( By replaced I mean transformed )
Offline raiding is a thing in these kinds of games and different games have implemented different workarounds, but compared to the other CE, is pretty much the only one with an existing AI ( As bad as it is right now ).
So to give an “semi-fair” chance of defense for the offline player, their character should assume a guard position while they are offline and try to defend their bases with some simple parameters.
- When structures and thralls that belongs to the player are taking damage, the AI will then defend against the attacker.
- If the Character itself is taking damage, the AI will try to flee and/or take cover, if not possible they will fight back.
- If the aggressor ceases the attack or die the AI will stop and return to where the player logged off.
The AI could use anything that is in the quickbar, but not in the backpack, neither open chests and replace/repair destroyed or damaged walls ( as of the near future, one step at a time needs to be done ).
With all the flaws the AI currently have, I think that it is still better than an unconscious character.
The AI is atrocious. Doing this would be meaningless.
Do elaborate, present your arguments, and provide a solution or alternative to the problems presented.
Alright.
As per the AI being terrible, look at the countless bug reports on thralls. Most of these issues would apply to player characters too if they were turned into guard avatars.
My proposed solution is to simply fix the myriad issues around thralls to make them useful.
But even if they did fix all the bugs that have been reported, you could wipe out an army of thralls with a single orb of poison and a sandstorm mask because the AI is too poor to make them move out of the gas. This would also apply to the NPC Guard Avatar. So the only viable resolution I can imagine would be to enhance the AI.
You can ‘already’ have all the NPCs you want defending your base. Adding one more NPC to the bunch while offline is pointless. This is true whether the AI is good or not.
You could argue that your solution would give players that don’t have any thralls some protection, which is true, but it wouldn’t be much with the current AI. I took down the witch queen at level 15, naked, with stone daggers. This didn’t happen because I’m especially good, it’s because the AI sucks.
I Wouldn’t even say that the AI sucks, because it pretty much doesn’t exist, it’s not responsive and unpredictable, sometimes your archers would even shot a arrow or two, in other they’ll just watch with their fists drawn.
This suggestion has no intention of changing the dynamics of the offline raiding in a drastic way, it’s just a small thing to give the player a better feeling of fairness. The cheap way would be to give those avatars modified damage and armor to offer a little bit of artificial challenge.
Nevertheless we never make suggestion expecting the systems that would support them to stay the way they are. Consider hypothetically that you logged in and found you base raided while you were offline, would feel better or worse knowing you had an AI controlling you character and trying it’s best?
I wouldn’t feel anything as I wouldn’t expect them to be able to defend my base without me. You explain one of my points well, the AI is basically nonexistent. So turning my player into an NPC while offline will change nothing.
I remember decades ago in old Nintendo and PS1 games enemies would react to what I was doing and change their tactics and perhaps throw in some randomness to shake things up. The AI in Conan Exiles is more like a very basic script. Every encounter with a mace-wielder will play out exactly the same way, every time. And it’s like that for every enemy in the game. Like you said, they’re not responsive. This is true for allied thralls too.
So the only real solution is to fix and enhance the AI.
And like I mentioned before, we can ‘already’ have as many NPCs defending the place as we want. One more won’t change the outcome of a raid even if the AI was good.