Ships going Boom before they "should"?

Stealthie

Stealthie
Is this a new thing?

Spent a couple of hours playing in CZs (high intensity) last night and I noticed that NPC ships seem to be exploding while they've still got a significant percentage of their hull remaining.

Most obvious example was a Corvette I was attacking, which still had 40% of it's hull remaining when it popped.
More usually, though, I was finding ships would pop at random once they reached less than 25%.

Has this always been the case or has FDev tweaked something so that, perhaps, modules receive more "splash damage" which causes catastrophic failures even though the hull's still got some integrity remaining?
 
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Ashnak

Ashnak
What weapons were you using? Anything with a bit of penetration could zero the power plant while still leaving some hull behind.
Plus, NPCs on CZs run modified/engineered ships. An engineered hull might be resistant enough overall, while your penetrators just go through the weak spots.

And yes, I've seen things like that, too, at least on the larger NPC ships in CZs.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Ashnak said:
What weapons were you using? Anything with a bit of penetration could zero the power plant while still leaving some hull behind.
Click to expand...

I was using a variety of ships/weapons - mostly just beams & MCs though and I wasn't module sniping either.
Haven't changed any of my loadouts in months, though, and the NPCs seemed to be popping noticeably sooner than they used to.

Just occured to me that CZ ships had a bit of a reputation for being "bullet sponges" and I wondered if FDev might've tweaked something to make it less like you're shooting at a flying anvil.
 

[VR] DDM_Reaper20

[VR] DDM_Reaper20
Northpin said:
That's my preferred method of killing the hull resistant alliance ships. Kill their PP, watch them explode at 30-50% hull
Click to expand...

I've been flying a Fer-de-Lance with four railguns lately (all high-capacity mod, two feedback, two penetrator (I am still learning, I need all the ammo I can get...)). My best result was an Anacadonda popping its clogs with 63% hull remaining. I have been trying to duplicate that ever since -- to no avail. ;)

I did manage to put a Chieftain's PP to zero when it had 63% hull . . . and despite my best efforts, I had to pick it apart after that, as no other shot apparently connected to the power plant. :D

I can now see why rail gun and super penetrator are so popular . . . an almost unholy combination. :)
 

[VR] DDM_Reaper20

[VR] DDM_Reaper20
Now that you say that, indeed, I shall have to ̶s̶̶u̶̶c̶̶k̶̶ ̶̶u̶̶p̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶o̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶i̶̶m̶̶p̶̶s̶ ̶b̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶d̶̶o̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶o̶̶m̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶b̶̶r̶̶o̶̶w̶̶n̶-̶n̶̶o̶̶s̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶ (darnit!), ah, be serving loyally the Empire until the acquisition of sufficient numbers of Imp Hammers does us part... ;)

Thanks for the tip, I completely forgot about that...

Edit: Hmmm, I'll have to think long and hard about that. Totally forgot that Hammers run HOT. As it is, with the aid of my huge G5 fixed beam (thermal vent), I can fire it, two rails, and then the other two rails, and not cook myself. Rinse, repeat. I have a modified chaff launcher, which then I would have to give up for a heat sink launcher -- but that one has only four charges. Oh, well, maybe two Hammers (with feedback cascade) would be enough, and might be kept in check by what I have . . . thanks!
 
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dm06

dm06
I've noticed the change also... I do aware it is possible to destroy ship continuing shooting at its PP, no need to shred hull to zero at this case.
Also I know that in the game the ship "health" status refreshed with some delay, as a result, with high damage received it does look like ship exploded too early, but actually it's ok, it's just the status has not got refresh. I've noticed that on some youtube video watched ages ago, failed to find that.
Also I've seen the ship exploded at ~20% of PP and ~30% of hull. But I was running plasma accelerator... and other npcs attacked the ship also so it could be the case of "delayed" damage display.
Also, I swear I've seen that, I shoot with double beams but the target did not register damage (it was like dropship without shield and I was in vulture with double gimballed efficient beams).
So I have a complex feeling here.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Old Duck said:
This is not a bug, it's a feature. I'm serious! Don't go jinxing it!!
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'd like to think that was the case.

With my alt-account, I took a mildly engineered Krait Mk2 into a CZ and I, literally, emptied my entire supply of MC ammo' into a Viper 3 without destroying it.
It was as if I accidently bought Nerf-gun ammo instead of bullets.

It's no wonder newbies get frustrated at the game.
I get the feeling that FDev are relying on the likelihood that a newbie would just be generally overwhelmed by a CZ so they wouldn't notice how little damage they were capable of doing.
Trouble is, even a newbie could, with a bit of thought, go to a RES and establish that their ship can cause significant damage... just not in a CZ.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Ahhh... those Vipers can be tough beasts. >5000 HPs on the hull for kinetics against <6000 points damage potential from a fully loaded (but unengineered) gimballed MC - you'd need to land at least every third bullet from three large MCs (or all from one MC) to get through that.
 

ifthisworks

ifthisworks
Good feature I think. Also NPC's losing control of their ship for 10 or so seconds and drifting off into space because that is what happens to players sometimes (or often in the beginning).

I'm not sure if this is a new feature or I've just got better at combat.
 

Jukelo

Jukelo
Stealthie said:
I was using a variety of ships/weapons - mostly just beams & MCs though and I wasn't module sniping either.
Haven't changed any of my loadouts in months, though, and the NPCs seemed to be popping noticeably sooner than they used to.

Just occured to me that CZ ships had a bit of a reputation for being "bullet sponges" and I wondered if FDev might've tweaked something to make it less like you're shooting at a flying anvil.
Click to expand...

Every time you hit a dead powerplant there is a chance it goes critical, and multicannons cause lots of hits.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Almost certainly popping the power plant.

Some NPCs have good module protection, but many do not, even if they have a lot of hull. Modules do not have to be intentionally targeted to take damage.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Ashnak said:
Ahhh... those Vipers can be tough beasts. >5000 HPs on the hull for kinetics against <6000 points damage potential from a fully loaded (but unengineered) gimballed MC - you'd need to land at least every third bullet from three large MCs (or all from one MC) to get through that.
Click to expand...

Superb statistical analysis. (y)

My "daily driver" Kraits run 3x large beams and 2x medium MCs.
At the time, I probably had access to Tod McQuinn so my MCs could have been G5 but were probably only G2/G3.
I didn't have access to Broo Tarquin so my beams were probably, at best, G3 efficient.

Thing was, if you were a newbie pilot, you'd probably be taking quite a bit of damage so you might not get chance to notice how little damage you were doing.
As a slightly more experienced player, I was able to keep out of trouble and keep putting fire on my target but it felt like I might as well have been using a squirt-gun.
Also, I should say, it wasn't like I targeted an Elite Viper.
It was probably only Expert of Dangerous.

Seems like CZs could benefit from a wider variety of NPCs, possibly adjusted to suit a player's rank/engineering.
Not saying CZs should be filled with weaker ships but just spawn some easy ships as well, to give newbies something they have a realistic chance of winning against.
 
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