First off (In this system anyhow) NPCs wouldn't cost resources for the defenders. (They're at the most guard at the very least armed mobs.) Secondly the points for killing them should be negligible, it's reasonable to assume that your reward for killing them is included in the base capture. Thirdly, of course there's a benefit for defenders. It allows players to focus their actual PC defenders in a key spot or spread them out and actually defend the base without becoming so spread out that they are immediately overrun. Fourthly, a mechanic which gets them to break and run if a commissar/commander is killed or the majority of them are massacred allows small forces of enemies to infiltrate and route NPC defenders. The idea being that they prevent a head on assault from a numerically equal or only slightly larger force but also promotes an idea of infiltration to promote disarray rather than just as a method of base capture. (e.g. your pc's are spread out the the npcs who then on the death of their commander start to run leaving the defenders overstretched and vulnerable.)
Sound like they're only good for keeping out F2P and new players. Negligible points is still points. NPC kills should be worth nothing. It's the only way to stop farming. So focus on one point or spread out and hope the NPCs can at least provide a distraction? Great, except for point 4... NPCs that flee and leave you to die. I'd rather not have NPCs at all. Again, that makes NPC defenders useless and not worth implementing. A small defence force, if prep'd right, should be able to hold off a larger assault until reinforcements arrive without needing NPCs.
That's a bad thing? Then there shall be no points for killing them, simple. Then remove the fleeing element. Or perhaps the presence of a member of the Adeptus Astartes will prevent them from fleeing whilst those left unsupervised will flee after heavy casualties. Should, but not necessarily. You would have to be organised to the letter. (lets face it that's not always going to be the case) Other than that it becomes more of an issue of map design than anything else, choke points, fields of fire etc.
This is a very good point, NPCs really should have 0 reward for killing. It's not like they'll even be all that much of a challenge to kill.
Well i do have a theory of what we can do with NPCs, though it might seem a bit complicated. Basically like a couple of other people have already said having Hordes of npcs in the other factions would be a bad idea as chaos,orks,eldar, and space marines are all focused on being Player controlled and even having npcs guarded a base would be a bad idea as they would be easily wiped out as unlike human players they can't Improvise, they're scripted and programmed to do certain things. But that doesn't mean they're completely useless as they can make for excellent distractions and can cause massive destruction and Havoc on the enemy when used carefully, so I propose that we add super Heavy Unit Npcs like Land Raiders, Ork Squiggoths, Daemon Princes, and Avatars of Khaine to EC. The only exception being that these units be used on rare occasions such as if your faction is getting overrun by the other factions or you gain control over an ancient shrine or Manufactorium hidden somewhere on the map (These might not be good examples but just work with me here). Now of course there would only be one Unit for Each faction and these guys would act kinda like a Boss with a huge amount of Health and a good amount of splash Damage. Of course we don't want to make these guys Invincible so maybe these guys can be equipped with some sort of spawn timer, so that they only stay for a certain amount of time and when time is up they'll explode into a fiery Inferno that kills everyone within a 5 or 10 mile radius, both Friendly and enemy. What do you guys think?
Have you ever played to PS2? have you ever been in a battle with more of 1000 people trying to capture a small post? I'm gonna guest not, if the game is successful we won't need npcs at all, but again some people are afraid of pvp and they need to farm weak npcs. GTX 670 FTW
Not sure how that would work. We already have Tyranids as NPC's. Adding NPC's to a faction could possibly ruin the game. Let's say you have a some Stormboyz planning a surprise attack near the flank of some unsuspecting Space Marines, and the Marines have Guardsman defending a strategic location. The guard could act as sentries and go all "Stop right there, criminal scum!" Before you've even launched the assault.
I cannot kill a player to save my life. Oh look! An NPC. Good, I need to kill something to feel proud of my skill at this game somehow. But in all seriousness, I am not one to judge. We shall just wait and see what the developers come up with.
