Horizons Losing target lock on NPC's

rrobes

R
In the past several game sessions, I have observed that I am losing target lock while engaged in combat with NPC's, most recently in a HICZ. It's occurring at close range. I have to re-center and re-select. Happened numerous times, while actively firing at the target.

It isn't chaff and they haven't left my sight.

Have NPC's developed an ECM that knocks out target lock? Or are they going silent for a short time hoping to throw me off. They usually have lost their shields so they aren't worried about losing those anyway.

Has anybody observed this behavior?

Though it has happened several times, it is random, so hard to record.
 

Gunpowder jack

G
I've noticed it as well even in CZ's I would lose lock for no reason. At one point I thought maybe NPC running stealth build? But since it happened in CZ's as well I doubt it
 

Mercury7

M
You did just make me wonder if they're going silent running, but I haven't seen their shields drop (when I get lock back, their shields are still up).
 

pippo

pippo
My guess is as mentioned above, heat sink. Especially now most players go about with heat weapons.
 

Mike Reacher

Mike Reacher
I have destroyed a few NPCs today, and every one of them had lock loss. Even as there shields were up or down. I use beam weapons mostly.
I had lock loss yesterday, but didn't twig till rrobes mentioned it.
 

Serpentis Ictis

Serpentis Ictis
I was wondering about this, but then I noticed Ejected Heat sinks. What I found interesting was that my SLF, kept on attacking (and doing damage) even when i still couldn' establish lock.

Pretty certain it's not a bug, but better AI. I like.
 

Andargor

Andargor
Sarah Jane Avory said:
It's not a bug... they're now using heat sinks. :)
Click to expand...

I'm confused, heat sinks make you lose lock? I though the following was the case:

Sandro Sammarco said:
Hello Commanders!

Just to clear up any confusion: heat sinks *do not* affect your emissions signature. They simply dump heat build up from your ship to prevent your modules and hull from cooking.

Silent running is the best way to ensure that your signature is minimised as it actively reduces your emissions to a minimum.

Turning off lots of modules will reduce your signature - doing it enough can more or less match silent running with some ship/module configurations, but mileage may vary.

There is an additional aspect to emissions and AI. To simulate AI "eyeballing" you after you shut off emissions, just as a human can continue to follow and shoot at you, once an AI ship has detected you through sensor contact rules (emissions versus sensor strength) it retains knowledge of you as long as you remain reasonably close (a number of kilometres).

There is an inconsistency between chaff effects versus players and versus AI - we will get round to fixing that.

One final point: authority ships are *much* more likely to scan bigger ships, scan them first and try to scan them quickly. Sma
Click to expand...


EDIT: Well I'll be damned, it actually works, proven in this May video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPRUMi20dmE Guess they changed things.
 
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Brian of Ardagh

B
Sarah Jane Avory said:
It's not a bug... they're now using heat sinks. :)
Click to expand...

That's good to know! I had a delivery mission with an update to kill a named attacker; I thought I was having trouble with my X56 HOTAS as I kept losing lock. I've had enough trouble with the enormous head on that thing, I ended up moving the 2nd trigger to the pinkie trigger since the default 2nd trigger is so close to the POV hat I'd try to fire and end up looking at one of my panels! I can't say the X56 is a great choice for intense space battles.

Still, I successfully killed him. Me, mostly harmless in my poor little Cobra; attacked by a competent AI in a FAS. I left with 30% hull and got interdicted 2 more times before I docked, luckily I didn't lose anymore hull.

Thinking about that POV hat I guess I could make it work with a modifier but even then the 2nd trigger is too high. I might like it better if I could lower the HOTAS using these MonsterTech table mounts.
 

rrobes

R
Mystery solved!

I knew they were using heat sinks (from contacts display) but unaware of this connection.

Thank you Mistress, for the reply.

Y'r obt srvnt.
 
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Underhook

U
Brian of Ardagh said:
That's good to know! I had a delivery mission with an update to kill a named attacker; I thought I was having trouble with my X56 HOTAS as I kept losing lock. I've had enough trouble with the enormous head on that thing, I ended up moving the 2nd trigger to the pinkie trigger since the default 2nd trigger is so close to the POV hat I'd try to fire and end up looking at one of my panels! I can't say the X56 is a great choice for intense space battles.

Still, I successfully killed him. Me, mostly harmless in my poor little Cobra; attacked by a competent AI in a FAS. I left with 30% hull and got interdicted 2 more times before I docked, luckily I didn't lose anymore hull.

Thinking about that POV hat I guess I could make it work with a modifier but even then the 2nd trigger is too high. I might like it better if I could lower the HOTAS using these MonsterTech table mounts.
Click to expand...
I recently got the X56 as well.
I love the throttle but the joystick is awful. What a terrible design I am also using the pinky triger. Actually, if you have huge hands the joystick might work for you. But for small to average size hands its really bad. I read a review on it where the reviewer pointed out that being a replica of a real flight stick, its designed to be low between the legs. I'm thinking of bolting them to a board and sitting it on my lap.
 

Brian of Ardagh

B
Underhook said:
I recently got the X56 as well.
I love the throttle but the joystick is awful. What a terrible design I am also using the pinky triger. Actually, if you have huge hands the joystick might work for you. But for small to average size hands its really bad. I read a review on it where the reviewer pointed out that being a replica of a real flight stick, its designed to be low between the legs. I'm thinking of bolting them to a board and sitting it on my lap.
Click to expand...

I'm not a big guy but my hands aren't that small or even average; I work with Sasquatch and my hands are only slightly smaller than his! I find there isn't enough thumb room between the POV hat and the 2nd trigger, probably due to my large thumb. I can reach the 2nd trigger well enough, I just find it a bit awkward to use, just like the right-side button, the target ahead one.

The joystick is on a tabletop and it probably a bit high so your suggestion about mounting it lower is probably spot-on. I'm hopeful the MonsterTech mounts will give me the freedom to mount both lower. The mount would allow you to put the joystick low on the side or between the legs. If it works better there I might go back to using the normal 2nd trigger and have the POV hat matched with a modifier or a UI mode button.

The throttle is good but pretty stiff until it warms up, it does need a mount to keep it stable.
 
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Peccavin

Peccavin
I've seen this also!! They use heat sink now! What I don't like is if I use a SCB my ship almost explodes (almost!!) and I see NPC spamming SCB like the world was going to end!! So Frontier just made life harder times 2!! The use of SCB is almost a no,no and heat sink lost one ammo in the clip!!! Very nice move!! Instead of having a good time playing a game I now have a hard time playing game!! And to make matters worst I still love the g game despite the fact that Devs make my life harder, but starting to think that I don't like the Devs so much now!!
 
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