A lot of the older enemies have fallen behind the times in terms of power. As we added things to the game like capacitors, mods on items, etc, older AI didn't benefit from these nearly as much as the player. So starting next universe, a lot of the enemies in Wild Space and the older ones in Perilous are getting 1-2 class skills each. Things will be just a bit more wild and perilous.

This is on test2 currently if you want a preview.

Modestly, keep in mind that not everyone has the uber gear that us older players have. Especially once you guys finish C2 and there is the potential influx of new players, having hard ai that they can't kill or are super frustrating to kill could limit growth and lead to them giving up.

Just a thought.

-ERMAN

Much as I hate to say it, I agree with sherman.

He's right^

I do admit some of the ais ingame are underpowered, but you need to consider the newbies that will be joining up.

Kanga

Peril space sucks atm...

It's meant to be perilous... not walk in the park/solo.

You should NEED to go in with 2-3 people below lvl 1k, or solo if like 1.5k+ (if paying attention).

Kanga

I forgot to mention it, but I also figured out why we were getting those crazy uber swarms of some kinds of ships and fixed that. Plus I didn't do much to beef anything in EF space, so the noobs should be OK.

The issue is though there is not much to level off in EF space. At 100~ you either need to Copper level or head to w2. I would simply like to see new more dangerous AI in peril and then simply add more killable AI for levels in EF space.

By upgrades I mean at the moment there are 1 or 2 roaming "uber" Picks/Forgones. These are hardly uber as you can find 6 in a DG room. Why not just make a Pick upgrade, change the graphic tint to be a little lighter and just pop 12 aug slots on the sucker or something ridiculous like that....then set 10 or so to spawn at once and roam like any normal AI. Same with a Forgone upgrade, no real work involved, just a new hardcore sob that is aggro to everyone

Which is why I said 2-3 :p

And ok Jeff, both those points are awesome. I like the idea.

Kanga

Just need to keep in mind the lvl ranges that players enter perlious space to start leveling there. My biggest question is vvill a lvl 500 player be able to survive there? A nevv layer may be necessary.

Just wondering if you're also keeping in mind that a player needs to be around lvl 1k or so to be able to max out there class skills since the classes were changed?

Also, imo Big Greens shouldn't be changed. They often take longer to kill than other warp 3 ais like forgones, picks, vultures, drops, mf slumbers... and yet they are at a lower level than all but the mf slumbers and drop almost nothing worthwhile. They're already not worth the effort to kill now.

Could you clarify this point a bit? Does this mean that the "swarm code" is gone? Personally speaking, it used to kick my butt until I gained the gear to be able to withstand it (also learned a few tactics that made survival more likely) and now is one of the things I go hunting for: That possibility that you might start off with a Battleship and end up with Picks, BGs, Vultures, a Wattage, maybe a couple of Drops too. Having to face off on that really makes some classes have to pay strict attention to power and shield levels and, in my case, Drone power and shield levels and timers.

I've always looked at this as kind of a "wolves to the slaughter" sort of issue. Since it's fairly easy to tell, through trial and error, what you may be hit with in a particular DF region, you prepare accordingly for that "climate" so to speak.

As a comment on the ORIGINAL point of the thread, yes, for upper level or Intermediate level toons, a lot of the AI fold easy, what about continuing the "family lines" along the same concept as the Space Blues. There are the easy ones, the moderately difficult ones and the Gammas at the top of the chain. Could another couple of levels of AI be introduced to appear in open space? They show up in DGs sure but what about multiple instances of MF Reavers for example, or a stronger version of S.B. ship or Cleft aimed at giving level 1000 or 1500 and up a stomach ache as opposed to just beefing what already is in place?

Additional content is the better, more balanced way to go Jeff. If it's possible within the architecture, just add more AI types.

Could we have something done to make Danger Factor more apparent for new players especially? something that makes it obvious when you change a Danger Factor level and a message "you are entering DF 400 you are likely to find [ai list] here." so they know if they're going to get raped, and if they do they are going to be more able to get out of the wattages DF before it camps them.

Certain ai are terrible for hanging around/camping dead players.