Enemy tracking in this game is sort of... broken

[Jackviator]

I'm sure we've all had these three things happen to us:

#1: Having a scorpion/ancient fire a grappling hook/tentacle at you while you pass behind them and it somehow latches onto you while they're aiming literally the opposite direction, appearing as if they fired it through their own body to hit you and force a knockdown, often leading to your demise.

#2: Having a Grineer Scorch unit somehow burn you to death inside 3 seconds, while its back is facing you, from 30 feet away, behind 2 walls. Also, you can't even see the fire that's burning you, it's just there, but invisible. Basically it's an invisible hitbox of "screw you."

#3: Trying to take out a Rampart that's being occupied by an enemy unit, jumping over it to try to shoot/maim the enemy with a melee weapon, and have it swivel 180 degrees in less than half a second, killing you.

 

So, I suppose what I'm trying to say here is that these enemy units don't really add anything to the experience when facing them, because no amount of skill will save you from them.

Try to dodge an Ancient's knockdown-tentacle? It'll hit you anyway, through its own body, defying the laws of physics to knock you down and strip you of control. Try to do the smart thing and take out a Rampart via killing the enemy occupying it? It will kill you anyway, because when enemies use them they become frictionless and can turn faster than the eye can track. Try to be in the same country as a Scorch? It will kill you inside 3 seconds, from 4 states away, behind 3 walls.

Every time I face these things at higher levels, I don't think "whoo boy, better brace for a thrilling test of my abilities." Nope. What I think is actually "whoo boy, let's see how long I have before my squadmates are scraping pieces of me off the ground because the computer is literally cheating."

Yeah, this entire post was dripping with salt. I admit it. Still, I think a lot of players can relate and reinforce this particular idea:

The AI tracking in this game could use a bit of touching up.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Jackviator
sp.

[(XBOX)kr1sPYDonuts]

You know what I really hate? When a scorpion drags you into a scorch; you won't survive that 95% of the times. 

[FlyingLlama]

It sounds like you have extremely intense lag problems. I have never seen any of these happen in three years playing this game, outside of hosts with ping somewhere over 9000.

All of those are very easy to dodge unless you just stand still and stare at them. Scorches have tiny ranges, and nothing attacks through walls except by accident.

Edited October 10, 2016 by FlyingLlama

[Burritochu]

I feel your pain. I cri evri tiem during any Derelict mission that allows those cloned freaks to spawn.

[-Ba-ikebothun]

Grappling hooks aint so bad, yes they shoot at weird angles but as soon as you start utilizing the roll and dodge more, youll be surprised how much less you get hit. while this is weird and... unimmersive.. its nothing game breaking.

well about the scorch, yes the damage is insane but are you any different when you use the ignis? this is fine.

Rampart spinning should be slowed yes.

[Soophia]

On 10/10/2016 at 11:36 AM, FlyingLlama said:

It sounds like you have extremely intense lag problems. I have never seen any of these happen in three years playing this game, outside of hosts with ping somewhere over 9000.

lol 2000 is enough to make you want to kill yourself. imagine 9000

[-Ba-ikebothun]

Just now, Maxine117 said:

lol 2000 is enough to make you want to kill yourself. imagine 9000

thats average, anyone else? Australia anyone? XD

 

[Jackviator]

6 minutes ago, FlyingLlama said:

It sounds like you have extremely intense lag problems. I have never seen any of these happen in three years playing this game, outside of hosts with ping somewhere over 9000.

All of those are very easy to dodge unless you just stand still and stare at them. Scorches have tiny ranges, and nothing attacks through walls except by accident.

Yeaaah except all of those things have happened to me while playing solo, with no host involved. Lag isn't the issue, tracking is.

[Glitch_Kitten]

10 minutes ago, Maxine117 said:

lol 2000 is enough to make you want to kill yourself. imagine 9000

we've breached the point where lag is so intense the delay is in seconds

[FLSH_BNG]

This isn't a problem with the units so much as a problem with their weapons or abilities. And that can be easily tweaked, but so far in the last several months that doesn't seem to have been on DE's to-do list.

[LuckyCharm]

i'd fight all of these together along with a boss over doing any high level corpus

 

[MillbrookWest]

22 minutes ago, FlyingLlama said:

Scorches have tiny ranges, and nothing attacks through walls except by accident.

This is false. Scorchers can attack through walls, buildings, even space and time. I don't know why DE don't just drop all pretence and name the unit 'Space god' for its uncanny ability to hit you several thousand parsecs away.

Get this, i died from a scorcher, while it was several tiles away fighting with infested. Solo, so no lag. I was scanning Kavats.

Old video i got of the bug, which was apparently fixed, but not quite:

This is the same with grappling hooks (done in solo). The calculation sometimes allows it to predict where you are going to be, and will aim there. Sometimes you can just get around a corner, and the hook will clip through the walls to get you. It will pull you back, but only so far as the wall. It's no scorcher, but deadly nonetheless in infested missions. 

[SenorClipClop]

Well yes, but --

Spoiler

Beta.

 

[That1Cactus]

Don't forget Grineer Commanders that switch teleport you no matter where you're at.

(has bad memories of being teleported in front of Ramparts with no chance to counter because of animation stun)

[YUNoJump]

Ever since the Ignis got that buff to its damage and range, and the ability to go through terrain, scorches have become deific harbingers of flame and despair. The fact that their fire passes through any terrain changes the enemy from "better stay away from this high-damage-at-close-range-enemy" to "I hope I can kill any scorches in this room before they burn my corpse out of existence and sell my family into slavery". Flamethrower enemies in any game are designed to be short range nukes, and it works, but Scorches really need their old Ignises (Igni? Ignodes? Ignae?) back for them to actually be ok enemies. 

Also when their quantum space-fire deals colossal damage on top of being undodgeable then the cheese is getting rotten.

[Xenoraptor]

Yes to all of this, and also the fact that Ramparts track you through walls, rooms away, so you walk through a door - and I'm dead...

My personal favourite was in the Uranus Spy Vault with the barriers and multiple levels you have to flood. I'd flooded the whole thing, no alarms, pop out of the water and immediately get gunned down by the guy on the rampart that watches over the area.

[alexmach1]

39 minutes ago, YUNoJump said:

Ever since the Ignis got that buff to its damage and range, and the ability to go through terrain, scorches have become deific harbingers of flame and despair. The fact that their fire passes through any terrain changes the enemy from "better stay away from this high-damage-at-close-range-enemy" to "I hope I can kill any scorches in this room before they burn my corpse out of existence and sell my family into slavery". Flamethrower enemies in any game are designed to be short range nukes, and it works, but Scorches really need their old Ignises (Igni? Ignodes? Ignae?) back for them to actually be ok enemies. 

Also when their quantum space-fire deals colossal damage on top of being undodgeable then the cheese is getting rotten.

The weirdest thing to me is that Hyekkas in my experience are nowhere near as bad. To my knowledge, they don't have nearly the same range, damage, and ability to shoot behind/through walls as scorches do, so it might not actually be due to the ignis itself.

[YUNoJump]

3 hours ago, alexmach1 said:

The weirdest thing to me is that Hyekkas in my experience are nowhere near as bad. To my knowledge, they don't have nearly the same range, damage, and ability to shoot behind/through walls as scorches do, so it might not actually be due to the ignis itself.

I know what you mean, the Hyekka Masters sort of wave their Ignis around more in my experience however, and they interrupt firing with summoning and the firebomb (also imbued with quantum energy and capable of hitting people in other dimensions entirely). Generally I kill Hyekka Masters during their other animations, before they can start the hardcore immolation, but Scorches are flaming all the time.

[Serinexxa]

4 hours ago, That1Cactus said:

Don't forget Grineer Commanders that switch teleport you no matter where you're at.

(has bad memories of being teleported in front of Ramparts with no chance to counter because of animation stun)

So it's the Commanders doing that?!

I've played for a year and a half to two years, this whole time I thought it was some kind of invisible admin Loki trolling me or something.

Getting teleported solo with no Lokis around really did a number on my sanity, making me think Loki ghosts were haunting me. Spooky

 

.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Serinexxa
Needs more Loki

[(PSN)B0XMAN517]

Enemy reaction time and accuracy is insane in this game. I'll play with Loki from time to time with natural talent. Without natural talent Invisibility has a cast time of 0.75 seconds. So many times I've distanced myself from an enemy so I could re-cast from behind only to be oneshotted. I'm only visible for < 0.75 seconds and, within that time, an enemy does an about face, shots, and kills me. 0.75>  full-blown-turn-around-and-kill-you reaction time is crazytalk.

Edited October 10, 2016 by (PS4)B0XMAN517

[That1Cactus]

7 hours ago, Serinexxa said:

So it's the Commanders doing that?!

I've played for a year and a half to two years, this whole time I thought it was some kind of invisible admin Loki trolling me or something.

Getting teleported solo with no Lokis around really did a number on my sanity, making me think Loki ghosts were haunting me. Spooky

 

.

GRINEER COMMANDERS EXPOSED

[(PSN)dA_BLoK_iS_hOt]

15 hours ago, Xenoraptor said:

Yes to all of this, and also the fact that Ramparts track you through walls, rooms away, so you walk through a door - and I'm dead...

My personal favourite was in the Uranus Spy Vault with the barriers and multiple levels you have to flood. I'd flooded the whole thing, no alarms, pop out of the water and immediately get gunned down by the guy on the rampart that watches over the area.

Or when you fall through the map, respawn and get insta killed by a scorch enemy. Ancient and skorpion hooks are broken. Double jumping through the air only to be yanked to the ground mid flight... Yea. 

[Jackviator]

15 hours ago, That1Cactus said:

Don't forget Grineer Commanders that switch teleport you no matter where you're at.

(has bad memories of being teleported in front of Ramparts with no chance to counter because of animation stun)

Oh GOD how could I forget those guys? Yeah, commanders should be looked at too.

They're so rare as to be almost unseen, but I can't recall any time I've ever felt challenged by them, only annoyed. An enemy that can use a switch teleport ability from across the room, before you've even seen it half the time, and often teleports you into a crowd of bombards and *twitches* scorches.

If you received some sort of warning before you were teleported, some telegraph or maybe a small circle of light around your frame that indicated that you were being targeted for teleportation, or just something, I'd be fine with it. As-is, it's the equivalent of toxic/magnetic auras on infested and scrambus/hyena units; instant, unavoidable punishment for not being some all-knowing, all-seeing deity.

[(PSN)LiamRising]

i dont have much problem with the others but dear god ramparts are broken as hell on Ceres i just go through a door and they fire at me with no way to know whether one is there or not its basically an insta kill on most frames. the only other enemy that annoys just as much is phorid with his homing darts that can magically turn 360 degrees as you jump or slide past them.

Edited October 10, 2016 by (PS4)LiamRising

[Ivan_Rid]

Scorpion`s and Ancient`s harpoon attacks can at least be somewhat fended off and nullified with a Handspring.

Isolator Bursas, however. play by their own rules and will harpoon you down for a full duration even through Ironskin/Warding Halo. I`m pretty sure they can do the same with Atlas, just ignoring the passive.