Get Lich or Die Tryin, A Rework

[OverlordNuggets]

8 hours ago, DrivaMain said:

We can already put them On Call so we can summon them at will, but their firepower is really lacking.

oh I didn't know that, is that a railjack feature, or can you summon them in every mission without having to have died? I'm also kind of looking forward to being able to personalize my charming Kuva Lich friend by customizing his armor/ equipping mods, tweaking his color scheme, etc. Which is why I'd love to see them equippable in the arsenal as a companion. I should've elaborated on this a little further 😅 What do you think of this? I'd love to know :) 

[DrivaMain]

53 minutes ago, OverlordNuggets said:

oh I didn't know that, is that a railjack feature, or can you summon them in every mission without having to have died? I'm also kind of looking forward to being able to personalize my charming Kuva Lich friend by customizing his armor/ equipping mods, tweaking his color scheme, etc. Which is why I'd love to see them equippable in the arsenal as a companion. I should've elaborated on this a little further 😅 What do you think of this? I'd love to know :) 

They just added it today. Just tested this myself, with the lack of moddability they barely tickles Sortie level enemies especially Grineer, while my Perrin Crew Cheeso Pantot with a Kuva Tonkor here one shots every crowd in his sight. For a grineer super soldier who excels at taking out Tenno, it's disappointing.

[OverlordNuggets]

Just now, DrivaMain said:

They just added it today. Just tested this myself, with the lack of moddability they barely tickles Sortie enemies, while my Perrin Crew Cheeso Pantot with a Kuva Tonkor here one shots every crowd it his sight. For a grineer super soldier who excels at taking out Tenno, it's disappointing.

That is incredible! I'd love to know how it works, I will look it up! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Dairaion]

5 hours ago, DrivaMain said:

They just added it today. Just tested this myself, with the lack of moddability they barely tickles Sortie level enemies especially Grineer, while my Perrin Crew Cheeso Pantot with a Kuva Tonkor here one shots every crowd in his sight. For a grineer super soldier who excels at taking out Tenno, it's disappointing.

Grineer super soldier...

what if the liches are just a giant distraction lorewise. the queen empowers one, lets them raze hell just to distract us from whatever she is doing.

[Dairaion]

I was thinking about the idea of having lich followers, and the issue of having them follow you in archwing missions. considering the amount of dargyn variants would it make sense that a lich should have one? It does to me at least, im wondering why lich's don't have their own "Commander" variants like in gundam. I think it's another thing that needs to be added both for any possible lich followers and for base lich opponents.

I think it would add to a lich's character if after spawning, from that point on it had a chance of appearing in any grineer mission where archwings are a option to engage you in a space battle. it would have really good space opera vibes.

[Dairaion]

Update

I was thinking recently on a better way to integrate alot of the currently loose aspects of my Kuva Lich rework so that everything is more integrated. Sparked by the concept of Gene Treatments as a way of keeping powerful allies out of the hands of lower ranking players, thusly having little effect on the current meta for them, I think i may have come up with either a new branch or a new unifying system to bridge the whole thing together efficiently, assuming the implementation of the complex Lich system. 

To Recap, in the complex system obtaining a lich works the same way. Nothing changes until the building of a Clan Cantonment. That is to say that without this building you are left with liches as is. What the Clan Cantonment allows you to do is to interact with liches directly. Upon completion of it’s build you are left with a room the size of a garden, within which any one of 6 actions occur

1. Blood Oath (pact sounds too sinister), the act of tying a lich to you based on honouring an agreement, performed at a central ceremonial platform.

2. Implantation, the act of Implanting a Bionic or Phylactery into a lich

3. Fabrication, a combination of the Foundry and Mods, that handles the improvement of phylacteries and bionics

4. Stockade, storing converted Liches in digital form, and where they can be vanquished post conversion.

5. Provision, Arming and armoring your Lich

6. Splicing, the new system that will replace Lich Shunting

 

The Cantonment is based on grineer architecture, twice the size of a garden and has one entrance, dimly lit by white light, it’s walls and floors are transparent like the glass walls of grineer server rooms. The floor has the same large glowing data cables running underneath with a couple of water pipes. The walls have clone tubes (including one with a larvaling banging on the glass), back-lit fans, and other grineer themed attention getters. there will be a Grineer computer called the Console taking up the central third of the wall left of the entrance, to the right side of the computer is a large Arsenal Platform like the Orbiter, once you access the computer it will allow you to perform actions 2-6 with cases concerning specific liches showing the lich itself like orbiter arsenal platform with any lich Thralls (humanoid companions) appearing to the liches left and any Companions (non-human followers) appearing on the right, this will show the model not the quantity, any unseen objects like bionics will be shown in menu. on the opposite wall are three empty spaces in the wall for formorian power cores and in between the two a platform bathed in light.

 

Warning, What follows is a theoretical transcript of what a Clan Cantonment mission would be.

 

When approaching the console, it won’t work, Ordis will tell you that the System is complex and based on ancient orokin designs and will require a cephalon with intimate knowledge of both the grineer and the orokin, and he knows where to find it. You travel to the void where you complete a mobile defense to turn on the three subsystems, after completing the third a cephalon is awoken, Cephalon Ollodis. Ollodis Should have a voice like Captain Vor, deep and stern. He should mention that the last thing he remembers was being glassed by Nihil. He was the first grineer commander, an attempt by the Orokin to create a grineer that can lead in place of the far more intensive dax, from him were cloned several “sons” that followed him during the Tenno rebellion. For his failure in stopping a cadre of tenno from killing the lover of one of the council of seven who had been on the run, nihil ordered his “sons’ and their companies to commit decimation, of which his sons, being genetically enhanced survived, finally Nihil made his sons do the same, the last son was forced to watch as his father was glassed. Ollodis had been put inside of a machine that forced him to relive taking on the assignment, failing, and watching the punishment for millenia.

 

You ask him to help marshal the grineer under your service, he agrees, because doing so would allow him to take revenge on the orokin and their works. Upon being uploaded he informs you that the numerous systems are incomplete and that it will be hard acquiring more parts, firstly you need help and you should raise up a competent grineer for the purposes of marshaling a squad, building a force to help complete the project. You touch the console while possessing a converted lich and it will appear on the console platform. He remarks that it's most infinitesimal particles struggle to live, held together only by… Kuva... wondrous. Ollodis Explains that the grineer culture began as a brotherhood, From Boreholes to Battlefields, and to mark this it was common for grineer to perform a Blood Oath with their commanders to symbolize this connection between themselves and outsiders, such as the Dax. You must make this same oath to bring the grineer into your service proper as a sign of respect between warriors, not the warframe, but the Operator. 

 

From there you are allowed to choose that lich or another, but whichever one is chosen is led to the center of the room, which should look similar to the one posted below.  The Blood Oath is exactly as described in the first post. But for the purposes of the mission the lich is considered Ardent, despite how much you invest. Firstly Ollodis sends you to steal the plans for the foremost cloning system on Rosalind, Uranus. Secondly He sends you and the lich to earth to each grineer assassination to scan the best grineer genetic profiles to build up a reference for a healthy gene template for cloning, upon encountering each of the bosses he remarks on specific aspects of them that deviate from the old grineer with weariness.

Cpt. Vor - his degraded form 

Vay Hek - Grandiosity and cybernetics

Ruk - Cruel and bullheaded

Regor- Insanity and lack of focus

Kril - being more machine than man now

Kela - He is legitimately floored by the existence of female grineer, and her appearance leads him to wonder if she is actually a orokin that has fooled the weak minded current grineer.

 

 Afterwards he then awards you a Flawed Heart Phylactery called *Heart of Precaution made from his first attempt at cloning modern grineer flesh, which is inserted in the lich, who upon standing says something relatively encouraging to 4 newly cloned grineer, which look like male kuva larvalings, they cheer as Ollodis comments that a strong heart can rouse worlds, but this will be sufficient. He explains that those who follow the lich are tied on a level beyond physical, this allows the lich to call them to him when their bodies stumble to keep up(this is to explain the teleportation of the lich to you and them to the lich). The Heart of Precaution’s ability is spawn 4 grineer larvalings

 

He remarks that your lich is weak and it’s connection to the kuva is significantly depleted since it’s defeat, and sends you to acquire another Phylactery. He sends you and the lich to Cassini, Saturn to capture a target, this Target will be a Commander, when within 15 feet of it, you, the lich, and any surviving Larvalings begin getting ticked every second, anyone within range has a ¼ chance of dropping a blood orb as you lose 25 health, Ollodis explains this commander has a phylactery as well, likely awarded from the corpse of a failed lich. When you complete the quest you are awarded a Flawed Draining Dorsum, a Spine Phylactery, a after it’s implanted the lich looks at his hand and holds it out like Vor holding the janus key causing one of the larvalings to tick damage and drop a blood orb, Ollodis says that what the grineer are capable of now is beyond his dreams. The Draining Dorsum causes any enemy within 30 feet of a lich to have a 10% chance to drop 25 health in the form of a health orb every second.

 

Ollodis then sends you to acquire the remaining parts for the Cantonment, stating you would be more successful with more allies. Each part unlocks functions 2-6. These parts are acquired like upgrade segments. Implantation Segment is found after rescuing a defector on Anthe,Saturn. Fabrication from Kiste,Ceres. Stockade is found after round 20 of defense on Lith,Earth, Provision is won on Yam,Sedna. Splicing is dropped from Tyl Regor on Titania,Uranus. 

 

Upon acquiring Splicing the next stage of the quest commences. Ollodis explains that The Lich can undergo a form of gene therapy called recombination, this would repair the lich’s failing genetic code making them inherently stronger, faster, smarter but there is a cost. Within the Grineer, Both Old and New There is a genetic sequence, Infused with trace amounts of Kuva, it is through this that the Orokin and later Queens influenced them, over time the steady degradation causes mutations that in a single cell do nothing, but when that cell is the basis for a individual it looses the leash creating the possibility of free thought. it is likely that this is what allows many preeminent grineer the ability to succeed, as they are no longer mentally caged, but choose the empire regardless. But these sequences are incompatible with one another and if crossed would likely cause the lich to suffer from mental abnormalities. Ollodis remarks that the Old Grineer were Clever, Cohesive the Cold machine of the Orokin, but the New Grineer are Savage, Disunited, and Individualistic, while the Old Grineer fought as a Coalition, the New Grineer harried like Scavengers, he tells you to dwell on which you will chose before sending you on a final mission, Into the Void, to Find the last place he can think of to find a pure sample of the blood of ancient grineer. 

 

The mission is on Marduk,Void and the mission proceeds as usual, however when you pass through the gateway you end up not in a jungle but in the void, there you travel through you fight your way through to a large room, a boss battle occurs here where it’s revealed the opponent is his son, who has been preserved through Orokin adaption of Kuva, it’s revealed his son is actually being controlled by the orokin he failed to protect, his son similar to Executioner Garesh but with a Green/Gold paint job wearing matching Atavist Prime armor. He fights like Excal Umbra armed with Lato, Latron, and Skana prime and has several “summoning” warframe abilities to counter you and your liches including Shadows of the Dead, Celestial Twin, Rumblers, and Hall of Mirrors. Upon defeat he drops a Orokin Grineer Gene Codex.

 

When you return Ollodis tells you to complete Recombination. To do so you must have a level 30 lich at which point, recombination may seem to be effectively gilding but is a little more complex. Of the Two choices, which are both permanent, Old Grineer genes allows your lich access to Tenno and Primed weapons as well as Grineer, however upgrades will be locked away, these would be New Grineer specialists cards calling on troops  and abilities that the rationally minded old grineer would have avoided, like manics, kavats, and some of the darker void abilities. The New blood of course would be locked off from any use of tenno or orokin weapons, restricted to grineer weapons, and specific Old Grineer Phylacteries which would have higher troop counts than normal or more devastating orokin era equipment. Upon choosing Ollodis congratulates you, if you picked Old Grineer Genes for your first he remarks it’s like the wraiths of his sons walk the world once more, if you choose New Grineer Genes Ollodis remarks that perhaps you may bring honor to them yet. The Genes open up 3 new spaces on the implantation screen for gene specific called Sequences, which act as overarching “personality” mods, which are semi permanent like Bionics but are locked to either Old or New Blood. with Old Genes favoring teamwork and practicality while New Genes favoring magic rambos.

 

From there the system is open. Ollodis can Implant Bionics if found and will remark on how rare (or shoddy) it appears. If a Thrall dies during one of his missions he’ll remark “We have reserves”. Occasionally he’ll say things like “The beatings will continue until moral improves” or other dry humor (think the devil’s dictionary), specifically, when you are downed on a mission of his he may remark “Shameful Display”. Ollodis should provide a railjack daily mission, a standard daily, and a weekly mission alternating between standard and railjack, these missions are single player with the liches being the only backup allowed. The rewards are always Lich based, so things like phylacteries and bionics. Bonus missions should require a Void Scan Pulse, which senses where a potential lich rewards are by using 3 captured formorian power cores, this gives a reason to do Grineer Hijacks.

 

Loose concepts

 

The amount of active liches you could have would be Infinite however as previously stated it would be limited to 4 per mission excepting railjack. This is because dealing with a AI controlled ship (poorly from what i hear) that and it’s a little weird, and the point of Liches is to do things you normally need players to do like if raids come back, you may not have 7 limbos but at least you have 7 Liches and the squads they bring with them.

 

Shunting wouldn’t be a thing anymore, a Blooded kuva lich will retain it’s base element but it’s percentage would always be double its current level,  Old Blood Liches would simply retain the elemental immunities and weakness while New Blood liches would be capable of applying their Elemental bonus to weapons, and even then only Kuva weapons. Weapons would be applied normally for liches, but not for Thrall and companions.

 

On The Old Blood Vs New Blood

This is a large concept for me, probably bigger than everything else even though it doesn’t seem like it.  The idea sprung up when i thought about the gene stabilizers, i thought stabilizing what exactly? From there the concept grew over time until I realized that an easy way to keep liches fresh was to divide them instantly permanently. With The old grineer we’re talking about purpose built soldiers bred from slave miners, dax serve through compulsion but the Old Grineer are bred for service, while not entirely subservient their genes lean towards rationality and modern military tactics and this should show. Revives, tools, tactical maneuvers, while warframe is a fast game, when the situation requires it, the Old Blood would allow the Lich, and those that follow him to assist a Tenno from a bad situation. The New Blood is born of heroic warfare… in SPACE. The liches possessing it would trace their genes to the numerous mutants who stood out amongst billions, some even from the Tubemen. They are born into a world where the unusual is usual, Eximus abilities, Void powered one off implants, Lich Ability Enhancements, these abilities set the otherwise limited New Blood in an entirely different direction. 

 

This means that every lich be forced down one of two paths, the Practicality of the Old Ways or the Dynamism of the New Ways. From there each lich can have a number of Gene Sequences, Phylacteries, and Bionics implanted into them. They will fight alongside you, even against other liches or grineer, and gain new weapons, armor, and sometimes arms becoming a more visually fearsome lich, or becoming uniform with the other liches of the Cantonment in which they live, you will see them around your Clan Hall with their thralls and companions, walking amongst you, and fighting alongside each other Old blood or New.

 

Phylactery Creation

As i’ve thought about my proposed phylactery system i couldn’t think of a way to drop them properly other than to just throw them in the mix where appropriate. However, I've come to a conclusion. The Cantonment Console should track a small number of “Basic” phylacteries, bionics, and Gene Sequences, which would require so many scans to create, the rest should be acquired from cantonment missions and randomly dropped from liches. I also think it would be a cool idea to have some acquired from the steel meridian considering how poor their current rewards are.

[Dairaion]

On 2021-05-26 at 4:45 AM, DrivaMain said:

They just added it today. Just tested this myself, with the lack of moddability they barely tickles Sortie level enemies especially Grineer, while my Perrin Crew Cheeso Pantot with a Kuva Tonkor here one shots every crowd in his sight. For a grineer super soldier who excels at taking out Tenno, it's disappointing.

sorry, forgot to quote you.