AI too damn easy?

[(Name Pending)]

Old thread, but this was my experience as a 2023 noob as well.
I don't think this is a high priority issue that needs attention, but the first impression can be off-putting for some.

The AI aggressiveness for lowest-bounty NPCs feels a bit undertuned compared to vanilla Freelancer and some other popular mods. They take very long to engage passing ships and are unusually lethargic during dogfights. This applies even to nomads out in the Omicrons. NPCs in the ~100k bounty bracket feel like the normal minimum.

But!
Once you get in the ~0.5M bounty range, NPC snubcraft start moving seriously and provide challenging fun fights, at least for someone who hasn't played Freelancer in ages. And they aren't completely limited to missions it seems, I was pleasantly surprised to have an in-house trade lane pirated by NPCs that put up a fight.


A small issue related to the weak low level NPCs is that they also tend to run away even from the beginner restart ship. I assume this is due to the bloat to player rank and/or equipment value. Silly to see NPCs in Pennsylvia dropping vanilla guns worth 1k, when all the normal mod guns are valued 2 orders of magnitude higher. Eh, gives new players a reason to test CDs in a PVE environment I guess.