Too much NPCs

[Skorak]

@Skorak Would it be difficult to test it?

I'm not sure how to enable it on a server anymore.

I think Haste or someone said in Discord the other day that this isn't possible due to how Discovery does balance.

I don't understand this. If it would indeed work like in single player then it wouldn't be having a huge impact. I do wonder if it would affect deflecting missiles.
I remember once on disco it was set active online but ram damage was so ridiculously high that everything just died. Not like it works in single player at all.
As far as I am aware it works well on Freeworlds?

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[Erremnart]

I play Order character which spends a lot of time in the mostly hostile Houses, and I don't have issue with NPC's at all. I just dodge them or evade them. Most of them don't have cruise disruptors.

EDIT: I wouldn't mind, if certain bases like border stations and battleship had more powerful weapons, forcing hostiles to go around by cruise engine or jump holes.

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Captain Virginia Belle
Task Force Phoenix
Battlecruiser Roanoke
Feedback Thread

[Venkman]

[Maximum Immersion]

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[Archaetherial]

I completely disagree with the OP here. I think we should have as many NPCs as possible, because space in Freelancer should feel alive and busy with traffic.

If you're flying a Nomad or a pirate in House space, especially near the major traffic arteries, then you should get blasted by law enforcement patrols.

This actually brings another matter to the board. Stations and even battleships do indeed feel a bit toothless. Why was their damage mitigated, as some of you mentioned here? Shouldn't they act as area denial for hostile ships (especially battleships who should be heavily armed by definition)?

[pillow]

To this day I'm not sure if I'd prefer npcs always having real guns or not. Back before they were nerfed I never had serious problems with them (minus of course the capital ship patrols) and whenever I see an npc with a 2.00 laser that does 12 damage it sort of brings me out of the experience a little bit. At least if those NPCs had guns that mirrored the player variants in refire only and their hulls and shields were low enough so they could kill eachother.

[Save My Soul]

I, personally, would rather have NPC removed from the game at all. Keep them for missions and maybe for the new nomad remains obtaining system (I don't know what it could be, sorry) only.

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[RedEclipse]

I kinda missed NPCs, Back then there was much more of them and now its just like in good old days.

[Venkman]

I, personally, would rather have NPC removed from the game at all. Keep them for missions and maybe for the new nomad remains obtaining system (I don't know what it could be, sorry) only.

Mood

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[Erremnart]

I don't think that every station need powerful guns, but it would be nice for factions to have some strongpoint areas which are no-go for hostiles - like battleships, border stations or pirate hideouts in lawful space. I've seen lawfuls sitting at pirate base, waiting pirate players to catch and base was just shooting paintballs at them.

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Captain Virginia Belle
Task Force Phoenix
Battlecruiser Roanoke
Feedback Thread

[LuckyOne]

NPCs should stay, but they could be more spread out. Central systems with lots of activity could do with less NPCs because you see player ships going around anyway, and player to player interactions are common.

Edge systems with less player activity should become PvE havens with powerful NPCs and interesting trade routes. For example you could have a dangerous, freighter only system where players mine / farm some expensive commodity. The fun is in trying to come out of it alive. It could even be balanced so that multiple players or specialized ships (repair ships ?) would be required to successfully survive.

Basically you would be trying to beat the game environment instead of other players as a nice contrast to regular gameplay.