Missions & Complexes

So, when I first heard about the AI changes, i was a bit worried. "A bit" - cause I don't fly a drone boat.
Then i went to the Retribution page http://www.eveonline.com/retribution/upgraded-npc-ai/ about all those changes and read these things:

Q) Will NPC's kill my drones?
A) Yes, but they don't hate them nearly as much as sleepers. I ran 9 level 4 missions and lost 2 drones. It does mean you need to pay more attention though. We can adjust their hatred of drones though which is why we are asking for feedback when this hits a test server.

Q) Does this change things like spawns or range activation?
A) No. When the NPC decide to start hating you is still based on the individual mission.

I'm sorry, but what is this? This is a major change for missions, but even in the FAQ there is wrong information written.
World Collide, Blockade and such missions - how people are supposed to tank everything at once? "Still based on individual missions" - With these changes - no it's not. You get full room agro no matter what you do.
How are can you loose 2 drones in 9 missions, when if your drones are 30km out, attacking that pesky frig, and start taking damage, you call them back, but it's already to late. id the drones are 2-5 km out then yes, it's possible to save them in time. But, in my opinion, if you pay attention you should always be able to save every one of those drones.

And what about those people specializing in drone boats?

Please adjust the NPC's to be less hatred.

The room wide aggro seems to be an unintended addition to the patch.

They're right about the Drones though, they certainly don't hate you the way Sleeper Drones do, infact pulling them in and redeploying them for me so far has resulted in them being completely ignored afterwards in each room.

Well that's a positive. Suppose trading that for the insta fullroom aggro situation will retain some difficulty.

I'll be honest, and this is the sadist in me, I actually enjoy Serpentis assault more now because of the amount of careful flying needed.



Also side note on AI, anyone else noticed NPC's randomly dropping basic tackle despite being well in range. Such as webs and points being switched off at 8k.

If you paint/web/ECM any rats they hate you more than your drones. It also helps to kill frigs first since it's them that aggro drones more often than other rats.

As for room aggro, maybe CCP means for lvl 4's to be more group based that solo pimp bltized. The revamped T1 logis are looking better and better....

And how is that Raven going to deal with spawns of 3-4 frigs?

You claim that EWAR does not help, however many missionrunners have reported that one single web or target painter is enough to completely secure your drones. Maybe you should test that out instead of bitching about a change that one can easily adapt to if one is smart.

Let me guess. You are flying a Tengu :D?

This is wrong . I had Angel Extravaganza today and my drones did get aggro even with TP active. Granted I only lost 3 of them instead of 7 but it does not fix the issue. Lets not forget fitting a relatively useless module...

You seem to believe that your experiences are universal. They aren't.

I took a Machariel in to an anomaly (anoms and mission suse the same NPCs) and barely made it out in structure. Every time i launched my hobgoblins the frigs pounded them, and not even my 1200 dps coming from my guns, my target painting or my NOSing could drag the aggro off my light drones before 2 or 3 would pop. if it weren't for a very lucky hit from my autocannons on a frig I was moving away from, i'd have lost it.

Hell, i couldn't even get the "launch drones, pull drones" bug to work, and ccp does intend to fix that defect.

You seem to think people are just whining because they don't want to adapt, this is not true of everyone or even most people, this AI change should have been a part of a comprehensive change to how things work, as it is it's just more frustration for no gain.

Look, I understand where some people are coming from. I do. My problem is that I'm posting things in an effort to help adapt and I'm getting slammed for it. Additionally, I'm getting Eve mails from people bitching about it too.

I can understand, even respect, people who are continuing to find ways to adapt. I don't know why my experience is different. If I can't snipe the frigs, I wait until they are all the way on top of me, then paint one and release the lights. Have had no problems with that practice.

It does not work with high slot modules. I've tested nos, neut, and RR. The AI doesn't care about those. Switching to a TP or webber in the mids did work. However, when I removed those items and put something like an omni in its place, the NPCs immediately went after the drones when I released them.

They went after lights and mediums.

Adding the Ewar back and using it resolved the problem for me.

There are others who are doing the same and having success. I don't know why its not working for others.