Originally Posted by Sirisian
I kind of alluded to this in my post, but many people think of PvE as humanoid NPCs doing the rolls of players. Others view it as MMORPG creatures that players kill for experience and loot. Others view it as events where NPCs or creatures attack bases. A very small subset of the community views it as wildlife (passive or hostile) between bases, where dying to them is akin to running into a rock.
Because of all these different "pre-existing" definitions of PvE that people hold onto it's very difficult to have a conversation about this. Many hold onto misconceived ideas about performance because they are thinking of one idea where NPCs or creatures are in the middle of every base battle taking up bandwidth and rendering. Others fear that they'll detract from the PvP gameplay and any mention of the topic is heresy.
I linked three threads on the subject to show people's varying thoughts and definitions of what PvE meant to the community. If you read them you'll understand why this conversation is impossible to have without clearly defining what type of implementation one is talking about. Since Dreamcast didn't, it's impossible ascertain whether it's a good idea or not. Even then, most people don't read the original post or following discussion so trolls can easily sidetrack such a discussion.
For me personally, I'm 100% against humanoid AI in the game. I prefer living environmental dangers between bases in the form of hostile creatures with no reward. Dying to them would be akin to running into a cactus. (You'd need to read the threads to get an idea of what I mean. It's very difficult to summarize here). I viewed them as mobile base turrets outside of bases with abilities. You'll see from the other threads that everyone has their own view on hostile and passive creatures and the proper (or improper) implementation. (For instance, how close to the base they can get, or how powerful they'd be, or how fast they'd respawn, what type of alien creatures, etc.)
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Yeah I view the AI as turrets as well, because few developers (apart from AI War and a few others) have ever built a decent a AI. Still turrets have their place well and good, automated systems here and there for flavor.
Now you mention it wildlife doesn't sound all that bad in this kind of game, something moves - you shoot it but then realise its just a harmless animal, but you've given away your position! However if it cost serve lag then it'd be pointless, unless it didn't impact much.
AI War however, if you've not played it and want to see what a -good- AI can really do, check it out. - No fancy graphics but you die hard strat fans may well like it
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http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/aiwar-features
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