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NPC contributions/Fleets |
Okkam
Marshal
Joined: February 06, 2008
Posts: 157
From: Dorset
|  Posted: 2010-05-10 09:06
I was mulling around after MV reset today and a thought occurred to do with NPCs.
In the MV there is mostly transport npcs that ferry infantry and aimlessly jump around followed by supply npcs but rarely any other kind of ship.
My suggestion:
NPCs can make fleets of their own consisting of a preset type and amount under the program code parameters. To prevent this fleet from growing out of proportion it can be attached to; how many people on that fleet/team at the time, how many SYs you have in that system, how many of the planets in that system do you own.
The idea behind this is that if there are no player UGTO on or there is one or two knocking about then the game will compensate. If you would venture into a UGTO system that was completely UGTO with 3 SYs then the NPC resistance you would suffer would be alot bigger than a mixed system currently under conflict.
You could take it one further and make it so when NPC fleet reach a certain amount they move as one or venture into nearby clusters via the gate network to do skirmish with other npcs and players.
The idea behind this is that NPCs should be a part of the game more and players shouldn't be the whole fleet but merely a part of the fleet. If the UGTO or ICC have a large player base and the Kluth only have one or two people on then the NPCs will balance that.
Pros: (Off the top of my head)
- More fighting, even with npcs its still combat thats enjoyable.
- More going on (also could be a con)
- Ability to join up and fly with a NPC fleet if you are on your lonesome in the MV.
Cons:
- More going on: may contribute to lag.
- More code/programming involved in the production and amount of npcs being summoned and used at one time.
- How to find a way to get rid of the NPC fleet once the player base is large enough to take over.
- NPCs aren't too clever so while it might be more interesting it might also just be one giant sandbox where a player can waltz through the MV with a dread killing everything left right and center. - On that note if a player sees another player doing this then he/she can engage and the fight has commenced.
Possible future changes?:
- Make it so NPCs will form a fleet capable of assaulting a planet, albeit slowly compared to humans but it means that the MV will fluxuate over night or when people aren't on.
- Make it so high ranked players can issue one or two orders to one or two NPCs meaning if you had 2-3 GAs online on one team (say UGTO for example) then those GAs can combine their orders to form a NPC fleet to help them. This would have to vary depending on how many high ranking people you have on compared with NPC fleet size. (Maybe limit NCP size with player number+player rank?)
Am I the only one who thinks this to be a decent idea, if only on paper. I understand that this involves alot more programming and coding but the gameplay might be enhanced due to it.
Please add comments and discuss this topic.
Thanks
Silent
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Mersenne Twister
Fleet Admiral
Joined: May 11, 2003
Posts: 1161
From: Sector C Test Labs and Contol Facilities
| Posted: 2010-05-10 09:11
Quote:
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On 2010-05-10 09:06, SilentHunter13 wrote:
NPCs can make fleets of their own consisting of a preset type and amount under the program code parameters. To prevent this fleet from growing out of proportion it can be attached to; how many people on that fleet/team at the time, how many SYs you have in that system, how many of the planets in that system do you own.
The idea behind this is that if there are no player UGTO on or there is one or two knocking about then the game will compensate. If you would venture into a UGTO system that was completely UGTO with 3 SYs then the NPC resistance you would suffer would be alot bigger than a mixed system currently under conflict.
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this is exactly how its currently set up.
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Okkam
Marshal
Joined: February 06, 2008
Posts: 157
From: Dorset
| Posted: 2010-05-10 09:18
Then how come whenever i'm on the MV all I ever see is transports, support ships and... more transports.. Lone transports charging head on into a 10 defence planet over and over again. It begs the question as to if the code is actually working and if it is, whats the point in those npc transports?
Maybe in other sections of the MV its varied in types of NPC but atm all I ever see is transports I swear.
In MV Sag since I have come back to DS (I take breaks for random times) I have not seen anything larger than a support ship. Before I took my break last year there was dreads and cruisers knocking about in rather medium sized fleets. Other than pirates it seems its transports transports transports. Considering players are now using that tactic more and more because bombing is broken doesn't it kind of seem out of date?
EDIT:
You may also want to consider somthing along the lines of tagging each ship with a number then having a maximum amount of NPC population, put that with a GA or another very high rank telling the SY planets what NPC ships are needed above all else and wait. The SY produces more of those ships than others over time and eventually you have a decent support or attack fleet with players included.
I'm just trying to suggest somthing to add to the vastness of space that is other than npc transports lol
[ This Message was edited by: SilentHunter13 on 2010-05-10 09:34 ]
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Glaceon
Fleet Admiral
Joined: January 08, 2010
Posts: 141
| Posted: 2010-05-10 11:19
Quote:
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On 2010-05-10 09:11, Mersenne Twister wrote:
Quote:
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On 2010-05-10 09:06, SilentHunter13 wrote:
stuff
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this is exactly how its currently set up.
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but i dont see it i think it would be cool of like once u own lots of planets lets say 40% of the entire server Ai dreads will start poping up
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Sops
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 07, 2004
Posts: 490
| Posted: 2010-05-10 18:12
There were AI dreads at one point, not sure what the reason was for their removal but the AI was never really smart enough to make a difference, they could be picked off without any thought.
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SpaceGK
Marshal
*Renegade Space Marines*
Joined: July 26, 2009
Posts: 323
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2010-05-10 18:36
u know how ai supply ships especially like to fly into planets quite often? well... excuse me while i picture an AI station do that with a fleet of player suppies near by. hmm... destruction
what was the reason most of the ai ships were removed from the MV (or atleast sag) anyway? i herd someone say it was under player request, but i have read just about every post since i started playing ds and i dont recall that...
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Starcommander
Marshal
Joined: December 14, 2005
Posts: 579
From: In your base, stealing your cookies
| Posted: 2010-05-10 19:42
There was an issue with the AI spawn script in Sag and its not been fixed for some reason. At least thats what I have heard.
AI in the home servers do just that, they defend. It gets quiet annoying when trying to, say, attack Lacerta server. Those AI battle dreads can really mess up a good bombing run or if in a station provide extra PD for the planet that you don't need. Would be nice to see AI return to the Sag server again as its the only one that doesn't have faction combat AI. Also would like to see the old order system back too so we can ACTUALLY TELL THEM WHAT TO DO!
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Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2010-05-10 19:59
Last time we had AI swarms it lagged the crap outa the MV.
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Tellaris
Grand Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: April 30, 2002
Posts: 830
From: Land of Chocolate
| Posted: 2010-05-11 01:26
Also would love to see more planets... 5 or so don't do well feeding a mass capture effort... Esp since UGTO has the smallest system of all factions. Even Luyten is bigger. Slightly. Would also love to see more systems in Sag, its pretty small.
AI on the other hand, needs some fixing. It needs better collision avoidance code. As well, this flying towards a target, then away idea is just bad. Sometimes circling a target is actually a good idea, especially with certain ships (ie UGTO Battle Dread). When they just run away, they just become food for whoever is chasing them. Always.
Also, VERY in favour of a dynamic AI for scenario... You could even use the existing scenario as an area to "beta test" AI code... And it'd actually see a lot of testing. (Dynamic being that you see AI in something OTHER then frigates, but they get bigger ships as the resources and SY become available.)
[ This Message was edited by: Tellaris on 2010-05-11 01:29 ]
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Dorans imaginary buddy
Admiral
Joined: February 05, 2010
Posts: 24
| Posted: 2010-05-11 19:02
AI seem to be EXTREAMLY effective sometimes. (they really really do help in some cases) and in others they mash into a planet and die. see dreads in sag would make my YEAR no, LIFE! it would give major combat more of a exciting twist (players are duking it out when a swarm of dreads that are AI controlled decide to storm the trenches) lol just a bit of input from me.
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Azreal
Chief Marshal
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 2816
From: United State of Texas, Houston
| Posted: 2010-05-11 19:10
we had ai dreads in Sag. People just mostly farmed them, and the other people just cried all over their keyboards. They were removed from sag, and can now be safely farmed, inoffensively and out of the site of the "public", in the home servers.
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2010-05-11 20:31
We need more MIs and Pirates in Sag!
Invade, Invade, Invade!!!
Farm, Farm, Farm!!!
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Lrd_Hunter
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 16, 2006
Posts: 245
| Posted: 2010-05-12 12:12
how about this. remember you use to like have factories build your weapon and stuff. why not bring that back but instead of the weapons it builds ships. would make extractor more useful and resources more useful and only have like it grand or up be able to access the factory and it has to be on a sy planet and limit to how many can be made like maybe 1 or 2 dreads and they just follow the person who made them around. witch would cut down on farming dread and such in sag and also the person would be able to tell them to go cap this or attack that just a thought.
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Faustus
Marshal
Palestar
Joined: May 29, 2001
Posts: 2748
From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2010-05-12 12:56
FYI... someone did remove all the ships from the team spawners in Sag. Those spawners have been restored in beta, and very soon you will be seeing AI ships other than transports and engineers in sag.
My policy for AI in the MV is very clear on this subject. They use "Faction" spawners, which means as more people come into the MV on that faction, it spawns fewer AI ships. This is done to help keep the MV balanced since we don't have team balancing enabled like in the scenario server.
-F
[ This Message was edited by: Faustus on 2010-05-12 13:01 ]
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SpaceGK
Marshal
*Renegade Space Marines*
Joined: July 26, 2009
Posts: 323
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2010-05-12 18:48
Quote:
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On 2010-05-12 12:56, Faustus wrote:
My policy for AI in the MV is very clear on this subject. They use "Faction" spawners, which means as more people come into the MV on that faction, it spawns fewer AI ships.
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just curious:
How many AI are spawned for different amounts of players on that specific faction?
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