Evolving NPC installations.
A player is able to start a small outpost, and with additional resources expand that outpost over time adding facilities and defences for as long as it is useful.
NPC bases in SE so far have been of a number of variants placed about to give the idea of occupation. Once the base has been visited it will not change when in range of the player unless the player causes a change to the NPC structure.
To take this one step further, NPC occupation could have that living universe feel by changing over time.
An NPC could deem an area worthy of territorial claim, scout it, survey the terrain, build an outpost. If the outpost proved it's location to be useful the NPC could engage in upgrading the installation through a number of expansion stages spawning additions over time.
The NPC could control the local area from their installation for either strategic, or commercial purposes for a while before bridging out or mothballing the facility.
If the usefulness of the base dwindled, the structures would be stripped of their most useful parts and eventually abandoned leaving a ruin with may be a lonely observation post and comms relay.
Some installations will endure, some will expand, contract, some will even change from an earlier purpose into a new one.
This evolutionary process will make static NPC installation encounters have more variety and be less predictable.
Good luck coding this one.
I like this feedback
One thing that I find that disappoints in many games is that once a story line is used up in an area, the area does not change, it remains a dead zone after the plot has finished with it and waste of map space. This does not make the best of use of worlds where a bit of recycling, repurposing and new occupiers could bring vibrance back to a place.
One thing that I find that disappoints in many games is that once a story line is used up in an area, the area does not change, it remains a dead zone after the plot has finished with it and waste of map space. This does not make the best of use of worlds where a bit of recycling, repurposing and new occupiers could bring vibrance back to a place.
As for what you are suggesting – NPCs building a base – I consider it unfeasible, even if the NPCs were only "repairing" and completing programmed phases of base construction in the player's presence, and further construction steps (adding blocks, design changes) took place in the player's absence.
Building a base in this way would probably require dozens of models of intermediate stages of construction – always a completed part made of normal blocks and a part under construction made of unfinished blocks that NPCs complete. The completion process would take place as other NPCs supplied materials for processing and construction.
NPCs would need to have a good navigation system for searching for movement routes and identifying targets (ore vein -> processing ore into building material -> unfinished base block). And I believe that without "cheating" on the part of the NPCs, it would not work at all. For example, a cheat where the NPC fills its inventory with stone, but when unloading the inventory into the ore processing device, half of the stone inserted by the NPC "miraculously" turns into ore.
NPCs would need to have a good navigation system for searching for movement routes and identifying targets (ore vein -> processing ore into building material -> unfinished base block). And I believe that without "cheating" on the part of the NPCs, it would not work at all. For example, a cheat where the NPC fills its inventory with stone, but when unloading the inventory into the ore processing device, half of the stone inserted by the NPC "miraculously" turns into ore.
On the other hand, it is relatively easy to arrange that the "ore processing device" and "item production" actually have two branches - one for players, with all its complexity, and the other for NPCs, which only knows three or four elements - stone, ore, "metal ingot/building material," and "building equipment." The branch for NPCs is inaccessible to players; they cannot see the input materials for NPCs or the output product. Similarly, it is relatively easy to arrange that even a block or device in an unfinished or damaged state actually has two interconnected systems - one for NPCs, the other for players. A finished block has only one system that controls the state of the block.
For example, to build a block, the player needs 20 units of metal, ten units of glass, two different devices, and 30 units of "work - welding." NPCs need 30 units of "building material," two "device units," and 30 units of "work - welding" for the same block. However, when checking the progress, the player sees the progress of the work in their units, because the game/game system transforms the "material units" added by NPCs into material units visible to the player (and vice versa for NPCs). So if an unfinished block has ten units of metal and the player adds five units of metal, five units of glass, and one of two pieces of equipment, the NPC "sees" that the block needs ten units of material and one piece of equipment to be completed.
To prevent fraud, where a player plans a block from exotic materials and NPCs repair and finish it cheaply, so that the player can then dismantle it and obtain the exotic materials, it would be quite easy to arrange for NPCs to "not recognize" certain materials, and to insert them into the block being created would have the player. Simply put, the "recipe for NPCs" would also contain exotic materials, and it would be up to the NPC's AI whether it can find these materials in available warehouses or not.
As for what you are suggesting – NPCs building a base – I consider it unfeasible, even if the NPCs were only "repairing" and completing programmed phases of base construction in the player's presence, and further construction steps (adding blocks, design changes) took place in the player's absence.
Building a base in this way would probably require dozens of models of intermediate stages of construction – always a completed part made of normal blocks and a part under construction made of unfinished blocks that NPCs complete. The completion process would take place as other NPCs supplied materials for processing and construction.
NPCs would need to have a good navigation system for searching for movement routes and identifying targets (ore vein -> processing ore into building material -> unfinished base block). And I believe that without "cheating" on the part of the NPCs, it would not work at all. For example, a cheat where the NPC fills its inventory with stone, but when unloading the inventory into the ore processing device, half of the stone inserted by the NPC "miraculously" turns into ore.
NPCs would need to have a good navigation system for searching for movement routes and identifying targets (ore vein -> processing ore into building material -> unfinished base block). And I believe that without "cheating" on the part of the NPCs, it would not work at all. For example, a cheat where the NPC fills its inventory with stone, but when unloading the inventory into the ore processing device, half of the stone inserted by the NPC "miraculously" turns into ore.
On the other hand, it is relatively easy to arrange that the "ore processing device" and "item production" actually have two branches - one for players, with all its complexity, and the other for NPCs, which only knows three or four elements - stone, ore, "metal ingot/building material," and "building equipment." The branch for NPCs is inaccessible to players; they cannot see the input materials for NPCs or the output product. Similarly, it is relatively easy to arrange that even a block or device in an unfinished or damaged state actually has two interconnected systems - one for NPCs, the other for players. A finished block has only one system that controls the state of the block.
For example, to build a block, the player needs 20 units of metal, ten units of glass, two different devices, and 30 units of "work - welding." NPCs need 30 units of "building material," two "device units," and 30 units of "work - welding" for the same block. However, when checking the progress, the player sees the progress of the work in their units, because the game/game system transforms the "material units" added by NPCs into material units visible to the player (and vice versa for NPCs). So if an unfinished block has ten units of metal and the player adds five units of metal, five units of glass, and one of two pieces of equipment, the NPC "sees" that the block needs ten units of material and one piece of equipment to be completed.
To prevent fraud, where a player plans a block from exotic materials and NPCs repair and finish it cheaply, so that the player can then dismantle it and obtain the exotic materials, it would be quite easy to arrange for NPCs to "not recognize" certain materials, and to insert them into the block being created would have the player. Simply put, the "recipe for NPCs" would also contain exotic materials, and it would be up to the NPC's AI whether it can find these materials in available warehouses or not.
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