In extracting revenge for having one of us killed and run out of a room in the cats last night, we regrouped and went in to kill the protector and the farmers.
In hind site, since they would not flag back and we killed them, working off the red sucks us more than them. The question comes up:
Instead of killing the farmers and their protector, what if we went in and started to kill all the mops in the room. The mops were deep blue to us, so therefore, upon us killing them, shouldn't the mops drops go to zero along with the adena?
Just asking cause there has to be a smarter way to payback the protector from stealing the room from our lower level players without a bunch of us going red and their deaths meaning nothing...
We also looked at training, but alas, could not get them to play ball, they just stood there.....
Well, the question of how best to deal with bots is a tough one to answer. Here is the most important thing to the bots
Making adena
Having a good room
low down time
What doesnt matter to bots
dying
xp loss
What do bots have that gives them advantages?
Bot programs can detect trains coming
bots have one party leader that can control the action of the entire party
Now, how do you take their advantages and make them disadvantages? Simple
Method 1
Just share the room with them. Usually within 30 minutes they start getting mad especially if your group is getting the spoils as well as the drops. They will either try to train you or go to another room. If you still dont leave they will relocate for the time being.
Method 2
Train the bots. Now, since their party leader controls the rest it is vital that you have a dwarf with fake death and stun attacks.
Grab mobs
Bring the train to the bots
attempt to stun the leader (99% of the time the leader is their dwarf in the party)
Fake death
They will try to run but if you get a successful stun on their leader it will cause signifigant problems.
As soon as the mobs aggro the bots, stand up and alternate stunning each of their healers.
After the chaos is over, the bot leader wil always come back to rez. Sit and wait for them. When they come to rez, ensure you keep on stunning them while they attempt to rez. If they cant rez a healer, they will leave for a while or relocate. If you can only take down a few members of their party, try to make it their buffers/healers/rezzers because those mean the most to them for damage over time as well as survivability.
Ideally it is good to add just a few extra mobs to the room first things first. This means you know they will be attacking a mob when you come with the train. They wont care about 2 extra mobs and think nothing of it.
ALWAYS train from a different direction than the bots. They can tell on their bot programs if a train is coming but if they see you running through the room beforehand and you have tried training them in the past, they will go for the hallway right away.
Also, bots in the catacombs are almost always aware of each other. If you train one group beware of another group.
Overall it can take 30-50 minutes of your time to get a room. If you establish dominance and show that you are willing to stay as long as it takes to get a room, they will give up for the time being. As soon as you leave they will take the room back.
So, basically you have to decide if you want to take the time to get the room or if you just want to go somewhere else. Last night it took me an hour to get a room on alligator island (good bone spoils there). We grinded there for several hours and the next day we came back and the same bot group was there. Bots dont use soul shots, their leaders are usually slow too so if you start spoiling and getting more damage they will just leave because they only care about the drops.
Try not to go red because the bots just win in any of those cases.
Here's a lower risk idea - manor their mobs. I've done this in the past, you can become quite wealthy. Get a toon in the right level range for the dungeon (good idea to have some high level backup just in case). Seed their mobs as they attack them. Harvest fast (before they can sweep, its not hard).
You get - fruit.
They get - no drops. :) They still get money, but hey, it can't be perfect.
Its evil, it only works on bots (real players will respond of course), and its profitable. If they attack you (remember you have to be the right level for the mobs or the seeding fails), they've flagged, then your high levels can come in and roll them. Or, let them go red on your lowbie, and hope they drop when you kill them. Losing xp doesn't matter to them, losing gear does.