Possible to have HARD elite NPCs at CNBs/HazRez/HighCZ/piratelords?
- Thread starter sb413197
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I mine in HazRES's. So that + mining loadout ship.
It is a lot of fun, but it doesn't change the need for better AI.
Can't you guys just wait till the thargoids start attacking and then return back here and moan to the developers to tone down their AI rather than mess with the normal npcs in the game?
Like someone above has mentioned, fill your hold full of gold and then go to a HAZ REZ site. I doubt any of you would complain then of them being too easy. Not all of use have engineered corvettes or cutters and would like to stand a chance when flying around the systems. Unless you remove all npcs above competent rank from open space.
You increase the AI difficulty in npcs it not only effects belts and res sites/combat zones. It effects all the npcs in the systems and missions.
Like someone above has mentioned, fill your hold full of gold and then go to a HAZ REZ site. I doubt any of you would complain then of them being too easy. Not all of use have engineered corvettes or cutters and would like to stand a chance when flying around the systems. Unless you remove all npcs above competent rank from open space.
You increase the AI difficulty in npcs it not only effects belts and res sites/combat zones. It effects all the npcs in the systems and missions.
I think that's the idea though.
All I know is I took an elite assassination mission the other day, went to the target system in the given time frame, and started checking signal sources.
I dropped into a convoy dispersal pattern [threat 3] signal and found a federal medicine convoy, 2 anacondas, a t9, at least, I think.
I hear someone drop in, see some Cobra III wiz past my covette canopy - it's my mission target.
I think I hit him with one shot from a pulse laser, and then the convoy anacondas finished him off.
That sucked.
I've done a handful of assasinations this past week, all either Deadly or Elite rank, I think my toughest opponent has been an FDL? Which, meh.
Once upon a time, I took an elite assassination mission, I dropped into a USS, and found my target in an Elite Anaconda, in a wing of 4, with 2 more elite anacondas and a deadly FDL.
THAT was a fun fight. I want some more of that.
Which, I come close taking engineer matz into a haz res. So, eh.
What kind of assassination mission was that? And what is your combat rank and what ship are you flying? I'm asking, because perhaps, just perhaps the mission ranking is being 'modified' to be more balanced to the player.
For what it's worth, different types of missions have different types of targets, but at Elite rank, I cannot imagine one being in a Cobra... The only assassination missions that I've had where the target was in a Cobra was ranked either Harmless or Mostly Harmless.
Any Elite ranked missions that I've taken have had targets in Anacondas or Fed Corvettes if they are pirate lords, or ships such as FAS or Pythons if they are kill deserter missions. Perhaps something has changed, I haven't done any missions for a month or so...
I tried this. The pirates scan you and then say "I can see you know what you're doing" or something like that, and back off!
That's very, very strange. Never seen an assassination target of that kind of mission rank in a Cobra (I'm Deadly and usually fly a Vulture or FDL), regardless of the type of assassination.
I'd say it's an anomaly unless FD have changed things in the last couple of months.
How many ships have a corvette canopy? Are they common? If so, I'd like one on my Vulture.
Yeah.. missed that even though I quoted it...
So then engineering ruined the NPC game? Certainly it didn't help, since technically it moved your difficulty slider as far to the easy side as you could possibly get it. If you're going to spend that much time unlocking engineers and gathering material just for that chance encounter with the CMDR who did the same, the downside is that the "E" part of PvE just got easier. I don't think it needs to be any other way because I don't think people need to feel the pressure you felt to engineer their ships, especially people in Solo and PG, for that chance encounter where a wing might have an Elite ship they didn't realize was there.
5000 hours later, sure. What about people who just started or have less than a couple hundred hours playing? I get it that you want the game customized to your level, but everyone shares the galaxy, it's not just there for you.
But wanting your enemies to be better at trying to kill you doesn't?
You likely don't consider yourself the average CMDR, so of course you'd like that.
tl;dr version
You say the game was too easy from the start yet you made it easier by engineering because other people did it, so you didn't want to be behind the curve. Now you want NPCs to be buffed so that everyone else is behind the curve.
Engineering = easy button
6m a hour isn't a lot, I can make 3x that hauling productions from Uranus.
The elite attitude in Elite is Dangerous tbh fwiw.
Yes. And that is the problem. In most games, as you level up (in this game getting a stronger ship), there is a commensurate challenge right up until the very end. That holds true in this game too...up to a point. But while they gave extra "leveling" potential in the engineers, there is little new challenging content to match it.
Hence, I think the easiest solution is to add new challenges to the game that are accessible to end game players, but not forced upon early game players. New points of interest like "pirate king" or "pirate base" with those high end challenges should suffice - with higher end AI and engineered ships for us to fight.
I have heard no opposition to this idea thus far. Does anyone see a problem with this?
I really find it hard to see why someone would oppose a newer set of harder Endgame AI, the topic here is for hazardous areas and for Elite level combat missions. This won't be a problem for new players, they don't have the combat rank to get chased by high ranked NPCs from bounties/pirates nor would they find the proposed new hard AI in the standard RES sites/low CZ.
Let's add in some tougher endgame level opponents, the 2.0 NPCs would make a good baseline, just give them some more manuevers since they still had a predictability factor that made them about average compared to most CMDRs.
Dood, everyone knows that when you get up to a Mad Cat/Timberwolf or an Atlas, you're going to crush everything in your way. That is why many endgames are created by the users themselves as a challenge: could I do this mission in a 30t mech that most people will use a 75-100t mech to do? Can I take on three Heavies that way? I've done this in all the games I've played.
Most "combat" in E|D is just engineered gunboats lobbing fire from +200m until someone runs out of SCBs and turns tail. But can you take on an Anaconda in an Eagle or Viper? Up close and personal; very thrilling.
Gotta say, this gave me a good chuckle.
As I've pointed out numerous times, there is plenty of room for the game's NPCs to cater to all skill levels. The spectrum of NPC skill and loadouts is too narrow and leaves any veteran pilot, who doesn't go dramatically out of their way to handicap themselves, with no credible NPC opposition.
There should be the occasional NPC that can give me a run for my money. Commanders of lesser ability could avoid provoking these NPCs, and it could plausibly be made so that these NPCs rarely pick fights with those too far below their ability. It would make perfect sense that a peeved authority would pay a little extra to get the 'good help' when hiring assassins to send after my CMDR, but would want to save their credits and get someone of more modest ability to go after a less experienced CMDR.
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Oh - and a lovely little quote, but a misquote.
If I remember correctly, while that misquote has been around some time, what Plutarch actually wrote had the polar opposite meaning. It read something like him being told about an infinite number of worlds out there, and Alexander wept "because he could not even master one".
Anyone able to correct me or elaborate, please do so.
In any case it doesn't really stand here. Saying "well once you're at end game that's that" is a pretty poor excuse for not even trying to provide worthy opponent. Give us opponents and combat content that actually means something, then we'll decide if the exercise is ultimately still meaningless.
So I recently just killed (kind of) and Dangerous Anaconda in my DBX.
My DBX has no weapons.
And C3 Bi-weave shields.
And a chaff.
But I avoided taking much damage, until security showed up, then I had a cheeky ram, which doesn't work to well on an Anaconda BTW. Lol. It took a while for security to take it down. But I survived the entire scenario.
Shame I couldn't mount my SRV on the roof so I could have atleast got a few shots in and claimed the bounty.
Can we stop with the self-nerfing advice now?
All hopping in to a smaller ship does it make it take longer to actually kill them. It doesn't make it harder. (For me).
+1 (again) for more areas we can choose to go for tougher AI.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
My DBX has no weapons.
And C3 Bi-weave shields.
And a chaff.
But I avoided taking much damage, until security showed up, then I had a cheeky ram, which doesn't work to well on an Anaconda BTW. Lol. It took a while for security to take it down. But I survived the entire scenario.
Shame I couldn't mount my SRV on the roof so I could have atleast got a few shots in and claimed the bounty.
Can we stop with the self-nerfing advice now?
All hopping in to a smaller ship does it make it take longer to actually kill them. It doesn't make it harder. (For me).
+1 (again) for more areas we can choose to go for tougher AI.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
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Shame I couldn't mount my SRV on the roof so I could have atleast got a few shots in and claimed the bounty.
Check this space at a later time in case I decide to get my daft photoshopping mojo on later. I'm pretty sure this would make an excellent fight scene.