Pirates anyone?

chewy027 · #1 April 6th, 2001, 05:04 AM

I know there has been tons of discussion about playing as pirates in the "Pirates life for me" thread, but does anyone else think that pirates should be added to the game as a roaming computer player? Many ideas in the aforementioned thread could probably be used in their implamentation?

This topic came up in the Intergalactic Civil War!!?? thread and I thought it deserved it's own thread. So here it is.

BTY what does everyone think of the civil war idea anyway? Any ideas/suggestions are welcome. So go there and tell us what you think

!

jc173 · #2 April 6th, 2001, 06:16 AM

Yes, but unfortunately I think the general consensus is that the AI is not capable of managing a pirate type race. The AI already has problems with boarding ships in combat. Plus the AI_vehicle_design.txt file would have to be pretty huge, since you would not know beforehand what weapons you will have access too. I assuming that the boarding problem could probably be fixed. But there still remains a problem of how to limit the races colonization and expansion, and how to make it hide its bases etc. Now this is all assuming you're talking about a pirate race like Suicide_junkie and whitehojo are talking about. One which would expand by capturing ships and analyzing technology and putting to their own use. A Civ/CivII barbarian type race would probably a lot easier to implement.

Baron Munchausen · #3 April 6th, 2001, 06:25 AM

Pirates and SPACE MONSTERS are both needed to flesh out the game. Random monster and pirate attacks would serve the same purpose as in Civ or MOO, keeps you from having so much undisturbed time to build infrastructure if you are in an isolated position while unfortunates who were placed close together have to spend much of their resources on warfare. These are 'accessories' though. The basic game features and AI have to be working well before messing with peripheral issues like this. I sure hope they will get added into the final product, though.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 06 April 2001).]

CaptSpoogy · #4 April 6th, 2001, 07:07 AM

Instead of having pirates, have the neutral empires be more agressive - always attacking your ships and creating minefields - things that would bother you and distract you from going after the other empires.

I would like to see a few space monsters. It would add a little twist to exploration.

Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz · #5 April 6th, 2001, 03:37 PM

I like the idea of "non-player characters".

The occasional randomly generated battle fleet or swarm of space locusts (organic fighters) could be a lot of fun.

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Resistence is futile.

chewy027 · #6 April 6th, 2001, 04:24 PM

I was thinking of the pirates being more like the civ Versions. Kinda bothersome pests who could sometimes put a decent fight. But i still think some of the ideas from suicide_junkie and Whitehojo could be implemented. Also there are many good ideas for pirates in the Stars! Supernova Genesis game being developed. We could probably steal some ideas from them as well.

Also, the occasional space monster is always welcome

!

[This message has been edited by chewy027 (edited 06 April 2001).]

mac5732 · #7 April 6th, 2001, 09:18 PM

like the idea of the locust. Similiar to the Borg in Federation game. The galaxy could be invaded by outside race, hates everyone & everything, ftrs and warships with several weapons everyone else does not have or could obtain. they hit and run, stay in areas for random periods of time, then disappear, appearing again at random at another location. between these, the pirates and civil war, No more safe areas, you would have to protect all systems, It would be enough to pull your hair out.

just some ideas mac

chewy027 · #8 April 6th, 2001, 09:46 PM

Mac, perfect! Exactly what I had in mind for a space monster. Another race from outside tha galaxy.

The pirates could be a race also, but a race of, you guessed it, pirates. I'm sure someone could make a great race for them and have MM put it in the game. The only difference might be that pirates are in every game unless turned off, and have some special abilites other races aren't allowed to have. If this would be to hard to implement than i would be more than satisfied with civlike pirates.

And you are correct if all these ideas were (and hopefully they will be

) implemented then there would be no safe areas. Which might finally give some of the experienced players a real challenge. And for the rest of us, if we wanted to, we could just turn these options off.

[This message has been edited by chewy027 (edited 06 April 2001).]

Nitram Draw · #9 April 7th, 2001, 01:43 AM

I think it will be a brave soul who tries to write the AI for a Pirate!
I do hope the Civil War concept can be put in, that would be a great addition.

mac5732 · #10 April 7th, 2001, 09:53 PM

I would think that the Pirates, Civil War, and the Locusts could be put into the game as options, that way, those who want them could use them and those that don't would have the option not to use, or experiment with each one. SJ has a pirate mod that he has done a lot of work on and its sounds great, but I think that to really be effective, all three ideas would probably have to be hard coded by MM which would mean an expansion pack, but that would have to be up to them. I know the pirate mod can only be played by human for right now, and until the civil war and locusts are modded or hard coded it would be hard to tell how the AI would handle them. I think all three ideas would be great additions to the game, you might want to check with some of the modders and or MM on feasibility of modding or hard code designs...

just some ideas mac