It's still a valid tactic because otherwise just the NPC would be dead. OP was clearly winning the fight, ramming him was the last chance and left the warm feeling that the NPCs death wasn't pointless - he managed to kill his enemy against all odds.
Warning: AI does not break in head-on passes, even when it is suicidal not to break.
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It's still a valid tactic because otherwise just the NPC would be dead. OP was clearly winning the fight, ramming him was the last chance and left the warm feeling that the NPCs death wasn't pointless - he managed to kill his enemy against all odds.
Deleted member 38366
D
Based on observation :
For all I can tell they do try to pass - except the miss-distance they aim for is often critically low.
Depending on Ship type, simply too low.
Had tons of indirect or mild collisions (Shields gone and/or some hull damage from physical contact) in combat so far as a result.
I reckon another 50-100m on top of whatever they aim for might help solving the issue.
For all I can tell they do try to pass - except the miss-distance they aim for is often critically low.
Depending on Ship type, simply too low.
Had tons of indirect or mild collisions (Shields gone and/or some hull damage from physical contact) in combat so far as a result.
I reckon another 50-100m on top of whatever they aim for might help solving the issue.
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That's only because there's really no death in the Elite universe. As a human player you might not want to lose your ship and see the rebuy screen but it's not like you are dead, i.e. iron man mode. The NPCs though don't "care", they should be programmed for some survival mechanism though. Can you imagine a game where all NPC ships act like flying bombs and attack other ships en masse because that would be an excellent tactic, since they don't have lives to lose, ships to rebuy or rebuild.
That's the central point, are we playing against simulated humans or AI? If we are playing against simulated humans they should have similar motivations.
This is correct... I would also point out that this is meant as a tactic (by FD) to test the piloting skills of the player too.
Also, while in a CZ, an NPC Cobra Mk III repeatedly ran headon to my FDL, and swerved at the very last instant to just miss me. This happened about 3-4 times... I even tried to ram them a couple of times, and they managed to avoid it, by millimeters. Got the Cobra, of course, but it was interesting behavior. Their normal pass was further away, and to the other side of me, so I knew this was a new tactic. This Cobra Mk III was also well modded up, which is why they lasted so long.
So smaller ships don't always ram.
I lost 2 ships to this OP.
Wana know what I did to fix this. Don't play chicken with them. And evade.
Wana know what I did to fix this. Don't play chicken with them. And evade.
Is this your opinion or have the developers stated that ramming is an intended tactic?
The AI has always been doing that. Since the very beginning. My only combat loss of a ship was due to an AI ramming maneuver (both ships exploded).
AI has been ramming in combat (and for "griefing" purposes) extensively before. With Shield boosters, 4 pips to sys and Princess Shields, ships pose little threat.
AI has been ramming in combat (and for "griefing" purposes) extensively before. With Shield boosters, 4 pips to sys and Princess Shields, ships pose little threat.
Yep, that's how I lost my FDL in day 1 of 2.1
Playing chicken with a Federal Dropship. Fortunately I had more than enough cash to spare to pay for the insurance
Well the real solution is to understand how ramming works. Specifically in the back of your head you should have a rough idea of how heavy all the ships are because the weight determines who wins the ram... If you're in a FAS/Dropship/Python/Conda ramming == good. If you're in a DBS/Vulture ramming == bad if the AI is anything bigger than an Eagle ;-). Anyway, it's good that the AI ram! Players do it too after all, it's a tactic, you just need to know how it works and when to evade and when to slam on the boost.
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I see it as an imperfection of the AI, nothing more. It makes sense to program them to ram first to make sure they ram in appropriate situations. As a side effect, you get them to ram in inappropriate situations too. Then obviously you have to teach them how to avoid ramming.
What I'm trying to say is, I'm glad we have a somewhat more challenging AI now and I believe any such obvious imperfections will be dealt with in the future. I wouldn't choose to not have it until it's perfect. I prefer a better but imperfect AI to a completely dumb AI.
What I'm trying to say is, I'm glad we have a somewhat more challenging AI now and I believe any such obvious imperfections will be dealt with in the future. I wouldn't choose to not have it until it's perfect. I prefer a better but imperfect AI to a completely dumb AI.
Yeah, I usually fly a FDS or FAS loaded to the gills with hull reinforcements. The AI can ram me all it wants, as long as killing them won't stick a murder bounty on me.
I have yet to be rammed by a ship that wouldn't win the ram. They are breaking appropriately. The one time they didn't break I died and they lived... so, there's that.
I've observed this as well, since 2.1. Anyone saying that NPC were doing this all along is mistaken. I've spent many hours hunting in Res sites and CZs in the last few months (combat is my only rank left before triple elite), and only rarely would see npcs making jousting passes and ramming me (now, scanning me while I was stationary is another story). Since the patch, certain classes of ship seem to do this over and over. Luckily, I'm flying a pretty tricked out 'Conda, so I've been on the surviving side of this most times, but it's definitely a big problem now.
All in all, 2.1 has made the game a lot more tedious and a lot less fun to me. I'm hoping things change soon...
All in all, 2.1 has made the game a lot more tedious and a lot less fun to me. I'm hoping things change soon...
Yeah, I usually fly a FDS or FAS loaded to the gills with hull reinforcements. The AI can ram me all it wants, as long as killing them won't stick a murder bounty on me.
Well be careful, if an FDL rams a FAS the FDL takes 2/3 of the damage... The FAS most definitely wins that ram and has more armour to boot. Most of the medium/big ships can out ram an FDL so most FDL pilots take advantage of the FDL's excellent dodging abilities ;-) Having said that, if the FDL has big shields and 4 pips that does change things...
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It used to depend on the ship (and still does I think). Dropships and Anacondas always used to try to ram in 2.0.
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That's not the case though. There are no flying bomb NPCs. One of thousand NPC encounters end with death by ramming. If someone sees ramming more often I would suggest that the player is to blame because otherwise more players would report it. I never get rammed because I know how to handle my ship.
So your central point isn't a point at all, the problem you are describing doesn't exist. And if one of thousand NPCs decides to ram you are free to come up with a reason like kamikaze, last resort or suicidal tendencies.
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I did when I got into a situation in an FDL against an NPC FDL. I had damaged him more than he had damaged me when the NPC changed tactics, flew away and started jousting with me. We were both trying to turn to face each other each time and ended up ramming each other. I laterally /vertically thrusted at the last moment each time and we kept clipping each other rather than had a full head on collection. Each pass knocked about 5 - 15% off the hull integrity. We continued until he died.
Lateral / Vertical thrusters aren't that good in an FDL though.
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I said FDS, Federal Dropship. Technically Dropship is one word, but I always add the S to avoid confusion with Frontier Development (FD).
The Dropship is a brick.I said FDS, Federal Dropship. Technically Dropship is one word, but I always add the S to avoid confusion with Frontier Development (FD).
Ah my mistake, my eyes aren't working
Yes, the Dropship is a ramming beast.I wouldn't agree with the lateral thrusters. FDL's vertical thrusters are a bit weak but the lateral ones are amazing if you have 4 pips to engines. Having upgraded to A rated thrusters also help a lot.