Fix the NPCs

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    Let's be honest here, if you're lonely and limited only to a singleplayer game, or you need brainless slaves to walk around and look like they're doing something in your factory or science lab, your best bet is to invest in some NPCs. Don't get me wrong, they're alright if they're just standing there, but the roam command can lead to FPS-deadly lag, and they often move and teleport upon reloading, which is also exceedingly frustrating as well as Frame-intensive.

    They're as dimwitted and aggressive as a concussed bull, in that a single misplaced laser blast makes them extremely hostile towards you, even after you buy them space ice cream, and doing this while in close quarters immediately ganks your happy hiney. (This is avoidable from far away if your reflexes are fast enough because they'll stop firing after awhile.)

    These are somewhat easy fixes,

    But, the adventurous planetside spectre might consider using these NPCs to buff up your squad. This seems like a great idea, since each "battle-slave" has a ludicrous amount of health and deadly accuracy, but once you've gotten into a firefight with an enemy squad which also has a NPC operators, you'll find yourself cowering in your bunker, making great use of the somewhat-newly implemented Medical Cabinets, because these fatherless children are persistent. In singleplayer, I've seen them blast through 7 meters of solid standard hull (not to count the subsystems!) just to expose a core, so imagine what they will do to you. Cores have 300 health, (don't quote me on that) but you have 100. (please no quoting) "Okay, so, Shepard, how is this a problem? They're so dedicated to their mission that they'll be willing to complete it with ten health rather than heading back for medical attention. They're the soldier everyone needs!"

    Well, anonymous counterarguer, in the words of my forefathers:

    Let me explain to you a thing.

    Yes, you have a valid point there, but what are the soldiers without their commander? You're weak and flabby compared to these programmed apelike beings of destruction. Without their commander, though, the soldiers fall disorganized, and doomed to die.

    Of course, there are fixes to this, since many-a-spectre have become Mechanized Troopers, which means that the commander pilots a small spaceship designed for combat with enemy soldiers and not fighters, but I, personally, find a Mech hard to control, since I can't disable the y-axial rotate function as my Mech turns to face threats.

    You can also command your troops from a ship flying overhead. However, you are left vulnerable to enemy fire, and an enemy fighter will distract you from the firefight, making your squad as disorganized and doomed as if you were to die.

    So I do not sound like a carping idiot, I'll give a few pointers to Devs and patchers on the combat system;

    1. Weaken the NPCs

    A simple fix. It will stop most problems with the NPC combat.

    2. Overhaul the NPC purchasing system.

    I believe that instead of having a single, generic NPC, there should be different classes of NPC, listed here:

    • Non-Combatant
      Base Health - Equal to Player
      Accuracy - N/A
      Weapon of Choice - N/A

      Your typical, civillian-like idiot. Cheap and useful only for decoration. Don't cause faction point loss.
    • Soldier
      Base Health - Equal to Player
      Accuracy - 15
      Weapon of choice - Laser Pistol (Or a "Laser Carbine" should Devs implement a higher tier of weapon)

      A good all-around soldier, this class is designed for breaching enemy territory and general mid-to-short range carnage. Should be the cheapest next to Non-Combatants.

    • Sniper
      Base Health - Equal to Player
      Accuracy - 25
      Weapon of Choice - Laser Sniper Rifle (yes, it exists, look up admin commands to get it)

      An excellent tool for slaughtering soldiers at almost any range, the Sniper is deadly when placed in a hard-to-reach place. Prefers serene vacations on the weekends.

    • Heavy Trooper
      Base Health - 1.5x Player Health
      Accuracy - 10
      Weapon(s) of choice - Laser Pistol and Rocket Launcher (again, check admin commands)

      Used for destruction and known for collateral damage, the Heavy Trooper often can be heard before seen. He prides himself in his ability to rip things to shreds, and is the most expensive trooper money can buy.

      All of these can rank up when a certain amount of things are killed by the trooper. The number of ranks should be customizable (default 5) and their accuracy increases by 1 meter when they level (should also be customizable)

    Now that I have wasted an hour on a post that will most likely get mixed feedback, I await your opinions and comments
     

    Criss

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    I will be completely honest. I skimmed over this. I did this because NPC's are at the bare minimum of their implementation. The spider was admitted to be a test for future work on the AI. You're kinda asking for something to be fixed before it's even a thing yet.

    I like the idea of classes though. And I would like to expand on that by introducing some ideas for ship based classes. perhaps having costly crews on your ships, you could get bonuses to your systems.
     
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    I will be completely honest. I skimmed over this. I did this because NPC's are at the bare minimum of their implementation. The spider was admitted to be a test for future work on the AI. You're kinda asking for something to be fixed before it's even a thing yet.

    I like the idea of classes though. And I would like to expand on that by introducing some ideas for ship based classes. perhaps having costly crews on your ships, you could get bonuses to your systems.
    I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I had no idea that the NPC's weren't completely implemented. Tis a shame, however, since I have a bad graphics core as well as a mediocre internet service; singleplayer often gets lonely without a crew.

    *sigh* I guess I'd better put some money in this darned machine. :(