They use engine kill, but they do not use to to follow you, only in battle to get killed.

That doesn't work on the higher level enemies, they will keep up with you. You will have to go into cruise mode, dropping chaff every second or so.

-Stregone

Yes, and since the game was designed with a standard speed for all ships, having your enemies chasing you even if you are using engine kill will be stupid. If you were almost dead and you engine killed to escape, then you will have a good chance of surviving, but if the AI continued to chase you even in engine kill, your ass would he served on a silver platter

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

All the more reason to request that different ships have different speeds? Or atleast that there be a way to equip different engine types in ships?

this is a little OT but, I'd like some sort of ''fear factor'' for the AI so that it doesn't always attack you when you clearly are ''unbeatable'' - e.g. one corsair lvl 5 against me at lvl 38, sabre, lvl10 weapons. as it is now, the AI is very annoying. Sure enemies do flee sometimes but only when they have about 1% of health left (after one shot)...

Electricbrain, that doesnt make any sense.

I think what DavyT meant was that the AI mimics your speed and since he used his afterburner (to get top speed) then killed the engine and just floated (still at 300) the AI stopped following him since the engines weren't in use -> interpreted as 0 speed to the AI.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited by - chigiri on 06-03-2003 19:12:36

Thanks chigiri, thats precisely what I meant. (Except I would actually be going at 200, not 300 because that is the top speed of the burner) I don't know how anyone can argue that this isnt an AI bug, and a big one at that. Electricbrain, why would it be stupid if the AI chased you after you used engine kill? If I am overmatched, almost dead, against 4 fighters in lets say a rhino, my ass *should* get handed to me on a platter. This bug pretty much eliminates the need for dropping countermeasures while trying to hit cruise speed, because you dont need to use your cruise engine to escape, all you need is your engine kill button. Sure, its nice to be able to escape any fight you're going to lose, but its pretty cheesy doing it by exploiting bad AI. Logically, the engine kill button would be used to swing your ship 180 in a dogfight to fire on a target without making the big arc you would if your engines were still on, but this doesnt work because your enemies are always out of range by the time you bring your ship around anyway, because they have stopped chasing you. I would think that this is something that could be addressed in a patch... hopefully one will come out soon to stop the rampant cheating in MP :-/

Edited by - DavyT on 06-03-2003 20:28:45

*bump*

Isn't this is something that perhaps the developers should be notified of?

I use engine kill all the time in combat, and I've never had the enemies just stop. They keep chasing me. I don't know where this is happening, but I've never seen it happen when I use engine kill.


EDIT: I stand corrected. Wow, really a huge bug. I tried it out in a couple of places (this is using the 1196 beta tho) and it works. Really weird just floating away from hostiles...


<@ElectricBrain> TACH IS DEAD! <@Tachyon> am not <@Tachyon> stfu <@ElectricBrain> no u stfu <@Tachyon> no you
<@ElectricBrain> no u <@Tachyon> no you <@ElectricBrain> no u <@Tachyon> NO YOU I WIN
-- Our very fine IRC ops --

Edited by - Kahar on 06-03-2003 23:48:37

K then Kahar, next time you're in combat, do the following:

Step 1) hit afterburner key
Step 2) wait until you are at 200 speed
Step 3) hit engine kill while at 200 speed
Step 4) do a 180 degree turn so you are facing the enemies that are chasing you.. your speed is now about -195
Step 5) watch all of them disappear within seconds

note: steps 4 and 5 are optional, but they does allow you to see how quickly the enemies disappear.

If you think that you are just outrunnng them by doing that, try just using your afterburner to maintain a speed of 200 and see what happens... they will stay on your ass and keep shooting at you.

p.s. when I said that the enemies "stop chasing you" I should probably clarify that they dont completely stop... they just stop chasing you quickly and start chasing you very very slowly

Edited by - DavyT on 06-03-2003 23:49:39

Do that against some high level hessians and corsairs. It won't work. You will get shot fulla holes if you try to turn around and shoot at them, since you are travaling in a straight line, making an incredibly easy target. Your best bet to escape in that case would be to hit cruise immediatly and pound on the flare button untill they are out of sight.

-Stregone

You do it against some high level corsairs, I already have... lots.... go try it out yourself before you say it doesnt work ... I mean, obviously if I were in a rhino against 5 corsairs in titans I would be screwed because I wouldnt get a chance to execute said manuever, they would kill me pretty much the first time I got hit, but if I were in a humpback, I could run from them with this bug instead of having to fight, or use countermeasures/cruise.

Heres the deal... if I did that against a group of human pirates in MP I would get my ass kicked constantly, if I do it against the AI, they turn retarded and I get off scott free... thats a mark of a serious AI bug.

note: pretending it doesnt exist isnt going to get it fixed in a patch, so why bother?

Edited by - DavyT on 07-03-2003 01:09:00

I have done it, and it didn't work They kept up with me and blasted the hell outa me. I always have to go to cruise to escape.

-Stregone