Hello Galactic Survivalists! When we made our first announcement we said that version 1.5 will focus on code work. One of these code-heavy topics we are working on is artificial intelligence. Today we want to give you a little insight on what is going on with that. The main goals of the introduction of the new ground AI creatures in version 1.5 is as follows: ● Introduction of a new set of AI vs AI interactions. This starts with predator AI hunting prey AI to feed. Or scavengers AI looking for corps to eat. In this way the player will have the new ability to not be at center of the action but also to observe action around him. This will let some new survival strategy arise. ● Some new states are added to the creature like the hunger, the thirst or the ability to hide. This will bring some slightly more sophisticated behavior that will create a more immersive environment. ● Overall some more complex behavior of creatures have been developed to bring some more unique action for each creature that will challenge the player in some new and unexpected way. The following four, already existing creatures will mark the start of our efforts in terms of improving AI but also make the worlds of Empyrion even more immersive!. Alien Insects The Alien Insects now have territorial behavior and will defend their chosen edible plants within their territory that is an area of about a radius of 30m. The behavior has also a new hunger state that will make the creatures eat their favorite plants whenever they are hungry. Parasaur A hunger state and a thirst state have been added to the creature. This will imply that the Parasaur will have a hunger and a thirst that will increase over time. Whenever the creature reaches a hunger and thirst threshold it will go to eat his favorite plants or will go to drink nearby water. During the night the Parasaurs will hide in the grass to spend the night and avoid the predators. Raptor The new version of the Raptor AI will have some new abilities like scavenging corpses, hunting AI prey, stalking the player and hiding to ambush him. Alien Bug Group This mixed group of bugs will show a behavior of the mother bug creature spawning some guard bugs around her and firing at some distance. The guard bugs are aggressive and go for some melee attacks to any intruder. These four updated AI creatures will be available with version 1.5. We are looking forward to your suggestions and thoughts right below in the comments. Have a great sunday! Read you soon. Empyrion Dev Team PS: we will announce the start date and details about the upcoming Experimental version next week.
Are you considering raising spawn rate of plants slightly to accommodate for the creatures consumption or are they consuming not enough to make this necessary?
Thanks for your efforts. Please pay attention to the fact that in those worlds where there is no human exterminating them, populations of living beings reach very impressive sizes. There is a constant struggle for existence on such planets. Therefore, I ask you not to skimp on the number of individuals in prides, herds and groups. You can even, if you wish, establish a relationship between the number of players on the planet and the fauna of a given world. It all depends on your commitment to this matter. You can make excessive emulation or primitive arcade. In any case, I hope for your efforts.
I'm hoping that the inventory of the prey animals will be emptied after the predator's are done with them. After all, they just ate.
This looks like the right direction in terms of a more immersive environment that feels more alive instead of depending on the player to bring it alive. This kind of mindset of ideas feels more intuitive, logical, and immersive. Now if you can carry that on to the CPU & Flight Model that would go full circle into improving Empyrion for the better. The facts are that the old Flight Model and Way of building felt more intuitive and immersive then the new addition of CPU & Flight model. So complements where complements are do; good job in going in this direction with the AI.
I am glad to hear this is happening, but we still need player to go out there in later stages of the game. Planets need to be more dangerous so players can get stranded on them, for example. And respawns should cost, so they don't just suicide when it becomes inconvenient. Resources should be rare, and they should be expensive to buy too. And information on where to find them should also be harder to get, maps reveal too much. Maybe sensors* can help here. And CVs shouldn't be able to get inside of the atmosphere, at least not without a gravity generator.** *Maybe sensors can be used as a limit here, different sensors with different roles which you cannot have at the same time, or different energy requirements for sensors as a limiting factor on how much different sensors you have. Combat radar draining too much energy when used constantly so you cannot have a mining radar, or a special kind of sensor to reveal resources on different systems or planets can be used. **A gravity generator should be able to reduce gravity as well as it creates it, so a vessel under full coverage of a gravity generator can reduce its weight to float trough an atmosphere. This would also help with flight dynamics of the game.
OMG! Raptors lurking, hiding, waiting in ambush! I've waited so long for this? Yay? Please remind me...when does the new cross-hair arrive??
@Hummel-o-War Besides the upcoming AI, that I'm very much looking forward to, do you also plan to add new creatures to the game? Some more biodiversity would be good for the game...
Im looking forward to this a lot. I've always wanted to see an eco system that is alive with or without my input.
I agree. I feel that the weather storms could be more threatening like I see in No Man Sky where you start to lose your sight because your helmet is freezing or heat waves that we can feel we're being burned alive slowly. I enjoy this kind of desperation way more than increasing difficulty on enemy encounters. Survival in space could be less populated, simulating real space, but having the player to adapt and respect each environment. I feel that, in Empyrion, after you wear a better suit, hazardous environments get almost unnoticeable. Also collision doing damage. That would make us think twice before crossing an asteroid field. We see this kind of concern in the scifi literature and movies a lot. I would want this to be configurable and not forced upon the player. Speaking of that, I'd love to see more options in the Option screen so we could configure many aspects of the game in more detail (Ark is a great example here).
I have vultures flying over my base all the time. I worry that they're trying to tell me something. But if you mean fauna that can be taken down and eaten or can pick us up and likewise make a meal of us, I have no idea. There are (or were?) some nasty amphibious things coming out of the water. Are we talking tuna, hammerheads, or Kraken?
how about hidden creatures in the sand that jump out at passers by, or man eating plants, perhaps or poisonous plants -oh how about quick sand too! So many possibilities... What would be amazing, is if there was a critter asset loading system , like the steam workshop or something, which allowed the easy insertion of multiple creature assets for those skilled world and scenario designers to pick and build from. (OK this is drifting into pipe dream territory I know...). But anything that unleashes/harnessing the creativity of the community to grow the game.
