Shield Osprey Specter Testing (And Issues!)

[superbot34]

this is a copy and paste from my blog article on the subject, located on the warframe wiki, posted here to also talk about some issues i noticed. 

 

Grineer

my first test occurred yesterday, and i was testing what Mind Controlled enemies could benefit from the shield bonus against Grineer enemies and this was the result.

 

The Heavy units Bombards, Napalms, and Heavy Gunners do not seem to actually gain any shield bonus, even though the osprey will connect to them if they are mind controlled by Nyx. I found this pretty odd, and this may be a bug. Drahk Masters and their spawned Drahks while being mind controlled will however obtain the shield bonus.

 

Ones i didn't test include the following: Flameblade, Powerfist, Guardsman, Hellion, Eviscerator, Grineer Target, and Wardens, mostly due to the high level (difficult to do decent testing without being blown up or bled to death).

 

Ironically, Latchers can also gain the shield bonus (when spawned by a mind controlled Seeker) All other light or medium units gained the shield bonus when in range normally.

 

 

 

Infested

As far as i can tell every Infested unit can bonus from the shield increase, including Maggots either mind controlled or spawned from mind controlled Brood Mothers. Boilers could gain shield, but while mind controlled they never spawned spawn pods, even on death from the ability ending, however.

 

 

 

Remember that the shield osprey specter will prioritise following the target with the highest threat level (this is my assumption) including the pod in defense or another specter, however they do not follow this rule with mind controlled targets and will simply float to a group of enemies and be easily destroyed, as the specters are terribly weak by themselves if enemies target them. be sure to place another specter so it follows it closely, otherwise it will ruin any testing you do when it goes off on a suicide run.

 

With Grineer, due to their Impact damage focused weapons, a shield osprey on it's own stands little chance of surviving, especially when shot by a Ballistica or Heavy Gunner. It may survive better against Corpus but keep in mind they also have shield ospreys, to essentially cancel out the bonus shield your allies get, in that sense. For Infested, Tar-Mutalist MOAs and Swarm-Mutalist MOAs can easily almost one shot the poor thing, making it futile to use on Infested missions now.

 

The Problem

 

Mind controlled Bombards, Heavy gunners, and Napalms do not gain any shield bonus from your osprey specters. The beam will connect to them, but no shield is added and i found this pretty odd. I assume this is a counter measure so heavy gunners in the void don't get massive shield bonuses? If that is the case, there is no reason that normal heavy gunners shouldn't be able to obtain shielding from your specter if most (if not all) other units WILL get shields when mind controlled or spawned from a mind controlled enemy and this is a small issue that needs to be addressed. 

 

unfortuantly, because its a small issue most people probably don't care about, i have little hope of it ever getting fixed. 

Edited December 27, 2014 by superbot34

[Issun135]

The bigger problem is that the ospreys AI treats normal enemies as if they were allies. If they can fix them to act like sentinals or something that'd be nice. Also make them unique by also making them able to attack.

[superbot34]

The bigger problem is that the ospreys AI treats normal enemies as if they were allies. If they can fix them to act like sentinals or something that'd be nice. Also make them unique by also making them able to attack.

that is a separate issue but yeah, the specters have the same AI as normal enemies. Ironically, a Mind Controlled enemy is far better than using one of these specters in my opinion, because a mind controlled lancer will engage enemies but also sometimes stop completely and move to your location, something all specters simply don't do if enemies are in range. the shield osprey is the worst in that regard, since it has no attacks, as it will float into range and then explode in one shot. the best thing you can do is plop down a corrupted lancer (assuming you are with cephalon and hexis) so the osprey follows it. 

 

but yeah, this post is more about how heavy units don't get shielding from them when mind controlled, which shouldn't happen. 

[God_is_a_Cat_Girl]

that is a separate issue but yeah, the specters have the same AI as normal enemies. Ironically, a Mind Controlled enemy is far better than using one of these specters in my opinion, because a mind controlled lancer will engage enemies but also sometimes stop completely and move to your location, something all specters simply don't do if enemies are in range. the shield osprey is the worst in that regard, since it has no attacks, as it will float into range and then explode in one shot. the best thing you can do is plop down a corrupted lancer (assuming you are with cephalon and hexis) so the osprey follows it. 

 

but yeah, this post is more about how heavy units don't get shielding from them when mind controlled, which shouldn't happen. 

But if the lancer acts like mine, they will only follow the lancer, and the lancer won't follow you.

The only syndicate specter that I saw following someone was roller (which dies rather easily or just gets stuck) or the charger, which acts like a dog.

[superbot34]

But if the lancer acts like mine, they will only follow the lancer, and the lancer won't follow you.

The only syndicate specter that I saw following someone was roller (which dies rather easily or just gets stuck) or the charger, which acts like a dog.

that's what i meant by "the best you can do". the roller is just pathetic, and everyone knows it. now what i would like to see is a corrupted heavy gunner leech. that would make the specter worth it because a leech firing a dera is just funny. the corrupted lancer survives the longest out of all the specters as far as i could tell, but still just barely. 

 

the charger one is fairly nice but it's eximus is completely pointless. the energy leech doesn't drain energy from enemies. what i would like though, is if it would act like a passive short ranged energy siphon, so when the charger is near an enemy and you are near the charger, it will act as one maxed out energy siphon, at least making it mildly useful. 

Edited December 27, 2014 by superbot34

[Gildemesh]

Shield Osprey specters are broken in general, sadly. I've had my shield osprey shoot their gun like a Scavenger Drone does. In fact, I find that the AI interact with each other, but not with the player (Shield Lancers and Shield Osprey won't stop moving for you, for example, but will protect another unit). Sometimes, they don't even fight back. They just stand still and die.

 

I think this might call for an ally AI rework.

[superbot34]

Shield Osprey specters are broken in general, sadly. I've had my shield osprey shoot their gun like a Scavenger Drone does. In fact, I find that the AI interact with each other, but not with the player (Shield Lancers and Shield Osprey won't stop moving for you, for example, but will protect another unit). Sometimes, they don't even fight back. They just stand still and die.

 

I think this might call for an ally AI rework.

first DE needs to fix it so heavy units can get shield from the specters

[N1TR0SS]

I think the most important fix would be for it to stop going towards enemy units like it's trying to attack or shield them; it needs a priority list to who it follows.

 

The only way it works right is that it seems to prioritize defense objectives above all else. In any other mission type it becomes useless as it runs towards enemy units on its own instead of staying with the players.