Luciasar the performance harpy incoming! "BAWK performance BAWK performance performance SQUAWK" It's not that I don't like the idea of lots of minor grunts filling out battles. But it won't happen. AI is more intensive than PvP characters, something the devs have restated again and again, and given how hard it'll be just getting 100-500 players to run smoothly in one place the idea of upping that to 2000+ with NPCs is crazy. Then there's the client end - every extra NPC on the field means more polygons that have to render, and if implemented would certainly mean drastic tradeoffs in render distance and graphics for players with lower end computers. PS2 base fights range under 100-200 people and that game is considered so hardware intensive that it's prohibitive for all but the best equipped PC players. EC is trying to more than triple that number. Having some NPCs guard bases is fine, because they'll mostly be active when there aren't many players around, and will die quickly when the battle escalates. But there won't be hordes of guardsmen and ork boyz for the same reason we may not see Tyranid armies on the surface to start - running that many AI on one battlefield, with all the collision detection, firing mechanics, and automated decisions they entail, is technically challenging verging on impossible. So don't get your hopes up.
I completely agree with your point. However, I also demand that you make a video of yourself with fake wings, running to the street while shouting "BAWK performance BAWK performance performance SQUAWK" I demand it. It is Gork's Will.
