first off, to make space a bit more scary, how about making a set of AI controlled units roam around a bit? gank squads from nations is one idea -- Serco units hunting things with low Serco, Itani units hunting stuff with low Itani, UIT units hunting anyone with high Corvus standing and Corvus pirates hunting, well, anything.

in addition, bots roam around scouting and securing trafficing lanes for the HIVE. assaults are the clue here, maybe with an overseer.

add to this some "unique" bots. since we don't have artists, make them use standard models, but tweak them a bit. like an Arklan with an extra rocket launcher and some extra armor, or a TyCorp with N3s and an extra large battery. maybe the unique bots drop a widget (battery?) or just give extra nice XP. finding one of these bots could also be the goal of a mission.

I'd prefer that they got the universe-wide Hive and trade convoys up and running rather than making custom gank bots.

Yeeeehawww... fun, plot type stuff!! Yeah, let's get this update unfucked first. But the Hive spreading can wait a bit...

-- pirate hideouts on distant asteroids protected with turrets and mine fields.
-- NPC goverments, (and the hive, and corporates) can put bounty on any player. Then player will be KOS in each neutral and worse system. Even in friendly systems some NPC headhunters can jump on him.

Hehe Arklan + Jacks, GT, Posi, just wandering through Sedina B8 looking for the next good place to set up a new Hive base.

I'm in. That could be awesome. It may also be easy to include when the Hive starts expanding.

it's not ment as a replacement of the currently planned NPC changes, it's ment as an addition to make the universe a bit more "random" and "unpredictable". trade convoys are a slight start in that direction, but it doesn't donate any real sense of danger.

Yeah, I have liked this idea forever, well, since 3.6test (iirc) hive bots *should* randomly apear at worm holes, even if its just in grey space. And pirate NPC's have been discussed before, I think after this NPC thingy, that is a planned feature? Although I do have to point out that the only convoy I saw (an Inubis voy, im -677 inubis) did attempt to attack me on sight, and although the bots didnt really pose much of a challenge (a few centurians with flares, and a centaur that couldnt aim) if they would have warped in and caught me an awares, I would have been killed.

And let me say again, Hive should randomly spawn in some worm hole sectors (the further into grey space, the harder the bot). It would stop a lot of the silly dueling at whatever worm hole wherever, expecting not to be attacked by a third party too.

Why make it random? The hive could occasionally send out it's own concentrated strike forces based on trader traffic or casualties in certain sectors...

i love your idea but apparently making ship AI for this particular engine is quite difficult. example, after all these years, station guards still get stuck on rocks. traders still get stuck docking. after they fix that i hope your idea will work.

Nice to see you've been paying attention the last few weeks Ananzi.