Would it be possible/desirable/worthwhile, to script NPCs on the Ziggurat to move to safety as night falls?
Maybe jumping them from outside to inside after making them walk a little bit.
Making them walk the entire path can cause lots of problems, if stuff gets in their way.
It's possible and pretty easy to do, and it could be cool.
This strikes me as one of those annoying things done for the sake of realism that ultimately adds nothing to the playing experience.
Caddies is right, and on top of that it requires a lot of resources. But, yes, it would actually be very simple to do, if we wanted.
I think having them blink disappear and re appear inside much like nightrisers when the sun comes up etc. could be good and a bit more immersive.
If nothing more it would help a few less get slaughtered on a random Nightriser event when it is a bit silly that many non armoured NPC's stay out when they know that that is when Nightrisers may attack.
I think it could be cool, maybe when the NPCs move inside to 'hide' they could offer different dialogue or even offer a quest they may not offer during the day.
I'm not terribly invested in this, but seeing fewer NPC corpses lying about the Ziggurat (esp. when we don't know if they're actually intended to be dead or just napping, etc) is frustrating, and definitely does take me out of whatever immersion I might be experiencing.
Just having them "pop" from one place to another with a bit of yellow text in the Ziggurat zone would probably be plenty.
Could say: "Ever wary, the Merchants and colonists of the Ziggurat take shelter within the stone, as the moon begins to rise in the darkened sky", or some shit like that.