Infestation "intrusion" Random Events

[Anaesthetic]

If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that not too many people are happy with the fact that the Infestation no longer have a reliable presence in the game aside from Alert Missions and the Orokin Derelict. Sure, there are Infestation outbreaks, but these are pretty short lived, staying at the most 2 days if it's a particularly volatile outbreak. I will say I really do miss reliable infestation missions. With varying enemy levels at that, considering there's rarely low level outbreaks. Half-jokingly, I kinda want something to spam melee at for my new weapons again.

 

I think they definitely should have a greater presence in the game. I've toyed around with the idea of a random event for Infestation showing up in missions for other factions. A roll of the dice, somewhat like Stalker and Harvester appearing, but much more common and no need for a death mark of any sort. The chances of it happening should be kept at such a value that it's not a rare occurrence, but not so common that it becomes a pest that only succeeds in annoying people. A reasonable value would be around the 5-10% range, I'd say. For all intents and purposes, Infestation that intrude upon a mission will be the same level as enemies, to prevent them from being mowed down too quickly or devouring unsuspecting, unprepared Tenno.

 

For a basic concept of how they'd appear in the missions:

Grineer Galleons and Corpus Ships both have windows of varying sizes. To most, these would be considered pretty obvious structural weak points. I mean, we can break these windows with our melee weapons. As far as protection goes, these things are practically useless until the shutters close and even that protection is debatable. We've already seen an impact-based intrusion method put in place on a small scale with the Grineer Breach Torpedo.

 

Now, think if this concept were to be put in place for the Infestation. A sizable number of infested could make it onto a ship using this method and a sizable "fleet" to bombard the vessel with.

 

The intrusion would occur during the mission (if it does). If it occurs in a different room than the Tenno are in, It could be signaled by an impact sound and rumble/stagger, and there would be a visible entry point (along with debris, method of entry, related scenery) in the room that they appear. If it occurs in the same room it would likely be a LOT more work on the devs as there would be scripts, lots of dynamic scenery, general chaos to animate and test, etc.

 

For a basic concept of how the missions would be affected if the event occurs:

These are a few ideas for how the mission could change, along with the chances they'd occur, provided RNG rolled positive for Intrusion:

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Scenario 1: Small, isolated intrusion (60%) About on the scale of the aforementioned Breach Torpedo. Small, faint impact noise and no stagger or rumble. Around 5-15 Infested. An isolated incident, no big deal. The faction will fight when they encounter each other, but once the Infested intruders are killed, the mission resumes as normal. Mission objective remains unchanged.

 

Scenario 2: Multiple small intrusions (30%) Multiple thudding impact noises and rumbling but no stagger. Ship alarm will sound. Factions will fight when they encounter each other and Infested will have a chance to spawn in small, isolated pockets and maintain a visible presence for the rest of the mission. Mission objective remains unchanged.

 

Scenario 3: Medium, single swarm intrusion (8.5%) Ship alarm will sound. Single, loud crashing noise and large rumble with small stagger. Around 30-40 Infested. An isolated incident, but of considerable importance. The faction will send squads to deal with incident. Mission objective placed on hold, becomes Exterminate Infested until all Infested are eliminated; after which, mission resumes as normal.

 

Scenario 4: Full-scale Infested Siege (1.5%) Ship alarm will sound. Multiple loud crashing noises and massive rumbling coupled with progressive stagger-to-knockdown. 100-190 Infested will spawn and attack in large swarms. Faction will respond in full force to new threat. Mission objective is abandoned, becomes Exterminate (all factions) and then extraction.

 

Assuming the RNG chance for Intrusion was set at 10%, theoretically the Intrusion Scenarios would have the following chances to occur:

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Scenario 1: 6% chance

 

Scenario 2: 3% chance

 

Scenario 3: 0.85% chance

 

Scenario 4: 0.015% chance

 

(If someone who is better at statistics could draw up a "1 in every X games" figure, it'd be much appreciated.)

 

 

Even a canon explanation is feasible for the concept:

We already know that certain Infested can become powerful and intelligent enough to gain sentience and communicate through telepathy (Lephantis, J3-Golem, Phorid). It becomes reasonable to assume all Infested have some degree of inherent intelligence. Otherwise, the existence of these powerful Infested would be impossible.

 

It also makes sense that they're trying to ensure their continued survival, considering they're already intent on assimilating all things living ("We embrace you. Why do you defile us?" "Release yourself from this mortal coil, [PLAYER NAME]").

 

With those two things in mind, the powerful Infested could easily coordinate such an attack and would also have the resources available to do so (the escape pods that we know exist on Orokin ships, as evidenced by Tower Capture missions; plenty of massive infested growths within the derelicts which could serve as a makeshift space raft for infested to cling to or make home in). These attacks would serve a similar purpose (spreading the disease) to Infestation Outbreaks, but only more immediate.

 

All feedback, negative or positive, is welcomed.

Edited February 17, 2014 by Anaesthetic

[JimJam_]

DE has said that they're working on Infested ships, so they might have a bigger influence on the star chart later on.

 

As with the intrusion idea, I think it's great. It would be especially cool in Corpus Outpost tilesets where the Infested pods actually come down from the sky, doing damage to those who are unfortunate enough to be in their way.

[Anaesthetic]

Thanks ! :) I wanted to think of something that would address people's complaints with the number of Infested locations while at the same time adding something that'd make gameplay a bit more spontaneous and interesting. As for Infested ships, I know for certain that I'm looking forward to that.

[Ninja234War]

Cool!