Where have the hostile ships gone?

[Marc_Hicks]

I've been doing a *lot* of missions lately, many of them tailored for the top 3 ranks. Pretty much all of them have said that hostile ships might be sent against me. Yet not one of those missions has resulted in a mission specific hostile trying to interdict me, or in any other way impede the progress of my mission.

I must say that this disappoints me deeply.

Whilst we're on the subject, I have also noticed that hostile NPC's seem to be really dumb in combat again. They'll fire off an initial volley, then not shoot me ever again.....regardless of the Pilot's rank. It's real "fish in a barrel" kind of stuff. It's disappointing when Skimmers provide more of a challenge than NPC ships!!!

 

[Riverside]

I've been doing a few missions tonight & they have appeared for me, along with my regular Elite Anacondas.

All were FDLs that appeared in SC pretty far away so would have been easy to evade if I wanted to, I waited for them to reach me & submitted to their interditions each time, or dropped into a USS if they looked to have flown into a planet or star.

Once in the fight scenario the Elite Anacondas (not mission specific, but tailored NPCs) all opened up & tried to face tank as usual, but the FDLs all ran as you say, I had to boost after them.

I would guess the mission ones are trying to make it harder for you to kill them rather than trying to be hard to survive. I don't mind this approach but it did seem at odds with their 'target aquired' type chat.

 

[Clicker]

Remember the good ol’ days of Ceos and Sothis before they nerfed smuggling?

You could guarantee that you’d be interdicted and the AI NPCs put up a reasonable fight.

Ahhh....the good ol’ days.

Clicker

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Remember the good ol’ days of Ceos and Sothis before they nerfed smuggling?

You could guarantee that you’d be interdicted and the AI NPCs put up a reasonable fight.

Ahhh....the good ol’ days.

Clicker

Never did Ceos or Sothis, but I do still remember long distance smuggling runs where you got chased almost all the way to your destination. Fun times .

 

[Riverside]

Never did Ceos or Sothis, but I do still remember long distance smuggling runs where you got chased almost all the way to your destination. Fun times .

I remember the irritating mission branch NPCs too.

You guys realise you are talking about 1.4 & 2.0 right? Before the fabled 2.1 AI?

 

[GunnerBill]

Never did Ceos or Sothis, but I do still remember long distance smuggling runs where you got chased almost all the way to your destination. Fun times .

Ahhh Robigo. I have a tear in my eye [money]

But to answer OP, I've indulged in a few data missions over the festive period and have seen some of the promised enemies but not nearly as many as promised.

However it was a fairly short route i.e. 1 jump w/ 600 ls or so to station.

 

[Saltyseadog]

I've been doing a *lot* of missions lately, many of them tailored for the top 3 ranks. Pretty much all of them have said that hostile ships might be sent against me. Yet not one of those missions has resulted in a mission specific hostile trying to interdict me, or in any other way impede the progress of my mission.

I must say that this disappoints me deeply.

Whilst we're on the subject, I have also noticed that hostile NPC's seem to be really dumb in combat again. They'll fire off an initial volley, then not shoot me ever again.....regardless of the Pilot's rank. It's real "fish in a barrel" kind of stuff. It's disappointing when Skimmers provide more of a challenge than NPC ships!!!

I think you're right as the same thing has been happening to me the last couple of days. I had just refitted a new weapon rig out on my FDL, took a few data missions and set of got several updates saying watch my back etc etc but the only thing I saw was a pop up saying the eagle is in my sights bla bla bla, I even scanned him which is usually a guarantee that they will interdict but no, nada, zilch I wasn't interdicted once. For testing out stuff I prefer mission type combat but if it happens again tonight I will end up in a combat zone of one or other type.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

It might feel if you stack missions there's less pirates after you. I think it is alright because I have bitten by Master rank NPCs to start to dig in more advanced defence mechanics.

 

[Krieger]

I've been doing a *lot* of missions lately, many of them tailored for the top 3 ranks. Pretty much all of them have said that hostile ships might be sent against me. Yet not one of those missions has resulted in a mission specific hostile trying to interdict me, or in any other way impede the progress of my mission.

I must say that this disappoints me deeply.

Whilst we're on the subject, I have also noticed that hostile NPC's seem to be really dumb in combat again. They'll fire off an initial volley, then not shoot me ever again.....regardless of the Pilot's rank. It's real "fish in a barrel" kind of stuff. It's disappointing when Skimmers provide more of a challenge than NPC ships!!!

My experience is the mission related hostiles come in waves. They leave me alone for up to 10 runs sometimes but then the next 2 or 3 runs I get attacked multiple times per run. Sometimes a second pirate (or even a third one) drops in (multiple missions active). I really enjoy those engagements. My mission-running Python isn't agile enough to fight off more than one pirate at a time so I have to rely on security to help me ("D*mn! Can't remember if this is a high or low sec system!").

 

[Marc_Hicks]

I remember the irritating mission branch NPCs too.

You guys realise you are talking about 1.4 & 2.0 right? Before the fabled 2.1 AI?

Yep, well aware of that. The 2.1 AI wasn't fabled, btw, it was very very real.....& was a thing of beauty.....sadly the mountains of salt it produced has prevented us from seeing such a beautiful AI in well over a year.

I remember the irritating mission branch NPCs too.

You guys realise you are talking about 1.4 & 2.0 right? Before the fabled 2.1 AI?

The mission branch NPC's are done a lot better now, as you'll get the offers via your mailbox....makes much more sense.

 

[Riverside]

I remember your stance at the time Marc, I was less impressed.

I am, however in the unusual position of being able to compare then Vs now fairly objectively, because I left the bubble to escape the constant and irritating stream of elite anacondas that came after me, and I am still flying the exact same ship & load out today.

While their attacks are much more telegraphed than before and so are easier to avoid by the attentive Cmdr, the challenge they present is pretty similar. You still have your 2.1 ai, but now I have the chance to avoid them, they use less improbable magic than before.

So we should both be happy, shouldn't we?

 

[Lightspeed]

I think Krieger's experience sums up mine also .... they come in waves. And experience of them varies greatly.

When I had just become Elite in exploration and had just bought the T-10, which wasn't running with optimum anything, I was intercepted by a NPC who had telegraphed his prescence first. He was Elite (or almost) and ripped me apart in two passes, and it took just 20 seconds (I checked the log afterwards). I stood no chance against that kind of engineered weaponry.

So they are out there .... thankfully they don't turn up too often, but sometimes when the regular-weaponed NPCs don't show as promised, it can be a disappointment.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I feel what's huge improvement for me that they aren't chaotic and mechanic for mission which spawns pirates actually works.

There was mission for getting pirate king - and in same time I hauled some data which of course attracted some pirate which I got mission update for.

I killed both of them in one instance as I attacked first second one spawned in. And it was great and it felt very fluid.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'm assuming too many people complained about the interdictions, so FD nerfed them.

I've simply stopped playing because bit by bit, the challenge is being sucked out of this game, and being replaced with tedium.

The only kinks I get in missions are location changes. Lol

I'm feeling the need to rant about how boring the game is becoming before FD are listening to the wrong people too much.

But I shall not rant. Probably.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I'm assuming too many people complained about the interdictions, so FD nerfed them.

I've simply stopped playing because bit by bit, the challenge is being sucked out of this game, and being replaced with tedium.

The only kinks I get in missions are location changes. Lol

I'm feeling the need to rant about how boring the game is becoming before FD are listening to the wrong people too much.

But I shall not rant. Probably.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

Not sure, I am getting constantly sent pirates against me for data and delivery missions, especially outbreaks and famines. And they are quite challenging for me as casual.

At this point I even avoid my local anarchy system because I can't take on pirate king there, without syssec support.

 

[Lightspeed]

Marc .... you need to keep some commodity rewards in your cargo, such as nano breakers or telemetry hoses, or whatever they are. They seem to be NPC magnets.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Marc .... you need to keep some commodity rewards in your cargo, such as nano breakers or telemetry hoses, or whatever they are. They seem to be NPC magnets.

Ohh yeah, these ones. Just leave some of them after getting them as mission rewards and they seem to be quite crazy after them.

 

[Wasp0]

I have also noticed a drop in NPC pirates and NPC BH coming after me. I have a few bounties outstanding from the last CG so my Gal wide bounty is 15k (ish). I used to get chased by NPC BH for that amount but have not seen one actually have a go at me, plenty of warning TxT messages but from ships not even in the same system as me.

FD, why not make a few level of missions.

Level low.... Low payout and Might get the odd interdiction but probably not.

Level medium.... Much higher mission reward, but Highly likely to get at least one interdiction of a NPC level to your rank or one below.

Level High...... High rewards from the mission, but you gonna get a Elite conda plus 1 other coming at you.

Level Ultimate......Huge mission payout with Material bonus but this is like consta interdiction's, all elite and multiple NPC's at each interdiction.


Then it's up to you what missions you take fully knowing the consequences, so no Rage quitting posts on here!!

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Marc .... you need to keep some commodity rewards in your cargo, such as nano breakers or telemetry hoses, or whatever they are. They seem to be NPC magnets.

Already was doing that .

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Oh, but the irony. Just a couple of hours after making this complaint, what happens? First up, I get chased down by 2 hostile ships in the one mission.....& one was very competent. Had local security not dropped in to lend a hand, I might well have been toast .

Then I took an assassination mission, expecting another "by the number" affairs......even though I was offered the "Clean Kill" wrinkle. Boy did I get a rude shock. A Competent FdL pilot who *really* lived up to his name.......took my shields down quick smart, & got me down to 5% hull before I was finally able to flee. I low waked it to a nearby station, but when I dropped out of Super-Cruise he appeared nearly on top of me.

Now I am just waiting for my own FdL to arrive so that I can try Round 2.