Hey Devs! Appreciate all the work you've done on this game. I only found this mod and was over - the moon to see my favourite ancient game, so popular and thriving in a new age of science travel!
I appreciate all the work that's gone into the mod, I just had a suggestion about AI.
Man, I really love the original Freelancer feel. Undocking in a tau system, only to see 2 flight squadrons of outcasts pirating a GMG vessel or something. They would hang out at trade gates, and lanes all the time. Fighting police, and vice versa. The original freelancer vanilla experience was really immersive, and felt very populated.
In discovery, it feels more barron, more isolated, like Sirius is a no-mans zone; majority of population lives and resides on/planet 18/24 and only the bold venture out to space. What I mean is, it feels lonely out there. Is there any way we can increase the amount of ai activity? I know there is options for coding and stuff in games like this... like as a sandbox feel, it could be emphasised to an extent of 300% more AI Activity. We want Sirius to feel like a metropolis, danger at every corner and also opportunity.
I think its going great, and the ai is cool, its just sometimes it feels more populated than other times; is it random?
I noticed, just before the update, it got real vanilla esk for a night there (what I'm saying above) and I mentioned to a guy I met in the outter rim "wow man the ai is really acting cool don't you think they've updated it recently?" and he said "yeah ive noticed" so it wasn't just me.
Thanks for reading, having a great time either way and see you in space
PS Also keep the possibility open of increasing back to 200 players, or at least 110 because I noticed youtubers are reviewing / streaming and covering this game, stuff triggers peoples nostalgia and desire to play this, like space x and even space travel right now. That's what brought me here. Star Citizen and stuff brought back memories, id predict a spike in population. We want Sirius thriving with AI behaviour to emphasise that effect. I am also going to try and recruit, comment and push how awesome this community is on youtube. Lets see if you notice an increase. There should be an updated guide for install including the know auto ban glitches and stuff I can always help out as I can write fast and effective enough. (used to write in the newspaper in my home town, youngest writer at 19)
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I don't know much about the intended purposes with AI in common day Discovery, but npcs in general used to be really strong, even more scarier in Gallia as some of them had CDs and SNACs, but most of them have been toned down besides missions and capital/important patrols. They also tend to interfere with player pvp which angered quite a few people.
NPCs spawnrate is based on how many people are on the server, the less people, the more NPCs that spawn, that's the only thing I know for sure. I'm also aware that they changed the configuration for this, as the server population started to get a bit lower -- before, years ago, 100 players would be spawning a lot of npcs as 200 players was the max/frequent population etcetc.
(please take what I say with a grain of salt, I manage effects and systems, not npcs. )
(04-04-2018, 09:09 AM)Auzari Wrote: I don't know much about the intended purposes with AI in common day Discovery, but npcs in general used to be really strong, even more scarier in Gallia as some of them had CDs and SNACs, but most of them have been toned down besides missions and capital/important patrols.
NPCs spawnrate is based on how many people are on the server, the less people, the more NPCs that spawn, that's the only thing I know for sure. I'm also aware that they changed the configuration for this, as the server population started to get a bit lower -- before, years ago, 100 players would be spawning a lot of npcs as 200 players was the max/frequent population etcetc.
That's actually very interesting information, especially about the (how many players on server >> how much they spawn) thing. Sounds like that's written into the html code maybe. Like a number they can modify. Also what you said about the AI being strong. That would be really difficult edition to the game and emphasise the barren dangerous feel. I really think stronger AI, with more battleships / gunboats at least, or just more in numbers would be extraordinary. IMO Unlawful factions could or should have some sort of stock buff, as in stronger fighters or access to better shields, in general (RP : would come from their access to black market and new tech) so that balances out them dealing with stock / base / planet / trade ring guns and all the lawful too, Just ideas thanks for your input. Keen to hear more
The situation with NPCs is split in the community. Some people say they add to the game, some say that they are problematic and troublesome, especially when you are on a character that is hostile to any specific region, interacting with another player and constantly being agrivated by the npcs plonking at your shields to the point where you need to disable your audio.
As for the npc count, it has nothing to do with the players online nor the player cap. FLhook starts reducing the spawnrate as the server load rises. If there is a large fight going on, the server will reduce its npc spawnrate to keep itself stable. It is a feature that can be adjusted or disabled altogether, but would provide huge issues for when things get busy. The reason why it feels as though less npcs are spawning with less people around is because a few years ago the server wasn't burdened with additional plugins that cause load - such as the anticheat and base plugins as well as miscellaneous things.
As for the cap - there is no benifit of increasing it to 200 as the average maximum players happen on weekends and maxes around at around 100. Unless we have a sudden influx of new players, the current cap is nowhere near being maxed out.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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In the past server experimented with bigger amount of NPC and also with more stronger like caps and such. But it appeared it brings more harm than good because it kills player interaction. It is quite hard to roleplay when there are constantly NPCs (especially the strong ones) trying to kill you. That´s the reason why over time it was tonned down again.
Edit: Also, strong/huge numbers of NPCs are harmful to PvP because they can easily destroy it (like when you have snub fight and suddenly NPC battleship appear on the scene).
(04-04-2018, 09:16 AM)sindroms Wrote: The situation with NPCs is split in the community. Some people say they add to the game, some say that they are problematic and troublesome, especially when you are on a character that is hostile to any specific region
We should conduct a general poll and gather more data so we can possibly diagnose.
I'd say generally we want as close to a vanilla feel as possible, to credit the original Microsoft Game developers for their great work and also to get as close to core RP as we can. If we can do a general poll, say 'do you feel there is enough AI spawning in game?' or 'would you like to see more NPC's in game / NPC activity?' or 'do you enjoy lots of NPC's flying around?' we can gather more data. If the general consensus is, that they would like to see more NPC's the team could maybe look at improving that immersion.
My favourite PC games are Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Freelancer and games like Witcher or Skyrim where NPC difficulty, overload, and interaction are all massive parts of my immersion. They are my world; they are my keepers. The underdog is a good way to go.
(04-04-2018, 09:21 AM)Laura C. Wrote: it appeared it brings more harm than good because it kills player interaction. It is quite hard to roleplay when there are constantly NPCs (especially the strong ones) trying to kill you.
True, though isn't the vanilla mode set to sort of spread out the NPC's >> realistic to the population of the space? E.G Liberty New York, swarming with hundreds of traders, security, pirates, its new York! Hub of the galaxy, utter chaos. So then the badlands is thriving with criminals, less lsf, less people in general. Surely its less populated, and more.. criminal safe.
Or say the Tau region, they would have way less npcs flying around then say New Tokyo. New Tokyo would be packed but Hudson is half as populated with Npcs e.g I'm pretty sure in the original build, the npcs fluctuate to more prolific areas. Say House space would be cool. And if people are complaining about that, well ill just say they should be more grateful that you the devs have given them their childhood back in this game.
I can't see more npcs getting in the way of player action *if its implemented right, its freelancer and I believe we really need this sort of system. (heck on vanilla multiplayer, most dudes just spawned in stock stargazers and dueled outside manhatan (getting no further!, the lucky ones made it to a BH base in nearby system to buy a Manta)
I think the police should definitely be stronger. Smugglers should not be allowed to wander through systems.
I do believe it will enhance player interactions. E.G A Rogue now will have 12 rogues with him NPCS lurking at lanes. NPC vs NPCS + player action. Player actions, centred on NPCS. We used to fly into New York in order ships and fight the defenses, on pure RP (knowing it would do no damage) just so people would stumble upon the fireworks on vanilla. IT was immersive! Just my opinion, cheers
The issue is that we are a roleplay community and the mod is tailored for player interaction with other players - verbal or with guns. Freelancer was never meant to provide such a platform, and as such - ''in general'' npcs work against this goal. Immersion is great, that I completely agree with, but if it comes with sacrificing playability - it is simply not worth the bother.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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As the leader of an active unlawful faction, hostile NPCs that serve for any other purpose than missions and cargo drops are near gamebreaking.
Strong PvE event NPCs are very cool. They're fun to fight, compelling, original. No issues there.
Then you get horrible things like NPC carriers spawning directly into the middle of a PvP lawful V Unlawful fight, or people using NPCs as force multipliers to hide behind, rendering PVP impossible. Unlawfuls already have reduced encounter areas and safe zones referred to lawfuls. NPCs make the situation worse. I 100% would prefer to interact with a player, who I can talk to, who will RP with me, than an NPC spouting "You mess with the viper, you get the fangs"/any other canned cheesy line from early Nu-Millenium, pre-911 era videogame development as we approach the third decade.
Capital ship NPCs spawning in outside of the mission system and set PvE events is an awful phenomenon. If snubs are made effective as well (properly using regens, using armours, good guns), PvP would become rarefied.
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