Wait... what is happening atm? Npc and conflict zones. Please FD be frank about it:]

Nitek [pl] · Jun 22, 2016

What just happened... I am going through deadly and elite ships in conflict zones as a hot knife through Amish butter.
That was not a thing two days ago. So did the latest patch introduce "player level bad" npc's again?
Please inform us of changes, there is no need for covering. Were the npc's nerfed back again or am I in the zone for 2 hours already?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDn9LKWZbQ

PotatoOverdose · Jun 22, 2016

It's being reported all over, but essentially the 2.1.03 AI is fully lobotomized. The 2.1 AI was the most entertaining and challenging experience I've had in Elite, and 2.1.03 guts it. Really a sad state of affairs overall.

<No Need>

Cmdr Eagleboy · Jun 22, 2016

Nitek [pl] said:
What just happened... I am going through deadly and elite ships in conflict zones as a hot knife through Amish butter.
That was not a thing two days ago. So did the latest patch introduce "player level bad" npc's again?
Please inform us of changes, there is no need for covering. Were the npc's nerfed back again or am I in the zone for 2 hours already?

[will make video soon]

Make a video and report a bug if you think it is a bug.

Spiridon · Jun 22, 2016

This is great what they did today. I can play normally again. Kudos, ED.

ROSS-128 · Jun 22, 2016

I'm not sure how widespread this is, but in PowerPlay conflict zones right now the opposition NPCs seem to have dedicated themselves to pacifism. They'll sit still or wander around aimlessly, acting like they haven't been engaged. The friendly NPCs on the other hand don't seem to have any problem with blowing them away. I guess they accidentally broke their threat code, so they can't aggro on anything right now.

I wonder if this is easy enough for the people who were complaining about the AI update.

geoffrey.hdt · Jun 22, 2016

And I thought that the main topic on the forum, after the update of today, would be the favour mechanism...

FD is not done to surprise me... :-/

Sunleader · Jun 22, 2016

They merely Fixed a good Amount of Bugs with the NPCs.
And this WAS Announced in the Patchnotes.

One very Importand one being that NPCs had an Higher Turning Rate on Low Speeds than their Ship should actually Possibly be able to.
Which allowed them to Stay behind Players

Aute · Jun 22, 2016

PotatoOverdose said:
It's being reported all over, but essentially the 2.1.03 AI is fully lobotomized. The 2.1 AI was the most entertaining and challenging experience I've had in Elite, and 2.1.03 guts it. Really a sad state of affairs overall.

On the bright side, the geriatric club got the game they wanted, so there's that. Ease of accessibility and all that.

Wish i could rep you again..this is sad really.

Spiridon · Jun 22, 2016

This is wonderful

Nitek [pl] · Jun 22, 2016

Spiridon said:
This is great what they did today. I can play normally again. Kudos, ED.

There are no words in English dictionary to describe my despise to this community.

Privata · Jun 22, 2016

Spiridon said:
This is wonderful

Stop it.
I hope I dont offend but I find that offencive.

Low ranks should be easy , but high ranks need to be hard...

h347h · Jun 22, 2016

Sunleader said:
One very Importand one being that NPCs had an Higher Turning Rate on Low Speeds than their Ship should actually Possibly be able to.
Which allowed them to Stay behind Players

No it was that lower ranked NPCs were turning faster than FD wanted them to for their rank. NPCs being able to stay behind people is almost impossible. I have been flying an unmodded Python for the last 3 days I should know.

ROSS-128 · Jun 22, 2016

Honestly, I really hope that the people saying "this is perfect" just don't know what we're actually referring to, and don't *really* mean that the level of AI difficulty they want is "unresisting pacifist".

jasonbirder · Jun 22, 2016

This is great what they did today. I can play normally again. Kudos, ED.

If you can comfortably defeat NPC enemies (let alone multiple NPC enemies) in equivalent ships and of equivalent combat rank...
There are only 2 conclusions...

1. You REALLY are a skilled, talented pilot with exceptional reactions, situational awareness and skills you keep current through practice in varied scenarios, self analysis and exposure to best practice from your peers
2. The AI is absolute rubbish

I'll leave people to decide for themselves...

Marc_Hicks · Jun 22, 2016

Sunleader said:
They merely Fixed a good Amount of Bugs with the NPCs.
And this WAS Announced in the Patchnotes.

One very Importand one being that NPCs had an Higher Turning Rate on Low Speeds than their Ship should actually Possibly be able to.
Which allowed them to Stay behind Players

No it wasn't, Sunleader. All that was announced was that some bugs had been cleaned up and interdictions would be scaled to your combat rank.

Nitek [pl] · Jun 22, 2016

The Ai is lobotomized again. Again to cater.... ok i needed to deleted a couple of nouns describing the player skill quality. Jesus I can't believe they are willing to break the game to cater s. aahhhh nneeed to constrain myself...... aaaaaaaaaarggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh

Marc_Hicks · Jun 22, 2016

PotatoOverdose said:
It's being reported all over, but essentially the 2.1.03 AI is fully lobotomized. The 2.1 AI was the most entertaining and challenging experience I've had in Elite, and 2.1.03 guts it. Really a sad state of affairs overall.

On the bright side, the geriatric club got the game they wanted, so there's that. Ease of accessibility and all that.

Eh, don't speak for me. I am in my 40's, & I LOVE the tougher AI we got when 2.1 dropped. I haven't tested the game since last night's patch, but now I am almost too scared to.......are the glory days over? Has SJA's wonderful creation been dumbed down to appease the RES farmers? I really hope not.

SGTHACK · Jun 22, 2016

With each patch its going to sway each way until a balance is reached.

Nitek [pl] · Jun 22, 2016

Marc_Hicks said:
Eh, don't speak for me. I am in my 40's, & I LOVE the tougher AI we got when 2.1 dropped. I haven't tested the game since last night's patch, but now I am almost too scared to.......are the glory days over? Has SJA's wonderful creation been dumbed down to appease the RES farmers? I really hope not.

It is. They inserted a long metal rod in the eye socket of the ai and it's brick dumb to let players win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDn9LKWZbQ
There you go. An "Elite" Python.
I really really despise you FD for listening to grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Marc_Hicks · Jun 22, 2016

Nitek [pl] said:
The Ai is lobotomized again. Again to cater.... ok i needed to deleted a couple of nouns describing the player skill quality. Jesus I can't believe they are willing to break the game to cater s. aahhhh nneeed to constrain myself...... aaaaaaaaaarggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh

Seriously, I totally get your frustration Nitek, but you should bug report it first, & see what they say. Maybe this is a case of "the law of unintended consequences".