Teoarrk's concepts, lore and ideas thread, part 2 (Latest post - Where Part 9?)

[Unus]

On 2022-11-11 at 4:09 AM, Teoarrk said:

I am grateful whenever you do stop by Unus, it's always an honor to see you drop by. I am well aware that within a not insubstantial amount of time I am going to have graduated and then have to face all the challenges that come with it. I am not entering the most demanding profession, but I will have a lot less free time and whatever it is I end up writing, so I will know that same wall. No need to apologise.

Unus man, your stuff is great. Far be it from me to ever make you feel that your creativity is anything but. I value your work just as much as why you can't do as much as you want. Life sucks and can be grating, but it is what it is and you are handling it responsibly. 

Thank you for your message.

(And apologies for the late return to the response! Blast it!)

Uh. . . wow, uh, thanks. I. . . I honestly have to apologize if it seemed like I showed up to talk about me rather then about you. Reading back my message, it’s very easy for me to see that as being a self-centric moan-and-groan on my part.

  Luck be with you suh, and may you not have a horrid plague delay your employment by two years, instead getting cream-of-the-crop selected!

 

OH, everything is fine sir! No troubles here, it is your talent doing the talking, and, in a good way!
  And, your welcome!

[Teoarrk]

And then it was January.

Hi all. 

I suppose some of you are wondering where part 8 is. 

I have had a pretty stressful December, being kicked out of my old study room during the last few weeks of the semester. Thanks previous landlord. 

I've gotten a new room and hopefully I will finally be back online at home next week, just in time for my exams ...

Part 8 will be done as soon as possible. Thought it best to give an update. 

Til Then.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

2 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Part 8 will be done as soon as possible. Thought it best to give an update. 

 

Looking forward to it, bruddah! Hope you're doing okay right now.

[Teoarrk]

On 2023-01-13 at 8:28 PM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Looking forward to it, bruddah! Hope you're doing okay right now.

I hope you take it as a compliment when I tell you that I read that in his voice.

I'm doing fairly well now. I'm settled in and exams have gone very, very well. Since it's been a while, hope you've had a good Christmas break and that you're well, too.

 I'll take a couple days to actually cool down from exam week, then I'll get back to thinking Warframe. 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Teoarrk

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

I hope you take it as a compliment when I tell you that I read that in his voice.

 

Wakka is a very joyful character, so yeah. I'm taking it as a compliment. Thanks, homedawg.

 

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

I'm doing fairly well now. I'm settled in and exams have gone very, very well. Since it's been a while, hope you've had a good Christmas break and that you're well, too.

 

Things have been good for me tbh. Took a bit of a two week sabbatical from my thread (as it happens i'm actually sitting on a bunch of designs, but... it felt right to just play something on game pass instead of burning at both ends. As Warframe community members often do) and I'm off on a short weekend ski trip.

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

 I'll take a couple days to actually cool down from exam week, then I'll get back to thinking Warframe. 

 

When you come back, would you kindly stop by my thread sometime? It gets lonely there sometimes.

[Teoarrk]

8 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Wakka is a very joyful character, so yeah. I'm taking it as a compliment. Thanks, homedawg.

One of my favourite character arcs too.

8 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Things have been good for me tbh. Took a bit of a two week sabbatical from my thread (as it happens i'm actually sitting on a bunch of designs, but... it felt right to just play something on game pass instead of burning at both ends. As Warframe community members often do) and I'm off on a short weekend ski trip.

12 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

I'm glad that you took some time off. I feel like the time off has been good for my creativity, even if it wasn't all for good reasons. Good grades certainly help though.

8 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

When you come back, would you kindly stop by my thread sometime? It gets lonely there sometimes.

Sure thing, thats no dire request. I would love to see what you've been prepping.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

11 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

One of my favourite character arcs too.

I'm glad that you took some time off. I feel like the time off has been good for my creativity, even if it wasn't all for good reasons. Good grades certainly help though.

Sure thing, thats no dire request. I would love to see what you've been prepping.

I feel ya. Most of my best ideas come from other games. Which probably explains why there's so many guns on my thread that are so similar to Titanfall and Apex guns lol. I think I'm at... 7 or 8 guns that are directly inspired by Titanfall? Along with a bunch of guns inspired by the charge rifle from Apex and one inspired by the Rampage (also from Apex).

I've always been a big fan o the idea that you can't burn the candle at both ends. And that when it comes to burnout, the best thing to do is take a break as soon as you notice it. In my experience, none of the special interests I have (or have ever had) truly vanished, they just... sort of hibernated, and I found myself coming back to them in some way, shape, or form later.

As for what I'm prepping? Well, currently I'm working on a Deadspace style pulse rifle inspired by the ones from Extraction (Pulse Rifle shotgun is pretty baller tbh) and the one from Deadspace 2. (I haven't played Remake yet. Wack) I've spent a lot of time playing Deadspace in the past couple weeks in preparation for the remake, which i cannot do yet as I forgot that my console is not current-gen. It looks great though.

[Teoarrk]

On 2023-01-28 at 8:31 PM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

I feel ya. Most of my best ideas come from other games. Which probably explains why there's so many guns on my thread that are so similar to Titanfall and Apex guns lol. I think I'm at... 7 or 8 guns that are directly inspired by Titanfall? Along with a bunch of guns inspired by the charge rifle from Apex and one inspired by the Rampage (also from Apex).

I feel like I've gotten to that stage where finding ideas that are well and truly mine are very hard to come by and for the sake of writing in the Warframe universe, thats okay given how it liberally pulls ideas from all corners of sci-fi. I see no issue with taking ideas from other fiction really and if an idea is good enough, why not pay homage? It's all for fun anyway.

On 2023-01-28 at 8:31 PM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

I've always been a big fan o the idea that you can't burn the candle at both ends. And that when it comes to burnout, the best thing to do is take a break as soon as you notice it. In my experience, none of the special interests I have (or have ever had) truly vanished, they just... sort of hibernated, and I found myself coming back to them in some way, shape, or form later.

I fit into the same category. I might have sounded overly dramatic last year, but while I did say I was going to take a break, I find the Warframe universe a very interesting space to be in. There are so many unknowns and blanks to fill in with whatever might fit. The time off definitely helped remind me that at the end of the day, this isn't a job and the attachment I have is based purely on interest rather than anything more. Passion burnout definitely was there and it definitely bled into how I felt about this hobby.

On 2023-01-28 at 8:31 PM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

As for what I'm prepping? Well, currently I'm working on a Deadspace style pulse rifle inspired by the ones from Extraction (Pulse Rifle shotgun is pretty baller tbh) and the one from Deadspace 2. (I haven't played Remake yet. Wack) I've spent a lot of time playing Deadspace in the past couple weeks in preparation for the remake, which i cannot do yet as I forgot that my console is not current-gen. It looks great though.

I am definitely interested. Dead Space (except for 3) is my favourite game franchise of near-future sci fi. I didn't play Extraction, but I watched the movies, theorized about what was coming next and did all that teen fanboying over Isaac Clarke and the armor and weapons he used that was so common back then. In fact, the second men and the cult of Arlo as I imagine them in later sections of the Technocyte Schism will be very much inspired by the Necromorphs, only with a bit more form over function to tie in with Warframe's aesthetic.  But we'll get to that when I pick up where I left off. 

 

 

[Teoarrk]

Hi all, I wanted to add more context to the start of Blades in the Dark because theres only so much you can gleam from one line at the end of part 7. This is not to tide you over for another month of nothing. I plan on getting Blades in the Dark out this week. With that being said, here's The Solar Shutdown.

The Solar Shutdown

It started with the checkpoints piling up. 

The Freeports filed complaints to checkpoints across the entire system, but they didn't know what was going on. Their codes did nothing, their hard resets did nothing. 

Then cargo shipments that were always necessary and immediate were missed. In the continuing conflict, thousands died by the hour as men instead of lead or plasma were used. Reinforcements were stalled and key checkpoints became vulnerable. Spies overstayed their welcome and were captured. Even so, old rivalries, old allegiances stood strong. War continued where war had always been.

And then, in time it got worse. The disease that had taken one from every family moved to take another. The Infestation revealed themselves. Cruel intelligence had bidden them to wait, just behind an unused door, or an old grate. Each and every weakness that had been overlooked became a hazard. Each and every Oro in the System paid dearly for it. War became a memory, survival becoming the feeling of a former enemy standing, fighting, dying beside you. 

A prayer was shared by those that still lived during those days:

O Tenno,

Light of the old ways,

We are wretched, we are broken,

We need your shining blades.

The light fades,

But out there you shine,

Save us, free us,

O divine.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Teoarrk

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

You really put so much polish in the writing for these updates, and it's downright inspiring

[Teoarrk]

19 minutes ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

You really put so much polish in the writing for these updates, and it's downright inspiring

Thanks bro. I'm up to about 15 pages for Blades in the Dark even though I'm not writing much dialogue xD. I'm blaming boss stats and attacks. 

I'ma hop over to your thread later on to see your latest entry into the Fluffypedia.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

2 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Thanks bro. I'm up to about 15 pages for Blades in the Dark even though I'm not writing much dialogue xD. I'm blaming boss stats and attacks. 

 

Well, there it is right there lol

Stats for anything besides weapons are something I normally just brush off, cause it's much easier for me to come up with an ability that isn't (too) broken than it is for me to try and crunch the numbers. 

Respect, though. That stuff's hard

Edited February 13, 2023 by (XBOX)Fluffywolf36

[keikogi]

On 2023-02-13 at 7:05 AM, Teoarrk said:

prayer was shared by those that still lived during those days:

O Tenno,

Light of the old ways,

We are wretched, we are broken,

We need your shining blades.

The light fades,

But out there you shine,

Save us, free us,

O divine.

The prayer is rather interesting. People usually treat the tenno casually in game ( that can somewhat be explained away with enought contact humanity would not really bat an eye to anything ). But to the average guy on the solar system the tenno the info the have first hand is something like this : 

I was talking with a corpus supplier and he ended up talking about that one time the tenno invaded a ship he was working on data vault security and suddenly a rhino busted out of nowhere , stomped the ground with such force everything was sent 10 feet into the air. Them somehow his team was left suspended in air while the monster casually hacked the security opening the reinforced doors to enter the vault and steal the data. By the time that thing  left they had their footing back and shot everything at it to no avail. The aberration just left , not out off fear, it just did not value anything else on the ship.

Or the second option 

Did you hear about it ? The tenno destroyed a murex.

The general public probably doest know much about warframes except whatever the occasional corpus survivor tells them and what Nora broadcasts. So they probably feel a degree of awe towards the tenno.

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by keikogi

[keikogi]

On 2023-02-13 at 4:36 PM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Well, there it is right there lol

Stats for anything besides weapons are something I normally just brush off, cause it's much easier for me to come up with an ability that isn't (too) broken than it is for me to try and crunch the numbers. 

Respect, though. That stuff's hard

I gave up on number balance a long time. I think DE does not even care that much about it. It mostly tries to prevent automation of the game. Stuff that clearly op like the laetum exists and the tenet envoy an arca plasmor are more likely to be hit by the nerf hammer because they are more likely to be abused on afk or low effort strategies.

 

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

59 minutes ago, keikogi said:

I gave up on number balance a long time.

Honestly, I only started statting things cause I realized that the numbers were just as likely to make a gun interesting as the gimmick. ...Aaaaaaaaaaaand because sometimes the numbers accurately reflect an aspect of the real-life gun I based it on, like the Neostead's 12-round capacity or the LeMat's 9-round cylinder.

[keikogi]

1 hour ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Honestly, I only started statting things cause I realized that the numbers were just as likely to make a gun interesting as the gimmick. ...Aaaaaaaaaaaand because sometimes the numbers accurately reflect an aspect of the real-life gun I based it on, like the Neostead's 12-round capacity or the LeMat's 9-round cylinder.

I don't think numbers are useless on the feel of the gun. For example Fire rate, mag size and reload speed are probably the first thing the player notices when he takes a weapon out of the foundry. What I'm trying to say is it does not matter much if an opticor like weapon has a 1000 or 2000 base damage for the feel of the gun. It does affect its balance a lot but not the feel ( it can affect the feel if tha base damage is so low it can't one shot even low lvl stuff)

Edit: I'm also aware crit and status channe can be used to push a weapon on desing niche but what in trying to say is 35 and 40 crit chance are both crit weapons,  no need to for a spread sheet to make sure is not overthrowing the current king 

Edited February 17, 2023 by keikogi

[Teoarrk]

6 hours ago, keikogi said:

The prayer is rather interesting. People usually treat the tenno casually in game ( that can somewhat be explained away with enought contact humanity would not really bat an eye to anything ). But to the average guy on the solar system the tenno the info the have first hand is something like this : 

I was talking with a corpus supplier and he ended up talking about that one time the tenno invaded a ship he was working on data vault security and suddenly a rhino busted out of nowhere , stomped the ground with such force everything was sent 10 feet into the air. Them somehow his team was left suspended in air while the monster casually hacked the security opening the reinforced doors to enter the vault and steal the data. By the time that thing  left they had their footing back and shot everything at it to no avail. The aberration just left , not out off fear, it just did not value anything else on the ship.

Or the second option 

Did you hear about it ? The tenno destroyed a murex.

The general public probably doest know much about warframes except whatever the occasional corpus survivor tells them and what Nora broadcasts. So they probably feel a degree of awe towards the tenno.

My idea here is that since the Infestation are proving too much for the Grineer and Corpus, civvies are hoping for divine intervention. Even if we are seen as shock and awe forces, there are stories about the Tenno shared by every group we've met so far. We're legends of the past, or gods in the case of Inaros or the Holdfasts. So might as well lean into that a bit. 

6 hours ago, keikogi said:

I gave up on number balance a long time. I think DE does not even care that much about it. It mostly tries to prevent automation of the game. Stuff that clearly op like the laetum exists and the tenet envoy an arca plasmor are more likely to be hit by the nerf hammer because they are more likely to be abused on afk or low effort strategies.

 

I'm putting numbers in just so I can give an idea of what I would like to see. The stat blocks are fairly easy to write as I have a template.

[Teoarrk]

The Technocyte Schism Part 8: Blades in the Dark

Prerequisites: The Lasting Sin of Kathman, The Sacrifice.

Quest Giver: Cephalon Cy

Dreams. When I was young, Lokala Loka told me his. The entire system returning to the peace and harmony of nature, the symbols of Orokin oppression dissolving into the sands of time and the human race returning to our rightful home. But then Avantus came and destroyed his dream and ... New Loka rose from the ashes of that time, with new goals and new dreams. Lokala was many things, but he wasn't a warrior. He hoped beyond hope that his dream would come true because the people would see the common good of it, rather than being forced to it. He didn't shed a single drop of blood, but he died fighting for it, for us. 

Now I am the leader of New Loka, with my own ominous dream. I command my acolytes to war constantly, so that this dream does not come true. I see the data slates, the weave-streams that confirm that two of those flowers are severed. I go to bed and yet that dream persists. I see the Saffron Emperor, that central flower in my mind's eye always. He is speaking and yet his words escape me, but the fact that I alone see him sends a clear message of intent. I am an abomination to his kind, just as he is to mine. There will be no mercy shared when our paths converge. But the emperor keeps his hands clean of direct bloodshed, just as I have.

So now, we both ready our blades in the dark.

-Amaryn

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Intro

My pupil, our enemy has played his hand. The Solar Rail is down. All across the system the spiral of death winds ever on, entire colonies being swept up in the whirlpool. With sorrow, it is all I can do to tell you the facts of the situation. Both the Saffron Emperor and the Shadow Broker must have been working together, the seemingly random final acts of the Black Seed leader being a ploy to scatter our forces across the Origin System. With the Solar Rail shutdown, the Syndicates are scattered and vulnerable. 

The only good fortune I can speak of is that the death-stroke to our allies is not all encompassing. A cadre of New Lokan operatives were holding a service to the fallen on Earth shortly before the Shutdown. Some of the Lotus Path Guardian's Railjacks will ferry these forces to where they are needed, while you will have a different task. The Orokin did not maintain control of the system without redundancy over redundancy - this emperor's rise is evidence enough of that. You will have to go to Lua and reactivate the Void Hook Nexus. 

He will be expecting you. Be aware of his gaze and move beyond predictability.

Remember this.

-Teshin Dax.

Mission 1 - Void Hook Nexus, Lua Proxima

Corrupted (60-70)

This will be a 4 player mission.

This mission will be a stealthy derelict exploration. Go to several points of interest, explore the interior of Orokin ruined installations and check with Cy's records.  If the players do alert the patrolling corrupted on an installation, fighters will be deployed. The aim of the search is to find a machine that roughly looks like this:

 

Spoiler

(Image provided by Midjourney.ai)

This is the Void Hook Nexus. It isn't active yet though. The player will have to locate several power sources in the ruin they're in.  They'll look like the giant Ayatan sculpture in The War Within, set into large rooms and surrounded by control panels.

 

Spoiler

 

 

(Image source)

They'll be dormant and in need of realignment before they can be activated. To do this, the player will need to make sure that they're properly aligned, that the current channel has no blockages, all current relays are aligned and that the dynamo arms are properly calibrated, followed by one final step of feeding the Ayatan void energy (performing a void sling). The three the player needs to ready will require different amounts of repair and take the player throughout the ruin. With the last Ayatan restored, the void hook nexus will power up, revealing a holographic map of the planets about it's central dome.

The player will have little time to celebrate, however. Cephalon Cy will report a number of Old War signatures converging on their location. The player will have a short amount of time to start opening void hooks while Cy describes the emergence of several Railjacks and Vectorwings from deep space. While Cy takes evasive maneuvers to avoid incoming fire, the player comes to the realization that they're going to have to fight to keep the great machine operational. 

Around the player, the walls of the Nexus's chamber resonate with a high pitched whine, followed by a series of echoes that slowly coalesce into one singular, powerful voice.

The heavens are filled with the screams of your enemies, their flickering flames sputtering under the weight of my pawns. But I find you here, aiding them. Where is your gratitude? Have I not done enough, ending the blockade above Phobos? Suppressing Grineer research on Mercury? When you were presented to us, prostrated and feeble, the orphans of our ambition, I saw you as maligned and took mercy. Now, I see that you never wanted to cull your enemies, you merely want to have subjects for your bloodsport. You want them to suffer, but not disappear. I will give you some advice, given to me by the chorus of the Technocyte: you either devour your enemies, or they will devour you.

You are failures. You are dismissed.

Corrupted Hunters will spawn, which will look something like this:

(Source)

Health: 700,000

Armor: 5000

Level: 100

Stagger: Yes

Stun: No

Slow: No

Reave Cheese: No

Mind Control: No

Health gates: No

Can see invisible: Yes

Ignores Primed Sure Footed: Yes

Can be armor stripped: Only to 50%.

Status effects: Up to 4 stacks of each type.

Damage reduction: 99.9% except on face, face has 80% splash damage reduction and 80% crit resistance. It can take up to 2% of it's maximum health as damage per second. This weak spot is subject to headshot multipliers.

Attacks: 

• Dire Extrication: Short range cone attack that comes out in waves. Being hit by one of these waves will force you out of your Warframe and deal 400 Void Damage to it over 5 seconds.

• Wild Swipes: Swings it's forelegs at the player 5 times, dealing 100 Slash damage per swing with a 50% proc chance. Blocking this attack nullifies this status chance.

• Crushing Pounce: Jumps at the player, dealing 300 Impact Damage. If the player is blocking, a QTE will play out where a player success leaves the Hunter prone and vulnerable for 6 seconds.

• Swat: Uses it's back dendrites to ground an bullet jumping/ aim gliding player, dealing 250 Puncture Damage. If the player does not recover in time, unleashes a 5 metre aoe, dealing 500 Void Damage at the epicentre and 125 at the edge.

• Shunt: throws it's weight into a sideward jerk, hitting the player for 300 Impact Damage and knocking them from their feet. 

• Baleful Roar: Roars, dealing 50 True damage every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. 

• Kill: Winds up an attack from all dendrites, dealing up to 1000 Void Damage. This can be blocked or interrupted by dealing enough damage to the hunter's face.

When the hunter is defeated, more will appear. Cy will announce the arrival of another craft from deep space. A familiar voice will hail the player, Raven.*

You activated the Voidhooks? Good. We'll take it from here, Tenno. Go save your Railjack, we'll deal with the Hunters.

Warframes board the void hook nexus and the Hunters peel off to deal with the new threat. The Tenno returns to the Railjack to take on the enemy craft. The Railjacks under enemy control will have Apocs, Milati and the Tunguska Cannon. The Vectorwings will have Apocs and a special missile which will attract enemy projectiles to your ship. After defeating the initial wave, a second wave will appear, with a heavy cruiser. The heavy cruiser will fire off a salvo of Orgone Missiles at the Amber Branch, which will make an emergency jump through Void space. The missiles lock onto the Railjack. Cy makes a snap decision - to use a blink to trick the missiles into destroying the cruiser. The player will have a very limited time to make this happen, but when they do, the mission will end. The remains of the enemy fleet will retreat into void space. 

Thalia Mirv will debrief the player and give coordinates of critical engagements around the Origin System.

Mission 2 A - G Invasions

The system is burning. Until the Void Hooks came online, we didn’t know how badly. Congratulations Tenno, the battle is over. Now the slow war can begin. The fleet will handle the smaller skirmishes, but you Tenno will have to take on the fiercest fighting.

Stop that madman. Thalia out.**

Timed invasions - you can only choose 4 out of 7.

 

The Siege of Melanthius - Melanthius is one of the stronger free colonies, but it is not impregnable. The shutdown made that clear. Arbiter Seekers on Encaledus have received distress signals coming from the colony. The gate is breached. Critical Orokin technology is at risk of being lost forever.

The Unveiled Gorge - Jangar of the Core Cabal*** has been coordinating efforts on Mars and the asteroid belt. Its the only reason that our smuggler network on Tula is still intact. But, the Veiled Gorge has been compromised. If you don’t get down there soon, the Red Veil are going to have to consolidate their position and pull out of their other operations.

Junker’s Tears - The ship graveyard of the Sargasso Straight has been the place to go when you don’t want to be found since Orokin times. Looks like thats over now. If the Saffron Emperor is behind the attacks here, there is no telling what is hiding there. 

Howling in the Deep - The city of Lun has been silent for 1000 years. From the report I’ve gotten from Cephalon Suda, that ended exactly 2 hours ago. If the weave slates are to be believed, a massive Technocyte creature was stored there, kept dormant from a signal on the solar rails. Get into the city and deny the Saffron Emperor his prize. 

Kuva Rapatok - The Grineer Queens are asking for a parley. Veytok’s Spear is a major relay hub for the Kuva Fortress. If the Saffron Emperor takes it, it will cripple the Grineer purgation effort across the entire system. They are requesting assistance in exchange for a temporary ceasefire.

Desperate Defence - The Ocean of Tranquility on Lua is a major weapons staging area. We’ve known about them for decades, but theres nothing we can do about them. They’re stored in vengeance seals - if they’re tampered with, they will activate. If the Technocyte gain a foothold here, it is only a matter of time before the entire Origin System will suffer for it.

Granum’s Wager - Makemake is under siege. Several key Corpus board members have residences in the area. Parvos Granum has sent us a wager; Deliver Makemake and the Corpus fleet will be ‘grateful’. 

 

These are 4 player invasions. If you recall, I wrote a 5 part invasion for Seeded Fear in part 3 of this series. I’m not going to write 7 of those here. Instead, these invasions will take the Chaos Wastes format from Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

For those not in the know, here is a video. The Chaos Wastes allow players to take their already powerful characters through a gamut of different challenges, building up in strength and power until they reach an end boss. The value and replayability in taking on these challenges is that the buffs are random, but allow you to do things that you’re normally incapable of doing. For the sake of Warframe, think of fissure buffs, Archon shard buffs and random mod effects.

(7 of the bespoke invasions from Seeded Fear would be interesting at first but, lets be real, doing that 4 times back to back would not be interesting.)

Mission 3 - The Breaker (Saturn)

Infested (70-90)

The Tenno clutches their head. It’s a migraine. A bad one.  A rushing sound fills their ears. It’s a whisper, growing in intensity until it’s a harsh shout. One word, repeated incessantly.

Tenno.

You fight against fate.

Face your end.

 

We’re being challenged to a duel by The Breaker, a lieutenant of the Saffron Emperor. The battleground will be an ancient Dax duelling ring and your opponent would look something like this:

(The Tormentor from Dead Space 2 probably needs no introduction. One of my favourite bosses)

Health: 1,000,000

Armor: 3000

Level: 110

Stagger: Yes

Stun: No

Slow: No

Reave Cheese: No

Mind Control: No

Health gates: No

Can see invisible: Yes

Ignores Primed Sure Footed: Yes

Can be armor stripped: Only to 75%.

Status effects: Up to 4 stacks of each type.

Damage reduction: 70%. Boss adapts to a damage type every 7 seconds. If the player attacks the boss with damage of that type, they will heal the boss for that amount. This heal can increase the bosses maximum health to the amount of damage dealt.

Attacks: 

• The Reaping: The Breaker will take 5 swings in front of them, dealing 300 Slash Damage with 50% status chance to enemies struck. Blocking will lower a player’s total armor to 50 for 12 seconds, but mitigate 40% of the damage and the status effect.

• Howl of Challenge: The Breaker howls, disabling bullet jumps and shields for 30 seconds. This attack will only trigger if the player is 40 metres away from them for more than 12 seconds.

• The Breaking: The Breaker will grab at an enemy within 2 metres. They will deal 5% of the enemy’s health as true damage for 10 seconds. 

• Deadly Flailing: The Breaker flails it’s arms in an 180 arc in front of them. If this attack hits, they will smash the enemy for 40% of their health as true damage and knocking them down. This attack can lead into The Breaking if the enemy remains down for more than 3 seconds.

• Charge: The Breaker slowly gains speed, increasing to 110% of it’s base movement speed over 5 seconds. All of it’s attacks will hit 20% harder and be 20% quicker.

• Defiant Till the End: The Breaker deals 30% more damage while under half health.

Interlude

Teshin will send you a message.

My Pupil,

Your mind’s edge is whetted by another enemy felled. But do not grow complacent. The situation on the ground is hardly changed. Many areas that were suffering still do, their denizens pleading for a deliverance only you can bring. 

Focus. Ensure that you give your sword to those that need it most. A blade carelessly swung is soon broken. 

Remember this.

 

Mission 4 A-I Invasions

 

Stopping that monster created as many problems as it solved, Tenno. It held a deadman’s switch over the Infested and now we’re dealing with as many problems as before and just as little time to deal with these emergent threats before the situation grows critical.

The New Lokans will be sent where you cannot.. Thalia out.

You can only complete 3 out of these 9 invasions.

Risk, relief and tragedy - The Sargus Blockade has been holding over Tethys for 3 weeks. Whatever you just did broke the stalemate. Grineer relief forces that arrived aren’t enough to replace the fallen. Ruk’s Flagship is vulnerable. We have word from Hel Cerk that there are Steel Meridian spies in the thick of the fighting. We need to get them out of there before we lose more of our elite operatives.

The Second Gradivus Dilemma - The Terraformer on Mars that kicked off the cold war between factions within the Corpus and Grineer is under attack by the Infestation. If they infect the core systems, all of Mars will suffer for it.

The Last Academy - The Academy on Lua is one of the last places where knowledge of old technology can be accessed without a gene seal. The seekers that keep watch over it have reported that several moonquakes have wracked the area and reported technocyte signatures in the area. We cannot afford to lose it.

Deal with the Devil - The Grineer Royal Research society has sent a request. The Kurokk gene strands were used by Grineer troops during the Mine 811 incident to great effect. They want to send a team back into the mine to secure more samples. They are asking for Tenno assistance in exchange for a blueprint for anti-infested ammunition. I know how it sounds, but if the fleet is having issues with wayward Infested, I can only imagine what it’s like on the ground. It’s up to you.

The Chase - Exilus comms have synced with ours. They’re being pursued by a ship that hasn’t been seen since the Old War. You rarely see more than a single bulkhead of a Clade class battleship in the same place, let alone a fully operational vessel. You only need to keep it busy long enough for the Amber Branch to escape. Do not engage that ship any longer than you need to. 

The Strait of Pelegos - A single independent corridor passes through the asteroid belt, past the Drifter held Vesta. Pelegos. A few guardian vessels patrol it and the Corpus and Grineer leave it well enough alone. A lone ship passed through a few hours ago, one bearing a Corpus passcode. It detonated a few thousand clicks from the exit point. When a triage team went to investigate, they were attacked by Black Seed creatures. They need to be culled. 

The Achillan Strand Dilemma - The outer system is connected to the Solar Rail network by a single point - one that several major checkpoints span. Both Corpus and Grineer rely on it to supply anything past the Terminus of Saturn. While the Sargus Blockade is the fight for Saturn, the Achillan Strand Dilemma might just be the fight for much more. 

Parley - The Lady has requested Tenno aid. This only got to my attention because she’s offered some Railjack tech that we thought had been lost in exchange. All you have to do is clear out an Arlo Cult strike force in one of her mines. Theres a possibility that the force is lead by a Prelate. Be very careful.

Jupiter Jazz - Many of our recruits come from Jupiter, Tenno. The guardians have been getting many requests for patrols to be doubled around the moons. We’re stretched thin as is though, Tenno. We can’t afford to dedicate any further craft. Which is where you come in. Form a cell and patrol the Proxima. 
 

Mission 5 - The End of Want

Infested, (100-110)

 

Tenno. Thanks to the removal of our pursuers, the Amber Branch can finally make another move. The Exilus have been deployed across the System, but one target needs to be taken down, now. The Cathedral of Want has been moving. It’s likely that the cult is taking orders from the Emperor. 

Who’s telling what they might do if we leave that base alone? Jupiter is critical to your people, the various colonies on the moons having strong Tenno sympathies. If you abandon them, then you will have lost a major recruitment base. 

I’m sending in three cells of Exilus at the main opening. I have a feeling that that will not be enough, which is where you come in. There are three other entrances around the Cathedral. 

Be ready for anything. Theres no telling what horrors you’ll find inside.

 

This will be a 4 player mission.

 

This will be a new mission type, Infested Hijack, using the Derelict tileset. You will have to go through a number of security gates. To bypass this gates, you will have to find Zealoid Bastions and steal their flames. Each gate will need a certain number of flames of different colours. Once a gate has been unlocked, You will have to defend the gate from several Arlo hunter squads. These will be cultist Eximus units with Demolyst modifiers.

 

Once you open all of the gates, you will have to fight a new Prelate. The War Prelate. He will be armed with a two handed Mire, which I will call the Virex.

 

War Prelate

 

Spoiler

 

 Health: 2,500,000

Armor: 15000

Level: 110

Stagger: Yes

Stun: No

Slow: No

Reave Cheese: No

Mind Control: No

Health gates: Yes, 3

Can see invisible: Yes

Ignores Primed Sure Footed: Yes

Can be armor stripped: Only to 75%.

Status effects: Up to 4 stacks of each type.

Damage reduction: 65%

Attacks: 

• Sow Poison: Areas of the floor will fill with poison. Standing in the poison will deal 20 Toxin Damage per second. This will eventually cover the entire floor in poison.

• Will of Arlo: The Prelate will block all melee attacks for 5 seconds. After this, he will lunge forward, returning any damage blocked in one strike. This attack will carry all status effects inflicted, unless blocked. 

• Weapon Mitosis: Every time that the player gets within melee range (7 metres) of the Prelate, a phantom Mire will spawn that will attack the player. 3 of these swords can spawn at a time.

• By His Word: Each player’s controls will be inverted for 15 seconds. Up means down, left means right. 

• The Flesh Betrays: A player within 15 metres of the Prelate will have 50% lower mobility, slower cast and attack speed (including fire rate) and will take 10 True Damage a second for 12 seconds. This cannot be healed.

• The Blade of the Righteous Fire: The Virex operates like Excalibur’s Exalted Blade. It will deal similar damage to an unmodded Exalted blade to players and produce light strikes that have infinite punchthrough and will travel through the air in a horizontal and vertical pattern. 

When the War Prelate has died, Raven will contact you again.

 

Raven: The main entrance is clear. Tenno, situation?
Tenno: We’ve taken out a Prelate. 

Raven: No sign of Arlo?

Tenno: No. Theres nothing. 

Raven: That doesn’t make any sense. Wait. Wait, wait wait.
Tenno: Whats wrong?

Raven: Get out of there. Massive Infested signature. Theres no way you can kill that thing. 

The map will start to cave in. You and the cell will have 3 minutes to get to the exit before you are all consumed.

 

Mission 6 - The Junct Decree*

 

The Saffron Emperor will send you a message.

 

Tenno. You struck down a vital ally in the Breaker. His mind was gone, but he held the stronger voices back. Now he has passed. But war has a way of creating bonds as well as breaking them. Sargus Ruk has seen the light of my cause. 

He will be my champion in the face of your endless futility.

Ruk didn't join him willingly.

The Consecration of Ruk 

Spoiler

The metal plates of the bulkhead had been roughly made by hand. If the man looked, he could see where the mallet slipped and struck the plate at a bad angle or where the workmen had run out of energy and the smooth surface gave way to a goosebumps of metal. They were made strong though, strong enough that even though the surrounding structure had been wrought asunder by overwhelming force, they still looked as they had the day they were made, still supporting what little was left of this deck. But the man was not looking at such trivialities. He was staring down the barrel of a weapon that had killed everything he had sent at it. A weapon with a grimace, it’s one eye trained on him. 

“You Orokin.” It hissed through its organic mouth, with a mechanical cantor. 

“Yes. I am. Your emperor, the one that lead this system, that gave his life so you could choke the stars.”

 “Not emperor. No emperors, only kweens now.”

 “Kweens? It’s queens. But I should not expect anything less from a failing race. Your queens are bastard children, ones that I should have had dissolved in the womb.” 

The weapon primed its arm cannon. “Hyu know nothing.”

 “Nothing? I know how to start again, without you and your conniving lot. I’m only here now because I’m bored.” 

“Hyu killed brothers becos bored?”

 “No. They were in the way. I wanted to see what was the roadblock in my plan and here you are. A crude metal monstrosity of whirring stolen gears and half configured circuits. I wonder if the gene smiths that cooked up the Grineer template ever thought something like you would ever pop out of the limited zeitgeist your race has.”

 The thing growled. The weapon cycled. 

“Go on, shoot. See what good that will do you.”

 “Ruk know Orokin no fight fair. Is trick.”

“Then that makes you smarter than most of your subordinates.” 

“But Ruk no fight fair too. Ruk know how to fight you.”

 It made the man take on a more defensive stance. He at least took a step back, his body braced to duck or dodge. Ruk gave a short, dry chuckle. “Hyu take Tenno, hyu use Tenno. But hyu still Tenno where matter. Hyu die like Tenno die.”

 “And yet you let Tenno looters run riot through ranks of your soldiers. What makes me any different?”

 “Tenno train Grineer. Make Grineer strong. Hyu retroy fleet. Hyu bleed clone vats dry. Hyu retroy our future. Hyu no Tenno. Hyu no have honor.”

 It happened in an instant. Ruk moved first, a hidden launcher releasing a containment disc. It arced through the air, above the emperor’s head. Or it would have been, had the latter not moved with the sudden shift. Ruk’s cannon arm belched out a stream of napalm that tore through metal and would have just as easily melted through flesh, but this was too slow, too sluggish. 

A single blade had struck Ruk’s armored carapace. It was little more than a letter opener. An insult, or so Ruk thought as he pulled the blade out. Ichor and strange tissue oozed from the blade and from the machinery on his chest. 

“It’s too late for that, I’m afraid.” The emperor chided. 

Ruk started to cough. “What do to me?” He spat.

“Saving you. From yourself.”

This final mission will be a spin on Defection. The Saffron Emperor has found one of the Tenno Dojos and leading the assault is none other than the changed Ruk.

Mission objective: save 5 Tenno from Ruk and the other Infested.

The mission will take part in 3 stages. The players will get some initial setup time. During this time, they can get used to the Dojo layout and find the Tenno. After this setup, they will have to coordinate an escape for the Tenno away from a patrolling Ruk. If a Tenno is in the same room as Ruk without a player nearby, they will be downed and will die within 5 seconds. Some areas of the dojo will be connected by Teleporters. In order to activate them, both ends must be linked by switching on both teleporter entrances. These can be destroyed by Infested.

After 5 Tenno have been saved, the final task will be to evade Ruk and save the clan’s Railjack. Keep away from Ruk and get to the Railjack before he destroys it. 

*Junct Decree relates to an ancient Tenno pact that a direct attack from another major threat against a single Tenno Clan is to be dealt with as a threat to all Tenno.

Epilogue

My pupil,

It would be wise in this moment of despair to consider what has been achieved. Our forces have stemmed the flow of Infestation and rallied. The Queens and Parvos Granum have signed treaties with us. The fight beyond this one, the one where we will be facing down the Sentient threat will face a more unified System than before. New Loka has helped recover many of our lost forces trapped in the dark corners of the system.

But it would not be wise to grow complacent with these victories. We know nothing of the Emperors location and he has shown the means and ability to find us, wherever we hide. All Tenno watches will have to focus on defence. Dormant Orokin structures can be considered hostile and dangerous across the System. Many relic hunters will die, or priceless relics lost. 

A meditation;

The night grows darker. The moon cast behind the cloud. But the twilight still shows the way. You and your enemy both are at a disadvantage. The one that uses their other senses will secure victory. 

Remember this.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rewards

1,000,000 credits

20,000 Endo

A 3 day Affinity Booster. 

A gift from @(XBOX)Fluffywolf36, the Tarvoss rifle. The stat block and story behind the weapon can be found here. Some of you may say that the weapon is not on theme, but I would disagree, the Technocyte Schism has been nothing if not a time for old secrets to be unearthed. A hybrid Sentient Orokin weapon resurfacing is exactly the sort of unexpected development that fits.

Post quest content will be unlocked - Plague Uprisings. These are invasions in the same style as those used in the quest. Another video reminder of what that will look like. 

The weapons for these invasions are also gifts from @(XBOX)Fluffywolf36, except for one that we hashed out together. 

The Euston - (Link) - An old answer to a modern problem, this assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher is the weapon of choice for Tenno militias across the Infested skies.

The Vlcak - (Link) - A personal defence weapon for close quarter fighting, this machine pistol marries high stopping power with high horizontal recoil. Potent in trained hands.

The Cascabel - (Link) - A pepperbox shotgun pistol that posits that the answer to every problem is another bullet. Requires high maintenance and prone to jamming.

The Gax - (Link) - A rare export from the Regor labs, this grenade launcher is a welcome addition to any facing hordes of lumbering infested.

The Kamvor - (Link) - A miniature rocket launcher? An overcharged hand cannon? The results speak for themselves. 

The Centra - (Link) - A top of the line shotgun of Corpus manufacture, designed to handle all kinds of unwanted boarding parties with two versatile firing modes.

And finally, as per @keikogi's request, a disc gun, The Quiversaw. 

(picture for reference. Thanks fluffy for a practical looking reference. source)

The Quiversaw came from a place of desperation. Melanthius enjoys the safety of a large host of allies, all of which are available at a moment's notice. Such a boon made having a large standing militia a thing of the past, a relic of The Collapse. The Rail Shutdown was a sobering reminder that all it takes for the prospects of a powerful trading colony to dramatically turn for the worst is one really bad day.

The Technocyte required a practical and furthermore improvised solution. Of all the designs that were made using materials readily available, the Quiversaw was the solution that was chosen. Rotary motors, saw blades and repurposed mining drills were cobbled together in a perfect union of rough, dirty and crazy enough to work. Forward units found the early Quiversaws worked best when they fired wildly in enclosed areas, the blades catching anything in the firing line with metal shrapnel from bouncing discs and impaling anything left behind with rapidly spinning metal. After the end of the defence, the initial design was iterated upon, getting adjusted by the original designer, a Kothian engineer by the name of Ilya Pons. The end result is a weapon that is glaive thrower designed to take on all kinds of Infested targets, with powerful motors that only announce the firing of a projectile with a sudden whirr of it's twinned flywheels. The accuracy and durability of the discs has been optimised to make target priority more practical, with an overdrive function that allows the weapon to expend the entire magazine in a fraction of a second in a pinch.

Adoption outside of Melanthius is mixed. Without established infrastructure made to support the maintenance of the weapon, each buyer would need to learn how to repair the weapon themselves, or buy a new one when it started to fail. The Syndicates have the resources to do the maintenance in house, however Melanthius has maintained that Ilya and by extension themselves own exclusive rights to the blueprint for the sake of trading advantage. Owing to it's niche advantages to more regular shotguns or grenade launchers, the Quiversaw maintains it's position as a powerful, unique showpiece export among the many others coming from the workshops of Melanthius. 

Stats

Mastery: 18

Max Rank: 30

Slot: Primary

Magazine: 35

Reload: 2.5

Ammo Max: 105

Ammo Pickup: 15

Ammo Type: Primary

Noise Level: Alarming

Projectile Speed: 100 m/s

Projectile Type: Projectile

Spread: 6 degrees

Polarity: 2 Madurai, Naramon on Exilus

Bounce Count: 3 (Primary fire only)

Normal Attack

• Total Damage: 300 (180 Slash, 60 Puncture, 60 Impact)
• Ammo Cost: 1
• Trigger: Automatic
• Fire Rate: 6
• Accuracy: 15
• Crit Chance: 25%
• Crit Damage: 2.1x
• Damage Falloff: 26m - 56m
• Multishot: 1
• Punchthrough: 1m
• Status Chance: 15%

Overload

• Total Damage: 300 (180 Slash, 60 Puncture, 60 Impact)
• Ammo Cost: Entire magazine.
• Trigger: Burst
• Fire Rate: 1
• Accuracy: 5
• Crit Chance: 10%
• Crit Damage: 1.5x
• Damage Falloff: 25m - 36m
• Multishot: 1x remaining magazine.
• Punchthrough: 1 m
• Status Chance: 35%

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is that an empty crate? Or Infested Outbreak that you didn't stop? Remember workers - only you can stop Infested Outbreaks!

- Anyo Corp Radio jingle.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that is the end of part 8. This has gone through so many different versions. Back when I was finishing part 7, this was going to be something completely different and then ... well things happened. I realized that a cinematic approach would not get the stakes or the scale across. So, this is my solution. 4 player missions, all the time. 

I will finally get around to doing the secret quest from the end of part 6 soon. That would have unlocked here anyway. When it's written, it should make sense. I hope. 

Anyway, thank you for reading.

Til Then. 

*Raven and her backstory can be found here.

**The Lotus Path Guardians and Thalia Mirv is discussed here.

***Syndicate Leaders are listed here.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Teoarrk
Added guns to the rewards.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

37 minutes ago, Teoarrk said:

Jupiter Jazz - Many of our recruits come from Jupiter, Tenno. The guardians have been getting many requests for patrols to be doubled around the moons. We’re stretched thin as is though, Tenno. We can’t afford to dedicate any further craft. Which is where you come in. Form a cell and patrol the Proxima. 

The Cowboy Bebop refs really are inescapable for us lol

I'll have more to say soon (tm), I just couldn't resist the joke

[Teoarrk]

34 minutes ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

The Cowboy Bebop refs really are inescapable for us lol

I'll have more to say soon (tm), I just couldn't resist the joke

The Sargasso debris field is a reference from Memories, that old 3 part special from the mid 90's. 

As for CB, the song at the end of that special is my favourite in the entire show. I liked it so much I learned how to play it by ear.

And yes, CB is the beginning and end of anime, lol

Edited February 21, 2023 by Teoarrk

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

39 minutes ago, Teoarrk said:

The Siege of Melanthius - Melanthius is one of the stronger free colonies, but it is not impregnable. The shutdown made that clear. Arbiter Seekers on Encaledus have received distress signals coming from the colony. The gate is breached. Critical Orokin technology is at risk of being lost forever.

 

Arbiter seekers you say? That's very interesting. Also, I'm intrigued to hear more of Melanthius.

 

49 minutes ago, Teoarrk said:

• Howl of Challenge: The Breaker howls, disabling bullet jumps and shields for 30 seconds. This attack will only trigger if the player is 40 metres away from them for more than 12 seconds.

•  

oooh, that's a good one. I don't know how often that'll crop up, with how close we tend to get, but that is  a good way to discourage turtling.

1 hour ago, Teoarrk said:

You can only complete 3 out of these 9 invasions.

 

Invasion missions are....  a mixed bag. Om the one hand, they provide some color to the Origin System... at least on paper. In practice, I'm more excited about doing the Ambulas mission again than doing another Invasion mission, cause at least I know what I'm doing and why.

(not that I need to know what I'm doing while doing, say, Kuva Survival or a Mobile Defense mission - it's just, on paper you're accomplishing something on Invasions but I don't know what that is)

And I really like these because they all have so much lore and characterization potential. I know what I'm doing and why. 10/10

1 hour ago, Teoarrk said:

The Unveiled Gorge - Jangar of the Core Cabal

Who's that? And who's The lady? (I'm sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to the thread earlier)

 

1 hour ago, Teoarrk said:

Drifter held Vesta.

Who are the drifters? (Again, sorry, didn't know)

1 hour ago, Teoarrk said:

Is that an empty crate? Or Infested Outbreak that you didn't stop? Remember workers - only you can stop Infested Outbreaks!

 

This just begs for the voice actress from Bioshock 1 during plasmid ads lol

Possibly a more synthwavey version, but a little modulated....

You really create such a rich version of the Origin System here. I feel downright inspired. Also, I never said this, but it's great to have the Saffron Emperor - a villain that feels complex, dangerous, and isn't Ballas.

(Ballas was... fine... but seeing more orokin villains, especially because they are responsible for so much that is terrible within the Origin System? That, we need. I'm feelin' downright inspired to finally get back to one of those two quests I forgot about.

[keikogi]

2 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

• Dire Extrication: Short range cone attack that comes out in waves. Being hit by one of these waves will force you out of your Warframe and deal 400 Void Damage to it over 5 seconds.

• Wild Swipes: Swings it's forelegs at the player 5 times, dealing 100 Slash damage per swing with a 50% proc chance. Blocking this attack nullifies this status chance.

• Crushing Pounce: Jumps at the player, dealing 300 Impact Damage. If the player is blocking, a QTE will play out where a player success leaves the Hunter prone and vulnerable for 6 seconds.

• Swat: Uses it's back dendrites to ground an bullet jumping/ aim gliding player, dealing 250 Puncture Damage. If the player does not recover in time, unleashes a 5 metre aoe, dealing 500 Void Damage at the epicentre and 125 at the edge.

• Shunt: throws it's weight into a sideward jerk, hitting the player for 300 Impact Damage and knocking them from their feet. 

• Baleful Roar: Roars, dealing 50 True damage every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. 

• Kill: Winds up an attack from all dendrites, dealing up to 1000 Void Damage. This can be blocked or interrupted by dealing enough damage to the hunter's face.

I like the idea off using the blocking mechanics but unfortunately the blocking mechanics will feel bad. Herr how it goes , press e to swap to the melee weapon , than wait a until the boss does the attack. Given that the first swing is not a parry the player has to wait around for the attack ( with is lame , because the player is playing the waiting game ). I wish using a dodge roll without a direction input was a invincible parry so this kindechanic could be widely used widely. Maybe switch it to just the player is looking at the attacking part of the body ( this also has its own problems given this would be the only place parrying works like this)

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Damage reduction: 70%. Boss adapts to a damage type every 7 seconds. If the player attacks the boss with damage of that type, they will heal the boss for that amount. This heal can increase the bosses maximum health to the amount of damage dealt.

Allowing a player to accidentally heal a boss can be really bad for the community.  It's like the eidolon time gating was probably intended to help match making but ended up sparing the most toxic sub community because instead of loosing a few minutes because of noob on the squad the player looses an entire 3 cap and has to wait 1 hour to go another round.

It's better to just make an attack that stores imunitty damage than launches a portion of the stored damage back at rhe player so the player only sets himself back for messing up the boss mechanics .

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

1,000,000 credits

20,000 Endo

A 3 day Affinity Booster. 

Post quest content will be unlocked - Plague Uprisings. These are invasions in the same style as those used in the quest. Another video reminder of what that will look like. 

Big ass quest usually reward the player with either a new weapon or a new customization system. What about a new weapon here my suggestion 

Sawlade launcher from utrakill , you can say it's the recovery ruks weapon. And if you want to trown a bit of extra faction hate make rhe weapon have a inate bane effect ( the bullets thing thr grinner have agaist infested) 

About the story,  quite good overall. 

Also Tyl Regor is alive on warframe current lore,  yay. But man does Tyl reform sounds incompetent,  literally has done nothing bit making himself sexy. The Chad alav V , made the zanuka , made the muralist strain , mind controlled a warframe , made the amalgans. The Virgin Tyl regor hasn't finisher the tubemen project,  doesn't even produce a meaningful number of maniacs even his retarded cousin has more powerfull grinner units in the form of the complete train wreck of ghouls. De really did the man dirty despite his fans.

 

 

 

[keikogi]

2 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Ballas was... fine... but seeing more orokin villains, especially because they are responsible for so much that is terrible within the Origin System? That, we need. I'm feelin' downright inspired to finally get back to one of those two quests I forgot about.

I feel like Ballas lost quite a bit on the final stretch. The whole amalgam balas sounds like a trick that was pulled to fool the players not the tenno ( in universe). It felt a bit out of character for him. He could fool the tenno without resorting to it, he did not gave any praise to the sentient to justify a desire to be a hybrid , it did not sound like he was simping for lotus and at last it did not sound like he found that form pretty.

 

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

42 minutes ago, keikogi said:

Big ass quest usually reward the player with either a new weapon or a new customization system. What about a new weapon here my suggestion 

Tell you what - @Teoarrk now has permission to list any weapon I've made on my thread as a reward*.  Because coming up with weapons is hard, and I have like 200 of them.

 

*This includes the ones from fanmade factions, but with the caveat that we talk out how this'd work. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by (XBOX)Fluffywolf36

[Teoarrk]

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Arbiter seekers you say? That's very interesting. Also, I'm intrigued to hear more of Melanthius.

I didn't really explain it when I introduced them, which is fair. They're a mixture between Eldar Pathfinder, treasure hunter, vanguard and scholar. They're trying to build up to be within the Arbiter's inner echelon, but have yet to be accepted. I don't want to ballpark numbers, but most of the active combat troops the Arbiters field are Seekers.

Melanthius is going to be brought up in more detail at some point. It is one of the Corpus client colonies that I wanted to introduce more formally.

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

oooh, that's a good one. I don't know how often that'll crop up, with how close we tend to get, but that is  a good way to discourage turtling.

9 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

I was thinking with this one that since the boss will be fairly big (about the size of Lephantis), it will be intimidating and swinging at you constantly. 

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Invasion missions are....  a mixed bag. Om the one hand, they provide some color to the Origin System... at least on paper. In practice, I'm more excited about doing the Ambulas mission again than doing another Invasion mission, cause at least I know what I'm doing and why.

(not that I need to know what I'm doing while doing, say, Kuva Survival or a Mobile Defense mission - it's just, on paper you're accomplishing something on Invasions but I don't know what that is)

And I really like these because they all have so much lore and characterization potential. I know what I'm doing and why. 10/10

Granted, I am ripping a mechanic from a different game to make the groundwork for these more interesting. There'll be random objectives so it won't be 100 exterminates across the two invasion cycles. 

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Who's that? And who's The lady? (I'm sorry, I didn't pay enough attention to the thread earlier)

 

It's alright. I wrote out an org chart for the syndicates a long time ago. I don't have these names to memory,  I just refer back to it every now and again so I don't say 'Red Veil commander' or something similar. here - I should maybe include it into the post. The Lotus Path Guardians are a little more freeform, which I shouldn't really be doing since they're a systemwide naval force. I'm just going on the handwave of Thalia is a very good organizer.

The Lady is something I want to keep fairly obscure. She is ... well when I want to focus on her It'll be sometime down the line.

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Who are the drifters? (Again, sorry, didn't know)

Drifters are me taking something again from Cowboy Bebop. They're the people that pass through the system, not leaving more of a mark than their shadow. Shabby people, that you wouldn't be able to identify in a lineup. They just drift. I figure that by the time of Warframe, there would be many people that fit this description.

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

You really create such a rich version of the Origin System here. I feel downright inspired. Also, I never said this, but it's great to have the Saffron Emperor - a villain that feels complex, dangerous, and isn't Ballas.

Thanks for the compliment. I find that I'm trying to walk the tightrope between evil for evil's sake and someone that you could argue is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. I also wanted to make it clear that he's been thinking about this plan for a long time. Thats why he's not revealed himself yet. He is losing major pawns fast though. We'll have to see how long that lasts.

7 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

(Ballas was... fine... but seeing more orokin villains, especially because they are responsible for so much that is terrible within the Origin System? That, we need. I'm feelin' downright inspired to finally get back to one of those two quests I forgot about.

Ballas fell flat for me about halfway through The Sacrifice. We had this guy that had been hyped up for years as the last Orokin, only for him to 'die in a cutscene' by the end of the quest. I know that DE like to wrap up their quest stories in a nice bow, but Ballas really felt cut short by that move. Then during the Prelude to War, his characterization changed dramatically. It was so jarring that by the time of The New War, I accepted this new Ballas as a completely different character.  By the time that he said 'you monstrous -' I was clocked out on Ballas. Him dying while wearing a vr headset made me accept the death of a lesser character than the one that we had waited for for years to appear. 

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

like the idea off using the blocking mechanics but unfortunately the blocking mechanics will feel bad. Herr how it goes , press e to swap to the melee weapon , than wait a until the boss does the attack. Given that the first swing is not a parry the player has to wait around for the attack ( with is lame , because the player is playing the waiting game ). I wish using a dodge roll without a direction input was a invincible parry so this kindechanic could be widely used widely. Maybe switch it to just the player is looking at the attacking part of the body ( this also has its own problems given this would be the only place parrying works like this)

I didn't want to do dodge rolling because thats already a mod dependant action. Blocking barely has any interaction so I went with it. It definitely isn't ideal, but the idea with these bosses is that these melee attacks will have indicators to show what can be blocked and what can't, sort of like For Honor link.

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

Allowing a player to accidentally heal a boss can be really bad for the community.  It's like the eidolon time gating was probably intended to help match making but ended up sparing the most toxic sub community because instead of loosing a few minutes because of noob on the squad the player looses an entire 3 cap and has to wait 1 hour to go another round.

I was being a little sadistic with this one, but I get your point. The name was actually intentionally chosen because it would break groups. Among the constant cries for a boss that can stand up to our attacks for more than a few seconds, one of the most evil solutions is one that takes advantage of the wide status spreads that people build for. 

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

It's better to just make an attack that stores imunitty damage than launches a portion of the stored damage back at rhe player so the player only sets himself back for messing up the boss mechanics .

I might change it to something that directly affects a single player, but I really want to do something that subverts build expectations so that the name can stick.

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

Sawlade launcher from utrakill , you can say it's the recovery ruks weapon. And if you want to trown a bit of extra faction hate make rhe weapon have a inate bane effect ( the bullets thing thr grinner have agaist infested) 

I really want to say yes to something like this. The weapon Ruk used while fighting the Emperor was an Orvius in a disc launcher. It wasn't stated by name since I forgot the name at the time and also because ... You know what, I think I'll do a choose your reward thing for the different weapons and the players can grind out the other options in the post quest invasions. The Sawcon will be added to the list.

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

About the story,  quite good overall. 

Thanks man.

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

Also Tyl Regor is alive on warframe current lore,  yay. But man does Tyl reform sounds incompetent,  literally has done nothing bit making himself sexy. The Chad alav V , made the zanuka , made the muralist strain , mind controlled a warframe , made the amalgans. The Virgin Tyl regor hasn't finisher the tubemen project,  doesn't even produce a meaningful number of maniacs even his retarded cousin has more powerfull grinner units in the form of the complete train wreck of ghouls. De really did the man dirty despite his fans.

Yeah I don't know about Tyl. When he was reintroduced as a mad scientist, I expected him to be a massive Grineer w. Restored Grineer on the horizon, all manner of things. But instead, all he has done has been monologuing. I do not like that. I just want the man to do something, anything of merit beyond being Alad V without anything to his name. He should at least create one unbungled Grineer to show that he is more bite than bark.

And he has to come back to give dialogue during the most boring mission type that has been introduced in a while. Bad show, really.

5 hours ago, keikogi said:

I feel like Ballas lost quite a bit on the final stretch. The whole amalgam balas sounds like a trick that was pulled to fool the players not the tenno ( in universe). It felt a bit out of character for him. He could fool the tenno without resorting to it, he did not gave any praise to the sentient to justify a desire to be a hybrid , it did not sound like he was simping for lotus and at last it did not sound like he found that form pretty.

Yeah for real. It was like he was changed by committee. 

5 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Tell you what - @Teoarrk now has permission to list any weapon I've made on my thread as a reward*.  Because coming up with weapons is hard, and I have like 200 of them.

 

*This includes the ones from fanmade factions, but with the caveat that we talk out how this'd work. 

I am all for that. I'll let you know when I have made my picks. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Teoarrk