How about letting Herbivore players hatch AI in order to populate the map

[Cocoa-Jin]

There should be something in it for the herb player of course. Ideally, these AI offspring would increase the survivabilty of the players in the herd. Perhaps these hatched AI would be more alert or more resilient..maybe having buffed attacks.

Once the AI component of a herd gets big enough, it would split and set off to some other part of the map. The resident AI component of the herd would be tied to the location of the nest, meaning the herd would move independently about the area within a max range of the nest...the migrating split would have no such restrictions.

AI hatched herbivores could provide reduced meat when fed upon, while AI hatched adults would still be more difficult due to various buffs.

Hatching an AI herbivore to adulthood could provide the nest builder an instant respawn from the nest as an adult.

[Lambalot {Lamb-Bah-Ghini}]

While I like this idea, I could see it being abused by the people who like to mega/mix group. There would have to be a limit to how many and how often you can hatch. It might need a few tweaks, but I would love to see a system like this further down the line once AI has been programmed better. Although, I think it should stay as a herbivore only perk.

[Cocoa-Jin]

I don’t mind people hatching lots of AI, there would certainly need to be some form of investment of time and/or resources to hatch each egg.

It HAS to be limited to herbivores. I’d like to see it provide some extra incentive to spawn smaller herbivores through AI herd perks.

[Why Watt]

I definetly think this AI idea actually has a lot of potential if it was handled, how shall we say, delicately?
Don't make the AI herbivores stronger. The advantage should come from having a herd of things that are not you so even if a predator attacks it would more than likely take down an Ai.

As for nesting them, it can be balanced quite simply... it would take same time as nesting / growing players atm. To gestate & incubate one egg, it's like a half hour, and you have begun to incubate your 2nd egg. That baby, depending on your species, can take hours and hours to go to full adult. So if you really want to generate a herd, that's fine, but it's gonna be a commitment, and the best course of action would be to form a nesting site with others of our kind.

[Cocoa-Jin]

Originally posted by Why Watt:

I definetly think this AI idea actually has a lot of potential if it was handled, how shall we say, delicately?
Don't make the AI herbivores stronger. The advantage should come from having a herd of things that are not you so even if a predator attacks it would more than likely take down an Ai

I was imaging the AI buff as something minor, likely single digit percent increases, ideally each species would only have one , maybe two stat buffs.

Maybe we can buff the nest builder with small staking buffs based on herd size, leaving AI herd members normal. Of course, the stacking buffs would be limited by hard cap or continue to stack with diminishing returns so that it essentially remains within single digit percent buffs.

My initial thought was that the increased survivabilty through numbers was sufficient, but I figured I throw a bone to those who needed more incentive to play herbivores. What better way than allowing them to build a horde of slightly stronger AI herb-mates to spite carnivores...though it would suck if your species best defense is to run and all your hatched herd mates are faster than you...

[HuEVA]

My only question, what happens if you logout get disconnected?

[Why Watt]

Originally posted by HuEVA:

My only question, what happens if you logout get disconnected?

Logging out on Dev branch's new nesting system doesnt remove them, granted, server crashes / restarts do. So in those two cases the AI herd still remains near the nest...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I realized another cool factor: raiding the nests of herbivores would be a good idea for predators. The herd would lose it's anchor point, move around, risk getting seperated from one another... 200 IQ plays

[Sargon The Grape]

Has anybody thought to repost this on Discord yet? Or at least link it there?

[Cocoa-Jin]

Originally posted by Why Watt:

Originally posted by HuEVA:

My only question, what happens if you logout get disconnected?

Logging out on Dev branch's new nesting system doesnt remove them, granted, server crashes / restarts do. So in those two cases the AI herd still remains near the nest...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I realized another cool factor: raiding the nests of herbivores would be a good idea for predators. The herd would lose it's anchor point, move around, risk getting seperated from one another... 200 IQ plays

That’s a possible feature...my thought was that the herd stayed put, but I don’t have a problem either way.