My Sarah-Jane adventures

Para Handy · Jun 14, 2015

I understand that lots of the pew-pew brigade were moaning that NPCs were too easy but honestly I think Sarah-Jane has gone too far this time.

Before today I had one insurance claim as a noob in my sidey hitting the boost button in a station and one when my brand new Cobra got totalled by an Imperial Clipper on it's first trip.

Yesterday I only just survived an encounter with a DB Scout and Cobra wing, today a wing of mostly harmless NPCs two Eagles and an Adder nearly had me (I only managed to cream the adder but had to run as the eagles kept switching places and no way could I get any damage into them) then just to make my day on the next trip an Elite Vulture jumped me and boy did he cream me. Chaff on each run and what I can only assume was mine-laying left me with no shields, cockpit gone, thrusters out and all I managed to get on him had been to get his shields down, so my poor A-rated Asp, with it's A6 shields, beam lasers, cannon, turreted beam and missile rack just tumbled in the dark till it blew up and gave me the insurance screen.

That little episode cost me over 3mil in insurance and cargo.

I think Sarah-Jane should change her name to "Elvira Mistress of the Dark" because this AI is now evil and makes my pathetic attempts at combat a real horror show.

Mohrgan · Jun 14, 2015

The AI has been getting better and better with no real complaints. Now we start to see some pressure pushing back. Not just this thread, I've seen the murmurs elsewhere. That means it is very nearly there. I figure there are one or two more tweaks and things will settle out. I have always suspected that the Dev's have always wanted the NPC as close to PC difficulty as is possible. To take the angst out of the 'Open is harder' crowd.

tetra · Jun 14, 2015

Personally enjoy the risk, even though currently things do need smoothing out quite a bit. At the moment there is just way too much variation in AI behaviour, especially in assassination missions. Having done about 30 since 1.3 hit I have had everything from AI that won't even get around to firing back before they die all the way up to elite vultures dropping in to assist the target you are supposed to be taking out and obliterating you within seconds. From everything Sarah-Jane has been mentioning she seems intent on making them even more deadly, which is perfectly fine, I just sincerely hope she finds a good balance between exhilarating white knuckle game-play with them and just leaving you feeling cheated. It is an incredibly fine line.

W4rSkuLL · Jun 14, 2015

An Elite Viper interdicted me in my mediocre Asp today in an Anarchy system. I thought, finally some resistance. Lets see what Sarah has done

It immediately attacked me with beam lasers and frag cannons. It seemed to glue onto me and turning was very quick. I got a little bit anxious as I saw my shields dwindling. Finally some "danger". I had to use 2 shields cells and really fight it out. If those beams and frags had been rails. I think I would have lost some hull. All in all a great experience. NPCs are getting better. It was great fun to test out my Asp against an Elite Viper. I think it gave 60000 in bounty to, not bad for a Viper

Dbrn47 · Jun 14, 2015

Have you run into the 8 member Sidewinder wing yet? That's fun.

deMangler · Jun 14, 2015

Mohrgan said:
The AI has been getting better and better with no real complaints. Now we start to see some pressure pushing back. Not just this thread, I've seen the murmurs elsewhere. That means it is very nearly there. I figure there are one or two more tweaks and things will settle out. I have always suspected that the Dev's have always wanted the NPC as close to PC difficulty as is possible. To take the angst out of the 'Open is harder' crowd.

The AI is definitely getting there. Brilliant stuff. What FD needs to do to is work on the scaling of difficulty between systems, so that there are truly safe systems and truly dangerous systems, with some way of telling which is which from the system properties.

Mohrgan · Jun 14, 2015

deMangler said:
The AI is definitely getting there. Brilliant stuff. What FD needs to do to is work on the scaling of difficulty between systems, so that there are truly safe systems and truly dangerous systems, with some way of telling which is which from the system properties.

I can/could get along with the idea that a pilot's rank is more important than the System's security status. One angry Elite is a bigger problem than a system full to overflow with MH 'Connies.

P.S. I have gotten into it with the 8 member NPC wings. It's 1 and 1 for me.

Araviel · Jun 14, 2015

MalcYorks said:
Before today I had one insurance claim as a noob in my sidey hitting the boost button in a station and one when my brand new Cobra got totalled by an Imperial Clipper on it's first trip.

is this not proof that she is on the right track?
myself had never died once from npc's before the 1.3 patch, not even in my noob days.
only times i have died has been in crashes or when i ran out of fuel in a unscoopable star system.
i had my first npc death yesterday, and it was wonderful

Gully Foyle · Jun 14, 2015

I am having a gas with the improved AI. Well said Cmdr.

ocflyer · Jun 14, 2015

I'm loving the new NPC skills. Before 1.3, I was considering going into Open play because the NPCs were too easy and I wanted to improve my combat skills. Now, I'm doing just that in solo with the Elite NPCs on the bulletin board missions. I find that I'm actually somewhat disappointed when I don't get interdicted on a trade run because fighting a Vulture in my well armed trade Python with a full cargo hold is a challenge. I'm having to resort to joust techniques when fighting a more maneuverable pirate, something I've never had to do until now. Thanks, SJ!