Forums » Suggestions

Unbot TD hogs

12»
May 31, 2006 bojansplash link
After last update...they are still hard.
Could you give them stars instead of sunnies?
May 31, 2006 MSKanaka link
If we were carebears, we'd have kicked your ass along with space hunter's with a patent-pending Care Bear Stare. However, we are not care bears, and therefore you haven't been given the punishment you deserve, you ninnified pansy.
May 31, 2006 moldyman link
Squeeze us and we say things like "I wuv you" and "You're the best!" Now only $19.99. Order now while supplies last. Be sure to ask about the Makchuga limited editions carebears.
May 31, 2006 sarahanne link
"You're the Best!"
May 31, 2006 bojansplash link
As usual Ayns post is tactfull and civilised.

Most of VO players know who i am ingame by my forum name. Its not a secret and its pretty straightforward.

Suggestion to change loadout for unbot TD hogs is just that - a suggestion.
New VO players and newbies with inadequate pvp skill will still have a lot of trouble with them. If one of the points of having unbots is to force newbies to train and aquire combat skills in order to survive in greyspace then imho TD hogs with stars will help them do that easier and with less frustration.

Im not sure I can be called forum troll... but ill leave it to the community to judge that.

Now why do you always have such a wonderful desire to insult people on forums Ayn?
Ok you IQ is prolly at room temperature in degrees celsius but still one wonders.....
May 31, 2006 Person link
Dear god. Unbots to carebears... Ayn is definitely about.

Ok, so getting back ON TOPIC people:
:C
This is exactly what I DON'T think we should do with NPCs. NPCs ACT like PCs, and should therefore not equip a starflare unless they're out of they're completely out of their processors, (forgive the pun.) So what do you do? The solution almost lends itself. They're supposed to be pirate BOTS: RARG, in-your-face mean little SOBs, so they should act like it. Change their engagement distance to 0-50m and POOF! You have a challenging adversary. You DON'T have a cold, calculating warthog that stays back at 100m and spams you.

With NPCs, you keep the player ships. You don't modify their load-outs, ships, or weapons to make them better or worse than players. You change the way they engage, the way they fight, and who they attack.

With bots it's different. You keep their AI, make it as specific as you can for each bots role, and put whatever variety of bot-ships you need in. While NPCs should be balanced, various hivebots are and should be worse or better than players.

-Calder
May 31, 2006 bojansplash link
Ayn...you responded to my thread it had nothing to do with you.
Editing your posts constantly to make them more civilised is a good thing. Keep up the good work.
FYI this is a Suggestions forum. Im posting suggestions open for discussion.

@Person: very interesting idea. Its a different approach to the problem but it could be good.
May 31, 2006 MSKanaka link
I think making the NPC ship layouts a little more varied might do the trick--as it is, ALL warthogs have gat turrets and sunflares. What if some had gauss and plasdevs?

And Calder: 50m is a bit unreasonable--most PvP battles I've seen or participated in don't involve distances under 100m for any more than a few seconds at a time. The ships aren't maneuverable enough to maintain that low a distance during a dogfight for much longer than that.
May 31, 2006 Wiggoggs link
Hehe, if you want the unbots to really act like pirates, you can have em turbo off when They're low on health. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad, it could teach newbs about chasing and intercepting runners, so they can get that bit of xp they wanted. :)

Udjuk/Jubjub Marwen
May 31, 2006 smittens link
"(btw we all know noobs use missiles a lot)"

Please keep what Serco n00bs and Itani n00bs do separate...for the last month I've played I've seen at least one new Serco spammer a week! With what guild tag you ask? You'll all find out soon enough.

Anyway, has anyone taken a moment to see the hilarity of Ayn posting something in someone else's thread, calling them names etc? TEH IRONY!
May 31, 2006 roguelazer link
I still find it sort of silly that all the hogs are TDs. Weren't convoys originally supposed to use faction-specific ships? IE: an Orion convoy would have Convoy Guardian Hornets and RevC centurions, a Serco convoy would have SVGs and proms, an Itani convoy would have IBGs and valks, etc.
May 31, 2006 momerath42 link
Yes, faction-specific ships and more varied loadouts will come. It's one of those things that isn't at all difficult but very time consuming. I think it's pretty close to the top of the list now- maybe within the next month :)
May 31, 2006 Ghost link
Ayn, do you realize that by offering nothing constructive to the topic and simply attempting to insult the poster, you are in fact trolling? Before you accuse others of doing so, you should look at your own posts. (On a side note, Ayn calling someone else a carebear, lol) When you post on the forums, we don't come and insult you right away, most of us come and post a response to your suggestion. If someone exposes a hole in your arguement (which there usually are many) then you turn the thread into a name calling match instead of responding with a counter-debate. That is unless you start the thread off by just calling people names and not presenting any arguement at all.

And now the topic: I agree the TD hogs are maybe just a little too "psychic" at the moment. You can be as patient at you want, blasting away at 150m with neuts, and you'll only hit every so often. Now before Ayn calls me a carebear, I'm fully capable of taking these bots down with minimal to no damage, it just takes a lot longer. The last thing I want to do is spend 5-10 minutes wittling down an NPC. However, if the TD hogs had stars instead of flares, they may actually be more difficult considering their dodging capabilities. They would then be lighter and even more difficult to hit.
May 31, 2006 roguelazer link
@Person: Why would using starflares make them crazy? I usually equip starflares, since the damage/tube is almost the same as sunflares (less damage/rocket, but more rockets/tube), and they weigh a little over half as much...
May 31, 2006 Cunjo link
the priblem with the TD hogs isn't the rockets, but how they use them.

the TD hogs have no sene of safety whatsoever, so it's a simple matter of getting in your face and throwing flares where you have little chance of avoiding them. They have perfect aim, and since they're not worried about moving in evasive patterns (as players do - the bots just have inhuman vision and reflaxes, so they only dodge the shots that would actually hit once they've been fired) they don't need to correct for their trajectory when firing.

And they KEEP firing.

If you're flying a heavy ship, and they hit you with ONE flare, you're dead, because they will hit you again, and again, and again with a steady stream of flares and AGT. You won't be able to stop spinning long enough to get out of their line of fire.

That is why the hogs are so dangerous - their flares disrupt both your aiming and dodging. An NPC hog TD will do more damage, and faster than any human player to a medium or heavy ship. The only reason you can beat them is that due to their nature, you can also take them out fairly quickly if you have a lot of firepower and use it all - it's kill or be killed. Once they start hitting you with flares though, it's all over.

What could be done to make them less dangerous (and at the same time, more challenging, to some extent) is to have their AI treat their flares conservitively, taking only the best shots, and not firing more than one every 3-4 seconds. This would allow players more room to dodge and survive the encounter, without making them much easier to approach/kill.
May 31, 2006 roguelazer link
Or give them non-infinite ammo on flares...
May 31, 2006 softy2 link
I have a better idea : can somebody teach me how to dodge like the bots? Damn, they are *good*.

Anyway, here is a pimp : flares throw you around too much. Glad to see the love being spread around a bit!
May 31, 2006 LeberMac link
Hrm. How hard can this really be?!? I'll have to log on tonight and go kill me some Unbot Pirate TD Hoggies with teh flarez! Oh noes!

Let's go hoggin'!
May 31, 2006 Ghost link
Coherent arguements please...
May 31, 2006 jexkerome link
/me flicks Nya13 the flea aside

I'd like to see more variation to the unnies setup, but then again I'd also like to see more variation in players' setups. Still, I have no problem with the sunflare-wielding unnies, because I never engage them head on, I pull hit-and-runs until they run out of flares, and then it's bye bye time. Also, I don't attack if there are more than three :P