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Players are much, MUCH more of a challenge and they are far more unpredictable (even though a lot of pilots are fairly predictable).
I'm not saying I'm the best pilot out there but I have reached the point where NPC's just don't pose a challenge anymore. I literally fly circles around them. Thargoids are definitely more challenging but the lack of weapon choice to fight them leaves a lot to be desired.
Also, I would argue that there is nothing more satisfying than defeating a player, especially a top tier pilot in an epic battle in Elite.
The amount of skill required to defeat someone like Rinzler, Hazzmango, Landbeforetime or Cknarf is insane. I think of pilots like them, and others in their league, as like the ultimate boss battle in Elite.
After all that, I still don't understand why it's acceptable to some people to die to a NPC but not a player.
Personally, I'd be embarrassed to die to a NPC but I die to players almost every day and think nothing of it.
The question strikes me as a bit silly tbh. Sure, a quick no-nonsense answer would be the difference in challenge of course, with even bottom tier pilots providing a far better fight than even the best npc's, but the really crucial difference is simply this: the npc does not care, so why should you?
When you want to know why a PvPer prefers to go after a human instead of an ai, just ask yourself who you would rather play chess with: a low ranked human, or a computer?
When you want to know why a PvPer prefers to go after a human instead of an ai, just ask yourself who you would rather play chess with: a low ranked human, or a computer?
Damn, that's a much better answer Jason.
Right - so as you can see the original question answers itself.
It is precisely the negative response that makes going after other players fun.
Now by negative I don't necessarily mean 'bad' - but the fact nobody likes to die in PvP is part of the game.
There is an emotional investment which may be small and well handled, or it may be large and poorly handled.
So no, it isn't necessarily an ego thing on the part of PvP players or PvE players.
Like the good Coach Lombardi said, "Sports don't build character, they reveal it."
I like your attitude. The other day there was a wanted FDL outside of Jameson Memorial, so I jumped in my Sidewinder armed with drag seekers and flew around him taking pot shots. It really ticked him off. He tried ramming me, but my Sidey has enhanced thrusters, and as he would come in I'd hit him with a drag, so he'd just slow right down. He finally took a risk and fired a bunch of pack hounds at me (after failing to hit me with a huge plasma ball), but thankfully my little ship is tough. I got plenty of negative comms from that.You never know what will happen with a player. Always more exciting than an NPC. Sadly, it doesn't happen much, but it's gold when it does.
One of my favorite memories was camping a CG out in Maia ages ago and a Dolphin came roaring into the instance. He just didn't give a rip about the blockade of FDLs and Corvettes in front of him. Took a face full of plasma then shot right through the mail slot at like 30% hull. We were all cheering him in local afterward. Real good sport about it to so we gave him an escort on the way out.
Then it came time for me to leave. I have a Dolphin for getting around the Bubble, and he was out there waiting for me, but I decided not to take the easy way (Solo) and would attempt to run his blockade. BTW, my Dolphin is shieldless with lightweight armor, albeit engineered. Thankfully it is also ice cold, so I went Silent Running FA-Off, shot out of the mail slot and waited to get outside of mass lock. A cold Dolphin is not a very fast Dolphin, so he spotted me and opened fire right as my FSD engaged. I escaped with 37% hull...
I had great fun with this "PvP", and I didn't even scratch his shields, let alone his paint! I might have damaged his pride, however
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That's great stuff, Duck. If you can't be a wolf, be a fox.
Did a rares CG a while back (the rum one, I think?) and I had a great time sneaking past sworn enemies in my DBX. Survived... five or six gank attempts and hit Top 10%? Absolutely a thrilling time.
Point is there's a lot of PvP fun to be had that doesn't involve straight fights. Look at guys like Ethered (I FLY A T7 IN OPEN) or Goose (Millenium Falcon Adder).
Did a rares CG a while back (the rum one, I think?) and I had a great time sneaking past sworn enemies in my DBX. Survived... five or six gank attempts and hit Top 10%? Absolutely a thrilling time.
Point is there's a lot of PvP fun to be had that doesn't involve straight fights. Look at guys like Ethered (I FLY A T7 IN OPEN) or Goose (Millenium Falcon Adder).
In any game that I've played you have to die a lot in order to learn how to be a good fox.
I just relocated, but my usual criteria are "has interstellar factors, a large orbital station, a not-too-far cruise back to the station, and preferably (not essential) a res-site in system or a short jump away so I can test weapons. Proximity to everything else (material traders, engineers, stations with good outfitting, etc) is secondary as I don't use those things every day. A new player might want outfitting more often, so you might want to check out LYR space, but you can do this pretty much anywhere.
I started by going to Inara and looking up the list of nearest interstellar factors here: https://inara.cz/galaxy-nearest/18/
Picked out all the systems with a large orbital station to make a list.
Next, I went down and looked up which ones might be a high risk for people bothering me - high reported traffic, active player factions and so on - and moved them to the bottom of the list. Anarchies and long-supercruise distances for the primary station also got things bumped down the priority list - anarchies specifically because the IF could end up getting disabled if the system subsequently changes hands.
Hopped in game and checked out the system maps to see what the systems are like. I eliminated one for having an ammonia world (I don't fancy having thargoids moving in and pulling the rug out) and another 'cause it was a boring system with an M-class star and half a dozen iceballs as the planets. If I didn't have system maps, I took my DBX out to pay them a quick visit.
Eventually I had a shortlist of three systems that had a nice combination of short supercruise distance, IF, and no real downsides.
One was a tourist station that ended up on the shortlist purely because I thought it would be a nice pretty place to dock at every day, but it was an unremarkable system otherwise. It had a water world but it was a boring-looking one.
The second was an extremely short supercruise to the station, but otherwise the system was entirely meh, and there was a large player faction in control.
The third, the one I settled on, had a player faction present but not in control and apparently hadn't been active for years, which would therefore block any other player groups from moving in, a ringed planet with a selection of res sites, a black market, the primary station orbits an earth-like world, "0-5" players so minimal traffic, in short striking range from a couple of engineers and my more regular hangouts when I feel like interacting with people, and while the outfitting ain't great I don't ever buy things in undiscounted systems if I can help it anyway. And most importantly of all, the thing that really settled its place on the shortlist out of the dozen or so on the longlist, it's a pretty system to fly around. 10/10 would park a small private navy at.
Bob Lighthouse
Banned
I suggest hi-tech stations controlled by Li Yong Rui for good outfitting and a 15% discount, eg Ray Gateway in Diaguandri
They ruin your day quickly if running a bi-weave/hulltank and make a mistake or two.
Also they give that sweet sweet macross missile massacre feeling.
Rule of Cool, baby!
Musket, try combining them with a corrosive multi after shields drop along with the Drag Drive special effect. One rack of high cap packs with that effect can really slow someone down. The Overload Munitions for additional thermal damage is pretty good too.
Very Funny.
The music sold it.
These tactics are frowned upon by the PvP purest frowny faces
Yeah, it's true that fire and forget weapons are frowned upon. Essentially they've ruined every build that isn't a shield tank. Personally, and this is speaking as a guy who has used them plenty, I think they're far far FAR too effective against hardpoints. What I would like to see is either a nerf to their efficacy, or better yet a huge buff to hardpoint durability. The current formula is just ridiculous.
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