No NPC SRV's - WTH?
- Thread starter Hadron-Higgs-Boson
- Start date
Does anyone realize how big space is?
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Starting to feel the same. I hope not, but it's looking that way. Braben made some very bad mistakes, let's see how he handles them. If he's like Chris Roberts he'll probably throw a tantrum and go cry in the corner while yelling everyone is an idiot.
hmm, point missed, again
NPC content has been getting thinner since launch, not deeper. I hope they do come later rather than never, but of the things that are still to come later pretty much most of them are still being waited for.
The skimmers are great, but NPC SRV's are an obvious omission at this stage and a disappointment. Perhaps with the current levels of AI it couldn't work, but really? fix the AI! I do not think NPC's driving around a base or from base to base should be above the bar level content, if it is you set the bar too low.
Im not necessarily referring to combat with NPC SRV's, though its got to be something that shoudl be expected. Just actual signs of NPC life, as in a living breathing galaxy
I also think it would be great to have NPC SRVs. But I suspect it is not a problem they currently have the resources to solve and solve well.
I also get a little frustrated (only a little, though) when I hear people say "maybe not x but at least y". If FD said no NPC activity on the surfaces at all, there would be posts saying "well, at least give us flying drones". If FD said there'd be drones but no SRVs, we get "at least give us non-combat SRVs". If FD had said there'd be drones and non-combat SRVs, we have complaints of "what's the point of that? They need to be combat SRVs at least within a pre-set landscape". And so on... "Why can't we have comabt SRVs chase us across the whole planet?" "There needs to be NPC wings of combat SRVs!" "Why can't we have bobble heads in the SRVs???"
I'm not saying that it would be you, OP. Maybe you would have honestly been fine with the decision had FD started with drones and non-combat SRVs. I just don't think many folks in th forum are ever satisfied.
They didn't say never...and "dinosaur hunting" is a couple of years away anyway...
I get it completely and am very well aware of the complexity of actual pathing a 3d map, I know it's hard to do. My expectations were never so high as to expect real time combat NPC's driving and jumping around on the surface (though, worlds with life on them later.... yeah gonna have to work on that guys), but not every part of ED has to be about blowing something up and an NPC patrolling a wreck or base, in much the same wasy as system security patrol a space station adds life to the void and creates some game play mechanics.
But if I am flying down to some wreck or base and then driving an SRV, not piloting in some skimmer, isn't it reasonable to expect that someone else might do the same, that thee may be an NPC to confront in some way?
Saying that there is almost no chance of meeting another 'person' on one a bazillion potato worlds is silly, isn't it far greater than finding half a dozen of them flying around doing nothing in particular at a nav beacon?
My read on what was said leads to me driving to some base, that base having some form of life, but none of it will be in the same kind of vehicle as I am
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yeah, and I do not disagree. I guess I just feel far too much is being traded away in favour of the pew pew mob and the deep meaningful engaging galaxy of life is being pushed further and further back.
But if I am flying down to some wreck or base and then driving an SRV, not piloting in some skimmer, isn't it reasonable to expect that someone else might do the same, that thee may be an NPC to confront in some way?
Saying that there is almost no chance of meeting another 'person' on one a bazillion potato worlds is silly, isn't it far greater than finding half a dozen of them flying around doing nothing in particular at a nav beacon?
My read on what was said leads to me driving to some base, that base having some form of life, but none of it will be in the same kind of vehicle as I am
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yeah, and I do not disagree. I guess I just feel far too much is being traded away in favour of the pew pew mob and the deep meaningful engaging galaxy of life is being pushed further and further back.
I must admit I'm greatly amused every time someone quotes one of my posts without reading it assuming that it's some sort of negative jab at Frontier, hoisting themselves on their own petard.
Fair point, but much slower movement, no rocket boost, no having to control full 6 degrees of freedom system with landing and hull mechanics. You could essentially make the model a gyroscope around the leg joints so the upper body is always upright relative to gravity rather than the surface and thereby make it a 2D problem so the terrain doesn't matter. Will take work to build up a player influence code (aggressive/defensive/running when players approach) etc and it'd probably take some coding to generate them in the right areas and make them appear to drink from lakes and eat from trees/other animals but most illogical behaviour on the AI part (such as remaining in one spot for a long time etc) can be handwaviumed away with "It's not as smart as a human".
Yeah, I too hope to see it in the future but I don't think it's viable for horizons. As others have said in two years time who knows. They haven't said never, just that it's not on the cards right now.
Where I can 100% see SRV's, tanks and other vehicles is cities, flat terrain, mapped streets/skyways and other interesting things. Possibly when they start on other vehicle AI they can expand it to the less smooth/flat terrain.
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Thats dissapointing. I mean its good that not somwhere were nothing is npcs in SRV spawn all the time, but I would expect to see some around the planets station and maybe a few other points of interesset (since I don't know what there all is thats hard to pin down).
Dunno, its like flying to a station and there are no other ships around, a bit weird.
Dunno, its like flying to a station and there are no other ships around, a bit weird.
They dont pay the expantion ¬_¬
That's a lot of planets to program waypoints for a sort of bot's behavior to be meaningful. As much as I would like that to work I know realistically that it would be next to impossible to have a well executed AI SRV interaction...
Because of this I'm fine without having one rather than seeing an enemy SRV go from A-B----(get stuck in a random generated crater)---C?
Because of this I'm fine without having one rather than seeing an enemy SRV go from A-B----(get stuck in a random generated crater)---C?
45 bugs for ONE YEAR of gameplay what a rubbish.
To be quiet frank, this is somewhat disappointing.
Assuming there are mining sites or something that the people of Elite's universe do for a day to day occupation on a planet's surface - they build bases down there, after all - how are they moving about?
Although Elite's space is far from what I would consider a convincing, living galaxy, there are at least NPCs farming RES, there are traders in supercruise, docking at stations and there are pirates flying willingly in front of the player's cannons to have their bounties collected. ;-) But Elite's game universe is supposed to have only SRVs down on planets which are player controlled? Admittedly, that is an assumption! There might be other things than SRVs, although I doubt it.
It's a bit weak. Elite may have inspired GTA in terms of a procedurally generated, "living" game world. On the other hand though, Elite Dangerous doesn't compete with modern GTAs in terms of creating a convincing living world around the player. I usually don't mind much, after all GTA was probably developed with a budget and manpower that makes ED's look pitiful and isn't set in space for one thing. Still, NPC SRVs are something I would like to see down the road somewhere. Even if they were limited to predefined roads around planetary settlements. That's one thing among many, that might give ED's universe a little more lively feel. Like people moving about, as in the 2014 E3 trailer.
Assuming there are mining sites or something that the people of Elite's universe do for a day to day occupation on a planet's surface - they build bases down there, after all - how are they moving about?
Although Elite's space is far from what I would consider a convincing, living galaxy, there are at least NPCs farming RES, there are traders in supercruise, docking at stations and there are pirates flying willingly in front of the player's cannons to have their bounties collected. ;-) But Elite's game universe is supposed to have only SRVs down on planets which are player controlled? Admittedly, that is an assumption! There might be other things than SRVs, although I doubt it.
It's a bit weak. Elite may have inspired GTA in terms of a procedurally generated, "living" game world. On the other hand though, Elite Dangerous doesn't compete with modern GTAs in terms of creating a convincing living world around the player. I usually don't mind much, after all GTA was probably developed with a budget and manpower that makes ED's look pitiful and isn't set in space for one thing. Still, NPC SRVs are something I would like to see down the road somewhere. Even if they were limited to predefined roads around planetary settlements. That's one thing among many, that might give ED's universe a little more lively feel. Like people moving about, as in the 2014 E3 trailer.
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Entirely possible I misunderstood your intended words, but they to me read as a jab to frontier even with the mention of robotics, that as I understand now, was meant to indicate to people that it wasn't easy, my bad. Sorry.
actually it shouldn't be, unless planets are in some way different, then like the skybox now, its my PC that is doing all the heavy lifting (or yours too if we are open/group), no one has to work it out for all the other planets, they do not exist other than as a procedural key to be used for generation, right? So it should be no more (ignoring pathing a 3d landscape ratehr than empty space with a few things to bump into
) complex that the server side is already handling for x players. The number of players is the defining factor not the number of planets.Why there are not asteroids falling mading creatters when crash, im veri dissappont shame FD shame in hell.
run away and close the door crying.
xD
run away and close the door crying.
xD
i could go in to detail how hard path finding is and i am.
the closest candidate when it comes to doing path finding on a 3D Planet was done by Uber entertainment on Planetary annihilation.
And before we start talking about what controversial marketing moves they did, the Technology they made to allow units to move on 3D planets and navigate is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qyl7h7D1Q8&t=24m30s
here is the link and he goes in to great detail to explain path finding, but there is one issue, while this is one of the best path findings I've seen that can handle a 3d sphere, it only contains in essence specific heights where a unit can move, the planets frontier are creating have complete dynamic height.
there are loads of issues with path finding on frontiers planets.
First do you make the Ai cheat by allowing it to know the whole terrain of the planet immediately? is this even feasible on the big planets?
what does the Ai prioritize when attacking the player? keeping the turret on the target? or keeping the SRV on feasible terrain.
What to do when the Player uses jets to jump over a ravine or stone? stop attack and go back? try to follow?
path finding is extremely complicated stuff, because you want to make good solutions,most of the stuff that comes into play in path finding is University level mathematics.
Sure putting bad AI in to NPC is easy, but then you get them stuck upside down, stuck in ravines they can't get out of, and bunch of other stuff.
Ofc i would love that NPC spawn in the settlements and drive to other settlements as deliver trucks, and maybe we get this in the future, as we do know they want to add Big game hunting, and those animals will need AI to pathfind so maybe then?
I'm already extremely happy with what i've seen so far with Horizons, and we really have no clue about Ships update, that is it only ships or does it contain something else like ship names?