Builder Bot AI Features
Chris0132
Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68262Members
Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68262Members
<div class="IPBDescription">'Assist' functions</div>Was thinking about builder bots and thought it might be rather helpful if you could assign them to follow a player or squad and help them out. Basically they have the player set as their waypoint, they try to stay close to them at all times.
In addition, this idea should be expanded on by allowing bots in this mode to:
1. Stay behind the player in combat, if the player runs into enemies, the bot can give an alarm and will try to get behind the player, basically just shift the waypoint about 10 feet behind the player's back. This keeps it out of the way. You could also expand this to have the bot yell out if an enemy runs towards the player from behind, basically giving it a view cone pointing behind the player which triggers a sound clip if enemies enter it. This allows players to escort it easier and also gives them a benefit for doing so.
2. Weld anyone the player runs into/the player himself, this depends on if weldbots can weld players, but if they can, they should try to fix up anyone they run into.
3. Weld doors the player indicates, again dependent on whether they can actually do that, but the player can run up and press E on the door and the weldbot will weld it.
4. Build res nodes for players, if the player caps a res node and presses E on it when the weldbot is nearby, the weldbot will place a ref and build it, so commanders can simply give a squad a weldbot and tell them to go cap refs.
5. Players can reassign the weldbot to other players, press E twice on a player will make the weldbot follow them instead, so players can hand it off if they are hurt or need to do something else, weldbots should also 'stick' to players who are around if their current leader dies, so squads don't end up with a stuck weldbot if the guy in charge of it gets killed.
6. Go to places the player indicates, again perhaps a double E press would make the weldbot move to the location indicated, holding E would make it return, holding E would also override any other orders if the player needs it to get going again, while looking and pressing E on something like a refinery would cause it to resume building it.
Basically all of these are fairly simple AI additions which would make weldbots a much more interesting unit than the basic peon builder that they might otherwise turn out to be. Essentially making them a bonus squad member in their own right. Squad based fighting is fairly integral to NS, and things that enhance it are always welcome.
You could also maybe include other things along these lines like a moveable turret which can drive around and be commanded to set up, or even make the MASCs be useable in this manner. It removes the need for extensive micromanagement by the commander, although of course the option to do so remains, but I find that good players are often in a better position to do these things than the commander.
In addition, this idea should be expanded on by allowing bots in this mode to:
1. Stay behind the player in combat, if the player runs into enemies, the bot can give an alarm and will try to get behind the player, basically just shift the waypoint about 10 feet behind the player's back. This keeps it out of the way. You could also expand this to have the bot yell out if an enemy runs towards the player from behind, basically giving it a view cone pointing behind the player which triggers a sound clip if enemies enter it. This allows players to escort it easier and also gives them a benefit for doing so.
2. Weld anyone the player runs into/the player himself, this depends on if weldbots can weld players, but if they can, they should try to fix up anyone they run into.
3. Weld doors the player indicates, again dependent on whether they can actually do that, but the player can run up and press E on the door and the weldbot will weld it.
4. Build res nodes for players, if the player caps a res node and presses E on it when the weldbot is nearby, the weldbot will place a ref and build it, so commanders can simply give a squad a weldbot and tell them to go cap refs.
5. Players can reassign the weldbot to other players, press E twice on a player will make the weldbot follow them instead, so players can hand it off if they are hurt or need to do something else, weldbots should also 'stick' to players who are around if their current leader dies, so squads don't end up with a stuck weldbot if the guy in charge of it gets killed.
6. Go to places the player indicates, again perhaps a double E press would make the weldbot move to the location indicated, holding E would make it return, holding E would also override any other orders if the player needs it to get going again, while looking and pressing E on something like a refinery would cause it to resume building it.
Basically all of these are fairly simple AI additions which would make weldbots a much more interesting unit than the basic peon builder that they might otherwise turn out to be. Essentially making them a bonus squad member in their own right. Squad based fighting is fairly integral to NS, and things that enhance it are always welcome.
You could also maybe include other things along these lines like a moveable turret which can drive around and be commanded to set up, or even make the MASCs be useable in this manner. It removes the need for extensive micromanagement by the commander, although of course the option to do so remains, but I find that good players are often in a better position to do these things than the commander.
Comments
The autoweld seems like a good idea for marines but would rather like the option of "using" the bot to get a weld. automatic welding also makes the players go more berserk because they wouldnt have to care about their armor..the bot would just weld it all time. In old NS this was the job of one (+) team members so you would gain additional shoot-ready manpower.
the automatic building is the worst idea evar (jk thanks for the input), the com wouldnt have to care for resnodes anymore. from my comm experience (ok i'm not a very good com) it's always hard to do the micromanagement of medding everyone, keeping track of resources and place them in time.
bots following players and helping build/welding doors: DO IT! :)
maybe to make it easier for the com..just make the bots "useable" so it automatically follows the player thats using it..could be used by idiots to run into an ambush with all the bots..so maybe the commander assigns the bot first like you proposed and the player can decide if he wants it to follow or not (like the hostages in CS :P). so you can drop him off at a safe place or something
So you probably can't do that much about it anyway if you're on your own, it's most useful if you're in a group and the group is dealing with a forward threat, then someone could turn round and deal with the rear threat. Considering you have to escort the things in order to build RTs it's going to annoy players if they are too thick to keep themselves alive.
Automatic welding would also not be much help in battle because you'd die way faster than your armor would help you, plus you also wouldn't be able to get welded in combat because the bot tries to hide if combat happens near it and it's following someone. If it's building or idling then it can stay still, but if it's following it would be a few feet behind the marine and watching for enemies.
I like all of these ideas. It seems like it would make gameplay a lot smoother, without changing core gameplay mechanics to much. Instead of having to hunt down the guy with welder after a battle, asking him to weld you, waiting a second for human reaction time, then him to switch to the welder, you just walk up to the yellow bot and he'll fix you up.
Genius
also the alarm thing, would make the bot seem more aware of its surroundings, and less like a floating doll that merely takes orders and doesn't have any awareness of whats going on
I don't think it is unfair for Alien resource gathering, although it does take alot of pressure off the commander to tend to his buildings. Alien commanders will continue to have a more stressful time. That being said, if gorges were given the ability to build RTs it might balance out in an interesting way.
Overall its an interesting idea
If the comm keeps pinching macs which are helping out players that's his silly-ass fault, if the macs are doing a good job with the players he should leave them there unless he absolutely needs them, and should build more if he doesn't have any others. In general though i would hope that if macs are valuable and expensive they would be a lot more survivable, this is working under the assumption they are expendable.
For aliens I would also suggest some similar changes, as (I think) alien drifters are one shot, only building one thing per drifter, the alien commander should be able to select a resource node and click a button, at which point the nearest hive will build a drifer, send it there, and place an RT automatically. You could also allow aliens to have drifters assigned by the commander in the same way, so an alien can have three or so drifters floating around it and go to refinery points and place them. The idea of having something a bit vulnerable which can't power/sneak through enemy bases to build RTs is important I think, it helps preserve a solid front line mechanic which the DI/Power Grid system also tries to reinforce, but that doesn't mean you can't make the escort as painless as possible beyond that. As long as it can't happily waltz through bases it serves its purpose.