Modular Crewbots

[schadavi]

I was playing Skyrim yesterday, and seing a dwemer spider fixing stuff in a tunnel, I thought "my ship needs those", so I have a neat suggestion for easily manageable AI crew.

Modular Crewbots (MC):

Every MC can carry a number of modules, for example a storage mod, a tool mod for repair, a shield mod or one of a few different weapon mods.

With every mod added to the bot they automatically follow preset orders that come with the module, like repairing damaged blocks when equipped with a tool mod, or shooting at enemies on board when equipped with weaponry.

Perhaps they could be ranked, so that tier 1 MCs can carry one mod, tier 2 two mods and so on. Tier 1 and 2 could fit in a 1x1x1 box so that they can use maintenance tunnels in the ship, tier 3 and 4 are about the size of the player, and so on. Imagine boarding an enemy ship, opening the bay door just to see a tier 12 MC equipped with shield, armor and weapon modules aiming at you.

I always liked the spidermines of UT2004, perhaps these would make a good inspiration for a model.



The pathfinding issue on selfbuilt ships could be resolved in such a manner that there is an AI core block controlling all MCs on your ship, which can be connected to hull blocks (just like weapon computers and blocks).

The MCs assigned to a certain AI core then would only walk on those blocks connected to the core, which in my opinion should reduce the need for pathfinding calculations of the server.

This way, you could even have different cores, one for the repaircrew, one for the combat bots and one for maintenance/ore transport.



So, what do you think?

 

[Riftmaster]

I like it.

I\'d say that eventually various versions (and various skins for the bots) of this could be used to create AI crews on pirate bases, plantary populations, and crewed pirate ships that you could board and fight through.



OR if the devs are already working on those last few, they could adapt them to work something like this...although I have NO idea how much coding would be involved.

 

[z1967]

I have always wanted someone to do the dirty work for me. drop a few in my home base to keep an eye on my drydock, keep one or two in my larger ships to repair blocks once the battles have stopped. Ai pathing is not an issue if they have \"patrols\" but if something is outside that patrol, then how do they get to it? Some ai pathing will be involved so that my hull damage could be repaired easier.

Combat ones would be nice. And different tiers would allow for some unique challenges such as more advanced (accurate) shooting AI or a better hull repair AI. Tiers would also add something you want to achieve in the game.

The way you move them around is a (for example) t1000 computer that you pick up and the droid gets picked up too. Just an idea though

 

[DarthHonky]

I think this is an excellent idea, i would also add some kind of bot program that could be installed in say a weapons computer that would detect and repair a missing block, elimitating the need for repair passageways. Limits would have to be imposed to keep things balanced, like one block every 5 seconds or so and maybe make it so that the blocks would have to be in inventory just to keep everyone honest.