NPC Scaling?

[Old Duck]

Am I imagining things, or do NPCs scale with our ships? I would think the answer has to be "No", but allow me to explain why I'm even asking. Before VR, the humble Vulture was my favorite combat ship. With the right engineering, weapons, and piloting skills, I could take on most enemies, including combat zones. VR sorta ruined the Vulture for me (I just don't like the giant dome cockpit in a fighter), but I saved the various weapons I engineered for it and kept them for later.

Yesterday I bought my first Mamba on PC, and I used two of my favorite weapons in the size 3 hard points, along with engineered weapons in the other hard points. I go to a compromised Nav Beacon, expecting to do pretty good, but much to my surprise it's taking me FOREVER to kill anything. A stinking ADDER is tanking my Mamba like it was a Anaconda! What the heck? My Vulture would have melted that Adder into slag in seconds!

So I change my loadout to something different (a huge beam and 4 multicannons), and ships are still being crazy bullet sponges, no where near worth the pittance of credits one gets when they finally die. Speaking of, only 200,000 credits for an Elite Anaconda? Now that feels like a nerf. I thought for sure they were worth more than that....

So I'm very close to selling this Mamba and sticking with my Python and Eagle. It may sound crazy, but I can get more kills and make more credits in a regular Nav beacon in my Eagle than I can in a compromised beacon with this overpriced racer, and I have way more fun. Bullet sponges are NOT fun. Maybe it's always been this way, as I've read threads like this in the past, but I never noticed it in my Vulture. Which leads me back to the original questions - do NPCs scale up in difficulty to match our ships? Is that why Adder can hull tank my Mamba forever but my old Vulture would have slagged the same ship in seconds? Or did something change in the recent update to make all ships in compromised beacons bullet sponges? Something ain't right, I can tell ya that.

And yes, you CAN haz my Mamba, I won't be needing it

 

[Speedcuffs]

I've recently been delivering Hutton Mugs, decided to use my Keelback.
Suddenly my Interdictors are Eagles and Adders, consistently. Elite Adders. I still dropped and rammed one to death.

 

[Dommarraa]

Sort of. Ship type of Pirate Interdictions does, but pilot skill is linked to your Combat rank (or other Rank-2)
Interdictions - Yes, CZ and Res - No. Fly a Python and you are pretty much guaranteed to be interdicted by a Conda.

 

[Old Duck]

I've recently been delivering Hutton Mugs, decided to use my Keelback.
Suddenly my Interdictors are Eagles and Adders, consistently. Elite Adders. I still dropped and rammed one to death.

I don't know how these Adders expect to carry the goods they pirate, seeing every one of their limited module slots is equipped with HRPs and SCBs.

 

[Rubbernuke]

From my own experiences NPCs do scale to your ship. In my DeathVette I get pirates in large ships (or bad boy mediums) while in my smaller ships the sent opposition (BH etc) seem to like small ships too. Bear in mind this is mission generated NPCs, or rando pirates.

Personally, I want this to stop. It kills variety when you could make up for ship size with numbers. Imagine a flock of engineered Sidewinder pirates, or pootling along and having a tag team of naughty pirate lords out on the razz.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Ships scale with your ship pick and combat rank. And Mission you take. Combat rank makes them take engineered equipment too.
I agree that bulletsponges are no fun. I feel it turned with my combat rank after they introduced engineers. But they also changed the NPC equipment lists, putting more HRP spam in. Probably because we had engineers now and are supposed to deal with the standard bulletsponge by engineering all the crap.

 

[Old Duck]

Sort of. Ship type of Pirate Interdictions does, but pilot skill is linked to your Combat rank (or other Rank-2)
Interdictions - Yes, CZ and Res - No. Fly a Python and you are pretty much guaranteed to be interdicted by a Conda.

I am specifically talking about the toughness (specifically, how much DPS a ship can absorb) of a specific ship vs the same weapons mounted on different ships. It feels like my class 3 weapons are more effect when mounted on a humble Vulture than on the much more expensive Mamba, leading me to wonder if there is some algorithm that makes the same enemies stronger when I fly a more expensive ship in a CNB or CZ or HAZRES.

 

[thistle]

Off topic, but I find both the Vulture and the Mamba so much better in VR than 2d. I never liked the Vulture cockpit until I tried VR, the angle seemed wrong in 2d (same with the Courier) but makes sense in VR. And the Mamba in VR. Amazing. Something about the 3d effect of those ridiculous protuberances wafting about in front of the ship like a comedy window cleaner smacking people with the ladder over his shoulder.

 

[Dommarraa]

I am specifically talking about the toughness (specifically, how much DPS a ship can absorb) of a specific ship vs the same weapons mounted on different ships. It feels like my class 3 weapons are more effect when mounted on a humble Vulture than on the much more expensive Mamba, leading me to wonder if there is some algorithm that makes the same enemies stronger when I fly a more expensive ship in a CNB or CZ or HAZRES.

Then specifically - no.

 

[Speedcuffs]

I am specifically talking about the toughness (specifically, how much DPS a ship can absorb) of a specific ship vs the same weapons mounted on different ships. It feels like my class 3 weapons are more effect when mounted on a humble Vulture than on the much more expensive Mamba, leading me to wonder if there is some algorithm that makes the same enemies stronger when I fly a more expensive ship in a CNB or CZ or HAZRES.

Ah, enemies 'tankiness' related to your ship?
Interesting, I've not noticed that, but I'm unlikely to with my methods.

 

[Old Duck]

Personally, I want this to stop. It kills variety [...]

I totally agree. I should be a killing machine in an engineered Mamba, especially against an ADDER.... What's the point of even having a Mamba when an Adder can hull tank four MCs for a ridiculous amount of time?

Like I said, I only noticed this in the compromised nav beacon. Regular nav beacons and non-hazardous RES behave as normal. But then I think, why bother with a Mamba when my Python is just as good a killer in these scenarios? And an Eagle is more fun to fly than all of them! Did I mention that I can make more credits at a normal beacon (very few assists, BTW) than I can a compromised beacon because of the TTK? If nothing else, the super-Adder flown by Captain America should be worth more credits...

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not just imagining this. Too bad the Vulture looks so ugly in VR, because it was in the perfect sweetspot when it came to]effective DPS. It just baffles me that the same weapons are less effective on a Mamba because it's a higher tier ship...

 

[babelfisch]

I am specifically talking about the toughness (specifically, how much DPS a ship can absorb) of a specific ship vs the same weapons mounted on different ships. It feels like my class 3 weapons are more effect when mounted on a humble Vulture than on the much more expensive Mamba, leading me to wonder if there is some algorithm that makes the same enemies stronger when I fly a more expensive ship in a CNB or CZ or HAZRES.

AFAIK load out (HRPs, MRPs, engineering) only scales based on rank. Higher ranked enemies have better equipment.
I do remember something changing based on ship size and weapon size but I don't know what it was... Maybe memory comes back after a few drinks. nudge nudge, wink wink

 

[Old Duck]

AFAIK load out (HRPs, MRPs, engineering) only scales based on rank. Higher ranked enemies have better equipment.
I do remember something changing based on ship size and weapon size but I don't know what it was... Maybe memory comes back after a few drinks. nudge nudge, wink wink

I did recently receive a rank promotion, but I was Deadly on PS4, and so was my Vulture. I could easily solo any of the CZs. I don't think I dare take this Mamba to a CZ considering the difficulty I had at the CNB last night...

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I dunno. I mostly fly my frag Krait MkII, and not much argues with that.

"Paff paff paff" and I'm on my merry way again. I don't even notice the rank. Lol

 

[Zerocz]

Combat zones feature military ships. Harder hulls and reinforcements. I remember when they introduced the Imperial Cutter, my twin-beam vulture took ages to burn through to their powerplant. I wound up swapping one out for a plasma accelerator. Even before that, CZ ships were noticeably tougher than RES ships.

Take that Mamba into a HazRes and I think you'll see a big difference.

That said, encounters generated for you, such as mission interdictions and random piracy while on trade runs, definitely take your ship into account.

 

[babelfisch]

I did recently receive a rank promotion, but I was Deadly on PS4, and so was my Vulture. I could easily solo any of the CZs. I don't think I dare take this Mamba to a CZ considering the difficulty I had at the CNB last night...

Regarding hardpoint and ship size, the only thing I remember is that smaller hardpoints have a damage penalty against larger ships.

 

[Old Duck]

Regarding hardpoint and ship size, the only thing I remember is that smaller hardpoints have a damage penalty against larger ships.

Understood, but that doesn't explain Captain America's Adder.

 

[Friedenreich Xante]

From my own experiences NPCs do scale to your ship. In my DeathVette I get pirates in large ships (or bad boy mediums) while in my smaller ships the sent opposition (BH etc) seem to like small ships too. Bear in mind this is mission generated NPCs, or rando pirates.

Personally, I want this to stop. It kills variety when you could make up for ship size with numbers. Imagine a flock of engineered Sidewinder pirates, or pootling along and having a tag team of naughty pirate lords out on the razz.

Well I understand FD doesn't want to have new players ragequit. But they should send small ships and bad pilots towards better equiped and ranked commanders from time to time, too, just vor variety.

But ONLY from time to time. I remember when wimsy ships interdicted elite commanders in corvettes with a speach like they were Farraguts. Community was complaining this didn't look realistic.

 

[babelfisch]

Understood, but that doesn't explain Captain America's Adder.

Yes, I just thought I should mention it to rule out that damage mechanics have something to do with it.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Am I imagining things, or do NPCs scale with our ships? I would think the answer has to be "No", but allow me to explain why I'm even asking. Before VR, the humble Vulture was my favorite combat ship. With the right engineering, weapons, and piloting skills, I could take on most enemies, including combat zones. VR sorta ruined the Vulture for me (I just don't like the giant dome cockpit in a fighter), but I saved the various weapons I engineered for it and kept them for later.

Yesterday I bought my first Mamba on PC, and I used two of my favorite weapons in the size 3 hard points, along with engineered weapons in the other hard points. I go to a compromised Nav Beacon, expecting to do pretty good, but much to my surprise it's taking me FOREVER to kill anything. A stinking ADDER is tanking my Mamba like it was a Anaconda! What the heck? My Vulture would have melted that Adder into slag in seconds!

So I change my loadout to something different (a huge beam and 4 multicannons), and ships are still being crazy bullet sponges, no where near worth the pittance of credits one gets when they finally die. Speaking of, only 200,000 credits for an Elite Anaconda? Now that feels like a nerf. I thought for sure they were worth more than that....

So I'm very close to selling this Mamba and sticking with my Python and Eagle. It may sound crazy, but I can get more kills and make more credits in a regular Nav beacon in my Eagle than I can in a compromised beacon with this overpriced racer, and I have way more fun. Bullet sponges are NOT fun. Maybe it's always been this way, as I've read threads like this in the past, but I never noticed it in my Vulture. Which leads me back to the original questions - do NPCs scale up in difficulty to match our ships? Is that why Adder can hull tank my Mamba forever but my old Vulture would have slagged the same ship in seconds? Or did something change in the recent update to make all ships in compromised beacons bullet sponges? Something ain't right, I can tell ya that.

And yes, you CAN haz my Mamba, I won't be needing it

I sold my mamba too. However my reason was the super brittle canopy. Stg that thing breaks from the pressure change of a sneeze.