Would this variation of a robot "rebellion" make sense?

Basically, I've got an idea for the plot of a metroidvania style game I'm working on (well I say plot, but it's more of an optional subplot^note The idea is that the player can explore and uncover the world's backstory and find out more about the main character, or just grab the plot coupons and complete the game as quickly as possible.) to justify exploring multiple areas; each one has a different potential cause of the apocalypse (other disasters accompanied it, so nobody's sure which one was the trigger for the rest) that left it in ruins.

One of the areas I have in mind is a farm which was occupied by the military (trying to deal with disasters from the other areas), only for them to be wiped out. The automated systems and defenses they set up were left behind, "guarding" the base (techwise, the apocalypse happened around 2200 AD so that's vaguely plausible).

The problem is, I can't think of a good reason why their equipment would act that way. Can anybody think of one, or should I just scrap (ha ha) the idea and think of another theme for that area?

Seems pretty obvious - everyone was too dead to turn off the defence systems, so they kept doing what they'd been doing all along.

But the problem there is that it doesn't make much sense for there not to be some sort of failsafe to prevent that....

Well sure, but it'd probably be a console inside the base.

Thing is, the folks who know how to trip that failsafe may well be dead too, and generally, if you go to all the effort of building fixed defences, you want to defend the place in question for a good long time.

Maybe the failsafes failed :V

The point of automated defenses is for them to protect the area even in the absence of humans or incoming commands (from whatever source). A failsafe that goes to "Shut-down in the absence of commands to the contrary" is operating counter to the purpose of the automation in the first place.

A few options:

• The farmers survived, and since the system recognizes them as civilians it won't auto-shut down. However, as civilians they lack the clearance to shut down the automated defenses in order to leave. They may be using a mine shaft or natural caves to get supplies in and out and avoid inbreeding.
• The army left a weapon/MacGuffin there that has "Alpha Priority", meaning the defense system will not shut down even if everyone is dead.
• The AI was ordered to protect the base and the civilians, since it can't corral the civilians it has decided to aggressively expand its area of influence so it can protect them continuously. And again, since the civilians have no command clearance they can't tell the defenses not to kill innocent neighbors, so they're force to trade by leaving supplies in random places to trade/pick up. Later.

@ Madrugada and everyone above: The point of the technology wasn't to guard the area though, it was to back up the soldiers (they'd just set up the base as a garrison while they dealt with other problems in the area, with the soldiers dead there wasn't even anything to protect anymore). Since they're not human-level intelligent having them continue running without their masters wouldn't be desirable....

@ Earnets: Ah, that's precisely the sort of thing I was thinking of. The MacGuffin one works pretty well (it comes with a ready-made sidequest). I like the civilians one too, but it doesn't fit into the scenario (there aren't any civilians since the game's set in what are essentially 2200 era ruins).

edited 29th Aug '12 1:36:47 PM by Bisected8

I know it was a typo, but I still find it hilarious you made my name Ear Nets.

If you want to toss in some Video Game Cruelty Potential, maybe instead of people the automated defenses defaulted to protecting the livestock! They have a pulse, tend to range, and so the defenses follow close by and kill any natural predators that go after them. The VCP comes in if you have the player get health items from killing livestock... only to summon up a horde of killer robots.

Also interesting (I'll have to see about that when I've finished planning the engine though).