can't say it better.
Constantly having the same 2 Elite ships thrown at me every interdiction is kind of ruining the game for me.
- Thread starter Punished Mobius
- Start date
can't say it better.
Agree with the OP..
Being elite I dare not take my smaller ships out. As soon as I do and I start loading any cargo (doing Engineers ATM) for the unlocking of an engineer, they are on me literally every system and cannot be shaken. If there's a bit of a lag (i'm in the US) and they pull me out of SC due to that lag, I find they are right there literally firing on me within a second of being pulled out. Sometimes I don't even get the smack talk from the NPC.
Since I am trying to get the mods to compete via the engineer route, I find I am hopelessly outgunned atm and can't escape due to Mass lock and just sheer firepower of the bigger elites like the Anaconda that doesn't miss no matter what maneuvers I pull and I guess can fire very far.
Makes coming back a little hard for returners like me and makes me question why it is designed like this.
Not very fun atm.
2 cents
Being elite I dare not take my smaller ships out. As soon as I do and I start loading any cargo (doing Engineers ATM) for the unlocking of an engineer, they are on me literally every system and cannot be shaken. If there's a bit of a lag (i'm in the US) and they pull me out of SC due to that lag, I find they are right there literally firing on me within a second of being pulled out. Sometimes I don't even get the smack talk from the NPC.
Since I am trying to get the mods to compete via the engineer route, I find I am hopelessly outgunned atm and can't escape due to Mass lock and just sheer firepower of the bigger elites like the Anaconda that doesn't miss no matter what maneuvers I pull and I guess can fire very far.
Makes coming back a little hard for returners like me and makes me question why it is designed like this.
Not very fun atm.
2 cents
I'm actually bored to death with ED and have been for some time. I remember watching the dev diaries from KS and being so excited but Frontier just haven't delievered a compelling game experience. Most of the interesting stuff that goes on is player and not content led and thats despite the huge obstacles Frontier puts in the way.
They just don't seem to be getting it. They obviously don't have the resources, or perhaps the ability, to flesh out a meaningful PvE game experience. In this absence they should, imo, wake up and start to give players the tools to shape the game themselves via sandbox emegergent gameplay.
It amazes me to this day that people seem to be happy with the state of affairs. Do folks really think FD fiddling around in the background micro managing things represents good interactive gameplay?
The game is under funded, under resourced, and dare I say it implemented with tedious grinds to give the impression of progression and meaning.
What in the world is going on? Apply to a seperate website to register for expansion to Colonia? I've really had better experiences watching paint dry.
I'm being polite btw.
They just don't seem to be getting it. They obviously don't have the resources, or perhaps the ability, to flesh out a meaningful PvE game experience. In this absence they should, imo, wake up and start to give players the tools to shape the game themselves via sandbox emegergent gameplay.
It amazes me to this day that people seem to be happy with the state of affairs. Do folks really think FD fiddling around in the background micro managing things represents good interactive gameplay?
The game is under funded, under resourced, and dare I say it implemented with tedious grinds to give the impression of progression and meaning.
What in the world is going on? Apply to a seperate website to register for expansion to Colonia? I've really had better experiences watching paint dry.
I'm being polite btw.
It's about as exciting and unpredictable as Elder Scrolls Oblivion's leveled system eh? Congratulations, you've reached the level where all the bandits are your level and wearing Daedric gear. Fun huh? Nothing really to add, I'm sure FDev gets it at this point, but we are screaming at them left and right for more things, guess they can't keep up. I'm used to the NPCs by now and I have other things in my mind that are more important at the moment, it seems they do as well. What do now?
@ the OP.
I agree the matchmaking can be a bit rigid and annoying. When carrying cargo or an active bounty I always get interdicted by Dangerous or Deadly ranked ships (i'm Dangerous ranked 98% to Deadly). The ships however seem to be determined by what ship I'm flying. I get different targets when flying my Courier to my Clipper. For the Courier it's DBS, Vipers, Cobras or Vultures, occasionally a fed ship, for the Clipper it's other Clippers, fed ships, Pythons or FdL, occasionally a Vulture, Cobra IV or Asp Scout (lol), never an Anaconda or similar. It would be nice to face a wing of smaller ships for a change or a lower ranked big 3 ship. The matchmaking algorithm could definitely do with some work.
I'm curious as to which ship you're flying?
I agree the matchmaking can be a bit rigid and annoying. When carrying cargo or an active bounty I always get interdicted by Dangerous or Deadly ranked ships (i'm Dangerous ranked 98% to Deadly). The ships however seem to be determined by what ship I'm flying. I get different targets when flying my Courier to my Clipper. For the Courier it's DBS, Vipers, Cobras or Vultures, occasionally a fed ship, for the Clipper it's other Clippers, fed ships, Pythons or FdL, occasionally a Vulture, Cobra IV or Asp Scout (lol), never an Anaconda or similar. It would be nice to face a wing of smaller ships for a change or a lower ranked big 3 ship. The matchmaking algorithm could definitely do with some work.
I'm curious as to which ship you're flying?
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I know this is terribly OT, but I just can't resist drawing the old fun for money value card.
How many hours did you spend in Elite before it started to feel like it doesn't have anything more to offer?
If your answer is anything above 20 hours, your argument is invalid.
It's easy to see all the flaws and nitpick out of boredom, if you do something for hundreds, maybe thousands of hours.
Maybe you could stop trying to change what you can't change and move on?
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You're clearly laboring under the misconception that this is supposed to be an enjoyable game. I see how you could get that from the name (Elite: Dangerous), so let me simply observe that it should have been called Interdiction Simulator 2016 and leave it at that.
QFT..
Idk, I wouldn't go that far, at least not anymore. I feel the interdictions are a lot more sensible now and I don't see them too often anymore.
Don't know if this is directed to me, but I'm flying a Diamond Back explorer..A rated.
Doing some of the multiple runs for commodities in far off systems for some of these engineers is really tedious to say the least.
The last one I did for an engineer which required multiple runs, I was hounded by 2 NPC's, both elite. Constantly. One In a FDL and the other a Gunship. For whatever reason, I could not stop the interdiction's and their weapons brought my shields down faster than anything I've seen thus far in game..all for a few commodities...ok....
Sorry, but for returning players who have been away for awhile, that gets to be a real drag just like the OP and others have posted.
Hope they change this as the game has so much potential. I don't want to see it end up like 'Pirates of the burning seas'
Sorry it was directed at the op.
I'm surprised that you were getting attacked by gunships and a FdL though, that doesn't seem to fit my experience, unless Frontier considers the DBX to be in the same Heavy fighter/gunship category?
Confirmed by support to probably be a bug - due to a previous bug fix in 2.1.
OP - add your name to this bug report.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/312879-Only-Pirated-By-Elite-Condas-and-FDLs
OP - add your name to this bug report.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/312879-Only-Pirated-By-Elite-Condas-and-FDLs
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Thank you for posting that as it explains a lot to me now
What I find more troubling is that this is from almost two months ago and from my experiences has yet to be corrected as of this mornings session.
oh well..[sad]
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So some people are posting that they think this is a bug but I don't think it is. To me, this is a feature working as intended but lacking polish. What some people around here call a place holder mechanic.
I was Deadly ranked and flew a Corvette for a while. In that time I was only interdicted by Dangerous, Deadly, or Elite NPCs flying FDLs or Anacondas. Now that I'm flying an AspX (still Deadly), I still get interdicted by Dangerous, Deadly, or Elite NPCs but they are flying a larger variety of ships.
Here are some of my assumptions:
I suspect that NPC pirate combat rank is being generated based on player rank.
I suspect that NPC ship choice is being generated based on player ship.
I suspect that NPC ship loadout is based on NPC archetype: pirate.
I think this is a pretty decent system. It tries to create a logical game world by eliminating some stupid NPC behaviors such as a lone NPC Eagle trying to pirate a player in an Imperial Cutter. However, the system shows it's limits in NPC variety at the top of the foodchain. It creates the situation described by the OP where the player only qualifies to be attacked by a tiny selection of NPCs.
A quick fix for would be to add some more variety at the top end by adding the Cutter and Corvette to the NPC pirate's possible spawns. Also, someone else suggested: create a few custom NPC wings to attack high combat ranking players in large ships (i.e. Elite w/Conda/Cutter/Vette). Consider an example of two medium ships with moderately high ranking pilots (FAS and FGS w/ a Dangerous and Master pilot respectively).
But even with this fix, players would eventually notice the limited variaty. It would be like: ugh, here comes the same old FAS/FGS NPCs again. It's limited because it requires someone at FD to design all of these custom NPC wings and then decide what types of players they should compete against. I don't like this quick fix because it requires the design of custom wings.
Here is a better method that should create a substantial variety of combat situations. Create an aggregate combat score for each player based on their combat rank, current ship, current loadout (including engineering), and current wing status. Then randomly generate NPC pirate(s) that have roughly the same score. The NPCs could "spend" their points in any of the above areas: combat rank, ship(s), loadout, and wing.
This could create situations where a highly ranked player in Corvette would come up against a highly ranked pirate in an Anaconda. But it could also create situations where multiple ships show up to pirate the player.
Whats also good about this system is that it would add more variety for players at all spectrum.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Good post OP.
I was Deadly ranked and flew a Corvette for a while. In that time I was only interdicted by Dangerous, Deadly, or Elite NPCs flying FDLs or Anacondas. Now that I'm flying an AspX (still Deadly), I still get interdicted by Dangerous, Deadly, or Elite NPCs but they are flying a larger variety of ships.
Here are some of my assumptions:
I suspect that NPC pirate combat rank is being generated based on player rank.
I suspect that NPC ship choice is being generated based on player ship.
I suspect that NPC ship loadout is based on NPC archetype: pirate.
I think this is a pretty decent system. It tries to create a logical game world by eliminating some stupid NPC behaviors such as a lone NPC Eagle trying to pirate a player in an Imperial Cutter. However, the system shows it's limits in NPC variety at the top of the foodchain. It creates the situation described by the OP where the player only qualifies to be attacked by a tiny selection of NPCs.
A quick fix for would be to add some more variety at the top end by adding the Cutter and Corvette to the NPC pirate's possible spawns. Also, someone else suggested: create a few custom NPC wings to attack high combat ranking players in large ships (i.e. Elite w/Conda/Cutter/Vette). Consider an example of two medium ships with moderately high ranking pilots (FAS and FGS w/ a Dangerous and Master pilot respectively).
But even with this fix, players would eventually notice the limited variaty. It would be like: ugh, here comes the same old FAS/FGS NPCs again. It's limited because it requires someone at FD to design all of these custom NPC wings and then decide what types of players they should compete against. I don't like this quick fix because it requires the design of custom wings.
Here is a better method that should create a substantial variety of combat situations. Create an aggregate combat score for each player based on their combat rank, current ship, current loadout (including engineering), and current wing status. Then randomly generate NPC pirate(s) that have roughly the same score. The NPCs could "spend" their points in any of the above areas: combat rank, ship(s), loadout, and wing.
This could create situations where a highly ranked player in Corvette would come up against a highly ranked pirate in an Anaconda. But it could also create situations where multiple ships show up to pirate the player.
Whats also good about this system is that it would add more variety for players at all spectrum.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Good post OP.
You do make a fair point and I'm probably being far too critical.. I suppose I just want the game to get better is all
You do make a fair point and I'm probably being far too critical.. I suppose I just want the game to get better is all
We all do. But sometimes, it's just time to take a breather. I've been there as well.
Several times I've run into situation where I ran out of things to do, simply. Started seeing only bad. That kind of stuff.
Sometimes, just forcing yourself from your comfort zone, a certain mindset you've developed, is enough. First time it happened to me, it was Powerplay that dragged me out of the hole. I spent months serving our Blue Khaleesi.
It was fun but also didn't last forever.
I started doing BGS (I still do, in private, but that time it was serious) Had a great run with bunch of awesome people.
Next time, horizons came and it was time for my first real exploration trip. Before I haven't seen the reason to go out and look at differently coloured balls in space, but with an SRV it was great. I ended up circling the whole galaxy, spending over two months out there and by the time I came back, it was Engineering time.
I felt like I don't have any drive to keep going forward. I was a tripple Elite, I had all the ships, it felt dull to just start and engineer them one by one, because what's the point?
So I cleared my save and started over. And since then, I haven't had a dull moment. I swore to myself that when ever I feel like grinding, I will take a couple days off and think of different things I want to achieve. I really started to enjoy mining, of all things. I started roleplaying, too.
Without a single second of mind-dulling action, always having fun, I was back in my Cutter after three months, nonetheless. I said to myself "Hey, so what now? Will I have to start again?" Fighters saved me this time. I really bonded with my co-pilot and we've been running and gunning through the bubble ever since. It takes great care to not die, too. I don't want to lose her. But we've been through some rough spots.
I also thought I'd embark on the Distant stars expedition, but thanks to R/L workload, it didn't work out. Never mind, there's plenty to do. And there will be more.
I've spent more time in the seat of my ship, than I have in all other games I've ever played, combined.
I'm a fanboy, yes, sometimes I nag people. Sometimes I have to force myself into repulsive optimism, sometimes I defend Elite just because I know that it will annoy people and sometimes, it will force them to take another look - "What in the hell is it about that game that made Chris love it so much? Have I overlooked something?"
Elite needs a unique approach, that's for sure. I believe I found my balance. I wish everyone could.
Okay, I'll see myself out of this thread.
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This, 10000 times this. The problem is the lack of variation and the fact that once you hit certain ranks you NEVER encounter anything lower than that rank. The moment you pop into a system and see that FDL or Anaconda near the star, you know that that ship was spawned by the game specifically to interdict you within the next few seconds with no variation. Any FDL that appears on your scanner as you move close to a station, yep, it's spawned specifically to interdict you too.
Now that the game gives you rank credit for destroying ships of lower rank there is no need for such a static system. Now that within a combat rank you can have dozens of different variations in outfitting and engineering, there is no need to base this system just on combat rank.
I thought people call this game a "simulator".
If you get the same experience every time I call it bad design.
To be a "simulator" it also needs a living universe, with a believable enviroment.