Discuss the AI here!

[Eli Jack]

I have not had a chance to play since 2.1 dropped - but Beta 4 was the last AI I fought, and that was fantastic, I actually felt like I earned my Elite kills.

For those that played Beta - is the AI at Beta 4 standards? If so... AWESOME!

If not... It should be.

Z...

I don't think it is at B4 standard and it's likely that it won't be until 2.1.1 if at all, judging by the meltdown going on over 2.1.

SJA will still be working on the AI and Frontier will, no doubt, take into account the reactions since 2.1 dropped. Where that's likely to lead is anyone's guess.

I really think that players need to let it settle down before going off on a 'I quit' rant. I say that as a no good combat pilot (despite what my rank might suggest). What I'm seeing now is that choices made by players have consequences in many situations and a game that makes you think about what you're doing can only be a good thing. All in my opinion of course.

 

[Ziljan]

I got shredded by the AI a couple of times in beta, but it's still too early for me to have a view - let's see if I can adapt and overcome first.

(So I didn't vote at all.)

Wow. An actual open mind? So happy to meet you. Welcome to the internet.

One thing you may want to try is to not use boost to get behind the enemy. Instead trying aiming to the lateral side (not above or below the target). This forces them to either yaw, or roll and then pitch. Either way it wastes their time while reducing the damage you take while trying to flank them. Throttle up (not boost) to get behind them. And then level off to the blue zone (50% throttle) to flank them. They will eventually boost away to get better footing thus allowing you to get free shots on them while the cycle repeats. It's more of a wrestling match than the previous vanilla turning wars of 2.0.

Good luck out there CMDR!

 

[W4rSkuLL]

In RES signals if you take on Deadly-Elite Npc alone, they are hard. With the police fighting beside you, not so much. But I like it. RES is fun again and combined with decent AI and good bounties. I made 1,5 million in an hour tonight with my pulse laser Vulture. I think its spot on. Sometimes I just got in 2-3 hits on the target and the police smoked it. Easy credits. Well done. Now I have the dilemma of which craft to take to Wyrd and beyond. I need to upgrade my vultures FSD if I am going to get there.
Or maybe take the Asp...

 

[Fost]

So far loving the AI. If I had one comment I think perhaps the difficulty curve needs to be pushed a bit more towards Elite - MASTER level ships seem perhaps a bit too hard.

In my FGS (currently mid level fit out) slow large ships are hard but killable. Elite ships are scary. Small ships that used to be a breeze are a real problem due to turning circle so I prob need to work on fit out / tactics for that.

 

[DBCloggy]

I think I'm going to start recording all my gaming sessions. That way I can look back objectively when I get destroyed and see what I did wrong and how I could handle things differently. Anything that can help me become more proficient at defending myself.

Sometimes it seems like you are dead in seconds. At least this way I can see that it was just poor work on my part and I don't feel so hard done by!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

One thing the new AI has spawned is fishing stories of people encountering them. "I saw an AI and it was THIS BIG!".

That has to be good. Too skilled, still not skilled enough, it seems whatever they are, they are not boring.

 

[Nebiroth]

From the perspective of only having been here a few weeks, I'm not happy at all...a simple RES has turned into a suicide mission for me and being interdicted means almost certain death or escape by the skin of my teeth. If this game is to force me to stay away from combat then I'll just go find something else to play. Shame...the addiction bug was just starting to bite...learning curve went from steep to brutal overnight (

0

Yeah, it really blows from a new player perspective. You'r surrounded by folks who made easy money to get the ships they wanted, then say "hey, isn't the new AI system great because it stops people doing that?"

It just pushes you into boring stuff like mining

 

[Alpha November]

I was jumped in a USS 0-threat. The ambush variety where I was collecting materials and about two minutes later the baddies jumped in. I was in a medium security system and system security forces showed up within five minutes. From my subjective perception, high security systems have internal security arrive in about 2 minutes, but I wasn't timing things exactly. Though that means they'll help you if you're fighting back. If you intend to high wake out immediately you'll be long gone or dead before the police arrive.

I'm just tooling about a safe system in a well-spec'd Asp looking for stuff. Even in a L0/L1 USS I'm meeting modded NPCs who do serious alpha damage. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be in-game, I'm just think they're too common or they seem to be. The AI level may or may not be right but I think that the distribution of NPC skill levels is off because they seem clustered towards the high end in what should be a relatively safe environment and modded NPCs seem to be too common as well.

 

[RCKJD]

So far I only tussled with a Deadly Anaconda and a Deadly Dropship, flying a non-engineered trade aimed Anaconda (cargo racks, fuel scoop, no hull reinforcements, or reinforced hull). Both times I won but was down to 34% (Anaconda) and 40% (Dropship) hull. And those felt like victories, instead of a somewhat challenging AI. Now I fully expect to see a rebuy screen now and then, instead of flying without insurance copay because I felt the AI was not challenging enough.
And that is fine with me. Something rated Elite should be able to hand me my rear end. Something ranked Deadly should BE deadly in combat. Something ranked Dangerous should be dangerous, etc.
However, I also think that Elite should be a rare encounter, simply based on the Lore behind the ranks and the published stories. Deadly should be very uncommon to encounter, and Dangerous maybe somewhat uncommon. But, especially Deadly and Elite should make you go "Oh, poop!" instead of "Aww.. not again...."

 

[biohazard15]

I'm just tooling about a safe system in a well-spec'd Asp looking for stuff. Even in a L0/L1 USS I'm meeting modded NPCs who do serious alpha damage. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be in-game, I'm just think they're too common or they seem to be. The AI level may or may not be right but I think that the distribution of NPC skill levels is off because they seem clustered towards the high end in what should be a relatively safe environment and modded NPCs seem to be too common as well.

Ideally, only top-ranked NPCs (Deadly and Elite) should have mods, and even then it should be rare.

 

[Mordu]

The last thread got locked so I wanted to share my AI story here.

I voted "Just right" because...

I got interdicted by an Elite Cobra BH (npc: due to me having 45k in wanted bounties from the next system over). He flew a jousting pattern in which I had to match plus manuever just out of line of his guns. He chaffed as I chaffed if we both lined up head to head. He turned very well (well enough to make me work for it in my twin multi Vulture). He also chaffed as his shields were recharging (also an appropriate tactic). It took a bit due to all the evasive flying, but he never ran away. The only time he started to fly away was when the system police dropped in to assist me, but by then I was able to pick him off at range. It was an amazing fight between the two us and really put my flying to the test.

Following the cobra fight I interdicted a master Anaconda. He FA off'd rather well but I was still able to stay on his 6 and shred his shields and powerplant. He went down much faster than the elite cobra.

Running low chaff, I headed back to station and got interdicted by a clipper Bounty hunter (npc). Due to my low chaff and knowing a clipper has a nasty pitch rate, I submitted to the interdiction. I lined up head on, threw my last chaff and blasted right for him. I ducked slightly under his ship knowing I could get a head start on an escape as he was forced to pull a 180 to pursue me. My tactic worked and I only ate a couple plasma rounds before I low waked out and headed back to station.

I found this experience to be exciting and very thrilling. I like knowing that I need to think my way through engagements now. I only hope it's not too tough for those lower ranked in combat (That could make it hard for new guys). It was great for me, so I voted only to my personal expectations.

I'm using this set up except: I'm using large Multi cannons instead of Pulse lasers (The fitting tool hasn't incorporated them yet).
http://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/24...gsCYEZ2S+qpQiA

 

[Eli Jack]

Ah, looks like I rejoined Elite at exactly the wrong time. I can watch people strut about in Anacondas earned by farming NPC's, but might as well go back to mining myself

Crap

I guess the folks rejoicing are the ones who already made a credit fortune an dhave bought everything they want

I wouldn't worry about the size of ships the 'farmers' are flying it won't do them any good. For a while you're going to see many of those heavyweight ship pilots get shredded by wings of small ships, death by a thousand cuts

Plenty of people have restarted 2.1 back in the Sidewinder for the thrill of the ride again.

I'm a miner too and am looking forward to the new mining stuff and seeing how the system demand scaling works. 1 ton of Painite for 72k credits!? That'll do nicely. Just remember the big shields and guns. It's dangerous out there.

 

[Ziljan]

So far loving the AI. If I had one comment I think perhaps the difficulty curve needs to be pushed a bit more towards Elite - MASTER level ships seem perhaps a bit too hard.

In my FGS (currently mid level fit out) slow large ships are hard but killable. Elite ships are scary. Small ships that used to be a breeze are a real problem due to turning circle so I prob need to work on fit out / tactics for that.

Well Master is actually near the top of the combat ranks. 6th out of 9. If they were an athlete or a musician, they would be professional level coaches and teachers. So not exactly pushovers.

As for small agile ships, just hit FA off and reverse until they are back in your sights. (FA increases acceleration, while reducing stability and aiming). Then go FA on and try to keep a stead close distance. Be careful, some of them will fly backwards (or forwards) to try to fake you out and gain range (or position) that reduces your damage. Just keep them within 500-750m and they should be swatted in an appropriate amount of time.

 

[hunvagy]

Well Master is actually near the top of the combat ranks. 6th out of 9. If they were an athlete or a musician, they would be professional level coaches and teachers. So not exactly pushovers.

As for small agile ships, just hit FA off and reverse until they are back in your sights. (FA increases acceleration, while reducing stability and aiming). Then go FA on and try to keep a stead close distance. Be careful, some of them will fly backwards (or forwards) to try to fake you out and gain range (or position) that reduces your damage. Just keep them within 500-750m and they should be swatted in an appropriate amount of time.

FA-OFF reverse was a good tactic for the lumbering hulk that is the Cutter in the beta. Well FA-OFF for everything the size of that thing, really, but at least it's viable. And I think if you manage to close the gap to very close, around 100m, the AI will still boost to get away from you, which gives you time to shoot them in the rear why they try to come around.

 

[Derath]

Well my views so far are pretty simple, the AI is considerably harder and that changes the game for the better. I'm struggling currently but most of that is because my ship isn't setup for fighting competent NPC's its setup for the old morons that wouldn't beat me If i fell asleep on the keyboard.

I have however noticed a considerable amount of engineer mods on NPC ships, infact all of the last 7 I interdicted aside from a sidewinder had some form of pewpew laser modifications, an asp with a pair of green scatter laser turrets, heat beams etc and I think that is too many. I'd read it was going to be rare but if they leave the AI as is but keep the engineer mods on almost all the ships the regular 1.6 players are gonna get absolutely creamed.

 

[JW667]

I love the new AI! I got interdicted in my trade Cutter by an elite FDL. Oh boy, the battle took 8 minutes. He fled when I got his hull down to about 40%.
It was actually exciting! [big grin]

 

[scorpyon]

In before some silly schleb uses the "it's called Elite DANGEROUS, not Elite Farmville" trope...

 

[Samoth]

I like the harder AI; I lost my FDL in a HazRES last night on the first try due to underestimating the AI and their maneuverability and countermeasures. Tried to run, got me with some torps. I wasn't even mad, I was happy that bounty hunting was actually hunting and had some risk in it. I'm still soloing the HazRESes, but very carefully now. However........

With higher risk should come higher reward, and you need to up the ante with the rewards, especially when getting into bigger ships is so costly. A fully-fit Corvette runs about 500 million, and 200k credit bounties for an Anaconda isn't gonna cut it, sorry. They need to be doubled. If bounty hunting is to be a viable profession, there need to be adequate rewards if the risk is so much greater now.

 

[Jamie Wolf]

The AI is not the problem, the issue is the equipment they are carrying.

Got interdicted by a Cobra with 2 Sideys in my Phyton. The Cobra was no issue stayed right in my frontarc and was gone after 2 salvos. (seemed much quicker then before AI Cobras were not dangerous but able to take quite a pounding. This one melted right away.)
But all the while the 2 Sidey peppered me with mulitcannons and missiles, shells and missiles were flying left and right by my cockpit. these two guys managed to melt away my shield quite quickly (A shield with 2 A boosters). Had to boost away a few times to get enough space to maneuver into attack position myself, as soona s I had them in sight they were as easy to kill as before.
Strange while they managed to melt teh shield, they did barely damage to the armor, I cam out with still 95%, and I have only the basic armor and size 3 hull reinforcement.

Police showed the same behavior as in 2.0, came after all was over scanning me. Looked it up it was a medium security system.

So far my favorite part is when you have a bad guy calling you in SC that he is looking for you, and you drop out to dock at a station, he follows and starts shooting when you are in the no fire zone, he normally does not last very long when the station and all police forces there go after him.

 

[Approx01]

I voted too hard.

I've always made my money from bounty hunting. Now with the difficulty of the AI, I enjoy the challenge, but having the limp back to station after encountering a handful of ships is just a buzz-kill. I agree that there are too many elite, deadly, and dangerous encounters. The risk factor is too high on a 5mil rebuy cost while taking near fatal damage from bounties worth 20k or so.

I remember starting out in this game with a weak ship, no money for modules, and no real combat experience. It was a lot of trial and error figuring out how to fight properly and I died a lot. I think new players are going to feel helpless and frustrated, and will probably quit before spending much time in this game.