Forums » Suggestions
Anti-Bot Missile Needed
Anyone travelling around VO space has noticed the increasing number of "listening bots" in the wormhole sectors.
Pirates as well as other guilds use them to notify when someone enters the sector.. Sometimes to go attack, and sometimes to avoid the sector. All kinda good for the game.
What's needed, is a missile that you can build that has to be launched from a stand-still. Programmed by typing the name of the bot in a field and then firing. Travelling very fast to the target. Very low maneuverability, so it could be easily dodged by a active player, and mostly useless on targets that are close.
This missile should die when the player is no longer in the sector, or when it destroys the target.
Pirates as well as other guilds use them to notify when someone enters the sector.. Sometimes to go attack, and sometimes to avoid the sector. All kinda good for the game.
What's needed, is a missile that you can build that has to be launched from a stand-still. Programmed by typing the name of the bot in a field and then firing. Travelling very fast to the target. Very low maneuverability, so it could be easily dodged by a active player, and mostly useless on targets that are close.
This missile should die when the player is no longer in the sector, or when it destroys the target.
-1
Instead of a single-purpose weapon for the destruction/griefing of AFK players in deep space, why not add a radar extender (that only fits on capital ships) which would increase the radar range to the entire sector? Or perhaps a radar dampening addon that fits in a small or large port. Or lets really go out on a limb here and suggest a capital-class jump-drive (L-port addon) that can essentially create it's own wormholes allowing for jumps from any sector to any sector in neighboring systems.
Or better yet, hire an escort.
Instead of a single-purpose weapon for the destruction/griefing of AFK players in deep space, why not add a radar extender (that only fits on capital ships) which would increase the radar range to the entire sector? Or perhaps a radar dampening addon that fits in a small or large port. Or lets really go out on a limb here and suggest a capital-class jump-drive (L-port addon) that can essentially create it's own wormholes allowing for jumps from any sector to any sector in neighboring systems.
Or better yet, hire an escort.
Also -1
If someone wants to pay for an account to have a bot that watches a sector, I really don't see the harm in it.
Expanding on what draugath said: Hire an escort, gunner or both.
If someone wants to pay for an account to have a bot that watches a sector, I really don't see the harm in it.
Expanding on what draugath said: Hire an escort, gunner or both.
-1 anti-bot missle as proposed
+1 radar extender (large port)
+1 radar jammer/stealth module addon (small port)
and/or: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/25090
+1 radar extender (large port)
+1 radar jammer/stealth module addon (small port)
and/or: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/25090
Would a full-sector radar extender even help? How far can you go from the center of a sector before the game starts to break? Because depending on how far the game can handle, a bot could be so far that it would literally take days to reach it.
The obvious solution of course is to simply add a cutoff on the sector list so that ships that are too far away don't get shown. It should be significantly farther than the cutoff for being targetable, but not infinite. 20km for example. That way those sorts of bots can still be used, but a dedicated player could reasonably expect to find and kill it, though it might take a while. A group of players working together would be faster.
The obvious solution of course is to simply add a cutoff on the sector list so that ships that are too far away don't get shown. It should be significantly farther than the cutoff for being targetable, but not infinite. 20km for example. That way those sorts of bots can still be used, but a dedicated player could reasonably expect to find and kill it, though it might take a while. A group of players working together would be faster.
I think they should make it so that if you go too far, your ship "falls off the edge of the universe" and you die. Kinda like what used to happen to boats when Earth was flat. :)
Limiting the range where you get sector messages would be good... Maybe 10km.
But I still would have fun building missiles to take them out...
But I still would have fun building missiles to take them out...
Make VO seem more empty, yeah that's a great idea! :)
Make sectors 50km wide/long (no height limit, since we don't have 3d maps) and make anyone who goes out that far enter the next sector.
I agree with Pizzasgood, even with advanced radar, someone could just use a hound and let it infinite turbo away into space... nothing could catch it.
As far as using escorts, that's fine. We do that now.
As far as using escorts, that's fine. We do that now.
abortretryfail, how would this make VO seem more empty? I'm not talking about making people who are only 5km away invisible. I'm talking about distances on the order of 20-30km. How often is another player actually 20+ km away? Not often enough to make any difference to the emptiness-seeming of the game. It might seem more empty to newbies who don't yet realize that the bots are bots, but only a little bit, and only assuming the bot owner gave up on monitoring wormholes and did not park the bot in a station (where it would have just as much effect on the emptiness as it does now at an unreachable distance from a wormhole).
And the bot owner wouldn't have to give up. He would just be forced to position the bot closer to the wormhole, meaning that people could potentially hunt it down and kill it (or possibly push it out of range), after which the owner would have to put it back. That probably wouldn't happen incredibly frequently after the initial novelty of bot-hunting wore off, so the people listening to the bots would not have VO seem any emptier either, most of the time.
So, I ask again, how would that make VO seem more empty?
And the bot owner wouldn't have to give up. He would just be forced to position the bot closer to the wormhole, meaning that people could potentially hunt it down and kill it (or possibly push it out of range), after which the owner would have to put it back. That probably wouldn't happen incredibly frequently after the initial novelty of bot-hunting wore off, so the people listening to the bots would not have VO seem any emptier either, most of the time.
So, I ask again, how would that make VO seem more empty?
torpedo.
slow, unmanuevarable, crap load of damage, very long range.
balance it such that it can be dodged by the bulkiest of caps from anything but close range, to still make bombing fun. yet for afk bots, since they don't move, the torpedo will eventually hit.
VO really needs torpedoes and dedicated bombers. among many many other things.
slow, unmanuevarable, crap load of damage, very long range.
balance it such that it can be dodged by the bulkiest of caps from anything but close range, to still make bombing fun. yet for afk bots, since they don't move, the torpedo will eventually hit.
VO really needs torpedoes and dedicated bombers. among many many other things.
Because, these bots aren't completely autonomous. Many of them are used as chat relays to the sector and there's real players who talk on them. Newbies and experienced players alike ask them questions or otherwise do things in response to their presence that makes the game more interesting.
I really don't see a problem with it.
TehRunner, VO does need real bombs or torpedos, especially if the player owned capital ships gain shields in the future, but that's a suggestion for a different thread. There shouldn't be any weapon that can catch an afk player turboing away no matter what ship they are in.
For example: This weekend I passed Lisa201 parked out of radar range at a wormhole in Azek for hours. If this "anti-bot missile" existed, I could have just as easily used it to blow her up as I could one of the sensor bots.
I really don't see a problem with it.
TehRunner, VO does need real bombs or torpedos, especially if the player owned capital ships gain shields in the future, but that's a suggestion for a different thread. There shouldn't be any weapon that can catch an afk player turboing away no matter what ship they are in.
For example: This weekend I passed Lisa201 parked out of radar range at a wormhole in Azek for hours. If this "anti-bot missile" existed, I could have just as easily used it to blow her up as I could one of the sensor bots.
TehRunner, a slow torpedo would not work. Remember, a bot could literally be a several-day voyage away at greyhound speeds. Maybe even weeks. I have heard that the game eventually breaks down if you go too far, but I don't know what distance that is (I'm not talking about the simple precision loss that makes you jittery).
Arf: then they can put them in a station. If a human like Lisa or a cyborg like draugath goes AFK out of radar range, we should still be able to kill them, just like we should be able to kill bots. If a person wants a bot to talk locally to a non-station sector for some reason, they should have to deal with the difficulties that being potentially killable brings.
My VO philosophy is that every visible object in the game should be destructable. Asteroids, stations, bots, and humans alike. If I can see somebody in my sector list I should have a method to reach them. Otherwise don't bother showing me them, and don't show them me.
Arf: then they can put them in a station. If a human like Lisa or a cyborg like draugath goes AFK out of radar range, we should still be able to kill them, just like we should be able to kill bots. If a person wants a bot to talk locally to a non-station sector for some reason, they should have to deal with the difficulties that being potentially killable brings.
My VO philosophy is that every visible object in the game should be destructable. Asteroids, stations, bots, and humans alike. If I can see somebody in my sector list I should have a method to reach them. Otherwise don't bother showing me them, and don't show them me.
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/25090
that suggestion would solve this problem all at once.
If the bot is running active radar it'll be easy to spot. If it's running passive radar it'd have to be close, and you could still find it with active radar yourself and a bot in space is kinda vulnerable.
that suggestion would solve this problem all at once.
If the bot is running active radar it'll be easy to spot. If it's running passive radar it'd have to be close, and you could still find it with active radar yourself and a bot in space is kinda vulnerable.
I dunno, LNH.
Sure, you'd be able to see a Corvus Greyhound using active radar infiniboosting out into the great black beyond, but you'd never be able to catch it. What we really need is an absolute limit on maximum radar (and sector list) detection range, so the listening-bots have to stay nearby and therefore not be effectively immune from harm. Your active/passive radar suggestion is interesting, I'll admit, but really doesn't solve anything on its own without that particular detail.
Sure, you'd be able to see a Corvus Greyhound using active radar infiniboosting out into the great black beyond, but you'd never be able to catch it. What we really need is an absolute limit on maximum radar (and sector list) detection range, so the listening-bots have to stay nearby and therefore not be effectively immune from harm. Your active/passive radar suggestion is interesting, I'll admit, but really doesn't solve anything on its own without that particular detail.
vIsitor have the solution here.
No missile nor weapon can catch a bot that have been flying for months away from sector center. But its "radar" should also be limited.
A simpler, direct fix:
1. Make a imaginary boundary of 22KM around sector center.
2. Any ship/bot beyond that limit will not receive sector updates (events).
So, bots remain able to interact with players over sector, system, guild and global chats. But not register players passage. They have a choice to remain unreachable, but losing players track. Or remain inside a station, what is the proper place for bots, IMO.
Why 22km? I like it, and if Inc accepts this idea he will balance it properly.
No missile nor weapon can catch a bot that have been flying for months away from sector center. But its "radar" should also be limited.
A simpler, direct fix:
1. Make a imaginary boundary of 22KM around sector center.
2. Any ship/bot beyond that limit will not receive sector updates (events).
So, bots remain able to interact with players over sector, system, guild and global chats. But not register players passage. They have a choice to remain unreachable, but losing players track. Or remain inside a station, what is the proper place for bots, IMO.
Why 22km? I like it, and if Inc accepts this idea he will balance it properly.
simple: if i can see it, i should be able to target it. if i can't see it, it should not be able to see me.
why do we even have a radar range limitation? and if we do, how do we know there is anything beyond that range?
just have the devs take out the range limitation until they are prepared to implement it correctly.
why do we even have a radar range limitation? and if we do, how do we know there is anything beyond that range?
just have the devs take out the range limitation until they are prepared to implement it correctly.
Radar range limits make sense, radial diffusion and such. An infinite presence detector that is the sensor log doesn't. Radar range is 4km if memory serves, make sensor log range ~10km.
A very simple fix frankly.
A very simple fix frankly.