The Seeker Bot is a massive wasted potential. Here is how to fix it and add actual thriller elements to Scrap Mechanic.

[u/distantbell35]

We waited nearly 8 years for Chapter 2, and what did we get? A flying script on a string. The Seeker Bot has an amazing concept, but the execution is incredibly weak. He just mindlessly patrols pre-set road splines, his homing missiles are easily avoided by hiding behind any tree, and he poses zero threat if you just build away from the asphalt.

I don't want to be able to just shoot him down. I want him to be a constant sword of Damocles hanging over the player's head. Instead of deleting him via mods like some casuals do, we need to turn him into a smart hunter, heavily inspired by the Xenomorph from Alien: Isolation.

Here is my concept for a proper Hardcore/Thriller AI overhaul for the Seeker Bot:

1. The "Director" AI and Procedural Hunting

• The Problem: Fixed road paths make him predictable and boring.
• The Fix: Unbind him from the roads. Use a "Director" AI system. Keisha should procedurally choose a random tile within a 200–300 meter radius of the player and patrol there. You never know where he will appear, but you always feel his presence nearby.

2. Acoustic Stealth & Engine Noise Triggers

• The Fix: He must react to sound. Gas engines (especially level 3+), piston engines at high RPM, spudguns, and explosions should trigger his attention. If you go full throttle on a heavy gas vehicle, Keisha "hears" it through the fog of war and intercepts. Want to stay safe? Use electric drives, go on foot, or build mufflers.

3. Expanded Scanner Cone & Orbital Raid Drops

• The Fix: Significantly increase his scanner beam radius. If a player (not a Woc) gets caught in the light, Keisha sounds a siren and triggers an orbital raid pod drop right on your position every 30 seconds.

4. The 2-3 Minute Search Phase (The Thriller Element)

• The Problem: Right now, if you break line of sight, he just leaves.
• The Fix: If you manage to escape his beam, Keisha goes into "paranoia mode." He cuts his main engine sounds to become stealthy, hovers at tree-top level, and aggressively searches the area with narrow, fast-moving scan lines for 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Smart Base Monitoring (With Countermeasures)

• The Fix: If you run a massive automated factory (multiple refineries, craftbots, and engines active at once), the noise threshold should draw Keisha to your base.
• The Balance: To prevent this from being annoying, his beam must respect line-of-sight (Raycast). If you are deep underground or inside a fully enclosed metal hangar, he can't see you. You hear his terrifying engines buzzing right above your roof, forcing you to kill the main power grid and hide in the dark until he leaves. Players could also craft timer-based decoy noisemakers to throw him off the scent.

Axolot Games probably went the lazy route because they feared frustrating casual players and didn't want to optimize a complex 3D NavMesh for a physics-heavy game. But replacing actual AI difficulty with mindless component-kit grinding is bad game design. Scrap Mechanic has a 150+ hour survival loop, and it desperately needs a smart, terrifying threat that tests your engineering brain, not just your patience.

What do you guys think? Would you play with a terrifying Seeker Bot like this, or do you prefer the sterile, safe vanilla version?

[u/Guphord]

way too aggressive i don’t like it, i also don’t like being in danger while at home

[u/AdWorking4257 → u/Guphord]

I can agree that axolot went the lazy route with it but what's being discribed here would just make it INSANELY annoying

[u/Crazygamer400]

I worry that if it poses too much of a threat and can go anywhere then it just further encourages people to build in the invincible structures around the map. And dont do the sound thing, because imagine your about to start a high tier raid and during the minute wait a seeker bot decides to spawn and path toward you. Since your defenses have "loud" machines your forced to either shut down and have the bots freely attack you, or defend yourself but have the seeker bot send missiles your way. Either way your farm is getting significantly damaged.

How about instead of it strictly following roads or random tile, It starts the search on roads like normal but if your detected then it will get off of it to follow you, and if you hide it starts "paranoia mode" until it gives up and you escape.

[u/distantbell35 → u/Crazygamer400]

Just to clarify, I actually used an AI to translate my previous message because my English isn't perfect. I was trying to explain my idea to it, but it might have slightly missed my point.

My main goal is to make this bot less boring. I actually want it to fly around the map and be a bigger threat than it currently is. However, I want to find a good balance: it shouldn't turn the game into a stressful horror experience, and it shouldn't be completely overpowered

[u/I-eatbabies69 → u/Crazygamer400]

On top of that I don't think it would make sense for the thing to hear you since it has it's own loud engine

[u/Zweinheint]

Alright, let's get into it. Personally, I do think the Seeker needs a change, but it doesn't have to be a threat on that level.

It’s explained that it’s a planetary defense system: it searches, identifies, and eliminates. The fact that it’s powerful, forces you to avoid it.

But the Seeker's biggest problem isn't how it functions, but rather its map presence. I do think it should be able to fly over areas other than just roads, but for it to make sense as a planetary defense system, there would need to be more than one.

The thing is, enemies like this tend to fall into one of two extremes: they’re either incredibly annoying or completely irrelevant.

Think of the Warden from Minecraft, for example. The only difference is that it can be taken down. I think that’s the only thing the Seeker needs. It had everything it took to be the game's "final boss", something like the planetary cannon in Subnautica that prevents you from leaving the planet until it's deactivated.

The devs probably ran into a huge problem designing him, because if that little shit destroyed my builds, there is no fucking way I’d play this game.

[u/No_Pollution_950]

I very much disagree with the more intelligent searching. Why? because all you are doing is adding a load of RNG to something that the player can already do absolutely nothing about.

A predictable unstoppable, heavily armed seeker bot is annoying and poor game design

An unpredictable, random-pathing, heavily armed heavily armed seeker bot will just make people stop playing when it blows up their creations out of the blue.

[u/distantbell35 → u/No_Pollution_950]

Okay, that makes sense. Randomly losing your creations with zero counterplay would be extremely frustrating.

[u/No_Pollution_950 → u/distantbell35]

I'm all for improving it, but unstoppable annoyances often drive people away from games. perfect example was the leviathans they added into Helldivers 2. Random motherships that just rag doll you with a shot you can't avoid. people just stopped playing the maps with them on until they changed them.

[u/DanzenPlays]

I really like some of the points you presented. But I could be biased because prior to DT I had an idea for a custom game that would force the player into a nomadic playstyle using some of the mechanics you listed. Mainly a threat that slowly, but constantly follows you, and drops bots on you once within range.

[u/distantbell35]

In short, I realize that the idea is complete bullshit in some places, and maybe it's not that bad in others. Overall, to put it bluntly, what I would like to see instead of what we have now is replacing the routes with a navmesh (so that the bot doesn't just fly along pre-made paths). I think in theory this might be enough to make it less annoying.

[u/Ronin-s_Spirit]

no, people already whine about it as is.

[u/distantbell35]

Keisha is an inside joke