[Piracy] NPCs still behind the trend: No VOP miners

Julio Montega

Julio Montega
Ahoy there,
well the NPCs still haven't heard the news, eh?
No miners in VOP hotspots and when the hotspot overlaps with a rez site,
there are no miners having VOPs in their holds aswell.
Shouldn't there be a reward for going out of the regular gameloops and installing
smart tools, like a surface scanners on the pirate ship?

The next problem is locating active mining operations within a ring.
It doesn't really help you to locate hotspots, as the area is large and
you have no long range scanners to cover the hundreds of square kilometers,
where mining could occurr.

What are your experiences on this topic guys?
 

Old Duck

Old Duck
Hey OP, I notice sometime when I go mining, I see other miners in random parts of a ring in uninhabited systems. Is this how you pirate miners? It seems a good, hassle-free way to do it - no bounty, no security, just you and the booty.
 

Julio Montega

Julio Montega
Old Duck said:
Hey OP, I notice sometime when I go mining, I see other miners in random parts of a ring in uninhabited systems. Is this how you pirate miners? It seems a good, hassle-free way to do it - no bounty, no security, just you and the booty.
Click to expand...

I'll look deeper into this, for inhabited systems so far only patrols and 'rats spawn.
Spawn table RNG, so far i haven't had a single miner entering my instance when in a suitable location,
be it piracy fit, or mining fit.
It didn't really help to search 120KM of range from the hotspot's center either.
Hassle free also is relative, we all know the miraculous workings of the "omniscient NPC spawns".
And adding to that miner AI coding is super weird, they flee in a straight line, as if that'd save 'em.
(Haz rez piracy as a relaxation from SC watch works, but is harder)
 

Julio Montega

Julio Montega
Checked VOP hotspots in uninhabited systems.
Test system was Pegasi Sector AG-N B7-8
Gasgiant 4 the icy ring with pristine reserves and overlapping hotspots for VOPs.
Spawned ships were pirates and miners, which only had low value harvestable
icy ring ressources on board.
No VOPs, NPC miners though aren't equipped for core mining,
and the loot table seems to not include VOPs.

Testing time:
2 hours

Method of testing:
Locate VOP Hotspot with surface scanner in an unhabited system within NPC spawn range of the bubble
Drop to hotspot and stay at the POI 10 KM Range
Wait for spawn and manifest scan
Relogg to Menue
Reenter to game mode
scan NPCs...

A waste of time, again.
Why are features added to the game always incomplete,
without also making other dependant jobs more fun and better?!
 
Last edited:

Drelthar

Drelthar
I had a small amount of success by following a Player miner from their selling station back to their mining spot, and then pirating them - but you are on abuot NPCs.

Yeah I agree with you.

Piracy in RES sites has always been silly due to the huge level of cops - it amuses me that so many NPC pirates try it.

If hot spots were more of a thing, it might make some level of sense.
 

Julio Montega

Julio Montega
Drelthar said:
I had a small amount of success by following a Player miner from their selling station back to their mining spot, and then pirating them - but you are on abuot NPCs.

Yeah I agree with you.

Piracy in RES sites has always been silly due to the huge level of cops - it amuses me that so many NPC pirates try it.

If hot spots were more of a thing, it might make some level of sense.
Click to expand...

Well you technically can pirate haz rez, as there are no cops,
but the "competition" was trained by Archon Delaine and shoots to kill,
which is not very profitable.
Sometimes you have T9s with LTDs there, yet again the cargo
is determined upon spawning and the whole scenario is not believable.

Following a player miner and then stalking and robbing them,
is a thing that works and is possible but highly time consuming.
You also need to be in the same instance as they are, to follow their wake,
if you are not, there is not a single tool allowing you to detect their mining operation,
leaving this part of the game again poorly designed and half-reared.
 
Last edited:

Cobramac

C
Agree, npc miners should carry Core mining yields and engage in core mining . Piracy would become more profitable too.
 

Julio Montega

Julio Montega
Cobramac said:
Agree, npc miners should carry Core mining yields and engage in core mining . Piracy would become more profitable too.
Click to expand...


That'd be a step in the right direction and would make NPCs more believable,
but let's not stop there. We have highly armed military convoys in beacons (difficulty 2),
escorted by 2 anacondas or even a bigger convoy. All they carry is 1 ancient artifacts and some
low value crap, while we have private couriers flying solo with loads more of valuable cargo.

insert facepalms

But let me not digress from the OP too much.
Having NPCs mine with core mining tools is the first step,
give us tools to locate mining activity in rings aswell,
like a device that can also detect players doing their jobs.

But furthermost, let us pirates actually interact with ships,
and send our demands, so we can do non-lethal piracy way more often.
In exchange add some spice for miners, by allowing them to actively prospect
a hotspot while mining and sell this additional data as exploration data.

The game is so disconnected, make jobs trigger events, like gold rushes in the game,
combine the jobs and player activities to a single solid framework.
The explorer surveys and finds interesting places, he sells his data to a station.
That station offers prospecting contracts to miners, which then get paid additionally
for prospecting the rings, while they keep all their mined stuff to sell.
Allow the 'rats to get the info of those activities and create danger,
where the BHs zoom in to grab the bounties or work as mercs to protect
the mining OPs.
Lastly these activities trigger expansion and traders are required to ferry goods over to
support the ongoing operations.

Edit:
On topic of the hotspot related spawns.
I raided a haz rez multiple times, that also is located inside a LTD hotspot,
yet the spawn table does not factor that in.
Some ships have LTDs, but not the majority, from my experience
it is around 5-10% chance for NPCs to have LTDs on board.
That percentage is similar to every other icy ring spawn table
cargo results so far.
Why?!
 
Last edited:

Cobramac

C
You’re absolutely right, it makes perfect sense to have it like that, it certainly would enrich gameplay tremendously.

pretty ships and a fantastic flight engine do not a game make. We need much much more depth and little things like that would make the game vastly more entertaining and of course more immersive.
 

Ignition

I
Blaze your own trail thay say.
Its so difficult when you have no possible interactions, limited gameplay and mechanics.

Oh I remember the times when people said you had to use your imagination to play Elite.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
The spawn tables could do with a good looking at across the board i would say, as well as the AI.

Ships constantly rebooting/repairing when all it takes is one more shot to finish them is rather unbelievable, there should be a point where they submit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom