Crew behaviour relative to opponent skill.

[Scoob]

Hey all,

So, I have an Elite Crew member piloting an SLF. She's very effective. Prompt to react - near instant - gets to the target quickly, locks on to the target far better than I can (fixed beams) and is GREAT at evasive flying. However, I've noticed a weird anomaly with her behaviour...

If she's against a low-level Pilot, let's say below Dangerous, she appears to use ALL her skills attacking that ship. I.e. She reacts near instantly to things, is aggressive, yet evades as needed barely taking a hit. Consistent behaviour. However, she just went up against a couple of better Pilots - Dangerous, Deadly and Elite - and while I'd expect her to have a harder time of it, I did not expect her to be hit with the dumb stick!

Against such pilots she's SLOW to respond, often taken several seconds to react to an attack order. She's totally failing to close the distance promptly - no "boost" type noise after giving an attack order for example - she almost totally incapable of locking on to a slow-moving ship that's being in no way evasive (her time on target utterly sucks) and she's entirely forgotten what evasive behaviour is, happily flying in a straight-line while being hit.

The two behaviour are so obviously and blatently contrasting, it can be nothing but some sort of game bug surely? I've seen this crew member rip apart high-level ships with relative ease, yet she appear to forget her ENTIRE repertoire of moves when facing a higher-level opponent now.

Be aware that these higher-level opponents are NOT pulling any fancy moves or anything and I'm able to track them just fine. She's usually better than me! What's going on?

Has anyone else noticed their crew being hit with the dumb stick lately?

I just saw her last only a couple of seconds vs. a Dangerous Anaconda, it wasn't particularly well-equipped or anything why's she being soooo rubbish! She just flies straight into fire, not evading, hardly shoots herself and has died more times in ONE instance, than she has in the past couple of YEARS. What's going on? It's like her AI has reverted to BELOW Harmless.

Edit: nope, I think the enemy level was just a coincidence. My crew member is BROKEN! I flew to a low res, put her against Harmless, Mostly-Harmless type enemies and they chew her up in seconds. She gets off an initial shot, then just blows up. She was fine - brilliant even - last night when I played, she is basically broken today.

 

[Scoob]

sigh This game....

I relogged, went the same (lowRes) location, sent her to attack the same low-level enemies and she's doing GREAT again.

Edit: To be clear, she's promptly engaging again when given an attack order, is quite relentless on the attack, locks on readily and can evade incoming fire. She's back.

 

[Shadowsnog]

even slf pilot can have a bit of lavian brandy from time to time...

 

[Scoob]

even slf pilot can have a bit of lavian brandy from time to time...

She must have found a bottle from my last Rares run, years ago...

 

[V'larr]

Could be worth a note on the issue tracker about "SLF pilot skill issues related to instancing, potentially" but I mean... high chances it just winds up on the pile of 'expired/unconfirmed'

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Is this consistent in solo and open?

 

[Scoob]

I've been playing in Solo the past few nights. After relogging, she was behaving generally what I'd consider normal. She had one weird moment where she just sat there - not evading - and died quickly, but was generally back to her old self. The big "tell" when she wasn't going to work properly was her simply not zooming off to attack targets the instant an order is given.

Never had my SLF Pilot go dumb like this before, but then I seem to get random weirdness from time to time.

This was a bit of a pain, as I'd replaced my Cobra III with a Keelback, so the SLF performing well was key, due to it being so slow and poor to manoeuvre.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Maybe the crew AI needs some server-side responses and that makes her time out. And if it happens in solo, too, it might just be a thing how NPC work. Like when you get transaction errors with trades.

 

[Scoob]

I have noticed far more networkesque issues since I started playing again. Last night I had an infinite jump thing, ship just never arrived in the destination system, despite leaving it several minutes. I had to task-kill the game (Esc did nothing, so couldn't menu log) and re-launch. Going back in, I was in the destination system (usually an error like this sees you still in the starting system) and I was no where near the Star! Perhaps game put me somewhere safe.

There are rumours that FDev have reduced the number of servers - I guess due to low player numbers - so perhaps it sometimes takes a little longer to get the needed slice of server time to do what's needed. Regardless, the experience seems somewhat degraded of late, with even Solo affected.

 

[Scoob]

The game is just plain BROKEN for me this evening. Things started off ok, but then my SLF became unresponsive again. Choosing to just stay in formation with me, rather than obey any orders. It eventually woke up again, so I carried on playing. I engaged a Pirate and things started off ok, but SLF started behaving oddly again. Unresponsive, just sitting there (in formation) and taking fire. Then things got really weird...

As it wasn't reliably engaging the enemy, I started taking fire and had to move away, I ordered the SLF to engage the enemy (it was already the order, but she wasn't doing it) and I gained some distance. I was boosting away nicely, shields recharging with an SCB, when I noticed the enemy (Anaconda) was staying at EXACTLY 1.98km distance from me the entire time, it was perfectly matching my speed and my boosts. Now, I know that an Anaconda can technically exceed my Keelback's speed of a little over 300ms readily enough, but for the distance indication to not change even by 10 metres, while I'm boosting, slowing a bit and boosting again isn't really plausible. As a result, I got shot up and lost shields.

I dived into the ring, which broke LoS and got underneath (relatively speaking) the ring, with the Anaconda above it. My SLF was showing as in-formation with me (just to the left of me) and NOT engaging the Anaconda. I spam the key for the SLF to engage (it should already have been doing this) as I waited for my shields to recover. SLF was - a bit too quickly - showing as 12km away, with the Anaconda off my scanner. I assumed this meant the SLF was engaging. I slowed a little, preparing to turn around...

Suddenly, I had a ship distance warning, my SLF had warped to 30km away in a couple of seconds! I start my turn, wondering if I can get to its new location, but despite repeated boosting, (just over 300ms remember) I could not close the distance, it remained at 30km and the SLF self-destructed. Next moment, there's the Anaconda, a little over 7km from me.

Totally and utterly broken behaviour, basically unplayable. What the hell is going on? I've done LOADS of Res sites over the years and never had such troubles. It's NOT me, my PC and Internet are decent. I just did a speed test:

and it looks just fine. PC is running great, not too hot or anything. I can only think that this is some weird server issue.

I've had several poor experiences in a row now, I think another break might be in order, this isn't fun.

Note: I know SLF's reported can cause issues when instancing with other players, however, my regular team mate any myself didn't see any issues when BOTH of us had SLF's deployed. That was last year though when we last teamed up. For this to happen to me in solo is crazy.

Edit: I logged out and went back in again - remaining in the HazRes - and my Pilot woke up for a moment, performed like one attack run on a hostile, then just gave up.

 

[Imo]

Hey all,

So, I have an Elite Crew member piloting an SLF. She's very effective. Prompt to react - near instant - gets to the target quickly, locks on to the target far better than I can (fixed beams) and is GREAT at evasive flying. However, I've noticed a weird anomaly with her behaviour...

If she's against a low-level Pilot, let's say below Dangerous, she appears to use ALL her skills attacking that ship. I.e. She reacts near instantly to things, is aggressive, yet evades as needed barely taking a hit. Consistent behaviour. However, she just went up against a couple of better Pilots - Dangerous, Deadly and Elite - and while I'd expect her to have a harder time of it, I did not expect her to be hit with the dumb stick!

Against such pilots she's SLOW to respond, often taken several seconds to react to an attack order. She's totally failing to close the distance promptly - no "boost" type noise after giving an attack order for example - she almost totally incapable of locking on to a slow-moving ship that's being in no way evasive (her time on target utterly sucks) and she's entirely forgotten what evasive behaviour is, happily flying in a straight-line while being hit.

The two behaviour are so obviously and blatently contrasting, it can be nothing but some sort of game bug surely? I've seen this crew member rip apart high-level ships with relative ease, yet she appear to forget her ENTIRE repertoire of moves when facing a higher-level opponent now.

Be aware that these higher-level opponents are NOT pulling any fancy moves or anything and I'm able to track them just fine. She's usually better than me! What's going on?

Has anyone else noticed their crew being hit with the dumb stick lately?

I just saw her last only a couple of seconds vs. a Dangerous Anaconda, it wasn't particularly well-equipped or anything why's she being soooo rubbish! She just flies straight into fire, not evading, hardly shoots herself and has died more times in ONE instance, than she has in the past couple of YEARS. What's going on? It's like her AI has reverted to BELOW Harmless.

Edit: nope, I think the enemy level was just a coincidence. My crew member is BROKEN! I flew to a low res, put her against Harmless, Mostly-Harmless type enemies and they chew her up in seconds. She gets off an initial shot, then just blows up. She was fine - brilliant even - last night when I played, she is basically broken today.

I noticed a strange, weak behaviour of my Elite NPC too recently but also suffered from a quite unstable game last night, so it might be a server side issue.

 

[Scoob]

I noticed a strange, weak behaviour of my Elite NPC too recently but also suffered from a quite unstable game last night, so it might be a server side issue.

I'm thinking it must be some server-side thing, though I worry that this doesn't seem to be a hot topic, as you'd expect it would be, if it were wide-spread.

I was having a good time, a couple of nights ago, in my little Keelback with an SLF, but I've docked to change to a different ship - thinking Asp X, I only have 20 million - without the SLF.

 

[Scoob]

Switched to an Asp X, nice ship, loved it back in the day and still like it now. However, I noticed another weird thing.. The rebuy on the fully A-Rated ASP is a little over 800k, however, the rebuy on the Keelback was showing as well-over 2 MILLION credits. How? It was mostly A-Rated, had a Fighter Hanger and an SCB, but nothing special, not engineered at all.

A bit bored now though, as I wanted to be flying the Keelback with the SLF, it's why I bought it after all. Asp X is great, but I liked having my Pilot along... even though she's useless currently lol.

 

[Kira Goto]

Suddenly, I had a ship distance warning, my SLF had warped to 30km away in a couple of seconds! I start my turn, wondering if I can get to its new location, but despite repeated boosting, (just over 300ms remember) I could not close the distance, it remained at 30km and the SLF self-destructed.

Their drives can be shot out, and since NPCs are quite dumb they will keep drifting endlessly until you blow them up, be that in a ship or fighter.

What you describe(bar unresponsiveness) sounds a lot like the Conda NPC got a few hits in and disabled the fighter’s thrusters. So it drifted out of range at full speed, or as close as it gets.

Source? Personal experience of seeing fighter well out of range, checking its modules and seeing thrusters(drives) at 0%.

 

[Schmack]

Is she hot?

 

[Frankymole]

Is she hot?

I expect so, when being burnt up by a dangerous pilot's plasma.

 

[Scoob]

Their drives can be shot out, and since NPCs are quite dumb they will keep drifting endlessly until you blow them up, be that in a ship or fighter.

What you describe(bar unresponsiveness) sounds a lot like the Conda NPC got a few hits in and disabled the fighter’s thrusters. So it drifted out of range at full speed, or as close as it gets.

Source? Personal experience of seeing fighter well out of range, checking its modules and seeing thrusters(drives) at 0%.

If the drives were shot out, would a relog fix them? Also, if the drives were shot out, she'd be able to maintain formation with me (but unresponsive to an attack order) surely? Also, how she'd warp several km away with no drives... I do mean "warped" by the way, not "look away and she'd gone further than I expected", the distance to SLF number on the hud seemed to jump. So, I don't think it's the drives being shot out. To be honest, things were all over the place. Ship non-responsive to orders - but holding formation with me just fine - to flying dumb.

Here's the thing, even the "tanky" SLF is fast and nimble, and with a decent pilot they really excess at not getting hit, while being exceptionally good with fixed beams. I've seen the crew member get better and better over months, until she hit elite and became a total beast. Sure, she can get overwhelmed, but against individual fairly low-level attackers? Never. Until now.

I don't think there's a legitimate in-game explanation for the behaviours I've been seeing, outside of some sort of bug / server issue. Her behaviour is such a contrast to how she usually performs, it's a definite anomaly.

Oh, I forgot to say... I logged out, when the fighter self-destructed, not quite a rage quite, more a I'm done with this poop quit. Logged back in, and there's the SLF approaching me from about 7km away. Server has gone nuts.

Is she hot?

She's a cartoon dude, so no. When I originally recruited her, years ago now, I thought she looked a bit like Sam Carter from the original Stargate TV show - short hair version. However, since they updated the NPC pictures years ago, she looks more like a deranged serial killer... Ideal for a Fighter pilot who serially kills designated targets... well, she used to, she sucks now (stop it, didn't meant that!)

 

[Kira Goto]

If the drives were shot out, would a relog fix them?

No idea.

Also, if the drives were shot out, she'd be able to maintain formation with me (but unresponsive to an attack order) surely?

No. A drive being shot out means it was shot out. Aka, non-functional, and the momentum at the time of the drives going offline is kept. NPCs don’t appear to use reboot/repair so they just drift endlessly(and sometimes magically respawn in the middle of a conflict zone in their disabled state).

 

[Walter2]

Perhaps she's failing to connect to the Comms Server.

 

[Scoob]

Perhaps she's failing to connect to the Comms Server.

Think something "networky" is going on here, I'm seeing (Ctrl + b) little spikes of bandwidth use all the while I'm flying around an Instance. It use to be, from what I can remember, that little spikes like this - while common in Open / Private Group - weren't so much a thing in Solo. That said, I've not really monitored bandwidth use much previously, just since I started seeing these issues. Still, with my decent connection, even a fairly high bandwidth use (ED's use is tiny) shouldn't hurt too much in Solo.

Don't know what else to say or do really. I was actually wanting to play ED again, had manufactured a scenario (100cr Class E Sidewinder) to start from and was having fun. Got the Keelback and and SLF and things were going great that first session, but my Crewmember just regularly stops working now. Might be fine for a few minutes, might crap out (ignore orders) almost right away. A relog will sometimes see her wake up, as will leaving an instance and returning, but she starts being unresponsive again soon after.

I would try again, but I've sold the Keelback now as it's a broken build without a working SLF Pilot.

I have had some other weird issues with instances, such as no pirates showing up for up to ten minutes in a HazRes, as well as ships popping in right on top of me. Seeing an object pop up on the scanner, target it and see it's like 2km away isn't normal - at least not in my experience. Usually ships spawn in well out of scanner range OR can clearly be seen jumping in - also not too close usually.

I don't know how FDev's servers are set up over the world, but it could be that the one I connect to is having issue. Like with SC, be connected to the "wrong" server and your game will be a total mess. Get the right server, and it'll be a reasonable experience.

Usually weirdness like this would be the realm of Open or Group if a player with a poor connection or under-spec hardware turned up. Going Solo would "fix" the issue. I do worry that it might be an issue my end, but I cannot see how.