Super Cobra, Status or Money?

[Cpt. Farrterlott 3rd]

I'm currently saving for the Super Cob. Nearly there, 1.3MCr. I would like to ask any SC fliers if they found it worth it. At the moment I have a Python class cruiser. It handles like a standard Mk3 Cobra but heaps of space for all sorts of stuff floating about. OH! I've tackled quite a few SC's on my travels, they lost and they didn't seem to be carrying much!
Maybe AI isn't the best way to fly a ship?

[drew]

In my experience, they tend to loose out to Imperial Couriers in a fight.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Commander McLane]

I'm currently saving for the Super Cob. Nearly there, 1.3MCr. I would like to ask any SC fliers if they found it worth it. At the moment I have a Python class cruiser. It handles like a standard Mk3 Cobra but heaps of space for all sorts of stuff floating about. OH! I've tackled quite a few SC's on my travels, they lost and they didn't seem to be carrying much!
Maybe AI isn't the best way to fly a ship?

No, it's just that the way the NPC-SuperCobras are added and assigned an AI particularly sucks.

Eric Walch has recently done something about it. I suggest you download his new version of the OXP.

[Eric Walch]

No, it's just that the way the NPC-SuperCobras are added and assigned an AI particularly sucks.
Eric Walch has recently done something about it. I suggest you download his new version of the OXP.

First of all: I don't like the super cobra because it is so uber. My total flying time in it was less than 10 minutes. (Just to test some things with laser views). I think that by the time you earned enough money to buy it, your skills have grown also, so you don't really need such an uber ship.

But knowing it is uber as player ship, it sucks that you can easily kill it as NPC ship. I wanted to do something to it. It would be cheating in my view to just give the NPC version a higher strength than the player version. I tried to improve it by keeping the stats the same as the player version.

Like the player, it now can have two types of additional equipment that enhances the ships strength. (equipment is randomised).
And I gave it more intelligence. When it notices it is against a stronger opponent, it does not keep fighting until almost death, but will decide to flee at an earlier stage. This way, it will not die immediately if the player manage to give it a final blow in its back.
To prevent the player to pursuit him, it has a q-mine on board. Just to save money it also has two decoys on board. When fleeing it often drops one of these mines at random. As player you have no option but to retreat, wait for the explosion to see if it was a decoy. If yes you can resume pursuit. But the cobra will have a big headstart now.

All this makes it a little harder to kill it. It will at least cost you a large amount of fuel to keep up with him until he is out of fuel himself. At the end it will release about 10 containers with mainly narcotics and firearms. And of cause we shoot those containers in pieces to prevent this stuff from entering the market. (Or don't we?)

[TGHC]

Nice one Eric.