My NPC pilots seem to fly inefficiently

[Ghost314]

Just started the game and got a free Callisto Sentinel from a quest chain on top of my starting Elite Vanguard. I used a wharf to recruit 1 service crewman on each ship which I then promoted to pilot. I followed the fleets tutorial mission and assigned the Elite Vanguard to defend the Callisto Sentinel.

Trouble is, everything is taking a lot (I mean a LOT) longer to accomplish when I order my NPC controlled ships to do it than it would if I just did it myself. Issues include, not using highways, not engaging travel mode and straight up going the wrong way before eventually correcting course.

They will do the right thing every now and then, but waste huge amounts of time either travelling in straight lines without activating travel mode, or dropping out of travel mode way too soon etc...

What really puzzles me, is that when I was acting as a single ship I got in the habit of using auto-pilot for everything and for the most part it worked great. When I take the helm of the Callisto Sentinel now and engage auto-pilot, it seems to do the same messed up thing as the NPC pilot. It wasn't that bad before I made a fleet.

I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong with managing/controlling my fleet or if fleet movement is just messed up in general? As it stands right now I kind of get the impression that I need to pilot the lead ship myself and just kind of hope that my NPC escort doesn't fall too far behind if I end up needing him.

[Wraith]

1. Orders are queue so they could be going the wrong way because of a previous order you made or accidently made.

2. Your always gonna be faster then your NPC pilots unless your flying a way slower ship then he is.
Whenever I fly my Cerberus I almost always see my escort in front of me flying unless I make to many sharp turns or take the highway.

Your other problems I never had so I can't really say what happened.
Like them not taking the highway.

[HoloByteus]

Have you tried installing GPS trackers and a CALL 1-800-BAD-PILOT if he's not flying efficiently sticker?

No reason to have anything less than a 2 star pilot, you can pick seminars up for cheap at station traders. Higher skill can improve their efficiency up to a point, otherwise their travel is coded that way to avoid problems like fast ships crashing into each other all heading to the same station in travel mode like a bullet that can't change course and dropping out just before the dock like a player can do. Wouldn't that be nice. That's also why L transports go behind a gate vs straight through it... they are one way to avoid collisions. Think of them as galaxy rules of the road.

NPC's also have a bit of organic programming which I've grown to like. They're not perfect, they don't always do the same thing and execute like Xenons which makes the game interesting actually although can be a PITA at times. A new player might even consider them buggy when in fact it's by design. If you don't believe that compare NPC's to Xenon behavior... much more efficient at bringing guns to bare or travel driving into a build storage to dump wares and travel driving out.

[Fartikus]

The Callisto is a slow-#^% ship.

[Ghost314]

Originally posted by WarCrime:

Have you tried installing GPS trackers and a CALL 1-800-BAD-PILOT if he's not flying efficiently sticker?

No reason to have anything less than a 2 star pilot, you can pick seminars up for cheap at station traders. Higher skill can improve their efficiency up to a point, otherwise their travel is coded that way to avoid problems like fast ships crashing into each other all heading to the same station in travel mode like a bullet that can't change course and dropping out just before the dock like a player can do. Wouldn't that be nice. That's also why L transports go behind a gate vs straight through it... they are one way to avoid collisions. Think of them as galaxy rules of the road.

NPC's also have a bit of organic programming which I've grown to like. They're not perfect, they don't always do the same thing and execute like Xenons which makes the game interesting actually although can be a PITA at times. A new player might even consider them buggy when in fact it's by design. If you don't believe that compare NPC's to Xenon behavior... much more efficient at bringing guns to bare or travel driving into a build storage to dump wares and travel driving out.

Interesting, I knew about seminars but I didn't believe they would change much. The tutorial gave me the impression that pilot skill level was mostly for unlocking advanced commands like auto-trading. If they actually programmed in the nuance of less skilled pilots flying like amateurs I'll be thoroughly impressed.

Another interesting claim I've heard is that NPC ships fly much better when the player is in another sector (I guess in that case the game doesn't bother with things like collisions and what not?).

[HoloByteus]

Originally posted by Ghost314:

Interesting, I knew about seminars but I didn't believe they would change much. The tutorial gave me the impression that pilot skill level was mostly for unlocking advanced commands like auto-trading. If they actually programmed in the nuance of less skilled pilots flying like amateurs I'll be thoroughly impressed.

Another interesting claim I've heard is that NPC ships fly much better when the player is in another sector (I guess in that case the game doesn't bother with things like collisions and what not?).

You'll notice this mostly on L+ ships. I've watched low skill pilots sit for minutes at a gate reading the manual vs 3+ moving through without delay. Newer destroyers added to the fleet are the ones I have regular stupid issues with.... the old guard not so much.

Out Of Sector combat is different from In Sector Combat, it's more optimized and simplified for performance of the whole game. I get around it by trying to be In sector whenever my assets are in conflict and by not getting them in conflict unless I can. Considering watching and commanding the show is the whole point I play the game it's not really an issue for me.