Populate the world with neutral NPCs, not just monotonous factions

[apelsinsaft]

Currently every NPC and NPC ship is an extension of its faction. When AI ships and NPCs only purpose is to be an "output" for a faction, it makes the interactions with said NPCs very stale.

I propose that rather than creating exclusively NPCs which have sworn allegiance, that the world is instead populated with neutral NPCs that can have a range of different jobs, sympathies and allegiances with different factions. And i don't mean "just turn every NPC into a neutral NPC", i mean: put enough NPCs in the world that it doesn't feel like you can only run into 3 kinds of NPC.

Then take a look at the NPC "types".

We have the usual archetypes. Traders that go from A to B and back, Scavengers that periodically appear in sectors with derelicts, Explorers who pop up unannounced in remote sectors of the galaxy, straight laced Pirates that hail you and ask nicely for your cargo before they get blown to bits, Patrols that hail you and ask nicely to scan your cargo for alien weed before they blow you up for illegal possession, and the usual faction militias.

Now, imagine if the NPCs could have different ranges of these generic traits, and combinations. Scavenger-traders that go from A to B while taking detours to blow up derelict ships? Pirate traders (smugglers)? Exploring faction militia (prospectors)? Or neutral freelancers with a little bit of every trait?

Give the NPCs purpose in their personality and "job", as opposed to their faction theme. Give the NPC a unique name instead of what amounts to "Large Scavenger Ship #234". Let the player hail an NPC and ask them which faction they belong to and what the NPC likes to do on his free time and where his mailbox is. Instead of serving all the information to the player on a silver platter, having little "pointless" interactions like these makes a big difference for immersion and making the galaxy seem like a more busy place than it really is.

Others have suggested things like factions with individual traits with different ranges of values which determine what every NPC of the faction does in order to make every NPC a little unique. I want every NPC to be unique rather than the factions melding together in procedural sameness with NPCs that only act as extensions of their faction.

 

[Amadeus]

I like this a lot. You could even extend this beyond individual NPCs and have actual roaming fleets! Think about how that would play into intuitive procedural missions and such. Lets say you have to find X captain or Y fleet somewhere in space to accomplish some task, the likelihood of success determined by how well you can play to the individual values of the NPC in question.

 

[Lone_Puppy]

I like this a lot. You could even extend this beyond individual NPCs and have actual roaming fleets! Think about how that would play into intuitive procedural missions and such. Lets say you have to find X captain or Y fleet somewhere in space to accomplish some task, the likelihood of success determined by how well you can play to the individual values of the NPC in question.

Me to! ;-)

 

[sayerulz]

This should theoretically be possible, but it would be an awful lot of work to get even a rough version where most "unique" NPC's were pretty much the same. It would be even more work to reach a point where it's truly immersive. However, it may be worth it, AFTER ships are functioning fully, with features implemented to schema's satisfaction, which will be after the power improvements and probably a number of other things (when are flak weapons coming?)

 

[Nickizzy]

I like the idea of having random names to read. Lets destroy hobijo!

 

[EMC007]

Maybe they could have the community help come up with different names and backstories for the npcs (I already have tons of those just lying around, writing being my second hobby after all).

Might help the community feel even more involved in the creation process of the game and feel like they are really contributing to it.