Is this right?

I just noticed that sometimes when I have a fighter attacking me my storm chainguns will be going flat out for a while and then suddenly stop. It seems to be when the attacker runs out of ammo and is ready to retreat. Of course it will only retreat if it gets far enough away from me, so in the meantime it stays there blasting me with its primary weapons and my storms do nothing about it.
Is this really how it's supposed to work?

I think Storm chainguns have a burst reload. It may just be bad/good luck that the burst reload coincides with the fighter retreat. I could be wrong though.

Heh, yeah, but it's not that long. It's as if PDs no longer consider ships a threat if they goes into retreat mode. If I let it, the fighter will sit there and blast me 'til I die unless I move far enough away from it that it feels it's safe to retreat.

This post has been edited by Guy : 21 November 2004 - 02:38 PM

Honestly, if you have a ship that can spare space for a PD system, and you are being attacked by a fighter thats switched into retreat mode (or primary weapon mode), and this fighter is a threat to your ship, then something is wrong. I mean what the hell... its a fighter with no missiles and your in a capital ship The turret operators are just a bit complacent. Seems perfectly reasonable for them to get bored and not waste a whole new clip of ammo.

This post has been edited by NebuchadnezzaR : 22 November 2004 - 02:06 AM

Often times, I find that the fighters that need to reload turn blue on the radar on their way back to the mother-ship. Then, since they aren't mad at you, your pd obviously won't attack them, whether it is storms or quad light blasters. Check to see if that is what is going on.

Yeah, it was just one fighter, I shouldn't be worried. But what if it was a whole swarm of fighters attacking while I'm busy with a larger ship? It'd be comforting if I could rely on my PDs to take care of them.

And no, the fighter was just an interceptor who happened to be in the system - it didn't have a mothership. It was red all right.

You'll notice that while small ships like shuttles and cargo drones have the "can be fired on by point-defense" flag checked, the PDs never actually fire on them even if you provoke them. Why? Because they're traders and are always in retreat mode. (I also noticed a cargo drone I had provoked circling around me trying to shoot me, seemingly unaware that it had no weapons)

Guy, on Nov 22 2004, 10:31 AM, said:

(I also noticed a cargo drone I had provoked circling around me trying to shoot me, seemingly unaware that it had no weapons)
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Nice one, Guy.

Same thing happens when I try to pirate the unarmed Leviathans. quite funny.

So the question is, is it really supposed to work like this or is it a bug? Seems logical that if they're still shooting you then they're still a threat.

The Chainguns were hit and the gunners died on impact.

I have a feeling some genious here is somehow gonna figure out a way to exploit this...

Requiem, on Nov 22 2004, 08:34 PM, said:

Same thing happens when I try to pirate the unarmed Leviathans. quite funny.
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That's how I get rich when I start a new string. Hilarious.

Well as long as I'm on the topic of bugs:
I had started the Gli-Tech missions and had access to the Etheric Wake and Polaron Cannon but hadn't yet done the Wraith Cannon bit. I then got into the Vell-Os storyline and after completing it I came back to Gli-Tech-Nia in my Javelin. I found I was able to continue the Gli-Tech missions and get a Wraith Cannon on my Javelin. 'Course I couldn't buy any additional ammo so it wasn't much good, but I think it's still a bug.

It's not really a bug... More of an 'exploitation of gameplay'

Ah yes of course, they all are these days... <_<

So can anyone confirm whether the PD thing is a bug or not? It's the one thing annoying me at the moment but I don't want to report it as a bug if it was purposely designed to be like that. So any comments on whether you think it should or shouldn't behave like that would be appreciated.
Thanks.