Post
Tue Feb 18, 2014 3:16 pm
#1
Drones! I love it!
I was thinking attack/defense drones...thoughts?
I imagine a ship as an entity always crewed by at least one NPC (at least if its functional), and a drone as an entity that is never crewed with an NPC. So yeah, I see attack drones as being necessary, but I want to split "attack drones" into several specialised offensive drones instead of just a generic offensive drone.McDuff wrote:What's the difference between an "attack drone" and a "ship you own and can give commands to"? Aside from the "production" vs "construction" method of obtaining one?
This is the sort of thing for which the need or obsolescence of a given idea depends very much on the way the kinds of problems talked about in the "NPCs vs Redshirts" thread play out in the final design.
If every ship needs an NPC pilot there'll definitely be a need for "attack drones". If it doesn't (or if the NPC pilots are stripped down for the purposes of making them less erratic and more predictable) then there'll basically be no fundamental difference between an "attack drone" and a "ship I own that can attack."
Which is one way of doing it, but which could lead to duplication of effort.ThymineC wrote:I imagine a ship as an entity always crewed by at least one NPC (at least if its functional), and a drone as an entity that is never crewed with an NPC. So yeah, I see attack drones as being necessary, but I want to split "attack drones" into several specialised offensive drones instead of just a generic offensive drone.McDuff wrote:What's the difference between an "attack drone" and a "ship you own and can give commands to"? Aside from the "production" vs "construction" method of obtaining one?
This is the sort of thing for which the need or obsolescence of a given idea depends very much on the way the kinds of problems talked about in the "NPCs vs Redshirts" thread play out in the final design.
If every ship needs an NPC pilot there'll definitely be a need for "attack drones". If it doesn't (or if the NPC pilots are stripped down for the purposes of making them less erratic and more predictable) then there'll basically be no fundamental difference between an "attack drone" and a "ship I own that can attack."
I do think of them like that. Which is why I'm pointing out that whether or not ships you own are piloted by them makes a difference.Behemoth wrote:You need to stop thinking NPCs as A.Is, but think them as individuals, with their own plans and goals, and who may be cowards, traitors or spies.
None whatsoever, that's what they are.So what exactly is the problem of seeing drones just as tiny, cheap ships with a slightly different behavior?
Entirely feasible. Why not?If drones are ships controlled by a weak AI, could you have a capital drone?
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