Improved combat / alien ai

[katyal]

TLDR: Combat is too static. No amount of balancing will make it less static. Making aliens less predictable would make combat more fun.

IMHO, Combat doesn't need to be rebalanced it needs to be rethought. I don't like running around in circles around a base while shooting it up and getting chased any more than planting down some turrets and watching the carnage. For me and I think many other players right now combat is a chore. Its main problem is that it is static. Playing with damage levels and ranges will never make it less static it will only change what you shoot and where you stand while shooting.

With a sufficiently developed ai I think the aliens as they are now could pose an interesting challenge. It would be great if the aliens "learned" from the player and adapted.

• They could change where they attack after too many die in the same place.
  They could attack in greater numbers.
  Probe your defenses at multiple places at the same time.
  Make it so behemoths go in first to draw laser fire.
  When a behemoth is adjacent to the wall allow smaller biters to climb over it to get over the wall.
  Make spitters focus fire.
  Spitters could shoot walls in front of turrets to open the way for biters without coming to harm.
  Berserk small biters that ignore target priority (crazy little shits that go after power poles, belts or anything else in sight)

Build an even longer list of special behaviours and assign them randomly: one thing from the list -> aliens produced at one base. Change the way that aliens create a new base to use the aliens from two bases and combine their special traits. If players have difficulty predicting what the aliens will do then it keeps combat dynamic and interesting.

[Tinyboss]

I agree that combat is boring currently, but I don't think there's much room in Factorio for "interesting" combat, for one important reason: much (or most) combat occurs away from the player. If enemies are upgraded so that fighting them is unpredictable and requires ingenuity, how will our mining outposts defend themselves?

[UberWaffe]

A distinction could be made between the types of aliens and tactics used to simply swarm towards high pollution areas, and more advanced / interactive raids conducted against the player's location (i.e. these could require ingenuity to counter, as they specifically target the player.)