Void Armageddon issues

[ImWithDerp]

(Needless to say, everything below is IMO)

Been grinding Void Armageddon missions lately for Hespar. This mission type has neat potential (not only Void Armageddon itself but future missions which could follow a similar 'tower defense'-esque structure), but 3 main issues stand out for me:

1. Simultaneous distant defense targets
2. Turret expiry
3. Round length

Simultaneous distant defense targets:

We are currently directed to defend one target at a time, but other targets far away can still come under attack. Even if we buy extra turrets before moving to a different target, it doesn't feel great to be that far away from the action (and the turrets aren't that reliable anyway). In a group we can also leave someone behind in case this happens, but that doesn't seem particularly fun for them. It'd feel better if either:

• Only the target we are directed to defend is vulnerable, all others are invulnerable, or
• There is some form of quick transport between vulnerable targets

Which could work out something like:

• As long as both exo dampeners are alive, the relic drive is invulnerable, and either:
  • Only our current target exo dampener is vulnerable, the other becomes invulnerable, or
  • Both exo dampeners are vulnerable, but there is some kind of shortcut between them 
• When an exo dampener dies the relic drive becomes vulnerable
• Not sure if a shortcut between the surviving exo dampener and the relic drive is needed (could be an extra penalty for letting an exo dampener die, and the distance from one exo dampener to the relic drive isn't as long as the distance between both exo dampeners anyway), but I'd enjoy it regardless

Or if this is intended and turrets are supposed to be how we protect distant targets, then see "turret expiry" below for issues with the turrets themselves, and also it would be nice to have more feedback on how our turrets are doing to see how our decisions are playing out. Not sure how this could be done without cluttering the UI too much, though.

Turret expiry:

Instead of turrets expiring and also needing to wait for a turret to expire before it can be replaced, I'd heavily prefer if turrets didn't expire by themselves (unless we chose to swap/scrap them), but instead required upgrades to keep up with harder and harder waves (closer to how towers work in 'normal' tower defense games). This might also save some busywork as we can be more selective about upgrading specific turrets vs. repeatedly replacing all the turrets we want.

• Turrets no longer have a timer before they despawn
• Placed turrets can be interacted with, bringing up a menu that lets us upgrade/swap/scrap them
• Unsure if offering different types of upgrades would be overkill, or it'd be better to go with one simple upgrade level that scales the turret in a way that keeps up with the current enemy level

Round length:

Void Armageddon rounds feel longer than they should be. General endless mission sweet spot for me is no more than 5 mins per round (plus a bit of time for things like choosing to extract/stay or choosing relics), but Void Armageddon rounds take noticeably longer. Perhaps cut down the number of waves from 3 normal + 1 angel to 2 normal + 1 angel, then adjust the length of 2 normal waves until the time is closer to (or slightly under) 5 mins per round?

Edited October 17, 2023 by ImWithDerp