Newcomer / Intro Okay developers, this is absolutely ridiculous

[Chris Simon]

I think if Ai work as intended then that would be good ie progressive difficulty depending on rank. I wonder if we will get npc in wings or the ability to 'friend' npc via chat like what was suggested.

NPC wingmates are one of the long-shots, unfortunately. (unless you count the ship-launched fighters) But they would be awesome.
And the AI (I think) is kind of scaling with you. At least in a sense that as a lower rank you meet more lower-ranked NPCs and have lower probability to meet someone stronger.
It apparently doesn't work particularly well, so far, but the sentiment is right.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

In a stock Sidewinder things are going to be a little difficult. Hopefully someone here can help out. Or there is also a chat channel at the Galaxy Academy:
Thread: The Galactic Academy is now open for business

Some comments/pointers:

• The tip from MAIN SEQUENCE about avoiding shipping lanes is a good one as NPCs tend to hang around these lanes, so I read travelling in a curved route is better.
• High-waking to another system can sometimes be quicker then low-waking to the same system due to FSD recharge, especially if you are close to your NPC.
• Avoiding NPC missiles when you don't have a Point Defence is tricky, but one technique I have seen is to joust with your opponent while your FSD is charging and then high-wake out. So turn round, deploy weapons, fire, boost past NPC, repeat. It just means the NC will also have to turn round which gives you some more seconds to get out of there. Risky but maybe (especially with missiles) the NPC won't be able to get a target lock. I'm sure there was a video or discussion on this as well.

Edit: Video in post 1 of this thread courtesy of Captain Kremmen
Thread: Defensive Piloting #1 - The Escape Route

Fly safe, CMDR o7

 

[starman]

You guys are so lucky I was a beta user and there were no beginners sections. The fun of the game is in discovering by playing the game. Also humor is part of the Elite verse. Trying to be all precious about a particular group doesn't prepare to move on. How long does one stay a newcomer? The Post opens with rant to the developers, Im a developer and every group has a particular feature that really needs to be in like yesterday. The NPC super weapons bug got fixed pretty quick.

 

[BiNumber3]

Interesting how in an mmo/rpg, if your lvl 5 character were attacked constantly by lvl 80s in a lvl 5 zone, everyone would be on your side, and things would get fixed.
Here, half the responses blame the people for having a lvl 5 character not just in this thread either.
Don't mean to attack anyone, but it feels some people are too focused on defending Elite and wont acknowledge the possibility that these players might actually be doing everything right, but are getting rocked by a mechanic that shouldn't be there (lvl 80 npcs vs lvl 5 players)

 

[Ian Skippy]

Interesting how in an mmo/rpg, if your lvl 5 character were attacked constantly by lvl 80s in a lvl 5 zone, everyone would be on your side, and things would get fixed.
Here, half the responses blame the people for having a lvl 5 character not just in this thread either.
Don't mean to attack anyone, but it feels some people are too focused on defending Elite and wont acknowledge the possibility that these players might actually be doing everything right, but are getting rocked by a mechanic that shouldn't be there (lvl 80 npcs vs lvl 5 players)

Thats the thing: there is no 'lvl5 vs lvl80 mmo' thing in ED. If that would happen in EQ, WoW or some such you'd have mathematically 0% chance. Not in ED, where some understanding of the game and some preparation gives you a fighting chance no matter what 'lvl' the opponent is. If a player does everything right, he'll at least survive, if not win. We're not 'blaming' the cmdr, but people need to understand this. There are some who continue to believe its 'unfair' because they dont have big ships or some such, and these people tend to post a little later how unfair it is they lost their conda/cutter/clipper to some Viper.

 

[Chris Simon]

Interesting how in an mmo/rpg, if your lvl 5 character were attacked constantly by lvl 80s in a lvl 5 zone, everyone would be on your side, and things would get fixed.
Here, half the responses blame the people for having a lvl 5 character not just in this thread either.
Don't mean to attack anyone, but it feels some people are too focused on defending Elite and wont acknowledge the possibility that these players might actually be doing everything right, but are getting rocked by a mechanic that shouldn't be there (lvl 80 npcs vs lvl 5 players)

The problem with your comparison is that there are no "levels" and "zones" in Elite. Only skill. You have to learn that skill and you will learn it by playing the game, not calling out developers to "fix" it.
You, in fact, CAN beat the "level 80" by "level 5" if you know what you're doing.
This isn't a standard MMO. This is sandbox, rogue-like experience. You do the most with what you've got and get as far as you can. If you fail, you try again and again until you stop failing.

edit: Snap.

Plus that is the most important point, sleutelbos makes, that both people in small AND big ships complain about the difficulty. That only is a further proof that it all is, indeed, just about that skill.

 

[BiNumber3]

I've never been interdicted by something I couldn't at least escape from during my Sidewinder days, at most, it'd be a Python, however even then, the pilot would be average and the ship was still slow enough I could get away without getting hit too much.

And by levels: no, there aren't any in this game, there are however very different abilities of the ships themselves, when I say lvl 5, that's a Sidewinder (unupgraded), when I say lvl 80, that'd a fully upgraded Anaconda (with or without a wing), not too difficult a comparison to make.

As far as your comment on skill, if you could take an un-upgraded Sidewinder and fight or at least be able to escape from an upgraded Python or Anaconda or similar, then color me impressed. But the people who are having trouble, aren't veterans.

Edit: just looking at this from the OP's point of view, not really complaining for my sake or anything lol

 

[Chris Simon]

I've never been interdicted by something I couldn't at least escape from during my Sidewinder days, at most, it'd be a Python, however even then, the pilot would be average and the ship was still slow enough I could get away without getting hit too much.

And by levels: no, there aren't any in this game, there are however very different abilities of the ships themselves, when I say lvl 5, that's a Sidewinder (unupgraded), when I say lvl 80, that'd a fully upgraded Anaconda (with or without a wing), not too difficult a comparison to make.

As far as your comment on skill, if you could take an un-upgraded Sidewinder and fight or at least be able to escape from an upgraded Python or Anaconda or similar, then color me impressed. But the people who are having trouble, aren't veterans.

I agree that only unskilled pilots complain. And it's alright to die in a Sidey. (I have that one video of being interdicted in a D-rated Sidewinder and attacked by Master Cobra MK.IV and doing alright, and if people want, I can do a video in her against a Python or a Conda) But the thing is that most vocal people are complaining about being killed in Pythons and Condas and by the time they got them, they SHOULD be veterans.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I've never been interdicted by something I couldn't at least escape from during my Sidewinder days, at most, it'd be a Python, however even then, the pilot would be average and the ship was still slow enough I could get away without getting hit too much.

And by levels: no, there aren't any in this game, there are however very different abilities of the ships themselves, when I say lvl 5, that's a Sidewinder (unupgraded), when I say lvl 80, that'd a fully upgraded Anaconda (with or without a wing), not too difficult a comparison to make.

As far as your comment on skill, if you could take an un-upgraded Sidewinder and fight or at least be able to escape from an upgraded Python or Anaconda or similar, then color me impressed. But the people who are having trouble, aren't veterans.

Edit: just looking at this from the OP's point of view, not really complaining for my sake or anything lol

I understand the general sentiment, but there are two counter arguments:

1) Real new players generally dont encounter high-ranking pythons and condas. The people who complain about that are mostly 'veteran' players who never bothered to learn a few things simply because it wasnt really needed before. I've reset my save in 2.1 beta and in high-sec I was rarely, if ever bothered, and if it happened it was by low-ranking NPCs in small ships.

2) And even if it happened, some very basic manouvers will get you out of there. A Sidey is one of the most agile ships in the game, and its tiny. So, and this is coming from someone who sometimes flies a Corvette, if a sidey chaffs, starts his FSD and just flies in circles around me there isnt much I can do.Turrets and gimbels will miss if such a small ship uses chaff, and its almost impossible to hit such a tiny ship with fixed weapons when you fly a bulky huge ship. So in that situation:

1) Hit chaff
2) Jump to different system (to prevent being mass inhibited)
3) Just keep flying circles until the FSD is charged, then just point and jump

There really isnt much a Corvette can do about it. On the other hand, there isnt much a Sidey can do to my corvette obviously, so these are just ships that generally dont go head-to-head. The real problem starts when people leave their sidey, and start dreaming of the Big Bucks when flying larger, less agile ships which have higher insurance costs.

 

[BiNumber3]

And that's the point we're trying to make, is the beginners (the one's in D class Sidewinders with under 100hours in game) are getting interdicted by ships that they shouldn't be running into until they are veterans, or at least had a chance to upgrade their ships a bit.

I mean, if I got interdicted by a Federation Cruiser or something, with a wing of 3 Cobras, all upgrade and all "Deadly" rated while screwing around on my Cobra, id be pretty annoyed, even if I still escaped lol.

The OP, in the first post, stated that he's only played 8 hours.

 

[Chris Simon]

And that's the point we're trying to make, is the beginners (the one's in D class Sidewinders with under 100hours in game) are getting interdicted by ships that they shouldn't be running into until they are veterans, or at least had a chance to upgrade their ships a bit.

I mean, if I got interdicted by a Federation Cruiser or something, with a wing of 3 Cobras, all upgrade and all "Deadly" rated while screwing around on my Cobra, id be pretty annoyed, even if I still escaped lol.

The OP, in the first post, stated that he's only played 8 hours.

Yes, but assessing the danger and be able to flee is the easiest of the skills one needs to learn.
This thread is already filled with good advice.
OP could go back here and tell us how he's doing now after several more days of playing. I bet he's alright, by now.

 

[Otherwhere]

As a noob myself, I really appreciate how many people are here are offering supportive advice vs the "git gud" criticism you find elsewhere!

I bought Elite Dangerous about a week before all these changes hit. My small consolation has been that veterans have been getting wiped, and it wasn't just me being new. But talk about a steep and unforgiving learning curve!

I have also encountered the uber-deadly NPCs, as well as almost nothing but murderous, psychotic NPCs who will attack without reason - no cargo, no bounty, no mission, no PP - relentlessly. Running gets tiresome quickly, as does repeated destruction.

I got this game because it was supposed to offer me something other than combat and survival requirements: exploration and trading; mining. Things I could do leisurely to relax, not be another shooter. I was about to rage quit, but saw that Frontier was aware there were issues. So I've waited, but have stopped playing because I still run into psychotic NPCs several times in a 20-minute window. I have little time to play, and I have a job - this game shouldn't be one of them.

Here's hoping they balance things so that new players can enjoy the game, and casual players can have fun, not just the combat-focused ones!

 

[happyfunball]

but have stopped playing because I still run into psychotic NPCs several times in a 20-minute window. I have little time to play, and I have a job - this game shouldn't be one of them.

I'm curious, what were you doing in that 20 minute window? There seems to be reports like yours that indicate a massive amount of interdictions, yet some of us don't experience that at all. For example, I'm like you, a very casual player. I logged on for about 30 minutes last night running some trades between two systems (2 jumps each way). I made 3 runs (6 jumps total) and didn't get interdicted once. Previous day I also did the same thing, either 3 or 4 runs (6 or 8 jumps), no interdicitons. Last weekend I decided to relocate my trade route. I made a 5 jump trade with one interdiction, 3 jumps with no interdiction, and then was interdicted once when I did a local 2 jump run. So on average I get interdicted about once every 10 jumps while trading.

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just trying to figure out why some people are seeing more interdictions, and what actions, if any, that they do that differ from me.

 

[Alaska Wolf]

I'm curious, what were you doing in that 20 minute window? There seems to be reports like yours that indicate a massive amount of interdictions, yet some of us don't experience that at all. For example, I'm like you, a very casual player. I logged on for about 30 minutes last night running some trades between two systems (2 jumps each way). I made 3 runs (6 jumps total) and didn't get interdicted once. Previous day I also did the same thing, either 3 or 4 runs (6 or 8 jumps), no interdicitons. Last weekend I decided to relocate my trade route. I made a 5 jump trade with one interdiction, 3 jumps with no interdiction, and then was interdicted once when I did a local 2 jump run. So on average I get interdicted about once every 10 jumps while trading.

Again, I'm saying you're wrong, I'm just trying to figure out why some people are seeing more interdictions, and what actions, if any, that they do that differ from me.

No, he's absolutely NOT wrong. Today got interdicted numerous times, including 4 times in a row while trying to land at a station, but managed to escape. Then I decided to try my hand at a salvage mission, went out to Omicron-2 Eridani and hit a USS (Threat 0) and looked around. Suddenly saw the new contact message pop up and two ships popped up on the extreme outside ring on my port side. 4 seconds later, my Cobra was toast, they were never in MY weapons range and I never got a chance to even see, much less target them. I decided to go back and take another look, so I got my Cobra back went back to Omicron-2 Eridani and entered another USS. Found a private message beacon inside, so I headed over to that while keeping a sharp eye out. I had just got the message when I saw another new contacts message, two contacts popped in at the extreme outer ring behind me. I didn't wait, I hit boost immediately but had no sooner hit boost when my 4C shields went down and hull integrity dropped to 55%, and yes it was just that fast. I hit boost again and jinked hard to port and got a quick view of 4 blue/green balls whooshing by my starboard side. I don't even know what the hell kind of weapons those were, or how they have such ungodly speed and range; according to my scanner, the two ships were still WAY out multi-cannon range, much less laser range. I hit chaff, jinked, boosted and jumped away as fast as I could while trying to dodge extreme long range lasers. Got back to a port, did 2k in hull repairs, reloaded chaff and noticed my point defense had been firing as well; so lasers, missiles, and some kind of mysterious Super Weapon that can literally nearly one hit a Cobra from the outside edge of scanner range. I seriously hope the developers aren't planning on letting new players have to continue facing that crap, that was just utterly ridiculous. So, I lost a ship, insurance money, repair money and abandoned that mission so I lost the credits for that as well.

 

[Chris Simon]

What Funball wrote was clearly a typo of omission of a word.

Other than that. Yes, it's all very curious and I am not surprised that devs have hard times investigating and tuning it right.
I reset my account about a week ago. I spent several days in a Sidey (Still doing CZs in her and will be keeping and tweaking her) then moved to a Cobra Mk.IV and yesterday bought a Keelback, with whom I'm gonna stay, for now.
I clocked about 30 hours in 8 days, and throughout that time I was only interdicted three times, twice managing to kill my attacker and once escaped, because I don't have weapons on the Keelback. I did everything there is to do, in Elite, in these 8 days, from missions, through trading, bounty hunting and assassinations to salvaging and my favourite SAR missions. Several base assaults, too, and many other things.


So this is really interesting to me. If you are getting interdicted so often, as I see it, you are either unlucky beyond belief, or doing something that I don't do, in which case I have no idea what it might be that attracts so much attention towards you.
I am not saying I don't believe you, although the lack of evidence is apparent (only one videoclip as far as I remember) and my own experience also speaks against it, then again, that could be I who's the exception. In any case, you wouldn't gain anything by skewing the reality of things, right?
So I do believe that this is a thing. Still. Curious.

 

[happyfunball]

No, he's absolutely NOT wrong. Today got interdicted numerous times, including 4 times in a row while trying to land at a station, but managed to escape.

4 times in a row from the same NPC or different NPC? Did you high wake to another system or low wake? It is known that an NPC will follow you if you just reenter supercruise (low wake). You can either shake him by jumping to another system, or by dodging him until security shows up before you go back into supercruise.

Then I decided to try my hand at a salvage mission,

Taking a mission will also increase your chance of interdiction.

The person I was responding to claimed:

I have also encountered the uber-deadly NPCs, as well as almost nothing but murderous, psychotic NPCs who will attack without reason - no cargo, no bounty, no mission, no PP - relentlessly.

So apples and oranges. You took a mission, he didn't. I would like to see what people are doing when they don't have a mission, don't have a bounty, not carrying cargo, and not pledged to a power, yet are still being interdicted at a high rate. I carry cargo all the time, each one of the last 20+ jumps, and my interdiction rate is nowhere near as high as people seem to be experiencing.

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

What Funball wrote was clearly a typo of omission of a word.

Oh, lol. I swear I reread that a dozen times and my brain filled in the "not".

Blech, yeah, I meant to say "Again, I'm NOT saying you're wrong,"

Where's that smack forehead emote?

 

[meneldil]

New accounts should only get low-ranked NPCs, starting to suspect bounties. FD is investigating a possible bug where people get attacked by high-end ships for little reason. Anyway, learn the controls in the training missions, not in the real game. Also, Elite is partly a combat game, and you do need to learn the basics.

i restart when 2.1 came out and i can conferm that master is the lowest rank i have seen and that insta kill my cobra

 

[Alaska Wolf]

Lol! Sorry Happy, I'm just getting really frustrated with this game and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with all of the super-powered ninja assassin NPCs. I'm getting interdicted so much that I've now become quite adept at breaking them; as Chris says, I must be unlucky beyond belief. Or the NPCs just hate me, from my BBC Elite days. It may have been the same space pirate 4 times in a row, but I'm not sure what high and low wake are exactly yet, this is just my third day of this version of Elite.

All I'm doing is playing Solo and doing data carries and exploration. No cargo, no smuggling, no bounty hunting, no assassinations; I'm not aligned with any faction or power. Curiously, I did get a message saying I am now a Federal Navy Recruit; however, when I check the status board, my rank is "None" in all 3 superpowers, but under Federation it says RANK: NONE 100%, so I'm 100% of none. I'm obviously not understanding something.

I am curious though if anyone can tell me what weapon fires those blue/green balls?

 

[happyfunball]

Lol! Sorry Happy, I'm just getting really frustrated with this game and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with all of the super-powered ninja assassin NPCs. I'm getting interdicted so much that I've now become quite adept at breaking them; as Chris says, I must be unlucky beyond belief. Or the NPCs just hate me, from my BBC Elite days. It may have been the same space pirate 4 times in a row, but I'm not sure what high and low wake are exactly yet, this is just my third day of this version of Elite.

High wake is jumping to another system, low wake is re-entering supercruise, but stay in the same system. High wake has a couple of advantages: (1) random NPCs seldom follows you to another system, and (2) you are not mass inhibited by other ships when you're charging your FSD drive for a high wake. Most people suggest high waking to escape NPCs for these reasons.

All I'm doing is playing Solo and doing data carries and exploration. No cargo, no smuggling, no bounty hunting, no assassinations; I'm not aligned with any faction or power. Curiously, I did get a message saying I am now a Federal Navy Recruit; however, when I check the status board, my rank is "None" in all 3 superpowers, but under Federation it says RANK: NONE 100%, so I'm 100% of none. I'm obviously not understanding something.

That means you're 100% ready to move to the next rank. You should eventually get a mission from a Federally aligned minor faction where the reward is a naval rank up.

I am curious though if anyone can tell me what weapon fires those blue/green balls?

Balls are Plasma Accelerators? Although I seem to recall they're more purple than blue/green? If it's a PA, then it's a fixed weapon. Try dancing around if you're in a maneuverable ship. Don't fly straight away from the enemy. they'll tear you apart from behind.

 

[CMDR Mr. Boombastic]

Curiously, I did get a message saying I am now a Federal Navy Recruit; however, when I check the status board, my rank is "None" in all 3 superpowers, but under Federation it says RANK: NONE 100%, so I'm 100% of none. I'm obviously not understanding something.

I am curious though if anyone can tell me what weapon fires those blue/green balls?

There are some bug reports about the comms messages with wrong info or being sent to you too soon. From an old post of mine over on Steam:

Reached 100% Warrant Officer, Comms message says promoted to Vice Admiral. But checked status and was still 100% Warrant Officer.
On Mission Board there was a 'Federal Navy Courier Job Available' and at the bottom of that mission description there was written 'Progression: Ensign'.
Completed mission and was correctly promoted to 'Ensign'.
Receive 2 comms messages that I'm promoted to Admiral.


Blue balls could be Plasma Accelerator (EDIT: but as just pointed out by happyfunball they should be purple) which with a single shot can do a lot of damage to your shields.
An old post with some stats comparing each weapon against shield damage: All Weapon Stats in Actual Values Test Results (Stage 1 – Shield DPS)

An example of Plasmas:

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;CAQYqJq2HwU]https://youtu.be/CAQYqJq2HwU[/video]

Also am curious on why I am not getting interdicted as much, as well. Is it to do with the government and state of the system (e.g. at war), perhaps? Or that you are when cashing your missions helping the (controlling) minor faction and the other minor faction is then offended?
I have had the odd chain interdiction here and there but not in any significant number.