Topic: Red npc's on Alpha aka 'rats'

Long time listener; first time poster.
Now this might be something that exists, or did exist, but was altered for the steam release and non-gamma world npc/pve balancing.  However I am worried there is an oversight of the potential of the following:

The idea:
*Add red npc's to Alpha-2, maybe even areas in 1.(!)
Details:
-Make them really low-level npc's.  akin to the drones around alpha-1 terminals, dumb ai, weak dps, no ewar, slow..etc (scale up to create a gradient of difficulty in particular areas/islands)
-If they roam: reduce their max speed or give them inefficient navigation mechanics.
-Ambush squads off the highways! Roaming gangs in the wilderness! Oh the possibilities!
-etc. etc. you get the idea.

Why:
The idea of risk needs to be introduced and at a scale small that is somewhere between future beta/gamma pvp experience and the current alpha risk factor (0). 

Force haulers and miners alike to at least fit for some defensive or offensive tactics to combat the red-npc rats.
This will at least begin to have miner-types cross train to fit a gun and repair modules.  Whatever the rat composition, it should be possible to fend them off easily should a miner/harvester at least taken this into consideration.

Now at least miners have some choice, they can fit to solo tank the reds (sacrificing nic/hr), or squad-up and get some combat support. (Encouraging player interaction?! - or multiboxing..)

I am not saying that these reds should be able to pop every Scarab that is autopiloting, but maybe the ones that didn't fit a shield...  Balancing will be tricky, but limiting the alpha-red npc ai, or fittings should be able to modulate the risk factor.

Add a bit of a challenge to those that choose to reside in alpha.  As the game becomes more populated alpha-sourced materials will over-saturate the market.   Reds will at least add interference and therefore value to the activity.

Inda made a good point about not neglecting those who choose not to pvp.
[http://forums.perpetuum-online.com/topi … experience]  (specifically post #14)
This doesn't mean their experience with pve/mining/harvesting/hauling should not be met without a challenge.


Yes, this is not a new idea, but I am curious as to why its not present. 

TL;DR
Non-pvp islands should have a gradient of risk induced through strategic pve content (red-npcs) that does not exceed the capacity of indy-players to contend with.

Your thoughts?

Re: Red npc's on Alpha aka 'rats'

The Hungarian Overlords broke the RED NPC code, now they do not unleash when aggroed, what happened on alpha 2s were players who had more time on their hands just kited those red mobs over top of other players.

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: Red npc's on Alpha aka 'rats'

Hello!

You need to know, Perpetuum was a wild place for new players (in 3-4 years before), even under Alpha Terminals we had red Arkhes what has ability to kill your starter robots. And EW was the NPC -s loved weapon. And even there was red roaming Observers at Alpha.

So there was, the DEV -s decided to weaken the NPC's strenght and remove from the game the Alpha Observers, probably because too much "support ticket" was sent, and too much died becvause of connection issues and so on. And maybe they wanted to improve the starter experience by this.

But I can agree with you! PVE 2.0 is on the way we just need to wait 1 year.

Energy to Earth!

18.01.2014. [12:57:58] <BeastmodeGuNs> after that i remembered all those warning about 1v1 you lol, and i found out why xD

Re: Red npc's on Alpha aka 'rats'

Inda wrote:

But I can agree with you! PVE 2.0 is on the way we just need to wait 1 year.

somebody is optimistic here.

Re: Red npc's on Alpha aka 'rats'

Ville wrote:

The Hungarian Overlords broke the RED NPC code, now they do not unleash when aggroed, what happened on alpha 2s were players who had more time on their hands just kited those red mobs over top of other players.

And it was great fun.

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.