I destroyed my initial 2 NPCs and they were replaced with NPCs with timers. Everything cycled just fine for about a day then an NPC appeared that had no timer. That NPC persisted until I destroyed it and was replaced with an NPC that had a timer.

I cycled through about 10 more NPCs and everything was fine, but the 11th NPC had no timer. My other slot cycled through several more NPCs and was also replaced by an NPC with no timer.

So now neither of the NPCs has a timer and they've been sitting there for almost a full day now.

I realize I can just destroy the 2 NPCs but I don't like to waste energy on non-mission NPCs. Also, that defeats the entire purpose of the timer which is to give us choice in which NPCs we fight.

Thanks!

Can you provide the names of the NPCs that did not have a timer? I can check on their settings. Each NPC can be setup differently.

Sure:

Chron Shift Carrier XVIII 110 Standard / Common
Zolazin Phantom XV 70 Standard / Common

Both of those are mission NPCs. The Chron Shift carrier is bound to the mission 'The Dark Theft'.

So it's by design that they have no timers?

Yes, most mission NPCs do not have timers per the update notes: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=913
You should really consider taking them out, their turn-ins provide a great XP ratio.

Perhaps NPC's that are mission-provided should have a message stating this instead of a timer? Can that be done, Dan?

You could have "This enemy vessel will continue to track you across the Galaxy until it has been destroyed", or something along those lines.

Or just a "Mission NPC" placed on it.

Just something to show it truly is different.

Are the Sha'din mission ships as well? I currently have two in my battle list with no timers on them. These appeared in my list about two days ago after other types cycled in and out, either due to a timer or me killing them. I CAN kill these ships, I just don't have much interest in doing so since they don't give any rewards (that I have seen) and I have to repair my ship 2-4 times in order to finish the battle.

The ships are Sha'din Corsair XXII and Sha'din Infiltrator XV.

I believe the Infiltrator gives a higher XP reward than the Corsair, but other than that, i've not heard of a Sha'din mission. Nor have I heard of them giving rewards other than XP. Maybe it's a new mission, or just a random glitch.