Can we go back to fixed weapons on SLFs for our copilots now?

[Agony_Aunt]

Its been a while, but i switched to giving my Elite SLF pilot gimballed weapons some time ago because they stopped being able to hit anything with fixed. There were reports of this being a known issue and the advice was to switch to using gimballed.

Was this resolved? Can we go back to fixed weapons now?

 

[Dillon Fallon]

I heard it was a problem with older NPCs which got broke somehow and the AI got reset to harmless. Newer ones were apparently OK.

Or maybe that was a fever dream brought on by the funny smells from the chemical factory. I'll leave it to Cunningham's law to sort out.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I heard it was a problem with older NPCs which got broke somehow and the AI got reset to harmless. Newer ones were apparently OK.

Or maybe that was a fever dream brought on by the funny smells from the chemical factory. I'll leave it to Cunningham's law to sort out.

Thanks for replying.

She is showing as Elite, so if there was a reset, it means there are two variables, one displayed, one actual.... which would be bloody poor programming.

Hopefully someone else can provide more info.

 

[DemiserofD]

No, unfortunately that's not quite it. It seems that way, but it's just that mid-ranking NPCs have better accuracy but also less restrictions on firing incorrectly. That lets them fire more often, and some of those shots accidentally hit.

But overall everything is absolutely still just as broken as before.

 

[aRJay]

I heard it was a problem with older NPCs which got broke somehow and the AI got reset to harmless. Newer ones were apparently OK.

Or maybe that was a fever dream brought on by the funny smells from the chemical factory. I'll leave it to Cunningham's law to sort out.

Thanks for replying.

She is showing as Elite, so if there was a reset, it means there are two variables, one displayed, one actual.... which would be bloody poor programming.

Hopefully someone else can provide more info.

I heard the story about it affecting older NPCs so I have been training up a new one that is now an unidentifiable way through being Deadly, another bug, they usually hit with the first attempt now and rarely try to shoot and fly through rocks.

Not sure they are as good as the old one used to be but then I don’t think they are Elite yet.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I heard the story about it affecting older NPCs so I have been training up a new one that is now an unidentifiable way through being Deadly, another bug, they usually hit with the first attempt now and rarely try to shoot and fly through rocks.

Not sure they are as good as the old one used to be but then I don’t think they are Elite yet.

Fixed or gimballs?

 

[aRJay]

Fixed or gimballs?

Fixed, partly in the hope that if they attack the target first the target will be less likely to use chaff early when I join in.

 

[Andy_Pipkin]

Nope, it ain't solved.
forum topic, could use a bump again.

Issue Tracker

 

[DemiserofD]

I'm wondering there isn't a specific point the AI aims at, which is SUPPOSED to be center of mass(maybe they code an 'acceptable firing' cone with narrower and narrower acceptable parameters for higher ranking NPCs?), but when they rebuilt the ship system to add the Python Mk2, they forgot to set it, so it defaulted to 0,0,0, or behind, below, and left of the ship.

 

[SergMx]

Stop. Are you saying my pilot on Taipan AX1F can only hit interceptors ?

 

[DemiserofD]

Stop. Are you saying my pilot on Taipan AX1F can only hit interceptors ?

Unfortunately, the AX taipan won't fire at all. They broke something else with regards to that, and NPCs can't fire at all anymore.

Issue Tracker

issues.frontierstore.net

 

[Commander Biscuit]

I'm wondering there isn't a specific point the AI aims at, which is SUPPOSED to be center of mass(maybe they code an 'acceptable firing' cone with narrower and narrower acceptable parameters for higher ranking NPCs?)

A while back, NPCs had their fixed weapon accuracy nerfed, I think due to their annoying 100% accuracy when hitting the player with rails, but our SLF pilots use the exact same AI package as enemies it seems. Until FD decides to make our SLF pilots better than npcs I think we'll be using gimballed weapons.

 

[DemiserofD]

A while back, NPCs had their fixed weapon accuracy nerfed, I think due to their annoying 100% accuracy when hitting the player with rails, but our SLF pilots use the exact same AI package as enemies it seems. Until FD decides to make our SLF pilots better than npcs I think we'll be using gimballed weapons.

The bug applies to NPCs as well, I think. People have noticed that thargoids won't fire at all at small fast targets.

 

[Commander Biscuit]

The bug applies to NPCs as well, I think. People have noticed that thargoids won't fire at all at small fast targets.

Hmm, not firing at all? May be a totally separate bug.

Or no, both issues may have the same cause, but the accuracy part could be intentional.

 

[SergMx]

The bug applies to NPCs as well, I think. People have noticed that thargoids won't fire at all at small fast targets.

What do you mean they're not shooting? And why does my NPC pilot on his SLF die so quickly?

 

[DemiserofD]

What do you mean they're not shooting? And why does my NPC pilot on his SLF die so quickly?

If you watch scouts in particular, if you move sideways at over a certain speed, thargoids just give up entirely and won't fire, even if normally they'd be able to hit you.

NPC fighters unfortunately don't orbit at sufficient velocity normally. But even there, they now survive substantially longer around interceptors than before. I was paying attention back when they first changed thargoid targeting(Back when they made them jump out if you move too far away instead of just chasing you indefinitely), and when they first started directly targeting SLFs, they would just instantly oneshot them with perfect accuracy no matter what. Nowadays, they will often miss them repeatedly, allowing them to survive substantially longer than before(instant death).

Basically, NPC SLFs have always died very rapidly to AX damage, but now, in exchange for dealing far less damage, they also take far less damage.

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Things they need to fix now:
1. AX Taipan won't fire at all.
2. Interceptors directly target SLFs(this will become a major issue if targeting problems are fixed)
3. SLFs shoot incorrectly/miss/don't fire at all(at higher ranks especially)
4. SLFs still die instantly to caustic damage.
5. SLFs will sometimes disable their weapons for no reason.
6. NPCs will sometimes run away forever until they go over 25km and blow up.
7. NPCs often ram directly into an enemy and explode.
8. Interceptors can instantly redirect their lightning attack without charging up.
9. Interceptors and Scouts stop firing entirely if you move too fast(probably the same bug as the NPC targeting bug)

That's just off the top of my head. Frankly, they're a bit of a mess right now. I'm the biggest fan of them you'll find, and even I've stopped using them for the past year, and that's saying something.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

5. SLFs will sometimes disable their weapons for no reason.

Had that a few times recently. Most annoying. I think the only solution is to recall them and launch again. Or possibly switch places with them and switch back.