New update and Frontier still haven't fixed AI cheats.

[Judgement Nut]

My SLF gets vaporised by 100% accuracy super railguns almost before it even gets launched out the bay doors. I have engineered beam lasers everywhere and 3 overcharged multicannons, and they can barely destroy a Viper due to unlimited rapid-use AI shield cell banks and unlimited rapid-use AI chaff, but most annoyingly because gimballed weapons for some reason prefer not to aim at the target. Now I like a bit of challenge, who doesn't? But this is ridiculous. When destroying 4 Thargoid interceptors in a row without repairs/restock is easy, but fighting in a Human conflict zone is this difficult, quite frankly there's a problem.

I know how to grind a conflict zone: Skirt around the edges, take out the weakest targets first, and run away when in extreme trouble. But the problem is that one side has the most railguns, and that side is the one that ends up having 30 railships against the occassional 4 friendly ships that jump in to this railgun meat grinder. There's only so much you can do against that.

I know I only come on this forum to make complaints but that's only because I love this game, and these problems are ruining it, not just for me, but many.

But back to the matter at hand, have they even said anything about fixing these issues yet?

[Josey Wales]

If you haven't already you should put in a support ticket. I know they've been working through other issues with broken missions etc.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by JoseyWales:

If you haven't already you should put in a support ticket. I know they've been working through other issues with broken missions etc.

You can do that? Thanks man, I'll have a look at the page and they should at the very least get back to me. I put in a support ticket once before but didn't know you could do it for reporting issues with the game.

[xPEDx]

there have been many complaints about this, im quite suprised that it wasnt addressed in the last update.

[Josey Wales]

Yeah they're pretty good about responding. They'll reimburse lost credits etc. if it was caused by a legitimate bug.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by xPEDx:

there have been many complaints about this, im quite suprised that it wasnt addressed in the last update.

Me too. Hopefully soon it will be fixed and the AI might be made smarter as well, instead of using cheats.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by JoseyWales:

Yeah they're pretty good about responding. They'll reimburse lost credits etc. if it was caused by a legitimate bug.

I remember a Basilisk got me one time due to lag, lost 25 million, was reimbursed the day after. If a lot of people have been submitting tickets to support about this issue then I'll bet AI cheats will be gone soon.

[Agony_Aunt]

Hey OP - there are some tricks to flying in CZ that can really increase your survival rates there. NPCs do cheat, in most games, because programming AI to be comptetitive without cheating is tricky.

The rail eagles and asps are often cited by people as being issues. Main thing is, you see one of those, you take them down fast. Never ignore small targets as well, they can lay down a lot of pain. Never ever ignore a SLF!

But mainly, strategy and tactics are a lot more valuable than the ship you fly. I'm flying in CZs in a Cobra Mk4 and surviving very well and having no issues with rail gun ships.

Stick to the edge of the battle, don't get sucked into the center. Always fly with allies around, don't let yourself get separated or outnumbered.

Sure, occasionally you'll have to bug out, especially if the other side starts winning, but otherwise, follow those simple bits of advise and you can have a good time in CZ.

Also, extra pointer, Low CZ are (in my opinion) harder than High CZ. Low CZ spawn more small ships, which means more rail eagles. Always go for High CZ. Plus bigger ships are bigger targets, easier to hit, and pay more.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Also, using vertical thrusters seem to throw off their rail gun aiming - they miss a lot then.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Also, using vertical thrusters seem to throw off their rail gun aiming - they miss a lot then.

Yeah, verticle or side thrusters can help a lot. Flying in a straight line is bad in any combat situation.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Hey OP - there are some tricks to flying in CZ that can really increase your survival rates there. NPCs do cheat, in most games, because programming AI to be comptetitive without cheating is tricky.

The rail eagles and asps are often cited by people as being issues. Main thing is, you see one of those, you take them down fast. Never ignore small targets as well, they can lay down a lot of pain. Never ever ignore a SLF!

But mainly, strategy and tactics are a lot more valuable than the ship you fly. I'm flying in CZs in a Cobra Mk4 and surviving very well and having no issues with rail gun ships.

Stick to the edge of the battle, don't get sucked into the center. Always fly with allies around, don't let yourself get separated or outnumbered.

Sure, occasionally you'll have to bug out, especially if the other side starts winning, but otherwise, follow those simple bits of advise and you can have a good time in CZ.

Also, extra pointer, Low CZ are (in my opinion) harder than High CZ. Low CZ spawn more small ships, which means more rail eagles. Always go for High CZ. Plus bigger ships are bigger targets, easier to hit, and pay more.

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Also, using vertical thrusters seem to throw off their rail gun aiming - they miss a lot then.

Sorry for the relatively late reply guys. With the vertical thruster trick it can really help if your ship is flat, like a Cobra; At a distance they're essentially just trying to shoot a really thin line. These strategies and tactics are a great help, definitely. I just think it's ridiculous that Competent Eagles are bigger threats than Elite Corvettes. Federal factions tend to have a lot of railships, Imperial and independent navies not as much.

Another way to fix this issue would be to make friendly contacts smarter and more supportive. Right now they're just programmed to converge on one target unless engaged by another hostile. If you could command an AI wing or even just a few ships from the CZ depending on your reputation with the faction at hand, that'd be a nice improvement.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Black Bear:

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Hey OP - there are some tricks to flying in CZ that can really increase your survival rates there. NPCs do cheat, in most games, because programming AI to be comptetitive without cheating is tricky.

The rail eagles and asps are often cited by people as being issues. Main thing is, you see one of those, you take them down fast. Never ignore small targets as well, they can lay down a lot of pain. Never ever ignore a SLF!

But mainly, strategy and tactics are a lot more valuable than the ship you fly. I'm flying in CZs in a Cobra Mk4 and surviving very well and having no issues with rail gun ships.

Stick to the edge of the battle, don't get sucked into the center. Always fly with allies around, don't let yourself get separated or outnumbered.

Sure, occasionally you'll have to bug out, especially if the other side starts winning, but otherwise, follow those simple bits of advise and you can have a good time in CZ.

Also, extra pointer, Low CZ are (in my opinion) harder than High CZ. Low CZ spawn more small ships, which means more rail eagles. Always go for High CZ. Plus bigger ships are bigger targets, easier to hit, and pay more.

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Also, using vertical thrusters seem to throw off their rail gun aiming - they miss a lot then.

Sorry for the relatively late reply guys. With the vertical thruster trick it can really help if your ship is flat, like a Cobra; At a distance they're essentially just trying to shoot a really thin line. These strategies and tactics are a great help, definitely. I just think it's ridiculous that Competent Eagles are bigger threats than Elite Corvettes. Federal factions tend to have a lot of railships, Imperial and independent navies not as much.

Another way to fix this issue would be to make friendly contacts smarter and more supportive. Right now they're just programmed to converge on one target unless engaged by another hostile. If you could command an AI wing or even just a few ships from the CZ depending on your reputation with the faction at hand, that'd be a nice improvement.

Yup, which is why i love flying a Cobra in a CZ.

Another reason is the AI doesn't priorotize you as a target as long as there are bigger ships around.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Originally posted by Black Bear:

Sorry for the relatively late reply guys. With the vertical thruster trick it can really help if your ship is flat, like a Cobra; At a distance they're essentially just trying to shoot a really thin line. These strategies and tactics are a great help, definitely. I just think it's ridiculous that Competent Eagles are bigger threats than Elite Corvettes. Federal factions tend to have a lot of railships, Imperial and independent navies not as much.

Another way to fix this issue would be to make friendly contacts smarter and more supportive. Right now they're just programmed to converge on one target unless engaged by another hostile. If you could command an AI wing or even just a few ships from the CZ depending on your reputation with the faction at hand, that'd be a nice improvement.

Yup, which is why i love flying a Cobra in a CZ.

Another reason is the AI doesn't priorotize you as a target as long as there are bigger ships around.

I might try it one time. I used a Cobra for combat once but didn't really like it. It couldn't outmanuever an Anaconda. Then again I didn't engineer it lol

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Black Bear:

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Yup, which is why i love flying a Cobra in a CZ.

Another reason is the AI doesn't priorotize you as a target as long as there are bigger ships around.

I might try it one time. I used a Cobra for combat once but didn't really like it. It couldn't outmanuever an Anaconda. Then again I didn't engineer it lol

Engineering helps, but you can outmanouver an Anaconda. You do need to get used to its handling though, just like with many ships. Some are easier to get the hang of than others.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Elite Community: The AI Is too easy make them harder.

Also the Elite Community: The AI cheats and is too hard.


This isn't cheating by the way, it's just the nature of AI, you tell them to track a positional coordinate in space, and because of the nature of a Railgun being hitscan, they'll be able to hit you 100% of the time within the maneuvering capability of their ship. The solution is literally to cripple the AI's ability by injecting an artificial jitter modifier.

If you run your ship cold, most AI will completely ignore you if you get over 1k away, great for CZ if you can pick a ship that has good surplus power and then Low Emissions your powerplant, you can pretty much 1v1 everything with total imputnity. This definitely won't help you in a ship launched fighter which you can't control its heat very well.

[Judgement Nut]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Originally posted by Black Bear:

I might try it one time. I used a Cobra for combat once but didn't really like it. It couldn't outmanuever an Anaconda. Then again I didn't engineer it lol

Engineering helps, but you can outmanouver an Anaconda. You do need to get used to its handling though, just like with many ships. Some are easier to get the hang of than others.

I've heard that some ships manuever differently at different speeds. Asp for example might not have any trouble FA off turning at max speed, but I guess the Cobra is pretty delicate and needs to have it's throttle in the blue zone most of the time?