NPC Balance

[McNeo]

What... ?

I can understand people's frustration with the NPC's, I do believe myself that they have become too powerful. I dont have problems with any NPCs at the moment personally, but I am aware that they are very powerful for a new player.

Because the majority of the players here aren't ridiculously good in a fighter, I can see the problem straightaway. However, I think that Missions have been made into less of a grind, because you dont kill so many anymore.

Its a complex issue that I can't extract from my brain, but I think that the weaker mission NPC's (30-90k pay) should be made weaker still. Freelancers are okay now, but I would prefer if, every once in a while, a wing of them came along instead of one going solo. I know Freelancers are meant to work on their own, but in the current Sirius climate, going solo just isn't viable anymore, so the Freelancers should work in small teams I reckon.

NPC cruiser armour is too high, because they still dont have the potential to hurt a fighter spinning around them. Battleships do, and Gunboats do (NPC), but the cruisers dont... well, they do, but not to the same extent I feel.

Other than that, I think everything is good, though I would like to see the default swarms of Cavaliers in Bretonia replaced by fewer Hussar NPC patrols instead. Same for the other three houses. Would reduce server load and make NPCs have a small effect on a large battle taking place, say, above Cambridge. Whats the point of NPCs swarming about a battle if you dont get the default home advantage?