There are a number of flaws in the current agro model in VO.

First, the fact that each sector(or maybe each type of bot) has a 'number of bots to agro X target' value makes very little sense.

I mean, if the bots you are near are aggressive, why don't they all attack at once?

If something they're programmed to attack comes into range, why do some of them just fly in circles waiting for the two or three or four of their cohorts who did attack to get killed, then only attack if they die?

If they're not aggressive, why attack at all?

If they're designed to react to attack in a force calculated to be just slightly superior to their opponent, why do they not attack in greater numbers after the current attack force demonstrates itself insufficient?

I can see some bots in some areas being naturally aggressive, but it would make sense that the bots then would attack all at once, or only the bots within a certain distance of the target.

What would make more sense would be if bots attacked if you got too close, with an aggression distance threshold that varied from bot to bot, or if you targeted the bots with active missiles. In other words, if you target a bot with only weapon groups active that are not seeking, the bots would ignore you. Activate an aspect seeking warhead, even if you don't fire it, and they notice in a hurry, identify you as a threat, and kill you.

I'm sure there are other solutions and ideas, but the current way things work just doesn't make sense.

Well it does make sense when you think that no player in the game could take on 100 bots and live. Nor would botting be fun if you could destroy a bot before it thought you were a threat.

Remember also these are meant to be mining bots that went insane and that people lost control of. They are not supposed to make sense, they are insane.

For the most part bots will target you if you get too close. But only a few at a time since it would not be fun for new players to have 1000 bots after them. Think of Ion Storms, they would be death traps to everybody that was not capable of infi boost.

And there are ways of increasing or decreasing the rate at which they attack. If you fly into a system, shoot three or four bots, and run to the center of the system, I guarantee that you will be mobbed. If you hang around near the fringes of a system, they'll come at a slower rate.

For those of you who are trying to take on higher level bots without much success, flying far away will make only the bots aggressive towards you follow you, allowing you to take them out without having to worry about others coming in and surprising you.

Actually, it depends on which system you're in.

Some of them , I found a few down in pelatus fex. have no limits at all on how hostile they are. Those critters make for hard botting thats quite unpleasant.

Bots are written with specific goals and they prioritize their goals based on a lot of things. For most of the bots in the game, their priority for attacking you depends on how far away you are, how much damage you have done to them, and how many other bots are currently attacking you. The relative effects of these parameters are tunable per-bot-type.

These effects were tuned basically for botting as an individual taking down a series of bots for their combat training missions. (Collector bots come at you one at a time, Assaults might do two at a time, etc). If we were to remove the "N bots per player" restriction and lower the radius at which they become aggressive, then when you need to kill 5 ApuTech Guardians you'll spend much more time chasing them down than attacking them. If you happen to be near a patrol point when you catch up to one, you'll be totally swamped soon afterwards.

What might work better for the "mining as a group" scenario would be for bots to recognize you as a party instead of an individual. I'm not sure; haven't thought it through yet, just an idea.

Maybe we could do the opposite of the idea I mentioned before: make the bots less aggressive overall and introduce a bot magnet gizmo which aids you in botting.

I've actually been attacked by bots that were *outside* of my radar range, which struck me as quite annoying. If that's a bug, let me know so I can file it.

I think that making the bots less aggressive, and creating ways to attract them(maybe jamming their communications, or deliberately trying to hack their controls and making it obvious who did it - whatever you decided to do, the end effect would be that 'it makes them shoot at me') is actually a very good one; it both makes it easier for lower level players to bot(especially the ones doing adv combat missions and are told they get a bonus for an Apu-17), make things more convenient in general, and would make mining safer and saner. Of course, large mining parties would still occasionally get 'investigated' by nearby bots, but it would not be the hassle I can see it being now.

And the bots currently have no "fear" component in their list of priorities. Ie. collectors should run in fear at the sight of a mighty Prom or Rag. =)

Yeah, I've also noticed that some bots will apparently respawn on the other side of the sector, still having the intent to destroy you. Or if you're sitting somewhere minding your own business, something will eventually come up (from far away) and pick a fight.

Maybe it should be possible for bots to gang up more, if your threat to them is high enough. If your threat is too high, maybe they should run away and look for reinforcements... Wouldn't that be nice - enter a sector of collectors and watch them scatter like minnows. =)

Yeah, then you activate your handy dandy IFF disguiser, they think you're one of them, come back, and you blow them all to kingdom come...

^^