My Thoughts On Infested.

[Zardica]

The Infested simply don't get enough love in Warframe, they have the least enemy variety, when they could have so much more. They are a race that bio-engineers there soldiers, creating endless possibilities! Here are some ideas I've come up with after dragging myself though Eris, were I practically learned the ins and outs of the Infested.

 

INFESTED (As a Race)

-All Infested should naturally have a huge resistance to poison, it flows through their veins. (+ Poison resist)

-Fire, all infested should fear it, it's there worst enemy, it roasts them alive and kills their swarms. (- Fire resist)

-Vibrant colors and diversity are a must, I should be able to tell whats coming at me before I have to check the Health Bar.

-Swarms, it's what the infested do best, mediocre units in huge numbers. (Think Zerg.)

CHARGERS 

Their pretty much perfect, but they need to be as advertised, their claw attacks are NOT weak, on higher levels they eat you ALIVE. The only thing I'd say about them is to make them a tad smaller.

ALPHA CHARGER (New)

I'd make the Chargers smaller so the Alpha stands out a lot more, think 2 grinner combined to make a real nasty charger, it's the "Elite" unit of the Infested. It would roar like Rhino, buffing it's fellow chargers, and adding to the pack mentality, it would act as a watchdog. Howling out to alert close by Infested to a Tenno's presence.

RUNNERS

Runners need a bit of an overhaul, they're not very threatening. Remove the arms and make their bodies swollen and bulbous, make them a bit larger but weaker, and make them explode no matter what, and beef up that explosion. Make them walking bombs that people are worried about killing instead of just dodging and being annoyed.

LEAPERS

I don't have much about them, they do what they need to do. It would be cool for them to have mutated insect like legs, to explain the huge jumps they make, and why it hits you so hard.

CRAWLERS

Whew boy, here we go. There are a lot of variants now of the Crawlers, and while I do think the speed buff they received was needed, they are simply too fast. It's a bit silly how fast they move, and how they look doing it.

-Normal Crawlers are pretty fine, I really love the removal of their legs, but they need to all look different, they all look exactly the same now and it difficult to tell which kind your shooting at, which is important.

-Electrical Crawlers and Grenade Crawlers need to be removed, but I'll explain why in just a bit.

-Nauseous Crawlers should actually receive a little less of a speed nerf, and it'd be pretty cool if they drooled like L4D2's Spitter, it'd allow you to pick them out in a fight to make sure they don't stun you.

-Noxious Crawlers should look like Runners, but more sickly and black, like the ancients, basically a poisonous Runner variant.

ANCIENTS 

They're pretty much perfect too, the only thing is indicators of which kind your fighting, like I said, lots of variety makes up for less units.

-Noxious Ancients should look rotten and disgusting, like their bodies are falling apart, flies and what not.

-Ancient Disruptors should inform you that they STEAL ENERGY, and should reflect that, imagine big bulging energy filled veins.

-I can't think of anything for Healers, so they're perfect, maybe just a bit more color?

"ARCHERS" (New)

Basically what should happen to the grenade lobbing and electrical Crawlers, we've seen Infested Corpus and Infested Grinner, so why not a horrific fusion of both? The electrical Archers would use the Synapse as a weapon, and have a longer range, giving much needed range to the Infested army, firing it in high damage lasers. Imagine mix between a sniper and a Elite Crewman. The grenade lobbing Archers would have large gaping maws, that vomit up the grenades, that are short bursts of annoying poison damage, but with enough of them they can tear away at your life.

 

That's all I have for now Tenno, I'll be editing this topic as I think of more ideas, and fixing my grammar errors, I suppose if people like my ideas I'll weigh in on the other races of the Warframe world. I'd some feedback from you guys!

Edited September 24, 2013 by Zardica

[Mainabi]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/66390-enemies-overhaulrework/

[Zardica]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/66390-enemies-overhaulrework/

How do you make those Spoilers? I'd really like to clean up my post.

[Haldos]

How do you make those Spoilers? I'd really like to clean up my post.

text[/spoiler ]

 

Just remove that space at the end.

[Zardica]

text[/spoiler ]

 

Just remove that space at the end.

Thanks alot.

[CapricaSix]

I agree with most, except for the chargers. I loved the old chargers before DE turned them into zombie dogs, you could shoot them in the half and they'd turn into crawlers, such fun :P ...they could improve and increase the dismemberment but instead we got dogs and crawlers as a whole other enemy type...

[Siviltha]

RUNNERS

Runners need a bit of an overhaul, they're not very threatening. Remove the arms and make their bodies swollen and bulbous, make them a bit larger but weaker, and make them explode no matter what, and beef up that explosion. 

Pointing these.

 

Stunlock explosions? They do come in numerous numbers. Fact that they spawn more often than the Chargers

[Zardica]

Pointing these.

 

Stunlock explosions? They do come in numerous numbers. Fact that they spawn more often than the Chargers

It's more about letting the Leapers or something else stun you, and the Runner's be living bombs. That way they take priority, I've seen most people, myself included, shrug off their explosions with ease, or jump out of the way as they struggle to detonate.

[CapricaSix]

It's more about letting the Leapers or something else stun you, and the Runner's be living bombs. That way they take priority, I've seen most people, myself included, shrug off their explosions with ease, or jump out of the way as they struggle to detonate.

I think what you're asking for is the Fallen Lunatics of Diablo 3. Pretty sure everyone hates those, especially at higher levels, it's not fun at all to die in an instant and lose all your stuff to some bloated suicide commando thats rushing at you from a corner you're about to turn :/ stunlocks would be the least of our worries then. Not to mention that wouldn't make the game any harder, just incredibly annoying - much like rollers. Just saying.

[Zardica]

I think what you're asking for is the Fallen Lunatics of Diablo 3. Pretty sure everyone hates those, especially at higher levels, it's not fun at all to die in an instant and lose all your stuff to some bloated suicide commando thats rushing at you from a corner you're about to turn :/ stunlocks would be the least of our worries then. Not to mention that wouldn't make the game any harder, just incredibly annoying - much like rollers. Just saying.

Eh, I suppose, I wouldn't scale the damage that much. But you do have a valid point, I'm trying to make things more threatening, but I'm certainly not trying to make more rollers. I suppose you'd have to fine a perfect balance of stun and damage. I want people to see the Runner, and go "Oh F***, I gotta get rid of that before it gets close!" Instead of "Eh lemme just roll out of the way"

[VoidWraith]

INFESTED (Race)

for the poison resistance, im kinda 50-50 on it. while some of them so poison damage (the toxic ancient and the noxious crawlers) some of them also do explosive (runners), electrical (one of the crawlers), and supernatural (ancient's arm lash/stretch attack) damages as well. the sentient virus is whats flowing through them, since they morph whatever they consume. this is kinda why im 50-50 on the poison resistance thing.

 

CHARGERS

the normal ones should keep the old model while the "alpha" ones that you introduced should get the upgraded and distinct model for them. it should keep some of the old model but at the same time have a more morphed/infested look to it as well.

 

RUNNERS

they shouldnt explode immediately for the serrated types. like the cutting weapons (ie: cutting melees, spectra, miter, flux rifle, etc) since it would look nice for their bodies to get decapitated and then explode a moment later. puncture weapons and normal bullets/laser (dera/supra/bows/bolts/braton) should probably explode on contact.

 

CRAWLERS

i agree on this, there should be a variety for crawlers, since afterall, theyre crawling because they obviously have a dysfunction or missing limb that forces them to crawl along the floor. they are a bit faster now, maybe slow them down a tiny bit and it should be cool.

 

ANCIENTS

the idea is nice. it would also be nice if they made the J3 Golem into an ancient but with a distinct and upgraded model to it. then again i heard DE is planning to change all the boss models, but maybe for mini-bosses from alerts where the alert is an assassination missions.who knows.

 

i think that's pretty much it for how i feel/think about your discussion. it's pretty good. at the same time, im also hoping they keep the old models for the newly infesteds and as the infesteds consume more and grow more, the models for them change accordingly and so forth.

Edited September 24, 2013 by VoidWraith

[Zardica]

I agree with you Void, all of my ideas incorporate NEW MODELS which I cannot stress enough. Variety makes up for the lack of units, if each Infested is unique, it's harder to gripe about how little there are. I'll be adding more ideas on Miniboss and Boss revamps later, so keep an eye out.

[ComCray]

I'm liking many of your ideas. And you're right, the infested deserve some love.. So here's my 2cts.. and then some ;)

poison

this has indeed boggled my mind, how can poisonous infected be weak to poison from clantech weapons which are essentially made with the same poison. That makes no sense whatsoever.

One could argue that in the dojo-lab the poison is researched and there's some kind of neutralizing agent introduced that somehow infect the poison infected which in turn turns their poison into water, which kills them. But then there's no reason for the same weapon to be effective against anything but poison infected.

so yeah, poison resistant poison infected makes complete sense.

chargers

Oh, I love this. More pack mentality in the pack of chargers. This would/could also mean that:

- when there's and alpha-charger (AC) the pack will follow this creature but they might not immediately attack the target of said AC (because that might &!$$ him off). Maybe even make it so that if a lesser pack member attacks the same target have the AC attack that lesser member. Adds to the confusion.

- If there's multiple AC's there might be dissent in the group and at random they might snap at each other. Again adds to the confusion AND should satisfy DE_Steve's love for RNG. >;p

- If there's no AC a strong/charging tenno (-team) might actually confuse and/or frighten lesser members of the pack. Also, more infighting in the pack as a result since some stronger member of the pack might want to become alpha males.

For all of this I took a page of pack behavior in dogs, specifically wolves, rottweilers and Bouvier des Flandres.

runner

What you describe here reminds me of the smog monster from Silent Hill. Interesting idea and yes on the removal of the arms/hands.

also, about the exploding part. Why not have it asx such:

-if not shot/maimed it will explode (causing player to stagger) and randomly throws bits of poisonous flesh around (poison damage over time if player is hit).

- if shot will release a stream of poison in the direction where the bullithole is/should be, then collapses in on itself, as if drained

- if sliced it's head/limbs will detach (relative to where it is sliced) releasing a fountain or cloud of poison. The head will only detach if you manage to "headshot" it with a slicing weapon.

(http://images.wikia.com/silent/images/2/2c/Sh5_art_23_smog.jpg)

crawlers

I think there should indeed be different type of crawlers. I'd like to see sneaky crawlers too, that will, if in the open, try to hide under terrain/obstacles and latch on to you when you pass it. That would SO add to the paranoia feel the infested levels have. The other day one came crawling towards me and it seemed as if it came from one of those vents you get on some of the lower parts of the walls.. completely creeped me out.

also, crawlers might crawl up the walls and ceilings and then drop on you.. again, adds to the paranoia feel..

Ancients

The next bit I'd like to start off with a "I'm sorry but..." but i'm not really sorry... >;p

Though I like the different kinds of ancients and their respective abilities, I cannot, for the life of me, like the models. To me it seems they have no relation whatsoever with the other enemy-types we see in-game. Unless DE are hiding the original ancients from us and they are a sicker version of those. But I highly doubt it.

They look fidgety and their long range flail attack make no sense whatsoever (and frankly, looks ridiculous). They remind me of a nightmarish raincoat with a knitting-basket attached to the back. More like Man-thing's or Swamp-thing's sickly brother (google those)

At face value they do not, in any way shape or form, strike me with the fear and disgust one would expect from such a beast. Dark Sector has two models which would be MUCH better for this role:

http://darksector.wikia.com/wiki/Stalker?file=288384_full.jpg

http://darksector.wikia.com/wiki/File:Howler2.png

And I know WF != DS, but considering the amount of resources they are already using from that game, I see no reason NOT to use these or a derivative/combined model.

@DE_Lucy: IIRC this is your model? Just wanted to point out I don't actually hate the model itself. It's an interesting creature and it's animated very well, except for the flail attack (sorry, that really doesn't work for me). I personally just don't think it fits the overall infested theme. So please don't take it personal :). For some reason it reminds me of a very obscure FPS from the time of the original wolfenstein: depth dwellers. It would fit that theme PERFECTLY.

leapers

These should go wild for shields and drain them when they have the chance. Let them seek out the person with the highest shield amount and try to latch on to that person, hungry for the shield energy.. There's already enough stagger/stumble effects with the infested and they really do a poor job. I believe in all this time only one or two actually got as far as to throw me off. But I can imaging when multiple of them would charge you, ignoring any and all other infested in their way (maybe even push them aside) it would spook the hell out of the you. Especially since you know they are after your shields..

ANd if they DO manage to drain your shield, they start to glow. With enough shield energy they might also explode, but do direct electrical damage. That will teach those pesky rhinos with their iron skin... (I'm a rhino, these leapers are a joke to me)

This has gotten waaaay longer then anticipated. Thanks for tickling the creative part of my brain ;)

edit: heeey, this is my 100th post... whoooo... celebrate.. :p

Edited September 30, 2013 by ComCray