1 (edited by Toninu 2014-04-13 00:35:46)

Topic: Making Nia more alive

When reading this point "Oh and I think mobs roaming a giant circle is meh...id like to see static robot factories with defenses and static mobs, then NPC resource supply depots, also guarded, and caravans going too and from..." by Stranger Danger I realised the large improvement such change could potentially add to perpetuum!

Let's admit it, NPC's here are like shooting practice that drop stuff.

Alpha Orange: Mindles chckens, Stay there waiting to be killed (good entry level farming for newbies)
Alpha red: Angry birds, Will chase you around and do not drop aggro if you stop aggressing (god for people like 2 months into the game)
Beta reds: Meaner angry birds that like to protect their territory (good for vets but apparently very few farm beta npcs, could be a problem with game mechanics)
Gamma reds + observers: These are mean machines that actually patrol their islands and hunt you down swiftly. These are like cops for the npc corporations. (good for the vets and all that)

Main point being, they just do that, they either standby or they walk around in predef circles. <- Problem


Now what if these nians live on their islands exactly as we do, Some things they can do for example;

1) They can start docking/undocling into terminals like we do all the time. (could be just eye candy)
2) They can engage each other every now and then (like green bots fighting yellow bots when they get close)
3) They can start mining! There are industrial bots scattered around but they do not mine. MAke them mine like we do, and players can kill their mining op and take the minerals from their field container. OFC make it that they have protection squads around so players team up together to kill the lot.
4) MAke them go around looking for artifacts in beta islands. Once they find one they loot the can and go quickly to ICSBeta for example and players can follow them around till they see them looting the can and then kill them. Another real player could be watching it all and kill the other player etc.
5) Make NPC fortresses and the further out from the fortress the lower tiered npc's patrolling the perimerter. (For example at the fortress HQ, a mighty npc would guard the stash but to get there you have to go through t1, t2, t3, t4.... mobs.
6) Make npc's caravans that move stuff from one fortress to the other. Npc caravans can start small(sequer + 3 assaults) and progressively increase if they are not killed (could be on a daily / sap timer sortof) so players can either chose to kill them at the start for little loot, or wait it out for a chance to the bigger bounty.


My point is, not every player is coming with and eve background and is used to spin their ship for maximum eye candy. Other mmo's out there create a living and breathing word by having npc's going around their business and it helps make the game looks more populated when les ppl are online.

Apart from this, keep up the good work with steam etc.

Re: Making Nia more alive

We been saying this for years.  Literally years.

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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
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Re: Making Nia more alive

Ville wrote:

We been saying this for years.  Literally years.

And years.......






































& years


+1 to OP

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: Making Nia more alive

arguments i have gathered against that idea, over the years:

- NPCs are there for the grind, because thats the integral part of mmos
- NPCs are there for mindless shooting with your combat agent, to relax between the lots of PvP.
- NPCs that actively roam around and seek player are bad for the game because the most attractive part of the game is the fact that you can just "play" it mostly AFK with your mining bot.

- removing the grind NPCs hurts new player most because they cannot get the kernels and all the loot from npcs in the quantities they need them anymore. Its unthinkable that the rest of the game gets adjusted to such a change.

did i forget something?

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: Making Nia more alive

sorry if I was not clear enough, but I am saying about adding new types of npc, not removing those already there.

6 (edited by Celebro 2014-04-13 11:51:14)

Re: Making Nia more alive

Toninu wrote:

sorry if I was not clear enough, but I am saying about adding new types of npc, not removing those already there.

I'm not sure the servers can handle the load atm, but the idea is good once they load issue ironed out. Not only for  this game but for any MMO they have to consider how crowded they can make the servers with NPC.

RIP PERPETUUM

Re: Making Nia more alive

Celebro wrote:
Toninu wrote:

sorry if I was not clear enough, but I am saying about adding new types of npc, not removing those already there.

I'm not sure the servers can handle the load atm, but the idea is good once they load issue ironed out. Not only for  this game but for any MMO they have to consider how crowded they can make the servers with NPC.

are you talking about firefall, where they gradually remove npcs until it feels empty all over the place?

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

8 (edited by Solishian 2014-04-13 15:07:57)

Re: Making Nia more alive

Arent the alpha 2 reds allready used as
"NPCs that actively roam around and seek player are bad for the game because the most attractive part of the game is the fact that you can just "play" it mostly AFK with your mining bot."
kind of thing atm?

And if they dont upgrade the assignment system right now, before the Steam launch, this will come around to bite them in the ... for sure.
Imagine more then a handfull players with the same assignment running... even if they form a squad, at some point you will have to take a number before you can fullfill your assignment with the current system.

In other words, we need more "life" on Nia, and we also need a better street system and according to that, placed NPC locations for assignment and some simple "farmspots" added too.

Not every new player will join right into a corp, get some shiny stuff and jump into the PvP. There might be some, that want to figure the game out for themself first, even try to earn enough NIC on their own for their first Mech... i think you get the picture.

With a few changes on the alpha 1 and 2 islands, some might even enjoy PvE here. lol

Re: Making Nia more alive

\o/ someone reads my posts

Stranger Danger / Capital Punishment / Cyberdown
Pillar of the Community
Ruler of Recruit Chat
CIR Ministry of Truth

Re: Making Nia more alive

While I like the idea, I think it should also be in synch with what the different island types are supposed to be.
So here is my variation on it.

Alpha 1
Concept: These are owned by humanity and Nians do not expect to retake them at this time. Thieves and spies are sent, that try to avoid combat.

Suggested changes:
- Orange indy bots, that roam randomly, if they encounter ore/plants will harvest them. If killed they drop (most of) the harvest. If they harvest some X amount then they move to a teleporter and disappear.
- Orange faction bot groups that roam randomly. One of them is a rare (Darkstar etc) that sets off the geoscanner FX from time to time and drops artifact scan charges and random loot from the artifact drop lists (level proportional to tier of bot) when killed.

Alpha 2
Concept: as Alpha except there are small aggressive incursions (red roams)

Suggested changes: same as alpha 1.

Beta
Concept: Humanity has set up outposts but their control is uncertain, Nians try to reclaim teritory

Suggested changes:
- At random, long intervals a large group of red NPCs spawns and somewhat slowly makes its way to an outpost. They have shorter aggro range than normal and try to take the shortest path to their destination. Once at the outpost they attack it (reducing control) until killed or X% damage is done.

Gamma
Concept: unclaimed teritory

Suggested changes:
- These are the places that should have NPC outposts and mineral/plant farms popping up, with NPC hauler trains traveling in between.
- If the NPC outposts are left alone for long enough they start randomly (at a low rate) spawning red groups that move to attack player structures on same island.
- The Gamma islands that are on faction borders can have outposts of both involved factions show up, in which case they will attack each other as above

Re: Making Nia more alive

Stranger Danger wrote:

\o/ someone reads my posts


I never read your posts.


OH WAIT i just did fuuu

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: Making Nia more alive

Stream wrote:

...
Alpha 2
Concept: as Alpha except there are small aggressive incursions (red roams)
...

No, keep them all orange on the Alpha islands.

Re: Making Nia more alive

Yes 0 consequences...  You guys really like hiding behind alts and not playing this game.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
http://www.perp-kill.net/kill/239407
Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

14 (edited by Solishian 2014-04-14 11:46:02)

Re: Making Nia more alive

Keine Ahnung was du für ein Problem hast, aber vielleicht solltest du mal professionelle Hilfe in Erwägung ziehen.

Dieses dumme Geschwätz geht mir inzwischen wirklich auf den Zeiger, vielleicht wirst du mal erwachsen und gibst einfach zu, das du falsch liegst, anstatt immer wieder nur den selben Bockmist zu wiederholen.
Oder schreib doch einfach hier rein, welche meine "echten" Charakter sind, das dürfte sicher eine große Lachnummer für alle werden. lol

In diesem Sinne, leck mich doch mal am Ärmel.

Ach ja, wo genau liegen eigentlich die Konsequenzen für diese geistigen Tiefflieger, die agressive NPCs zu ihren Nutzen zweckentfremden?
Ach richtig, es gibt keine... roll

Re: Making Nia more alive

solishian wrote:

In diesem Sinne, leck mich doch mal am Ärmel.

In this sense, lick me some games on the sleeve.

Better than hunter's Tears.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
http://www.perp-kill.net/kill/239407
Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

Re: Making Nia more alive

http://youtu.be/yftOy8kz7aE

Re: Making Nia more alive

I WAS LITERALLY LOOKING FOR THIS SONG AND COULD NOT REMEMBER THE NAME OF IT!  GOD BLESS YOU AND SAVE YOU!

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
http://www.perp-kill.net/kill/239407
Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

Re: Making Nia more alive

+1 Definitely needs to be added, not even an Option, it is a requirement.

Re: Making Nia more alive

ANy thing to make the islands feel more a live would be welcome! Heck seeing the occasional ship in the water would be so neat the first few times.. Or seeing some kind of wild life moving between the trees. A lot of the island is baron and is just polygons with a basic texture on it. some bump maps/more trees on the hills and mountains would be very lovely. Or seeing the faction structures on the island being more active would be neat as well.

Re: Making Nia more alive

Mayeb seeing a guy with a " ! " over his head would make you feel more at home?

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
http://www.perp-kill.net/kill/239407
Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

21 (edited by Solishian 2014-04-21 20:45:13)

Re: Making Nia more alive

Scary, isn't it? That players are actually looking around in the game, and not just focused on the radar, the landmark and other windows filled with vital informations only... lol

Re: Making Nia more alive

I do agree that if you can make it more alive its welcomed. But since I'm a very new guy its hard for me to give a thought since I only visited 1 island but I can tell you theres lots of building near the starter area after you've done your tutorial. but theres a lack of npc's around. I've got ideas to make it more alive but its taken from other games and it works as far as I can tell.

First thing that immersive a player is the environment around you. From the textures on the ground to the "draw distance" i see right away. The ground...not much variety here. I'm not talking only plants but bushes, tall grass or whatever you have to change it to make it more nia like. As far as I can tell its plants, buildings, some trees here and there and thats probably it. so more variety from the environment is needed and doesn't take a lot of ressources as well to make and implement.

After a couple of minutes in an assignment I was near the water... the only thing I saw was water and the sky... so much could be done to make it so freak'n cool. Either replace it with more land with some *** up landscape or even better put some wierd structure or even more wierd, put some ships in the water and make them do something visually... it helps with the immersion and some mystery in the latter case could help as well. let people wonder wtf is going on too...no need for lore, let people imagine whats going on.

When your inside the island like some post here says, more npc's would help even if its only for eye candy and it makes sense. buildings, robots and textures are already there. Only thing you have to do is put more on the ground, put robots in 1 place and use pathways...job done in a nutshell (more complicated I know).

Anyway, thats my opinion from a newbie point of view. I guess tahts what people could think when they first start playing. If you have a big island with no life in it...make it more alive artificially. it will help a lot