NPC pirate at threat 0 signal source - a really bad game design

[DarkEye]

as I was doing my peaceful material gathering at a threat 0 signal source, an NPC pirate dropped by and destroyed my ship. a ship that was unarmed, being set up for exploration.

if this is Frontier's take on creating a 'fun' experience - well, my views are very different.

it's also inconsequential that my cargo content and star system mapping data is lost with the loss of a ship, but the materials gathered are not lost. a rather contradictory world model.

I'd rather that the experience was designed such that violence is there for those who seek it.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

PvE is baked into the game design, and Threat Levels are almost certainly advisory, not certainty.

Sorry OP, but this is on you.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

You need an exploration ship like my Phantom.
I stuck 4 frags on it.

I took it to a high CZ for lolz.

And didn't die.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[MickyG1982]

PvE is baked into the game design, and Threat Levels are almost certainly advisory, not certainty.

Sorry OP, but this is on you.

Have to agree, threat level 0 does not mean "no threat". Even so, flying around in a completely unarmed, unarmoured ship & probably shieldless ship is never advisable, ever.

 

[Rubbernuke]

ED in actual random threat shocker?

 

[Factabulous]

The game is called Elite : Dangerous* after all

* yeah yeah, I know

 

[GreyAreaUK]

The game is called Elite : Dangerous* after all

* yeah yeah, I know

And also - threat level or no threat level, you can be interdicted at pretty much any point (inside the bubble).

 

[Jmanis]

NPC Pirates going after your cargo will follow you out of supercruise into Threat 0 USS. Someone was after the cargo you were carrying. So yes, the USS was Threat 0, but someone was following you.

You can tell because they'll say something about it in the chat while you're in supercruise... they'll do that for any cargo on board.

 

[Arioch]

I agree with the OP on this one - if the game has labelled these as a zero threat instance then that is what they should be. The game spawning a pirate to come along and swat the player in a zero threat instance is FDev being “Killer DMs”.

Should a pirate be spawned, it should be easy for the player to escape before destruction.

If they decide to hang around or try their luck and get destroyed, then it’s on them.

 

[Midian Cabal]

Even NPCs are turning into gankers. This game is doomed, doomed!

Therefore I propose that solo mode shouldn't have NPCs in it. It's SOLO after all.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

I agree with the OP on this one - if the game has labelled these as a zero threat instance then that is what they should be. The game spawning a pirate to come along and swat the player in a zero threat instance is FDev being “Killer DMs”.

I think Jmanis has answered this correctly - the pirate was already on the OP's tail in supercruise, and dropped in with him. It can take a minute.

There's nothing amiss here.

 

[babelfisch]

I agree with the OP on this one - if the game has labelled these as a zero threat instance then that is what they should be. The game spawning a pirate to come along and swat the player in a zero threat instance is FDev being “Killer DMs”.

Wrong, the USS was zero threat, but super cruise is not zero threat. The pirate followed him, they can do the same when you are travelling to a station. What OP is asking for (probably unkowningly) is the complete removal of pirates from SC.

Should a pirate be spawned, it should be easy for the player to escape before destruction.

It is.

If they decide to hang around or try their luck and get destroyed, then it’s on them.

Either that or paper builds.

 

[Vingtetun]

It was threat 0 at the point you scanned it.
There are two kinds of dangers you face in such circumstances:

1. A pirate/bounty hunter follows you in from supercruise, dropping in on your wake and hoping 'you are the tasty morsel he has been looking for' and offering to 'boil you up'.

2. It is a cunning trap. Signalled by npc comms messages stating 'you fell for it'. Followed by offering to 'boil you up'.

I would imagine that to the outside observer it would go at that point from a threat 0 (i.e. All that tasty cargo lying around) to a threat > 0

It is GOOD game design. Variable scenarios rather than just mindless unchanging threat free scoop fest.

 

[KarmaCop]

Swings & roundabouts....black holes are completely innocuous - now that's really bad game design!

We need more danger in this game, not less (& I've been playing less than a month)

 

[Jmanis]

2. It is a cunning trap. Signalled by npc comms messages stating 'you fell for it'. Followed by offering to 'boil you up'.

They actually don't exist anymore. In my experience they're all marked at the appropriate threat level regardless of if they're a trap or not.

EDIT: e.g salvage mission USS used to always be Threat 0, even though sometimes they'd spawn pirates, sometimes they wouldn't. Now the ones which spawn pirates are marked Threat 4 or similar.

 

[Arioch]

In that case I’d ask the OP whether there were pirate comms while he was in SuperCruise.

 

[Vingtetun]

I beg to differ. From experience, they do still exist.

You are right on the mission based salvage blue style ones though. However, the standard uss traps still exist and not just with the free floating gold these days.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

NPC Pirates going after your cargo will follow you out of supercruise into Threat 0 USS. Someone was after the cargo you were carrying. So yes, the USS was Threat 0, but someone was following you.

You can tell because they'll say something about it in the chat while you're in supercruise... they'll do that for any cargo on board.

They’ve done it to me with no cargo aboard. It’s even funnier when they demand 0 Cr worth of my non-existent cargo and I drop all of the nothing I’m carrying and they start to get belligerent about it and I have to put them out of their stupidity.

Use to get lots of that when I’d wind up with 4 rubber hoses as some mission reward and I’d jettison them at supercruise when I’d see someone tailing me, telling me how far they’d come for the worthless trash in my hold.

 

[peteuplink]

as I was doing my peaceful material gathering at a threat 0 signal source, an NPC pirate dropped by and destroyed my ship. a ship that was unarmed, being set up for exploration.

if this is Frontier's take on creating a 'fun' experience - well, my views are very different.

it's also inconsequential that my cargo content and star system mapping data is lost with the loss of a ship, but the materials gathered are not lost. a rather contradictory world model.

I'd rather that the experience was designed such that violence is there for those who seek it.

If you're going to go into any signal sources, even if they say threat 0, make sure you have 4 pips in shields and 2 in engines, so you can boost away and re-enter SC before you're killed. Also, having a stand-by course set for another system to high wake wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[Lightspeed]

as I was doing my peaceful material gathering at a threat 0 signal source, an NPC pirate dropped by and destroyed my ship. a ship that was unarmed, being set up for exploration.

if this is Frontier's take on creating a 'fun' experience - well, my views are very different.

it's also inconsequential that my cargo content and star system mapping data is lost with the loss of a ship, but the materials gathered are not lost. a rather contradictory world model.

I'd rather that the experience was designed such that violence is there for those who seek it.

Learn from the experience. Next time, even in the heat of the moment, choose a random star system and jump to it (Hi wake). The NPC won't be able to stop you unless your drive has been shot out, which is unlikely immediately.

We've all had to learn this manouever, and we learn it from being killed. It's Eangerous, after all.