Posted - 2009.02.23 12:37:00 - [1]

 

We've heard all about wormholes and how Sleepers, the new NPC race, will inhabit these areas of mystery. But what do we really know about them? CCP Incognito fills us in with all the new AI changes that will be coming to NPCs (only Sleepers at this time, don't worry... or panic, as he writes). From high damage, intelligent and multi-targeting to repairing each other and evasive maneuvering, the new NPC AI will prove challenging to every player who encounters one of these souped up ships.

Learn all about the new AI by pointing your browsers here.

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:07:00 - [10]

 

Just a note on the last paragraph of my blog, this blog was written a couple weeks ago. We are now feature complete and spending the remaining time to release on polish and tweaks.

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:09:00 - [12]

 

Originally by: Siobhan Ni

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If you really want to make the encounters more like pvp then have the sleepers smack talk in local and ransom you pod

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Sorry I tried really really hard but design would not let me make sleeper pod players :(

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:23:00 - [16]

 

Originally by: Rivqua

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A question, you mention pvp-alike behaviour. But generally, small gang pvp (ie, not fleet fights) usually means that the enemy is not capable to NoS or fire at you from 80km away (except cruises/heavy missiles). Why not mention that the new NPCs have demi-god stats, where they can cover close to the whole grid without having to move, for example?

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The sleepers have a wide range of ships from frigates to battle ships, each having different damage and orbit ranges. only the turrets sit there and snipe you from long range, there are plenty of ships that orbit at 10k or less.

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:24:00 - [17]

 

Originally by: Arte

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If it's scaled by the mass-limits on the wormholes limiting what ships can get thru, and therefore dictating how hard the spawns will be then it can indeed by a dip of the toe into the Pvp game by exploration, rather than a raging torrent of death that they have no chance against.

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:) I like that "raging torrent of death that they have no chance against."

yes the sleepers scale in difficulty the further in you go.

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:33:00 - [21]

 

Edited by: CCP Incognito on 23/02/2009 15:11:19

Originally by: Coltach

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Will these new rats be as susceptible to EWAR as players, will they cap out like players aso. This is of paramount importance, and you'll have to address this one way or another. PvE fits are about sustainability. PvP fits are about burning out the other guy just 2 seconds before he does it to you. How has this disparity been addressed?

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We have some changes on the drawing board for e-war, but they didn't make the deadline for feature complete for the releases. you will have to wait until a future release to see them, but we are aware there is a unbalance between the e-war for npc vs players.

At some time they will be addressed, but not this release.

Also I would like make something clear, all the E-war ability that work against the NPC still work against sleepers. You are still able to do everything that you can do against current NPC in the E-War front.

Webs are needed for frigates, target painters and dampeners are still useful, and ECM will still shut down a npc from attacking.

The changes we want to make int he future to E-War is to make the NPC less capable when it comes to jamming, and sleepers don't use Jamming.

Posted - 2009.02.23 13:54:00 - [27]

 

Edited by: CCP Ytterbium on 23/02/2009 13:55:40

Originally by: Pottsey

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Edited by: Pottsey on 23/02/2009 12:59:16
I am still not sure that is a good idea. PvE players by their nature often dont like PvP combat. So adding in the PvP elements to PvE is only making PvE content that PvE people are not going like.

Sleepers feel like PvE content made for PvP players, not PvE content for PvE players. Ok thats over simplified and some PvE will like the new PvE content. I am not against the new changes and some of it sounds good I just hope CCP realise if they make PvE to much like PvP against NPCs they are going lose a lot of PvE players. Who are sleepers aimed at? Will the PvE people want to go out and fight PvP like battles against NPC's? Will the PvP people fight NPCs or will they see it as carebare ish.

Faction Warfare failed because it mixed PvE and PvP too much. To two need to be keep mostly separate.

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As somebody already mentionned it, what most PvE players don't like is facing other players, but quite enjoy if versatile tactics and strategies are required during NPC battles, which is not the case with the current PvE. The goal we wanted for Sleepers was to use PvP elements that bring skill into a PvE encounter, like having several ship classes needed for different roles, a fleet commander calling out proper targets, constant attention to your drones etc... We wanted to bring challenge and most importantly, fun into PvE interactions, which currently are summed up to shoot, destroy and collect rewards.

Furthermore, a huge disavantage PvE players have when doing missions in a competitive area (read low/null-security space) remains they specifically have to use PvE ship fits which make them quite vulnerable when they get spotted by player pirates. The Sleeper encounters will take place in unsecured and competitive places as well, meaning your PvE interaction may be disrupted by other players if not paying attention; would you prefer facing Sleepers with a regular PvE fit that stands no chance against other players or being able to attack Sleepers properly in a PvP setup you can also use to defend yourself if other players come along? Also, don't forget that due to the new Sleeper AI, any other evil player pirate warping in to attack you may also be considered a valid and juicy target for the NPCs, meaning you will stand a fair chances if spotted .

I hope you will understand that fighting Sleepers is just a complete new way to achieve PvE interactions, where regular mission solo-fittings won't work very well