said. I'm not exactly bad at it. I can imagine that less combat centric players or those with a bad combat ship do have some issues with the AI. You just need to adjust your approach. If you're in a Vulture alone 2 Clippers and an FAS in a HAZ RES maybe aren't that good of an idea as they used to be. And with the modded systems they can sport a little extra surprise. But so can you. The new AI is a lot less a spinning shooting gallery as it used to be. And I think that's a good thing.
There are only a couple of ways this can go:
1) People naturally adapt - and the "its no fun" comments reduce.
2) People become despondent and start to walk and FD reduce the NPC difficulty.
Hoping for number 1, but its not like players have not been walking because the game is to grindy (that includes farming NPCs as res sites/conflict zones) up to now. I hope if we follow number 2, FD can find a clever way to allow those that are enjoying the new AI to get their kicks and allow the game to appeal to a wider audience at the same time, a tuff ask.
We'll see what its like on Tuesday after the bank holiday. but its clear a lot of people are struggling at the moment.
Simon
1) People naturally adapt - and the "its no fun" comments reduce.
2) People become despondent and start to walk and FD reduce the NPC difficulty.
Hoping for number 1, but its not like players have not been walking because the game is to grindy (that includes farming NPCs as res sites/conflict zones) up to now. I hope if we follow number 2, FD can find a clever way to allow those that are enjoying the new AI to get their kicks and allow the game to appeal to a wider audience at the same time, a tuff ask.
We'll see what its like on Tuesday after the bank holiday. but its clear a lot of people are struggling at the moment.
Simon
Not all NPCs. the NPCs are on the same level as us , well they are AIs so less good than us , but they dont cheat
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It will be number 1.
We have been asking for a good AI sins 1.0 and FD have said the AI has been buged sins then anyway.
Maybe they will just make high ranks rarer
TiberiusKirk
Banned
Seeing that games like original Elite, Frontier: Elite 2, FFE, X-wing, Tie Fighter and even Doom mentioned here as examples of "harder than E", here is what they actually were (and yes, I played them all, hundreds of hours).
— original Elite had saves at stations. Met a particularly nasty pirate? Meh, just reload. Only real difficulty came from endless grind.
— FE2 and FFE let you save and load your game almost everywhere. You could just save scum the game until you get RNG odds in your favor. Also the difficulty came from endless grind but this time there were also completely optional missions where you couldn't just use autopilot, and had to do all the newtonian mechanics flight by hand. For hardcore players it was fun, others could just trade and do missions, occasionally scumming saves. Eventually, once you got some good ship with good shields and weapons, NPCs would be nothing more than targets.
— X-wing and Tie Fighter, both originals and re-issues, were hard at times, but there was a CHEAT MENU built in, so if I weren't trying to "git gud" and just wanted to have some fun, I would turn on invincibility and infinite missiles and just go shoot these star destroyers out of the sky.
— Doom had difficulty levels, was pretty much easy as cakewalk on "too young to die", had quick save and load and also had cheat codes.
These were hardcore, but there always were shortcuts for those who just can't make it. This time, looks like the shortcut would be just buying No Man Sky which is set to be released less than a month from now.
There is a nice shortcut to make everyone happy. Make safe places like high-sec systems and superpower's strongholds really safe. Like next to none interdiction by pirates and lunatics at shipping lanes in Achenar or Sol. No one robs and kills people right at the entrance to the Buckingham Palace or in Kremlin — and anyone stupid enough to try will be apprehended before he can do anything. Attacks at such places make news headlines, they are not routine events. Make outskirts of such places (outside of shipping lanes) and medium sec systems shipping lanes somewhat dangerous with some minor risk, maybe with predominately low-rank NPCs (because if seasoned criminals appear in such systems, police forces get on red alert). Make all other places dangerous, like they are now, and maybe even more in some cases.
In that way everyone will benefit and no one will lose. Casual players can do low profit trading, mining, and courier stuff in high-sec, and those looking for challenge have other 80% of the bubble as their playground.
Fortunately nothing changed for us explorers and nothing will change. Reliably avoiding interdictions on the way back is very possible even now, and those Thargoids everyone is talking about — good luck finding me out there.
Concurr. The original Elite was also not inhabited by fanboys who kept saying 'if it's too hard for you, then but out', or using dergatory terms like 'snowflake.' 'Hit x', 'Just play the game' 'Stop grinding'
It's all pretty insulting stuff.
The original Elite had brilliant gameplay (which is why it was, comparatively, a massive success, compared to this version), and you could genuinely choose whether to trade or fight. You weren't constantly bugged by fanboys who are frustrated because they want to show their (virtual - remember!) fighting skills and take out new players.
If you fanboys like fighting these - allegedly easy - NPCs so much - why do you care what anyone thinks? You could just go and fight them. Or, as I have suggested before, get your PvP pals together, meet at a Nav Beacon, and fight each other. Or maybe you're scared?
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I agree, no need to do that, I would never wipe my character that's for sure.
meanwhile, some Sidewinder bounty hunting in 2.1
[video=youtube;-0g5byS42vA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0g5byS42vA&feature=youtu.be[/video]
you arent an explorer until you make it back and sell that data. and i have probably an asp better able to cope with an npc combat than you and i nearly died in 30 seconds. unless you are running a lot of shields and cell banks and massive armour, be VERY lucky when you come back to sell.
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Avago Earo
Banned
I'll answer then, seeing as I'm underqualified. Keep them in your sights and blast the hell out of them. Works for me and I'm really crap.
verminstar
Banned
All pips on engines...shields down in under 3 seconds, dead in under ten. That was without any warning or provocation AFTER I submitted to cycle up faster, hence flight is simply not possible.
Also...I'm currently docked at a station with less than 50k left and a mission cargo I can't hand over because there's no mission board on the station...mission failure with a guarantee.
I really really hope yer just warming up with the great advice ^^
Find a high security system (the system map will tell you). Go to the Nav beacon and circle around, scanning every contact. Do not fire on any Wanted ship, but follow behind at the same speed, waiting for the cops to identify it and start firing. Join in only once the target's shields are down and hull to around 50% and you should pick up the bounty. Once confident in that, scan around for laser flashes in the sky and head for the fight, identifying the good and the bad guys as you do so. Rinse and repeat.
It's a 100 page thread. Are you sure you read it all, lol.
Seriously though there are lots of suggestions here for what to do now to make money. The whole thread is a gold mine of hints actually. It's just interspersed with lots of hairy chest pounding and pre-mature teeth gnashing. So it's hard to see it.
If you want to make money, go to the mission board in a high security system. Get your rep up with the leading faction there. Take EASY missions for huge sweaty tons of cash. AVOID HARD MISSIONS. Pay attention to the rank on each mission to figure out which is which. Don't Solo surface missions that require you to attack bases. Those are for wings apparently.
Pips to engines when you need to move out of the way , or think that you need speed over protection
Pips to systems when under fire or you are about to do something deadly
Pips to weapons when you need to charge them or just when you shoot
Now , one thing I do is when I am not being shot at I regend my boost with all pips to engines and once its done back to two.
However every player is unique , you might not fly the same way as I do , every ship build as its own pros and cons you need to learn what your ships limits are.
I didn't say or suggest that NPCs cheat.
Avago Earo
Banned
[video=youtube;xfQwHb1pWPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQwHb1pWPE[/video]
yeah but the swastikas are all sidwinders with elite and deadly pilots and the brits are traders in a t9 and only mostly harmless
Sorry then.
If you want to outrun an ship you are going to need something like an ASP or a Cobra otherwise its creative flight , and I have to say I have yet to figure out how to survive in a type-7 but I am sure I will find a way (I guess jumping out of SC when hostiles are inbound , but they might follow.)
TiberiusKirk
Banned
NPCs turn faster - I've measured it. Even with FA off, boosting and using thrusters, they turn up to 30% faster, whilst travelling along a relatively straight trajectory, than any of my ships have used. It is easy to observe, and they have been doing this since the early days of this game.
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