Can the NPC AI ambush you?

[Jedirogue]

Had a great experience last night which got me thinking.

I was trying out different loadouts on a cobra by jumping to a nearby anarchy system and hanging out at the nav beacon, happily KWS and killing all the ships with bounties on them. This lets me practice some combat skills and gage strength / weakness of the loadout against various ships. Been testing out one loadout for about an hour this way when 'zip' in drops a sidewinder from SC. Quick scan and nearly a 10k bounty. No shields so I think "rude not to take it, easy money". Drop in behind the target, adjust power config and 'zip', 'zip', 'zip' - three of his little red mates drop out of SC (I heard them) right on my tail and open up on me instantly. Well before I could say SH__, my shields are about gone and his three mates have me completely bracketed, no way out so chaff and boost into SC to escape. Now this might have been coincidence but it is the first time an NPC has exited SC and just opened up, no scan. Thinking about it, this kind of tactic is just what I would do if someone like me was hanging out at a nav beacon and wasting all my criminal friends.

So, does the AI set up ambushes? I hope it does as it makes for quite exciting gameplay.

 

[Bambi]

Well the first time I accidentally hit an authority ship, I managed to flee to a different location, but it turned out there was three authority ships lying in wait for me there. So it seems so, yes.

 

[Caspar]

Will keep an eye out for this kind of AI behavior. It makes a lot of sense that the locals would want to kick you out of the system after a while.

 

[Tenshi]

In beta there use to be gold floating about in cans in the Freeport system, some of these USS sites would have a npc pirate ambush to them. Where as soon as a player picked up a can a pirate or three would SC in and start shooting. Saying something along the lines of "Another sucker has taken the bait."

Not sure if this is still in the game though as I have yet to see it happen and I only read it on the beta forums and never saw it myself.

 

[Dimensions]

Faction hostiles tend to be more aggressive in anarchy systems. You have to have your wits about you or find yourself in a firefight with 2 or 3 ships. Three sidewinders hitting you while looping around you ship can strip your shields fairly quickly. These have been some of my best fights. Test your self and try and take all 3 out. Stick to one until he/she is dead.

You have to watch the npcs in anarchy systems, they are pretty sneaky, they will steal your high value cargo you just shot out of a hauler from right under your nose. I've had the best fights in these systems. You have to fend off kill stealing bounty hunters, pirates, ticked off faction gangs, while the npcs around you are fighting with each other. Sometimes it's like a civil war zone if you stay long enough. Good times

 

[Riepah]

No, I think it has nothing to do with a real ambush. I've had stuff like this happening with single authority ships jumping in, instantly hostile, firing at me and calling me a freebooter although I had no fine, no bounty, and had only entered that instance under about one minute earlier. Sometimes the AI and their IFF can be very wonky. Escort ships are especially prone to opening fire on you if they're shown hostile on your radar, whether or not you're Clean, whether or not they are. The OP's case sounds like bad luck, nothing more.