touching on the "content" what is it, and blackhole of we want its, then throwing in some thinking of how to increase VO interaction with players and creating more of a story line or plot progression has the thought ever crossed of adding a turing test program to some select NPC bots.

Yes i can see LOTS of issues with doing this, but it could add some feeling of depth to the VO story.

How the NPC talk could vary in dialect and subject could depend upon your nation, license/faction/badges which would dictate what it would talk to you about. And depending on Trigger words you ask it combined with your levels could open missions or easter eggs....

obviously this isn't a fully worked idea by any means but it could have some "interesting" maybe effects

Zardoz!
"I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. I have lived 300 years, and long to die. But death is no longer possible, I am immortal."

Gotta love bad 70's Scifi.

I'd like to see somewhat interactive NPC's, but maybe that would be too large a load on the server? Dunno.

Bad!!! cult leber cult 70's sci-fi, has some brilliant ideas in it.

But back to the thread... no idea of server loads, u can download eliza apps that are just couple 100Kb and i wouldnt want every bot to beable to "talk" just the marshals or likes of.

touching on the "content" what is it, and blackhole of we want its, then throwing in some thinking of how to increase VO interaction with players and creating more of a story line or plot progression has the thought ever crossed of adding a turing test program to some select NPC bots.

I think I just lost a good 30 IQ points from reading that.

On the subject of NPC interaction is fighting behavior. Something that every game I've played seems to do is give NPC's a completely inhuman reaction time, which is to say instantaneous. It'd be interesting if VO bots took about .2 seconds or so from the time a shot is fired to react to it, instead of using that freakish spidey sense that allows 'em to dodge shots from even behind and what not.

One way players manage to dodge shots is by, through trial and error, discovering patterns that tend to make it difficult to be hit. Backrolling is a great example of this. A player might continuously backroll, unless the opponent gets too distant, at which point the player will probably add some forward thrust, or wait until his opponent simply catches up. I think if preventative dodge patterns along with a slight delay to certain situations were both qualities of NPC's, it'd go along way to making them feel realistic.

Edit: Of course what with the those darned Itani monks and their spiritual training, and the Serco with their crazy cybernetic systems, I can definitely see how the NPC's act the way they do.

so now your iq is at 40 lecter?

Sean Connery.

http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/zardoz.html ...and there go another 20 points.

Sadly, I have Zardoz on video. Old-style VHS for you kiddies.
Gotta love floating heads that go around vomiting weaponry.

Yeah, don't watch that movie unless you want nightmares of a young Sean Connery running around in red underwear.

The gun is good! The penis is evil! *pukes up hundreds of rifles*

Yeah, we thought about adding Eliza or something to some of the bots. We might still do it.

Really, cool :)

SuperMegaMynt did raise an interesting point on NPC interaction as well. I dont have a problem with the bots reaction in normal space, as they are a computer so why wouldnt they be obcerving all the time.

However when in an ion storm... they have too much of an advantage to home in straight away, the only way i could see them able to spot instantly would be through large numbers spread over the sector... such as a hive nest.

It would seem a more logical place for a hive to hide/grow as it would give them natural cover