Excavation Changes

[(XBOX)Red Dough Boy]

Recently I've been thinking of a way to make excavation a bit more enjoyable and smoother to play, and had the idea of having shields be converted to power the excavators the same way they're used in Hijack missions. Thought I'd put the idea on here and see what people had to say. 

[krc473]

It would limit frame choice somewhat. It would mean that we had to keep our shields up, while under fire. I really don't think it is the right way to make it more interesting. 

• Restricted frame choice is bad.
• Having to stand still while you wait out a timer is bad.
• Loss of battery spawn issues is good.

I would say that your suggestion makes it less engaging. I don't think it would be more enjoyable like this. Have you ever tried Hijack missions without adequate shields? It just does not work. 

 

Also: the megathread tag is for DE/mods to use. You should remove it.

[Hello]

If it's anything like hijack then Inaros or Nidus would be the best for it like they are for hijack missions. 

Really all excavation needs is better AI so they don't get stuck and excavators health scaling.

[(XBOX)Red Dough Boy]

35 minutes ago, krc473 said:

It would limit frame choice somewhat. It would mean that we had to keep our shields up, while under fire. I really don't think it is the right way to make it more interesting. 

• Restricted frame choice is bad.
• Having to stand still while you wait out a timer is bad.
• Loss of battery spawn issues is good.

I would say that your suggestion makes it less engaging. I don't think it would be more enjoyable like this. Have you ever tried Hijack missions without adequate shields? It just does not work. 

 

Also: the megathread tag is for DE/mods to use. You should remove it.

It would limit the frames to use but that happens anyway, spy missions require certain frames to do well in or at least make it quite a bit more bearable. Frames like Hildryn and even Revenant would be very useful if it drained shields. Relying on enemies to spawn also doesn't make it that fun, and all too often there are either no cells or far too many. And Hijack is another mission type that needs a warframe with good shields. Different mission types just require different warframes. 

 

Got it for the tag thanks, first post so I didn't know. 

[krc473]

23 minutes ago, (XB1)Red Dough Boy said:

And Hijack is another mission type that needs a warframe with good shields.

Hijack is the only mission that restricts what you can bring. I have no problems using say Valkyr on any other mission. You can trivialize the shield requirements with Inaros, or other high health frames.

• Do you plan to change any of the stats on Excavators? Because that would be my one improvement to it, higher or scaling stats.

 

Standing in one place and waiting for everything to come to you is not that enjoyable. At least with Hijack it is mobile. People like to camp in some missions, so it might be a positive change. I personally do not, which may be why I don't think this is a good idea.

[(XBOX)Red Dough Boy]

2 minutes ago, krc473 said:

Hijack is the only mission that restricts what you can bring. I have no problems using say Valkyr on any other mission. You can trivialize the shield requirements with Inaros, or other high health frames.

• Do you plan to change any of the stats on Excavators? Because that would be my one improvement to it, higher or scaling stats.

 

Standing in one place and waiting for everything to come to you is not that enjoyable. At least with Hijack it is mobile. People like to camp in some missions, so it might be a positive change. I personally do not, which may be why I don't think this is a good idea.

I play Oberon so I'm right there with you on bringing him to most mission types, except for spy which is when I bring Ivara. And excavators could use more health the longer you stay in mission since enemies scale as well. 

 

It also wouldn't be standing in one spot like a pure defense mission, instead more like a mobile defense where you move from area to area and have to hold in different zones. Given that you have to defend it at any rate it does turn into having to stop and defend rather than continuing to move forward. I don't like defense either because it is tedious having to hold one zone the whole mission instead of using mobility like we're used to, I just think excavation would be faster and more efficient with a constant energy source and not having to wait around for the right enemy to spawn. 

[krc473]

25 minutes ago, (XB1)Red Dough Boy said:

I just think excavation would be faster and more efficient with a constant energy source and not having to wait around for the right enemy to spawn. 

They are pretty fast already. But I do get your point.

• What about draining something other than shields though? Because that may allow a larger variety of frames. For example, drain Energy, or 'Enemy Death Energy' [kill enemies to power].

28 minutes ago, (XB1)Red Dough Boy said:

And excavators could use more health the longer you stay in mission since enemies scale as well. 

This change alone would likely make them go more smoothly. There would be less need to babysit them.

[kapn655321]

Never thought about this.. but what do Inaros and Nidus do about Hijack?

[krc473]

15 hours ago, kapn655321 said:

Never thought about this.. but what do Inaros and Nidus do about Hijack?

They have no shields, so health is used instead.

[(XBOX)Red Dough Boy]

On 2019-12-21 at 11:44 AM, krc473 said:

They have no shields, so health is used instead.

That's actually pretty interesting, never thought to try them in hijack. 

[(XBOX)Red Dough Boy]

On 2019-12-20 at 7:32 PM, krc473 said:

They are pretty fast already. But I do get your point.

• What about draining something other than shields though? Because that may allow a larger variety of frames. For example, drain Energy, or 'Enemy Death Energy' [kill enemies to power].

This change alone would likely make them go more smoothly. There would be less need to babysit them.

That's pretty metal if they're just siphoning enemy life forces. Health is also fine, I didn't know hijack could use health so that system might as well apply here too. And Excavation in my experience is either really fast, or enemies get stuck/ refuse to spawn the one enemy you need to kill. Maybe if it was like mobile defense/ old sabotage missions where you pick up a power supply at the start and that powers it for the whole time but you can only have one going so you have to cover it.