Thought of this idea as I was playing a game that has nothing to do with this idea, but whatever.
What it is:
Deploy-able 'robots' that follow you around that can slowly repair vehicles, heal you, give you ammo, etc. I particularly see a use for this in TDMs, and personally find it to be a great idea.
Further Elaboration:
Appearance
Only about 3 bricks high, and blocko, but should not look similar to the normal playertype. One of their arms should be some type of tool depending on the type of bot.
Function
Ok, this is what I'll really get into, since I'll leave most of the appearance to the modelers. They should be spawned via a special brick, not by a vehicle brick, but if vehicle bricks are the only way that will be fine. They spawn one at a time, and only 4 bots can be in a group at once. You can only have one of each type in a group, spawning a 5th bot or a duplicate of another bot will cause the oldest bot in that group to explode, or in the case of duplicates, the old duplicate to explode. Each group has 4 bots: 1 Engineer Bot, 1 Medic Bot, 1 Ammo Bot, and 1 Attack Bot.
The Engineer will repair vehicles, the Medic will either distribute pills or slowly regen the player's health, and the Ammo bot will give the player ammo if any type of ammo mod is enabled, or if one was made to be compatible with this mod. The Attack Bot will attack a player/vehicle that it is directed to attack, using either a laser pointer or something similar to that.
The bots should only be able to perform their functions if they are near to a vehicle or player, whichever fits their description. The Ammo Bot should only be able to give so much ammo at once, and the Medic Bot should heal players slowly. All of the bots should walk slower than the normal player, so in a DM of some sort they cannot constantly heal players or repair vehicles. They also cannot ride vehicles.
The bots should also be able to be destroyed, so making sure they are safe is vital. Since they travel in groups, if one bot is destroyed, you can still implement any of the other 3. Because of their vulnerability, I was hoping some sort of tool for a player can be made to repair bots when they are low on health.
Elaboration on the laser pointer (Thanks, Thorax)
If you shoot a bot with the laser, the color would change or something and it would be "selected". Then by shooting the laser at something else (Ground = move there, enemy player = attack that, team = defend/supply), selected bots would carryout tasks. By using alt fire (right-click) it would deselect them all and have them follow you. Also, when you assign one to do something, they automatically deselect. When you call them (alt fire) if they are to far away, they'll teleport to you. If they are close enough, they'll walk/hover.
As for tasks, here are my ideas:
Shooting the ground/wall = Move there
Shooting team = Follow and heal (Medic)
= Follow and supply (Ammo)
= Follow and defend (Support)
= Follow and Repair (Engie - Vehicle Only)
Shooting enemy = Attack and follow (Support)
= Slowly drain health while following (Medic)
= Take 1 equip item (Ammo - Once it has an item, it moves around randomly. By killing it, you it spawns the item they had. By calling it, it drops the
item and returns to you)
= Attack (Engie - Vehicle Only)
Idle (Non-selected - This is what happens when you shoot it at walls/floor)
= Attack like a turret (Support)
= Heal team/self when passing by (Medic)
= Resupply team/self like the medic (Ammo)
= Fix vehicles in an area (Engie)
Following you = Defend you (Support)
= Heal you (Medic)
= Give you Ammo (Ammo)
= Heal your Vehicle (Engie)
*Thanks to Bushido for the idea of forming a group instead of being forced to spawn all 4 types, as well as the laser pointer Attack Bot thingy.
*Thanks to various posters for the Attack Bot idea.
Suggestions and feedback, please. I want to know if Attack bots should be the only bot that allows duplicates, seeing how this would be more useful and less exploitable for health or ammo.
