Larva beacon

[Sligneris]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
Allow the Queen to place an unique object that will attract larvae from across the map. All larvae without a player would have an AI that makes them move to that location. Once there, the larvae would rest, waiting for a ghost to pick them.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
It would allow for the creation of Larva rooms, where braindead Larvae wouldn't be just easy targets for marines somewhere. Their resting would also prevent them from just getting in the way while aliens are trying to move.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):
There could be one beacon per Z-level - for example, you can simultaneously have one beacon on the planet, while also placing one on Sulaco. Also, the Queen would be able to place another beacon on the same Z-level at any time, making the previous one immediately expire. All larvae from the expired beacon would move to the newly placed one. The cost could be around 300 plasma.

[Sargeantmuffinman]

This is the difficult part.

How to code the path finding in order for this to work.

The devs need to code in a path finding system so all braindead larvae could go (slither?) to the beacon and it's going to be hard to code that in.

I'm up for it but I need more input to swing my vote.

[ShortTemperedLeprechaun]

I like the idea.
Dislike the fact we'd drag the devs through hell and back.

[forwardslashN]

I don't think this is plausible given the complicated pathfinding necessary.

[Jen_Llama]

Just give larvae the old hugger AI ehhehheh am I right guys

[Grypho]

I dont know sounds quite far-fetched suggestion to me. I am not that much of a coder but I could almost claim that this is very difficult to code because it requires tampering with NPC AI.

[ZDashe]

Incorporating a custom AI pathfinding algorithm will likely cause rounds to be more laggy, as more and more larva appears. There would be more checks done and might take up quite a bit of time for the devs. I'm just basing this on my previous experience with coding a A* pathfinding algorithm.

Might be too much effort than it is worth...

[Deadlymight]

I think its totaly unnecessary. Aliens are supposed to bring back any infected hosts to the hive anyway. Im giving it a -1

[ParadoxSpace]

Just use the same path finding Beepsky has when you click that button on sec PDAs

[MadSnailDisease]

Just so all of you know, A* should already be in the code. If it isn't, I know for a fact that it is in bay and para both of which are open source. It would honestly take an afternoon to do, another to test.

[tuzz]

Waste of time, though it would be funny seeing larva try to run through a pack of marines in the middle of a round.

[TheSlapDoctor]

I don't know how easy it would be in BYOND, but tile based pathfinding is actually surprisingly easy, if you don't give it any kind of AI intelligence.

[Infernus]

The amount of lag it would create will just make it not worth it.