| Author |
NPC enemies |
drdoomer
Cadet
Joined: April 07, 2008
Posts: 1
|  Posted: 2008-04-10 03:16
I am a New player and i found it hard to do anything at all even on the Newbe server. it was boring and i realy just felt like jumping back on WoW.(i would rather shoot myself then deal with that again) but once i was able to assist in some way(supply ship and Interceptor) i enjoyd battle. NPC's would be nice, because it could bring in the aspect of battle. because i cant for the life of me get the badges for combat. bombing NP i just need to wait for everyone els to sleep and snipe the plantes one at a time and build on them. thats how i got this far.....rambling....NPC i agree. would make thouse erly stages ezer and make it hard to just sit there and build on an empty planet..... i talk to much.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2008-04-10 04:52
The problem with AI in nearly every game is that compared to human players, they're pathetic.
No, pathetic is too weak of a word. They are like cows in slaughthouse. And about as dumb as it. Weak, easy kills.
Which what makes them so great to use in MMOs... PvE MMOs.
In PvP though theres a problem, the whole point in Darkspace is to fight other people, the whole game is designed around it. The lack of players and the lack of battles can be attributed to the current gameplay but they are like flaws in a really big diamond. They can be cut away, in time.
Thus in such a PvP oriented game NPCs distract from the original purpose, and there was a point in the past that NPCs for a couple weeks could be found constantly in the MV.
Cheap, easy prestige. Thats what lured people in. Of course, it was that way until NPCs were set to neutral and the prestige gain went to almost nothing. The only point of NPCs is to be cannon fodder - it is so in every MMO to date.
They lack ingenuity and resourcefulness, something that makes fighting other players a challenge constantly. If AI were to posses such skills (which with a hell of alot of scripting they could, but thats another story) and they weren't in such numbers as seen in other games then I can see them enhancing the gameplay. But as is, they would only serve as easy prestige.
-Ent
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Sixkiller
Marshal
Courageous Elite Commandos
Joined: May 11, 2005
Posts: 1786
From: Netherlands
| Posted: 2008-04-10 08:57
from what i recall, hunting neutral NPCs on UGTO was the greatest thing there was, with the news event to announce the place, and then WHs from every faction to it, and all ending with a fight.
Great fun to me, the news system worked, at least better then the current game, and id like to see it back again.
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SaturnShadow™ *FC*(Angel Of Darkness)
Marshal
*Renegade Space Marines*
Joined: February 03, 2007
Posts: 310
From: UK
| Posted: 2008-04-10 11:28
ok DS do have NPCs eg MIR Pirates gafiens renagades and such
the problems are when the staff activeate the AI some times it can mess up but most the time its all ok but when they are active everyone goes hunting them and when icc ugto kluth meet up they mainly make an alliance to hunt them down and most the time the staff put them on a program (or auto spawn) so they can go off and get on with some thing else like prepareing 484 for release and yes there are many more players online during the AI is online but the down sides are they wont fight each other due to they want the EASY targets and down want to make a new ship and that takes time which in turn mean they wont get much pres just modding a ship plus when most players leave and only like lets say im the only one on line and they are renagades all i have to do is modd a aggie all p cannons and ecm and then go to the planet they are around and then just snipe them with out gettign hit once and i normally take out about 20 odd ships with the aggie carrier dread all on my own with no support as well its very easy as the AI wont attack ya due to they cant see where there being attacked from so they just sit there and get destroyed and i could do that for like hours on end gaining tons of pres and in most cases if not all its called pres farming and if im not correct its illegal (if a stafff member would like to back me up on that they can), and to most if not all players its considered as easy pres like mirvs are.
so in any case the AI program has its down side and its up side and they are almost balanced out with the pros and cons.
but some times we get AI events pop up some times or the staff feel for something unexpected and try out some of their scripts for the AI to follow so some times they are good sometimes bad but all good fun when they appear but sometimes (once or twice) the staff get alittle carried away like hav aq AI ship have a planet follow it every where and if ur in a station it not fun trying to get out the way while its comming straight at ya.
so thats all i got to say if anyother player or staff would like to add to what i said they can
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Tommas [ USF HunnyBunny ]
Chief Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: February 04, 2006
Posts: 581
From: Norway
| Posted: 2008-04-10 11:50
Well i started to play this game coz i liked to battle other players, humans u migth call us 
I for one just dont like attacking comp enemies..why? coz they will do the same thing over and over again, nothing new, no suprises. BORING.
Thats just how i feel about them, but sure they have alot of benefits to the game. Some players think their good coz they will get pres from them, some thinks their fun coz they will get a chance to do some combat. And many more..
But theres alot of downsides to them aswell. For one they will create lag for some ppl if there spawns to many.
It can make farming very easy if theres an event. I know i saw last year with two planets that where putting out NPC evrytime they died. Then on the other side there was like 3-4 missile dreads just sitting and hitting space and gettin in tons of pres...I call that farming but thats just me.
anywas i just dont like em.
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Dune Warz
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 24, 2006
Posts: 39
| Posted: 2008-04-10 15:24
Even if killing enenmy NPC is easy at least there's something to kill. I've tried over the 2 years I've been playing(on and off)to get a gold combat badge and I can't. Not because I'm no good but because theres no one who is will to come out and fight. I don't have 24 hours to wait for a fight. Even when I do catch a fight they run before I can even do any hull damage.
If no NPCs are going to be added at least let us get pres for shield damage. 2 years and I'm only at 400-500 combat pres. Every time I log onto the game I end up logging out 10mins later. Why? Because all I can do is build.... Bombing is almost impossible now since there shields and planets are too strong for my stage and singlehanded.
Times have changed, this can no longer be a PVP game 100%.. It has to be changed to be an all around game. out of the 10-15 players(max) during the day half of them are afk and the other half are building.
I've been hoping for some other way to level but still none. Building would take me 5 years to get to Fleet Admiral from where I am right now(Vice Admiral).
As of right now I'm playing on a coupon and when my time is over I might really leave this game. Like I said I love the ships and futuristic senarios but it's just too boring. I can't level I can't get new ships, building takes too long, bombing is impossible to do singlehandedly. If there were more people and I didn't always lag into a planet and lose 5hours of building time pres, I might be ok with the way things are right now.
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Captain LlamaPajamas
Vice Admiral
Joined: November 24, 2007
Posts: 76
From: Virginia, USA
| Posted: 2008-04-10 18:35
Quote:
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On 2008-04-09 19:27, EldestGrim wrote:
I'm pretty sure that newbe players don't like the newbe server that much. First off the newbe server has no one to fight..
Second a newbe doesn't have a building ship.
Third Extracting is the most boring thing a newbe can ever start off with.
Tell me how many times do people actually battle in this game? Like once every other day at most.
Adding some npcs will only enhance the game. Let say it's a fourth species. When you go out npc hunting others will too thus more battles. When everyone meets the npc and players all will battle it out not just the players against npcs.
So I think it's a good idea. If I'm missing a point why npcs would destroy the game then let me know. Cause if this keeps up the game will selfdestruct.
I love this game because I love space. This game really makes me think about our future and space technology. If I were playing this game single player it'd at least have some npcs. Playing a game that feels empty just doesn't make a player want to play. It's like going to play foot ball all by yourself. What I mean by empty: You go through all the gates in the game and you meet no one. No one comes out to fight. Meaning supplying and battleing are out of the question.
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"... Let's say it's a fourth species. ..."
What about the third species? ICC and UGTO are the same species, but different FACTIONS.
I agree that NPCs in the Metaverse should be more common, but not too common; That would hinder player-to-player combat, so, I think that there should be a whole system held by MIR, Space Pirates, Gaifen, any NPC- With its own safe zone, so they are not totally defeated. I propose that the center system (don't have a map on me, the one where K'Luth, ICC, and UGTO home systems merge) branch off to another few systems, held by a mix of NPC factions; For example, say the current central system is titled System A. A Jumpgate could branch off unto the new NPC system, System B. From there, Jumpgates could branch off unto the empires of the Gaifen (the most awesome giant glow-in-the dark squirmy space squids in the Metaverse), the MIR, or the Pirates. Then, bored players could go to combat, bomb, supply, capture, whatever- even if they were the only player online.
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Mastakazam *P2*
2nd Rear Admiral
Joined: May 27, 2006
Posts: 26
From: Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Metaverse
| Posted: 2008-04-10 21:07
Quote:
| On 2008-04-08 17:33, EldestGrim wrote:
One more thing... When new players come into the game they have nothing to do. They wander around with no enemies to fight, they can't build they can't do anything at all. Why wouldn't they quit? |
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I have to agree on this... I think new players should at least have access to engineering ships.
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2694
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2008-04-10 22:05
In the past midshipman had access to the engie but it was felt that this was to exploitable.
Just don't subscribe, and build in admiral build up stats and when you resubscribe your suddenly way ahead.
BUT !
The supply ship is currently being considered in beta.
[ This Message was edited by: Eledore[NL] on 2008-04-11 00:01 ]
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Dune Warz
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 24, 2006
Posts: 39
| Posted: 2008-04-18 01:40
Like I said, this game has to change. I see no point in keeping it the way it is now. Again to get my point out, most players expect there to be action in a game. There's no action in this game. The only time anyone can actually get some action in this game is dependent on other players. As we all know, being dependent on other players is a downfall. Most games that revolve around realistic senarios, EX: real time or real players are doomed to fail. Not too many players want to spend years leveling a character when there's bearly a thing to do.
No game should be revolved or reliant on other players. If battling is a major way to level or an obstacle, then maybe a more reliable way to reach it(NPC, Quest)? Another EX: getting better ships by combat badge(obstacle).. I don't doubt that this game is way better then EVE, but due to the reliance on other players and the difficulty of fighting a much more intelligent and formidable foe(compaired to NPC enemies), players have started to look else where for a game that introduces NPC enemies.
Point of this post, We need to stop relying on other players.
Add NPC enemies, give newbes more to do, and make leveling easier, if not going to introduce NPC enemies. The problem I see with this game is not the story line or the players, just the layout of the game. Players are confined to battling with other players. It's just not game material.
This is my last suggestion. I have suggested this many times in the past 2 years and it seems as though my words are in vain. I've stuck to the game in hope that it will be changed and spring to life again but to my dissapointment after 2 years of checking back nothing is being done and the game is slowly suffocating. My last attemt to see this amazing game become more then a small community. I will continue to check up with the game for a while after if nothing suffices I will regrettably leave for good. I hope that Palestar, will consider some changes for the better even if it means a few more tests having to be performed for a flawless game play.
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Sixkiller
Marshal
Courageous Elite Commandos
Joined: May 11, 2005
Posts: 1786
From: Netherlands
| Posted: 2008-04-18 03:45
Quote:
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On 2008-04-10 11:50, Tommas [ KSF HunnyBunny ] wrote:
Well i started to play this game coz i liked to battle other players, humans u migth call us
I for one just dont like attacking comp enemies..why? coz they will do the same thing over and over again, nothing new, no suprises. BORING.
Thats just how i feel about them, but sure they have alot of benefits to the game. Some players think their good coz they will get pres from them, some thinks their fun coz they will get a chance to do some combat. And many more..
But theres alot of downsides to them aswell. For one they will create lag for some ppl if there spawns to many.
It can make farming very easy if theres an event. I know i saw last year with two planets that where putting out NPC evrytime they died. Then on the other side there was like 3-4 missile dreads just sitting and hitting space and gettin in tons of pres...I call that farming but thats just me.
anywas i just dont like em.
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Good point, but i think the solution would be the news event, stating in what system the NPC spawned. Just a simple 1-2 Longheads, randomly near an inferno or gas giant in the mv, so that we get everyone going there, with not much to kill, and no camping the spawn places, because it'll take almost a day for a new one to spawn there.
I really liked it that way.
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[Deo][Icarus]
Cadet
Joined: September 24, 2004
Posts: 1
| Posted: 2008-04-18 15:56
Yes. I agree that there should be NPC's
I play K'luth. K'luth as a whole has a hard time staying afloat in the metaverse because there are hardly anyone playing as K'luth. First, The people writing the scripts for the AI should maybe be players of the game, and be able to think of how to script in a way that a real player would act in the MV.
I don't care You make some K'luth NPC's to give the other factions something to do other than wander into K'luths unocupied space, and cap easy planets because there is noone around to defend.
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Phellan
Grand Admiral
Joined: February 27, 2007
Posts: 220
From: Red Light District
| Posted: 2008-04-19 11:37
without even reading all the responses I will just say look up Rogue Spear's post on his rise to power...that will explain the NPC issue lol
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Hellza - Dark Master
Fleet Admiral
Praetorian Wolves
Joined: June 06, 2004
Posts: 498
| Posted: 2008-04-19 12:14
no offence, but i say more effort on the next patch then worry about anything with npc
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Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2008-04-19 13:39
A thought... (run & hide)
NPCs in the newbie server. It would take an overhaul of all the maps so it won't happen, but this is the best compromise I think.
This way the newbs get their NPCs to help level, and the vets can't farm 'em (and if they decide to unsub & try it with newb lvl ships they won't get much from 'em).
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