I havent played with this mod yet, so i'm going based off of what is seen on the workshop pictures.

1) I feel it should cost resorces to create the bots. The walking one is cheep, while the hovering one is much more expensive.

2) I'd like to be able to give my bots things like guns, drills, torches, and saws instead of a preset. Good for on the fly changes.

3) Could the hover bot be able to fly? If so, its best to not allow them to carry weapons.

1) Bluestar suggested in the main comments section to have "ambient engineers" to make it feel more alive which I thought was a great idea.

2) And how about extending that so you can "hire" engineers for lots of SC and dedicate them to a workstation that gives an in-game benefit, like an assembler control station which when occupied gives the equivalent of a 5th speed module boost.

These are my suggestions/wishes

#1: Add AI waypoint markers. I think it would be useful to be able to place waypoint marker blocks, maybe like a floor plate or something and be able to order the AI to try to move to the waypoint marker.
This would be useful if you wanted to send your AI troops to a particular section of your ship or whatnot to micromanage them a bit more.

#2: If #1 is implemented, it would be nice to then use the waypoint marks to great, like we can with GPS coordinates, a patrol route or “flight path”. Basically, allow the player to set several waypoint markers and their sequence that the AI moves to each one. This would really help with building scenario style gameplay.

#3: As much as I like the utility of the nanobot Build and repair system, it would be far cooler if the AI repair bot had all the same functionality! I also think that it would be a lot more of a balanced game mechanic because the AI can be taken out by weapons fire, obstructed by pathfinding etc.

#4: I believe this is well on its way already, but more player customization of the AI bots.

#5: I believe we may or may not see this, but bots that mine resources and bring them to a collector would be the bee’s knee’s of cool!

Here are my take on suggestions:

Generic functions:

-NPC stats/NPC quality
--Useful when used with botCost(bottom); add variety without needing more model(or slight variation); could make bots sturdier(more hit point, more cargo space), smarter(better pathfinding, better aim), more agile(able to weld hidden blocks, dodge incoming threats), etc.

-Configurable color/skin in bot menu
--Limits could be linked to stats(cheap bot are barely colorable with battered skin, fancier bot can take up to 3 colors and any skin); could be set or random in spawner



New Friendly NPC:

-Hauler NPC(follow, pick-up item/ore, drop in cargo, large inventory space)
--Help manual mining/grinding by cleaning the place

-"Villager" NPC(no combat, idle animation, random speech?)
--Make places feel more alive

-Mission/Merchant NPC (bring NPC from A to B, give NPC resource X, NPC sell stuff(configurable))
--Alternative to Contract block; better immersion for Escort mission



New Hostile NPC:

-"Animal" NPC(like wolf, configurable drop?(ESDR meat, Organic))
--Replacing animal and mod compat; configurable spawn(might just be another mod)

-Drops for NPC(random components, configurable)
--Make combat somewhat rewarding; modCompat; Admin QOL



Also, are the NPC buildable with resources or buyable with credit?
Could be both, configurable, or maybe even make "blueprint" buyable in station to "assemble" bot in machine(blueprint require credit, building require material, blueprint could hold NPC stats, COLLECT THEM ALL!)
A new block could be used to design blueprint, maybe by disassembling existing one(researching block) to get "stats component", and assembling(design table block) new blueprint with them and resources/credit/time

Great suggestions, everyone! I think some of them are in there now and more on the way :)

Would it be possible to have friendly bots armed with grinders, to take apart captured wrecks?

Might be a small suggestion, but I'd like to make a bot forcefully start shooting a particular area for scenario purposes. Or something like that.

I'd like to see some kind of alarm for NPCs to go to the nearest available seat, so they don't get left behind in jumps.

I would like the ability to be able to place an enemy bot while in creative mode without its spawner, if you want bots in specific places it's difficult to get that to happen in tight spaces since every new bot (if they were to be stationary) requires a new spawner block. Im not sure if that is possible since they need the config but could you have it reference a config file somewhere when they are spawned?

Hey, I would like to put a suggestion on here, I love this mod!

Is there a way you could perhaps assign npcs to different factions, and or make it easier to spawn them without a spawner? And also to change the models to modded playermodels and to change their guns too? without editing the spawner custom data. Thank you again for your service!

I'd really like to see the addition of a feature where bots who are set to "Follow" will enter passenger seats when the player enters a cockpit/pilot seating.

The spawners for small grids would be fantastic. For dropships and ground transports "dropping off" soldier bots.

set target block for repair/build to cahnge if the bot cant reach it would be a good idea

This is what i think would make this mod even more ballistic.

1. you could add a device which opens up the function menu when you are far away.
would be great when you're doing strategic attacks or calling in reinforcements or directing
helpers different places.

2. Driver bot or a function [drive] to the already existing bots. to allow them to drive vehicles
follow the player around in a different vehicle to drop off reinforcements or soldier bots and
more.

3. to add a function in the settings of the bot builder to upgrade tiers so like if you are in tier 1
you can only have 2 bots but if you pay with space credits to upgrade into tier 2 you can
have 4 bots and so on, so the player can have the ultimate War experience, as to have to
save funds to build a bigger army. Idk but i'd definitely love if these or just 1 of these
suggestions was made.

Probably get a crew for your own starship, make it way cooler. Instead of the skeletal-robotic robots, you get player-looking crew for your team.