News NPC AI update

[Silent Wings]

Ok all, am new to the forums so please bear with me.

Have downloaded the new patch and spent a few days getting to grips with the game after a long break. I never was a pro pilot and spent a lot of time trading, but before my break I was starting to get into bounty hunting and quite enjoying it. Got myself a mostly A-rated clipper and started to run into dangerous and high RES's and do assasinations from time to time. Never had massive problems with the AI in the past, ok if I made a mistake they'd pounce but usualy I could live with that.

Now post patch I'd heard the rumours of bugged AI so I thought I'd take something fairly expendable into battle before taking out the pride and joy, so I tooled up a Viper III to A-rated and off I went. No sooner had I got into a conflict zone (i think a high one) and declared, a Vulture pounces on me and in 5 seconds flat my shields are gone. No problem i think, I can fly clear, bring the shields back up and re-engage. But no. Even doing 420+ KPH the thing keeps closing on me. One dead Viper to pay for.

Decided to try out some different ships in different situations, and see if i was just unlucky. I take out the Clipper and find a lonely pirate Cobra IV at an RES, I engage him, and holy moly; doubly boosted sheilds gone in 10-15 seconds. Having the system auth guys with me here saved my behind, but i was starting to think something's wrong.

This evening I lost a fully loaded mining Asp to a Diamondback too, and these deaths are WAY faster than I remember. They seem to take your shields down in about 15 seconds of contunuous fire, and if they are the aggressor, that's probably happened before you even get your weapons pointed at them.

I've watched videos, read advice and followed it (make sure you use chaff, carry shield cells, turn off flight assist etc) have looked into things I could improve, but whatever I do I seem to be almost ready to spew my guts as soon as i get the ship turned around to point at them. I can't help thinking new players must be experiencing this and demanding refunds in disgust...

Is this some kind of bug, the AI still being too OP, or am I doing something horribly wrong here?
Any constructive advice welcome.

 

[CMDR_josh_vassell]

The AI have gotten more difficult. I also feel the same, I'm fairly new too. I had gotten my way up to a pretty beefy asp expl. And literally just when I started doing good and having fun in the game taking on ai the engineers and ai advance maneuver update cane out. I got slaughtered. Took a break and vowed I wasntm coming back until they fixed it. They took off the advanced engineer weapons bug but the AI can always out maneuver me. I find myself never engaging in a fight unless they are already fighting system authority. Even weak sidewinders and eagles can be hard to fight now. I have spent a lot of money on my ship and enjoy flying it but it's really hard when their ships are slightly more agile than mine

 

[Sahlouche]

Ok all, am new to the forums so please bear with me.

Have downloaded the new patch and spent a few days getting to grips with the game after a long break. I never was a pro pilot and spent a lot of time trading, but before my break I was starting to get into bounty hunting and quite enjoying it. Got myself a mostly A-rated clipper and started to run into dangerous and high RES's and do assasinations from time to time. Never had massive problems with the AI in the past, ok if I made a mistake they'd pounce but usualy I could live with that.

Now post patch I'd heard the rumours of bugged AI so I thought I'd take something fairly expendable into battle before taking out the pride and joy, so I tooled up a Viper III to A-rated and off I went. No sooner had I got into a conflict zone (i think a high one) and declared, a Vulture pounces on me and in 5 seconds flat my shields are gone. No problem i think, I can fly clear, bring the shields back up and re-engage. But no. Even doing 420+ KPH the thing keeps closing on me. One dead Viper to pay for.

Decided to try out some different ships in different situations, and see if i was just unlucky. I take out the Clipper and find a lonely pirate Cobra IV at an RES, I engage him, and holy moly; doubly boosted sheilds gone in 10-15 seconds. Having the system auth guys with me here saved my behind, but i was starting to think something's wrong.

This evening I lost a fully loaded mining Asp to a Diamondback too, and these deaths are WAY faster than I remember. They seem to take your shields down in about 15 seconds of contunuous fire, and if they are the aggressor, that's probably happened before you even get your weapons pointed at them.

I've watched videos, read advice and followed it (make sure you use chaff, carry shield cells, turn off flight assist etc) have looked into things I could improve, but whatever I do I seem to be almost ready to spew my guts as soon as i get the ship turned around to point at them. I can't help thinking new players must be experiencing this and demanding refunds in disgust...

Is this some kind of bug, the AI still being too OP, or am I doing something horribly wrong here?
Any constructive advice welcome.

no you arent , i got destroyed in 20 second am an expert combat and have python , they still have plasma accelerators as hell and modified green lasers , and still tourning like fishes in water , nothing really changed just popin ans so talking , sorry for my english .

 

[CMDR_josh_vassell]

Btw don't know if any of you commanders play on xbox one. But are the servers down atm. Or is it just me. BTW if any of you commanders that do play xbox and need a wing my gt is j05h va55311

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Btw don't know if any of you commanders play on xbox one. But are the servers down atm. Or is it just me. BTW if any of you commanders that do play xbox and need a wing my gt is j05h va55311

Might be you. I've been playing on Xbox for the last 2 hours. I experienced no issues, I only quit because my controller's RB is broken. I shouldn't say no issues, one time when I went to the system map the screen went bright red on about 1/3 of the lower corner. Went away once the map fully rendered.

I'm now downloading the PC patch but it's too late to play, have to wait until tomorrow night.

 

[Nitek [pl]]

I just killed two elite gunships without turning the ship and touching throttle. It was just sitting there to die. Npc are adjusted to the community skill level now

 

[Jacob Marshall]

I just killed two elite gunships without turning the ship and touching throttle. It was just sitting there to die. Npc are adjusted to the community skill level now

Haven't logged in, but if that is the case then good. Open game skill level of the A.I. ought to be set to the community level, not that of you or I or any other single player.

Now all Cambridge need to do is put the 2.1 A.I. into Haz Res, CZs and Anarchy systems so 'we' can find the A.I 'we' want, rather that force it onto the Community.

EDIT:

And no, telling people to learn to fight, or that they'll enjoy it if they try is a false narrative; there are CMDRs out there who have no interest in combat what-so-ever and, regardless of what you I or any evangelist may say those CMDRs do not want 'mentalist A.I.'

If a game based on a 1:1 scale of the galaxy isn't big enough to cater for their play-style then I'm at a loss.

 

[COLINR4]

Haven't logged in, but if that is the case then good. Open game skill level of the A.I. ought to be set to the community level, not that of you or I or any other single player.

Now all Cambridge need to do is put the 2.1 A.I. into Haz Res, CZs and Anarchy systems so 'we' can find the A.I 'we' want, rather that force it onto the Community.

EDIT:

And no, telling people to learn to fight, or that they'll enjoy it if they try is a false narrative; there are CMDRs out there who have no interest in combat what-so-ever and, regardless of what you I or any evangelist may say those CMDRs do not want 'mentalist A.I.'

If a game based on a 1:1 scale of the galaxy isn't big enough to cater for their play-style then I'm at a loss.

WELL SAID
I second this

 

[Ronin77]

Ok all, am new to the forums so please bear with me.

Have downloaded the new patch and spent a few days getting to grips with the game after a long break. I never was a pro pilot and spent a lot of time trading, but before my break I was starting to get into bounty hunting and quite enjoying it. Got myself a mostly A-rated clipper and started to run into dangerous and high RES's and do assasinations from time to time. Never had massive problems with the AI in the past, ok if I made a mistake they'd pounce but usualy I could live with that.

Now post patch I'd heard the rumours of bugged AI so I thought I'd take something fairly expendable into battle before taking out the pride and joy, so I tooled up a Viper III to A-rated and off I went. No sooner had I got into a conflict zone (i think a high one) and declared, a Vulture pounces on me and in 5 seconds flat my shields are gone. No problem i think, I can fly clear, bring the shields back up and re-engage. But no. Even doing 420+ KPH the thing keeps closing on me. One dead Viper to pay for.

Decided to try out some different ships in different situations, and see if i was just unlucky. I take out the Clipper and find a lonely pirate Cobra IV at an RES, I engage him, and holy moly; doubly boosted sheilds gone in 10-15 seconds. Having the system auth guys with me here saved my behind, but i was starting to think something's wrong.

This evening I lost a fully loaded mining Asp to a Diamondback too, and these deaths are WAY faster than I remember. They seem to take your shields down in about 15 seconds of contunuous fire, and if they are the aggressor, that's probably happened before you even get your weapons pointed at them.

I've watched videos, read advice and followed it (make sure you use chaff, carry shield cells, turn off flight assist etc) have looked into things I could improve, but whatever I do I seem to be almost ready to spew my guts as soon as i get the ship turned around to point at them. I can't help thinking new players must be experiencing this and demanding refunds in disgust...

Is this some kind of bug, the AI still being too OP, or am I doing something horribly wrong here?
Any constructive advice welcome.

Your not alone, following the latest update which was supposed to tone down the NPC's. My first flight out got destroyed in seconds.
I run ED only not Horizon's but was taken out by "Engineered weapons again" .
I will come back in a few months and check it out again but for now this is too Frustrating.

 

[Miklos Atreides]

Your not alone, following the latest update which was supposed to tone down the NPC's. My first flight out got destroyed in seconds.
I run ED only not Horizon's but was taken out by "Engineered weapons again" .
I will come back in a few months and check it out again but for now this is too Frustrating.

My experience of latest fix is different. When trading and doing missions yesterday for about 2 hours I could do without being
bothered (almost). Was engaged by interdictors 4 times. The first I shot down. For the second I did run. Number 3 and 4 weren't
able to finish their interdiction. Repair bill for the run was as expected.

So for me it seems to be fine right now. The ranking selection seems to work much better and engineered weapons I didn't recognize.

If this is persistent I am good with those changes.
BTW: The AI in intself hasn't changed a lot less as most people expect. Read the release notes carefully. They changed much more
the rules of engagement for NPCs. But if you meet Master or higher expect bad things to happen.

Regards,
Miklos

 

[manos70131]

I played a few hours the 03 version of the game (no engineers expansion) and went as far as a high RES area with my Cobra MKIII. The NPCs were quite maneuverable but I still managed to earn about 1M in about 2 hours of play. The game is quite playable there if you follow some simple rules of thumb (to attack when others are attacking and to have have full power to the SYS in case you get targeted). I also did some travelling around and I didn't have any interdiction in about 4 hours of gameplay. All looked well when I decided to go on a dogfight with a imperial eagle. We were both master level. It was impossible to bring it in front of me. We kept on circling around each other without managing a single hit either of us (not even without flight assist). I found the next system and prepared to jump. I broke the circle and tried to get away, always maneuvering to avoid its shots. Quite a few hit me. By the time I jumped, I had almost lost my shields. I escaped however without a scratch.

The maneuverability of the imp. eagle was strange. Is the Cobra not supposed to be able to target it? Do I need to install turrets to a Cobra to fight a simple fight? I understand that the opponents we face are tailored to our supposed level but I tend to believe that the game needs further adjustments. There is little point to be able to fight in RES zones but have such difficulty in a single dogfight with a smaller ship and eventually flee. I know that the developers said that they'll continue their rebalancing work and I'll be looking forward for any new version they release but I don't think that the game has found its balance yet.

 

[Gibbon]

After this new patch, thought i'd try the game again. So i jumped into my Type 9, filled her up with cargo and off i went. Two systems later BOOM, dead. Tried again, BOOM, dead. Submitted to interdiction every time, but same result every time. Can't afford to keep doing this in game as money is running out. This game is about as much fun as toothache. Stopping playing again until NPC uber ships are dealt with. Game is a joke, it really is. Rebuy for me 3.3 million each time btw

 

[Martind Forlon]

After this new patch, thought i'd try the game again. So i jumped into my Type 9, filled her up with cargo and off i went. Two systems later BOOM, dead. Tried again, BOOM, dead. Submitted to interdiction every time, but same result every time. Can't afford to keep doing this in game as money is running out. This game is about as much fun as toothache. Stopping playing again until NPC uber ships are dealt with. Game is a joke, it really is. Rebuy for me 3.3 million each time btw

Can you please add your ship config?

T9 can have chance, but its price is much different. Using poorly equipped ship (especially such slow one) and play alone is no-way. Maybe instead complain could be better ask about recommended ships/setups.

 

[arcarter]

After going out and collecting data for community goal I was heading back in to drop it off. The first system I hit that had a station in it my shields were shredded and in about 5 seconds I was looking at the canopy exploding and a couple of seconds later the ship had gone. I though oh well my bad luck and then decided to do a fast run back collecting data on the way so i could at least get something from the community goal.
I should have know better because as soon as I hit an occupied system WHAM!!!! ...Same thing "drop your cargo" and immediately started firing, shields down and I exploded once again.

I am not going to do that again.. I will wait, look at the forum and see what happens. Maybe in a week or two I will try it again and see if anything has changed.
Tony

 

[mephisto9466]

even with the new update the ai is still ramming the      out of me

 

[Vitamin Arrr]

Haven't logged in, but if that is the case then good. Open game skill level of the A.I. ought to be set to the community level, not that of you or I or any other single player.

Now all Cambridge need to do is put the 2.1 A.I. into Haz Res, CZs and Anarchy systems so 'we' can find the A.I 'we' want, rather that force it onto the Community.

EDIT:

And no, telling people to learn to fight, or that they'll enjoy it if they try is a false narrative; there are CMDRs out there who have no interest in combat what-so-ever and, regardless of what you I or any evangelist may say those CMDRs do not want 'mentalist A.I.'

If a game based on a 1:1 scale of the galaxy isn't big enough to cater for their play-style then I'm at a loss.

This is pretty reasonable, except I would say don't put it in a System just cuz it's Anarchy. Maybe if it's Anarchy and it's at war, then OK. But right now the rest of us need to farm mobs for eng mats in Anarchies. But I was able to do that, no problem in a B-grade conda. Just make sure not to have any cargo other than limpets and be careful what you pick up.

And don't attack Threat 3 convoys by yourself The wings all get agro together. It's really one giant wing.

 

[UrDead965]

Silent, I feel your pain and I have been feeling it ever since the new patch/drop. I have quite a bit of time in the game, though I play spurts since I travel and do not get steady times, so I am not bad at the game. Since the new patch there are times when I have no issue with the AI and am able to survive and to get the kill(s) and other times it is about impossible to even have a chance.


Example: Flying a "stripped" AspX with 3A shields and running cargo out to the rim for a "humanitarian" mission. Left system that I sourced my cargo from and jumped to the next system in route when I was interdicted immediately out of hyperspace. Submitted as I was not sure what/who grabbed me and thinking of deploying my mine launchers for the ole "Drop, pray, and run" tactic. Reality hit me when I spun for 5-6 secs while the FDL that pulled me was raking me with beams; no shields at the end of the spin. Decided to just run like heck, but figured I would chaff and drop some mines as I was cooling down the FTL, still trying to think why I was not successful at submitting??? Needless to say, with his mass-locking and speed, running was as futile as flying with with no wings.....I crashed and burned.


While I think I am pretty good at combat I know the limitations of the ship I am in; no comparison to what pulled and wrecked me. Before this craziness, I would have a 75% - 85% chance of getting out of the encounter with about 30%-60% damage done. Now, with shields getting wrecked within seconds and not having the speed or the maneuverability to get away.....I just die; I hate doing the "Alt-F4/Logging" trick. In the end, it is what is, you are the bug or you are the windshield and it is all up to the RNG gods as to what you are at what time.


I am not saying I hate what has happened as I do like much of the challenges, but the impossible encounters are wrecking havoc on my bank account and all the REP I have built up seems to mean nothing as I am only getting missions that are below 100K. Unless I just resolve myself to do nothing by combat, I have an FAS and a (comabt) Python, I just have to live with the fact that I will be paying ship insurance as this game went from casual fun to full on combat sim. Oh well, there is always No Man's Sky and Star Citizen; until then I will just keep paying the Frontier pimps and keep getting wrecked by their AI ho's.

 

[idahosurge]

Since the latest update I still think that the NPC's are still to powerful.

This is suppose to be a game and games are suppose to be fun to play. It is not fun never engaging in combat since most of the time you can not win.

I was only able to take down a Viper because two Sys Security ships jumped in. I know how to fly and this is not right, a Vulture should be able to take down a NPC Viper any day and do it without to much work. I could not even get a Cobra's shields down, again this is just not right. A Vulture should be able to take down a Cobra any day of the week and do it without to much work.

I am Elite so every time I get interdicted it is by an Elite NPC and this is garbage. Combat in any form is not fun. Doing missions is not fun since you are just waiting to get interdicted and then have to run since more than likely you can not win a fight.

I know how to fly so don't bother telling me what I am doing wrong. If you want more of a challenge then get in a smaller ship and go take on wings of other ships.

 

[Tecker]

Since the latest update I still think that the NPC's are still to powerful.

This is suppose to be a game and games are suppose to be fun to play. It is not fun never engaging in combat since most of the time you can not win.

I was only able to take down a Viper because two Sys Security ships jumped in. I know how to fly and this is not right, a Vulture should be able to take down a NPC Viper any day and do it without to much work. I could not even get a Cobra's shields down, again this is just not right. A Vulture should be able to take down a Cobra any day of the week and do it without to much work.

I am Elite so every time I get interdicted it is by an Elite NPC and this is garbage. Combat in any form is not fun. Doing missions is not fun since you are just waiting to get interdicted and then have to run since more than likely you can not win a fight.

I know how to fly so don't bother telling me what I am doing wrong. If you want more of a challenge then get in a smaller ship and go take on wings of other ships.

True words.

 

[Insomnia]

This is suppose to be a game and games are suppose to be fun to play. It is not fun never engaging in combat since most of the time you can not win.

Well for the record, games aren't particularly fun when you ALWAYS win either.