Androids/Robots with evolving AI

[Enjou]

So here's what I'm thinking - in addition to the human colonists, in the mid/late game there could be the possibility of adding androids or robots with advanced AI to your colony. These could be built, bought from one of the more rare traders for a high price, or perhaps be found in the ruins that may later be implemented as a remnant of an ancient advanced civilization.

The AI types would start off as blank slates - they have some degree of knowledge of all or most of the possible jobs, and get better at those jobs as they do them more frequently. Eventually some internal limit would make the android stop learning so they wouldn't be too overpowered, but being able to direct the development of one of your colonists to be a specialist or jack of all trades to your liking would be quite powerful. Perhaps the android could master two jobs before maxing out. Of course, that shouldn't be without risk...

AI is a crapshoot, as the trope goes, and so using an android would come with some risk. As an android learns, it would get character traits related to what it does. Some of these would be positive for your colony, others negative, others harmless quirks, and others being a mix. The possible traits would depend on what you choose to specialize your android in. Here are a few examples:

1. Let's say you make your android fight in combat a lot. Ways this could go...
Omnicidal - This android enjoys killing humans. A lot. If it doesn't kill an enemy for some time, it will go berserk and turn on your colonists.
Cruel - The android has a fascination with inflicting pain. Beatings of prisoners will be more effective, and if left idle it may go out of its way to kill animals on the map on occasion.
Fiercely Protective - The android has fought in numerous battles to protect the colony. It fights with efficiency beyond what it should be physically capable of.
Gloomy - The android is routinely depressed due to having seen and caused much death. Its presence may cause colonists to be less happy, and may decide to go into the wilderness and self-destruct if left idle for too long.

2. Let's say you have an android you relegated to farming duty...
Green Thumb - The android farms with incredible efficiency.
Tree Hugger - The android likes plants more than the colonists, and will sulk and refuse to work if it sees too many plants harvested in succession.
Nurturing - The android's patient work with plants has translated into compassion for living things, and the android will help lift the spirits of depressed colonists.
Calm - The android's patient raising of plants has instilled it with great calm, and it will be significantly less prone to malfunction.

3. Let's say you have an android you had do a bunch of different things, with no specific focus...
Inferiority Complex - The android, failing to have mastered anything, will get depressed at its failures if it does any one task for too long and sulk instead of work.
Helpful - The android will prioritize helping colonists with active tasks over doing tasks it is assigned to do.

4. You have an android who you've made master medical knowledge...
Pacifist - As a healer, the android takes "do no harm" seriously.
Social - The android has had many conversations with its patients, and will spend time every day talking with the colonists.
Mad Tinker - The android has a fascination with biology and will sometimes experiment on colonists or prisoners when healing them. This may results in the colonist being crippled when a failure occurs or enhanced when successful.

Some traits may be shared among possible jobs. For instance "Social" could come about through both being a doctor or being a warden.

The androids could probably have two or three 'revelations' through their development, with a trait gained at each one. If you get a really bad trait early on, perhaps it could be curbed by having the android go along a path that has a contradictory trait. For instance, you could have an android with the "Omnicidal" trait could be urged to farm as a second specialty in the hopes of getting the "Calm" trait, so that it would enjoy battle a lot but not turn on your colonists. On the other hand, this would risk it getting the "Tree Hugger" trait and having it go berserk if it sees your colonists harvesting plants even if it did battle recently.

Thoughts?

[CommieKazie]

1. Let's say you make your android fight in combat a lot. Ways this could go...
Gloomy - The android is routinely depressed due to having seen and caused much death. Its presence may cause colonists to be less happy, and may decide to go into the wilderness and self-destruct if left idle for too long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5MzPRa47ck&feature=player_detailpage#t=63

[Hypolite]

Hey Enjou, thanks for the suggestion, but if you replace "android" by "human", it more or less matches what RimWorld is about. 

Seriously, I don't see the point of having androids so advanced it resembles human behavior. On the contrary, I would like colonists to gain traits over the time. They already level up skills when they use them.

[Yarkista]

Hey Enjou, thanks for the suggestion, but if you replace "android" by "human", it more or less matches what RimWorld is about. 

Seriously, I don't see the point of having androids so advanced it resembles human behavior. On the contrary, I would like colonists to gain traits over the time. They already level up skills when they use them.

What about rudimentary robots that do simple tasks such as cleaning buildings, i'm thinking something like that robot off "lost in space"

[Zeiph]

Yea and no. As some people suggested before, having too much automation may put the endgame in some kind of boring auto-farm feast, which I personnaly wouldn't like.
On the other end maybe it would be interesting to have some simple task robots, like a metal extractor or a potatoe breeder (yes I know...), that would be balance by some kind of sink (maybe energy?) in order to avoid the robot flood...

[AspenShadow]

Yea and no. As some people suggested before, having too much automation may put the endgame in some kind of boring auto-farm feast, which I personnaly wouldn't like.
On the other end maybe it would be interesting to have some simple task robots, like a metal extractor or a potatoe breeder (yes I know...), that would be balance by some kind of sink (maybe energy?) in order to avoid the robot flood...

Agreed. And a solution to that would be they have to charge instead of sleep, at first the robots don't have good batteries and have to go back and forth to charge often after research they can eventually get into the same work-sleep/charge cycle as regular colonists.

If we're going to have robots then try not to make them humanoid and try to add only a few basic ones in or that can fulfil a function not already done by a colonist; while we're on the subject a mining robot should look like a drill lol not a person (that way we further distance them from colonist sprites).

The concept of AI in Rimworld as I envisioned it was nothing as complex as what people are thinking, just a system like the colonist's expanding their skills: a robot built for ONE skill/task alone will slowly learn how to do it better/faster.

[Enjou]

Yea and no. As some people suggested before, having too much automation may put the endgame in some kind of boring auto-farm feast, which I personnaly wouldn't like.
On the other end maybe it would be interesting to have some simple task robots, like a metal extractor or a potatoe breeder (yes I know...), that would be balance by some kind of sink (maybe energy?) in order to avoid the robot flood...

Well, I wasn't thinking of the androids as being full automation so much as a different type of race that has its own quirks. As logical beings they'd be more prone to taking logic to extremes, and such they'd have special traits that humans wouldn't get. They'd also be pretty rare I would think, so having one is a high risk high reward type of thing. If not, then perhaps some kind of soft cap could be put on them - robots might share programming on occasion to increase efficiency, but the more you have the more you risk the AIs going rogue and turning on your colonists, kind of like the Geth from Mass Effect.

Alternatively, maybe there could be a "rogue AI" module where you manage a colony of sapient androids, and their needs, threats, and challenges differ from a human colony.

[Spike]

It's an interesting idea, with several means of introducing them.  I doubt if the colonists would build them, but they could drop in on other crash pods, or perhaps be a high-tech artifact you discover.  I would think that they'd go into a "coma" until you can get them power, instead of dying - with increasing negative thoughts if they're not "fed" consistently.

However, I think this could be put off for a bit - at least until the game is a bit more fleshed out, and out of alpha.   

[AspenShadow]

However, I think this could be put off for a bit - at least until the game is a bit more fleshed out, and out of alpha.   

Seconded and agreed. Requesting thread lock from next moderator to view this.

[killer117]

What i want out of robots is not hugely complicated or replaceing my human colinists. I want some sythers and centerpedes to work for me. I wanna send out my uncaring robot army and watch them tear some pirates to shreds. Then just dump them in a room till im raided again

[userfredle]

What i want out of robots is not hugely complicated or replaceing my human colinists. I want some sythers and centerpedes to work for me. I wanna send out my uncaring robot army and watch them tear some pirates to shreds. Then just dump them in a room till im raided again

That necropost!

But im also down for simple robots, not so much super advanced androids