The faction system still doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

- Serco trade bots fly across Itani space and defbots don't bother (we are at war, remember?).
- If I (Itani) kill them, I get a bonus (why do I get a bonus, but Itani defbots ignore them?).
- If I kill them, my Serco standing drops (why would the Itani government report my behavior to their arch enemy?)

Just my 2c.

I got from +983 to +1000 Serco by killing Itani NPCs, with no drop in Itani standing.
Then again, I was also -1000 Itani at the time... :|
-:sigma.SB

I don't know about the faction stuff, but I do know that bots fighting bots is pretty silly. Probably Serco and Itani bots should just trade with UIT.

i think bots fighting bots would be awesome.

unfortunately anything 'unpredictable' will bring a million people flooding this message board screaming at everyone.

I still want to know why, when Serco tradebots enter Itani space, they suddenly become red on radar to me (who happens to be Serco and in good standing)?

Ananzi is absolutely right. Whats wrong with huge bot battles? The border between Itani and Serco should feature HUGE battles 24/7, with hundreds of bots fighting each other.

huge bot fights 24/7.... i can see my computer's performance decreasing already. the idea is cool, maybe some small scale battles, but nnothing too extream as my computer has enough issues with a station near those skull looking asteroids.

Uh, does your comp die when you eneter a bot sector? How many bots are usually there? Just split that number in half, and now you have the size of the Serco and Itani patrols.

Huh. That's pretty true starfisher. But ya, why would itani standing drop when you kill a serco trader bot in itani space. But I do like how it raises itani standing, as it should. The def bots dont bother with them cause they are peaceful traders! The def bots know not EVERY SINGLE SERCO in the universe is bad and should be killed.
Bah I'm getting off topic, the point is, yes, your serco standing shouldnt drop(not that most people care) and the itani standing should go up.

The bots would fight each other just like they fight you. By that I mean predictable. The battles would be exactly or near enough to the same each time. That's why I said it's silly. I suppose they could tweak the AI again to add some randomness. Why does a bunch of bots circle strafing each other sound cool?

paedric: I think it's because your radar shows their standing against the faction space you are in, not against yours, but then again I can't ever really figure it out either so its just a guess.

> paedric: I think it's because your radar shows their standing against the faction
> space you are in, not against yours
It seems to be SOMETHING like that, but a little more complicated...
-:sigma.SB

"i think bots fighting bots would be awesome."

The bots did fight each other back in alpha.

yeah phoenix,

i remeber that, was sure fun to watch see them twist around for 10 mins without hitting each other even once :D

once you got bored, you just flew in there and blew them both up :D, at least this way 1 died :D

as cool as the 24/7 bot battle sounds, cosider this:

- in the whole backstory portion it talks a lot about how the serco forays into itani space are few and far between.
- the battle would bring a huge amount of players into the sector to get in on the action (which is pretty cool), but in terms of the software, it might be harsh on slower computers/connections
- what happens when you win? the campaign keeps going? the other side is routed? then the game is over. no plot.

that being said, i think it would be pretty cool if it worked kindof like the convoy system now, with periodical skirmishes.