Plot intended for robots

[Irealys]

As part of the things I learned (or I think I learned) reading on the forums is that one of the main reason why robots and plots work so badly is that most of the time the plots have animation markers that aren't compatible with the robots animations and it causes issues. And robots don't need bed so they also don't assign to residential. I always thought a residential plot, even just a 1x1, could be designed to be a robot charging station, looking at the protectron mini house for inspiration.

But then it got me thinking... is there are way to make a plot that would be intended to be used by robots? I'm not sure how it could be made but here are a few suggestions I could see potentially work. I have no idea what could be made by addon user or what could be changed by the SS team. But I think those are all interesting ideas to look into.

- Industrial. Many robots have "repair structure" animation types. Would it be possible to have plots be made using specifically those animations? Would it help?

- New Municipal: cleaning. Our cities pay workers to keep the streets clean and all that, maybe robots could have a plot intended for them to "fix enough that small issues don't become big issues" (I understand they can't actually starting cleaning the place). Give those plots a huge boost to settlement hapiness to counteract the robot normal limit to hapiness and now they are useful and don't feel like like a waste of space.

- Martial: A standing post should be able to accomodate robots. But if it really is an issue (there are many robot types and sizes) then maybe a new plot needs to be created "Robot defense" and when attached to such a plot robots just roam the settlement but serve as a defense boost.

- Absolutely nothing is possible to be done because the core code is as it is? Just put a disclaimer and boost settlement's defense like they were a guard dog?

Just random thought

 

[Strec]

For the houses, the main problem will be to have some plots "reserved" for robots, that human settlers can't use.
(I've the same problem for slaves in my mod ^^)

For plot modders who would to try this there is perhaps a solution (I've not yet tested) by assigning to the robots sleep area the flag "bed" and the faction "RobotFaction", but I don't know if it will break something.

 

[Irealys]

Yeah, I forgot about auto-assign. That might be a much bigger issue than I originally hoped.

 

[Navil]

Well, this would be great for graygarden. I think beds for robots is good but those pods that the automatron uses with the terminals you use to unlock them would be better suited for them.

 

[AndyJP]

Mr. Handy's have several animations that could be used in different plots, but I'm not sure if they would still play if the Mr. Handy is modified with the Robot Workbench. I think that Robot-specific plots would be a very nice addition though. Maybe SS2 could handle them separately from other settlers so that they could only be assigned to plots specifically designed for them. They could have the same working hours as normal settlers and then would need to go into a Protectron Pod-like plot for maintenance mode, which I think should be functional as a residential plot for them, but marked as a recreation plot so that you could assign settlers to service them.

It would possibly have to factor in DLCAutomatron to account for the size and voice type of a modified robot.

 

[Dune]

Also, Sentry legs. Those things need a super wide floor base to behave properly, and a robot with them can't fit in through doorways nor go up interior stairs unless you pulled some Tony Montana's Mansion sorta stunt.

 

[mytigio]

As a guy who has done a lot of things with robots, the only way I've gotten this to function are on plots like my RobCo Civic Defense plot and my Hydroponics plot from Industrial City, where the robot is spawned by the plot itself and then forcefully linked to the animation makers.

robot animations are VERY picky about what robots can use them, automatrons basically can't use any at all, and even if you line up the robot and the marker, they aren't furnature so they won't typically sandbox to it in the normal way.

One thing I plan to do to help with this in my updated add-on pack is make ways to build Gen 1 and Gen 2 synths, as they can mostly use human animations and it will be a lot easier to create markers they can use on various plots.

I'm not sure what would happen if I tied a non-protectron to a protectron pod, and then activated it. (although it's worth noting a robot will not use a pod like a bed so a special AI package / scripts would have to be made to use these pods in that way)

Edit:
Oh, technically robots do "use" the normal furnature markers btw, they just don't play the animation. This is why you'll notice Robot settlers standing in the same basic spots as humans on a plot. They are sandboxing to the marker, but then can't use it, so they just stand there for awhile, and then move on and sandbox to another one :P

 

[Deleted member 10215]

One thing I plan to do to help with this in my updated add-on pack is make ways to build Gen 1 and Gen 2 synths, as they can mostly use human animations and it will be a lot easier to create markers they can use on various plots.

I must admit, I'm still honestly surprised they didn't give you a way to at least "recruit" G1/2 Synths in the base game, even as an "only if you finished the main plot on the Institute path" kind of deal.

Edit:
Oh, technically robots do "use" the normal furnature markers btw, they just don't play the animation. This is why you'll notice Robot settlers standing in the same basic spots as humans on a plot. They are sandboxing to the marker, but then can't use it, so they just stand there for awhile, and then move on and sandbox to another one :P

I'd been wondering about that! Kept seeing Ada and Jezebel go over to some animation markers and just... stand there. Sometimes doing a "stand at Attention" kind of pose (at least with a mostly-Assaultron body), sometimes not. There's what must be a free-use animation point on the base-mod 2x2 Martial "guard post" looking plot they can go to.