NPC and Combat Ranks

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hello everyone!

Got another barmy idea here.

We currently have a situation where some pilots are struggling with even the lower levels of AI, others are wiping the floor with even the hardest AI, and others are happy how things are.

So, turning up the difficulty for "good" players is bad for the other two groups, turning down the difficulty for the "bad" players is bad for the other two groups, and leaving it how it is for the average players is bad for the other two groups.

So, how about we, ignoring all of the above, make the AI scaled much more pronounced.
Harmless AI is just that. Absolutely harmless. And Elite AI is exactly how it should be, an engineered-using-all-the-tricks nightmare. And everything in between.

Then, the clever, yet simple part.

Combat ranks, when progressing to the next combat rank, you either;
A) Have to complete a small challenge to go up in rank.
B) Choose not to accept the rank.

Either solution allows you, to some extent, to cap the difficulty at a level you're comfortable with. You could even go as far as being able to roll back your rank.
Of course, if you wing up, or are just sharing the instance with a player of a higher rank, you might still come across tougher AI, but the general solo experience would be tailored to your rank. The problem with the current system, is you can slowly rank up over a long time, even if your skill level doesn't actually improve.

NPCs spawned by missions would still be based on that missions rank, not yours.

This system would simply allow you to stop progressing in combat rank when the AI becomes too difficult, and you can roll it back to the previous level if needed.

Thoughts?

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Riverside]

That was one of the things they did in 2.1. IMO now it's too easy at the start

I'm kind of in favour of the NPC rank scaling with player rank, when I was Deadly I relished any opportunity to take out a Deadly or Elite NPC, but once I reached Elite I lost interest in shooting every baddie I saw & would be happy to be interdicted by any NPC combination of ship & rank purely for variety.

Rolling back your rank is an out of game activity & not one I personally would want to see in the game. I'm Elite, ergo I've completed the 'story' & beaten the final boss. Now I have unlocked all the things & just want to sandbox, frankly.

I can see how this might appeal for some, but it would affect us all.

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

Harmless NPC's just sit like ducks there.
Elite NPC's are hard as Hell and can't be beaten in an unengineered ship.

The problem here is the min-maxing of engineering and taking only the best of best of best rolls.
That's the reason why it gets "too easy". Try to kill an Elite Python with any unengineered ship....and fail!

 

[Riverside]

The problem here is the min-maxing of engineering and taking only the best of best of best rolls.
That's the reason why it gets "too easy". Try to kill an Elite Python with any unengineered ship....and fail!

I believe risk plays a part too. Some players simply want more risky scenarios, even if their personal ability is average. For those players that have played for hundreds or thousands or hours, have black boxed all the mechanics to find their secrets & counters, who play in a maxed out ship and still want a really tough challenge, I have little sympathy.

Still, if a sufficient challenge is put into the game I will be happy for them.

 

[Vlad Tepes]

For me this proposal would be the best way to have a system that can satisfy everyone. The power of choice

Having a challenge to unlock the rank is an idea I really like too. That's a lot more satisfying to gain it this way imo compared to just fill a bar.
Each time a gain a rank I'm actually surprised cause I didn't do anything particular to gain it. It's nice but I prefer a real merit rather than a progression over time.

 

[Riverside]

Thoughts from another thread:

One of the issues I have with the baddies that interdict you (pirates, bounty hunters etc) is that they are tailored (mostly) to your combat rank. I'm Combat Elite & only ever get interdicted by Elite NPCs (caveat: I have been exploring since before Christmas), and I guess you never get interdicted by Elites. You might enjoy a higher ranked opponent for the challenge without farming (as I did when ranking up), whereas I have mostly lost interest in combat & would prefer a little variety.

For the stuff that does come to the player, I'm not convinced the player's combat rank is a useful KPI, or at least not that alone.

I wonder if a 'rolling last 50 NPC kills' average rank could be used to better represent the players desire for stronger (or weaker) opponents. Use the Karma system to track their recent behaviour & model around that.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

For me, I would just be happy if the higher paid missions were guaranteed to wrinkle, & wrinkles involving hostiles was more unavoidable in these cases.