Companion Ability Key

[FrackingBiscuit]

We've all experienced the frustration of our Kubrows not actively engaging in combat, and it's been talked about enough that it was even mentioned at Tennolive 2014.  But even rearranging precept slots doesn't seem to do the trick.  And I'm sure we all remember the many changes to Shade's cloak, and more than a few of us still aren't happy with the way it is.  And if we look at Wyrm's Crowd Control, Dethcube's Vaporize, Djinn's Fatal Attraction, or almost any other ability, if even if they work pretty well we still run into a lot of instances where we have problems with our companions' AI.

 

Part of the problem is getting our companions to use their abilities intelligently.  Helios' Investigator goes off automatically, and you can easily get Helios to scan specific enemies.  The Huras dig works as intended, Sahasas seem to both cloak and lunge intelligently, and the Carrier is the best little spot-bot in the solar system.  But everything else is pretty hit or miss (Sunika, would you PLEASE tackle him!  Dethcube why did you vaporize that Crawler?  Wyrm, Wyrm it was a Moa, WYRM WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT UNTIL I WAS NEAR THE TECHNICIAN!  DJINN THERE IS NOBODY IN THE ROOM PLEASE STOP WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE DOING.)

 

So here's an idea that I think will both help make companions more effective and make them feel more useful/fun to players:  Give us the ability to manually active companion abilities.  Along with manual activation, it might be pertinent to add an energy bar/cooldown timer to the HUD so we know what our companions can use their abilities.

 

This is a preliminary list of what abilities I think could or should be manually activated at first glance:

 

Carrier and Helios don't need anything.  A manual Vacuum might be useful for the times Carrier seems to not notice that health orb you really need, but I wouldn't say it's needed, and Helios already has a kind of manual activation in that he will scan the first enemy under your crosshairs.

 

Dethcube's Vaporize could be a targeted ability; it will either hit the enemy in your crosshairs, or if there isn't one in range it will select its own target as it does now.

 

Wyrm/Wyrm Prime behavior doesn't seem to be too bad, but the option of manual activation might be appreciated.

 

Djinn and Shade absolutely should have their abilities be manually activated.

 

Huras Kubrow again seems to behave intelligently.  If Shade is manual cloak, then perhaps Huras could remain automated cloak and the ability key would cause it to find targets for Hunt.

 

Raksa's Protect works automatically, but Howl could be manual for better application.

 

Sahasa's Dig is a random loot generator; I think it works better being completely random.  Ferocity is finisher moves and therefore can't be applied to this system.  Since Ferocity is shared with Sunika, perhaps Sahasa's Ferocity can be replaced with something like a bloodhound ability that highlights enemies/loot on the radar/in the game world - but that's a different discussion altogether.

 

Sunika's Savagery could be expanded to tackling any target selected by aiming at an enemy and hitting the companion ability key, and if an enemy isn't selected the Sunika could target one independently.  And since it shares Ferocity with the Sahasa, the same applies here.

Edited September 2, 2014 by FrackingBiscuit

[_Fracture8]

+1

[smithf]

For kubrows, I was hoping for commands that is a little more "vague", rather than activating the kubrow's ability on a key/command.

 

e.g. Asking the kubrow to "interact" with a hostile will make the kubrow to attack it. Target a friendly and it will "guard" it.

 

In addition, there are a few general "stances" for the kubrow which determines whether it will attack actively, or attack only if owner/itself is attacked, how far it will roam around it's "anchor" (by default the owner, but could be temporarily made something else like rescue target).

 

more details in this thread

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/288076-kubrow-heel-commands/

[FrackingBiscuit]

For kubrows, I was hoping for commands that is a little more "vague", rather than activating the kubrow's ability on a key/command.

 

e.g. Asking the kubrow to "interact" with a hostile will make the kubrow to attack it. Target a friendly and it will "guard" it.

 

In addition, there are a few general "stances" for the kubrow which determines whether it will attack actively, or attack only if owner/itself is attacked, how far it will roam around it's "anchor" (by default the owner, but could be temporarily made something else like rescue target).

 

more details in this thread

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/288076-kubrow-heel-commands/

 

I'm all for this.