Will NPCS follow the same rules as us in 3.0 :D??

[Muetdhiver]

I agree in the main but...

Player without Horizons cannot go against your Elite NPC ships, but, needs them to get Elite Combat rank... How do you resolve that ?

Rather Easy (IMO), Either :

• Make engineering available to everyone.

Or (If the ideal solution is not palatable for FD) :

• Keep the engineered NPC's "penned" in Haz/Res, SS4+ and HiInt CZ's and wing missions (i.e. make them avoidable).

I think engineering should be available to all. Best way (IMO)

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Rather Easy (IMO), Either :

• Make engineering available to everyone.

Or (If the ideal solution is not palatable for FD) :

• Keep the engineered NPC's "penned" in Haz/Res, SS4+ and HiInt CZ's and wing missions (i.e. make them avoidable).

I think engineering should be available to all. Best way (IMO)

I would make limited engineering available to everyone myself. Maybe Grade 2-3 at best and no specials.

 

[piercehead]

SCB's/HRP's/MRP's never appear on scans. Try it some time.

They still have them, they'll still be taking up a module slot on the ship.

 

[El_Hefe]

That would mean every single player would have to get most of their modules to G5 eventaully,enforcing another grind. Currently engineering is optional.

How about people stop heavily engineering corvettes and cutters then complaining the game is too easy? What do they expect?

The two best combat ships from the two superpowers in the game ,most ships highly engineered will make mince meat of NPC's but those same NPC's have to fight players that have no engineering.

There has to be some balance around it.

Putting super duper engineered NPC's is certain areas,ie optional,sounds like a good idea to me. I would go in just to laugh at cutter corvette getting spanked

 

[IndigoWyrd]

NPC's will likely follow NPC rules still... full systems and hull repairs on H-Jump, unlimited materials for instant synthesis (aka unlimited chaff/heatsinks/ammo), automatic knowledge of where you've gone (integrated wake-scanner), and the like.

I'd actually be more curious to know if NPC's will be able to attract Megacops, ATR or ART or WEWCT for their criminal activities. I'm going to wager probably not, but I would like to see at least one get blasted by one of those high-powered ships with station weapons.

 

[GoldenSilver484]

SCB's/HRP's/MRP's never appear on scans. Try it some time.

The only way NPC's break the rules are

• Infinite MC amo in CZ's. (but AFIK, not for the other weapons)
• Heat management (SCB/rails spam)
• Jump range when you get one of those "stalker" NPC's.

Shield cell banks do show up on subsystems, normally right next to the shield itself.

• Infinite MC ammo was for some logic check thing, not entirely sure on the exact quote.
• NPCs do use the same heat management system we use, they just don’t care since slightly overheating causes barely any damage but they do stop or vastly reduce their weapons fire to cool off and I regularly see them deploy heatsinks after using an SCB if they have them. Check their subsystems next time they use an SCB, I guarantee they’ll have at least 1% knocked off something if they don’t use a heatsink.
• Yeah, they break that one.

 

[777Driver]

Shield cell banks do show up on subsystems, normally right next to the shield itself.

• NPCs do use the same heat management system we use, they just don’t care since slightly overheating causes barely any damage but they do stop or vastly reduce their weapons fire to cool off and I regularly see them deploy heatsinks after using an SCB if they have them. Check their subsystems next time they use an SCB, I guarantee they’ll have at least 1% knocked off something if they don’t use a heatsink.
  

Yeah they definitely do have heat management, you see it on most encounters, fires SCB, fires heatsink, normal drill - unlock target and fire fixed until the NPC's heat signature builds again.

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

The NPCs do cheat, but I think that part of the frustration with them is that they can simultaneously manage pips, boost, shoot, chaff, deploy heatsinks and FA on/off faster than any human could. It's like they have an extra set of hands. It might be easier to match them with a hotas setup, but using a game controller is a struggle sometimes. Not enough buttons or fingers.

 

[Han_Zen]

Probably not and probably never. NPCs tend to have to cheat to be competitive. At least without putting massive amounts of work into the AI.

The biggest challenge when making NPCs is to add the imperfections. Making AI that land every shot and evade your fire is relatively easy.

Most of the cheats the AI does in ED, are to give players more targets. For example they have infinite ammo on Multi canons, because players complained that the NPCs waked out when they ran out.

Making difficult AI is easy for developers. Making them realistic is the tricky part.

 

[Craith]

The NPCs do cheat, but I think that part of the frustration with them is that they can simultaneously manage pips, boost, shoot, chaff, deploy heatsinks and FA on/off faster than any human could. It's like they have an extra set of hands. It might be easier to match them with a hotas setup, but using a game controller is a struggle sometimes. Not enough buttons or fingers.

That is true ... But you can't blame them for you using a controller?

Pips is 1 finger, fa off a second, one hand maneuvering, one hand throttle, one finger thrusters and one counter measures. Targeting is the same as pips, so they have a small advantage here, unless I can target by looking at it.

 

[777Driver]

The NPCs do cheat, but I think that part of the frustration with them is that they can simultaneously manage pips, boost, shoot, chaff, deploy heatsinks and FA on/off faster than any human could. It's like they have an extra set of hands. It might be easier to match them with a hotas setup, but using a game controller is a struggle sometimes. Not enough buttons or fingers.

Lets stop guessing.. Pretty much what starts these threads and spreads misinformation. NPC's do not use FA-OFF, they are also programmed (depending on rank) to mimic inexperienced users handling PIPS etc manually. It has to be said that many of us are not using are hands for configuring the ship, I can issue a single command: My ship will configure pips, launch an SCB and heatsink and target the highest threat, all under a second. Just check my voice attack settings, my commands are set to 0.96 seconds, I can actually program it to be faster. Appreciate PS4 & XBOX players don't have that luxury.

 

[CMDR Plexus Ironrot]

Wow nice. Learning a ton about the NPCS in this game. Tho some stuff said heres makes no sense from a design point but I do now understand how and why npcs react in certain instances! Tons of helpful information tho not 100% on the accurate side of things. I believe there’s alot of “opinion thrown about as fact and “if I don’t see it! It’s not true” oh well we will see. I love that people take the time to debunk things it makes for a lively debate! Quite good information tho! I don’t typically get to spend hours analyzing things like this got a bucket list to finish! (Being social was one of them checkerony nice)

 

[CMDR Plexus Ironrot]

Lets stop guessing.. Pretty much what starts these threads and spreads misinformation. NPC's do not use FA-OFF, they are also programmed (depending on rank) to mimic inexperienced users handling PIPS etc manually. It has to be said that many of us are not using are hands for configuring the ship, I can issue a single command: My ship will configure pips, launch an SCB and heatsink and target the highest threat, all under a second. Just check my voice attack settings, my commands are set to 0.96 seconds, I can actually program it to be faster. Appreciate PS4 & XBOX players don't have that luxury.

Bragging brag brag “my ship can do this so fast blah blah” yeah well mine has a toaster. Yeah top that

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

Lets stop guessing.. Pretty much what starts these threads and spreads misinformation. NPC's do not use FA-OFF...

After killing probably thousands of them, they certainly do switch between FA on/off at the higher ranks even though it is only briefly.

 

[777Driver]

After killing probably thousands of them, they certainly do switch between FA on/off at the higher ranks even though it is only briefly.

And it has been confirmed multiple times that they don't, it was confirmed by the person that designs the AI. I fly pure FA-OFF, you can mimic FA-OFF with flight assist engaged, the only difference, the thruster workload is much higher, therefore pointless for a human to bother. For a computer it is a non issue.

@CMDR Plexus Ironrot - What are you on about? my comment has nothing to do with my ship or ability, just talking about some cheap software called voice attack. I'd happily have a toaster on my ship

 

[CMDR Plexus Ironrot]

Pokeing some harmless fun you know you’re stuff but I couldn’t help myself my Lakon spaceways type B toaster is pretty dope

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

And it has been confirmed multiple times that they don't, it was confirmed by the person that designs the AI. I fly pure FA-OFF, you can mimic FA-OFF with flight assist engaged, the only difference, the thruster workload is much higher, therefore pointless for a human to bother. For a computer it is a non issue.

@CMDR Plexus Ironrot - What are you on about? my comment has nothing to do with my ship or ability, just talking about some cheap software called voice attack. I'd happily have a toaster on my ship

I've read the posts by "the person that designs the AI" and forgive me if I find them hard to believe on this particular subject. I'll stick with trusting my eyes and experience.

 

[777Driver]

I've read the posts by "the person that designs the AI" and forgive me if I find them hard to believe on this particular subject. I'll stick with trusting my eyes and experience.

Hehe, ok mate. You sound like a flat earther ;-)

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

Hehe, ok mate. You sound like a flat earther ;-)

They also said at one time that NPCs weren't using engineered weapons even though commanders were getting almost instantly vaporized. I just don't take statements at face value when it comes to game developers.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

That is true ... But you can't blame them for you using a controller?

Pips is 1 finger, fa off a second, one hand maneuvering, one hand throttle, one finger thrusters and one counter measures. Targeting is the same as pips, so they have a small advantage here, unless I can target by looking at it.

TrackIR is good for that.