I'm not the first and probably not the last commander to have a gripe with NPC ship behavior in the station mailslot. NPC ships have consistent, scripted paths into and out of stations, which is good as it allows a commander to avoid collisions, but here is an issue with NPC ships around the mailslot. Large ships have/cause the worst problems - particularity the Beluga with its massive wings.
NPC's completely ignore the presence of any other ships and always assume they have the right-of-way in the mailslot, despite the "give way to larger ships" warning from flight controllers. They also often boost through it. I just faced the rebuy screen with my cutter because a beluga wanted to get into the station before me and thought it could cut in front of me by sneaking underneath my cutter inside the mailslot. This led to my cutter getting stuck in the mailslot. Instead of reversing and letting me get free, it kept ramming which took out my shields and did significant hull damage. I did manage to get free with about 30 seconds left on the lethal loitering warning but was destroyed only seconds later inside the station. I'm not sure how I got free, but there was a lot of laser fire coming from the mailslot after I did. I didn't have any bounty to pay off, but there was 1000 CR in fines from blocking the mailslot so I don't think I was destroyed by station defenses. Normally I wouldn't complain about this on the forum, but I can't deny I'm a bit butt-hurt that I lost 5 hours and at least 20m CR worth of mined resources (and 1m CR worth of bounty vouchers). And this was in solo, so there was no chance of foul play by another cmdr.
Is there a way to tweak NPC behavior so they are more courteous to other ships ahead of them or already in the mailslot? I've heard gripes from several commanders being destroyed by station defenses after small ships try to cut in front of a their vette/conda/cutter in the mailslot and being squished so this is clearly a long-running issue.
TLDR: My cutter got destroyed after getting stuck in the mailslot by a NPC Beluga trying to cut in line. And I'm butt-hurt because this cost me 36m CR and 5 hours of time.
NPC's completely ignore the presence of any other ships and always assume they have the right-of-way in the mailslot, despite the "give way to larger ships" warning from flight controllers. They also often boost through it. I just faced the rebuy screen with my cutter because a beluga wanted to get into the station before me and thought it could cut in front of me by sneaking underneath my cutter inside the mailslot. This led to my cutter getting stuck in the mailslot. Instead of reversing and letting me get free, it kept ramming which took out my shields and did significant hull damage. I did manage to get free with about 30 seconds left on the lethal loitering warning but was destroyed only seconds later inside the station. I'm not sure how I got free, but there was a lot of laser fire coming from the mailslot after I did. I didn't have any bounty to pay off, but there was 1000 CR in fines from blocking the mailslot so I don't think I was destroyed by station defenses. Normally I wouldn't complain about this on the forum, but I can't deny I'm a bit butt-hurt that I lost 5 hours and at least 20m CR worth of mined resources (and 1m CR worth of bounty vouchers). And this was in solo, so there was no chance of foul play by another cmdr.
Is there a way to tweak NPC behavior so they are more courteous to other ships ahead of them or already in the mailslot? I've heard gripes from several commanders being destroyed by station defenses after small ships try to cut in front of a their vette/conda/cutter in the mailslot and being squished so this is clearly a long-running issue.
TLDR: My cutter got destroyed after getting stuck in the mailslot by a NPC Beluga trying to cut in line. And I'm butt-hurt because this cost me 36m CR and 5 hours of time.
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