Because some people are apparently influenced by the body shape and physical strength of their opponent when voicing their opinion.
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A Plea to Frontier
- Thread starter Zazzilas Arden
- Start date
Because some people are apparently influenced by the body shape and physical strength of their opponent when voicing their opinion.
Unfortunately, if the AI is too easy, some people will leave. If the AI is too hard, different people will leave.
However, FD do not need to make the AI harder or easier, its not the solution as either way they lose people. They need more adaptive and scaling NPCs depending on many factors such as location, ship, cargo, etc (and not linked to combat rank, because that is no indication of player skill).
However, as i just noted earlier in a another post, in general, they are more likely to lose more people due to too hard NPCs than too easy. Too easy, and people can still find challenges, even if that is via PvP with other likeminded players. Too hard, and people run into a brick wall, and its then no longer a choice whether to play or not, the choice is effectively removed.
Depending on the feedback FD are seeing (eg: game statistics), they might want to tone down the AI for a bit, until they can make the system so that the AI respond in a more appropriate way depending on the player and the context.
Yeah, that would be nice.
I'm tired of Elite NPCs chain interdicting my shieldless travel hauler (which is a really bad idea to fly if you have a bounty somewhere).
I guess it'll take a bit time until the players accept that the AI can behave fairly kompetent, but even Elite NPCs aren't really a challenge if you have a) the right ship, b) fly the right manouvres and c) use subtargets even on smaller and medium ships.
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They can still keep the really hard AI in there, but they should just limit to when it is encountered.
Assassination mission to kill an Elite Corvette or FDL? Sure, whatever. You dont have to do it if you dont want to.
Getting chased by an Elite FDL in the bubble because you are carrying 100,000 credits worth of superconductors? No thanks.
I'll trade you my infinite parade of Elite Anacondas and FDLs for whatever is following you any day.
I'm just trying to sell biowaste here, why is every billionaire playboy pirate lord trying to hassle my Cutter? :O
You should be perfectly happy with 2.1 then because now a Viper can rip apart a Python.
I didn't consider the AI before 2.1 "broken", only at times being quite easy to defeat. While I like that the AI got a welcomed improvement, other aspects of the game should have been improved with it, like reduced insurance costs for big ships, better payout for missions, bounties, trading, just to balance out the fact that you will get killed more often, especially if you aren't quipped to defend yourself, like for trading.
Actually, I meant finding other DBS ships of Elite rank. My favorite fights are dogfights between 2 small ships. I can't seem to find any small wanted Elite ships though. They are all Harmless or at best Expert.
By contrast, when I moved from my DBS over to my FDL, the spawns of more challenging ships increased. Though it was still quite low, presumably because I am mostly in a high sec system.
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Contrary to what happens when you are bounty hunting, if you are in smuggling or cargo running mode, the game throws at you so much different experiences. Seriously, if they are scaling by ship size and loadout, it is very hard to make it right.
Anecdotal: Yesterday I was hauling salvage for missions from my home base (just testing to see if the bugs are as prevalent as people seem to make it) in my Cobra mkIII. It was A rated smuggling fit with beam lasers and multi cannons just to not go weaponless. I didn't have any intention to look for trouble. After a few successful missions where I was greeted by low level opposing minor faction ships (I noted they were from a faction I was unfriendly with), I said why not and killed a few of them.
Then I was changing stations to look for missions after the first faction dried up, I got interdicted en route by a unfriendly minor faction dangerous rank sidey. It was clearly hunting me because even the text messages were tailored. It didn't ask for the cargo I didn't have as they usually do but taunted me by saying 'I have only one target and that target is you CMDR'. I was winning the interdiction but I decided to take my chances and submitted after the taunt. Well, things were going alright until his viper mk3 elite friend decided to join. It didn't make sense to stay anymore so I high waked it out of there but since I was out of position when the viper came in, I couldn't put full pips in systems before I got hit by double railguns. I made it out of there with half a hull and no FA due to damage to my thrusters (btw that never happened to me before, is it new?). The thrusters returned back to normal after a reboot.
However, I then went looking for a similar experience after fitting the same ship for combat (as much as you can fit a cobra for combat) and headed to a hazres. Well, no dice. They are either wings of 3 or more very well equipped small ships or single behemoths. Didn't make any money. Didn't die either but it either was boring and took too much time to kill a big ship of low rank, and didn't make enough money, or it was outright impossible to survive.
All in all, I quite like the AI governing combat in individual ships and think it scales really well with the rank of the NPC you are against but the logic of the game which spawns your opponents seem flawed to give you an optimized gaming experience. It struggles to find middle grounds.
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Legacy_LuckyLuke
Banned
All I have to add to this is that I remember regularly getting my Asp handed to me playing the original Elite... Getting attacked regularly by pirates on my way to the next system... Especially if I was carrying luxuries. Or watch out for the cops if it was narcotics. I remember that feeling of dread... Watching the radar, hoping for no signals, or if i did get signals, hoping that I could take a couple (or all of them) out before hyperspacing to the next system, or hitting the 'safety zone' of the station.
And as someone mentioned above, that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment (relief!) on arrival at the station. (Especially in anarchy or feudal systems !)
I've been out in the black for the past couple of weeks, so haven't had first hand experience of the new AI. But if FD have managed to restore any sense of the above, then it a change for the better IMHO. The only thing I'm concerned about are repeated chain interdictions by high rank NPCs, simply because I have a high combat rating.
And as someone mentioned above, that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment (relief!) on arrival at the station. (Especially in anarchy or feudal systems !)
I've been out in the black for the past couple of weeks, so haven't had first hand experience of the new AI. But if FD have managed to restore any sense of the above, then it a change for the better IMHO. The only thing I'm concerned about are repeated chain interdictions by high rank NPCs, simply because I have a high combat rating.
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It's a lot more like the original in that sense that yes. If you go looking for trouble, you need to be equipped to deal with it. If you're not looking for trouble you still need to be equipped to deal with it.
I'm flying a mid range Anaconda at the moment, a mixture of mostly D rated gear with 6A FSD and 6A shielding. I currently have 400T of cargo because I'm looking to build up my cash reserves - but I'm also packing a full load out of multi cannon to dissuade NPCs looking for easy pickings. Even without taking on mission cargo I'm getting the odd interdiction by pirate NPCs, and they're absolutely brutal. Last night an Elite FdL with rails decided he'd have a go, and I was struggling to land a single hit on him. It was only when the 5-0 dropped in and distracted him that I managed to get a bead, and then he didn't stand much chance with the shear amount of lead being put downrange.
I've not lost my ship yet since 2.1 dropped (well, actually not since just after release but that's beside the point), but I put it down to the fact that the original Elite taught me to be very cautious. I fly with the mindset that I'm expecting to run into problems, and unless the odds are significantly stacked in my favour I won't engage. You seem to have a similar mindset so I doubt you'll have any issues once you get back. Prepare for the worst and all that, and there's also the Iridium guys to consider, I'm sure they'll help you back to the bubble.
"No, boyo, I was merely trying on your passionate purple prose to point out that you are offensive. There was no logic in your kiss up rant, and much that I doubt you would have been willing to say about other people if there were any chance they could physically express their displeasure upon you.
"
I'll ask again. What in the world are you on about?
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I like you.
The A.I. was utterly broken pre-2.1
It was quite a debacle and one of the biggest complaints on the forums for quite a long time. Having your enemy go into the roll of death could be considered nothing but broken.
Agony Aunt put it very neatly.
Dave
Dave