More Players to Railjack // Squad Link // Commander

[TheRable]

1. Preface
2. Railjack and Raids
3. Issues with Squadlink
4. Understanding of Technical Issues
5. The Commander System (A possible solution to everything)
6. Summary and Thanks

Preface

First off I just want to state that I am a very much long term player of the game. I'm 5 (Six within a month) years in. I remember when abilities needed to be powered up and could be removed for an extra slot in the warframe.

For most of this time I've been a solo player. Either to avoid people nuking the map and spoiling my time, or just to stealth through exterminate missions like a true ninja. However, I've always enjoyed running endless or frantic missions in groups, because I felt that those missions were just to much to do alone, and I like the balance that I made for myself! I'd like to see it in Railjack.

*I understand that commander is designed to make railjack playable for single player AND that the released version of railjack was meant for group play*

Railjack and Raids

As an older player I remember when raids were taken away with the promise of adding a better system later. In my mind Railjack is the promised return of raids, but it lacks what made raids fun for me. The 8 player coordination.

Railjack feels empty with four people. I understand that people are constantly complaining about game imbalance in Railjack, to me its a numbers game. The amount of people required to maintain and protect the ship vs the amount of people required to go on the offense doesn't make sense. The requirement for away teams in certain circumstances leads me to feel like I'm consistently understaffed.

I can understand the risk/reward aspect of sending a boarding party. The ship is less defended if you send an away team, but in Railjack sending the away team means that there is basically no home team.

The layout of the ship also leads me to believe that this was meant to replace raids! The amount of Jobs to do on this ship, plus the task of using the "tactical" menu is too much for 4 players.

1. Pilot
2. Left Gunner
3. Right Gunner
4. Boarding Party
5. Archwing
6. Tactical/Foundry/Repairs (I feel this could reasonably be done by one tenno)

Sure you CAN have 4 people running around and doing all of this.

Sure you CAN be a one man boarding party in a GIGANTIC 100 SHIP BATTLE

But it doesn't feel as good as having 4+ people defending a ship while the rest board the Grineer base.(Not that it takes more than one person, but that's a different argument altogether)

Every time I have to stop piloting the ship, because there's nobody there to make repairs, or ward off a board party it hurts my soul. Every time a player just solo's the giant missile platform because its that simple, it breaks my heart. I think it's FINE that missions are as tough as they are, but please give us the amount of tenno to combat it, like you did with raids.

THIS COULD ENTIRELY FIX THE BALANCE AND FLOW OF THE GAME FOR ME

The Issues with Squadlink: 

 Squadlink does add more players. I like the dynamic of a ground team. I like the "Battle of Endor" feel that it gives off and I love that was the mindset you showed off. However, it doesn't fix Railjack Gameplay. The lack of man power I described is really crippling my ability to enjoy the missions. All I do when piloting my railjack is go back and kite ships, because I can't get into large battles because I have no gunners, because all my gunners are patching the ship, fighting boarding parties, or raiding ships. I've heard a lot about damage imbalance but damage would be much better off if we actually had the ability to let all guns fire.

Technical Issues

I rememeber hearing when raids were taken down, that one of the main issues, besides a lack of participation, was the amount of server work required to run 8 player missions. This was a few years back. I hope things have changed because it's really killing me how painfully understaffed the ships are. Possible solutions to below.

The Commander System

I LOVE the commander system. I love playing solo games. I love dressing up every companion I can to make it fit my aesthetic mold! Assuming that the AI can do what it needs, or at least complete basic task well enough to complete missions in a fun way, I'll be happy!

BUT WE STILL NEED MORE NUMBERS.

I understand the technical issue of running with DOUBLE the amount of players from a regular mission. PLEASE let AI controlled allies fix this.

AI Allies in Singleplayer and Multiplayer

In single player its much seems to me that managing multiple AI is easier than managing multiple players. (There's networking issues, 0 predictability as to what the player could do/want, etc) But an AI could just.. Aim at ships in the gunners chairs.. Repair the ship.. Fight Boarding parties..

Simple, helpful things.

Give 7 of those to a single player game and I'd be really satisfied!

-Multiplayer-

In multiplayer I feel as though each player could command one AI. This circumvents the issue where you have to handle 8 users in a match, and I can feel like there is an actually a crew on my crew ship. This also allows players who spec heavily into commander to feel useful in multiplayer*****

Summary

Issues and Points of Concern

1. My ship feels empty
2. Squadlink looks fun but will NOT fix it

Possible Fixes

1. Add more players
2. AI allies in multiplayer
3. AI allies up to a lobby of 8

Thank you so much for reading to the bottom. Please let me know how any of this could or could not be implemented. If you see this as an issue as well. Or if you have anything in the pipes already that addresses this issue in any way. Thank you. Stay safe and healthy!