Too much NPCs

[Grumblesaur]

I don't think every cubic kilometre of space should be constantly patrolled by law enforcement. But the areas of major traffic and around planetary docking rings certainly should.

You are missing the point. Those areas of major traffic are still mind-bogglingly massive. Just because those patrols are there does not mean the patrols will always be successful in protecting civilians, but the way house planets are discussed (and to an extent, the way their patrols are implemented), they almost always are successful at repelling, if not destroying, unsavory types.

I don't want to get rid of NPCs, but there's a problem with dropping so many NPCs in orbit of a planet. It diminishes or even eliminates that zone from the game's system of interaction. Where NPCs are able to do the job of players without player intervention, NPCs need to be nerfed.

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brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

[Erremnart]

Well, atmospheric points to major planets are very good idea. That would allow for some nice smugging, and it would promote freighter's play.

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[Alex.]

Well there I have my answer about server load. Now we need to know how many players can be online for them to still spawn and make more difficult pve systems.

But yeah this is intended behaviour. Or at the very least, expected behaviour.

NPCs spawn until a load of 30ms or above. The player count's relationship to server load can vary.

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[Skorak]

I'm aware but you can usually make estimates. Before they started to stop near 30. I assume this is much higher now.

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[Alex.]

I'm aware but you can usually make estimates. Before they started to stop near 30. I assume this is much higher now.

We could maybe up it to stop at 40ms or 50ms if there's support for that?

By the way, everyone, this thread is about random NPCs, not mission NPCs.

Edit: And for those interested here's how it's looked in the past:

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[Archaetherial]

Grumblesaur, they would be massive in reality, but they aren't particularly massive in Freelancer. In fact they are rather small. You are correct in saying that Freelancer's distorted, unrealistically small scale is responsible for that.

But, the scale is as it is. And in this scale covering the space around those points and successfully protecting civilians is very much possible.

How exactly does denying the area around planetary docking points and areas of major traffic to criminals, terrorists and hostile aliens diminish or eliminate those zones from game's system of interaction?

It simply makes interactions that shouldn't happen in these areas in the first place impossible. As it should.

Also, I think the point of NPCs is to serve as substitute for players that are not there. So again, I don't see an issue here.

[Lambda 4]

But this is RP server and it's for RP and PvP...it isn't Discovery Freelancer 24/7 PvE server, come on guys be serious

Here, lets take some logic...imagine a real New York city that is guarded by tanks and armoured vehicles 24/7, no logic right, just like the New York planet. Area 51 is guarded and like that, Alaska and Zone 21 would be guarded in game.

[Skorak]

These comparisons never help your point. Quite the opposite.

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[Jayenbee]

I was actually thinking how cool would it be if the NPC groups / numbers / equipments spawning were less static...

Like if you had some kind of an automated system that would analyze the player statistics and ramp up or dial down the NPCs in different places depending on player activity. So players who prefer to interact with others would get less NPCs while those who fly solo would get many.

Shame that the engine is closed-source and old so no chance of ever getting something like that ...

Freeworlds has this. - When you approach a hostile base, NPCs are spawned after a brief inteval to respond to the hostile players within the base's detection sphere. There were different difficulty zones too which increased or decreased the difficulty of your foes, depending on the ship you have.
If I showed up to Coruscant in a XG-1 Starwing as the Empire for example, I would be countered by multiple X-Wings, B-Wings and the odd gunship. Hard zone.

Unfortunately, Freeworlds has very little Freelancer left in it and thus the vast majority of anything they've done, we cannot simply just plug and play into Disco.

Also yes, these mechanics meant if you got a bunch of players together in a fleet, the hostile base spawns a fleet of comparable class or better vessels to respond and usually more numerous than you.

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[Erremnart]

If you are enemy to some faction and you are in its systems, you should meet opposition. Sadly, there are not enough players like in EVE Online, where hundreds or even thousands of players are guarding and enforcing their rule in several star systems, so they don't really need NPC's for that.

But here, with so many systems, so many factions, with so few players, we need both players and NPC's to fill the world. NPC's aren't more important than players, but they can fill the void where are no suitable players around.

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