Flatfingers wrote:Behemoth wrote:I think drones should only be able to do what they're programmed to do. And by that I mean Mine, Kill, Move, Stay, Construct etc. They shouldn't be able to solve problems, but need someone to direct them. ... An AI would shoot the attackers, dodge and maybe even drop some ore to survive with maximal ore left. The AI could want to retire afterwards.
Isn't this a fine example of "you get what you pay for"?
If what you're doing is that important, spring for the extra cost to hire an NPC capable of tactical adaptability.
To put it another way, given two ways of achieving the same result, players will always choose the cheaper way, making coding the other way a waste of time and effort. It doesn't make sense for drones and NPCs to have equivalent levels of capability.
OK. I get the goals and motivations here. But I'm very aware of how that could end up producing make-work that becomes a chore.
I want the interactions with NPCs to be deep and meaningful and complex. But that could be as much of a burden as an advantage.
Let's say you have a system-spanning fleet. You have mining and refining operations (with military support) in various places. You have a central hub with storage and factories. You have supply routes running between them, and trade routes running out to other systems. Across the whole thing, discounting the smallest drones, you might have 500 units working for you.
You're out doing some surveying or exploring or trying to set up a new thing. Whatever. Then:
*Beep* Notification: Miner 45 is unhappy.
OK let's go into the menu dealing with our contract, look at why this dude is griping. Click the "adjust wages" slider, make an offer. Happy? OK good.
Right back to work...
*Beep* Notification: Fighter pilot 25 is unhappy.
Right. Let's open up the menu again. Adjust wages? No, actually, this dude feels he's underused on the trade route because it's boring so he doesn't want more money, he wants a more interesting job. OK let's take him and put him somewhere else, and replace him with... say that guy. OK good.
Now about this...
*Beep* Notification: Transport pilot 3 is unhappy.
OK what NOW? Oh this guy's got the credits he needs to buy his own ship so he's out of here, leaving my transport sitting in a station unmanned. Right, put out a contract for work, she looks OK, let's employ her as a space trucker. OK good.
Now as I was...
*Beep*
At a certain scale, managing NPC employees becomes the whole game. This scale limit hits a lot earlier if you need to employ an NPC to run every gun turret and warehouse and ore shuttle you build.
OK you could reduce every relationship to a "wages in, job satisfaction out" slider and periodically check that window. But then you're lacking the complexity and depth of a game where NPCs actually have goals and motivations outside of "make money and keep the boss happy."
Allowing high-level automation means you can use NPCs in situations where there's an actual call for NPCs, and not to fill the gap of "sit in this system and do nothing until something happens," stacking your list of employees full of ornery or creative types you have to keep managing.
I'm also not a fan of Drones as Golems. We can program a relatively sophisticated AI *now*. You're telling me in the deep future we won't have a mining drone sophisticated enough to say "I sense danger! Better preserve my expensive hull until someone sorts that out"? That's designing a system to be
deliberately fragile and maladapted.