Angry and Frustrated

[Grumpy181155]

I am angry and frustrated by the non-persistent NPCs.

Firstly I was interdicted within 2 seconds of entering the system by an Elite mission generated NPC in an Anaconda while I was carrying mission cargo. So I immediately submitted and then high waked out to another system and I waited there until my shields recharged and just before they did I saw that he had followed me so I dropped down out of supercruise and selected my mission system and waited for him. As soon as he dropped down I high waked out to my target system but he caught up with me and interdicted me again but this time I was really close to the station I wanted so again I submitted and this time I attacked him and I won the battle because when he jumped out as the police arrived he was down to 37% hull while I was down to 90%. Because I was so close I decided to not wait for my shields to recharge and jumped back to supercruise. I was immediately interdicted again by the same NPC only now he is back to 100% hull and full shields so I submit BUT the computer does not recognise I have submitted and so I have the long wait before I can then high wake out to a different system. By the time I jump I am down to 75% hull. The second I arrive in the new system I am interdicted again by a random NPC for my cargo and again I try to submit but again the system does not recognise it and this time I can't jump because of a malfunctioning FSD. So I dump all my cargo and the NPC replies with a statement something like 'good choice' but then he continues to destroy me before I can reset my FSD.

I don't have a problem with mission generated NPCs but I am sick and tired of NPCs who can magically interdict you and who can magically repair themselves.

 

[Damocles]

I am angry and frustrated by the non-persistent NPCs.

Firstly I was interdicted within 2 seconds of entering the system by an Elite mission generated NPC in an Anaconda while I was carrying mission cargo. So I immediately submitted and then high waked out to another system and I waited there until my shields recharged and just before they did I saw that he had followed me so I dropped down out of supercruise and selected my mission system and waited for him. As soon as he dropped down I high waked out to my target system but he caught up with me and interdicted me again but this time I was really close to the station I wanted so again I submitted and this time I attacked him and I won the battle because when he jumped out as the police arrived he was down to 37% hull while I was down to 90%. Because I was so close I decided to not wait for my shields to recharge and jumped back to supercruise. I was immediately interdicted again by the same NPC only now he is back to 100% hull and full shields so I submit BUT the computer does not recognise I have submitted and so I have the long wait before I can then high wake out to a different system. By the time I jump I am down to 75% hull. The second I arrive in the new system I am interdicted again by a random NPC for my cargo and again I try to submit but again the system does not recognise it and this time I can't jump because of a malfunctioning FSD. So I dump all my cargo and the NPC replies with a statement something like 'good choice' but then he continues to destroy me before I can reset my FSD.

I don't have a problem with mission generated NPCs but I am sick and tired of NPCs who can magically interdict you and who can magically repair themselves.

The biggest thing they could do to improve the Elite experience is fix the above with some meaningful NPC engagements....but we get power play, engineers, etc....instead.

 

[The Tick]

I feel with you. There are a few issues that need improvement still:
- NPCs are re-spawned with new instances, so damage done to them is not persistent
- their cargo demands seem to be absolute, rather than relative to what you are having in your hold

The only current safe way of dealing with (high level) NPC interdictions is: submit to interdiction, boost, 4 pips to shields, put the attacker behind you, and spam mines.
Although the NPCs inability to deal with mines also feels like a bug ...

 

[Grumpy181155]

I feel with you. There are a few issues that need improvement still:
- NPCs are re-spawned with new instances, so damage done to them is not persistent
- their cargo demands seem to be absolute, rather than relative to what you are having in your hold

The only current safe way of dealing with (high level) NPC interdictions is: submit to interdiction, boost, 4 pips to shields, put the attacker behind you, and spam mines.
Although the NPCs inability to deal with mines also feels like a bug ...

What frustrates me most about that encounter apart from the time wasted chasing the mission requirements, was I think I did everything right or enough anyway to win the encounter but I lost because of a poorly implemented mechanic.

 

[SpeakerToAliens]

<snip some good advice> ... put the attacker behind you, and spam mines. Although the NPCs inability to deal with mines also feels like a bug ...

Sarah is aware of the problems her minions currently have "dealing" with mines. I expect she'll improve their training in the next update. O-o

 

[GunnerBill]

Sarah is aware of the problems her minions currently have "dealing" with mines. I expect she'll improve their training in the next update. O-o

But nobody is bothering to fix the gameplay issues as per OP and countless others?

Not comforting to know.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Agreed, the instant healing NPCs are one of the more frustrating aspects of the PVE game at the moment.

No amount of combat AI tweaking is going to help with that. They could fly like Chuck Yeager but as long as they get to run over a med pack between instances that's all anyone's going to remember. Why FD can't add a variable for persistent hull level is beyond me; the mission-specific NPC names are always the same so it's not as though variables can't persist between instances. Unless they're worried that a client-side variable could be injected and all mission NPCs hacked down to 1% hull?

I just don't get it. Seems like an easy win to me, one of many in the current game. Maybe it'll come in 2.2?

 

[Devari]

Why FD can't add a variable for persistent hull level is beyond me; the mission-specific NPC names are always the same so it's not as though variables can't persist between instances. Unless they're worried that a client-side variable could be injected and all mission NPCs hacked down to 1% hull?

It's a technical issue where the "flag" for the NPC interdictions is designed to generate an NPC on the spot. They didn't create their system with that flexibility in mind because quite frankly I think they didn't expect anyone would "notice". Which again is probably because FD doesn't play their own game often enough. There are plenty of ways that they could have given a much better "illusion" of a persistent game universe, such as forcing an appropriate cooldown after interdictions (to represent the long FSD cooldown times), or an appropriate cooldown when you jump to another system (to represent the jump time and range of the NPCs ship) and so on. If they did this properly it would have been nearly indistinguishable from a truly persistent NPC and none of us would have noticed. At this point however all of the instance-specific spawns that break the game immersion on a regular basis are just too obvious to ignore.

 

[Grumpy181155]

What frustrates me so much about this is I am trying to gain the rank for a Cutter and the money to fit her out properly. I just came back from Jacques where I delivered 304 ton of Tantalum and I sold the exploration data when I got back from that 3 week trip for about 30 million and now because of a poorly implemented mechanic I have just lost my 30 million to a rebuy.

 

[Sans Daring]

But nobody is bothering to fix the gameplay issues as per OP and countless others?

Not comforting to know.

He didn't say that - he just noted that it had been mentioned the mines would be sorted. Nothing to take from that statement other than that.

As for the OP. It is frustrating. I recall rushing from one mission interdiction, and figuring, I can't recall why now, I'd drop out of FSD and then boost some distance and be ready to take him on if he appeared again. I noticed then, as I noticed the other day (that worked in my favour actually), that they spawn in a certain proximity range. So moving out somewhat for some time, had him appear literally as I boosted, straight into my face, knocking my shields out and some systems. He attacked and wiped me out. I was pretty irritated because of all the directions in a 360 sphere I could have been moving away from my drop point, he happened to appear directly in my face. Like I said, this was notable the other day when a mission hunter followed me to the station where I was waiting for him and again he leaped into my face where I was sitting stationary - but I was within the fire kill-zone which suited me rather nicely.

The bottomline is yes, I hope some of these things are addressed. Primarily the NPCs able to reappear fully repaired. But like all games, there will always be bugs or moments where the mechanics of the game stretch beyond tolerance - and not in your favour. Rather than getting angry and frustrated, best grab a cup of tea. These sort of bugs have been a part of my three and a half decades of game-play. There's always something which is unfair. The skill of the player is to adapt to the game issues and play on until they fixed. As you noted, next time you won't be impatient for your shields to recharge. Shouldn't have to worry so much about that, but we adapt to the flaws as we learn them!

 

[ForeverN00b]

I am angry and frustrated by the non-persistent NPCs.

Firstly I was interdicted within 2 seconds of entering the system by an Elite mission generated NPC in an Anaconda while I was carrying mission cargo. So I immediately submitted and then high waked out to another system and I waited there until my shields recharged and just before they did I saw that he had followed me so I dropped down out of supercruise and selected my mission system and waited for him. As soon as he dropped down I high waked out to my target system but he caught up with me and interdicted me again but this time I was really close to the station I wanted so again I submitted and this time I attacked him and I won the battle because when he jumped out as the police arrived he was down to 37% hull while I was down to 90%. Because I was so close I decided to not wait for my shields to recharge and jumped back to supercruise. I was immediately interdicted again by the same NPC only now he is back to 100% hull and full shields so I submit BUT the computer does not recognise I have submitted and so I have the long wait before I can then high wake out to a different system. By the time I jump I am down to 75% hull. The second I arrive in the new system I am interdicted again by a random NPC for my cargo and again I try to submit but again the system does not recognise it and this time I can't jump because of a malfunctioning FSD. So I dump all my cargo and the NPC replies with a statement something like 'good choice' but then he continues to destroy me before I can reset my FSD.

I don't have a problem with mission generated NPCs but I am sick and tired of NPCs who can magically interdict you and who can magically repair themselves.

The cheating NPCs are annoying, yes.

They are also really stupid. If you had an Elite Anaconda chasing you, you either took a mission way above your paygrade or you have a decent combat/trade rank and a decent ship.

An Anaconda is the EASIEST ship in the game to outrun. I'm sure you have read it before on this forum (and on Reddit!)....4 pips to SYS, boost boost boost. Hell, an NPC Anaconda would take all week to catch up to you at that point!

If he interdicts you again, rinse and repeat.

Learn how to buckyball through your intermediate jumps on a long haul. I have had many, many, many times where I see "The rumor is true...." on my chat log but by the time the NPC is lining up his interdiction I am already counting down towards my next waypoint. The only real trouble is mission NPCs when they are at your final destination, in which case you hi-wake out and then back in again.

 

[Codger]

It's a technical issue where the "flag" for the NPC interdictions is designed to generate an NPC on the spot. They didn't create their system with that flexibility in mind because quite frankly I think they didn't expect anyone would "notice". Which again is probably because FD doesn't play their own game often enough. There are plenty of ways that they could have given a much better "illusion" of a persistent game universe, such as forcing an appropriate cooldown after interdictions (to represent the long FSD cooldown times), or an appropriate cooldown when you jump to another system (to represent the jump time and range of the NPCs ship) and so on. If they did this properly it would have been nearly indistinguishable from a truly persistent NPC and none of us would have noticed. At this point however all of the instance-specific spawns that break the game immersion on a regular basis are just too obvious to ignore.

100% agree, this is exactly right.

 

[Grumpy181155]

The cheating NPCs are annoying, yes.

They are also really stupid. If you had an Elite Anaconda chasing you, you either took a mission way above your paygrade or you have a decent combat/trade rank and a decent ship.

An Anaconda is the EASIEST ship in the game to outrun. I'm sure you have read it before on this forum (and on Reddit!)....4 pips to SYS, boost boost boost. Hell, an NPC Anaconda would take all week to catch up to you at that point!

If he interdicts you again, rinse and repeat.

Learn how to buckyball through your intermediate jumps on a long haul. I have had many, many, many times where I see "The rumor is true...." on my chat log but by the time the NPC is lining up his interdiction I am already counting down towards my next waypoint. The only real trouble is mission NPCs when they are at your final destination, in which case you hi-wake out and then back in again.

He didn't interdict me while I was waiting to jump to another system I was interdicted trying to get to the target station and I did the evasion techniques by high waking out and then I decided to fight him just short of my final destination and I won but he had magically repaired and recharged his shields as soon as I re-entered supercruise and that was where it all started to go pear shaped and as for being the easiest ship to outrun that is fine if you are in anything other than an other Anaconda.

 

[Faybs]

There are two things you can do about "cheaty" NPCs:

1. High-wake out of the system and then back in. The NPC will be gone. Sure it's gamey and unrealistic but so is the NPC.
2. Submit to interdiction and then keep boosting until the NPC is at least 8Km away from you and it vanishes off your scanner even as a faint contact. Keep boosting for a few more seconds and the NPC will give up and high-wake out (you'll sometimes see chatter from them when this happens). I've used this strategy to get rid of insistent NPCs when I wanted to deliver dodgy goods to some starport a couple hundred thousand Ls from the star and got interdicted right next to the starport. This technique works really well for small smuggling ships with high performance drives and is actually somewhat realistic - they realize they can't catch you so they move on to easier targets.

 

[Grumpy181155]

There are two things you can do about "cheaty" NPCs:

1. High-wake out of the system and then back in. The NPC will be gone. Sure it's gamey and unrealistic but so is the NPC.
2. Submit to interdiction and then keep boosting until the NPC is at least 8Km away from you and it vanishes off your scanner even as a faint contact. Keep boosting for a few more seconds and the NPC will give up and high-wake out (you'll sometimes see chatter from them when this happens). I've used this strategy to get rid of insistent NPCs when I wanted to deliver dodgy goods to some starport a couple hundred thousand Ls from the star and got interdicted right next to the starport. This technique works really well for small smuggling ships with high performance drives and is actually somewhat realistic - they realize they can't catch you so they move on to easier targets.

Thanks for the suggestions but I'm also in an Anaconda and my grievance is not how to avoid them but once I have damaged him and forced him to retreat how they magically immediately reappear back at 100% hull and full shields once I re-enter supercruise.

 

[CMDR Aengus]

Coming home with millions in exploration data?
Park a fast ship on the edge of the bubble before you head out. Swop into it when you get back.
Swiftly to your chosen faction for handing in.
Doesn't help the OP right now of course, nor anyone coming home already, next time tho!

 

[Grumpy181155]

Coming home with millions in exploration data?
Park a fast ship on the edge of the bubble before you head out. Swop into it when you get back.
Swiftly to your chosen faction for handing in.
Doesn't help the OP right now of course, nor anyone coming home already, next time tho!

When I went to Jacques with my 304t of tantalum I decided to go unarmed by I still had a 6D shield plus 3 boosters so coming back to the bubble didn't worry me at all because I could shield tank if I got interdicted and I dropped my 30 million of data off at Deciat. I will always have a shield no matter what I am doing.

 

[SlugwormX]

My personal 'favorite' feature is when constantly interdicted on a mission by the 'same' NPC and they have the same ship but the weapons and loadouts are different almost every time! Love that immersion...

 

[Trinity Star]

I was interdicted by an FDL who jumped away when he was at 41% hull then upon returning to sc I was interdicted by the same ship again which did actually still have the damage from before.

 

[rote1]

Sarah is aware of the problems her minions currently have "dealing" with mines. I expect she'll improve their training in the next update. O-o

But nobody is bothering to fix the gameplay issues as per OP and countless others?

Not comforting to know.

How do you get that from the response you quoted? All SpeakerToAliens said was that there is a person working on AI and your answer is: So no one is working on other things?

Not comforting to know :/