Each Station would generate up to 2 un-rats/raiders which would be replaced at a rate of 1 per hour or so. Ship type and load out to be randomly picked.

General navigation logic -
if 2 unused wormholes random pick - else set course for remaining wormhole unless in Sedina b8.(see b8 logic)

If repair needed and friendly station in system add waypoint and dock for repair

Encounters:
if player and faction admired or better -> ignore
if player and faction hated or worse -> attack
else
if player and (faction < admired or faction > hated)
demand payment and attack if not paid in 30 seconds untill player destroyed or ransom paid

Eventually the unrat will either arrive in Sedina B8 or be destroyed. If Unrat reaches sedina b8 it will assume a "parked" state and sit by nearest asteriod untill either attacked or hailed by player. Unrats should be immume to damage while in a "parked" state in sedina B8 and may also regenerate. If current target is destroyed Unrat will return to a parking state.Behaviour in Sedina B8 is intended to provide a supply of difficult targets to players without interfereing with normal PVP.

Unrat ships need to have extra turbo boost when persuing or crossing borders of around 30 m/s (border turrents might be allowed to ignore them instead) top speed of 270 m/s or better

Unrat ships should adjust capabilities based on target players combat levels. for example if normal turning torque is 7 then the unrat ship might have a turning torque of 5 + players combat level / 3. Overall difficulty of unrat ships should allowed ramp up to represent a challenge to even the best combat pilots

Player Faction system needs to be adjusted first so unrats are not unfair to the pirates. All players should have an unrat somewhere that will attack or pirate them.

I do like your idea, however there needs to be some sort of large bonus for killing an unrat.

Maybe 700 to each of combat, LW, and HW

The bonus should be tied to the unrats "level" of difficulty rather then simply a fixed amount but yes it should be a decent amount of xp

There are too many complicated special cases in your suggestion. NPC's should not become magically more difficult when fighting high-level players, and they shouldn't behave any differently in B8 than they do anywhere else. Preserving duel-style PVP in Sedina B8 is not important enough to justify the added complexity. If you want to duel in B8, just kill any unrats which happen to be there.

Over all, this isn't bad but I agree Ladron...
"NPC's should not become magically more difficult when fighting high-level players, and they shouldn't behave any differently in B8 than they do anywhere else."

The problem is that with fixed stats and abilities the npc has only a narrow window during which it is a challenge. The un-rats should not overwhelm a noob but must still remain a challenge to the most experianced player.

How else could they be allowed to present a good challenge to both noobs and experianced pilots?

I set the B8 behaviours to give those waiting for a fight something to pass the time with. It also gives the bots a final destination and purpose. They could be allowed to wander aimlessly but then they may end up massing near wormholes and stations which would be undesirable.

So what are you suggesting? Another easy and stupid npc to wander around VO?

The un-rats should not overwhelm a noob

Yes, they should.

dont need em
dont want em

so nuthing to replace

The un-rats should not overwhelm a noob

Yes, they should.

Damned right they should!

+1, but I'd prefer to name them unPrivs, as privateers...

Maybe group tatics... like they hive/pack, and it starts with the easiest bot sent over the pilot, then a harder, then two, then...

This could be terribly fun if implemented gradually, like one faction invent a Privateer bot pack, later other adopt also, and space gets crowded.

And instead of all bots converge to SedB8, make each faction's bot packs converge/dominate a system, or a WH, as their goal.

Surely only grayspace used. Turrets continue to cover nation space, no unPriv enters there.

And they can continue to evolve, from very basic hails to specific cargo hunters, from blind attack to basic hail/conversation. Then hive packs trying to enter nation space, or attack stations...

un-rats is already a vo *slang* term alloh, so yeah.

-1

Even the best NPC in-game (possibly a furie?) cannot give a player with half a brain a challenge. The devs would need to rework the entire AI code just for these bots. Too complex for what it provides.

I like the idea of them parking in b8 as opposed to interrupting every duel taking place. I know alot of people said years ago when they came around that b8 needed to die, I still disagree.

The community is so damn small in relation to the universe that we need a gathering point, and currently b8 serves that purpose. Though the activity there is MUCH less than it used to be, and I think the game less fun along with it.

It's also one more thing to keep traders out of grey, I seem to remember the devs saying that they intended to give traders an incentive to come to grey since the turrets.

"I do like your idea, however there needs to be some sort of large bonus for killing an unrat.

Maybe 700 to each of combat, LW, and HW"

problem with that is you'll have people using them to massivly powerlevel new alts. It's really very simple, Take a leveled alt into b8 late at night. Hail every unrat there. weaken them all to 10% (any experienced pilot can do that) then let them kill you. then bring the new alt there, give him a rail2, and hail the unrats (making them killable) and pop them before they attack.

I don't like the idea of ramping up the raw abilities of their ships in accordance with player levels. I'd much rather just see their reaction time increase on up to say combat 6.

Exactly LNH, but from an old player perspective, b8 was created when there were lots of players, by players, was a cool few wars there, now they expect 1v1, this is not the original nature of b8, you used to go there to furball, it was a pirate choke point cos the candies did used to be in hidden closets in odia, they killed the lux good route so yeah.

But yeah, the current *duelist* nature of b8 should not be preserved, it should just be a sector like any other.

[edit]

Infact B8 became popular due to the CTC contest. None of you care about CTC so you all fail.

No Yoda ctc fails. it stopped being relevant when we could buy 200 n3's and ship them down to d14 or where ever we need them.

"But yeah, the current *duelist* nature of b8 should not be preserved, it should just be a sector like any other."

I think you're dead wrong, the game is boring enough as it is already these days, lets not make it worse.

It's a shame they killed the lux goods route, and that they added the turrets, etc etc.

Unrats is past. Make these new ones more like Privateers, RP-wise. They have a faction owner (including the Hive), friends/neutrals/enemies, and they take the cargo/scap back to their homebase.

Great doubt:
* What happens when bots/voys reach a "suspended" sector? *
Are bots enough to "wake" a sector, or does it require a human player?

More "Great doubt":

*Is Alloh's IQ above room temperature?*
Are English typerwritering Alloh's weakest greatnesses?

Ha, just kidding! There's no doubt about either of those.

Alloh, you are a moron. They are called Unrats, not Unprivs.

Doc, No and No. Rational thought is his weakest greatness, I can usually decipher what bit of idiocy he's trying to put fourth.

LNH, you fail at making me fail, I said b8 was made by CtC, and that is true, I didn;t say b8 is cos of CtC, but my statement is true.

B8 was formed cos those ninnys in IA (formed around CtC) kept hanging out there (like smittens) and us SAF/SoR used to pwn them there, then us BLAK started to pwn them there, and then Maso showed up and his craptacular dial up connection!

So then it was VPR/IA/BLAK fighting there, and then everyone else showed up, and yeah, thats truths! You fail at saying I fail dude, HAH!

B-8 needs to be furball madness all the time. It was good there for a while when we had big furballs...
As for un-rats
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