THE DRAGON KING: A Chroma Rework Concept [UPDATE 11/17/2018: Warframe Strategy Layer/Syndicate Expansion concept]

[Zorish]

That topic bothered me for a while... Like how developer (not only DE) can use fan ideas... Yeah if they chose to - time needed for animations and code, but how to deal with "intellectual property" in case fan decide to be... greedy later... 

Still - good work man. And i hope if devs see this they have a way to deal with this topic and actually use your ideas (especialy third one... ESPECIALY WHEN CHROMA PRIME AVALIABLE)

[(PSN)Elixz8247]

@Endrian you are the first to mention the legal thingy. If thats why so many cool concepts havent been used I will cry of laughter

[Endrian]

Going back to Ember rework thoughts, since there's only one ability left and then fine-tuning of the rework concept, then maybe concept art of the new abilities/functionality...

World on Fire is in a tricky place.

It should be Ember's strongest ability, but, as DE has indicated in the past, we want to avoid it being a "press 4 to win" button, triggering an AOE nuke (ironically, one of the Warframes in the least need of a rework, Saryn, does exactly that). You shouldn't just press a button, no effort, and BOOM hey the level's clear now, you won. There needs to be more to it. More finesse, more skill, just... a little more effort. But how?

Currently, World on Fire is a toggled ability. Turn it on and Ember emits AOE explosions in an aura around her. However, after a short amount of time, the explosion damage doubles but the aura radius shrinks by half and energy drain doubles. It's an interesting principle, but... thematically, it doesn't really make sense. Over time, fire isn't known to shrink and increase in power. As a principle, that'd apply more to a laser, focusing light into a pinpoint and increasing the burning damage thusly, but that's not at all what Ember does. For her, it's all about a spreading wildfire that grows hotter as it grows larger.

With that in mind, I suggest a different functionality:

When toggled on, World on Fire raises the heat in a large radius surrounding Ember, and deals Heat damage per second equal to the current number of Wildfire degrees (base Status Chance of 25% per second, modified by power strength to a max of 60%). This damage would not be modified by power strength. At maximum Wildfire (100 stacks/5,000°, and assuming it comes with the suggested "armor-melting" penetration mechanic), this means it would take at least two seconds to kill a basic level 60 Grineer Lancer (5,300 Health/728 Ferrite Armor, which would otherwise reduce incoming damage by 70.8%). Now, assuming the enemy can take multiple seconds of World on Fire without dying (such as if Ember's stacks aren't maxed or the enemies are even higher-level), this is where the skill-based mechanic comes in:

Heat boils form on the enemy's body as its flesh or armor bubbles, warps, and swells; one heat boil forms per second while within the World on Fire aura, to a maximum of three boils. When struck, Heat boils increase incoming damage by 25/50/75/100% per boil (except for the Wildfire degrees-based damage, which is a fixed amount; damage multiplier is affected by power strength); any AOE damage dealt to the body also triggers this amplified damage effect, such as from Ember's abilities. When a boiling enemy dies, the enemy immediately explodes in a spherical conflagration, dealing 50% Heat/50% Blast damage in a 5/6/7/8m radius. The explosive damage they deal to surrounding enemies is equal to all the Heat/Blast damage (whether from World on Fire, Heat/Blast abilities, or Heat/Blast-based weapons attacks) they took while boiling, not to exceed their max Health.

In this way, the explosive damage allows Ember to scale into late-game missions while also preventing it from being overpowered in lower-level play.

TO BREAK IT DOWN:

• Ember turns on World on Fire, triggering massive Heat temperatures in a large radius.
• While within the aura, enemies take Heat damage equal to Ember's Wildfire degrees per second (fixed amount of damage).
• While within the aura, enemies also develop one heat boil per second on their body, to a maximum of three boils. The heat boils are permanent, remaining even if World on Fire is turned off.
• When the heat boils are damaged (whether from targeted weapons fire or AOE damage), the damage the enemies take is magnified up to 100% per boil (affected by power strength).
• When a boiling enemy dies, all the accumulated Heat/Blast damage the enemy took, capped to not exceed their max Health, is dealt in a 50%Heat/50% Blast explosion to surrounding enemies (potential for chained corpse-explosion, if enemies are packed closely enough).
• As with all her other abilities, patches of fire would be created under exploding enemies.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Endrian

[Endrian]

CHROMA UMBRA THOUGHTS

[WARNING: THE SACRIFICE AND WAR WITHIN QUEST SPOILERS AHEAD]

Spoiler

I've been thinking more and more about what Chroma would be like if there were to be an in-depth Chroma Umbra quest. Keep in mind, I'm assuming every Umbra will have their own personalised quest that tells us more about what they were like as human beings, before the Technocyte assimilation that turned them into the earliest single-unit Warframes, before Prime Warframes were mass-produced for the Old War, before the fall of the Orokin Empire that led to the degeneration of Warframe design and their downgraded Tenno mass-constructions.

We know Excalibur was originally a Dax soldier, who was punished for trying to interfere with Ballas's betrayal of the Orokin, and was Infested to become the first anti-Sentient prototype Warframe, modified with a Transference Bolt to obey Ballas. His abilities were marginally modified (specifically, Radial Blind was changed into Radial Howl, which removes built-up Sentient defenses).

With that in mind...

WHO WOULD CHROMA HAVE BEEN?

In order to be thematically consistent with his abilities, Chroma would have to be a unique case, because I don't think he would have been a Dax warrior like most fighter-type Warframes.

I think, principally, he would have been an Orokin noble. He would have been a brilliant engineer that specialised in materiel research and development, specifically weapons and armor, as well as elemental modules. His designs would have made him wealthy beyond measure, perhaps the wealthiest of all Orokin; he would be a collector of antiquities, artifacts, and arms from all across the star system. (Thematically, this "hoard" of wealth and treasures suits a dragon, as well as meshing with Effigy's credit doubling/drop rate increase.)

In battle, he would have been ferocious, but measured, deliberate. Even in the martial sparring between Orokin nobility, when they wanted to demonstrate the newest, dance-like techniques they'd developed or learned, he'd allow the opponent to land their blows on him... relishing in their slow discovery that their blows were becoming less and less effective the more they hit him; and then, at the peak of their dawning terror, he would have struck back with all his gathered fury at once, taking them down in a single devastating blow, simple in its design, but raw power unadorned by needless ornamentation.

The scorn he had for the Orokin nobility would have been widely-known; he would have appreciated the common soldiers and the Dax more than his fellow imperators. The soldiers didn't engage in war out of pleasure, but out of necessity, to survive; they didn't revel in war for war's own sake, the way the Orokin did as if playing a game of Komi. He despised them for that.

WHAT WOULD CHROMA HAVE LOOKED LIKE?

He would have been ancient, even by Orokin standards, growing his wealth all the while; he would have eschewed the "ignoble indignity" of Continuity (the transference of consciousness from an old, decrepit body to a young, vital one). He would have too much pride in himself, in his own body and power, to dare steal the life of some young unfortunate slave auctioned in the Orokin markets. Instead, he would have regularly ingested Kuva, the "elixir of immortality." Whether it happened naturally over time, some aspect of his genes or exposure to alien forces, or by cosmetic alteration as the Orokin nobles were so fond of, his body would have... changed.

His brow broken into two short keratin horns; his skin hardening into a tough, near-scaly texture; his eyes lit by a fire within; his veins visibly pulsing with Kuva-borne power. He would have been massive, just as Chroma is, not just tall but heavily-muscled and barrel-chested. Long white hair, bound into two braids at the nape of his neck and ornamented with Orokin gold, both braids symmetrically framing his neck. He would have had a thick beard, neatly groomed and immaculately styled, with a long, distinguished moustache framing his mouth. He took pride in his appearance; he took pride in everything, frankly. If you couldn't do something better than everyone else, then you damn well needed to aim for that.

People would have forgotten his name centuries ago, simply because he didn't care to use it anymore. His friends simply called him "Old Man," while commoners reverently called him "the Dragon." His enemies and rivals among the Orokin spoke of "the Demon" in hushed whispers.

WHERE DID CHROMA'S ABILITIES COME FROM?

When the Sentients came to make war on the Orokin, the Dragon studied this new opponent, who made use of the Orokin's own advanced technology, turning their machines against them; he studied the Sentient ability to adapt to all forms of damage, but... he also noticed its limitations, that they could only adapt to a few forms of damage at once before having to shed old resistances in order to develop new ones.

Gun and blade, that is what was called for; things that couldn't be controlled remotely, that couldn't be turned against the user.

He recommended it to the councils, to the upper echelons of Orokin government, but was not driven to act, to personally intervene, until he learned of human colonies that were under regular attack by the Sentient fleets, left undefended because the Empire had pulled back its strongest forces to protect more "strategically important" settlements... that also happened to house Orokin nobility. If the Empire wasn't going to do the job expected of them—if they were going to let selfishness get in the way of protecting the pride of the Empire—then the Dragon would do it himself.

And so he recruited a team of like-minded fighters, mixed of Dax, commoner, and fellow Orokin, and armed them with weapons and elemental modules of his own design, determined to hunt down the strongest ground-based Sentient forces, and send a message that the colonies were under his protection.

As the leader, dubbed Kokkinos (lit. Greek "red"), the Dragon wielded the heaviest weapons: a Pyrkagia "firelance" beam cannon (think Opticor, but charges to fire a massive armor-bursting laser; Heat damage on the laser itself, AOE Blast explosion radiating outward from any enemies the beam hits) and the explosive heavy blade Balmung (heavy Blast, Slashing and Impact).

Prasinos (lit. Greek "green"), the daughter of an Orokin bloodline known for a long history of operating under the highest echelons of Orokin power as spies, assassins, and saboteurs, wielded a pair of toxic needle-spewing autopistols (major Toxic, moderate Puncture) as well as a pair of long daggers with an edge designed to corrode all forms of metal (heavy Corrosive, light Puncture and Slashing).

Galazios (lit. Greek "blue"), a Dax soldier known for his swift reaction time and superb swordsmanship, wielded a heavy-caliber handcannon that fired electromagnetically-charged shells (Impact and Magnetic) and a two-handed dai-nikana that coruscated with electricity (heavy Slashing and Electric).

Lefko (lit. Greek "white"), a commoner, but also a skilled and respected soldier and fighter in his own right, nearly as tall and well-muscled as the Old Man despite being an unmodified human, wielded a cryogenic flak cannon (fires cones of freezing Cold and Puncture ice pullets, charged for more narrow spread) and a massive hammer that released frigid blasts on impact (heavy Cold and massive Impact).

Even their armor had been altered to make use of the elemental modules, granting a searing regeneration that cauterised and closed wounds, armor reinforced by layers of ice, gas-based optic camouflage, and electrically-hardened shields. Together, the four of them became known as Chroma Dynami.

Their greatest (and final) "kill" as a team was the massive soaring Sentient dracolyst dubbed Fafnir. It required their best effort, coordinating elemental rotations between the four of them so it never had a chance to fully adapt to any one source of damage. It bombarded them with constant, harrowing blasts of Tau energy "breath," alternating between beams, cones, and projectile bombs of the extracosmic energy. When it fell, incapacitated but not destroyed, the Dragon shackled its power core with an neural inhibitor, preventing its sentient impulses from traveling to its extremities—effectively keeping it paralyzed, because it would've just rebuilt and regenerated itself from its shattered parts if they "destroyed" it.

The dracolyst's paralyzed husk was moved to the Dragon's treasure vault, a trophy of their greatest hunt.

The team went to sleep in their separate rooms, preparing for another day of Sentient-hunting.

Only...

When they woke up, they found themselves restrained and shackled, in pods connected by bizarre, flowing tissue rippling with energy transference. They couldn't speak—not even move. Ballas, the legendary Orokin innovator, stood over them, watching their simultaneous realizations.

How much time had passed while they were so sedated and restrained? Days? Weeks? Months?

“Even compared to my Frames of War, the four of you make for a dangerous adversary for those vile machina.”

Ballas leaned back, folding one leg neatly over the other. His glowing-eyed gaze slowly swept from one prisoner to the next, on to the end, until it swiveled back to gaze at the Old Man.

“But only together. Individually, you are... weak. Pathetic. Human.”

The Old Man strained against his Infested bonds, unable to roar defiance; he could feel the Infestation transforming his skin, stealing his mouth; the best he could manage was staring daggers at his captor.

“And so I will try something new.”

He gestured with one overlong arm around the room. The Old Man looked, and realized that the Technocyte Infestation that was transforming his flesh, interlinking his organs, was also forming living bonds with the surrounding warriors.

Prasinos, Galazios, Lefko, all four of them were bound to the Old Man by the Infested flesh. And... the others' bodies were contracting, deflating, as if it was pulling their vital essence out of their bodies, transferring it all to the Old Man. He could feel their consciousnesses pouring into him, their pain and fear and despair and rage, their memories, their dreams, all flooding his mind. And still he could do nothing, not even scream; he was too weak, too impotent under Ballas's machinations.

“This will be the start of something... beautiful. Something perfectly monstrous.”

WHERE DID CHROMA'S PELT COME FROM?

Months later.

“The Machines easily adapt to our attacks; they swat aside concentrated assault after but a few moments of adaptive evolution. We cannot afford complacency... predictability.”

The massive Warframe emotionlessly cleaved a battalyst simulacrum in half with a single brutal swipe of its heavy blade, then turned and blasted a small cluster of conculysts with a searing explosion of flame from its visor. A pair of conculysts remained, and when struck by a second such blast, surged forward—their adaptation complete, the point made.

“We must be flexible. Capable of change at a moment's notice. To flow from one element to the next as easily as changing weapons.”

The Warframe flexed and stomped, and suddenly erupted in a maelstrom of electric energy. Then it clenched its fists around its sword and blasted a bolt of electricity from its visor, as if spitting lightning. Both conculyst simulacra shuddered as electricity arced between them, then exploded under the assault.

“This beast you see before you is a paragon of martial prowess, with the flexibility to bend the elements to our will; through its malleable nature, it will pierce the Sentient bulwark. It will be the greatest of our living weapons in the War against the Machines.”

The Warframe gradually calmed and stood still, facing the audience of nobles in all their grandeur. They applauded Ballas as he stood behind the shimmering shield barrier separating his control chamber from the Warframe's display area, which was similarly separated from the nobles by a thick pane of transteel glass. The clapping continued for what felt like hours to the Warframe, slow and muted, when only seconds were passing. The Warframe's head slowly tilted, unseen neuroptic sensors taking in a curious sight: the great Sentient dracolyst, suspended in the air above, its shackle on its nerve center still in place.

Ballas had stolen the Demon's prize; the arrogant Orokin had seized a trophy unearned.

“For your consideration, I give you... Chroma.”

The Demon felt a tingle of something it had not felt in months: an ember of rage and insulted pride, slowly building, stoked by the Orokin applause. Staring up at its trophy—at the captured Sentient predator—the Demon realized something. They were alike, the Demon and the dracolyst. The shackled monsters of domineering masters; the dracolyst had no more wanted to serve Hunhow's will than the Demon wanted to serve the Orokin Empire and its decadent imperators, cloistered in their high towers of ivory and gold while humanity spilled its blood on the frontline.

The Orokin kept applauding. They had no idea what was coming.

The Warframe suddenly spat another bolt of lightning, surging power through the Orokin inhibitor—it overloaded, burst apart. The dracolyst surged into life, its great wings flaring into existence, vast things of pulsing Tau energy. It latched onto a wall, and its great muzzle swiveled to regard the Warframe. The Dragon stared back.

Unseen eyes met one another and found mirrored souls. They both wanted the same thing: to kill the Orokin.

To kill Hunhow.

To bring two empires to ruin and reign over the ashes.

The great Sentient dracolyst leapt through the air, wings spread wide, and suddenly latched onto the waiting Warframe. Dragon and dracolyst alike roared as the dracolyst molded its body, contracting its living-metal flesh around the Warframe, bonding body to body, Sentient carapace to Orokin weapon. Their scorn was their armor; their fury was their sword. Their pride was their power.

The Orokin had stopped clapping. Ballas was silent ... and nowhere to be found.

Before the Orokin could even scream, Chroma had cleaved through the thick pane of transteel glass in a single stroke of his heavy blade.

A moment later, and he had cleaved through the Orokin as well.

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Endrian

[Endrian]

CHROMA UMBRA HUMAN FORM CONCEPT

Edited November 15, 2018 by Endrian

[FeralKuja]

DE Should hire you on a contractual basis to help design warframes and mechanics for the game overall!

Seriously, your proposed changes, up to and including the Dragon King tier, are all amazing ideas that tie his lore and promotional material to his role and abilities.

Your Operator suit and equipment/gameplay proposals are also pretty amazing, as Operators do feel lacking as far as abilities and offense.

The ability to pair up a particular Amp with a particular Arc would be incredible, and Arcs and the new Operator abilities and Umbral school are all definitely great ideas.

I can only hope the Warframe universe gets expanded with even a fraction of these ideas, and I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps DE might want to contract you for concepts like this for any current and future frames and perhaps even to consult for lore and blending the lore with mechanics.

[(PSN)Elixz8247]

That Chroma Umbra backstory sounds amazing

[Endrian]

17 hours ago, FeralKuja said:

DE Should hire you on a contractual basis to help design warframes and mechanics for the game overall!

Seriously, your proposed changes, up to and including the Dragon King tier, are all amazing ideas that tie his lore and promotional material to his role and abilities.

Your Operator suit and equipment/gameplay proposals are also pretty amazing, as Operators do feel lacking as far as abilities and offense.

The ability to pair up a particular Amp with a particular Arc would be incredible, and Arcs and the new Operator abilities and Umbral school are all definitely great ideas.

I can only hope the Warframe universe gets expanded with even a fraction of these ideas, and I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps DE might want to contract you for concepts like this for any current and future frames and perhaps even to consult for lore and blending the lore with mechanics.

 

8 hours ago, (PS4)Elixz8247 said:

That Chroma Umbra backstory sounds amazing

Thank you both very much!

[DrivaMain]

The concept is amazing, I am disappointed that Chroma didn’t get a tweak after the prime release. I hope DE consider this concept especially Tier 3, I want my Chroma spread his wings like in the codex entry.

[Endrian]

Ideas came to me while I was trying to sleep again. I thought about how little is done with Syndicates—they have their individual quests, but before and after those are done, very little is done with the Syndicates themselves, not much interaction is had outside of their little chambers on the Relays. And yet, they're full of potential, for deeper personal interaction with them. So, I had some thoughts on how to flesh that out with...

SYNDICATE RANK 6: COMMANDER

Obviously, each rank would have a different name per the rank system of each individual Syndicate. They would all unlock their own new items. Specifically:

• Syndicate Specters: Functionally, they'd be like the rank 1 Specters; you throw a deployment beacon at the ground, a Specter pops out. However, in this case, you would get one of the NPCs that assists you on Syndicate missions, armed with a random selection of Syndicate weapons (always the melee weapon, randomly either primary or secondary).
• +20% Sigil: Just a better, fancier sigil with additional special effects that rewards more than the rank 5 +15% sigil. The daily standing cap wouldn't be increased, it'd just be easier to reach it.
• Syndicate Assistant: A placable "decoration" for your Dojo or Orbiter that places a Syndicate human NPC on your ship. They will wander around the ship, sit on edges where possible, lounge on the couch or meditate in your quarters. Sometimes, you might even catch them staring in a concerned way at the Helminth door from behind a corner. They would all have their own voiced responses/ambient dialogue that gives your Orbiter a more lively feeling; they might even talk with Ordis when you're idle; if you have multiple Assistants from different Syndicates, they would even engage in conversation. Functionally, their purpose would be able to let you talk to them in order to turn in Syndicate tokens, rather than having to visit a Relay. You can only one Assistant per Syndicate on your ship.
• Syndicate Construction Beacon: This is where the main idea I had comes into play. Once you bought this, you'd be introduced to a new system in Warframe:

NEW SYSTEM: WARFRAME STRATEGY LAYER / SYNDICATE ORBITAL OUTPOSTS

While you have an undeployed Syndicate Construction Beacon in your inventory, whenever you select a world on the navigation screen, there would be a button:

Spoiler

 Something like this, just a rough concept.

You click it, and then the same way you can choose different Extractors, you'd be able to pick from whatever Syndicate you're currently at rank 6 with. By "spending" the Syndicate Construction Beacon, you could then issue an order to the chosen Syndicate to begin constructing a small orbital outpost. This would take anywhere from 12 hours to 3 days. However, once it's constructed, you would then be able to visit this particular world in order to enter the constructed outpost. Each outpost would be heavily themed on the chosen Syndicate's style and flair. Obviously, it wouldn't be Relay size; that'd be unnecessarily large.

When doing any missions on this world from then on, you would always be accompanied by one Syndicate agent. (You'll always have that Syndicate with you on Solo missions or when you're hosting the mission; if you join another player's mission, however, it would be their Syndicate accompanying them or none at all, if they don't have the Outpost built.)

However, the Outpost could be expanded beyond that.

SYNDICATE ORBITAL OUTPOST EXPANSION

There would be locked doors, like on a Dojo, where the Outpost could expand, and you would need to supply resources in order to fund the construction. The rooms would follow a predetermined blueprint for the Outpost's layout, but you could choose when to fund the desired rooms. Rooms like:

• TRAINING ROOM: Upgradeable. Constructing one of these strengthens the individual agents. The Syndicate agent that accompanies on your missions in the area would be higher in level. If you spend additional resources and Syndicate standing, you can upgrade the room up to three times (which would come with visual upgrades and an increase in the number of agents visually sparring inside it, increasing liveliness), further increasing the Syndicate agent's level. The level boost works thusly:
  • No Training Room: Agent/Specter level is equal to the mission's starting enemy level -2 (minimum of 1)
  • Training Room [Unranked]: Agent/Specter level is equal to starting level +2
  • Training Room [Lv1]: Agent/Specter level is equal to starting level +5
  • Training Room [Lv2]: Agent/Specter level is equal to starting level +8
  • Training Room [Lv3]: Agent/Specter level is equal to starting level +12
• ARMORY: Upgradeable. Unlike the Syndicate specters, Syndicate agents for the chosen world will only use basic Tenno weapons such as you see on Relays—Bratons, Burstons, Latrons, Skanas, and the like. However, if you construct an Armory, they will be able to arm themselves with the Syndicate-specific weaponry. By upgrading the Armory, they will begin modding their weapons to be even more effective.
  • No Armory: Agents use basic Tenno weaponry.
  • Armory [Unranked]: Agents use unmodded Syndicate weaponry (always melee, either primary or secondary for "main" weapon).
  • Armory [Lv1]: Agent weapon damage increases +25%, magazine size doubles.
  • Armory [Lv2]: Agent weapon damage increases +75%, reload speed halves.
  • Armory [Lv3]: Agent weapon damage increases +150%, weapons are modded with elemental mods thematically appropriate to the Syndicate that add further damage, potentially exploit weaknesses, and cause status effects:
    • Steel Meridian: Adds Blast damage.
    • Arbiters of Hexis: Adds Cold damage.
    • Cephalon Suda: Adds Electric damage.
    • Perrin Sequence: Adds Magnetic damage.
    • Red Veil: Adds Heat damage.
    • New Loka: Adds Radiation damage.
• OUTFITTER: Upgradeable. This is where Syndicate agents become truly impressive. When built, the Outfitter arms every mission-active agent in a special Syndicate armor. With further upgrades, they gain improved defenses and capabilities. Each upgrade marginally improves the visual appearance of the agent's armor. All Syndicates use the same armor mesh on their human agents, just with different color schemes.
  • No Outfitter: Agents wear no armor and have no special actions.
  • Outfitter [Unranked]: Agents wear Syndicate armor [Ferrite Armor added, gain damage reduction]. Agents occasionally throw thematic-element grenades:
    • Steel Meridian: Blast grenade (knocks back/knocks down enemies).
    • Arbiters of Hexis: Puncture/"needle" grenade (ignores armor).
    • Cephalon Suda: Magnetic grenade (strips shields).
    • Perrin Sequence: Electric grenade (electrocutes/paralyzes enemies).
    • Red Veil: Heat grenade (creates patch of fire DOT).
    • New Loka: Radiation grenade (confuses enemies).
    • Reasoning: Some of the grenades use different damage than the "elemental mod" damage versions from the Armory because I'm trying to match the grenade with either the Syndicate's theme or with the damage type(s) its weapons already do. Arbiters of Hexis weapons already do Puncture damage on every weapon, so it wouldn't have added much if the Armory elemental mod just added more Puncture, rather than another possible effect. However, the grenade was designed to do the same damage, because Puncture is obviously the Arbiters of Hexis style.
  • Outfitter [Lv1]: Agents gain stealth capabilities (they turn invisible and sneak with you whenever you're crouched, if not in battle). More Ferrite Armor added.
  • Outfitter [Lv2]: Agents gain shields and a short-range teleport (can teleport to an enemy to engage in melee, or to reach you if they cannot otherwise path to you). Even more Ferrite Armor added.
  • Outfitter [Lv3]: Agents gain health regeneration and mark all targets that enter their line of sight; mark lasts for 30 seconds after they leave agent line of sight. Maximum Ferrite Armor added.
• QUARTERS: Upgradeable. When built, this provides a new room full of fresh, clean bedding and other Syndicate stylistic touches. The actual purpose of the Bunks is to increase the number of Syndicate agents active in each mission.
  • No Quarters: One Agent that travels with you on a related mission (any standard mission on the world the Outpost orbits); Ops teams consist of one Agent, low chance of mission success
  • Quarters [Unranked]: Two Agents that travel with you on a related mission (as if it were a Syndicate mission); Ops teams consist of two Agents, moderate chance of Ops mission success
  • Quarters [Lv1]: One backup Agent (if an Agent is killed/incapacitated, they will be replaced by a new Agent); Ops teams consist of three Agents, increased chance of success on Deception and Spy Ops missions
  • Quarters [Lv2]: Two backup Agents; Ops teams consist of four Agents, increased chance of success on Rescue and Assassination Ops missions
  • Quarters [Lv3]: Three backup Agents; Ops teams consist of four "bonded" Agents, increased chance of success on Defense, Excavation, and Survival Ops missions

SYNDICATE REGIONAL OPERATIONS

The Orbital Outpost will always start with an Operations Room. This is where the magic happens, where the entire purpose of the Outpost becomes clear: the actual strategic layer I was hinting at.

• OPERATIONS (OPS): Prebuilt and upgradeable. From here, you build up the Syndicate's regional forces and send them out on missions and alter the very nature of the (client-side) chosen world's power dynamic. You become the mission commander, overseeing Syndicate operations in the sector. As you upgrade the rest of the Outpost, Ops is automatically upgraded to grant you special actions and increase how many operations you can have active at once. There are also facility upgrades for the Ops room that have special functions. When you send the agents to perform their missions, they will leave for a period of time, then have a chance of returning with relevant rewards, in addition to regional resource drops (and boss drops, in the case of Assassination missions). Missions cost nothing to initiate, but they take time to complete (shortest mission being 30 minutes, but could last hours, depending on the mission type).
  • MISSION OPTIONS:
    • Reconnaissance—Short-term. Low-risk mission. Success: Codex/archive data (on regional enemies, can include rare enemies and bosses)
    • Procurement—Short-term. Mission can fail if agents aren't adequately informed. Success: Regional resources, regional enemy-drop mods
    • Assassination—Short-term. Mission can fail if agents aren't adequately armed or informed; upgraded Armory greatly increases chance of success; success: Credits (large amount).
    • Recruitment—Medium-term. Mission can fail if agents aren't adequately informed. Success: Warframe Specters (commonly x5-15 Vapor/Phase, uncommonly x2-5 Force, very rarely x1-2 Cosmic) 
    • Spy—Medium-term. Mission can fail entirely if agents aren't adequately informed; stealth/teleport Outfitter upgrades greatly increases chance and level of success. Success: Spy rewards (x1-3, dependent on level of success; tier of reward dependent on regional Spy mission tier).
    • Rescue—Medium-term. This mission only becomes available upon an agent's failure in Assassination, Reconnaissance, Procurement, or Spy in which case they're imprisoned and must be rescued. While an agent is imprisoned, the operation slot is locked for a set number of real-time hours (1-6?), after which they escape on their own, so it is very important to rescue agents so you don't get all your slots locked once you have multiple slots. Success: Restored operation slot
    • Survival—Variable-term. Upgraded Outpost greatly increases potential mission duration. Success: Endo, mods (more Endo gained the longer agents endure)
    • Defense—Variable-term. Upgraded Outpost greatly increases potential mission duration. Success: Relics, mods (more and higher-quality Relics gained the longer agents endure)
    • Excavation—Variable-term. Upgraded Outpost greatly increases potential mission duration. Success: Cryotic, mods (more Cryotic gained the longer agents endure)
  • FACILITY UPGRADES:
    • Codex Interlink: Your Codex data on relevant enemies (regional factions and assassination targets) is linked to the Outpost tactical mainframe; this improves the success chance of Assassination, Procurement, Recruitment, and Spy Ops missions based on how thoroughly you've scanned the relevant targets/enemies.
    • Cephalon Insertion Point: You're able to have Ordis infiltrate the regional faction's computer systems. Functionally, this lets you instantly free a captured Agent by opening its cell door remotely (thus removing the need for a Rescue operation), but it has a 12-hour cooldown as the faction scrambles its communications until the hacking threat is over.
    • Tactical Operations Matrix: Mini-game assistance for active operations that either increase overall success chance (for any mission), "restore" agent durability (for variable-term missions) or decrease remaining mission time (for short- and medium-term missions).
  • CAPABILITIES:
    • Unranked: Can have one operation active at a time.
    • Lv1 [Unranked Training Room and Quarters required]: Can have two operations active at a time.
    • Lv2 [Lv1 Outfitter, Armory, Training Room and Quarters required]: Can have three operations active at a time. Insurgency unlocked.
    • Lv3 [Lv2 Outfitter, Armory, Training Room, and Quarters required]: Can have four operations active at a time. Orchestrate Conflict special action unlocked.
    • MAX [Lv3 Outfitter, Armory, Training Room, and Quarters required]: Can have five operations active at a time. Revolution special action unlocked.
  • SPECIAL ACTIONS:
    • These are temporary special actions you can take once per day, lasting for a few hours each. (They require Standing to activate.)
    • Insurgency: ???
    • Orchestrate Conflict: Cannot be active at the same time as Revolution. Orchestrate Conflict turns every local mission into a pseudo-Crossfire mission, by having the Syndicate covertly orchestrate a conflict between the regional faction power with another random faction power (Grineer vs Corpus, Corpus vs Infested, Infested vs Grineer). Whenever you fight in a regional mission, the regional faction will be in battle with another random faction, providing an effective distraction, but both can attack you if they don't have one another to fight nearby. [In endless missions, this results in the warring factions coming in from opposite sides and spending as much time attacking each other as they do you or the defense point.]
    • Revolution: Cannot be active at the same time as Orchestrate Conflict. Revolution is similar to Orchestrate Conflict, except that it floods every local mission with basic Syndicate agents (not armed or armored like the specially-trained Outpost agents) in pitched battle with the regional faction power. Unlike with Orchestrate Conflict, you don't have to worry about the Syndicate agents ever attacking you, making for a powerful advantage in endless missions.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Endrian

[Darkvramp]

14 minutes ago, Endrian said:

Functionally, their purpose would be able to let you talk to them in order to turn in Syndicate tokens, rather than having to visit a Relay.

they need to keep this to the relay if the relay is to have any purpose at all......

[Endrian]

25 minutes ago, Darkvramp said:

they need to keep this to the relay if the relay is to have any purpose at all......

Not sure what you mean. Relay's got Darvo/Clem, Conclave, and Cephalon Simaris.

[Darkvramp]

16 minutes ago, Endrian said:

Not sure what you mean. Relay's got Darvo/Clem, Conclave, and Cephalon Simaris.

when's the last time you went to Davros deals to buy something? conclave can be teleported to if you need to, limiting interaction overall, also its conclave.......so who cares about conclave? and the same problem applies to cephalon simaris, because of his fast travel point, you never have to interact with anyone on the way. the relay is supposed to be a social space, but if your loading in, fast traveling to where you need to go, and then loading out, why have a relay at all?  the relays are not going anywhere, so trying to undercut it is going to go nowhere. try and find a way to build up the social space of the relay, instead of breaking it down.

[Endrian]

1 minute ago, Darkvramp said:

when's the last time you went to Davros deals to buy something? conclave can be teleported to if you need to, limiting interaction overall, also its conclave.......so who cares about conclave? and the same problem applies to cephalon simaris, because of his fast travel point, you never have to interact with anyone on the way. the relay is supposed to be a social space, but if your loading in, fast traveling to where you need to go, and then loading out, why have a relay at all?  the relays are not going anywhere, so trying to undercut it is going to go nowhere. try and find a way to build up the social space of the relay, instead of breaking it down.

I dunno, this seems like a weak argument against the idea if it's because you don't go to the Relays for anything but turning in marks, given that there's plenty of other things there. It's not like you get it immediately either; like I said, it'd require getting to rank 6. If you want to see Baro, you still gotta go to the Relays. If you want to do a Clem mission, Relays. If you want to buy things from Simaris, Relays.

[(PSN)Absoluteboxer]

I like the idea of the syndicate helpers.  

What do you think of the idea of an ever growing syndicate relay that is system wide based on particpation.  Like having the entire community who are part of one faction almost building a giant dojo, but specifically on a single faction.

  They could construct and research new sydnicate weapons (new ones of course).

Heres the interaction idea. These weapons are completely not tradeable unlike the other syndicate weapons we currently have. However you can purchase them from the syndicate relay for a higher price if you are not a member. This price increase is parallel to the affiliation of said syndicate.

For example:

At the perrin sequence relay:

New loka which is an ally only pays 125% the price perrin sequence members pay.

Red veil which is neutral pays 150%

Arbiters of hexis which opposed 175%

Steel meridian which is a direct enemy 200%

 

Further more I just thought of this is that rank 6 commanders can vote on type of weapons that get made. Meaning there will be two types of weapons sold at relay: uniques made by DE specifically and zaw/kit like weapons.   

All levels of the faction can contribute but only the rank 6 can vote on which one goes into the roster. (Meaning what parts)

This could lead to faction like zaws (which would ofcourse have their bonuses such as entropy or justice etc).

These zaw/kit weapons would only be available for a limited time and would go through quarterly cycles. 

This would make all 6 factions interesting and engaging since you would have 18 (6 factions primary secondary and melee) weapons cycled throughout a 3 month period.   

By making them non tradeable, fan voted, and limited time- it would create more urgency for player retention. 

By having rank 6 being the only ones able to vote it creates an awarding level of prestige, like you worked hard and sacrfice and now you can make a difference which affects the entire community.   

[(PSN)Absoluteboxer]

Ok this next idea is a bit of a long shot. Im not good at formatting the posts as you are so forgive and bare with me.

Currency of the relays.  It should be a separate universal currency which can only be obtained in syndicate missions. Reason why is I often find syndicate missions currently very vacant. Alot of times I will be set to public yet I am completely solo. Thats because with sigils, you can play regularly and passively build standing.  By having the syndicate missions have its own currency it forces more players to participate.  (You can make that currency an extreme rare drop in other missions but basically you are much better off playing syndicate ala credits and the index mode..)

Heres the kicker. Borrow a lil game device from one of my favorite games the souls series..

Thats right only for these specific missions you can choose to invade opposing sydnicate missions as a adversary.   Unlike the stalker who lets face it gets owned by anyone who has made it passed war within, this will be your set up.  You can have one additional person with you vs a team of 4.  Your life and shields (not armor) are doubled from your initial load out if you go solo though.  Your skills are the same as it is in the dojo sparring room. 

when you kill a member from the faction team you get their would be currency points. So you have a chance to get 4x the currency points.  When you kill a player they cannot be revived and cannot respawn until after the invader has either killed all 4 or has been beaten. 

If you are player who has been killed you still get half the currency points you would have obtained for completing the mission (which would still be more rewarding than any other game mode)

[Endrian]

2 hours ago, (PS4)Absoluteboxer said:

I like the idea of the syndicate helpers.  

What do you think of the idea of an ever growing syndicate relay that is system wide based on particpation.  Like having the entire community who are part of one faction almost building a giant dojo, but specifically on a single faction.

  They could construct and research new sydnicate weapons (new ones of course).

Heres the interaction idea. These weapons are completely not tradeable unlike the other syndicate weapons we currently have. However you can purchase them from the syndicate relay for a higher price if you are not a member. This price increase is parallel to the affiliation of said syndicate.

For example:

At the perrin sequence relay:

New loka which is an ally only pays 125% the price perrin sequence members pay.

Red veil which is neutral pays 150%

Arbiters of hexis which opposed 175%

Steel meridian which is a direct enemy 200%

 

Further more I just thought of this is that rank 6 commanders can vote on type of weapons that get made. Meaning there will be two types of weapons sold at relay: uniques made by DE specifically and zaw/kit like weapons.   

All levels of the faction can contribute but only the rank 6 can vote on which one goes into the roster. (Meaning what parts)

This could lead to faction like zaws (which would ofcourse have their bonuses such as entropy or justice etc).

These zaw/kit weapons would only be available for a limited time and would go through quarterly cycles. 

This would make all 6 factions interesting and engaging since you would have 18 (6 factions primary secondary and melee) weapons cycled throughout a 3 month period.   

By making them non tradeable, fan voted, and limited time- it would create more urgency for player retention. 

By having rank 6 being the only ones able to vote it creates an awarding level of prestige, like you worked hard and sacrfice and now you can make a difference which affects the entire community.   

Certainly a possibility. Steel Meridian already has their own styled Relay (though I swear they got it confused with Red Veil, because that's a lot of red and fire), so I could see future Relays being built in such a way.

2 hours ago, (PS4)Absoluteboxer said:

Ok this next idea is a bit of a long shot. Im not good at formatting the posts as you are so forgive and bare with me.

Currency of the relays.  It should be a separate universal currency which can only be obtained in syndicate missions. Reason why is I often find syndicate missions currently very vacant. Alot of times I will be set to public yet I am completely solo. Thats because with sigils, you can play regularly and passively build standing.  By having the syndicate missions have its own currency it forces more players to participate.  (You can make that currency an extreme rare drop in other missions but basically you are much better off playing syndicate ala credits and the index mode..)

Heres the kicker. Borrow a lil game device from one of my favorite games the souls series..

Thats right only for these specific missions you can choose to invade opposing sydnicate missions as a adversary.   Unlike the stalker who lets face it gets owned by anyone who has made it passed war within, this will be your set up.  You can have one additional person with you vs a team of 4.  Your life and shields (not armor) are doubled from your initial load out if you go solo though.  Your skills are the same as it is in the dojo sparring room. 

when you kill a member from the faction team you get their would be currency points. So you have a chance to get 4x the currency points.  When you kill a player they cannot be revived and cannot respawn until after the invader has either killed all 4 or has been beaten. 

If you are player who has been killed you still get half the currency points you would have obtained for completing the mission (which would still be more rewarding than any other game mode)

Eh, I don't really do PvP, so I can't really give an informed opinion on that. I can't say I'd like being invaded by other players when just trying to play a chill mission if it's not something I signed up for. I could see it as possibly being a PvP mode you opt into though, part of the Conclave system.

[Endrian]

There, added the new concept now that it's more fleshed-out (rough though it may be) to the original post.

[Zorish]

On 2018-11-12 at 8:09 PM, (PS4)Elixz8247 said:

@Endrian you are the first to mention the legal thingy. If thats why so many cool concepts havent been used I will cry of laughter

and i'll just cry... because that's mean every new idea posted by fans reduce Devs number of future ideas for game...

[(PSN)stormfalcon2018]

What would chroma umbra look like?

[Endrian]

28 minutes ago, (PS4)stormfalcon2018 said:

What would chroma umbra look like?

The Warframe itself? Not sure yet, just had ideas for the human form.

[HugintheCrow]

On 2018-11-12 at 6:09 PM, (PS4)Elixz8247 said:

@Endrian you are the first to mention the legal thingy. If thats why so many cool concepts havent been used I will cry of laughter

Pretty sure it is automatically theirs if they wanted to use it. I mean, it is fan-made stuff for THEIR copyrighted material. 

6 hours ago, Zorish said:

and i'll just cry... because that's mean every new idea posted by fans reduce Devs number of future ideas for game...

Yeah, that could never work this way. Copyright laws wouldn't exist the way they do if it did.

[Oksanya]

My gosh, I WOULD LOVE THIS!  I would love this so much!  I hope this becomes reality

[Endrian]

7 hours ago, HugintheCrow said:

Pretty sure it is automatically theirs if they wanted to use it. I mean, it is fan-made stuff for THEIR copyrighted material. 

I don't think that's the law, or else every Sonic fan-character OC would be copyrighted by default by SEGA.

If DE were to exactly reproduce a fan Warframe concept that was obviously unique and not an existing Warframe ripoff, some litigious creator who wanted to take advantage might be able to make an intellectual property claim and sue for a share of the profits from platinum-based purchases or something along those lines (which might also be why Tennogen is a thing).

So, better to get that out of the way ahead of time for these ideas, since a lot of it does involve original artwork/ideas.

[HugintheCrow]

7 hours ago, Endrian said:

I don't think that's the law, or else every Sonic fan-character OC would be copyrighted by default by SEGA.

If DE were to exactly reproduce a fan Warframe concept that was obviously unique and not an existing Warframe ripoff, some litigious creator who wanted to take advantage might be able to make an intellectual property claim and sue for a share of the profits from platinum-based purchases or something along those lines (which might also be why Tennogen is a thing).

So, better to get that out of the way ahead of time for these ideas, since a lot of it does involve original artwork/ideas.

Even IF there is a legal need for DE to seek the fan's agreement, I'm pretty sure that in such case DE would just reach out to the player in question asking for that agreement.

To my knowledge, all of the fan concepts transformed into official material have been made after DE contacted the original creator. The situation you mention where DE just took something without notifying the concept-maker hasn't been a thing, as far as I know.