How do you use the "bots carry bags" feature?

[Malidictus]

Ever since I saw this in the patch notes the other day, it's had me thinking... How would I actually use this feature? In the past, I've tried to use the "Ask Bot to Carry the Bag" mod which worked a lot like what we have in the game (albeit with more cumbersome interaction controls), and I could never figure out a good way to make use of that. Am I supposed to run all bags from where I found them all the way to the escape with Bots helping me carry more bags at a time? What about the bags I'm leaving behind? What's protecting them from getting stolen?

See, the way I move bags is I keep them in a pile and move the entire pile a little at a time. Since giving a bag to a bot requires me to pick it up anyway, what do I gain for handing said bag to a bot over just throwing it and picking up another bag? Especially since bots seem to slow down severely even with lighter bags. A bot with a money bag can only walk, and it walks significantly slower than I do.

I've experimented some with mods. I was trying to see if I could do the cheeky thing of handing a bag to a bot, sending it off to a waypoint via Keepers and asking it to drop the bag, but the "drop bag" interaction only works up-close so that was a no-go. I guess I could use bots to ferry bags really really slowly between two players standing on either side of open ground with no cover? Maybe use bots to carry bags up sheer walls they can climb but players can like in Alesso?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dising the feature (even if it seems unnecessarily processor-heavy). I'm just not sure how I could use it so it's more helpful to me than just moving the bags myself.

[MissCassidy]

Take bag
Throw bag at bot

ezpz

[Prusak]

Throw bag at bot

Tell bot to hold

Conglaturations your bag is now safe and cops won't take it

[[PYCR] Illyrius]

Doesn't really work that well for me though, lol. The bots are behaving like 5 year olds. I threw a bag in the direction of the van, no where near the bot, he still kinda picked it up, went back to the battlefield with it and didn't wanna give it back to me lmao

Edit: And they do drop the bag if they get shot a couple times

[Sir Duckyweather]

I was going to test how well the bots can carry heavier stuff like weapons on Firestarter or even Almir's Toast but hadn't gotten around to it, mostly because I'm not sure how useful it would be anyway given that they like to drop whatever they're carrying like they're Barret with EXP.

[Sir Duckyweather]

Mal, I think you might need to change the title a little or elaborate or something. That or people need to read beyond just the title. Seems everyone thinks you're asking how to literally use the feature, and not in what way it could be useful.

[[PYCR] Illyrius]

Originally posted by Sir Duckyweather:

Mal, I think you might need to change the title a little or elaborate or something. That or people need to read beyond just the title. Seems everyone thinks you're asking how to literally use the feature, and not in what way it could be useful.

lol shame on me. Well I don't think it's useful since it can only be used on loud (?) and the bots seem to

Originally posted by PYCR Illyrius:

drop the bag if they get shot a couple times

[0ptimistPrime (the Gray)]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dising the feature (even if it seems unnecessarily processor-heavy). I'm just not sure how I could use it so it's more helpful to me than just moving the bags myself.

This was my conslusion as well, after trying it out.
Moving bags from the Diamond Store to the escape van, I was throwing bags one bag at a time from one location to another, moving my hoard of loot like a checkers piece moving across a board or a kid playing hopscotch.

Giving the bots a bag didn't seem to save me any time or frustration. For one reason, they kept dropping the bags seemingly for no reason. Nobody was getting downed, and I watched them get staggered and tazed without dropping them, so I dunno what was going on there. But even if they didn't and the bags were glued to their hands, it still didn't really save me any time.
By the time I got my hoard to the escape vehicle and was loading the bags in, the bots were still ~30m from me shooting at cops. I had to run over to them and take the bag, then run back to the van and throw it in. So in the end, I still needed to move the bag myself.

I have no issue with the feature. People have been asking for it for ages, so I'm glad they got it. I just don't think they really considered how useful it would be. Human players will take a bag and actually move it on their own to a location that's useful for the team, then go grab another bag and do it again.
Bots simply follow you. No time is really saved by throwing the bag at a bot rather than throwing it forward to your next hoard-spot.

[Bindal]

Basically the only use this has is that you have one bag per bot you just want defended. If you want to transport bags, the usual "throw bags" is more efficent in every case short of a single, very light bag (which you then can carry alone anyway).
Or just if you want to slow down bots and - for some reason - got bodybags laying around as they carry those to and bots are affected by the weight of the bag. But besides for the hell of it, there is no good reason to do so.

[Prusak]

Wait a sec did someone check if you can give bags to bots waiting outside unmasked?
Because that'd be great

[Bindal]

Originally posted by Prusak:

Wait a sec did someone check if you can give bags to bots waiting outside unmasked?
Because that'd be great

Tested, you can't.

[Prusak]

Originally posted by Bindal:

Originally posted by Prusak:

Wait a sec did someone check if you can give bags to bots waiting outside unmasked?
Because that'd be great

Tested, you can't.

a w w

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Sir Duckyweather:

Mal, I think you might need to change the title a little or elaborate or something. That or people need to read beyond just the title. Seems everyone thinks you're asking how to literally use the feature, and not in what way it could be useful.

Hah! I couldn't come up with a better title that wasn't a mile long :) The first few replies confused me somewhat, since I didn't make the connection immediately. But yes, I'm asking for tips of using the system well, not merely how it works.

Originally posted by PYCR Illyrius:

Edit: And they do drop the bag if they get shot a couple times

I haven't tested this extensively enough (need to lock a game and just experiment) but if that's true then the system is dead on arrival. The way the system works right now, you only really get use of the bots if you're carrying bags long-distance since they'll presumably let you carry several at once. With how slow and easily distracted they are I don't know if that's really the case, but in theory it should work.

If bots can drop bags from being shot, then that's a showstopper right there. Not only does it undermine what little use the system has, it's an actual liability since bots can end up dropping bags in bad spots away from my "hoard." That's just asking for bags to get repossessed. Is this something left over from copy/pasting cop bag-moving logic or is it intentional like the bot "hold" command's limited range?

Originally posted by Optimist Prime (the Gray):

Bots simply follow you. No time is really saved by throwing the bag at a bot rather than throwing it forward to your next hoard-spot.

See, I'm not bound by that limitation. By means of Keepers, I can actually order bots to go somewhere I'm not. Thing is, that really, REALLY doesn't help because there's no way to order the bot to drop the bag once he's actually arrived. Yes, bots will drop bags when you yell at them, but that only seems to work if you're within throwing range. So... No sending a bot with a bag across the garden on Scarface to drop the bag and come back for another. I mean granted, that would be sort of "cheaty" in terms of letting me do something the system was clearly intended to not do, but the bots move SO SLOWLY I may as well move the bags myself.

Anyone remember the ziplines on Transport: Train? The ones that move bags from the bridge all the way to the boat in complete safety? Yeah, they're pretty powerful, but they're also SO slow as to be impractical. Standard practice for people that I've seen is to move several bags by hand while waiting for the zipline. Bots seem to be a less convenient version of what was already pretty inconvenient.

---

Again, I'm not saying "This sucks! Change it back!" I like the idea of it. I'm just struggling to come up with an actual practical use for the system that's better than doing it myself. I believe the point of adding this is to help solo players and small teams move bags, but I'm just not sure how to extract that help. About the coolest part of the system so far is bots "throwing" bags at me when I yell at them from close enough, since they're easy to catch :)

[Iconoclastist]

Used this to move the beast to the vault in the big bank. It was great.

[O_T]

The only really usefull thing I can see is that the bags from the bots are counted when you are escaping.
Example: When you are playing Mallcrasher alone you can escape with 3 bags of loot.

[Sir Duckyweather]

Originally posted by Iconoclastist:

Used this to move the beast to the vault in the big bank. It was great.

Hmm, good idea! But how often did you have to pick up the bags again like you're trying to get your small children to carry groceries?