Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

In case you haven't seen it there are some changes today to remove the engineered weapons from NPCs following the complaints about the insta-kills since 2.1

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=257892

This is not a change to the improved AI of NPCs, it just means that when they outfly you they will be hitting you with smaller weapons now

Haha. It's funny reading that thread. You had people telling those who complained about the new AI to man up, now it's those vary people who are now crying. Man up! >.<

Well shucks, I was going to try some missions and USS sites to see if I could get these modded AI attacking me. Apart from a handful of impulse attacks, I didn't have any serious problems with modded weapons in HiRES sites. Honestly, it looked like the insta-kills were from bugs and not just modded weapons. If you can mod an Eagle to kill a Cutter in 2 seconds, then what is the point of playing the game.

Anyway, now I don't feel any pressure to chase down these mods and I can make them at a nice slow pace.

Myrm wrote:Haha. It's funny reading that thread. You had people telling those who complained about the new AI to man up, now it's those vary people who are now crying. Man up! >.<

I think most of us didn't mind the increased AI prowess and even some of the aggressiveness at times. After all, spinning AI ships prior were not fun at all. I disengaged several times, not bothering to kill the NPC.

But what got to many of us with the new AI were ...

Getting attacked without any cause or reason, often in packs, sometimes en masse (personally experienced)

Unreal weapons, one shot, one kill (or nearly killed), stuff that must be high-level engineering modded or something (I honestly couldn't explain it)

I thought the first one was just chance, but the second one was ultra-BS ... lower ranked AI, same ship, I'm unable to hang with him at all, period, and dead in seconds. 15 fold increase in insurance in just 4 hours of play (maybe 8 seconds total elapsed in the 2 incidents), versus 200+ hours prior, and a heck of a lot more combat.

I really don't grind, but just play for fun. Totally made me not even consider it any more.

I think the AI still pack a punch.
Took a dbx out to sell some old bookmarks. And in one system got interdicted by a master level dbx.

My shields where gone before I had managed to turn around and deploy guns.
And I was at 50% hull when I got back into cruise.

I am getting rammed quite a bit, which will knock down my shields and take out some hull - much worse that what any modded weapons ever did.

The ramming is the biggest issue I've had. I have had plenty of impulse and thermal attackes, but by far the ramming has caused the most damage.

I've now taken to using my thruster to move down and to the side, whilst pitching up as soon as the target starts to come at me from the front.

Had one instance where I dropped into a USS and got jumped on by three Cobra. Master or not, they shouldn't have been able to strip my Python shields in seconds and pound me! But. All part of life in the deep dark, and reminded me to be a wee bit more cautious.

What is an impulse attack, btw? Got hit by one around 19:21 game time, but did not seem to have much effect...

Xebeth wrote:I've now taken to using my thruster to move down and to the side, whilst pitching up as soon as the target starts to come at me from the front.

Yep......

That was the tactic I have always used since......

What was it.......

The dropship I think sometime back....Basts would always ram...

I am very rarely off the thrusters in combat since that point......

Whether fighting or running......

It's me not thinking at the moment that is giving me grief........

Like fighting above a planet....Upside down.....And using an boosted upward thrust.......

Surface textures look nice though.......