Why aren't there defense bots?

[mrvn]

Just a thought: When (construction/logistic) bots get attacked by aliens they scream out "Help, help, I'm an unarmed repair bot taking damage." and all the game things to do is to send in a second unarmed repair bot. Because, yeah, it will totally scare of the alines.

Why isn't there a defense bot. Give it the pistol every player starts off with and put some ammo in the roboport and have it go out and defend bots or entities that get attacked.

Or can you put any of the personal weapon bots into a roboport?

[jodokus31]

Actually, turrets are like stationary bots, cause they act automatic.

EDIT:
if construction bots could defend the factory, then there might less reason, to build other defensive structures.
Also, I think, the UPS would be tanked quite a bit.

[Amarula]

Now I want to see a mod that adds... bodyguard bots... they carry defender/poison/slowdown/distractor/destroyer capsules... they follow regular bots around and start flinging capsules when their client is attacked

[netmand]

would it be enough to uncork the time limit on combat bots?

[Nexarius]

You don't count the spidertron as a defense bot?

[foamy]

You don't count the spidertron as a defense bot?

I think what blaze is after is an automated system that would detect an entity being under attack, and dispatch small flying robots (like a cbot or logbot) from the roboport grid to go defend it.

Which actually sounds really cool, although I dunno how you'd set up the queuing so that you send enough to matter but not all of the things in the net at once.

[mrvn]

You don't count the spidertron as a defense bot?

I think what blaze is after is an automated system that would detect an entity being under attack, and dispatch small flying robots (like a cbot or logbot) from the roboport grid to go defend it.

Which actually sounds really cool, although I dunno how you'd set up the queuing so that you send enough to matter but not all of the things in the net at once.

I think every entity that gets hurt should request one defense bot. They would be there more to distract the attacker to protect the initial entity than to be a sure kill of the attacker. Get the aliens focused on millitary units instead of the chemical plant or logistic bot.

[blazespinnaker]

Land Mines plus bots are pretty good defense bots. They do get clipped though, now and then.

[Khagan]

Land Mines plus bots are pretty good defense bots. They do get clipped though, now and then.

And they don't mix with flamethrowers.

(And why is there no flame-breathing smiley?)

[UkcsAlias]

Defense bots to me are probably going to suffer from a delayed deployment, in which the attack is most likely already destroyed before they reach the defense. But on that, they can act as a very good second line of defense in case the defense is about to get overrun, or to counter spitters which can take some extra time to get killed when there is no flame defense.

But i do worry about the cost to efficiency ratio on this. Too expensive and you are often better off letting a turret/wall go down, too cheap and they will become the primary defense method by simply being a bit more reliable for the exception the stationary defense doesnt work properly.

The load on UPS is not something i would worry too much about, as this can be covered by making their defensive capabilities only work after deployment from a nearby roboport (if moving from a roboport to another they wont defend). And at that point it only does require local calculations on them, which is not too diffirent from spitters in AI. Or after they are already being attacked, or they are flying in a chunk or close to a chunk that contains enemies and only activate the more complex calculations based on that. A solution that works can most likely be made for this.

But i think that in practical use, they are often not going to work well enough. Still, its a potential way to vary in defensive methods, which i think is the most important part to want these.

[MEOWMI]

I think it could be pretty balanced if you could put combat bot capsules into roboports and they were automatically deployed on the location of the alert. It would be a much-needed buff to the capsules themselves anyway. The only question mechanics-wise is how you would quantify how many and how often to deploy them, aside from the fact that the feature might be getting too far outside of the game's intended scope - it might encroach on the role of turrets a bit too much.

[mrvn]

I think it could be pretty balanced if you could put combat bot capsules into roboports and they were automatically deployed on the location of the alert. It would be a much-needed buff to the capsules themselves anyway. The only question mechanics-wise is how you would quantify how many and how often to deploy them, aside from the fact that the feature might be getting too far outside of the game's intended scope - it might encroach on the role of turrets a bit too much.

You could have artillery shells that release capsules on impact. Now that would be fun. The impact harms the nest and the capsule cleans up surrounding bitters.

[Amarula]

You could have artillery shells that release capsules on impact. Now that would be fun. The impact harms the nest and the capsule cleans up surrounding bitters.

Ooh yes please! Pew pew pew!

[Koub]

You could have artillery shells that release capsules on impact. Now that would be fun. The impact harms the nest and the capsule cleans up surrounding bitters.

Ooh yes please! Pew pew pew!

Catapults/trebuchets <3

[mrvn]

You could have artillery shells that release capsules on impact. Now that would be fun. The impact harms the nest and the capsule cleans up surrounding bitters.

Ooh yes please! Pew pew pew!

Catapults/trebuchets <3

There is so much wood and stone is plenty too. I don't think I have seen an early game weapons mod that provides bow and arrow, scorpions, catapults, ...

You could even have catapults with oil connection to fire flaming balls of something. Or steam powered cannons. Go crazy people.