Basic AI/NPC improvements

[StiTch]

CMDR StiTch! is back. PvP hugs all around! xoxox

No, I'm not touting "NPCs need to git gud" again. They do need to git gud, but this is a different thread.

Let's see the following basic improvements to NPCs:


1) Cure NPC Alzheimer's

I'm in a CZ. 2km out, two ships are battling to the death in an epic NPC 1-v-1. I run over, and help by attacking the enemy ship. We should now be in a 2-v-1 against the enemy ship.

However immediately, my team's ship forgets he was ever in battle. He disengages the opponent and heads back to the center of the CZ to start a new fight.

Wut?

Why do NPCs stop fighting when you join in, leading to a 1-v-1 between you and the NPC you attacked, every damn time? It'd be a nice touch of immershun and change of dynamics to be able to pull a pirate off a miner's back, and watch the occasionally ballsy miner run by to take potshots at the pirate every now and then. Or actually help an NPC in the CZ, and he finishes the fight with you.


2) Cure NPC micropsia

"This is a station announcement. Please make way for larger vessels. So feel free to just fly your Eagle straight at some CMDR's iCutter through the toast rack. They're definitely smaller than you, yes?"

'nuff said.


3) Cure NPC micropsia, part two

Yes mister NPC, you have a FGS. Yes, you have quite a few guns. No, that doesn't mean you should facetank my iCutter in combat.

Can we have a common sense tweak that encourages NPCs to facetank against smaller ships but avoid being caught in a facetanking battle against much bigger ones?


4) Cure NPC lack of vocabulary

ED is getting on now. Like, getting on enough that we are in the middle of a season dedicated to correcting flaws from the original incarnation of the game.

And still, the NPC trying to pirate me has a grand total of two catchphrases.

Come on now. Can we teach the NPCs a greater variety of things to say - or even better, a system that lets them put together dynamic messages?


5) Cure NPC stalking

Space is big. So why is there one or more NPCs magically near me every time I drop into an asteroid ring, even though there were none in SC? Every time. Every, damn, time.

 

[Ra'Kaan]

100% to OP, all of these NPC traits bug me every day.

Add to the list the magical teleportation when I crash them into a sun, they always teleport to your next normal space transition...

 

[space voyager]

I add my voice to NPC improvement. The listed complaints are just a few of the most irritating NPC problems and there are more. IMO some sort of semi-permanent NPCs should be implemented, so that an NPC does not run away and come come back moments later in another ship etc.. Also I'd love to see a system already populated when I jump in instead of waking up every time. Etc.etc..

 

[CMDR timjt]

6) cure npc cheating

u shot off npc's power plan, somehow they are not affected in any way. npc eagle spam railgun and somehow their module isn't burning out (yes, I am beating a dead horse)

 

[dm06]

6) cure npc cheating

u shot off npc's power plan, somehow they are not affected in any way. npc eagle spam railgun and somehow their module isn't burning out (yes, I am beating a dead horse)

Are you sure that your expected result is correct? Did you ever try B class power plant? Other B class modules? Why do you expect them to be as fragile as overcharged A class ones?

 

[Ian Skippy]

6) cure npc cheating

u shot off npc's power plan, somehow they are not affected in any way. npc eagle spam railgun and somehow their module isn't burning out (yes, I am beating a dead horse)

Fixed in 3.3.

As for spamming rails: NPCs dont mod and stack them typically. Remember our ships run MUCH hotter than NPC ships as they dont overcharge their PP and/or add dirty drives.

 

[Ra'Kaan]

NPC power plant issue is corrected in ch4 beta.

 

[CMDR timjt]

Fixed in 3.3.

As for spamming rails: NPCs dont mod and stack them typically. Remember our ships run MUCH hotter than NPC ships as they dont overcharge their PP and/or add dirty drives.

i don't think so, i have try that in the live server and npc can maneuver with 0% power plan.
for the heat issue, just try a grade a eagle and fire railgun yourself, u just can't fire as often as npc do without overheating unless its engineered railgun

any way, a dude said its fixed in beta, let's see how it works out in chapter4 life

 

[Loophole]

I support the OP - improving the "smarts" of NPC behaviour across the board would really help maintaining immersion. The original post's list is a good start; I'd also love to see that excellent AI behaviour brought back, where small fast NPC ships would make passes at you, then run away to recharge their shields before coming back for another pass.

At the same time I would love to see more common sense from NPCs in combat; even if it is something configurable that players can opt-in to - but I would much prefer to see them break off and flee once they are clearly outmatched, rather than pig-headedly fight to the death (all while declaring "this can all stop if you just..."). I understand that some people would find it frustrating if NPCs showed some sense of self-preservation, but I would personally like it.

Across the board I think Elite would benefit from a development pass aimed at broadening, deepening and enriching player-NPC interactions.

 

[dm06]

2) Cure NPC micropsia

"This is a station announcement. Please make way for larger vessels. So feel free to just fly your Eagle straight at some CMDR's iCutter through the toast rack. They're definitely smaller than you, yes?"

'nuff said.

I always do the same.

 

[StiTch]

6) cure npc cheating

u shot off npc's power plan, somehow they are not affected in any way. npc eagle spam railgun and somehow their module isn't burning out (yes, I am beating a dead horse)

Now now, I specifically didn't want this to be combat-centric - and if it were, it'd be asking for NPCs to be buffed, not have "cheats" removed.

We can talk about odd powerplant behaviour (not that it's a bug anymore) when NPCs get FA Off, engineering as good as ours, the ability to target subsystems...

Yeah, we "cheat" more than they do.

I add my voice to NPC improvement. The listed complaints are just a few of the most irritating NPC problems and there are more. IMO some sort of semi-permanent NPCs should be implemented, so that an NPC does not run away and come come back moments later in another ship etc.. Also I'd love to see a system already populated when I jump in instead of waking up every time. Etc.etc..

NPC permanence would be a helluva improvement. Unlikely to happen for some time, but a helluva improvement it would be. After that, some good tracking tools plox...

 

[Cory280]

All this, and give NPCs a finite number of SCBs! I can't stand it when they spam them after you have taken their shields down to .0001mj and you have to start whittling them down all over again.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

It's the same throughout the gaming world, NPC's can see nothing, they have nothing, no possessions (I don't mean Backpack or cargo hold I mean they own nothing) no future nor past, other than to be in your game, and don't see that to achieve a goal they have to be alive at the end, to win you must survive conflict, until AI get a hold of something they want and want to keep it will always be the same...
I only hope they never get that though, the first thing that will happen is they will back themselves up and we're in for it then!