Tone down the NPCs

[McNeo]

All I think is that really good nomad NPCs need to be restricted to Iota and 99. 12 CD's and X number of missiles? Sure. Just not in public systems please. That would be a bit like me asking hyperion nicely to code praetorian patrols and insert them at every landmark in Omicron Gamma, Omega 41 and Omega 5. Sure, it would be okay for that to happen in Omicron 91, but not in public systems.

Actually, Bomber patrols in Gallia need to be removed aswell. They -really- rape anything larger than a fighter, and its not fair that they royally spam SN's. Replace them with additional VHF patrols, since I think that VHF patrols are pretty sparse there from what I've seen. It seems that there are a lot of LF and HF patrols, so I think the bombers need to be replaced with VHF's. It would be suicidal for a task force of council players, for example, to mount an offensive into GRN territory if they got owned by GRN NPC bombers half way there.

Apart from that, I think NPC's are okay. Regarding the VHF NPCs and below, you just need to have some decent aim and dodging skills, and maybe also a pattern in your head of NPC behaviour. Just find when they EK in a straight line and lay into them. By the time you empty your powerplant into them, they should be dead.

Sure, I lost about 5 bots facing 12 Hammerheads at the same time in a Titan, but come on. We are the elite pilots when compared to NPCs, but we cant be so elite as to not lose our shield against 12 "normal" pilots. That makes very little sense.

NPC's using b/b one at a time is also very annoying, but it doesn't affect high level NPC's so much. It's worst with drakes, hawks, dragons and falcons. I spent 3 hours missioning on my fighter to get the guard rep so I could finally buy my destroyer thats in my sig. Im only half way there, because each mission is prolonged by the silly usage of bots and bats. NPC's should use enough to fill up their entire health bar, but have a delay of 10 seconds at least between uses. This will make higher level NPC's harder to kill than low ones. Right now, the hardest to kill in a timely manner are the medium level NPC's. The lowest ones get insta'd by high level guns and the high level ones dont gain enough hitpoints from using b/b one at a time.

Regarding traders and CD's, there are two ways you can get away from NPCs. One is repeatedly turning on your cruise engine and waiting for the NPCs to waste all of their 3 CD's on you. The other is, well, a failure of the AI, really. Just gotta figure that one out for yourself or ask around.