Would NPC be a good idea?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by prodavit, Jul 23, 2015.

  1. belthazor3457

    VR training AI would be an inefficient use of development resources. The game would be vastly improved and have a lot of the need for training wheels reduced dramatically if the trial system allowed trialing both a weapon and an equipment item at the same time and didn't lock items to only 30 min with no attachments. There are live targets to shoot at - and people would shoot if they had good equipment to test and enough information to know if they want to buy it.
  2. MarkAntony

    but then the noobs would get farmed by the NPCs instead of me an I just can't have that...
  3. obamacares

    i'd like the idea if the ai where intelligent
    but using intelligent ai takes up more ( server packets? don't remember the exact term ) than an actual human being so it would be more worth it for them to just launch a huge pr campaign
  4. SamReye

    MMOFPS based on player interaction
  5. KaletheQuick

    Ignoring resource complications(CPU time, money, etc). Yes, AI please, for the love of god.

    This game has an insufferable learning cliff. Getting new players in is awful. I'm going to be honest, I'm not the best player, check my stats. I make do. This game is fun, but it's turning into a high skill game. Fresh blood hates that. You can't learn if you are dead. It's the problem with flying. To learn how to fly, you need to fly, but if you try to fly, you get shot down before you even get to try. There needs to be things for people who are bad at FPS games to do. Right now we have noncombat medics, engineers, and sunderer guard duty. In combat noobs are still useful, they go first and get shot before the pros, but that's not fun or good for them to learn.

    AI could change this. Lets look at two scenarios. AI in VR, and AI in the field.
    In VR, some of the troops or vehicles could just animate along a path. You could practice leading targets at range. If you try to practice on humans, they learn too, and they may learn faster than you. Doing this in VR lets the noobs practice and actually get better at the basic skills they need to be helpful. Just an enemy ESF in VR would let them practice a lot in regards to air combat.
    Taking it to the next level you could put in copies of the various buildings in VR (or at warpgates), and when a button is pressed, or terminal activated you can spawn enemies in there. They could even be static, like the targets we already have. but you could have noobs learn the general layout, or practice building assaults with your platoon, or room breaching with your squad.

    Out in the field, AI dudes could populate areas behind the enemy lines (I believe someone suggested this in this thread, I remember hearing this idea a lot). There could be pistol (or PDW, as that's what that means) armed scientists/workers extracting the various resources of the region, and a few guys with basic ARs walking a simple patrol route. Give the guards flashlights, and have them investigate sound. I could take my noobSquadDelta behind enemy lines, and they get the experience of attacking a base, and actually help the battle, but they don't get mowed down like the noobs they are. You can even have the base bonus be a stealable item (flag, suitcase, etc). Now you can have a fun little Spec Ops CTF mission. Of course you would need to make the incentives low, so the pros don't just flood the back lines.

    The practicing room or base assaults is important though. As it is now I build a ****** facsimile in gMod and put combine in it to practice. Good god my friends are noobs. But teamwork is fun.
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  6. Klabauter8

    No, it would not be a good idea. Way too much programming involved although there are much more important things to fix in this game.
  7. TheMish



    It could be really good. But if it's NPC's that are like...you're personal guards.

    So for example, lets say it's restricted to level 80's and up right?

    You unlock the ability to call in guards. So a Valkyrie will fly in, land in relatively flat spot next to you, and 4 troops will jump out, and be by your side, until they're all killed.

    And even better if you can select your squad, so you can have 4 heavy assaults, or 1 ha, 1 medic, 1 engineer, 1 la, and maybe the option to have a single max brought to you, but costing some resources. Perhaps even choose their load-out.



    Like, General Grievouses Magna Guards, who follow him constantly, except none of us will be as great and nearly unstoppable like General Grievous!

    And the valkyrie would come in like this



    I think it'd make things better, especially by making more experienced players significantly more of a threat, plus giving them a reward for the time they've played.

    And it could be fairly simple AI, they will follow you, not get in your sights all the time, and will shoot when they see an enemy, unless you order to hold fire. Just 3 commands, hold fire, fire at will, and fire at my target or w/e so they would shoot at the same spot you're shooting at.
  8. Leftconsin

    Even in VR training it won't happen. Too much possibility for the general population to improve for the elitist sector to allow it to happen.

    And honestly, knowing what goes on in teamspeaks, the top tier players already refer to average people as 'AI dummies'.
  9. FieldMarshall

    If they could at least put NPC in VR on some sort of railway system, not actual AI i would be happy.
    Probably wouldnt require that much coding time to have them statically float through the zone.
  10. Crator

    The devs had talked about an alien army invading every so often. It was just an idea when they were first talking about building the game. I don't think the community really wanted it so they shelved the idea. Kolytr is supposed to give new players an area to fight against each other.
  11. KaletheQuick

    Koltyr isn't really sufficient. There needs to be fun things for noobies in the main continents.
  12. RawrZ


    A little Starship Troopers action would be incredible, and would go a long ways toward making this game even greater than it already is.

    Bring it on!
  13. IronMouse

    No, no NPCs.
  14. Raysen

    Extend this to moving/shooting vehicles as well, so I can actually test the effectiveness of my weapon choices. it's not that helpfull to try AA on a stationary parked plane ._.
  15. Movoza

    I like the idea in VR training, but it should be linked to your own computer. I'm not sure if it is possible, but what I'm suggesting is that your computer generates the moving NPC's, possibly with AI (just grab any pre-made AI and slap it on there, they don't need to do advanced stuff). You hitting them, damaging them and killing them, of them you if they have AI, all stay on your computer. This is not send to the server. So basically other people will see you darting about and shooting, which is send to the server normally, but don't see your NPC guys. They see their own.

    The reason is simple. The servers at the moment are strained by just communicating all actions between people. They aren't made for AI (I'm looking at you Spitfire). AI would put a lot of strain on the server, as it now has to calculate actions of AI too. It would break the game (anyone played Firefall? Imagine 200+ people on the same place and you know the server will completely shut down). So if everything is handled from the client, it will not put any strain on the server, while your own actions are of course send to the server as normal.