Auto pilot mode

I suggest adding an autopilot mode to the game to help with floater problem.
The autopilot mode can be activated by user (e.g. when they have to answer a call, etc.), or automatically activated if system detected that the player was disconnected.
And there should be an icon to tell the friendlies that it is an autopilot ship, and the icon should NOT be visible to unfriends. This helps the friendlies devise strategy to compensate.
To compensate for situation that users abuse it to automatically obtain resources:
- the reward should be reduced, to maybe 80%, if it is used. (high enough to encourage user to use it when have to be AFK instead of try their luck as a floater)
- rewards drops to zero in autopilot mode game in case of many activation in a certain period of time. This is for the situation when a user have bad connection but keep starting new games.
- account banned if actual abuse is confirmed
A warning message should appear when it is activated, to let user know consequence of abuse.

And I would hope the AI would be a smarter than those in the introductory games.

 

That would actually be pretty great

 

This is actually a super good idea
Take note devs, as something does need to be done about the floaters...

 

Excellent post. I've seen this suggested several times before. Can't imagine a reason not to implement this.

 

@Miika, @Zeus, @Pinecone, what do you think?

 

+1

 

You forgot the reason.Me too.

Spoiler

I don't even know this thing had been talked in this forum before

 

I guess it's a really hard thing to do, you'll need to develop an AI that's not so strong (in terms of aiming skills and movement) and not so weak.

 

Were you able to remember if a DEV gave a reason this "floater/bot replacement" idea was not a good idea?

It seems to me, that we don't really need a better AI that is any stronger than the bots at 200 infamy. All we need is for the ship to move around and fire a few shots so it looks like a real player. Sometimes that is all the difference between a win and a loss, for the floater to absorb some of the enemy shots earlier in the game, instead of being killed in 10 seconds at the very ends of the battle where his HP means nothing.

 

I don't see how a bot could be more helpful than a floater ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I don't think this would make any difference, for low level players it might but over 2k infamy I imagine players will soon realize that this is a bot and just not focusing it because he's not a real danger to others, other than that if the bot doesn't really have a "play with your team" thing he might just wonder away from others and be an easy and quick target, again. I really like the idea of having a bot when someone is AFK or DC (Like they do in Heroes of the Storm), but this has to be a well made AI, not just a bunch of random movements and behavior, but it can't be something really strong because it can easily overpower players (imagine a bot that will always hit everything because it can calculate way better than a human and can dodge your shoot more efficiently because yet again. it can calculate it way faster). I really think it's a hard task for them to do it and I guess they have more important things to do/fix than this.