The NPC Just Got Smarter
- Thread starter Mrjupp
- Start date
I've had a couple of cobra 3's pull the same thing ,but mainly seems to be eagles!
SJA, the A.I. dev did warn us in a couple of other threads that she'd turned the wick up a bit for 1.2. Have you noticed the NPCs trying to avoid your fire arc? For the first half hour or so I thought I'd forgotten how to fly with fixed weapons. (ok, still can't rule that out totally.)
Didn't the NPCs fly with AI off since launch?
And yet i kill a (in)Competent Federal Dropship by going backward in a straight line and shooting at it with my viper until it dies. That was the whole fight. Just going backward and it just followed until it was dead.
Sarah Jane Avory
Retro Queen
It's on my to-do list, part of the avoiding line-of-fire system.
I'm planning on fixing a whole load of weaknesses in the combat AI.
Thanks for keeping us in the loop. It's always good to hear you guys are working on the things that people are concerned about.
That would be nice. Took a combat Eagle (3 x burst gimbaled) out for the first time in months last night just for the fun of it, first target to appear was a nice Deadly Asp with a big, fat bounty on him. Got on his six, opened up, game on. It seemed every other shot to hit him caused him to hit his stick in a different direction, and as my rate of fire was high and (almost) constant, the net effect was that he flew in a wobbly straight line whilst his shields died and hull started to peel. It seemed to take a long time before he then decided to try something a bit more effective than just wobbling through space like a drunken bee, by which point it was far too late as his reactor was close to blowing. Game over Asp. No damage to my teeny little ship, outer shield ring at about 50% due to him finally getting the idea and turning to face me (briefly). Still, made a change from (slowly) running around in the Python.
Make 'em evil, but not so evil for all the newer players, or they will soon grow tired of it all. Maybe a sliding scale based on the player's combat rating?
Ditto, I have noticed it, and in the last two days I just tried to run two elite anaconda assassination missions with a cobra. Before the shield cell nerf...no problems running them with no damage. After the nerf, I might experience 20-40% hull loss.
On these last two missions, my shields drop...par for the course...but my power plant is gone in under 10 seconds in both cases.
I never had that happen at all before...so I assume it is smarter, and the days of me running assassination missions with cobras is over.
Back to grinding 2k bounty sidewinders at the nav point. Only 150 mil more to go til I get my own anaconda
On these last two missions, my shields drop...par for the course...but my power plant is gone in under 10 seconds in both cases.
I never had that happen at all before...so I assume it is smarter, and the days of me running assassination missions with cobras is over.
Back to grinding 2k bounty sidewinders at the nav point. Only 150 mil more to go til I get my own anaconda
Definitely. A few Elite NPCs have surprised me with FA off even before 1.1 iirc.
They're not that smart in supercruise. Since 1.1.06 I've spent a while in an anarchy system that just has the star - no nav beacon, planets or stations.
Every time, just one single NPC ever spawns, flies towards the star and then parks at 30km/s pointing towards the star as if they're mesmerised - indefinitely! They never move again!
At that speed I've not been patient enough to see what happens when they drift too close...
Every time, just one single NPC ever spawns, flies towards the star and then parks at 30km/s pointing towards the star as if they're mesmerised - indefinitely! They never move again!
At that speed I've not been patient enough to see what happens when they drift too close...
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Hello,
Lately i got 4 times interdicted within 6 jumps by NPCs (Sidewinder - Viper - Cobraeasytogetaway - Cobra interdicting while fueling and a couple of minutes i have been the running like a rabbit to escape (i'm in an Adder outfitted for exploring),. i had to turn round for repairs
I play in group mode to avoid senseless kills and then i'm interdicted in a system that reminds me at a desert island (joke - you know the one when the mugger stands with his bat at the lonely palm tree?). If a pirat has just the basic intelligence to maneuver a spaceship, this would never ever have been a system where he would have waited.
Thats what i call - unnecessary player punishment.
Please don't forget - it is still a game and very few gamer are a masochist!
Lately i got 4 times interdicted within 6 jumps by NPCs (Sidewinder - Viper - Cobraeasytogetaway - Cobra interdicting while fueling and a couple of minutes i have been the running like a rabbit to escape (i'm in an Adder outfitted for exploring),. i had to turn round for repairs
I play in group mode to avoid senseless kills and then i'm interdicted in a system that reminds me at a desert island (joke - you know the one when the mugger stands with his bat at the lonely palm tree?). If a pirat has just the basic intelligence to maneuver a spaceship, this would never ever have been a system where he would have waited.
Thats what i call - unnecessary player punishment.
Are you kidding, they have to be smart enough to help people learn and defend themselves - you don't learn if you always win.
And you don't learn if you die to often.
Because you quit the game.
Good on you for making the AI less pants-on-head stupid, but please be mindful not to take it too far. It's a game and it's supposed to be fun, not punishing. I worry if you dail it up too much and make NPC interactions nigh on impossible for anybody but the absolute best pilots, you'll push people away from the game -- especially primarily PVE players and Solo players.
Challenging and rewarding = awesome
Impossible and punishing = not fun, people quit
I fear you've already approached the "punishing" with the Assassination missions, since the only targets are ridiculously maneuverable and intelligent Anacondas, which puts them out of reach for all but the very best pilots, or those with very expensive ships.
Not everyone who plays the game is an absolute ace pilot who howls on the forums about the NPCs being too easy.
Please just be mindful of that.
Sarah Jane Avory
Retro Queen
Don't worry, AI skills are based on their rank, so only Elite pilots will have everything switched on. Example: Harmless AI ships don't do any PIP management.
Just want to plug a few gaping holes in the AI combat tactics.