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Affiliation tags for NPC mobs
captainhunter1
Member Posts: 1,633 Arc User
Hi Dev Team!
Would there be any way to add an 'Affiliation tag' (or tags) to NPC mobs, both space and ground?
What I mean by 'affiliation tag' is setting the 'alliance' of a mob to certain factions. For example, currently a Federation mob will be friendly to all other Federation faction items (player characters, Bridge Officers, other Federation NPC mobs, etc.) and attack enemy faction items (like Klingons, Tal Shiar mobs, etc).
I was envisioning it as a simple, small menu of check boxes with three columns, "Friendly", "Neutral", and "Hostile".
Each mob in the game would be listed on the menu (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Tholian, Orion, Voth, etc). The mission Author would then put a check mark in each box in each column on how they wanted said mob to react to other mobs and the player. The default setting would be what we currently have now as agro settings in the Foundry.
With an 'affliation tag' on a Federation mob set to be friendly with Romulans for example, this single Federation mob would now not only be friendly to other Federation items, but Romulans ones as well.
Right now we only have the ability to make an enemy group friendly towards a player's faction (or another enemy mob) by re-skinning a friendly mob as an enemy. This makes for some odd behavior on the part of some 'friendly' groups, such as Klingon (skinned) and Romulan (skinned) NPC mobs that are friendly toward a Federation player, shooting phasers and performing other Federation battle actions.
By using an 'affiliation tag', real mobs could be used instead of 'substitute' re-skins, allowing for Romulan mobs to use disruptors and thaleron weapons, Klingon mobs to wield Batleths and shoot disruptors in battle, and so forth.
Here's another example: An Author wants to use an Orion Frigate group on a space map. Currently, this mob will attack just about every other faction in the game but other Orions (and Klingons I think).
The Author decides that he wants this mob to be a completely separate pirate group from the Cartel, working independantly, but allied with a group of Nausicaan pirate ships on the same map. He therefore opens the 'Affliation Tag' menu and checks all faction boxes 'Hostile' except for the one for Nausicaans which he checks as 'Friendly'. This way the chosen Orion mob will attack everything on the map - including other Orion ships - but not the Nausicaans. The same as could be done for ground mobs.
This 'check box menu' system would give much more flexibility to an Author and avoid the need for the Dev team to create a specific 'alligence' group for every mob in the game.
This would give authors much more control in using mobs and how they interact, not only with the player, but with each other as well.
Would there be any way to add an 'Affiliation tag' (or tags) to NPC mobs, both space and ground?
What I mean by 'affiliation tag' is setting the 'alliance' of a mob to certain factions. For example, currently a Federation mob will be friendly to all other Federation faction items (player characters, Bridge Officers, other Federation NPC mobs, etc.) and attack enemy faction items (like Klingons, Tal Shiar mobs, etc).
I was envisioning it as a simple, small menu of check boxes with three columns, "Friendly", "Neutral", and "Hostile".
Each mob in the game would be listed on the menu (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Tholian, Orion, Voth, etc). The mission Author would then put a check mark in each box in each column on how they wanted said mob to react to other mobs and the player. The default setting would be what we currently have now as agro settings in the Foundry.
With an 'affliation tag' on a Federation mob set to be friendly with Romulans for example, this single Federation mob would now not only be friendly to other Federation items, but Romulans ones as well.
Right now we only have the ability to make an enemy group friendly towards a player's faction (or another enemy mob) by re-skinning a friendly mob as an enemy. This makes for some odd behavior on the part of some 'friendly' groups, such as Klingon (skinned) and Romulan (skinned) NPC mobs that are friendly toward a Federation player, shooting phasers and performing other Federation battle actions.
By using an 'affiliation tag', real mobs could be used instead of 'substitute' re-skins, allowing for Romulan mobs to use disruptors and thaleron weapons, Klingon mobs to wield Batleths and shoot disruptors in battle, and so forth.
Here's another example: An Author wants to use an Orion Frigate group on a space map. Currently, this mob will attack just about every other faction in the game but other Orions (and Klingons I think).
The Author decides that he wants this mob to be a completely separate pirate group from the Cartel, working independantly, but allied with a group of Nausicaan pirate ships on the same map. He therefore opens the 'Affliation Tag' menu and checks all faction boxes 'Hostile' except for the one for Nausicaans which he checks as 'Friendly'. This way the chosen Orion mob will attack everything on the map - including other Orion ships - but not the Nausicaans. The same as could be done for ground mobs.
This 'check box menu' system would give much more flexibility to an Author and avoid the need for the Dev team to create a specific 'alligence' group for every mob in the game.
This would give authors much more control in using mobs and how they interact, not only with the player, but with each other as well.
My consolidated list of game improvements for STO:
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
0
Comments
I see what you mean and agree, though.
My character Tsin'xing
So what does Cryptic do when they have to make Klingon rebels like the House of Torg guys in "The House Always Wins"? Make a completely new faction that only looks Klingon and set up its allegiances? And how is that really any different?
My character Tsin'xing
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions