Improved Enemy Ship AI

Credits: FlippingEggs Proof of permissions: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/11404?tab=description

Improves and diversifies the AI pilots of all ships. Enemy factions are out for blood, and it will require good tactics to win space battles. Good hunting, captain.

This mod aims to improve the AI of all ship pilots, making them smarter and deadlier opponents, depending on their level of experience and which faction they belong to. The goal is to make winning a space battle be a little more about tactics and numbers, and a little less about having an overpowered ship that can crush everything in its path.

In vanilla Starfield space combat, the enemy ship AI isn't the main source of difficulty. Any difficulty comes mostly from facing multiple ships at the same time, and you as the player changing the ship damage setting. Even on very hard damage, as long as you have plenty of ship parts, you can spam your way through most space battles and be fine.

For me, the game is more fun when you as the player aren't the most powerful thing in the Settled Systems. With this mod installed, taking on multiple enemies at once should not be done without careful planning and tactics. Sometimes, you might have to run away from a fight you can't win, or use ship stealth to your advantage.

Here are the changes made:

All Ships

All ships can now detect you from much further away. If you don't want to get detected, power down all your systems to go stealth before grav jumping or fast traveling somewhere, otherwise any hostile ships will detect you and attack you the second you arrive. Also, be aware of the vanilla mechanic that puts any spare power into your grav drive when initiating a jump. You will need to quickly take this power back out and bring it down to 1 tick to avoid detection after jumping.

As the player, we have hostile ships marked on our HUD with a bright red arrow. Think of what you look like to an enemy pilot when you grav jump in with all your systems fully powered. You will look like a bright red arrow and get attacked immediately, unless you power down all your systems.

Civilian Ships

Civilian ships are more likely to try to run away if you attack them, and will spend less time shooting at you.

United Colonies

The UC is the only faction we know of that has a simulator training facility for their pilots. The Vanguard even publishes their own magazine on space combat tactics. It would stand to reason that they have some of the best pilots in the Settled Systems. UC ships have had their accuracy buffed, and are more likely to perform advanced maneuvers to stay on your tail. The UC Navy is now a powerful ally, and a fearsome enemy. Thanks to the weapon engineers at Deimos, UC homing missiles are also highly accurate, pulling upwards of 100 Gs to hit their targets.

Freestar Collective and The First

Freestar pilots won the Colony War by using hit-and-run tactics (and incorporating civilian ships into their navy...). It is also mentioned in dialogue that they were very good at picking off UC merchant vessels. As such, they have been given a minor boost to accuracy, and are more evasive, using boost to break target lock. Freestar ships are equipped with missiles manufactured by HopeTech. While these missiles don't have the advanced guidance systems of Deimos, they are still reliable and deadly at medium range.

Spacers

Spacers have had their accuracy only slightly buffed from vanilla, but can still be deadly in groups. They are aggressive and rely on ganging up on enemies to win. Word has it that scavengers who have salvaged Spacer ships found jury-rigged targeting computers and homemade liquid fuel being used for their missiles. It is safe to assume that Spacers have the least accurate missiles in the Settled Systems.

Ecliptic

Ecliptic has used the funds from their mercenary work to upgrade their targeting computers and engines, giving them better accuracy and the ability to boost more frequently in a fight. The latest intelligence from Aegis and MAST suggests that Ecliptic is buying black market homing missiles. While not as accurate as those manufactured by Deimos or HopeTech, these missiles can still be deadly if fired from close range.

The Crimson Fleet

What the Fleet lacks in formal pilot training, it makes up for with experience, as seasoned pirate captains pass their knowledge down to their crew. Driven by greed and the desire for loot, they are more aggressive and less cautious than vanilla. This includes the Crimson Fleet Ghosts that attack you during the tutorial in orbit above Vectera. They don't care that it's your tutorial, they want your loot! After salvaging a captured Crimson Fleet vessel, UC SysDef reports that these pirates are using a combination of Deimos and HopeTech missiles that have been plundered from freighter ships. It is believed that the Fleet is not very proficient or accurate with these captured munitions, but exercise caution nonetheless.

House Varuun Zealots

Only the best Varuun pilots survived the Serpent's Crusade, and lived to pass on their combat experience to the next generation. The Varuun Zealots roaming the Settled Systems today are the result of survival of the fittest. They have deadly accuracy and are competent pilots to boot.

This includes the Zealots you encounter in Venus' orbit during The Old Neighborhood quest with Sarah. Going 1 vs. 3 with a stock Frontier is a dangerous proposition; you should seriously consider the stealth option. This means powering down to 1 tick in engines before traveling to Venus. The Frontier is near the bottom of the food chain as far as ship combat goes; flying it through hostile areas with all systems fully powered is basically telling enemies "free kill!"

Starborn

The Starborn seek to use the unmatched maneuverability and cloaking of their Guardian ships to the fullest advantage. As such, getting a solid target lock on a Starborn Guardian requires exceptional piloting ability. Starborn gravity torpedoes have tracking capabilities far better than any man-made homing missile.

How should all this affect your tactics? If multiple enemy ships get you target locked at the same time, from close range, you will get destroyed in seconds. Here are some ideas to avoid getting into that situation in the first place: Power down your systems and use stealth to decide when and where to start an engagement Use your scanner to pick out the weakest enemy ship and maneuver to a position where you can pounce and take them out quickly, without being engaged by their friends Once the fighting starts, if you get into a bad situation with multiple hostiles on your tail, use boost to break target lock, pick up speed, then use thrusters to flip a 180 and return fire while still retreating to safety. If you have a fast ship, you can cause your enemies to get strung out and spread thin, allowing you to whittle them down one at a time. Use asteroid fields to your advantage. Asteroids offer cover and allow you to break target lock without sacrificing precious boost fuel, but this works both ways.