Space PVE: Us Chaps Vs The Eternal Fleet

[ClyntKeelan]

Suggestion!

 

See title.

 

Do not read this part.

 

Move along, move along.

[GavinBail]

I'd love it, but if there wasn't enough interest/money to be made in programming an AI to fly against in the already existing ships this is never going to happen. But man do I want it to.

[davidrodriguezjr]

Don't I wish. As long as its not on rails.

[Lavaar]

count me in

[ALaggyGrunt]

Budget says on-rails. They don't have anyone who can do the AI for free-flight-with-obstacles.

 

There wasn't in 1992, either. You can lead TIE Fighters between the bridge and main hull of a Star Destroyer and half the time they'll wreck.

[lukewarcriminal]

this idea is magical.

[Ardaneb]

I think this could be done with existing resources with minimal modification. The eternal fleet ships would be on rails but make up for it by having superior numbers. Think Space Invaders, only in 3D.

 

For example:

Kuat Mesas TDM map: 8 pilots defend a point in the center from incoming NPCs. NPCs come in squads from various approaches. The units flight path are fixed for any one attack squad. Existing Zavuul resources are given the abilities of existing gsf ships. Defenders use gsf ships.

 

1. Early on, incoming NPC units fly in and shoot objective.

2. Later units fly in and deploy drones and mines and shoot objective.

3. Later units aimbot players with the frequency of shots increasing as difficulty increases, leaving evasion/tracking penalties in tact to reward evasive flying by players.

4. Some NPC units are given EMP pulse with a 10K radius.

5. Some attack squads patrol perimeter for gunships.

6. Multiple NPC squads attack at once with randomization of which ones are coming in simultaneously.

7. Some NPC squads have the same composition with variation in flight path at various points in the attack run to be less predictable (these are not randomized in at the same time).

8. Difficulty is modulated upward using NPC ship number, speed, armor, shields, frequency/damage of aimbot fire.

 

It would take a lot of runs to get the difficulty tuned, but the existing resources could be used. There is also a question whether the engine could run all the NPC units required without it becoming a frame stuttering mess.

 

I could also see levels where players are attacking a bunkered in Zakuul position on Mesas B domination map or a moving Zakuul convoy on Shipyards TDM map (Possibly including a large ship with bomber-drones attached to it). All with NPCs on rails with pre-programmed squads being added in random combinations. This could be a fun game with players completely off rails.

[Ramalina]

It's a good point that by using stationary or on rails PvE NPC/Targets/objectives you can largely "cheat" past the need to teach AI to do even a very poor job of piloting.

 

Stationary objectives, Capital ships, and "soft and slow" targets don't really need AIs in any case. A random selection of rails and/or branching rails, combined with scripted triggers to start/stop actions (move, fire, shield, jettison, jump to hyperspace) is enough to make a pretty wide assortment of scenarios possible.

 

To an extent the same is true of fighters, though in that case it would be substantially less convincing, and you'd lean on level design to motivate the players to be in the right place at the right time for the "fake AI fighters" to shoot at them.

 

Problem is that this would take time equivalent to buidling an on rails PvE space mission, plus a flashpoint, plus building a new GSF map, plus a bunch of trial and error because they haven't put the sub-components together in this fashion previously. That's a lot of work for one PvE GSF mission, of unknown popularity, and if previous GSF monetization precedents are followed, negligible earning potential.

 

 

So nice to dream of a nice strike mission for strike fighters though. P-torps away!