i've found an npc landed on a planet

Zornbringer · Mar 10, 2020

i'm sorry if this is common knowledge. it was a first for me. i've decided to just drive in a direction after finishing a planetary mission. then i found this.

scanned him of course. nothing happened. then of course i attacked him, because he's wanted, right?!

turned out to be a bad idea. he was actually still operational and started to attack my srv. not a good shot luckily. i've tried to outmaneuver him, so he would crash into the planet. didn't work. called my ship, entered it and went on with my business. sort of anticlimactic but whatever.

thought i'd share. never happened to me. didn't even know you could find random npc's on planet surfaces. i hope with space legs, we can steal these ships. i've already seen smaller installations with empty ships. of course we have to be able to steal these. i hope...

[PS4] Filthymick420 · Mar 10, 2020

Ive just been doing those missions in small ships like a cobra 3. Ive noticed on planetary scan missions and surface salvage there is usually some other stuff to be found. They surface npcs arent always wanted but the ones who are go boom nicely when you're more ready for them than they are for you.

schmicknick · Mar 10, 2020

Steal the ship, lol.... you criminal!
How about maybe running on in there and stealing the coffee maker?
In fact, that might be cool.... to have a big array of cappucino machines throughout the game and a bit of a quest to acquire the baddest/coolest one(s)...

Ozric · Mar 10, 2020

I've never been attacked by one before, but I did find an NPC parked on a planet recently while I was doing an SRV race. Which was a pain as it was right in my way.

[PS4 Pro - PC] earthtone99 · Mar 10, 2020

I’ve had a wing of NPC Eagles fly overhead in SOLO whilst I was landed on a planet, the noise as they were getting closer frightened the heck out of me... I took off and flew with them for a bit, pretty cool.

Turd Ferguson · Mar 10, 2020

Yeah that happens. I’ve come across landed NPCs before (sometimes just parked on the ground in the middle of nowhere) and they’re capable of taking off and attacking or just flying away.

with scan missions as the level goes up the odds of finding a ship parked at the site you have to scan does up...and they WILL attack you if you get a bounty. I think in higher security bases they will scramble as soon as you draw a fine for breaking the exclusion zone.

it’s been a while though - I haven’t really done much of that sort of thing since FDev “fixed” those missions and added that new C&P system designed to keep players from playing the game and eliminated most of the fun by punishing fun gameplay.

Linnunrata · Mar 10, 2020

Seen a few of these also, it's really a pity that there's no significant content attached to landed NPCs.

Then again, the whole surface human activity is so bare bones that it feels like a missed opportunity.

Turd Ferguson · Mar 10, 2020

Linnunrata said:
Seen a few of these also, it's really a pity that there's no significant content attached to landed NPCs.

Then again, the whole surface human activity is so bare bones that it feels like a missed opportunity.

yeah not much there and then annoying bounties for pretty much everything that IS there. Good times.

metatheurgist · Mar 10, 2020

Linnunrata said:
Seen a few of these also, it's really a pity that there's no significant content attached to landed NPCs.

Try attacking or scanning the private data of a nearby installation belonging to the same faction and see if you get any "significant" content.

Florenus · Mar 10, 2020

They're almost always wanted. Sometimes they seem to be guarding some nearby cargo, building or beacon - other times just hiding.
I don't know if this is common knowledge, but they're pretty common, just as everything that spawns on surfaces.

[PS4] Filthymick420 · Mar 10, 2020

Linnunrata said:
Seen a few of these also, it's really a pity that there's no significant content attached to landed NPCs.

Then again, the whole surface human activity is so bare bones that it feels like a missed opportunity.

Every surface site seems abandoned completely, even if it has functioning mining tools being used. How difficult would it be to implement NPC SRVs driving around looking busy? serious question, I have no idea if that would be a difficult thing to do or not. I imagine it wouldn't be any worse than the security ships that fly around the station or those yellow trucks driving around inside the station, but I could be wrong. realistically I have no clue.

metatheurgist · Mar 10, 2020

FD basically have no surface AI right now. They were hiring last someone checked.

[PS4 Pro - PC] earthtone99 · Mar 10, 2020

Filthymick420 said:
Every surface site seems abandoned completely, even if it has functioning mining tools being used. How difficult would it be to implement NPC SRVs driving around looking busy? serious question, I have no idea if that would be a difficult thing to do or not. I imagine it wouldn't be any worse than the security ships that fly around the station or those yellow trucks driving around inside the station, but I could be wrong. realistically I have no clue.

There was a recent job opening for NPC planetary vehicle pathing and coding... If this is for ELITE, perhaps this is to make Outposts and bases feel more ‘alive‘

[PS4 Pro - PC] earthtone99 · Mar 10, 2020

metatheurgist said:
FD basically have no surface AI right now. They were hiring last someone checked.

That’s the one

Linnunrata · Mar 10, 2020

metatheurgist said:
FD basically have no surface AI right now. They were hiring last someone checked.

I bet that won't be the easiest of jobs. If they ever get there, I anticipate a lot of great gameplay moments observing NPC SRVs tumbling down a half kilometer crater cliff.

Florenus · Mar 10, 2020

Filthymick420 said:
Every surface site seems abandoned completely, even if it has functioning mining tools being used. How difficult would it be to implement NPC SRVs driving around looking busy? serious question, I have no idea if that would be a difficult thing to do or not. I imagine it wouldn't be any worse than the security ships that fly around the station or those yellow trucks driving around inside the station, but I could be wrong. realistically I have no clue.

It seems they are still looking for AI vehicle programmer...

Frontier Developments jobs

Job openings at Frontier Developments

careers.frontier.co.uk

[PS4 Pro - PC] earthtone99 · Mar 10, 2020

Florenus said:
It seems they are still looking for AI vehicle programmer...

Frontier Developments jobs

Job openings at Frontier Developments

careers.frontier.co.uk

It’s proving too challenging perhaps

khalismur · Mar 10, 2020

Florenus said:
It seems they are still looking for AI vehicle programmer...

Frontier Developments jobs

Job openings at Frontier Developments

careers.frontier.co.uk

That's for the upcoming F1 game most probably.

Thatchinho · Mar 10, 2020

khalismur said:
That's for the upcoming F1 game most probably.

"This is a great opportunity to work on solving new and exciting problems associated with creating AI which can navigate, drive and take part in combat over many different landscapes within a procedurally generated galaxy of over 400 billion star systems, and trillions of planetary surfaces."

"Responsibilities

Take ownership of the technical design and implementation of vehicle AI in the Elite Dangerous galaxy"

Yeah, definitely sounds like it's for the upcoming F1 Management game!

Thatchinho · Mar 10, 2020

Zornbringer said:
i'm sorry if this is common knowledge. it was a first for me. i've decided to just drive in a direction after finishing a planetary mission. then i found this.

View attachment 164860

scanned him of course. nothing happened. then of course i attacked him, because he's wanted, right?!

turned out to be a bad idea. he was actually still operational and started to attack my srv. not a good shot luckily. i've tried to outmaneuver him, so he would crash into the planet. didn't work. called my ship, entered it and went on with my business. sort of anticlimactic but whatever.

thought i'd share. never happened to me. didn't even know you could find random npc's on planet surfaces. i hope with space legs, we can steal these ships. i've already seen smaller installations with empty ships. of course we have to be able to steal these. i hope...

Yeah, cruise over the surface of a planet in the bubble, and you'll find all sorts of things.

Not sure how long you've been playing for, but at one point there were static POIs that didn't show up on any scanners and the only way to find them was to eyeball search planet surfaces!

Ships on surfaces are probably fairly common knowledge, but not necessarily for everyone, so nice one for sharing your discovery anyway!