Wait, so the NPC instance reset bug is fixed?

Had several mission targets come after me, my only crime was completing a hostage mission. Anyway, one angry Condy broke off fighting me, he high-waked away with 1 ring left of shields and 32% hull.

Because I was in my Pirate Cutter, with a Wake Scanner, I was able to pursue the Condy into another system and......he still had 32% hull damage and 1 ring left of shields. He eventually interdicted me, pulled me out of super-cruise, and yep, hull at 32%, 1 ring of shields.

Could have sworn this was a bug? That NPCs hull and shields magically reset during an instance change? Was this fixed or was I lucky?
 
NPCs keeping their state has been a thing for YEARS if you follow them through a scanned wake, the wake scanner exists literally to create a strong bind between you and the ship which created that wake. In the case of PvP, it causes the MM server to try and match you with that player on the other side, and in the case of an NPC it tells the game to keep it in memory as it existed at the time it high-waked and to spawn it again in the same state on the other side (which can be a bit silly if you wait for 4 minutes or however long the wake remains, follow it and find the damaged NPC conveniently waiting for you in supercruise).

As for the "NPC reset bug", it's not a bug per se, hence why it doesn't "just" get fixed. The game's structure (Multiplayer P2P) prevents NPC persistence on a large scale, so it only keeps tracks of NPC states across instances in a few hand-picked scenarios: when you follow a hyperspace wake using a wake scanner, when you follow an NPC into normal space through its low wake or through an interdictions, or when you escape a pursuer into supercruise. In every other cases, the NPCs you meet are just spawned based on the local conditions (some of which are down to the player's status, particularly missions, but most of which are to do with the local scenario and BGS conditions) with no other context.

If we want specific scenarios to have more persistence, it's something Frontier have to allow on a case-by-case basis, so it's more of a suggestions thing.
 
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NPCs keeping their state has been a thing for YEARS if you follow them through a scanned wake.

Didn't know, its not often l carry a Wake Scanner, even less often I follow ships using it.

I wonder why they don't keep state within the same star system, you'd think it would be easier. Its as if when using the Wake Scanner, the game thinks 'ah, ok, better save the state of this NPC, might need it in a minute or two'.
 
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It happened to me recently and it didnt involved folowing up with a wake scanner.
I had several kill pirate mission stacked in the same system and obviously i found myself with several targets in the same instance. One bailed out, pretty damaged. After i killed the other target i got back to supercruise to look for the escapee. Didn't had to because really soon he interdicted me and his ship was still damaged.
 
It's not new... nor is it regular, predictable of consistent. 😕

When I get attacked during a mission it's a matter of pride that I always attempt to defeat all my attackers.
Also, let's face it, it's often the most enjoyable part of a mission.

As a result of this, I've found myself fighting a series of 4x Annie's in my iCourier or AspX... which is often a battle of attrition.

I've seen ships retain their shield and hull damage between instances, I've seen ships recover their shield but retain hull damage and I've seen ships recover their shield and hull damage.
About the only thing that is consistent, in my experience, is that if you land at a station for repair, mid-battle, your attacker will also re-appear with completely recovered shield and hull.

As a result of all this, I've ammended my original philosophy slightly, so that I keep fighting until an attacker recovers their shield and hull and, when/if that happens, I consider that they're "cheating" and will give up and complete the mission without exploding them.
 
Edited my first post for more details

It happened to me recently and it didnt involved folowing up with a wake scanner.
I had several kill pirate mission stacked in the same system and obviously i found myself with several targets in the same instance. One bailed out, pretty damaged. After i killed the other target i got back to supercruise to look for the escapee. Didn't had to because really soon he interdicted me and his ship was still damaged.

That's interesting, I wouldn't have expected the one which high-waked to still be damaged. If any other NPCs had followed you back into supercruise, sure, they would have kept their state but not the one that bailed.
 
That's interesting, I wouldn't have expected the one which high-waked to still be damaged. If any other NPCs had followed you back into supercruise, sure, they would have kept their state but not the one that bailed.

Not sure if it matters, but it was a Mission Target pirate (deadly or elite Conda) and i'm not sure if he high-waked out.
He bailed out really fast in the very moment the cops arrived.

edit: i'll keep monitoring this - it's kinda entertaining to fight deadly/elite Condas and Vettes in a DBS :)
 
I wonder why they don't keep state within the same star system, you'd think it would be easier. Its as if when using the Wake Scanner, the game thinks 'ah, ok, better save the state of this NPC, might need it in a minute or two'.

I think the issue here is if the target high wakes out of the combat to a different system and then you low wake back into supercruise then a new instance of the mission target will spawn with fresh stats. The few times I have followed a target that high wakes into a new system it will still have the damage from out last fight.

Honestly though, I don't usually carry a wake scanner so when a target wakes out I don't even check to see if it is a high or low wake, I just low wake myself. If a target spawns fresh then I assume my original target high waked out. If I find it in supercruise with damage then I know he low waked. I almost never get luck with that though, they almost always spawn fresh.
 
Not sure if it matters, but it was a Mission Target pirate (deadly or elite Conda) and i'm not sure if he high-waked out.
He bailed out really fast in the very moment the cops arrived.

edit: i'll keep monitoring this - it's kinda entertaining to fight deadly/elite Condas and Vettes in a DBS :)

This doesn't happen with haulage missions that have incoming hostiles ships. They bail and threes seconds later they re-appear fully repaired. So maybe things are a little different with missions that spawn specific ships.
 
Had several mission targets come after me, my only crime was completing a hostage mission. Anyway, one angry Condy broke off fighting me, he high-waked away with 1 ring left of shields and 32% hull.

Because I was in my Pirate Cutter, with a Wake Scanner, I was able to pursue the Condy into another system and......he still had 32% hull damage and 1 ring left of shields. He eventually interdicted me, pulled me out of super-cruise, and yep, hull at 32%, 1 ring of shields.

Could have sworn this was a bug? That NPCs hull and shields magically reset during an instance change? Was this fixed or was I lucky?

I've used a wake scanner a LOT.

It has always (literally since launch day of the game) worked when you use the wake scanner. I've had zero instances of the NPC resetting it's shields/hull/loadout/etc when using the wake scanner to follow them.

It's when I've gone back into super cruise, and seen them again, that's when they can sometimes change their stats etc.
 
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