Posted - 2010.08.28 12:09:00 - [1]

 

A suggestion for a new type of NPC drone that I thought might enhance the gameplay for new players...


"Scrubber" Recycling Drones ("Scrubbers")

Deployed off some (certainly not all) highsec planets and stations to "scrub" space around that particular location. The fictional back-story as to the purpose of these drones would be that they were deployed by the authorities in a given system in order to reduce the amount of space junk in orbit around those planets/stations, thereby reducing the chances of accidental collisions with satellites, spaceships, etc. Also, they would be used as recyclers by that system's authorities as part of a much larger system of scrubber drones used as part of an overall, system-wide space recycling network.

The purpose of these drones for the players would be to provide new players, specifically, with both an easy combat challenge and a chance to pick up some T1 loot so that they can, in turn, use it or sell it for ISK. This would provide one more layer of "fun" for new players in that it would give them an opportunity to engage in combat (just like with NPC rats, for example) in which they cannot get podded and can easily disengage (these drones would not have warp scramblers or disruptors) and run if they take too much damage. It would be great practice for the newest players, and still provide a challenge at the decreased system security levels), while, again, giving them a chance to make a small amount of ISK at low risk.

1) The drones would pick up only small numbers of T1 items (and/or very small amounts of ore), making them unattractive to all but new players. Loot could include damaged and undamaged modules (the former would also give new players a chance to learn how to "repair" items in a station). In addition, they should be deployed in small enough numbers that only new players would find them worthwhile to track down and engage.

2) Keep them only in highsec, again to make them more available to new players.

3) Give them a minimally-sized cargo bay (sufficient to hold, say one or two modules, or one module and some ore). Also, not every scrubber drone should have loot, just to make the new player have to decide if he's going to spend his time taking a chance on finding one and killing it for the loot.

4) Give them a minimal self-defense capability (making them slightly stronger with each decrease in system security level).

5) Destruction of a scrubber drone would not draw CONCORD (the backstory explaining this could be that these drones are of such low cost to the authorities that CONCORD intervention would not be cost-effective. Essentially, these would be considered "disposable.").

6) Destroying a scrubber drone would not reduce sec status; if so, only very, very minimally.

7) It might also be worth considering just having these drones in 0.9-1.0 systems, again to make them readily accessible to new players.

8) They should not be deployed around heavily-visited stations, such as Jita 4-4, Rens, Amarr, Dodixie, and major mission hubs, to avoid adding to the lag and to avoid cluttering the Overview.

9) Just for fun, there could be various skins for these drones, depending on the race controlling the region the drones are in, etc., to make them more visually appealing. There could even be four different scrubber drones, one for each race, again depending on which race controls that particular region or system, etc.

10) Accordingly, they could be equipped with weapons specific to each race (missiles for Scrubbers in Caldari space, etc.) as well as protected by resistances/defenses specific to that race (shields for Caldari space, armor for Amaar space, speed for Minmatar, etc.)

11) Scrubbers could be replenished with each DT, or respawned even sooner, like NPC rats.