Suicidal NPC's - AI Glitch? (Video added)

[smartroad]

I have been getting into doing timelapse videos and thought it would be cool to see ships coming and going in a station. So docked at Townshend I started recording while I had lunch. Upon looking at the footage it seems as if every NPC takes off, hovers by the letterbox and the waits to be blown away buy the station guns?!

I didn't see a single NPC actually LEAVE the station (at least the way they should! )

Just waiting for YouTube to finish uploading and I will post the video, its really weird!

-edit-
uploaded:
https://youtu.be/VdJG-7_gYm4

[RogueZephyr]

Funny you should mention that. I was selling some minerals at a station, and I saw the station guns blow apart 3 ships in the manner you describe. The only ship I saw leaving was a sidewinder (I think).

[smartroad]

I counted 18. I always thought that blowing ships up inside the dock was a bad idea. Look at the amount of litter (that probably weighs a couple of tons per piece!) just floating around!

[RogueZephyr]

I counted 18. I always thought that blowing ships up inside the dock was a bad idea. Look at the amount of litter (that probably weighs a couple of tons per piece!) just floating around!

Some of it dropped on my ship .

Luckily I had reinvested in a shield generator or I could have been crushed

[Hrdina]

Maybe they all think that you are first in line, and are waiting for you to leave?

[Flip]

Maybe they all think that you are first in line, and are waiting for you to leave?

Yeah, I read somewhere they introduced something like that not too long ago. But obviously they shouldn't wait until you take off.

I hope you report it to FD?

[Ameena]

There's always ships getting blown up by the laser systems when I'm docked in a station - after I've been there a couple of minutes (whether I'm on the surface or down below) and NPCs start spawning I regularly hear pew-pew-bom noises. Sometimes there'e someone getting fired on as I'm flying through the letterbox which can be a bit scary .

[Walter]

I suspect that this is normal programmed behaviour. For the most part, we're on the pads only a short time (aren't we?) and hear the odd ship being destroyed as a warning to behave ourselves. When we leave we believe these ships are kindly waiting for the real people to leave, never knowing their real fate. They can't just vanish as someone may be sitting on a pad watching. NPCs that do leave probably require extra software resources for their persistent behaviour and are only created when a player is about to leave and can follow them.

There are two real questions behind all this is:
1 Do NPCs go about their normal business when there are no commanders to see?
2 Does an existentialist analysis butter any parsnips?

What you've done is expose the magician behind the curtain and I can never forgive you.

[Walter]

I suspect that this is normal programmed behaviour. For the most part, we're on the pads only a short time (aren't we?) and hear the odd ship being destroyed as a warning to behave ourselves. When we leave we believe these ships are kindly waiting for the real people to leave, never knowing their real fate. They can't just vanish as someone may be sitting on a pad watching. NPCs that do leave probably require extra software resources for their persistent behaviour and are only created when a player is about to leave and can follow them.

Edit: This could explain why you are never turned round ready for takeoff - it's so you can't see what's really going on until you're ready to leave.

There are two real questions behind all this is:
1 Do NPCs go about their normal business when there are no commanders to see?
2 Does an existentialist analysis butter any parsnips?

What you've done is expose the magician behind the curtain and I can never forgive you.

[smartroad]

I can't believe that this is proper behaviour. I was docked and facing inwards (hadn't turned around yet) so there was no need to wait for me and I was in Solo so no other players. I wanted to make a time lapse of the coming and going of ships as it is something for a video I am thinking of making. Given the simulation complexity, having a ship launch, head out the letter box, pick a star that is within jump range and jump is surely possible?

I have reported it though just incase