News NPC AI update

Nice to see the AI and game play is still not very good, all they had to do was just give the AI a little tweak to stop the death spins but it seems the game itself has gone into its own death spin, now you only read about the ace pilots who made I would guess most of their money pre AI update to nutcase 2.0, these guys say GIT GOOD. Then you have the casual players who maybe played the original Elite ( or maybe didn't ) and the game now consists of running, get interdicted..... run some more. I used to play every waking moment, whilst holding down a real job but to be honest it really has gone up on here, maybe frontier don't want my kind playing, I know that they've managed to get the 8 guys off my shift who were hooked on it to start playing other games and that's a real shame.

I am so with you... I only play a few times per week but that is reduced to once a week now. I do not wish to spend several hours on training vids and landing training, just to play this game. I really think it has the potential of becoming a great game, but apparently FD does not want average players, only players that are willing to spend hours on training; and then again hours on pip management and engines thingies, I could not care less for.... Damn, I waited for 30 years on this remake and they managed to managed to kill it, such a shame...
 
I don't want the NPCs to be easy. But if I'm driving around in a tank and a Honda Civic can kill me in short order... I'm feeling like something might be unbalanced.

So Strange... I never ever see a complaint like this on the forum "[sarcasm sign]" so it must be you... Otherwise someone would have done something about it months ago...
 
I am so with you... I only play a few times per week but that is reduced to once a week now. I do not wish to spend several hours on training vids and landing training, just to play this game. I really think it has the potential of becoming a great game, but apparently FD does not want average players, only players that are willing to spend hours on training; and then again hours on pip management and engines thingies, I could not care less for.... Damn, I waited for 30 years on this remake and they managed to managed to kill it, such a shame...

a few times a week? You're more persistent than me. I don't play a game to be constantly challenged to the point of backwards ... I was really enjoying this game until the AI update, I haven't played for months and I won't till (if) this changes...so, I paid my sub for this year, will I pay it next year? Unless something changes, I doubt it. Just run away...git gud...blah blah blah. what I did was went to no-man's sky for some relaxing (tho far less rewarding) game play. Wish I could get a copy of pre AI Elite to play, it was a fun game.
 
Wow, I haven't played since the last update and the AI is still the same. Well, maybe, I'll wait for another update to come and go and see if anything new has changed where the AI is concerned. I simply want areas of space that are predictably safe for traders and miners. NOT the constant interdiction with every mission you take crap. The last time I played - over a month ago - I saw repeated interdictions by the same NPC before I could complete the mission. I would jump out and he somehow was able to be there when I did. That says the mechanics for NPC's are still somehow different than real players. And I can play other games in the mean time. Cya!
 
Hey guys,

We wanted to share a quick update with you to let you know how the investigation into the NPC AI has been progressing after the removal of the Engineers weapons for the NPCs and what the next steps are.

The development team have been hard at work investigating these bugs. To give you a little more information, it appears that the unusual weapons attacks were caused by some form of networking issue which allowed the NPC AI to merge weapon stats and abilities. Meaning that all new and never before seen (sometimes devastating) weapons were created, such as a rail gun with the fire rate of a pulse laser. These appear to have been compounded by the additional stats and abilities of the engineers weaponry. (We don’t think the AI became sentient in a Skynet-style uprising! :) ). However, the valiant Mark Allen from the Development team has managed to terminate these NPCs in their tracks.

The bug fix is expected to go live in our next point release which is planned for the end of this week/early next week but we’ll have more news on the exact time in the normal patch notes forum.

I would just like to take this opportunity to clarify a few misconceptions. The AI has in no way been reduced, it remains the glorious, improved version from the update. The only action that we’ve taken so far has been to remove the engineer weapons to allow us to investigate the issue and address a key bug. Once this bug fix goes live we’ll be able to see how the AI is performing and then, over time, should we feel that the balancing is right to introduce a very select few high end engineers weapons to the highest ranked NPCs we will investigate that option. However, that won’t be immediately as we want to ensure that the balance is just right. :)

Edit: Please note this point update will be PC specific and the Xbox One update will need to follow after. We'll let you know as soon as we have more information.

Maybe this comes a bit late but.....
Did these PA's or Rails with a firerate of a pulselaser indirectly confirmed that NPC's have/had infinite weapon energy and ammunition? :S
 
Wow, I haven't played since the last update and the AI is still the same. Well, maybe, I'll wait for another update to come and go and see if anything new has changed where the AI is concerned. I simply want areas of space that are predictably safe for traders and miners. NOT the constant interdiction with every mission you take crap. The last time I played - over a month ago - I saw repeated interdictions by the same NPC before I could complete the mission. I would jump out and he somehow was able to be there when I did. That says the mechanics for NPC's are still somehow different than real players. And I can play other games in the mean time. Cya!

I don't understand this. I regularly take missions, sometimes I'm interdicted, sometimes I'm not. I don't understand why some people report being constantly interdicted. That has certainly not been my case. There must be something at play...
 
The last time I played - over a month ago - I saw repeated interdictions by the same NPC before I could complete the mission. I would jump out and he somehow was able to be there when I did. That says the mechanics for NPC's are still somehow different than real players. And I can play other games in the mean time. Cya!

This is because you are picking up the AI with the mission. I have seen this several times, and you either have to kill her or keep her busy until the authorities come in to help or run every time until you fullfill the mission. I believe they will go away then, but not sure since I get off after the second interdiction and kill em.

If you don't want them, stop taking these kinds of missions. Also why the hell can't I say        on this freekin forum!
 
Last edited:
a few times a week? You're more persistent than me. I don't play a game to be constantly challenged to the point of backwards ... I was really enjoying this game until the AI update, I haven't played for months and I won't till (if) this changes...so, I paid my sub for this year, will I pay it next year? Unless something changes, I doubt it. Just run away...git gud...blah blah blah. what I did was went to no-man's sky for some relaxing (tho far less rewarding) game play. Wish I could get a copy of pre AI Elite to play, it was a fun game.
Totally with you
 
I wouldn't say this is a real issue anymore. compare it to real piracy you get attacked because you have cargo, you are not trading in a warship so you you drop cargo and run. The natural response is to outfit for multi purpose. As for res sites the AI has improved, no more stationary spinning ships or rapid fire rail guns. If you are in a top tier combat ship of course it's going to be easier, if you want it difficult go to a hazardous resource extraction site with 1 ton of crappy cargo you'll soon have a good fight. Horses for courses.
 
This whole discussion is getting pretty tiresome tbh.. I've been away from ED for a month or more. I could get into my non-modded Vulture and pewpew up to 2 million credits in the current CG. Hazardous is not a place for me due to the difficulty levels there and the fact that the Vulture doesn't pack enough punch. But the HighRES is just perfect! :)
 
This whole discussion is getting pretty tiresome tbh.. I've been away from ED for a month or more. I could get into my non-modded Vulture and pewpew up to 2 million credits in the current CG. Hazardous is not a place for me due to the difficulty levels there and the fact that the Vulture doesn't pack enough punch. But the HighRES is just perfect! :)

Glad you found a good challenge in the game Insomnia, I'm quite enjoying High RESs too. CZs are a bit beyond me (haven't tried with a modded ship). I hope everyone can find a challenge at their level in the game, as long as they are prepared to seek it out, and hopefully when the Thargoids arrive they will be able to provide a decent challenge to those that seek it without becoming a brick wall for the rest.
 
Okay, as far as the AI upgrade is concerned, I went through the five stages of Elite Dangerous update:

Denial: There's nothing different, what are people complaining about?
Anger: OMG, that Type 6 just took out my thrusters and left me spinning in space, I hate this game.
Bargaining: I may be getting killed by everything, but my SRV driving skills have drastically improved.
Depression: I can't spend hours in a CZ killing Elite Pythons that don't shoot back, I'm going to go play Tetris.
Acceptance: I have to relearn some of the game concepts and re-evaluate my approach to combat.

Yes, the combat is drastically more difficult than before. Yes, I too have been left spinning in space by a medium leveled pilot, in a medium powered ship, who shot out my thrusters and otherwise caused 0% damage to any of my other systems (an exaggeration, but not by much). Yes, I've made the mistake of entering a combat zone, choosing a faction, and then finding myself being attacked immediately by 4 to 5 hostile ships and having to thrust away (or be left spinning in space to be destroyed or self destruct).

I don't agree with the "get good" crowd, they're just trolls. I do believe people need to change their tactics, and how they approach combat. An "all around" build isn't going to be as effective in combat anymore. I decided long before this update to have multiple ships, one for trading / exploration, one for combat, ect. I've accepted that I need to work my way back up to where I was before. I've also accepted that I need to learn how to fly in combat without my flight assist on, if it will give me an advantage in battle. I also need to look into adding modifications to my modules by visiting engineers, which will also give me an advantage.

The AI has changed it's tactics, shouldn't we as players do the same?
 
Last edited:
Having stopped playing for some weeks now, maybe I'm not the best person to say that there are ways to play safe. I think that not carrying around mission reward cargo, avoiding missions that are above your rank and aborting missions that get updated with an NPC kill subtask with a reward more than 50K credits, can keep you safe. Unfortunately I do not find it enjoyable to have to do so many "tricks" to avoid getting easilly killed. I think it's a trick to sell your mission reward cargo probably worth less than 5K credits just to avoid an opponent that is going to cause 1.5M damage (at least) in insurrance cost. Or you may get a mission update to kill someone that is after you for 80K and you get an impossible opponent that you cannot target or escape. Some times there is no time to abort the mission either. It happened to me to get interdicted as soon as I reveived the notification and before I even had the chance to finsh reading it. The reward is not worth the risk. Destroying me has been very easy for some of the opponents I faced. I find it hard to understnd how easy it is for them to disable my thrusters or fsd, a few seconds after the shield goes down. And then there is just no time to re-initialize them and get away.

What I find very irritating on this game is that learning to fight with the new AI is so expensive. I want to become better fighter in the ships I have. I don't mind fighting difficult fights. But I cannot copy some techniques I see from other people that probably play with different equipment than I do. I want to become better in fights just using my keyboard. Last time I checked, it was still a valid way to play the game. But I face many difficult opponents and I end up with my ship turned to pieces too frequently. I do get better little by little but these are lessons too expensive for my balance.

So my activity on ED is for now to monitor the forum to learn when new releases of the game are available, to test how easy it is to go against opponent I cannot win and loose a fight. I was among the ones that believed that the game would find its balance. Now that it seems that the developers have a state they believe is right, I'm finding myself unwilling to play. Even though the money I make usually is more than the insurances I pay, I still don't find it entertaining to get so frequently destroyed.
 
I would like to add one point AGAINST the new AI behaviors.

The faction ships (Serius Security, Federal Agents, ect.), are HYPER aggressive. Instantly attacking me at a Nav Beacon (I'm Alliance), is one thing. Attacking in the No Fire zone of one of their own stations is quite another. I had a Serius Security ship who was somehow landing shots on me INSIDE of the station.

This just seems like too much of a "good" thing, unless all the faction AI ships are hyped up on space-meth, and all have a death wish because you're delivering Biowaste to their station, and won't give them their cut. Aggressive is one thing, psychopathic is another.
 
During the latest CG, I was trading gold like never before. As soon as I got a message and saw an NPC closing in on me, I logged off, and logged back in. :D
Didn't have any issues with interdictions during the whole time of the CG. :)
 
Cannot believe yesterday having a good battle with an assault ship in my python both had no shields i had 80% hull he had 40% then out of the blue i took 1 hit and that was it ship gone and had to pay over 3000000 to get ship back. How on earth did he do that i one hit. These NPCs are taking the PEE now.
 
Cannot believe yesterday having a good battle with an assault ship in my python both had no shields i had 80% hull he had 40% then out of the blue i took 1 hit and that was it ship gone and had to pay over 3000000 to get ship back. How on earth did he do that i one hit. These NPCs are taking the PEE now.

It's times like these where shadowplay (or similar) comes into it's own. I have mine set to record the last 20mins if I press a hotkey. it's like an instant replay ;)

Chances are something explainable happened that you just didn't see in the heat of the moment, but it could have been a bug. The OP Engineered weapons bug introduced in 2.1 was only picked up because someone put a shadowplay vid up.
 
just got nailed...again by a NPC...came out of nowhere...not on the scanner,nowt. the interdiction,that was fine i have adjusted my tactics and have gained some success,which is good. Yet on the hits i get caused internal damage and from there on out i was doomed. This game is really annoying the hell out of me now...since 2.1.4/.5 i have lost over 10 million credits due being killed and as for cost of lost cargo and scan data...who knows...but i know one thing...im so fed up that it may just have to be binned and not played again..i have continually picked myself up,changed what i do and how i do it..to no avail..i still keep getting destroyed.
i will upload a vid link when ive finished it..
Sorry but the love for this game is slipping and all because you had to go to far on the AI...
 
Right....yet again i have just been interdicted and destroyed by an Imp Clipper firing ONE weapon...ONE. oh and a hull which was way over armoured.
since 2.1.4/.5 i have lost over 10 million credits in insurance payouts alone...that dont include constant repairs,lost cargo and scan data..its a damn joke.
I have constantly changed the way i do things in this game...but whats the point when i cant advance as i keep getting wreaked everytime i move with any amount of a good paying cargo ?
The game is now forcing you not to take good paying missions as you will at the very least get seriously damaged. I used to love this game and with the limited time i get to play,making some money...now im just losing it hand over fist. The AI did need a tweak...but not to the level its at now. I can accept loss when its valid,but to lose it to a ship firing only one weapon at me,and has the most amazing FSD interdictor fitted,that is just to hard to take.
Since 2.1.4 update everytime i play i lose a little more of the will to carry on. Now im sure the narrow minded idiots will tell me to leave,go away, or try and get good. But the way its going i will actually run out of credits.
So please tell me why i should continue to play a game i joined back in the Beta stage and have invested over £100 in when the whole enjoyable factor has gone. I USED to love playing this game...now,after this,i am questioning if i should just stop and leave it.

Link to video of encounter below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmJsX2I6GmU
 
Back
Top Bottom