Since with the new KOURIER system, NPC's will be treated like PC's, will the new bots be able to gain levels and such, and become more powerful?

It would be neato to see a 6/6/5/7/7 Orun Collector that just so happens to have survived that long. Perhaps they get better and drop better stuff with increased levels.

sounds cool

Wonderful idea, but one hitch: There will be those players who insist on leveling up weak bots(say, a single Orun collector) in nooblar systems. This highly leveled bot, if given better equipment as a result of leveling, may utterly destroy any new players that try to level in that sector.

I think bots, when they level up sufficiently, should be called to other places as the Hive needs them, and upgraded as needed. Upgrades constrained of course by the Economies of Bees thread stuff. I really don't want to see people leaving because of the superpowered Oruns beating up their EC-89's when they have a hard enough time with normal Oruns.

Dude, I would totally help that 0/0/0/0/0 Orun turn into the JAWS of the n00blet botting grounds...

"Hey, that collecter is headed for my EC-89..."

Dun-dun...

dun-dun...

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUNT...

BLAM!!!

That sounds AWESOME I'd spend hours and hours leveling Oruns, hell why not try and level something a bit more dangerious like helmens

So a 9/9/9/4/6 Orun Collector results after some player allows it to kill a bus character for a few days. It heads off to its Queen, and is refitted with a Hive Fast Charge Powercell, a Gauss Cannon and a better mining beam of some type. It returns to its usual route, looking for yummy ores to mine for the Queen. It pushes around some of the more recently manufactured models, and shows off for the Aputech Guardian-class bots, who start to feel inadequate. Things seem to be looking up for our robotic friend.

Out of nowhere, a nugget flying a Revenant blows this rather smug Orun Collector to pieces with a pair of Phase Blasters and a Stingray launcher, earning himself license upgrades in Heavy Weapons and Combat, and one more Processor Core for his collection.

Stop the cycle. Let 'em live, let 'em work.

(This message brought to you by the Human Council for the Rehabilitation of the Hive)

Hehe, it would just be interesting to see what a powerful bot could be like.

Would it (as it gained levels) obtain access to better AI combat routines?

Would it travel from system to system, looking for different roids to mine?

Would it follow players to their mining grounds, and then report back to its hive queen?

Would it eventually grow into a queen? or a Helmann? It would be interesting if all bots started out as Oruns, and then, through passage of time, ore mined, and such, would "upgrade" themselves, all the way into Arklan Guardians?

I realize this doesn't fit with the accepted hive backstory, but it would be fun to see "permanence" in bots, and watch them grow.

Scar.

I hope yer referring to the BSG episode and not the group of Serco "pilots."

Definitly a reference to the evolving 'bot' of the series. I'd like to see this sort of thing develop as a mid and high level mission. Bot advances, bot is equipped with scavenged tech, bot becomes something shadowy and whispered about. May attack botting n00bs sometimes, usually lurks outside normal pilot range, has learned to attack and scout for valuable ores. You get generalized info: spotted recently in X sectors of Y system; did Z. Killed # of escort pilots and liquidated the miners (as a largely non-planet based econ, I expect mining, scouting and defense of such operations to become the foundation of, rather than whimpy second to, the trading economy). You need to get out there, calculate likely strike points, and start patrolling. The bot will keep working, like bots do, while those who hunt it are off line (NPC miners and escorts). Log back in, you're briefed on your quarry's recent activity.

In fact, Helios would be the perfect place for such a creature. Most of the rich helio deposits there are in unmarked sectors, with either dense roid formations or far flung ones. A Stygian fury model would be ideal for the present.

I say again: Scar. Make it happen, ya'll.

I think this is a great idea.

Scuba: That won't be a problem. First of all, I think it would be much trickier than you think to cultivate a specific bot. It would require a lot of babysitting of that bot, and it could get away or kill you, especially as it gains experience. Also, how are you going to make sure it goes and stays where you want it to? If somehow a player manages this, then I think they deserve the satisfaction of the havoc caused by that bot. Besides, if XP gained by killing a bot is bigger if the bot has more XP, then the offending bot will become a well-known target. It won't last long.

As for gaining access to higher-level AI, that's a good idea to a point. I think that bots that gain XP should mostly gain physical upgrades, and very slowly gain minor behavioral upgrades. What would be interesting if there were a wide variety of intelligence levels handed out randomly to bots as they spawn, and watch as the more intelligent bots survive the process of natural selection. Maybe if bots are linked to a queen that spawns them, as that queen gains XP the bots it spawns are more likely to have a higher intelligence. This would make killing an experienced queen a bigger deal.

This sounds pretty cool. I liek the idea of the queen gaining experience as well. In some of the lower populated systems this could make getting rid of the hive a little harder when all the implements are finished. Bractus could all of a sudden hold all the upgraded queens, and assuming eash system will have it's own levi, that levi will become the strongest. When it feels it is ready he will send out his drones into other systems.. All out Hive war!! after a few gerations the hive could become a supper power in less populated areas.

These are some great points, guys. In general, these wpould all add some nice unpredictability to things, I'm sure it would be pretty interesting tracking down bots when their interest wasn't always in mining out in the open, but rather staying alive and elusive, it'd be nice to see this manifest at just about every scale (colecter, queen, levi etc.)

What about escort bots, do those harbor any persistence like the hive bots? I could imagine NPC escort pilots becoming highly commended, well equipped cowboys, especially if they could gain intelligence as they level.

(Skimmed the thread, responding to general idea).. sounds like a cool concept. As it is right now, bots are totally static, so we would need to add some sort of "upgrade tree" for them.. perhaps both equipment and "piloting behaviour" type stuff? Anyway, Andy and I have been talking about similar stuff recently, trying to make bots switch combat styles based on how the user plays, make them more reactive/adaptive, instead of just either "easy" or "annoying".

Newbie zones will eventually become strictly "training drones" instead of actual Hive bots, so mean people buffing them up into evil bots of doom shouldn't be a risk.. they'll just be fixed. But for other bots, NPCs and hive, it might be pretty neat to have their successes and survivability be tracked and their abilities increase with time. Then the Hive might call back the more experienced bots to guard the Leviathan, adding an extra line of difficulty to assaulting.

First though, we need a stable platform with which to do all this. Hopefully Kourier will be giving us that sometime soon. In the meantime.. please continue to toss ideas around, sounds neat.

Make it happen.

seconded!

Um... "reactive/adaptive" sounds kinda like they'll all be annoying?

Also cool idea

Interesting but you would need to create almost an AI for each bot and actually track them for thier lifespan. A Neat idea but not something you want to do on the main server.

A set of improved tactics that could be selected at will might be a lot more workable. Perhaps programming a killer set of tactics and then scale it back to the desired degree would be a good way to try for.

A study of sucessfull pvp tactics would be a start....

Or just cheat and play with the weapon stats upping thier speed and accuracy....