Drones and Radio chatter.

LTerSlash · Post by **LTerSlash** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 03:24

This is one big problem in seeing in the desegin, if everything is AI controlled, if no there is no other person flying with/against you the combat will be dull, it was already bad in TC, as you cant have teamates, they where just AI controlled ships.

The problem is the feeling we are fighting alone in the universe, i definitaly dont need a enemy to open a comm channel to taunt or couse me in the middle of a fight, thats ridiculus at best. But we need to someone to make me feel im in the middle of a combat, we need PILOTS, no AI, AI drones are OK, but not everything should be a drone.

We need pilots on fighters and bombers in combat, no a AI controlled drone, pilots screeming for help when they need it, cursing when they are getting hit/killed, and coursing (again) when they manage to kill something.

And an excellent voice acting with it. Thats the only way to make space combat feel alive.

Syock · Post by **Syock** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 03:48

Your asking for multiplayer.

LTerSlash · Post by **LTerSlash** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 04:19

No, i mean something like this: (ignoring all the scritpted plot conversations)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5z33C7c ... 5&index=33
skip to 6:20, its where combat starts.

as you can probably see, its not the same to view the video with audio on/off, as its it while playing it, TC is like playing with audio off, and from the looks of it, X:R may make it even worse.

Pilots, with voice, its what the game needs.

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 04:29

From a realism standpoint it makes more sense to have smaller spacecraft be completely unmanned.

A computer can handle much higher inertial forces that would come with high-speed zero-gravity combat.

Drones don't require life support which frees up weight on the craft and resources during production.

They are the most likely ships to be destroyed during combat, so you could avoid losing human(/alien) life during small engagements.

AI's do seem a little bland an flavorless in concept, but there are always exceptions. Besides, we still don't know if drones have replaced fighter-class ships or if they are separate from them. Bernd said we have carriers, so we have to have fighters, or at least bombers.

Syock · Post by **Syock** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 04:35

Maybe we just need autonomous AI with an attitude. Lets get some R2D2's flying these things.

Bill67 · Post by **Bill67** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 04:43

Well we can 'hire' captains for capitol ships and I really havent seen anything that doesnt say we cant hire pilots for fighters for said cap ships...

It seems to be this time around there are more NPC's that just AI bots than before. Granted we may only be able to 'fly' our ship and drones, but maybe 1 of the cap ship commands is to launch fighters and they are NPCs as well. Will have to wait and see.

Shootist · Post by **Shootist** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 05:37

It seems pretty apparent that all ships that are not either the player ship or capital ships, are drones. It isn't completely clear but Bernd did say something to the effect that capital ships carry freight. But there also appears to be drones that carry freight.

Along with

drone fighters
drone missile boats
drone torpedo boats
drone surveillance craft
drone builders
drone sabotage

and

drone boarding (pods)

Every thing small is a drone. Some drones appear to be highly specialized.

corhen · Post by **corhen** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 06:57

what i want to see is pretty simple

Drones (M5-M4 (maybe M3)
Piloted (M3 (maybe M3+) - M6)
Captained (M7-M1)

M8's would be drones..

I do think its rather silly to have M5 and M4 piloted in M3.. its a quick path to a messy death!

DominusNox · Post by **DominusNox** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 07:42

Shootist wrote: ......Along with

drone fighters
drone missile boats
drone torpedo boats
drone surveillance craft
drone builders
drone sabotage

and

drone boarding (pods).......

and shield drones too

Canefox · Post by **Canefox** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 08:44

It doesn't really matter what ships are called. In every other X game, basically any ship you're not piloting yourself is essentially drone. It's AI controlled.

Syock · Post by **Syock** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 08:46

Canefox wrote:It doesn't really matter what ships are called. In every other X game, basically any ship you're not piloting yourself is essentially drone. It's AI controlled.

That's why my first response was that he was asking for multiplayer.

DJ0JJ · Post by **DJ0JJ** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 09:03

I am not actually afraid of it. More like the bring them for me.

Drones give you another option for fighting, and maybe you will feel like suddenly piloting a much more awesome ship that a M5. Why? Because if the drone dies, you don't. Seriously think the potential!!!

Also for another reference of piloting drones, if you got Galaxy on Fire 2 with the VALKYRIE expansion, the Liberator missile its one of the most satisfying things to use in the game, witch its essentially, a drone with a explosive end (Or a player guided missile like they say).

So, as long the drones are not the only good way to kill a ship I am happy for being able to use them. Thanks ES.

GHenrikG · Post by **GHenrikG** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 09:24

I think using drones is a good idea. I want a lot of variety in those drones. Ideally preprogrammable.
The key to a good combat is not necessarily the difference in fighter or drones (As AI is controlling both, the difference here is just wording anyway). It is the options.

Give me tons of options with the drones. At least more than "attack anything that is not me". As we know, that drones can be assigned specific tasks, I am pretty confident that this will work well. As long as they don't crash into objects, that is

Chris0132 · Post by **Chris0132** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 10:29

If fighting robots was a bad thing then the khaak and xenon would be terrible enemies, but I can frag terraformers all day long without complaint.

AgamemnonArgon · Post by **AgamemnonArgon** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 10:52

Being a player that spent a lot of time in a Panther Class M7 or one of the TM's, those are the two assets that I will sorely miss.
I should be the one that decides what ship I fly and when.

Bobucles · Post by **Bobucles** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 13:10

M5 and M4 aren't even real combat roles. They're so fragile, useless, and fast that they're best described as civilian sports cars.

What can a player do in the M5/M4?
- He can go really fast.
- He can go really close to things.
- He can go deep space diving
- He can keep an eye on sectors
- He can die repeatedly in the first 5sec of combat

All of these tasks are things you'd rather do with drones.

Syock · Post by **Syock** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 14:14

Bobucles wrote: What can a player do in the M5/M4?
- He can go really fast.
- He can go really close to things.
- He can go deep space diving
- He can keep an eye on sectors
- He can die repeatedly in the first 5sec of combat

All of these tasks are things you'd rather do with drones.

That pretty much describes how I tend to play.

Peanutcat · Post by **Peanutcat** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 19:05

LTerSlash wrote:No, i mean something like this: (ignoring all the scritpted plot conversations)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5z33C7cobY
skip to 6:20, its where combat starts.

as you can probably see, its not the same to view the video with audio on/off, as its it while playing it, TC is like playing with audio off, and from the looks of it, X:R may make it even worse.

Pilots, with voice, its what the game needs.

I really love this idea. This is what X:R will need to make it great. I've played all the X games and you really feel lonely with almost no communications. Sure you can communicate with ships but you will have to start it. And in combat, you're with your gigantic fleet and they don't even communicate I really hate that. Makes it somewhat boring to not have a single word from your entire fleet ever.

Seon · Post by **Seon** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 20:05

Peanutcat wrote:
LTerSlash wrote:No, i mean something like this: (ignoring all the scritpted plot conversations)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5z33C7cobY
skip to 6:20, its where combat starts.

as you can probably see, its not the same to view the video with audio on/off, as its it while playing it, TC is like playing with audio off, and from the looks of it, X:R may make it even worse.

Pilots, with voice, its what the game needs.
I really love this idea. This is what X:R will need to make it great. I've played all the X games and you really feel lonely with almost no communications. Sure you can communicate with ships but you will have to start it. And in combat, you're with your gigantic fleet and they don't even communicate I really hate that. Makes it somewhat boring to not have a single word from your entire fleet ever.

I also agree that it would be cool. Maybe as you fly around you can hear communications from other ships over unsecured channels as you fly near a mass of them or a space station. And maybe a pirate upgrade or a military one that would let you listen in on secured networks.

Peanutcat · Post by **Peanutcat** » Sat, 1. Oct 11, 20:12

Seon wrote: I also agree that it would be cool. Maybe as you fly around you can hear communications from other ships over unsecured channels as you fly near a mass of them or a space station. And maybe a pirate upgrade or a military one that would let you listen in on secured networks.

Yeah that would be really cool

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Drones and Radio chatter.

Drones and Radio chatter.