EerieDrearyDoll

Lore Justification The justification for the existence of an Infested adversary revolves around the idea of a strain of the Infestation itself (like the Gray Strain, Helminth Strain, or Deimos Strain), receiving Continuity unto itself, either by hijacking the continuity of a Candidate or Lich (which is very flavourful), or by having a willing human host of the strain receive continuity. As such, the enemy the Tenno is facing is both the Corpus/Grineer/human carrier, as well as the strain of the Infestation that afflicts and controls them. Spawn Location Infested adversaries should spawn in Infested mission types on planets where Corpus or Grineer could spawn. Dialogue from some Infested entity, like the Zealoid Prelate or similar, or from the host themselves, will announce that they’ve found a host for another variant of the Adversary/Apex strain. Either: Candidate or Larvling will spawn and become infested A willing human infested will appear to receive the strain After this, they will appear and attempt to flee, showing which weapon they will be carrying when downed, a Mercy Kill will be performed by the Tenno creating and the adversary will be created, as normal. Weapon Types and Naming Weapon names would probably be [Adversary Name] Apex Weapon Name, but there’s alternatives out there. Here follows a list of all Infested weapons, along with my reasoning for including them or excluding them: Weapon Name Weapon Type Inclusion Reasoning Arum Spinosa Melee/Warfans Reject Melee. Lore-wise it is made from a plant, so an Apex variant doesn’t make much sense. Bubonico Armcannon Reject Low Disposition Catabolyst Pistol Accept Possesses unique mod Caustacyst Melee/Scythe Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Cerata Melee/Glaive Reject Melee. A glaive might prove troublesome. Dual Ichor Melee/Twin Swords Reject Melee; Incarnon Form Dual Toxocyst Pistol Reject Incarnon Form Embolist Pistol Accept 2 unique mods, careful not to make it too powerful Hema Rifle Accept Few unique features. Ideal candidate Hirudo Melee/Sparring Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Keratinos Melee/Claws Reject Melee.Otherwise ideal. Lesion Melee/Polearm Reject Melee. Low Disposition. Mios Melee/Blade and Whip Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Mire Melee/Sword Reject Melee. Unique mod. Otherwise ideal. Mutalist Cernos Bow Accept (conditional) Conditional on rejection of Poboscis Crnos Mutalist Quanta Rifle Accept (conditional) Has unique mod. Conditional on rejection of Paracyst. Paracyst Rifle Accept (conditional) Conditional on rejection of Mutalist Quanta Pathocyst Melee/Glaive Reject Melee. An Apex glaive might prove troublesome. Proboscis Cernos Bow Accept (conditional) Conditional on rejection of Mutalist Cernos Phage Shotgun Accept No unique features. May require some extensive changes to be effective. Pox Pistol/Thrown Reject Thrown weapon. Making an Apex variant of this would be extremely challenging. Pulmonars Melee/Nunchaku Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Pupacyst Melee/Polearm Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Scoliac Melee/Whip Reject Melee. Otherwise ideal. Sporothrix Sniper Rifle Accept (tentative) No extant sniper rifles in the current pool of Adversary weapons. Possesses a unique mod. Synapse Rifle Accept No unique features. Ideal candidate. Torid Rifle Reject Incarnon Form Tysis Pistol Accept No unique features. Ideal candidate. Zymos Pistol Accept No unique features. Ideal candidate. Many of the existing offerings are limited by the virtue of being melee weapons. If we remove this limitations, the available weapons for use in this system expand significantly. Furthermore, the Infested adversary might also be able to provide Apex variants of Grineer, Corpus, or Tenno weapons (depending on the spawning method), given an Infested touch-up, in the vein of the Mutalist Quanta and Cernos. The Grineer and Corpus weapons selected would probably have to be ones not already given a Kuva or Tenet variant, such as: Grineer Weapons Sobek Argonak Harpak Kulstar Stug (as much as it is a generally joked about weapon, it could receive a powerful Apex variant.) Buzlok Javlok Quatz Acrid Corpus Weapons Dera Cestra Stahlta Supra Convectrix Staticor Spectra Sonicor And so on. This isn’t an exhaustive list, more of some suggestions of weapons with few variants and other extant unique qualities, if any, and generally high dispositions. For Tenno weapons, our choices can be much broader. However, we should – as I have been in the previous lists – stray away from weapons with an existing Incarnon Genesis or an excess of existing variants (Wraith, Vandal, Prime, etc.) the more underserved a weapon is already, the better deserving it is of an Apex variant. These might include: Azima Akmagnus (Akzani might be more fitting.) Quellor Velox Zenith Attica Veldt The flaws with this list are pretty obvious. Including weapons given based on login rewards, like the Zenith and Azima, might be undesirable, but the bulk of Tenno weapons have Prime variants already. If we remove that particular limitation, we can include some other choices: Tigris Baza Sicarus Again, we focus mainly on primary and secondary weapons to keep with the trend of the Kuva and Tenet weapons. However, it would also make sense for more melee weapons to be included, given the primal, predatory nature of the Infested as an enemy type. This opens up options like the ones rejected for that reason in the table above. Area of Influence and Behaviour Since the Infested don’t control areas the same way the Corpus or Grineer do, instead the nodes they control can instead be both Dark Sectors on, for example, Earth and Venus, as well as a smattering of other nodes besides to bring up the count. The final planet, will be, of course, Eris. Aside from this, it follows: Earth and Venus Mars and Phobos (or should it be Deimos?) Ceres and Jupiter Sedna and Neptune Eris There’s an argument for allowing the Adversary to be on Uranus and Saturn as well, but having an Adversary be split between three planets might be a bit much. The Infested Adversary should probably only take things that are biological in nature. They don’t have much need for credits, and the idea of them taking biomass to feed the Infestation is more striking, anyway. Things like Nano Spores, Plastids, etc. Getting Murmurs The Murmur-carrier for this Adversary should probably be a Juggernaut-like enemy or similar – a Host of the Strain the Tenno is set to fight. They might be similar to the Hounds of the Sisters of Parvos, and giving them a spawn rate/spawn rules, etc. that is near identical to Hounds is acceptable. Conversion Whether or not you could or should be able to convert an Infested Adversary is kind of a hard question. Converting them to keep on your ship would, in a meta-game sense, probably cause your entire crew to leave your Railjack and never return, on account of the plague-zealot you just brought aboard. Aside from this, Converting them would otherwise be able to work as normal. Conclusion I'm sure that the Warframe team is certainly not bereft of ideas when it comes to this system, and encounter more the issue of the work required to implement it. That said, this idea was bouncing around in my head for a little over three months or so, so I thought I would put hands to keyboard and get it out into the world. Thanks for reading. If you have thoughts of your own, about this or about the possibility of an Infested Adversary system in general, I'd love to hear them.