Confused about NPC's and FA:Off

Garix · Mar 23, 2017

Fairly sure NPC's are not supposed to use FA: off, they just have very good thruster control.

That's fine.

But if it's true how does a Fed Corvette manage to change direction from me shooting his engines to him shooting me in the face? Without me ever losing sight of him.

I know I'm not a great Combat pilot but still.....

ChubbyBunneh · Mar 23, 2017

Anacondas & Corvettes have insane pitch rates for large ships. Even faster if they boost before flipping around.

StiTch · Mar 23, 2017

Pip management, thruster control and you'll notice they rarely push it so hard they cannot overcome their own inertia.

Spend some time turning/in combat trying new things with your throttle. You'll be amazed what you find.

evanevery · Mar 23, 2017

Garix said:
Fairly sure NPC's are not supposed to use FA: off, they just have very good thruster control.

That's fine.

But if it's true how does a Fed Corvette manage to change direction from me shooting his engines to him shooting me in the face? Without me ever losing sight of him.

I know I'm not a great Combat pilot but still.....

NPC's have Corvette's too? That's just great! (Best I've seen was Anaconda's...)

StiTch · Mar 23, 2017

evanevery said:
NPC's have Corvette's too? That's just great! (Best I've seen was Anaconda's...)

As a general rule, they're only found in CZs that feature a Fed-aligned minor faction.

You can find them patrolling high-end Fed stations, but as far as I am aware CZs are the only place you'll really find them for the killing.

Pyrobee · Mar 23, 2017

evanevery said:
NPC's have Corvette's too? That's just great! (Best I've seen was Anaconda's...)

You mainly see them in Fed CZs

Bran Tse Mallory · Mar 23, 2017

StiTch said:
Pip management, thruster control and you'll notice they rarely push it so hard they cannot overcome their own inertia.

Spend some time turning/in combat trying new things with your throttle. You'll be amazed what you find.

I took this advise from someone and it's helped no end. Now forward momentum in combat is an old thing far better to use lateral/vertical movement also helps keep the guns trained on target too!

Garix · Mar 23, 2017

evanevery said:
NPC's have Corvette's too? That's just great! (Best I've seen was Anaconda's...)

It was an assassination mission. Deadly NPC in the Vette with 2 Dangerous pals in Vipers.

Had my head handed to me

StiTch · Mar 23, 2017

Garix said:
It was an assassination mission. Deadly NPC in the Vette with 2 Dangerous pals in Vipers.

Had my head handed to me

What's notable is that AI tends to utilise certain ships much better than others. Among them, all Fed ships are at the top. I don't know if it's because of that slow speed preventing them "losing control", but even a Fed Gunship in the hands of AI will basically do ballet, whereas you can hit an NPC iCourier by throwing bricks out your smashed canopy.

People who think the FDL needs a buff have probably only fought NPC ones, who cannot outfit them properly and certainly cannot fly them properly.

Garix · Mar 23, 2017

StiTch said:
What's notable is that AI tends to utilise certain ships much better than others. Among them, all Fed ships are at the top. I don't know if it's because of that slow speed preventing them "losing control", but even a Fed Gunship in the hands of AI will basically do ballet, whereas you can hit an NPC iCourier by throwing bricks out your smashed canopy.

People who think the FDL needs a buff have probably only fought NPC ones, who cannot outfit them properly and certainly cannot fly them properly.

That never actually occurred to be, but now that I think about it - if I have the option between taking on a wing of a Fed Gun/Drop/Assault ships or Clippers. I take the Clippers each and every time

X-Terminator · Mar 23, 2017

OP Dude, I once thought how strange it was when this happens. The answer is...

THEY FLEW BACKWARDS DUDE!

XW_Ziggy · Mar 23, 2017

Yep, it's a combination of thruster control and drift.

It can sometimes look like FA-Off, but the Anacondas in particular drift so much that they almost move FA-Off all the time

CptXabaras · Mar 23, 2017

Garix said:
Fairly sure NPC's are not supposed to use FA: off, they just have very good thruster control.

That's fine.

But if it's true how does a Fed Corvette manage to change direction from me shooting his engines to him shooting me in the face? Without me ever losing sight of him.

I know I'm not a great Combat pilot but still.....

With no FA off i would pull that maneuver on my Corvette by Throttle down, pitch up with full vertical thrusters down, at half turn Throttle in the blue zone with a quick 4 pips to engine and than back at 4/0/2. Can turn in a dime

V'larr · Mar 23, 2017

StiTch said:
What's notable is that AI tends to utilise certain ships much better than others. Among them, all Fed ships are at the top. I don't know if it's because of that slow speed preventing them "losing control", but even a Fed Gunship in the hands of AI will basically do ballet, whereas you can hit an NPC iCourier by throwing bricks out your smashed canopy.

People who think the FDL needs a buff have probably only fought NPC ones, who cannot outfit them properly and certainly cannot fly them properly.

It's not even that, it's just that the AI uses something besides 4-0-2 pips more of the time.

The FDL has a bit of a weird, unique lateral thrust profile, which I think contributes to the AI (and players) sometimes struggling with them.

NPC couriers just don't min/max with performance thrusters like some CMDRs do....

StiTch · Mar 24, 2017

V'larr said:
It's not even that, it's just that the AI uses something besides 4-0-2 pips more of the time.

The FDL has a bit of a weird, unique lateral thrust profile, which I think contributes to the AI (and players) sometimes struggling with them.

NPC couriers just don't min/max with performance thrusters like some CMDRs do....

As at the top, I'm definitely aware they know their thruster and distributor control

But my guess would be that there's minimal difference in how the AI handles different ships, and whatever technique they use for thrust/pitch happens to work better for some ships.

I can understand "NPCs are gud", but they definitely fly an AspX or FGS considerably better than a FDL or iCourier. I was intimately aware of it even before 2.1 and PE thrusters. In fact when the 2.1 AI aftermath dropped and I returned from my exploration ship, an Elite AspX gave me my first NPC death in months, and well played to him. Kept me under enough pressure in my unengineered ship that when he was on low HP and fled I followed him straight through two turning asteroids that promptly crushed me.

Yeah, I'll be paying attention to spinny rocks more in future. D'oh.