Make a bot, which filters for the following frequently asked questions. Upon detecting such a message, block that message from reaching general chat, but the bot will private message the answer to the person who asked the question. Here some of the most frequently asked questions that would benefit from the existence of such a bot:
How do I sell my ship?
How do I change faction?
What is the difference between arcade and regular?
Why is my ship stuck in battle?
How do I deploy the EMP bomb?
What is the best ship/weapon?
How do i group with my friend?
Is this game p2w?
Probably all I can think of for now. Anyway the people asking these kinds of questions probably aren’t on the forums, but I think it would benefit everyone to have automated answers for these. The chat bot could also have some built in flood protection to detect people causing a disruption by spamming multiple lines in a short duration.
Alternatively: make separate tabs for help chat and general chat
Alternatively: let us disable the chatbox completely, for those of us tired of seeing the same things over and over.
The biggest problem is that making a bot that actually does this without accidentally hijacking a lot of legitimate conversation would be complicated as hell. And that’s not even considering that half the people on the internet can’t spell for crap.
A question I’m seeing floating around a lot is “DO FIGHTERS DEAL MORE DAMAGE THAN INTERCEPTORS SINCE THEY HAVE 2 MORE WEAPON SLOTS???” and to be honest I don’t even know the answer myself.
Basicly, frigates have 6 slots, fighters have 4, interceptors have 2.
So how is that calculated into damage, if it does affect damage at all.
let’s say we take a standard railgun which will have 100 dmg / round …
total damage
inter 200 / volley
attack ship 400 / volley
frig 600 / volley
this is a very simple very limited example…the basic weapon damage is increased denpending on how many weapons of the same type are mountable on your ship
now for the Ace (it isn’t meant as an insult…Ace describes a player which is simply unexpierenced)
How do I sell my ship?
you can’t sell your ship
How do I change faction?
look at the contracts menue…select another race → you will have to pay a penalty when switching factions
What is the difference between arcade and regular?
arcade unlimited respawns, regular => if you die you cannot respawn in the same ship, it is locked for the rest of the battle (if you lose all your ships, you can watch your team mates fighting)
Why is my ship stuck in battle?
if you leave a battle before it ends your ship will stay in the battle and can be destroyed…you can however select other ships if you have some and begin a new fight
How do I deploy the EMP bomb?
stay close to the station (~700u) a bar will show the planting progress
What is the best ship/weapon?
the one which suits your needs best (there aren’t any best weapons…only some which will give you a certain edge over your enemy but they also have weaknesses)
How do i group with my friend?
you can fly in a squad by right clicking on your friend in the friends list and select the invite to squad option…2 men squads are free for 3 or 4 you need a licsence
This alone I think would address most of the current issues, and require the least effort for Gaijin to implement.
Well, don’t worry, there will neve be such a bot.
Instead, there will be human moderators punishing abuses.
And if you are pissed about a question, just don’t answer it. Simple. Solved.
I’m not upset about the questions, I just think the frequency of them is rather unfortunate. They clutter up the general chat, the askers genuinely want these questions answered, but most players and moderators really do not want to keep answering them over and over. The FAQ you posted is great, but lets face it, the kind of people who keep asking such questions ingame would not be looking at a FAQ to begin with. Anyway the bot suggestion is from my experience in several programming channels on irc. Often new programmers ask very common questions that no one really wants to answer, but they are dying for that answer. The bot took care of that and it worked out for everyone. Sometimes people didn’t even know the helper was a bot!
