Well, considering there's a way for medium-range comps to have NPCs in Empires matches without crashing the server, I set to work wondering how this should be implemented. Here's my idea: The commander starts the game with 'x' NPCs (for this thread, we'll say 40, but that's a bit extreme). He would control them in squads of four, five, or so. They could probably do simple tasks like repair objects if ordered and attack/defend, but not complex manuvers. As players get promoted to a certain rank at which they can command their own squad (An NPC squad), one of the commander's squads would move to player control (Preferrably an idle one). That way, players would have to work for their squad, but the overall balance of power would remain the same. Also, the NPCs would add a new layer of gameplay, as they are considerably less smart than a player, but could take critical locations early in a game. That's all I could come up with. Pick at it however you wish.
I like playing with Human beings. I don't want an army of idiots. On a full server it's unnessasary to have NPCs (well, at least for push maps). You might not mean this at all picard, but I don't want bots to replace playing with humans. With >40 bots on a server, having real teamwork might change so much I don't like it.
I think the reasoning behind his thoughts are the very low player turnouts atm. Whenever I login... I see max of 8 ppl that I can play with. 4 on one server and 4 on another ... then there is some server in euro with like 18 ppl on it and a ping of 260-390. So that might be his perspective. "Not many to play with so lets add some more action.... even if they are mental retards on with a gun." ofc its always fun to have like 15 combine running after you from 4 diff directions. lol I wouldn't mind NPC's realy. But I would like for them to be commander only controle. God knows, its sometimes hard to get ppl to listen to the commander and build something. Give them some simple minded engy's that can use a humvie to get from one point to another. Hell... since they are retards with tools at least give them super tools... auto building boost.
i said this in another thread as a suggestion. make another class. commissar for NF, Drill instructor for BE. they are Armed with Only the 2 SMGs. the advantage they have is that they have a 'Radio' or something which can be used to recruite a troop. like the Engineer and turrets, the more ranks you gain the more troops you can recruite. theri ability bars would derive from troop based abilities. 1- Health infusion- 10-25% more health for each troop under your command, 2- Standard issue kevlar 10-15% armor 3- Infintry training + troop accuracy and fire rate. 4- Moral booster. the AI kind of exists in HL2 for this. i was thinking the diffrence between Combine troops if you hack the game and make them follow you, how their actions are completely diffrent than Rebels that normally follow you. when you have Combine troops, police, solder, guard, or elite hacked to be friendly, they Will stay up with you, walk besides you and will often either stick close, or go to cover when in combat. Rebels on the other hand will slowly pull back when faced with combat and avoid it when ever possible. i am thinking, normally the AI troops under your command would act like the Rebels, for the most part avoiding combat and staying alive longer. this unlock would make the act more like the combine troops where they would stand still and fight only going to cover to reload. the Troops. to start off with i think you need a basic troops. Quick Clone(NF)/Conscript(BE)- 50-65 Health (opposed to the 100 of standard infintry) no armor, and is armed with a weak inaccurate weapon.later you can try and implement diffrent equiped troops (conscript SMG/Rifle/HMG) but at the begining it just needs to work. And to Futher explain the 'how' like an engineer and his Personal Turret he gets 1 guy from the get go. but as his rank increases he gets +1 more upto 4 guy. as to how they would spawn is something to be aurgued and balanced. the most clear way would be simply to only allow recruitment (which would be instantanious) when around the barracks. but other ways you can use would be a 'Beacon' in which a troop is droped/telaported/created via osmoses after 10 or so seconds. this way would be easier because each troop would be like a 'Turret' you place the beacon/phase gate/Universial constructor then once you built it, it would disappear and a troop would spawn there under the leaders control. for a definition. could be BE with their high technology has developed a short range phase gate. although it is Too experemental to use in full blown combat, but conscripts is a diffrent story. NF would be, a Personal Clone machine which would create a clone trooper, although through this quick clone process a lot of the intellegence and resilence of the standard troop is lost turning this quickly created troop into a conscript. as to How to use it. For Now, the 1 button thing would work best. press once they go to where you said and stay, press it twice they return, hold the stop following. Another idea would be the 'Radio' thing (Much like the engineer gameboy) could be used to give out more detailed commands 'Guard' 'Build' 'Attack' 'Enter vehical' 'Exit vehical' these two could be used in unison really giving the player the option of either taking your time to command or quick commanding. for the most part the AI is simple 'shoot everything that aint us' although it may require tweeking as your SMG AIs will start to shoot at tanks even though they can't even dent it. Other issues are, if You die, would they all die, or should they just Stand like tards in the open around your dead body? i would rather opt the latter and when you come by again they would come running and following again, that is if they are still alive. This would be Intresting to Add to the game because it would Make the game which is Supposed to mimic Large volume Combat senarios more Vast and Grandois. and Because the Conscripts are Extreamly Weak and not very dangerous it wouldn't drasticly imbalance or change the game. another problem that could be encountered using this is just simply Entity problems. 32 guys each having 4 following them would instantly turn this game into a giant lag fest as you would now have 160 troops on map. prehapse a limit on how many can be this class? again it requires thinking and much balance before implimentation.
Sounds like a rather bad idea... Personally, I'd like all the units out, lest they be commander controlled mobile turrets.
Meh, I forgot to account for noob comms, but having the NPCs under comm control was the only way I could see to put in NPCs without unbalancing everything. It would seem a bit odd to have PFCs controlling squads, as well as the commander using all of them. I mentioned this in the first post. By calculating some of the NPCs clientside, it would take all the lag off the server and put the client's extra computational power to work, without lagging it. As a rule, NPCs take considerably less CPU power than players. One more thing I forgot to mention: They would bleed tickets upon death, though I don't think they should as much as a player. Maybe disappear after so many deaths?
Not if they are a 25 HP small robotic turret that can shoot, but doesn't really move fast, mainly as a last resort. Some might even carry small grenade launchers. Basically small mobile... Turrets... Yeah. They do not move without being told to, only move when the commander says so, yet will shoot at anything within their range. I wonder whether they should be explosive-destructable only or not.
Nade launchers? I didn't consider arming them with anything beyond an inaccurate SMG. And the whole point of the NPCs is to create bigger battles with more atmosphere, to me 3v3 doesn't really capture the massive nature of Empires.
How ever, this isn't what i am saying. i am saying Entity Lag. not AI created lag As an Extreamly Clear exaple of Entity Lag, Go into Gmod and Start spawning Bodies. around 50 or so you will enconter Serious Entity lag where your compter can barely processes the amount of Entities on screen. at +100 your computer crashes. it isn't because of AI. it is because your computer os Processing the graphical 'Existance' of that thing. further more you are looking at Client Side AI wrong. for instance, again in G-mod if you spawn 50+ zombies and Turn the AI on. since only Your computer is processing the AI you will start to encounter Lag. how ever if you and another player Each spawns 25 Zombies. His computer processes 25 zombies your computer processes 25. even though there is still 50 zombies you basicly reduce the lag in half because now 2 computers are processing instead of 1. the method your saying is still going to cause lag because you are stuffing All of the AI to be controlled under 1 computer. the commander.
But that fact that you won't be lagging your ass off to sudden death when you encounter a field of them will be much more fun. Besides, prove human superiority over A.I. dammit!
Shooting AI, in flat ground such as this, gets repetative VERY quickly. it only works in HL2 because of the detailed and imaginative maps, which arn't possible on a multiplayer game.
I still prefer the idea of drones. There doesn't seem to be any explanation as to why these conscripts are such lower skill than the other players. Personally, I would have the NF get clones due to their genetic technology, which can obey orders but cannot think for themselves. They should also be easily distinguishable from human players. The BE should get drones due to their nano-technology which hover a little way off the floor, but cannot fly. These would again be capable of following simple orders, but not thinking for themselves. Both would have similar abilities. Possibly the drones could build/heal slightly faster, but the clones would be beter in combat situations. As for spawning, there should be a seperate building for each faction which specifically produces drones/clones. From here, they can be created at a cost (and a 30 second or so wait) by either the commander or the leader class. Once created, they hang around in chambers inside the building until they are ordered to do something by either the commander or a leader. When they are killed, they are gone. They must then be recreated at the building. Each faction has a maximum number, equivalent to say, the number of players on that team.
I still don't see how this will improve the game... all you're doing in compensating for some really lazy teams; otherwise I imagine, like bots in all other mods on all other games, that they will be a pain in the arse.
I went with the flow, but as states somewhere before I would rather keep no NPCs, and the limited ammount of vehicles with added equipment.
But we muuuuuuust do it because we caaaaan do it! I've always thought Empire's conflicts were too small for two warring superpowers (I'd say an army of 10 isn't even worthy of a VF, much less arty)
You can also change player models into anime characters with short skirts and gigantic boobs, using weapons like a 12,000lbs cannon built into their arm, but that doesn't mean they must.
