quote: Original post by MadKeithV

On an almost unrelated note:
What if you designed a strategy game where you have only one unit? The command unit, that is...
Every other unit in the game would be controlled by the AI, and you simply issue orders, in the hope that they will hear them, and actually follow them correctly.

Wouldn''t that make for an interesting change of pace?

Now this deserves it''s own post! But in lieu of that, I''ll note a couple of things: 1) if you can see your units manuevering, then AI at the unit level could be heavily scripted, and maybe thus more dramatic (after all, it''s the computer that''s playing against itself here, not you) 2) If you don''t see your units, a nice battle report and abstraction mechanism will be necessary.

I think it''d be great to be in the shoes of someone like Napoleon or Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a mechanic like this would put you there.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

I think it may work provided that you''re AI is develloped enough. This way, the NPCs may say no to the player "suggestions". (I don''t like orders ) They could make fun of him, or support him when he pass out... It would also allow for some good story elements. One of the player''s friends may sacrifice himself to save the player''s character, or a nice romance perhaps...
What about hiring someone for a specified amount of time ? I see many possibilities, but it all depends on the AI... Of course, these party members should not be imposed on the player.
What if they decide the player is not good enough to be the leader ? (niark niark)

Wavinator,

The AI never got fixed in Fallout 2, in fact the game got harder so you needed NPCs to survive. You had to reload combat scenes a lot of time because your NPCs just ran into gun fire and used up all the ammo gave them on nonsense. This makes Fallout 2, in my opinion, a much worse game than Fallout 1.

Jacob Marner

quote: Original post by felonius

Wavinator,

The AI never got fixed in Fallout 2, in fact the game got harder so you needed NPCs to survive. You had to reload combat scenes a lot of time because your NPCs just ran into gun fire and used up all the ammo gave them on nonsense. This makes Fallout 2, in my opinion, a much worse game than Fallout 1.

Jacob Marner

Yes, I used NPC''s a lot the first time I played Fallout 2. The rule of thumb is: never, ever give a burst weapon or grenades to NPC''s. Period. And if you get that damn super mutie Marcus, change his minigun to a plasma rifle. He won''t kill you that many times Fallout 2 had some improvement over Fallout because you could equip your NPC''s with armor, and you had more control over burst mode(I wish we had even lower settings), drug usage etc. But it still wasn''t perfect.

Anyone remember Ultima 7? It''s perhaps the best game(in my opinion) of the Ultima Series. We could have some NPC''s in your party, and they could get angry with you for a variety of reasons. Iolo once left me because I was stealing too many things from people''s houses But at least he warned me before he did.
NPC''s could get scared in battle and flee, sometimes dropping some of their possessions in the hurry. Another time they fled in panic from a house because it was haunted(a chair moved with no apparent reason in front of the NPC). And when they saw something really disgusting they could vomit. Besides, the NPC''s were really part of the story, although you could leave their with their own lives if you wished.



Gaiomard Dragon
-===(UDIC)===-

just imagine if there are 3 sides to a conflict, whereas you must team up with one of your enemies to defeat the other one. now think if your "enemy" had to join your party, and the conflicts within your party members. would make for some great stories.

-Luxury

Darkstone already has this and it works ok. You usually have to creatively position the other party memeber by moving in a certain pattern, but it works. Did I mention that Darkstone has no friendly fire? I think no friendly fire is the key to that working. Anyone who has been rammed, shot, blown up, or diced by his or her AI control buds knows that until AI gets smarter AI controlled units are generally not the best things in the world.

Think about it, the computer is controlling thousands of other beings that you kill in mass quantaties, do you really think that since an AI unit is in your party that it won''t die in the same stupid manner that the rest of the computer controlled units have already? Worst case scenario - Daiktana. Best - Unreal Tournament (but it at most has 15 other AI units to control and it still falls for stupid human tricks).

As Paul said, would you really want this in a game?