Tremulous Forum
Community => Mod Ideas and Desires => Topic started by: techhead on May 28, 2007, 06:24:19 pm
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After yelling at people about stupid mods since this forum got created, I'm finally going to tell you about my stupid mod.
Sentinel Robots
A sentinel robot factory is optionally placed somewhere on the map using layout. It may be included with pre-set defenses, but also are not compulsory. It churns out a (Very) stupid little AI robot or two every minute or so.
These robots randomly wander around the maps like idiots looking for stuff to indiscriminately kill. The more damage they do to players and buildings, more and better the robots are produced by the factory.
If the factory is destroyed, so are any defenses. The factory itself is fairly tough but the robots are initially extremely weak. However, they may prove a serious threat in numbers.
They are provided with hit-scan weapons as so not to make more complications with the AI coding. Better robots simply are larger, faster, or have more Hit-points. Defenses are similar to turrets, but possibly send suicide drones (Think hives with splash damage)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q; Why aren't they a third team?
A: For coding, balance, and logistical reasons, they will not be player controlled, see my post below.
Q: Why cant they build?
A: They cannot build because they are AI controled. All their structures must be pre-placed using layout, otherwise they will be omitted from the map.
Q: Wont they unbalance the game?
A: Ideally no. They are obstacles placed in the map to make the game more interesting. If ignored, they may prove a serious threat but could easily be dealt with early on. They are unbiased, and they will shoot anything they find, Human or Alien. They also may be baited towards the other team by more cunning players.
Q: Wont they steal kills or feed?
A: They will not steal kills, any droid-kill counts as killed by environment. They will not feed towards stages, as large numbers may be easy stage-kills if handled properly. More advanced robot may could towards credits, though.
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Tremulous is good without bots.
Will they be called UnnamedPlayers due to their behavior? Or will they be frag stealers?
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here is what i like and dislike of your idea:
like:
-robot idea (lol)
dislike:
-robots go around map. they should stay near factory. or near computer, that controls them.
-"the more damage, the better" idea. let's keep them evolving with stages. if not, stages would become less relevant, and we could have a stage 1 team with a super-ultra-mega-duper-unkillable robot. (lol)
-defence that depends on factory. it's stupid. We shouldn't even need factory.
we could let an advanced-builder build them... so you have energy-dependent robots. they could be used instead of turrets. and builders could decide if they should go around in a small or larger area (still inside computer range)
my version of this:
-robot are good idea, BUT:
-there should be 2 types of robot: the first comes at s2, the second at s3.
-they should be controlled by computer. no computer and they are useless.
-they are build by advanced-builders.
-robot-kills are not conuted for stages.
-costs:first robot: no more hit-points than turrets, 1 energy-point more than turrets needed . The second has no more hit-point than teslas, 1 more energy-point needed, comes at s3.
the a.i. won't be a real problem, since you just need to copy the turret/teslas a.i., plus a movement towards the nearer, most powerful alien.
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that needs to be balanced for aliens however...
lets say... i don't know...
stupid little aliens that go around the base and if a human is found, they shoot acid/spike-balls??
or...
boost is always on near base, needs to be touched to get poison outside, and nothing is immune?
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If you read the original post, the bot would kill both aliens and humans, and be a 3rd team or annoyances.
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Sleek, Gate and others have promised to bring us the botlib back but haven't managed it (its going to be a lot of headaches to do it). As for "stupid bots", vcxzet worked out something he called a "lamebot" which could be useful here. It even uses the client-side bot support to render it as a player.
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This would be unbalanced...
1. Humans @ S2 get pulse rifle, flamer, helmet
2. Aliens get Adv. Marauder (25 hp difference from the original), and adv. basilisk (25 hp difference)
Now where it gets uneven, is the fact that dragoons are over powered at S1 by a bit, and at S2, no one would take a weaker alien, because all of them do less damage, have less hp, but can move faster than dragoon (assuming you don't pounce all over)
Having robots would make it impossible, because the damage of a pulse rifle is something like 6-7 a hit, and it shoots @ about the speed of a rifle... thats easily 250 damage done in about 2.5-3 seconds
Having robots would unbalance it where the aliens would be way useless, and unable to get through the defences of the stupid robots
In order to even that out, you would have to have a poison creep (just some dark spots all over like dots, that have tentacle sorta thing at the end... ex; Dynamic Creep that poisons
OR...
Have little granger-like bugs that run out and blow up in faces of people...
Either way, it would be unbalanced as factories don't belong there or the little bugs. Perhaps a droid that supplies for humans, and harikari bugs that would work for both teams. Or a weak droid that is like the starwars one, which shoots a small pulse-like beam, but with the damage of 2x the lasgun
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I seem not to have made my self clear.
THEY ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH EITHER TEAM
That is why they will shoot anything they find, Human or Alien.
That is why all their structures must be placed using layout.
That is why a constant stream of them will not count as players.
That is why they would ideally not unbalance the game towards humans or aliens.
That is why they will not steal kills, any droid-kill counts as killed by environment.
David & Risujin got the idea, the rest of you didn't.
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i like the idea, do you think you could make it?
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sry, i didn't understand it was a 3rd team.
if the 3rd team is just this, bots, then i just don't like it.
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It DOESNT matter for WHICH team it is for...
Let me put something for ya...
THERE WILL BE NO THIRD RACE WITH ROBOTS
Basically thats what you are doing... WHAT is the POINT? to get FREE kills??
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I like the idea... But I suppose if Evlesoa condemns it, we will never have it.
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I like the idea too... its the fact that no one is gonna make these bots, and if anyone DOES, it will take ages...
and it will make the game play different... very different
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I want homobots
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Perfect example of a Homo-Bot... it cannot see, but it has an excellent sense of smell, it smells people out, then it sticks it's head up their ass and starts to eat their colon. This might feel good cuz u got ur prostate there, so it might tickle and make u happy... perfect for you! Go and make it, remember it walks on legs, and sometimes trips on the floor, but it figures it out in the end! NOTE: ITS INCREDIBLY STUPID (The bot is not intelligent)
(http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/head_up_ass.jpg)
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Why don't you make multiple difrent factories that produce difrent kind of creatures. Basicly one for each human weapon that your bots can handel. Each factory same model but bit difrent texture. Small stamp on bots and factories that indicates what type they are. Human weapon icons? Could we possibly get a version where we get to see the green suicide jelly creatures from halo. They are so cute. Although it must be hard to get them crawl on walls but that does not realy matter.
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Yes because they float in air, and each time they get near a wall, they float up...
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Evlesoa... Sentinel does not mean floating moving turret with ai. It means ai controlled robot. It could basicly be just a turret, spider like robot or robot that floats. It does not even have to be armed. Its still called sentinel.
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yeah thats what im saying... some flying robot thing... thats all
A sentinel usually refers to a sentry or border guard, sometimes a statue that guards a particular place, person or item, as well as an Honour guard.
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel
In other words... its safe to assume its armed
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I love this idea. Good luck with it. I will definitely play it.
BTW, they should taunt constantly and use random taunts from both teams. Lol :D
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Sentinel Robots
You mean like a auto-defense system or so. Like area 51 should have.
If so: Cool!! :D Illd play that mod!! LOL
If not: Robots??!!!!! Cool!! :D
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If some one makes the models, then this will be 99.9% complete, even counting the bot code. :D
Rather than making them bots, why not just make them the mythical 3rd team? Then the completed models would make this 100.1% complete. :D
Either way, this sounds like fun.
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:eek:
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:eek:
haha
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They are not a pure third team because of threereasons.
1. They would need to be balanced as player-controlled. Three way balance would either be a delicate equilibrium or Rock-Paper-Scisors.
2. Logistical problem with having 3 teams. What happens to the players when one team loses? What happens if two teams decide to cooperate? &c.
3. My idea was envisioned as "Horde-bots." Think Cybernetic Zerglings. Think Replicators. Possibly more droids at once than either of the other teams individually.
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One thing I think a bunch of idiots, read Evlesoa, needs to understand is that the bots do not give players kills. Nor can players join this team. The "team" isn't really even a team, it's a group of AI sentinels (That look like the Halo sentinels? That's the image I'm getting) that reandomly roam the map grabbing kills for their next stage. Again, no human players can join that team, nor will the bots give kills towards the next stage.
Oh, and Evlesoa, stop flaming.
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Maybe I should add a poll.
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x-men sentinals pls
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This sounds like it potentially could make things very interesting. Ah, to make ATCS fresh again...
Will the bots move along the ground or fly?
I am rather curious about how you plan to balance them.
Since they have hitscan weapons, they have the potential to make things extremely frustrating for those poor little dretchies :dretch: and possibly other lower class bugs as well.
And then, the humans have extraordinarily long ranged weapons too.
It could also be quite interesting to create an alien version of this, and allow each side to build a robot/critter factory as a construction.
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@OP: I like the idea
-little/weak robots should be dretchable
-and should kill naked humans easily
-also, maybe some different weapons than the Tremulous Human weapons?
-bring back Quake super-shotgun/nailgun/railgun/nadelauncher?
-(OR Unreal blaster/crystalgun/shockrifle/flakcannon?)
You could have four stages of Robots (both playerteams at S1, S2, S3, or SD):
Shotgunbot - guard Factory, hunt players: has four-barrelled gatling shotgun, slow reload, low hit points (50?), very dumb, slow movement, cannot wallwalk, small explosion when killed (like 1/2 as much as a turret exploding), turns if it bumps into something, susceptible to ground headbite & regular headshot, three-minute charge, 30 second recharge, 15 second re-equip, defenseless when out of ammo, player gets healthboost (25%) for destroying more than two within own build line (power/creep) in one spawning/one minute (Stage 1) new shotgunbot every three minutes (robots initially equal to total number of players on both teams; e.g., a 5v5 would have ten bots with a new one every three minutes), size of crouching Human/Granger
Nailgunbot - hunt players, escort Repairbots: has nailgun, medium reload, medium low hit points (75?), smarter, quicker, cannot wallwalk, medium explosion when destroyed (like a turret exploding), turns if it bumps into something, susceptible to helmeted headshot, dretch anklebite does 70 damage to nailgunbot, 5 minute charge, 45 second recharge, 30 second re-equip, chainsaws/sawblades when out of ammo, player gets speedburst for destroying more than four within own build line in one spawning/two minutes (Stage 2) new nailgunbot every two minutes, size of crouching Human/Basilisk
Railgunbot - hunt players, escort Powerbots: has railgun, long reload, medium high hit points (100?), not too smart, can wallwalk?, wallwalks if it bumps into something, toggles wallwalk off randomly, mild radiation when destroyed, looks/acts like Deus Ex spiderbot, likes to snipe?, can be dretched/basi'd (just like a turret in that respect), also has blindspot above & behind, 7 minute charge, 1 minute recharge, 45 second re-equip, can overheat and explode causing massive radiation damage, radioactive when out of ammo, player gets teleported back to own base for destroying more than six in one spawning/three minutes (Stage 3) new railgunbot every minute, size of crouching Human/Marauder
Nadebot - hunt players, follow wounded enemies: has nadelauncher, very long reload, high hit points (150?), not too smart, chases players, cannot wallwalk, large explosion (like a nade) and radiation if destroyed, battlesuit level of head armor (except for one tiny dretchable weak spot), 9 minute charge, 3 minute recharge, 1 minute re-equip, hot as turret slag when out of ammo, player gets teleported (& gets 10 second stillshield) to random location for destroying more than eight in one spawning/four minutes (Sudden Death) new nadebot every thirty seconds (you should have destroyed the Robot Factory a long time ago), size of battlesuited Human/Dragoon (can't fit in every vent, only some)
All bots have limited ammo (say, the default pickup Q3a value for that particular weapon) and lifespan (as above, three to nine minutes), after which they must return to their Factory to recharge and re-equip. They will begin heading back one minute before they are out of charge, and will stop in their tracks when they are out of juice. The recharge would take some time, and the re-equip would be loading up ammo. They would have to return to the Robot Factory to recharge their powercells whether they had used up all their ammo or not, and will visit the Ammo Station whether they have expended any ammo or not.
At Stage Two, the Robot Factory will send out Repairbots, (Shotgunbot-sized Robots without weapons) to repair the unmoving but undestroyed bots and give them a field charge which is only good enough to get them back to the Factory, where they must recharge and re-equip before returning to the field.
At Stage Three the Robot Factory will send out Powerbots, (Nailgunbot-sized Robots without weapons) which will re-enable all unpowered bots within their range, and home in on them, to provide a field recharge and a field re-equip for Railgunbots.
At Sudden Death the Robot Factory retools any remaining Powerbots into Ammobots which can provide a field re-equip for Nadebots, and which have a huge explosive animation if destroyed (like three nades in succession, bl-bla-blammm!!!).
Both Repairbots and Powerbots would be relatively unprotected, except that Powerbots would have an electric shock like the Reactor/Adv Mara and be escorted by Railgunbots, and Repairbots, while essentially defenseless, would be escorted by Nailgunbots. After Stage 1 the Robot Factory will defend itself, and spawn new Robots whose first directive is to hunt players (or fix other Robots). Ammobots are entirely defenseless, and will thus be blowing up all over the place. :P
At the stage changeover for Robot Factory retooling, all bots would have to return to the facility by the end of the retooling period, or they would cease functioning until reactivated by a Repairbot or Powerbot. (Too complicated?).
Of course the server would slow down if it had to render all of these actions (you might have to reduce playerslots to make up for the visual lag of all these AI bots and their weapon effects). During their trip back to their Factory (and I like whitebear's idea of making each successively better Robot have a new and discrete origin, but wouldn't maps get crowded?; maybe they should just upgrade the Robot Factory like the OP said), the bots would either be defenseless, or maybe have chainsaws or be hot or radioactive from expending so much ammo so rapidly.
Almost last point: although the Robot team's kills don't count for the Humans or Aliens, they do count for the Robot Team, right (is that how they stage up, or would it be time-based, or possibly based on when both playerteams stage up)? What if a Human or Alien kills a Robot? I know it doesn't count toward stage-up, but how is it recorded? And can the Robots annihilate a playerteam? Can the Robots knock one or both client-controlled teams out of the game and win?
One more thing: Robots go into Factory for recharge/re-equip? OR remain outside and somewhat vulnerable? Small Aliens can enter S1 Robot Factory or crouching Humans (original Shotgunbots are about half as tall as a standing Human). Factory has defenses one stage weaker than robots it produces (initially defenseless, then has Super-Shotgun Turrets, then Nailgun Turrets, then Railgun Turrets). Factory shuts down for retooling at stage-change (first 30 seconds, then 45, then 1 minute). Factory begins producing Robots as players join teams (default set at one Shotgunbot per player). Robots which survive any Stage must return to factory at stage change for retool. New Robots produced at an accelerating rate (one every 3 minutes in Stage 1, down to one every 30 seconds in SD).
Also, both playerteams want to destroy the Robots and their Factory as early as possible, when they are weak, thier factory is defenseless, and the enemy gets little benefit from destroying them.
Lastly, how big would it be, and in all of the default maps, tell me where the original Robot Factory default location would be. Like as big as an Armoury to start, and as big as a Reactor by the end? And on, say ATCS, where would it go at mapstart? In/on the central building? Where in the other default (and popular) maps? List, if you please, sir. :P
Oh, another thing. Robots stage up automatically when weaker team stages up (so if Humans reach S2 first, Robots would stage up when Aliens achieve S2), with this exception: Robots can advance to the next stage for getting twice as many kills as it would take a playerteam to achieve the next stage. If it would take the Humans or Aliens twenty kills to get from s1 to s2, the Robots would have to get forty kills to go from Shotgunbots to Nailgunbots. Any forty player kills, regardless of which team feeds them more.
Fun idea.
Thanks for letting me warp it out of all proportion to what you originally intended. Cheers!
Oh, and... the Robots are the creation of a rival interglobal corporate cadre/cabal which put all of its money into robotics for space-mining instead of clone-marines doing blackops wetwork for private interests in the nearspatial realm. They're using the war between the Humans and the Aliens to establish a cyber-hegemony of Robots, with Nadebots as their ultimate expression of technology.
Or you could have them using Unreal-type mining tools instead of Doom weapons (sacrilege!), like the U1 silly blaster or that crazy "machine gun that shoots crystal shards" or the shockrifle or flakcannon: Blasterbot (a security guard/nightwatchman kind of Krazy Kopbot); Minerbot, with the U1 "machinegun"; Shockbot, a wallwalker with a lightning gun (another security device); and Flakbot, the ultimate guarddog.
Possible mod names: QuadshotBotkiller, RoboHunter, Cyb3r514y3rz, Abandoned Space Mines and the Robotic Killing Machines Who Dwell There: The Dark Cadre Initiative or maybe just Robot Factory (my favorite)
kthx again
enjoy
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Tremulous is not halo, if you use the term sentinels, we may face a lawsuit.
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ok how about sentry robotz?
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Tremulous is not halo, if you use the term sentinels, we may face a lawsuit.
sen·ti·nel
Pronunciation:
\ˈsent-nəl, ˈsen-tə-nəl\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle French sentinelle, from Old Italian sentinella, from sentina vigilance, from sentire to perceive, from Latin
Date:
1579
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I thought of better names:
Shotgunbot - Scout (S1)
Nailgunbot - Hussar (S2)
Railgunbot - Jager (S3)
Nadebot - Grenadier (SD)
Repairbot - Tender (S2)
Powerbot - Tinker (S3)
Ammobot - Sapper (SD)
since we already have Dragoon (Fusilier & Curaissier are also unused, as is Harrier, and Harpy would be another good choice)
oh and if you think a railgun-carrying wallwalker is too powerful, how about a Lightning Bug?
that would be a spiderbot with a Q3 lightning gun...
anyway the idea would be to have them be initially weak
but to have them become more lethal
and
if not destroyed early when they are a mere nuisance
have them be something which will be really bothersome
by s3/SD
and they would breed at an accelerating rate
although they will be vulnerable when recharging & re-equipping
and the factory would be vulnerable during retooling shutdown
while defenses would get progressively stronger
also bots would be vulnerable when out of ammo
and when out of juice
but would iniltially have sheer numbers as strength
# of bots = # of players in Stage One
as bots are destroyed, they do not immediately respawn
they must be built by robot factory
new players who join game generate a brand new bot of the current stage
late-joiners cause an increase in the nailgunbot/railgunbot/nadebot population
only two kinds of active bot on the field at any one stage
current attacker and it's helperbot (no helpers in s1)
stage-down bots would be returning to factory if re-enabled
for retooling, recharging, and re-equip, which amounts to a rebuild
all time penalties would be exacted
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Tremulous is not halo, if you use the term sentinels, we may face a lawsuit.
sen·ti·nel
Pronunciation:
\ˈsent-nəl, ˈsen-tə-nəl\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle French sentinelle, from Old Italian sentinella, from sentina vigilance, from sentire to perceive, from Latin
Date:
1579
Halo, or more specifically, neither bungie nor Microsoft has copywritten the word "sentinel".
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new map loads
everybody has entered the game
Bringer joined the Humans
Scout1 joined the Robots
Xiphos joined the Aliens
Scout2 joined the Robots
Genie joined the Aliens
Scout3 joined the Robots
Vash joined the Humans
Scout4 joined the Robots
so a 2v2 has four initial SuperShotgunBots
and on say ATCS
an Armoury-sized construct somewhere in the exact middle of the map
making new ones every three minutes
Humans get S2
they run back to get pulsers and hats
Aliens get S2
they run away to evo up & protect the OM
Robots get S2 automatically, when last team does
they all head back to Robot Factory
which closes down for one minute
then reopens
all Shotgunbots that made it back for rebuild
are now Nailgunbots
and factory begins producing new one every two minutes
Scout4 fell fowl to gravity
Scout1 renamed to Hussar1
Scout2 renamed to Hussar2
Scout3 renamed to Hussar3
Hussar4 joined the Robots
etc.
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Scout4 fell fowl to gravity
LOL!
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Scout4 fell fowl to gravity
LOL!
:)
techhead: what do you think?
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This smells of Halo.
Factory: Halo
Sentinals: Flying Robots that defend the Halo's, kill both Aliens (covenant), and Humans.
IMO, to Haloish.
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I think u mean
too
Halo-ish
I was thinking about the Robot Factory itself yesterday. I think that even if it doesn't increase in size, it should have greater hit points in each successive stage. In S1 it should be about as hard to destroy as the Armoury, and by S3 it should have as much hit point value as the Reactor. So if you don't get it right away, not only does it have better defenses, it's harder to destroy (has better armor). This value woulld increase right as the retooling shutdown begins, to better protect the structure during shutdown. (That's 1 minute between S1 and S2, 45 seconds between S2 and S3, and 30 seconds between S3 and SD). Remember, once the Nadebots appear, you're screwed, unless you built in the right places. @Techhead: Opinions?
Also, could this be played as a two-faction match, with one playerteam locked, their base removed, and the Robot Factory in that default position? A coop mode for Tremulous? Players v. machine?
Another thing: they'd have to be somewhat biologically-based robots, since we can't take away the Alien's chief endgame weapon, Booster Poison. We still need to be able to say "Jager3 should have used a medkit against Genie's poison", right? They could be StroggBorgeriffic cybernetic bioplasmic robots.... Oh, and they don't get no medkits. (Or do they?.... Hrmm, Humans heal, Aliens heal, Robots don't heal.... Is that fair?)
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Great idea player but that would spam up the console...
+ renaming is gay, why not just go from
Scout 1-X joined Robot
Scout 1-X upgraded to Hussar
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Great idea player but that would spam up the console...
+ renaming is gay, why not just go from
Scout 1-X joined Robot
Scout 1-X upgraded to Hussar
OK
I was just using the already available chat scripts
but yours does sound
less what-you-said
and it would spam the crap out of the console
that's why i like it :P
every time a player joins a robot joins
every robot that survives a round is a newly dangerous enemy
you're constantly reminded of the robot factory
and it's dangerous continued existence
Grenadier3 was gunned down by TinDuck
Evlesoa should have run further
Bringer should have run further
Xiphos was blown to bits by Grenadier2
Grenadier2 was bitten by Genie
Genie should have run further
Sapper2 should have run further
UnnamedPlayer0 should have run further
UnnamedPlayer1 should have run further
"Nadez!!!"
also, there isn't a message when a player upgrades
or buys a new weapon
like
"Evlesoa bought a shotgun"
OR
"Xiphos evolved into a Marauder"
so it seems a little different
that's why I went with the typical
yet (as you say) ghey-sounding
"X was renamed Y"
which we always see anyway
but thx 4 t3h idea
that sounds cool 8)
what do you think of the botweapons?
shotgun/nailgun/railgun/nadelauncher?
OR
Unreal1 weapons?
@techhead: I hijacked ur thread... where are you? Come critique my ideas... I need validation! :P srsly - wo bist du?
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On the whole, I don't like the idea of robots staging up with the playerteams - I think a normal stageup with kill count might be better. Also remember that not every server uses sudden death, and those that do often have in in the last 5 minutes or so as a final measure. Designing gameplay mechanics around it isn't a great idea.
I also think that if the factory is destroyed, then that shouldn't be it for the round - it seems a little too easy for dragoons or psaws to take down one in s1 while it's still weak, and then you just play ordinary Tremulous for forty minutes or so. Perhaps it should just be disabled, and take a couple of minutes to get back online.
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Me likes the original idea. :)
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I like the original idea for spawning bots, I like player1's bot ideas, and I like benmachine's stage ideas.
Good job with working cooperatively on an idea without flames, guys.
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Hey yeah, no flames! Nice!
I guess that could be because the usual flamers don't visit the mods forum. :P
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Nadebot - Grenadier (SD)
*cough*GRAW*cough*
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Why not just few difrent kinds of robots that after sertain peroid of time duplicate and grow better (damage & health wise) like bacteria that mutates on every step. although whole thing smells a bit. I am afaraid that whole thing falls beacouse of lag that will come after over ten of these pests.
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On the whole, I don't like the idea of robots staging up with the playerteams - I think a normal stageup with kill count might be better. Also remember that not every server uses sudden death, and those that do often have in in the last 5 minutes or so as a final measure. Designing gameplay mechanics around it isn't a great idea.
I also think that if the factory is destroyed, then that shouldn't be it for the round - it seems a little too easy for dragoons or psaws to take down one in s1 while it's still weak, and then you just play ordinary Tremulous for forty minutes or so. Perhaps it should just be disabled, and take a couple of minutes to get back online.
nice
good points
maybe the number of robots could be
1 per player during stage 1
1 per every two players in stage 2
1 per every four players in stage 3
(I put in really annoying bots for SD 'cuz I play a lot of SD)
and every so often the bot type changes
robot factory either can't be destroyed
or has better defenses or is shielded in s1
supershotgunbots
nailgunbots
railgunbots
no helpers (repair, power or ammo)
robots stage up every so often (ten to fifteen minutes)
automatically
or after a certain number of kills
equal to the amount for a playerteam
so feeding the bots would really suck
also, I think supershotgunbots would be fairly tough
(gatling quadshotgunz!)
but maybe they're too weak
I tried to make the bots increase in lethality
more exponential than strictly linear
(that's why I put nadebots in SD, even though it doesn't last that long)
maybe the robot factory turrets
should be the same as the bots themselves
s1 supershotgun bots & turrets
s2 nailgun bots & turrets
s3 railgun bots & turrets
new bots appear at stage change whether or not old bots survived
even if robot factory is destroyed at any stage
a new one springs to life in the next stage
or bots spawn in random locations
let me know what you guys think
whitebear I fear that you may be right
can Trem netcode support this?
and will the server be a slide show?
I think you would have to limit both the number of bots
and the number of players :P
bringer/glunny: thx fellaz!
good to hear some feedback
warm fuzzies
@AKAnotu: I didn't catch the reference
'cuz I'm old and unhip
my bad
plz 'splain it to my ancient decrepitness
(also: yay! return key!!!)
[when I'm thinking in phrases...]
P.S. you'll always be ahkhanahtu to me
NADE!botz!
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i say it is good idea on one condition:
if u can hack the robots
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@above: noob.
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To be honest I think techead does not realy give damn what we talk here. ^^
Atleast he does not respond to ideas. Mibie he gave up on the idea when he found out that this might be impossible due lag issues. o.O
Or he just threw this in air for his personal amusement. -.-''
Well we just use this for public dreaming if that is the case :P
To be honest I would be happy with cube factory that produces player chasing smaller cubes that has rifle sticking out of their ass.
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To be honest I think techead does not realy give damn what we talk here. ^^
Atleast he does not respond to ideas. Mibie he gave up on the idea when he found out that this might be impossible due lag issues. o.O
Or he just threw this in air for his personal amusement. -.-''
Well we just use this for public dreaming if that is the case :P
To be honest I would be happy with cube factory that produces player chasing smaller cubes that has rifle sticking out of their ass.
Give me a cube model and i will atleast TRY. :D :D
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To be honest I would be happy with cube factory that produces player chasing smaller cubes that has rifle sticking out of their ass.
truly
could a person just make wireframe bounding boxes
of, say basi, mara & goon
and give them, maybe shotgun, lasgun & chaingun
and get the Q3a bot AI
for defend, attack players and attack (possibly) structures (waypoints?)
and have them spawn randomly
shotgun mounted on basi-sized bounding box
lasgun on mara-sized bbox
chaingun on goon-sized bbox
reactor bbox wireframe as "factory"
and give factory awesome benmachine turrets
s1 - chaingun turrets
s2 - pulserifle turrets
s3 - flamer turrets
plus give "factory" twice as much health as, say OM or reac
and factory respawns every 10 minutes, if destroyed
bots still produced at accelerating rate
bots increase in lethality (as does factory) if bots achieve killcount for playerteam stage-up
how u like now?
alien wireframe bounding boxes with human weapons mounted on top
good one whitebear!
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Haha! Just use turret model xD
Nothing to add exept that it should chase players instead of standing still :P
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:D
grinz
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Glad my idea didn't get shot completely down.
I don't care if you steal the tank models from a different GPL game, as long as it works.
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Hmm...
The upper two parts of the turret model mounted on a dretch?
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Something I'd like to clear up for myself;
Are these robots going to ble floating around, like the Halo Sentinels?
or
are they going to be crawling around, like Stargate Replicators?
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Good question.
But this still needs an AI. While there is one, it needs aas files. Who wants to make them?? :-? :-?
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They are going to walk around on the floor, no flying or wallwalking.
Mind you, this could be on legs, wheels, treads, or a low hover, whatever I get models for.
If I don't get models, Might as well use MGturrets on gray boxes.
They don't need formal names either, as kill messages would be the only time they would be displayed.
eg. "<Playername> was cauterized by a laser beam."
"<Playername> killed robot" would quickly result in spam.
Right now, basic coding is essential, nothing fancy.
Factory flowchart:
A. Factory spawns Droid. GOTO B
B. Wait. GOTO A
Droid flowchart:
A. Droid spawns. GOTO B
B. Droid wanders. If finds enemy, GOTO C.
C. Droid fights. If win, GOTO B. If lose, GOTO D
D. Droid dies. END
For wandering, wander any direction it feels like, no need for complicated coding.
For fighting, drive towards enemy while shooting. Borrow the turret code.
And thats about all I would expect for a first draft.
So, any volenteers???
Anyone?
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B. Droid wanders. If finds enemy, GOTO C.
C. Droid fights. If win, GOTO B. If lose, GOTO D
That right there is the hard part. If that part is taken by itself, then this becomes little more than a mod to add bot support, which has been done for humans, but is stupid and requires an aas file.
I think I have said it before, but give me models, and I'll try to give you a working mod. No promises. :cry:
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the bot movement code is class-independent atm, so it works for aliens or droids as well. only problem is that the aas file is taylored for human size bounding boxes and there are no wallwalking reachabilities in it.
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If ya feel like coding it, and have logistical questions, use the following rule of thumb:
When in doubt, do whatever needs less labor, as long as it works.
eg. If the AAS file is tailored for Human-sized BBOX's, make em 30x30x40.
Well, I should probably start work on the models, anyway.
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We could try making exceptionally stupid bots - they would simply go forwards, and note how their position changes - if it doesn't for a couple of seconds, assume pressed against wall and turn randomly. Will get stuck everywhere., but will move at least.
Will die repeatedly on uncreation.
Oh by the way - how would automated base defences respond to them, and vice versa?
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We could try making exceptionally stupid bots - they would simply go forwards, and note how their position changes - if it doesn't for a couple of seconds, assume pressed against wall and turn randomly. Will get stuck everywhere., but will move at least.
Will die repeatedly on uncreation.
Oh by the way - how would automated base defences respond to them, and vice versa?
Might as well toss in an aimbot, just to even them out. The problem with aas files is that I think that most maps dont have them.
[off-topic]
I have my own bot mod in the works. They spawn but dont move at all--they act like 999 pingers. Should hopefully eventually work better.
[/off-topic]
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I know why ... they have no real client to send data
take a look at how ioquake3 handles it
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pm a mod maker about it and it might work
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I just wanted to say that this was originally a great idea, and wonder if the OP is still interested. As has been said elsewhere, this is the coolest third race idea yet, and is probably a lot more doable since Am|ne has come along. Of course a modeler would still be needed.
On a side note, I notice that there is no Tremulous Modeling Forum. Many communities have an active forum where modelers, like mappers and modmakers, can discuss ideas, help one another with technical issues, and etc. I know that sometimes modeling communities can get way out of control, and make a bunch of useless models which get made into bad artifacts, but it seems as if the Tremulous modeling community has no home. Please correct me if I have somehow gotten the wrong impression.
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I am still interested, if it is possible.
I originally designed the concept around stupid AI, really. This was for two reasons, coding a third team into Trem was a higher priority than coding specific AI behaviors, and the bots were supposed to be easy to trick so that you don't have to stop and kill one of them.
I mean, how much easier could it get to code than this:
Bot A: Lasgun-ish robot that doesn't need to buy ammo or heal.
Bot B: Dretch-ish robot that can't wall-walk.
Bot C: Bigger version of Bot A
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I am still interested, if it is possible.
I originally designed the concept around stupid AI, really. This was for two reasons, coding a third team into Trem was a higher priority than coding specific AI behaviors, and the bots were supposed to be easy to trick so that you don't have to stop and kill one of them.
I mean, how much easier could it get to code than this:
Bot A: Lasgun-ish robot that doesn't need to buy ammo or heal.
Bot B: Dretch-ish robot that can't wall-walk.
Bot C: Bigger version of Bot A
Hey I had a crazy idea last night, inspired by that industrial waste discussion in the "Research" thread. There would be three levels of industrial waste, produced either by research or as a by-product of the Robot Factory. These would be, in order of annoyingness/lethality:
1) stationary, destructible crates (any team member can break them up using an attack)
2) pushable, non-destructible crates (any team member can push them out of base, creating barriers & choke points)
3) stationary, deconstructable, explodable barrels (can be deconned by builder, must be reconned within 30 sec, or builder blows up)
Possible new #2: (see whitebear's comment below) - deconstructible, non-destructible crates (can be deconned by a builder, must be reconned within 3 min, no more than 3 can be "carried", pops out automagically at three min time limit)?
:)
re-edit'd (see ==Troy=='s reply to whitebear)
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I don't think the pushing thing is possible with the engine. Sure we could have them move like players but it would bring lag to smaller servers quite fast.
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see edit above
thx :-[ :-\ :laugh:
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But can't you do those with plain mapping?
Buildings always should have function. Otherwise we can just get some model from net and make bbox for it.
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pushables are possible. Any destructible item IS an entity. No matter what it is, even brushes are entities. All buildables have extra checks for falling, it is possible to make similar thing for shifting. Quite simple to do a "kicking" where the object is pushed up a bit and in the direction of the kick, preventing any code for actually "sliding". And can be done server-side only, I doubt any pmove will be needed for non-client objects.
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see re-edit above
thx :-[ :-\ :laugh:
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download link???
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Please read the thread you are replying to.
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I have been recently struck with the inspiration to model and skin the alien race myself.
Animations will probably be easy as pie.
The will be kinda like fixed-gun hover-tanks, the only moving part will probably be the gun moving up and down, and I plan on making them segmented with different guns for different "production models"
Also appearing will be the factories, defenses, and mines.
If there is interest for someone to code the mod for me, I will then upload them for use in it. If not, I'll just post screenies when they are done, maybe a concept art preview.
Also, I have something else to say on the subject:
*Author Bump*
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Yay!!!
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Possibly the easiest way to code it would be to bring back the botlib. However, it would require .aas files to be made for every map.
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botlib patch is here: http://www.mercenariesguild.net/patches/index.php?do=details&task_id=72
and generating aas files is trivial for most maps. here's an example bspc config that generates aas files tailored for dretches: www.soclose.de/misc/trem/trem_dretch.cfg
the phys_wallwalk line will not work with quake3's bspc.
how is your port of the brainworks bot going, are you still on it?
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...Umm...
It got as far as obtaining the source code... Once the school year is over, I think I will actually do some real work on it....
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what about if it acts like the hive missile..like it will move following an entity, if there is no entity or it is lost, it will move in random direction
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A.I. has been done by people before, so applying it is the main coding hurdle, as well as world-owned buildings and 'players'.
I am doing all of this in my free time between gaming, including working on the models, working on the design scheme (textures), and learning how to use blender.
If someone expresses interest in working on the coding half of the project, please speak up. If I do get an accomplice in this, I will probably get the full set of models done within a month or two. I am not, however, going to both model and code this myself. Thus, if no one wants to do work on it, then the models will just be a pet project of mine.
But if anyone shows a shred of interest in working on it, then I can supply a rough guideline for the different classes and buildings.
I know a lot of people want to try this out, but that can't happen without any sort of code. You can use stand-in models on a project, but there's no such thing as stand-in code.
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Hmmm, good to see project going forward. Interesting, very interesting indeed. Ok, I lied - I just love it. Look forward to play :P
Now i would offer my help with making models/textures but i dont want to offend techhead who started doing it
(and im sure he can handle it). Im sorry, im completely useless in coding :(
Techhead, i have some experience* in using blender3d and if you need any help just write. I would be glad to give you a helping hand.
Keep on going!
_________________________________
*10230/25000 exp. Lvl. 23 ;D
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Thanks for volunteering, I might need a second hand for the buildings later on.
Given the idea of swarm-bots, I'm going to keep the models fairly low poly, probably ~150 or less.
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Obviously this model has far too many vertices to work as a game model, but in terms of design, would you be looking for something like this?
(http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9995/picture3fo7.png)
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Just a suggestion, but I'd like to see a turret on caterpillar tracks. I like seeing absurd things. :)
Maybe a luci on four legs and a weak energy shield?
Oh and Samurai, +1 for the model. I would try smoothing the vertices though.
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Nice try but it looks like a disabled person made it out of tin foil.
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Well, that's what you get when you spend a little over 5 minutes on a model!
I might give the lucifer cannon robot a try, if I can get anything looking good without going overboard on the vertex count.
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I decided to make them either treaded or hoverers with a tank-like turret on top, but I am leaning toward the hovercraft design.
The design scheme I had in mind was very sharp, angular, and definitely not something most humans would enjoy being in close proximity too.
Ideally, I want them to be both visually and practically distinct from the other two teams, so hovering would probably be the best bet, not to mention they can be much more lacking in animations if one is feeling lazy.
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Spamming your thread, Techhead. Sorry ;)
done in 45min.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2551069118_6f8f836cb0_m.jpg)
(I was bored with waiting for benmachines arrival, dont take this too serious, dont even bother commenting it just random model inspired by last techhead post) Good luck with modeling techhead!
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I know you said don't bother commenting...
I love it, with a bit of smoothing and texturing this could be the new turret model!
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Well Redsky in turn inspired me, so and I was bored like him so I whipped up something in around 40 or so min.
I hope you like it.
EDIT: PS It looks cooler when you can see it from all angles. ;)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/2555103784_dc9bbaa8dd_o.jpg)
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Oh, wow... That's amazing! Looks very, very intimidating :).
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1 question, how many polygons does that thing that? From what I can see, it is exceeding the 500 polygon limit.
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wait, is it flying?
makes me think of this one...
(http://epsy46.free.fr/ss/st-blackjack.png)
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Obviously in its current state it is too many polys. Without the greeble on the ball it is a lot less, but probably still too many. I didn't actually think it would have anyplace in Tremulous, and still really don't, so I wasn't too worried about the poly count as it was just 40ish minutes of fooling around.
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does any one have the turret texture because it wont work for me in winrar or zip
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My 2nd Favorite Mod That Never Got Made.
(techhead, why hast thou forsaken us?)
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Because I can't code and every model I made sucked worse than what other people posted here.
Kinda-sorta still dabbling away at learning blender.
Anything else for my cool little mod really needs someone who can and will do the first two items.
Ask me for specs on a robot class you are adding, sure I can do that. Or perhaps brainstorming for buildings. But I might not be much help otherwise.