I was thinking recently about the new Skitarii class, and in particular their little servo skull buddies. You ever notice how when we get bots they’re only ever Veterans? Having disposable guardsmen is a nice thematic choice, them appearing when a downquitter leaves and picking up a real player to salvage a run is always an heroic event, but they have a tendency to take Medicae pips and get left behind by the players. “Is it really worth it to pick up the bots? They’ll just die again.”
Imagine if instead of an absent player being replaced by a CPU Veteran, they were replaced by what is essentially the Skitarii servo skull. Zipping around, occasionally firing off a few shots from their laspistol, never enough to make a real impact and occasionally picking up a downed player, not taking resources, not taking damage and thus never really needing to be picked up or ignored and generally not getting in the way of things while their spot on the team awaits an actual player to show up. Give 'em those big blue thruster trails like the servo skulls on the Mourningstar have so they’re easier to see. Just something I’d been thinking about.
I’ve been thinking that they should just make bots be Combat Servitors. Just make them unique from players. In this way they could play around their poor ability and straight-up give them abilities that fit specifically being an assistant to players. If killed, they could get back up when combat ends, instead of respawning. They could be ignored by Poxbursters so that players don’t have to eat an explosion they can’t push away because it’s aimed at a bot. All kinds of things.
Like many mechanics in this genre, DRG has already solved it in a player friendly way (what you and OP are suggesting is basically Bosco from DRG solo and I highly approve).
@alsozara Good point, I had forgotten about Bosco!
@Ryshek If you mean Bosco from DRG, then he’s a flying robot buddy who accompanies solo players. He can revive the player a certain number of times per mission and provides some mild damage against enemies. He can also be directed to do specific tasks, like dig, and he can’t be attacked by enemies.
One of the core themes of this game is looking out for each other and seeing us all through impossible situations, I don’t think solo modes are in line with that spirit. I was just posting a fun thought, since I noticed when our bots go down while waiting for other players we tend to not treat them with that same spirit of looking out for each other we show to human players. They’re there filling a seat until someone else shows up and they’re not able to handle the high density or difficulty this game throws at us, sticking our necks out for them ends up with them just going down again. I’ll always do what I can to help my human teammates, but the Veterans-as-bots don’t align with this either. They may as well be servo skulls, occasionally saving a run with a surprise revive but otherwise not doing much and certainly not taking Medicae pips for themselves. It’s okay if you don’t also agree, neither of us actually has a hand in steering this ship we’re all on.