Knight_of_Order said it best, and I'm cool with having to sit still for the little bot to heal me.

I'm not as bad as I say I am though I get lucky once and a while (phoenix) but deaths do come fairly quickly, dueling, but I managed to hold on a while longer during a group combat situation. My point was that even a little bit longer of a combat situation would not be that bad. Also I play with a mouse and keyboard, not a joystick, so there is already those that have a definite advantage over others and to have it be totally based on skill is not always the case. I could be skilled and not have the right equipment to prove it. But this is about repair bots =)

Make it movement/time based and be done with it. There needs to be a self repair mechanism other then station zones.

In an ordinal MMORPG the warrior have to rest to recover for the next fight. So the repair bots can be limited to work only out of combat, use expendable materials to repair armor or structural damages, etc.

Another idea that will force ppl to group: have some specialized field repair ships with very limited combat abilities.

Regards,

Darkwood

darvud, you should play less necromancer class chars.
By all means, create a new thread, and link in it to all the old ones you found, commenting on them. That way you can

a) spark a new discussion, and

b) make a 'compendium' of sorts, reducing the number of threads.

Hi,

I am sorry.
I read a sticky message at the top of the board ... and added my 2pences. :)
... I forgot to check the date of last replay.

I moderate myself (or at least I try it :)

Bye

PS: all topics are new to a newbie :D

I hope my post didn't come over as too harsh, if so, I'm sorry.

I think I'd ratter have the possibility to buy *aligned escort bots.

Aka, as soon as you buy an Aputech Guardian Bot (for example), then, whichever ship you fly, it follows you like a leech. Much like they do for CtC convoys. If you get attacked, they turn loose on your attacker like wolves on a bleeding sheep giving your the increased opportunity to defend yourself or run for it.

It doesn't give you in-space repair, but at least offers you some level of protection, wich might be super handy when Moth-raping an asteroid.

A limit on how many defender bots accompany you should probably be dependent on your level and your faction rating.

Noobs could get a defender bots free of charge. Or perhaps this is a good occasion for vets (or otherwise wealthy) characters (/guild) to help out newcomers by lending out some defender bot cash allowances.

If we could GIVE equipment (damnit I wont ask for this enough times), then it'd be even nicer to be able to buy a good defender bot for a noob as a mentor gift or a welcome present.

Hrm... if you get destroyed and your escort bot doesn't, then, maybe the bot could become unaligned and turn loose on anything in sight. Wouldn't that be nice?

Well, isn't darvus actually going by the FM's rules? I.e. you're not supposed to start a new thread if a thread on the same topic already exists?

on topic:
I like the idea of a repair mine, but it should definitely be L-port, have limited ammo (~2) and have a gradual repair effect... the opposite twin of the lightning mine so to speak.

In-space repair wouldn't be a problem to PvP.

I played other games with that, and I know by fact that it wouldn't.

One thing I'd like would be stay WEEKS in space in my ship, witout need to be docking ALL THE TIME.

I lot of the time we use to play is related with going to station to repair. Useless time.

I can repair my car on the roas, it is possible to repair a boat iin the ocean, a ship in space.... a REAL ship in the REAL space... so I couldn't I be able to auto-repair my ship?

Of course maybe not all the problems could be repaired in space, or not during long periods, but something shoukd be possible.

This could works in differnt ways to damage caused by other player or by a bot, for example.

Okay... wihtout even having read the thread before:

In-flight repairs should only be possible if all the following conditions are met (AND, not OR):

1) Your ship is not under fire.
2) Your ship hasn't been under fire for 5 minutes (this could be lowered a bit, but not lower than 3 minutes).
3) Your ship is not in the vicinity of another hostile ship (3000 m), nor is a station present in the sector.
4) Your ship has to have a large port to fit the system to.
5) The repair system weighs 1500kg.

Then I'd agree.

Oh come on toshiro, be reasonable... Very little of those restrictions make any sense.

1) Your ship may be under fire, but repair should progress slower than most weapons' DPS (e.g. repair @ 1000 DPS).
2) That's just silly.
3) That is just silly, and even more silly.
4) Yes, the auto-repair system should be a large port system. Jet fighters do not repair themselves, fishing boats do...
5) I'd actually up the weight to 4000kg for the autorepair system.
6) Um, this thing IS going to drain energy, right? Probably a LOT of it?... I would give it a drain of 100 EPS. Have it fired just like a weapon and make the ship sparkle to make things simple.

As such, it would have stats:
Damage: -10
Energy: 1 / blast
Delay: 0.01 s
Mass: 4000 kg
Port: L
Level: 8/-/10/10/5 ? (or whatever)

I'll try to point form my post as it's been a long thread and many ideas have been tossed. These points may include ideas which have already been posted or additions to those ideas, just for summary sake.

1) Why repair

In addition to what was already discussed, there is another reason you might need self-repair. Say you're flying a long haul trading mission, get ambushed in an ion-storm or space, you escape and but get damaged.

An en-route self-repair could mean the difference between escaping from another unexpected battle or blowing up.

Sure you can just divert to a station in one jump but you could get nailed in another storm on that next jump and get ambushed or a detour could cost valuable time.

2) Repair limitations.

2.1) Repair equipment required

As suggested before, one or more repair bots is very logical.

The more bots, the faster the repair. Since bots take up space on the ship, there is balance and strategy involved.

2.2) Repair requires parts or energy.

A player needs to carry spare parts that the bot needs to use to effect the repair.

If you put "replicator technology" into play, a replicator needs energy, so energy is consumed from your ships cell to effect repair.

2.3) Ship needs to be traveling very slow or stationary.

Bots aren't equipped with large thrusters, so you can't be flying 20m/s or your bot will just either can't catch up with you or it's tether would break and it'd be lost in space.

With the above restriction, it doesn't matter if a player decides to deploy their repair bots during combat, as they would have to slow to a crawl to do it, becoming a sitting duck. If they are found and get attacked and they TURBO out, they'd lose their bot(s) ($$$) or if they take the time to retrieve their bots, they'd probably find the front end of a missile.

3) Repair consolidation/extension

3.1) Repair bots in addition to repair beams

Repair bots can repair other ships as well, so you could fly an Atlas, carry a big load of bots and parts/energy and help repair other ships.

3.2) Repair bots would have a longer range than beams

Repair bots can repair ships from a greater range, allowing "medic ships" to be further away from the battle, introducing wider strategic elements to battle formations.

Since ships being repaired would have to be under the same restrictions as stated in (2), there would be no great unfair advantages introduced into combat situations.

It will take time for bots to go from parent vessel and target vessel and again, if they are not recalled or of the target vessel peels out of there, the bots could be lost.

3.3) Bots can repair more effectively than beams.

Yes, unfortunately we would have to nerf the beams but I think it would introduce new elements into both twitch and strategic game play.

You would have in-battle field medics using beams, flying amidst fighting vessels providing spot repairs. These ships would have to be agile and have some weapons to defend itself, it would be able to provide some reprieve to damaged ships while allowing them to stay in battle. Match speed and trajectory, beam repair and try not to get blown away.

Next, you would have rear-line medics using bots. Tucked away in the back with some escorts that would provide more complete repairs to damaged ships that have to be taken out of the battle for repairs. So damaged ships would have to 1) disengage, 2) escape from the field of battle, 3) fly to the medics and hopefully not end up leading the enemy to the medics.

Of course the reward would be total repair in a reasonable time which would essentially be equivalent to having reinforcements, but the cost to provide that would balance out the advantage.

Of course, there would have to be "epic" battle situations to make this useful...

On the other hand.....
Being able to purchase your personal repair bot could come handy.
Instead of paying the station to repair your ship, your bot could repair it.
With some restrictions & limitations like:
- can be purchased only in nation space
- can be transferred as a cargo and activated in another station anywhere in the universe
- can be used around stations or +1 sector from station
- repair rate should be limited to 10% per minute or lower /ship at 10% health should get to full in 9 mins./
- can only purchase/have 1 repair bot

Hm, my idea was that you buy a repair bot as cargo, fly to combat location and eject the bot. The players start to practise fighting but stop once one of them is like 50% or more damaged. They hail the bot and it would come to repair the one who hailed it. That will still take less time than it takes to return to the station to repair. To make training easier, special training weapons could be made available that do very little damage.

An alternative would be something like a flight simulator or a special training sector. The sector would contain a station to change ships, an asteroid field and free space. Players killed in that sector would be able to respawn at the place they were killed at in the ship they were flying at that time.

When you ask the players in the game, everyone tells you that you need to practise fighting, but, as someone already said, it´s a PITA you stay away from because you die every few seconds.

-bump- I think it's a good idea. I especially like the training sector/flight simulator.

How about something like this:

Overview
You take a mission that will spawn a repair bot from the station where you take the mission. This mission can be taken in conjunction with any other mission. In order for the repair bot to find you, you must have a transponder equipped in your small weapons port. Reason being, the transponder must be fired/activated to tell the station to send you a bot. The bot travels about as fast as a dentek collector, so plan its travel time accordingly. (Pending multiple active missions, you would only need the transponder.)

Uses
A repair bot of this caliber would be useful primarily when you are staying in one place for an extended period of time. Procurement or other traveling missions would most likely involve moving too quickly for the bot to meet you, although clever timing schemes could be devised. A player in the Deneb Run, for example, could spawn a repair bot at just the right time to meet him on the way back to Odia.

Benefits
You can be repaired anywhere in space!

Disadvantages
Repair bots would deduct 50 credits per second of repair time. Repairs would replenish 200/second at a constant rate. Repair bots would be very vulnerable to weapons fire, but would be able to fire a repair beam (not gun) from around 400m away, so they could stay distant in combat situations. You would need to stay relatively still, as they move like collector bots.

Also, when sectors become much larger, you should probably spawn repair bots from nearby stations only.

Comments
This would fit nicely with the idea of ship-specific weapons.

I think repairing bots would be an unfair addition to PvP and makes the idea of COMBAT completely obselete! Bots ruin the game enough, just, imagine, if everyone had like 2 bots at their side, just repairing them and there comes along jolly, Mr. Pirate whatsyface and tries to kill him and whoops, he has two bots bloody repairing him! Big mistake. Makes combat useless and trade a hell of lot gayer and safer. It is sort of like having a shield that has a regen of like 99999999e/sec. Not Good!

Long-Range Deployment Drone (LRDD)
Levels: 4/-/3/4/4
Mass: 2000kg
Cargo volume: 8 cu
Price: 250,000 credits (cost of loaded hull repair materials and/or munitions is extra)

Created to address military needs that sprung up with the increasing economic advantage to be gained by strikes on convoy routes and mining fields, deep behind enemy lines, the LRDD unit is a user-deployable repair and resupply depot.

Designed to fit inside the cargo bay of the popular Warthog Mk II raider, the LRDD is hauled behind enemy lines by its owner and deployed in a secure location, usually an empty sector or a hidden roid field. Once unloaded, it will repair your ship up to X amount of damage, and/or reload your munitions tubes. The unit can only hold a finite amount of hull repair materials and/or munitions, so users should carefully plan how they want to stock the LRDD before leaving the station.

When you come to rest on it, after 45 seconds the LRDD will repair and resupply your ship until it runs out of supplies. At that point, you'd best stow it back in the cargo bay and get the hell back home!

(1) How fast it repairs or reloads doesn't matter much; it's not the sort of thing you could use while in combat.

(2) I think the mass is just about right, but it could obviously be tweaked.

(3) How much hull material, rail pellets, missiles, and/or flares could be toted along in the thing is something the Devs would have to work out re: balance.

(4) It should be detectable, though not on the sector list, and it should be easily destructable (along the lines of a kannick collector).

Just weighing in:

The repair bot idea sounds great, and balancing them sounds great. I typed a lot of points about how to balance it and then read y'all's posts and found you'd covered the bases already. I esp like the idea that it can be destroyed, it can move but only slowly, and it can treat more than just its owner as a valid repair target. Maybe there could even be a weapon that disables it and turns it into a dropped item, eligible for snatchin! That would make a nice battle tactic :)

Now, nobody get mad, but this thread is pointed-to by the idea index, and it sez go here for general hire-a-bot ideas.

I would like to bring back the idea of hired escorts. I don't think they have to be robots in game terms, there doesn't have to be an actual Robot behind the controls, but an NPC. I'm thinking gypsies, ruffians, veterans, wet-eyed newbs... a whole price range and style range of people who are bored with, or barred from, Faction missions, and instead wait around for Mercantile Max to need a hired gun for a run.

If you ever played Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis ... there's yer perfect example. In fact one fella I hired in that single-player game, actually turned out to be a spy, working for the target of the mission we were on. SO when the guns opened up, that particular bot-for-hire was pointing his at me. Automated RP! Love it.

Meanwhile, some of the other NPCs-for-hire in that game had their quirks... there was a clumsy one, one who had to stop fighting and go to the back lines for a cigarette every so often, etc.

One more idea for this post... pilots-for-hire. At your own risk. However I would love to be able to load my Moth, set a course through my nation's protected space, and go fix a bowl of soup and find myself docked at my destination when I get back. :)

And yes, I'd completely understand if instead I came back and found out that my hired pilot couldn't keep ahead of an Aputech-5 during an ion storm, or smacked into an asteroid while fleeing said Aputech-5 in said ion storm. Stuff happens. In fact I should lose faction standing if that happens, because I got a citizen killed on a mission where I was in command.

But I wants it :)

I would like to be able to hire npc escorts as well, on the news page it said they're adding stuff to the bar like missions from npcs, if hiring escorts was added maybe they could put a tab there for mercs that would show their level of skill, ship and how much they cost (more skilled mercs with better ships and equipment would cost more i guess).
As someone else said i think how many escorts you can hire should depend on your levels and alignment with the faction that owns the station, also i think they should be paid by the hour (first hour in advance) and you should be able to cancel them whenever.

If hiring mercs was added you could maybe tell how skilled they are by their background, like if they've been in the military or not (i suppose most of the decent, more expensive ones would have) and the badges they have. Possibly personality traits would affect their skills too, like whether they keep their cool in the heat of battle and how aggressive or passive they are (a little bit of detail on them as individuals).

I guess they would act as part of your group just like convoys but they would follow you, except when on a mission they would just try to get the job done, so you've sort of sub contracted them in that case i guess (they would stay with you after the mission until you cancel them though).

I think they should consider any allied player that targets and fires on them or you an enemy (all of them in the case one of them is attacked, not just the one fired on), or if you target and fire on an allied player they should attack them too.

Man, I had forgotten all about the LRDD!

This is now an even better idea, given the fact that one is likely to take at least some fire when running the turrets guarding hostile nation space.

Though I'd change the stats to 8/8/8/6/-