AFK Bots

WhiteWeasel

I been lurking around for a bit and noticed some people still worrying about AFK players. I'm not sure if this would work out in NS2, as in it's not a drop in, drop out multiplayer. However I'd like to get some feedback.

In another game, Guns of Icarus Online, a player had an option for going AFK. Then he would get swapped out with a bot, and if he were gone for X minutes, he would get booted from the server. Perhaps the NS2 version just auto kicks after X (say two or three) min of AFK and replaces the player with a bot until someone joins. And whatever res the bot had could be given to the new guy maybe?

I'm not sure how good bots would stand up to human players, even if you just used them for base keeping. You could give them orders manually like a unit in starcraft. Auto Attack, patrol, guard, and build/repair structure. They will always respawn last to keep them from clogging up IP's and using up Eggs. Also they will not buy upgrades unless specified to prevent waste of resources. OR that could be kept in as a deterrent against going AFK as a bot could use your res. Making a bot that would be useful to aliens is going to be more tricky, because I don't think a skulk bot would be any good and giving the khammander a gorge might not always be useful.

Even if alien/marine bots are just fancy drifters and macs that can defend themselves a bit better I'm not sure if this is the solution for the problem.

Draptor

I'd rather they be booted to the ready room after a minute, and auto-kicked after 3 or 4. In a game with relatively low max players per server, each person is important. On an 18 man server, a single Marine is 12.5% of your total damage output, or more than one entire weapons upgrade. This isn't an MMO or battlefield 4 (Which doesn't have spawn queues to worry about, and the maps are much bigger) where a single AFK guy is 1/32nd of the team, by going AFK in NS2 you're actively screwing your team over much more severely. NS2 tends to be a game where seconds matter. Hell if you accidentally get a rookie/troll comm for the first 30 seconds it takes to eject him, you may have already lost the game. There are plenty of folks who want to play and contribute, especially the coveted slots on the hilariously few non-rookie servers. I'd much rather a fresh face join the game than bot hold the slot for someone who didn't have the decency to quit out when he went to have a smoke mid-match. This is also the downside of vote-randomizing the ready room immediately after a map change- folks went to shit/piss at the best time they could find and it never fails that the AFK ones are randomized onto your team.

/rant

On a more practical side, a bot you have to manually command would just be another burden on a Khamm/Comm in a hectic game. If you gave it any autonomy, it would be harder to balance and increase the already disliked PVE. Of course, the downside of the autokick I've suggested is that there ARE some players far worse than a bot could ever be, and potentially worse than an AFK or empty slot.

WhiteWeasel

That's the issue with NS2, small teams plus fast paced gameplay means an AFK can hurt a team. But the game is far too dynamic for bots to work to any sort of effectiveness beyond being an armed MAC/Drifter. I guess the reason it works in GoIO is that dying in under a minute of fire is considered fast, and therefor it's easier for a bot to operate in the slower paced combat.

shriike

@Draptor Guns of Icarus players are even more important in the fact that there are 4 players per ship, and it is either a 2v2 or a 3v3. Meaning a total of 8v8 or 12v12 always. That seems closer to NS2 than not, but you have to remember each team (ship) is 4 players. So if one of those 4 players leave, having 3 players is huge handicap. If the pilot (commander) leaves, it is instant loss.

The AI in Guns of Icarus is also 10x better than ns2. I doubt UWE plans on spending more time on the AI. I don't think they should have made it at all.