Stop thinking you can solve the easy AI by cheating
- Thread starter dc83
- Start date
There are definitely places where the NPCs cheat but not as many as most seem to think.
I miss the good ol' days when a glitch in Engineering caused AI ships to mix weapon traits. Some pilots only saw a bright light before being instakilled by a continuously-firing plasma accelerator. Now THAT was cheating. 
I want the AI from the beta 4 (2.2). From memory, that was the best AI I have seen, it was challenging and quite fun.
IT should also be restricted to the top few ranked NPC's, in fact, I'd be happy for it to be locked to Combat Zones only, at least like minded folk could go somewhere for a challenge.
Z...
IT should also be restricted to the top few ranked NPC's, in fact, I'd be happy for it to be locked to Combat Zones only, at least like minded folk could go somewhere for a challenge.
Z...
AI cheats on many fronts, speed & turn rates is most certainly one of them.
To agree, I don't mind, for it increases the challenge and I do like a challenge... But there is a point where things become to obvious and it becomes frustrating
Dangerous or Elite ranked NPC are most noticeable cheating...
For instance, I got attacked by a wing of 3 Dangerous ranked Eagles while NPC hunting in some Mining site, for I must have scooped up a cargo container instead of materials... What ever the reason, I got attacked by 3 eagels.
One would assume the Cobra should be able to out run the eagles with ease, but this wasn't the case, they stuck to me as glue and I could not increase the distance between them beyond 2km.
If I look up the top speeds of an Eagles (unmodded, they have a top speed of 250m/s and a boost speed of 350m/s
A Cobra MKIII that I was using, has 280m/s top speed and boost 400 m/s
Common sense would say I should out run them with ease, but this simply was not happening ... Hence I say there cheating
There are many ways to outfit a Cobra that would result in a gimping of speed and maneuverability. So no, common sense doesn't apply.
I don't honestly ever find that I feel the AI is cheating. I see a lot of forum posts like this and they quite honestly make me giggle a little. I play in my Sidewinder and Cobra Mk III mostly and when I get destroyed it is usually my fault for taking on an enemy I pretty much know I can't beat. For instance like yesterday when I bounty hunted a Deadly Wanted Python in an area I was hostile in so I had no Authority Vessel help and I got blown up. Or when I took a Corporate Strike mission and had no idea of what I was really supposed to be doing and got creamed in my SRV and my Cobra. Totally all my fault. If I face enemies in my rank or just above it I generally do fine. Me and my buddies usually fight in a wing and take on Elites co-oping our tactics to alleviate some of the fire any one of us are taking at the time and we generally pummel the AI. I honestly like the difficulty of the AI and hope it stays the same with some more natural looking and feeling flight to go along with it; cause as it is now a wing of four demolishes almost all the AI in the game.
Last edited:
I miss the good ol' days when a glitch in Engineering caused AI ships to mix weapon traits. Some pilots only saw a bright light before being instakilled by a continuously-firing plasma accelerator. Now THAT was cheating.
Ah, the short lived days of the Multi-Plasma and Scatter-Beam..... those were fun.
The way the AI reacts and flies is not so much a problem from my point of view. A novice slowly turns to get away when it's been hacked to death, an Elite uses FA Off to spin around quickly and get away. What does annoy me is that they actually can fire non stop, I have had a FDS firing 4 gimballed beams at me non stop from the time it got into range to the time I reduced it to spare parts. I don't fly FDS myself but even I know a FDS would never have managed that without the weapons overheating or the distributor running out of power in a very short span of time. I stopped using beams myself because they can suck the PD, even with 4 pips in weapons, dry in seconds if used constantly.
I have to agree with the OP, having a good flight AI that reacts like a human player is great but if it flies like a human player, it should also have the same limitations in terms of shield/weapon/engine pips and PP output as well as speed etc.
I've had an Anaconda interdict my engineered Imp Courier:
1st unbelievable event: I lost the interdiction game to a Dangerous NPC in an Anaconda while flying an Imp Courier. Yet, I can beat Elites in FDL's while flying a Python .
2nd unbelievable event: My ship can do 330 with 4 pips in engines and 450 in boost. I was boosting as much as I could but the anaconda was catching up with me like I was standing still
I don't care how engineered it was or how many pips it had to engines, there is no way on earth an Anaconda should be able to catch me and that's considering it already managed to beat a far more agile ship in the interdiction game.
Last edited:
The way the AI reacts and flies is not so much a problem from my point of view. A novice slowly turns to get away when it's been hacked to death, an Elite uses FA Off to spin around quickly and get away. What does annoy me is that they actually can fire non stop, I have had a FDS firing 4 gimballed beams at me non stop from the time it got into range to the time I reduced it to spare parts. I don't fly FDS myself but even I know a FDS would never have managed that without the weapons overheating or the distributor running out of power in a very short span of time. I stopped using beams myself because they can suck the PD, even with 4 pips in weapons, dry in seconds if used constantly.
I have to agree with the OP, having a good flight AI that reacts like a human player is great but if it flies like a human player, it should also have the same limitations in terms of shield/weapon/engine pips and PP output as well as speed etc.
I've had an Anaconda interdict my engineered Imp Courier:
1st unbelievable event: I lost the interdiction game to a Dangerous NPC in an Anaconda while flying an Imp Courier. Yet, I can beat Elites in FDL's while flying a Python .
2nd unbelievable event: My ship can do 330 with 4 pips in engines and 450 in boost. I was boosting as much as I could but the anaconda was catching up with me like I was standing still
I don't care how engineered it was or how many pips it had to engines, there is no way on earth an Anaconda should be able to catch me and that's considering it already managed to beat a far more agile ship in the interdiction game.
I can totally understand how this is frustrating as I have myself faced these situations. However, in playing devils advocate; I have seen videos of Anacondas that have sacrificed hull reinforcements and so on to gain better speeds and optimal mass to keep up with quicker and smaller ships. So not entirely unreasonable that one could if properly outfitted and engineered. Not to say it isn't an annoyance at times. While I agree they should be more level with the players in terms of weapon use, making them limited by the same limitations on a player may actually make them far to weak or turning battles into games of cat and mouse which could definitely hinder the overall enjoyment of a battle and make them boring. One of my favorite developers have talked about this in their dev blogs on their new game(dev-Revival:game-Overload). It's one of the biggest problems with AI's, trying to balance their limitations while also keeping the thrill of battle. Many devs avoid limiting the AI for this reason because if they did you would be chasing them down while they look for ammo, or spend more time in cooldowns instead of engaging players. I really do understand that the lack of limitations on AI can be a little overwhelming, especially when facing multiple enemies and/or very strong ones; but as I said if they had the same limitations we do, it might actually take away from the combat.
However with that all being said, I do think that there should be some tweaks done to the AI so that you are not fighting the same difficulty of AI while in solo or playing in private with a few friends. The AI should level in difficulty based on the amount of players in a private world, limited when in solo play and left the same while in open play. Sort of similar to From Soft games like Dark Souls or BloodBorne. This would at least alleviate some of these tensions when in heavy battles in solo/private but still leave some of the fear and horror of facing powerful enemies in open.
I get your point but there are some solo players who would actually enjoy the harder AI. If a slider could be introduced for SOLO ONLY to enable players to set their own level of difficulty, it would help a lot. After all, solo play was intended as a compromise to the offline game after RB reneged on his promise to release an offline single player version of the game, so it really should have the same capabilities to be modified to suit the player to be honest.
I know the open players will no doubt rage against this but the truth hurts and there are those who don't like the truth being pointed out. If they don't want solo being modified in such a way, help put pressure on FD to release an offline single player version of ED so we can play the game the way WE want and not have to play the way they want or demand that it is changed to suit us casual solo players instead. I'm a casual solo player, I don't EVER play in open but I do resent open players limiting the game in terms of the way I want to play. It's like someone demanding you have green painted walls in your house when it would never match the rest of your decor despite them never coming into your house to see it. This has ALWAYS been the problem with online games, no two people want to play it exactly the same way, so there's ALWAYS contention.
Players in open honestly have no right to complain about things that happen in solo. I am also a casual player but I play in all the modes depending on my mood. But as I am still starting my "career" in ED I tend not to play much in open because like with many online games of this nature: Most of the online players are trolls and grief people all day. You only have to watch one of the live streams to be turned off from playing online. It wouldn't be so bad if there was more in game communication and ways to co-op with other friendlier players. But right now, it's more like playing a massive GTAV in freemode where a player basically just spawn kills you over and over again with almost zero repercussions. Except in GTAV I don't lose millions of dollars for being trolled. I would definitely agree on the being able to chose a difficulty level for solo play. That would be nice for when you start to notice things getting to easy.
Last edited: