The devs stated that the reason the ballista will target players is because wooden spikes will also harm a player if they run in to them. Its extremly silly and thought they were joking at first but they were not...

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Have you guys seen what autonomous weapons do IRL?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

Have you seen giant trolls, undead wood people, and giant deer that shoot lightning from their antlers? No?

Even better, where have you seen autonomous ballistas irl? This is a video game, which also at no point tries to or prides itself on realism lol…

Autonomous iron age ballistas realism.. lol

The player targeting adds nothing (I'd expect something like 0.01% of the playerbase to do PvP) and makes the default target everything mode mostly useless. I can kinda get what the devs were thinking making it like that and since then hanging on to the original idea, but honestly in practice it's just worse in all respects than not targeting players.

Accidental damage when the player is in-between a shot and its target is fine.

Ballistas don't necessarily suck though. But their low range and arc means knowing if they will fire at all somewhat iffy. Especially since you can't run in front of it in Everything mode and most enemies will close in beyond its arc very fast.

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Have you guys seen what autonomous weapons do IRL?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

CIWS are capable of being autonomous. This is a game, with magic. Why don't trolls attack deer ? Are they just meant to starve ? Oh right, they're in a magical faction. Like how deathsquitoes also don't attack fulings or vice versa ?

Why apply what happens IRL to one aspect and not others ?

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Originally posted by sarteck:

Will let you know when we're talking about IRL and not game mechanics.

Sure, sure... just wondering why everyone is freaking out because autonomous weapons are targeting anything that moves, when that's exactly how they typically work.

While you're making notes on when to notify me about stuff, let me know when Valheim gets logic gates so that discriminatory targeting makes some sort of sense.

Up next: "Swords are sharp. Why?"

Your argument would tangentially make sense if we didn't have PvP flags, and if your tames could attack you. Again, we're not talking about real life. We're talking about game mechanics.

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Originally posted by sarteck:

Will let you know when we're talking about IRL and not game mechanics.

Sure, sure... just wondering why everyone is freaking out because autonomous weapons are targeting anything that moves, when that's exactly how they typically work.

While you're making notes on when to notify me about stuff, let me know when Valheim gets logic gates so that discriminatory targeting makes some sort of sense.

Up next: "Swords are sharp. Why?"

agreed, I like to look at these things with inbuilt lore logic, these things are powered with left over brain parts from possibly a long dead magical being. why would said brain parts if they had some form of consciousness be able to think "no that's a goodie", kill all on site makes sense if you think how friendly fire works in that situation. And makes sense showing it a trophy and teaching it what to shoot.

Maybe have a taming system for the ballista. feed it flesh to get the acclimation bar going. lol

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

Originally posted by sarteck:

Will let you know when we're talking about IRL and not game mechanics.

Sure, sure... just wondering why everyone is freaking out because autonomous weapons are targeting anything that moves, when that's exactly how they typically work.

While you're making notes on when to notify me about stuff, let me know when Valheim gets logic gates so that discriminatory targeting makes some sort of sense.

Up next: "Swords are sharp. Why?"

Bringing up realism as an argument is just stupid in a fantasy game.

Though you can set it to target certain mobs using their trophy, which is tedious as ♥♥♥♥.

It's a magic tool, and having it work like wards would be ideal, you can register yourself on it and then it won't attack you, makes perfect sense within the game world aswell.

Originally posted by Ieuan:

It's a magic tool, and having it work like wards would be ideal, you can register yourself on it and then it won't attack you, makes perfect sense within the game world aswell.

Setting it like wards would be one option, but I think it would make more sense to work it with the PvP toggle. I.e., if PvP is on, you're a valid target; if it's off, you're not.

Originally posted by sarteck:

Originally posted by Ieuan:

It's a magic tool, and having it work like wards would be ideal, you can register yourself on it and then it won't attack you, makes perfect sense within the game world aswell.

Setting it like wards would be one option, but I think it would make more sense to work it with the PvP toggle. I.e., if PvP is on, you're a valid target; if it's off, you're not.

I'm cool with either change:)

Originally posted by sarteck:

I honestly don't get what the devs were going for when they made the ballistas act that way. Not even trying to insult their decision, I just don't get it at all. I'm guessing maybe it was for some kind of PvP option or something, and I don't get it because I'm strictly a PvE kind of guy.

Saw the devs did a poll on whether they should change it, nearly 60% said yes, somehow 26% of the players think a base defense tool should target players.

I'd be cool with them being able to accidently hit players when they're targeting enemies, but as it stands now, i'll never use them.

I don't really get it either, its not like you can just drop ballista wherever and the mechanical springs you need to build them also can't be teleported.

By the time you could make a wall of them, you'd already be so far progressed in the game that it wouldn't matter to give the player such defenses.

Truly scratching my head at the devs and their apparent terror of giving players any worthwhile base defense.

Have you guys seen what autonomous weapons do IRL?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

IRL?

Will let you know when we're talking about IRL and not game mechanics.

Originally posted by sarteck:

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

IRL?

Will let you know when we're talking about IRL and not game mechanics.

Sure, sure... just wondering why everyone is freaking out because autonomous weapons are targeting anything that moves, when that's exactly how they typically work.

While you're making notes on when to notify me about stuff, let me know when Valheim gets logic gates so that discriminatory targeting makes some sort of sense.

Up next: "Swords are sharp. Why?"

I honestly don't get what the devs were going for when they made the ballistas act that way. Not even trying to insult their decision, I just don't get it at all. I'm guessing maybe it was for some kind of PvP option or something, and I don't get it because I'm strictly a PvE kind of guy.