Extended Mechanoid Behavior

[SpaceDorf]

Inspired by this Bug Report where Mechanoids dismantle their shippart, I now kind of wish they did this on purpose.

Since the Shippart event is similiar to a siege ( strong troops guarding weapons that can effect the whole map )
it would be cool if the Mechanoids started a new hive with the ressources from the ship.

1.) Dismantle ship
2.) Build AI Control Center, Build Weapon of Subtle Organic Wipeout ( release toxic cloud, radiation, psychic )
3.) Harvest Ressources,Build energy and Reproduction Centers. Kill anything Organic on sight.
4.) Grow, Built Beacon that attracts more mechanoids

Just like this.

[Vlad0mi3r]

Sounds interesting. Maybe they could also build things that have some bonus value. Like batteries that don't Zzzt. So you have to balance up how far you let things go and how you approach taking them out.

[SpaceDorf]

I am not sure about that.

I would like the mechanoids to be a real endgame threat on a different level as the hordes of pirates and tribals.
And having Items that invite the player to "farm" seems counter productive.

But I am also aware, that the Mechanoids would need such Items to be an actual threat. And using the players own greed
against him, to let the Threat grow out of control.

Which finally leads to the ressources required by the Mechanoids to actually built their stuff, which they would have to harvest from the map including the players base, as biggest ressource collection on the map.

[Jibbles]

I would like the mechanoids to be a real endgame threat on a different level as the hordes of pirates and tribals.

Like the ideas. Hopefully it won't be too long to get an update on the mechs. I agree with the quote. I always pictured them that way but they don't have that high threat level like I imagined.. Seems funny to me that a lot of players are more scared of infestations than mechs.

[Noph]

I like it - if you wanted to simplify it a bit you could have the resource they collect come from the organics they kill. So they kill a squirrel/pawn and bring it back to their base where it goes into the machine as a kind of nasty biofuel to create more mechanoids/poison range. 

0010100110101 (laughs in binary)!!

[Vlad0mi3r]

But I am also aware, that the Mechanoids would need such Items to be an actual threat. And using the players own greed
against him, to let the Threat grow out of control.

That's what I was thinking making it so that the rapid response with EMP mortars and a strike team was not the go to answer. Can just see the comments coming in. " I left these mechanoids for only 3 days and then they built this inferno gun turret that took out half my base. How am I supposed to beat them???"

[PatrykSzczescie]

I don't know what exactly it means, but it sounds cool, so I agree with this idea.

[Yoshida Keiji]

This makes sense, I was about to suggest something similar. Any new threat that goes against killbox players would be greatly welcomed. A mechanoids version of siege that expansively invades and occupies the player's map would be a fantastic update. And I'm already fantasizing by remembering Jean Claude van Damme "Universal Soldier" where captured colonists could be turned into half-machines...which technically we do already have with bionic limbs, but instead all known mechanoid items that do not drop as items when they are killed. Force killbox players to come out or die by attrition.

[mistomaxo]

mechanoids, much like xenohumans and uplifted animals, are interesting creatures mentioned in the background setting material readme that have only very basic interactions currently ingame. ways to attempt to communicate with, trade with, or pacify these entities would be a plus. perhaps a group of nomadic mechanoids could pass thru ur map, or enter and deepdrill/mine resources and leave

[Bolgfred]

Firstly, I truely agreely. Agree I say.

Secondish, I'd like to see this event as simple as possible:

When the ship drops, it will start with a random condition(5-75%). By now, mechanoids will spawn and try to repair the ship. Depending on condition they will need more or less. If the robots find the ressources they need around them (radius 100 or so around the ship), they collect what they need, repair their ship and fly away.
If they don't find the ressources, they build converters. these converters can use basic ressources to make more advanced ones. The conertion rates is quite amazing, which turns 1 wood+1steel into 2 plasteel or something. After an amount x the converter breaks down and needs to be replaced. Some example recipes:

wood+steel =plasteel
wood+stone=gold
stone+steel=uranium
wood=steel
stone/wood=steel

Depending on their needed ressources and the ressources in the landscape, they will build converters and farm nearby ressources until they have enough and fly away, or... ... or they see a colonist. When there will be any colonist in shooting range, they go into combat mode, destroy all converters, dismantle their ship and use the AI core to construct a sensor array. After this is done, they attack the colony.
The sensor will force 1-5 mechanoid attacks within a short time period ( a year or something)


okay.. this wasn't simple, but for me it feels like it is