Hi guys!!

It been a long while since i've posted here and talked about new ideas or improvements. But one thing that has come to light is the lack of "use" the station defense turrets are in sectors 4,6 and 12.

Somethimes they fire - mostly they dont!! Why put somethign there if they're not going to work?

Example- i was being chased by 6-8 reds - i took a couple out and lead the rest to my stn, looking for support from my turrets, and not one of them fired !!! Some of the reds pilots were within 50-100m's of them !!

I hope this changes in the new update!

I also would like to see defensive bots in home sectors back again. ( but being more useful) such as - escorting ppl's to the warp gate or to the stn? - this would be very helpful for newbies. And intefer with a lot of capping attempts if there isnt many defeners on..( /me knows capping will not be in the final game, but for now it would make things interesting!)

Cheers

White Magic (Yes he's still around)

It'll probably be addressed in the next update.

Its way too easy to just strafe round them and blow them up at the moment...

aye, but make def bots Furies and it won't be no more. :P

I would LOVE to see a few defense bots both in 1-3 and in 4,6,12. Say 3 or 4 in each sector. Make the priority the flag capper. Then, make the priority anyone who's shooting at the team.

The defense bots should fly in a squadron formation....just use the Fury AI, but keep the 3D models now there. There should be two squadrons in each nation sector.
In 1-3, have them on opposite sides of the station and in 4,6,and 12, have them near the home gates (e.g. to 1, 2, and 3) and near the station.

The defense turrets need to come back online too.

Well, judging on how tough it is for a ship to evade furies now, a squadron for defense would require a true team effort to fend off.

how about 4 furies and 2 centurions (blue ions) (or 2/1 ratio) at a same time? deadly...

Agreed. That's what's needed.

Yea.

It could be interesting to have the lead ship fly the flagship of the nation in the home sector (1-3).
Possibly the entire squadron flying them...however that might be a bit too powerful...

Yes, we want all of these things. Unfortunately, the AI has gone through various phases of retardation, and we're slowly trying to make it smarter. Developing AI can be a bit tricky, though, and it's been a learning experience for us. Fearsome automated defenses and NPCs are clearly a necessity.

"Unfortunately, the AI has gone through various phases of retardation, and we're slowly trying to make it smarter."

ROFL!! I think I'll add this to my list of funniest dev quotes.

Would like to have Defense ships back if only to see them get stuck in between the big tanks under the stations and issue. :D

-and, and_but_red, and_only_gold

We need 1 squadron of defense bots to patrol the two wormholes in the n00b sectors, if the leader gets killed the 2 bots should stay and fight while another leader and 2 more bots come out to help, the 2 stray bots should be recalled when all hostiles leave.

Would there be infinite waves or would it be a finite number of waves to worry about...could be fun getting an army of bots assembled in an enemy sector.

I also think the bot should be able to jump between the home sectors too!! If required. I.e defensive bots would jump from sec 1 to 4 and visa versa to aid the defending when being capped. This would help especially if the number of defenders on at the time are very low...(Gives the cappers something to worry about- also its makes it more fun!!)

This could also work when a flag is being brought in - The defensive bots would form a defensive position around the flag carrier and intercept any attackers? ( both of these would bring the AI's more into the game and would give the devs a chance to work on their intellegence .. so they become more and more effective over a period of time)

;)

Eventually, it would be nice to be able to hire a group of NPC's to aid in the escorting of trade ships or join colums of NPC trading ships....

Theres lots to think about .. And i cant wait for future developments!!!

Guys keep up the good thoughts and DEV's - Thank you.

Cheers All

White Magic.

You know, I wonder... could they slap those frigate turrets on to stations? They're a lot more deadlier than those dumb defense drones. And for neutral stations, these turrets would fire at anyone that fires next to the station. That would kick ass.

Hey those retarded bots can be bothersome incarnate =)