Attributes
Mark autons (both the item and ship class) with the following attributes, as appropriate:
cargoAuton
: Any auton designed to carry cargo (e.g., Mule). These are also marked asutilityAuton
.combatAuton
: Any auton that has a weapon and is designed for combat/defense.explorerAuton
: Any auton designed for exploration. These are also marked asutilityAuton
.miningAuton
: Any auton designed for mining. These are also marked asutilityAuton
.utilityAuton
: Any auton with a utility function. If this auton also has combat capabilities, then it is OK to mark it as acombatAuton
.
What would an auton that is primarily utility but has lethal defense systems use? What about auton that is both utility and combat?
For example...
- Mining auton with a high-powered laser that can mine asteroids and kill enemies, and can be commanded to attack enemies like a combat auton? This seems like one that can be both combatAuton and utilityAuton (and miningAuton).
- Drone carrier that can haul cargo and behaves like a Mule, but also carries drones that automatically deploy and kill nearby enemies? It is dumb and can be lured by clever player to put the carrier into danger.
Likewise, I'm planning to put an anti-ship AutoDefenseDevice onto a TX3 variant for testing. I assume it would still be "utility" because while it does technically have a weapon, it's not intended for combat.
@nms and @song: You're right, maybe it should not be mutually exclusive.
The ideas is to allow for some filtering, either in a UI or for random spawning (or whatever).
I'll edit the guidelines to say that it is OK to have both combat and utility.
Thanks for this.
Also that would be PM and Song, not NMS.