as The Kid says the bots are very stupid. That is why they have uber ships/weapons, to make up for their IQ of 0. There are tons of ways to trick bots for group caps, 2-person caps, solo caps, etc. If you spend a little time looking at it I am sure you can figure a few of those ways out.

one person cant hold all the bots anymore, as soon as other people enter the sector they break off. It isn't like before

Problem with 1 person to 1 bot logon/logoff...
is...
Say you have 2 teams...(i am NOT saying red sucks...)
15 blues(7 elites rest n00bies)
10 reds(2 elites rest n00bies)

Now 2 "elites" can defend the nation as long as all bots are there because that is the #1 reason flag attempts fail, if 10 of these bots are gone... Those 7 "elites" would annihilate any defense red would put up. Since there would be no bots guarding 12...the entire capping team could just nicely sit and plan outside the gate to 2. Not to mention more than likely these 2 red elites are trying to get more money, so they won't even be by thier flag.

So if this occurs then again you have this problem where endless flag caps means endless money for one nation.

I personally don't like that they have the cap ship turret weapon either. For one thing, at present its my understanding that that weapon uses no energy. Wouldn't a pair of gausses be enough?

But I don't like your plan either.

The main thing I would change is add a 5 minute or so respawn time, so that if you did wipe out a few Defbots, it would at least give you something of a break to get out of the sector.

Here's the problem. The defbots can get back in action quicker than a killed player. The defbots are roughly equivalent to veteran players.

Crippling them with a 5 minute respawn time would be nearly as bad as removing them completely. The goal is to make them respawn nearly as quickly as killed cap-attempters. Maybe a little quicker. I say that a 30 second respawn time is good.

Right now I believe it is 60secs for respawn. The defbots need to be made like real players can be. So give them weapons/ships/items that players are able to use. But this should only be done when they are not so easily fooled.

I actually think there should be 2 more def bots per sector...these 2 could patrol farther out then the current bots, say 4.5k from the wh's.

Bots are still easily distractible; you just have to modify the old way a bit. However they do suicide a lot, which makes it harder and is good. I see nothing wrong with the bots in this area.

Bots need to be able to follow targets better, as of now people can "hide" from the bots, which is not good.

I would also like to see an NPCattack bot that can move between sectors following the people with the flag.

IMO if those changes are made it would be better...the addition of the bots would not be bad if they were in ships like players get.

60 seconds? I dunno about now, but in early 3.3 it was 15 seconds.

Last night The Red Bannana and I experimented with the bots in sector 1. He was able to lead ALL of the bots off while I removed the flag from the sector.

It's not 60 seconds.

heheh.....now solo cap...think about it, it's really easy...

sit in a station wait for a bot to issue and time it...I think its 45-60 seconds. It takes awhile anyway.

the problem i have is that it's hard to get anyone to flag cap with you. most are too scared of the bots to wana go with you. there maybe 15 people on, but only 2 or 3 will want to go with you. a lot of people are not good enough yet to handle the bots while the other person caps and cause of this the bots kill them. i know i cant handle them by myself yet.

practise practise practise

just go to the enemy sector and practise with the bots without even trying to cap:)

practice!

Practice makes perfect, depends. When you practice you can't stick to your fighting styles, my fighting style radically changes depending on the ship i am fighting, when practicing, constantly change the ships you use, weapons you use, and the techniques.

I think the DEF bots are a good thing. They provide a challenge that makes capping a teamwork effort. Yet, there seems to be a problem, no matter how many players you swarm into the sector the DEF bots are still going to own them in a fight due to their super weapons. The only way to do it is to have 2/3 people, one to lead/destroy the bots while the next sneaks in and steals the flag. Any more then 3 people now presents problems.

I say that the DEF bots need to have their own weapon. About 3/5 the current damage. That would make a gatling/close up fight with the bots a more sensable option.

I say that the respawn time should be increased, to like 2-3 minutes, to allow for a better chance to escape. After all, you have earned a break if you managed to kill all those bots.

Or at least give us missiles that are a) fast enough to catch the DEF bots b) powerfull enough to kill them in like 3 shots.

well my point is, npcdef aren't too strong. Cappers have a harder time, but n00b killers suffer even more than solo cappers. I think it's good like this.
oh about bots need a leash like before ;)