Mobile Defence Rework/Changes

[God_is_a_Cat_Girl]

Note: If you are looking for a way to make it shorter, this ain't it.

 

Mobile Defence is one of the few non endless missions that I enjoy, not too short, not too long, team composition doesn't punish you. Sadly it's old and tired, it needs changes to modernize it and make it more rewarding. It can also be easily rigged for a guaranteed win which makes it feel boring and empty.

This is a wordy post, so if you don't want to read a big wall I made bullet points with the important things, all the rest is explanations for the most part.

 

My main point is to address specific issues:

1. CC + timer = no incentive to play beyond pressing the CC Key
2. Lack of rewards

 

For the first issue, my suggestion is to use Demolisher units. Those units help Disruption be more challenging and fun, their properties ensure that the player cannot win by simply using CC (but you can still slow them down). If we are protecting a target, why wouldn't the enemy send such units anyway?

Of course you wouldn't just strap in those units to MD and call it a day. The following are main change to MD missions and the Demolisher units spawning there:

• In Tier 1 planets the Demolisher units EHP shouldn't be much higher than a Heavy Gunner
• Demolisher units do not insta destroy the target, instead they reduce the target health by a percentage (this would require testing or be based on the number of Demolisher per target)
• Between 1~3 Demolisher units spawn pet target, number depends on enemy level/mission tier
• Winning condition is based on the number of Consoles successfully defended

 

First point is simply to guarantee that changes to this mode do not punish newer players, instead weaker versions teach them the ropes.

Second point is to address that you still have to defend the target unlike how Disruption Conduits aren't destroyed by regular enemies. Rather than insta kill they only deal a percentage of the Target's max HP as damage. On any level their damage to the target will be high but never a 1 shot kill (unless other enemies damage it enough for the first Demolisher to destroy it). I think that 30% per Demolisher is a good number because even if on max tier the demolisher they can't destroy the Console alone, but can still deal up to 90% in damage which is a lot but at that tier players should know what to do and shouldn't allow it to happen, if they do then it's a good indicator they need better gear or learn more about the enemy.

Third point is to increase difficulty/complexity. Yes, higher level enemies deal more damage and are more resilient, but that alone doesn't increase difficulty due to how we also grow stronger. This also addresses the fact that low level players don't have as many tools, but as they obtain more gear they also obtain more ways to deal with the enemy, in this case CC/defence abilities, so an increase in Demolisher units will also promote players to be more active rather than killing 1 Demolisher and calling it a day. To also note they spawn 1 at a time and not all at the same time. Initially I had higher numbers but it felt like it would be a bit too frantic or make it seem like it steps too much on Disruption's toes. But that still means 9 Demolisher per mission at max tier, versus 4 Demolisher per round in Disruption.

Forth Point is to address the higher challenge that come from the other changes, and to bring it closer to other modes like Spy which usually don't punish a single mistake with a mission failed screen, but instead gives less rewards (this will be addressed later). Winning Conditions are as followed:

• Tier 1 and 2 missions: 1 Console successfully defended
• Tier 3 and Alerts: 2 Consoles successfully defended
• Sortie: 3 Consoles successfully defended

 

 

Now the Second issue, the lack of rewards.

• For each Console successfully defended the player gets a reward
• Killing all Demolisher gives an extra reward

 

This is just like how Spy works for the most part, the more successful you are the more you get. I'm not going into specifics, but we have to consider that Mobile Defence isn't exactly a place for Veterans nor is a long mission by any means (90 seconds at max for 1 rotation isn't a lot), so wouldn't expect the rewards to be anything special, but they could however help newer players grow. While a credits cache or a resource bundle is nothing worth noting for a veteran, they would still be nice rewards for players still are working their way through the star chart, and certainly is more than what we have now.

A reward for killing all Demolisher would make MD a bit like Bounties where if you are better or work harder than the baseline you are rewarded for it. This is another way to promote players to get out there killing the enemy instead of calculating their loses so they can go read a book. This is the rotation where you would have a good chance to get things like Relics. I say Relics since they are always nice to get, but maybe in certain places like the Kuva Fortress we could see other rewards like Kuva? Rewards can be a hard topic due to how easily they can make parts of the game feel like they aren't worth doing, and that's not my goal.

 

IMO those changes would make MD feel more modern and rewarding, while still keeping it's main gameplay intact. Sadly for some my goal isn't to turn it into another capture like mission that ends in less than 90 seconds, rather I want to make it feel more modern, challenging, fun and rewarding.

 

TL;DR Demolisher spawn in MD and nullifier Limbo's 4 so you have to kill them, there's also more rewards. The bullet points hold all the important information ;D

 

[Drasiel]

I gotta say demolishers/demolysts are one of the enemies I find the least engaging and enjoyable to deal with. Suicide bombers with massive armour are just not my thing. All this change would do is add mobile defense a game mode I tolerate onto the pile of game modes I actively avoid with defection and disruption.