I keep hearing about these mystical improved NPCs, but I have yet to see one. I'm seriously confused when reading such reports, as most NPCs dont even shoot at me just roll around in front of my crosshairs... during the last week I tried CZs, RES with big ships, assassinations. The hardest was when I fought a wing of 8 sidewinders in my trading anaconda, I actually had to use a few shield cells!
And it's not that I'm some ace pilot, my combat style is super lazy: I put 4 pips to SYS, 2 pips to WEP, 50% throttle, and just turn after my opponents. I fly an Anaconda, this means my speed is 50 m/s, and the NPCs dutifully match their speed and stay close so I can slowly kill them with my 4x C2 multicannons (!), while taking potshots with the C4 plasma. And the remaining 3 hardpoints are seeker missiles because why not. Oh, and don't even get me started about NPC pirates! I'm being interdicted only by small ships that die sooner than my FSD cooldown is over. Where are the Elite Pirate Lords? My hold is full of slaves and gold!