From what I gathered it works along the same reasons why small weapons do less damage to big ships. There was no other explanation given unless I was too tired to spot it, but fact is, it seems that our new huge toys might not be as effective against flies as we think they are. Probably will need some testing from the dedicated forumites who love taking the combat mechanics apart.
Discuss the AI here!
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From what I gathered it works along the same reasons why small weapons do less damage to big ships. There was no other explanation given unless I was too tired to spot it, but fact is, it seems that our new huge toys might not be as effective against flies as we think they are. Probably will need some testing from the dedicated forumites who love taking the combat mechanics apart.
No offence, but if you are trading, always submit, 4 pips to shields, 2 to engines; if there's mass lock when you try to jump, stop jumping immediately, target another system (any will do) and immediately start the jump; high wake is slower than non-masslock, but can be considerably faster when mass-locked.
Also consider the size of the shield generator in use (please tell me you have a shield, and it's not the tiniest one possible, rated D or E) and combine boosters with point defence (2 of each is a nice split).
Most importantly? Don't panic. If the odds look horrible, it's time to take the scenic delivery route and high-wake to victory. There are never any guarantees, but there are ways to improve the odds a lot. Heck, toss a few tons overboard and that'll often stop NPCs dead; if it's looking dire, what's worth more - a full cargo hold and being dead, or a not quite full hold and being alive?
The biggest thing is have a plan, submit wherever possible to reduce the cool-down, stay calm and execute a brave sir robin within the shortest time possible. Not trying to tell you want to do, just offering guidance. Note that this is something I always did pre 2.1. Have a plan. Execute it. That AI are more competent now, merely means we have to be a bit more with-it.
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Ah, the Imperial Supply, right? I saw them at a nav beacon yesterday. They took my bloody job xD By the time I scooped up the remains of a pirate, they shot almost two wings of them xD
Do some people not realise this is a skill based game? You can argue back and forth about many aspects of the game but that one is pretty indisputable. Therefore if you have "more" skill you will fare better.
Anyhows...... I think I still have my 2.0 head on. Last night I'd finished mining and was heading home after dispatching some pirate who took on more than he could chew. On the way I was interdicted and I thought "here we go again oh hum". I didn't realise at the time it was an Elite FAS. Well, once I did I was soon running! I couldn't get him in front of me and he kept on pounding me eventually taking out my thrusters. So reboot and run, run, run. Finally managed to high wake the hell out of there with 1% hull.
Heart-pounding fun. Crept back home keeping a constant eye on the radar. So finally docked, relaxed and realised that even though I'm a pretty casual player I'm going to have to "git gud". Brilliant.
Please, no nerfs.
Anyhows...... I think I still have my 2.0 head on. Last night I'd finished mining and was heading home after dispatching some pirate who took on more than he could chew. On the way I was interdicted and I thought "here we go again oh hum". I didn't realise at the time it was an Elite FAS. Well, once I did I was soon running! I couldn't get him in front of me and he kept on pounding me eventually taking out my thrusters. So reboot and run, run, run. Finally managed to high wake the hell out of there with 1% hull.
Heart-pounding fun. Crept back home keeping a constant eye on the radar. So finally docked, relaxed and realised that even though I'm a pretty casual player I'm going to have to "git gud". Brilliant.
Please, no nerfs.
Rinzler o7o7o7
Banned
Just 15 seconds away
Oh trust me, we tested this extensively in the beta. With a fully optimised build, you can kill anything in 15 seconds. And even if they do manage to take the coward's way out, the heat damage will still roast them to death when they log back into solo
I spent 20 minutes in a low intensity RES in my Cobra and was able to pick up 200k+ without any problem and my combat skills are limited, so it should still be profitable. I do find it handy to follow security ships around and use them as involuntary wing men. My problem came when I tried to return to port only to be jumped by a deadly pilot who quickly shot me to pieces.
Still, I'll be out trying to recoup my losses tonight afetr spending the day licking my wounds.
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I'm a new player to the Elite universe, playing on Vive, and the AI was PERFECT before. It offered a challenge, but I could beat it or flee if I was smart. Now the AI is way, way, way, WAY WAAAAYYYY too hard! It is absolutely, without a doubt, so over-powered I can't even play the game! I'm in a Cobra mk.III, and I'm getting destroyed by lone AI Eagles with advanced rank!
I can't even get ANY of the AI ships in my sights, they fly circles around me and blow me away in seconds no matter what class they are! I can't BELIEVE how utterly, completely impossible the game is now!
Not only that, but to make matters worse, systems damage is way over powered besides! I literally can't even run from a fight now, because they always distroy my thrusters or my FSD before I can get away! This is crazy!
You have to put it back! Difficulty for new players was perfect before. The game is absolutely, unconditionally impossible for new players now! I just played for four hours straight and got killed over and over and over AND OVER again! I lost a fortune in credits (for a starting player,) and I'm so frustrated with the game I'm nearly shaking. This is AWFUL.
I cannot believe you would turn the difficulty this crazy far without testing new player's responses. If I had an Anaconda, maybe I'd like it, but you've ruined it for anyone who's just starting out. It is UNPLAYABLE.
I can't even get ANY of the AI ships in my sights, they fly circles around me and blow me away in seconds no matter what class they are! I can't BELIEVE how utterly, completely impossible the game is now!
Not only that, but to make matters worse, systems damage is way over powered besides! I literally can't even run from a fight now, because they always distroy my thrusters or my FSD before I can get away! This is crazy!
You have to put it back! Difficulty for new players was perfect before. The game is absolutely, unconditionally impossible for new players now! I just played for four hours straight and got killed over and over and over AND OVER again! I lost a fortune in credits (for a starting player,) and I'm so frustrated with the game I'm nearly shaking. This is AWFUL.
I cannot believe you would turn the difficulty this crazy far without testing new player's responses. If I had an Anaconda, maybe I'd like it, but you've ruined it for anyone who's just starting out. It is UNPLAYABLE.
I've not had a chance to play, and probably won't until next week.
Looking through he Threads I'm seeing a lot of talk about 'Engineered NPCs' and I'm getting the impression that, as per Beta, the number of NPCs is out of whack.
I remember hearing and reading about how ship mods were a rarity, but going by what I've read today they're ten-a-penny.
If this is the case then someone has dropped the ball. I've not much interest in CMDRs who Robigo-ed to a big boat then farmed their way to Elite; now they're going to reap the Rebuy whilrwind until they learn to fight.
I'm more aware of how this may effect CMDRs who simply play the game, a little trading, a little mining a few missions etc. If NPCs are blanket Engineered then, quite frankly, between the mods and the new A.I. this is going to turn into a miserable and frustrating game.
I've been on the receiving end of this in Beta, in a non-combat ship, and it wasn't fun.
If this is the case then, to a large extent the CMDR who simply plays the game is effectively going to have to take part in the arms race just to retain some degree of parity with the NPCs...and what this would mean for non-Horizons players I have no idea.
I'll refrain from waving pom-poms for the Devs on this issue for the moment. I'm hearing a lot of negative feedback on this and I'm not going to dismiss it as 'salt' just because I have what I want.
Looking through he Threads I'm seeing a lot of talk about 'Engineered NPCs' and I'm getting the impression that, as per Beta, the number of NPCs is out of whack.
I remember hearing and reading about how ship mods were a rarity, but going by what I've read today they're ten-a-penny.
If this is the case then someone has dropped the ball. I've not much interest in CMDRs who Robigo-ed to a big boat then farmed their way to Elite; now they're going to reap the Rebuy whilrwind until they learn to fight.
I'm more aware of how this may effect CMDRs who simply play the game, a little trading, a little mining a few missions etc. If NPCs are blanket Engineered then, quite frankly, between the mods and the new A.I. this is going to turn into a miserable and frustrating game.
I've been on the receiving end of this in Beta, in a non-combat ship, and it wasn't fun.
If this is the case then, to a large extent the CMDR who simply plays the game is effectively going to have to take part in the arms race just to retain some degree of parity with the NPCs...and what this would mean for non-Horizons players I have no idea.
I'll refrain from waving pom-poms for the Devs on this issue for the moment. I'm hearing a lot of negative feedback on this and I'm not going to dismiss it as 'salt' just because I have what I want.
From a quick 20-minute bounty hinting in a CNAV, my initial verdict is that the new behaviour is terrible. I'm getting more collisions than ever (*), and it's sucked much of the fun out of the task.
Will play more and try more loadouts, but for the moment it's a large thumbs-down. I reserve the right to change my mind.
Remember, it's a game. The changes may float your boat, but it's little use if it puts players off.
(*) Including a Viper IV who just loved to bump into me. Again. And Again. And again ... Glad there're no spinning ships, though ....
Will play more and try more loadouts, but for the moment it's a large thumbs-down. I reserve the right to change my mind.
Remember, it's a game. The changes may float your boat, but it's little use if it puts players off.
(*) Including a Viper IV who just loved to bump into me. Again. And Again. And again ... Glad there're no spinning ships, though ....
Oh trust me, we tested this extensively in the beta. With a fully optimised build, you can kill anything in 15 seconds. And even if they do manage to take the coward's way out, the heat damage will still roast them to death when they log back into solo
So your entire plan can be defeated by 2 heatsinks? The geniuses at SDC must be working overtime.
So, my experience of first time out in 2.1 flying an asp built for smuggling, ie fast and light. Interdicted on 2nd mission (40 tons of wine) and despite my usual response of immediately throttle down; prepare to run, within seconds I got; failed interdiction, FSD failure, uncontrollable spinning ship, warning! thermal attack, warning! module malfunction, warning! thruster malfunction, warning! shields offline, warning! canopy critical, eject, eject eject... please deposit just over 1 million credits with your friendly buy back screen. At no point during any of this process did anything I tried to do have any effect whatsoever on the outcome.
BTW, thanks for all the warnings lol, really useful
I had the same thing first mission out in my type-6, throttle back to submit and interdiction failed. Fortunately, as i don't run it lean, only 50t of Cargo, rather than the stripped out 100t that many use. My shields 3A and hull held out long enough for me cool down the FSD and bug out with only 14% left on the hull. Lets have the game mechanics working correctly please (didn't happen in Beta)
I spent 20 minutes in a low intensity RES in my Cobra and was able to pick up 200k+ without any problem and my combat skills are limited, so it should still be profitable. I do find it handy to follow security ships around and use them as involuntary wing men. My problem came when I tried to return to port only to be jumped by a deadly pilot who quickly shot me to pieces.
Still, I'll be out trying to recoup my losses tonight afetr spending the day licking my wounds.
That's cool - but that's also very little for res-site farming.
You should be getting around that per kill (at least).
Although in a Cobra, I'm not sure how viable that is - I haven't tried using a small ship for this in a while.
What I learned from my Beta testing:
1) High Security Systems now live up to their names. If you don't feel cut out for combat, then stick to these types of systems. Interdictions seem to be less common, & security forces will turn up sooner-& in greater numbers.
2) Interdictions overall seem to be scaled down. More of the combat you encounter will be combat that you choose-like RES's, Nav Beacons, USS's & Interdicting others.
3) If you're flying alone, I strongly recommend you stay away from Threat level 4 USS's. Even level 3 USS's can be tough going for a lone pilot. Similarly, with distress calls, be ready to flee at a moment's notice
4) NPC encounters seem to be more scaled to your current combat rank. So, if you feel your current combat rank is no longer justified, then maybe ask support to lower you down 1 or 2 levels (I plan to start from scratch this weekend, so will entirely avoid this issue
So no, overall, I don't think the AI is too hard at all. It is about right (be thankful you're not up against the Beta 4 AI, that was borderline brutal
All the above
Had my first fight with an Elite npc last night and it was a blast, literally. Got interdicted and thought "I'm going to fight this one."
I had an Imperial Courier and she (because it's really Sarah isn't it?) rocked up in an Eagle. It didn't appear to be running with any augmented weaponry. My Courier was A-class throughout with twin beams and a multi-cannon backed up by shield boosters and hastily installed point defences. It seemed to be running pulse and multi-cannon combo.
Took 20 minutes and I almost got spaced three times. The Eagle took out my frameshift drive when the shields were down so there was no way out other than through. The Eagle threw everything at me. Stealth, reverse thrust, off-axis thrust, evasive loops, run/hide/return. It was always always on my tail giving me grief.
Reverse thrust was quite effective at upsetting its tactics, giving a chance to pile on some hurt before it flipped and out-turned my ship. FA off was essential to deal with it.
I got lucky with a few hits and took its shields out, a target to the powerplant and she was toast.
Learn your craft, Commanders. It's dangerous out there.
Cheers,
Drew.
I had an Imperial Courier and she (because it's really Sarah isn't it?) rocked up in an Eagle. It didn't appear to be running with any augmented weaponry. My Courier was A-class throughout with twin beams and a multi-cannon backed up by shield boosters and hastily installed point defences. It seemed to be running pulse and multi-cannon combo.
Took 20 minutes and I almost got spaced three times. The Eagle took out my frameshift drive when the shields were down so there was no way out other than through. The Eagle threw everything at me. Stealth, reverse thrust, off-axis thrust, evasive loops, run/hide/return. It was always always on my tail giving me grief.
Reverse thrust was quite effective at upsetting its tactics, giving a chance to pile on some hurt before it flipped and out-turned my ship. FA off was essential to deal with it.
I got lucky with a few hits and took its shields out, a target to the powerplant and she was toast.
Learn your craft, Commanders. It's dangerous out there.
Cheers,
Drew.
Rinzler o7o7o7
Banned
The beautiful thing about it is: heatsinks, with the lowest module health of all modules (on par with most utilities) will be the first to malfunction due to heat damage.
Don't hate me - but did you continue to chase the marker, despite submitting; or ignore it? There is a timer when you submit. Because if you don't fight, even if you submit, you can lose before the routine engages.
The number of people who don't realise you still need to fight until the submit routine kicks in, often surprises me.
Yeah you can, but can the AI? [heart]Oh trust me, we tested this extensively in the beta. With a fully optimised build, you can kill anything in 15 seconds. And even if they do manage to take the coward's way out, the heat damage will still roast them to death when they log back into solo
You're not present in the safe space remember?
Yes, I just don't think the developers really grasp the situation, or care. I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Utility modules are exposed and should be at more risk blah blah but if you invent a mechanic that has a natural counter, where the natural counter is rendered somewhat unreliable - there's a problem.
I watched a CMDR roast ships alive in a ferdy with that yesterday, in Beta. It was quite the education.
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