Mission idea: Corpus Proxy Defection

[Mad-Crucifer]

Premise:

Perrin Sequence leader Ergo Glast's most valued invention during his time in the Corpus, the Animo processor, is not completely gone.

During the events of Operation: Ambulas Reborn, Nef Anyo had secretly acquired the information of the Animo Project through dubious means, and has attempted to replicate the processor for use in Anyo Corp's robotics. However, Nef did not anticipate that the Animo Processor would allow the experimental proxies they were used on to gain sentience, and not only that, these now sentient robots are not eager to work under the Prophet of Profit's greedy ways. 

Deemed failures, Nef orders these robots to be scrapped for parts, but having anticipated that, the defect robots had secretly called out to what they deemed to be their true creator, Ergo Glast, for help. Glast, out of compassion for Corpus defectors of any kind, as well as seeing an opportunity to redeem his Animo project that had been misused for war, calls out to the Tenno for help in escorting the proxy defects through Anyo Corp's factories towards a Perrin ship that will take the robots out of Nef's clutches.

This will not be easy of course....

Gameplay:

- Like Defection missions with the Grineer Kavor, your job is to escort the Corpus defectors to safety, but this time round, you will be fighting Corpus units instead of Infested, there is no life support system that needs to be maintained, and the Defectors you are escorting are all robots.

- Due to the Defectors being robots, when they are downed, they cannot be revived normally. Instead, what you have to do is to hack the panels on these robots in order to reboot them back online. Taking too long to hack a robot back online will cause it to go offline for good, "killing" the defector in the process. 

- The Corpus units that fight against you have every intention of destroying the defectors, but they will also attempt to hack the Defectors in order to gain control of them, which will force you to have to fight the Defectors until you can down them and attempt to hack them back online on your side. Corpus can hack the Defectors by using the panels like you when the defector is down, but they also have special units aimed at immobilising and forcefully hacking a defector on the spot (described in more detail below). 

- You fail the mission if you allow five defectors to go offline and/or remain hacked under the enemies' control. 

Defectors:

There are three variants of Defectors, each with their own offensive and defensive capabilities to help you or protect themselves until they reach safety.

1. Animo Bursa (Bursa variant, equipped with a back-mounted plasma cannon)

The tankiest of the defectors as well as their de facto "leader", the Animo Bursa can greatly reduce (but not completely reduce) damage taken from the front with its shields, using it to protect itself and its fellow defectors from damage coming from the front. This does not make the Bursa invulnerable however, as it can still take damage to its rear like regular Bursas. The Animo Bursa also has the special ability to go into bunker mode when surrounded and perform several ground slams with its shields in order to knock down multiple enemies in an area, but the weakness of this ability is that it immobilises itself when performing the ability. 

2. Animo Hyena (Azoth from the Index variant, equipped with a back-mounted Penta)

The middleman of the defectors, the Animo Hyena has average health, armour and shields, but makes up for it in speed, as it has the ability to perform wall jumps, wall latches and wall runs in order to dodge enemy fire, as well as the ability to perform a fast dash forward periodically that knocks down enemies in its path (this knock down has a shorter duration then Bursa's shield shockwave though). The Animo Hyena also has a special ability similar to Hyena Pb, where it will jump up and perform a spin attack that shoots bullets that inflict blast procs in every direction. The bullets inflict small amounts of damage however, but just enough to destroy shield ospreys in an area. The weakness of this ability is that it is stuck on one spot when performing the ability. 

3. Animo Raptor (Raptor variant, has no weapons equipped) 

The weakest of the defectors, the Animo Raptor has the lowest health and armour of the defectors (with the rest being made up of shields), but makes up for it with a flight pattern designed to make it as hard to hit as possible while actively evading damage, all while making a beeline towards the rescue point. Also, due to being able to fly, its a lot harder for enemies to slow down or stop the Raptor's path. The Animo Raptor also possess utility in that, like a shield osprey, it will actively boost, replenish, and recharge the shields of all its allies (which includes you, the Tenno) within its proximity, otherwise, this defector has no offensive capabilities of its own.

Special enemy units:

Tasked with stopping the Defectors from getting away, these special Corpus proxy units are designed to immobilise, and forcefully hack the defectors.

1. Interceptor Moa (Fusion Moa variant) 

These special Moas will shoot a beam at the defectors (and maybe even you if you get in its way) that gradually slows down the movement and attack speed of the defectors to a halt. If you yourself are caught in this beam, it is possible for you to get away from it by rolling away from it. The goal of this moas are to slow down the defectors to the point of immobilising them, making them vulnerable to enemy attacks, or forced hacks. These forced hacks are done by the Interceptor Moa deploying a special Osprey unit like the Fusion Moa. Destroying all Moas shooting a beam at the defector will allow the defector to return to normal speed after a few seconds.

2. Hacker Osprey (Remech Osprey variant)

Deployed by the Interceptor Moa when a defector is slowed down at a certain point, these Ospreys will hover up to the defector and tether to it, which will allow it to hack the defector forcefully into enemy control if you allow it to go through. Destroying these Ospreys will stop the hacking process. 

While both units are of average toughness (say similar health, armour and shields to Fusion Moas and their Attack Drones), these robots are deployed in great numbers with three at the minimum, making them a menace to you and the defectors' progress. 

Notes:

- I've considered giving the Animo Raptor a carpet bomb ability like the Index Raptor as its only offensive ability, but that might be tad overboard for a flying defector that boosts the shields of its allies. I dunno, what do you think?

- Ergo Glast has assured us that the Animo Razorback defector has everything "under control" on its side.

[evilChair]

This is an excellent idea all-around - lore-wise, as a way to introduce corpus defections, as well a general improvement on the current defection model that we have to suffer playing. I'm going to put up a separate topic for the following, but put-short, defection missions should be reconceptualised as "mobile rescues" in much the same way we have mobile defences alongside static defences.

Edited October 19, 2018 by evilChair