This sounds like a great idea. It would add another level to hive hunting. Instead of just running around and killing you could try to reprogram them too.

However I would try to stay away from there percentages as VO is based on twitch combat I would make the EMP/disabling system more like a hacking system. Use something similer to a mining beam where you would have to be within a set distance from a bot and have to hold it there for a set time. The interplay between distance, target fire, other bot fire, your fire and hacking beam would be quite the skill to work on.

20-30 minutes is too long, I would not be willing to sit in front of my computer for that long + that would mean that you could disable it for that long which would be a bit stupid. I'd say a max of 5 minutes, sitting next to a queen for 5 minutes is not an easy task. Also once she is reprogrammed all the other bots will turn on her so you gota get out ASAP.

And also I don't think that the skill should be too hard, we are here t have fun, a bit hard is good but too hard is frustrating.

I say, perhaps instead of having to reprogram the bot, they can be awarded for completing hive hunt missions, but at different percentages... collector bots- 50%, assaults 30%, guardians/overseers 15%, queens 4.99%, levi 0.01%. The message could be something like "It seems we have salvaged an intact [whatever bot], would you like to purchase it from us for [price]. (And the price depends on the bot- 200 cr -5 mil)

From there, the name of the bot is stored in a new set of notes, and you can PM it with 3 simple commands... Go to [System A-1], Dock [System A-1], or launch, as well as 1 setting, Friendly/Attack Hostile. This would prevent any sort of mining or trading, but could allow guilds to maintain wh's and such.

I dont mind reprograming it myself, but we shouldn't have a weapon to control bots, PMing it would work fine.

-Nautargos

No once you reprogrammed it you wouldnt need anything to control it, though I would recomend a follower limit per player.

Why would it be stupid to be able to disable a ship for half an hour? I mean, if it has no self-repair abilities and it has been disabled, it isn't going to just magically un-disable itself. Besides, sitting next to a queen for 5 minutes is a VERY easy talk once it is disabled. Still, I suppose maybe 20-30 mins is a bit long; how about 10-15? It should be long enough to be very inconvenient; I mean, it IS a QUEEN...

Also, all of the bots will be trying to kill YOU before you can reprogram any of them. The skill would be a tactical choice between trying to reprogram a bot while being fired upon, or destroying/disabling all the bots in a sector and sitting still to reprogram them once you were finished (while hoping that more did not warp in to save their brethren).

I am glad there seems to be agreement on PM commands; it just seems simplest, most intuitive, and most reasonable to me.

Um, ThinkHen... I do not understand your percentages. The Levi should NEVER be salvageable (at least not until player owned cap ships have been out for a while).

Your additional PM commands do sound good though, ThinkHen. Pehaps make it you can PM it a Nav Route. I'll edit-add this to my original post.

Well IT IS A QUEEN and yet its perfectly useless too :), a couple of Arklan guardians are way more of a threat than a lonely queen. As for not having the Levi I agree, it's too big, and too complicated (built out of thousands of hivebots merging). And as an old ultima user I am the most used to pm commands "Fluffy Kill" hehehe (Fluffy was a dragon btw).

Also it would be cool if you could fill your bots with cargo, but even the transport bots seem to have a small cargo so it wouldn't be a huge diference.

Okay, well I guess it then depends on whether or not you can bring the queen ores and have her produce bots for you!

Yay Ultima Online... until they killed it with Patch 16 or 18 or whatever and everyone I knew left for Angel Island, and I went to college...

No, the cargo would not be a huge difference, but it would be something. Also, if this were implemented in its simplistic state, then it would open up the possiblity of advancing that state! E.g. you could customize your bots just as you customize your ship; you could change which AI style of combat you wanted each bot to pursue; and I'm sure there are all SORTS of other possible additions out there to make this a way cool part of the game eventually. For now, I am just looking to get it in a simplistic format that would be relatively easy to implement (I hope) and yet add some real fun to the game.

You know I'd rather wait longer but get something more complete >_>

How so more complete? Having bots to command would be a complete feature, although it would be dependent on a complete feature to gain control of one or more bots. Being able to customize bots would also be a complete feature dependent on the existence of a complete feature to gain control of one or more bots. Being able to hijack/reprogram bots would be a complete feature dependent on the existence of a complete feature to command bots.

Unless I am quite mistaken, a single feature is generally a self-contained portion of code that can be safely added/removed without negatively affecting any other feature which is NOT dependent on it and enabling the activation of any other feature which IS dependent on it. Besides, everything around here comes in little tasty tidbits. 8P Yummy.

I had to merely suggest levis- at a 0.01% rate of accessibility, they become extremely uncommon, but very sought after by guilds (although they should come when we get HACs). I guess the reprogramming is a better idea than hive hunt rewards though.

/me imagines a SCAR fleet of 8 queens, 50 assaults, 30 guardians, 20 helmans, and 15 aernas captured from strikeforces.

It just dawned on me, aerna seekers would also technically become fair game if you can reprogram them before they detonate; cheers for guild stikeforces.

-Nautargos

the seekers could self destruct if they reach 60% disabling... :P

Definitely Zed1985, seekers should go boom if they are close to being disabled.

I suggest you guys look at Star Sonata's way of capping.

First you have to nuetron the Bot, then you need a Prismatic Conversion to capture it. If you dont have a high enough Remote Control level you cant capture the ship.

I don't like it for the fact that it substitues level for skill. if at licence 0 you are capable of disabling it, then survive long enough to capture it then you deserve it. Buy hey how many here claim that they can beat anything in a gov bus with a gov wep and a gov bat?

No level restrictions. Capturing should be like mining -- better equipment makes it go faster -- but nothing should prevent anyone from trying and having a chance of success. Also, no free bots for completing Hive Hunt missions. If you want a bot, you have to buy it from a producer or capture it yourself.

Also, I would like to see the initial level of disabling equipment available at Light Weapons license level 1 and the initial level of bot-hijacking and bot-control equipment available at Combat license level 1 or possibly even Trading license level 1 (with all future models being combat-based) so that a new player can acquire their trading Wraith and start playing this way as soon as reasonably possible.

They have to start learning how to dodge, so require combat 1, and they have to be able to hit with their disabling weapon, so require light weapons. Perhaps add a new wraith variant available at 1/1/-/-/- with only 10 CU of cargo with the intent that it be used this way?

*bump*

Ill toss in my 2 cents. I havent played for a while but ive been sorta keeping up with the game changes. I'm about to pay for another month to give all the changes a try, and this is something id like to chime in on.

Making money in this game is pretty easy, but it is far from exciting. The far funner combat side of the game is separated from the real moneymaking side. I would like to see some sort of mechanic that brings moneymaking and some combat elements together.

This would probably require a whole new class of ship. perhaps secretly developed from captured hive tech. Call it botstealer for now.

I can see a game mechanic where you can use one device to generate an emp pulse to stun hive bots in an aoe for ~10 seconds, it takes that long for their systems to recover and to start reloading their AI. The botstealer would have another device that when targeted on a stunned bot can hack in a corrupted AI, changing its alliance to the bot-stealer ship. Make the injection require close range and 4 seconds of 'hacking' time, so you would have to be fairly quick to get one, and the really quick could get 2. Max of 5 bots. The emp and hacking devices take up the 2 weapon slots. Bots cannot leave x radius from botstealer. Bots have a limited number of modes they can be set to: Defensive mode where they will attack anything that attacks you. Offensive mode where they attack anything tagged KOS and in range. Hunt mode where they do a search pattern for elements, mining them til full and returning to deposit ore in the botstealer. and docking mode where they all dock and you can enter a station for repair.

Thanks for listening.

What i'd like to hear is anything the devs might want to say about this...