NPC's running silent and not losing shields?

Soopyyy

S
Hi there,
I've spent the past few days in CZ's doing massacre missions. In this time I have noticed repeatedly NPC's that drop off my radar and I lose tracking on them, at this time I often see a heat sink being ejected as if the NPC has gone into silent mode. How ever, when this happens they don't lose shields, quite the contrary in fact, they seem to be regenerating shields in this time.
Surely this can't be "working as intended"? It seems rather unfair... "Cheating" if you will.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
Soopyyy said:
Hi there,
I've spent the past few days in CZ's doing massacre missions. In this time I have noticed repeatedly NPC's that drop off my radar and I lose tracking on them, at this time I often see a heat sink being ejected as if the NPC has gone into silent mode. How ever, when this happens they don't lose shields, quite the contrary in fact, they seem to be regenerating shields in this time.
Surely this can't be "working as intended"? It seems rather unfair... "Cheating" if you will.
Click to expand...

They just drop a heat sink which drops their temperature enough that you lose tracking. They are not actually silent running. They've been doing this for some time now.
 

Deleted member 38366

D
Anytime an NPC is firing an SCB, it'll normally also pop a Heat Sink.

So with low-grade or small Sensors, it's very common to lose the NPC contact.

I found with a Grade 5 Long Range Mod on an 8D Sensor, they vanish from the Scanner far more rarely (only small Ships still do it and even those not always).
So if you haven't tried it, worth having a look at.
 

Soopyyy

S
FalconFly said:
Anytime an NPC is firing an SCB, it'll normally also pop a Heat Sink.

So with low-grade or small Sensors, it's very common to lose the NPC contact.

I found with a Grade 5 Long Range Mod on an 8D Sensor, they vanish from the Scanner far more rarely (only small Ships still do it and even those not always).
So if you haven't tried it, worth having a look at.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've got the biggest sensor array I can get on my Corvette with the Engineered long range dealio and they still drop off at less than 1km.
It's really strange.
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Soopyyy said:
Yeah I've got the biggest sensor array I can get on my Corvette with the Engineered long range dealio and they still drop off at less than 1km.
It's really strange.
Click to expand...

It's not strange at all. That's how heat sinks work. They reduce heat sig to 0 and cause attackers to lose lock on the cold target. It's definitely not a cheat. PVP players do this all the time and is part of why they limited Heat Sink ammo and didn't give them a recipe for synthesis.

The size of the ship and the quality of your sensors impacts the range they can do this. Smaller ships can drop off up to about 400m if they have a very cold build. Or maybe 600m if you have good sensors. Every 100m counts.

Anyway the effect only lasts a couple seconds, and it's hardly OP, especially for these confetti NPCs.
 

sqzbox1

S
I can't remember exactly where it is stated in the documentation, but you have to remember that scanners work on heat detection. Try not to think of a scanner as radar - it is not a radar. Heat is the basis of scanner technology - and it's how you go silent - right? You drop your heat and other people lose lock on you. So if the other dude pops a heat sink and their heat consequently drops to zero - for a short while - then you lose lock on them. Makes perfect sense. Of course, as their heat rises, since they have not performed a "go silent" action which turns off shields which is one of the biggest heat producers, your scanners detect them again. While you can't see the effect, it does happen in reverse as well. You drop a heat sink and you will vanish off their scanner - temporarily. This has been tested amongst friends and is known to be true.
 

Soopyyy

S
Ziljan said:
It's not strange at all. That's how heat sinks work. They reduce heat sig to 0 and cause attackers to lose lock on the cold target. It's definitely not a cheat. PVP players do this all the time and is part of why they limited Heat Sink ammo and didn't give them a recipe for synthesis.

The size of the ship and the quality of your sensors impacts the range they can do this. Smaller ships can drop off up to about 400m if they have a very cold build. Or maybe 600m if you have good sensors. Every 100m counts.

Anyway the effect only lasts a couple seconds, and it's hardly OP, especially for these confetti NPCs.
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I was being a bit facitious when I called it a "cheat", while under the impression they were going silent. It's not really an issue, they only last 10 seconds longer than they would otherwise.
As for the "strange", its strange that my setup is ostensibly the same as mentioned but they're still dropping off for me. I might run some heat sinks and see if it has the same effect for me.
 

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
Soopyyy said:
Yeah I've got the biggest sensor array I can get on my Corvette with the Engineered long range dealio and they still drop off at less than 1km.
It's really strange.
Click to expand...
for me its rather strange that someone can get intoa a fully engineered corvette, without knowing the basics about sensors and heatsinks


Ziljan said:
It's not strange at all. That's how heat sinks work. They reduce heat sig to 0 and cause attackers to lose lock on the cold target. It's definitely not a cheat. PVP players do this all the time and is part of why they limited Heat Sink ammo and didn't give them a recipe for synthesis.

The size of the ship and the quality of your sensors impacts the range they can do this. Smaller ships can drop off up to about 400m if they have a very cold build. Or maybe 600m if you have good sensors. Every 100m counts.

Anyway the effect only lasts a couple seconds, and it's hardly OP, especially for these confetti NPCs.
Click to expand...
QFT
 

Soopyyy

S
I've just never noticed them dropping off the radar at such short distance before. Previously I put it down to being out of range with D rated sensors, but they're engineered for long range and I am seeing them drop off at 500mtrs, thus the question.
 

GilliganTX

GilliganTX
Bunkerkind Anni said:
for me its rather strange that someone can get intoa a fully engineered corvette, without knowing the basics about sensors and heatsinks
Click to expand...
Hey given a decent break and an a semi-frequent update schedule, it's easy to lose track of some changes.

I'm sure there's a few holes in my game, anyway.

EDIT: To the OP, this is normal. I'll be engaging a target, and then suddenly my gimbals start having a real hard time tracking, then I lose lock. Occasionally I can see the heat sink rocketing off stage right.

Which is totally fine by me, because I can usually still see them and now my lasers are operating as fixed weapons. Just keep shooting in fixed mode until the red box comes back, then re-lock your weapons.
 
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Soopyyy

S
GilliganTX said:
Hey given a decent break and an a semi-frequent update schedule, it's easy to lose track of some changes.

I'm sure there's a few holes in my game, anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been playing is Premium Beta, but have taken numerous months long breaks in that time.
 

sqzbox1

S
Soopyyy said:
I've just never noticed them dropping off the radar at such short distance before. Previously I put it down to being out of range with D rated sensors, but they're engineered for long range and I am seeing them drop off at 500mtrs, thus the question.
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Not RADAR!;)
 

CptXabaras

CptXabaras
Soopyyy said:
Hi there,
I've spent the past few days in CZ's doing massacre missions. In this time I have noticed repeatedly NPC's that drop off my radar and I lose tracking on them, at this time I often see a heat sink being ejected as if the NPC has gone into silent mode. How ever, when this happens they don't lose shields, quite the contrary in fact, they seem to be regenerating shields in this time.
Surely this can't be "working as intended"? It seems rather unfair... "Cheating" if you will.
Click to expand...

It's just their temperature dropping when they use a SCB, you loose signature on your scanner for a moment. It last longer if the NPC is not firing nor boosting. NPC do not silent run
 

Ildryn

I
I stopped having this problem when i started using A grade long range sensors.
Even silent running players are no longer a problem.
It would also help you guys if you ran a emission mod on one of your weapons.
 

Soopyyy

S
Ildryn said:
I stopped having this problem when i started using A grade long range sensors.
Even silent running players are no longer a problem.
It would also help you guys if you ran a emission mod on one of your weapons.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they weigh about as much as the entire rest of the ship :p
 
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