Player Control?

[dclarkpf]

When I used to play live, or a while back when I had a eqemu server.. I'd run a couple of accounts with a couple of mercs each.

My problem is that merc's kind of suck. They are way more twinked than a player character, and end up just slaughtering everything basically making the game way to easy. Another problem is that you can't control their gear. You level with them, but you can't really play your merc. They aren't really "your" character. I like to have several characters, so I can readily fill a group quickly. And I usually like to have several chars of about the same level.

I've never really tried out bots. I guess I'd just rather fill a group with players I'd like to actually play.

I'm sorry, I know I'm rather long winded. Playing more than two characters becomes a pain in the butt, because switching between two windows takes too long.. Switch to the mage to nuke once, and then switch back to the chanter.. or whatever. It's a huge pita.

So.. I've been working on controlling other characters using tells. Basically...
/t Bob docommand stand
/t Bob docommand cast 1 Fred
/t Bob docommand sit

I've got those working at the moment.. I'm going to go on to add follow, assist, pet commands, disc, taunt, so on and so forth.

Anyways, I just wondered if anyone else thought this was a decent idea, or if it was just me?

[Dhaymion]

Sounds like EQBC with MQ2 basically.

[Uleat]

You're re-inventing the wheel.

The topic isn't allowed to be discussed here - per forum rules..but, peq's forum has quite a lengthy discussion about a 3rd-party program used for this purpose.

for ref: http://peqtgc.com/forums/index.php?forums/e3.78/


EDIT: MQ2 bots and server bots are not the same.

[dclarkpf]

Yeah.. Cool thanks for the info. I knew there were 3rd party apps that did basically the same thing.. I guess I should have just gone that route.

Oh and sorry for bringing it up.. I wasn't aware that it wasn't allowed to be discussed...

[Uleat]

What you're doing isn't taboo..just the discussion of MQ2.

Unfortunately, we don't have a module system or I would suggest working on something like this as one.

Long term goals of EQEmulator would probably not accept something like this into the main repository given that EQBC/MQ2 is available.

But, please don't think that I'm trying to quell your discussion here.

If nothing else, it would be good to see the feedback generated by this suggestion.

[Huppy]

Originally Posted by dclarkpf

My problem is that merc's kind of suck. They are way more twinked than a player character, and end up just slaughtering everything basically making the game way to easy. Another problem is that you can't control their gear. You level with them, but you can't really play your merc.

Mercs can be toned down with a little work on your own server.(via the stats in the DB) They are not really twinked with actual gear, it's all texture based for visuals. The weapons they hold is a melee texture and the armor is also simply a texture. (Just like when creating a new npc on your server).

Originally Posted by dclarkpf

I've never really tried out bots.

Uleat has put a lot of good effort into the (ongoing) development of the bots. They are perfect for solo players (on a bot supported server) to rampage around with a group, or raid, without the need to play more than one player account. Their only downside, is having to gear them all.

[dclarkpf]

Alright, I'll take a serious look at bots.. Thanks!