NPCs should be more aware of who their are up against

Lukasz490

Lukasz490
As of now i dont think it matters what ship or battlerank you have, all NPCs interdict, scan and behave the same towards you.
It does not matter if they are Harmless or Elite.
It would be very nice to have a little more variation regarding the behavior of NPCs.

For example:
You are in a battle oriented ship like the Federal Corvette and suddenly a random Sidewinder appears.
The Sidewinder scans you and if you have nothing on board or any bounties on your head, the pilot will say you are a waste of his time.
This NPC acts very cocky, as if he had any chance to begin with.
And if you have a bounty or something in your cargo, the Sidewinder will open fire without any reconsideration.
This makes no sense at all. NPCs should not start fights they have no chance in winning.
If they are in a Wing of 4 or more, then ok I get it, but if they are alone then it is pretty much very silly.

My suggestion is, that the NPCs act regarding their rank and ship and have communication messages showing that.

It would be nice too if, lets say... you are in Federation or Imperial space that the NPCs would make remarks of what rank you have in the leading faction and be amazed or something.
Like "Oh damn an Admiral. Sorry to have annoyed you sir!"
 
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space voyager

space voyager
This has been suggested a few times already and is IMO a very needed change to make the game a bit more believable. Also a pirate still offering you to stop the fight if you just empty.your hold - while he is on the verge of destruction etc... NPCs completely lack perspective.
 

moorison

M
It is a little silly how often this happens, but I would not want to remove the chance of overconfident NPCs. It is also believable that some pirate bosses are sending some useless drugged up underlings on a suicide mission, it is not like there won't be more later.

Since you can reach these auxiliary navy ranks with trading or otherwise non-combat missions, they should not deter pirates from giving it a try. It is not like the rank has an influence on the type of police that arrives.
 

UebelBAM

U
I agree. At least now they message you to give you some cargo. A while ago if you had cargo, and would be scanned, NPCs automatically attacked you. But yeah ... i think something needs to be changed here. I can have 1t of cargo on my ship, which can be worth 500 credits or something like that, but every NPC will take the chance to get that.

Ideally, in a more perfect world, NPCs would evaluate how much the cargo is worth and if they can take you on. And if not, in a much more perfect world, fly away and come back in a better ship and/or wing.
 

Daynen

D
It's ludicrous how tone-deaf NPC's are. Even something as simple as a 500cr bounty will send every NPC sidewinder, asp, vulture and anaconda high waking after your contrails with all the zeal of a religious martyr with zero regard for not only their lives, but the reward itself.

Tell me how sane it is to challenge ANY SHIP AT ALL for the promise of a mere 500cr. I wouldn't even deploy my hardpoints for such a paltry bounty. It wouldn't even fill a fuel tank much less pay for repairs. It's completely illogical and irrational. The fact that 500cr KILL BOUNTIES are assigned in the first place is laughable to begin with, but I guess that's ANOTHER bit of insanity for another day...
 

tribbleoverlord

tribbleoverlord
Its not just that, it should also take into consideration the kind of moduals you have.

one thing that really annoys the space balls out of me is the fact NPC pirates, wether they be interdicting you or in norm space, will ALWAYS scan you looking for CARGO... Even if you...dont...have...racks!!!
It gets annoying for them to fly up to you (and sometimes not even hit the brakes, slam into you, spin around, try to scan you again, slam into you...ect) and tell me "next time you should fill your hold with Gold" when im in a g Vulture with no cargo racks, what you want my pocket lint? i have a stick of bubblegum. no? ok howbout some hot lead and lasers!

If can see what each ship has for interior set ups, the NPC's should be able to as well, see i have NO CARGO RACKS and ignore me unless i have a bounty or am doing mission stuff that warrents an attack or harrassment.
Or maybe a Pirate Reputation like the other factions in-system have. the more pirates you destroy the lower the rep you get with them in the system till its KOS (kill on sight) but thats something for another thread

Not only that but i remember a time when if a sidewinder scanned you and you were in something bigger, badder and had meaner guns than them. youd get this message (or something like it) "Im out classed." or " Whoa, way out of my leage sorry dont want any trouble." and they'd run away! now... well the devs seem to have removed it compleatly, i havent gotten one of those messages in 2-3 years... and im in a python getting scanned by sidewinders.
 
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Daynen

D
Funny, because when I drop into a RES I get assailed by a dozen pirates at a time spamming my chat with corny canned messages about my empty hold. It's almost painful seeing such cheesy dialog that broadcasts their intentions so stupidly.

Of course, as soon as they turn around to fly away I unload my shock cannons and beams into their exhaust port...but I still wish Frontier would rethink some of their NPC behaviors.

Pirate: "What are you carrying?"
Me: "Nothing. Thanks for standing still for a kill warrant scan though."
Pirate: "Next time you should fill your hold with gold."
Me: "Next time you shouldn't come to the RES with a bounty in four systems." Boom. Bounty acquired.

Like, it's not telegraphed enough for them to fly straight at you, stop and stare for five seconds so you can see they're wanted; they had to say something completely stupid just to make SURE you know they're pirates...
 

Daynen

D
Bigmaec said:
Yep, more immersive NPC chatter would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Or, since creating immersive chatter is more an art than a science, less chatter would be at least as good. Some of these things don't make sense at all for us to see in the first place.

And I STILL want missions to hunt down those damn cruise liners and wedding barges...like:

"OKAY TODD, THE ENTIRE STAR SYSTEM DOESN'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR VOWS FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME. TURN OFF YOUR BROADCAST BEFORE DEATH DOES YOU PART."

"NOBODY CARES THAT YOU'RE IN THE TOP 1% BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE CRUISE LINER IN THE GALAXY IS IN THE TOP 1%. SHUT UP BEFORE I TURN YOUR TOP 1% CRUISE LINER INTO A TOP 1% COFFIN."
 

Havvk

Havvk
Daynen said:
Or, since creating immersive chatter is more an art than a science, less chatter would be at least as good. Some of these things don't make sense at all for us to see in the first place.

And I STILL want missions to hunt down those damn cruise liners and wedding barges...like:

"OKAY TODD, THE ENTIRE STAR SYSTEM DOESN'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR VOWS FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME. TURN OFF YOUR BROADCAST BEFORE DEATH DOES YOU PART."

"NOBODY CARES THAT YOU'RE IN THE TOP 1% BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE CRUISE LINER IN THE GALAXY IS IN THE TOP 1%. SHUT UP BEFORE I TURN YOUR TOP 1% CRUISE LINER INTO A TOP 1% COFFIN."
Click to expand...
This
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
This should have been adressed ages ago. NPC behaviour and selection are the most placeholder thing still in the game.

1. Add variety !

It kills immersion completely when you always see the same ship types interdicting you. After a certain point it will always be either an Elite Anaconda or Fer de Lance. Shuffle that up, add wings of other ships to the mix. Same thing for assassination missions. Always the exact same number and selection of ships, only loadouts are variable, ridiculous !

2. Add threat assessment to COVAS !

When you are interdicted, when you target or interdict a ship, have the HUD display an encounter threat level and the COVAS giving a warning if the opponent seems a bit too strong. This would primarily help new players to not run head over heels into an impossible fight.

3. Make NPCs more believable !

This is mainly the original topic of this thread. This is also the only thing I am actually seeing progress with. The number of NPCs that act more realistically has increased, it just needs more ! Trying to flee when the encounter turns bad is more common already. But as the OP says, NPCs need to be more conscious of what they are up against. The game has the mechanic of scanning ships in SC, let NPCs do that ! And when a pirate sees no cargo racks, it should simply move on instead of interdicting, cargo scanning and then buggering off (unless you reduce it to space dust as punishment for the annoyance). After the SC ship scan is also the time for some comms banter. Some taunt when they are deciding to interdict, but also some other fluff when they don't. Something along the lines "letting you off the hook this time" after SC scanning a trade Cutter in SC that packs some serious firepower and would be suicide to interdict for example.
 

Daynen

D
Cmdr. Numa said:
This should have been adressed ages ago. NPC behaviour and selection are the most placeholder thing still in the game.

1. Add variety !

It kills immersion completely when you always see the same ship types interdicting you. After a certain point it will always be either an Elite Anaconda or Fer de Lance. Shuffle that up, add wings of other ships to the mix. Same thing for assassination missions. Always the exact same number and selection of ships, only loadouts are variable, ridiculous !
Click to expand...

I saw my buddy in his fully A-rated combat trader cutter get interdicted by a lone wanted keelback the other day. Actually watched it happen. Stupidest NPC I've EVER seen.

A KEELBACK. Pulling a CUTTER.

Come on.
 

Caliber_az

Caliber_az
Who idea was it to have the pirate say ' Just give 79.5K of cargo and I will let you live'

I get the one about tonnes but even if I was concerned about getting a rebuy how do figure out that amount. is the price I paid or the price I can in that system? If I ask will he stop firing at me long enough to get a calculator out and try to figure out how many tonnes of whatever I have will add up to that amount?

Ya, NPC dialog needs some love from the devs

Caliber
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
rootsrat
Lukasz490 said:
As of now i dont think it matters what ship or battlerank you have, all NPCs interdict, scan and behave the same towards you.
It does not matter if they are Harmless or Elite.
It would be very nice to have a little more variation regarding the behavior of NPCs.

For example:
You are in a battle oriented ship like the Federal Corvette and suddenly a random Sidewinder appears.
The Sidewinder scans you and if you have nothing on board or any bounties on your head, the pilot will say you are a waste of his time.
This NPC acts very cocky, as if he had any chance to begin with.
And if you have a bounty or something in your cargo, the Sidewinder will open fire without any reconsideration.
This makes no sense at all. NPCs should not start fights they have no chance in winning.
If they are in a Wing of 4 or more, then ok I get it, but if they are alone then it is pretty much very silly.

My suggestion is, that the NPCs act regarding their rank and ship and have communication messages showing that.

It would be nice too if, lets say... you are in Federation or Imperial space that the NPCs would make remarks of what rank you have in the leading faction and be amazed or something.
Like "Oh damn an Admiral. Sorry to have annoyed you sir!"
Click to expand...

Been there done that, see the thread from my signature :)
 

Jaylem

Jaylem
Yeah +1 with this

Funny when a NPC approaches my Fully engineered Corvette, and I wait with glee until he/she opens fire.. thinking to myself;

TwrV4Rw.jpg
 
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