Better NPC at Higher Ranks for Higher Bounty

[coca_fr]

One day NPC became too strong... and then things almost revert back to what it was...

We just need a revamp on NPC Rankings ! The four last ranks should worth a lot more but be a lot harder to kills !

It shouldn't be hard to implement as a few months earlier they were an update with NPC actually knowing how to pilot... and some of them had engineered weapons.

Master : Fixed & strongest known weapons, No SFL, Wing possible with small ships, reward up to 250K Cr
Dangerous : Fixed & strongest known weapons, Wings possible, reward up to 500K Cr
Deadly : High skilled pilot, Engineered NPC, No SFL, Wings with mediums ships, reward up to 1.5M Cr
Elite : High skilled pilot, Engineered NPC, Wings with mediums ships and has 2 SFL deployed, reward up to 2.5M Cr --> You need to attack them in wings or with Multi-Crew

Bounty Hunting would then become really exciting and interesting, thus making Multi-Crew, Wings, interesting and rewarding to play !

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

+1 for anything that makes bounty farming less repetitive.

I assume for Master and Dangerous payouts, you mean 250,000cr and 500,000cr, not 250,000,000cr and 500,000,000cr.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

They use already engineering. When killing lower ranks and than higher ranks NPC's you should clearly see the difference. Especially in strength of shields and hull and SCB timing.
What they don't use anymore is cheated powerful hybrid special effects lime the PA with ROF of a multicannon. In fact the Devs removed any special effect from their qeapons but they still have full acces to engineered modules.
But in some parts i can agree, i wish they would provide more intresting tactics than just the reverski [blah]

 

[Ian Doncaster]

They use already engineering. When killing lower ranks and than higher ranks NPC's you should clearly see the difference. Especially in strength of shields and hull and SCB timing.

There's engineering and then there's engineering, though.

Certainly the higher-ranked NPCs are tougher and take longer to kill. But even the Elite ones are pretty weak compared with even a half-decent player build - and a lot of the apparent shield strength difference may come from the higher-ranked ones actually using pips effectively (2.3x) and both fitting SCBs and using them early enough to matter.

A lot of engineering mods are either fairly pointless (especially for an NPC), or only have a marginal effect except as part of a coherent build - e.g. a single resistance-enhanced G2 booster is better than not having it, but a thermal G5 shield plus a proper set of resistance/HD boosters plus an overcharged plant to power them is a whole different ship in terms of the damage it can take.

The base equipment on NPC ships is already pretty terrible even at the high ranks (obsessed with the highly-situational point defence, for instance) so I don't expect their engineering choices to be particularly good either.

 

[concentric]

I agree. At some point in the game, when you have a decent ship and some experience, there's no real danger from npcs at all.
I'm not yet into pvp too much, still I go to cg systems every now and then, not to actually take part in the cg but for the thrill of being ganked by wings of actual players...
If it was up to me the Elite universe would be considerably more dangerous, for experienced players that is, and in places also way more sinister.
If you're of Elite rank and transport hundreds of tons of cargo in an Anaconda bristling with weapons you shouldn't get harassed by hopelessly inferior pirates but by wings of hardboiled gangsters.
But maybe it's easy for me to talk as I've never flown a dedicated transport ship. Cmdrs who trade shields and armour for cargo space would probably disagree, although I think it's either unrealistic or irresponsible to haul millions worth of cargo completely unguarded... You should at least be encouraged to equip enough shields and armour to be able to safely high wake out... or bring an escort... Would probably make trading more interesting, too. A way to balance this out could be that pirates call for backup when they find themselves in a disadvantage. This way it's not too hard for dedicated haulers to get the hell out, while for cmdrs willing to fight, a challenging battle could evolve while more and more pirates show up, maybe eventually ending in a) the cmdr getting killed, b) the cmdr fleeing or c) if the cmdr sustains long enough a badass pirate boss with a nice premium bounty showing up. Don't know if that's too similar to distress calls, haven't bothered with them for too long... Apart from pirates and powerplay hostiles there could also be villains who attack you for your modules, anti-slavery activists if you're trading slaves and even psychopaths (there are so many on earth already, why not in the galaxy?). Not saying we should be interdicted more often but if we do it shouldn't just feel like slaying a midge for most cmdrs... I'd also like to see ultra-low security systems swarming with villains, escaped convicts etc. (I see sinister looking npc-only paintjobs and outposts), where it's extremely dangerous to go without wing-mates, even in an engineered big combat vessel, but can be highly rewarding if you do so... Pirate players on the other hand could get allied to the gangs and, as long as they have a certain bounty on them, get access to their otherwise off-limits hideouts...
Bear with me if it's not all thought through, I just let my thoughts wander while doing some cargo runs... Perhaps the galaxy will become more dangerous with the Thargoids anyway, I just wish the human npcs would pose more threat, too.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Before this turns in to some sort of argument about how hard NPC's should be, I'd like to say that I'm quite happy with "wild" NPC's (the ones that randomly interdict you) being 'meh'.
Not everyone wants a high octane pew pew gameplay, understandably. Simple traders and miners wouldn't notice any changes.

But, NPC's spawned from high ranked missions should be hard. If you take an Elite Assassination Mission, you should expect heavy resistance. If you're taking an Elite cargo mission, expect high ranking tipped off pirates to chase you.
And Haz Res (or similar/better) sites should be extremely dangerous, but you are choosing to go there.

IMHO, the AI is quite good really. It's not so clever than its annoying and runs off. Not (usually) so stupid that it just rams you until it dies.

So the only things that need tweaking are;

• Loadouts: Higher ranking NPC's need more well rounded loadouts. No more 6 PD turrets. But do keep the loadout to match the NPCs job. Pirates need interdictors, and hatch breakers, I never see a pirate using the latter anymore.
• Numbers: There's nothing more challenging (IMHO) than being out numbered. 1v1 is always a guaranteed win for me. Even 1v3 is pretty easy, depending on the ships involved. (It's nearly always easy).
  I'd love to see the 5+ wings making a comeback, especially in RES' and Nav Beacons.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[concentric]

Before this turns in to some sort of argument about how hard NPC's should be, I'd like to say that I'm quite happy with "wild" NPC's (the ones that randomly interdict you) being 'meh'.

Of course, those are welcome, too. Just suggesting a little more variation, making things less predictable.

Not everyone wants a high octane pew pew gameplay, understandably. Simple traders and miners wouldn't notice any changes.

There's nothing more challenging (IMHO) than being out numbered. 1v1 is always a guaranteed win for me. Even 1v3 is pretty easy, depending on the ships involved. (It's nearly always easy).

Hence the idea with them calling for backup. Not generally, of course, just as an occasional variant. Say you get interdicted by one or a wing of up to three npcs (strength might slightly depend on your combat rank and playtime already): As a simple trader or miner you would most likely wake out asap anyway. If you're not quick about it or you're after their bounty and engage in a fight, your ship computer (voice over) eventually might alert you of an intercepted bounty call, in which case you still can decide to back off or stay and be outnumbered...

But anyhoo, with the upcoming 2.4 FD certainly have enough on their to-do list. I wonder how much of this gets their attention anyway, after all they get pretty spammed with suggestions, I'm afraid...