Botnet Golem and Zombies Poll

[Kronic]

I use it offensively, using the zombies to soak up attacks for that little extra survivability, but I also play with Golems Hard/Botnet Easy as I feel it's not worth its own Exo Wave in its current state.

[Histidine]

Would Botnet be any better if the zombies it spawned followed it around like it was their mommy? You could probably build up a sizeable mobile force that way.

(I admit, I suggested that more because the thought amused me than because I expect it would be effective)

[Kahuna]

Would Botnet be any better if the zombies it spawned followed it around like it was their mommy? You could probably build up a sizeable mobile force that way.

(I admit, I suggested that more because the thought amused me than because I expect it would be effective)

Actually Zombies are never useless. You can control their movement with redirect rally posts, gather thousands of them and launch your own CPAs or use them to stop/tank AI attacks.

[ZaneWolfe]

I LOVE my Botnet Golem. It's a cornerstone to some of my strategies. Turtle up, wait for that massive threatfleet buildup, and then drop an EMP on them. Send in the Botnet and laugh as hundreds, sometimes thousands of AI ships are now mine. (I play on Ultra Low Caps, laptop complains too much above that with my games) The biggest complaint I have with the botnet is that certain units cripple it against even those ships it should easily stomp. The units in question are shields.  Any shield can stop a botnet cold in its tracks. The problem is that EVERY exo is stuffed with those, whether its from Riots, Nemesis, or Spirecraft, there are just so many shields that my poor botnet can't even deal with the majority of the escort forces. Even worse when the AI has Sheild bearers, because at Mark V those are also immune to reclamation (as is everything Mark V). This means that even the few I would have picked off are still protected and it makes my Botnet very sad. So I am going to vote for more power, because it really needs to be immune to shields. It would help it better deal with the exos it generates, and also prevents a single shield from completely shutting it down. Outside of that, I don't see a problem. It's strong enough in other ways, and while zombies are rather stupid, I've grown to accept that, because they're supposed to be stupid. A part of me wishes they didn't die one by freaking one at times, but I'll deal with that.

[MaxAstro]

Wait a minute.  Redirector posts work on zombies?!

OHSHI-

~runs off to go teach the AI the meaning of !FUN!~

[keith.lamothe]

What have we done?


"And one day, the zombies were told the AI had cyber-brains."

"The next day, the war was over."

[Salamander]

I could have used the redirectors in my game I mentioned I had to resign from in the strategy thread! I had over 4 thousand zombies (minus casualties) from my botnet golem. 

[ZaneWolfe]

What have we done?


"And one day, the zombies were told the AI had cyber-brains."

"The next day, the war was over."

So, there is only one thing to do now. I must now creating my 3000 zombie horde, in Ultra Low Caps, and then use redirect posts to send them right into the AI's throat.  Suddenly the massive threatfleets from my FS campaign are less, "And now I get free defenders" and more "And now I get even more attack ships!".

[Vyndicu]

What have we done?


"And one day, the zombies were told the AI had cyber-brains."

"The next day, the war was over."

I think relying on an unknown interaction between two objects not meant to isn't that particular useful.

Perhaps change that zombies spawn inside (while keeping the instant zombification shots) botnet like a swallower ship. Then you can unload them where you need them the most. If you still create more zombies while botnet is full then they go galaxy-wide FRD mode. Then change the redirector to not do anything?

Is that feasible from a programming point of view?

Keep in mind, I am still open to other suggestion if this one doesn't pan out or get shot down.

[Niwantaw]

I've had my botnet sniped out of a defense line by normal waves a few times.

It more or less just camps out and lolstomps a few weaker worlds I cba to do properly if I have it on now as the AI just loves to target it if there's a wave.

[motai]

currently its best use is to absorb spire exo waves with fleet backup. the cange to hp gave golems a new life but the survivability of this golem is challenging. anything with range( cough zombards) and or anti leech will eat it and you cant always predict the interaction given carriers and other surprises so most of the time it sits at a chokepoint pretending to be useful for me too though i do use it to break some of the level 4 systems on occasion when they dont have eye defenses.

[Pumpkin]

Why does nobody droped a word about BotNet hacking? Its name became more than a little joke when hacking response became normal ships (instead of zombies). The BotNet is able to hold a bruteforce hacking by turning every ship sent as hacking response into zombies! Even without HaP, hacking become an infinite very big source of zombies.

I never played with "zombie CPA" (rally post redirection), but if it's really like a CPA in the teeth of the AIs, I will never say again that BotNet is defence-only or too few for a full exo.

Would Botnet be any better if the zombies it spawned followed it around like it was their mommy? You could probably build up a sizeable mobile force that way.

I'd love to see a zombie-mommy! (did I said zombie-mummy?)

(I admit, I suggested that more because the thought amused me than because I expect it would be effective)

Why not? BotNet attack could be more straightforward (or at least less bug-abuse-like / rally post).