Steepen the fight rank curve for NPCs

[ChaseBears]

I think Elite NPCs are way too common, and doesn't leave much room for really special enemies. Additionally, there is too much interchangeability for low fight rank NPCs. I'm pretty sure I've seen a lost of Mostly Harmlesses that lacked shields, for example. It really bugs me that every pirate lord etc. in the universe is Elite and they don't even warrant that big a pay out.

Most NPCs should be normalized into the ~Competent range, current Elite NPCs should go down to Dangerous or so. Master and Elite should be truely nasty propositions, doing things a player would do like spamming chaff and shield cell banks. Special loadouts like full-railgun or seeker missile spam would also be interesting.

On a related note, it seems weird that every ship is referred to by their fight rank. Doesn't that devalue explorer and trade ranks a little? It would be interesting if every ship were referred to by their highest rank. *shrug*

 

[CMDR Nirnroot]

Yes I agree.

Mind you, yesterday I had my first 'hard' fight with an NPC. I fly a pretty good Viper, A rated bits etc and havent had much trouble beating any NPC. The big ones just take me longer. Yesterday, however I came across a Master Pilot in a Viper and he did exactly what you suggest the good NPCs should do. He spammed chaff. Lots and Lots of chaff. And then more chaff. I only have gimballed weapons. I assumed he would run out. I was far too casual, and the control binding for my shield bank seemed to have disappeared somehow. Anyway, he didnt run out of chaff and I ran away with 30% hull remaining.

This is more like it, bring on more like this

 

[Crimson Fury]

I engaged an expert Cobra NPC with my dinky Sidewinder earlier, and damn I barely made it back to the station with 12 seconds of oxygen left. The weird thing was I had 70% hull left and my canopy was destroyed.

 

[ChaseBears]

yeah sometimes you run into really good NPCs. I think it has more to do with their bounties than their fight rank sometimes! High bountied NPCs can mount railguns and such which gets really really nasty if you let them point at you.

After some observation though, I noted even Novice NPCs sometimes don't mount shield generators. Bad enough when the Mostly Harmlesses do it... Not mounting shield generators is intensely silly considering that they are cheaper than armor.

 

[GerminVermin]

I would definitely agree that the NPC difficulty needs to be significantly increased. A Dangerous NPC is not dangerous. Elites should be like epic raid bosses or something. Harmless and Mostly Harmless are already just that, but a lot of the higher ranks are mostly harmless, too. I mean, it's pretty rare for my shields to drop even against Dangerous opponents. In fighting a Dangerous opponent, it should be difficult enough that I have a legitimate concern for keeping shields up even if using shield cells. Fighting an elite should take exceptional skill.

 

[Yabba Addict]

They should also start basing fitting on higher skilled aslo, like more common to have shield cells on higher rated ships, more dangerous weaponry, ect.