Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
That sounds a bit "challenging" for traders....
'Attack of the AI' III
- Thread starter Ian Phillips
- Start date
That sounds a bit "challenging" for traders....
What you should do if you are interdicted in a non combat ship: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=261478
If you try to submit (fast) and still get failed evasion attempt, thats a bug imo. You could try to report that in the bug report forum: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105
Even better news fellow Cmdrs! The EXACT same Elite Anaconda spawning 4 times in a row. They don't de instance anymore. They just keep on stalking. Had 2 follow me into conflict zones because reasons. And to Relayer: I don't want the new AI lobotomized and put back to the whole rolling in place bit. But it is a little annoying having elite murderhobo NPCs coming after me for no reason. And I totally agree about the dime turning Condas. Although if they were to allow players to turn big ships on a dime as well....then I would not mind in the slightest. As long as we can match NPC manuevers with player run ships then it's fine. But when they can do things that we simply aren't able to, not because of lack of skill but because it's just not possible, then theres an issue. And keep in mind, the NPCs allegedly DON'T fly FA off. So....yeah...
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Addendum: I left the CZ the murderhobo Conda had joined me in. Charged the dings in my shields, spoke to a wingman a system over. Dropped back into the CZ. It. Was. Still. There.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Addendum: I left the CZ the murderhobo Conda had joined me in. Charged the dings in my shields, spoke to a wingman a system over. Dropped back into the CZ. It. Was. Still. There.
There's a thread specifically for reports in the bug forum
Oh it's a bug alright. You'll still lose your ship (and cargo) though.
The thing about interdictions is ... pretty much everything around them screams about "wrong" right now. Random NPC wanting to kill you because reasons. Getting interdicted by Novice Eagles (I fly a combat fitted FdL) who call me "greenhorn" (I'm at "master" status). Having pirates who interdict me for my "big haul" and attack me because my hauls are empty (reminder: I fly a combat fitted FdL, my hauls are full of HRPs). Almost impossibility to evade interdictions unless it glitches out. I can't name them all!
And yes when I see how fast my Clipper's shields can take a beating under certain circumstances I can assure you someone in a less capable ship will have a hard time escaping random buggy interdictions, even if they have their hi-wake route planned out.
This is great stuff to report - there are only a handful of accounts from the high-ranked ranked folk seeing silly low-end attackers, and testimony that it's happening in both directions adds massively to the pile of evidence that there is something genuinely wrong and it's not just people finding it hard.
Last edited:
This is a wonderful idea! Then people could actually see what does what, in a sandbox type simulator!
There is a T7 sized hole in your logic.
Hint: The FSD cooldown for a trader to submit and jump away = 10 seconds. Average combat lasts between 1-3 minutes. Total Damage = DPS x Time. Hmm... what can we learn from combining these facts??
There is an New NPC Abilities Hole in Yours Mate.
Currently NPCs are very well Capable of Aiming for Thrusters and FSD Drives.
Needless to say they Drop your Shields very Fast and Drop Rockets on your Rear meaning your Thrusters Give out almost Instantly in alot of Cases.
I had one case where I wanted to Run simply cause I didnt want to waste the Time Fighting.
Take a Guess what happened
One Guy Interdicted me. (For an Grandious Cargo of 1x Palladium and 1x Resonating Whatever I found on a Planets Surface and took along because unlike Space Goods you can Apparently Gather Stuff on Planets without it being Illegal.)
Then 2 other Guys Joined in Right Away.
1 Viper MK4
1 Eagle
1 Federal Gunship.
No Missions and Nothing Else Involved. Flying in a High Security System.
No Bountys or anything else on me either.
So I Submitted.
I Boosted.
And then my Class 6 B Shield Dropped before my FSD had even Cooled Down. (I had 4 Pips in Engines cause otherwise I would never make the Distance to actually use FSD Properly with the Fairly Slow Python)
Ok who Cares. Some K Repairs. I am an Older Player so I got a Few Million in the Back no reason to Worry.
And then Despite my Rear Point Defense Missiles Struck me.
Thrusters Out. Ship Turning Violently.
So 4 Pips on Shields and 2 on Weapons. Deploy Hardpoints and Return Fire.
Taking out the Eagle and then Aiming for the Viper while Finally the Security Response Force Arrived to give me a Hand with the Gunship.
I can Guarantee. I would not have gotten out of this with a Type 7.
And I take Bets you would not have Survived this Either.
Mate no Offense.
But what your Talking Shows only one thing.
And that is that you have been around before this Update and thus have the Required Equipment for this Stuff.
I.ll Give ya a Hint.
Buy an Sidewinder.
And Take a Note of your Bank Account.
And Just try Starting out a Game.
Basicly Limiting yourself to an Sidewinder with 1000 Credits or what People get currently.
And then Try Reaching 7 Million WITHOUT using the Money you got from your other Stuff.
Which pretty much means your First thing to do will be to Fly your E Grade Sidewinder with Fixed Pulse Lasers on a None Ranked Delivery Mission. (Make sure you dont use the Bigger Missions)
And lets see how long you need before you can get towards this 7 Million.
In 2 Months give us a Heads Up on How many Times you Died Trying.
Others are more Honest than you at least.
And rather than trying to Claim that People can actually Survive.
Already Switched to the Rail of. Well Dying is Part of the Game. Deal with it.
Not in the slightest bit more Acceptable. But at least Honest.
Stop Claiming that this is something just in Peoples Minds.
Difficulty is currently Too High for Non Combat Oriented Players. FACT.
Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
So far when in combat I have had my thrusters destroyed every time. So I gave up on combat and tried to see if Trading would still turned a profit. Only done one trip - got away from the inderdiction with 2% hull.
In order to cover the inevitable cost of a rebuy including cargo, and the repair costs I will need to make another 7 runs without being destroyed. After that I will then count myself as making a profit.
In order to cover the inevitable cost of a rebuy including cargo, and the repair costs I will need to make another 7 runs without being destroyed. After that I will then count myself as making a profit.
Last edited:
You do seem to be getting it particularly rough! Can't quite understand it.
If you don't mind me asking have any of the tips given helped you at all? Did you get your combat rank reset? Sorry wish I'd been paying more attention to which things you'd tried
I only do combat in my Corvette, but I have a hold for various knick knacks that the RNGineers need, like CMM Composites. And Elite Condas keep spawning to attack me for what I have. Right now as I type this one is outside the station being murdered by the police for being wanted. I'm kitted out for combat, I can't imagine what traders are going through when things like this keep happening. I have no problem dealing with such a ship but someone in a Type 7? Or what's left of the Python after balancing? Or gods forbid a Type 9? *shudder* And when I submit and boost and go to supercruise, the Conda that interdicted me is somehow in front of me. Because reasons. That isn't balancing. I'm all for balancing. And I HATED the spin o death the old AI did. But this is a bit far in the opposite direction.
The NPC are very aggressive, most of the times there is not time to respond. In 2 cases my shields ( ASP E, with 5A shields, 4 pips to shields) went off before normal FSD cooldown finishes, and thats against a FAS NPC). In one other instance entering a NAV Beacon there were 4 or 5 NPCs simultaneously attacked my and died within 10 seconds or so.
Game is becoming very hostile. This is not good. There is no safe place in the galaxy at the moment.
Meanwhile I've decided to start some shieldless mining. Small ships are easy pray, high-ranking FdLs I leave behind ASAP.
Please please please submit this as a Bug - there is a thread for them in the bug reports forum and if you can post your netlog alongside it (it tells you how in there)
I have a suspicion that the NPCs that are persistent and follow you are getting their weapons reinitialised every time they change instance - effectively recharging their shields/chaff/hs/scb/missiles every time. I keep killing the sods so I've not seen it much but there have been enough reports of similar behaviour and I'm sure it's happened to me once with a sod who had PA's - I could get his shields down but then it kept getting too hairy, i'd run he'd get me again and bang full shields. never saw him use a SCB
I waited with my vote until I had done a decent amount of combat in a range of ships (Eagle, Viper, Vulture, FAS, FdL, Python) against a comparable range of NPC ships. I voted "About right" but despite that I'm not too happy with the current AI.
.
My main complaint is that the AI is very predictable and that the variety in manoeuvring they had in 2.0 seems to have gone. Indeed the AI is a lot harder to beat but I found it not more fun to beat them after a while. Basically all ships do the same trick: break hard into you and use vertical thrust to get close somewhere above your cockpit. Then try to wear your down from that relative position (this is what the Adder always did in 2.0). If your ship is agile enough to counter the break you get into a very tight circling fight which will be won by the pilot who manages to get his weapons on target the most by varying the circle. If your ship is not agile enough to counter you get into a jousting match which will be won by the ship with the best shields and/or hull tanking loadout and the pilot who can "FAOFF-flip the ship and aim again" the quickest and most accurate. Both variants can last for up to 15-20 min (if shields/hulls allow) unless the human pilot disengages. It feels to me the AI is mostly capitalising on the typical advantages a computer has over a player: fast responses, high accuracy and all around "vision".
.
In both cases if the NPC gets a fair amount of damage (say +-50% hull) it sometimes tries to flee or sometimes tries a last ditch manoeuvre to try to get the upper hand. After that you will get into the circling or jousting cycle again. In 2.0 the AI had a whole repertoire of crazy last ditch manoeuvres to throw you off (especially the Vulture) but that seems to have mostly gone now. I hope the lack of variety is due to bug somewhere.
.
One more thing I observed (I think) is that often after a lower ranked AI tried a last ditch manoeuvre after sustain damage its flying skills suddenly improved to Elite level (much quicker, more accurate) maybe there is a bug in skills-scaling or so?
.
I have not (yet) encountered an NPC with OP weapons as reported by others.
.
My main complaint is that the AI is very predictable and that the variety in manoeuvring they had in 2.0 seems to have gone. Indeed the AI is a lot harder to beat but I found it not more fun to beat them after a while. Basically all ships do the same trick: break hard into you and use vertical thrust to get close somewhere above your cockpit. Then try to wear your down from that relative position (this is what the Adder always did in 2.0). If your ship is agile enough to counter the break you get into a very tight circling fight which will be won by the pilot who manages to get his weapons on target the most by varying the circle. If your ship is not agile enough to counter you get into a jousting match which will be won by the ship with the best shields and/or hull tanking loadout and the pilot who can "FAOFF-flip the ship and aim again" the quickest and most accurate. Both variants can last for up to 15-20 min (if shields/hulls allow) unless the human pilot disengages. It feels to me the AI is mostly capitalising on the typical advantages a computer has over a player: fast responses, high accuracy and all around "vision".
.
In both cases if the NPC gets a fair amount of damage (say +-50% hull) it sometimes tries to flee or sometimes tries a last ditch manoeuvre to try to get the upper hand. After that you will get into the circling or jousting cycle again. In 2.0 the AI had a whole repertoire of crazy last ditch manoeuvres to throw you off (especially the Vulture) but that seems to have mostly gone now. I hope the lack of variety is due to bug somewhere.
.
One more thing I observed (I think) is that often after a lower ranked AI tried a last ditch manoeuvre after sustain damage its flying skills suddenly improved to Elite level (much quicker, more accurate) maybe there is a bug in skills-scaling or so?
.
I have not (yet) encountered an NPC with OP weapons as reported by others.
Last edited:
May sound odd but have you considered https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=237551 ?I cant imagine one or two sessions would fix whatever it is you're doing wrong.
Last edited by a moderator: