Radiation Sucks When You're Poor

[Aeonic]

Because you can't dock anywhere in order to sell anything in order to make enough money to pay for decontamination. Boo. Would be nice if there was some way to avoid accidental docking at contaminated ships, too, since I don't imagine people do this too much intentionally. But you try to dock at one thing and the game decides you're docking at something else. Perhaps a warning message when docked at a contaminated ship and you have to confirm that you want to dock at it before it'll contaminate you?

[Song]

What I don't get about Radiation....why does it kill autons? They're ROBOTS!

.....I've lost several 1Ms to Sapiens stations (Especially those firing XM300s)....and for all they aren't THAT expensive (or good, for that matter...)...it is a wierd way to lose a robot.

[Aeonic]

Re-equip them with radiation-immune armor and it won't be a problem.

[schilcote]

What I don't get about Radiation....why does it kill autons? They're ROBOTS!

.....I've lost several 1Ms to Sapiens stations (Especially those firing XM300s)....and for all they aren't THAT expensive (or good, for that matter...)...it is a wierd way to lose a robot.

I think radiation can actually kill a robot in real life. I read an article somewhere about robots designed to clean up radioactive spills, they have heavy shielding all around and they still only last a couple hours. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Fossaman]

Yeah, they'd still fry their circuits if the rads were hard enough.

[Aury]

Radiation WILL kill a robot. Spaceprobes even in orbit have to have heavily shielded, specially designed circuits. It's one of the few instances where you can find a 500Mhz CPU selling for over $100,000.
Even then, these 'radiation hardened' ciruits still won't last too long under any really heavy radiation.

[digdug]

the radiation hardened 486 on Hubble is still working great

[Aury]

the radiation hardened 486 on Hubble is still working great

It's not been shot at with an actinide waste cannon though.

[Song]

Machines run nuclear reactors INSIDE the shielding.

What might be nice is a more expensive, larger auton.....that is based on the 1M series, but has been updated to be more resistant to the hazards of space. (Or something)

Call it 1M/x or something like that. Make it reasonably rare....because if it turned up too early, it might be better than the players ship in some cases.

Hardened plasteel armor, a class III level shield (ish.)....and either a particle weapon (if it turns up in earlier auton dealers), or mabe some other class if it turns up later. I can't think of a replacement weapon that wouldn't be OPed, however........

Make it weigh 1-2 tons more, and cost maybe 3000-5000cr.

That's just a basic idea. I'm not a balance expert, but current autons are pretty sucky.....

[Aeonic]

I'd love to have some more higher level autons whatever the case. The current ones ARE pretty sucky. And they're also a pain in the butt to control and expensive to lose.

[Fossaman]

I never buy autons, just because they always fly through my line of fire. Same reason I avoid wingmen typically. If they knew that 'front of ship bad' then I might use them more often, or if the targeting system were a little more sophisticated. If I could queue multiple targets, for example, and tell the autons to attack each in sequence.

I'd also like to see Howitzer autons, specifically designed for base busting. Make them pretty fragile, and give them stand-off AI. Ought to be fun.

[Aury]

Same opinion here.

I think I've been campaigning for this since pre .99

[Song]

Autons do have a nice niche in 0.99c. If there's a Charon stronghold or something, and escorts are gating in, ordering a bunch of 1Ms and a few 1M/is to wait right next to the gate....and you can go off and blow some stuff up, come back, and have a nice big wreck field to loot

But when Auton dealers start turning up, they are truly sucky. Although it looks a bit like the the 330M Mule might have a bit of a buff.....the 210A, 300A and 300D are pointless, and the 1M is obsolete by the time dealers turn up.

The 1M/i CAN be useful, however.......but not often.

[Aury]

Yeah... if auton dealers stay as they are, they should appear in early game.
As they stand right now, they REQUIRE new, heavier autons to stay viable in the games balance.

[Song]

Yeah... if auton dealers stay as they are, they should appear in early game.
As they stand right now, they REQUIRE new, heavier autons to stay viable in the games balance.

Hmm. I'd love to see a military auton or two..and some more commercial autons with a TEV-9 or Tritium cannon (uh...methinks the tritium cannon goes only on a military auton ).....

(Tritium cannon might be OPd, but given the low range and slow projectile speed....)

So, what would we (as in, players) like to see in an auton?

So far, I'm gathering that these hhings might be worth a try, whether as a mod, or as an addition in 1.0, or a later version of transcendence...:


-M1 replacement/follow-on.
Similar to the 1M battle auton, only better. Possibly with a TEV-9?.....and possibly with radiation immune armor. The 1M/i is useful enough that it's weakness is justified, I think. I personally would love to see a heavy auton with a tritium cannon....but tht might be Oped a bit

-Stand-off assault auton
Weak, slow, uses an AI that keeps it at howitzer range. Uses a howitzer at those ranges (duh). Possibly give it an ICX? (Although my views on the ICX are that it's a waste of half a ton and what little power it uses)

-Current Autons rebuilt
The 200A (defective auton), 210A, 300A, 300D are all pretty weak. Buffing them (or making the auton dealers turn up earlier) would be nice......the weapons are quite nice, but the armoring is rather lacking. The 1M/i and 1M are fine, but need to come in earlier....

Of the current Autons, the 300D and the Aegis are the only non-1M autons I might use for a while...but only in the early game.


And one rather relevent point....I have yet to see an ICX on an Aegis (or my ship for that matter) actually shoot down a missile tavelling at any decent speed. It's too weak, doesn't fire fast enough, and goes haywire when any kind of debris gets shot with a WMD weapon.......



-AI tweak
Making the Autons avoid the firing line from directioanl weapons on the player ship....maybe by making autons adopt the "alpha" formation that wingmen could use in 0.99C?