Did you notice AI pirates are not fighting back?

[Shurimal]

The two wingmen in a wing of three fight back after the boss goes down, which is fine as a possible behaviour pattern

That wasn't the case a few years back. Attack any of the wing members, they all attacked you. Which is a logical thing for a wing, flying as one combat unit, to do. There is no point in having NPC wings if they don't offer a significantly more difficult combat experience.

Hence, wings are bugged. And I haven't observed any different behaviours to them, either. There seems to be just 3 distinct "rules", none of which seems intentional, especially the 2nd one:
1. If you attack the leader, the leader and only the leader will aggro. Sometimes with a delay if they're hatchbreaking a miner, but they will.
2. If you attack a wingman, no-one in the wing aggros, including the wingman you're shooting at.
3. Wingmen attack you only and only if the leader dies. And even then they have a good chance of just high waking out.

There are also cases where NPC-s just sit there in one place doing nothing, but it's not limited to wings and seems to at least in some cases have to do with their collector limpet having picked up something that the NPC ship can't collect.

 

[Wily Rites]

That wasn't the case a few years back. Attack any of the wing members, they all attacked you. Which is a logical thing for a wing, flying as one combat unit, to do. There is no point in having NPC wings if they don't offer a significantly more difficult combat experience.

Hence, wings are bugged. And I haven't observed any different behaviours to them, either. There seems to be just 3 distinct "rules", none of which seems intentional, especially the 2nd one:
1. If you attack the leader, the leader and only the leader will aggro. Sometimes with a delay if they're hatchbreaking a miner, but they will.
2. If you attack a wingman, no-one in the wing aggros, including the wingman you're shooting at.
3. Wingmen attack you only and only if the leader dies. And even then they have a good chance of just high waking out.

There are also cases where NPC-s just sit there in one place doing nothing, but it's not limited to wings and seems to at least in some cases have to do with their collector limpet having picked up something that the NPC ship can't collect.

It is a logical outcome, one of many that are plausible, what is best for the game, in my opinion is that it is changeable. This is something that we are likely to get a lot of improvements with in the near future, given the current rate of AI advancements.

Them behaving predictably is not good any which way.

 

[galahad2069]

Far to over simple, and the reality of it is that most 'big wingmen' to bullies, are utter cowards.

But more importantly than that, there is also honour amongst thieves, as well as pride, and the case where the head wants first pickings is more than believable.

Nonsense.

Fdev did not want to implement anything like that, they just introduced a bug.

 

[galahad2069]

Them behaving predictably is not good any which way.

They used to behave predictably but also reasonably.

Now they simply behave predictably stupid.

 

[Wily Rites]

Nonsense.

Fdev did not want to implement anything like that, they just introduced a bug.

Occam's razor does whittle it down to that, yes! What can I say, I'll do anything to maintain my suspension of disbelief! Anything, on anything but return to the hell hole that is earth before faster then light travel dawns, there are gankers on the internet, heck they are everywhere! No hang on a minute, that means that we will need some kind of system to maintain our honour out in space when we it does!

 

[aRJay]

Far to over simple, and the reality of it is that most 'big wingmen' to bullies, are utter cowards.

But more importantly than that, there is also honour amongst thieves, as well as pride, and the case where the head wants first pickings is more than believable.

That depends on exactly who and what the targets are and how they see themselves, not everyone we get hired to shoot at are criminals except in the view of the people paying us to remove a problem.

 

[Wily Rites]

Awesome; Yes, this is quite the point to ponder! Love all the dynamics in this cosmos, really does lead one to wonder just what makes it all tick!

 

[aRJay]

Awesome; Yes, this is quite the point to ponder! Love all the dynamics in this cosmos, really does lead one to wonder just what makes it all tick!

The Spec Ops wings in CZs will all attack you if you are too close or attack any of them soon after they arrive, if you let them get embroiled with the NPCs on your side it was possible to pick off the wingmen in one on one fights but attack the Alpha and they would all go for you. It made sense in a brutal way, the 3 wing men were there to support and protect the Alpha not the other way round.

They are not of course ordinary NPC wings, they are CZ builds so way tougher and more competent than the sorts you find in any RES, secondly they were all engineered and equipped with fancy weapons, you could be in real trouble if they got your shield down.

 

[Wily Rites]

The Spec Ops wings in CZs will all attack you if you are too close or attack any of them soon after they arrive, if you let them get embroiled with the NPCs on your side it was possible to pick off the wingmen in one on one fights but attack the Alpha and they would all go for you. It made sense in a brutal way, the 3 wing men were there to support and protect the Alpha not the other way round.

They are not of course ordinary NPC wings, they are CZ builds so way tougher and more competent than the sorts you find in any RES, secondly they were all engineered and equipped with fancy weapons, you could be in real trouble if they got your shield down.

Oh the noise, the noise of those horrific multi cannons! The combo of having to fight two at once being worse than the boss that you just killed! Horrifying, but a lot of fun too!