Engineer QoL

I don't know about the other classes, but I'd like to request some serious quality of life changes for engineers.

I have all my bots now, and they're awesome. They're also nearly unmanageable.

1) Probably most important to me right now is that for some reason they appear in rooms as I'm moving around. Which means I have to stop and carefully examine the fifty bajillion entities in the room to see if any of them aren't my bots. Could they just...not?
2) Similarly, I doubt having giant entourages running around is great for others, spam-wise. Can we get some kind of conceal skill, or general "So-and-so is followed by the clacking clanking of little drone feet" message?
3) No group commands, even old ones like entourage. I have nine bots and have to order them all around one by one.
4) Some of the skills unnecessarily require that you refer to the bots by vnum, when you really shouldn't need to specify a bot at all. eg, Bots Deliver
5) Bots don't like to follow, which is pretty annoying considering the lack of group commands. When drones return from airdrops or UAVs return from deliver, or when you Porthome, could they just automatically step in line?

The Gadgets skillset could use a lot of clarification. At a minimum could we have Gadgets Construct list all the gadgets that can be constructed, or have specific skills in the list that show you that? It took me awhile to figure out that Junkjet is a skill used with the magnotron, which I can apparently build even though I still don't have the Magnotron skill. I still don't know if there's a wormhole gadget, though I've tried to build it several ways.

Comments

  • GarrynGarryn Administrator Posts: 61 Starmourn staff
    edited December 2018
    Sure, we'll be adding more QoL to these as time permits.
    3) ORDER LOYALS x or ORDER FOLLOWERS x, one targets all loyal mobs in room, the other targets everything that is following you.
    Gadgets - You can build the gadgets if you know at least one ability that uses it. I've added the required gadget to the AB entries, e.g. AB GADGETS WORMHOLE.
  • XaqariXaqari Member Posts: 3
    I'm going to piggy-back on this.
    Turrets are not at all transparent at how they work.

    You train for your laser turret early but it doesn't explain how they operate (I still don't know).
    I create a laser turret, deploy turret, QPC boost turret, put it in sentrymode.
    I then hit a thing with my bots, the turret just sits there like a dead muffin doing nothing.
    Does this require focus to work on non naturally hostile mobs? I can't find anything in the help about this.
  • bairlochbairloch Member Posts: 373 ✭✭✭
    Turrets only work on Players, at this point.
  • XaqariXaqari Member Posts: 3
    Oh wow I totally missed that. Thanks!
  • NakisNakis Member Posts: 10
    Is that specified anywhere? I didn't see it and spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.
  • bairlochbairloch Member Posts: 373 ✭✭✭
    I only think it's word of mouth, at this point.
  • ShinonomeShinonome Member Posts: 167 ✭✭✭
    Oh... didn't see this thread so I made my own, but I want to throw in a suggestion...

    At least for the early levels, there's an awful lot of hostile monsters called "drone". Unfortunately this also means this people tend to hit engineer drones. If there could be some sort of keyword change or safety added to help out with mistargeting, that would be pretty neat.

    Another suggestion: Homeport is almost essential, and I think there's enough starting lessons to get it. Could the battlemaster suggest putting in enough lessons to get homeport?
  • BobbtheBreakerBobbtheBreaker Member Posts: 34 ✭✭
    Yeh....considering that (so far as I know) Claw is the only bashing attack that does anything, Homeport really should be sooner in the skill list.
  • griffgriff Member Posts: 18
    HomePort should be first before the bot or at the same time . Also is there a way to see number of parts ?
  • QueanQuean Member Posts: 87 ✭✭✭
    Shinonome said:
    At least for the early levels, there's an awful lot of hostile monsters called "drone". Unfortunately this also means this people tend to hit engineer drones. If there could be some sort of keyword change or safety added to help out with mistargeting, that would be pretty neat.
    I think when you use Nexus and TAB to choose your target, it automatically skips engineer drones. It's an easy way for me not to get them confused.
    Starmourn Launch Countdown:
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  • BobbtheBreakerBobbtheBreaker Member Posts: 34 ✭✭
    griff said:
    HomePort should be first before the bot or at the same time . Also is there a way to see number of parts ?
    It's a prompt item, should be there by default. "PT: #"
  • ZackZack Member Posts: 24
    I noticed my bots don't refollow after I hack, so I tend to wander off without them when I end the attempt
    wandering star punk


  • griffgriff Member Posts: 18
    griff said:
    HomePort should be first before the bot or at the same time . Also is there a way to see number of parts ?
    It's a prompt item, should be there by default. "PT: #"
    no wonder I cant find the command thanks a million
  • HallenHallen Member Posts: 5
    Also unless someone else has gotten it to work, the wormhole gadget doesn't appear to be functional.  Using it to target someone and it will 'channel' indefinitely, trying to move says it was interrupted, but even if you and the target stand still for over 10-20 minutes (which for a permanent wormhole would be one thing, but it is listed as a temporary 5 minute one) it won't complete (I have filed a bug report in-game for this)
  • bairlochbairloch Member Posts: 373 ✭✭✭
    After creating 5 UAVs and leaving them in interesting places about the Song Dominion, I discovered BOT LIST. Very handy.
  • CricketCricket Member Posts: 7
    edited December 2018
    bairloch said:
    Turrets only work on Players, at this point.
    @Tecton
    Would it unbalance the game too much to have the turrets target NPC enemies? 
    Had a rockhopper chewing on me for a bit before I died and figured out "oh I think the turrets didn't shoot" 🤣
  • VittuneVittune Member Posts: 3
    griff said:
    HomePort should be first before the bot or at the same time . Also is there a way to see number of parts ?
    It's a prompt item, should be there by default. "PT: #"
    I wish it were also on ship prompt.
  • ZackZack Member Posts: 24
    edited December 2018
    I would like a way to call individual bots back to me with HOMEPORT, as an alternative to all at once. I don't mind having a huge army, but as a quester and explorer, it makes it more difficult to see if there are NPCs around. Plus I know it annoys the heck out of people when I come zooming by with my nine bots, and I really only need my carrybot with me (so far).

    ...and also a way to condense the enter/leave messages like 'Zack is chased by a robot army' instead of 'is followed by X and Y and Z and...'
    wandering star punk


  • SatomiSatomi Member Posts: 140 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2018
    If we can't hide our bots, it'd be cool if we could use the Carrybot as a sort of mobile carrier that all the other bots can sort of 'dock' with when not active.

    It'd be automatic after like 1-5 minutes, and they auto-undock when you use a command with them.
  • FlipilariaFlipilaria Member Posts: 128 ✭✭✭
    Bots should auto-follow if you log in to the same room as them pretty please 
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