News NPC AI update

[Rankaze]

+1 to this. Why are there so many high ranked Sidewinder and Hauler pilots out there behaving like any other ship? Are they retired? Why are there so many Master and up Authority vessels on patrol? These should be saved for elite swat response teams, not plodding the beat.

For the same reason there are so many Master and up pirates running around - to provide a challenge for Master and up players.

Man, I can't imagine how incredibly boring the game would be if I couldn't find a steady supply of high-ranking opponents. Seriously, I watched my friend who had never seriously tried combat (he's an explorer who has been out of the bubble a very long time and wanted a break before he goes back out) go into a Low RES two days ago and wipe the floor with Competent and Novice AI in an Eagle with B thrusters, fixed pulse lasers, and a B distributor. He had A shields but they were never really tested.

High-ranking NPC's have to be there or we go right back to the mindless grind combat was before 2.1.

And in a galaxy loaded with Elite pirates, you can bet there's gonna be some Elite cops. Think of them as the 3302 equivalent of Texas Rangers (for whom the phrase, "one riot, one Ranger" is legend).

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

Anyone?

Are these npc's with those never seen before weapons gone now or will they be removed by the upcomming bugfix?
Xbox takes longer to update because of the stupid certification.

there is a longer wait for the full fix but they are gone in the worst form as i understand it already. there is an end of weekish pc patch, but xbox will have to wait a bit longer according to the post i read because lots more hoops a patch needs to jump through there.

 

[yargxela]

Hi Zac

I really appreciate your effort in trying to fix all the issues. But to be honest, I really doubt, that there are no more NPCs on steroids or overly aggressive NPCs out there.

I died 4x since yesterday and the last time just a few minutes ago. This time by an NPC, attacking me without prior contact directly in front of a Station. I did not even have the chance to react. Before I could release my weaons, I had no shields any more. After weapons were released, my a-shield /2x a-shield booster ASP Explorer was dust... No I stop playing, because I am tired of wasting my credits for this buggy and annoying 2.1 update.

Question: do I get my 5-6 million credits back, that I lost since yesterday because of those bugs?

I agree just lost asp explorer to massive thermal attack from NPC. Shields like paper with 2x a boosters. wasted the entire evening

 

[majogl]

Hello. I have two questions.

1. When exactly has the removal of Engineers upgrades from NPCs gone down, if it happened already? Cause i think i may have encountered a fair few of those today.
2. How long will they stay without those mods? Because with the time that it currently takes to get familiar with an engineer and get materials (especially the ones you can only get from missions) is way too high.

 

[WinterCharm]

AWESOME news.

1. I love that you're keeping the AI difficulty high it's made the game really fun.
2. At the same time, removing these "cheat" weapons was the right move.
3. Thank you!

 

[Dutchman141]

Some are gone now due to the serverside update yesterday.
the rest will be removed on friday (i think - the next patch anyway) on PC
The Xbox patch will take a litle longer - watch the OP in this thread for more info when it becomes known

Thank you so much for a clear answer, let's hope we'll get the patch quickly then.

 

[Javert]

Not sure if this was already linked, but there is a really interesting more detailed explanation of this issue from the programmer here, who appears to be burning the midnight oil to find and fix this stuff:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=256993&page=11&p=4002121&viewfull=1#post4002121

 

[wstephenson]

High-ranking NPC's have to be there or we go right back to the mindless grind combat was before 2.1.

Slow down a minute, I never wrote that there shouldn't be high ranking NPCs, just that they should be doing thing appropriate for their rank. Want to fight powerful pirates? Haz RES or Comp Nav Beacon. Want to fight powerful cops? Destroy the first responder, and unleash a torrent of elite rapid response on yourself.

 

[Red Anders]

Like you 1984 I work in IT. Presently in the UK NHS IT environment where mistakes simply aren't tolerated.

Lorenzo.

lol

 

[Smoon]

Perhaps they invented the laws of physics and decided now was the time to show their might. All hail our NPC overlords.

 

[Tooth Fairy]

Lorenzo.

lol

Apex, ICE and Lorenzo (sadly).:S

 

[Dimensions]

It may explain why npc missiles are able to strip shields in secs.

 

[steevaavoo]

You'll never look at them in the same away again...

Do... [gulp]... Do they... Do they look like us now?

 

[Heater]

Thanks, Zac

 

[Para Handy]

Well I have had a least two separate Elite ViperIV attacks on me with "impulse attack" since the server-side "removal of NPC modded weapons" - perhaps F D could confirm whether some Elite NPCs are being left fitted with engineered mods?

 

[Javert]

Well I have had a least two separate Elite ViperIV attacks on me with "impulse attack" since the server-side "removal of NPC modded weapons" - perhaps F D could confirm whether some Elite NPCs are being left fitted with engineered mods?

Have you reported this? If you definitely saw "impulse attack" on the screen and the special effect, it doesn't sound like it fits into the current identified bug based on the explanation given. It seems like there are still some cases where NPC ships are having engineered weapons as well even though it's much less common now - that's probably another issue they need to locate. Could be that the mission script you are involved in has a hard coded NPC with engineer weapons that isn't switched off by what they have done, but that's just a guess.

 

[Ziljan]

I just had a terrible feeling..., seems like we, the community failed our job finding those AI bugs during 2.1 Beta. Am I right? Have we failed our purpose?

I'm so sorry for that dear Frontier. I promisse I'll do better myself during next Beta!

The Engineer upgrades for players were SO DAMN GOOD that we didn't even notice?

 

[V'larr]

Great job Frontier in discovering what was going on this quickly! When the only bad news is that it'll take til the weekend for the fix to reach us...that's pretty darn good.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Still think that the casual player will want the npc,s toning down a tad.

I'm a casual player and I like the new AI just as it is thank you. If anything, the middle ranks (Competent and Expert) could do with being a little tougher-something MoM has promised-as I seem to be having tougher battles with Novices at the moment (admittedly based on a small samples size ).

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Hi Zac

I really appreciate your effort in trying to fix all the issues. But to be honest, I really doubt, that there are no more NPCs on steroids or overly aggressive NPCs out there.

I died 4x since yesterday and the last time just a few minutes ago. This time by an NPC, attacking me without prior contact directly in front of a Station. I did not even have the chance to react. Before I could release my weaons, I had no shields any more. After weapons were released, my a-shield /2x a-shield booster ASP Explorer was dust... No I stop playing, because I am tired of wasting my credits for this buggy and annoying 2.1 update.

Question: do I get my 5-6 million credits back, that I lost since yesterday because of those bugs?

That is a seperate bug that I believe they are also looking into (the AI Aggro bug). I am pretty sure Support will reimburse you if you ask nicely.

 

[Soup Grelos]

So how about when youre trying to undermine a faction, and ANY SINGLE npc is from master to elite , what ever theyre piloting like a keelback, hauler or transporter, do you understand by AI not to have a drop of self safety and ram against the player whatever it takes like a WWII japanese zero¿? Thats DI = dumbass intelligence, and a hell and no fun for the player. Im serously considering desinstall this game the next week. Youre making the game to be impossible play for casual & new players.