Botnet Golem - Question about Zombiez

[Shadoz]

Hi there

I have a short question about the Botnet Golem ... for me i think its a incredible heavy golem cause he have so much attack at time and change mk I-IV to zombies for you :-) so now if this happends it is extremly usefull by attacking for example but there is one think i cannt agree with ... if theres no enemy ship at your planet or where you fight than all the zombies fly through my whole "world" through all planets ...
it would be nice if they attack next planet but the dont do ... maybe if you are at your own there exploring or attacking with litle fleet ...
but what iam unhappy about is, that i cannt destroy or kill my own zombies ... one time there was so hard fight i had after it around 5k zombies ... and i get so fast an heavy eye cancer cause they fly through all my planets :-)
everywhere i go at planet they are at this place too oO

so is there any possibility to get zombies destroyed at my own will or to force them only be at the planet where they becomes a zombie

or any other options like that ? i dont want them to fly through my whole own planets

[zebramatt]

This is actually just one aspect of a larger issue: all allied units that I've seen currently kick about roaming all your planets indefinitely - dyson spawn, resistance fighters, zombies, etc.

Personally I've not been bothered by the aesthetic (my eyes don't feel cancerous, anyway) but it can start to put a bit of strain on the CPU after a while. Hopefully recent RAM usage improvements will help with this!

[TechSY730]

Yea, this has already been a decent amount of discussion on this.

Let me shamelessly advertise my idea to help with this: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=2719

[zoutzakje]

I'm actually happy with the way it works now. If all your planets are connected with eachother, dyson spawns and zombies bring a nice and almost invulnerable defence in due time
but yeah, it can put a lot of pressure on the cpu. It would be nice if you can give all those zombie and dyson units a simple order: defend (patrolling your connected systems) or attack (randomly attacking random enemy planets).

[keith.lamothe]

I am planning to do something about the perpetual-loop-through-allied-territory thing.  At the very least, it's bad-bad for long-term cpu/memory.

Just thinking about how to best handle it.

[BobTheJanitor]

I am planning to do something about the perpetual-loop-through-allied-territory thing.  At the very least, it's bad-bad for long-term cpu/memory.

Just thinking about how to best handle it.

That's awesome. You're awesome.

[Sir t]

I am planning to do something about the perpetual-loop-through-allied-territory thing.  At the very least, it's bad-bad for long-term cpu/memory.

Just thinking about how to best handle it.

Easiest way is put a cap on the number of Dyson spawns/zombies so more wont be created over a certain amount till some are destroyed. A nice traditional number like 255 might be good Dysons WILL go into AI planets and do so all the time in my games, but not in any great numbers and they are inevitably destroyed (or at least come out badly damaged) when they do, so you don't really notice them doing so.

[Tharrick]

Have them merge into larger, nastier ships! Or maybe spawn barracks...

[Orelius]

Perhaps it would be better if instead the allied ships patrolled worlds that border the AI, or worlds that are going to be hit by an AI attack wave.  I find it annoying when playing large maps that dyson gatlings insist on hanging around my worlds that are 2-3 planets into my territory.

[keith.lamothe]

Perhaps it would be better if instead the allied ships patrolled worlds that border the AI, or worlds that are going to be hit by an AI attack wave.  I find it annoying when playing large maps that dyson gatlings insist on hanging around my worlds that are 2-3 planets into my territory.

Until you get hit by a counterattack guard post or something like that

[TechSY730]

Have them merge into larger, nastier ships! Or maybe spawn barracks...

That's been tried before (though with freed ships instead of zombies). This mechanic was dropped because there was no feasible way that in the average case the new ship could be about as tough and powerful as the ships it replaced; the variance among the different ship types is too great for this to be feasibly balanced.
It was found that almost always, it was way too tough compared to what it replaced, or way too weak compared to what it replaced.

[zoutzakje]

I do hope they'll find a new purpose for the hunter/killers though (I believe that's how they were called). I haven't seen them more than 2 or 3 times in my games but I actually kinda liked them

[Shrugging Khan]

I'd actually say to leave the allied patrols as they are.

Having gatlings/zombies as a defensive force isn't a bad thing in itself, and you can always switch off your turrets for energy and invest newfound knowledge into mobile ships - in that way, the defensive advantage translates into an offensive one, simply by replacing traditional defences with zombies and/or gatlings. And if you absolutely must get rid of your little friends, you can always just let them be whittled down by incoming waves (again, this works better with your turrets switched off).

[Orelius]

Perhaps it would be better if instead the allied ships patrolled worlds that border the AI, or worlds that are going to be hit by an AI attack wave.  I find it annoying when playing large maps that dyson gatlings insist on hanging around my worlds that are 2-3 planets into my territory.

Until you get hit by a counterattack guard post or something like that

I've found that the gatlings and resistance fighters are often too spread out to do anything about counter-attack waves, I don't think it would be a major change.

[iamlenb]

How about Zombie Suggestion Posts.  Much like normal rally posts for normal mobile forces, but zombies and other "allied" ships follow them, with a chance to do their own thing of course.  I'd like a Wile E Coyote effect "Acme Wormhole Co - Birdseed on other side!" with a steady stream of Dyson Gatlings headed for AI Territory going "Meep meep"