Please make NPCs stop jousting in combat.

[eyeonus]

It's super annoying and the sole reason I don't do one-on-one combat with NPCs. Jousting is simply annoying, and if you think about, it's really bad combat tactics in 3D space. Please make them be a little less stupid and annoying.

This thread is about how the NPC combat AI is lacking, which makes combat easy to the point of tedium, and how I would like that AI to be improved so that combat is rewarding, not annoying.

EDIT: Do not post combat tactics on this thread. This thread is not a complaint about how I'm such a horrible pilot I can't do combat.

I already know all the combat tactics. Before I quit doing combat out of annoyance, I used all of those tactics.

EDIT2: Please also note that I am specifically talking about 1v1 PvE combat, as multi-ship combat is sufficiently complicated that that idiot AI isn't nearly as noticeable or annoying.

EDIT3: For anyone that doesn't know, the flight pattern commonly referred to as "jousting" consists of the following behaviour, and whether you notice it or not, all NPCs are far too often following this pattern in 1v1 combat. (Just because you're a good enough pilot that the NPC can't get behind you doesn't mean the AI isn't jousting with you. It just means that you're a good enough pilot the AI can't successfully joust with you.):

1: fly straight at target at full speed
2: shoot at target, making little or no effort to evade being shot at by target
3: narrowly miss colliding into target while flying past, still at full speed
4: slow down after passing target and pitch 180
5: go back to step 1 and repeat until dead

EDIT4: Some people have opined that it's not so much the AI, but the equipment, that is the problem, which makes sense, so that is also under discussion.

EDIT5: Changed 'are "always" following' to 'are far too often following' because some people require absolute precision when it comes to word choice.

EDIT6: To spare those that don't want to dig through 40+ pages to catch up on the discussion thus far, I've put it all here in the following spoiler, current as of 10th November, 2018. Anything that's basically just agreeing with the OP or off-topic has been edited out, primarily due to post length issues:

Spoiler

Bring back Sarah J's npc's and there will be a whole new thread on getting your --- kicked. I'm all for that.

Hmm...

The whole Flight Envelopes and Flight Mechanics in normal space are built on the premise of Dogfighting and maneuvering the Ship both defensively and offensively at close range.

So in order to enforce this experience, little more remains than creating maximum 3D geometry problems.
Those are limited but in a sense range from classic 1v1 BFM over ACM i.e in a 2v1/1v2 all the way to ACT (two Wings battling it out), to put things in old Air Force Terms.

What we're missing is the entire spectrum of BVR using stand-off Weapons and the whole ECM/ESM and corresponding ECCM Sensor/Emitter battles.
An alternative approach to the DogFight, which in BVR terms would merely be either a fallback/blowthrough plan, a trap - or even an undesired contingency.

The environment, Weapons and Instancing currently don't support any of this though... so no point in starting a fight at the 20-50km Range, there isn't a controlled way to make that happen with the existing mechanics.
(if for example the environment had a massive impact on Combat, that very environment could be used to bring variation all by itself, be it be Thermal restrictions, Sensor vs. nearby Star limitations, Gravity or Radiation/Ionized areas or huge Asteroid fields etc.)

Still, IMHO such an extension of Combat is worth thinking about.
Spice things up, bring some handicaps into the environment, give Players more Options how to engage in a fight. Not easy nor quick to develop/implement and balance thou.

.... I feel that what NPC's might benefit from is the ability to orbit with FA-Off, or at the very least make usage of lateral thrusters + yaw or vertical + pitch at times to add some variety to their combat abilities.

Of course in order not to make things unnecessarily difficult for casual players, this should only be performed by top tier NPC's (dangerous, deadly and elite) while the rest of them carry on with the current AI.

Explorers, traders, mission runners and such won't very frequently meet top tier NPC's which are more commonly found in HazRES'es, CNB's or CZ's so they shouldn't be impacted much by this behavioural fine-tuning. Even so, guys like Rinzler made videos about how to evade ganks in trading ships without sacrificing much of cargo capacity so there's that (and such advice is even applicable to PvP so yay if you're playing open).

What d'yall think ?

.... I remember when they made them super hard, I was actually scared to take on assassination missions, it was awesome....

Give me that again and I will be a very happy camper.

.... AI that are below dangerous level should remain very easy... and new players should learn to only expose themselves to these levels of NPC's

It irks me a little when I see a new commander complain about not being able to kill deadly level NPC's in a hazres in a viper, and then blaming the game..

Players should learn that some combat is just beyond them for the moment, and learn their skills with appropriate missions and res sites.

I hear you, it's more about having places where genuinely dangerous pilots might be. Note though, you said it yourself, when the AI was nuts, it wasn't actually the AI, but their equipment that made them ridiculous.

Yeh, I'm with you, certain places should be more dangerous, Elite NPCs should be closer to Elite players in terms of equipment, and all NPCs could get a little engineering to keep up across the board, just a little....

.... I'd like Anarchy systems (for example, as well as low sec systems) to be dangerous places where the pilots are dangerous or higher and have a bit of engineering. If they had dirty drives (for one thing), the EFFECT would be that you'd think they were better pilots because they'd be able to use their routines more effectively. I can often SEE what an NPC is TRYING to do, but can't because I can simply out-maneuver it.

.... Yeah, the NPCs could stand to get an upgrade to their equipment.

I'd say they should be on par with equal-ranked players both in terms of piloting skill and ship loadouts, although I think their skill is a tad more important than their ships.

[T]his needs to be under specific circumstances, you can't have Elite NPCs with G5 dirty drives and double shot frags interdicting traders, it would be the same as griefing. lol.

Imagine the headlines: "Elite players griefed by NPCs"...

Oh wait, I remember those headlines!!

They need to be in places where better players can go seek the challenge. (as well as all NPCs getting a 'small' equipment bump....

NPC spawn based on location and BGS has been suggested quite often - instead of tying it to rank. Was there ever any official comment on that?

Not that I'm aware of.

Although I think I'd prefer if equipment was tied to rank, and rank was tied to location. CNBs and a couple of the new scenario type uss are the only places where this is currently the case.

Agreed, at present the system security levels don't mean much at all. Ideally, a player ranked below Dangerous should be scared to venture into an Anarchy system, concerned about a Low Security, a little cautious about Med Security and really have [no] worries in a High Security system. Both the voracity of the NPC and its lethalness should vary with the security state of the system and the combat level of the pilot....

According to a couple people on here, the current state of the AI isn't the problem, it's that lack of engineering. I'm not convinced, but I must concede that that could be the case.

What say you on that?

Well, the fact that we have access to the ultimate in engineering while they are restricted to almost totally vanilla ships does indeed constitute a massive disparity between us. If they could unload with g5 weapons/special effects whilst also tanking behind godwall shields, yeah, I definitely think they'd be tougher nuts to crack regardless of flying style. The truth is, probably less than 10% of the player base could cope with them if that happened....

Yeah, I think you're right about the player base. Would you agree that restricting engineering access to the higher-ranked NPCs, i.e. Deadly, Dangerous, and Elite, would be a decent compromise, especially considering that lower-ranked players wouldn't even see those NPCs?

Yes, that would be sensible to me, and then not even all of them but just enough to keep you on your toes.

Mmm. That strikes me as being rather subjective. What would be "enough to keep you on your toes"? 1 in 10? 2 in 3?

I'm imagining a range of ships, where some would be slightly engineered, a few somewhat engineered, some very engineered, and the occasional heavily engineered, maybe even only have Elite ranked be heavily engineered, and no Dangerous ranked being more than somewhat engineered.

Ascribing actual numbers to that would be a bit difficult, though, I think.

.... If not using FAOff the NPC's should at the very least make more extensive usage of their lateral thrusters, as this is one of the best courses of action considering that's what almost ALL players do to (successfully) fight a NPC....

I say let MOM Sara have a go at the AI again. Just make it a tad harder for those higher combat ranks....

Well, there shouldn't only be AI opponents like that, but there should be some. Definitely not one difficulty for everyone no matter how good you are, but if that NPC is the same rank or higher than you, that NPC should pose a challenge, and the more outranked you are, the greater the challenge.

I understand what you are saying and do agree that there needs to be some way to match the NPC level to the player's skill level. But even that can lead to asymmetrical PvE combat that some here would deem unfair (i.e. forums meltdown like every other time the NPCs were buffed). Consider this if FD did recode the NPCs to be equal or better than your combat rank:

Lets say you hold the combat rank of Elite, which you got using your fully engineered Combat ship. Quite rightly, you find the current level of NPCs easy. But you decide to have a change of pace and decide to do some trading, so you jump in your favourite trade ship, fitted for maximum cargo and light on weapons and shields and off you go. Of course you get interdicted, but now it is by the new super tough Elite level NPCs. Whilst these new NPCs gave you a good but fair run in your engineered Combat ship, you will be at a distinct disadvantage in your lightly armoured and paper thin shielded trader. Is that fair for you? Do you think the rest of the players would accept that?

The only solution I can think of that would work is to have the system security set the level of the NPCs. In Anarchy, they are deadly, even players in PvP meta ships have to work a bit for their victories. The NPC ability goes down a bit for Low Sec, lower still for Med Sec and quite easy and safe in High Sec. At least this scenario allows those who what to go after the top tier NPCs know where they will be, and those who don't know what areas to avoid.

Why should it be possible to fly in a very low armored ship successfully everywhere(!)? If the game makes clear that there are more and less dangerous areas, I think it is perfectly fair. RPGs sometimes design their world around that fact, that it gates areas by enemies with a certain strength the player can only overcome, when his character is capable. Also in ED, you don't have to endure a fight, you have the option to flee. Also the game could adapt the AI to your current ship (up to a certain degree).

Agreed, you could extend this to CZs, RESs and USSs as well, so that certain system (states) require you to have the right gear, so to speak.

I'll try to put it in a nutshell and in layman's terms :

- imagine you could decide whether to fight at the current close range OR (new Option) to start the Fight at long range
- BVR (Beyond Visual Range) Combat would require Sensors and Weapon Systems capable of engaging a Target at a distance
- Defensive Countermeasures would be needed (Jammers, Decoys, limited Stealth etc.) to offer the defensive part of such a BVR engagement

- you'd basically set your Interdictor into a "CQB" (Close Quarter Battle) or a "BVR" Mode for example; that'd decide if you meet the Opponent at 1km - or let's say at 50km.
- Ship builds and Equipment would have to reflect respective capabilities and/or countermeasures (give it extended BVR capabilities but it'll force a compromise on the short-range Equipment, there's only to many slots to Equip)

But as said, there's plenty of rat tail to consider. For example no point in starting a BVR Engagement if the interdicted Target could easily FSD/Wake out long before BVR Weapons have a chance to reach it.
Thus, it would require a vast re-design of the Combat Environment, available Ship builds, new Sensors to afford BVR capabilities, new offensive and defensive Modules, FSD Cooldown restrictions and then some.

Not easy to do, lots of changes and balancing needed.

However, I believe it would add alot to Combat (PvE and PvP alike) to have the possibility of LongRange engagements that begin far outside 6km.
And in a sense - yes, it would add a very realistic Option to the Combat Mechanics.
The Fights in E currently all exclusively take place at Ranges which are a fraction of 21th century Air Combat.
Our Engagement Ranges most resemble WW2 era Dogfights with some 1960's AIM-9B Sidewinder Missiles and some short-ranged future Weapons.

Vessels the size of i.e. an Anaconda (i.e. Navy Ships) can easily engage as far as 50+ km in today's terms despite Atmospheric/Planetary restrictions.
A tad odd that our Space Ships aren't capable of anything like that anymore. But that's just the way it is.

I like that idea, but maybe, just to keep it simple, just make certain ships be BVS-style? So, if you want dogfight, you grab a small or medium sized ship, whereas if you want BVS, you grab a large ship?

.... [H]ave the system security set the level of the NPCs. In Anarchy, they are deadly.... The NPC ability goes down a bit for Low Sec, lower still for Med Sec and quite easy and safe in High Sec. At least this scenario allows those who what to go after the top tier NPCs know where they will be, and those who don't know what areas to avoid.

I think it should be the reverse if you're going the piracy route, but that's rather easy to do by just making the security ship NPCs ability run that range in the exact opposite direction. (That is, deadly in High Sec, basically useless in Low Sec.)

.... Being forced to keep battles short is the primary reason why combat is as shallow as it is by far.

.... Almost all hardpoints are pointed forward unless they're a turret, and even those are placed in positions that favor only forward firing primarily. This incentivises players to always face their opponent, which just reinforces tanking and jousting.

.... Large ships shouldn't be able to dogfight.... If they couldn't, that would introduce a new means of combat at least for those who have large ships and are fighting smaller ones.

If we had gameplay mechanics that made combat an exception, rather than a rule then combat could be drawn out the way it should be so that all the work done to create subsystems and power management and such could be properly utilized by players. We could get rid of shield buffing and get involved in the much more strategic rich subsystem / ship damage mechanic. You'd have time to adjust power levels of modules and reboot the ship and do all the things that exist in the game for you to utilize but never have time to when it actually matters. Piracy then becomes an actually feasible occupation, since actually destroying a ship would take a long time and considerable investment, but damaging or crippling a ship could be viable and the threat would be something the victim would have to consider ...and the pirate would be equally at risk as large mostly unarmed trading ships would not be instantly killable and so there's a risk the cops could show up within the time frame of the piracy act.

.... I'd prefer to see a battleship / submarine type of warfare with dogfighting limited to tiny ships.... We'd need ship balancing, hireable npc escorts and potentially the ability to shift seats in your own ship to control non-forward facing hardpoints during battle....

.... [T]hey should be able to share any and all equipment and engineering that is available to players.... Obviously balancing, instancing, player skill, rank, ship load out, maybe even location and many more factors would need to be Considered when spawning.

For the flight tactics it seems like MoM MA[Y] be able to do much more even without equipment updates. But then you have to consider balancing and player demand.... If you over buff now you start to alienate that player base as it forces everyone into an aspect of the game that they may not enjoy....

Instead of 'improve' I think 'change' might be a better word from my perspective. The current AI certainly can give you a hard time if you don't overengineer your ship. But I simply don't like the turretting/facetanking style of combat and the constant effort required to prevent jousting. I prefer the classic turning dogfight style, where you first outmanoeuvre an opponent to gain a favourable position and then blow him up. The current flightmodel in Elite works against turning dogfights (unrestricted pitching, FA-off), which is ironic because in the Kickstarter days FDEV defended Flight Assist as a way to prevent space combat from becoming "turrets in space and jousting"....

.... [H]ave you actually tried a high level assassination mission? You may find that the NPCs might not be to your liking - and you want that level to be the norm?

There is plenty of room between the regular NPCs you interact with which probably none of us even notice anymore, and those you see during assassination wing missions.

 

[Factabulous]

Why in the beta forum? maybe L2F

 

[eyeonus]

Mostly so it's more likely to actually be read by FDev. If the forum administrators decide it belongs in a different forum, then I'm certain they'll move it to whatever one is more appropriate.

 

[Iloveyourname]

In the beta, the NPC ram much more often. Their behaviour has changed.

They now run away a lot more often too, especially when the police arrive or their hull is being hit hard.

They go full pips to engine and flee. I have to full pips to engine and boost to catch up.

It will actually make it easy to destroy them, as they can't fire backwards, but often I can't catch up in time before they high wake out. I guess now I need a high wake scanner.

 

[Muetdhiver]

It's super annoying and the sole reason I don't do one-on-one combat with NPCs. Jousting is simply annoying, and if you think about, it's really bad combat tactics in 3D space. Please make them be a little less stupid and annoying.

Do you have an engineered drive ?

If so, it's natural that NPC's start to joust against you since it is the only way they have a chance of hitting you.

 

[znôrt]

It's super annoying and the sole reason I don't do one-on-one combat with NPCs. Jousting is simply annoying, and if you think about, it's really bad combat tactics in 3D space. Please make them be a little less stupid and annoying.

jousting requires 2 jousters, joust saying ...

 

[Ziljan]

Players joust all the time because presenting a small & brief target is very effective at mitigation damage.

Are you saying NPCs should just present their broadside and flop around like a fish? No thanks.

The combat in CZs is now pretty darn perfect imo. Much deserved kudos to SJA (who I assume is the one still leading the AI team?).

jousting requires 2 jousters, joust saying ...

Thanks for making me snort my coffee.

 

[CmdMarty]

In the beta, the NPC ram much more often. Their behaviour has changed.

They now run away a lot more often too, especially when the police arrive or their hull is being hit hard.

They go full pips to engine and flee. I have to full pips to engine and boost to catch up.

It will actually make it easy to destroy them, as they can't fire backwards, but often I can't catch up in time before they high wake out. I guess now I need a high wake scanner.

Not sure I like that running away if your in a slow ship!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Not sure I like that running away if your in a slow ship!

If you stick a few long-range railgun rounds through their drives then they stop doing it.

 

[CmdMarty]

If you stick a few long-range railgun rounds through their drives then they stop doing it.

I dont engineer anything thou!

 

[eyeonus]

jousting requires 2 jousters, joust saying ...

In the extremely rare instances that I do combat, I usually end up having to go full throttle backwards just so I can be facing them long enough to actually shoot at them, because no matter what I do, they always fly straight at me going as fast as they can, fly right past me, and flip around to do it again.

So no, it doesn't require two to joust. I'm doing everything I can to get below them, or flank them, or anything other than jousting, and yet a-jousting-they-will-go.

 

[eyeonus]

Players joust all the time because presenting a small & brief target is very effective at mitigation damage.

Are you saying NPCs should just present their broadside and flop around like a fish? No thanks.

No, I'm saying NPCs should be trying to keep you in their sights at all times, while maneuvering to make you as big a target as possible, and at the same time attempting to present as small a target to you as they can and ideally not be in your sights at all, all of which are actions that use lateral thrusting quite a bit and forward thrusting almost not at all. And yes, I think that should be the behaviour of all NPCs- the "mostly harmless" ones should just be worse at pulling it off than the "competent" ones should be worse than the "elite" ones.

At the very least they need to stop flying past me at full speed just to turn around and do it again, because, as I said, that is just annoying. When they do that, neither I nor they can ever get more than a very quick shot in before they zoom right past me again, making combat tedious because >90% of it is spent turning around to get that jerk that just flew right past me back in my sights- even if I'm not moving at all, because NPCs just love to joust.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Learn better tactics so the joust doesn't work.

If I'm using high DPS/low TOT weapons like PAs or frags, I need to be able to let them reload.
So if I can fly by you that is great!
If you can't stop an NPC joust you'd be toast against a player.

 

[eyeonus]

Learn better tactics so the joust doesn't work.

If I'm using high DPS/low TOT weapons like PAs or frags, I need to be able to let them reload.
So if I can fly by you that is great!
If you can't stop an NPC joust you'd be toast against a player.

I have read every "tactic" there is on these forums. I've done the FAoff boosted turn, rolling 90 before pitching around, and everything else I could find on here about "how to not joust".

The NPCs STILL joust.

Telling me I need to learn to fly doesn't solve the problem, thanks much, jerk.

 

[Toothsaw]

Players joust all the time because presenting a small & brief target is very effective at mitigation damage.

Precisely this. AFAIK, jousting is called “hit and run tactic” and it’s the most effective way to minimize the time you sit in your opponent’s reticle. You have to be quite good at aiming indeed, because you’ll have the same brief moments to shoot your enemy.
You can’t really expect an Eagle or iEagle sitting there in open space and slowly turning around while your Fer De Lance is unleashing hell on it, can you?
In aircraft dogfights it works the same; the only difference in space is that you can drift away with no worry to crashland, but idling / drifting is far from a smart dogfight tactic.

 

[eyeonus]

Precisely this. AFAIK, jousting is called “hit and run tactic” and it’s the most effective way to minimize the time you sit in your opponent’s reticle. You have to be quite good at aiming indeed, because you’ll have the same brief moments to shoot your enemy.
You can’t really expect an Eagle or iEagle sitting there in open space and slowly turning around while your Fer De Lance is unleashing hell on it, can you?
In aircraft dogfights it works the same; the only difference in space is that you can drift away with no worry to crashland, but idling / drifting is far from a smart dogfight tactic.

No one ever said anything about sitting still. Or slowly turning. The optimum strategy is to approximately match vectors with your opponent, i.e., go about the same speed in about the same direction, get yourself in a position where you have the biggest possible silhouette of your opponent while presenting the smallest possible silhouette - and preferably just not be in his crosshairs at all - using lateral thrusters and forward thrust to keep yourself in this optimal position. You should be a lot more likely to find yourself spiraling around each other chasing each other's tails than jousting.


Why jousting in space is stupid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXqep_sW790

And no, that's not how dogfights work in aircraft. If you honestly think that, you need to stop paying so much attention to movies. In aircraft dogfights, the objective it to get behind the opponent, flying in the same direction, so that the opponent is in your sights and has no chance of shooting back. If both planes are flying at each other than you're failing.

Accounts of REAL dogfights by the actual pilots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEm75grzVNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9pHDH6jQk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfrscGQKg2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TolhfyNrCkM (warning, this is a long one)

 

[Ziljan]

No one ever said anything about sitting still. Or slowly turning. The optimum strategy is to approximately match vectors with your opponent, i.e., go about the same speed in about the same direction, get yourself in a position where you have the biggest possible silhouette of your opponent while presenting the smallest possible silhouette - and preferably just not be in his crosshairs at all - using lateral thrusters and forward thrust to keep yourself in this optimal position. You should be a lot more likely to find yourself spiraling around each other chasing each other's tails than jousting.


Why jousting in space is stupid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXqep_sW790

It's up to you to try to gain access to the flank of your target. You can't seriously expect NPCs to just give this up for free do you? The logical failing of that the video you quoted is that if both combatants are trying to present the smallest profile then this will invariably lead to nose-to-nose conflict UNTIL one side gains an advantage. Expecting access to the flank without having to earn it is basically asking the NPCs to "please commit suicide." You wouldn't do it, so why should they?

No, I'm saying NPCs should be trying to keep you in their sights at all times, while maneuvering to make you as big a target as possible, and at the same time attempting to present as small a target to you as they can and ideally not be in your sights at all, all of which are actions that use lateral thrusting quite a bit and forward thrusting almost not at all. And yes, I think that should be the behaviour of all NPCs- the "mostly harmless" ones should just be worse at pulling it off than the "competent" ones should be worse than the "elite" ones.

At the very least they need to stop flying past me at full speed just to turn around and do it again, because, as I said, that is just annoying. When they do that, neither I nor they can ever get more than a very quick shot in before they zoom right past me again, making combat tedious because >90% of it is spent turning around to get that jerk that just flew right past me back in my sights- even if I'm not moving at all, because NPCs just love to joust.

Ahh I see what you mean. I agree that NPCs should be doing things like side strafing. But one thing you have to realize is that there is a very strong reason for NPCs to try to move towards you and past you, and that is shorten the length of time that they are directly exposed to your guns in an attempt to flank you by flying past to one side. Granted NPCs aren't the best at flanking, but I don't think most players are quite ready for that level of AI just yet. It was introduced in the past, and while I personally loved it, a large minority of the community wailed and gnashed their teeth, afraid to leave dry dock. I hope that it is eventually reintroduced to the game some day, maybe in the form of Elite rank small-class ships like Vultures, Eagle, and SLFs that are damn near impossible to get a bead on, yet tag you at every opportunity and manage pips like a terminator.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I have read every "tactic" there is on these forums. I've done the FAoff boosted turn, rolling 90 before pitching around, and everything else I could find on here about "how to not joust".

The NPCs STILL joust.

Telling me I need to learn to fly doesn't solve the problem, thanks much, jerk.

Your first point is obviously not true.
NPCs are easy.
You can fly perpendicular to them with your thrusters.
"FAOff boost turn" is not what I am talking about at all.


They can't joust if you don't let them.
If you want to call me a jerk I am less inclined to help you...

Though, if you play in open, I might be more inclined to find you.

 

[eyeonus]

It's up to you to try to gain access to the flank of your target. You can't seriously expect NPCs to just give this up for free do you? The logical failing of that the video you quoted is that if both combatants are trying to present the smallest profile then this will invariably lead to nose-to-nose conflict UNTIL one side gains an advantage. Expecting access to the flank without having to earn it is basically asking the NPCs to "please commit suicide." You wouldn't do it, so why should they?

That's not what I'm saying. I said that that is what THEY should be doing. INSTEAD of their current behavior, THEY should be trying to do what I said in my last.

I never said make it easy for me I'm a boob. I said make the NPCs stop being idiots because it's annoying enough to make me not want to do combat.

 

[eyeonus]

Your first point is obviously not true.
NPCs are easy.
You can fly perpendicular to them with your thrusters.
"FAOff boost turn" is not what I am talking about at all.


They can't joust if you don't let them.
If you want to call me a jerk I am less inclined to help you...

Though, if you play in open, I might be more inclined to find you.

The only time I have ever seen an NPC not do the joust manoeuvre of "fly straight at their target at full speed hubs blazing, fly right past target, brake, pitch 180, repeat", is when it's not a one on one battle, so I'm going to disagree with you there.

I always play in open. Check my live stream and you can see what system I'm in. Don't expect me to fight you in my exploration ship, though, even if you d do catch up to me.

Join me in CQC, though, I'll be more than happy to go up against you. I'd love to get in a fight with someone that isn't an idiot jouster, win or lose.