Newcomer / Intro Combat P v E

[jpjeffrey]

When overpowering an enemy, the shields go down first then the hull percentage starts to deteriorate.
As the hull percentage goes down, do all the enemy ship's systems continue to operate at full output.....?

 

[Chrystoph]

Random damage distribution, unless you specifically target a system.

 

[metatheurgist]

Most modules start malfunctioning at 80% health.

 

[Ashnak]

They don't. Modules have a hitbox and will go down in health if you hit them. You can also target individual modules if you have specific plans. Doesn't necessarily mean you hit them, though - if you're head to head with one of the federal coffins, targeting the thrusters won't accomplish very much.
On the other hand, the power plant in an Imp Cutter is rather exposed...

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

It's a personal thing for me but, when fighting in a RES or CNB, I like to go for the FSD. Cruel but it works

 

[sixhashbrowns]

Edit: wrong thread

 

[Dommarraa]

Apart from a few very niche examples, NPC ships work exactly the same as a CMDR ship, but they do not panic and are MUCH better at juggling pips and power priority so they can appear to be imune to certain damage.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

It depends on what weapons you're using. What you need to do is punch through the hull at the location of a module to hit it. Whether or not you do go though depends on the ship you're targeting and the penetration value of your weapons. For example, beam lasers are very bad at this, but railguns with a super penetrator secondary will basically core out the interior of a target ship before the hull goes if you aim right. (I should mention super pen doesn't increase penetration chance, but does allow you to hit multiple modules in a single shot, otherwise your shot damages the first module you hit and stops there).

Assuming shields have dropped, hull hardness is the defence against this. This is a fixed value for each ship and the bigger the ship, the higher the value.

And yes, kill the shield generator, no more shields, kill the thrusters and NPCs drift away helpless, kill the FSD and the target can't jump out, kill the powerplant and the NPC will switch a bunch of modules off to compensate, but keep going and their ship eventually goes pop regardless of the status of the hull.