I'm sure many of you that have higher rankings will have a different view of things as you're likely to come across more skilled NPC classes and thus should expect better AI.
Being only a Novice at combat, and flying a not fully equipped Cobra Mk III, I've had some pretty odd encounters now that I've done some space combat. Not just of the 'OMG what just happened' variety where the other ship was clearly very skilled with their fixed lasers. But against ships I should have had some possibility of standing some chance against. It's not like I'm flying a cargo ship that can't turn. But I came across a 'Competant' Sidewinder pilot, that I tried like hell to get somewhere in front of me, and I simply couldn't do it. He didn't have uber weapons or anything, but clearly he had flight skills that were nearly perfect. I didn't have much fear of him killing me, so I figured I'd at least try to see what I could do to fight him.
I spent 10 minutes trying every possible manouver I could think of and not once did I actually see the Sidewinder. No matter what I tried, he was always behind me. I managed to see one of the triangles of the HUD across the very top of my screen, for about half a second. That was it. I never did fire a shot at him.
Now if he were an Elite Sidewinder pilot, then sure. I would expect it to be very hard to get him in front of me. But even then, I would expect to get him somewhere I could see him even if I couldn't get a good aim on him. Him being Competent, only one level above where I am, it shouldn't have been a futile fight. He should have still made flight errors that resulted in me being able to get behind him. I may not be the best around, but I should be able to at least get lucky every now and again.
And yeah, being Interdicted within 2 seconds of getting to every new system is a bit much.
I like the new UI and missions and a number of the new changes. The AI is not one of those things. I also wish it was more clear on whether a mission was planetary or space. Some people may have every icon memorized and know what/where each one means, but a tool tip or something obvious would be much simpler for us new players.