Doctrine-based NPE

[DigaRW]

Anacreon has vast world/universe, but current scenario doesn't feature proper non-playable empires that play role well on scenario. So, I wanted to share my ideas about NPE. These NPE ideas may or may not will implemented in current scenario, but I hope they would appear there and future scenario. Please share your thought.

A. Hostile NPE

These NPE is actively expand their empire influence. They usually targeting independent world, but they sometimes prey on player's empire.

1. The Pirate (Fire & Movement)

The Pirate relies on flexibility of their jumpship. While jumpships are relatively weak, their constant attack would often annoying player. Their capital located on underground or barren world which have large deposit of hexacarbide. Their tech is Biotech (TL7). The Pirate have operation range up to 250 LY, but they can be extended up to 1000 LY. When they invaded a world, they regularly designated it as jumpship yard. If invaded world is outside of The Pirate's empire influence, it automatically designated as capital sector. With that method, they able travel outside of 250 LY.

2. The Warlord (Strength & Honor)

The Warlord relies on strength of their starship. Starships are strong ship and can put Player's empire in danger; especially early empire. Their capital located on fiery or volcanic worlds which have hexacarbide and chrominium deposit available (since Victory-class starcruiser requires chrominium). Their tech is Biotech (TL7). Because starship doesn't need jumpbeacon to navigate, the Warlord have already operation range up to 1000 LY. When they invade independent world, they never designated invaded world so it always remain autonomous. However, they unable to navigate through nebula. So empire that located in nebula are particularly invulnerable from The Warlord's attacks.

3. The Empire (Law & Order)

The Empire could use both jumpship and starship. This is most advanced NPE that behaves similiar with player empire. Their capital located mostly on Earth-like world. They also should already have starship yard and jumpship yard with proper trade system. Their tech can be increased up to Post-Industrial (TL10). The Empire can be either actively declare war on other empire or passively protect their own empire.

B. Neutral NPE

These NPE is doesn't behaves as common empire, they instead act as an independent world that have useful capabilities to help other empire.

1. The Trader (Trade & Enterprise)

The Trader is an independent faction that able to buy and sell ships. Any empire with Trade & Enterprise doctrine is able to sell resources via exporting. This already implemented in Fallen World scenario as Mesophon Traders Union.

2. The Association (Science & Technology)

The Association is an independent faction that able to export tech level to other empire. They able to increasing TL player without technological disaster, but player need to pay them aes every watch. There might balance issues since it far more efficient to use player's own foundation. Need to wait for S&T doctrine to be fully implemented on the game

3. The Union (Industrial & Growth)

The Union is an independent faction that able to help effeciency to other empire. Player will able import from the Union to increase efficiency up to 150% (I&G doctrined empire could increasing efficiency up to 200%). However, just as The Association, we need to wait for I&G doctrine to be fully implemented on the game first.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

My idea for a pirate/scavenger NPE predated the siege mechanic. It is a one planet T&E empire that only buys gunships and jumptransports from Mesophon and maintains no more than 1 attack fleet and 3 explorer fleets at any given time. It primarily sustains itself by capturing hexacarbide from player and former player stockpiles since hexacarbide does not undergo attrition. It uses the AEs to buy more ships. It is totally deterministic and does not require a complex AI/ finite state machine.

The NPE on start resigns if no non nebular Mesophon world is in range or if the capital is in a nebula. It immediately switches to T&E. The homeworld only builds infantry. All ships at start except explorers are assigned to an attack fleet and all infantry possible moved to the attack fleet.

Three explorer fleets are associated with the attack fleet. Their only actions are to reposition themselves to be between 100LY and 300LY of the attack fleet and of one another every time the attack fleet comes to a halt. Every period if no actions are queued the attack fleet looks at the area around it in a 300LY radius to find a target planet. If the attack fleet is a jump fleet, titan looks for a low TL planet near the capital, which is needed to establish a trickle of AEs income.

As soon as there are enough AEs to buy 1 unit of Minotaurs the attack fleet moves to the Mesophon world and buys them. It is now permanently a gunship speed fleet and doesn't care about range to the capital. It is now looking for worlds jear itself (not the capital) with large non consumer goods resource stockpile (by converted AEs value), accounting for defense strength somehow.

These worlds do not need to be in jump range or trade range of the capital, they are loot targets. The API exposes stockpiles on other players' worlds. If there are no good targets the explorers move randomly within the radius around the fleet and it checks again the next period. The attack fleet paths to the target planet. On arrival it performs an invasion and pulls all free food and survival goods off the planet into transports for 10 watches until the planet enters civil war (unless the planet is within trade range of the capital). Then it fills transports to maximum with resources and paths to the nearest Mesophon world to sell the loot and spends 65% of available AEs on more Minotaurs and Reliants which are merged to the attack fleet. Every time a Mesophon sale is made and once per day, 25% of available AEs are used to buy capships from the nearest Mesophon world to the capital. These are sent to the capital and merged down. This process repeats forever. Every so often the attack fleet returns to the capital to get more infantry.

If a planet is captured inside the control radius of the capital it is converted to a resource world of the appropriate type and linked to the homeworld after rising to TL 5 and completing or having a starport. All surplus output is sold to Mesophon. This only happens incidentally, these worlds are not intentionally captured after the attack fleet becomes gunship speed. No further planet maintenance is done, no structure builds, etc.

If an explorer fleet is destroyed a new explorer fleet of not more than 5000 units is bought from Mesophon on the next period. If the attack fleet is destroyed, either a new fleet is purchased or the NPE resigns, depending on how many AEs are stockpiled and whether the NPE has trade route AEs income or not.

This sovereign never builds ships or reacts to player actions directly. With the new siege mechanic I think it is still practical to implement but will be slower paced when invading player worlds (rather than independent worlds that were former player worlds). The overhead is one point in polygon check every 60 watches and some miscellaneous orders. There is a small definable finite limit on the number of operations this NPE can perform in any given period.

[TheBugKing]

I disagree, the game does not need more features that may or may not break something. If you need something to engage with in this game, you aren't being creative enough. If you want a pirate A.I. ... be the pirate, you would be much more of a challenge to play against than whatever A.I. someone can write up right now (even these days).

As it stands, the game is a closed galactic scale sandbox for beating up everything you see, testing to your delight, experimenting, ruling the galaxy, or simply making some quirky empire that you dream existed. Even you might rule one planet and be the lone sentinel as the galaxy wreaths in flames.

What the game needs is for the bugs to worked out. Such as the question: Why are the siege mechanics so temperamental? (I am not looking for an answer in this post) We don't need perfection, but solving the major problems should come first.

Now that I have mentioned the reality, I would like one thing to be upgraded if it could be. That is the in orbit combat GUI. A lot of work has gone into how all those ships zip around and maneuver, the on-world info, it all falls just shy of pure cinematics with shrapnel and frozen dead body parts. It is a shame that they once there is more than 2 large fleets in orbit, you can not access the fleets. All that awesome becomes dictated by the game, making the effort to go into making what IS there pointless. If the ability to micro is there, why not add a scroll bar or **something** so that we can see the other fleets and click on them and command them? I know it may not be simple, but it is sensible to say the least. The effort seems to already to have been put into it, so why not allow it to be usable?

[DigaRW]

I disagree, the game does not need more features that may or may not break something. If you need something to engage with in this game, you aren't being creative enough. If you want a pirate A.I. ... be the pirate, you would be much more of a challenge to play against than whatever A.I. someone can write up right now (even these days).

As it stands, the game is a closed galactic scale sandbox for beating up everything you see, testing to your delight, experimenting, ruling the galaxy, or simply making some quirky empire that you dream existed. Even you might rule one planet and be the lone sentinel as the galaxy wreaths in flames.

Yeah, I'm not really wanted this all this feature implemented on Anacreon. I would like being a pirate too, but at the same time I can't leaves my small peaceful empire. I might could create more account, but I dislike to manage ghost account. However, neutral NPEs (The Trader, The Association, and The Union) may would be useful on current scenario.