Are NPC's Low IQ Crazed/Psycho Killers?

[_neuron_]

I always thought it'd be great if someday, in some game, the game designers thought to code a boss or NPC that had a more realistic attitude:
"OH, great. Another party of unkillable player characters who are just going to respawn endlessly until I finally die of despair. They're probably from Season XIV, which means they could swat me like a mosquito if they wanted to. Oh, well, when the dark lord says 'go' I go. This is a foregone conclusion, anyway..."
(at 1/2 damage)
"See, I told you, they're just gonna crush me. It's such a drag being a mid-tier minion..."
(about to fall)
"If this game was fair this is where I'd transform into my Season XVI self and make these guys sweat a little, but ... all I have is this useless predictable attack rotation. (sigh) Kill me now and save me the trouble of hanging myself."
(killed)
"Yup.... (groan) told you."

This needs to be added to the game, verbatim, right now.

 

[DragoonKnight]

Pretty much, yes.

Back in Gamma a wanted NPC Anaconda interdicted my Viper which was carrying 8 tons of food cartridges.

He shot my cargo hatch open and then started spamming the local channel about the vast treasure hoard he just scored.

Then system authority showed up and we killed him. Hope those food cartridges were worth it.

As far as I can tell that strange behavior hasn't changed.

He just wanted to feed his kids with your food cartridges.

 

[crushdepth]

Seems you don't like the dangerous part from Elite Dangerous. If you really want a reason think of this: you entered on their territory and because you aren't allied with them you are an enemy.
For example, for me territory means the whole galaxy and enemies are all commanders unaffiliated with Archon Delaine or in my friends list. Pretty easy to remember and i have a lot of targets.
Happy hunting.

Sidewinders that interdict my anaconda aren't dangerous. But they do appear to be low IQ psycho killers.

 

[MrFuddyDuddy]

Seems you don't like the dangerous part from Elite Dangerous. If you really want a reason think of this: you entered on their territory and because you aren't allied with them you are an enemy.
For example, for me territory means the whole galaxy and enemies are all commanders unaffiliated with Archon Delaine or in my friends list. Pretty easy to remember and i have a lot of targets.
Happy hunting.

Perfect example of insanity, you do realized that by killing any commander not allied with Archon Delaine you will effectively still be killing your own allies from time to time as he is still considered part of the Alliance, pirate lord or not. OP is simply stating the obvious, AI is stupid and constantly make poor decisions. Getting interdicted with talks of "stealing my tasty cargo" when I'm in a Vulture with ZERO cargo space is laughable, I guess I could thank them for coming to me to be killed but they don't even try to scan you first majority of the time though that might be because I have a strict kill on sight rule for anything that wants to waste my time interdicting me.

 

[Zeta Legion]

Psychos, yes. Dangerous, no. Elite? HELL no.

I think the only thing going through the minds of these pirates are my multicannon bullets.

 

[adrinker]

Seems you don't like the dangerous part from Elite Dangerous. If you really want a reason think of this: you entered on their territory and because you aren't allied with them you are an enemy.
For example, for me territory means the whole galaxy and enemies are all commanders unaffiliated with Archon Delaine or in my friends list. Pretty easy to remember and i have a lot of targets.
Happy hunting.

This is incorrect.

NPCs are completely unbelievable in both decision making and combat, and not dangerous. For instance:

1. Allied Navy faction interdicts you and just lets you go. You've ranked up to be an ally, you shouldn't be a joe schmoe suspect still.
2. NPCs never consider your ship type: An Elite NPC in an eagle interdicts your vulture. In a belt, an NPC in a python says "I better leave you alone" when you are in a viper.
3. Pirate NPC interdicts you, sees one ton of fish and attacks you.
4. In a belt, Pirate NPC scans your combat ship 5 times in a few minutes despite having a ship with little cargo.
5. In a belt while you are mining, a pirate NPC targets you when you have 1 piece of ore in your cargo. A smart pirate would wait until you had enough to fill his hold.
6. I'm in my vulture fighting a DBS. I'm constantly on his tail. He has lasers and is shooting forward at nothing.
7. NPCs have no self preservation instinct: In PP I interdicted a hundred transports and they never once tried to run. If a vulture interdicts your T6, you submit and then try to boost + jump. Instead they just sit there waiting to die.

 

[babelfisch]

I play as a bounty hunter. I travel in a Cobra MKIII kitted as a combat vessel. No cargo holds, no discovery scanners, no anything unless it makes my Cobra a better killer of the scum of the galaxy.

A simple scan by the NPC, especially pirate NPC's, that I'm not an easy mark, have nothing of value to steal and don't have a bounty of any sort on me. YET! The stupid suckers will drag me out of hyperspace. Why? If they kill me - which doesn't happen very often all it does is raise their bounty and make 'em better targets. Or - which happens more often than not - they die making the effort.

Maybe they know that you are a bounty hunter. Since they are pirates they want to kill you before you can kill them.

 

[Werewolf13]

Maybe they know that you are a bounty hunter. Since they are pirates they want to kill you before you can kill them.

Maybe...

If so - and especially so if they're interdicting me with a sidewinder or eagle or adder, viper, asp, vulture etc - then their evil lords aren't payin' 'em enough to run the risks they're running.

 

[insanephoton]

'Don't try to run. I've come a long way for your cargo'.

My reaction was to check my inventory ~ 2 limpets. A real big score. Is that really worth the risk for a novice in a Viper 3 to take on a well armed Expert Asp Explorer? He simply wasn't worth the time to bother with so I high waked out making the jump I had intended to do before being rudely interrupted.

 

[DragoonKnight]

The most amusing is when a sidewinder or eagle tells me he is "going to boil me up" or some such non-sense and I am flying a combat fitted anaconda.
*deploy beam turrets*
*turrets vaporize annoying bug*
*no change in course of the Conda*

 

[[VR] Enexemander]

I've actually had NPCs take mercy on me. When I first started, mining seemed cool, so I fitted my sidewinder with a mining laser and the cheapest refinery I could afford (which was awful). I dropped off at a resource extraction site and tried my hand at mining. I got scanned a few times by the NPCs, and they said something along the lines of "Oh, I thought you were someone else." and left me be.

Even the NPCs pity the fool trying to mine in a mostly stock Sidewinder!