Yeah, it is jarring that so many have the mods out of no where.
Discuss the AI here!
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Yeah, it is jarring that so many have the mods out of no where.
At least after momentarily being annoyed with it, I became thankful for all the Elite Ranked Adders I would see. Because the way this game works, you can get absolutly zero combat rank progress going after "Hard" targets, or even after several missions, if they didn't have a good enough rank. So Elite For No Reason NPCs at least, meant you still had ANY source of rank progress compared to "harmless mission: *turns out it's a mostly competent Federal Corvette. In a wing with an FDL and a sidewinder*"
Now, it's just an excuse to slap on even more NPC cheats and call it "difficulty".
Speaking of, "Okay guys, Silent running actually prevents NPC scanners from working on you anyways now!" *Robigo runs and everything near it shut down* "Suckers."
I never did get around to the Robigogogo. Because regardless of the payouts, the flagrant NPC cheats just didn't appeal to me as gameplay, or any proper "Challenge" because it hardly tests your skills to have to work out how to get around cheats, rather than enemies. Now, catch 22 there.
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There is skill variety in the NPCs, look at the videos of the Mostly Harmless ones and see how they, use basic manoeuvres, little to no pip management, keep FA on, don't use lateral or vertical thrusters etc.
The problem I believe is
1) People going in how they always did and getting in over their head
2) people taking mission not realising recommended rank will mean they might face NPCs better than them
3) The Proportion of High rated NPCs on the general interdiction role in SC
4) The Mods on Dangerous + Ships that can result in very low Time to Kill as per the Python video
If 3) and 4) are review there is nothing inherit in the improved AI piloting skills that will make the game unplayable for you.
You just need to be ware when taking missions what is the recommended rank
If you go to a CZ don't be alone, pay attention to number, pay attention to the rank of the NPCs
Same for Res and such.
It is just about situati9onal awareness as the Low level NPCs are just that Low level, and that is meant as no insult or disparagement, just that there will be NPCs to meet your target level of opposition what ever that may be.
How do people even know that the npc have mods? I noticed a few where it was clear because of special effects, but other then that all the others I've seen might as well had no mods at all, dunno.
Can we see it when scanning them and looking at there internals?
Can we see it when scanning them and looking at there internals?
I'm not new. I've been in since Early Beta. I run a cobra Mark IV with about high ranking shields as I can get currently. Getting decimated down to 30% in less than 15 seconds after being interdicted is too much. I'm sorry I had the wrong kind of fun. I do practice. Don't tell me my style of play isn't good enough. I run with flight assist on over off. I will turn it off for fun smuggling runs into a station. I still need to upgrade my thrusters, and see where it leaves me. My MK III got annihilated in normal newbie space. My rank does not reflect the ships that come after me, in the slightest. IE Dangerous, Master, Elite, etc. Show me a video of a MKIII or MKIV Cobra, taking down Utopian Overseers, Federal Police, and Anacondas with this latest release AI
I don't expect anything to be easy, but I expect some fairness based on skill level. The get good crap is what put me off from many other MMOs.
I think that it needs some balance. I just bought an Anaconda to go exploring in after Horizons drops (on xbox), and I got interdicted 7 times and killed twice trying to make a 5 jump trip back to my home station.
I decided to store it and so I jumped in my A rated Trade Python to do the CG while I wait. I make it to a station to purchase the goods just fine, but I get interdicted the second I jump into the next system on the way to drop it off. I submit, and I am dead before my FSD cools down and I can high wake out.
I'm not opposed to making combat more difficult, but this is ridiculous.
I decided to store it and so I jumped in my A rated Trade Python to do the CG while I wait. I make it to a station to purchase the goods just fine, but I get interdicted the second I jump into the next system on the way to drop it off. I submit, and I am dead before my FSD cools down and I can high wake out.
I'm not opposed to making combat more difficult, but this is ridiculous.
There's audio warnings and visual indicators just below your ship / shields hologram.
I disagree, in fact see this previous post.
TL: DR The AI is not smarter, the AI is not better at combat. The AI is merely more aggressive. It is still very much an AI that can be exploited. The AI now has exactly one tactic, and that tactic is... charge. Charge is a tactic that is actually easy enough to counter.
TL: DR The AI is not smarter, the AI is not better at combat. The AI is merely more aggressive. It is still very much an AI that can be exploited. The AI now has exactly one tactic, and that tactic is... charge. Charge is a tactic that is actually easy enough to counter.
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In my experience with AI in combat it is slightly overwhelming to me. I will admit I am not the best pilot and do not deserve my "Dangerous" combat rank. I stuck to a lot of Solo play on my part because I have a tendency to enjoy games alone than with others. What can I say I am a filthy Casual 
Anyways I won't bore you with my over all combats I have had. I can say they have been getting very hairy especially when I take Cargo Haul missions. Pirates that are after me are in some pretty scary ships, Federal Assault Ships mostly. They can be very tough to kill and somewhat Ram happy, but thankfully system security is almost very responsive and drops in within seconds of me being attacked. Police NPC do not joke around now!
Overall it is a rather balanced addition to beef up AI's to be smarter and have you think before you engage now.
I would like to add one of my friend's, yes I do have one I play with from time to time, experience and I'll keep it short.
He doesn't like the new AI difficulty and just tells Frontier to F off because he can't have fun anymore doing combat so he quit. Oh well really...he was the one who got me into Elite Dangerous too. Really sad to see him think that way.
Anyways I won't bore you with my over all combats I have had. I can say they have been getting very hairy especially when I take Cargo Haul missions. Pirates that are after me are in some pretty scary ships, Federal Assault Ships mostly. They can be very tough to kill and somewhat Ram happy, but thankfully system security is almost very responsive and drops in within seconds of me being attacked. Police NPC do not joke around now!
Overall it is a rather balanced addition to beef up AI's to be smarter and have you think before you engage now.
I would like to add one of my friend's, yes I do have one I play with from time to time, experience and I'll keep it short.
He doesn't like the new AI difficulty and just tells Frontier to F off because he can't have fun anymore doing combat so he quit. Oh well really...he was the one who got me into Elite Dangerous too. Really sad to see him think that way.
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The AI is better at combat because they have God mod weapons now. All of them. Somehow.
They all don't, seems only those dangerous +
You're upset but don't exaggerate, no excuse for it
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In the end Frontier will see if this update meant more people playing OR a smaller number of people playing more.
That s what it comes down to...the balance sheet
I for one am not interested in playing against opponents that are able to kill me before I can even get them down a bit. I m sure I suck, that I am a noob etc...
Yesterday when I came back from being on the other side of the galaxy I got shot and killed in 3 seconds exiting the station where I sold my data
I looked at my screen wondering what happened and what I did. I bought the same ship and exited the station and BAM dead
I was about to log a bug report but grabbed a third ship and this time I ran like hell and managed to HC
I arrived in Rhea and got interdicted...gave up, the NPC just left...nothing and I went "huh??". Back to HC and I stop at Rhea's star. Oh look a harmless wanted pilot...pew pew, then 10 seconds later I am dead as my shield 4A were basically not as much a defense as the paint coat on the ship...that s when I knew something was wrong
I went to the forums and asked what the hell happened and that is when my post was merged and I learned about this AI issue
Today I decided to try again and tried to attack an NPC but only barely escaping and then being interdicted and blown up
I get it...the game is now hard and ruthless...great...but I lost all the money I made in a year from insurance and now I am down to one explorer asp
I m done with interacting with NPCs...DONE. The game for me is no interaction and lets discover planets for an hour.
Not interested in playing a game that thinks it is dark souls on steroids played by people who enjoy pain.
If Frontier thinks this will bring more players and please more of the established base then great...but I for one am not interested in getting killed over and over by NPCs that act like I have no shields
I bought shields so they would be useful.So far in the 6 ships I lost all of them had 4A shields and all were gone in matter of seconds...THAT is why I am not happy in playing the game anymore
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I understand that this was made on purpose to motivate people to farm mats for upgrades to be able to beat the new AI...that is so wrong in its implementation on so many levels. I can t believe Frontier did not see this coming. As a casual player I have 100% zero interest in getting killed over and over in order to farm mats and spend hours upon hours to hget upgrades...dont give a flying ****. I want to be able to participate in the universe and the economy and politics and maybe something killing some pirates but if I have to basically start from 0 credits every time I get killed because the game requires you to farm hours of mats or credits then screw this... not motivated much
That s what it comes down to...the balance sheet
I for one am not interested in playing against opponents that are able to kill me before I can even get them down a bit. I m sure I suck, that I am a noob etc...
Yesterday when I came back from being on the other side of the galaxy I got shot and killed in 3 seconds exiting the station where I sold my data
I looked at my screen wondering what happened and what I did. I bought the same ship and exited the station and BAM dead
I was about to log a bug report but grabbed a third ship and this time I ran like hell and managed to HC
I arrived in Rhea and got interdicted...gave up, the NPC just left...nothing and I went "huh??". Back to HC and I stop at Rhea's star. Oh look a harmless wanted pilot...pew pew, then 10 seconds later I am dead as my shield 4A were basically not as much a defense as the paint coat on the ship...that s when I knew something was wrong
I went to the forums and asked what the hell happened and that is when my post was merged and I learned about this AI issue
Today I decided to try again and tried to attack an NPC but only barely escaping and then being interdicted and blown up
I get it...the game is now hard and ruthless...great...but I lost all the money I made in a year from insurance and now I am down to one explorer asp
I m done with interacting with NPCs...DONE. The game for me is no interaction and lets discover planets for an hour.
Not interested in playing a game that thinks it is dark souls on steroids played by people who enjoy pain.
If Frontier thinks this will bring more players and please more of the established base then great...but I for one am not interested in getting killed over and over by NPCs that act like I have no shields
I bought shields so they would be useful.So far in the 6 ships I lost all of them had 4A shields and all were gone in matter of seconds...THAT is why I am not happy in playing the game anymore
EDIT:
I understand that this was made on purpose to motivate people to farm mats for upgrades to be able to beat the new AI...that is so wrong in its implementation on so many levels. I can t believe Frontier did not see this coming. As a casual player I have 100% zero interest in getting killed over and over in order to farm mats and spend hours upon hours to hget upgrades...dont give a flying ****. I want to be able to participate in the universe and the economy and politics and maybe something killing some pirates but if I have to basically start from 0 credits every time I get killed because the game requires you to farm hours of mats or credits then screw this... not motivated much
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Awesome! I thought I'd drop the CG trade runs for a bit and see what the CZs are really like. Went back and picked up my Asp and finally found a low-CZ. Went outside the cloud, declared, and then slowly edged my way back in.
Didn't take too long to be engaged by three enemy ships. I didn't even have enough time to see exactly what they were. Turned to run, shields down in seconds, thrusters/FSD failed, and then the inevitable. Engagement to shields down: ~6sec. Engagement to disabled: ~20sec. Engagement to detonation: ~40sec. Rebuy: >1.8M. Shots fired by me: 0.
I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon.
Didn't take too long to be engaged by three enemy ships. I didn't even have enough time to see exactly what they were. Turned to run, shields down in seconds, thrusters/FSD failed, and then the inevitable. Engagement to shields down: ~6sec. Engagement to disabled: ~20sec. Engagement to detonation: ~40sec. Rebuy: >1.8M. Shots fired by me: 0.
I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon.
5) People who have spent all their time in SOLO or a PG, and haven't ever had to learn that high-waking (jumping to another star) is entirely free of mass-disruption delays. Any halfway decent player is more dangerous than an NPC, so complaining now that it's "impossible" to escape NPC attacks shows a lack of knowledge of game mechanics... borne of a lack of need to learn.
Well, time's up.
Time to learn.
- Learn some situational awareness in supercruise. Unlike players, baddies will tend to broadcast their intent to interdict you. READ the chat. WATCH the radar. After a hostile NPC messages you "I'm a baddie", their name then appears on their ship without you ever having had to "scan focus" them. Use next target to identify the hostile ship. Now you see exactly where they are, before any interdiction begins.
- Learn how to position your ship in supercruise so they are NOT directly behind you. How to go past your destination planet fast, then turn 180 degrees and come at it from the outside, so you can laugh at the hostile ship that cannot interdict you. And how to mass-brake, coming in fast, close to a planet, to bleed off your speed - to reduce your exposure in supercruise. Combined with the 180 degree approach vector, it's very effective.
- Learn how, for PC players anyway, to keep a "route plot" to another star handy, and to bind the "Select Next Route Jump" target button for a quick getaway. Because hyperspacing charge-up time is FIXED, unlike supercruise charge-up time if heavy ships are nearby.
- Learn how to play for time in an interdiction, by flying directly AT your interdictor in a close fly-by, making them turn to chase... while firing off chaff, and charging for a hyperspace jump.
Notice I haven't gone anywhere near deploying hardpoints, or outfitting specialties, or FA on/off. None of that is relevant if you simply want to survive, because...
The best fight is the one you're never a part of in the first place.
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That's right, he was aimlessly flying for 38 seconds while I was being slaughtered. My wingmate and I could see each other but he could could not see my enemy!
My point is, we got harder AI sure so we just wing up right? Wrong because I was practically there alone.
My point is, we got harder AI sure so we just wing up right? Wrong because I was practically there alone.
This. Being ripped to shreds in seconds when interdicted. I haven't run into the space doc problem, mainly because I'm already hauling **s out to space, but I do get direct messages of NPC death threats out of the doc. Seems over kill, NPC's shouldn't have those top tier engineer weapons with unlimited credits already, before we can even defend against the debuffs. I will think about taking Commander Fulsom's offer, after more tests by myself.
We're sorry, you're Playing Wrong(tm) and need to Get Good(c).
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