AI Control Options in the event of a DC

[Fluffy Fishy]

With the recent instabilities of the servers going on, where there seems to be what looks like a connection issue a couple of times a week it would be fantastic to see some kind of system built where you can set the behaviour of your ship/fleet if you are DC'd in combat. The options I can think of should use current systems in place and be able to fully borrow programming already in place, just used as an option for players.

The DC AI options I would like to see would be:

• Fight - Where the AI fights for you, as it would if it was just an NPC ship.
• Run - The AI should act like a trader and run away via the best possible method.
• Nothing - The AI should just does what it currently seems to where the ship just stops and puts its sails down waiting for human control again.

The benefits of this is it gives the players more choice, it shouldn't take long to implement and it helps avoid some of the issues with unstable connections, I can't really find any drawbacks beyond players getting upset they set the wrong option for the situation, but at least if a ship fights for you then you go down with some chance if you can get back in time, instead of your precious ship sitting like a lemon ready to sink on your return.

Any thoughts or expansions to the suggestion are very welcome, thank you for reading.

[Leadbelly]

I strongly agree; this would reduce the heartache from disconnecting. Great suggestion.