Please make NPCs stop jousting in combat.

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Tilting?

I'll just leave this here then...

[video=youtube;4AKbUm8GrbM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AKbUm8GrbM[/video]

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You could be right. If all the NPCs did stuff like that you would definitely be right. But just like players have varying degrees of combat proficiency, the NPCs should as well. As it stands now, regardless of combat ranking, all the NPCs have pitiful performance. All I'm asking for is for the higher ranked NPCs to be better at flying than the lower ranked ones.

I'm perfectly fine for the harmless and mostly harmless ranked NPCs to continue as they are.

I want the upper classmen, the dangreous, the deadly, the elite ranked NPCs, to actually pose a challenge.

I would consider myself to be an above average pilot when it comes to combat, myself, and even then I feel like I'm boasting a bit. I shouldn't be able to take out an Elite NPC pilot without even losing my shields, but I can. I should get my @$$ royally handed to me every time, at least until I can improve my own skills to the point that I can actually fight on par with them.

Maybe your experience is different, but I find much more enjoyment when I'm losing to a better opponent than when I'm winning against a worse one. In chess, for example, I absolutely love it when someone mates me, because that means I've found someone better than I am, and if I play them enough, I can learn how to be better at chess myself but watching how that person beats me and learning from it.

Yeah - don't lose to npcs. Maybe in a vulture on a wing assassination mission while eating a sandwich. But that was a while back. You learn patience, then it's like any other min max game.
 
A couple of pages ago this "discussion" suddenly became about "tilting". What the hell is "tilting"?

Fine, I'll call it tilting from now on so that way I'm using the proper terminology. Obviously that's going to be less confusing, since everyone will automatically know that when I use the term "tilting" I'm not talking about anything to do with angles or slants. Does that make you happy?

Tilting is a jousting term.
2. (jousting) To charge (at someone) with a lance.

I was using the term "joust" to refer to a single ship flying straight at another ship, and "jousting match" to refer to two ships flying straight at each other. I did this specifically in an effort to prevent confusion, since very few people know what tilting is in that context.

In actuality, the proper application of jousting terms would make the former a "tilt" and the latter a "joust".

Various people have requested that I stop "making stuff up" and "using whatever definition I like", so I have since been using the proper terminology. I apologize for the confusion it has caused you.
 
Thank God I am not the only one confused with this thread, I have no idea either, I am guessing tilting is what NPCs do when not jousting but it is just as bad as jousting but not really jousting.

The thing I can't understand is why the OP is so bent out of shape over this. He has stated he doesn't get involved in combat, he has stated he has got rid of his combat ship - so what is the damn problem. It would be like me complaining about the tactics of the Thargoids whilst stating I have never fought one - but I know they do it wrong :D

Because it's the reason I don't do combat anymore, something else I've stated, many times, all the back to the OP, even.

Yeah - don't lose to npcs....

Of course you don't. Their AI is pitiful and you're not. That's the point of this thread.
 
Because it's the reason I don't do combat anymore, something else I've stated, many times, all the back to the OP, even.

Of course you don't. Their AI is pitiful and you're not. That's the point of this thread.

Judging by your rank of competent, you didn't do much before that. Behold the sharp tip of my jousting wit.
 
2:05: player was full throttle to get past python, throttles down after he flies past the python. Momentum is a thing.
Yup, the player is definitely doing things involving velocity and throttle while the NPC is tilting at him, I agree with you there.

The following is a description, with timestamps, of the period in time during which the NPC is tilting. The player is not tilting at all during this timeframe.
1:57, NPC is facing player and boosts, player is traveling in reverse at 114, player put thrusters full forward.
1:59, NPC is still flying directly toward player, player is now at 0 velocity.
2:03, NPC is still flying directly toward player, player decreases throttle and begins strafing down and to the right, velocity is 178. NPC is 1.03km away, in front of player, at this point.
2:06, NPC is still flying directly toward player, player increases throttle to maximum while still strafing down and to the right, velocity is 216, distance 595m. NPC still in front of player.
2:07, NPC flies past player, player decreases throttle, begins pitching and strafing up to keep NPC in sights. Velocity is 181, distance is 245m. NPC nearly out of players view, above player.
2:10, NPC in boost turn, player has regained visual contact and ceases thrusting and pitching up. Velocity is 102, distance 726m. NPC facing player's "up" direction, at top of view.
2:15, NPC finishes boost turn, player is strafing down while pitching up to keep NPC in sights. Velocity is 175, distance 707m. NPC approximately facing player though angled high, approximately centered in view.

The NPC actions during this time frame exactly correspond to a tilt.
I'm not going to take the time to do the same for the other instances.

"Make jousting great again."

I voted for Sanders, but thanks for insulting me. Again. I appreciate it.
 
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Judging by your rank of competent, you didn't do much before that. Behold the sharp tip of my jousting wit.

Yeah, I got bored with it pretty quickly. I don't see anything witty in your remark, sharp or otherwise.

Actually, in the beta I've noticed that the NPCs are markedly joustier. It's still quite possible to counter, but they do joust more.

That makes two out of three on that count so far. Earlier in the thread someone else said the same thing. I haven't done any combat in the beta, so I don't have any personal experience, but when I asked if anyone else noticed that when replying to him, another guy said it seemed about the same to him.
 
Yup, the player is definitely doing things involving velocity and throttle while the NPC is tilting at him, I agree with you there.

I'm not going to take the time to do the same for the other instances.

I voted for Sanders, but thanks for insulting me. Again. I appreciate it.

You are just wrong. I'm sorry that you are wrong. I know you really want to be right here, but you are just wrong. Your definition of "jousting" requires that the python be going full bore to get behind the player which is not happening in any of the clips, and nearly all of the blame for the passing of two ships is on the player. You've moved the goal posts once again:

1: fly straight at target at full speed -- Has become "Fly towards player at any speed really, forward motion means jousting!"
2: shoot at target, making little or no effort to evade being shot at by target -- Has become "just shoot at the target, that's all you got to do."
3: narrowly miss colliding into target while flying past, still at full speed -- Has become "Pass the other ship, that's it."
4: slow down after passing target and pitch 180 -- Has become: "We don't need this step, it's already jousting(tm)!"
5: go back to step 1 and repeat until dead -- Has become "Yeah lets get rid of this too it's not important, already #jousting."

Just give it three more pages and jousting will be redefined as "There's an NPC on the screen and it's engines work, weapons optional" and tilting is now "there's 0 to 4 pips in the engine and at least 1% is forward throttle" and we'll be calling to nerf the jousting tilts (or is it tilting jousts) of any NPC that is leaving the envelope of a star port.

Of course, this is all just wankery at this point. I'm having a delightful laugh at every response and you're just keeping it going by refusing to admit you are incorrect despite being told by dozens of people multiple times with evidence (sometimes your own) and the comedy wheels keep jousting on along. The reality is, this is very easy to prove wrong.

Step 1: Go to rezzy zone.
Step 2: Fire at wanted bro.
Step 3: stop firing and throttle to 0 and just sit there.
Optional: Try holding only left lateral thrust or only spin the ship. Whatever you do, don't ever use forward thrusters in the direction of the enemy ship!

Will the NPC behave as you claim, fitting all 5 steps of your original non-goal-post-moved requirements for a "joust?" (Fly towards player at full speed weapons blazing, narrowly miss, do a 180 flipperdydoo, and then do it all again.) Or will you now state that they will only joust if you are flying at 75% to 100% throttle towards them and yet somehow despite all that it's the AI's fault for reacting to you, the player, rushing towards them as was demonstrated in your own video? Only time will tell. By that, I mean, we'll never know because you'll never test this.
 
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You are just wrong. I'm sorry that you are wrong. I know you really want to be right here, but you are just wrong. Your definition of "jousting" requires that the python be going full bore to get behind the player which is not happening in any of the clips, and nearly all of the blame for the passing of two ships is on the player. You've moved the goal posts once again:

"1:57, NPC is facing player and boosts"

That sounds like full bore to me. Hmm, no goal post moving on step 1.

"1:59, NPC is still flying directly toward player... 2:03, NPC is still flying directly toward player... 2:06, NPC is still flying directly toward player..."

NPC never made any attempt to evade player's fire during this time. Hmm, no goal post moving on step 2, either.

"2:07, NPC flies past player, ... distance is 245m."

I'd call that narrowly missing a collision, especially since the NPC would've been even closer if the player hadn't been strafing down and right at the time. Nop, still no goal post moving.

"2:10, NPC in boost turn... distance 726m .... 2:15, NPC finishes boost turn ... distance 707m"

While you can't see it in the video because the NPC isn't in view until the NPC is halfway through the turn, the fact that the distance changes so little during that time is pretty good evidence that the NPC did slow down, and the NPC is literally halfway through pitching 180 when it comes back into view, a move which it finishes doing at 2:15 just before it rolls to match its relative up/down with the player's. Nope, still no goal post moving.

Also, considering the NPC does this same thing two more times before being destroyed, that definitely qualifies as going back to step 1 and repeating until dead. Hmm, no goal post moving there either.

So, yeah, where's this goal post moving there either.

So, where exactly do you see goal posts being moved?

You know what, I don't care. Think that I'm the one refusing to see I'm wrong all you want.

Also learn what the meaning of the word "evidence" is, because you haven't provided any, and the one time you attempted to call my evidence into question, you have been refuted.

I'm done arguing with you, enjoy your life. I will be ignoring anything you say from this point forward.
 
Cool, have fun ignoring the fact that you are saying the Python boosting at the player while the distance marker was staying generally the same, and thus being more wrong than prior when you were already wrong.

Please post the results of my test that you conveniently ignored which will demonstrate that the NPCs "tilt" (read: fly forward) in response to you flying forward because flying backwards or staying still or going to the side with weaker thrusters than their forwards thrusters would be suicide. I eagerly await the results with jousted breath.
 
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