Teoarrk's concepts, lore and ideas thread, part 2 (Latest post - Short Story: Respite, while the spore clouds flounder)

[keikogi]

On 2020-08-29 at 4:18 PM, Teoarrk said:

Brush-trail Visualiser - This would basically streamline the tracking process by giving you a light trail to follow, similar to the light up trails in the tumor bounty. (Some of the trails in the new update are hard to see, especially when they are purple on purple, or a meek purple on orange.)

Scatological Analyser - The start of animal trails will have floating visual icons in the environment above them and have symbols that relate to the trail's species. (The only way to find some of the trails is due to Helios scanning them. They do not stand out from the rest of the visual clutter on the floor of Deimos.)

Universal Sedative - Allows Tranq rifle to be used on enemies. (A lot of enemy harassment occurs during conservation, so having an option that allows you continue what you were doing without swapping out would be useful.)

Improved Compression Cylinder - Projectile speed is increased and arc is flattened, allowing for greater accuracy at long range. (The new open world area can sometimes reward using the Archwing for tranq shots, so this would benefit that approach.)

Chromatophore Mesh Net - When a Conservation target is within 60 m, the user of the rifle will become invisible for 5 seconds. (It can sometimes be hard to spot a Conservation target when it is getting close, so this would give you some breathing room.)

 Aerosol-release Sedative - Allows you to Tranq animals without having to rely on the darts piercing their hide. (Only way I see the Tranq rifle competing with Ivara's Sleep Arrow for some targets.)

Fauna Vitals Locator -  Shows you the direction of animals in the heads up display when aiming with your Tranq rifle. Conservation animals will be highlighted with a square target. (It can be very infuriating hearing a 'beep' from the Tranq rifle and having no indication where that beep is coming from. A visual aid would be welcome). A visual representation of my wishes was produced by the Reddit user u/sdric 

Man I would love these on deimos. Just a side note I would redesing the camo one to be a optical camouflage, if you standstill with the rifle you go invisible. You become a blurr if you walk (reduced spot range on enemies ) and fully visible while running. It would be worse for consevation but it would become a tool on all mission , it would even allow the pacifist run on lot of mission types by putting enemies to sleep and moving.

[Teoarrk]

18 hours ago, keikogi said:

Man I would love these on deimos. Just a side note I would redesing the camo one to be a optical camouflage, if you standstill with the rifle you go invisible. You become a blurr if you walk (reduced spot range on enemies ) and fully visible while running. It would be worse for conservation but it would become a tool on all mission , it would even allow the pacifist run on lot of mission types by putting enemies to sleep and moving.

Edit: I realised what you meant. It would be cool but I also think that it would remove use cases for Ivara and Loki and I'm not saying thats all they have, but it definitely invades their design space in a way I don't see DE being comfortable with.

It would be good to be able to go full Jensen on Warframe, it's the kind of crossover I'd love to see happen.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Teoarrk

[Teoarrk]

Whispers on the Wall of Lohk: Ascended Liches and Kuva Lich Rework

It's been a couple weeks. Lets get to it. Firstly, I will cover the Kuva Lich Rework.

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Pawns of the Worm Queen

Edit: Hunt the hunters. In a conversation with a fellow concept maker Cloudcracker, we discussed a way of picking up the Lich that could make it more faithful to the original Kingpin system. 

The Crimson Hall gains additional functionality. You can see 'potential' liches in the system that you can pick up as a mark contract. Aside from their location and name you will also be able to see:

• Their spawning troop corps: Frontier, Navy, Drehkar, Kuva, Nightwatch, Arid.
• Their weapon - although this is not as important in this revised system for the sake of weapon hunting, it might make your time easier if you aim for a lich with an easier weapon or choose something harder for a challenge.
• Preferred bodyguard - what they will spawn with. Be it manics, regular troopers, penal troops, or ghouls.

This is more of a formal revision of the lich system than my previous attempt, with additional attention paid towards clarifying the role of existing features and (for the most part) will be less telling a story than ironing out what to expect of the revision mechanically. The first item on the itinerary is the tier system.

Pawn - These are our current Saturn Six Fugitive looking Grineer experiment. I think that they should get some abilities to give them a fighting chance, because they are after all the progenitors to a boss that we should fear. They should be capable already if the Worm Queen sees a future in them.

• Blink Dash - Taken from either the Zealoids, or the Grineer Fireblades, this is a movement ability that allows the Pawn to move instantly from one spot to another.
• Regulator Summon - As it sounds. The Pawn can summon a regulator to scramble a player's minimap and provide a damage buff to surrounding allies.
• Flash Mines - Flashbangs from the arena. Allows the Pawn to set up a situation where they can get a free hit / shot off.

Worthy Pawn - You have to defeat a Pawn to get a Worthy Pawn. The Warframe that you defeat the Pawn with will grant the Worthy Pawn it's first ability. It will gain the defences of a level 50 Grineer Lancer / Ballista Eximus unit and will look as such. Take them down and they will gain their first Requiem.

Requiem 1 - Defeating a Worthy Pawn will grant it its first Requiem. If you defeated the Lich with the same Warframe, it will gain it's second ability, so it is beneficial for you to alternate between Warframes between attempts. They will have one health gate, hidden behind a Requiem Parazon Mod. Stab them with the correct mod, take down their second health bar and they will get their second requiem.

Requiem 2 - If you defeated the Lich with the same Warframe, it will gain it's third ability. They will have two health gates, hidden behind two Requiem Parazon Mods. Take them down and they will gain their third and final requiem.

Requiem 3 - If you defeated the Lich with the same Warframe, it will gain it's ultimate. They will have three health gates, hidden behind three different Requiem Parazon Mods. Take them down and you will be able to convert them. (You will not get another chance to convert, so choose wisely!) Vanquishing them with no modifiers will give you a small amount of Lich Slayer tokens (more on that later). Vanquishing it with a dragon key equipped will create a Lich Incumbent.

Lich Incumbent - Instead of owning fractional territory, The Lich holds dominion over every Grineer node in the system. He can invade, or be forced to invade by your actions. To show his increasing power, he or she will have a few new abilities from this list:

• Raise Ghouls - Spawn a number of ghouls. 
• Phantasmal Reap - Tenno standing within 15m of the Lich will be reduced to 1 Health and cannot receive health from any source for 5 seconds.
• Fatuus Hunters - Summons a few orbs that will hover slowly towards the Tenno for 15 seconds. They will deal heavy damage and restore health to the Lich.
• Shared Suffering - All allies and enemies within 50m will have a shared health pool for 30 seconds. This means that unless you can out-heal your own damage and nuke the entire room, you will go down too!
• Nightwatch! To Me! - All enemy spawns until the end of the mission will be Nightwatch Grineer.
• Everlasting Servitude - This will work similar to Nekros's Shadows of the Dead, except it will have a much larger number of bodies. 
• Punitive Reminder - Tenno that are downed and remain down for more than a few seconds will be unable to be revived. They will receive an Gustrag Bolt and be unable to participate in the remainder of the mission (similar to the Gustrag bolt of the Gustrag 3). They will have to craft a bolt release blueprint to do normal damage against Grineer.
• You're Mine! - This is a harsher version of the previous one. A downed Tenno will receive an Ascaris. They will be able to be revived, but random negative effects will befall them, similar to Vor's Prize. If the team fail the mission, the Tenno will have to perform a 'Recovery' mission.

Assuming you deal with all of this and kill the Lich, you will get some Lich Slayer Tokens. If you did not bring Rivens to fight it, it will level one final time to a Lich Ascendant.

Lich Ascendant - WIll be discussed in it's own section. Be prepared for a hell of a fight.

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Adversaries' Quandary: Requiem Hunting

From the previous section, it is obvious that I expect you to do the detective work for Liches in stages. Let me be very clear - I am not a sadist that wants to pad out the Murmur grind of Liches even more. In fact, I want you to be be able to figure out a Requiem in only a few missions and instead focus on the Lich itself as a boss. I think that the Requiem Murmur numbers are fine, but the focus will be on completing missions rather than stabbing the right people. 

It is also important to consider the Rage meter. It has to be feasible for a player to come across a Lich in a reasonable amount of time to make good of the Requiems we uncover.

Let me split up Lich missions into categories:

• Exterminate, Capture, Sabotage and Survival - Manpower
• Spy, Rescue, Interception and Mobile Defence - Intelligence
• Defence, Disruption and Excavation - Resources

At present, Requiem 1 requires 36 points, Requiem 2 60 and Requiem 3 84. Therefore, this gives us our benchmark. 

The rage meter currently has 5 levels: Indifferent → Annoyed → Fuming → Furious → Enraged.

Manpower missions will be weighted more towards building the rage of the Lich. 

• Exterminate - increases Rage meter by 3. Grants 10 points towards a Requiem.
• Capture - increases Rage meter by 3. Grants 6 points towards a Requiem.
• Sabotage - increases Rage meter by 4. Grants 10 points towards a Requiem.
• Survival - increases Rage meter by 4. Grants 12 points towards a Requiem.

Intelligence missions will be weighted more towards collecting Requiem points. 

• Spy - increases Rage meter by 1/2*. Grants 12/24/36 points towards a Requiem.  (*on a perfect spy mission)
• Rescue - increases Rage meter by 1. Grants 24 points towards a Requiem.
• Interception - increases Rage meter by 1. Grants 20 points towards a Requiem.
• Mobile Defence - increases Rage meter by 1. Grants 20 points towards a Requiem.

Resources missions will be a balance between both Rage and Requiem points.

• Defence - increases Rage by 2. Grants 16 points towards a Requiem.
• Disruption - increases Rage by 2. Grants 18 points towards a Requiem.
• Excavation - increases Rage by 2. Grants 16 points towards a Requiem.

edit: credit where credit is due, u/yarl5000 planted the seed of this idea way back when.

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Ascended Liches: On a whole new level

Concept introduction

Liches are supposed to be a legitimate long term threat, something on the level of Eidolons and the Orbs. Ascended Liches are my answer to that. Where Kuva Liches are more like zombies, this tier is going to be very much like an actual Lich. 

Now, what does a Lich mean to me? Magical undeath, supreme magical power, high intelligence. Some kind of weakness or phylactery which stores their soul.

Spoiler

Granted, everyone's opinion of a Lich will be different, but it is important for you to get into my headspace.

There are a wide range of abilities and capabilities here. Some are brilliant fighters, sorcerors or are both. Some have earned their powers over the span of years, or were granted this ability upon their creation. Some focus on raising armies, while others fight alone. The idea here is that while all Liches cannot be defeated completely without the destruction of their phylactery, the other characteristics of their being are very different. My point is that at present, Kuva Liches do not fit this niche. They better represent vampires. We craft a spell upon a stake that undoes their binding to this mortal coil and thrust it deep into their heart. So what I propose is something - which I am sure is apparent from the Incumbent Lich powers. Combine powers from them both, but maintain the idea of a phylactery. It means I can add a few concepts from some of my favourite villains / antiheros as well, like the leader of the Dark Eldar in Warhammer 40K, Asdrubael Vect, Dio Brando, his servants and the Pillar Men from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Alucard from Hellsing, the Von Carsteins from Warhammer Fantasy and last but not least, Slave Knight Gael from Dark Souls 3.

Now, lets create this Ascended Lich.

Set up

We are dealing with a Lich. Therefore, we need the correct devices. From what we have learned from DE in general, they like to tie song to some of the more fantastical technology of the game, be it the naga drum at the Terminus Massacre,  the very Requiems that we collect to defeat our Kuva Lich, Margulis's Lullaby to aid in our stasis-chamber slumber, Octavia's Anthem restoring Cephalon Suda. There is much more that could be added. Ergo, the Phylactery of a lich will not be a simple hammer and chisel affair. 

What does this mean?

Spoiler

It means that we have to revisit the Mandachord. A new set of instruments, the Faust set, will be composed of choral chants of the Requiems, of sung notes and heavy, foreboding drums. This will be granted to players upon getting their first Incumbent Lich. Unusual for this set, the Bass will consist of drums and the Percussion will be composed of the requiem mods attached to your Parazon. Similar to Octavia's Anthem, you will then listen to a song (in parts) and then have to fill in the notes.

You won't be doing this on your ship, but rather at the Defence at Nabuk in the Kuva Fortress. Entering here with an Incumbent Lich active will impose special conditions for the mission. Upon starting the mission and approaching the injector, you will be able to create the song in three stages.  First you will input the chant. You must then defend the Injector for 5 waves. After this, add the drums and defend for a further 5 waves and finally, the sung notes and a final 5 waves of defence. You can stay longer, if you wish, but that is what is required of you to create the necessary Phylactery Breakers. These devices will play back the song when deployed. More on that later.

The Ascended Lich will also have to be located. Unlike previous forms that can appear anywhere, this final stage of lich will have his own special node. Entering it will require a Lich Resonator, a key that requires an Orokin Cipher, 1000 Kuva, 5 navigator beacons and a Sentirum. It will take 5 minutes to build. Then, place the completed resonator in the Observation Nexus. You are now fully ready to take on the Ascended Lich.

This is supposed to be an organised group activity and one that grants a lot of power on victory, so there should be an 'entry gate' to raise the stakes. Invite your team to your dojo, or from your clanmates, head over to the Railjack and tell Cy that the next destination is hell.

Throne of Evil - The Lich's Lair

For anyone that remembers the Tennocon Kuva Lich reveal, the Kuva Lich was the commander of a massive fleet, with its bastion in the captain's quarters of a Grineer Galleon. The room made it into the delivered product of Railjack, but not Kuva Liches as fleet commanders (yet). So, if that is the end state of a Kuva Lich, lets run with it. However, to make it possible for the fight that I would like, the ship layout would be quite large and spacious, something akin to the Kuva Fortress. There will be three important large rooms to each such galleon. This is to facilitate multiple phases. 

Each of the main rooms will be wide open, with minimal architectural cover. The first room with have an upper gallery. It is the War Room, so as well as the Lich, you will be fighting rear guard elements, such as his Thralls.

The second fight will focus on necromancy and spells. There will be clear cover points to provide some level of respite from many devastating attacks.

The third will focus on a mixture of the previous two, taking on a more vampiric aspect. Since it will be the last fight, this will be more like a throne room, with the phylactery within reach.

Our quarry, steeped in dread and given form by evil: Fighting the Lich

Outside, expect a very difficult Railjack mission. Some of the units from Archwing will return here, such as the Ogmas, Dregs and Dargyns. Two missile platforms will guard the Lich's ship, to boot.

Regardless, that is not the main event here. The main event is the Ascended Lich.

Phase One - The Commander

As the name suggests, this phase will rely on the Lich's marshal prowess. The team will have take on the Lich's servants as well as the Lich themselves. Rather than being simple braindead units that we are familiar with, advanced enemies will be present here:

• Lich Dirgeguard -  Heavy jump infantry armed with an Amphis. Can parry and will use their jetpacks aoe rockets to 'soften up' their landing zone before striking.
• Lich Corpsemakers - Teleporting light infantry armed with Ogris's that have the Nightwatch Napalm augment.
• Lich Hematurgist - Heavy infantry that can switch teleport and armed with Nukors.
• Lich Techniculca - Medium infantry that can summon a swarm of latchers, rollers, turrets and regulators. They will be armed with Tonkors.
• Lich Haemonculus - Little enemies reminiscent of Kuva Jester. They can steal energy from players that they climb onto.
• Lich Fiendmaster - Medium infantry that has highly reduced damage on anywhere but the face. Can summon Hyekkas, Drahks, disarm a player with a swing of their Halikar and pull them close with a grappling line to make better use of Kohmak.
• Lich Pulveriser -  Medium infantry armed with a heavy Grineer shield and a Hek. They will be able to reflect damage in the direction their shield is facing.

The Kuva Lich will have the following abilities up during this phase:

• Familiar's Armoury - Similar to Xaku's Grasp of Lohk, the Lich will gain the weapons of his fallen comrades.
• Dark Communion - Staying in Operator mode for more than 10 seconds will instantly bring you back into your Warframe with Interference Static.
• Charge's Ward - While the Lich's servants are alive, he will take 90% less damage.
• Somatic Siphon - While there are enemies other than the lich to fight, your entire team will have their maximum health reduced by 5% for every kill made for 10 seconds. This will not trigger on death effects, like Phoenix Renewal as you effective health will be zero.
• Traitorous Energy - Abilities will cost health as well as energy.
• Malign Oblation - If you stand too close to the Lich, they will suspend you in the air, similar to Well of Life for 10 seconds. During this time you and the Lich cannot be killed.
• Thanatrickery -  When all of the Lich's allies have died, he will glow red for 15 seconds. Any damage incurred to him during this time at a distance of 10 metres of closer will be added to his health pool.

The Lich will be Level 200  with 2.5 million hp and 2.5 million armor (see my damage changes) and have their weapon of choice. They will take reduced damage from status effects (this means that any damage over time, or direct instantaneous damage effects will at most only remove 0.1% of their maximum health over their duration). The order of battle will be as thus :

Familiars → Lone Showdown → Familiars → Lone Showdown → Familiars → Lone Showdown. 

 You are not dealing with health gating here. There will be a window of 1 minute between the time when the last familiar falls and the end of each Lone Showdown phase. When they are brought to 1 hp, they will disappear into mist and fly into the next room and the next phase.

Phase Two - The Kuva- Arcanist

The next phase will be all about magic. This will be a gauntlet where you will try to stay alive and take advantages of the pauses in the magical onslaught.

The Lich will have the following abilities during this phase.  First, the big abilities that will work alone.

• Kuva Animus - Periodically the Lich will mark one of the team with a glowing ward. In order for you to save this Tenno, you all must stack together, otherwise the Tenno will die and homing projectiles will attack the survivors.
• Black Sun - A large ball of energy will  slowly fall to the floor of the arena. If you aren't in line of sight cover from it, you will have to use a revive. (There will be an indicator to let you know if you aren't safe).
• Overwelming Power - All Tenno will be teleported to the center of the room. The Lich will begin casting a spell that will slow your movement speed down over the seconds until you finally freeze in place and then will cast a spell that will deal 18000 damage split across all Tenno.
• The Song of The Void - The Lich will raise an army of Grineer (similar to Shadows of the dead). During this time, he will be vulnerable, the army invulnerable. Deal enough damage to him will break the spell and he will enter the 'Damaged' state.

Now, the abilities that can be used in conjunction with each other. 

• Vitus Seekers - The Lich will fire bolts of energy that will home in on you.
• Balefire Haze - Fire will sweep through the arena, dealing heavy damage and heat procs to all in its path.
• Doom Ward - An area of the arena will be marked. Staying in that spot will make you take heavy toxin damage.
• Expunging Strike - The Lich will fire a bolt of energy at a target, removing all buffs from it as well as giving it a magnetic proc.

These spells will be coupled with the following passive effects.

• Dark Communion - Staying in Operator mode for more than 10 seconds will instantly bring you back into your Warframe with Interference Static.
• Will O'Wisp Haze - The Lich will emanate a fog. The fog will cover the room above the floating point of the Lich. Straying into it will freeze you into place, causing you to fall to the ground and suffer heavy damage.

When the Lich enters the Damaged state, he will also have a few abilities to keep in mind.

• Mortuary Blast - After a short windup, a wave of deadly energy will burst from the Lich, dealing 75% of a player's health as damage and blocking all forms of healing for 10 seconds.
• Arisen Vengeance - When the Lich leaves the Damaged state, he will release a wave of energy that will down anyone in the blast. Get to cover.

The Lich will appear in spirit form throughout this fight, only becoming more corporeal while summoning his army and in the damaged state. His Health pool will be increased to 10 million. The order of battle for this phase will be more demanding:

Survive The Onslaught → Climax Spell → Song Of The Void → Damaged State → Survive The Onslaught

This will be an endurance test. There is no hard cap on how long it will take, only how many pizzas you are willing to expend, or how good you get at dodging all the abilities. The Lich will only exist in their damaged state for 30 seconds, so it is best to make use of any abilities you can in that time frame. When they are brought to 1 hp, the Lich will disappear into smoke and fly into the next room and the final phase.

Phase 3: Smoke and Mirrors

This final phase will be all about illusions, trickery and keeping your head on a swivel. Since this one will be more complex, I will describe the order of battle first. 

The Lich will be spirit, corporeal being and something in between. His health pool will be 2.5 million health to begin with. The order of battle will be as thus:

Stalking  → Mist Lifts → Familiars → Stalking.  When the Lich is brought to 1 HP, the Phylactery will open up and you will be able to attach the Phylactery Breaker. Regardless of which phase was currently taking place, This will trigger a Ultimatum event, where the Lich will try to end the fight as fast as he can and destroy the Phylactery Breaker. Survive until the Phylactery Breaker finishes and you will be rewarded with a Dead Lich.

The Lich will have a few passive effects for this phase:

• Ominous Fog -  A fog will fill the room during the Stalking mode. You will be able to see but only up to a few feet in front of you. The Minimap and any markers will be hidden. If your allies become downed in the fog, the revive timer will stay until the fog clears.
• Storm Familiar - Staying 5m or closer to a fellow Tenno for more than 20 seconds will cause both of you to be flung to opposite sides of the room.
• Instantaneous Discombobulation - Standing within 5 metres of the Lich for more than 5 seconds will push you away and cause your keyboard controls to become inverted.
• Dark Communion - Staying in Operator mode for more than 10 seconds will instantly bring you back into your Warframe with Interference Static.

Stalking abilities 

• Shadows In The Mist: Fellow Tenno will appear as the Lich and the Lich will appear as a Tenno. Friendly fire will be active on targets in visible range.
• Fatuus Hunters - Summons a few orbs that will hover slowly towards the Tenno for 15 seconds. They will deal heavy damage and restore health to the Lich.
• Obsessive Fixation - The Lich will select a Tenno victim. When the Mist Lifts begins, Your fellow Tenno will have to free that Tenno from the Bloodletting table.
• Toying With Their Food - If you see the Tenno illusion standing still, watch your back! The real threat will be the Lich appearing behind. It will use the trademark grab and smash technique if it gets close enough to you. 

Mist Lifts abilities

• Vital Severance - A bolt of chain lightning that will target one Tenno and will spread to another Tenno within 10 meters that will deal more damage. It is important to stay spread out, or this ability could kill your entire team. 
• Pilfered Feast - After a delay of 5 seconds, the victim will take 10 health damage /second and the Lich will gain 1500 health a second.
• Kuva Puppets - A random assortment of units from Phase One will appear. They will have a shared health pool of 500,000 health. When these are summoned, the Familiars stage will begin.
• Malign Intellect - The Lich will be able to duplicate any Warframe ability cast, with the same modifiers to range, power strength and duration. They will store the last three Warframe abilities in their ability pool.

Familiars abilities 

• Vital Severance - A bolt of chain lightning that will target one Tenno and will spread to another Tenno within 10 meters that will deal more damage.
• Worthy Sacrifice - The Lich will absorb a unit, gaining 50,000 health.
• Massive Kuva-bolt - The Lich will hurl a bolt of energy that will deal half of a Tenno's maximum health and block out all sources of healing for 10 seconds.
• Shared Suffering - All allies and enemies within 50m will have a shared health pool for 30 seconds. 
• Deadly Spoils - Any pickups dropped by familiars will be armed like Mirage's Sleight of Hand. 

Ultimatum abilities

• Carousel of Corpses - The Lich will stand in the center of the room. After a short windup (with a visual indicator), a beam of light will travel in a circle around the room. It will instantly kill you if you get caught by it. 
• Eldritch Lance - Brings a target Tenno's health down to 1 and slows their movements by 50% for 5 seconds.
• Krypotek Blister - Gas will spring from the ground if you step on a red mark for more than a few seconds.  

Survive long enough and the Lich will be dead. A large amount of Lich Slayer Tokens will be provided, as well as a Kuva Oro.

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This post is quite long already. I will consider the reward system in the next post - The Slayer of the Wicked. Till then.

Edited June 17, 2021 by Teoarrk
edited slightly.

[Teoarrk]

The Slayer of the Wicked- Lich and Exorcism rewards

Now that I have established two Mini Trials, it would be good to consider where to pick up rewards for these good deeds. This is why I touched on the Relays. I wanted to make an area where players can pick up and display rewards to 'end game' rewards in a place where other players can see them, just like the gates of Cetus, the Elevator of Fortuna and the steps of the Necralisk. Therefore, the quartermasters for Arbitration (Ista Purani, a representative of the Seekers of Purani), Steel Path (Teshin Dax), Trials (Arghave Surt) and Mini Trails (Prisht) will be present in areas that other players will pass when going to the various activities around the Relay. With Teshin part of the Main Concourse, players logging in will be next to an area where the high skill and gear players will congregate. The other three will be in the Port area, where players will be passing through to come to the Relay from their ships.  Since I have not written the Trials yet, Arghave will not be the focus of the discussion, but rather Prisht, the former acolyte of (Andrea) Amandreamis, a lifelong weaponsmith and horror slayer.

I think that an in memoriam character with a legendary reputation is only fitting for a member of DE that produced some of the most striking and beautiful weapons to date. The Mini-trials reflect the tippy top of what I envision 4 players to be able to do on their own, so it is only fitting that the paragon of that ability would be in a league all of their own.

Rest in Peace DE_Andrea.

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The Loot

 

Reward	Description	Cost
Rift Rejection (Rank 0)	Arcane - On receiving Void damage, pushes the enemy back by 1/1.5/2/3/3.5/4/4.5 meters and reduces the damage of the next 1/2/3/4/5/6 attacks by 60%.	1 Amala Token
Rift Geniality (Rank 0)	Arcane - Staying in the affinity range of another player for 15/14/13/12/11/10 seconds makes an enhanced health orb drop at your feet. (50 health, 50 energy on pickup)	1 Amala Token
Rift Serendipity (Rank 0)	Arcane -There is a 2/3/4/5/6/7% chance that you will gain double loot for 30 seconds after you empty your primary weapon’s magazine. This can only occur once every 180/165/150/135/120/105 seconds.	1 Amala Token
Rift Temerity (Rank 0)	Arcane - Taking damage gives you a 3/6/9/12/15/18% chance of increasing your speed by 5/7.5/10/12.5/15/17.5% and you gain a barrier that will absorb 100/200/300/400/500/600 damage for 3/4/5/6/7/8 seconds.	2 Amala Tokens
Rift Amensalism (Rank 0)	Arcane - There is a 5/10/15/20/25/30% chance that when you take damage that would down you that your health and shields are restored to full, but you take a stack of transference static.	2 Amala Tokens
Amala Syandana	Cosmetic - billowing cloak covered in scrim-scrawl wards. Glows when the Void is near.	10 Amala Tokens
Faust Ward (Rank 0)	Arcane - When your health total is below 25/30/35/40/45/50%, your take 5/10/15/20/25/30% less damage and deal 5/10/15/20/25/30% more damage.	1 Lich Slayer Token
Faust Trickery (Rank 0)	Arcane - When you switch back into your Warframe from Operator mode, a spectre of your Operator will wander around, attracting the attention of nearby enemies for 5/6/7/8/9/10 seconds.	1 Lich Slayer Token
Faust Anarchy (Rank 0)	Arcane - When you reload your Primary weapon, there is a 15/20/25/30/35/40% chance that you will gain 100/150/200/250/300/350 Crit Damage for 10/11/12/13/14/15 seconds, but decrease your accuracy by 5/10/15/20/25/30%.	2 Lich Slayer Token
Faust Rancor (Rank 0)	Arcane - When your shields are depleted, all forms of damage you can deal is increased by 50/100/150/200/250/300% for 10/11/12/13/14/15 seconds, but you take 25/50/75/100/125/150 damage from all sources.	2 Lich Slayer Tokens
Faust Conqueror (Rank 0)	Arcane - Every time you restore 1000/900/800/700/600/500 health, your next ability cast has a 50/60/70/80/90/100% chance to be free.	2 Lich Slayer Tokens
Kuva Weapon	All Kuva Weapons in the pool, without their innate statuses	5 Lich Slayer Tokens
Kuva Ephemera	All Kuva Lich Empheras in the pool	10 Lich Slayer Tokens
Kuva Empowerment (Element) (Rank 0)	Weapon Arcane - Adds 100/115/130/145 elemental damage of the chosen element and add a ‘loaded’ effect to the weapon (will deal 50% increased damage every 100 kills for 10/15/20/25 seconds)	3 Lich Slayer Tokens
Lich’s Bones Set	Cosmetic - Armor crafted by the very bones of a Kuva Lich.	1 Kuva Oro
Tyrant’s End	Weapon - A giant no-daichi quenched in a Kuva Lich’s blood and filled with the rage of the very same.	1 Kuva Oro, 10 Steel Essence
Morticus	Weapon - An oversized Arbalest designed to hunt beasts instead of men. Time has given it a new purpose.	1 Kuva Oro, 20 Father Tokens
Wraithshards	Weapon - Crafted from the shards of a phylactery, these throwing knives have an uncanny ability to find their mark.	1 Kuva Oro, 200 ducats.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts

In light of tonight's Devstream, it only further cements the DE wants to engage players with the Relay more (MR 30 'worldbuff' console), which makes me wonder what further strategies they have in mind for this to be done organically. I think that it is a step in the right direction, but I hope that it is only the beginning of a greater change to our central hubs.

 

Since I want to tackle the idea while it is still in my mind, the next post will be about a new Gamemode - Slaystorm. @keikogi , I hope that it will be worth the wait. Till then.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Teoarrk

[Teoarrk]

Slaystorm - Father's Test of our Mettle

A few weeks ago now, @AreeSoothsayer and I had a short discussion which culminated in me proposing a sort of 80's hair metal fuelled endless extermination mission called Slaystorm. At the time I proposed Kela de Thaym, the one who fits the bill the most, but now it would be better if we consider someone who also likes carnage - Father. Sure, the man doesn't have a full head of hair, but I see a brashness in him that seems to be that of a husband that has reluctantly accepted middle age, rather than one that grew into it. If he were given his old Somachord and enemies to fight, I'm sure we would see a different man emerge, as we did during the introductory quest.

Enter Slaystorm.

How Slaystorm works

"Think you've got what it takes to fight like a real Orokin, kid?" -Father

When you ask Father about Slaystorm, you are given a choice of three different unmodded level 30 loadouts. You and the guys you've grouped with then get sent off to a mission in a random tileset. The first round will be the basic enemies - nothing too challenging. Your kills will be tallied as you collect them (first as a tally board, then as Orokin skull coins in a heap) and you will notice a dial in the corner of your screen, similar to this. 

Godhand features a prime example of freeform scaling difficulty with player skill and competence. As you land more blows without taking damage, the enemies gain more attacks, become more aggressive and powerful. I'm unsure of how Warframe's AI would handle additional attacks, but certainly the aggression and power is something that the engine is more than capable of handling.

As you kill more and more enemies, this dial will have a higher and higher multiplier. This will determine the level of and number of enemies that you will have to fight in a couple minutes. It will reset if one of your team members downs. There will be a fixed pull out point every 10 minutes, like Arbitrations.

Mods will not be applied in the usual way in Slaystorm. Every minute, a mob will spawn with the 'Glorious' Title. Killing this enemy will drop a Modular Articularis. A Modular Articularis is a power up vendor and interacting with it will make you and everyone in your squad temporarily invulnerable for up to 10 seconds. Independently, each of you will be presented with a choice of 3 mods to equip during these 10 seconds. At least one of these will be of Rare quality each time, so you won't be getting 40 Vitalities each run. These mods will be rank 0 when chosen, but will rank up with kills and dial ratings.

Note: universal vacuum will apply here, as no pets will be allowed. After every pull out point, the new round will begin. With each new Round, there will be a chance to change out one of your weapons or your Warframe for one of three given options. This will give you an unmodded weapon or Warframe, but give you the opportunity to pick up something more in line with your playstyle. 

The twist for the gamemode will be that every 2 rounds, Kela de Thaym will take over and the music will change from the regular mission music to something more appropriate for the theme. Whereas Father will give you the soft encouragement of a mature weapons engineer, Kela will be more hands on, in her way. Finisher kills will get roars of encouragement from her audience. During the time that she takes over, downing will result in perma death. I think that three rounds in, you are given fair time to really power up to prevent unnecessary deaths. When her 2 'gauntlet' rounds are over, Father will take over once again. Perma death will be over. He will comment 'Glad bloodsport made it past The Fall'. or something like that and then you will be back into the 'safer' section.

Rewards and Final Thoughts

I think that this cold-hot-cold dynamic will get some of the more casual players into it, assuming the rewards are appropriate. Similar to Arbitration style, the loot table for each round will be composed of Endo, tokens for running the mission and some new Amalgam mods (TBD). Running this mission type in a group will be beneficial, as you can choose from any of the 4 players rewards. The tokens for running this mission type will be called Entrati Florins. These will be carved from the stone of Deimos, similar to the tokens we already know from the discordant family.  Father will be the Vendor for this mission type. Alongside some of the rarest Deimos crafting materials (Scintillant, Seriglass), will be weapons akin to the caliber @(XB1)Fluffywolf36 has recently created in the Entrati style.

Spoiler

Seriously though, check her out if you haven't already. She makes some of the best weapon concepts. You won't be disappointed.  

I might expand on this later, if there is interest and feedback.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My next post will cover one of the Trials I have lined up: Rail Synova Terminus Proxima. It will have its own story though, so expect it to take a while. The more observant of you will notice another trail named in the title page. You will get that, in time. It is part of something with a lot of moving parts, so I will need a bit more time on that one. Till then.

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Teoarrk

[keikogi]

3 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Instead of having to equip them, they will apply directly to your Weapons and Warframe. They will stack additively, so be sure to pick any up that you run into. Note: universal vacuum will apply here, as no pets will be allowed. After every pull out point, the new round will begin. With each new Round, there will be a chance to change out one of your weapons or your Warframe for one of three given options. This will give you an unmodded weapon or Warframe, but give you the opportunity to pick up something more in line with your playstyle. 

The overall game mode sounds interesting but there  are 3 problens.

You don't know what a mod is before you pick it up so you might end up picking a mod that's actively harmful for your build. For example of you had fire damage and pick up a cold mod odds are your dps will decrease. 

Second the drop tables were not created to acomadate that game mod , the overall logic of the drop tables of the game is new mods on new enemies not any kind of progression curve. 

Third necros is OP on that mod because mods make or break a build , having a higher "mod " income would be to good to pass 

I would just use a "power up "system similar to 2d shooters of old. Or maybe go crazy and make the upgrades closer to stuff like the bidding of isac but hide them or give them a really low drop rate.

 

[Teoarrk]

1 minute ago, keikogi said:

You don't know what a mod is before you pick it up so you might end up picking a mod that's actively harmful for your build. For example of you had fire damage and pick up a cold mod odds are your dps will decrease. 

Second the drop tables were not created to accomodate that game mod , the overall logic of the drop tables of the game is new mods on new enemies not any kind of progression curve. 

Third necros is OP on that mod because mods make or break a build , having a higher "mod " income would be to good to pass 

I would just use a "power up "system similar to 2d shooters of old. Or maybe go crazy and make the upgrades closer to stuff like the bidding of isac but hide them or give them a really low drop rate.

Thats a good point. I should take a leaf out of WoW: Shadowlands book and follow the Torghast power up system. I will give the entire thing a second pass.

Cheers @keikogi, always good to have you drop by.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

11 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Alongside some of the rarest Deimos crafting materials (Scintillant, Seriglass), will be weapons akin to the caliber @(XB1)Fluffywolf36 has recently created in the Entrati style.

Awwww, thanks fam.

Though disclaimer that the Cromlech is not finished and I'm still working out some kinks with the stats.

[Teoarrk]

10 minutes ago, (XB1)Fluffywolf36 said:

Awwww, thanks fam.

Though disclaimer that the Cromlech is not finished and I'm still working out some kinks with the stats.

It's still mighty impressive even as it is. I wish you luck with your further progress.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

Just now, Teoarrk said:

It's still mighty impressive even as it is. I wish you luck with your further progress.

Thanks, dood. I've been having... some reduced energy... lately, so that means a lot.

[Teoarrk]

Just now, (XB1)Fluffywolf36 said:

Thanks, dood. I've been having... some reduced energy... lately, so that means a lot.

I understand that. Covid has given me freedom to be at home and able to write freely more often, but at the same time, I draw creative blanks more often. I guess it's a tradeoff isn't it?

[Teoarrk]

Quick fix: Making survival harder to automate

DE is trying to make it harder to automate survival at present by identifying 'safe to afk' spots in maps and making the AI 'scramble' when a player is present in these spots. link.

This is not going to be sustainable in the long run as players will always find new places to afk farm and new Warframes will create new synergies and open up new afk spots. The new meta pick is Khora with Strangledome, using her whip to kill enemies she can't even see. With the exception of a few choice enemies, there is very little an enemy counteroffensive can do against such a Warframe except be lambs to the slaughter.

Ergo, a more resource intensive response is needed. If the enemies cannot handle certain Warframes, but DE wants to demotivate the playerbase from 'lootcaving', then a more direct approach needs to be used. 

Strategy 1: Bunker Busters

Take the Demolysts that were added with The Jovian Concord. A perfectly good threat that is used in Disruption to threaten the objectives of the mode. These enemies have resistances to some abilities outright and have a mini nullifier bubble. If a player, or multiple players stay within one tile for 2 minutes, spawn one of the faction appropriate demolisher enemies, that will head to players. 5 minutes, 2 demolishers could spawn. After 10 minutes, an entire wave of them could spawn. I am unsure of how effective 'afk Khora' is against demolisher enemies however, so maybe some adjustments need to be made to make this effective.

Strategy 2: Horde concentration

A common strategy in warfare against an enemy in a superior position is to double back to a point where their advantage is nullified. Therefore, the horde mechanic added in the Halloween event that accompanied The Emissary made it impossible to camp a single position for all too long (when it worked properly). It also meant that players had to adapt directly to the terrain and were less likely to camp in one tile. It is very difficult to program a simple bot to perform the parkour necessary for active movement across a map in Warframe.

Strategy 3: Homefield advantage

We're fighting the enemy on their own turf. It should be harder to hold an advantage over them for long. For instance - funneling gas into the vents, sneak attacks from behind, drones, traps, etc. All the dirty tricks in the book. We are fighting the scum and villainy of the Origin System, not upstanding individuals with a high moral code and standards. 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thats it for now. Working on a request, which I will now return to. This was more of a 'on a whim' addition.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Teoarrk

[Teoarrk]

Hi guys. I've been busier than expected this past almost month. I have made progress, but not as much as I'd have hoped. Things are coming, but I would prefer to come along with something more complete than I currently have at my disposal. Hope you all are safe and well where you are.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

6 minutes ago, Teoarrk said:

Hi guys. I've been busier than expected this past almost month. I have made progress, but not as much as I'd have hoped. Things are coming, but I would prefer to come along with something more complete than I currently have at my disposal. Hope you all are safe and well where you are.

Take as long as you need!

[Teoarrk]

1 hour ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Take as long as you need!

Thanks for understanding :)

 

[Teoarrk]

Rail Synova Terminus Proxima: Part 1

The heavy rush of water flooded into my mind, awakening me to the cold air of the room. The water clock had sounded, so a day had passed. My disciples had not returned to me. I looked to one side, to gaze at the whirring dais. 

"Status." I hissed.

My monotone servant sparked to life, his glowing core shining with the light of a dying sun. 

"The acolytes are returning, Guardian." It reported.

"Good. Make ready to receive them." I commanded.

"They report injuries. The acolyte Malice the greatest."

I pondered for a moment.

"But nothing more?"

"The Tenno are plying the shipping lanes. Their increased strike capabilities are at risk of damaging our own."

"The Sentients-"

"They have warned that your assistance is required to secure your revenge."

"I see. This will not be a concern. Ready the Vectorwings! We will pluck them from the stars like eagles snatching lambs."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Intro

The Low Guardian of the Inner Terminus, the defender of the balance that never slept. We know him as the Stalker. Over time, he has gone from a threat to be reckoned with to an annoyance, from a lone wolf to a leader of likeminded individuals, the acolytes. From one that was loyal only to the Orokin, to one that has gained a new leader in the form of Hunhow. But he has been left to the annals of time, like much of Warframe's early canon. This post hopes to remedy that somewhat, by making him and his own into a trial.

This trial has been in planning since the launch of PoE. I thought that as a great final launch bonus, that they could have had us fight the Stalker and all his Acolytes on the Plains as a grand challenge of skill and coordination. Back then, people said that that would be too much for a group to handle at once. Now, with people clamouring for challenge, maybe things would be different. But a simple ooga booga kill all enemies challenge is not what I want to present. Lets move onward.

The Black Synova

The Orokin Empire was an incredibly vast collection of planetary colonies, outposts and organisations whose logistics would have dwarfed anything we can handle today. Needless to say, for any arm of government or military to be effective, it would need to have easy access to any corner of the Origin System. However, it might be good to first to clarify where I place them in the hierarchy of military appointments before continuing.

Spoiler

(art by @Castellar, with permission. Find the original and more here.)

Yes, all the way at the bottom. This is not to denigrate them as being next to useless in the eyes of the Orokin, but rather to suggest that they are a 'last resort' weapon, much in the same way as the Tenno, or the 'Orgone Missiles' hinted at in recent canon. From what I have gathered of the Stalker and his methods is that he served as something close to a royal assassin, not a weapon that is misunderstood as we were, or one to have potential catastrophic side effects, but one that you should not use openly, be proud of, or use except when entirely necessary. The equipment at their disposal would be some of the best crafted in the empire, to ensure that they completed the missions effectively. The base of operations itself, a familiar sight to most players.

Spoiler

Yes, it is just a regular Dojo, except in black and red. This might seem like a cheap trick to most, but if we have learnt anything of the Stalker, it is that he lives and dies by those colors. He uses the same fighting style as our own, which suggests that his resting place, if anything may be very much akin to our own.

This place is called Rail Terminal Synova Proxima.  Rail terminal, determining the place at which this Dojo is situated: Near one of the Solar Rail Terminals. Synova, characterising it as a sort of attaché to the rail itself (but nearby). Think of how a train garage is not necessarily directly next to a train station, but provides an essential service to a train station. Now, Proxima. This is something that has come into focus with the release of Railjack, where Proxima is used to characterise the area of space around a planet. All of these point to a rough location. There are only two terminals that exist in the Origin system; the inner Terminus at Mercury and the Outer Terminus at Pluto. Given that Mercury is the heartland of the Tenno, it is unlikely that such a den could exist in that area for long. Pluto on the other hand is much more likely. It is a region that does not bode well for most that travel there. It serves as a remote factory hub for the Corpus:

Spoiler

Pluto is small and cold, and organic tissue does not fare well in its extreme climate. But the merchant spacemen always seek opportunity for profit in regions where others dare not travel. Robotic proxies act as security in the largely un-manned manufacturing facilities that operate in the area.

It is not beyond our sights of course and neither is it for the Grineer. Vor's Prize ends with this message.

Spoiler

 

MY QUEENS -

You were right, the Tenno threat is real. We found one drifting near Pluto but the Lotus knew we were coming. She purged the Cryo moments before we had them and sent a squad of Tenno to break our assault.

They escaped. We are working on tracing them. Separate this Tenno from the flock and it should be easy to kill. We shattered its Warframe and expect such an abrupt Cryo purge will have damaged its memories.

We anxiously await punishment for failing this task.

 

Besides this, Pluto's orbit covers a very large area. Other than things on the dwarf planet and its 5 moons, there is plenty of space that it travels through and naturally, lots of places to hide.

Spoiler

Such a place would be hard to find then, especially one with a black exterior in the inky reaches of space. Attunement quest? Attunement quest.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unusual Whispers

Joon Holas will be the quest giver.

To start the quest, you need to be at rank 5 with the Lotus Path Guardians: Origin System Avenger, as well as up to date with the New War quests and all their prerequisites. 

 

When you get to Joon, the following conversation will occur:

 

Joon: Hey Tenno, one of the boys picked up a deep space signal. It’s not something bogey related, hell it’s not even something that we can really make sense of.

 

Tenno: Can you tell me more about it? 

 

Joon: Came from Orcus looking out. Couldn’t really make more of it, nor do I have the time. Thought you might have more fun playing around with it than it just staying on a wet drive somewhere.

 

Tenno: Why do you think I’d be interested? 

 

Joon: You, Simaris, whoever is biting. But you have one thing that orange square doesn’t: legs. Sending it over to Ordis now.

 

Ordis: Hmm… a non-random pattern, with an unusual signature. Tenno, come back to the ship. We have to PROBE/investigate this.

 

-End Conversation-

 

Back on board, the conversation will continue between you and Ordis

 

Ordis: Playing the transmission now.

 

-Wave of noise-

 

Tenno: Whats that?

 

Ordis: It seemed to be a waste of time at first, but there is something buried in the noise, something interesting. Attend the Scanner, Operator.

 

The puzzle will be similar to the Corpus puzzle discussed in my previous thread.

However, instead of random sound waves you have to contend with the sound signatures of planetary bodies (and potentially also Sentient Craft - there is a war on you know). The reason for this is simple - because the end product will sound something like this, the kind of artifacts in the signal that you have to root out will be different. Ordis will help a lot with this one - providing signatures of Pluto and its moons for you to remove. He also was active during the Old War and as such has an idea of what to hear from Sentient craft. When all is said and done, Ordis will chip up again.

 

Ordis: What a HORRIBLE/beautiful sound. Go to your foundry operator. It might be good for you to see this as well.

 

You head over to your foundry. The Transmission Transcription will cost 100 alloy plate, 1 Orokin Cipher and 500 credits. The map will look something like this, except made out of stamped sheet metal.

Spoiler

Tenno: It’s a map of the Pluto System? Why would they send this with so much secrecy?

 

Ordis: I do not know. Orcus Relay is highlighted, as is … Alcyonia Lacus? 

 

Tenno: Why do you think that spot is significant?

 

Ordis: Hmm. Not sure. It would be best to observe it up close. Marking it on your map, Operator. We can plot a course at your discretion.

 

-End Conversation-

 

Heading to the Alcyonia will reveal a surprise. Alcyonia Lacus is a plain in real life, a flat surface of nitrogen at the edge of Sputnik Planita. But the course of the Orokin Empire had changed it. Where once had been a plain was now a vast dome, overlooked by the ruined foundations of a vast tower to mark the ground site of the Outer Terminus, scattered fragments of the ruin dotted across the landscape. The dome had also suffered massive damage, ruptured from an angle, but had not collapsed. On the horizon, Corpus factories cast light out into the sky in streaks of piercing blue. That however, speaks nothing of the commotion all around. Teams of Corpus Crewmen are escorting workers to and about the site, most entering the dome but others excavating the surrounding terrain.

 

Ordis: It appears that whatever is being excavated here is important enough to be kept secret, Operator. Investigate, but try to keep hidden.

 

This will be a tutorial for the mission type Observation. Unlike a Capture mission, where the focus is on us barging in, finding and capturing an SOB and extracting, think of it as us having an ear in at the right moment in time - similar to the cinematic quests related to The New War.  

 

How would it work with a Warframe? Consider how Spy, or the ‘stealth’ section of the Heart of Deimos quest worked - focusing mostly on sight cones and using the terrain to your advantage.  Your task - entering the dome and tunnels within. Within the deep caves, you will see the focus of the task: a sentient buried deep in a layer of solid nitrogen, which is being slowly removed layer by layer by Corpus machines and workmen. (Something akin to this centrepiece from one of my favourite games, Jak and Daxter).

 

Spoiler

 

In the shadow of this monolith, a meeting of minds will be occurring: The Sergeant and the Shadow Stalker, holding the hologram of another: Hunhow. Getting close to them will be virtually impossible without alerting the shard - sentries at their sides. Good thing the three of them are within their means to feel completely at ease and talk freely - besides who would be able to sneak into the bastion without raising the alarm?

 

Hunhow: The retrieval appears to be going well, Orokin. How is the progress on the other sites?

 

The Sergeant: The other sites are proving more difficult. We are making slow progress even with double shifts. The Sentients are buried deeper and in hardier materials.

Hunhow: Any delay will put our plans in jeopardy! If we are to fight the Tenno in the next few months, our forces must be at full strength to ensure victory. Then your ‘board’ will get the reward they were promised.

 

The Sergeant: This entire plan is under layers upon layers of secrecy. I have to plot redundant charters to dead space, empty trawlers to old battlefields. I am doing the best that I can.

 

Hunhow: You are doing the best you can? Tell me then, why are there problems? The Tenno are kept away from your sites, kept busy by the Stalker’s Acolytes, if not forces and objectives far removed from your efforts. I don’t care what you have to do, spare no expense. Your benefactors will understand if you do not.

 

The Stalker: Do not forget your promise.

 

The Sergeant: (Pause). Death to the Tenno.

 

-End Conversation-

 

Well, isn’t that something? Multiple Sentients are buried and dormant in sites across the Origin System and the Corpus are recovering them. The Lotus Path Guardians are being led on a wild goose chase too. You contact Joon. 

Joon: This isn't a free channel, for the last time Ulan- Oh, its you Tenno, found anything?

 

Tenno: Yes. The signal lead us to a Sentient digging operation. Corpus run. There are more.

 

Joon: What? How? There weren’t even words in that broadcast.

 

Tenno: *raises cast metal map* They’re sending pictures when they aren’t talking. You’re going to have to dust off your foundry, this is some old tech.

 

Joon: Alright. *turns to look at his staff* Hey everybody, we’re gonna need to listen for space dust and screeches! 

 

Tenno: Ordis can help you get started on what not to listen to.

 

Ordis: Certainly Operator. The first one that sounds interesting but isn’t anything useful is -

 

Joon: Send me a list. Better tell the higher ups. Thanks.

 

Now everyone is on the same page, the next stage would then be for  you to uncover yet further signals like the one Joon gave you, buried in noise. Shame that there is no one close to you actively and consistently listening to noise for meani-

Spoiler

 

You will be talking to Ordis. Just like he was able to find Cephalon Cy in the shifting of cosmic bodies, he will be sure to listen for further communications.

 Ordis will alert you to another message. It will be a standard Corpus communication, which when uncoded will read:

Europa Site 14 requires more Tellior power cells. All excavators have been exhausted this past week from usage. Be advised: Use caution when approaching the site by air. Guidance and navigation computers have become unreliable. Use landmarks and strobe flares to locate the site.

 

This will unlock the next mission, taking you to a backwater site on Europa. Little Duck will contact  you to provide direction on what to do.

 

Little Duck: Hey there hotshot. Fancy poppin’ into you out here. Sightseein’ or on biz? You didn’t hear it from me, but whatever they’re digging up down there is bad news. It makes anything powered near it have it’s power drained like a Taxman comedian ‘wot just wants to  tell his mates one more. One of me coves gets all the credit for this, ‘cos he cooked some of their explosives with an old an’ true boomer. You’ll find it set up on the tracks and ready to go. Bury the thing, Tenno.

 

This mission type will be Payload, for anyone that has played Team Fortress 2. For anyone that hasn’t, it will be modified Hijack, where instead of draining a resource, you merely have to be within proximity to the objective. You will be getting the objective (the bomb) to the final destination in a given amount of time, while defending it from enemies. Site 14 will be a box canyon, leading into a deep and meandering cave. You won’t have to go that deep, only deep enough for the bomb to take out a critical support column and make reclamation of the Sentient within impossible without much greater means.

 

Spoiler

 

When the bomb gets set off and the tunnel leading to the excavation gets sealed, a dark craft will flitter over the cusp of the canyon’s sides. Dropping from the craft, will be an Acolyte: Malice.

 

Malice: You will not leave this place!

This fight will be similar to a Steel Path acolyte encounter, but you will be fighting a level 30 Malice.

When you defeat Malice, the mission will end. Back on board the Orbiter, in your mind’s eye will swell an image of the Lotus.

 

Lotus: Do not think that your efforts will change the outcome of the coming conflict, Tenno. Every one of us that you silence will bring those that remain to even greater fervor. As we speak, my choir gains a new voice, one that will spell doom for your wayward control of the system. Maybe when it is done, will you consider the weight of your guilt.

 

After the transmission, you will get a warning, saying that a massive Sentient creature is laying waste to the defence fleet of Kronia Relay. You head to the station, only to find the Tenno Fleet in disarray.  The Sentient creature has destroyed many of the larger frigates, with the smaller ones only surviving due to their fast speed and small profile. You deploy in an Archwing, to take on the large creature. 

 

If anything, this boss would look like this concept drawn by the talented DerTodesbote

Spoiler

 

A serpentine thing, with a pronounced top-heavy profile. The Sentient would be armed with a battery of missiles, lasers (think Ropalolyst but without the instant kill factor), a clumsy melee attack (which would be slow and devastating) and a selection of unique weapons, such as a homing ‘asteroids’ minigame attack and an analogy to Itzal’s ultimate, Fighter Escort.

 

The Sentient will be named the Tromolyst, Tromos, the Greek for terror. 

 

It will have a similar damage soak mechanic to Nullifier bubbles: continuous damage from an automatic weapon will be more effective in taking the creature down than the shots of a big stonking gun, like the Velocitus, unless you hit weak points. These will be marked with a certain ‘void crack’ effect on the Sentient’s skin (think of the glowing clouds that spawn / corrupt enemies during relic missions). Hitting these areas with a fast firing weapon will still do significant damage, but not to the point where waiting for them to specifically appear will be worth the time investment.

 

On offence, the Tromolyst will have attacks that will have different ranges of engagement.

 

Close (0-200m)	Medium range (200 - 450m)	Far (450m+)
Laser Sweep Melee attack Fighter Escort	Missile barrage         Charge	Asteroids*      Missile torrent      Laser convergence (similar to Railjack Dome Charge shot)

 

*Asteroids is an old Atari Arcade game from 1979. In it, you control a spaceship, tasked with clearing an asteroid field. When you shoot an asteroid, it splits into two, shoot those two and they split into four. Eventually, at the last duplication, the pieces disintegrate into nothing. The concept will be very similar here, except the pieces will be flying towards you. 

 

At each transition phase from one third of the health bar to the next, a fleet ship will distract the Tromolyst in a suicide run that will leave the creature’s 2 Synovia vulnerable. These will be directly tied to the wings of the creature. In the final phase, the creature will attack more fervently, pushing the close and medium range attacks together in combos, such as a charge into an attack, or a fighter escort that deploys a missile barrage, or something like that. 

 

Finally, you bring the creature low. This will end the mission.

 

On the Tromolyst’s body will be a Sundial. It appears to be designed for the light of a distant star, the face itself enclosed in a darkened firmament and an array of narrow slits and lenses about it’s axis appear to be there to block out external sources of light, save for the one it is designed to track. This sound a little too contrived, but in the outer reaches of the Origin system, the Sun looks like this: 

Spoiler

So you have to be fairly picky when calibrating and designing a sun-clock.

 

Ordis will scan the device, determining it to have come from Pluto. It is fairly easy to determine that the creature that you fought and the one you found initially buried deep in the dwarf planet are one and the same. Whatever intricate plan devised by the three talking heads at that meeting must have fallen through under heavy pressure by both yourself and the Lotus Path Guardians. Some things had clearly been rushed, leading to a desperate assault by at least one of your exhumed adversaries. There is something unusual about the sundial though, aside from the strange design. A series of markings on the device seem to mark the position of something. 

 

Time for one final puzzle. Setting down next to the foundation of the Outer Terminus’s Tower, you will line up the Sundial. First lining the hour with the marked line, then looking at the marked angle skyward, you will see a black object shining in the sky.

 

The Rail Synova Terminus Proxima.

-Quest End-

Quest reward: You can now create Synova Beacons, which will unlock the trial. Each one will cost 200 Cryotic, 5 Orokin Ciphers, 1 Heart Nyth, 5 Nav coordinates and 5000 credits, with a 1 hr build timer.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: The rest of the original post is going back into the garage. I want to revamp everything and also include the story I have been writing for a while. Thanks to everyone that commented on the thread that brought the shortcomings of my boss direction to light. I have since played Cyberpunk and gotten more in touch with my roots on what a boss can be, rather than some kind of mishmash of mechanics that will not be a blip on most high end player's radars. The edit and new post most likely will land before New Years, so I will be a busy boy. 

 

Till then.

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Teoarrk

[keikogi]

56 minutes ago, Teoarrk said:

Enemies

Vengeance.

This one will be based on Rhino's body, with the epaulettes of Vauban and the feet of Hildryn.

He will have 4 million HP and 1 million in shields.

De has pretty much gave up on raw eHP for story bosses. For example protea had some remarkable  scsling DR to the point my unmoded Xoris outdpsed my fully modded opiticor. Probably better ti just yse that too.

 

[Teoarrk]

9 hours ago, keikogi said:

De has pretty much gave up on raw eHP for story bosses. For example protea had some remarkable  scsling DR to the point my unmoded Xoris outdpsed my fully modded opiticor. Probably better ti just yse that too.

 

The other bosses will require alternative means of beating them. I will give this boss another pass though, I might have made him a little too weak.

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

14 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

The other bosses will require alternative means of beating them. I will give this boss another pass though, I might have made him a little too weak.

There's a reason I've given up on the crunch for enemy designs lol

[Unus]

3 hours ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

There's a reason I've given up on the crunch for enemy designs lol

Really? Theres a wealth of data on the wiki that you could utilize in order to suitably deploy a desired unit. Do you need a hand in putting them together while I continue to nurse my metaphorical and sometimes literal headache while also working on my current design?

[Teoarrk]

On 2020-12-02 at 12:34 AM, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

There's a reason I've given up on the crunch for enemy designs lol

Crunch is kinda a little difficult to design. My Lich ultra setup is all about invulnerability time because I know that most endgame players can probably do 10 million damage in a few seconds.

On 2020-12-02 at 3:56 AM, Unus said:

Really? Theres a wealth of data on the wiki that you could utilize in order to suitably deploy a desired unit. Do you need a hand in putting them together while I continue to nurse my metaphorical and sometimes literal headache while also working on my current design?

Going to have to base the hp of the boss around steel path eidolons, since even that is easy for the tippy top of the playerbase. Thanks for the heads up, I normally design these things in a vacuum, but I need to base it on something.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Teoarrk

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

2 hours ago, Teoarrk said:

Crunch is kinda a little difficult to design. My Lich ultra setup is all about invulnerability time because I know that most endgame players can probably do 10 million damage in a few seconds.

On 2020-12-01 at 9:56 PM, Unus said:

Good call, honestly. With that one +300% pistol damage arcane, combined with my ridiculous critical damage Akvasto Prime setup (Long story short, it has like 97% status and 8.2x critical damage thanks to a Riven) it doesn't take many shots for me to wipe out one of a lich's health bars.

[keikogi]

28 minutes ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

Good call, honestly. With that one +300% pistol damage arcane, combined with my ridiculous critical damage Akvasto Prime setup (Long story short, it has like 97% status and 8.2x critical damage thanks to a Riven) it doesn't take many shots for me to wipe out one of a lich's health bars.

Warframe as at a point I´ve stopped trying to balance output I only balance availability or reliability beacause as it is right now stuff has to be ridiculous to be good but making something good and reliable ( peace maker ) makes really linear gameplay. Unfortunally the reliability aprouch does not work that well for guns because most people want a gun to be reliable.

As far as enemy desing is concenerned never even deeped my toes on that pound because damage is so out of wack in warframe that HP does not really matter at this point and HP is my favorite way of making an enemy last because it is so transparent on its desing,

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by keikogi

[(XBOX)Fluffywolf36]

13 minutes ago, keikogi said:

Warframe as it a point I´ve stopped trying to balance output I only balance availability or reliability beacause as it is right now stuff has to be ridiculous to be good but making something good and reliable ( peace maker ) makes really linear gameplay. Unfortunally the reliability aprouch does not work that well for guns because most people want a gun to be reliable.

As far as enemy desing is concenerned never even deeped my toes on that pound because damage is so out of wack in warframe that HP does not really matter at this point and HP is my favorite way of making an enemy last because it is so transparent on its desing,

 

I'm personally at a weird point there because there's this sweet spot just below where Steel Path is, but in the general area of Arbitrations or later-stage Kuva Fissure Survival, where I like to feel like I'm in danger and have to flex every muscle I have to not get killed...

...but still like being able to one-shot (or two-shot if need be) headshot basic enemies like Lancers, Ballistas, or crewmen. I get why WF wants to make enemies more durable, cause the longer they're alive, the more likely they are to hurt you. But making something take longer doesn't necessarily make it more fun for me. I've wondered if WF should tweak its enemy scaling so their damage increases at a slightly more dramatic rate than health.

I also had an idea recently to include a system where the game analyzes your squad and tries to add in specialist units that can serve as counters to you.  Not in the same way as, say, Nullifiers, but more along the lines of "I place defensive abilities, the game sends a demolitions expert to blow up my Frost bubble or something." Ideally, this wouldn't render your abilities null, it'd be more something that could throw you off your rhythm and you'd have to detect them and get back to what you were doing.

There's plenty of Frames that so trivialize what you're doing that you barely have to play the game when they're in play. Could be nice. Not really sure how many abilities it would work against, but it could be interesting.

Most of the enemy designs I have - like the Augis and several others - are more meant as miniboss-lite enemies that force you to change up your tactics.

Edited December 3, 2020 by (XBOX)Fluffywolf36

[Teoarrk]

3 minutes ago, (XBOX)Fluffywolf36 said:

I also had an idea recently to include a system where the game analyzes your squad and tries to add in specialist units that can serve as counters to you.  Not in the same way as, say, Nullifiers, but more along the lines of "I place defensive abilities, the game sends a demolitions expert to blow up my Frost bubble or something." Ideally, this wouldn't render your abilities null, it'd be more something that could throw you off your rhythm and you'd have to detect them and get back to what you were doing.

This is something I was considering (but just pondering, nothing typed). Looking across different games where the enemies are slower and weaker than the player. AI 'squad' behaviour and weapons, etc.