Ability to assign roles to AI

[Garou]

Basically, the ability to click an icon next to [AI Crewman], bring up their 'character screen', and assign the roles, tools, and ammo you'd like them to have.

[Cheeseycom]

...or at the very least to be able to pick which class they play.

Being able to assign them to specific guns/components would be nice as well.

I don't know if being able to change their loadout is that important as the game currently stands though.. at least, not if they're a gunner - unless you have control over which ammo type they use from moment to moment, it's just going to be pretty much random.

As engineers it might make a slight difference in how fast they can repair things, but other than swapping the extinguisher for the chemical spray, the only other thing you can do really is swap out the mallet and spanner for a pipe wrench in order to free up a slot for a buff hammer, which at the moment would be pretty useless since currently the AI splits its time between repairing and sitting on guns (which means in order for this to be of any use, they need to not only add in the ability for you to pick specific locations for the AI to work, but also a way to pick the tool they are currently using - fine for quiet times, but it might be tricky to do under fire.. most people have their hands full with their own roles, let alone managing someone elses.).
Still, if they managed to integrate some kind of simple AI quick menu that you could bring up, being able to customize the AI players would be good.

What might be interesting is if, once an AI is assigned to a role, they are 'partnered' with a player of similar role who then has control over their actions.. so an Engineer would get an assistant who they can point at a component and say 'fix/buff' or send to a gun, and Gunners could do the same but with control over ammo types.
Possibly the ability to chain commands would be useful as well.. so you could look at an engine, target it for the AI to fix/buff, then look over at another engine or component and highlight that as well, meaning you wouldn't have to babysit the AI since it would carry out your list of commands before going back on automatic/reporting back to you.

I know some people might think this should be the Captain/Pilots job since they're in command, but it might be tricky if they can't see the areas they're assigning to - it would require a more complicated UI than simply looking at the area in question and pressing a button, and I know how many people around here are opposed to adding to the UI.

If additional control is being added, it would also make sense to be able to assign specific targets, so the AI isn't the only member of the ship not shooting at the primary target.
I can see this being a Captain command, but it would make sense that the controllers of the 'assistants' would be able to override it if necessary.

[GeoRmr]

It could be defined as objects in a ship loadout, (much in the way you select your ships arsenal, they could also be saved in presets) specifying the ideal role-set-up for the ship. This would be applied regardless of your starting human loadout. (possibly as a toggle-able option; in the alternative setting, AI will take on the role of the human who disconnected, thus overruling the priorities defined in your ideal layout.)
e.g. if you were to set it to one gunner and two engineers,

• if an engineer leaves, the AI will be an engineer,
• if the gunner leaves, the AI will be a gunner.
• if another engineer leaves, the AI will be an engineer.
  

However, if you start with two human players who are gunners, and then one gunner leaves, the AI will be an engineer to match your predefined ideal set-up.

The class load-outs could also be predefined, again, in order of importance. I.e. if you want a buff engineer on the ship, and a buff engineer leaves the AI will take buff, but if a main engineer leaves the AI will take a main engineer loadout. If the human players loadout is not the same as one defined the AI could decide based on the closest match to your predefined loadout.

_{Edit: I also like the idea suggested by Cheesycom, perhapse you could set the order of priority of each gun to fire, (perhaps even to tie a gunner to only use one or two guns) and each ship component. I know some pilots who would prefer you to fix engines before hull for example!}

[N-Sunderland]

AI gunners don't even use their multiple ammo types... So a partial solution would be to take AI gunners out of the game entirely.

[Cheesy Crackers]

What I would love is this
Being able to set the.... "Sensitivity" of certain AI engineers, and ordering the AI to take priority over certain guns.
It's really annoying when your AI gunner is off on the side guns when you expect him to be up on the front guns.

About the "Sensitivity" of engineers it would be nice to at least default have your engineer on the front gun not jump off to repair everything on the bottom deck as soon as something gets shot, without having to press f2 to order everyone to stay on the guns and forgetting to reset it and you end up dying cuz no one was repairing properly.

Not quite sure if that made any sense....

[Captain Smollett]

AI gunners don't even use their multiple ammo types... So a partial solution would be to take AI gunners out of the game entirely.

If you preload one of the ai gunners ammo types they'll use it. 

These are all good and lofty ideas, honestly though after a year, I'd just like gunners to have a pipe wrench as a repair tool.

[Imagine]

I believe they've said that they're working on the AI and an updated version of them will be coming out with co-op mode. It's a fine line though between having workable AI and AI that's too good, making captains not want to fly with human crew because the computer just does everything better.

[Garou]

Well, the primary idea behind my suggestion was that, say, if you're on a squid your AI engies don't bring mallets, or if you're relying on AI gunners/gungineers, you could assign them a single ammo type to bring so that you could change your ship loadout accordingly.

I'm not interested in making the AI overpowered, and I don't think it will really be an issue (as anyone who has watched an AI engie work feverishly to repair a flare gun while the hull takes damage can attest), but to simply make them a bit more dynamic. You would still lack control over which specific gun they take or which specific part they repair, but at very least you could make sure they have the right tools, and ammo, to be a bit more effective in a pinch, especially in those situations where you have to start a match with a single AI on your crew.

That aside, I honestly can't see anyone preferring an AI over a human in the long-haul. Even with that capability, you simply can't achieve the same sort of efficiency and coordination with a silent AI as you can with a talking, breathing human, and to me that cooperation is what makes this game so fun and unique.