New game mode ‘Players vs. AI’ (Discussion)

i might try bringing a R3 ship so they have a chance.

Its a bit too easy, i could win those games without a team if i take a destoyer. What is the points of combat recon against 8 bots? bot captain rushes forward, they dont protect him. So those games last no more then 2 minutes. I basicaly have to hurry to shoot someone before the game is over.

 

Its easier then pve, pvp and open space. Played 5 games so far, no one died, bots got spawn camped in every single round. In 4 of them they didnt even fire at me.

 It’s a good place for the NEW players to start, and works good to level up lower ships in your fleet, stop being such whiny babies it’s not all about you !!!

i like the new mode a lot, because i play pvp only to complete special assignments when required (to gain extra monos etc.)… imo pvp takes too much focus and i play to relax after work. also, teamspeak is too much of advantage in pvp, which sucks when u can’t use it (maybe u could teach the MM system to pair teams with and without TS? dunno if that’s even possible though).

 

the bots in vs.AI could be somewhat tougher (and actually play their ships roles), and i’d appreciate this mode to be accessible to ships of all ranks, not only low. 

 

but good work anyway… i like to see the game grow in terms of mode count /ingame possibilites.

 

as i see it, some consistent singleplayer story campaign would be wonderful next step :slight_smile:

3 days later and i already regret what i said last time… the bots are monsters now… pvp is childplay compared to vs. AI! at least random pvp without teamspeakers… the bots take me down in 2 seconds with almost maxed Kite. they have incredible DMG and never miss… so i need to be even more carefull then in pvp, cuz even best pilots in the game DO miss time to time…

3 days later and i already regret what i said last time… the bots are monsters now… pvp is childplay compared to vs. AI! at least random pvp without teamspeakers… the bots take me down in 2 seconds with almost maxed Kite. they have incredible DMG and never miss… so i need to be even more carefull then in pvp, cuz even best pilots in the game DO miss time to time…

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Really like the increased difficulty in this mode.

 

Finally a real test for my super kite :smiley:

 

Will we be seeing P v AI for rank 10 - 15 any time soon?

lol… so a new mode was made but u don’t really want ppl to play it? is that the meaning of your response? O.o well… i’ll stick to pve to lvl unwanted ships… fine with me… but others will start whining soon ;o) u know… listening to the so-called “pros” isn’t always the best idea…

Really like the increased difficulty in this mode.

 

Finally a real test for my super kite :smiley:

 

well… if your kite is so super, then why don’t u rule in pvp already? thought this mode was meant for testing various gear combinations safely & for leveling of unwanted ships…

Its syn level 1 T5 ships, its a bit harder yeah but still easier then pvp. It is bots, they dont work together, they dont time their modules, they are predictable,… at least now you ‘earn’ that synergie. And i m stil not sure if it realy is “earned”. It isn’t supposed to be easy. Why do you expext them to make it easy? I leveled all my ships in pvp, the good and the bad ones.

They are actually working together. And it’s pretty frightening to hear 3 Lightbringers and Spark going overdrive wihile you have 4 locks on you :smiley:

The biggest problem that I have with this new mode is that it drains PvP. Farming in vs AI is so efficient that people play this mode all the time, while finding PvP matches has become more difficult. Going PvP -> 2 minutes to get a 4v4 match. Same time of the day vs AI -> 2 seconds to get a 10v10 match.

I see why vs AI is there, and I’m not against it in general. But giving players more reward (per time invested) than all other modes, combined with an AI that is very basic, unevitably results in a redistribtion of people towards AI mode. Which means less people in PvP mode, which I assume is supposed to be the “main mode”.

 

While the game has many good aspects, the introduction of this mode and how it’s done is another example of questionable player guidance.

actually it doesn’t give more synergy than any other modes…People play vs AI, cause can go there in squads.

actually it doesn’t give more synergy than any other modes…People play vs AI, cause can go there in squads.

 

I don’t know your numbers, but my numbers say it generates more synergy than the PvE missions. PvP obviously depends on how much and how fast my team wins.

In the time I have 1 PvE mission, I can have 2-4 AI matches. While PvE has a minimum time requirement due to how they are scripted, AI matches only rely on how fast you can kill the (pretty stupid) AI. And I had AI matches that lasted less than 2 minutes. Now how much time do you need for a typical 3-phase-mission? Even with the 60% modifyer for AI matches, do the math and see for yourself.

Plus you can’t lose an AI match, whereas you can in fact lose the PvE match.

 

I agree, though. AI matches are one of the cooperative options. But not a good one imho, because utterly boring (except for newbies, which is perfectly fine - but rank 9 is very far away from newbies).

2:43 for Fire Support T3, 4:32 for T5 with proper team. And since you are facing T5s, I had few games, where I was the last player and it lasted a little more than 2 minutes. 

Did 10 games vs AI - average was about 4 minutes 25 seconds. So - no. Synergy/minute is on par with PvE (maybe if I would do more than 100 matches, but please don’t ask me to do this, results would be a little different). Still - people are playing it, cause they can squad up and feel like in PvP, without scripting known from PvE.

2:43 for Fire Support T3, 4:32 for T5 with proper team.

 

These times are only achievable if you go super hardcore and optimise both team and time efficiency. This is not the average case. Common people play the game to shoot stuff in space, not to max out the grind function. And people who really like the “max out grind function” game usually go play real MMOs, because those do that better.

 

The question is: What is the game supposed to become? And I think the “max out grind function” part of Star Conflict is NOT its strongest part. The focus should lie on the well developed and very solid team-oriented PvP. That’s what it’s good at, and that’s what I would call the core gameplay. AI mode in its current form does not support the core gameplay, it damages it. Now if it would be limited to newbies only, say ranks 1-4, then it would serve its purpose without damaging the average player population. But it doesn’t. It’s currently the best mode to farm synergy and loyalty vouchers. And the swarm will always go to the best rewards, even if individuals don’t know why.

And let’s not forget that investment matters, too. AI mode offers ALOT less resistance than any other mode. Need x kills to get those vouchers? Yeah, probably takes a while in PvP. But it’s a matter of maybe 3 minutes in vs. AI mode. These guys explain it in an easy way (they talk about skill vs power, but it’s applicable for time investment vs reward):

As the polls sugested, only 17% people are optimizing anything for vouchers. But I really have to put sarcasm sign up sometimes. People want to shoot stuff and they can do this easier in vs AI mode.And most humans will always go for “easier”.

Which polls do you refer to, the ingame ones? Because I found those to be not very helpful in gathering data, due to how question and answers are phrased. Very often, there’s barely any information you can get out of them (see spoiler below).
Please tell us the data source.

Let’s take the current one as an example. It asks:
For you, being in a corporation means:

  • Being among like-minded people who can always offer advice for the game
  • The ability to participate in battles for location control with my corporation
  • Raising my status in the game by being in a prestigious corporation
  • I am in a corporation but see no use in it.
  • I’m not in a corporation

There is a whole bunch of problems with how this poll is done. First and foremost, the biggest issue is that you can only pick one answer. And with this type of question, that is an inadequate method of getting information.

Next is the question itself. The question how it is asked here, if you translate it to a game maker language: “What is a corporation (from the player PoV) and what to players use it for?”. Both parts are interesting, although I would argue that the question “What do they WANT to use it for” is more important.

The question already contains two parts, which is a problem. While both are interesting questions, they are both very different things - one is about perception, the other one is about use. And this also explains why the answers are so weird. They try to deliver on both questions at the same time, which doesn’t make sense of course.

Next problem is that there are only 5 possible answers to a question that is solely about the user, which means there are alot more possibilities because we humans are very “colourful”. This is not a technical thing where you can say “which version do you like better, a or B, or none”. This type of question asks “what do you like”, and then giving only such a limited number of options that are also organized to exclude themselves is not helpful at all. It cuts out almost all the data that you could be gathering and only shows you a very small portion of it. And I found this specific issue to be the case in several polls - I almost never was satisfied with the available answers.

 

There are more problems if you take a closer look to the answers, but at this point, the little data you can get out of this poll is already so distorted and limited that going further is pointless. You can barely get usable information from this poll. If you want to use that data as a base for game design decisions, that is. If you just use it to throw something at the players that they can click on, sure, that works. But honestly, it’s a wasted opportunity in either case. They way most ingame polls are done are useless at best, and damaging at worst (because basing assumptions on distorted data leads to bad decisions)

 

And most humans will always go for “easier”.

 
Not most, just many. I’m not saying AI mode drains all people, and I’m not saying it drains most people from PvP. I’m saying it drains many people. And given the size of the playerbase, this might not be something that the devs want. I wouldn’t want it as a dev, not unless the playerbase is big enough to support the multiple buckets. And not getting PvP matches even as a solo player means there’s not enough water to fill all buckets.

Just checked your experience, an shutting up my noobish mouth. 

Hope you will help Devs in refreshing the game and getting more player base and better player retention. Good luck!

Just checked your experience, an shutting up my noobish mouth. 

 

Please don’t be discouraged to discuss with experienced people. Fresh ideas and opinions are required for evolution. Just because things “have always been like that” doesn’t mean it’s good. Learning happens in both directions. Question everything. Because if you don’t, you’ll never debunk old obsolete dogmas. “Noobish” people questioning things are the engine of improvement.

 

Maybe I am wrong, we don’t know. If we don’t have solid data, all we can do is guesstimate. Science has proven again and again that our senses and brains are easy to trick. And the more experienced we get, the easier it is to trick ourselves. Healthy discussion can compensate for that, to a degree.

lol… 0:140 for the AI in the beacon hunt thing… all ppl from our team 0 kills… cool upgrade for the AI indeed… looking forward for your further improvements. don’t forget to strenghten the destroyers a little too :wink: