Stop NPC Pirates' Cheating

[Zeklandia]

NPC pirates can high wake out of an interdiction engagement when their ships take too much damage, only to greet you the instant you enter supercruise, with their ships completely repaired. Weirdly their ships only instantly repair if they high wake out. If you leave the instance before they do and exit supercruise somewhere else in the system, they will catch up to you quickly but their ship will still be damaged.

I propose that pirates should have a cooldown timer, say 5 minutes, after high-waking out. Since it seems their ship's damage does not persist across high-wakes, this would at least make it seem like they went somewhere to repair, and give players a chance to move at least a few miles before the pirate NPC comes back.

 

[Azmuth Divarchchron]

while we are at it can we please revert the change to hatchbreaker limpets that they can bypass shields?

 

[buhatkj]

and for gods sake can we make them not attack literally back to back over and over. i evade one, then as soon as im back in sc, theres another? this after the mining nerf? its like the game wants me to quit. you guys have increased the frustration level far past it being dangerous, its just not fun now. im literally disgusted with how things have been going lately. what is wrong with these devs?

 

[Craith]

and for gods sake can we make them not attack literally back to back over and over. i evade one, then as soon as im back in sc, theres another? this after the mining nerf? its like the game wants me to quit. you guys have increased the frustration level far past it being dangerous, its just not fun now. im literally disgusted with how things have been going lately. what is wrong with these devs?

This does not match with my experience - when I evade an interdiction, the pirate gets dropped into normal space while I fly my merry way. If I submit and then go back to supercruise, he does the same, so I have at best gained a few ls toward the station.

The problem with non-persistant damage on NPCs from the OP is another topic - that is definitely not working as it should.

 

[Screemonster]

I'd settle for them not being able to wake out with hardpoints deployed and drives shot out.

 

[Shiro Akai]

NPC pirates can high wake out of an interdiction engagement when their ships take too much damage, only to greet you the instant you enter supercruise, with their ships completely repaired.

IF-THEN programming and lack of persistent world.

IF pilot has (mission/valuable cargo), THEN attempt interdiction
IF interdiction successful, THEN spawn pirate NPC
IF pirate NPC takes too much damage, THEN attempt to high wake
IF high wake successful, THEN delete the assets (for you he wakes out, for game he is deleted from the instance)
go to step 1.

In this case lack of persistence results in NPCs restoring their hull and shields since damage state isn't stored. Game creates NPC when you enter instance (drop SC) and deletes NOPC when you leave it (enter SC). So when you drop SC game creates new instance with new NPC. With no data on previous encounter game spawns NPC in default state = full hp and shields.

No amount of timers would help here. Only persistent universe or at least NPC state data transfer between instances as long as relevant mission is active.

 

[MickyG1982]

This does not match with my experience - when I evade an interdiction, the pirate gets dropped into normal space while I fly my merry way. If I submit and then go back to supercruise, he does the same, so I have at best gained a few ls toward the station.

The problem with non-persistant damage on NPCs from the OP is another topic - that is definitely not working as it should.

It's because of the way they spawn.

Every time they do they aren't the same pirate, they can also have variations in load out or even different ships on occasions. The only thing that is guaranteed to stay the same is their name.

 

[Factabulous]

This does not match with my experience - when I evade an interdiction, the pirate gets dropped into normal space while I fly my merry way. If I submit and then go back to supercruise, he does the same, so I have at best gained a few ls toward the station.

Hmm, he said 'evade ... and then as soon as I'm back in SC' - so I guess they don't mean evade. I agree with you - once evaded you are fine unless you drop out of SC & back in again. That hasn't changed for ages - so not sure why they're evoking the mining issues as relevant

 

[buhatkj]

what happened was one pirate interdicted me, i submitted, then boosted away long enough to get back into supercruise, but my shields were real low and i had taken like 20% hull damage, i was back in supercruise for maybe 5 seconds, then a second completely different npc pirate (different name) interdicted me, and with my shields and hull already weakened, they hit my thrusters and i was dead in space and they just finished me off. it was a thoroughly not fun experience. in most of my ships i can evade the interdiction, but i was in my type 9 which of course handles like a drunk whale, so no can do. Just feels broken to be back to back like that.
I didnt want to let the npc ai ruin my game, so i sacrificed half my cargo space to fit a crapton of extra armor, bigger shields, fighter bay, and several turreted lasers. the next run when the npc interdicted me i submitted, then i hopped in the fighter and murdered the stupid npc, then delivered my cargo. There was no second npc like before. So, what like i am not allowed to deliver cargo until i stop and kill something? Feels dumb.

I mentioned the mining nerf because i actually enjoyed mining before, and both this and that seem worse since this last patch. now im firing off 5 limpets to get 1 ton of useful ore in a hotspot, which again, feels broken.

just seems like the rebalancing went pretty badly wrong.
Im not privy to what was in fact changed, but i play a lot, and the satisfaction from my care beary activities has decreased sharply since this patch.

 

[Malcolm Tucker]

If you drop in and suspect a rascal is coveting your booty, turn your back to the star and wait.

More often than not they'll plow into the star.

 

[Zeklandia]

If you drop in and suspect a rascal is coveting your booty, turn your back to the star and wait.

More often than not they'll plow into the star.

Sometimes if your thrust is zero or close to it, they wizz right past you. They also can't handle planets well.

 

[Malcolm Tucker]

Sometimes if your thrust is zero or close to it, they wizz right past you. They also can't handle planets well.

Indeed, also worth remembering they have to get right behind you. They don't deal with verticality very well either.

 

[norlin]

and for gods sake can we make them not attack literally back to back over and over. i evade one, then as soon as im back in sc, theres another? this after the mining nerf? its like the game wants me to quit. you guys have increased the frustration level far past it being dangerous, its just not fun now. im literally disgusted with how things have been going lately. what is wrong with these devs?

Oh yeah it's super annoying. I get it with players - once I've been interdicted about 5 times in a row, with no damage inflicted (i was significantly faster in low-space), but was not able to get rid of that CMDR before high-jumped to another system and blocked him...

But that's ok, it's a pvp part. With NPC pirates it's just annoying.

 

[Craith]

NPC interdictions are winnable even in a T9 vs. a viper - in high security systems where you are allied it is also possible to just put 4 pips to shield, chaff, heat sink + evade as much (or little) as possible in the T-9 (don't show him your top/bottom) - security arrives within a few seconds and either chases him away or even manages to destroy him (if you have a pea-shooter turret installed you might even get a little bonus cash by getting a hit or two in - my T9 is unarmed)

 

[Zeklandia]

NPC interdictions are winnable even in a T9 vs. a viper - in high security systems where you are allied it is also possible to just put 4 pips to shield, chaff, heat sink + evade as much (or little) as possible in the T-9 (don't show him your top/bottom) - security arrives within a few seconds and either chases him away or even manages to destroy him (if you have a pea-shooter turret installed you might even get a little bonus cash by getting a hit or two in - my T9 is unarmed)

I can personally confirm they are very nearly unwinnable against Anacondas. I can only remember winning that fight once or twice.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

I can personally confirm they are very nearly unwinnable against Anacondas. I can only remember winning that fight once or twice.

For avoiding NPC attacks there are some things that should be considered. First don't take missions with chance of opposition, especially don't take multiple such missions. Second look security ratings of systems you are going, start point, destination, anything in between. For NPC activity those are actually meaningfull. Do not fly unarmed space truck to low sec or lawless system. Those kind of systems should be left for armed traders. Likewise for some cargo delivery missions.

 

[Zeklandia]

For avoiding NPC attacks there are some things that should be considered. First don't take missions with chance of opposition, especially don't take multiple such missions. Second look security ratings of systems you are going, start point, destination, anything in between. For NPC activity those are actually meaningfull. Do not fly unarmed space truck to low sec or lawless system. Those kind of systems should be left for armed traders. Likewise for some cargo delivery missions.

Some missions get updated to have enemies after they're accepted. At any rate, I started taking my combat ship out and waiting for the pirates to interdict me. Still a tough fight, but one I won.

 

[Bollen]

and for gods sake can we make them not attack literally back to back over and over. i evade one, then as soon as im back in sc, theres another? this after the mining nerf? its like the game wants me to quit. you guys have increased the frustration level far past it being dangerous, its just not fun now. im literally disgusted with how things have been going lately. what is wrong with these devs?

I have never once had this experience and I've mostly just mined and traded for the past 5-6 years. I barely ever get interdicted once if I'm lucky and I can recall maybe once or twice being interdicted a second time in the same trip... Wish it would happen more often, it's the only thing that breaks the monotony sometimes! I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I'm always well armed and I carry my fighter pilot with me everywhere...(?)

 

[ManlyVIK]

We can target individual modules, but why not the pilot? That'd be much quicker. Rail gun + super penetrator = CMDR redmist

 

[Zeklandia]

We can target individual modules, but why not the pilot? That'd be much quicker. Rail gun + super penetrator = CMDR redmist

What if they're just telepresencing from a true cockpit deep inside the ship?