When the new update dropped last week I saw a nice increase in NPC interdictions, particularly when doing delivery missions. but since today's patch I've played most of the day and it seems to have reverted back to the way it was before chapter 4... Have they gone and nerfed it again?
Has the new patch nerfed NPC pirates again?
- Thread starter peteuplink
- Start date
Unfortunately this might be a side effect of the bug fixes. I'll take that over not being able to play the game at all though.
Yep! Same ship, same system, same state... Yesterday I was having a blast with good missions, good AI encounters... Today it's back tot he way it was pre-update.
Well, that may be... but if I wanted to play a game where all I did all day was depart one location, stare at the distance coming down and then reach another location with nothing really happening inbetween, I'd be playing Train Sim World...
Give me an hour playing the game again and I'll probably be agreeing with you. If they can't increase the number of interdictions, they do need to add some more engineering to the npcs that do. I have said in another thread that npc interdictions are just another cash bonus.
For the first year or so, this game was great. Then we got a load of people complaining about the frequency of NPC interdictins and FDev toned them down to the point where it was virtually non-existent unless you were pledged to a power... The new update dropped last week, and even though it wasn't back to the levels it was during the first year, the NPC interdictions jumped up enough to make the game enjoyable to play again. Now, after today's patch, it's gone back to being undock > fly > dock > repeat with nothing happening inbetween. I'm not even getting any incoming enemy messages again.
To give you some idea of where I'm at: I'm in the gateway system, which is currently in anarchy due to a pirate faction being the controlling party. On top of this they are in civil war with the party that used to control the system. So I'm taking missions to try to help the old party overthrow the new anarchy government. I don't have a proper combat ship, so I'm doing trade missions, data delivery, planetary scan jobs, salvage and supply runs... Since last Tuesday I've been having a blast getting into scrapes with NPC's working for the other faction who were trying to stop me. They didn't show up all the time, but it was often enough to make it feel like I was actually engaged in some sort of battle. Since the patch.... nothing. It's like they don't even care anymore.
The original Elite had a certain amount of tension to it. Every time you left a station, you weren't guaranteed to make it to your destination. If you got mass locked while travelling to a new station, there was always that sort of "Uh oh! What's this?!" moment where you weren't sure if it was a bit of space rock, another trader or something hostile... Getting to the station at the other end was often a genuine "Phew! Made it!" moment. ED on the other hand is a game where you spend most of your time staring at the distance indicator waiting for the "press X to disenage" message to pop-up while desperately trying to keep your eyes open... If there was a bit more of the "Uh oh! What's this!?!" moments to break up the monotony it'd be great, but sadly there isn't... Sure you can find combat if you go looking for it, but it never really seems to come looking for you like it did in 1984. Of course, they can't make it too difficult or the people who like to trade in their weaponless T7's will start crying again.
Screw it anyway, I think I've wasted enough time waiting for this game to become good again...
To give you some idea of where I'm at: I'm in the gateway system, which is currently in anarchy due to a pirate faction being the controlling party. On top of this they are in civil war with the party that used to control the system. So I'm taking missions to try to help the old party overthrow the new anarchy government. I don't have a proper combat ship, so I'm doing trade missions, data delivery, planetary scan jobs, salvage and supply runs... Since last Tuesday I've been having a blast getting into scrapes with NPC's working for the other faction who were trying to stop me. They didn't show up all the time, but it was often enough to make it feel like I was actually engaged in some sort of battle. Since the patch.... nothing. It's like they don't even care anymore.
The original Elite had a certain amount of tension to it. Every time you left a station, you weren't guaranteed to make it to your destination. If you got mass locked while travelling to a new station, there was always that sort of "Uh oh! What's this?!" moment where you weren't sure if it was a bit of space rock, another trader or something hostile... Getting to the station at the other end was often a genuine "Phew! Made it!" moment. ED on the other hand is a game where you spend most of your time staring at the distance indicator waiting for the "press X to disenage" message to pop-up while desperately trying to keep your eyes open... If there was a bit more of the "Uh oh! What's this!?!" moments to break up the monotony it'd be great, but sadly there isn't... Sure you can find combat if you go looking for it, but it never really seems to come looking for you like it did in 1984. Of course, they can't make it too difficult or the people who like to trade in their weaponless T7's will start crying again.
Screw it anyway, I think I've wasted enough time waiting for this game to become good again...
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Serious Question... Why? How does engineering effect Interdictions?
If you want better ships go to the CZs?
If you just want Interdction then ask for more Interdictions.. But the same question remains.. Why? Do you just want them to play with or kill? If you want to kill them go to the CZ? They've been buffed bigly there.
And let me ask you this; If they increase the Interdiction rate, and even the Interdiction ability for you.. What bout all the players not as good as you at avoiding them? They just have to suck it up because you want to feel better?
I'm really not understanding I guess.
In 3.2 I almost never got interdicted.
It was dull.
In 3.3.0 I was getting interdictions for almost every reason, including just being there. Its great!
I hope it's not gone.
Admittedly, being told to pull over for my juicy haul, when all I had was limpets, then being interdicted, scanned and even the pirate didn't want them, was kinda silly. Lol
It was dull.
In 3.3.0 I was getting interdictions for almost every reason, including just being there. Its great!
I hope it's not gone.
Admittedly, being told to pull over for my juicy haul, when all I had was limpets, then being interdicted, scanned and even the pirate didn't want them, was kinda silly. Lol
They can stay in easier systems, with high/medium security. Then the better you become, the riskier the areas you can go. Progress, risk and reward and all that. Having everything be ultra-easy-mode just because some people are terrible at everything is a bit odd.
Yeah, that's what was happening for me as well. I loved it because it added some excitement to the game... Since the patch today, however, it's gone back to pre-3.3.0 levels again... Maybe I've just been really unlucky, but it seems odd that the interdictions have died off since the new patch.
For me it's a case of challenge. If I'm taking an elite ranked mission, the npcs should be a more of a challenge than they are at that level. Should more missions of lower rank be available to those who want them? Absolutely. However myself and others are talking about the lack of challenge at the highest level. There is also a lack of realism in going through a low security system with a hold full of palladium without incident.
Regarding what you said about avoiding interdictions, I can't remember when I last evaded one since I always submit. I know an elite npc will never drop my shields, regardless of what ship I'm in. If the mission was ranked as merchant or similar then fine, but this is supposed to be the toughest challenge this type of mission can throw at me.
If you're saying that you only ever get the option of elite missions and you don't want to deal with elite murder pirates, I would say that is just as much of an issue as I have as that option should be there as well.
For me it's more of an engagement thing. As I said above, the original Elite had a certain amount of tension and getting to the station at the end of a difficult run was quite an event. Sometimes the original game could be massively unfair though. That being said, ED seems to have gone too far the other way and seems to be stuck on permanent easy mode. When you do encounter an NPC you can usually get a decent fight out of them (or at least I can because I'm not very good at combat) but waiting for a NPC to interdict you is a bit like waiting for a unicorn to land in your back garden...
ED is a bit like the gaming equivalent of Star Trek - The Motion Picture. It's got great visuals, fantastic music, an interesting premise... but my god it can be dull...
ED is a bit like the gaming equivalent of Star Trek - The Motion Picture. It's got great visuals, fantastic music, an interesting premise... but my god it can be dull...
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That always seems to be the case, though... I've seen plenty of posts on Reddit where someone has posted a comment like mine and there's been a mixture of people agreeing with them and others saying that they're interdicted too much. There has to be a reason for it, but FDev never really seem to have addressed the issue. Surely the game should be balanced to enable us all to have a similar experience and not situations where one group of players is having the NPC's coming after them like a rabid horde while another group of players feel like they're the only living thing in the galaxy.
It doesn't add up and it needs to be fixed. it seemed to be last week when 3.3.0 dropped, but since todays patch it's gone back to being dull again.
I was interdicted during a delivery mission by a DBS that evaded pretty well until four of his mates turned up to help. Took out one and dropped the shields on another but had to leave the area with minimal shields as I didn't want to risk losing any mission cargo. Haven't had a tougher NPC fight for a while but this new patch seems to have improved, not degraded them. Maybe there's more variation now?
First Elite was brutal. Had my first Thargoid encounter within half an hour. No chance of escape, no chance of winning. Just die and reload the last save. I miss that it meant something seeing that you were in the safe zone of a station.
Yep. Pretty pointless and just a nuisance interrupting your travel.
Yeah, that's what I miss as well. I'm not saying the game should necessarily drop you straight into fights with multiple Thargoids while you're still in a Sidewinder, but it should have a few more high tension moments. Especially when a player is in a situation similar to mine where I'm trying to undermine a faction who is in civil war with the faction I'm completing missions for. it seems odd that I'm helping out their main rival, but they don't seem at all interested... Well, they were yesterday, but today post-patch it's like they don't even care.