Could we fix NPC pirates killing you no matter what?

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
OP is going to get a shock if they visit Deciat in open. :LOL: Lesson one you have to learn is how to get somewhere without something trying to blow you up. Check out some of the chat though, "I'm not bothered with scans, I'll blow you up and sift through the wreckage" (or something like that) is something that they come out with occasionally. NPCs do sometimes gank.

MickyG1982 said:
Why on earth would you submit? Fighting the interdiction isn't exactly difficult in any ship, against any npc and is far more effective if the station you want to get to is in the same system.

Fight the interdiction, win and enemy Npc's don't constantly reappear. They are effectively gone for the entire time you are there.
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Submit and you get to beat the material piñata. Possible g5 manufactured mats are always worth picking up. Each to their own though.
 

Bantha

Bantha
M00ka said:
You have said it is easy to implement and I am genuinely curious to see how player/NPC interaction would work in the game, looking forward to hearing your solutions.
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Multiple-choice, as in other games.

So, for example, select “Comply” and you get a few seconds to drop your cargo. Select “Negotiate” and you can input how many you’re prepared to offer. Ask for “Pity” in the hope that he leaves you alone. Select “Threaten” and demand HE drops HIS cargo, or educate him that you have him outclassed and if he doesn’t put his weapons away immediately, you will kill him.

I mean, this is just off the top of my head, with no thinking. I am not a developer and I am not particularly creative, and so I am sure the devs, whose job it is, could rustle up something much better than this in no time.

Other games offer multiple choice options when conversing with NPCs. Elder Scrolls for example, whilst not perfect, is still so
much better than what we have here, and brings character and life to the environment.
Jeez, even negotiating a player transfer in FIFA feels much more alive than this!

The mechanism is already there in Elite, you can already accept or decline ad-hoc missions in flight now.

It can’t be difficult to add a couple of options to reply when the NPC is eyeing “all that tasty cargo”
 
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varonica

varonica
Bantha said:
Multiple-choice, as in other games.

So, for example, select “Comply” and you get a few seconds to drop your cargo. Select “Negotiate” and you can input how many you’re prepared to offer. Ask for “Pity” in the hope that he leaves you alone. Select “Threaten” and demand HE drops HIS cargo, or educate him that you have him outclassed and if he doesn’t put his weapons away immediately, you will kill him.

I mean, this is just off the top of my head, with no thinking. I am not a developer and I am not particularly creative, and so I am sure the devs, whose job it is, could rustle up something much better than this in no time.

Other games offer multiple choice options when conversing with NPCs. Elder Scrolls for example, whilst not perfect, is still so
much better than what we have here.

The mechanism is already there in Elite, you can already accept or decline ad-hoc missions in flight now.

It can’t be difficult to add a couple of options to reply when the NPC is eyeing “all that tasty cargo”
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As long as they include "go to hell and take your crew and ship with you!"
 

Factabulous

Factabulous
Bantha said:
The mechanism is already there in Elite, you can already accept or decline ad-hoc missions in flight now.
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This also came up recently when discussing the mostly pointless contacts panel - shouldn't be difficult to add some options (or in chat as you suggest).

Re:OP - never had issues with NPCs not accepting cargo - even if you miss the 15 second deadline they often see the loot and stop firing. It is fun when you decide to comply and you find they are a 'I'll kill you and loot the corpse' variant :)
 

Bantha

Bantha
Just thought of another.
You should be able to call for help, so the police arrive earlier (or indeed another NPC or CMDR to help)

Anyone remember the old Capital Ship trailer?
“Calling all pilots this is the Federal Naval Ship Damocles. We are under attack”.
Let’s have some of that!
 
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Brrokk

Brrokk
Andro said:
Is nobody reading his question? Pirates ask for X# of cargo, OP gives X# of cargo, OP is killed by pirate anyway. Sounds like a bug, so the best (and only) option is to report it.

Also, this guide will be overkill to use vs NPCs, but I send it to all of my friends after their first... incident.
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It does sound like a bug. I've successfully paid off pirates before, although not in the exact same situation; I was in the mining location.
 

d8veh

d8veh
MickyG1982 said:
Why on earth would you submit? Fighting the interdiction isn't exactly difficult in any ship, against any npc and is far more effective if the station you want to get to is in the same system.

Fight the interdiction, win and enemy Npc's don't constantly reappear. They are effectively gone for the entire time you are there.
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I had been using the submit and boost method for years without a single issue, then when they made it easier to evade interdictions, I eventually switched to that instead, but I found two exceptions. You can't guarantee to evade in a T9 or an Anaconda. I would guess that it's the same for a Cutter. If you lose the interdiction mini-game, you could be in a lot of trouble.
 

d8veh

d8veh
The game is as it is. Complaining won't change it in the short term. It's a game with rules. If you stick to the rules you won't go wrong. Remember, it's a game, not real life and it's called Elite Dangerous, not Elite Sunday Yukele.

You can avoid falling into stars by switching the mouse widget on in the keybindings and switch on orbit lines, which are normally switched on by default. Whenever you move forward, you'll see the inner yellow/orange line around the orange stars. Keep the mouse widget outside the line at all times and you can't fall in. Blue stars have a blue orbit line that's a lot further out, so be careful of that.

As a general rule, you should either blow up a pirate or run away asap. Never hang around to see what might happen. Only fight the pirate if you know you can win easily. Bear in mind that wing-mates might drop in to help it. Personally, I never fight pirates. It's a complete waste of time when you could be earning money. To run from them, you need a fast ship, so if you do anything that might involve pirates, always get the best thrusters and PD possible for your ship. If you go out in a ship that is poorly outfitted to deal with the risks the game brings, that's down to you, not the game.

Learn from your experience. Move on and work your way through all the quirks and puzzles the game .
 

Arioch

Arioch
OP - I’d suggest submitting a bug report on the Issue Tracker, but it looks like it’s been reported several times in the past but all with the “expired” tag now :/

There is one current bug report of pirates going straight to the “didn’t drop cargo” dialogue without the demands first, which looks like a related issue.

To everyone responding saying it’s the OP’s problem to deal with or to avoid - this is either a bug that needs fixing or the Devs need to clarify that this is intended behaviour or teach the correct procedure to be NPC pirated (perhaps with a tutorial mission?).
 

varonica

varonica
wenkman said:
high wake only to avoid mass lock? or is there another benefit?
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I don't think anyone answered this. If you low wake and remain in the system there's a good chance the NPC will interdict you again almost immediately, specially if he is a mission NPC, if you high wake you leave him behind for a while, get yourself a chance to recover and have another go at getting where you want to be.
 

aRJay

aRJay
fidens said:
Not going to lie, the way you guys replace my cussing at least makes it easier to go to bed knowing that all game play I've done over the last 2 days was for nothing, well after I take a shot or two to calm down.

I know it seems like I'm making mountains out of molehills here. But some of us barely get an hour in the day to call our own. So over a holiday weekend when we get the rare respite to play a game we choose you, but you decide to add a mechanic that blatenly asks for something only to completely undo the last several hours of game play despite giving it up, you can't help but wonder if the goal is to actively get people googling "alternatives to ED for VR space sim".

It's incredibly confusing for us new players to have a NPC demand something form us, we give it up, and the reward is to die anyway.
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After my first encounter with NPC pirates who seem to count to 10 seconds in half the time I can I decided not to bother trying to submit and pay my way out but instead fly ships where I could win the interdiction or ones fast enough to outrun the pirates or ones tankie enough to get away while being shot, I also have one that is armed enough to fight it out with an Elite FdL pirate while carrying cargo.

Just assume NPCs are as trustworthy as players.
 

Bortas

Bortas
Most of the discussion went completely off topic... OP hit the nail on the head with his complaint, that NPC pirates are currently bugged and he has every right to complain about this broken rubbish.

The fact that npc pirates are just a minor nuisance for most experienced players, doesn't change anything.
 

[PS4] Filthymick420

[PS4] Filthymick420
Bortas said:
Most of the discussion went completely off topic... OP hit the nail on the head with his complaint, that NPC pirates are currently bugged and he has every right to complain about this broken rubbish.

The fact that npc pirates are just a minor nuisance for most experienced players, doesn't change anything.
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The npcs level is determined by a combination of the players combat rank and the recommended level for missions. If the npc pirates are too difficult OP needs to either 'git gud' or not try punching above his weight. There isn't anything wrong with the npcs
 

Bortas

Bortas
Filthymick420 said:
The npcs level is determined by a combination of the players combat rank and the recommended level for missions. If the npc pirates are too difficult OP needs to either 'git gud' or not try punching above his weight. There isn't anything wrong with the npcs
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It doesn't have anything to do with difficulty level... the problem is the npc pirates asking for cargo and then attacking anyway, no matter what. It's impossible to pacify an NPC pirate by dropping cargo.

As a space trucker I experienced this myself more times than I can count, I just personally don't care, because npcs are no match for my ships, but that doesn't make the mechanics any less broken.

Flying with a ship that can't handle NPCs is OPs fault, sure... but the fact, that NPC pirates are broken is not. Even if he made bad outfitting decisions, he should totally be able to pacify a pirate by dropping the stuff they want.
 

[PS4] Filthymick420

[PS4] Filthymick420
Piracy in and of itself is illogical as its literally the only thing that really isn't profitable. You expect an npc that chooses piracy to make a rational decision? The npc obvious goes into idiot rage because you don't have any cargo. Now it makes sense /thread
 
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