I liked it better when they only rammed asteroids...

[Twinn]

Just A-rated a Federal Corvette and took her out for a spin in the local Haz RES. Within 10 minutes I had been rammed by an Anaconda, Fed Gunship, Fed Dropship, Clipper, and an Asp. These NPC's are flying around full boost like it's the first snow of the year. I'm honestly taking more shield damage from being rammed by scanning ships than the actual hostiles I am engaging...

If you don't believe me... go park your ship in a Haz RES and just watch the show. Be prepared for a few bounties from small ships exploding against your hull now that they "fixed" the whole clean until proven wanted scan thing (silly game mechanic if I've ever seen one.)

Side note: NPC's now seem to prefer gathering/fighting above the asteroids rather than flying in them. I just spent 2 hours killing ships and only 1-2 of them were actually flying in the RES. This is either an unwanted side-effect of NPC's being so boost happy now... or a lazy shortcut to get around the NPC's smashing into asteroids. Either way I'm thinking Frontier may want to put the AI programming back in the oven a bit longer.

 

[kofeyh]

Just A-rated a Federal Corvette and took her out for a spin in the local Haz RES. Within 10 minutes I had been rammed by an Anaconda, Fed Gunship, Fed Dropship, Clipper, and an Asp. These NPC's are flying around full boost like it's the first snow of the year. I'm honestly taking more shield damage from being rammed by scanning ships than the actual hostiles I am engaging...

If you don't believe me... go park your ship in a Haz RES and just watch the show. Be prepared for a few bounties from small ships exploding against your hull now that they "fixed" the whole clean until proven wanted scan thing (silly game mechanic if I've ever seen one.)

Side note: NPC's now seem to prefer gathering/fighting above the asteroids rather than flying in them. I just spent 2 hours killing ships and only 1-2 of them were actually flying in the RES. This is either an unwanted side-effect of NPC's being so boost happy now... or a lazy shortcut to get around the NPC's smashing into asteroids. Either way I'm thinking Frontier may want to put the AI programming back in the oven a bit longer.

Yep. This has been going on to a lesser or greater degree for months. Anaconda, all FDS variants & Asp Explorer all happily boost into you. Even eagles and vipers seem to be homing missiles at this point. And you can be progressing towards a target, in a straight line, at low velocity and it's observable that NPCs will re-orintate to ensure they remain on collision course.

Don't worry, people shall be along shortly to explain that you are mistaken and that it never happens to them. So it's obviously pilot skill or something? Get gud!

It does happen. It is happening and will continue to happen, whilst NPC scanning priority is higher than collision avoidance. When an eagle, with arguably the single best flight model in the game, will happily plough into you, you do have to question what is actually going on in the code that drives this.

I am beginning to believe this is actually intentional. NPCs attempting to self-terminate due to endlessly being shot. They can only take so much, before their fragile little minds let go. And they punch their own ticket. Right? Makes sense to me. More than the current flight model at any rate.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Just A-rated a Federal Corvette and took her out for a spin in the local Haz RES. Within 10 minutes I had been rammed by an Anaconda, Fed Gunship, Fed Dropship, Clipper, and an Asp. These NPC's are flying around full boost like it's the first snow of the year. I'm honestly taking more shield damage from being rammed by scanning ships than the actual hostiles I am engaging...

If you don't believe me... go park your ship in a Haz RES and just watch the show. Be prepared for a few bounties from small ships exploding against your hull now that they "fixed" the whole clean until proven wanted scan thing (silly game mechanic if I've ever seen one.)

Side note: NPC's now seem to prefer gathering/fighting above the asteroids rather than flying in them. I just spent 2 hours killing ships and only 1-2 of them were actually flying in the RES. This is either an unwanted side-effect of NPC's being so boost happy now... or a lazy shortcut to get around the NPC's smashing into asteroids. Either way I'm thinking Frontier may want to put the AI programming back in the oven a bit longer.

I don't know, I enjoy dodging them by using my radar and eyes .-.

And ramming is a valid combat tactic that NPCs should take advantage of .-.

 

[kofeyh]

I don't know, I enjoy dodging them by using my radar and eyes .-.

And ramming is a valid combat tactic that NPCs should take advantage of .-.

tl;dr - "get gud".

I don't have a problem with NPCs purposely ramming; it is avoidable to a degree. However the fact that it's happening in high percentages, whereby countless ships are being thrown at CMDRs hull's to ensure a scan can be done promptly, shouldn't be excused or hand-waved away.

You can even attempt to play chicken with such interlopers and observe them changing course and indeed boosting to ensure they collide. They can't all be "dude bro I am RPing a psychotic rammer I want it allllllll". There is intentional ramming. And then there's just the current AI hell bent on scanning.

The AI needs some work. I'd love to see it get some more work.

 

[CMDR_Amanath]

This literally never happens to me. I dont know why but it doesnt.

 

[GluttonyFang]

tl;dr - "get gud".

I don't have a problem with NPCs purposely ramming; it is avoidable to a degree. However the fact that it's happening in high percentages shouldn't be excused or hand-waved away. The AI needs some work. I'd love to see it get some more work.

Meh, I like it when I have to watch my radar for other targets and FAO when avoiding incoming ram, or just use my thrusters conveniently.

 

[Shadowed]

4 pips to shields solves this for the most part.

 

[kofeyh]

Meh, I like it when I have to watch my radar for other targets and FAO when avoiding incoming ram, or just use my thrusters conveniently.

Sure. It's nice to hear a wanted eagle slam into you, and then instant credits because they are wanted and you were busy scanning everything in a 30 mile radius like a hyped up caffeine junky chasing the next coffee fix.

Not that I would, uh, know.

Thing is, it's a bit silly that it's happening at such a high rate. You can argue that it means CMDRs have to be a bit better at avoidance, which is true to a point, but that's also just excusing NPC behaviour and mechanics.

There's ramming (which is dirty-tricks, but still a straight up legit mechanic) and then there is 'challenged' AI behaviour. I'd like my opponents to be a bit better at avoiding being dead, than a bit better at slamming into CMDRs because it's the easiest/ most expedient method to ensure a ship will reliably be able to scan a CMDR.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Sure. It's nice to hear a wanted eagle slam into you, and then instant credits because they are wanted and you were busy scanning everything in a 30 mile radius like a hyped up caffeine junky chasing the next coffee fix.

Not that I would, uh, know.

Thing is, it's a bit silly that it's happening at such a high rate. You can argue that it means CMDRs have to be a bit better at avoidance, which is true to a point, but that's also just excusing NPC behaviour and mechanics.

There's ramming (which is dirty-tricks, but still a straight up legit mechanic) and then there is 'challenged' AI behaviour. I'd like my opponents to be a bit better at avoiding being dead, than a bit better at slamming into CMDRs because it's the easiest/ most expedient method to ensure a ship will reliably be able to scan a CMDR.

I don't know, a lot of PvP fights I've been in involved ramming as a crucial part of people's build.

If I call them out for using "dirty tricks," I would get laughed at for being salty. Not that I think ramming is invalid to begin with.

So I encourage NPC to use everything to their advantage, including ramming.

And yes, I've had eagles ram into me in my Cutter and credits went into my bank because of it. I only noticed the collision because of the credit awarding, though .-.

 

[Twinn]

I am beginning to believe this is actually intentional. NPCs attempting to self-terminate due to endlessly being shot. They can only take so much, before their fragile little minds let go. And they punch their own ticket. Right? Makes sense to me. More than the current flight model at any rate.

I suppose if the "frontier does no wrong" camp can have their creative anecdotes... then so can we! Poor pirates just couldn't face returning to their families empty handed!

Lately I've been wondering why they programmed NPC FDL pilots to be such cowards when they could easily be engineered as one of the most challenging NPC ships in the game.

4 pips to shields solves this for the most part.

Yep. It's really a non threatening issue if you are in a decent build. I welcome collisions in almost any engagement as it is usually heavily in my favor. That's really not the point though.... constantly being blindsided by neutral NPC's while sitting still is a rather obvious bug with proximity/collision detection coding and it should definitely be addressed. Not really sure how this turned into a debate on the basics/ethics of ramming...


Edit: Apparently it is listed in the known bugs thread for 1.5/2.0.... so I guess I'll leave it at that.

 

[Gold Member]

Just A-rated a Federal Corvette and took her out for a spin in the local Haz RES. Within 10 minutes I had been rammed by an Anaconda, Fed Gunship, Fed Dropship, Clipper, and an Asp. These NPC's are flying around full boost like it's the first snow of the year. I'm honestly taking more shield damage from being rammed by scanning ships than the actual hostiles I am engaging...

If you don't believe me... go park your ship in a Haz RES and just watch the show. Be prepared for a few bounties from small ships exploding against your hull now that they "fixed" the whole clean until proven wanted scan thing (silly game mechanic if I've ever seen one.)

Side note: NPC's now seem to prefer gathering/fighting above the asteroids rather than flying in them. I just spent 2 hours killing ships and only 1-2 of them were actually flying in the RES. This is either an unwanted side-effect of NPC's being so boost happy now... or a lazy shortcut to get around the NPC's smashing into asteroids. Either way I'm thinking Frontier may want to put the AI programming back in the oven a bit longer.

I've noticed the same thing about NPC's fighting outside the RES. Usually 10-13km.

I was flying my new Vulture last night and the 1st Anaconda didn't fire a single shot at me while I was killing it. It ran slow circles around me, showing me its topside the entire time. The 2nd Anaconda rammed me while I was targeting a subsystem and took me down to 20% hull from full shields. But aside from that, it only fired 3 missiles. Other ships that bumped me were a python, viper, and eagle.

Anacondas are the ramning kings, but Pythons have a habit of turning and making a run at you too.

 

[kofeyh]

I don't know, a lot of PvP fights I've been in involved ramming as a crucial part of people's build.

To be fair, all bets are off the table in a CMDR vs CMDR scenario. Kill - or be be killed. But that's not really the topic or point, mr pirate man.

Which is derpy AI that is ramming as a consequence of intercepting to scan; not to ram as a specific independant, valid combat mechanic. I welcome more AI challenges, but not at the cost of silly expediency. Same goes for a lot of mechanics, actually.

 

[GluttonyFang]

To be fair, all bets are off the table in a CMDR vs CMDR scenario. Kill - or be be killed. But that's not really the topic or point, mr pirate man.

Which is derpy AI that is ramming as a consequence of intercepting to scan; not to ram as a specific independant, valid combat mechanic. I welcome more AI challenges, but not at the cost of silly expediency. Same goes for a lot of mechanics, actually.

Well, I guess they can fix the the station suicidal scanners... They literally want me to be fined .-.

I should sue them for entrapment .-.

*Chuckles in the background*

 

[dxm55]

I second the OP on this.

Last night in a Hi RES site, I got rammed twice by NPC wanteds scanning me.
An Eagle which basically blew himself to kingdom come whilst taking most of my shields.
And an FDL which basically took my shield out and left me with 11% hull.

All while I was basically pottering about at about 10m/s surveying the area.
And no... I wasn't carrying cargo. SO they scanned, rammed, and thank you ma'am right out of the area. No shots fired.


Seriously FD? Whatever happened to collision avoidance AI?

 

[Wedgetail]

...I use shield ramming as the first strike in my assault on the larger ships (without actually commencing hostilities ��), saves some time beating them down, maybe the npc ships are learning to use my own tricks against me in the first step to taking over the galaxy.

It may be just busted ai, but i like my answer better

 

[X-Terminator]

I think Boost should work for Reverse Thrusters as it does Up/Down. Odd how it does not!

 

[kofeyh]

Well, I guess they can fix the the station suicidal scanners... They literally want me to be fined .-.

I should sue them for entrapment .-.

*Chuckles in the background*

Sir, have you been visiting suspicious systems? SIR? SIR I MUST SCAN YOU AT ON-THUD-CE.

OH NO. NOT AGAI-.

*explosion in the background*

 

[vsTerminus]

I'm just gonna leave this here...

https://gfycat.com/DazzlingAmazingBassethound

 

[GluttonyFang]

Sir, have you been visiting suspicious systems? SIR? SIR I MUST SCAN YOU AT ON-THUD-CE.

OH NO. NOT AGAI-.

*explosion in the background*

Yea... this happens a lot, actually .-.

Not to mention the trolling cops...

*In Super Cruise*

"Prepare for a scan Commander, we are authorized to stop you for that we are the System Security Vessels!" The police personnel exclaims.

"Okay, let me drop down to low wake..." I mumble as I glance at the system communication panel and spot a suspicious transmission.

"Nothing to see here folks, just looking for that delicious tea that I cannot find, step aside friends and fans!" A random Orca flies pass my vessel with incredible speed. The scanner on my ship detects the ship to be of "wanted" status.

"Sir, that Orca just passed us seem much more suspicious than..." Before I can finish my communication, my ship lights up in its emergency lighting, displaying the phrases: Interdiction Detected

I sigh helplessly as I throttle down and submit to the police interdiction. The moment we both enter normal flight, I notice the police vessel immediately begin boosting in the opposite direction, spamming my communication panels with the following:

"I am authorized to scan your ship!"

"Come to a stop, now!"

"Throttle down, I am authorized to perform a scan of your vessel."

"Scanning for potential criminal vessel."

I proceed to press my forehead against my palm as the police disappears into the distance, while continuously filling my communication panel with more of his nonsensical shouting...

"I guess the patrolling forces of this system is getting desperate." Muttering under my breath, I throw my hand into the air, then engage the FSD.

Abruptly, a vessel collides into my Cutter as I failed to pay attention to my radar. Before I can check for the cause of the collision, another wonderful message appears in my communication panel:

"You must be out of your mind to attack a cop!"

Without a word, I sternly deploy the hardpoints on my vessel and allow my torpedo pylons lock onto the shieldless and slightly damaged police vehicle.

"Please stow your..."

"Reinforcement requ..."

Then there was a bright explosion, and a notification that inform me of my "wanted" status and my sin as a cop killer.

.-.

Let no one tell you Gluttony voluntarily became a pirate to antagonize the legal system...

 

[DragoonKnight]

I don't know, I enjoy dodging them by using my radar and eyes .-.

And ramming is a valid combat tactic that NPCs should take advantage of .-.

And what do you call it when you are not wanted and non-hostile / allied NPCs ram your ship?
And NPCs do use ramming as a tactic. NPC pilots should just be smart enough not to ram an FDL with full shields when they are flying an Eagle. That is like me wanting to trade punches with Mike Tyson... just plain dumb.