NPC health regeneration crap

[n4p0l3on]

not sure if many aware of this... but I've been trying guerrilla tactics for assassination missions that require me to kill pythons and the likes, mostly because 1.3 increase the AI difficulty... I tried to do hit and run tactics, basically try to hurt the target's hull/power plant as much as possible and run away when they start ganking on my ass and by run away here I mean I went up to supercruise...

to my disappointment and frustration I found out that the target would always get instantly back to 100% health on the next encounter, despite the fact that it could have been only after a very short time -such a short time that he could not possibly landed somewhere to repair his ship-

total immersion ruiner

can I demand a positive change for this unpleasant gameplay mechanic?

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

Yea, for all intents and purposes, they are 2 seperate npcs. Until recently another player could kill your target and a new one would still appear next uss.

 

[Cmdr Ultra]

Umm no thanks. Get a faster ship and run away in the same instance. Or how about they deposit the credits into your account when you take the mission.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually i was wrong, make your change its better.

 

[Forlorn]

What bothers me is when they high wake to a different system, only they really don't - they (apparently) respawn elsewhere in the current system fully repaired.

 

[SirAdelaide]

I wish FD tracked all NPCs on their server, rather than having player clients spawn and despawn them. It would get rid of so many problems.

 

[Tar Stone]

What bothers me is when they high wake to a different system, only they really don't - they (apparently) respawn elsewhere in the current system fully repaired.

I was disappointed in this behaviour as well, as I remember Michael Brookes specifically saying that we could "chase them across the galaxy". That doesn't happen at all, they jump out and the game just resets the mission and they appear back in supercruise.

You can see all the mechanics working behind the scenes in every part of the game.

 

[Frenotx]

I believe a wake sniffer will allow you to chase them where they high jumped to. I know it works with regular npcs at nav beacons, etc.

 

[Vasious]

Hmm, the NPCs that chase you down, keep the same health, if you damage them then jump away and they made a second go at interdicting you.
That suggests what the OP is asking for can be implemented somehow, maybe?

 

[Mohrgan]

I think it's fair the way it works. I have had to resort to running and hiding/dodging while my shields return, to maintain an encounter. I don;t think you should be able to SC and recover the same encounter. Guerrilla tactics can be accomplished within the instance. SC'ing out is like calling uncle.

 

[Enride]

Its a bit sad because it shows how shallow the background sim is in some cases.
This living breathing universe is less then meets the eye.

 

[Space Dandy]

I think it's fair the way it works. I have had to resort to running and hiding/dodging while my shields return, to maintain an encounter. I don;t think you should be able to SC and recover the same encounter. Guerrilla tactics can be accomplished within the instance. SC'ing out is like calling uncle.

Why should NPC shields and hull damage mysteriously repair itself instantly if ours doesn't?

If you're fighting, especially in ranking missions, and npc runs away you need to jump to SC find him again and he is back 100% shields and hull but if you do so your hull stays damaged and your shields don't reset. It should be like this for the NPC too.

 

[Mohrgan]

Why should NPC shields and hull damage mysteriously repair itself instantly if ours doesn't?

If you're fighting, especially in ranking missions, and npc runs away you need to jump to SC find him again and he is back 100% shields and hull but if you do so your hull stays damaged and your shields don't reset. It should be like this for the NPC too.

Because it's a computer game and it has to generate a target by some logic. You are asking the game to keep track of your spcific NPC while changing instances. It's a bit much, if you ask me.

Plus, it just seems like we, as players, could allow that by SC/HJ'ing from an instance is conceding defeat.

 

[Kyudos]

Because it's a computer game and it has to generate a target by some logic. You are asking the game to keep track of your spcific NPC while changing instances. It's a bit much, if you ask me.

Plus, it just seems like we, as players, could allow that by SC/HJ'ing from an instance is conceding defeat.

It should be simple (of course it might not be!) - you are already keeping mission specific data across all instances (e.g. - what is the mission? have you completed it yet?) For assassination missions you'd just need to maintain more info for that mission (like target health parameters). They could still reset on a timer - e.g. if you don't find and re-engage the target soon enough then they 'have gone to a station for repair'.

 

[Forlorn]

Because it's a computer game and it has to generate a target by some logic. You are asking the game to keep track of your spcific NPC while changing instances. It's a bit much, if you ask me.

Plus, it just seems like we, as players, could allow that by SC/HJ'ing from an instance is conceding defeat.

Prior to 1.3, you could follow an NPC, and they would retain their hull/module damage, although they benefitted from the same shield reset that we did.

Now that entering SC no longer resets shields for us, I think it's reasonable that NPCs don't get an even better reset than before.

I'd agree with SC/HJ conceeding defeat if the game didn't have a Frame Shift Wake Scanner, which implies that a chase SHOULD be part of the fun.

 

[DidierDrbois]

... or we could actually see (and follow) assassination targets docking in stations for repairs. Damage them, then follow and (if they're wanted) perhaps see the station finish them off. I don't know, just throwing it out there.
_
The NPCs need to be persistent. The fact that they're still not bothers me greatly. Is the game (are Frontier) actually capable of delivering persistent NPCs? Why is this (and many other) burning question being so zealously avoided?

 

[Kyudos]

... or we could actually see (and follow) assassination targets docking in stations for repairs. Damage them, then follow and (if they're wanted) perhaps see the station finish them off. I don't know, just throwing it out there.
_
The NPCs need to be persistent. The fact that they're still not bothers me greatly. Is the game (are Frontier) actually capable of delivering persistent NPCs? Why is this (and many other) burning question being so zealously avoided?

I believe persistent NPCs would be fairly easy for FDev to deliver for a lone Cmdr. The problem comes with making them persistent in the universe - because there is no 'central universe' of NPCs and missions. In Wings for instance - you are all chasing an NPC in the same instance, so far so starightforward. Now, lets says NPC jumps out and a non-leader wing member 'follows' him. The NPC state has to follow the follower, and perhaps be redistributed to the rest of the wing if they all join back up again later. Its not trivial.

 

[Forlorn]

... or we could actually see (and follow) assassination targets docking in stations for repairs. Damage them, then follow and (if they're wanted) perhaps see the station finish them off. I don't know, just throwing it out there.
...

The Clean targets do dock, then take off again. I'd love to follow a Wanted target to a station and watch them take off fully repaired!

 

[Daffan]

not sure if many aware of this... but I've been trying guerrilla tactics for assassination missions that require me to kill pythons and the likes, mostly because 1.3 increase the AI difficulty... I tried to do hit and run tactics, basically try to hurt the target's hull/power plant as much as possible and run away when they start ganking on my ass and by run away here I mean I went up to supercruise...

to my disappointment and frustration I found out that the target would always get instantly back to 100% health on the next encounter, despite the fact that it could have been only after a very short time -such a short time that he could not possibly landed somewhere to repair his ship-

total immersion ruiner

can I demand a positive change for this unpleasant gameplay mechanic?

NPC's dont even exist when you leave

they literally spawn and de spawn as you enter or exit.

L o L persistance sandbox

 

[Shaamaan]

Ahh, even more consistency. Of course, our shields no longer instantly recharge in SC, which is consistent with what the OP describes, as you'd expect.

 

[Winterwalker]

I believe persistent NPCs would be fairly easy for FDev to deliver for a lone Cmdr. The problem comes with making them persistent in the universe - because there is no 'central universe' of NPCs and missions. In Wings for instance - you are all chasing an NPC in the same instance, so far so starightforward. Now, lets says NPC jumps out and a non-leader wing member 'follows' him. The NPC state has to follow the follower, and perhaps be redistributed to the rest of the wing if they all join back up again later. Its not trivial.

Agreed that's it's not going to be a trivial technical fix (or I hope it would be in the game already) but the problem of NPC hull regeneration isn't trivial either, very very bad for the game. We do need NPC's to be persistent and I'd suggest that if they need time to work on it, FDEVS ought to make it clear that they are. Human players can be banned for using exploits, this bug is basically an NPC exploit.

to my disappointment and frustration I found out that the target would always get instantly back to 100% health on the next encounter, despite the fact that it could have been only after a very short time -such a short time that he could not possibly landed somewhere to repair his ship-

total immersion ruiner

can I demand a positive change for this unpleasant gameplay mechanic?

Suggest report it as a bug (?) .. Hopefully anyone seeing the same thing, does so too, FD will get the message?

I guess for now, have to imagine the NPC had an autorepair unit. However not all ships can carry autorepair, my SW doesn't have room, and it does depend on the time between encounters .. not a long term fix then, but hopefully a thought that unbreaks the game for you for now.

+1 rep to the OP for geurilla tacticals.