No thanks. I would prefer a designed challenge where I need to use every resource and skill at my disposal to succeed; not an arbitrary self-imposed stunt where I do something stupid and ineffective on purpose just because the game was phoned in.You want a harder Elite? Try some of these actions:
PvP inside an icy-ring.
Go to a HazRes or High CZ and fight the NPC's with Flight Assist Off.
PvP with Flight Assist Off.
Go to an Orbital Scientific Facility and speed through the tunnels without wrecking yourself (to make it even harder: with FAOff).
Just some suggestions, though.
Make it hard
- Thread starter Galafrey
- Start date
Not true at all. The devs deliberately and openly tweaked the difficulty of interdictions many times, not just fixed bugs.
Can you show me any discussions or patch notes about it ? I've been playing since launch day and never seen any changes to Interdictions.
The "Openly tweaked" part means I must have missed something.
The interdiction process itself, not how many happen, or under what conditions.
Fly a shieldless T9 loaded with LTDs into a pirate system. Keep defending yourself until you see the rebuy screen
Seriously OP. If you've reached the stage where NPCs are no longer a challenge, you need to graduate to OPEN. /close thread>
way.The player base wants everything easy and instant. There is no challenge to this game with the exception to PVP and the first few hours when you are learning to pilot a ship.
We shouldn't be saying that NPCs in general need to be harder.
Because there are already hard NPCs out there, if you go looking for them. Conflict zones, pirate lord assassination missions, pirate activity detected signals, etc.
What we should be asking for is more variation and a smarter application of this diversity of difficulty in appropriate places.
Right now, I am ranked "Dangerous" and I never need to worry about NPCs. There isn't a single situation that NPCs concern me. I frequently fly around with hundreds of millions worth of cargo, but the NPCs I encounter, even the hostile ones, are no challenge. My opinion is that interdictions by Deadly or Elite NPCs should be as difficult to evade as a player interdiction. I often feel like I'm cheating when I evade a Deadly Mamba in my Cutter - a behemoth of a ship. I almost want to lose just so things felt a little dangerous.
I don't want noobs to be shredded though...so lower ranked ones should continue to be easier.
The point is, the further you progress..whether it's your combat rank, or the value of the cargo you are carrying...the game should be more challenging and risky. NPCs in general span across all difficulties. You just never get the hard ones unless you specifically go looking for it...even if you're highly ranked and carrying 400 LTDs.
People complain about mining being so OP, but we always focus on the payouts. The payouts aren't the problem. The problem is that "Mostly Harmless" Cutters can fly around with no shields, carrying tons of cargo, and never have to worry about a challenge, or if they can evade NPCs.
Because there are already hard NPCs out there, if you go looking for them. Conflict zones, pirate lord assassination missions, pirate activity detected signals, etc.
What we should be asking for is more variation and a smarter application of this diversity of difficulty in appropriate places.
Right now, I am ranked "Dangerous" and I never need to worry about NPCs. There isn't a single situation that NPCs concern me. I frequently fly around with hundreds of millions worth of cargo, but the NPCs I encounter, even the hostile ones, are no challenge. My opinion is that interdictions by Deadly or Elite NPCs should be as difficult to evade as a player interdiction. I often feel like I'm cheating when I evade a Deadly Mamba in my Cutter - a behemoth of a ship. I almost want to lose just so things felt a little dangerous.
I don't want noobs to be shredded though...so lower ranked ones should continue to be easier.
The point is, the further you progress..whether it's your combat rank, or the value of the cargo you are carrying...the game should be more challenging and risky. NPCs in general span across all difficulties. You just never get the hard ones unless you specifically go looking for it...even if you're highly ranked and carrying 400 LTDs.
People complain about mining being so OP, but we always focus on the payouts. The payouts aren't the problem. The problem is that "Mostly Harmless" Cutters can fly around with no shields, carrying tons of cargo, and never have to worry about a challenge, or if they can evade NPCs.
I don't think that's an area FDev really focus on. Presumably the expectation for the business model is that a player might get to Elite, or some similar goal, then move on, happy to have played for a few hundred hours.
But why is that a problem? They buy the game, they have fun, they buy some cosmetics then they move on. And the servers stay up for the few players in it for the longer term
But why is that a problem? They buy the game, they have fun, they buy some cosmetics then they move on. And the servers stay up for the few players in it for the longer term
I've seen some posts before where a person was angry that they got destroyed by an NPC in their shieldless ship...ok fine...but the solution they were asking for was to disable all NPCs in solo mode. So they could go mining without risking losing their ship/cargo.
It's an extreme example. But it makes my point. How fun would a game be where you could just go mining, and never see another ship (NPC or player) at all? Basically have the whole galaxy to yourself.
Where do we draw the line?
It's just a matter of risk vs reward. Mining is a highly rewarding (in credits) activity. So there should be an equivalent high risk associated with it - of course tailored a bit to the player's level and what cargo they are carrying. So a noob with a small ship and 20-30 LTDs can still be rather safe. Especially if they stay in high security systems. But if this noob has a Cutter with 512 LTDs, and flies into an Anarchy system - the risk should be much greater. And if it's an Elite player, it should be even greater. I mention system security state, which also should be included in the calculation. It all fits with the lore. In the lore, Anarchy systems are the most dangerous, and Democracies tend to have the most security, making them safer.
A few posts, right.
You don't draw the line, nor do I. FDev do and it seems to me the game is aimed at different kinds of 'challenge' and 'skill' rather than only combat. There are plenty of aspects to the game with little overlap of skill required.
As 'a few posts' have stated in this thread, the challenge comes from competing against other players, or setting your own goals.
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I don't understand the logic of your post. NPCs can NEVER be what you're suggesting by default of them being NPCs
If you genuinely want a challenge, then you need to migrate and play in Open. Based on the cornucopia of threads in the forums, there are SCORES of lonely PvPers, pirates, lawless criminals, gankers, seal clubber murder hobo Cmndrs alike who are simply dying to make your acquaintance to date.
Why aren't you playing in Open? Or did I miss something?
Did that today, three times. The AI was sufficiently competent at my current level to just about destroy my Python.
Barely escaped, and once with my console sparkling like the 4th of July.
I do play in Open, pretty much 90% of the time. And I do get that uneasy feeling seeing other CMDRs in combat ships when I'm carrying cargo, etc etc.
My only point is that when you are new, or low-ranked without much experience, NPCs can be a bit of a challenge. However once you reach a certain skill level, NPCs become nothing more than visual fluff. And I think they should scale up a bit more, or at least not be so easy to evade when they interdict me. A bit more risk, especially with certain factors in play (low security or anarchy system, high value cargo, high value (dangerous/deadly/elite) pilot should equal greater risk of a combat or skilled escape situation.
Just to add to my above response: I think you bring up a point that I didn't really articulate before.
There is such a wide gap in the challenge level between high ranked NPCs, and player gankers/pirates/PvPers.
If I was flying my cargo Cutter, which is equipped for Open mode defenses (huge engineered shield, etc), even the highest ranking NPCs pose almost zero challenge, but I'd probably die from a PvP gank squad, or even just one ganker with FSD disruptor missile and engineered plasmas. There's nothing in between. The choice is - either risk almost guaranteed death from a well equipped PvP ganker, or go into Solo and have no risk at all. There is no "a bit of risk but I can handle it." It's just two extremes. I think that's what bugs me more than anything. Perhaps it's a matter of perspective...but that's my experience.
The ones that chase you cater to a fairly basic skill level - they can be evaded in a T-9 or whatever the player is using. The ones that you go to do offer significantly higher challenge, threat 5+ USSs, Thargoid stuff, wing assassinations. The game already does what you ask for.
I'd like to see location based threat level mean more than just how long system security takes to show up, but that's still going to mean you'll need to go to the location rather than that existential threat applying to every populated system.
Then we are in agreement! It's what I meant in my original reply when I said "smarter application of this diversity of difficulty in appropriate places."
As an example...what if the high sell price for LTDs today was in a low security or anarchy system? This should equal a higher chance of a high ranked NPC pirate that can't be evaded. So miners would have to make the decision - to arrive in that system with a chance (it doesn't have to be a big chance, just a small chance) of facing a combat or skilled escape situation...or go to the high security system where the prices are not as great...but you can take your unshielded ship there relatively risk-free. But right now, the security state is ignored by everyone.
Ok. Thanks for clarifying that. But my point still stands. Once a seasoned player feels their vet pilot XP is too omnipotent for the enemy NPC AI, then that is the point where they need to exclusively engage in PvP. i.e. on a 24/7/365 basis. Yes the Milky Way galaxy is a big place. But it's not hard to maintain Cmndr/Player density as long as you stay within the bubble.
So again, if a vet/seasoned Cmndr reaches that milestone where enemy NPC AI simply doesn't cut the grade (or gets bored), there are MANY creative options. i.e. Hang around the Engineer systems. Pick a fight with the authorities or the winning AI side in a war zone anywhere in the galaxy with a neurotic passenger on board. Load up your cargo hold with alien organs and go flirt with the 'Goids in witch space. Or loiter around in high traffic areas like Jamestown. And for that extra challenge, do so in a non combat ship with valuable cargo and paper shields. Or really get creative and constantly broadcast your whereabouts on Discord. Sooner or later you'll score a date with elite Cmndr jocks the likes of SDC, The Code etc etc. But whatever you do, please leave the poor criminal NPCs out of this debacle. They're completely undeserving of your contempt tbh.
