AI Miners?

[FloatingSpaceMailbox]

Yes I know, I've read that scripted machines will need to be near you and that you would have to be online. But what if you could make an AI machine that would go off, mine and make a duplicate of itself. These AI would DOMI-peacefully explore the universe and mine.

 

I know that this wont happen, and I'm just putting this topic out there.

[AccuNut]

I know that this wont happen, and I'm just putting this topic out there.

Soo....why start a thread on it?

 

But, to humor those who may be wondering why it won't happen, the main reason is that fully- or even mostly-automated drones of any kind kill gameplay.

If automation can be accomplished with a mining drone, there is no way of limiting it to just mining. Even if you couldn't put "weapons" on it, (and there is no way of limiting that as far as I know,) it still has a mining laser or some other mining device it could hurt people with. Voila, combat drone.

 

Self-replication is a bad idea for a similar reason; all you need to build is one, and with a little patience you will have a drone army!

Even if you only used this drone army to mine, it is simply an unfair advantage to the owner, since new players wouldn't stand a chance to either find resources or sell them at the price you could. (Plus, did I mention it kills gameplay? That owner doesn't have to work / pay for materials beyond what it took to make / buy the first drone!)

 

Some will say that under those circumstances, new players should just join an organization that has territory they can mine.

2 problems with that:

#1. New players shouldn't HAVE to join an organization just to get started in the game. There will be plenty of lone wolves in DU, and a lot of them will do just fine.

#2.It will be difficult for even organizations to defend against a drone army, both physically and economically. Just because they own battleships or tons of land doesn't mean they can cope long-term. Battleships take money and resources to operate, and no matter how much land you own; if John Drone is selling his stuff for $30 less than you, you won't ever turn a profit!

 

So as the original poster pointed out: this will more than likely NEVER happen.

[Lethys]

Soo....why start a thread on it?

 

But, to humor those who may be wondering why it won't happen, the main reason is that fully- or even mostly-automated drones of any kind kill gameplay.

If automation can be accomplished with a mining drone, there is no way of limiting it to just mining. Even if you couldn't put "weapons" on it, (and there is no way of limiting that as far as I know,) it still has a mining laser or some other mining device it could hurt people with. Voila, combat drone.

 

Self-replication is a bad idea for a similar reason; all you need to build is one, and with a little patience you will have a drone army!

Even if you only used this drone army to mine, it is simply an unfair advantage to the owner, since new players wouldn't stand a chance to either find resources or sell them at the price you could. (Plus, did I mention it kills gameplay? That owner doesn't have to work / pay for materials beyond what it took to make / buy the first drone!)

 

Some will say that under those circumstances, new players should just join an organization that has territory they can mine.

2 problems with that:

#1. New players shouldn't HAVE to join an organization just to get started in the game. There will be plenty of lone wolves in DU, and a lot of them will do just fine.

#2.It will be difficult for even organizations to defend against a drone army, both physically and economically. Just because they own battleships or tons of land doesn't mean they can cope long-term. Battleships take money and resources to operate, and no matter how much land you own; if John Drone is selling his stuff for $30 less than you, you won't ever turn a profit!

 

So as the original poster pointed out: this will more than likely NEVER happen.

 

This "idea" was posted in general, not the idea subforum. I think he just wants to talk about such self-replicating robots in general.

 

Short answer: Van-Neumann machines have to be killed on sight and have to be exterminated ASAP - Your turn to figure out why

[Kurock]

This "idea" was posted in general, not the idea subforum. I think he just wants to talk about such self-replicating robots in general.

 

Short answer: Van-Neumann machines have to be killed on sight and have to be exterminated ASAP - Your turn to figure out why

 

The grey ooze cometh and bringeth the end of days.

[AccuNut]

The  subject of drones was discussed in detail in another thread, although  I can't seem to find it at the moment. If  my memory serves me, the concensus was that any kind of self-replicating and / or self-piloted construct was a bad idea, a really bad one, for so many  reasons!

 

I meant no offense to the original poster, I was just trying to state a few of the problems with the concept in a nutshell. 

 

Edit: on the other hand, I found this thread: https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/314-devblog-lua-scripting-and-distributed-processing-units-dpus/?hl=drone

 

So it looks like maybe they will exist. 

 

I am not really excited to see the problems that will arise if they allow this. It seems like a gameplay-killer to me.

 

But that is my opinion, NQ has done a great job at developing this game so far, so I will just have to wait and hope for the best.