Hmm, well...make the Hive playable? Sounds interesting... I don't know.

I'd really like for the Hive to be a faction. Your character is an AI and as he gains Licenses "Evolves" he becomes capable of flying better and better drones, until he's flying around in a Stygian Fury; eventually, he can also call (warp in) lower drone reinforcements, coz let's face it, drones aren't that hot. If a player's drone is destroyed, he respawns in the nearest Hive Queen.

oh great... i can see it now... some newb racing across the galaxy screeming "come back here you cowardly collector bot!"....

Interesting thought... but.... no. The Hive are a ruthless mechanical race governed by exact behavioral laws, having human players RP that would just kill it for me.

What could be interesting is having a series of missions to aid the Hive. Perhaps a radical Serco sect that secretly is in contact with one of the Hive Queens.

Or.... certain factions acquiring technology that tricks the hive (and other players) into thinking that the player is a hive bot... as well as being able to influence the behavior of certain bots for a limited time. For missions and the like - a greyspace faction (like corvus or xang xi) wishing to impede the progress of other factions, but not taking the blame. The technology would only be available during those rare missions or possibly permanently available after a mission string.

If I were Gidds, I'd be insulting phaserlight right now (pretty childishly, too) for disagreeing with me. As it is, missions to work with the Hive would be fine too, IF there was some actual benefit to them. I like Doukutsu's ideas better. Still, I WANNA FLY A STYGIAN FURY!!!ONEONEELEVEN

I agree with Phaserlight. This suggestion is not really appropriate for the way this game works or for the Hive's storyline.

the hive would loose a lot if it were made a playable faction. but i think it would be cool if every once in a while a guide would impersinate a high end hive bot and stir things up a little.

and the Hive should be one or more seperat factions with whome you can earn or loose standing (i'd decomend keeping a player's standing with the hive secret even from them).

Eventually every system will have its own, independant Hive. Supposedly, they'll even compete with each other (ie: if the Latos Hive decides to try to expand into Sedina, it'll run into the Sedina Hive and they might battle over resources).

Actually, given the advanced state of AI in the context of the story line, I could see this as an appropriate RP faction. There would be severe limitations, however: binary only-communication outside of PM's or groups with other Hive players would be the first one.

Also, an inability to trade or sell anything at a station; or even dock, perhaps. New gear would require the Hive player (HP) to have stockpiled X amount of Y ore(s) with the collective, and the queens or leviathans would be the "homes" for these players. This would be a mining for production only "economy."

Finally, while it may be argued that HPs would not accurately reflect the unified and non-organic motives and approaches of the Hive properly, that's a flaw in having independent players RPing in the current three faction systems anyway. My Serco may decide to do whatever the hell he wants (and often does), and while that would normally be impossible within the RP world (e.g., he'd be executed by High Command for such choices), the game cannot really prevent it. HPs could be limited by a faction system just like anyone else, with access to ships and gear being controlled by their compliance with Hive goals etc.

I kinda agree with PhaserLight on the thought of Hive players screaming binary at ordinary players and then getting wiped out....

With Dr. Lecter on the topic of no stations for hive bots, what if in a certain amount of time, after gathering enough resources, a queen would gain the ability to build a small storage/spawn factory? It would take a while, like maybe a week to build while still being able to be destroyed by players if found. If/when it is finally built, collectors return their ore to that place from then on, and you can treat it as any ordinary player would treat a station their home. Plus, it can also be used to build additional hive bots.

I'd like to see guides or devs or other trusted guide-like players be able to covertly "commandeer" Hive bots for RP purposes.

Imagine this:

typical day for LeberMac as he casually kills hive bots in Sedina...
LeberMac destroyed *Fennus Guardian XPT-28576
LeberMac destroyed *Orun Collector HG-887
<*Arklan Guardian HG-46735> Right! You'll pay for that, fleshbag!
<*Hive Queen HQ-9992> Slay the intruder!
<LeberMac> WTF?!?
...LeberMac swarmed by angry bots who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore...
*Hive Queen HQ-9992 destroyed LeberMac
<*Hive Queen HQ-9992> Ha! Pwned! Stupid Backroller!

Haha , Leebs.