NGAI = Next Generation Artificial Intelligence.
So it will probable be crap due to I am coding it from the ground up LOL.
I am soon to start work on a very basic AI Plugin and what features would you like them to have.
Please also note these will be for the version in the SVN Codebase and not our current Live Game, so once we get the game code to a state where its playable I will open up a game which will hopefully have these in there.
The Basic Option so far will be:
Movement, Scan, Attack, Flee, Patrol.
[Movement]
Movement will be supported by all types of AI apart from the AI Patrolling their own Home Sectors.
[Scanning]
All AI will support a form of Scan whether its to scan a Ship, Planet or just a scan to see what's in current sector.
[Attacking]
AI that are flagged as Combat AI can and will attack players ships or their planets if provoked, normally they will only attack the players ship.
Also if an AI see's a player stronger than them (determined by a scan to two) they will ignore them and continue on with what they was doing.
[Fleeing]
All AI wile Flee using one of their EWD's if they are weaker than the player that have attacked them.
[Patrolling]
AI can and will have a group of ships that patrol their own home sectors and anyone entering their sector will be fine if they do nothing to provoke them.
You will provoke them if you Scan either their ships or their planets in their home sectors, and you will be hunted by them until "THEY HAVE KILLED YOU" Self-Destructing or getting killed by a friend or other players doesn't count.
[AI Home Sectors and Planets]
Yes the AI will have Home Sectors, which may "ONLY" have their planets in them and cannot be attacked by players.
[AI Ship Types]
Well at this stage I am thinking of following types of ships:
Scouts, Fighters, Spies, Cruisers, Battle Ships, Freighters etc.
[Scouts]
These types of ships just go from sector to sector scanning stuff, just to learn what's about in the universe.
And nothing more, if scanned or attacked these will flee using their EWD.
[Fighters]
These are generic combat ships that can range in level up to a set level.
These cannot jump that far due to their engines and computers are low level.
[Spies]
These are low combat level but have very high Cloaks, Sensors and are fast, sadly these cannot jump that far.
Also like the Scout, these will EWD as soon as they are scanned or attacked and are very sneaky in getting out of combat.
[Cruisers and Battle Ships]
These are High Level ships that patrol their Home Sectors.
These are also used to attack planets and strong players that are on their hit/hunted list, so beware.
These ships can upgrade their tech when they need to before battle, so if you have pissed them off prepare to die
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
[Freighters]
Here is the fun part...
These are very slow transporter ships due to their large size which fly about the universe with "possibly" large amounts of cargo on board.
These can be attacked by players, but be warned there will be different types of Freighters, ones that are generic and ones owned by the Faction (i.e. the big buggers with the Cruisers and Battle Ships, so you will need to deterring this when you scan them, scanning these ships will not put you on the hit list, however it will make them scared and they may try and flee.
Scanning these ships will give you a rough idea of their cargo and also what faction controls them.
I am also tempted of have multi-faction AI which can in fact hate each other.
Also I may have the AI attack current team mates of players that have pissed them off so be warned.
I will try and add bits at a time every reset of the game.
So what you all think so far.