Why am I getting insta-pwnd now?

piugattuk

piugattuk
My suggestion, stay away from combat and areas you are at high risk, don't stack missions, if you do stack missions go with data only as you won't lose that.

The rank missions that give you a percentage boost will spawn idiot NPC that will keep interdicting you over and over, if you get killed it will be waiting for you, as soon as you FSD you will get a message then quickly interdicted.

About the only activities are exploration and planetary landings, pure trade is ok but again you will be getting interdicted on a regular basis.

Oh and the missions are bugged, I had no cargo left but the NPC acted like I did, demanding cargo when there was none.

So exploration is about the only thing left for you, if you mine it's ok but if you stuff your cargo with valuable ores coming out of a ring you have a 50/50 chance at a pirate spawning.

There you go.
 

Adhock

A
doubleDizz said:
I was going to buy Horizons on the weekend, but not if I can't even survive a single battle without the help of the system police.
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That is the WRONG answer right there friend.

You actually SHOULD buy Horizons.

I too was getting my ass kicked by the 2.1 AI and I had started playing before that one dropped. I put in a CS ticket requesting a drop back to Harmless Combat Rank and put in some time actually working toward some of the more basic 2.1 Engineers mods. Now I'm back at Novice and holding my own against Competent through Master ranked ships.

2.1 with Horizons was a complete mess as far as the AI were concerned. They are much improved which is good but there was some issues with the AI creating super engineer mods and going Skynet on everybody. This has been since throttled back but the AI is now much more dangerous. Engineer mods of your own can give you the edge at lower Combat Ranks and even the playing field at the highest levels. The highest ranking NPC's still have some of they Skynet mods. Maybe.

Everything is now based on your Combat Rank. If you're harmless, you will attract Harmless and Mostly Harmless NPC's. If you're Dangerous you will attract Deadly, Dangerous, and Elite NPC's. Your Trade and Explorer rank will affect this slightly in that if they're higher then your combat rank by one or more levels, you will attract NPC's one combat rank higher then you are. Two if in Anarchy. Someone probably has more accurate information then I about this.

The old meta no longer works. Shields are pretty much now mandatory on all vessels and you need to find a new weapons loadout that works for you. Experiment with each type and find a new loadout that works for EACH INDIVIDUAL SHIP. One size fits all no longer applies.

Oh and drop out of Powerplay if you are pledged. Those NPC's will hound you even in friendly territory. I have seen them do things you would not believe...
 

Deleted member 115407

D
piugattuk said:
My suggestion, stay away from combat and areas you are at high risk, don't stack missions, if you do stack missions go with data only as you won't lose that.

The rank missions that give you a percentage boost will spawn idiot NPC that will keep interdicting you over and over, if you get killed it will be waiting for you, as soon as you FSD you will get a message then quickly interdicted.

About the only activities are exploration and planetary landings, pure trade is ok but again you will be getting interdicted on a regular basis.

Oh and the missions are bugged, I had no cargo left but the NPC acted like I did, demanding cargo when there was none.

So exploration is about the only thing left for you, if you mine it's ok but if you stuff your cargo with valuable ores coming out of a ring you have a 50/50 chance at a pirate spawning.

There you go.
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I respectfully disagree with all of this.
 

Mr T

Mr T
doubleDizz said:
Ive just come back from a 9-12 month hiatus from the game and I'm finding NPC's are ripping new holes into me in a way that just isn't fun.

I have a Cobra MK3 I think, I thought it was pretty good (insurance value is 380k) and I recently bought a Keelback to try some larger freighting gameplay.

Before I went away from the game I could handle most NPC's in places like High and Haz RES', but since coming back (and playing about 6 hours) my Cobra has been destroyed three times and my Keelback (which is upgraded and now insures for 300k) has been destroyed twice! I've lost millions in the space of hours.

The last Time I got destroyed in the Keelback I lasted FIVE FKN SECONDS. I didn't even have a chance to turn around?!

This is all in SOLO btw.

So yeah, what the Hell is going on? This isn't fun.
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When 2.1 dropped my ASP explorer was destroyed quite a number of times because I thought I could fight NPCs. Before 2.1 I could actually fight the NPCs in the ASP and would either win or at least have a chance to escape if I didn't win. That's no longer the case since 2.1. I now run away from NPCs in my AspX and I have a Vulture when I feel like some combat. I've fitted mine launchers to my Asp but I haven't had to use them since upgrading my thrusters with the engineers as my ship is too fast for the AI to catch up.
 

Deleted member 115407

D
miketuppen said:
When 2.1 dropped my ASP explorer was destroyed quite a number of times because I thought I could fight NPCs. Before 2.1 I could actually fight the NPCs in the ASP and would either win or at least have a chance to escape if I didn't win. That's no longer the case since 2.1. I now run away from NPCs in my AspX and I have a Vulture when I feel like some combat. I've fitted mine launchers to my Asp but I haven't had to use them since upgrading my thrusters with the engineers as my ship is too fast for the AI to catch up.
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I don't know how much dogfighting I would do in it, but I took my recently purchased Asp E and turned it into a gun/missile ship for the High Intensity CZs... Excellent for that!
 

AutoMechancal

A
doubleDizz said:
Or reset my combat rank?
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Or you could stop complaing like a child, learn to fly the ship you have, ask what you're doing wrong so you can stop doing it, and enjoy the game for what it is. Because some of us don't like to farm NPCs that just spin on an single axis.

GluttonyFang said:
Adapt, NPC are no longer brain dead.
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Their still brain dead to be honest, they just have the ability to bank and shoot back, but that's about it.
 

CMDR Aengus

CMDR Aengus
AutoMechancal said:
Or you could stop complaing like a child, learn to fly the ship you have, ask what you're doing wrong so you can stop doing it, and enjoy the game for what it is. Because some of us don't like to farm NPCs that just spin on an single axis.



Their still brain dead to be honest, they just have the ability to bank and shoot back, but that's about it.
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He just asked a question. I would hazard a guess that being away for so long and not knowing about nay changes means he doesn't know about FD changing peoples combat ranks to compensate.

No need to be antsy about it.

No wonder people leave the game.
 

JerryLove

JerryLove
What are you trying to do?

BH? OK. Don't carry cargo. Then you get to pick your opponents. Start with little guys and work your way up. Avoid CZs, but all else should be AOK. Be wary of wings. They will kill you until you die from it. Clearly: look at updating your ship load-out (I run bi-weaves almost exclusively on BH builds; because regen>cap for long-term fights.

Trading: Interdictions should be the only worry there. Submit and high-wake out as soon as FSD cooldown is done. 4-pips to shields and 2-pips to engines. There are some more advanced options to add on that. 4-pip engines and turn 180 after submt, then boost. Switch to 3-sys when the shooting starts. Mines are also super-good ways of saying you aren't interested in being followed.

Mining: I just don't have a lot of experience here. You must have cargo (mine products) and to can be harassed by pirates; and the spawn rate says sooner rather than later. Focus on areas with high police-presence (there was this massive group of like 20 police eagles and Vipers yesterday that was epic to watch). Have a high-wake-jump ready? I'm not entirely sure.

You cannot fight the same things you used to (I can't either).

To your description: The Keelback is considered a bad ship, and you likely got hit with plasma cannons.
 
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aRJay

aRJay
doubleDizz said:
Or reset my combat rank?
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Yes I am afraid so. Think of it like duelling, you learnt to be a top duellist with a single shot duelling pistol in Europe then try to use the same techniques in a Wild West gun fight. Dropping your combat rank will lower somewhat the skills abilities and weaponry of your NPC targets which will give you a chance to adjust.

I was lucky I only really got playing just before the update so I hadn't learned any bad habits. It should also be pointed out that for a while after the update some of the NPCs were using weapons that Frontier hadn't designed, they have now been toned down a lot much to the disgust of some people.

One thing to note is that NPCs are generated based mainly on your combat rank but they will be bumped up a rank if your other ranks are higher than your combat.

As has been mentioned elsewhere Mines are now very good for non combat ships, turrets are now much better at hitting targets and also at not hitting friends.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
A keelback is basically a cargo container with the same weapons loadout as a Cobra or Viper but considerably less manoeverabilty and shields. Armour too in the case of the Cobra.

Not the ship of choice for a combat-intensive area.

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the100thmonkey said:
Why on earth would you take a Keelback into a RES?
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I want to trade in my FDL but I can only fit a 2 ton cargo hold in it.

#firstworldproblems #justelitethings
 
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Duedy

Duedy
I would say the same why take a Keelback to a res site. That aside since 2.1 and NPC Overcharge. Ship choice matters. If your trading then you need a ship that can run, If your wanting a fight then use a ship suited for combat. Don't try to play the interdiction submit and boost, faster your ship the more chance your 3km out before they decide you must die. Point defense is also a must as missiles are a plenty now too.

If you must kill in a trader then mines are now your friend. run so the NPC follows and then line up on the radar and drop mines till they blow up. but weaponless will boost your overall speed so you can escape faster by lowering weight, even dropping a power plant class in some cases.
 
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doubleDizz

D
Thanks to everyone (except AutoMechanfail lol) for the information.

I was not aware the AI "got good" since I'd been gone. I went into a Low RES to test my latest hardpoints, because in my experience, Low RES' were always a good place to tackle basic NPC pirates. I went to test them because I didn't want to have to defend myself with 60T of valuable cargo up my ass only to find out my hardpoint selection sucks.

I bought the Keelback because it was the right price and could hold a ton more cargo than my Cobra MKIII (Cobra has 16T cargo, I'll reduce that to 5-10T now I have the Keelback)

The Hardpoints on the Keelback are two 1-slot G Burst Lasers, one 2-slot G Multicannon and one 2-slot F Plasma Accelerator

I test-fired the Plasma Accelerator in deep space, saw it was purple... and I distinctly remember a purple flash before I died 5 seconds later in the Low RES; so yeah, probably a Plasma Accelerator that took out my shields.

I think I'm going to reset my Combat Rank. I was only seeing Deadly and Elite ships in Supercruise last night.

Also, in terms of overall game experience; this is some A-grade B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. If any other game had pulled this , it would be uninstalled so fast. FD is just lucky I have a massive spacesim craving right now.

I'm glad that Elite players are enjoying this level of difficulty, but to drop this on people who aren't there yet is complete . You've heard the saying "tarred with the same brush" right? Well there should be a similar saying for difficulty levels in video games... THAT'S WHY THERE VIDEO GAMES HAVE MULTIPLE DIFFICULTY LEVELS FD.

And I can understand people who think that's whinging; I understand them to be selfish and inconsiderate of others. But it's best to ignore them, everyone else does haha :D
 

Mr T

Mr T
doubleDizz said:
<snip>I'm glad that Elite players are enjoying this level of difficulty, but to drop this on people who aren't there yet is complete . You've heard the saying "tarred with the same brush" right? Well there should be a similar saying for difficulty levels in video games... THAT'S WHY THERE VIDEO GAMES HAVE MULTIPLE DIFFICULTY LEVELS FD.<snip>
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You should have seen the amount of threads and posts that were generated on this forum just after 2.1 came out. Mind you, at first the AI had super weapons due to a code bug which didn't help the situation. If you need help fighting / running / evading the AI you will find plenty of answers here.
 

Manticore

Manticore
Before 2.1:

A galaxy of peaches and cream.

Post 2.1:

A galaxy of danger and violence.

Since 2.1:

COUNTERMEASURES: Yes they work! And never submit willingly to any interdiction!

(My opinions).
 
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