These guys are fighter drones, one of the newest power ups added to the game. They are search and destroy ships that seek out the enemy, launch an attack, and then attempt to evade any retaliation. They are nasty and a very effective addition to the arsenal.
- Attacking
- The enemy has been sighted within a certain range
- Aim at the enemy and fire laser attack
- If the enemy gets too close or the attack has finished, find a new spot and enter search mode
- Searching
- Move to a random position on the map
- If the player is spotted nearby in close proximity go into attack mode
The behavior will probably be changed after I get some data from testing, but for now it is pretty suitable for the game.
Sweeet. This is pretty analogous to the UFO powerup. How many hitpoints should the drones have though (I'm thinking 1 until things can balance out)? And how fast should their fire-rate should be? Just stuff to think about :)
ReplyDeleteAt this point they are pretty tough, they can take several hits before dying. In my tests if they had low health often they'd die before they could really do anything.
ReplyDeleteThey can only attack if they are facing you, so offensively they are a bit different from the UFOs. If they are in the attack state they aim at the player and if they get a lock on they fire a quick burst of four or five shots, then attempt to run away.
This has been working pretty well so far because the player can dodge it pretty easily, but if a group of fighters attack at the same time it can get difficult fast. If several fighter power ups are launched into a player's field it can be devastating.
Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate the feedback.