Botnet Golem - Question about Zombiez

[TechSY730]

I'd actually allow them to target the posts.

The deal with the Dyson ought to be this: The AI kept in check. The DS hates the AI for this. You can free the DS, and it will consider you its enemy's enemy, but not actually a friend - it will attack whatever it can get its gatlings on (excluding valuable / AIP-intensive structures), and if the AI suddenly has a lot of loose ships on its hands, then that's as a consequence to your actions. If you can't take the risk, then don't mess with the Sphere's containment.

Fair enough. As you mentioned, it is in your control whether you free it or not, so you get to decide whether the risk is worth it. And if you have enough firepower to fight your way to the Dyson sphere, you probably have enough firepower to take on any AI freed ships anyways. So, you're right, that would be no big deal typically.

[Buttons840]

If the settings and map allow it you can capture a dozen planets and make a trail to the Dyson Sphere and then have Gatlings all over your base for defense.

If the settings and map allow it you can also capture a dozen planets behind a single choke point, with a gravity drill, and a hundred thousand turrets - including spider turrets.


My point is sometimes the map falls such that the player can be well defended by circumstance, is there anything wrong with that?  Remember you cannot capture the Dyson Sphere every single game.  I'm not opposed to some minor faction tweaks, but I'd hate to see a poorly executed nerf effectively remove them from the game.  There are diverse options to make the game harder, we need a few options (besides just lowering the difficulty) to make it easier.

[BobTheJanitor]

The last thread that touched on this topic is here: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,8180.0.html

Just for reference, and to avoid retreading the same ground.

[Vinraith]

Which is why I suppose there should be a cap on the number of gatlings *quiet sobbing for my friend the sphere*

That seems like the simplest solution to me. Some of these other thoughts are interesting, but may have... unintended consequences.

[m_hermann]

Here's an example of the Botnet gone awry. I tend to move slowly and take everything.
I'm approaching 30,000 zombies, so many that the recovery drones stopped working.

My machine isn't over 75% on any core, so something in the engine is limiting the game.

[BobTheJanitor]

Botnets are still broken in that they can't create zombies for any ship that you're already capped on, and have been since pre-5.0. So that's fewer zombies than you actually 'should' have if they were working correctly. (Although if you delete one ship of that type they can create that type of zombie until you again build to your cap)

[Shrugging Khan]

How about making zombies take attrition damage, but heal by attacking? 

[BobTheJanitor]

But then you're calculating constant attrition damage multiplied by X thousand zombies. I don't know if that would help with the slowdown issues so much...

[Shrugging Khan]

Oeh...calculate attrition damage every 10 or 20  seconds instead of constantly?

But really, not much of a problem. Make attrition work fast enough, and you won't even get into the 30k.

[BobTheJanitor]

Well yeah, if they died off like Neinzul ships after a couple minutes, that would probably be OK. Then you can still bring in a botnet zombie to steamroll a low mark planet by itself, but you wouldn't end up with zombies everywhere after that. Although it does kind of become similar to a hive golem then. And also that would be a pretty hefty nerf to its power. I do think that it could use one, but maybe not that much. Right now it's pretty much a one-ship planet eating machine along with supplying you with massive reinforcements. Its only drawbacks are its relatively low survivability for a golem and the fact that its usefulness hits a brick wall on core worlds and AI homeworlds.

But still, something to consider I suppose.

[zoutzakje]

Botnets are still broken in that they can't create zombies for any ship that you're already capped on, and have been since pre-5.0. So that's fewer zombies than you actually 'should' have if they were working correctly. (Although if you delete one ship of that type they can create that type of zombie until you again build to your cap)

ahhhh, so that's why my botnet failed to make zombies of that MK IV fighter wave... good to know I just have to delete one of my fighters in order to make it work again.