When a Clipper turns tail at the first site of a downed shield, how do you kill it in a Krait Phantom? I follow and shoot its FSD but cannot mass lock the ship, so its gone in a few seconds. Do I need some kind of super penetrator rail gun or something, if such a thing even exists, to knock out its FSD in one hit?
Even in the modern era, the Clipper is stupid-fast. That should almost always be its preferred choice if it doesn't want to fight.
I don't believe that just because we're players, we have the grant to have 100% kill guarantee. That's ridiculously prevalent in almost all games, so the few games I find that allow NPCs a bit more survivability I enjoy it. Some stuff should be able to escape us depending on the circumstances, and easily sometimes. In the specific case of the Clipper, that sounds like what most real pilots would do with it. Why stay and risk getting peeled open when you can just boogie? Maybe they had a date.
I play a lot of modded STALKER, and mere survival is a win in that game. Avoiding things is also part of the gameplay, because sometimes getting into or staying in a combat just too dangerous for that particular scenario (enemy has grenades, outnumbered, poor terrain/weather, low on ammo, wounded, laden with stuff - all kinds of risks that could all potentially apply). It's a sense of existing in that environment, as the NPCs try to survive too using many of the same methods. Monsters and human factions all have enemies and they can attack each other out in the world. Human NPC use medkits even on each other, try to flank and sneak and use cover; doods that have a whole gang with them will be more aggressive than a single wounded guy, who will hide out.
This bit of Elite is levels below that feeling, but for me letting NPCs Sir Robin if they can adds far more believability to Pretend Spaceman than doods lining up for me to kill them with a salad fork. Yes, it's a burn if someone peels out, but for me that's part of the whole thing. I don't feel I was owed a statnubby just because I was fighting an NPC; those that get away might need something else to be stopped than what you currently have. Depends on what's going on too, if I'm doing haulage and get sucked into a combat, the hostile leaving and me having intact cargo is still a win to me.
