This is making Trading Impossible

[SeeZaa]

If I get interdicted by something nasty while flying my T9, I just drop some cargo. Sure, I lose some profit but once I do it it seems (and this is just a narrow observation, thus far) I don't get bothered for a while.

Have yet to see a rebuy while trading in my T9

had a few occasions where an npc pirate would interdict.. ask for loot.. i drop some loot.. he'd say 'woo, all mine".. then 20 seconds later he would rinse and repeat.. 3rd time was not so lucky for the npc pirate. that was when 2.1 went live, not tried a drop since, so not sure if that is still a thing. although, if even a small percentage of npc pirates, are as mental as my last, could still be happening.

 

[Alpha087]

Learn to put 4 pips in shields, add boosters. Half the player base got what they wanted and the AI is incredibly easy - As long as you configure your ship correctly. There is no reason for anyone in a T9/Anaconda/Cutter to fear Elite NPC's.

The most frustrating thing I find about this whole AI drama is that people don't seem to be willing to at least try and learn some defensive tactics. What is so hard about setting 4 pips when under fire and fitting shield boosters at the nearest dock?

It has nothing to do with being a casual gamer or being amazing at fighting. 3 simple steps - fit shield boosters, 4 pips in SYS when under fire (even when running away), high wake

Even with 4 pips in Sys, A-rated shields, 6 A-rated shield boosters(and modified to Heavy Duty), the Elite NPCs don't really have that difficult of a time burning through your shields with non-stop Railgun or PA fire, which don't seem to obey ammo or heat mechanics at all, mind you. Obviously you can run SCBs, but since those were also nerfed some time ago, the ammo economy on them is really not reliable and fitting an SCB kind of has a significant impact on your cargo in a trading ship. Big ships just really are not in a good place with the current balance and AI.

 

[Flimley]

It's making some missions pretty impossible too. Trying to scoop up some black boxes which are falling to a planet with the ship wongling all over the show. Then three vipers turn up and all attack me at once....... I'm not going to scoop anything, ever.
Flimley.

 

[Cynaqq]

It's making some missions pretty impossible too. Trying to scoop up some black boxes which are falling to a planet with the ship wongling all over the show. Then three vipers turn up and all attack me at once....... I'm not going to scoop anything, ever.
Flimley.

I suggest using collector limpets for scooping mission cargo. If you have the space for the module that is. Anyway, even a 1A limpet controller will suffice for most of the salvage missions.

 

[Flimley]

I suggest using collector limpets for scooping mission cargo. If you have the space for the module that is. Anyway, even a 1A limpet controller will suffice for most of the salvage missions.

Good call ! I will definately do that next time.
This was a mission I picked up on my travels and in my moderately equipped Asp, was failing miserably.
Thanks
Flimley.

 

[SeeZaa]

It's making some missions pretty impossible too. Trying to scoop up some black boxes which are falling to a planet with the ship wongling all over the show. Then three vipers turn up and all attack me at once....... I'm not going to scoop anything, ever.
Flimley.

i found that if you aren't already carrying cargo, when you do the black box/chemical/enemy signal missions, any npc's that spawn when you drop out of sc, will scan you, call you a few names for not carrying anything, then just loiter a bit, as long as you don't engage them and move out of range a bit, they get bored and wake out.. then you can pick up your loots.. free of the grief.

 

[Lheim]

Why is it that so many players don't know about the mechanic?
Maybe Frontier should include a How To Escape by High Wake training video.

I think they don't like that high-wake is basically a get-out-of-jail-free card. Just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

But I'll tell you one thing - the balance for trade ships is all wrong, now, and they need to fix that before they make trade ships sit in combat for 30+ seconds charging FSD. Trade ships should, thematically, by their very bulk, be quite tanky. They aren't; they're a bit tissue paper.

 

[Privata]

I trade in a type 7 and have no issue.
the only time in 2.1 that I got killed was due to a crashed landing on a planet

 

[GluttonyFang]

Fold

...

As a trader... your priority is delivery and hr/credit, why are you fighting anyone while trading?

You're in a Python, you mass lock the FDL, just normally jump out or jump to the next system...

 

[SeeZaa]

...

As a trader... your priority is delivery and hr/credit, why are you fighting anyone while trading?

You're in a Python, you mass lock the FDL, just normally jump out or jump to the next system...

as things stand i would say next system.. then back again.. at least while ocd npc ai's that can work around ship systems are still a thing, they just don't know when to go mither someone else.

 

[NeroZero]

Guys, my rank is elite. Yesterday I was interdicted by Elite Vulture. I was flying my combat outfitted python, with A6 Shields, but no hull reinforcement (jump range). Vulture managed to remove my shields down to half of first line in 2 seconds !!!! How is it possible ?
I spent 15 minutes in combat in true hell, 12% of hull left. My conclusion - it is close to impossible to fight more agile ships.
Now days - there is no reason to fly anything other then Python / FDL and more smaller and agile ships. From my point of view - this is stupid. Now I have a lots of useless ships in garage: 2 Anacondas, Cutter and Fed. Corvette.

there is a lots of videos of fighting in sidewinders, but please, THE REAL ELITE guys, post here a video of Fed corvette vs NPC elite Vulture. I just really like to see if it is possible in general... Thanks

PS.
If before engineer update I have playing this game for fun. This filling is gone now. Endless grinding....

 

[Zazzilas Arden]

Put decent shields, chaff, and point defence on your trader. Problem solved. The days of scrapping your ship down to the bare minimum in order to maximize cargo space over safety are no more.

I have had zero issues with trading in my Python so far. I get interdicted? I chaff, boost, and jump.

 

[Speedy O]

As well as your rank, I feel that the AI should also consider the value of your cargo.
I'm running missions and still get pulled up by Elites with only 600CR worth of gear in my hold...

 

[NeroZero]

I chaff, boost, and jump.

No, I like to play, not to spend a time to run from vipers....

 

[Whiterose]

I trade, but then again I choose my fights. Personally I like the new challenge. The new AI doesn't make trading impossible....just different.

 

[Zazzilas Arden]

No, I like to play, not to spend a time to run from vipers....

You're going to jump anyway, though. Would you prefer to die? I don't get it.

It only makes sense to run from a combat ship if you're in a scrapped down trader with paper shields.

 

[CMDR Beltane]

I trade, but then again I choose my fights. Personally I like the new challenge. The new AI doesn't make trading impossible....just different.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts about it. My trade ships were always designed to take quite some punishement, having at least decent shields and as many shield boostern i could fit without having to buy the biggest powerplant. Only thing different now, at least for me - before (and i case i was in the mood) i almost never had to make considerations in case i turned arround and deployed my weapons. Now it's rather "Let's see, we have my ship, thats several millions insurance, plus cargo - another several millions. Do i really want to risk that for a mere 100K bounty? Uhm.. naa".

As Driver said earlier, Kudos to those daring T6 and 7 Pilots who developed tactics to escape. Those ships are neither particular fast and especially not resilient. But every other trading vessel beyond that, the cards are always in your hand. You can always dictate how it goes, either through sheer speed and/or beeing resilient. Therefore, and without discarding other opinions, to me the new NPC AI seems pretty fine.

 

[777Driver]

Even with 4 pips in Sys, A-rated shields, 6 A-rated shield boosters(and modified to Heavy Duty), the Elite NPCs don't really have that difficult of a time burning through your shields with non-stop Railgun or PA fire, which don't seem to obey ammo or heat mechanics at all, mind you. Obviously you can run SCBs, but since those were also nerfed some time ago, the ammo economy on them is really not reliable and fitting an SCB kind of has a significant impact on your cargo in a trading ship. Big ships just really are not in a good place with the current balance and AI.

You need to separate bugs from AI difficulty, the rapid fire bug was fixed. Elite NPC's never dropped the 6A shields on my freighter, that was throughout beta right up to the simplified AI we have at the moment.

Big ships are fine with the current AI, even before the devs stripped them of high level engineer modifications, the problem is certain cmdrs at the helm of those ships.

 

[xaisis]

I play mainly as a trader. I had some problems at the start of 2.1 with chain interdictions.

I had to do a few changes to my playstyle.

First step was leaving powerplay. That took down the nr interdictions by a lot.

Next step was adding weapons and modding boosters.

--

When i enter a new system & i get a npc pirate msg i will circle the star in hope that the pirate will ram the star.
If that does not work i will submit. then wait for security while taking potshots at the pirate.

If i get no npc msg when entering the system then i will fly above or bellow the trafik lane, to avoid sneaky npc's

If all this fails then hi-wake.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

As I understand it : The NPC's are acting up ? Misbehaving! Not reading up for slaughter no more!
I want a refund. I have only hardly used this game for 3000 hours since launch and it is no fun [mad]
I have managed to nearly, almost get triple Elite, but no fun either !
have got millions and millions of Credits : no fun either.
So all my time in this is wasted! Please FD let me have a refund !
I have wasted a lifetime pass on something I dont really play much and is just taking space on my HD.
Somebody can haz my stuff.




Irony Off/

Cheers Cmdr's