News NPC AI Update - 2.1.03 and beyond

[Darth Ender]

Can the NPC's apologize profusely upon meeting a commander and they're not equipped to fight? Like a knight's honor thing? Perhaps the NPC can give them gold and such so they can purchase proper shields and weapons. Maybe offer them tips on quickly choosing a high wake destination to quickly avoid a combat situation altogether? Maybe just go back to spinning in place?

it's getting kind of ridiculous. There is such a thing as a game that is fun because it's hard and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Returning npc's to the level of difficulty they were pre 2.1 is the wrong move. You might as well just have them panic and self destruct everytime they come across a cmdr (at the cmdr's discretion of course. Gotta blaze your own trail) . That's the definition of "fun" some seem to think they require of FD to give them.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I think that's something that ought to scale with AI combat rank - the higher the rank the more likely they are to do this. The higher the rank the more likely they are to do so tactically.

targeting components for NPC's breaks bulkheads/armor upgrades. Although it makes sense from a "if we can do it, they should be able to do it too" perspective, but in PvE, allowing NPC's to target components completely breaks armor mods. This puts trading and the upcoming taxi service update back into viable play. It means if you're not a fighter you don't have to hope your boost lasts long enough for your FSD to cool down. It's a practical fix. Don't look at it as a fairness fix. Targeting systems is supposed to be for players who take on much larger ships, not for NPC's to bypass armor mods.

Another way to go would be to remove targeting power plant. Allow system targeting to take out SYSTEMS, but still require the ship to be destroyed by taking the hull to 0....and of course if you have repair bots on your ship, you could be using them to fix your systems while your opponent is pounding away on your hull...now THAT would be cool, and open up targeting systems for something other than just a quick kill...like targeting FSD when you have a big ship with a wing of fighters so the ship doesn't jump away while you're dealing with cover...or taking out the bigger guns on an Anaconda so you can stay close long enough to do some damage...like the old Xwing/Tie Fighter games where you would take on destroyers and other cap ships.

 

[Terry Bruge-Hiplo]

Sounds good, and will hopefully result in more CMDRs being happy with the difficulty! There's some nice little fixes all round in 2.1.03.

 

[Ziljan]

Sounds good, and will hopefully result in more CMDRs being happy with the difficulty! There's some nice little fixes all round in 2.1.03.

According to the polls "more commanders" were happy with the 2.1.02 difficulty which was already a compromise. Now we have people gnashing their teeth on the other side of the spectrum. So no, not happy.

 

[Bzek]

Got to try this new difficulty now...

Guys, this is awful. Like just plain dreadful. These NPCs are literally not fighting back.

 

[Riverside]

According to the polls "more commanders" were happy with the 2.1.02 difficulty which was already a compromise. Now we have people gnashing their teeth on the other side of the spectrum. So no, not happy.

But a 'significant portion' were not. I'm sure you understand how this works Ziljan. Barring bugs fixed/introduced the AI appears unchanged, but ime longer delays before opening fire make it easier to adapt to. How do you think SJA would respond to your recent complaints?

 

[Iron Duke]

<snip>
What concerns me greatly now is when I eventually return to populated space with all my exploration data, some dirty cheating AI ship is going to interdict and take me out, thus loosing all that data and severely damaging my enjoyment of this game. My ship is not equipped for combat. If I am forced to do combat I will leave the game altogether.
<snip>

If it makes your feel any better, I returned from the DWE with shed loads of data, in a pre-2.1 build ASP (only shields. no weapons) and did not get interdicted at all. Made it back around June 19th.

Edit: If you are really worried then maybe contact Iridium Wing, as they can escort you back safely.

 

[ammonitida]

But a 'significant portion' were not. I'm sure you understand how this works Ziljan. Barring bugs fixed/introduced the AI appears unchanged, but ime longer delays before opening fire make it easier to adapt to. How do you think SJA would respond to your recent complaints?

It isn't unchanged. Frontier is disguising nerfs as "bug fixes". My Mark IV should not be able to outmaneuver a Mark III master while using only the most basic combat techniques. Yet it did post-update. Before the update, I had to fly backwards to beat a novice Adder once. I would have been shredded by a master Mark III if I tried any lame-brain tactics on it. Their "fix" on ship maneuverability has destroyed any challenge. As for the delay, removing that is pathetic. These were some of the most most challenging encounters I faced, where I had to think fast to survive.

 

[oranginam]

Frontier thank you for having made these corrections, it is already much more playable.

 

[jasonbarron]

Brett, just a thought on your OP--based on my experience in a Haz Res last night, I was able to rampage through a swath of Deadly/Elite NPC's without fear or concern for my own safety. I could practically take on entire wings without fear of being shot in the back.

As it stands right now, there is absolutely no motivation to continue improving my relationship with the engineers because their skills are utterly unnecessary.

 

[Riverside]

Yes you are right, the lower ranks have been nerfed, it's in the notes. I was referring to the top end, I should have made that clear.

 

[Ziljan]

If you are really worried then maybe contact Iridium Wing, as they can escort you back safely.

If you believe the patch notes, Iridium Wing is now technically a liability. Especially if any of the escorts has made enemies earning their combat ranks.

But the actual danger in any system is quite low after 2.1.03. So no need for an escort at all.

 

[Riverside]

Hmm. If any iridium wing Cmdr is prepared to reset I will cover the cost of a combat python. Please pm me if you think you can make that work.

 

[MarcinKsi]

Did the bug when you are interdicting someone and going off crazy spinning after it is done is fixed as well ?

 

[the games masta]

What concerns me greatly now is when I eventually return to populated space with all my exploration data, some dirty cheating AI ship is going to interdict and take me out, thus loosing all that data and severely damaging my enjoyment of this game. My ship is not equipped for combat. If I am forced to do combat I will leave the game altogether.

my suggestion for when you return to the bubble would be, if you see the comms chatter for a ship about to interdict you, save and exit before they can do so. i.e. cheat the system

unfortunately with the overly aggressive AI i find this is the only 100% effective tactic for survival when running as an explorer or trader. works quite well - call me cheater if you like but I feel that the AI is cheating aswell

 

[ShimEnki]

I like this update. Made the game playable and I'm not immediately running every time a ship appears.

great update!

I still saw the bug where bonus mission times appear with almost no time but at least the game is playable now.

thank you for listening to us lesser players. you made thr game fun.

I second this CMDR

 

[Ian Skippy]

If you believe the patch notes, Iridium Wing is now technically a liability. Especially if any of the escorts has made enemies earning their combat ranks.

But the actual danger in any system is quite low after 2.1.03. So no need for an escort at all.

No, the higher-lvl spawns due to the escorts wont attack the explorer.

 

[Sunleader]

And they Stealth Buffed the NPCs again.....

Got Interdicted 3 Times in less than 1 Hour Gameplay.

And just now Got Killed by Cheating NPCs again which took down my Pythons Shields and Hull in less than 10 Seconds on 2km Distance....


I wish they would decide which way they want to go....
I.ll take an Break until they do I guess.

Its just Frustrating to Play right now.

 

[Riverside]

And they Stealth Buffed the NPCs again.....

Got Interdicted 3 Times in less than 1 Hour Gameplay.

And just now Got Killed by Cheating NPCs again which took down my Pythons Shields and Hull in less than 10 Seconds on 2km Distance....


I wish they would decide which way they want to go....
I.ll take an Break until they do I guess.

Its just Frustrating to Play right now.

I was wondering if the Interdicting NPC was tailored to my current loadout the other day. I normally carry double chaff on most ships & recently have been seeing mostly fixed weapons. Took a Python out (just added Military Armour to my explorer Python) without chaff & sure enough, the Elite Vulture that interdicted me had gimballed weapons.

Kinda felt like I was being forced down a particular path. Since I fitted my ships with point defence I haven't had an interdictor use missiles on me. Could be coincidence, didn't feel like it though.

 

[Riverside]

It's always amusing how lighthearted people draw conclusions from a single incident. The last days of 2.1.02 I experimented the first time with seeker missiles and pronto the first AI I met had point defence! Conclusion? From one single incident? No way, that's just silly. Last night I was flying some missions, some of them Elite missions (above my trading/combat skill) and wasn't interdicted even once. Do I sing the song of how badly the AI has been nerved with 2.1.03 now? No way. Just let it settle down a few days and we'll see. All this hysteria... [haha]

You are right of course, I am more paranoid that most
I am currently on my way out of the bubble (to the Winchester), if there is more conclusive testing done I would be interested to read it.

It is nevertheless a concern of mine that I am being played by seemingly telepathic AI. Perhaps I am not playing the way the recent updates intend?