NPCs have Unlimited SCBs?

Arguendo

Volunteer Moderator
NPCs only have infinite multicannons ammo I think. (And maybe a few other ammo based weapons)
Multicannons only, to prevent them from running out too fast and just run away.

If anyone believes that an NPC has unlimited amounts of anything else, then record the event including the module list (sub-target) and report it in the bug section. That's where reports like these belong. Don't complain about NPCs cheating, because they are not, and that's by design.
 
Multicannons only, to prevent them from running out too fast and just run away.

If anyone believes that an NPC has unlimited amounts of anything else, then record the event including the module list (sub-target) and report it in the bug section. That's where reports like these belong. Don't complain about NPCs cheating, because they are not, and that's by design.

I've seen an NPC cobra fire chaff 36 times. If it's by design, it's bad design.
 
Multicannons only, to prevent them from running out too fast and just run away.

If anyone believes that an NPC has unlimited amounts of anything else, then record the event including the module list (sub-target) and report it in the bug section. That's where reports like these belong. Don't complain about NPCs cheating, because they are not, and that's by design.

Tell that to NPCs who jump immediately after being interdicted, or reboot power plants in a few seconds.
 
I've seen an NPC cobra fire chaff 36 times. If it's by design, it's bad design.

Was it 4 different Cobras? :p

Why would something survive long enough to fire off 36 chaff, anyway?

The cooldown cycle is like 30 seconds. So you're talking 18 minutes to kill a cobra. Lol

:D

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 
If anyone believes that an NPC has unlimited amounts of anything else, then record the event including the module list (sub-target) and report it in the bug section. That's where reports like these belong. Don't complain about NPCs cheating, because they are not, and that's by design.

What are you? The criticism police?

If these things aren't "bugs", they're still absurd iterations of NPC loadouts and they still don't do anything to make the game more challenging.
It's absurd to see a Cobra which has a shield generator and then, apparently, all 5 of it's other slots filled with SCBs.
I've never built a ship like that, neither have you and neither has anybody else.
And the reason for that is because it'd be pointless.

But still, let's assume we've got this Cobra flying around with all it's slots filled with SCBs.
If you're in a small ship and you're inexperienced at combat, this Cobra might be able to give you a hard time - in which case you won't notice that they've got a heap of SCBs.
If you're in a small ship and you're experienced at combat, you're probably going to be a bit frustrated when you find that even though you can fly rings around this ship you can't actually do much damage.
If you're in a big ship, you're probably just going to end up rolling your eyes at the absurdity of the situation and then keep your finger on the trigger long enough to dust the other ship.

There's no situation where these ships provide much in the way of "rewarding" gameplay.
At best, they're bullet-sponges.

And that sort of content is absulutely worthy of criticism IMO.
 
There is a rare bug where NPCs in CZs can re-spawn mid-fight, resetting their Shields & Hull to full. Suspect that's what the issue was here.
 
Is it too early to discuss the load outs of NPC Viper MK4s and how they tank more than anacondas while also packing an SCB somehow?
 
Was it 4 different Cobras? :p

Why would something survive long enough to fire off 36 chaff, anyway?

The cooldown cycle is like 30 seconds. So you're talking 18 minutes to kill a cobra. Lol

:D

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

I wasn't attacking it, noticed it pop chaff a couple times and just watched and counted. 36 times.
 

Arguendo

Volunteer Moderator
I've seen an NPC cobra fire chaff 36 times. If it's by design, it's bad design.
If an NPC Cobra fires 36 chaff then it's a bug, because it doesn't have the utility slots to fire that many. Did you actually count the number of chaff? In real time, or do you have video? If the latter, post it in the bug section.

Tell that to NPCs who jump immediately after being interdicted, or reboot power plants in a few seconds.
Again, if you think they are doing things the player cannot, report it in the bug section, with accompanying video. They are supposed to follow the same rules that govern players, with the exception of unlimited multicannon ammo. If they don't, there is a bug in the code. It is not intentional.

What are you? The criticism police?
Really? Did you read the thread title? Focus on the word unlimited please.

Broken down for you, since you don't seem to grasp it:
1. If any NPC uses more ammo of anything than it should have with its loadout (multicannons excluded), then it is a bug and should be reported. Unlimited falls into that category.
2. Unlimited != implausible

Better?
 
The conda wasn't difficult. I stayed on his 6 the entire time. I just got tired of shooting and was running out of ammo (refilled twice already). I've been elite in combat for long time, killed thousands of these things. This is the 1st one I recall having insta-shield that popped right back up after being down to one faded ring so many times. I just boosted away and the ship high waked. I was thinking I caught it trying to high wake and something weird happened. I wouldn't think my Vulture could mass lock it and I am not sure you can mass lock an NPC, see them jump from right at the rocks all the time. I don't use SCBs and he never dropped my shields. In fact he stopped firing at me after awhile but his shields never stopped regenerating instantly.

I didn't miscount his SCBs.
 
I've seen a lot of NPCs using SCBs in the RES, but never noticed one with more than three. The trick is to give them everything you've got when they get down to one thin ring. Put 4 pips to shields and ram them at that time if you want to shorten the battle.
I wasn't the only ship attacking him. In the first volley his shields dropped and he took hull damage, but they were at full strength instantly. I wondered if there were two ships and I lost track of the other one, but nope. I basically did a barrel roll over the rear of the conda, and when I got to the other side it was at full strength again, but not the hull just the shields.

Like I said, I've killed enough of these to know when something doesn't seem right. The others I killed before and after had normal shield response. I have engineered biweave and at two full rings the conda was doing a full recharge faster than my last ring could recharge. Ok so I thought SCB. I checked the loadout. Sure enough, one SCB. No problem, could have a few charges left. I stuck with it. Other ships were still shooting it as well, Shields down, shields up, shields down, shields up.. on and on it went for at least 30 minutes. At that point it stopped even firing at other ships, just turned and left.
 
I don't record my games btw. I get it that some do, but I've never seen a reason to. I wouldn't spend the time to upload it if I did, other than to FDev to report an issue. It was just a question. I have no idea what's changed in AI and loadouts since 2.4. I've been too busy chasing materials and engineers.
 
If an NPC Cobra fires 36 chaff then it's a bug, because it doesn't have the utility slots to fire that many. Did you actually count the number of chaff? In real time, or do you have video? If the latter, post it in the bug section.


Again, if you think they are doing things the player cannot, report it in the bug section, with accompanying video. They are supposed to follow the same rules that govern players, with the exception of unlimited multicannon ammo. If they don't, there is a bug in the code. It is not intentional.


Really? Did you read the thread title? Focus on the word unlimited please.

Broken down for you, since you don't seem to grasp it:
1. If any NPC uses more ammo of anything than it should have with its loadout (multicannons excluded), then it is a bug and should be reported. Unlimited falls into that category.
2. Unlimited != implausible

Better?
Therein lies the problem (and the reason for the thread). Since MCs are excluded, then something else could be excluded as well. So the answer could have been "NPCs don't have unlimited SCBs and it was likely a bug". I don't assume everything I encounter in the game that's unrealistic is a bug.

Technically I don't know if the SCBs were unlimited since I don't have unlimited time to find out. However I can be reasonably certain that it used more than it had. Then again, it can do a lot of things human players cannot.
 
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If an NPC Cobra fires 36 chaff then it's a bug, because it doesn't have the utility slots to fire that many. Did you actually count the number of chaff? In real time, or do you have video? If the latter, post it in the bug section.

Counted in real time. No video.
 

Arguendo

Volunteer Moderator
Therein lies the problem (and the reason for the thread). Since MCs are excluded, then something else could be excluded as well. So the answer could have been "NPCs don't have unlimited SCBs and it was likely a bug". I don't assume everything I encounter in the game that's unrealistic is a bug.

Technically I don't know if the SCBs were unlimited since I don't have unlimited time to find out. However I can be reasonably certain that it used more than it had. Then again, it can do a lot of things human players cannot.
Well, the first answer to your thread was:
They don't have limitless SCB's. Either you found a bug, or in the heat and excitement of battle, you miscounted.
So basically, the thread was over in two posts. The answer could have added, "please report it in the bug section" but that's rather superfluous tbh.
 
If an NPC Cobra fires 36 chaff then it's a bug, because it doesn't have the utility slots to fire that many. Did you actually count the number of chaff? In real time, or do you have video? If the latter, post it in the bug section.


Again, if you think they are doing things the player cannot, report it in the bug section, with accompanying video. They are supposed to follow the same rules that govern players, with the exception of unlimited multicannon ammo. If they don't, there is a bug in the code. It is not intentional.


Really? Did you read the thread title? Focus on the word unlimited please.

Broken down for you, since you don't seem to grasp it:
1. If any NPC uses more ammo of anything than it should have with its loadout (multicannons excluded), then it is a bug and should be reported. Unlimited falls into that category.
2. Unlimited != implausible

Better?

Already been done, persisted for a long time through several patches. Finally supposedly fixed recently.

So yea, the NPCs were cheating. Doesn't matter if its a bug or not - they aren't following the rules.

So now we've established that NPCs do in fact cheat (even in not intended to be doing so), can you both shut up about how they don't and it's impossible?
 
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