Forums » General
Greetings,
I'm pretty confident that the new pirates are finally ready for release, but they are quite complex and I'd feel much better if they got some heavy player testing. Thanks again to those who have already helped test them. For those who don't know, you can get to the test server by logging in with test:username instead of just your username. I'm afraid it won't work for you if you just signed up in the last few months; maybe we can mirror the db again in the near future.
Expected behavior as a non-pirate-mission-taker:
* Upon entering a wormhole sector in Sedina, Odia or Bractus, a NPC pirate in the sector will demand that you drop your cargo and/or give money. They will immediately move to follow you.
* Once your 45 seconds are up (you'll get warnings at 30, 20 and 10 seconds), if you have not satisfied the pirate who messaged you, they will attack. If you have, or subsequently do (without leaving the sector), all attacking NPCs should stop and fly away.
* If you leave one of these sectors without paying/jettisoning, and let the time expire, you will be followed and attacked. If you go into a non-corvus station sector, you should be followed but not attacked.
* If you enter another pirate-guarded wormhole sector while being hunted, you should have an additional pirate start pursuing you, starting with a taunt.
* If you pick up any cargo in a pirate-guarded wh-sector, they should tell you to drop it and attack until you do so.
* Pursuit should go on no longer than 15 minutes.
Expected behavior while taking Liberation mission:
* You should be rewarded for killing those who had a chance to pay and didnt.
* You should be rewarded less for killing those who didnt have a chance
* You should get a share of payments made and value of cargo-dropped whenever that happens. This share should be proportionate to the rate at which you get sanctioned kills (had a chance to pay) compared to the rest of the group (npc and pc).
There are a number of other features for mission takers and "victims", but I want to focus on the core functionality. If several players can assure me that the above works, and no unthought-of exploits are found, I'll be ready to put it in production.
Success/Bug-Reports in this thread, please!:)
Thanks!!
~Michael
I'm pretty confident that the new pirates are finally ready for release, but they are quite complex and I'd feel much better if they got some heavy player testing. Thanks again to those who have already helped test them. For those who don't know, you can get to the test server by logging in with test:username instead of just your username. I'm afraid it won't work for you if you just signed up in the last few months; maybe we can mirror the db again in the near future.
Expected behavior as a non-pirate-mission-taker:
* Upon entering a wormhole sector in Sedina, Odia or Bractus, a NPC pirate in the sector will demand that you drop your cargo and/or give money. They will immediately move to follow you.
* Once your 45 seconds are up (you'll get warnings at 30, 20 and 10 seconds), if you have not satisfied the pirate who messaged you, they will attack. If you have, or subsequently do (without leaving the sector), all attacking NPCs should stop and fly away.
* If you leave one of these sectors without paying/jettisoning, and let the time expire, you will be followed and attacked. If you go into a non-corvus station sector, you should be followed but not attacked.
* If you enter another pirate-guarded wormhole sector while being hunted, you should have an additional pirate start pursuing you, starting with a taunt.
* If you pick up any cargo in a pirate-guarded wh-sector, they should tell you to drop it and attack until you do so.
* Pursuit should go on no longer than 15 minutes.
Expected behavior while taking Liberation mission:
* You should be rewarded for killing those who had a chance to pay and didnt.
* You should be rewarded less for killing those who didnt have a chance
* You should get a share of payments made and value of cargo-dropped whenever that happens. This share should be proportionate to the rate at which you get sanctioned kills (had a chance to pay) compared to the rest of the group (npc and pc).
There are a number of other features for mission takers and "victims", but I want to focus on the core functionality. If several players can assure me that the above works, and no unthought-of exploits are found, I'll be ready to put it in production.
Success/Bug-Reports in this thread, please!:)
Thanks!!
~Michael
Sounds sweet. Will let you know.
theres also race tracks in dau! new ones! go check them out!
The pirates are unrealistic.
They know where you go when you jump 1000 km away from them.
They know where you go when they're not even in the current sector for your jump.
Besides that its all good.
They know where you go when you jump 1000 km away from them.
They know where you go when they're not even in the current sector for your jump.
Besides that its all good.
wait, so there's no double-jumping to lose the tail? that blows chunks... as it is, there's no way you're flying through there with a moth, but if you cant lose them in a cent, there's no point to even grey-trade.
just pay em off, they ask for tiny ammounts of money. its not like you traders dont have enough of it to go around any more.
What happens when you start blowing them to atoms? Do they give up the chase, or get buddies to assist?
It does fell like cheating when the pirates can find you no matter what.
I wonder if they could given a larger jump radius of 3000m?
Have you considered pirates at the edge systems may act differently than pirates in systems deep in the heart of Gray Space?
I also wonder if the behavior could be if you use a double or triple jump to lose the pirate, you can. However if you got to a station or WH in that system the pirates have a chance to send a buddy after you. Like an all-pirates bulletin "yarrr, keep your unpatached eye on the lookout for a fat blue moth. Yarrr"
I wonder if they could given a larger jump radius of 3000m?
Have you considered pirates at the edge systems may act differently than pirates in systems deep in the heart of Gray Space?
I also wonder if the behavior could be if you use a double or triple jump to lose the pirate, you can. However if you got to a station or WH in that system the pirates have a chance to send a buddy after you. Like an all-pirates bulletin "yarrr, keep your unpatached eye on the lookout for a fat blue moth. Yarrr"
They seem cool, my only problem is:
The whole Yaaar thing, while sort of satirical and funny as an rp element for players seems downright silly when coming from a supposedly real 450th century (or whatever) pirate. I would think they (and me for that matter) would sound more like gangsters. I have a feeling 16th century (or whenever) pirate vernacular would have died out by then.
The whole Yaaar thing, while sort of satirical and funny as an rp element for players seems downright silly when coming from a supposedly real 450th century (or whatever) pirate. I would think they (and me for that matter) would sound more like gangsters. I have a feeling 16th century (or whenever) pirate vernacular would have died out by then.
* NPC Pirates are still unaligned (should be Corvus)
* NPC Pirates hang around ALL station sectors (I am in Odia H-6 right now, a Tung station, with Pirates demanding me to drop cargo)
* I killed 1 and 5 more attacked me.
* NPC Pirates hang around ALL station sectors (I am in Odia H-6 right now, a Tung station, with Pirates demanding me to drop cargo)
* I killed 1 and 5 more attacked me.
I haven't had a chance to mess with them, but just from looking at Momerath's list of features, I'm a little curious...
... are the pirate bots being attacked by local SF and Station Guards when they enter a station sector that isn't Corvus, or are the SF/SG still ignoring them as in my original response to the first thread?
... are the pirate bots being attacked by local SF and Station Guards when they enter a station sector that isn't Corvus, or are the SF/SG still ignoring them as in my original response to the first thread?
First off I wanna ask, can I have a couple of these guys for CLM?..hehe They were great, even tried to trick them by dropping a few crates, they knew the minimum of what my ship should carry. The time limit for paying seemed a bit short to me, but prob only because they blasted me once when I forgot to add the * to their name.:\ I think the pirate speak is very good (sorry Gav), the only problem I ran into was when taking one of the Liberation missions. I fired flares too close and killed myself in the splash,the mission gave me credits, xp and standing and thanked me for eliminating myself. Cool thing was, I was worth 100xp to myself. :-)
LMAO Mystic.
OK I tried it. My observations:
Took three pilots and 5 ships for me, I assume at least 3 for the other pilots, to clear Sedina B-8 of pirates, yet more always came.
Started with about 25 pirates, new ones apparently replenished their losses around 1 every minute or so? It's nice to know that Corvus has so many pilots willing to throw their lives away for empty ships. Hehe.
So, I'll say: 25 is too many pirates.
PLUS, It's always a 6-on-1 or so, with that annoying bot AI that sits them at 250 m and energy spams you. It's OK with one, but 5 or 6 at a time like that is hard to take. I suppose if I used seekers they'd be toast without me having to lift a finger. Too bad I don't use seekers.
AND- What do the pirates do with your cargo? If they kill you, they ignore the cargo and proceed back to another target or their standard positions. There should be a pirate behemoth that comes into the sector once you die to get yer cargo. Or at least a Corvus Marauder.
Oooh how about a Pirate Trident or Teradon?
Anyway, the taunting is good, the asking for payment is good, everything seems good on the interaction part.
OK I tried it. My observations:
Took three pilots and 5 ships for me, I assume at least 3 for the other pilots, to clear Sedina B-8 of pirates, yet more always came.
Started with about 25 pirates, new ones apparently replenished their losses around 1 every minute or so? It's nice to know that Corvus has so many pilots willing to throw their lives away for empty ships. Hehe.
So, I'll say: 25 is too many pirates.
PLUS, It's always a 6-on-1 or so, with that annoying bot AI that sits them at 250 m and energy spams you. It's OK with one, but 5 or 6 at a time like that is hard to take. I suppose if I used seekers they'd be toast without me having to lift a finger. Too bad I don't use seekers.
AND- What do the pirates do with your cargo? If they kill you, they ignore the cargo and proceed back to another target or their standard positions. There should be a pirate behemoth that comes into the sector once you die to get yer cargo. Or at least a Corvus Marauder.
Oooh how about a Pirate Trident or Teradon?
Anyway, the taunting is good, the asking for payment is good, everything seems good on the interaction part.
I dont like it. I am corvus at +999 and I should not get attacked just for flying through.
why not? they aren'T corvus
a few things though in case micheal wasn'T online anymore.
-I blew up the bot that messaged me before the timeout was over and still got the 10 seconds warning from him after his death.
then all went after me and another bot started counting down. which a was little pointless as they were already shooting :P
-if you pay the bot it will completely ignore you. even after firing at it
a few things though in case micheal wasn'T online anymore.
-I blew up the bot that messaged me before the timeout was over and still got the 10 seconds warning from him after his death.
then all went after me and another bot started counting down. which a was little pointless as they were already shooting :P
-if you pay the bot it will completely ignore you. even after firing at it
After paying, shooting a bot causes its friends to converge on you, but the target itself doesn't respond.
I like em! Very piratelike in behavior! Couple of small issues:
-They hail you before you can completely enter the sector, like they're psychic
-They always know where to find you, even out of radar range. That's cheating. Either take that ability away or give it to the rest of us as well. I won't be upstaged by an unbot
-They ask for silly amounts of money (6178, 4762, ect) which is hard to type, especially if you're dyslexic (impressive that they do the math though, if you don't pay the right amount, they tell you what you still owe! Great stuff!)
-They're too cooperative. If you don't pay they ALL come after you. Granted, that happens with player pirates too, but just as often only one comes after you. Maybe a percetage of independence? Sometimes they work together, other times they work alone?
I know that's a lot of suggestions. I really like them! We need more bot behaviors like these! Next, trader NPCs that can be hailed and will sometimes run and sometimes pay! Then we can truly pirate NPCs! Great stuff so far.
-They hail you before you can completely enter the sector, like they're psychic
-They always know where to find you, even out of radar range. That's cheating. Either take that ability away or give it to the rest of us as well. I won't be upstaged by an unbot
-They ask for silly amounts of money (6178, 4762, ect) which is hard to type, especially if you're dyslexic (impressive that they do the math though, if you don't pay the right amount, they tell you what you still owe! Great stuff!)
-They're too cooperative. If you don't pay they ALL come after you. Granted, that happens with player pirates too, but just as often only one comes after you. Maybe a percetage of independence? Sometimes they work together, other times they work alone?
I know that's a lot of suggestions. I really like them! We need more bot behaviors like these! Next, trader NPCs that can be hailed and will sometimes run and sometimes pay! Then we can truly pirate NPCs! Great stuff so far.
the ability to extort NPC's would require a %demand_value% code in your hail. With a, ready for it, "roll of the dice" calculation for a pay/evade
Idea is good just......
1. they are always in packs of 5-6.
2. if you decide to fight and start killing them, as soon as you kill 2-3, another pack jumps in and instantly gangs on you.
3. no matter how many you kill they will probably end blasting you since they respawn indefinitely to gang on you. At one point I killed 15-16 of them and new packs just kept coming till i boomed. They behave more like SF then pirates.
1. they are always in packs of 5-6.
2. if you decide to fight and start killing them, as soon as you kill 2-3, another pack jumps in and instantly gangs on you.
3. no matter how many you kill they will probably end blasting you since they respawn indefinitely to gang on you. At one point I killed 15-16 of them and new packs just kept coming till i boomed. They behave more like SF then pirates.
-They ask for silly amounts of money (6178, 4762, ect) which is hard to type, especially if you're dyslexic (impressive that they do the math though, if you don't pay the right amount, they tell you what you still owe! Great stuff!)
Maybe nice round multiples of 100c until they hit 10k, then multiples of 1000 thereafter?
Maybe nice round multiples of 100c until they hit 10k, then multiples of 1000 thereafter?