The Alien Menace (yawn) - Lets brainstorm.

[GrimJahk]

 

-"Yay, more incoming aliens... I can pop over here and just collect the Phat Loots while they duke it out with the locals!" (actual meta game currently when in sectors above your punching level)

 

 

Right now the "Aliens" are not much different than a collection of zombie pirates... endless waves of cannon fodder. How about make the fights with them a challenge and an EVENT (not common, maybe dependent on proximity to center?), not a foregone expectation that is a grind... OR something you plan around playing vulture...

 

And they are supposed to BE alien... so maybe they should have a slightly tweaked experience in the game...

 

Maybe not even see them until AFTER you equip your first Naonite?

 

Like... self preservation... if they are obviously over-matched or losing they attempt escape.

 

They LEAVE zones that hold no interest to them. Some ships use Kamikaze techniques when low on health and can't escape, or self destruct doing damage to everything within x radius, destroying drops and damaging other ships...

 

Certain ships call for reinforcements if they are solo...

 

I'm sure there are hundreds of other ideas, and I already know this is NOT an easy thing to do/include... behaviors can be a challenge

 

 

Aliens are focused on you, they always come to your sector... Why show up and ignore you? Is this something to discover? Maybe they auto aggro and ignore everything BUT you... unless you have a certain artifact... Maybe their behavior depends on how many in that battlegroup...

 

Let the discussions begin.....

 

 

[MrVorgra]

If I recall X3 had a alien menace that multiplied when it enter the game, they could assimilate as-well if I recall, Kha'ak or something like that.

 

This cause the play to drop what they where doing and actively eliminated the threat, then there was another terra-former alien threat, these guys where just like Xzotan, dropped in, fucked ship up, died,

 

And then there were pirates, these guys actively hunted the player, all of these where relatively rare occurrences, like the kha'ak where once in 100 hours, the Terra-Formers only really occurred in certain areas, and the pirates where probably once an hour or so.

[Blaine]

I tend to agree, although it's important to recognize that the game is 6-12 months from release and some things are essentially placeholders: they're there, but they're implemented simply until the developers iterate them. It's very true that aliens currently show up, attack NPCs only unless you fire weaponry, exhibit no other complex behavior, and are just walking loot pinatas once you're sufficiently powerful.

 

It could work something like this, keeping in mind that I don't actually know all of the game's backstory and secrets yet and haven't gotten into the core (nor do I want spoilers), so I don't know what they are or what their motivations might be:

 

• Iron-Titanium: Small alien scouts show up from time to time and avoid conflict, staying away from the central portions of the sector and observing for a short while, after which they leave. If they're attacked, they will attempt to flee.
   
  Titanium-Naonite: Scouts still appear, but also, alien patrols of 3-4 small ships appear from time to time. These patrol all around the edges of the sector, and will attack if anyone gets too close, but will also attempt to flee if outmatched.
   
  Naonite-Trinium: Scouts no longer appear. Patrols do still appear, but also, small groups of alien warships can appear. These are aggressive and will attack smaller, weaker ships in the sector (even if the player doesn't actually fire a weapon), but again, will attempt to flee if outmatched.
   
  Trinium-Xanion: Patrols no longer appear. Small warship groups still do appear, but also, large warship groups can appear. These will attack any size of ship and although they'll still flee if outmatched, they'll only do so nearly at the last minute.
   
  Core: Small warship groups no longer appear. Large warship groups still do appear, but also, large battle fleets appear. These fleets attack everything in sight, stations included, and will never flee, fighting to the death.
  

[cy414]

big plus to all of this.

i mentioned in another thread i was disappointed when i found out what the xsotan where supposed to be, compared to what they are now.

 

i figure a lot of this stuff is going to be ingame in some form eventually, but that it'l be a while due to adaptive ai being something even major publishers/studios struggle with.

 

for example, kamikaze aliens (or just aliens who like ramming) would give repulsion turrets a reason to exist. they are certainly overpowered for dealing with mere boarding craft.